Fed Members Fan Out to Douse Raging Rate-Cut Fires by Wolf Richter - All heck re-broke loose in the markets last Wednesday after the Fed announced that it would keep its five interest rates steady, with the top at 5.5%, and with the “dot plot” in its Summary of Economic Projections (SEP) showing that 11 of the 19 participants expected three or more rate cuts in 2024 while 8 expected between zero and two cuts, which put the median therefore at three rate cuts in 2024. But trading in the options market implies six rate cuts in 2024 – double the median projections. Alas, for most of 2022, the dot plot projected rate cuts in 2023; and then in the December 2022 dot plot, those rate cuts in 2023 vanished. The Powell-was-dovish meme started in May 2022 and swamped the internet after every single FOMC meeting, no matter what Powell actually said. Markets have been betting on rate cuts ever since the Fed started hiking rates. And those Powel-was-dovish memes and rate-cut bets were followed up by subsequent rate hikes all the way to 5.5%, and markets have been wrong with their rate-cut bets in 2022 and 2023, and so that’s nothing new.What’s new is the magnitude of the fires that ensued in the markets, and so Fed members fanned out to douse those fires, starting with Fed Vice Chair John Williams on Friday with his line, “We aren’t really talking about rate cuts right now.” Today, it was the turn of Chicago Fed president Austan Goolsbee, who said in an interview on CNBC that he was “confused” about the markets’ interpretation of Powell’s remarks last Wednesday, that those interpretations were essentially wishful thinking. When he was asked what the Fed did on Wednesday, what the change of policy was, he said: “We voted not to raise rates,” he said. “Policy change was, No Change. We kept rates where they were.” When he was asked if there was still a bias to hike after the word “any” was added to the statement (“In determining the extent of any additional policy firming…”), Goolsbee said: “If we get improvement on inflation, that we’re clearly moving to target – and we’re still not there yet, we still need to see these markers – if we get inflation back into the range of our dual-mandate goals, then we’ve got more symmetric concerns, let’s call it, about both sides of the dual mandate,” he said. When he was asked about what the market “heard” in reaction to the meeting, he said: “It’s not what you say, or what the chair says. It’s what did they hear, and what did they want to hear. I was confused a bit; was the market just imputing, here’s what we want them to be saying? I thought there was some confusion how the FOMC even works. We don’t debate specific policies, speculatively, about the future. We vote on that meeting. And we voted at that meeting not to raise rates, we put out an SEP that forecast for next year that the individuals on the FOMC collectively thought conditions are going to be not a recession and inflation is going to be coming down, which would allow us to reduce the restrictiveness. Also today, Cleveland Fed president Loretta Mester, a voting member of the FOMC in 2024, came out in an interview in the Financial Times to douse those rate-cut fires.“The next phase is not when to reduce rates, even though that’s where the markets are at,” she said. “It’s about how long do we need monetary policy to remain restrictive in order to be assured that inflation is on that sustainable and timely path back to 2%.”“The markets are a little bit ahead,” she added. “They jumped to the end part, which is ‘We’re going to normalize quickly’, and I don’t see that.” On Friday, it was New York Fed president and Fed vice chair John Williams who, in an interview on CNBC, trampled all over those rate-cut fires:“We aren’t really talking about rate cuts right now,” he said. “We’re very focused on the question in front of us, which as chair Powell said… is, have we gotten monetary policy to sufficiently restrictive stance in order to ensure the inflation comes back down to 2%? That’s the question in front of us.” When he was asked about futures pricing for a rate cut in March, he said, “I just think it’s just premature to be even thinking about that.” “It is looking like we are at or near that in terms of sufficiently restrictive, but things can change,” he said. “One thing we’ve learned even over the past year is that the data can move and in surprising ways, we need to be ready to move to tighten the policy further, if the progress of inflation were to stall or reverse.” (We linked the CNBC YouTube video of the interview in the Wolf Street comments). Also on Friday, Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic, a voting member of the FOMC in 2024, gave two interviews to step out those rate-cute fires, one with Reuters, and the other later in the day with Marketplace, which aired on NPR. In the Reuters interview, Bostic said, that he sees two rate cuts in 2024, starting “sometime in the third quarter” if inflation continues to drop as expected. “I’m not really feeling that this is an imminent thing,” he said, and policymakers still need “several months” to accumulate enough data and confidence that inflation will continue to fall before moving away from the current policy rates.”Bostic told Reuters that he will be cautious about cutting rates too soon. “We’ve been getting close to the neighborhood” in terms of the three-month and six-month core PCE readings, he said, but “I am going to try not to presuppose anything at this point,” he said. “We’ve been surprised throughout the pandemic on a number of fronts, some to the good and some to the bad.” In the Marketplace interview, Bostic said: “I use the words patient, cautious and resolute. And this is the time when we’ve got to be resolute, and make sure that we don’t jump to conclusions and declare victory. Look, there’s still a ways to go.”“And you know, headline inflation is a little above 3%, core is above 3%. And our target is 2%. So we need to really make sure that we’re well on our way. And when we do that, then I’ll be feeling a lot better. But I don’t feel like we’re there right now.” And he affirmed what John Williams had said on CNBC earlier on Friday: “I’m actually where John is on this. I’ve been saying for a long time, we need to be willing and comfortable being higher for longer.”
Fed's rosier outlook could mean end of emergency lending facility -Recent forecasts from the Federal Reserve projecting greater stability in 2024 could spell the end for an increasingly popular funding facility at the central bank. Last week, Fed governors and reserve bank presidents compiled their quarterly projections for the coming three years. Overall, the forecasters called for stronger economic growth, a lower unemployment rate and slower price growth than they had in September. They also indicated that several interest rate cuts could be in order in the coming 12 months.While the prospect of less restrictive monetary policy was welcomed by banks and financial market participants broadly, some analysts say the rosier outlook makes it less likely that theBank Term Fund Program, or BTFP — which was set up in response to the bank failures of this past spring — will be renewed next March. "The biggest issue was that the interest rate environment was very high and very harsh for banks, so if that sort of environment persisted into 2024 and beyond then, there would be good reason to at least consider authorizing it for one more year," said Derek Tang, co-founder of the Washington-based research firm Monetary Policy Analytics. "With the latest [Fed projections], the committee is pulling forward when it thinks it's going to start easing interest rates and suggest it is much less worried about inflation. That means longer-term bond yields are going to fall at a pace that relieves banks of that pressure."On March 12, after the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, the Fed Board of Governors invoked Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act — a statute that allows it to establish emergency lending facilities to avert the destabilization of the banking system — to create the BTFP. Banks and other eligible depositories can use the facility to access low-cost, one-year lans by pledging collateral to the facility at full par value. Most lending facilities apply a haircut to assets based on current market value. Fed officials have described it as a "backstop" for the sector, aimed at both quelling depositor concerns and givig banks a tool for generating liquidity.Coming into 2023, many banks had unrealized losses on their balance sheet as result of the Fed's interest rate hikes. With new government debt paying higher rates, existing Treasury securities saw their trading values diminished. As withdrawals mounted, Silicon Valley Bank and others were forced to sell these assets at a loss to satisfy requests, which then led to further depositor concerns. The BTFP aimed to break that cycle by enabling banks and credit unions to swap securities with depressed values for liquidity without incurring losses.
Fed's regional banks adopt policy on public disclosure --The Federal Reserve's 12 regional banks adopted a limited policy for responding to public requests for information, following calls from lawmakers for greater transparency from the branches of the central bank. The policy, released Thursday by the New York Fed bank, takes effect Jan. 1. It details which records are subject to disclosure, rules for requesting them and certain exemptions, such as items related to "internal personnel rules and practices." The reserve banks' immunity to federal freedom-of-information law has frustrated lawmakers from both political parties in recent years. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, and then-Republican Senator Patrick Toomey last year introduced legislation that would make the reserve banks subject to congressional oversight requests under the act. The new Fed policy stops well short of federal public disclosure requirements. It would permit the release of policy statements, administrative staff manuals and instructions, as well as forms available to the public or banks. The public portion of some applications made by banks will also be available. Only records created on or after Jan. 1, 2024, would be subject to disclosure. Exempt from disclosure are internal personnel rules and practices, records related to extensions of credit or commercially sensitive information, memos, notes or letters prior to decisions or otherwise privileged, security procedures and records related to bank examinations. "Unlike what some members of Congress were looking for, this seems like a step backward rather than a step forward," said Andrew Levin, a former Fed adviser and a professor at Dartmouth College. "The entire Federal Reserve system should just agree that they will follow the regulations of FOIA as written by Congress." Enhanced transparency is essential to boosting public confidence so the Fed can carry out its responsibilities, Levin added.
CBO on the Economic Outlook: No Downturn, Higher Rates - Menzie Chinn -- From CBO’s Current View of the Economy From 2023 to 2025:Compared with its February 2023 projections, CBO’s current projections exhibit weaker growth, lower unemployment, and higher interest rates in 2024 and 2025.2 The agency’s current projections of inflation are mixed relative to those made in February 2023.Table 1 summarizes:CBO’s path for GDP looks slightly better than the Survey of Professional Forecasters median, matches 2024Q4 FT-IGM forecast. Some differences arise from the information sets — SPF was based on beginning November data, CBO’s on data up to December 5th. The December 14 Atlanta Fed GDPNow implied level of GDP is substantially above the CBO path (GDPNow is 2.6% q/q SAAR vs. CBO 0.8%) Figure 1: GDP (bold black), CBO December projection (sky blue), Survey of Professional Forecasters November median forecast (pink), FT-IGM December median (red square), GDPNow of 14 December (green square), all in bn.Ch.2017$ SAAR. Source: BEA 2023Q3 2nd release, CBO (December 2023), Philadelphia Fed, Atlanta Fed, and author’s calculations. Figure 2: Ten year Treasury yield (bold black), CBO projection (sky blue), Survey of Professional Forecasters median (pink), in %; 10 yr – Fed funds spread (bold blue), CBO projection (light blue), in %. 2023Q4 observations are for data through Dec. 15. Source: Treasury, Federal Reserve Board via FRED, CBO (December 2023), and author’s calculations.There’s an interesting divergence between SPF survey forecasts and CBO projections, where CBO projects a temporary decline and then increase. SPF (admittedly from November as opposed to December) sees a steady decline. Two points highlighted by CBO explain why the interest rate path is higher than in February:
- Higher interest rates in 2024 and 2025 reflect stronger economic activity in 2023, which resulted in the Federal Reserve raising the target range for the federal funds rate higher than what CBO projected in February 2023.
- The upward revision to inflation in the consumer price index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) in 2025 (by 0.3 percentage points) reflects faster-than-expected growth in the cost of housing services. (The CPI-U places more weight on the cost of housing services than the PCE price index does.) PCE inflation in 2024 that is lower than previously projected (by 0.3 percentage points) stems from better-than-expected improvements in supply conditions affecting prices that receive more weight in the PCE price index than in the CPI-U.
One thing to remember is that CBO is required to make projections based on current law. SPF and FT-IGM respondents are not, and can condition on anything.The higher, longer interest rates is demonstrated — relative to February, but not so much to July.Figure 3: Fed funds (bold black), CBO projection (sky blue), CBO July projection (red), CBO Feb projection (salmon), in %. 2023Q4 observations are for data through Dec. 15. Source: Treasury, Federal Reserve Board via FRED, CBO (December 2023), and author’s calculations. Note that the projected Fed funds rate is for a projected December 2024 12 month PCE inflation rate of 2.1% (2.4% core).
Are Foreign Holders Finally Bailing Out of the Incredibly Ballooning US National Debt? by Wolf Richter 0 The total amount of Treasury securities outstanding has reached $33.89 trillion and is going to hit $34 trillion shortly. Every one of these securities must be sold to someone, and foreign holders play a huge but declining role: Foreign holders in aggregate have kept their holdings of US Treasury securities roughly stable for the past two years. In October, their holdings dipped to $7.56 trillion, up about 6% from a year ago, but the same as in June 2021, according to TIC data from the Treasury Department released Tuesday afternoon (red line in the chart below)
- The top six financial centers (London, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Cayman Islands, Ireland) decreased their holdings to $2.22 trillion, down from the record in August (blue line):
- Japan, #1 single US creditor, increased its holdings in October to $1.10 trillion (green), but that’s down from the $1.3 trillion range in 2021.
- China and Hong Kong combined further reduced their holdings to $969 billion (purple). Foreign holders have not kept up buying the incredibly ballooning US government debt, and as a result, the share of their holdings has plunged to a share of 22.4%, from the range of around 33% in 2015. In other words, the US debt financing has become less dependent on foreign holders:
The six largest financial centers – the UK (actually the City of London), Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Cayman Islands, and Ireland – reduced their holdings a little in October, after the record in August, to $2.22 trillion These countries specialize in handling and often obscuring the financial holdings of global companies, individuals, and governments. Ireland is a favorite for US companies to store their profits:
- UK: $693 billion
- Luxembourg: $345 billion
- Cayman Islands: $324 billion
- Ireland: $299 billion
- Belgium (home of Euroclear): $285 billion
- Switzerland: $276 billion.
Japan’s holdings, after dropping sharply last year, have zigzagged up again this year, and in October ticked up to $1.1 trillion, up by 3.2% from a year ago.Late last year, the Ministry of Finance sold some US-dollar assets, presumably Treasury securities, or let T-bills mature without replacement, to get the dollar-cash, and then blew $68 billion in dollar-cash to buy yen in the foreign exchange market to prop up the yen after it had plunged to ¥150 to the dollar by October 2022.China and Hong Kong combined have been unloading Treasuries for years. In October, their combined holdings of Treasuries fell to $969 billion, the lowest in the data going back to 2011 (red in the chart below), down by 8.9% from a year ago.During the capital-flight panic in 2016, China sold Treasury securities to prop up the RMB. It then increased its holdings again. But since Covid, the combined holdings have plunged by 29%.
White House Says US Can Only Fund One More Weapons Package for Ukraine - The White House said on Monday that a weapons package will be provided to Ukraine later this month, and after that, the US will be out of funds to arm Ukraine until Congress authorizes more spending on the proxy war. According to POLITICO, the Pentagon still has $4.4 billion in Presidential Drawdown Authority, which allows the US to send weapons to Ukraine straight from military stockpiles. But the US will run out of funding needed to replenish the arms being sent.Mike McCord, the Pentagon’s comptroller, made Congress aware of the situation in a letter he sent on Sunday.“We are still planning one more aid package to Ukraine later this month. However, when that one’s done, as the comptroller Mr. McCord made clear in his note to Congress today, we will have no more replenishment authority available to us, and we’re going to need Congress to act without delay, as we have been saying,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.The Biden administration is seeking over $60 billion to fund the war in Ukraine for another year as part of a massive $111 billion spending package that also includes military aid for Israel and Taiwan and has been pleading with Congress to pass it.“It is essential that Congress act without delay on the Administration’s pending supplemental request. Doing so is in our clear national interest, and our assistance is vitally needed so Ukraine can continue to fight for freedom,” McCord said in the letter.
Putin Calls Biden's Claim That Russia Will Attack NATO 'Nonsense' - Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed President Biden’s claim that Russia will attack NATO territory if it wins the war in Ukraine, calling the idea “nonsense.”President Biden and officials in his administration have been claiming Russia will invade NATO countries in Eastern Europe if the US doesn’t continue funding the war in Ukraine and that American troops would then have to fight.“If Putin takes Ukraine, he won’t stop there,” Biden said in a recent speech where he pleaded for more spending on the Ukraine war. “If Putin attacks a NATO Ally — if he keeps going and then he attacks a NATO Ally — well, we’ve committed as a NATO member that we’d defend every inch of NATO territory.”Biden continued, “Then we’ll have something that we don’t seek and that we don’t have today: American troops fighting Russian troops — American troops fighting Russian troops if he moves into other parts of NATO.”Responding to the claim, Putin said he had no interest in fighting NATO. “It is complete nonsense – and I think President Biden understands that,” he said. “Russia has no reason, no interest — no geopolitical interest, neither economic, political nor military — to fight with NATO countries.” President Biden is seeking over $60 billion to fuel the war in Ukraine and prop up the government of President Volodymyr Zelensky, even though Ukrainian forces have no chance of beating Russia on the battlefield.
Senate wraps up final votes of 2023, passes FAA reauthorization - Senators on Tuesday wrapped up the majority of its business for the year as it held the final votes before lawmakers departed for the Christmas break. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced late Tuesday night that Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) lifted his hold on a temporary reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) authority and subsequently passed the three-month extension via unanimous consent. Bennet had kept his hold in place in order to give negotiators more time to hammer out a border deal to unlock aid for Ukraine, but both sides admitted in recent days that there is much more work to reach a framework deal, let alone on legislative text. Both sides are hopeful to have a deal in place by the time lawmakers return on Jan. 8. “[Sen. Bennet] has voiced increased optimism in getting a supplemental done, and I agree with the senator from Colorado,” Schumer said on the floor. “This won’t be easy, but we’ll keep working because this is so important to our country and to the world.” The New York Democrat also advanced the nomination of John David Russell to become a district judge for the Northern District of Oklahoma by a voice vote and teed up a number of nominees to be voted on when the chamber reconvenes in the new year. The Senate will be in session on Wednesday to conduct “housekeeping business,” but votes are not scheduled for three weeks. The upper chamber was slated to complete its work late last week, but returned on Monday for work with the hopes of a border deal after negotiators met throughout the weekend. Senators involved in the talks have reported progress in recent days and believe momentum is in their direction, but that more time is needed to hammer out an agreement. “Our colleagues are making encouraging progress on this front,” Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a joint statement. “Challenging issues remain, but we are committed to addressing needs at the southern border and to helping allies and partners confront serious threats in Israel, Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific.” “As negotiators work through remaining issues, it is our hope that their efforts will allow the Senate to take swift action on the national security supplemental early in the new year,” they continued. “In the time remaining this year, Senate and Administration negotiators will continue to work in good faith toward finalizing their agreement.”
Morning Report — No border deal; Trump knocked off Colorado ballot - When Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced last week he would hold his chamber in session past the start of their holiday recess, he seemed optimistic about crafting a last-minute southern border deal that would open up aid to Ukraine. Now, that goal looks far out of reach, and the extra workdays for senators are amounting to more of a “check off some last-minute business” week. Case in point: The Senate on Tuesday confirmed nearly a dozen nominees for top military posts, marking the end of Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-Ala.) remaining holds over senior promotions. With senators rushing to wrap up before the holiday, Schumer secured a deal to confirm all 11 nominees for four-star positions by voice vote. Their confirmation ends Tuberville’s blockade of military nominations, which was in its 11th month. The Alabama senator began blocking the confirmation of senior military promotions, which at its height reached more than 400 general and flag officers, in February in protest of the Pentagon’s policy of reimbursing travel costs for troops seeking abortions — an unprecedented holdup that prompted outcries from Pentagon brass and even fellow Republicans (The Hill and Politico).
Senate Adjourns Until 2024 With No Deal on Ukraine Aid - The Senate adjourned for the holidays on Wednesday without reaching a deal on Ukraine aid and will not return to Washington until January 8. The Senate was initially due to break for holiday recess at the end of last week but Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had senators return on Monday to try and reach a border deal to unlock a massive $111 billion spending package that includes military aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. Republicans want significant changes to asylum and immigration laws to restrict the flow of migrants entering the country before approving the foreign military aid package, which includes over $60 billion to fund the Ukraine war for another year. The White House has indicated it’s willing to support new immigration restrictions, but it’s unclear when an agreement will be made. According to The Hill, a group of Senate and White House negotiators have agreed to hold virtual meetings over Christmas and New Year’s break, but no votes will happen until next year. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) adjourned his chamber last week. Johnson and other Republican leadership have made clear they will support the foreign military aid package once the Democrats make enough concessions on border policy. Democrats are lashing out at Republicans for not approving the aid for Ukraine. “You know who is going to have the best Christmas imaginable? Vladimir Putin,” Sen. Mark Warner wrote on X. “Our failure to renew aid to Ukraine is a tremendous gift to him. We must get it done next year.”
As Congress kicks Ukraine aid to 2024, supplies and hope dwindle - With Congress unlikely to pass a new Ukraine aid package before the new year, the Ukrainians are bracing for a tough winter as military operations slow down, troops are forced to preserve ammunition and Russian attacks continue to hammer energy infrastructure across the country. The breakdown of U.S. and European support also threatens to derail Ukraine’s economy and give Russian forces an upper hand on the battlefield. Maksym Skrypchenko, the president of the Transatlantic Dialogue Center, a Ukrainian think tank that advises the government in Kyiv, said Ukraine can hold together for only a short time before confronting a serious shortage of supplies. “In a month or two, we will be not able to defend ourselves against Russian missiles. We will not be able to conduct huge military operations,” he said. “More than one month is a real problem.” Skrypchenko said it will be a “disaster” if there is no support at all next year. He remains optimistic Congress will reach a deal, though he concedes time is not on his side. “With every week, the chances of this happening are decreasing,” he said. “It’s going to be more difficult for those Ukraine-friendly GOP senators and members of the House to vote for Ukraine support because it’s completely linked with internal debates in the U.S. And it’s also painful for us, because we also understand the logic of many Republicans, and we don’t want to be involved in the internal politics.” President Biden wants $61 billion to keep Ukraine in the fight, but that money is being held up as Congress debates border security. Republicans have tied migration reform to Ukraine aid, but lawmakers are at an impasse on how to deal with both issues. The final tranche of U.S. aid will run out on Dec. 30, when the last of the money goes to replace Defense Department stocks that have been sent to Ukraine, Pentagon Comptroller Michael McCord wrote in a letter to congressional leaders this month. “Absent congressional action to approve the supplemental, the [Pentagon] anticipates only one additional drawdown package will be available,” McCord wrote, urging Congress to support Ukraine “without delay.” Ukrainians began saving ammunition over the fall, aware Congress was not likely to pass another aid package anytime soon, according to Skrypchenko and public reports. But those reserves can only last so long, and troops are already struggling with a shortage of artillery rounds, which is expected to turn more severe after weeks without foreign assistance. Air defense munitions may also run down after a couple of months, and a shortage of those critical defenses would allow Russia to pound Ukrainian infrastructure at an even faster pace.
And It's Gone: "War In Ukraine" Quietly Scrubbed From WaPo Masthead - "It's over" - comments investigative journalist Kit Klarenberg after noticing that The Washington Post quietly deleted a prominent tab from its Masthead. What was a long featured "War in Ukraine" tab, which had been there from the start of the war going back to Feb. 2022 has disappeared...An Internet Archive search and review of all Washington Post frontpages shows the tab was there throughout all of 2022. It was also present through most of 2023, until very recently. Ironically just yesterday Ukraine's President Zelensky again complained that the world's focus has been taken off supporting his country's struggle due in large part to the events in Israel and Gaza.
US Eyes Frozen Russian Central Bank Funds to Fund Ukraine - The Biden administration is quietly signaling its support for seizing more than $300 billion in frozen Russian central bank funds to use to fund Ukraine, The New York Times reported on Thursday.The central bank funds are held in the US, Europe, and Japan and were frozen using sanctions implemented after Russia invaded Ukraine last year. Stealing the funds and giving them to Ukraine would be an unprecedented move and would take the US-led Western economic war against Russia to another level.Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen previously said that seizing the funds without action from Congress is “not something that is legally permissible in the United States.” US officials have also been concerned that the move could make other countries hesitant to keep funds in dollars or at the New York Federal Reserve Bank.But as the Biden administration is struggling to get Congress to authorize more funding for the proxy war, it’s taking a closer look at the idea of using the Russian funds. According to the Times, the US has been discussing the issue in recent weeks with fellow Group of 7 nations and pressed them to come up with a strategy by February 24, the two-year anniversary of the Russian invasion.President Biden has yet to sign off on the strategy as the details are being worked out. One issue that needs to be settled is whether the funds would go directly to Ukraine or disbursed in another way. G7 officials are also discussing whether the funds should be limited to spending on Ukraine’s government and reconstruction or used for its military as well.
US Granted Access to 15 Military Bases in Finland Under New Deal - The US and Finland signed a Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) on Monday that gives the US access to 15 military bases in the Nordic nation, which shares an over 800-mile border with Russia. According to The Barent’s Observer, the northernmost site in the agreement is a border guard base in Ivalo, a small town located only about 30 miles from the Russian border. Moscow has warned that it will respond to the expansion of NATO infrastructure in Finland, the alliance’s newest member, by building up military assets in western Russia. The Kremlin said on Friday that the DCA will increase tensions in the region. “This will certainly lead to tension. We can only regret this,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “We had excellent relations with Finland. No one threatened anyone, there were no problems or complaints against each other. No one infringed on anyone’s interests, there was mutual respect.” Peskov continued, “But now, when Finland is a NATO member and NATO’s military infrastructure will already enter Finnish territory, this will pose an obvious threat to us.” The US already signed a similar deal with Sweden, which gives the US access to 17 bases. Sweden is still waiting for Turkey and Hungary to ratify its NATO membership so it can formally abandon its centuries-old policy of neutrality.
Sanders Resolution Aims to Have US 'Reckon With Its Complicity' in Gaza - Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced a resolution Thursday that would cut off all security assistance to Israel if the U.S. State Department fails to quickly produce a report on the country's human rights practices, which have faced heightened scrutiny and condemnation during the devastating assault on Gaza.Sanders' (I-Vt.) resolution is privileged, meaning that after 10 days the senator can force a vote on discharging the measure from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The resolution requires just simple-majority support to pass out of committee and clear the full Senate.Under the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA), the U.S. is barred from providing security aid to any government engaged in flagrant human rights abuses. As Sanders' office explains in a summary of the new resolution, Section 502B(c) of the FAA "allows Congress to request information on a particular country's human rights practices and to alter or terminate U.S. security assistance to that country in light of the information received."Should Sanders' resolution pass the Senate, the U.S. State Department would be required within 30 days to submit a report on Israel's human rights practices, including information "concerning alleged violations of internationally recognized human rights by the government of Israel" and the U.S. role in such violations.The resolution, if approved, would cut off all security assistance to Israel if the State Department fails to produce the required report. If the report is submitted, lawmakers "may at any time thereafter adopt a joint resolution conditioning, restricting, terminating, or continuing security assistance" to Israel, according to Sanders' office.That resolution would also be privileged, requiring a simple majority vote in the House and Senate and the signature of Biden, whose administration has opposed conditioning aid to Israel and worked toexpedite arms transfers even as he has raised concerns about the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza."The scale of the suffering in Gaza is unimaginable—it will be remembered among some of the darkest chapters of our modern history," Sanders said in a statement. "This is a humanitarian cataclysm, and it is being done with American bombs and money. We need to face up to that fact—and then we need to end our complicity in those actions." The text of Sanders' resolution runs through just some of the horrors that Gazans have experienced over the past two months, including the Israeli military's killing of around 19,000 people, the large-scale destruction of homes and other civilian infrastructure, and the displacement of more than 85% of the territory's population of 2.3 million."The Israeli military has made extensive use of Mark 84 2,000-pound bombs, Mark 83 1,000-pound bombs, Mark 82 500-pound bombs, and 155mm artillery in densely populated urban areas with a large civilian presence," the resolution states, noting that such weaponry is supplied by the U.S.Sanders, who has faced progressive criticism for refusing to demand a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, has urged the Biden administration towithdraw its support for the roughly $10 billion in military aid that Congress is considering providing to the Israeli government as it commits mass atrocities in the Gaza Strip."We all know Hamas' brutal terrorist attack began this war," Sanders said Thursday. "But the Netanyahu government's indiscriminate bombing is immoral, it is in violation of international law, and the Congress must demand answers about the conduct of this campaign. A just cause for war does not excuse atrocities in the conduct of that war."
House Democrats write Biden urging ‘immediate and significant shift’ of Israeli military strategy - A half dozen national security-focused House Democrats sent a letter to President Biden on Tuesday demanding he double down on efforts to make an “immediate and significant shift” in Israeli military strategy.The group said the administration’s pressure campaign to temper the Israeli military strategy in Gaza has not been effective, and the lawmakers demanded stronger action using “all our leverage.”“We are deeply concerned by [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s] current military strategy in Gaza. The mounting civilian death toll and humanitarian crisis are unacceptable and not in line with American interests; nor do they advance the cause of security for our ally Israel,” the letter reads.“We also believe it jeopardizes efforts to destroy the terrorist organization Hamas and secure the release of all hostages,” the lawmakers continued.The statement was signed by Reps. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.). All are members of the House Intelligence, Armed Services or Foreign Affairs committees.The letter marks a rise in tensions between Biden and Congress over Israel, as support for the Biden administration’s response to the conflict wanes.Israel has continued a brutal ground offensive into southern Gaza in recent weeks after a brief cease-fire resulted in about half of the hostages held by Hamas being released. As international pressure to return to a cease-fire mounts, the Biden administration has urged the Israeli military to abandon the mass military campaign and scale back to limited operations.But the Israeli government has shown no signs of heeding that advice. The lawmakers said they have seen “no significant change” in Israeli strategy from U.S. advising.The military action, alongside reports of torture of Palestinians in Gaza and an increasing humanitarian crisis, have created concerns — including within the Biden administration — that the invasion of Gaza could serve to embolden support for Hamas instead of eliminating the group.The lawmakers compared the Israeli operation to the failed U.S. “war on terror” in Afghanistan, where a continued American military operation saw the Taliban return to power 20 years after the conflict began.“We know from personal experience that you can’t destroy a terror ideology with military force alone,” the letter reads. “And it can, in fact, make it worse.”At least 12,000 Palestinians have died since the outset of the war in October; about 70 percent of them were women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Nearly the entirety of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has been displaced from their homes and requires humanitarian aid, the United Nations said.
Lloyd Austin Visits Israel, Vows Continued Support for Gaza Slaughter - Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with Israeli officials in Tel Aviv on Monday and vowed continued US military support for the Israeli onslaught on Gaza despite the massive civilian casualty rate.In a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Austin said the US “commitment to Israel is unshakeable,” according to The Times of Israel. “America’s commitment to Israel is unwavering, and no individual group or state should test our resolve,” he said.Austin vowed the US would continue to provide Israel with “the equipment that you need to defend your country,” referring to bombs and other military aid the US has been shipping to Israel since October 7 on a near-daily basis. US officials have said they want Israel to wrap up the current phase of its war, which involves constant airstrikes and a ground campaign, in the next few weeks and take a more targeted approach against Hamas. Austin said the US had thoughts about more “surgical” operations but made clear the timeline of the onslaught is up to Israel.“Regarding the timeline, this is Israel’s operation, and I’m not here to dictate timelines or terms. Our support to Israel’s right to defend itself is ironclad, as you’ve heard me say a number of times, and that’s not going to change,” he said. At a press conference with Austin, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the Israeli military will “continue to operate in different levels of intensity” as it sees fit and will eventually be able to “transition gradually to the next phase.”
'Not Worth the Paper It Is Written On': US Guts Gaza Resolution -- Anger at the Biden administration grew late Thursday after the United Arab Emirates circulated a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that omits an earlier version's call for a suspension of hostilities in the Gaza Strip, a change that could render the text's demand for an increase in humanitarian aid moot. The U.S., Israel's chief ally and arms supplier, has repeatedly delayed a vote on the resolution as it has worked to gut several elements of the text, including an effort to put the U.N. in charge of monitoring humanitarian aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip with the goal of expediting shipments as hundreds of thousands of people starve.Israel urged the United States—which has veto power at the U.N. Security Council (UNSC)—to oppose the language.The latest draft requests that the U.N. secretary-general appoint an official "with responsibility for coordinating, monitoring, and verifying" humanitarian relief shipments to Gaza while "consulting all relevant parties."The resolution that the Security Council is expected to consider on Friday—barring any last-minute objections—is a far cry from the initial draft, which demanded an "urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities." After U.S. objections earlier this week, the text was amended to call for a "suspension" of hostilities.The latest draft merely backs "urgent steps" to "create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.""This is disgraceful," Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, wrote on social media. "Biden has turned the latest UNSC resolution increasingly meaningless. By striking the call for suspension of hostilities, the resolution will now ensure that Israel's slaughter in Gaza continues."U.S. President Joe Biden "is effectively running war crimes management for Israel," Parsi added.
Biden says he did not ask for cease-fire in call with Israel’s Netanyahu - President Biden said that he did not ask Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to negotiate a cease-fire in the country’s war with Hamas during a call Saturday, despite rising pressure to do so. Biden told reporters that he had a “long talk” with Netanyahu, not discussing its contents, later adding that he did not ask for a cease-fire.The international community has nearly unanimously urged the U.S. and Israel to push for a cease-fire in Gaza, as the Palestinian death toll from the Israeli military offensive rises.Over 20,000 Palestinians have died in the war, Gaza health officials said, and nearly the entirety of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is in dire need of humanitarian aid, according to the United Nations.In a U.N. vote last week, just eight countries joined Israel and the U.S. in voting against a cease-fire resolution, and the U.S. abstained on a U.N. Security Council vote Friday on Gaza aid after negotiating for days to water down the measure.Within the U.S., a rising number of lawmakers and members of the public have also called on the Biden administration to change its Israel policy. A half dozen moderate Democrats urged the administration to step up pressure on Israel to end its all-out ground offensive on Gaza this week in a letter to the president.“We are deeply concerned by [Netanyahu’s] current military strategy in Gaza. The mounting civilian death toll and humanitarian crisis are unacceptable and not in line with American interests; nor do they advance the cause of security for our ally Israel,” the letter reads.“We also believe it jeopardizes efforts to destroy the terrorist organization Hamas and secure the release of all hostages,” the lawmakers continued.American support for military aid to Israel among the public has also waned since the start of the war in early October.
US Airstrike Reported in Somalia for First Time in Months - The US launched an airstrike in southern Somalia on Sunday as part of an operation in collaboration with the Mogadishu-based government, Voice of America reported. The US-backed government claimed the operation killed a senior al-Shabaab commander. US Africa Command (AFRICOM) confirmed the accuracy of the government’s report to VOA, a US-state-funded media outlet, although AFRICOM has not announced the strike in a press release.The last declared US airstrike in Somalia took place in August, although the monitoring group Airwars reported several suspected US strikes in the country in September. Not every US airstrike in Somalia is reported by the military, as US operations in the country are shrouded in secrecy. US airstrikes in Somalia escalated in 2022 after President Biden ordered the deployment of up to 500 troops to the country, and the Mogadishu-based government launched an offensive against al-Shabaab. When the House debated a resolution to withdraw from Somalia earlier this year, lawmakers said there were 900 troops in the country. US troops on the ground in Somalia provide training for a special fighting force known as the Danab Brigade.US operations in Somalia under Biden have not gotten as intense as they were during the Trump administration when the US bombed the country at a record pace.The US military hypes the threat of al-Shabaab due to its size and al-Qaeda affiliation, but it’s widely believed the group does not have ambitions outside of Somalia. Al-Shabaab was born out of a US-backed Ethiopian invasion in 2006 that toppled the Islamic Courts Union, a coalition of Muslim groups who briefly held power in Mogadishu after ousting CIA-backed warlords, and it wasn’t until 2012 that al-Shabaab pledged loyalty to al-Qaeda after years of fighting the US and its proxies.
US announces naval operation targeting Yemen and Iran - US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced Monday the start of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a naval operation in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, targeting the Houthi rebels in Yemen and threatening Iran. Austin made the announcement in Israel, thus underscoring the role that Israeli forces, now engaged in mass murder in Gaza, will play in any future war with Iran. “The recent escalation in reckless Houthi attacks originating from Yemen threatens the free flow of commerce, endangers innocent mariners and violates international law,” Austin said Monday in a statement. “This is an international challenge that demands collective action.” Austin made clear the main target of the operation was Iran, saying at a press briefing in Israel, “Iran is raising tensions by continuing to support terrorist groups and malicious attacks by these Iranian proxies who threaten the region and risk a broader conflict.” In a backhanded threat, Austin said, “Of course, the United States does not seek war. And we urgently call on Iran to take steps to de-escalate.” The US has sent an armada of nearly 20 warships to the Middle East, led by two aircraft carrier battle groups. The new naval operation will include most of the major imperialist powers, including the UK, France, Italy and Spain. On Saturday, the US Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Carney engaged over a dozen drones launched from Yemen. Austin said the initiative was begun “to tackle the challenge posed by this non-state actor launching ballistic missiles and uncrewed aerial vehicles at merchant vessels from many nations lawfully transiting international waters.” At a press briefing with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Austin said, “We’re taking action to build an international coalition to address this threat.” After Austin leaves Israel, he is scheduled to visit the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, currently in the eastern Mediterranean. Austin’s visit is part of a parade of high-level US officials visiting Israel. General C. Q. Brown, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, was also in Israel on Monday. Last week, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan visited Israel, while CIA chief Bill Burns also met with Qatari and Israeli officials in Warsaw, Poland. Earlier this month, Sullivan threatened military action against the Houthi rebels, saying the US would “take appropriate action … at a time and place of our choosing.” USNI News, the news service of the US Navy, gave a sense of the massive deployment currently under way: “The U.S. Navy has at least three destroyers in the vicinity of the Bab el Mandeb strait between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden—USS Carney (DDG-64), USS Mason (DDG-87) and USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116) have all operated in the region. The U.K. Royal Navy guided-missile destroyer HMS Diamond (D34) and the French Navy guided-missile frigate FS Languedoc (653) have operated in the Red Sea as well. “Over the weekend, the U.S. moved aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) and its escorts to the Gulf of Aden—between Somalia and Yemen, according to USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker. Shipspotters also saw guided-missile destroyer USS Laboon (DDG-58) enter the Red Sea from the Suez Canal on Monday.” During his visit to Israel, Austin reaffirmed the US’s unlimited support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza. “I’m here with a clear message,” Austin said. “America’s support for Israel’s security is unshakable.” He added, “Hamas committed atrocities during its attack on Israel. It is a continuation of its professed goals: the killing of Jews and the elimination of the Jewish state. No country should tolerate such a danger.” He concluded, “Israel has every right to defend itself against a fanatical terrorist group whose stated purpose is to murder Jews and eradicate the Jewish state. … So make no mistake, Hamas should never again be able to project terror from Gaza into the sovereign state of Israel.”
New task force will combat Houthi threat in Red Sea - The Pentagon announced Operation Prosperity Guardian to protect merchant ships and commercial boats from the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.The new task force includes the U.K., Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain.It will fall under the Combined Maritime Forces, a multinational alliance tasked with defending the world’s shipping lanes.The new security initiative will also be included in the alliance’s Task Force 153, in charge of defending the Red Sea and other regional areas.Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the task force will help keep the Houthi rebels at bay after the group has attacked several merchant ships through the important transit corridor of the Red Sea.“This is not just a U.S. issue — this is an international problem, and it deserves an international response,” Austin told reporters on Monday.Not everyone has backed the idea.Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the Biden administration must deter the Houthis from attacking in the first place. “We cannot let terrorists dictate the flow of global trade in the world’s largest shipping lane,” Wicker said in a statement, warning there could be a “catastrophe” in the Red Sea if the U.S. fails to act.Several companies — including oil giant BP and container shipping firmMaersk — have already said they will redirect transit routes to avoid the Red Sea.The World Shipping Council welcomed the news of the new task force. “The mission of this task force is critical to protecting seafarers and to defending the foundational principle of freedom of navigation,” the organization wrote in a statement.
'Operation Prosperity Guardian' - Pentagon Launches Expansive Naval Coalition To Defend Red Sea Passage -A US-led naval coalition is finally coming together to protect international shipping transit in the Red Sea and vital Bab al-Mandab Strait, per a breaking development from Politico's chief Pentagon correspondent: "The Pentagon is expected to announce tomorrow the formation of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a new task force to protect shipping from Houthi attacks in the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait and Red Sea, per DOD official," writes Lara Seligman on X."The operation will be within the framework of the existing Combined Maritime Force 153, a partnership of 39 nations focused on counter piracy and counter terrorism in the Red Sea."Soon after this reporting, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, "I am announcing the establishment of Operation Prosperity Guardian, an important new multinational security initiative under the umbrella of the Combined Maritime Forces and the leadership of its Task Force 153, which focuses on security in the Red Sea."Days ago it was reported that the Pentagon was looking to cobble together the 'broadest possible' coalition task force, amid what's now become daily Iran-backed Houthi attacks on commercial vessels. The Houthis have also launched rockets and drones into southern Israel at various times, triggering US warship intercepts. Just hours ago, we reminded readers of Zoltan Poszar's prediction of central-bank-analogized 'military protection' and said it's soon to become a reality... and just like that, it has: It has also emerged that Australia is expected to play a major role in Red Sea operations in the context of deepening ties with the US related to the AUKUS deal.Australia is reportedly in talks with the Pentagon over a US request to send an Australian warship to the Red Sea to assist in dealing with Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have been disrupting commercial shipping in the region and launching missile and drone strikes against US targets and their allies. This request comes just days after Congress passed laws enabling the sale of Virginia class submarines to Australia under the terms of the AUKUS pact.The agreement marks just the second time that the United States has shared nuclear secrets with another country (on purpose, at least), so it appears that there is an element of “I scratch your back, you scratch mine” going on here. This is not without its complications, as many members of Australia’s political establishment (particularly within the ruling Labor Party) still cling to dreams of ‘strategic autonomy’ of the kind that doesn’t even work for Europe.Their fear is that AUKUS, and an Australian warship shooting down drones in the Red Sea, further locks Australia in as an organ of US foreign policy, which it probably does. But really, this is par for the course and probably just the modern incarnation of Australia’s long-running policy of having ‘great and powerful friends’. Quite aside from the diplomatic horse-trading that accompanies it, disruption of shipping in the Red Sea is a big problem, and Europe has the most to lose. 150 years of supply chain improvement risks being unwound as major shipping companies redirect vessels around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid traversing the region to pass through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean.
US Formally Launches Red Sea Military Operation in Response to Houthi Attacks - The US has formally announced the launch of a new military operation in the Red Sea aimed at responding to attacks on commercial shipping by Yemen’s Houthis that started in response to the brutal Israeli assault on Gaza.Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the initiative, dubbed Operation Prosperity Guardian, while on a trip to the region and said the other countries taking part include the UK, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, and Spain.The Houthi attacks have forced some of the world’s largest shipping lines to suspend Red Sea transits, which risks a major impact on the global economy. The British energy giant BP announced Monday that it was stopping all shipments of oil and gas through the waters.The Houthis, formally known as Ansar Allah, have vowed to target all ships heading to and from Israel and said the only way to “restore calm” to the region is through a lasting ceasefire in Gaza. The Houthis have shown no sign of backing down and announced on Monday that they launched two drone attacks on commercial vessels.The US is considering taking military action against the Houthis, which would involve bombing Yemen. The US has backed a Saudi-UAE coalition against the Houthis since 2015, but it’s rare that the US takes direct military action against them.Bloomberg reported that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are split on how the US should respond. The UAE wants military action and for the US to redesignate the Houthis as a “foreign terrorist organization,” which wouldmake the implementation of a Yemen peace deal impossible. For their part, the Saudis fear that military action could provoke more Houthi attacks and break the fragile truce that’s held relatively well in Yemen since April 2022. Before the ceasefire, the Houthis had launched multiple successful missile and drone attacks against Saudi oil facilities.
Houthis Say They Won't Back Down Even If US 'Mobilizes the Entire World' - Yemen’s Houthis responded to the US launching a new military operation in the Red Sea by vowing attacks on commercial shipping in the region will continue even if the US “mobilizes the entire world.”The US launched a 10-nation naval task force, dubbed Operation Prosperity Guardian, after major shipping companies began pausing Red Sea transits due to the Houthi attacks. Bahrain is the only Arab country to participate in the coalition, and no nations with coasts on the Red Sea have joined. “Even if America succeeds in mobilizing the entire world, our military operations will not stop … no matter the sacrifices it costs us,” Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a senior member of the Houthis’ political bureau, wrote on X.In another post, al-Bukhaiti said, “America’s announcement of the establishment of the Coalition of Shame will not prevent us from continuing our military operations until the crimes of genocide in Gaza are stopped and food, medicine and fuel are allowed to enter its besieged population.”The Houthis have vowed to target all commercial vessels heading to or from Israeli ports and have also fired missiles and drones at Israeli territory. In some cases, US warships have intervened and intercepted Houthi attacks.The Houthis, formally known as Ansar Allah, have controlled the Yemeni capital of Sanaa since 2014 and govern the area of Yemen where 70-80% of Yemen’s population lives. The US is considering taking direct military action against the Houthis, which would mean bombing Yemen, a step that could shatter the fragile truce between the Saudis and Houthis that has held relatively well since April 2022.The US is also threatening to kill a Saudi-Houthi peace deal by redesignating the Houthis as a “foreign terrorist organization,” which would make the implementation of the agreement impossible. For their part, Riyadh is asking the US not to strike the Houthis directly over concerns that it would provoke more attacks.
US Forces Have Come Under Attack Over 100 Times in Iraq and Syria Since October - A Pentagon official said Thursday that US troops in Iraq and Syria have come under attack at least 102 times since October 17, when the attacks started due to US support for the Israeli onslaught on Gaza.The Pentagon official told Military Times that the number includes 47 attacks in Iraq and 55 in Syria that involved a “mix of one-way attack drones, rockets, mortars, and close-range ballistic missiles.”At least 66 US troops have been injured in the attacks so far, including five who have been awarded Purple Hearts. US officials say most of the rockets and drones fired at US bases didn’t reach their intended target.Most of the attacks have been claimed by the Islamic Resistance of Iraq, an umbrella group of Iraqi Shia militias. The US has launched several rounds of airstrikes in Syria and Iraq in response and specifically targeted Kataib Hezbollah, one of the main Iran-aligned Shia militias in Iraq.The latest attack that’s been confirmed by the US military took place on Wednesday. US Central Command said a 122mm rocket was fired at the Ain al-Asad airbase in western Iraq, causing no casualties or damage.In 2020, Iraq’s parliament voted to expel all foreign military forces over the US drone strike in Baghdad that killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.The US refused to leave Iraq and pressured the Iraqi government to allow its forces to stay. In an effort to placate anti-US factions, the US formally changed its presence in Iraq from a combat role to an advisory role in December 2021 to help in the fight against ISIS remnants, but the US did not withdraw any troops at the time, and there are 2,500 in the country today.
US Approves $300 Million Sale for Taiwan's Military Information Systems - The State Department has approved a potential $300 million arms sale to Taiwan to support the island’s tactical information systems, the Pentagon announced on December 15.According to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), the deal includes life-cycle support and equipment for Command, Control, Communications, and Computer (C4) capabilities, a military information system that’s meant to synchronize joint forces.The State Department approval begins a period when Congress reviews the sale and can block it, but there is near-unanimous bipartisan support for arming Taiwan. China is strongly opposed to US arms sales to Taiwan and condemned the deal.“This move seriously undermines China’s sovereignty and security interests, harms peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and sends a wrong message to separatist forces seeking ‘Taiwan independence.’ China deplores and strongly opposes this and has made solemn démarches to the US side,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Monday.“No matter how many weapons the US provides to the Taiwan region, it will neither change the historic course of China’s reunification, nor weaken the Chinese people’s firm will in safeguarding our national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Wang said.Since the US severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979, the US has continued to sell weapons to the island, which China views as a violation of the normalization deal, specifically the third joint communiquéissued in 1982 that stated the US did “not seek to carry out a long-term policy of arms sales to Taiwan” and would gradually “reduce its sale of arms to Taiwan, leading, over a period of time, to a final resolution.”
US Increasing Military Exercises With Allies Near China - The US is increasing military exercises with its allies in the Asia Pacific that are meant as a message to China, the commander of the US Navy’s Japan-based Seventh Fleet told The Washington Times. Vice Adm. Karl O. Thomas said the stepped-up exercises were meant to “deter” China, but tensions have only increased in the region, especially in the South China Sea, making conflict more likely. Thomas said he believes “being forward and having many nations working together … is a grand deterrent effect that we really try to amplify.” Over the past year, the US has bolstered its alliance with the Philippines and increased joint military activity in the South China Sea, where China, the Philippines, and several other Southeast Asian nations have overlapping claims. The US has committed to going to war over the dispute by affirming that the US-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty applies to attacks on Philippine vessels in the South China Sea. The increased military ties between Washington and Manila coincided with a significant uptick in dangerous encounters between Chinese and Philippine vessels near disputed reefs. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who came into office last year, has taken a much more aggressive approach in pushing back on China’s claims than his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte. China has also demonstrated that it will not back down in the face of a growing US military presence. Despite the focus on supporting wars in Ukraine and Gaza, the US military buildup aimed at China is still in full swing, which also includes establishing more bases in the region, plans to deploy new missile systems, andunprecedented support for Taiwan. US military officials have openly stated that they’re preparing to fight a future war with China.
US, China Hold First High-Level Military Talks in Over a Year - Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown spoke with his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Liu Zhenli, in a video call on Thursday, marking the first high-level military talks between the US and China in over a year.China halted such communications in August 2022 in response to then-House Speaker Nany Pelosi’s provocative trip to Taiwan. China also declined to hold a meeting earlier this year between Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and former Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu because Li is under US sanctions, which the Biden administration refused to lift.The Pentagon said that during the call between Brown and Liu on Thursday, the two leaders “discussed the importance of working together to responsibly manage competition, avoid miscalculations, and maintain open and direct lines of communication.”The Chinese Defense Ministry said that Liu called on the US to “earnestly respect China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea.” In recent years, the US has significantly increased its military presence in the South China Sea and is strongly backing the Philippines in its maritime dispute with China.The Brown-Liu conversation came about a month after President Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and the two leaders agreed to resume military dialogue. NBC News reported on Wednesday that Xi told Biden during the meeting that China will eventually “reunify” with Taiwan, preferably by peaceful means.The NBC report caused a stir among China hawks in the US, but Xi was repeating what has been China’s official position for decades. Chinese officials often say they seek “peaceful reunification” but do not rule out using force. According to NBC, Xi also said predictions that China might invade Taiwan by 2025 or 2027 were wrong because he has not set a time frame.
US issues dire warning to North Korea on nuclear threat -The U.S. issued an intense warning to North Korea over nuclear threats Friday. In a Friday statement on the second U.S.-Republic of Korea (ROK) Nuclear Consultative Group coming together in Washington, D.C., the White House warned that any “nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies is unacceptable and will result in the end of the Kim regime.” The Republic of Korea is the official name of South Korea. “The United States reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to provide extended deterrence to the ROK, backed by the full range of U.S. capabilities including nuclear,” the statement said.The statement comes a few weeks after North Korea said it successfully launched a spy satellite that photographed the White House as well as Naval Station Norfolk and Newport News Shipyard in Virginia.When the North Korean satellite was launched, the White House said it “strongly” condemned it, adding that the launch violated United Nations Security Council resolutions prohibiting North Korea from using ballistic missile technology.“The president and his national security team are assessing the situation in close coordination with our allies and partners,” the Biden administration said in a statement. “We urge all countries to condemn this launch and call on [North Korea] to come to the table for serious negotiations.”North Korea has also warned that any interference with its spy satellite would be a “declaration of war.”“Any attack on space asset of [the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] will be deemed declaration of war against it,” a statement by a spokesperson for North Korea’s defense ministry read, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
Democrats revolt against Biden plan for expanded gas exports - The Biden administration’s plans for increased natural gas exports are causing a revolt within the Democratic Party. Despite the boom in renewables reducing domestic demand for fossil fuels, the administration is backing the gas industry’s plans to sell fuel at higher prices abroad, believing they will lead to less production of climate-warming chemicals like carbon dioxide by displacing dirtier-burning coal. The fossil fuel industry is making a broader transition to gas, which it is seeking to pitch as a climate-friendly fuel — and the Biden administration has so far allowed it to more than double the number of export facilities to ship gas abroad in its pressurized and liquified form (LNG). But gas is itself a planet-heating chemical, and Democrats argue that the administration’s policies have done little to address a big problem for the climate: The U.S. fossil fuel industry plans to increase oil and gas production for decades. Democratic senators, led by Ed Markey (Mass.), have called on the administration to stop investing in gas plants abroad, noting that the administration has already spent $1.8 billion on overseas fossil fuel plants this year alone, along with voting at the World Bank to direct $400 million in new gas financing to poorer countries. “The United States can’t preach temperance from a bar stool, and right now, America is drunk on oil and gas production and exports,” Markey wrote Wednesday. In addition, 32 Democratic members of Congress urged the administration in November to begin planning for the end of fossil fuels. At the United Nations climate conference (COP28) that concluded this week, the administration unveiled a new plan to cut leaks from methane production, the predominant component in gas, in an effort to reduce one of the most serious sources of harmful pollution. But in focusing only on leaks from transporting the fuel — something the industry already has incentives to do — the Biden administration is “ducking the hard issue” on climate change, Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) told The Hill. That issue: the production of planet-warming fuels themselves.
College Democrats blast Biden for climate ‘indifference’ after COP28 - College Democrats demanded the Biden administration end the Willow Project, cut oil drilling on federal lands and zero in more on tackling climate change, blasting the president’s “indifference” toward climate change in the wake of the COP28 conference. The college outreach arm of the Democratic National Committee urged the administration to deliver on its climate promises and demanded Congress pass pro-environmental legislation in a letter to President Biden shared with The Hill on Wednesday. “With every waking moment of indifference in regards to the issue of climate change, we sink progressively deeper into a global environmental crisis,” the group wrote. “Its impacts, ranging from rising sea levels, unprecedented climate shifts, increased frequency of natural disasters, and worsening of air and water quality, have placed the planet that young people are destined to inherent in jeopardy.” President Biden, who attended the previous two climate summits, did not travel to the latest U.N. climate conference in Dubai. The president has infuriated climate change activists and younger voters with his approval of the Willow Project in Alaska and acceleration of gas exports to Europe. As the continent grapples with an energy crisis due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, the move by the U.S. made Europe the nation’s largest gas purchaser. The plan to increase natural gas exports caused a stir even within the Democratic Party. Just last week, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) urged the administration to stop investing in gas plants abroad, citing the $1.8 billion expenditure on fossil fuel plants overseas this year. “The United States can’t preach temperance from a bar stool, and right now, America is drunk on oil and gas production and exports,” Markey wrote last week. During the climate summit in Dubai, the administration presented a new plan to cut leaks stemming from methane production, the biggest component of the gas, in hopes of reducing one of the sources of harmful pollution. By supporting the increased production and exports from the liquid natural gas industry, the administration faces backlash from environmentalists and congressional Democrats. “Failure to avert climate disaster is a failure of the state,” the student organization wrote in the letter. “Hence, we call on our elected leaders of all levels to leave the world to their children, grandchildren, and young people throughout the nation in the same pristine condition they inherited.”
Biden Can't Back Fossil Fuels Then 'Throw a Bone' to Young Voters, Says Sunrise - While welcoming the Biden administration's new rules on clean energy tax credits, the youth-led Sunrise Movement also stressed Friday that the policy is far from enough to win over young voters concerned about the worsening climate emergency. The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday issued proposed guidance on how companies can utilize the Section 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that President Joe Biden signed last year. The Democrat campaigned on the promise of being a "climate president" and is now seeking reelection next year. "It's critical the Biden administration unleash a WWII-scale mobilization of government to stop climate change and his decision to make 45X robust and uncapped is a step towards that," Sunrise political director Michele Weindling said in a Friday statement reacting to Treasury's new guidelines. "These are the kind of effective measures we need to see more of from the administration to build renewable energy at the scale science demands," Weindling added. "However, President Biden must do so much more if he wants to be taken seriously by young voters," she continued. "He is overseeing an explosion in oil and gas production that has resulted in the U.S. producing more fossil fuels than ever before." "Biden must do so much more if he wants to be taken seriously by young voters."As Oil Change International highlighted in an analysis last month, the Biden administration can't rely on the IRA to demonstrate its commitment to the emissions reduction that scientists agree is needed, because the law leaves the fossil fuel industry with major opportunities to keep profiting handsomely from extracting more planet-heating oil and gas—which the president is enabling.Biden has come under fire from frontline communities and climate experts and groups—including Sunrise—for skipping the recent U.N. summit, continuing fossil fuel lease sales for public lands and waters,declining to declare a national climate emergency, backing the Willow oil project and Mountain Valley Pipeline, and supporting the expansionof liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.The Biden administration is now facing pressure to deny permits for the Calcasieu Pass 2 facility, a proposed LNG export terminal that would emit over 20 times more greenhouse gases than Willow. Weindling said that "he must reject new fossil fuel projects, starting with CP2, that poison communities and that will harm young people far into the future.""Biden must make a choice," she declared. "He can't one day cave to fossil fuel millionaires and the next throw a bone to young people. That's not how science works, and young voters know it."
Fetterman says he’ll work to block ‘absolutely outrageous’ US Steel sale - Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) vowed Monday to work to block the $14.9 billion sale of U.S. Steel Corp. to Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel, which he described as an “outrageous” move.The deal was announced Monday, prompting the stock prices of U.S. Steel to jump up 25 percent. Fetterman criticized the sale, saying in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that the move was “wrong for workers and wrong for Pennsylvania.” “I’m gonna do everything I can to block it,” Fetterman wrote on X.“I live across the street from U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thompson plant in Braddock,” Fetterman said in a statement. “It’s absolutely outrageous that U.S. Steel has agreed to sell themselves to a foreign company. Steel is always about security — both our national security and the economic security of our steel communities. I am committed to doing anything I can do, using my platform and my position, to block this foreign sale.”According to an October press release, U.S. Steel “supported an estimated 11,417 jobs” in Pennsylvania, including more than 3,700 directly employed by the company. The October report estimated that U.S. Steel generated $3.6 billion for the local and state economy in fiscal 2022.Fetterman reiterated his support for the steelworkers in Pennsylvania in his statement and also posted a video taken from the roof of his house on X that shows his home directly across from the steel plant in Braddock, Pa.“This is yet another example of hard-working Americans being blindsided by greedy corporations willing to sell out their communities to serve their shareholders. I stand with the men and women of the Steelworkers and their union way of life,” he said in his statement. “We cannot allow them to be screwed over or left behind. I promise to them and to all forgotten communities across Pennsylvania that I will work with [Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.)] and the rest of the delegation to fight like hell to make this right,” he continued.
Bob Good: Biden’s border policy is ‘greatest harm ever done intentionally to US by any president’ Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) said Monday that President Biden’s border policy is the “greatest harm ever done intentionally to the United States by any president.” Good, the newly elected chair of the House Freedom Caucus, made the remarks during an appearance on NewsNation’s “The Hill,” when host Blake Burman mentioned fellow Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) recent comments in which she called Good a “traitor” for endorsing Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for president and not showing loyalty to former President Trump. “Marjorie Taylor Greene is upset because Kevin McCarthy got removed from the Speaker position; she backed him unconditionally. She’s upset because she got kicked out of the Freedom Caucus,” Good told Burman. “But the bottom line is President Trump did a great job on immigration, did a great job on the border. Gov. DeSantis did a great job in Florida, trying to fight … to that effect, sending National Guard troops to the border, busing illegals out of his state up into the northern states where they’ve said they want to be sanctuary states and sanctuary cities,” Good added. “Both would be a tremendous improvement over this current border invasion facilitated by this president. This is the greatest harm ever done intentionally to the United States by any president in our history.” Border security remains a central issue between the White House and the Senate as the upper chamber is vying to strike a potential deal that would send aid to Ukraine, Israel and implement border security measures. The White House last month proposed a roughly $106 billion national security supplemental funding request that included money for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan as well as humanitarian aid and border security measures. Republican lawmakers have shared their opposition to the proposed supplement deal, arguing border security measures need to be stricter if paired with aid for Ukraine and Israel. Good, while expressing his concern with Senate delay on the proposed deal, also urged the Senate to pass the Secure the Border Act of 2023, adding that they’re not going to consider “phony, pretend, weak, milquetoast, watered-down” border security proposals.
Senate Republicans recoil at Trump ‘poisoning the blood of our country’ remarks - Senate Republicans on Monday recoiled at former President Trump’s comments at a rally in New Hampshire over the weekend, where he said the thousands of immigrants streaming into the United States on a daily basis are “poisoning the blood of our country.” They also balked at Trump quoting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s criticism of the American political system as a defense against the 91 felony counts he is facing in Washington, D.C., Miami and New York. “I think it’s unhelpful rhetoric,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a member of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s (Ky.) leadership team, when asked about Trump’s claim that immigrants are “poisoning” the country. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), another member of the Senate GOP leadership team, said, “Obviously, I don’t agree with that.” “We’re all children of immigrants,” she said. “It’s just part of his campaign rhetoric, I guess. I don’t know, I can’t explain it.” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) Asked about Trump citing Putin to argue that the criminal charges against him show the “rottenness” of the American system, Capito said: “I can’t be accountable for what he says.” Senate Republican Whip John Thune (Ky.), the No. 2-ranking member of the Senate GOP leadership, said Trump’s rhetoric crossed the line, even though he and many Republicans agree that the surge of migrants across the Southern border has become a major national security problem. “My grandfather was an immigrant so I don’t agree with that sentiment,” he said. Thune, however, said that Biden has failed to enforce immigration laws by releasing thousands of migrants who cross the border illegally into the country on a daily basis. “We are a nation of immigrants, we’re a welcoming country, but we’re also a nation of laws,” he said. “We can’t allow this just rampant violation of law at the Southern border. It’s out of control. It’s insane. “We’re not enforcing the rule of law in our country and I think it’s wrong and it sends all the wrong signals to the rest of the world,” he said.
McConnell invokes his wife’s name to slam Trump’s controversial immigrant remarks - Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday slapped down former President Trump’s statement that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” by pointing out Trump appointed his wife, Elaine Chao, who is Taiwanese American, to serve as secretary of Transportation in 2016. Asked about Trump’s controversial comments, which have drawn comparison to Nazi rhetoric before and during World War II, McConnell pointed out the hypocrisy of the remarks. “It strikes me that didn’t bother him when he appointed Elaine Chao the secretary of Transportation,” he said. Chao also served in former President George W. Bush’s Cabinet as secretary of Labor, becoming the first Asian Pacific American woman to serve in a presidential Cabinet. McConnell has rarely commented on Trump’s incendiary and provocative statements this year, usually telling reporters he’s staying out of 2024 Republican presidential primary politics. But Trump’s inflammatory comments about immigrants “poisoning” the nation’s “blood” have crossed the line with many Republicans. The former president has previously used derogatory language to talk about Chao, who has been married to McConnell for 30 years. He disparaged her as “China-loving” and “Coco Chow” in a Truth Social post in 2022, which Marc Short, a former Trump administration official and senior adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence, at the time called “a racial slur” and “obviously wrong.” Other Senate Republicans have recoiled at Trump’s racially-charged language that immigrants are poisoning the country’s blood. “My grandfather was an immigrant, so I don’t agree with that sentiment,” said Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.). Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a member of McConnell’s leadership team, called Trump’s comments “unhelpful rhetoric.” But Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R), one of Trump’s staunchest Senate allies, defended the former president’s language. Tuberville said he was “mad” that Trump “wasn’t tougher than that.” “Because have you seen what’s happening at the border? We’re being overrun,” he said. “So a little bit disappointed it wasn’t tougher.”
42 percent of GOP Iowa caucusgoers say ‘poisoning the blood’ remarks make them more likely to support Trump: poll -- Forty-two percent of likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers said that former President Trump’s recent remarks about immigrants “poisoning the blood” of the country makes them more likely to support him, according to a new poll. The Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom poll asked likely Republican caucusgoers about statements made by the president, including Trump’s recent claim that migrants were “poisoning the blood of our country.” The remarks have been condemned by various figures onboth sides of the political aisle and resulted in comparisons between the former president and Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. Twenty-eight percent of likely Iowa GOP caucusgoers said Trump’s “poisoning the blood” comments made them less likely to support him in the caucuses. Twenty-nine percent said the remark “[d]oes not matter” when it comes to their support. The poll, conducted between Dec. 2 and 7, features responses from 502 likely Republican Iowa caucusgoers and has a maximum margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. The former president has pushed back against the comparisons to Hitler, who wrote in “Mein Kampf” that German blood was being poisoned by Jews. At a rally in Iowa on Tuesday, Trump mirrored his recent “poisoning the blood” comments and tried to distance himself from Hitler all within a period of a few sentences. “They’re destroying the blood of our country. That’s what they’re doing. They’re destroying our country. They don’t like it when I said that — and I never read ‘Mein Kampf,’” Trump said. “They could be healthy, they could be very unhealthy, they could bring in disease that’s going to catch on in our country, but they do bring in crime, but they have them coming from all over the world,” Trump continued. “And they’re destroying the blood of our country. They’re destroying the fabric of our country.”
Melania Trump’s former adviser calls her citizenship speech ‘quite repulsive’ -- An ex-adviser to Melania Trump criticized her Friday appearance at a National Archives Naturalization Ceremony, claiming that Trump was previously uninterested in attending similar events while serving as first lady, despite being an immigrant herself. In an interview on CNN, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff called Trump’s appearance and speech “quite repulsive,” suggesting it was a “publicity moment.”“You know, again, back to today’s naturalization, being in the National Archives with our Constitution, and the Bill of Rights and knowing how she felt about not wanting to actually promote that for so many individuals that have less opportunity than she had, it was just a squandered opportunity,” Winston Wolkoff said.“And she feels like, you know it’s, again, I keep going back to that publicity moment, and I find it to be really quite repulsive,” Winston Wolkoff continued.Trump gave remarks at the naturalization ceremony Friday, during which she called the pathway to citizenship in the U.S. “arduous.” She also remarked that after taking the United States Oath of Allegiance — an oath taken by every immigrant to become a U.S. citizen — she felt “a tremendous sense of belonging.” “For me, reaching the milestone of American citizenship marked the sunrise of certainty,” she said. “At that exact moment, I forever discarded the layer of burden connected with whether I would be able to live in the United States. I hope you’re blanketed with similar feelings of comfort right now.”Trump hails from Slovenia and moved to New York City in 1996. Only the second first lady to be born outside the U.S., Trump said when she arrived in the country, she knew she wanted to call it her permanent home. She became a naturalized citizen in 2006.
Hawley blocks McConnell-backed nominees, escalating feud -Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is throwing a wrench into Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s (Ky.) effort to confirm two former aides to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), escalating a feud between the first-term conservative senator and the veteran party leader. Hawley informed McConnell in a letter Wednesday that he wants more time to vet the McConnell-backed nominees, who were slated to be approved by unanimous consent along with a slate of Biden nominees. “By agreeing to such a negotiated package in exchange for just a few Republican appointees you have personally deemed a priority, I believe we risk giving away too much,” Hawley wrote. “If Republicans are planning to install dozens of Biden nominees for positions across the federal government — without a vote — in exchange for just a handful of our own selections, I want to be sure that we get our nominees right,” Hawley wrote, citing the nominations of Andrew Ferguson and Todd Inman, two former McConnell aides, to the FTC and NTSB, respectively. Three Democratic appointees currently sit on the five-member FTC, and the two spots reserved for Republicans are vacant. Meanwhile, the chairwoman of the five-member NTSB was appointed by Biden, and three members were appointed by former President Trump while one seat remains vacant. Hawley informed McConnell in his letter that he wants both nominees to explain their views on the regulation of the tech and rail industries, respectively, in more detail. “Andrew Ferguson, nominated to be a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, should answer additional questions on his philosophy concerning Big Tech, given the importance of that issue to our conference,” he wrote. “I also believe that Todd Inman, who is under consideration for the National Transportation Safety Board, should be asked to further articulate his views on various transportation policies, including rail safety and autonomous vehicles.”
GOP senator says Biden can’t be impeached for pre-presidential actions -- Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) is warning House Republicans that President Biden could not be impeached and removed from office for any conduct or crimes committed before he was elected president in 2020. Mullin’s statement in an interview with Newsmax pours cold water on a House GOP investigation into Biden’s family’s business dealings, particularly Hunter Biden’s work with foreign companies, while Biden was vice president during the Obama administration and immediately after. He warned that any high crime or misdemeanor that may serve as the basis for articles of impeachment “has to be committed while he was in office, the current office he holds.” “So what he did as vice president, what he did in between the two [offices] may not be impeachable,” he said during an interview on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America.” “If they send us a case, make sure it’s convictable,” Mullin advised. “The bar’s real high, there’s no question about it.” Many Senate Republicans, including Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), voted to acquit former President Trump on the impeachment charge of inciting an insurrection against the United States on Jan. 6, 2021, on the technical grounds that he was no longer in office once the Senate tried him in February of that year. Mullin made his statement two days after the House voted along party lines, 221-212, to approve a resolution authorizing a formal impeachment inquiry of Biden and whether he benefited improperly from his son Hunter’s business dealings with foreign entities. Hunter Biden declared in a defiant news conference outside the Capitol Wednesday morning that his father was not financially involved in his business. He said his father was not involved in his work as a practicing lawyer, as a board member of Ukrainian energy company Burisma, or in his partnership with a Chinese private businessman. A timeline of what House GOP investigators call “the Biden’s influence peddling” focuses on events that took place between 2014 and 2017, while Joe Biden was vice president and shortly after he left that office.
Scaramucci: House GOP ‘damaged our party’ with ‘specious’ Biden impeachment inquiry --Former Trump communications director Anthony Scaramucci attacked House Republicans for their attempts to impeach President Biden for allegations of family business corruption, saying the investigation is baseless and hurts the party with prospective voters.“I think it’s a specious inquiry. I disagree with it,” Scaramucci said in a NewsNation interview Friday. “I’m a lifelong Republican, and unfortunately, we’ve really damaged our party. I don’t think this helps our party.”Republicans voted to open an official impeachment inquiry into Biden on Wednesday after months of preliminary investigation from the House Oversight Committee, alleging the president was involved in corrupt business deals.
Clarence Thomas demanded more money just before receiving gifts from his ultra-rich supporters -Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas demanded a salary increase and threatened to quit the high court in 2000 just before ultra-rich supporters stepped in and gifted him with cash and other favors, according to a new report published by ProPublica on Monday. Based on interviews and other documents that have not been previously available to the public, ProPublica reported that, after nearly a decade on the court, Thomas “had grown frustrated with his financial situation.”At the time, “Thomas’ salary was $173,600, equivalent to over $300,000 today. But he was one of the least wealthy members of the court, and on multiple occasions in that period, he pushed for ways to make more money.” Thomas attended an “off-the-record conservative conference” in early January 2000 at a five-star beach resort in Sea Island, Georgia, at which he gave a speech. On the flight back, Thomas sat with Florida Republican Representative Cliff Stearns and complained about his compensation.While complaining to Stearns that Congress should give Supreme Court justices a pay increase, Thomas said that if lawmakers did not act, “one or more justices will leave soon,” possibly within the next year. The ProPublica report says that Stearns—who served in the House of Representatives for 24 years and played a leading role in the congressional efforts to undermine and end the right to abortion—became concerned that Thomas might resign from the Supreme Court. In a recent interview, Stearns said of Thomas, “His importance as a conservative was paramount. We wanted to make sure he felt comfortable in his job, and he was being paid properly.” ProPublica reviewed details of Thomas’ personal finances, including the fact that he “had borrowed $267,000 from a friend to buy a high-end RV,” that he and his wife, Ginni, bought a house on five acres of land in Virginia for $522,000 and that “the couple regularly borrowed more money, including a $100,000 credit line on their house and a consumer loan of up to $50,000.”Among the documents obtained by ProPublica is a confidential memo from 2000 written to then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist by a top administrative official of the judiciary, L. Ralph Mecham. As Mecham wrote to Rehnquist, “from a tactical point of view” Democrats in Congress might oppose a raise if they believed “the apparent purpose is to keep Justices [Antonin] Scalia and Thomas on the Court.” Several months later, ProPublica says, “Rehnquist focused his annual year-end report on what he called ‘the most pressing issue facing the Judiciary: the need to increase judicial salaries.’” ProPublica says, “Congress never lifted the ban on speaking fees or gave the justices a major raise. But in the years that followed, as ProPublica has reported, Thomas accepted a stream of gifts from friends and acquaintances that appears to be unparalleled in the modern history of the Supreme Court.”In other words, to get around the problem of a politically motivated salary increase, other means were found to pay off the corrupt Clarence Thomas in exchange for his ongoing support for right-wing opinions on the court. The report continues, “Some defrayed living expenses large and small—private school tuition, vehicle batteries, tires. Other gifts from a coterie of ultrarich men supplemented his lifestyle, such as free international vacations on the private jet and superyacht of Dallas real estate billionaire Harlan Crow.”A previous report by ProPublica published last April detailed the relationship between Thomas and Crow, which included large gifts that went undisclosed. Among these was that Crow paid for two years of private high school for Thomas’ grandnephew, worth approximately $100,000.Within several years, Clarence Thomas’ and his wife’s fortunes changed dramatically. In 2003, he received a $1.5 million advance for his memoir and Ginni Thomas, who had been a congressional staffer, was hired by the Heritage Foundation and “paid a salary in the low six figures.”The new report summarizes the gifts showered on Thomas by his benefactors, “In 2008, another wealthy friend forgave ‘a substantial amount, or even all’ of the principal on the loan Thomas had used to buy the quarter-million dollar RV, according to a recent Senate inquiry prompted by The New York Times’ reporting. Much of the Thomas’ leisure time was also paid for by a small set of billionaire businessmen, who brought the justice and his family on free vacations around the world. (Thomas has said he did not need to disclose the gifts of travel and his lawyer has disputed the Senate findings about the RV.)”
Court date set for Hunter Biden California tax charges case Hunter Biden is slated to make his first appearance in California federal court next year over felony tax charges in the state. Biden’s arraignment on his nine felony tax counts is scheduled for Jan. 11, 2024, at 1 p.m. at the federal court in Los Angeles, according to the Central District of California’s court calendar. He was indicted earlier this month on three felony charges in connection to tax evasion and filing a false return as well as six misdemeanor charges for failure to pay taxes between 2016 and 2019.“Hunter Biden engaged in a four-year scheme in which he chose not to pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019 and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns,” prosecutors wrote in a press release earlier this month.Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, has argued that his client has received unfair treatment over his late tax filings.“[W]here’s the fairness, justice and decency in this?” Abbe Lowell said in an interview with CNN earlier this month. “The charges in this new tax indictment talk about a period where Hunter was at the lowest ebb of his addiction. And like people in that regard, and I know everybody in America either has somebody in their family or friends who suffer from addiction, he certainly did things that he’s not proud of.”The court appearance comes months after a plea deal between prosecutors and Biden over his tax and gun charges fell apart in July. A plea deal likely would have cut down on Biden’s potential jail time if convicted, whereas now he could face up to 17 years in prison for the tax charges alone.Biden already pleaded not guilty to charges relating to concealing drug use when buying a weapon in October. The scheduled court appearance also comes as President Biden’s family is under increased scrutiny from House Republicans, who are investigating his family’s business dealings. The House GOP formalized its impeachment inquiry into the president last week in an effort to get more information from the White House.
GOP impeachment strategy bets big on bribery allegations -Signals from the GOP that it plans to put bribery allegations front and center in its impeachment probe of President Biden have renewed questions over how Republicans can prove their most disputed claim. In making their case for the impeachment inquiry approved by the full House last week, GOP leaders stressed their commitment to investigating one of the few crimes spelled out as an impeachable offense in the Constitution. But it’s a pathway that also comes with pitfalls, and that adds pressure on the GOP to back allegations that have been swirling for years and have been scrutinized and debunked by fact checkers. “The impeachable offense is — I think, the key thing is in Burisma,” House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told reporters in a recent briefing, referring to Hunter Biden’s work for the Ukrainian energy company. While a House impeachment inquiry is not a court of law, any formal resolution to boot President Biden from office would ignite a study of whether he violated federal bribery statutes that were narrowed in a 2016 Supreme Court decision. Republicans have alleged that then-Vice President Biden pushed to topple Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin in an effort to help Burisma, where Hunter Biden served on the board. But the prosecutor wasn’t investigating Burisma at the time, and the effort to withhold aid for his ouster had bipartisan backing in the U.S. as well as from the international community amid criticism Shokin wasn’t tackling corruption. The bribery allegations stem from a tip to the FBI from a trusted confidential informant who relayed a conversation in which Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky bragged about paying both President Biden and his son — details the bureau investigated but were unable to corroborate. Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), who sponsored the impeachment inquiry resolution, acknowledged the hurdle of backing the bribery allegations but said the GOP should be able to make its case using the totality of the evidence it has collected. “The political problem we have is that politically, it would be very nice if you had what everybody calls the smoking gun. The reality is, in a lot of these large-scale cases, there never is. There’s a totality of evidence and a totality of circumstances that says there is no rational explanation for all of it,” Armstrong told The Hill. But legal experts who spoke with The Hill said that would not fly in court, where prosecutors would have to show a quid pro quo — a term popularized during the first impeachment of former President Trump after he threatened to withhold aid from Ukraine in an effort to secure dirt on Biden. Ankush Khardori, a former federal prosecutor, said in court that attorneys would need to show evidence of a bribe and tie it to an official act of government power. It’s not something that has to be documented in writing, he said, but prosecutors would need to hear from a witness to the bribe or perhaps even the person that paid the bribe themselves, should they be cooperating.
Jordan demands Garland turn over docs on Trump-era subpoenas of congressional staff -The House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday, saying it needs information about the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) demand for the communications of congressional staff that took place under the Trump administration. The subpoena follows an initial request from Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) seeking information about a 2017 subpoena to Google for information on a former Senate Judiciary staffer and other congressional aides. Jason Foster, who served as investigative counsel for the panel, announced in October that his communications as well as those of other staffers were sought amid oversight of the department’s handling of its investigation into the 2016 election and the decision to spy on a Trump campaign staffer. The New York Times reported in 2021 that the DOJ under the Trump administration had subpoenaed communications companies for private data on both staffers and members of Congress, including Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff (Calif.) and Eric Swalwell (Calif.). Those subpoenas are already the subject of an inspector general investigation following a referral by Garland. In his letter to Garland, Jordan wrote the subpoenas indicate “that the Executive Branch used its immense law-enforcement authority to gather and search the private communications of multiple Legislative Branch employees who were conducting Constitutional oversight of the Department’s investigative actions.” The subpoena seeks all DOJ documents related to requests for communications from members of Congress or their staff from any telecommunications company. The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment. But in a letter to Jordan earlier this month obtained by The Hill, the Justice Department said Foster’s communications were sought in connection with an investigation into a leak of classified information. “The investigation was initiated after a referral for criminal investigation was made to the National Security Division by a member of the U.S. Intelligence Community,” DOJ wrote, noting that the information had been shared with both executive and legislative branch employees.
Trump takes significant polling lead over Biden in presidential race - Recent polls show former President Trump leading President Biden in key swing states that will likely decide the 2024 election, indicating Trump is not just the overwhelming favorite to secure the GOP nomination but is in a strong position to recapture the White House less than a year before Election Day. Trump leads Biden in hypothetical match-ups both with and without third-party options on the ballot in states including Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, according to fresh polling. Biden carried each of those states in 2020, and Trump will need to flip at least a few of those states if he is to win in 2024. The numbers underscore that there is work for Biden to do, even as experts and strategists agree plenty can change in the roughly 10 months until the election. “I think it illustrates where we are at in both the former president and the current president’s trajectory heading into November 2024,” Nick Trainer, a former Trump campaign official, said on the “Yes Labels” podcast. A CNN poll released this week showed Trump leading Biden by 5 percentage points in Georgia, a state Biden carried in 2020 by roughly 12,000 votes. The poll also found Trump leading Biden by 10 points in Michigan, where Biden won by about 155,000 votes in 2020. The poll found majorities in both states — 54 percent in Georgia and 56 percent in Michigan — believe Biden’s policies have worsened economic conditions as Biden struggles to sell what aides believe is a strong economy to voters. A Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll released this week had similarly sour results for Biden. That survey found Biden trailing Trump in several crucial swing states: by 11 points in North Carolina, by 7 points in Georgia, by 6 points in Wisconsin, by 5 points in Nevada, by 4 points in Michigan and by 3 points in Arizona. The results came from a hypothetical ballot that included third-party candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cornel West and Jill Stein. There was also an option for participants to choose an unlisted candidate or answer “don’t know/no opinion,” or choose to forgo voting altogether. While it’s unclear if any of those candidates will secure ballot access next November, it still spells trouble for Biden. The president won each of those states over Trump in 2020 except for North Carolina, and Trump would only need to flip a few of those states to win the 270 electoral votes needed to secure the presidency. The swing-state polls come as national polls show an extremely tight hypothetical race between Trump and Biden, but one former Trump White House official noted the former president could realistically win the electoral votes he needs even without winning the national popular vote, just as he did in 2016. Trump has cemented his status as the front-runner for the GOP nomination, crossing the 50 percent threshold in a recent Iowa survey conducted by pollster J. Ann Selzer. Trump has yet to see any drop-off in support even as he testified in a New York City fraud trial, has prompted backlash and comparisons to dictators for his rhetoric and campaign proposals, and as he continues to face dozens of criminal charges.
Barr predicts ‘abuse of government power’ if Trump elected again -Former Attorney General Bill Barr warned that his successor in a possible second Trump administration would have to oppose the former president’s “abuse of government power.”Barr, who left Trump’s White House on poor terms in 2020, claimed members of the cabinet would struggle to act as guardrails for the president if he’s reelected in 2024 — just as he and others did during Trump’s first term.“Trump needs people around him who will push back and help keep him on the straight and narrow,” Barr said in a Fox News interview Saturday.“During his first term, the main way that could be done is by pointing out to him how this would hurt his prospects for a second term,” he continued. “Once he wins a second term, I don’t know you know what considerations can be used to push back against bad ideas.”Barr has repeatedly criticized Trump and does not support him for the 2024 GOP nomination. Instead, he urged GOP voters to coalesce around a candidate like former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, who has shot up polls in New Hampshire in recent weeks.
Trump kicked off Colorado ballot in 14th Amendment case -Colorado’s highest court on Tuesday knocked former President Trump off the state’s Republican primary ballot under the 14th Amendment in a 4-3 ruling, making it the first state to block him from seeking the presidency because of his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. The court put its ruling on hold until Jan. 4, so Trump can first seek review from the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump’s spokesperson quickly vowed to do so, meaning Trump’s name automatically remains on the ballot until the justices in Washington resolve the appeal. In a major legal blow to Trump, the Colorado court affirmed he engaged in insurrection by inflaming his supporters with false claims of election fraud and directing them to the Capitol — preventing him from a second White House term under the 14th Amendment’s “insurrection clause.” The state justices determined that the office of the president is covered under the insurrection clause, which specifically lists those who previously took oaths to support the Constitution as “a member of Congress,” “officer of the United States,” “member of any State legislature” or an “executive or judicial officer of any State.” The district court had ruled that the office of the president was not covered under the clause. “We do not reach these conclusions lightly,” the upper court wrote in its decision. “We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.” If allowed to take effect, Colorado’s secretary of state may not list Trump’s name on the 2024 presidential primary ballot, nor may she count any write-in votes cast for him. Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump’s campaign, blamed the decision on the “all-Democrat appointed” court, swearing to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. The seven-member bench of Colorado’s Supreme Court was entirely appointed by Democratic governors; six later faced voters and won retention elections, while the seventh will do so next year.
Ex-White House lawyer says Supreme Court could rule ‘9-0’ in possible Trump 14th Amendment case -- Former White House lawyer Ty Cobb on Tuesday predicted the U.S. Supreme Court could rule “9-0” in favor of former President Trump in a potential appeal of Colorado Supreme Court’s new ruling that would kick Trump off the state’s ballot. “I think this case will be handled quickly, I think it could be 9-0 in the Supreme Court for Trump,” Cobb said in an interview on CNN, adding later, “I do believe it could be 9-0 because I think the law is clear.” The Colorado Supreme Court issued a ruling on Tuesday that Trump should not appear on Colorado’s ballot due to his alleged role in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack. Citing the 14th Amendment “insurrection clause,” the 4-3 ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court argued Trump engaged in an insurrection by promoting false claims of election fraud and encouraging supporters to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The Colorado Supreme Court ruled the office of the president falls under the insurrection clause, which states those who previously took oaths to support the Constitution as a “member of Congress” “officer of the United States,” “member of any State legislature” or an “executive or judicial officer of any State.” “The real key issue in this case is — is Trump an officer in the United States in the context in which that term is used in the Article Three of the 14th Amendment,” Cobbs said. “And in 2010, Chief Justice Roberts explained in free enterprise that people don’t vote for officers of the United States.” Cobbs went on to reference multiple Supreme Court decisions that do not conclude officers include the president or vice president in this context. Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump’s campaign, has already vowed the Trump campaign will appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority and includes three justices nominated by Trump. “The Supreme Court though will not hesitate to move quickly on this, they know what the stakes are, they know what their responsibility is,” Cobbs continued. “And they can delay some of these Colorado dates to the extent that they feel they’re obligated to or have to.” Colorado’s Supreme Court put its ruling on hold until Jan. 4 to allow Trump to first seek review from the U.S. Supreme Court. If he does, Trump’s name will automatically remain on the ballot until justices resolve the appeal.
Sen. Tillis to introduce legislation barring federal funds from states ‘misusing’ 14th Amendment -- Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) is set to introduce a bill barring federal funds for election administration from states “misusing” the 14th Amendment. “Regardless of whether you support or oppose former President Donald Trump, it is outrageous to see left-wing activists make a mockery of our political system by scheming with partisan state officials and pressuring judges to remove him from the ballot,” Tillis said in a press release announcing the bill’s upcoming introduction Tuesday. “American voters, not partisan activists, should decide who we elect as our President. The Constitutional Election Integrity Act would put any constitutional challenges in the sole place they belong: the U.S. Supreme Court,” Tillis continued. The bill aims to amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002, adding language to the law stating that the Supreme Court has “sole jurisdiction to decide claims arising out of section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.” Tillis’s bill comes on the same day former President Trump was kicked off Colorado’s Republican primary ballot under section three of the 14th Amendment via a ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court.“We do not reach these conclusions lightly,” the upper court wrote in its decision. “We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.” Tillis’s fellow GOP lawmakers heavily criticized the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision in its wake. . “Regardless of political affiliation, every citizen registered to vote should not be denied the right to support our former president and the individual who is the leader in every poll of the Republican primary,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) wrote in a statement, adding he trusts the U.S. Supreme Court will “set aside this reckless decision and let the American people decide the next president of the United States.”
Trump rails after poll shows Haley within 4 points in New Hampshire -A poll released this week found Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley trails former President Trump by 4 points in New Hampshire, prompting online outrage from the former president.According to a December survey by American Research Group Inc. asking voters who their preference was in the Republican presidential primary, Trump earned 33 percent support.Haley earned 29 percent, a significant milestone for the former U.N. ambassador, who appears to have been gaining ground on Trump’s steady lead in the state; the gap between her and the former president was well within the poll’s margin of error of 4 points.Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie earned 13 percent in the survey, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis received 6 percent support and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy brought in 5 percent.Haley showed confidence this week, saying Trump is “getting nervous” about her rising support in the polls, citing a new ad that targets her.A spokesperson for Haley said it is clear that “this is a two-person race” between Haley and Trump, and they “hope to see him on the debate stage in Iowa.”Trump told conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt on Friday that he was not worried about the poll or Haley’s chances in New Hampshire. He later took to his social media site Truth Social to say the poll was fake.“Fake New Hampshire poll was released on Birdbrain,” Trump said about Haley, using the nickname he coined in September. “Just another scam! Ratings challenged FoxNews will play it to the hilt. Sununu now one of the least popular governors in the U.S. Real poll to follow.”New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) endorsed Haley last week, a significant win for her as she hopes to gain momentum in the final few weeks.Sununu went after Trump after announcing the endorsement, saying a second Trump term would be filled with “chaos and distraction.” Trump has attacked Sununu online since the endorsement.Haley has doubled her support in the early voting state since September, according to another survey released by the Saint Anselm College Survey Center. It found Haley earning 30 percent of the likely Republican primary vote, 14 points behind Trump.
Trump lawyer blasts Jack Smith’s urgency for ruling in immunity case: ‘It’s un-American’ -- Alina Habba, a lawyer for former President Trump, blasted special counsel Jack Smith for his urgency in asking the Supreme Court to take up Trump’s federal 2020 election criminal case and weigh in on his immunity defense.“There is some sort of real sense of urgency,” Habba said in an interview highlighted by Mediaite. “The only urgency that I can see is that there is an election in November 2024 and they can’t beat him.”Trump has attempted to toss the case by arguing that he has presidential immunity from the indictment that accuses him of entering criminal conspiracies to change the 2020 presidential election results. Smith has argued that the nation’s highest court should take up the issue before the D.C. Circuit issues its ruling, citing Trump’s fast-approaching March 4 trial date. The Supreme Court agreed to expedite Trump’s deadline, ordering him to respond by Dec. 20. They will then decide if they are going to take the case. Habba said “everyone can see” what Smith is doing and said it “is election interference at its finest.” “They can’t beat him in the ballots so they’re gonna have to either, you know, lie, cheat, steal or the newest, is lawfare, put him in jail, tie him up,” she told Fox Business Network’s Larry Kudlow. Kudlow suggested that since Trump would have to sit in trial every day for the case, they don’t want him on the campaign trail. Habba agreed and said, “It’s actually playing against them.” “He’s getting a lot of voters that he normally wouldn’t get because they’re seeing this and he is the victim of, all of a sudden they’ve made him a victim of complete and utter election interference and lawfare,” she said. Habba said she has faith in the Supreme Court because they “really take their office seriously, and we’ve seen that time and time again with that, especially recently.”
Trump launches new attacks on Engoron, James - Former President Trump launched new attacks Monday against New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) and Judge Arthur Engoron, the judge overseeing his civil fraud trial in the Empire State. “Remember, the corrupt and radical Judge Engoron is a political hack who wouldn’t give us a Jury, wouldn’t let this ‘case’ go to the Commercial Division, where it belongs (would have been TERMINATED), incredibly ignored the Appellate Court decision that struck down almost 90% of this fake lawsuit based on Statute of Limitations, etc., and, Illegally and Unconstitutionally Gagged me and my lawyers, in a brazen and blatant attempt to prevent us from bringing vital information to the Public and the Courts,” Trump posted to Truth Social. The former president also called James “racist” and labeled Engoron “the [r]unaway judge.” He said the two are “causing grave damage to our Justice System, to New York State, and to the United States of America!” Last week, a New York appeals court upheld a gag order imposed on Trump that prevented him from attacking court staff in the civil fraud trial. The gag order came about in the wake of Trump going after a clerk of Engoron, falsely labeling her as the “girlfriend” of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). “Here, the gravity of potential harm is small, given that the Gag Order is narrow, limited to prohibiting solely statements regarding the court’s staff,” the court wrote in its opinion upholding the order. Engoron had noted that his staff was “inundated” with threats after the comments by Trump. He also later broadened the gag order to include the former president’s attorneys, following their questioning of communications he made with his staff. “My law clerks are public servants who are performing their job in the manner in which I request,” he wrote in the order. “This includes providing legal authority and opinions, as well as responding to questions I pose to them. Plainly, defenders are not entitled to the confidential communications among me and my court staff.”
Don't Get Too Excited Over The Latest Epstein 'John Doe' List - According to the Daily Mail, a New York federal judge has ordered the release of a cache of documents related to convicted dead pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein. Contained in the release of roughly 10,000 pages of documents scheduled for Jan. 1, 2024, is expected to be a list of 177 John Does who were Epstein's friends, recruiters, and victims (an inaccurate number, as you will read below).In February of this year, Twitter Files journalist and attorney Techno Fog of The Reactionary (to whom you should consider subscribing), analyzed a proposed list of 167 John Does (not 177) assembled by lawyers for Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell. Sadly, around 100 of the Does have already been identified via media or court proceedings. Many of these Does weren't involved in anything serious - or "salacious," and were often doctors or acquaintances of the victims. In other instances, the Does may have been actual or potential victims of Epstein's sex trafficking operation. Techno Fog also points out, the recent court order is a scatter-shot of names. And again, many of the John Does were not alleged by the parties to have committed any wrongdoing. For example, John Doe 14 is referenced in one sealed court filing related to an effort by Maxwell to oppose answering deposition questions under seal. The “sealed material as to [John Doe 14] is not salacious.” He isn’t, as others have promised, a key figure in the Epstein/Maxwell crimes. And that’s true for many of the other John Does. We’ve analyzed the prior John Doe lists and compared it to today’s order. Here’s the summary of our findings:
- There are approximately 100 John Does who were previously identified. Some had been interviewed by the media. The names of others (including victims) had been discussed in Maxwell’s criminal trial. This includes victims and perpetrators.
- Approximately 67 remain unidentified.
- For 33 of the unknown John Does: the sealed material relating to them “is not salacious” or their name was in a search term or they were mentioned in a deposition. In the case of John Doe 88, “the only reference [of John Doe 88] is a deposition question in answer to which the deponent denied knowledge of the individual.”
- Six of the unidentified John Does are victims whose names will not be released.
- Six of the unidentified John Does were identified as either victim affiliates or alleged witnesses with connections to the victims. Their names and materials concerning them will be released.
- The names, and materials relating to, a number of Epstein affiliates or former Epstein employees will be released. Records indicate - but do not guarantee - that the majority of these do not include salacious information.
- The name and materials concerning John Doe 29 – a former Epstein employee – will be unsealed. The Judge described them as “a staff member possibly present at a time and place.” This might be an Epstein employee who was theorized by a witness to perhaps be present in a home when a victim was abused.
There are, however, John Does who may be significant. But that is a small number compared to the 167 John Does subject to the Judge’s order. We’ve summarized them below. -The Reactionary Read the rest here, but the point is that - once again, we're probably in for disappointment if we're hoping for any smoking guns in regards to the highly guarded Epstein client list.
4 years in prison for Nikola Corp founder for defrauding investors on claims of zero-emission trucks (AP) — The founder of Nikola Corp. was sentenced Monday to four years in prison for his conviction for exaggerating claims about his company’s production of zero-emission 18-wheel trucks, causing investors to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars. Trevor Milton learned his fate in Manhattan federal court when Judge Edgardo Ramos announced the sentence, saying he believed that a jury in October 2022 “got it right” when it convicted him. The judge also ordered Milton to pay a $1 million fine. “Over the course of many months, you used your considerable social media skills to tout your company in ways that were materially false,” the judge said, noting investors suffered heavy losses. “What you said over and over on different media outlets was wrong.” Before the sentence was handed down, Milton fought through tears in delivering a half-hour rambling statement portraying some of his actions as heroic at Nikola and his intentions sincere as he sought to produce trucks that would not harm the environment. He claimed that big companies in the industry have followed his lead to try to create vehicles that would leave a cleaner environment. And he said he didn’t quit his company because of crimes but rather because his wife was dying. Milton did not apologize directly to investors or anyone else, but he asked the judge to spare him from prison. “My intent was not to harm others.” Milton was convicted of fraud charges after prosecutors portrayed him as a con man after starting his company in a Utah basement six years earlier. Prosecutors said Milton falsely claimed to have built its own revolutionary truck that was actually a General Motors Corp. product with Nikola’s logo stamped onto it. There also was evidence that the company produced videos of its trucks that were doctored to hide their flaws.
Inflationary Aspects of Spiking Corporate Profits by Major Industry: Starting All Over Again, Good Lordy! by Wolf Richter - Overall corporate pre-tax profits (excluding the Federal Reserve Banks), jumped by 3.4% in Q3 from Q2, and by 5.5% year-over-year, to a record seasonally adjusted annual rate of $3.45 trillion, fueled by profit spikes in a number of industries whose figures the Bureau of Economic Analysis released today, and we’ll get to them in a moment. The BEA’s measure of “corporate profits” broadly track profits from current production by all businesses that have to file corporate tax returns, including LLCs and S corporations, plus some organizations that do not file corporate tax returns. It’s based on income tax data from the IRS and on financial statement data filed with the SEC. During the surge of inflation in 2021 and 2022, price increases were outstripping cost increases by extraordinary margins, hence the spike in profits. Then there was a lull in Q1 and Q2 this year, and now it’s starting all over again: Surging profitability during a period of big inflation is a sign that companies have leveraged inflation to their advantage, hiking prices much faster than their costs went up, and thereby doing their part in fueling inflationary momentum. And they’re able to do it because their customers are willing to pay those whatever-prices. Interestingly, the surging labor costs have so far not made a dent into these profit spikes, and they might not if companies can continue to jack up their prices faster than their costs go up, including labor costs, which is precisely how inflation is nurtured and propagated. First some definitions. IVA: The “inventory valuation adjustment” removes “profits” derived from inventory cost changes. Profits from inventory are more like a capital-gain than profits from current production. CCAdj: The “capital consumption adjustment” converts the tax-return measures of depreciation (based on historical-cost accounting) to measures of consumption of fixed capital, based on current cost with consistent service lives and with empirically based depreciation schedules. Capital gains & dividends received are excluded to show business profits from current production, rather than financial gains. Profits by financial domestic Industries rose by 2.0% in Q3 from Q2, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $710 billion, the second highest behind the record in Q1, and was up by 23% year-over-year. These are domestic profits by all financial companies except the Federal Reserve Banks (FRBs): banks and bank holding companies, other credit intermediation and related activities; securities, commodity contracts, and other financial investments and related activities; insurance carriers and related activities; and funds, trusts, and other financial vehicles. Their customers are paying for those profits by paying higher prices, fees, insurance premiums, etc., which contribute to the still hot inflation in services. Profits in durable-goods manufacturing spiked by 7.8% in Q3 from Q2, and by 18.5% year-over-year to a record seasonally adjusted annual rate of $400 billion. This amounts to a 100% spike in profits from just before the pandemic. These industries produce computers, electronics, motor vehicles, trailers, machinery, fabricated metals, electrical equipment, appliances, components, and other durable goods. Profits in nondurable-goods manufacturing rose by 1.1% in Q3 from Q2, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $344 billion, after having dropped in the prior two quarters. Compared to a year ago, profits were down by 10%. These industries produce food, beverages, and tobacco products; petroleum products (including gasoline and diesel), coal products; chemical products; and other nondurable goods. Profits in the retail trade, incl. Ecommerce, spiked by 5.9% in Q3 from Q2 and by 30.6% year over year, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $374 billion. Inflation is a wonderful profit-generator when demand is so strong and customers so befuddled with the inflationary mindset that companies can raise their prices much faster than their costs go up. And our drunken sailors, as we have called them facetiously and lovingly all year, are eagerly playing along, splurging and dropping money left and right, armed with per-capita disposable incomes that have outpaced inflation by a wide margin this year:
Fincen issues final beneficial ownership access rule - The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued a final rule Thursday detailing how law enforcement, financial institutions and regulators will be able to access a comprehensive list of who owns which corporate entities in the U.S. This final rule is part of a trio of regulations Fincen is developing governing the forthcoming beneficial ownership information (BOI) database, mandated by the 2021 Corporate Transparency Act and aimed at combating money laundering by revealing who owns shell companies and other opaque groups. The access rule details the conditions under which BOI, reported in accordance with the initial BOI Reporting Rule, can be disclosed.The final rule outlines which authorized entities may access BOI. These include federal agencies involved in national security, intelligence, or law enforcement activities; state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies with court authorization; law enforcement agencies overseas; judges and prosecutors; financial institutions and the regulators overseeing them for use towards customer due diligence requirements; and officers and employees of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Each authorized recipient category is bound by legally binding security and confidentiality protocols including maintaining a secure and auditable system for storing BOI, restricting access to the system and providing reports to Fincen.Authorized recipients are generally prohibited from re-disclosing BOI to other parties, except in exceptional circumstances. These include re-disclosure within their entity, among financial institutions and regulators, or in compliance with international treaties or agreements.Under the Corporate Transparency Act, disclosing or using BOI obtained from Fincen can lead to a civil penalty of $500 per day for unremedied violations and criminal penalties of up to $250,000, imprisonment up to 5 years, or both with enhanced criminal penalties for illegal activity exceeding $100,000 in a year. A Fincen release also notes violations may result in Fincen revoking entities’ access to the Beneficial Ownership IT system.FinCEN will adopt a phased approach to BOI access, beginning with a pilot program for key Federal agency users in 2024. Subsequent stages will extend access to various government agencies, law enforcement partners, and financial institutions.The road to the launch of the final reporting regime — which goes into effect January 1, 2024 -- has been a long time coming. The reporting rule — finalized September 30, 2022 — mandated certain entities, such as corporations and limited liability companies operating in the United States, to report comprehensive information about their beneficial owners to FinCEN.The initially proposed beneficial ownership "access" rule received criticism from lawmakers, state attorneys general and anti-corruption advocates who said the rule was unnecessarily complex, and called on Fincen to make many of the revisions — like the ability of institutions to use BOI for customer due diligence — that appear in the final access rule.In September the agency released guidance aimed at providing clarity about the reporting requirements for small businesses. This all came after Fincen saw a major leadership shift as Treasury veteran Andrea Gacki replaced acting Fincen head Himamauli Das in July.Political pushback has been mounting against the database as the reporting deadline approaches. Republican lawmakers, led by House Financial Services Chairman Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., wrote to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and Gacki urging them to postpone the BOI reporting requirements specifically for small businesses.Following the final rule and only days after he sent the letter, McHenry said Thursday while the tweaks were a positive step, he still had reservations about the database ten days out from its launch. He doubled down on calls to delay mandated reporting, saying Fincen was overcomplicating the database.“While Fincen’s final rule regarding access to beneficial ownership information is a step in the right direction, it remains a significant deviation from what Congress intended,” said McHenry. “Considering we are ten days from the reporting regime’s effective date, the existing duplicative CDD regime has not been rescinded, and millions of small business owners remain unaware of their beneficial ownership reporting obligations, it’s imperative that the Biden Administration delay its effective date until these issues are resolved.”
Ripple, Coinbase, a16z Invest $78 Million In Pro-Crypto PAC Ahead Of US Elections --Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has publicly announced the company’s intent to support “pro-crypto’ candidates during the 2024 United States election season.The company is among a group to have pledged a total of $78 million to support the Fairshake political action committee (PAC).Fairshake announced that prominent industry firms and players had contributed to a significant “war chest” to back candidates who support American crypto and blockchain innovation and responsible regulation in the upcoming 2024 elections.The list includes individuals like Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, Circle, Coinbase, Kraken, Messari and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).Garlinghouse took to X (formerly Twitter) to condemn regulatory overreach in the country and said Ripple would be “leading the charge with other industry leaders” to support candidates lobbying for complimentary regulation of the industry in 2024.“Regulatory overreach (esp from the SEC) is actively moving the U.S. in the wrong direction, and other countries are taking full advantage of the lack of US leadership. We need to advance leaders who will champion innovation and spearhead paths towards responsible regulation,” Garlinghouse wrote.The Ripple CEO added that the industry needs to encourage initiatives that promote “transparency, innovation and a compliance-first approach.”Cryptocurrency firms operating in the U.S. have faced an uphill battles against regulators over the past two years. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in particular, has copped widespread criticism from industry players for its “regulate-by-enforcement” approach.The securities regulator set its sights on both Coinbase and Binance.US in 2023, instituting separate legal proceedings against both companies for alleged securities offering violations.Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) founder and managing director Chris Dixon also announced that the firm would contribute to the Fairshake PAC in 2024. The PAC aims to elect leaders that “champion thoughtful crypto regulation” that balances consumer protection.“There is a battle in Washington about the future of blockchain technologies: Certain policymakers believe it should be banned, while other people think it should have no guardrails. Neither of those options will allow the technology to reach its full potential and realign the future of the Internet away from Big Tech to the people who use it,” Dixon wrote.The a16z founder said that the coalition will aim to raise funds to support the PAC and help advance “clear rules of the road” to support technological innovation and route out bad actors.According to Politico, the Fairshake PAC has already spent $1.2 million on television advertising campaigns in the U.S.
Crypto fight looms in 2024 race that could flip Senate - A major clash over cryptocurrency is brewing in Cleveland, and it could impact control of Congress.Sen. Sherrod Brown, one of the digital asset industry’s biggest critics and Washington roadblocks, is facing a tough reelection campaign that could make or break Democrats’ Senate majority. Thanks to an endorsement this week by former President Donald Trump, he may well face a general election opponent who’s a major evangelist for crypto technology: GOP candidate Bernie Moreno.As Senate Banking Committee chair, Brown has warned for years about the risks that crypto poses to consumers and the financial system. He’s one of the toughest obstacles the crypto industry faces in advancing legislation that would help give it regulatory credibility.Moreno, a former car dealer, has championed initiatives to turn Cleveland into a hub for startups that use blockchain , the digital ledger technology behind crypto. He’s the founder of a blockchain startup and has even paid some of his businesses’ taxes in bitcoin, according to Cleveland.com .The looming clash is a sign of just how partisan the crypto debate is becoming in the run-up to the 2024 election, with key Democrats voicing skepticism of the industry and Republicans increasingly coalescing around friendly policies that would boost crypto firms. The stakes are high for crypto executives and investors, who are poised to spend more than $78 million to influence upcoming races.Brown and Moreno are beginning to trade barbs over the issue.“A career politician like Sherrod Brown has absolutely no idea how digital currencies work and is the least qualified person possible to regulate the industry,” Moreno said in a statement. “Innovation is what built America into the greatest country on earth. Sadly, left-wing extremists like Brown want more government control to restrict the ability of Americans to invest freely in cryptocurrencies.” Brown campaign manager Rachel Petri said in a statement: “Sherrod Brown takes a back seat to no one when it comes to standing up to special interests — including crypto — to level the playing field for Ohioans and protect them from fraud.” The crypto industry’s 2024 political push has had an early focus on Ohio. A pro-crypto dark money group, the Cedar Innovation Foundation, launched a six-figure digital ad campaign in the state aimed at pressuring Brown and Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler. Coinbase, the largest U.S. digital asset exchange, has hosted a pair of town halls in Ohio as part of a grassroots “Stand with Crypto” campaign. (None of the major pro-crypto groups have backed Moreno or any of Brown’s other potential opponents.) Crypto advocates are hoping to raise their profile with voters, but some in the industry warn that a foray into Ohio comes with risk. It could anger Brown, who if reelected is likely to remain the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, which would be responsible for writing digital asset rules. One crypto lobbyist granted anonymity said it could make things “really painful” if Brown holds onto his seat.Brown said last week he was unmoved by the industry’s efforts: “Bring ’em on,” he told reporters.“They’ve had a bad six months,” he said, pointing to the fraud conviction of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and concerns about crypto’s use in funding terrorism. “They clearly have betrayed the public interest. If they think that’s the way to attack someone politically? Pretty amazing.”
Bitcoin Rallies As BlackRock, Nasdaq Hold Second Meeting With SEC Regarding Spot ETF -Representatives from BlackRock (BLK), Nasdaq, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) met for the second time in a month to discuss rule changes that are necessary to list the bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF), according to a published memo.“The discussion concerned The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC’s proposed rule change to list and trade shares of the iShares Bitcoin Trust under Nasdaq Rule 5711(d),” the memo reads.Nasdaq Rule 5711(d) establishes specific criteria and regulatory guidelines for the listing and trading of Commodity-Based Trust Shares on the Nasdaq Exchange, and detailing the requirements for initial and continued listing, along with surveillance and compliance measures to ensure market integrity and protection against fraudulent activities.As CoinDesk previously reported, the inclusion of a surveillance-sharing agreement aims to mitigate market manipulation risks associated with crypto trading – something that the SEC is very concerned about.The groups also met in November to discuss the same topic, according to a published memo.At this November meeting, BlackRock provided a presentation that detailed two models, in-kind and in-cash redemption, for supporting their proposed ETF.Recently, BlackRock revised its spot bitcoin ETF proposal to include cash redemptions, aiming to meet SEC preferences.MicroStrategy's Michael Saylor said on a Bloomberg TV appearance this week that the potential bitcoin ETFs might be the biggest Wall Street development in 30 years, possibly triggering a significant bull run for bitcoin in 2024 due to increased demand and a supply shock.
SEC could make crypto history in new year with first spot bitcoin ETF approval - Big money management firms are growing increasingly confident that the Securities and Exchange Commission will make crypto history in early January by approving the first "spot" bitcoin exchange-traded fund, FOX Business has learned. Sources close to these firms say recent guidance from SEC officials is that a green light will likely come by Jan. 10, 2024. This is the final deadline for the SEC to approve or deny an application from the first firm to ask for the SEC’s blessing for a spot bitcoin ETF: Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management in partnership with 21Shares. All told, about a dozen companies, including Wall Street asset-management titans like BlackRock and Fidelity, have applied for a spot bitcoin ETF, or one that is valued off the real-time price of the digital asset. People at these firms believe the SEC could approve several applications at once. An SEC spokesman had no comment. If approval does come, as many expect, it will mark a major step toward the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrency in the U.S., something that Wall Street’s top cop, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, has been reluctant to endorse until recently when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued a ruling that scaled back his authority in regulating crypto. A spot bitcoin ETF would give retail investors greater exposure to the world’s largest cryptocurrency at less cost than the already approved bitcoin ETF priced off the futures market. Moreover, investors can get exposure to bitcoin and avoid going to an unregulated exchange by purchasing an ETF through highly regulated money management firms while trading occurs on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq stock market. One downside for investors includes an unusual demand from the SEC in the way the ETFs are structured. In meetings with the big money management firms, the SEC is insisting that applicants use cash to buy shares of the ETF, and cannot use the underlying asset, which in this case is bitcoin. Conventional ETFs allow so-called "in-kind" transactions – which means market makers would be allowed to exchange bitcoin for ETF shares. The "cash create" route means ETF issuers will have to exchange bitcoin for cash on every transaction – a longer and more complicated process that requires the issuers themselves to buy the bitcoin, not the broker-dealers. Securities lawyers say another disadvantage of cash creation is that investors would be robbed of an important tax advantage; "in kind" purchases are not a taxable event, but selling Bitcoin for cash before the ETF purchase would be. Several spot bitcoin ETF applicants such as Grayscale are hesitant to give up the fight for in-kind creations. In a meeting with the SEC on Tuesday, Grayscale told the agency it believes offering both in-kind and cash creations and redemptions are in the best interest of investors because it supports "a deeper, more robust primary market, resulting in a more efficient ETP market structure." Cash creation essentially shifts the burden of trading bitcoin from professional trading firms to the authorized participants (APs) such as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs," said Dave Weisberger, CoinRoutes co-CEO. "This means less competition between issuers and performance will be based on which issuer has the better resources and trading strategy."
Coinbase secures crypto license in France, expanding further in Europe --Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase secured registration with the French markets regulator, a company spokesperson confirmed Thursday, paving the way for the firm to expand its services in another key European market. France's AMF watchdog gave Coinbase a virtual asset service provider (VASP) approval, which is effectively a green light for the company to operate digital currency services in France. The VASP registration will allow Coinbase to offer custody of digital assets, buying or selling digital assets in legal tender, trading of digital assets against other digital assets, and operating a digital asset trading platform, the company said in a statement Thursday. French regulators, like others in Europe, have been playing catch-up with the emergence of new technologies like crypto and blockchain, balancing their potential in improving payment systems and trading while also looking to ensure consumers are protected. The European Union has been working to introduce its Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation, which would create a harmonized framework for crypto companies to operate in a regulated way in the bloc. Under MiCA, rather than having to secure registration in every EU market, crypto companies will eventually be able to use their VASP license in one country and "passport" into other countries to offer their services across the EU. The VASP registration represents a big move from U.S.-based Coinbase to expand in Europe, which comes at a crucial time with the exchange facing a more uncertain regulatory environment in its home country. U.S. regulators have taken harsh actions against crypto companies lately. In November, the U.S. Department of Justice reached a settlement with crypto giant Binance which saw the company pay more than $4 billion while its CEO stepped down, pleading guilty to a felony charge that he failed to take steps to prevent money laundering at the firm. The Securities and Exchange Commission, meanwhile, has led an aggressive campaign against the sector, targeting crypto companies with strict enforcement actions, including lawsuits against both Coinbase and rival Binance that allege the firms are engaged in illegal dealings of securities. The SEC views several crypto tokens as being securities, a classification which would require them to seek registration with the watchdog. That would require copious transparency from companies and token issuers themselves, including financial disclosures and other paperwork. Coinbase has fired back at the SEC, saying it has worked to ensure it is in compliance with financial regulations. The company is calling for new rules specifically for crypto in the U.S. to end what it has called "regulation by enforcement," where the regulator is hitting companies with penalties in individual cases rather than setting clear rules for the road. France has been positioning itself as a leader in technology lately, touting its prowess in technologies such as artificial intelligence and cloud computing, as part of President Emmanuel Macron's bid to make the country a global tech hub. The country has committed 34 billion euros ($36.5 billion) of investments, including subsidies and state funding, over five years as part of its "France 2030" plan, which aims to make the country a leader in and so-called "Web3," among other things.
Ledger Crypto Wallet To Reimburse Users After Hack - Ledger says some $600,000 in assets were stolen from users’ blind signing on EVM DApps, and it will ensure all victims are “made whole,” while blind signing will be disallowed by June 2024. Hardware cryptocurrency wallet provider Ledger says it will reimburse all affected users in the aftermath of the Ledger Connect Kit exploit. Ledger took to X (formerly Twitter) on Dec. 20 to announce that the firm is aware of roughly $600,000 in assets impacted or stolen from users through blind signing on Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) decentralized applications (DApps). Multiple decentralized applications using Ledger’s connector library — including SushiSwap and Revoke.cash — were compromised on Dec. 14, 2023, resulting in massive losses by investors. According to the new announcement, Ledger will ensure that affected victims will be made whole and repaid. The firm stated:“We commit, by any way possible, including gestures of goodwill, to make sure this is done by the end of February, 2024. We are already in contact with many impacted users and are actively working through the specifics with them.”In addition, Ledger will continue to work with the DApp ecosystem to allow clear signing but will no longer allow blind signing with Ledger devices. Ledger expects to sunset blind signing with Ledger devices by June 2024.“Our commitment is to work with the community and DApp ecosystem to allow Clear Signing so users can verify all transactions on Ledger devices before signing. This will lead to a new standard to protect users and encourage Clear Signing across DApps,” the announcement added.
States must protect consumers from high-cost fintech cash advances -States are starting to grapple with purportedly new categories of small-dollar loans: earned wage advances and other types of fintech cash advances. Their approach will determine if workers and consumers will be protected from spiraling fees that drain low wages or if a new kind of payday loan will be allowed to operate outside of laws against high-cost lending.Earned wage advances (EWAs) are advances on pay, repaid on payday from payroll deduction or another method, with the loan amount tied to wages accrued but not yet due. Employers may cover the cost as a benefit, or workers may pay fees. A fake form of EWA has no connection to payroll, is repaid by debiting bank accounts and hides fees in purportedly voluntary "tips."California data on over 5 million total transactions from several leading companies show that both models offer little credit, $40 to $100 for about 10 days, at alarming average annual percentage rates of over 330%. Tip-based companies succeed in pushing consumers to "tip" 73% of the time. Both models result in reborrowing even more chronic than traditional payday loans, with an average of 36 advances a year — more than one advance every biweekly pay period. These are clear signs of a debt trap.Providers claim that these advances are not loans and that costs are just like an "ATM fee" for accessing "your own money" — a claim eerily similar to arguments payday lenders used decades ago to exempt their "check cashing fees" on deferred check presentments from usury laws.This year, Missouri and Nevada bought those arguments, exempting EWAs from lending laws with no limits on costs and no meaningful consumer protections. The bills they passed were based on model legislation from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The states define "earned wages" so broadly — based on self-certification and "reasonable" verification — that traditional payday lenders could restyle themselves to fit the definition. Providers must offer a free option, but it can be slow and inconvenient for borrowers who were sold on fast cash. "Tips" must be voluntary, but the laws do not restrict a myriad of design, behavioral and psychological techniques that California found "make tips almost as certain as required fees."California, Connecticut and Maryland have charted a different course, recognizing that EWAs from third parties with costs can be loans. Connecticut is the leader: The state has clarified coverage in statute and the Department of Banking has put out clear guidance that the state's lending laws, including rate caps, apply. California, with generally strong consumer protection laws, is on a similar course, though it has proposed a four-year transition period where only registration would be required. Maryland has issued guidance that assesses factors that all point to the conclusion that third-party EWAs that are not provided directly by employers are loans. The state warns consumers that costs can equate to 300% APR and are "possibly illegal under Maryland law."
Three Wall Street Mega Banks Hold $157.3 Trillion in Derivatives – That’s $56.7 Trillion More than the Entire World’s GDP Last Year -By Pam and Russ Martens - At recent Congressional hearings on federal bank regulators’ newly proposed rules to force the largest banks in the U.S. to hold more capital against their riskiest trading positions (so that taxpayers aren’t on the hook for more bailouts), the banks and their sycophants holding Senate and House seats made it sound like it’s the American farmers who will be hurt because the derivatives they use to hedge against crop failures or price swings in their crops will become more expensive..We knew this was a completely bogus argument because the latest data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicates that “agriculture, food, and related industries contributed roughly $1.264 trillion to U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021….” In other words, U.S. farmers need to hedge less than $2 trillion while just three mega banks on Wall Street were holding $157.3 trillion in derivatives as of September 30 of this year – which is $56.74 trillion more than the GDP of the entire world last year. (See chart above.)If the bulk of these derivatives aren’t being used by farmers and business owners to hedge against losses, what are they being used for? According to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the federal regulator of national banks, the trillions of dollars in derivatives at the mega banks on Wall Street are being used for trading – likely for the benefit of the banks themselves or their billionaire speculator clients, such as hedge funds and family offices. According to the OCC, as of September 30, JPMorgan Chase (which lost $6.2 billion from its federally-insured bank in wild derivative trades in 2012) is still allowed to sit on $54.4 trillion in derivatives. Citigroup’s Citibank, which blew itself up in 2008 from derivatives and off-balance-sheet vehicles and received the largest bailout in global banking history, is sitting on more derivatives today than at the time of its crash in 2008. OCC data shows Citibank with $35.6 trillion in derivatives on September 30, 2008 (see Table 1 in the Appendix here) versus a staggering $51.3 trillion as of September 30, 2023. Goldman Sachs, whose federally-insured bank has just $538 billion in assets, has $51.6 trillion in derivatives. (In what alternative universe from hell would Goldman Sachs be allowed to own a federally-insured bank?) Then there is the matter of concentrated risk. According to the FDIC, as of September 30, there were 4,614 federally-insured banks and savings associations in the U.S. – the vast majority of which found no need to involve the bank in derivatives at all. But, for some inexplicable reason, three banks with highly dubious histories have been allowed to establish insane levels of concentrated risk in derivatives. The $157.3 trillion in derivatives held by JPMorgan Chase Bank, Citibank and Goldman Sachs Bank USA represent 77 percent of all derivatives held by all 4,614 federally-insured financial institutions in the U.S. (See chart below.) The chart at the top of this page shows how this derivative problem has grown since the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999. The repeal removed the ban of casino trading houses on Wall Street merging with federally-insured banks. Today, every giant federally-insured bank on Wall Street owns a trading house. In 1996, prior to the repeal of Glass-Steagall, derivatives at U.S. banks represented just 63 percent of world GDP. At the end of last year, derivatives at U.S. banks represented 189.92 percent of world GDP.To prevent a replay of the banks blowing themselves up as they did in 2008 while their federal regulators were napping, federal banking regulators in July proposed to impose higher capital rules on just 37 banks – those significantly engaged in derivatives and other high-risk trading strategies. The backlash has been fierce, with the mega banks even running television ads painting a bogus and distorted picture of what the capital increases would do.Another critical question is who is on the other side of these derivative trades with the mega banks and may blow up if they took the wrong side of the trade?This is not some far-fetched fantasy. Wall Street has a history of blowing up things with derivatives. Merrill Lynch blew up Orange County, California with derivatives. Some of the biggest trading houses on Wall Street blew up the giant insurer, AIG, with derivatives in 2008, forcing the U.S. government to take over AIG with a massive bailout.We are asking our readers to do their part to stop Wall Street mega banks and their legions of lobbyists from gutting the proposed capital rules. Please contact your U.S. Senators today via the U.S. Capitol switchboard by dialing (202) 224-3121. Tell your Senators to demand that banking regulators hold firm on the stronger capital rules for the casino banks on Wall Street.
These Are the Bank Bailout Charts the Fed Hopes You’ll Never See in One Place --By Pam and Russ Martens --Jerome Powell became the Chairman of the Federal Reserve on February 5, 2018 after being nominated by then President Donald Trump and passing his Senate confirmation. Powell was sworn in again on May 23, 2022 for a second term as Chair. His second term runs until May 15, 2026. Unlike most Fed Chairs, Powell has no economics degree. He has a law degree from Georgetown University. For more background on Powell, see our May 18, 2020 article: The Fed’s Chair and Vice Chair Got Rich at Carlyle Group, a Private Equity Fund with a String of Bankruptcies and Job Losses.Powell’s tenure as Fed Chair has been mired by the biggest trading scandal in the Federal Reserve’s 110-year history. That scandal has yet to be resolved in a manner that meets the test of accountability. See our October report: After Two Years, There’s Still No Law Enforcement Report on Former Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan’s Trading Like a Hedge Fund Kingpin.But the biggest Fed scandal hiding in plain sight involves the trillions of dollars in bailout loans that the Fed has funneled to Wall Street trading houses during the tenure of Powell as Fed Chair.Despite Powell sticking to the same refrain in his Congressional testimony throughout his tenure as Fed Chair — that the U.S. banking system is operating in a safe and sound manner — the second, third and fourth largest bank failures in U.S. history occurred in a seven week span between March 10 and May 1 this past spring. Thus far, those failures have cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation $32 billion in losses.On June 21 of this year, Powell sat before the House Financial Services Committee and told its members that “The U.S. banking system is sound and resilient.” He told the U.S. Senate’s Banking Committee the same thing the next day. But the charts below, using data directly from the Fed, show a banking system in need of regular life support in the form of trillions of dollars in cumulative loans from the Fed. That is proof that there is a structural problem in the U.S. banking system, where exorbitant risk is concentrated among a handful of highly interconnected mega banks.
- Largest Recipients of $19.6 Trillion in Federal Reserve Bailout Funds, 2007 to 2011
- Where a Large Part of AIG’s Government Bailout Money Went in 2008. Figures are in Billions. (Source: Congressional Oversight Panel)
The Fed’s Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility made emergency loans from March 23, 2020 through April 23, 2020, but the program did not end on April 23, 2020. That’s because these were not overnight loans. They were loans made for periods up to as long as 11 months in some cases – taking the program into 2021.
Banks ask Biden to rethink more stringent regulation — A trade group representing bankers is asking for a sit down with President Joe Biden to discuss the impact of the Basel III capital rules, as well as other regulations. The American Bankers Association President and CEO Rob Nichols said in a letter to Biden that a raft of new regulations including new capital rules for banks, tighter Community Reinvestment Act requirements and an overhaul of the Federal Home Loan Bank System could hamstring banks' ability to provide credit and services. "If preserving the dynamic, diverse U.S. banking system remains a priority for the nation and access to affordable banking services for every American a table-stakes imperative, I encourage you to ask tough questions about the regulatory tsunami now forming and whether it is consistent with your goals to increase economic growth and expand opportunities for all Americans," Nichols wrote. It's a familiar argument that the banks have been pushing in Congress, as well as to everyday consumers in advertisements and other types of public outreach. "Implementation of each of these regulations on their own creates significant challenges for banks that impact their customers," Nichols said in the letter. "Together, these new regulations and a persistent high interest rate environment mean banks of all sizes, including the smallest community banks, will face higher costs for deposits, higher costs to offer basic banking services like free checking accounts, higher costs to make loans (even relative to nonbanks) and higher costs to run basic payment programs and invest in critical cybersecurity and other fraud mitigation systems. Collectively, these increased costs to banks translate into increased costs for customers — or scarcity, and no single regulator, much less the group as a whole, is measuring how these costs will add up and flow through the economy." Nichols also asked Biden to direct Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to examine the new rules at the Financial Stability Oversight Council. "Without commenting on specific proposed regulations, President Biden supports common-sense reforms to reverse Trump-era weakening of the supervision of large regional banks in order to strengthen our banking system to avoid future crises like the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank," the White House said in a statement. "A safe and diversified banking sector — including healthy community and regional banks — is a source of strength for our economy. As is common practice, independent regulators are currently in the process of taking comment from industry, businesses and other stakeholders on specific aspects of their proposed rules." While it's unlikely that FSOC will heed the pleas of the ABA, given that it's made up of the regulators that are proposing these changes in the first place, the letter can be seen as teeing up an agenda should there be a change in the administration in 2024.
Joe Biden's bank capital proposal will derail economic growth - By Senator Tommy Tuberville, Alabama -- If Joe Biden's regulators get their way, then Americans need to prepare for a world with less access to credit.Earlier this year, the Federal Reserve joined with other Washington banking regulators in proposing to skyrocket capital requirements on American banks. The proposal — known as theBasel III endgame, in reference to a Swiss committee that dictates international banking standards — will have ripple effects throughout our economy as it reduces access to lending.The rule as drafted dramatically increases the amount of funds banks would be required to keep tied up on the sidelines. These are funds that would otherwise be lent out to millions of Americans and the businesses — large and small — they own and operate. Keeping these funds out of the economy as the proposed Fed regulation requires would limit growth and ultimately block Americans from realizing their full God-given potential.To add insult to injury, promoters of this policy have presented no serious data or analysisshowing that current capital levels in the banking system are insufficient.Joe Biden's allies claim that only big banks with more than $100 billion in assets would be impacted by the rule change, but the knock-on effects will be felt by the thousands of community banks and credit unions that serve small towns and rural communities across our country.Not to mention their customers. Increasing capital requirements will force banks to restrict lending across the board. The rule would make it substantially harder for people to afford a mortgage or to secure a small-business loan. It would undermine the ability of working people to save for retirement and build and grow wealth.The Americans who will be hurt the most are the Americans who are already hurting, like young families and people with bad or too little credit. Good luck to the working single mom trying to get a car loan or the recent grad looking to start a business. The Biden administration has decided that it knows better and that those funds need to stay put at the bank.The rule also penalizes pension funds and limits their ability to hedge risk. Who does this hurt? Main Street working Americans attempting to save for retirement. To make matters worse, the proposal puts U.S. banks at a competitive disadvantage with their international peers. European and Asian banks would enjoy lower capital standards than U.S. firms, allowing foreign banks to take market share and profits from U.S. institutions. This is fundamentally unfair and will put American banks at a severe disadvantage.What is the problem the Fed is trying to solve? Our banking system just sailed through the worst pandemic in a century with no problems. Banks both large and small stepped up to provide vital lending backstops that kept the U.S. economy afloat. These same banks are routinely passing stress tests imposed by the Fed with flying colors. In addition to those hurdles, the banking sector has successfully weathered the Biden economy and the worst inflation in 40 years.What is the issue that makes the Fed's burdensome new rulemaking necessary? Biden regulators have been unable to answer that basic question. We all want our banks to be well capitalized, and for Americans' investments to be safe and sound. But America's banking sector today is already well capitalized.Some have used the failure of Silicon Valley Bank as justification for why higher capital requirements are necessary, but banking experts have testified before Congress that the Fed's rule would have done nothing to prevent SVB's collapse. A few Fed officials have already admitted the agency's proposed rule is a bad policy. Michelle Bowman, a Fed governor from Kansas farm country who ran a community bank earlier in her career and understands Main Street, has spoken out against the rule. She pointed out that no one at the Fed has demonstrated that the proposal's benefits would outweigh its costs to the economy. Chris Waller, another free-market Fed governor, echoed that sentiment. Bashing the banks has been good politics for centuries. But Joe Biden is playing Russian roulette with the goose that laid the golden egg. A sudden and dramatic increase in capital requirements risks taking capital out of our economy at a time of economic fragility and anxiety. The effects are coming to a community near you. Sen. Tommy Tuberville Republican U.S. Senator, Alabama
SEC proposal would be 'fatal' to bank loan funds, trade group warns —A proposal from the Securities and Exchange Commission threatens to eliminate bank loan funds, the Investment Company Institute told the agency in a comment letter obtained by American Banker. Bank loan funds are mutual funds or exchange-traded funds that buy adjustable-rate loans made by banks or other financial institutions, usually made to below-investment-grade companies — although these loans are often secured by collateral. They're particularly attractive in rising interest rate environments because they have flexible interest rates, but carry higher default risk. The funds grew substantially after the 2008 financial crisis, reaching their peak in 2013 and remain an important part of the financial market plumbing for banks and other financial institutions. The SEC proposal in question would expand the definition of an "illiquid" investment, tipping a number of funds past the existing 15% cap on illiquid assets. Bank loan funds are particularly vulnerable to this change, the ICI said in its comment letter, filed alongside the regional group ICI Southwest. "If adopted, the proposed liquidity rule amendments would eliminate funds investing primarily in bank loans, a category that long has been beneficial to retail investors," the group said in the comment letter. "While the amendments would be fatal to these funds, they also would adversely affect other funds that hold bank loans." The amendments have already faced significant pushback. In September, nearly 40 bipartisan members of the House of Representatives submitted their own comment letter to the SEC, requesting that the agency withdraw its proposal. Currently, the SEC's liquidity rule requires funds to classify each portfolio investment into one of four buckets — highly liquid, moderately liquid, less liquid and illiquid. The proposal would eliminate the less liquid bucket and expand the illiquid bucket, making it "impossible" for bank loan funds to comply with the 15% threshold, the ICI said. The ICI, in the letter, pushes back against the idea that bank fund loans pose a large enough threat to justify these changes, and says that there are less stringent measures the SEC and the funds could take to mitigate the risks that bank loan funds present. "In their approximately 25-year history, bank loan funds have operated successfully within the open-end fund regulatory structure, and to date, no bank loan fund has suspended redemptions," the group said. In its proposal, the SEC raised concerns with a key feature of bank fund loans: an unusual settlement structure that takes longer than normal. The SEC said that this might be problematic, and that bank loan funds are generally less liquid than normal stocks or bonds.
FDIC draws bright line between insured and uninsured — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s Board of Directors finalized a rule Wednesday that requires FDIC-insured depository institutions to display a new digital official FDIC sign near the name of their bank on all websites and mobile platforms by 2025. The agency will also require conspicuous physical signs in nontraditional bank facilities and explicit labeling of insured and non-deposit products. The FDIC board approved the agency's 2024 operating budget as well, with a 6.3% decrease from the previous year.The final sign and advertising rule — approved at a board meeting — also requires banks to provide clearly displayed disclaimers that differentiate non–deposit products from insured deposits in instances where both types of products are offered. The FDIC's Chairman, Martin Gruenberg, noted in remarks that while this requirement formalizes longstanding interagency guidance that many banks already follow, the agency believed it needed to mandate explicit labeling in the era of digital banking."For many consumers, these channels may serve as the primary method of accessing banking products, acting essentially as a 'digital teller window,'" Gruenberg said. "It is important to require a digital sign so that customers can confirm when they are interacting directly with a bank rather than with a non–bank entity, and to clarify when their funds are insured by the FDIC and when they are not."The FDIC noted that the revision was due to the substantially more online nature of banking since the rule's last significant update in 2006. A new digital black and navy-blue version of the classic black and gold FDIC official sign — which has been required at teller windows since the agency was founded in the 1930s — will now be displayed by banks across digital platforms beginning January 1, 2025. Considering the evolving designs of the physical branches where customers make deposits, the final rule also updates the agency's expectations for how banks must display the FDIC official sign on premises. Under the final rule, for branches where insured deposits are received in areas other than classic teller windows, the insured institution must display the official FDIC sign conspicuously in a size large enough to be legible from such alternative deposit taking stations.
New Jersey banks extend deadline to close their $1.3 billion merger - Provident Financial Services and Lakeland Bancorp have agreed to extend their merger agreement through March 2024 to allow more time for regulatory approvals. In September 2022, the Iselin, New Jersey-based Provident agreed to pay $1.3 billion in stockfor the $11.2 billion-asset Lakeland, which is headquartered in Oak Ridge, New Jersey. The deal — originally expected to close in the second quarter of 2023 — would move the $14.1 billion-asset Provident north of $25 billion in total assets and give it more than 160 branches in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. The companies stated Wednesday in a press release that they "remained committed to the merger and to obtaining regulatory approvals." Both Provident and Lakeland share the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as their primary federal regulator. Both also are regulated by the Federal Reserve as bank holding companies. Provident filed merger applications with both agencies in November 2022. Analyst Jake Civiello, who covers Provident for Janney Montgomery Scott, wrote Thursday in a research note that he remains "confident that the transaction will be completed as soon as regulatory approvals are granted." Civiello expects the deal to close in 2024 at the end of the first quarter. Given the slippage in the deal timeline, Civiello reduced his full-year 2024 earnings-per-share projection for Provident by 10 cents to $1.90.The extension announcement by Provident and Lakeland comes amid a difficult year for bank merger-and-acquisition activity. The pace of deals slowed markedly as interest rates spiked beginning in the spring of 2022 and continuing into the summer of 2023. Meanwhile, increased scrutiny by federal regulators has led to an ongoing jump in the number of terminations. Through Oct. 30, 10 deals had been nixed, after 13 were called off in 2022. Only four deals were scuttled in 2021.There have also been a number of delays. Indeed, earlier this month, the $22.5 billion-asset WaFd in Seattle announced the deadline to close its $654 million acquisition of the $8.1 billion-asset Luther Burbank in Santa Rosa, California, had been extended through February. That deal was announced originally in November 2022, and the companies had initially forecast a possible close in the second quarter of 2023.
CFPB report finds overdraft, NSF services are used as a type of credit -- Consumers with subprime credit scores are particularly burdened by hefty overdraft fees. Despite the high cost, many are using overdraft services intentionally as a form of credit, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said in a report on Tuesday. Two years after many large banks eliminated or dropped overdraft and nonsufficient fund fees, the CFPB issued a report that paints a broad financial profile of consumers' experiences with such fees. The report comes ahead of CFPB proposals expected in January aimed at cracking down on both overdraft and NSF fees. One finding that banks are likely to highlight is that frequent overdrafters — households that pay more than 10 overdraft fees a year — use overdraft services as a form of credit, even though more than half have access to a lower-cost credit card."Some consumers appear to use overdrafts often and intentionally as a source of credit, even with their high cost," the report stated. Low-income households are hit hardest by overdraft and NSF fees and about half do not have access to credit or a lower-cost option. Just 10% of households making $175,000 a year were charged either fee, the report found, while 34% of households making less than $65,000 paid a fee. The average credit score of frequent overdraft and NSF fee consumers is 637 compared with 744 for those who never get assessed the fees. The CFPB characterized consumers charged overdraft and NSF fees as "more likely to struggle to meet their financial obligations," and "more likely to be economically disadvantaged — those with lower incomes, who have limited education or who are non-white." Though both fees kick in when a consumer overdraws their bank account, the CFPB characterizes both overdraft and NSF fees as "unexpected" charges. The words "surprise," or "surprised," appear 63 times in the report. Overdrafts occur when a consumer overdraws their account and the bank covers the transaction — by extending credit to the consumer for a fee — while NSFs occur when a financial institution does not cover a transaction. "Our research finds that American families are paying fees they do not expect, even when they have access to cheaper forms of credit," CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a press release. The 90-page report, half of it graphs and charts, was based on responses to the CFPB's "Making Ends Meet" survey combined with a sample of credit reports and credit score data from late 2022 to early 2023. The report has six sections including one that describes the "financial strain and well-being," of consumers charged overdraft and NSF fees."We find lower levels of financial well-being among consumers charged more overdraft and NSF fees in the past year," the report states, unsurprisingly.
Sen. Warren criticizes OCC's record on state consumer protection rules — The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has exceeded its ability to overrule state consumer protection laws in favor of federal ones, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and other lawmakers told the agency's acting Comptroller Michael Hsu in a letter obtained by American Banker. According to the letter — led by Warren and signed by Sens. Jack Reed, D-R.I., Peter Welch, D-VT., Ed Markey, D-Mass., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Bernie Sanders, I-VT. — the OCC has acted against congressional intent by preempting the applicability of state consumer protection laws in cases other than the few outlined in the Dodd-Frank Act. While the agency moves described in the letter predate current acting Comptroller Hsu's time at the OCC, Hsu hasn't corrected the record when it comes to state preemption. The letter calls on Hsu to rescind any of the regulations, orders, interpretive letters, or other guidance that the lawmakers say contradicts the way Dodd-Frank set up federal banking laws to preempt state consumer protection ones, and to issue new supervisory guidance. The issue of state consumer protection laws and how they interact with federal ones is an increasingly hot topic in the courts. A group of U.S. state attorneys general recently wrote a letter to the OCC and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to complain about how federally chartered institutions have to comply with state information requests, and the Supreme Court is set to consider whether the National Bank Act trumps state laws requiring banks to pay mortgage borrowers interest on escrow funds. In the letter to the OCC sent Friday, the lawmakers took issue with a 2020 interpretive letterissued by the agency that says an action with "indirect" effects on a state law doesn't mean that the state law was preempted. "We strongly disagree with this position," the Senate Democrats said in the letter. "As both the United States and a coalition of state attorneys general have recently argued in court, Dodd-Frank specifies only three situations in which state consumer protection laws regulating national banks may be preempted, and 'indirect' preemption is simply not one of them." The lawmakers also criticized the OCC for not reviewing its preemption determinations every five years, as required by Dodd-Frank. "The Dodd-Frank Act's periodic review requirement is an important mechanism for public examination and thoughtful consideration of the OCC's prior preemption determinations," the lawmakers said in the letter. "But in the twelve years since Dodd-Frank became effective — a period during which the OCC should have conducted a minimum of two cycles of reviews for each of its preemption determinations — the OCC has conducted none."The OCC has also "unduly interfered" with states' ability to gather information about violations of non-preempted state consumer protection laws, the lawmakers said. Under a 2002 advisory letter, state attorneys general are discouraged from contacting national banks about allegations of illegal behavior, and national banks are discouraged from responding to state requests for that information, according to the letter. The lawmakers urged the agency to issue new supervisory guidance directing national banks to comply with state information requests regarding non-preempted laws.
In fighting credit card proposals, GOP focuses on impact to consumers — Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., is asking the Government Accountability Office to study the impact of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's credit card late fee proposal, according to a letter obtained by American Banker.The request is the latest iteration of a dynamic in which retail and payments lobbyists fight for the narrative on a number of credit card-related proposals and laws, including the CFPB's attempt to cap credit card late fees at $8, as well as the Durbin amendment, which would overhaul rules governing swipe fees. Barr, in the letter to the GAO, called the CFPB rule a "thinly veiled move to shift incidence of the costs to creditors of late payments to innocent consumers." The proposal slashes late fees from the current $30 for the first fee and $41 for each subsequent missed payment, a potential fivefold drop, that the CFPB estimates would save consumers up to $9 billion a year. "Even the frequent late payers, which this proposed rule purports to help, will ultimately be harmed over the long term. Reducing the penalty and deterrence for frequent late payers who do not pay their credit card bills will result in higher credit card balances, larger consumer debt loads, and damage to consumers' longer-term credit histories," Barr said. Many Republicans and the payments industry say that those costs will be put on consumers instead. "The long-term costs and impacts to consumers of this rulemaking are unclear at best and likely harmful," Barr said in the letter. "The rule departs from traditional risk-based pricing practices required by prudential regulators, almost certainly resulting in a higher cost of credit and reduced credit access for consumers who pay their bills on time." In these battles more broadly, both sides are trying to convince key lawmakers that taking steps with credit card issuers would either help or hurt consumers. The rhetoric has become more pointed this year since inflation became a major worry among voters. These same arguments are being used, for example, in the conflict between payment providers and retailers over a bill primarily sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., that would require cards from banks with $100 billion or more of assets to offer merchants the choice of two unaffiliated card networks that aren't both Visa and Mastercard.Doug Kantor, general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores and a member of the Merchants Payments Coalition, said that there's "common elements" between the Durbin bill, which he's been involved in discussions with for years, and the pushback against the CFPB proposal. "Every time you talk about regulation, the banking industry says the sky is falling," he said. "And that is the perfect summation of their reaction to every proposal. 'If you do that it will hurt someone and it'll be consumers.' And with respect to the Credit Card Competition Act specifically, it is plainly untrue." While the bill's sponsors say it will lower fees and promote competition outside of the "Visa-Mastercard duopoly," advocates for the financial services industry say it's a giveaway to retailers and would increase costs for consumers. Last week, the Congressional Research Service issued a report saying that the impact of card processing changes is unclear.
CFPB might be over its anti-discrimination skis in Townstone case When George Floyd was murdered in 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was under pressure to do something to combat discrimination. Within months, the CFPB hadslapped a Chicago mortgage lender, Townstone Financial, with a redlining lawsuit, claiming the company's CEO Barry Sturner made disparaging remarks about Blacks on a talk-radio infomercial that discouraged minorities from applying for home loans.The CFPB cited as evidence of discrimination comments by Sturner who described a Jewel-Osco grocery store as "Jungle Jewel," and claimed the South Side of Chicago between Friday and Monday was "hoodlum weekend."A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit heard oral arguments on the case, CFPB v. Townstone Financial, that focused on whether the CFPB has broad authority to discourage discrimination to combat redlining. The CFPB in February had appealed a U.S. District Court's dismissal of the case in the favor of Townstone. The lower court found that the Equal Credit Opportunity Act applies only to credit applicants — not to prospective home loan applicants. That distinction is written in the statute, experts said, potentially setting the CFPB up for a loss at the federal level.Consumer groups are concerned that if the bureau loses the case, it would undercut redlining enforcement and potentially destroy the bureau's ability to bring fair-lending cases in Illinois, Indiana or Wisconsin, the 7th Circuit's jurisdiction. "It's a very important case, and a lot hinges on the treatment of prospective applicants because discouragement is the essence of what drives redlining and leaves people not able to get credit," said Adam Rust, director of financial services at the Consumer Federation of America.The CFPB already has had its efforts to combat discrimination undercut by industry. In September, the CFPB lost a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and six trade groups that had sued the CFPB for enacting a policy that claimed discrimination on the basis of age, race or sex — regardless of intent — violates the federal prohibition on "unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices," or UDAAP. During the oral arguments, Steve Simpson, a senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, said the CFPB had gone beyond the language of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which he argued "does not prevent statements that disparage or offend people [or] statements that characterize a neighborhood in a way that somebody might find offensive." He claims the case is primarily about free speech."What we're talking about are a CEO's statements on a radio show — we're not talking about loan applications," said Simpson, who represents Townstone.
Biden vetoes challenge to CFPB small-business data rule --— President Joe Biden vetoed a resolution to nullify the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's small-business data collection rule, as widely expected. Congress previously voted to invalidate the rule, which has already been halted by a federal judge pending the Supreme Court's decision on whether the CFPB's funding structure is constitutional, using a Congressional Review Act challenge. The contested rule would require fintechs and other lenders to collect race, gender and demographic information before making loans to small-businesses. The banking industry has opposed the rule, saying that its requirements are too onerous. Biden, on his late Tuesday night veto of the resolution overturning the CFPB's rule, said that it would "bring much needed transparency to small-business lending and improve the ability of lenders and community organizations to meet the most critical needs of America's small-businesses." "This Republican-led resolution would hinder the government's ability to conduct oversight of abusive and predatory lenders, make it harder for 33 million small-businesses across the country to assess lending opportunities and access capital, and make it more difficult for lenders and community groups to address the most acute gaps in capital access for minority- and women-owned businesses," Biden said. "If enacted, this resolution would harm all those that stand to benefit from expanded transparency and accountability." Lawmakers voted largely on party lines to approve the resolution, but the vote in both chambers drew some Democratic defectors. Three Democrats — Jon Tester of Montana, John Hickenlooper of Colorado and Joe Manchin of West Virginia — voted in favor of the resolution. Independent Senators Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Angus King of Maine — both of whom caucus with Democrats — also supported the resolution. In the House, six Democrats voted in favor: Reps. Ed Case of Hawaii, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Jared Golden of Maine, Kathy Manning of North Carolina, Mary Peltola of Alaska and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington. Lawmakers knew early on that Biden would veto the resolution, so the vote to nullify the rule was largely symbolic. Still, Congressional Review Act challenges that pass both the House and the Senate are rare, especially those that can draw bipartisan support.
BankThink: Not so fast, state AGs. Banks don't owe you automatic data access | American Banker --Why would a coalition of state attorneys general urge the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to ensure that national banks cooperate with the AGs' investigations into violations of state laws? Because, notwithstanding their invocations of Supreme Court precedent and the Dodd-Frank Act, they don't have the authority to conduct such investigations themselves. The agencies should disregard the AGs' request.In their letter to acting Comptroller Michael Hsu and CFPB Director Rohit Chopra, the AGs correctly note that both the Supreme Court (in Cuomo v. Clearing House Association) and the relevant provision of the Dodd-Frank Act (codified in 12 U.S.C. § 25b(i)) authorize the AGs to bring court actions to enforce applicable law. But neither Cuomo nor Dodd-Frank authorizes them to seek production of a national bank's records outside of normal judicial procedures. On the contrary, the Cuomo court firmly distinguished between law enforcement through court action and the exercise of visitorial powers reserved exclusively to the OCC under the National Bank Act, writing that "[i]f a State chooses to pursue enforcement of its laws in court, then it is not exercising its power of visitation and will be treated like a litigant," while making clear that visitorial powers, on the other hand, "include any form of administrative oversight that allows [the State] to inspect books and records on demand, even if the process is mediated by a court" (557 U.S. at 535). The AGs ignore this distinction and instead refer to their inability to "seek information, documents, and testimony from national banks" as something "the OCC has left unaddressed." This assertion flatly ignores the fact that the Supreme Court's Cuomo decision settled this question in 2009 after years of litigation, Congress codified that ruling in the Dodd-Frank Act (in 12 USC 25b) and the OCC amended its rules (at 12 CFR 7.4000) accordingly in 2011.In Cuomo, the court explained that the judicial process affords important protections to the subject of a state investigation. An attorney general acting as a civil litigant "must file a lawsuit, survive a motion to dismiss, endure the rules of procedure and discovery, and risk sanctions if his claim is frivolous or his discovery tactics abusive." Judges are entrusted to protect the AG's target from "fishing expeditions or an undirected rummaging through bank books and records for evidence of some unknown wrongdoing." Dodd-Frank did not alter the court's distinction between authorized judicial actions and impermissible "rummaging." Thus, although state AGs can sue a national bank in a court of appropriate jurisdiction to enforce non-preempted state laws, they cannot conduct nonjudicial investigations or oversight of a national bank. The OCC's amended visitorial powers rules codify that legal principle and provide that only the OCC may "exercise visitorial powers with respect to national banks, such as conducting examinations, inspecting or requiring the production of books or records of national banks, or prosecuting enforcement actions." Full stop.Why should people care if big banks — singled out in the AGs' letter — are inundated with investigative requests? Because subjecting these banks to such oversight would be inefficient, expensive and unnecessary. And consumers would pay the price.
U.S. Bank ordered to pay $36 million for COVID-era benefits issues — Banking agencies ordered U.S. Bank to pay a total of $36 million for violations related to the bank's prepaid card program to distribute unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered that U.S. Bank pay $21 million, including a $15 million penalty and $5.7 million to consumers. Separately, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a $15 million civil money penalty against the bank. The orders relate to U.S. Bank's "ReliaCard" program, which issued prepaid debit cards to consumers in 19 states and the District of Columbia, to receive unemployment benefits. In the summer of 2020, U.S. Bank rolled out new and expanded freeze criteria for these cards, resulting in tens of thousands of eligible cardholders losing access to their benefits, according to the agencies. The bank, in a statement to American Banker, said that its ReliaCard prepaid debit card program grew nearly 4,000% during the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time, the bank worked to combat fraud in the program — a major problem in many COVID-19 era relief programs, including expanded unemployment insurance. "In the face of these unprecedented times, the bank stepped up to enable the government to provide assistance to those in need during the pandemic and worked to identify and combat fraud," a U.S. Bank spokesperson said in a statement. "While a small portion of cardholders were affected due to extended holds, we prevented fraud of over $375 million and returned to the states hundreds of millions in additional funds sent to questionable accounts." The spokesperson said that its efforts "saved taxpayers from significant losses."
The Federal Home Loan banks should embrace their housing mission --The Biden administration is taking a hard look at a profit-driven system of government-sponsored banks that has escaped serious scrutiny for many years. Executives of the Federal Home Loan banks are pushing back hard. If they chose, they could participate in a constructive discussion around how they could help increase the availability and affordability of housing for all Americans. Instead, the Federal Home Loan banks are ducking the conversation. That's not a good start in a debate that is vitally important to banks, housing finance and the nation's homebuyers and renters.When the federal government created the Federal Home Loan banks in the early 1930s, the intention was to support home lending to U.S. households. The collapse of the savings and loan industry in the late 1980s spurred significant changes in the system, which shifted its focus away from housing. With the implicit endorsement of the government, this trillion-dollar private group of wholesale banks continues to raise enormous sums of cheap money on the credit markets and in turn sells those funds to U.S. financial institutions of all sizes. But while they prefer as a government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) to keep the phrase "Home Loan" in their name, it's actually impossible to know whether or not their business indeed supports affordable housing. That's the question being asked by the Federal Home Loan banks' regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) in its FHLB System at 100 project.It is an essential question to raise. The U.S. faces a widespread and persistent lack of affordable housing. This broad crisis is affecting the well-being and welfare of households of all incomes and ages. If the government is to continue providing extraordinary advantages to an ostensibly housing-related system of banks, as well as to its private shareholders, should regulators explore ways to put those benefits to the best use of Americans in a time of great need?In describing the challenges to housing affordability that homebuyers and renters face all across the country, the FHFA bluntly cites "rising rents and interest rates, high construction costs, increasing house prices and limited housing supply." Following a yearlong process of public meetings and comment, the agency last month released a set of recommendations on how the Federal Home Loan banks could be more focused on housing. In the report, the agency stated that it "plans to develop a clear mission statement for the Home Loan banks that explicitly incorporates the following core objectives: (i) provide liquidity to members; and (ii) support housing and community development."Fundamentally, FHFA Director Sandra Thompson is considering new policies designed to correct the current mismatch between the advantages the Federal Home Loan banks receive as GSEs and what they accomplish toward serving the nation's housing needs. The implied federal guarantee of the debt they raise in the global markets allows them to make loans (called "advances") to banks and credit unions and insurance companies who then use the money as a source of inexpensive liquidity for general, unspecified purposes. Located in 11 different regions throughout the country, the Federal Home Loan banks are exempt from federal, state and local income taxes. The arrangement is also very profitable to member banks through the dividends (aka profit-sharing) they receive. The FHFA report states, "The Federal Home Loan banks distribute a significant amount of earnings in the form of dividends every year. The System paid out an average of $1.3 billion in dividends each year from 2020 to 2022 and paid out $1.5 billion in the first half of 2023." The Federal Home Loan banks have wasted no time in their resistance to FHFA's recommendations. Their message in these pages and elsewhere has essentially boiled down to "Move along, nothing to see here." The chief executive of their own trade association has said the principles laid out in FHFA's report "lack a strong factual basis." The president and CEO of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago was quoted saying, "This report doesn't change anything that we do."
Navy Federal faces lawsuit, allegations of racial bias in mortgage lending -- Navy Federal Credit Union is facing a lawsuit that accuses the lender of discriminating against minority home loan applicants.The lawsuit was filed against the $168 billion-asset institution after a CNN report late last week that the credit union approved about 77% of mortgage applications from white borrowers, but only 56% of applications from Latinos and 48% from Black applicants in 2022. Citing Consumer Financial Protection Bureau data, CNN found that this represented the greatest disparity among the 50 largest residential mortgage lenders in the U.S. The gap remained "even after accounting for variables such as applicants' income, debt-to-income ratio, property value and down payment percentage," CNN reported.Rep. Maxine Waters of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, said on Monday that she was "appalled and shocked" by CNN's findings and what she called an apparent "pattern of discrimination" by Navy Federal."As a private institution that bears the name of an esteemed branch of the United States military, Navy Federal must explain both to Congress and their members how such practices took place, what immediate steps are being taken to correct the harm done, and who in management will be held responsible," Waters said in a statement. "Its leadership should also share to what extent they prioritize diversity and inclusion, including on their management team and board, as well as in their hiring, promoting, and contracting practices."Navy Federal declined an interview request but pushed back against critics in a prepared statement."We take our responsibility to fair lending very seriously and are closely examining the allegations in the recent CNN article," Navy Federal said. "The statistics in the article do not appear to have considered several key credit criteria that all financial institutions, including Navy Federal, rely on to assess mortgage applications," though it stopped short of specifying those criteria.Navy Federal also said it is "a national leader in lending to the Black community, ranking third among the leading 50 lenders in the percentage of mortgage loans made to Black borrowers." It made more than $3.5 billion of mortgages to Black borrowers in 2022, the credit union said.Navy Federal also said in the statement that it had hired a civil rights attorney, Debo Adegbile, to assess its mortgage lending policies and practices and make recommendations. The lawsuit, brought by multiple firms, accuses Navy Federal of running afoul of both the Fair Housing Act of 1968 and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which bar lending discrimination based on race. The suit has two named Black plaintiffs, Laquita Oliver and Cherelle Jacob, who sought home loans from Navy Federal but allege they were discriminated against based on their race and unfairly denied approvals.The suit seeks to represent a broader class of potential plaintiffs that would include all Navy Federal minority home loan applicants from 2018 through 2023. The suit notes that CNN's report found Navy Federal approved a higher percentage of applications from white borrowers making less than $62,000 a year than it did from Black borrowers making $140,000 or more. "The outright discrimination that occurs when 'banking while Black' continues to reveal itself in the lending practices of many of America's largest financial institutions," said Ben Crump, one of those lawyers who filed the suit. "It is shameful that Navy Federal, an organization that prides itself in helping the families of men and women who served their country, does not give their Black and Latino customers the same opportunities as white customers," he added in a press release.
Feds' suit depicts predatory mortgage lending in the social media age --Fifteen years after the subprime mortgage crisis, the Justice Department has filed its first-ever predatory mortgage lending case. And while some of the alleged misconduct resembles unsavory practices that helped fuel the 2008 meltdown, the lawsuit also contains new twists for the social media age.In a suit filed Wednesday in Houston, the Justice Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accused Colony Ridge Development LLC of running a bait-and-switch land-sale scheme that makes predatory loans to Hispanic immigrants.The complaint alleges that Colony Ridge, which since 2011 has developed more than 40,000 residential lots on the outskirts of the Houston metro area, used false or misleading advertising messages on social media sites such as TikTok to lure Spanish-speaking customers.The developer allegedly promised that its lots came with water, power and sewer services, even though many of the parcels lacked the infrastructure necessary to connect utilities.In addition, Colony Ridge has allegedly been failing to assess customers' ability to repay the loans they use to finance land purchases. Nor has it requested proof of borrowers' income, according to the civil complaint."Through today's action, the Justice Department is making clear that it is equally determined to stamp out predatory lenders who take advantage of the conditions created by redlining as it is to prevent illegal redlining from happening in the first place," Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Kristen Clarke said at a press conference.Colony Ridge CEO John Harris said in a written statement that the company was "blindsided" by the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court."The lawsuit is baseless and both outrageous and inflammatory," Harris said. "Our business thrives off customer referrals because landowners are happy and able to experience the American Dream of owning property. We loan to those who have no opportunity to get a loan from anyone else and we are proud of the relationship we have developed with customers. We look forward to telling the true story of Colony Ridge."Also named as a defendant in the suit was a Texas-based mortgage firm called Loan Originator Services LLC. According to the complaint, that company has originated all of Colony Ridge's mortgages since 2016 and has done so, like Colony Ridge, without assessing borrowers' ability to repay.
Trade groups voice concern over reduced FHA, Ginnie Mae budgets - In a joint letter this week, leading housing industry trade groups voiced concerns over proposed reductions in funding at key government-finance agencies, asking Congress to fulfill requests at previously approved levels.Even as both chambers of Congress approved funding close to the amounts originally requested by both the Federal Housing Administration and Ginnie Mae, a budget agreement enacted this past spring aims to lower overall annual discretionary spending by 1% in fiscal 2024 from the previous year. Such a cutback to the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development Appropriations, or THUD, bill will hamper the ability of both agencies to fulfill their missions in an already challenged market, the groups argue.The letter was signed by Community Home Lenders of America, Housing Policy Council, Leading Builders of America. Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association of Home Builders, National Association of Realtors and National Reverse Mortgage Lenders AssociatIon.As Congress attempts to reconcile funding proposals from the Senate and House of Representatives, signs point to the likelihood of a 1% cut, "a result that raises serious concerns about funding levels for FHA and Ginnie Mae, considering the critical role these programs play in support of affordable homeownership," the letter said."As FHA is projected to generate $2.75 billion in profits (negative credit subsidies) in the FY 2024 budget, it seems counterintuitIve to underfund requests for administrative accounts that support FHA," signers of the letter stated. Similarly, they said Ginnie Mae requests "also appear fully warranted."The FHA, which is funded through the Department of Housing and Urban Development, had asked for funding of $500 million, a $35 million increase from the fiscal 2023 amount of $465 million. Committees in the House and Senate approved funding at $488.5 million and $497 million. The consortium urged congressional leaders to "place a high priority" on funding at the higher Senate level.Meanwhile, Ginnie Mae requested a fiscal 2024 budget of $61 million, which represented a $21 million increase from $40 million in 2023. The House gave its approval for $51 million, while the Senate agreed to fund it at $54 million. "A 1% cut to the Ginnie Mae account would result in harmful mortgage market impacts and taxpayer risks. As noted, both the House and Senate THUD bills recognized this and funded increases of $11 million and $14 million, respectIvely," the letter said, adding that $54 million should be "the absolute minimum that is prescribed."
MBA Survey: "Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Decreases to 0.26% in November" From the MBA: Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Decreases to 0.26% in November The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) monthly Loan Monitoring Survey revealed that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 3 basis points from 0.29% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior month to 0.26% as of November 30, 2023. According to MBA’s estimate, 130,000 homeowners are in forbearance plans. Mortgage servicers have provided forbearance to approximately 8.1 million borrowers since March 2020.In November 2023, the share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance declined 2 basis points to 0.16%. Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance decreased 5 basis points to 0.47%, and the forbearance share for portfolio loans and private-label securities (PLS) decreased 2 basis points to 0.30%.“Nearly 96 percent of all home mortgages are performing, which underscores how strong servicing portfolio performance is right now with the same resilience seen in the U.S. labor market,” said Marina Walsh, CMB, MBA’s Vice President of Industry Analysis. “Meanwhile, the performance of loan workouts is solid, but declined last month. Roughly 70 percent of loan workouts initiated since 2020 are current.” “MBA forecasts an economic downturn in 2024, and there are signs of early distress in other credit types such as car loans and credit cards. Those borrowers who struggled in making their mortgage payments in the past may find themselves in similar situations in a softening economy and rising unemployment.” This graph shows the reasons for forbearance: COVID-19, Naturnal Disaster, other Temporary Hardship. From the MBA: • By reason, 53.6% of borrowers are in forbearance for reasons such as a temporary hardship caused by job loss, death, divorce, or disability; while 34.3% of borrowers are in forbearance because of COVID-19. Another 12.1% are in forbearance because of a natural disaster. At the end of November, there were about 130,000 homeowners in forbearance plans.
Homeowners face rising insurance rates as climate change makes wildfires, storms more common (AP) — A growing number of Americans are finding it difficult to afford insurance on their homes, a problem only expected to worsen because insurers and lawmakers have underestimated the impact of climate change, a new report says. A report from First Street Foundation released Wednesday says states such as California, Florida and Louisiana, which are prone to wildfires and damaging storms and flooding, are likely to see the most dramatic increases in premiums. But the fire that destroyed the Hawaiian community ofLahaina on Aug. 8, as well as the historic flooding that happened in Vermont and Maine in July, are examples of events that could drive up insurance costs for homeowners in other states. “If you’re not worried, you’re not paying attention,” said California Sen. Bill Dodd, whose district includes the wine-country counties devastated by the LNU Complex fires in 2020. First Street estimates, factoring climate models into the financial risk of properties in its report, that roughly 39 million properties — roughly a quarter of all homes in the country — are being underpriced for the climate risk to insure those properties. “Some places may be impacted very minimally, but other places could see massive increases in insurance premiums in the coming years,” said Jeremy Porter, head of climate implications at First Street and a co-author of the report. First Street, a New York-based non-profit, has been a to-go researcher on the financial implications of climate change for years. Their research is used by Fannie Mae, Bank of America, the Treasury Department and others for understanding the potential risks to properties. There are several signs that climate change is taking its toll on the insurance industry. The U.S. homeowner’s insurance industry has had three straight years of underwriting losses, according to credit rating agency AM Best. Losses for the first half of 2023 totaled $24.5 billion, which is roughly what was lost in all of 2022. “(Climate change) is a problem that is already here,” said Todd Bevington, a managing director at the insurance broker VIU by HUB. In his 30 years of doing insurance, he said “I’ve never seen the market turn this quickly or significantly.” Skyrocketing insurance costs are a serious concern for the small town of Paradise in Northern California, which was nearly wiped out by a deadly 2018 wildfire that killed 85 people. Jen Goodlin moved back to her hometown from Colorado with her family in 2020, determined to help in the town’s recovery. They began building on a lot they had purchased, and moved into their new house in October 2022. In July, she was shocked to receive notice that the family’s homeowner insurance premium would be $11,245 -- up from $2,500. “Our insurance agent said, ‘Just be thankful we didn’t drop you,’ and I said, ‘You did, you just dropped me,’” she said.
MBA: Mortgage Applications Decreased in Weekly Survey -- From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest MBA Weekly Survey Mortgage applications decreased 1.5 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending December 15, 2023. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 1.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 3 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index decreased 2 percent from the previous week and was 18 percent higher than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 1 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 4 percent compared with the previous week and was 18 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($726,200 or less) decreased to 6.83 percent from 7.07 percent, with points increasing to 0.60 from 0.59 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The first graph shows the MBA mortgage purchase index. According to the MBA, purchase activity is down 18% year-over-year unadjusted. Purchase application activity is up from the lows in late October and early November, but still below the lowest levels during the housing bust. The second graph shows the refinance index since 1990.With higher mortgage rates, the refinance index declined sharply in 2022, and even with some recent minor increases, activity is barely off the bottom.
Housing December 18th Weekly Update: Inventory Down 1.4% Week-over-week, Up 3.0% Year-over-year -- Altos reports that active single-family inventory was down 1.4% week-over-week and is now up 3.0% year-over-year. Inventory will likely decrease seasonally until the Spring..This inventory graph is courtesy of Altos Research. As of December 15th, inventory was at 539 thousand (7-day average), compared to 546 thousand the prior week. Year-to-date, inventory is up 9.6% and will likely start at a higher level in 2024 than in 2023, but still far below 2019 levels.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 record low for the same week in 2021, but below last year and still well below normal levels.Inventory was up 3.0% compared to the same week in 2022 (last week it was up 1.9%), and down 34.1% compared to the same week in 2019 (last week down 34.4%). Inventory is now solidly above the same week in 2020 levels (dark blue line).Mike Simonsen discusses this data regularly on Youtube.
NAR: Existing-Home Sales Increased to 3.82 million SAAR in November - From the NAR: Existing-Home Sales Expanded 0.8% in November, Ending Five-Month Slide; Existing-home sales grew in November, breaking a streak of five consecutive monthly declines, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. Among the four major U.S. regions, sales climbed in the Midwest and South but receded in the Northeast and West. All four regions experienced year-over-year sales decreases.Total existing-home sales – completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – elevated 0.8% from October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.82 million in November. Year-over-year, sales fell 7.3% (down from 4.12 million in November 2022)....Total housing inventory registered at the end of November was 1.13 million units, down 1.7% from October but up 0.9% from one year ago (1.12 million). Unsold inventory sits at a 3.5-month supply at the current sales pace, down from 3.6 months in October but up from 3.3 months in November 2022.This graph shows existing home sales, on a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) basis since 1994. Sales in November (3.82 million SAAR) were up 0.8% from the previous month and were 7.3% below the November 2022 sales rate. The second graph shows nationwide inventory for existing homes.According to the NAR, inventory decreased to 1.13 million in November from 1.15 million the previous month. Headline inventory is not seasonally adjusted, and inventory usually decreases to the seasonal lows in December and January, and peaks in mid-to-late summer.The last graph shows the year-over-year (YoY) change in reported existing home inventory and months-of-supply. Since inventory is not seasonally adjusted, it really helps to look at the YoY change. Note: Months-of-supply is based on the seasonally adjusted sales and not seasonally adjusted inventory.Inventory was up 0.9% year-over-year (blue) in November compared to November 2022. Months of supply (red) decreased to 3.5 months in November from 3.6 months the previous month.This was above the consensus forecast. I'll have more later.
NAR: Existing-Home Sales Increased to 3.82 million SAAR in November; Months-of-Supply Close to 2019 Levels --Today, in the CalculatedRisk Real Estate Newsletter: NAR: Existing-Home Sales Increased to 3.82 million SAAR in November Excerpt: Sales Year-over-Year and Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA)The fourth graph shows existing home sales by month for 2022 and 2023. Sales declined 7.3% year-over-year compared to November 2022. This was the twenty-seventh consecutive month with sales down year-over-year. This was just above the cycle low of 3.79 million SAAR last month.
New Home Sales decrease to 590,000 Annual Rate in November; Average New Home Price is Down 14% from the Peak - Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: New Home Sales decrease to 590,000 Annual Rate in November Brief excerpt: The Census Bureau reports New Home Sales in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 590 thousand. The previous three months were revised down....The next graph shows new home sales for 2022 and 2023 by month (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate). Sales in November 2023 were up 1.4% from November 2022. Year-to-date sales are up 3.9% compared to the same period in 2022.Although sales disappointed in November, there will be more sales in 2023 than in 2022.
Final Look at Local Housing Markets in November -Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: Final Look at Local Housing Markets in November A brief excerpt:I’ve added a comparison of active listings, new listings, and closings to the same month in 2019 (for markets with available data). This gives us a sense of the current low level of sales and inventory, and also shows some significant regional differences. The big stories for November were that existing home sales were just above the cycle low on a seasonally adjusted annual rate basis (SAAR), and new listings were up YoY for the 2nd consecutive month! This table shows the YoY change in new listings since early 2023 for the sample I track. The YoY increase in November was due to a combination of new listings collapsing in the 2nd half of 2022, and new listings holding up more than normal seasonally this year (but still historically very low).This is the slow season for new listings, but it is likely new listings will be up solidly YoY in 2024. More local data coming in January for activity in December!
Housing Starts Increased to 1.560 million Annual Rate in November --From the Census Bureau: Permits, Starts and Completions - Privately‐owned housing starts in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,560,000. This is 14.8 percent above the revised October estimate of 1,359,000 and is 9.3 percent above the November 2022 rate of 1,427,000. Single‐family housing starts in November were at a rate of 1,143,000; this is 18.0 percent above the revised October figure of 969,000. The November rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 404,000. Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,460,000. This is 2.5 percent below the revised October rate of 1,498,000, but is 4.1 percent above the November 2022 rate of 1,402,000. Single‐family authorizations in November were at a rate of 976,000; this is 0.7 percent above the revised October figure of 969,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 435,000 in November. The first graph shows single and multi-family housing starts since 2000. Multi-family starts (blue, 2+ units) increased in November compared to October. Multi-family starts were down 33.1% year-over-year in October. Single-family starts (red) increased sharply in November and were up 42.2% year-over-year. The second graph shows single and multi-family housing starts since 1968. This shows the huge collapse following the housing bubble, and then the eventual recovery - and the recent collapse and recovery in single-family starts. Total housing starts in November were well above expectations, however, starts in September and October were revised down slightly, combined.
Residential Construction Gains Steam, Single-Family Starts Jump, Highest since Spring 2022, Multi-Family Rises from Ashes by Wolf Richter • Confronted with mortgage rates that make it tough to sell houses at May-2022 prices, homebuilders have adjusted, and in their quarterly reports, have spelled out how: Building smaller houses, “de-amenitizing” the houses (cheaper appliances, countertops, etc.), buying down mortgage rates, and piling on other incentives. Prices of many construction materials have also dropped. As a result, contract sales prices of new houses have dropped by 18% from a year ago, and sales volume has held up, while sales volume of existing homes have collapsed. So construction starts of single-family houses in November rose by 6.6% from the prior month, to 86,100 starts not seasonally adjusted, when normally in November, construction starts drop. This big unusual rise for November shows up in the seasonally adjusted annual rate – which adjusts for the typical drop in November: It jumped by 18% month to month, and by 42% from the collapsed levels last November, to an annual rate of 1.143 million starts, the highest since April 2022, according to data from the Census Bureau today. Note how construction starts plunged starting in the spring half of 2022 as surging mortgage rates began to bite, unsold inventory began to pile up, and homebuilders were pulling back on new projects; and how construction starts bottomed out early this year and then recovered as homebuilders shifted to smaller houses, fewer amenities, and big mortgage-rate buydowns. Homebuilders sell houses in various stages of construction, from not-started to completed. By completing a house without having sold it – a “spec house” – a homebuilder “speculates” what buyers might want, down to the finishes. Here we’re talking about construction starts of single-family houses, whether or not they have already been sold. Construction starts of multifamily housing units in buildings with five or more units (such as in condo and apartment buildings) had entered a boom during the pandemic, setting multi-decade highs. But then the interest-rate shock in late 2022 and in 2023 clobbered Commercial Real Estate – particularly the office and retail sectors which got waylaid by structural shifts, and also the multifamily sector – when soaring mortgage rates could no longer be covered by rents, causing all kinds of fallout, with landlords walking away from properties and lenders – many of them investors, not banks – taking huge losses. And developers of multifamily properties pulled back, in part due to the difficulty of finding financing for projects whose numbers no longer work out with these higher mortgage rates. But, but, but… not seasonally adjusted, multifamily construction starts rose to 33,300 housing units (condos and apartments) in November, the highest since July. Seasonally adjusted, construction starts rose for the third month in a row, after the plunge through August, to an annual rate of 404,000 units, also the highest since July.
NAHB: Builder Confidence Increased in December -The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported the housing market index (HMI) was at 37, up from 34 last month. Any number below 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as poor than good. From the NAHB: Builder Sentiment Rises on Falling Interest Rates - Falling mortgage rates helped end a four-month decline in builder confidence, and recent economic data signal improving housing conditions heading into 2024.Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes rose three points to 37 in December, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) released today.“With mortgage rates down roughly 50 basis points over the past month, builders are reporting an uptick in traffic as some prospective buyers who previously felt priced out of the market are taking a second look,” “With the nation facing a considerable housing shortage, boosting new home production is the best way to ease the affordability crisis, expand housing inventory and lower inflation.”“The housing market appears to have passed peak mortgage rates for this cycle, and this should help to spur home buyer demand in the coming months, with the HMI component measuring future sales expectations up six points in December,” Dietz added that the recent pessimism in builder confidence this fall has been somewhat counter to gains for the pace of single-family permits and starts during this time frame.“Our statistical analysis indicates that temporary and outsized differences between builder sentiment and starts occur after short-term interest rates rise dramatically, increasing the cost of land development and builder loans used by private builders,” Dietz noted. “In turn, higher financing costs for home builders and land developers add another headwind for housing supply in a market low on resale inventory. While the Federal Reserve is fighting inflation, state and local policymakers could also help by reducing the regulatory burdens on the cost of land development and home building, thereby allowing more attainable housing supply to the market. Looking forward, as rates moderate, this temporary difference between sentiment and construction activity will decline.” The HMI index gauging traffic of prospective buyers in December rose three points 24, the component measuring sales expectations in the next six months increased six points to 45 and the component charting current sales condition held steady at 40.Looking at the three-month moving averages for regional HMI scores, the Northeast increased two points to 51, the Midwest fell one point to 34, the South dropped three points to 39 and the West posted a four-point decline to 31.This graph shows the NAHB index since Jan 1985.
PCE Measure of Shelter Slows to 6.7% YoY in November -Here is a graph of the year-over-year change in shelter from the CPI report and housing from the PCE report this morning, both through November 2023.CPI Shelter was up 6.5% year-over-year in November, down from 6.7% in October, and down from the cycle peak of 8.2% in March 2023. Housing (PCE) was up 6.7% YoY in November, down from 6.9% in October, and down from the cycle peak of 8.3% in April 2023.Since asking rents are mostly flat year-over-year, these measures will continue to slow over coming months. Over the last 6 months (annualized):
PCE Price Index: 2.0%
Core PCE Prices: 1.9%
Core minus Housing: 1.1%
Personal Income increased 0.4% in November; Spending increased 0.2% -The BEA released the Personal Income and Outlays report for November: Personal income increased $81.6 billion (0.4 percent at a monthly rate) in November, according to estimates released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Disposable personal income (DPI), personal income less personal current taxes, increased $71.9 billion (0.4 percent) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $46.7 billion (0.2 percent).The PCE price index decreased 0.1 percent. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.1 percent. Real DPI increased 0.4 percent in November and real PCE increased 0.3 percent; goods increased 0.5 percent and services increased 0.2 percent.The November PCE price index increased 2.6 percent year-over-year (YoY), down from 2.9 percent YoY in October, and down from the recent peak of 7.1 percent in June 2022. The PCE price index, excluding food and energy, increased 3.2 percent YoY, down from 3.4 percent in October, and down from the recent peak of 5.6 percent in February 2022.The following graph shows real Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) through November 2023 (2012 dollars). . The dashed red lines are the quarterly levels for real PCE. Personal income was at expectations, and PCE was slightly below expectations.Inflation was below expectations. Using the two-month method to estimate Q4 real PCE growth, real PCE was increasing at a 2.3% annual rate in Q4 2023. (Using the mid-month method, real PCE was increasing at 3.1%). This suggests solid PCE growth in Q4.
US Consumer Confidence Rose In November, But 'Family Financial Conditions' Worsened -- US Consumer Confidence rebounded strongly in November according to the latest survey from The Conference Board, beating expectations across the board.
- Consumer confidence rose to 110.7 (estimate 104.5) in December from revised 101 in November
- Present situation rose to 148.5 from revised 136.5 in November
- Expectations index rose to 85.6 from revised 77.4 in November
“December’s increase in consumer confidence reflected more positive ratings of current business conditions and job availability, as well as less pessimistic views of business, labor market, and personal income prospects over the next six months,” said Dana Peterson, Chief Economist at The Conference Board.“While December’s renewed optimism was seen across all ages and household income levels, the gains were largest among householders aged 35-54 and households with income levels of $125,000 and above.December’s write-in responses revealed the top issue affecting consumers remains rising prices in general, while politics, interest rates, and global conflicts all saw downticks as top concerns."Meanwhile, average 12-month inflation expectations continued to recede, and now stands at 5.6% (lowest since Nov 2020), as UMich's outlier spike has reverted...The labor market indicators are trending worse - now at the weakest since April 2021... When asked to assess their current family financial conditions (a measure not included in calculating the Present Situation Index), the proportion reporting “good” ticked down while those saying “bad” rose slightly.
US Steel to be acquired by Nippon Steel for over $14 billion - U.S. Steel, the Pittsburgh steel producer that played a key role in the nation’s industrialization, is being acquired by Nippon Steel in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $14.1 billion. The transaction is worth about $14.9 billion when including the assumption of debt. The combined company will be among the top three steel-producing companies in the world, according to 2022 figures from the World Steel Association. The price tag for U.S. Steel is nearly double what was offered just four months ago by rival Cleveland Cliffs. U.S. Steel, which rejected that offer, confirmed the offering price from Nippon early Monday. That tie-up would have created one of the top four outside of China, which dominates global steel production. U.S. Steel executives were asked about a potential pushback from U.S. regulators over security concerns on Monday. “This is going to increase competition here in the United States with a great ally to the United States,” answered U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt. “It’s a great fit and we do not see that as a high level risk factor. We’d say low level of risk.” U.S. Steel will keep its name and its headquarters in Pittsburgh, where it was founded in 1901 by J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie. It will become a subsidiary of Nippon. China and Chinese companies have come to dominate global steel production. Of the nearly 2 billion metric tons of steel produced annually across the globe, about 54% comes from China, according to the World Steel Association. China’s Baowu Group, a state-owned iron company based in Shanghai, churned out nearly 120 million metric tons of steel in 2021. The combined Nippon and U.S. Steel companies will produce less than 90 million metric tons of steel combined, with most of that coming from Nippon.
'Unacceptable': US Homelessness Hits Record High -- The number of people in shelters, temporary housing, and unsheltered settings across the United States set a new record this year, "largely due to a sharp rise in the number of people who became homeless for the first time."That's a key takeaway from an annual report released Friday by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).On a single night in January 2023, "roughly 653,100 people—or about 20 of every 10,000 people in the United States—were experiencing homelessness," with about 60% in shelters and the remaining 40% unsheltered, according to HUD. That's a 12% increase from 2022 and the highest number of unhoused people since reporting began in 2007."We must address the main driver of homelessness and housing instability—the gap between low incomes and rent costs."Jeff Olivet, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness—the federal agency behind President Joe Biden's planfrom last year to reduce homelessness 25% by 2025—toldThe Associated Press that extra assistance during the Covid-19 pandemic "held off the rise in homelessness that we are now seeing."Research and advocacy groups responded to the HUD report by also highlighting the positive impacts of federal pandemic-era relief including emergency rental aid, a national moratorium on evictions for nonpayment, and the expanded child tax credit."The historic resources and protections provided during the pandemic kept millions of renters stably housed, and the success of these resources is shown by the decrease in homelessness over that same period," said National Low-Income Housing Coalition president and CEO Diane Yentel. "Just as these emergency resources were depleted and pandemic-era renter protections expired, however, renters reentered a brutal housing market, with skyrocketing rents and high inflation.""Eviction filing rates have now reached or surpassed pre-pandemic averages in many communities, resulting in increased homelessness," she noted. "Without significant and sustained federal investments to make housing affordable for people with the lowest incomes, the affordable housing and homelessness crises in this country will only continue to worsen."Olivet said that "while numerous factors drive homelessness, the most significant causes are the shortage of affordable homes and the high cost of housing that have left many Americans living paycheck to paycheck and one crisis away from homelessness."National Alliance to End Homelessness CEO Ann Oliva called for funding "urgent and overdue investments in affordable housing and rental assistance to keep people housed, as well as in proven housing and supportive service models that rapidly reconnect people experiencing homelessness with permanent housing."
These cities and towns are most dangerous in the US, study finds - – While violent crime has dropped to pre-pandemic levels nationwide, the FBI announced, changes weren’t the same across the board. The crime rates remained elevated in dozens of cities around the country.Personal finance site MoneyGeek used the FBI crime data to look at crime rates in 302 large cities and 1,010 small cities and towns around the country. They looked at both violent crime and property crime, and used research by the University of Miami and the University of Colorado Denver to determine the cost of crime in each area. After crunching the numbers, the large city with the highest cost of crime was Birmingham, Alabama. The violent crime rate – which includes instances of murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault – in Birmingham was 1,682 per 100,000 residents. The property crime rate – which includes burglary, larceny, and vehicle theft – was 4,173 per 100,000 residents. Birmingham didn’t have the highest rate of violent crime, however. Memphis, Tennessee; Detroit, Michigan; and Little Rock, Arkansas all saw more violent crimes per capita.Memphis, along with Tacoma, Washington, and St. Louis, Missouri, had the highest property crime rates. The large cities with the highest cost of crime per capita are: 1.Birmingham, Alabama $11,3922. New Orleans, Louisiana $11,094
3. St. Louis, Missouri $11,055
4. Detroit, Michigan $9,281
5. Memphis, Tennessee $9,056
6. Baltimore, Maryland $8,160
7. Little Rock, Arkansas $7,781
8. Cleveland, Ohio $7,397
9. Milwaukee, Wisconsin $7,029
10. Kansas City, Missouri $6,398
Locked out of local government: Residents decry increased secrecy among towns, counties, schools Cheryl Geidner figured council members in Volant, a tiny borough north of Pittsburgh, would adopt a preliminary year-end budget despite no discussions at public meetings on the proposed financials. She never figured they’d raise property taxes by 57%. “You didn’t see the budget. You didn’t see the ordinance. I think everybody was somewhat taken aback.” The plan, given final approval last week, will steeply increase tax bills: A property assessed at $100,000, for example, would have been billed $700 in 2023. In 2024, that bill will rise to $1,100. The council’s silence leading up to the decision highlights what some observers say is a striking trend toward secrecy among local governments across the U.S. From school districts to townships and county boards, public access to records and meetings in many states is worsening over time, open government advocates and experts say. “It’s been going on for decades, really, but it’s accelerated the past 10 years,” said David Cuillier, director of the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida. Few states compile data on public records requests, and laws governing open records differ by state, making a comprehensive analysis difficult. However, a review by Cuillier of data provided by MuckRock — a nonprofit news site that files and shares public records requests – found that between 2010 and 2021, local governments’ compliance with records requests dropped from 63% to 42%. High fees, delays and outright refusals from local governments to release information are among the common complaints. Examples are plentiful....
Moms for Liberty faces growing challenges amid Florida sex scandal -- Moms for Liberty is facing mounting concerns amid a sex scandal tied to one of the conservative education group’s founders. Co-founder Bridget Ziegler’s husband, Florida GOP Chair Christian Ziegler, has been accused of rape by another woman; he has not been charged. The woman alleges she had a sexual relationship with both Bridget and Christian Ziegler and has said Christian showed up once without Bridget and assaulted her. The allegations have prompted opponents to accuse the couple, and Moms for Liberty, of hypocrisy. “The Zieglers have made a habit out of attacking anything they perceive as going against ‘family values,’ be it reproductive rights or the existence of LGBTQ+ Floridians,” state Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said in a statement. “The level of hypocrisy in this situation is stunning.” As the police investigate, Christian Ziegler has faced calls from top Florida Republicans to resign and has been censured by his party.. The Sarasota County School Board in Florida voted 4-1 to call on Bridget Ziegler to resign from her seat. Moms for Liberty has emphasized Bridget Ziegler removed herself from her role at the organization only a month after the group officially launched. “We have been truly shaken to read of the serious, criminal allegations against Christian Ziegler. We believe any allegation of sexual assault should be taken seriously and fully investigated,” co-founders Tina Descovich and Justice said in a statement. “Bridget Ziegler resigned from her role as co-founder with Moms for Liberty within a month of our launch in January of 2021, nearly three years ago. She has remained an avid warrior for parental rights across the country,” they added.
YouTube mom Ruby Franke pleads guilty in child abuse case - A Utah mother of six who gave parenting advice on YouTube pleaded guilty Monday to child abuse charges and will go to prison for trying to convince her two youngest children they were evil, possessed and needed to be punished to repent. Ruby Franke stood shackled in gray and white jail clothing as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before pleading guilty to each of her first three charges. On the fourth, she fought back some emotion before saying: “With my deepest regret and sorrow for my family and my children, guilty.” Judge John J. Walton scheduled sentencing for Feb. 20 after accepting the plea agreement, which described new details of the abuse the children endured, including the claims that they were possessed. Under the plea agreement, Franke agreed to serve a prison term and the sentences will run consecutively. Sentencing would be up to the judge. Franke pleaded not guilty to two other counts, court records said, and was returned to custody after the hearing.
Middle school teacher placed on leave over controversial pro-Palestine email signature - A middle school teacher in Maryland has been placed on leave for using a controversial pro-Palestine email signature. Hajur El-Haggan spoke with CNN’s Victor Blackwell after the incident, explaining that said she included the phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” in her work email signature for advocacy reasons. El-Haggan said she included it to stand up for injustice and freedom as a way of showing she believes “in freedom and justice and, just, rights for all people.”The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) calls the slogan antisemitic and says it is commonly featured in anti-Israel campaigns.“This rallying cry has long been used by anti-Irsael voices, including supporters of terrorist operations such as Hamas and the PFLP, which seek Israel’s destruction through violent means,” the ADL said online.According to the Montgomery County School District, they ask employees to abstain from including political statements in their email signatures. Haggan’s lawyer, Zanah Ghalawanji, said the issue they have with the school’s actions is because they are not applying the same standards to everyone. “We had other teachers who were including political slogans in their email signatures at school, from Black Lives Matter to slogans revolving around the LGBTQ movement and Hajur was the only one who was disciplined for her email signature,” she said.
New SOD Technical Training Center Will Expand Offerings - Business Journal Daily– Over the past five years, the Sustainable Opportunity Development Center has conducted 214 courses over 16,000 hours to train 3,100 individuals from 123 companies. Julie Needs, SOD Center executive director, believes the new SOD Technical Training Center will allow SOD to double those numbers. SOD unveiled its new center Friday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. “The expansion is going to focus on, of course, what we’ve always focused on. Ninety percent of our training is for the incumbent workforce, filling the gaps in current training options that are going to assist in growth, development, retention and attraction for our region,” Needs said. The expanded training will include AC/DC, programmable logic controller, hydraulics, pneumatics, robotics and motor drives. “And we won’t stop there,” she said. “We will continue to look for more opportunity and more ways to grow and support the workforce.” The training offered at the new center is based on the needs of area employers, Needs said. SOD also will partner with the Excellence Training Center at Youngstown State University to bring additional training options to the center. “Training will target entry-level employees, upskilling the incumbent workforce, student training programs and summer camps to expose young learners to technical training and the trades,” Needs said. Credentials and certifications will be available for most course offerings. Needs said that since SOD opened its doors, it has needed technical equipment to be able to offer more to employers. The new center provides that. Through one of the SOD board members, Needs connected with William Watson, superintendent of the Utica Shale Academy, and the academy provided training at SOD. That partnership is a lot of the reason the new center happened, she said.
YSU Academic Senate votes no confidence for new President Bill Johnson - The Youngstown State University Academic Senate voted Saturday to issue a vote of no confidence in both YSU's Board of Trustees and incoming President Bill Johnson, a Republican U.S. Congressman whose selection has proven controversial on campus.The senate approved two resolutions. One blasted the closed-door process the board undertook to hire Johnson as "deliberately misleading and rushed," with interviews happening during the board's executive sessions and no other candidates identified for the position other than Johnson. The other raised concerns about Johnson - who is closely aligned with former U.S. President Donald Trump - as the university's next president."President Designee Bill Johnson has denied basic facts: the outcome of the 2020 election and climate science; and... the employment of such a partisan figure could negatively impact potential recruitment of students and faculty, specifically international, minority, and/or LGBTQ students and faculty," the resolution reads.Roughly 78% of academic senate members supported the vote of no confidence in the process and the board of trustees, and 58% of senators approved the resolution of no confidence against Bill Johnson.Spokesperson Rebecca Rose said the YSU Board of Trustees "hears those concerns.""Across academia, a no confidence vote is a traditional way that university constituencies can voice their concerns. The board hears those concerns, and it will continue to work with the faculty and with all YSU stakeholders to serve our students and meet the needs of our region," she said in a Dec. 18 email. "President-Elect Bill Johnson is committed to YSU and excited to get to work. He is committed to being the president for 100% of the University’s stakeholders. He is committed to fostering an inclusive and respectful environment at the university regardless of politics, religion or personal affiliations."YSU has faced blowback from donors and alumni, some who have said they will withdraw their support if the university does not reverse course on hiring Johnson.Johnson will start at YSU officially in March.
YSU trustees, incoming President Bill Johnson get ‘no confidence’ from Academic Senate - Youngstown State University’s Academic Senate overwhelmingly passed two votes of no confidence: one against the Board of Trustees and Mike Sherman, Vice President of Student Affairs, Institutional Effectiveness, and Board Professional for their closed door search process and a second against Congressman Bill Johnson, incoming YSU President. Per an email from Edmund Ickert, Academic Senate Secretary, the Academic Senate’s Resolutions of No Confidence concluded Saturday. Seventy-seven out of ninety-five members of the Academic Senate voted on the resolutions.” 77.9% of Senators supported the vote of no confidence in the process and 58% of Senators approved the resolution of no confidence against Bill Johnson.The first resolution was “no confidence in the presidential search process as led by Youngstown State University Board of Trustees and YSU President of Student Affairs, Institutional Effectiveness, and Board Professional Mike Sherman.”The resolution cited the lack of shared governance, transparency, input from faculty, students and staff and also the “misleading” communication about the search, damage to campus climate and trust in YSU and the negative impacts on donors and alumni as the reasons for no confidence. Copies of the resolution are to be sent to YSU leaders, the President of the Higher Learning Commission, which accredits YSU, and Chancellor Randy Gardner.The second resolution that was approved by the Senate was “no confidence in President Designee Bill Johnson.” The resolution cited concerns about Johnson’s qualifications for the role, the damage done by the appointment of a partisan, the lack of interaction between Johnson and campus stakeholders during the hiring process, Johnson’s presumptuous statements about universities “indoctrinating” students and the disconnect between Johnson’s public stances on issues important to YSU constituents and YSU’s own mission and vision of being an inclusive, diverse, and equitable campus.Dr. Amanda Fehlbaum, Associate Professor of Sociology and at-large Senator, brought the two resolutions before the Academic Senate on Dec. 6. Senators, including administrators, students, and faculty, had the opportunity to discuss the resolutions and offer amendments during the meeting. “The process for moving these resolutions forward and having them approved by Senate was a transparent, inclusive, democratic process that all universities should follow. They were drafted in caucus, debated in the Senate, amended and voted on. The YSU community deserved a similarly open, inclusive process for choosing YSU’s president,” Fehlbaum said.
After vote of no confidence against YSU trustees and next president, what's next? - YSU's Academic Senate which consists of faculty, staff, and students passed a vote of no confidence in the process YSU trustees used to offer the top position as president of the university to Congressman Bill Johnson. "What it says we don't trust your judgment, specifically on this presidential search and on the person who was chosen," YSU Professor of Philosophy and Ethics, Mark Vopat said. He and others believe the search should have been an open process as in the past, or a semi-open process. We asked if this was due to Johnson's conservative political views. "If you just take his name off the curriculum vitae and this was an applicant to be university president the qualifications are not there. Two, we can dance around the issue but politics is part of this. The board is politically appointed and then chooses a politician. How is that not political," Vopat asked. They're concerned about how YSU President Johnson will interpret Senate Bill 83 in the classroom and on campus due to his political views. "What does that say to someone like me, who teaches philosophy and ethics? Can I no longer talk about abortion or gay marriage in my classroom? Can the political science department not talk about immigration, immigration policy, and the same with economics and others, climate change which is covered in both environmental science and economics," Vopat asked. He and others believe the surveys to help determine the best candidate to lead the university forward should be made public. A member of the YSU Academic Senate says Johnson can build trust by releasing his Curriculum Vitae or resume and application materials, by attending new presidents' training for universities, and by filling a diversity equity and inclusion or DEI position that's vacant. "Making board policy so that this doesn't happen again, having town hall meetings set from dates for those, filling the assistant provost position currently vacant, and having President Johnson attend safe zone training, our LGBTQIA allied training," Amanda Fehlbaum, At-large Senator for Beeghly College of Liberal Arts Social Sciences, and education, or BCLASSE.
CFPB scrutinizes high fees and unfavorable terms of college-student cards — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau revealed in its annual student banking report on Tuesday that many financial products backed by colleges, including school-sponsored credit cards and deposit accounts linked to student IDs, impose high fees and offer less favorable terms compared to readily available free market alternatives. The CFPB, led by Director Rohit Chopra, says it intends to further investigate these practices, with a focus on identifying potential violations of federal consumer financial protection laws. "Many students get their first credit card or deposit account when they enroll in college, and banks know that consumers are unlikely to move to a different provider once a product is integrated into their financial life," said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. "Schools should take a hard look at the fees and terms of the products they pitch to their students and alumni." The report, the agency's 14th pursuant to the 2009 Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act, analyzed publicly available information on college websites to highlight the risks to consumers of financial products directly offered or jointly marketed to students by colleges and third-party providers. The report found colleges commonly provide sponsored and co-branded financial products, including credit cards, deposit accounts and prepaid cards, to students and alumni. The report concentrated on two types of financial offerings: dual-purpose college IDs and college-sponsored credit cards. The CFPB's review identified 143 partnerships between colleges — or affiliated groups such as alumni associations — and credit card providers representing over 530,000 open accounts by the end of 2022. The CFPB found that many student IDs serve as general-purpose debit or prepaid cards, enabling students to make on- and off-campus payments and access federal financial aid funds. The report highlights potential consumer risks associated with these dual-purpose IDs, including limitations on consumer access to prepaid card account balances, misleading marketing practices and promotional partnerships with merchants that may influence students' financial habits. The CFPB says colleges may use opaque marketing practices that may give students the impression that connecting their IDs to financial services is mandatory, and many colleges partner with financial institutions, such as BankMobile, PNC, Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank, to provide these dual-purpose ID services. In contrast to dual-purpose cards, the report indicated a decline in the number of partnerships between colleges and credit card issuers since the passage of the CARD Act in 2009. However, the agency noted thousands of new accounts are still opened annually through these partnerships, with alumni associations being a common target. Bank of America remains the largest issuer in this market, representing 27% of partnerships with schools and 56% of open accounts. Despite the overall decline in partnerships, the agency says it has ongoing concerns about college students relying on credit cards, with nearly one in three using them for tuition and fees and more than two in three having at least one credit card in their name. This reliance on credit cards contributes to an average credit card debt of over $4,000 for college students, according to the agency, something especially risky for those with student loans. The CFPB says it plans to continue researching evolving credit card marketing practices, including email and online advertising, to assess whether credit card companies are violating any consumer protections in methods they use to pursue college students.
New study proves that COVID-19 is far more harmful and deadly than the flu - Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the essential talking points of the far-right globally has been that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is no more harmful than the seasonal flu. From former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro calling COVID-19 a “little flu,” to Donald Trump claiming in February 2020 that the virus would be seasonal and “miraculously” disappear by Easter, this propaganda campaign aimed to minimize the dangers posed by COVID-19 and condition society to “live with” COVID-19 and all other pathogens.With over 27 million excess deaths attributable to COVID-19 and estimates that hundreds of millions of people are now suffering from Long COVID-19 worldwide, such a comparison with the flu was always a transparent falsehood. Still, the propaganda has had an impact on public consciousness, with the great mass of the population unaware of the ongoing dangers they face as new variants of SARS-CoV-2 evolve and sweep across the globe every few months, leaving in their wake ever-growing numbers of dead and disabled. While many principled scientists have exposed this central falsehood of the pandemic, none have done so as comprehensively as a study published last Thursday by the team of researchers led by Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, the director of the Clinical Epidemiology Center, chief of research and development service at the Veterans Affairs (VA) Saint Louis Health Care System.The study, published in the Infectious Disease section of the Lancet, is an 18-month comparative analysis following patients after hospital admission for COVID-19 versus influenza. It proves definitively that not only is COVID-19 far deadlier than influenza, but it also causes more long-term health injuries and damage to the body.While this was not the authors’ intention, the study also provides the first measurable comprehensive assessment of the long-term health complications of influenza, what is known as “Long Flu,” which are considerable.Similar to infection with SARS-CoV-2 and a slew of other pathogens such as measles, Epstein-Barr virus, herpes, and other coronaviruses, the influenza virus too can cause long-term health complications after the acute phase of the infection has subsided. This phenomenon was already known to some extent by the historical record of the 1918 influenza pandemic, but until now there had been very little quantitative data on “Long Flu.”Senior author Al-Aly said in a news release by the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, “The study illustrates the high toll of death and loss of health following hospitalization with either COVID-19 or seasonal influenza. It is critical to note that the health risks were higher after the first 30 days of infection. Many people think they’re over COVID-19 or the flu after being discharged from the hospital. That may be true for some people. But our research shows that both viruses can cause long-haul illness.”This latest study by Al-Aly’s team, which is responsible for some of the most pioneering research on the impacts of COVID-19, is very timely. The US and much of the world are presently in the grips of a massive winter wave of infections caused by the highly infectious and immune-resistant Omicron JN.1 subvariant. In multiple countries where JN.1 is already dominant, most significantly in Singapore which has very high vaccination rates, COVID-19 hospitalizations are beginning to rise dramatically.Utilizing the VA’s vast database, the study authors included over 82,000 patients who had been admitted for COVID-19 between March 1, 2020, and June 30, 2022, encompassing the pre-Delta, Delta, and Omicron phases of the pandemic. However, because of influenza’s rarity in the US during this period when some semblance of mitigation measures remained in place to combat COVID-19, the authors resorted to using a historical cohort (between October 1, 2015, and February 28, 2019) of nearly 11,000 influenza patients who had been hospitalized for a comparator. A total of 94 pre-specified health outcome measures were analyzed, encompassing ten organ systems that included “cardiovascular, coagulation and hematological, fatigue, gastrointestinal, kidney, mental health, metabolic, musculoskeletal, neurological, and pulmonary.” The acute phase of their infections was defined as the first 30 days after their admission to the hospital and the post-acute phase of infection encompassed days 31 to 540, or 18 months.Unsurprisingly, the absolute death rate was far higher for COVID-19 than the flu, with a cumulative death rate of 28.46 for COVID-19 and 19.84 for influenza per 100 persons, or 43 percent higher for COVID-19. In the first 30 days, the COVID-19 group had an increased risk of death that was 2.5 times higher than those admitted with the flu. Although this discrepancy declined over the intervening six-month intervals, it continued to remain elevated.The acute phase of COVID-19 is far more often severe than that of flu, with roughly three times as many COVID-19 hospitalizations in the past year than the flu—roughly 1 million compared to 360,000—and four times as many official COVID deaths (roughly 83,000) as flu deaths (21,000).Also, over the 18-month period, COVID-19 was associated with “significant increased risk” in 64 of the 94 measured health outcomes that encompassed nearly every organ system in the human body. By comparison, seasonal influenza was only associated with increases in six of the 94 health outcomes that included, angina, tachycardia, type 1 diabetes, and three pulmonary outcomes (cough, hypoxia, and shortness of breath). As just one example of a measured health outcome, those with COVID-19 had a 2.4 times higher risk of heart attack in the first 30 days than those with the flu. This risk factor remained elevated throughout the 18-month period.
COVID boosters lagging behind flu vaccines: Gallup - Less than half of U.S. adults say they have gotten the annual flu shot this year, and even less received the most recent COVID-19 booster shot, according to a survey released Wednesday. The Gallup poll found that 47 percent of adults said they got the flu shot, and 29 percent received the newest COVID-19 booster. Another 20 percent of respondents said they still plan to get the updated booster shot — but have not yet — and about half, 51 percent, say they do not plan to get the updated COVID-19 vaccine. “Americans seem to be heeding public health officials’ recommendations to get annual flu shots to a greater degree than they are complying with their advice to get the latest COVID-19 vaccine,” researchers wrote. More than 70 percent of the survey’s respondents received previous versions of the vaccine, highlighting that the urgency felt by Americans to receive the COVID-19 vaccine was much higher when they first became available. already Whether people intend to get both the COVID-19 vaccine and the flu shot differs by party identification, but the COVID shot remains more polarized than the flu, the survey found. Nearly half, 48 percent, of Democrats surveyed have received the updated COVID-19 shot, compared to 20 percent of independent voters and 10 percent of Republicans. Eighty-two percent of Republicans say they will not get the updated COVID shot. Among the respondents who say they don’t have plans to get the updated COVID shot, 27 percent are people who say they already had the virus and believe they have antibodies, while 24 percent have safety concerns about the vaccine. Other concerns center on perception of the shot’s effectiveness, whether they believe they will suffer serious symptoms if they contracted the virus and general distrust in vaccines. The survey results also show that Americans are less concerned about catching COVID-19 and believe the coronavirus situation in the U.S. has gotten better. The poll did not ask respondents about their concern of catching the flu, Gallup noted.
Early Paxlovid for COVID-19 halved death, hospitalization in new study -Starting the antiviral drug nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (Paxlovid) 0 or 1 day after COVID-19 symptom onset halved 28-day all-cause death and hospitalization rates compared with waiting 2 or more days, University of Hong Kong researchers report inNature Communications. The analysis was based on the electronic medical record data of all 87,070 high-risk adult outpatients and inpatients prescribed Paxlovid in Hong Kong from March 16, 2022, to January 15, 2023, a period dominated by the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant.The researchers noted that reports of COVID-19 symptom and/or viral burden rebound (VBR) after completion of the standard 5-day Paxlovid course have led to debate about the optimal initiation and dosage of the treatment."Due to early suppression of viral replication by nirmatrelvir/ritonavir, the host adaptive immune response may not have had sufficient stimulus and time to fully develop by the end of antiviral therapy, thus allowing any remnant virus to subsequently resume replication and shedding," they wrote. "However, this hypothesis has not hitherto been tested against real-world clinical data."Crude cumulative incidence of 28-day all-cause death or hospitalization was 5.1% for early initiators and 6.6% for delayed users. Initiation of Paxlovid at or 1 day after COVID-19 symptom onset halved the rate of all-cause death or hospitalization compared with starting the drug at 2 days or later (absolute risk reduction [ARR], 1.5%; relative risk [RR], 0.77).The risk was also significantly lower if Paxlovid was started within 2 days of symptom onset compared with 3 or more days (ARR, 2.3%; RR, 0.70) and within 3 versus 4 or more days (ARR, 2.8%; RR, 0.66).
Reviews uncover no consistent link between antiviral drugs like Paxlovid and COVID rebound Two systematic reviews by US federal agencies on the possible link between antiviral treatment for COVID-19 and viral rebound—one specifically on Paxlovid—find no consistent association. The studies were published today inMorbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.The National Institutes of Health COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines recommend early treatment with a first-line(nirmatrelvir/ritonavir [Paxlovid] or remdesivir) or second-line (molnupiravir [Lagevrio]) antiviral drug to help prevent hospitalization and death in high-risk COVID-19 patients with mild or moderate illness.SARS-CoV-2 rebound is a recurrence of COVID-19 signs or symptoms or a positive test after initial recovery from infection. In May 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a health advisory alert that described case reports of SARS-CoV-2 rebound among patients who completed the recommended 5-day course of Paxlovid and said that rebound had also occurred in untreated patients.For the first study, CDC researchers reviewed COVID-19 rebound studies published from February 2020 to November 2023 that included mildly ill outpatients who did and did not receive antiviral treatment. "Although antiviral therapies are widely available, they are underutilized, possibly because of reports of SARS-CoV-2 rebound after treatment," the study authors wrote.Of the seven studies that met inclusion criteria, one was a randomized clinical trial involving 2,216 patients, and six were observational studies involving a total of 19,082 patients. A large retrospective observational study identified similar rates of rebound and no statistically significant differences among patients treated with Paxlovid (6.6%) or molnupiravir (4.8%) and untreated patients (4.5%).Patients with a weakened immune system had a greater probability of viral rebound, regardless of treatment status (Paxlovid odds ratio [OR], 7.37; molnupiravir OR, 3.05; no treatment OR, 2.21). Among patients receiving Paxlovid, the likelihood of virologic rebound was higher among those aged 18 to 65 years than among older patients (OR, 3.09), those with more underlying illnesses (OR, 6.02), and those also taking corticosteroids (OR, 7.51), while the probability was substantially lower among unvaccinated patients (OR, 0.16).The initial analysis of trial data showed that viral rebound rates were low and similar between treated and untreated patients. Rebound wasn't tied to low Paxlovid levels, hospitalization or death, severe symptom relapse, vaccination, serologic status, or emergent variants. No hospitalizations or deaths were reported.For the second study, researchers from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) evaluated two phase 2/3 randomized controlled trials with a total of roughly 3,000 participants on SARS-CoV-2 viral shedding after 5 days of Paxlovid treatment from 2021 to 2022. Rebound was identified by an increase in viral levels on nose-throat swabs from day 5 to day 10 or 14.The EPIC-HR trial enrolled high-risk participants in 2021, before the Omicron variant emerged, and included unvaccinated adults. EPIC-SR (for "standard risk") originally enrolled two groups of patients in 2021, before Omicron emergence: vaccinated adults at high risk for SARS-CoV-2 exposure and unvaccinated adults without risk factors for severe illness. EPIC-SR reopened in 2022 amid Omicron (mainly BA.2) predominance and enrolled unvaccinated adults with no risk factors.Among adults with a virologic response through day 5, rebound occurred in 6.4% to 8.4% of Paxlovid recipients and 5.9% to 6.5% of placebo recipients across the pre-Omicron and Omicron-predominant periods. Rebound wasn't linked to COVID-19 hospitalization or death.
COVID contact-tracing study suggests length of exposure biggest factor in disease spread - An analysis of 7 million contacts of COVID-19 patients in the United Kingdom estimates that most transmissions resulted from exposures lasting 1 hour to several days and that households accounted for 40% of spread from spring 2021 to early 2022.A team led by University of Oxford researchers evaluated data from the National Health Service (NHS) COVID-19 contact-tracing smartphone app in England and Wales to estimate how well app measurements correlated with real-life transmissions.Using Bluetooth signal strength and 240,000 positive COVID-19 tests, the NHS notified the contacts of confirmed patients of exposures from April 2021 to February 2022 and recorded data on whether contacts also tested positive. The results were published today in Nature."Contacts—individuals exposed to confirmed cases—were notified according to public health policies such as the 2-metre [6.6 feet] 15-minute guideline, despite limited evidence supporting this threshold," the study authors wrote. "Contact tracing apps are useful for public health if they are able to estimate the risk of pathogen transmission and should be evaluated to improve their functionality and ensure public trust."Empiric metrics and statistical modeling revealed a strong relationship between app-computed risk scores and the likelihood of real-life transmission. The odds of transmission confirmed by a positive COVID-19 test initially climbed in a linear fashion with exposure duration (1.1% per hour) and continued to rise over several days.Most exposures were short (median, 40 minutes), but transmission usually resulted from exposures of 1 hour to several days (median, 6 hours; 82% lasted longer than 1 hour). Longer exposures at greater distances carried similar risk as shorter exposures at closer distances. Households made up roughly 6% of contacts but accounted for 40% of transmissions.
Study spotlights persistent daily headaches after COVID-19 -- A study based on patients in 11 South American countries shows that new daily persistent headache (NDPH) can be a clinical symptom after COVID."Persistent headache, with a prevalence ranging from 8 to 15% in the first six months after COVID-19 remission, is a frequent symptom," the authors of the study write. "However, limited knowledge exists regarding the clinical spectrum and predisposing factors."The study, based on responses to an online survey conducted from April 15 to April 30, 2022, is published inBMC Infectious Diseases. The 421 participants were 18 years or older, had previously tested positive for COVID-19, and had an NDPH for at least 28 days. The survey contained four different sections assessing demographics, medical history, persistent headache characteristics, and COVID-19 vaccination status.The mean age was 40 years, and most participants were women (81.5%), with university education (76.2%). More than 90% described their COVID-19 infections as mild to moderate.Among participants, 106 met the diagnostic criteria for NDPH. Persistent headache began during the first 2 weeks of COVID-19 in most participants (68.9%) with NDPH. Compared to those who had a non-NDPH headache, the most predominant clinical characteristics were occipital location (43.4% for NDPH vs. 28.3%), severe/unbearable intensity (70.8% vs. 56.8%), burning character (17% vs. 6.7%, and radiating pain (70.8% vs. 60%).Most participants were vaccinated against COVID-19 before developing persistent headache (60.3%), with no differences between the two groups, the authors said."During the acute phase of COVID-19, patients with persistent headache reported neuropsychological spectrum symptoms more frequently, such as fatigue, sleep problems, anxiety, and mental fog," the authors wrote. "Notably, during the acute phase of COVID-19, a higher proportion of cranial autonomic symptoms were observed in participants with NDPH. These symptoms include sweating of the face or forehead, drooping of the upper eyelid and/or pupillary constriction, and palpebral edema."
Long COVID changes heart rate variability, study suggests --According to a small case-control study today in Scientific Reports, long COVID can affect heart rate variability (HRV) at rest and during deep breathing, adding to the evidence that persistent symptoms of the virus can be associated with cardiac and dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system (dysautonomia). This system regulates involuntary functions like heartbeat, blood pressure, and sweating.The study, conducted by Brazilian researchers, included 21 patients with long COVID and 20 controls. Long COVID—defined by the authors as new or persistent symptoms experienced 12 or more weeks after infection—has been associated with heart palpitations, orthostatic intolerance (difficulty staying upright), dizziness, and syncope. "Dysautonomia, characterized by dysregulation of HRV, may explain the persistent symptoms observed in Long COVID patients," the authors wrote. "There is currently a lack of evidence demonstrating how long these autonomic symptoms persist post infection." In the study, long-COVID patients had reduced HRV at rest and during deep breathing, but mean heart rate was significantly higher in the long-COVID group than in controls. The authors observed these differences during a series of tests that measured heart rate during supine positioning and breathing exercises."Patients with Long COVID may present with dysautonomia characterized by an imbalance of HRV, which is reflected in the band potencies of 0.15–0.4 Hz 13, and highlights that this dysautonomia could explain the persistent symptoms observed in patients with Long COVID," said the authors.
COVID after the emergency: How the pandemic response evolved in 2023 : NPR --In spring 2023, COVID hospitalizations and deaths hit their lowest levels since the start of the pandemic. Masks came off and schools and some workplaces were back in person. The nation emerged from the three-year COVID nightmare – and entered a tentative, new normal. And with the official end of the federal public health emergency in May, the U.S. health care system reverted to the way it usually works: People's health insurance, or lack of it, once again dictates their access to COVID-related tests, vaccines and soon – in 2024 – to treatments. "Our health care system has well-known and documented disparities," says Dr. Mandy Cohen, who took the helm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in July. "So when we go back to the 'normal course of business,' it doesn't make for the equitable distribution of things." While business-as-usual resumed for many, the country was permanently changed in blatant and subtle ways that are still shaking out. For some – living with compromised immune systems or long COVID or grief – the world seemed to surge ahead without considering them. As the public health emergency ended, children reflected on lost parents, nurses remembered lost colleagues and individuals grappled with how their health, careers, families, society and lives were forever changed.. For the millions of people in the U.S. living with long COVID symptoms such as brain fog, poor sleep and pain, better understanding of the disease and treatments can't come soon enough. In 2023, researchers made headway in discerning in detangling theories about what could be causing long COVID — such as lingering viral reservoirs and errant immune cells – but there are still no proven cures. And there was new messaging too: Get an annual COVID boosters along with your flu shot every fall. But anticipated "high demand" did not materialize. By mid-December, fewer than 20% of US adults had gotten the updated shot, and the CDC warned of a possible surge in serious illness if vaccination coverage fails to improve. Earlier this year, the CDC stopped collecting data on new infections (as in positive tests) – relying instead on COVID hospitalizations, deaths and,increasingly, on wastewater surveillance – a network set up during the pandemic to regularly test sewage samples from around the country. The surveillance network has expanded beyond COVID to track flu, RSV, norovirus and other health threats that are detectable in human waste. It wasn't just COVID – the data came in this year showing how the pandemic exacerbated other public health and medical problems. For many,mental health suffered and people turned to drugs and hard drinking to cope with grief and isolation. Children missed recommended vaccines. Obesity rates rose. The U.S. population emerged from the public health emergency with a shorter life expectancy than before – indicating that the health of the nation faces a long recovery. A few dedicated public health professionals are fighting to make permanent changes they say would help make the nation more prepared for the next major threat. But in the boom-and-bust cycle of funding for public health, the nation's post-emergency interest is on the downswing. One legacy is a U.S. landscape littered withempty rubber glove factories, which received more than $290 million in public funds to bolster the supply chain for personal protective equipment, only to be left half-built in the lurch.
WHO says JN.1 subvariant is ‘of interest,’ but public risk is low The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday classified the JN.1 variant of the coronavirus as a “variant of interest” but said there wasn’t much of a threat to public health. “Based on the available evidence, the additional global public health risk posed by JN.1 is currently evaluated as low,” WHO said. Still, the agency cautioned that with the onset of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, JN.1 “could increase the burden of respiratory infections in many countries.” JN.1 first emerged in the U.S. in September, and, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it now accounts for about 20 percent of all COVID-19 cases. It’s currently the dominant variant in the Northeast, where it is estimated to cause about a third of new infections, the agency said. The prevalence of JN.1 more than doubled between late November and mid-December, according to agency estimates, likely aided by holiday travel and gatherings. But it does not appear to be driving increases in hospitalizations. Scientists and the CDC have said JN.1 is likely more transmissible or better at evading our immune systems than other circulating variants, but the public health risk overall is low, and it is unlikely that the subvariant will reach levels seen in the omicron or delta waves. There is also no indication of increased severity from JN.1, CDC said. “At this time, there is no evidence that JN.1 presents an increased risk to public health relative to other currently circulating variants,” the agency said in its most recent update on Dec. 8. Like other previous variants of the coronavirus, it is not possible to know whether JN.1 produces different symptoms. Viruses are constantly changing over time, and JN.1 is just the latest variant to spread. Experts and officials have said there will be other variants and urged more people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as well as flu and RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, if they’re at risk.
WHO designates JN.1 as separate COVID-19 variant of interest - Due to its rapid growth and potential to add to the respiratory virus burden in Northern Hemisphere countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) today designated JN.1, part of the BA.2.86 SARS-CoV-2 lineage, as its own variant of interest.The announcement came following an assessment from the WHO's Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 evolution.JN.1, first detected on August 25, contains L455S mutation in the spike protein, compared to the parent BA.2.86 variant. The mutation is thought to enhance JN.1's immune-evasion capabilities. The WHO had first designated BA.2.86 as a variant under monitoring in August, then in late November upgraded it and its offshoots, including JN.1, as a variant of interest.Over the past month, the proportion of JN.1 viruses has rapidly increased, rising from 3.3% in early November to 27.1% by early December. Countries reporting the highest proportions include France, the United States, Singapore, Canada, and the United Kingdom.The WHO said its Western Pacific region saw the biggest jump in JN.1 proportions. Singapore is experiencing a record surge in COVID-19, which prompted a health ministry statement strongly urging people to wear a mask, according to a media report.In its last variant proportion update on December 8, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) singled JN.1 out from BA.2.86 tracking, noting a dramatic jump in JN.1 detections over a 2-week period: from 8.1% to 21.4%. JN.1 levels were second only to HV.1, part of the XBB.1.9.2 lineage.Yesterday, scientist and infectious disease modeler J. P. Weiland projected on Twitter (now X) that, based on wastewater tracking, JN.1 will become the dominant variant within a week, with nearly 1 million infections reported each day.
JN.1, the WHO’s newest ‘variant of interest,’ has spiked COVID wastewater levels to all-time highs in some countries. What you need to know about the ‘Pirola’ offshoot - The World Health Organization is keeping an eye on a new COVID variant—one that, in some countries, is sending wastewater levels of the virus skyrocketing to the highest point ever seen.The global health watchdog on Tuesday promoted JN.1—an Omicron spawn experts flagged this summer for its unusually large number of mutations—to a “variant of interest.” It’s second only in alert level to “variant of concern,” a designation Omicron, Delta, and Alpha had until the organization removed their status.How dangerous is JN.1, how likely are you to get it, and could it derail your holiday plans? Here’s what you need to know, according to the experts Fortune spoke with. JN.1 is yet another Omicron offshoot, technically. It evolved from BA.2.86, a COVID variant that caught the attention of experts this summer because of its large number of mutations compared with the original Omicron: a whopping 30 or more, depending on how you count them. BA.2.86 was—and still is—the most genetically distinct COVID variant to have evolved since Omicron, which made a global splash in 2022. It was so distinct, many experts said, that it warranted a new Greek letter from the World Health Organization.Along with BA.2.86’s laundry list of mutations came the ability for the virus to evade immunity and infect cells with increasing ease. Variant trackers dubbed BA.2.86 “Pirola”—after an asteroid—as a nod to their belief that the new variant, or one of its offspring, may eventually warrant a new Greek letter: presumably Pi or Rho, next in the alphabet.BA.2.86 failed to take off in the way it seemed poised to, though it managed to show strong growth in some regions of the world. As early as August, however, experts warned that while BA.2.86 may not be the black swan “Omicron event” some thought it was, one of its descendants could be.Enter JN.1. While the letters assigned to the strain make it sound like it’s coming from left field, it’s not. It’s BA.2.86 plus one additional major mutation that makes a lot of difference: L455S, which boosts its ability to evade antibodies from prior infection and vaccination. L455S is the reason JN.1 has “sprouted wings,” while BA.2.86 did not. Technically, JN.1 is BA.2.86.1.1. But the naming system for COVID variants calls for the string of letters to truncate after three additional sets of numbers and periods. So BA.2.86.1.1 “rolled over” to JN.1.Now you know. It’s too early to tell if the symptoms of JN.1 differ from typical Omicron symptoms. So far, there’s not much evidence that this is the case, though there are reports of increased diarrhea that may or may not be associated with the variant. Hospitalizations are rising in some areas like New York City, considered a “bellwether state” that may forecast what’s to come for much of the rest of the country. But rising hospitalizations could be the result of waning population immunity, at least in part. And other variants undoubtedly contribute to hospitalizations and deaths.
New coronavirus variant JN.1 is spreading fast. Here’s what to know. --Washington Post The World Health Organization on Tuesday declared coronavirus subvariant JN.1 a variant of interest “due to its rapidly increasing spread.” It made up about 3 percent of all coronavirus cases in early November, but 27.1 percent a month later globally, the WHO said. It anticipates JN.1’s emergence may cause an increase in cases, especially in countries experiencing winter. Live well every day with tips and guidance on food, fitness and mental health, delivered to your inbox every Thursday. The WHO designation came after emergency room visits in the United States for covid-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus collectively reached their highest levels since February, The Washington Post reported last week, ahead of the holiday period. Coronavirus is constantly evolving into forms that are more transmissible or more adept at infecting people who were vaccinated or previously infected. Those attributes help variants outcompete others in circulation and fuel waves of infection. But the scenario scientists have dreaded has yet to materialize in the last two years: a highly contagious variant deadlier than the ones before it. JN.1 was first reported in August. It evolved from variant BA.2.86, a descendant of omicron, the variant of the coronavirus that wreaked havoc in early 2022. BA.2.86 did not spread widely, but it worried experts because it had dozens of mutations on its spike protein. JN.1 is very similar with an additional spike protein mutation. That’s concerning because the spike protein acts like a key to enter a cell, and vaccines train the body to reinforce the locks. When the spike protein morphs into a much different foe, it’s harder for neutralizing antibodies to recognize it and fight it off. But those antibodies are just the first line of defense, and other parts of the immune system can still fight the virus and reduce the severity of infection. Jesse Bloom, a computational biologist who monitors coronavirus variants at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, said it’s too early to say whether JN.1 would cause surges in infections and hospitalizations. “In the past, new variants often increased cases and hospitalizations,” Bloom wrote in an email. “But there is now much more population immunity due to prior infections and vaccinations, so it’s unclear whether or not JN.1 will have a similar impact.” The WHO does not expect JN.1 to bring a significant additional public health risk based on available evidence. Its overall risk evaluation of the variant is “low.” “While there is a rapid increase in JN.1 infections, and likely increase in cases, available limited evidence does not suggest that the associated disease severity is higher,” it said.
Study highlights factors linked to inappropriate antibiotics in kids -- Ear infections, a general practitioner (GP) as a prescriber, and rural settings were identified as primary drivers of inappropriate antibiotic prescribing in children treated in ambulatory care in high-income countries, according to a study published yesterday in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.For the study, Belgian researchers reviewed 40 articles reporting on 30 different factors and their association with inappropriate prescribing in acutely ill children receiving ambulatory care in 15 high-income countries. They included cross-sectional studies, prospective and retrospective cohort studies, and reports from health organizations.Appropriateness covered a range of definitions, including whether the class of prescribed antibiotic or dose was appropriate, and whether the diagnosis justified the antibiotic prescription. Factors and their association with inappropriate prescribing were categorized as patient-level, prescriber-level, environment-level, or miscellaneous. A meta-analysis of the pooled results found that diagnosis of acute otitis media (ear infection; pooled odds ratio [OR], 2.02; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.54 to 7.48) was associated with more inappropriate prescribing compared with upper respiratory tract infections, and that GPs had 1.38 higher odds (95% CI, 1.00 to 1.89) of inappropriate prescribing compared with pediatricians. Odds of inappropriate prescribing in rural settings were 1.48 times higher (95% CI, 1.08 to 2.02) than in urban settings. The researchers also found that older patient age and respiratory tract infection diagnosis have a tendency to be positively associated with inappropriate antibiotic prescribing, but pooling of the studies was not possible."Therefore, it is recommended that antimicrobial stewardship programmes prioritize these specific situations," the study authors wrote. "Several examples of antimicrobial stewardship actions include decision-support tools, audit and feedback, support for adhering to antimicrobial guidelines, fixed pack dispensing, and public awareness campaigns."
Study shows HPV vaccination gaps in preteens --A research letter yesterday in JAMA Pediatrics study shows that children younger than 13 years still have significant gaps in human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination coverage, despite the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices recommendation for routine HPV vaccination for girls aged 11 to 12 years since 2006, and for boys since 2011.The researchers used data from the National Immunization Survey (NIS)-Teen from 2018 to 2021 to estimate the annual percent change in vaccination among 11- and 12-year-olds. Overall, vaccine uptake increased during the study period, but a sizable number of US children eligible for vaccination opt out of the routine series.From 2018 to 2021, the researchers note increases in the percentages of girls who initiated HPV vaccination before age 13 years (from 50.5% to 62.7%; prevalence difference [PD], 12.3), and those who completed the series before age 13 years (from 34.2% to 38.6% PD, 4.5). The percentage of boys who initiated HPV vaccination before age 13 also increased in that time span (from 42.6% to 59.0%; PD, 6.5), as did the percentage who completed the series before age 13 (from 27.6% to 35.7%; PD, 8.2)."In 2021, less than half of adolescents aged 13 to 17 years had completed the series before age 13 years," the authors said. "Increases in HPV vaccine initiation before age 13 years are encouraging, but more progress is needed."
Study: Infants of moms who had flu shot in pregnancy at 39% lower risk of hospitalization --The infants of mothers vaccinated against influenza during pregnancy had a 39% lower risk of flu-related hospitalization than those born to unvaccinated mothers, estimates a study published today in JAMA Pediatrics.For the test-negative case-control study, the New Vaccine Surveillance Network Collaborators examined the association between maternal flu vaccination and severe disease among 3,764 infants younger than 6 months at seven pediatric care centers in seven states during the 2016-17 through 2019-20 flu seasons. The researchers noted that flu during pregnancy is tied to severe maternal disease and may be linked to poor birth outcomes such as preterm birth, fetuses small for their gestational age, and miscarriage. Infants aren't eligible for flu vaccination until they are 6 months old. "Maternal immune responses to influenza vaccine during pregnancy are comparable to those of nonpregnant adults, and the transfer of influenza antibodies, either naturally acquired or vaccine induced, from mother to fetus is highly efficient," they wrote.Among the 3,764 infants, 53% were born to mothers who received the flu vaccine during pregnancy,including 42% of 223 flu-positive infants and 54% of 3,541 flu-negative controls. Overall, vaccine effectiveness (VE) of maternal vaccination against flu-related ED visits or hospitalizations in infants was 34%. Maternal flu vaccination was 19% effective against infant ED visits, 39% against infant hospitalization, 25% against influenza A, and 47% against influenza B in infants. By subtype, VE was 39% and 16% against the H1N1 and H3N2 strains, respectively. VE was 53% among infants younger than 3 months, 52% among those whose mothers were vaccinated in the third trimester, and 17% in those whose mothers were vaccinated in the first or second trimester. Among 223 infants with flu, 28% had retractions (pulling in between the ribs), and 10% had wheezing in the first 24 hours of life. More than half (56%) of flu-positive infants were hospitalized, 5% required intensive care unit admission, 14% required supplemental oxygen, and 1% required intubation."The findings in this study indicate that maternal influenza vaccination during pregnancy provided important protection for the infant in the first few months of life before infants are eligible for vaccination," the study authors wrote. The World Health Organization and numerous other agencies and associations recommend that pregnant women receive the inactivated flu vaccine.
Daily in-hospital toothbrushing may reduce pneumonia --A meta-analysis today in JAMA Internal Medicine suggests that daily tooth brushing in hospitalized patients lowers the risk ofhospital-onset pneumonia. The effect was strongest in patients who were receiving mechanical ventilation.Hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP), is the most common nosocomial infection—and the deadliest. Found in about 1% of hospital patients, HAP is seen in both ventilated and non-ventilated patients. HAP is believed to be triggered by microaspiration or macroaspiration of oral microbes, the authors said, but the use of mouthwashes with oral chlorhexidine has become a controversial way to reduce the microbial burden in the mouth. Rigorous toothbrushing may be a safer and more effective alternative to oral antiseptics. "Prevention guidelines, however, have traditionally not emphasized toothbrushing, and consequently, practices vary widely between hospitals," the authors wrote.The authors reviewed 15 randomized clinical trials with an effective population size of 2,786 patients. The studies compared outcomes among hospitalized patients and oral care habits while in the hospital. All but one study focused on patients who were being treated in intensive care units (ICUs)Toothbrushing was associated with a significantly lower risk for HAP (risk ratio [RR] 0.67; [95% confidence interval [CI], 0.56 to 0.81]) and ICU death (RR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.69 to 0.95). Toothbrushing was associated with significantly lower ventilator-associated pneumonia rates (RR, 0.68; [95% CI, 0.57 to 0.82], as well as shorter time to extubation (mean difference, 1.24 days; 95% CI, −2.42 to −0.06 days), and shorter ICU stay (mean difference, −1.78 days; 95% CI, −2.85 to −0.70 days).Of note, results were similar when toothbrushing was performed twice, three times, or four times daily. Toothbrushing made no significant difference on use of antibiotics, nor was there an association with reduced hospital length of stay.
Contaminated water, soil tied to rare tropical disease melioidosis in 3 men in same Mississippi county - Over a 3-year period, three men in Mississippi were infected with a newly identified strain of the bacterium that causes melioidosis after contact with contaminated water and soil, the first known cases of environmental transmission in the continental United States, the New England Journal of Medicine reports today.Caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei, melioidosis is a potentially life-threatening disease typically spread through inhalation, ingestion, or skin contact with the water or soil of tropical and subtropical regions, where it is endemic."Melioidosis is rare in the United States; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has received reports of approximately 12 cases each year that were determined to have been predominately associated with travel to regions in which melioidosis was endemic," the CDC-led investigative team wrote.The CDC had reported the first two cases and anearlier outbreak traced to an aromatherapy room spray in 2022.The men, who lived in the same Gulf Coast county but didn't know each other, sought care at a hospital with conditions such as acute respiratory distress, multi-organ failure, pneumonia, and sepsis and were diagnosed as having melioidosis in 2020, 2022, and 2023, respectively.Blood cultures revealed the same Western Hemisphere B pseudomallei strain in all three men, who reported symptoms such as fever and shortness of breath. The men reported no travel to melioidosis-endemic areas.Two men recovered after receiving antibiotics, and one is recovering.The investigators tested 168 environmental samples from areas where the two patients lived, worked, and fished (eg, a tugboat, plants, dead fish), discovering B pseudomallei in three water and soil samples from one man's property."These findings indicate that melioidosis may be endemic to the Mississippi Gulf Coast region," they wrote. "Clinicians should consider melioidosis in patients with a compatible illness who reside in or have traveled to the Gulf Coast region of the southern United States or to areas where B. pseudomallei has historically been endemic."
Noma added to WHO list of neglected tropical diseases --The World Health Organization (WHO) announced late last week that the gangrenous disease noma has been added to its official list of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).Also known as gangrenous stomatitis or cancrum oris, noma is a rapidly progressive bacterial infection of the face and mouth. It begins as inflammation of the gums, and, if not treated early with antibiotics, spreads quickly to destroy facial tissue and bone, frequently leading to death or severe disfigurement. Diagnosis and treatment in the early stages of the infection can lead to proper wound healing.The official request to have noma added to the NTD list was submitted to the WHO in January on behalf of 32 member states.Primarily found in sub-Saharan Africa, noma mainly affects malnourished children between the ages of 2 and 6 years. Poor oral hygiene, malnutrition, weakened immune systems, and extreme poverty are among the risk factors."Noma is more than a disease, it is a social marker of extreme poverty and malnutrition, affecting the most vulnerable populations," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said in a press release. "By classifying noma as a neglected tropical disease, we are shining a light on a condition that has afflicted marginalized communities for centuries."Current efforts to control the disease in endemic areas are often managed by oral health programs. The WHO says recognition of noma as an NTD aims to boost those efforts through multisectoral and multipronged approaches, amplifying global awareness of the disease, and stimulating research and funding.
Smoking Shrinks The Brain, And Quitting Doesn’t Restore Size: Study | Smoking cigarettes shrinks the size of the brain, and stopping doesn’t reverse the damage, a new study shows. The findings help explain why smokers have a higher risk of developing age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease. But there is good news: As soon as someone stops smoking, the shrinking stops. The study, published in Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science, looked at data from 32,094 individuals of European descent who smoked daily. The data came from the UK Biobank, a biomedical database available to the public that contains genetic, health, and behavioral information on approximately 500,000 people. The research team from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that total brain volume, including gray and white matter, decreased when a person smoked daily. Gray brain matter decreased more than white brain matter did, according to the analysis. Gray matter houses neural cell bodies, axon terminals, and dendrites; much of it is found in the cerebellum, cerebrum, and brain stem. It is responsible for the central nervous system, which enables a person to control movement, memory, and emotions. White matter is filled with bundles of axons coated with myelin. Its job is to send signals up and down the spinal cord when the brain receives a stimulus. The analysis of the UK Biobank data showed that the more a person smoked, the more brain mass they lost. The realization that smoking affects the brain isn’t entirely new information, the research team admitted. “The adverse effect of smoking extends into the brain, and this is shown by the association between smoking and dementia,” they wrote. The research team noted that areas like the hippocampal area, which is affected by Alzheimer’s disease, are particularly impacted by daily smoking. “This finding is consistent with smoking, which has been identified as a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, accelerating the development of this illness,” the research team wrote. In fact, the researchers suggested that 14 percent of Alzheimer’s cases across the world could be attributed to smoking. In addition to smoking, the team found that drinking alcohol also has adverse effects on the brain. Like smoking, heavy alcohol use can reduce brain size, specifically subcortical brain volume. The subcortex is involved in overseeing emotions, memory, and hormone production. Subcortical structures also help people maintain their posture, gait, and other movements. The risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease or dementia occurs even after someone stops smoking or drinking alcohol, researchers noted, because the brain damage is permanent. Scientists believe Alzheimer’s disease is caused when proteins build up in and around brain cells, sort of like plaque on teeth. One of these proteins is called amyloid, and another is called tau. Tau tangles can interfere with the way the brain receives signals. Researchers admit they’re uncertain about the mechanisms that kickstart this process but know it can take years. Over time, however, the brain begins to shrink, which can lead to Alzheimer’s. The Washington University team noted that some people have a genetic predisposition that leads them to smoke. In other words, part of the population is born with an increased risk of picking up the habit. As such, these people have a higher risk of reduced brain volume and of developing dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.
Spinach sold in 7 states recalled over listeria fears – Fresh Express is recalling spinach distributed to seven states because it may contain listeria, according to the Food and Drug Administration.While there have not yet been reports of illness, Fresh Express launched the limited recall after Florida Department of Agriculture registered a positive result during a routine test for listeria.The pre-packaged greens were sold in 8-ounce Fresh Express bags, as well as 9-ounce bags under the Publix brand name. Air fryers sold at Walmart, Target, Kohls recalled Listeria, which can cause serious and even fatal infections in young children or people with weakened immune systems, generally causes symptoms including fever, headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea. Among pregnant women, however, listeria can cause a miscarriage or stillbirth.While both brands of spinach were sent to stores in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia, the Publix spinach was also distributed to South Carolina and Tennessee.
CDC warns of growing, deadly Salmonella outbreak linked to cantaloupe -- With 72 new cases, the US Salmonella outbreak linked to cantaloupe has now topped 300 cases, and another person has died, bringing the death total to 4. So far, half of patients interviewed were hospitalized, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in an update late last week."CDC is concerned about this outbreak because the illnesses are severe and people in long-term care facilities and childcare centers have gotten sick. Do not eat pre-cut cantaloupes if you don’t know whether Malichita or Rudy brand cantaloupes were used," the CDC warned.Salmonella can be most dangerous for the elderly, children under age 5, and those with compromised immune systems. So far in this outbreak, 40 sick people resided in long-term care facilities, and 30 children attended childcare centers before they got sick.In total 302 people in 42 states have been sickened, and news media reported that a plant in Mexico is closed because of the outbreak. A Reuters story says five people in Canada have died in this outbreak, as well. In the United States, three people have died in Minnesota, and one person in Oregon.Illnesses started on dates ranging from October 16, 2023, to November 28, 2023, and 129 people have been hospitalized.Malichita and Rudy brand whole cantaloupes have been identified in both the United States and Canada as the sources for the outbreak and have been recalled. The affected fruit may have stickers that say "4050," and "Product of Mexico/produit du Mexique."
- The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) today announced the launch of a staffing calculator to help facilities gauge infection preventionist needs. In a statement, APIC said the tool was developed following a literature review of existing infection preventionist staffing models and feedback from multiple facility surveys. The tool consists of three separate calculators that recommend staffing ratios for acute, long-term, and ambulatory care settings, based on key risk factors.
- South Korea this week reported highly pathogenic H5N6 avian flu in poultry and wild birds, the World Organisation for Animal Health has confirmed. According to an agriculture ministry statement translated and posted by Avian Flu Diary, an infectious disease news blog, it is the first high-path avian flu detection in the country since 2018. Sporadic human infections involving H5N6 have been reported, mainly in China. The virus is known to circulate in some Asian countries. In US avian flu developments, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has reported more avian flu outbreak in three states, including two poultry farms in California's Sonoma County, one of which is a layer facility housing nearly 500,000 birds. Also, the virus struck a gamebird producer in South Dakota and backyard birds in Kansas.
- The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) yesterday published an epidemiologic alert about the risk to human health from recent detections of Western equine encephalomyelitis (WEE) in horses in several of Argentina's provinces and in some locations in Uruguay. Birds are the main hosts of the virus, which can spread to horses and humans through infected mosquitoes. At-risk groups are people who live, work, or recreate in endemic areas or locations where outbreaks are occurring. On November 30, Argentina declared a state of emergency after equine cases were reported in nine provinces, marking the country's first WEE cases since 1988. In early December, Uruguay reported equine cases in nine municipalities. Though no human cases have been reported so far, PAHO urged healthcare providers to be vigilant for patients presenting with neurologic symptoms and for cities and provinces to step up their surveillance and vector-control activities.
Poultry losses mount with more avian flu at US farms --Over the past week, highly pathogenic avian flu outbreaks struck poultry flocks in 12 states, hitting seven more commercial farms, including one in California that houses more than 1.3 million layers, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) said in its latest updates.Detections of the H5N1 virus started ramping up in early October, with the events exacting an especially high toll on layer facilities and turkey farms in multiple parts of the country. Last month, outbreaks led to the loss of more than 8 million birds, and so far this month poultry owners have lost more than 7.2 million birds.Since the outbreaks began in early 2022, poultry outbreaks across 47 states have wiped out a record 75.4 million birds, according to APHIS.Layer and turkey farms continue to feel brunt In the most recent outbreaks, California is the latest state to report an event at a large layer farm, which occurred in Merced County. Outbreaks also struck a broiler producer in Merced County and a duck breeding operation in San Joaquin County.Two other states reported new outbreaks involving layer farms—a location in Kansas' Rice County that houses 700,000 birds and a site in Ohio's Darke County that has 560,000 birds.Minnesota and South Dakota reported more outbreaks on turkey farms, and New York reported an outbreak at a game bird producer that has 4,200 birds.Also, seven states reported more detections in backyard flocks, including Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado,Idaho, Missouri, Minnesota, and Oregon.Meanwhile, over the past week, several countries have reported fresh H5N1 outbreaks in wild birds and poultry, according to the latest notifications from the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH).Germany, China, and Moldova reported detections involving wild birds.Among locations reporting outbreaks at commercial farms, Taiwan reported a detection of the 2.3.4.4b clade—currently circulating widely across multiple parts of the globe—at a layer farm. The virus also struck more facilities in Germany and Hungary.
Groups warn of further avian flu impact in Antarctica, potential spread to Oceania Two animal health groups, in an update today, warned of further highly pathogenic avian flu spread in the Antarctica region and said it's plausible that the virus could then spread to Oceania—the only world region that hasn't experienced the spread of the current H5N1 clade. The joint report from scientists at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) in August had warned the risk of spread of the H5N1 avian flu strain to Antarctica's wildlife populations, and in October, H5N1 was confirmed for the first time in the Antarctic region on the coast of South Georgia. The detection followed rapid southward spread of the virus in South American birds and mammals, including sea lions.In the latest update, the groups detailed the toll of the virus on wildlife in South American and South Georgia islands. They said the risk of spread to other Antarctic islands in the Scotia Arc and Antarctic Peninsula is high. From those locations, further spread in Antarctica is likely, "and from there, incursion into Oceania is plausible," they wrote. The negative impact in Antarctica could be immense, with 48 bird species and 26 marine mammal species inhabiting the region, some of which live in dense colonies. Similar to the Northern Hemisphere's experience, the virus could persist over the coming years and spread variably in the region's wildlife. Meanwhile, the United States has been experiencing a resurgence of H5N1 activity in poultry since early October, and over the past 2 days, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has reported more outbreaks in seven states. In California, the outbreaks hit commercial duck, turkey, and layer farms in Merced and Sonoma counties. Three more outbreaks in Kansas include a layer farm housing 800,000 birds. Also, the virus struck a game bird producer in South Dakota and a turkey producer in Michigan. Other poultry outbreaks, including backyard flock detections, were reported in Iowa, Oregon, and Washington.
CWD detected in another Virginia county -- The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) late last week reported the first chronic wasting disease detection in Carroll County, located in the southwestern part of the state.The deer was an adult male that was legally harvested near the town of Dugspur. The carcass was brought to a taxidermist in October, and the DWR obtained a sample as part of proactive surveillance, according to a December 15 statement. Carroll County is already part of disease management area (DMA) 3, given that CWD was confirmed in neighboring Montgomery County in 2020.Of 181 positive detections in Virginia since 2009, only 11 were from DMA 3. The detection of CWD in Carroll County has prompted stepped-up testing in neighboring Wythe County.Virginia has been closely monitoring CWD prevalence since 2002. Earlier detections had occurred the northwestern part of the state, where two other DMAs are designated.CWD is a progressive neurologic disease that is fatal in cervids, including deer. The prion disease is similar to bovine spongiform encephalopathy ("mad cow" disease.) So far, no infections have been found in humans, but health officials urge people to have their deer tested, avoid eating meat from contaminated animals, and use precautions when field-dressing or butchering animals.
Nebraska reports 31 CWD cases as infection spreads to 3 additional counties -- Chronic wasting disease (CWD) surveillance in central and north central Nebraska netted 31 positive cases in deer, including those in three new counties, during the November firearm season, Nebraska Game and Parks (NGP) said yesterday in a news release.Hunters supplied 603 deer samples to check stations in the Sandhills, Keya Paha, Calamus East, Calamus West, and Loup West deer management units. For the first time, CWD was found in Rock, Blaine, and Thomas counties, all in the north-central part of the state.NGP conducts surveillance in five to seven deer management units each year, rotating to a different area each time. CWD was first found in Nebraska in 2000 in Kimball County in the west, which borders both Wyoming and Colorado. NGP has tested more than 57,000 deer and 400 elk since 1997, with 1,269 deer and 19 elk in 57 counties testing positive. CWD is a fatal neurodegenerative disease caused by infectious misfolded proteins called prions. While CWD is not yet known to infect humans, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises hunters to not consume meat from any animal that is obviously ill or tests positive for the disease."CWD prions, the infectious proteins that transmit the disease, can remain viable for months or even years in the soil," NGP said in the news release. "Hunters should field dress animals at the place of kill, avoid spreading spinal cord or brain tissue to meat, and to dispose of the head (brain), spinal column, and other bones at a licensed landfill."
15% of deer on depopulated Wisconsin farm had CWD, authorities report - Twenty-three of 172 deer (13%) killed after discovery of chronic wasting disease (CWD) on a Dodge County, Wisconsin, deer farm in May 2023 have tested positive for the disease, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) said in a news release yesterday. With another three CWD disease detections in deer who died before the herd was depopulated, the total number of cases comes to 26 (15%). In May, DATCP quarantined the farm after a 9-year-old doe tested positive for CWD. After the US Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services (USDA) culled the herd, it sent samples to the USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, for testing. During the next 5 years, the farm won't be able to hold cervids—members of the deer family—and must maintain fences and allow routine inspections. The farm owner will be compensated with federal indemnity funds for the loss, said the DATCP, which regulates deer farms for registration, recordkeeping, disease testing, movement, and permit requirements. Found in cervids in 32 US states, 4 Canadian provinces, and South Korea, Finland, Sweden, and Norway, CWD is a fatal neurodegenerative disease caused by infectious misfolded proteins called prions. Though no human cases have been found, health officials urge people to avoid eating the meat of infected animals and to take precautions when field-dressing or butchering cervids.
Colorado wolf reintroduction to move forward as ranchers' legal effort fails - The reintroduction of wolves in Colorado this month will proceed as planned after a federal judge on Friday 15 Dec. denied ranchers' request to stop the state's efforts to allow for further environmental analysis. U.S. District Judge Regina Rodriguez denied a request by the Colorado Cattlemen's Association and Gunnison County Stockgrowers' Association to halt the reintroduction of the controversial canines, finding it "contrary to the public's interest in seeing gray wolves released in Colorado." Voters approved the reintroduction in 2020, and wolves could be on the ground in Colorado as early as Monday. The request for the delay was filed as part of a federal lawsuit the two ranching groups filed Monday against Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The lawsuit alleges the government agencies violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to prepare an environmental impact statement about the wolves while renewing a cooperative agreement between the two agencies about conserving endangered species. But Rodriguez found the agencies did comply with the National Environmental Policy Act through "extensive public involvement," including several opportunities for public comment and peer review. "While the Petitioners who have lived and worked on the land for many years are understandably concerned about possible impacts of this reintroduction, neither these possible impacts nor their assertions under the Administrative Procedures Act are sufficient for this Court to grant the extraordinary relief they seek," Rodriguez wrote in the ruling, which was published late Friday.
Court strikes down EPA approval of streptomycin as citrus pesticide A coalition of public interest, environmental health, and farmworker advocacy groups are hailing a decision by a federal appeals court that struck down the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) approval of the medically important antibiotic streptomycin for use on citrus crops.The ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated the EPA's amended registration of streptomycin for use as a pesticide against citrus diseases, saying that it did not satisfy the requirements of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and Endangered Species Act (ESA). It also sent the amended registration back to the agency so that it could address the defects. The EPA in 2018 authorized the spraying of streptomycin, which has been labeled as "critically important" to human medicine by the World Health Organization, to combat citrus greening and citrus canker, diseases that have had devastating impacts on citrus production in Florida. The decision came despite concerns from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, US lawmakers, and advocacy groups about its potential effect on antibiotic resistance, the environment, and the health of exposed farmworkers.A lawsuit filed in 2021 by several groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, Farmworker Association of Florida, Earthjustice, and the Natural Resources Defense Council, argued that the agency had failed to ensure that the use of streptomycin on citrus trees would not cause unreasonable to human health or the environment."The court's decision to vacate the EPA's unlawful approval of streptomycin is a win for public health, pollinators and endangered species," Hannah Connor, a senior attorney and environmental health deputy director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a joint press release following the ruling. "I hope that the EPA understands now that it can't just wave away its legal obligations to examine the impacts of the pesticides it approves."Among the arguments made in the lawsuit was that the EPA did not fully assess the risk that use of streptomycin on citrus trees would lead to antibiotic resistance and pose a threat to human health.The groups estimated that the EPA's approval would have paved the way for 650,000 pounds of streptomycin, which is used to treat a variety of bacterial infections in humans, to be sprayed on citrus trees in Florida and California. One of the concerns was that antibiotic residues from spraying would end up in soil and nearby waterways and promote the emergence of streptomycin-resistant pathogens.
Researchers: Genetically modified crops aren't a solution to climate change, despite what the biotech industry says --The European Commission launched a proposal in July 2023 to deregulate a large number of plants manufactured using new genetic techniques.Despite extraordinary attempts by the Spanish presidency to force a breakthrough, EU members have not yet reached a consensus on this plan. But if the proposal were to be approved, these plants would be treated the same as conventional plants, eliminating the need for safety tests and the labeling of genetically modifiedfood products.The European public has refused to blindly accept genetically modified food from the moment the technology was developed, largely due to concerns about corporate control, health and the environment. Biotech firms have been trying to sell genetically modified crops to Europeans for decades. But most European citizens remain convinced that crops made with both old and new genetic techniques should be tested and labeled.So, where has this proposal come from? Biotech firms seem to have succeeded in convincing the European Commission that we need new genetically modified crops to tackle climate change. They argue that by enhancing crops' resistance to drought or improving their ability to capture carbon, climate change may no longer seem such a daunting challenge.If this seems too good to be true, unfortunately, it is. Biotech firms have taken advantage of growing concerns about climate change to influence the European Commission with an orchestrated lobbying campaign.In 2018, the European Court ruled that plants made with new genetic techniques have to be regulated like any other genetically modified organism. Biotech firms and they're allies within biotech research centers have since set out to convince the European Commission of the need for an entirely new legislation.The first step was to rebrand the techniques they are using, aiming to distance themselves from the bad reputation of genetic modification. Biotech firms started to use more innocent terms like gene editing and precision breeding instead.They then argued that their processes are not really any different from what happens in nature, portraying them as an advanced version of natural processes. Biotech firms need this argument to eliminate the requirement for labeling, which serves as a barrier for selling their products in a climate of public disapproval.In a third step, they leveraged the urgency of the climate crisis to argue that we cannot afford time-consuming safety tests. They contended that such tests wouldhinder innovation in a period of accelerating climate change.There are several flaws in this approach. The terms "gene editing" or "precision breeding" may sound more reassuring, but we argue they are essentially marketing terms and say nothing about the accuracy of the techniques used or their potentially negative effects.Studies have shown that new genetic techniques can alter the traits of a species "to an extent that would be impossible, or at least very unlikely, using conventional breeding". They can also trigger substantial unintended changes in the genetic material of plants. But, perhaps most importantly, genetically modified plants aren't the solution to the climate crisis. They are a false solution that starts from the wrong question.It is well known that our current agricultural model contributes significantly toclimate change. The development of genetically modified crops is being steered largely by the very same agrochemical giants that established and controlled this form of agriculture.Companies like Corteva and Bayer (which acquired US agrochemical company Monsanto in 2018) are leading the race to secure patents on new genetic techniques and their products.Typical examples include patents for soybeans with increased protein content, waxy corn, or rice that is tolerant to herbicides. These crops are designed for an agricultural model centered on the large-scale cultivation of single-crop varieties destined for the global market.This agricultural model relies on staggering amounts of fuel for distribution and places farmers in a state of dependence on heavy machinery and farm inputs (like artificial fertilizers and pesticides) derived from fossil fuels.Research has found that farming in this way causes soil depletion andbiodiversity loss. It also increases vulnerability to pests and diseases, necessitating the development of different and potentially more toxic pesticides and herbicides.
Hotter weather caused by climate change could mean more mosquitos, according to study --A warmer environment could mean more mosquitos as it becomes harder for their predators to control the population, according to a recent study led by Virginia Commonwealth University researchers. As the cover feature in Ecology, the study—"Warming and Top-Down Control of Stage-Structured Prey: Linking Theory to Patterns in Natural Systems"—found that rising temperatures, often linked to climate change, can make predators of mosquito larvae less effective at controlling mosquito populations. Warmer temperatures accelerate development time of larvae, leading to a smaller window of time that dragonflies could eat them. This means there could be nearly twice as many mosquito larvae that make it to adulthood in the study area. The researchers looked at riverine rock pools at Belle Isle along the James River in Richmond and found that warmer temperature pools had more aquatic mosquito larvae, even when their predators that naturally control the populations were present. The native rock pool mosquito is not an important disease vector, but it is one of the few local mosquitos that doesn't have to feed as an adult to lay eggs. So the findings might apply to similar taxa, like the invasive Asian rock pool mosquito. "We might see larger populations of everyone's least favorite bug, mosquitos. While the mosquito larvae we studied here [are] the North American rock pool mosquito, these findings likely apply to species of mosquito that do act as vectors for diseases like West Nile or even Zika virus,"
Study: Known carcinogen hexavalent chromium found in California wildfire ash : NPR - It's widely known that wildfire smoke is bad for your health, but a group of researchers recently found a known carcinogen in California wildfire ash, raising concerns about just how harmful it could be to breathe the air near a blaze.According to a study released in Nature Communications last week, researchers discovered dangerous levels of hexavalent chromium in samples of ash left behind by the Kincade and Hennessey fires in 2019 and 2020.Workers in the manufacturing industry who've been exposed to elevated levels of hexavalent chromium, or chromium 6, have higher rates of lung cancer, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.Scott Fendorf, a professor at the Doerr School of Sustainability at Stanford University who worked on the study, said he was shocked by the results."Up until that point, if we had a wildfire, I was pretty cavalier about it, to be truthful. We get the alerts and I would still go outside and exercise, thinking exercise was the better factor for my health," Fendorf said."Now it completely changes my calculation. When we start to get wildfire warnings or smoke warnings, I'm going to be wearing an N95 mask."In some affected areas, the study found that the concentration of chromium 6 was up to seven times that of unburned land.Though the researchers only found hexavalent chromium in samples of wildfire ash and not wildfire smoke itself, Fendorf said they inferred that it was likely also present in the smoke. He said the team intends to collect samples from wildfire smoke in the future to test that hypothesis.Still, the findings are especially alarming given that climate change is making wildfires burn larger and more frequently across the globe.People in fire-prone areas are experiencing more blazes, but wildfire smoke is also floating hundreds or even thousands of miles away, affecting populations far from the flames.Smoke from wildfires in Canada over the summer caused air quality to plummet across the U.S. and even darkened the skies over parts of Europe. Metals such as chromium naturally exist in the environment, such as in rocks like serpentinite. In this case, Fendorf said, the wildfires' intense heat appears to have transformed chromium into its hexavalent state."The fire changes a benign metal into a very toxic form of that metal,"
Little Village residents monitor air pollution with sensors | WBEZ Chicago -Jocelyn Vazquez carts a green fold-up wagon across Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. Part of her job is to lug around a mess of extension cords, tubes of zip ties, a computer and several air monitors.In front of a three-flat off Rockwell Street, Vazquez unloads her equipment and organizes a game plan to install all the pieces of a low-cost air sensor.“This is all to build our community air monitoring network,” said Vazquez, a community science coordinator for the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO).The majority-Latino Southwest Side neighborhood is one of the most polluted in Chicago, according to the city’s Little Village Industrial Corridor Framework report. There’s nonstop truck traffic and a large industrial corridor.Residents say public officials aren’t doing enough to protect them so they are taking matters into their own hands — monitoring air quality themselves with nearly $200 sensors. Five are currently in operation with a goal of installing 10 in the neighborhood. Data collected could be used to understand the severity of pollution and inform environmental policy.Victor Rodriguez lives in the three-flat and untangles an extension cord that runs through the alley to connect to the air monitor.“My lungs aren’t so good anymore,” Rodriguez said in Spanish. “And more than anything, I think we should be safe from contaminants. I want there to be less pollution and fewer sick people.”LVEJO’s decision to develop a community monitoring network took shape after Chicago officials imploded the chimney of the old Crawford coal-power plant back in 2020. The city failed to adequately notify residents of the demolition and a massive dust cloud settled over parts of Little Village. Meanwhile, COVID-19 raged, adding more respiratory complications.The Crawford implosion highlighted ongoing air pollution burdens in West and South side communities. That’s reflected in the city’s recently publishedenvironmental report and recently adopted Chicago Environmental Justice Index. The index produces scores for census tracts of the city using local environmental exposures and socioeconomic factors — the higher the score, the greater the environmental burden. Little Village’s pollution burden ranked in the 90th percentile among Chicago’s neighborhoods.“Some of those pollutants can actually not only impact the respiratory system, but can impact the other organs in the body as well,” said Serap Erdal, a professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at the University of Illinois Chicago who is helping LVEJO with the project.She said that’s why the data collection could be so useful. These sensors will be able to collect real-time, localized air quality data, which Erdal said will be more representative of actual exposure conditions in the community.
EPA to disperse $600M in anti-pollution grants through regional organizations - The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it will disperse $600 million in grants aimed at combating pollution in disadvantaged communities through regional “grantmaking” organizations. The funding is part of a larger bucket of $3 billion provided by the Inflation Reduction Act aimed at improving environmental justice — that is, addressing the disproportionate amounts of pollution that minority and low-income communities face. The grants are expected to fund thousands of environmental justice projects. Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters on Tuesday that the money would be administered through regional grantmakers, rather than the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), so the projects are finished more quickly and so that smaller community organizations will have access. “These organizations will be able to review and approve grant applications faster. Not with all the bureaucracy. Not in years, but in months, that means our investment will hit the streets more quickly,” Harris said. The organizations are expected to begin opening competitions and awarding grants by summer 2024, according to the administration. The announcement comes as Republicans have repeatedly sought to cut the environmental justice funding — though they are unlikely to be able to do so while the Biden administration remains in power.
EPA's enforcement results bounce back - EPA’s enforcement of environmental laws was on the rise again this year, although not yet reaching the highs the agency attained in cracking down on polluters over the past decade. EPA released its fiscal 2023 results for enforcement and compliance Monday, touting its focus on pollution long burdening marginalized communities across the country. Under the Biden administration, the agency has vowed to rebuild its enforcement program and broaden its scope after inspections as well as civil and criminal investigations tumbled during years of neglect. Those metrics increased this year as EPA brought on new staff and a renewed focus in championing environmental justice. Overall, EPA opened 199 criminal cases in fiscal 2023. That is a spike of 70 percent over the previous year and its highest total since fiscal 2020, according to data released by the agency. In addition, EPA initiated 1,751 civil enforcement actions, nearly a hundred more than the year before and its most in a year since 2018. And at over 150 more than fiscal 2022, the agency reached 1,791 civil settlements, with 55 percent of those cases centering on facilities in communities with “potential [environmental justice] concerns.” Inspections climbed this year as well to 7,742, a more than 30 percent increase from fiscal 2022. More than 60 percent of those fiscal 2023 inspections were at facilities affecting communities with potential environmental justice concerns, surpassing the agency’s own goals. Yet overall compliance monitoring was down in fiscal 2023. EPA credited that to the agency shifting back to on-site inspections, which take more time than offsite monitoring. The agency’s boosted enforcement activity also juiced cash coming back from polluters. EPA brought in over $700 million in penalties, fines and restitution from environmental law violators in fiscal 2023, a 57 percent increase from the prior year. “While our work is not complete, EPA’s revitalized enforcement program is making a positive difference in communities across America, particularly for people living in underserved and overburdened communities that for too long have borne the brunt of pollution,” said David Uhlmann, head of the agency’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, in a statement. Uhlmann added, “From helping ensure that our children can drink safe water to improving the air we all breathe, EPA is delivering on the promise of America’s environmental laws.” President Joe Biden’s effort to revamp the EPA enforcement program has stalled at times. The Senate took more than two years to confirm Uhlmann as the program’s assistant administrator while environmentalists spotlighted sinking enforcement figures during the first years of the Biden administration. But EPA’s enforcement office is now staffing up. The agency added roughly 300 positions to the program in fiscal 2023 after it underwent a decade of budget cuts and lost about 950 jobs, according to the agency. The enforcement office has taken on more as well under the administration. In August this year, EPA announced six national enforcement initiatives for fiscal 2024 through 2027. It added two areas for investigators to focus on: mitigating climate change and addressing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, the “forever chemicals” responsible for widespread contamination. At the time, Uhlmann said those initiatives address “21st-century environmental problems.” “Working closely with our state partners, EPA enforcement efforts will mitigate climate change and limit exposure to the scourge of PFAS contamination, while addressing the reality that, for too long in the United States, the worst effects of pollution have plagued overburdened communities,” Uhlmann said.
Supreme Court to hear arguments on blocking EPA cross-state smog pollution rule -The Supreme Court will hear arguments about whether to block an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule that seeks to address interstate smog, the court said Wednesday.The court issued an order saying it would not yet decide whether to block the rule from being effective. Instead, it will hear oral arguments on the matter during its February session. It also said proponents and opponents of the “Good Neighbor” rule should be prepared for arguments about whether the rule’s emissions controls are reasonable.The rule in question seeks to reign in emissions of smog-forming nitrogen oxides from power plants and industrial facilities in upwind states, so pollution from these states does not harm their neighbors. In October, Republican attorneys general, as well as industry and utility groups, asked the Supreme Court to halt the rule after a federal appeals court declined to do so. They said in a legal brief the rule would “irreparably” harm their industries and citizens because they would have to spend money to comply with the mandate they view as unlawful. They also argued it would undermine their ability to generate electricity and will destabilize states’ power grids. A spokesperson for the EPA declined to comment on the Supreme Court’s move. When the agency put the rule forward, it touted the public health benefits of cutting pollution, saying it expected to prevent 1,300 premature deaths in 2026 alone.While it is not clear which way the court will ultimately rule in this case, in recent years the conservative-majority Supreme Court has moved to curtail the EPA’s authority on climate and water regulations.
Uncontrolled chemical reactions fuel crises at L.A. County’s two largest landfills - Hundreds of feet underground, in a long-dormant portion of Chiquita Canyon landfill, tons of garbage have been smoldering for months due to an enigmatic chemical reaction. Although operators of the Castaic landfill say there’s no full-blown fire, temperatures within the dump have climbed to more than 200 degrees, and area residents have complained of a burned garbage odor wafting through the neighborhoods. Meanwhile, 12 miles to the southeast, Sunshine Canyon landfill has suffered water intrusion from torrential storms earlier this year. That seepage has fueled bacteria growth within the Sylmar landfill, giving rise to putrid odors that have nauseated students and staff at a local elementary school. The highly unusual reactions at Los Angeles County’s two largest landfills have raised serious questions about the region’s long-standing approach to waste disposal and its aging dumps. These incidents have impaired pollution control systems, allowing toxic gases and polluted water to migrate into unwanted areas. They have also triggered thousands of odor complaints, dozens of environmental penalties and renewed calls to shutter the landfills. Both facilities remain operational and each continues to accept more than 7,000 tons of trash a day. However, many residents who live nearby fear the potential of even greater problems and say that government officials and landfill operators need to take the problems more seriously. “If temperatures get to a certain point, there isn’t going to be much that can be done,” said Sarah Olaguez, a Val Verde resident whose family lives less than a mile from Chiquita Canyon. “I feel like we’re on the precipice right now. It’s a train wreck waiting to happen. It’s scary and I feel trapped.” The scorching temperatures within Chiquita Canyon Landfill have caused pressure to build inside the 639-acre facility and forced contaminated water to burst onto the surface. Analyses by CalRecycle, the state agency that oversees solid waste and recycling facilities, described the situation as a “heating/ smoldering” event that has expanded in all directions since the summer. By November, the reaction area had grown by 30 to 35 acres, according to the agency. Already, the heat has melted or deformed the landfill’s gas collection system, which consists mostly of polyvinyl chloride well casings. The damage has hindered the facility’s efforts to collect toxic pollutants. “When there are high temperatures in the landfill gas, that can melt or deform some of the landfill gas collection system components,” said Angela Shibata, senior air quality engineering manager with the South Coast Air Quality Management District. “You can imagine when you have very hot temperatures and you have plastic materials as conveyance mechanisms for extracting and vacuuming out that gas, that can cause all kinds of issues.” Abnormally pungent odors began drifting into neighboring communities last spring and intensified over the summer. In Val Verde, an unincorporated community of around 3,000 residents, some say they have suffered headaches, dizzy spells and difficulty breathing. “The odors were so bad that my wife and I were getting sick inside our house — with the doors and windows closed,” said Steven Howse, a longtime Val Verde resident. “My kids can’t go outside, and my son will come in saying, ‘Oh, my stomach hurts, Dad. I don’t feel good.’”
PFAS experts gather to address growing chemical crisis by Kathy Johnson - In light of the ongoing PFAS crisis, stricter groundwater regulations were part of a Michigan statewide effort to protect resident’s health and improve water quality. This was before 3M corporation sued the state to invalidate these new rules. 3M prevailed in the lower courts and the state is currently awaiting a decision for an appeal filed with the Michigan Supreme Court.According to Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) Director, Phil Roos, the lawsuit was: “an attempt to overturn our ability to put rules in place and enforce them.”This legal dilemma took center stage during EGLE’s fourth annual Great Lakes PFAS Summit, which aired virtually from December 5-7. Roos provided an overview of the role EGLE plays in addressing the perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl compounds, known as PFAS. EGLE helps to respond to this chemical pollution by working with the Michigan Attorney General’s office to hold polluters accountable—though this has been challenging.Abigail Hendershott, executive director of the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team (MPART), noted that after six years of “aggressive investigation” they identified 271 sites with groundwater contamination. Locations with the highest levels of PFAS included landfills, industrial facilities, plating facilities, airports, military sites, laundromats, paper manufacturing, refineries, tanneries, and power stations.In addition to groundwater, MPART actively monitors surface waters and fish. Hendershott said, in the last year, 1500 fish were sampled from 63 different water bodies in Michigan to help establish safe consumption guidelines.Speakers, participants and exhibitors shared information throughout the three-day conference regarding all aspects of PFAS pollution. Most notably, this year’s event broke attendance records with over 2000 participants representing all 50 states and nine countries.“We’ve got people from as close as Canada and as far away as Bangladesh,” said Phil Roos, in his opening address.Suzanne Witt, is research director at Enspired Solutions, a women-owed and led company headquartered in Lansing, MI. The company focuses on PFAS destruction and Witt said they developed a promising new technology.Current removal systems typically use some type of carbon-based filter. Witt pointed out that this approach moves the contamination from the water to the filter. It is then burned or sent to a landfill, both of which result in the “forever” chemicals going back into the environment, creating a never-ending loop.Enspired Solutions’ goal was to develop a system that eliminates PFAS from water with no toxic by-products or waste. Witt said, their system utilizes ultraviolet light to break the fluoride bonds in these otherwise “forever” chemicals.A pilot study is currently underway in Ann Arbor, MI. Doug Endicott, a principal research scientist and environmental engineer at the Great Lakes Environmental Center presented the findings from a Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) PFAS study. It was conducted on the Huron River and Kent Lake in Southeastern Michigan after the area was identified as a PFAS hot spot. In 2018, EGLE conducted statewide testing for PFAS contamination at wastewater treatment plants. Levels at the Wixom plant in Southeast Michigan were found to be 4,800 parts per trillion, which was 100s of times higher than other facilities, Endicott said. Additional testing identified the source as a local metal plating facility. The facility installed a carbon filtration system, and according to Endicott the follow-up tests showed a 95% drop in PFAS concentrations within 69 days. After a year, there was a 99% drop.Pollution Control Agency and Michael Mahon, a postdoctoral researcher at the United States Environmental Protection Agency presented findings from a study about fish in the Minnesota portion of Lake Superior.Streets said, the purpose of the study was to check previously untested areas with possible nearby sources, recheck areas with high levels from previous tests, check important spots for fish harvests, and check tribal waters for the first time.Where the fish live plays a significant role in how much PFAS contamination they have, according to Mahon. For example, Smelt living closer to Duluth and other nearshore locations had higher levels of PFAS contamination than populations that utilize more remote locations. While smelt contained the highest levels of exposure among the species tested with an average of 8 nanograms per gram, this was not an alarmingly high value. Streets said, at impacted sites, researchers might find fish “with counts as high as 50, 500 or even 800.”Bill Phelps is an advanced hydrogeologist with the Wisconsin DNR. Phelps presented the findings from their “PFAS Ambient Shallow Groundwater” study.Researchers found 7% of samples tested had detectable levels of PFAS. Of those, 4% were above the EPA standard and 1% was above the Wisconsin state standard.Phelps said three of the four highest PFAS concentration levels were found in agricultural areas where land application of waste is permitted. The study also found a correlation with occurrence from human waste via septic tanks.Nora Doerr-MacEwen, a manager with Health Canada Safe Environments Directorate, provided an update on Canadian PFAS efforts. Research findings showed that in all five Great Lakes the lake trout and walleye had high PFAS levels, well above Canada’s federal guidelines for the protection of mammals and birds that eat these fish.Canada is currently conducting multiple monitoring programs along the coasts of Lakes Ontario, Huron and Superior. In one aquatic sediment study, Doerr-MacEwen said, 15 samples from Lake Erie and Saginaw Bay were all found to contain some form of PFAS pollution.
New York City mayor issues travel advisory over expected heavy rains, flooding -New York City Mayor Eric Adams issued a travel advisory Saturday as heavy rains are expected and flooding may occur Sunday and Monday. “City agencies are working hard to be prepared. We’re coordinating but we need you to do your part because we may have flooding on the coastal areas in Jamaica Bay,” Adams said in a video. Adams asked people to stay home Sunday night and if they must travel, they should exercise caution and be prepared for delays.He also told New Yorkers to look at catch basins in their neighborhoods and to clean out any debris that would block water from properly draining, along with securing anything that could blow away in the strong winds. People who live in flood-prone areas should take steps to protect their homes, he said.The National Weather Service office in New York said up to four inches of rain is likely late Sunday night into Monday morning. Urban areas that have poor damage might have threats of flash flooding.Wind gusts are expected to be 30 to 40 mph with gusts up to 60 mph for the coast, which may impact trees and power lines.“With significant rainfall and high winds predicted for this Sunday into Monday, we want to remind New Yorkers to be alert, keep checking the forecast, and stay prepared,” Adams posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Deadly storm batters Northeastern US, knocking out power, grounding flights and flooding roads - (AP) — A storm barreled into the Northeastern U.S. on Monday, flooding roads and downing trees, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands, forcing flight cancellations and school closures, and killing at least four people. More than 5 inches (13 centimeters) of rain fell in parts of New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania by mid-morning, and parts of several other states got more than 4 inches (10 centimeters), according to the National Weather Service. Wind gusts reached nearly 70 mph (113 kph) along the southern New England shoreline. Power was knocked out for more than 700,000 customers in an area stretching from Virginia north through New England, including over 278,000 in Massachusetts and 263,000 in Maine, according to poweroutage.us. The weather service issued flood and flash-flood warnings for New York City and the surrounding area, parts of Pennsylvania, upstate New York, western Connecticut, western Massachusetts and parts of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.An 89-year-old Hingham, Massachusetts, man was killed early Monday when high winds caused a tree to fall on a trailer, according to Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz. Robert Horky was pulled from the trailer with severe head trauma and was pronounced dead at South Shore Hospital. In Catskill, New York, a driver was killed after the vehicle went around a barricade on a flooded road and was swept into the Catskill Creek, the Times Union reported. And in Windham, Maine, police said part of a tree fell and killed a man who was removing debris from his roof. Police did not immediately name the man, and they encouraged residents to stay indoors. On Sunday in South Carolina, one person died when their vehicle flooded on a road in a gated community in Mount Pleasant. Police officers and firefighters were able to get the victim out of the car and administer first aid, but they died at the hospital. The coroner’s office has not released the person’s name. Windspeeds exceeded 60 mph (97 kph) in Maine, which was the site of widespread damage to trees and structures, representatives for Maine’s largest utility said. Central Maine Power said it anticipated a “multi-day restoration effort” and crews Monday evening remained unable to safely use bucket trucks or to start making repairs. Five months after flooding inundated Vermont’s capital city of Montpelier, water entered the basements of some downtown businesses as the city monitored the level of the Winooski River, officials said. Authorities in the village of Moretown, Vermont, residents to evacuate some 30 to 50 homes because of flooding. Some schools canceled classes, sent students home early or delayed their openings due to the storm. A numbers of roads were also closed around the state due to flooding, including in Ludlow, the southern Vermont community that was hit hard by flooding in July. Heavy rain and high tides caused flooding along the Jersey Shore, leading authorities to block off roads near Barnegat Bay in Bay Head and Mantoloking. The flooding was made worse by leaf piles that residents had put out for collection but was blocking water from reaching drains. The Delaware River spilled over its banks in suburban Philadelphia, leading to road closures. In the suburb of Washington Crossing, crews placed barriers along roadways and worked to clear fallen tree limbs. Seven people died after flash flooding in that area over the summer. Many flights were cancelled or delayed across the region. Boston’s Logan International Airport grounded all flights Monday morning because of the poor conditions, leading to more than 100 canceled flights and about 375 delays, according to the flight-tracking service FlightAware. At New York City area airports, nearly 80 flights were canceled and more than 90 were delayed.
Severe weather in Eastern U.S. leads to 5 deaths and 1.7 million without power - (news video) At least 5 people have died and more than 700 000 customers (approximately 1.7 million people) were left without power as a powerful coastal storm swept up the East Coast of the United States over the past couple of days. Since December 16, a powerful storm has brought heavy rainfall and strong winds across the eastern United States, leading to floods and consequential damages. Media reports as of December 19 indicate that there have been five fatalities across Massachusetts, Maine, New York State, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina due to weather-related incidents and flooding. In New Jersey, the flooding of the Passaic River has prompted officials to advise several people to evacuate preventatively. The storm’s impact peaked on Monday, causing significant flooding, water rescues, and immobilized traffic. The number of customers without power has exceeded 700 000, primarily in Maine and Massachusetts. As of 14:00 UTC on December 19, approximately 590 000 customers remain without electricity: Maine with 428 000, Massachusetts with 119 000, Connecticut with 27 000, Rhode Island with 7 000, and New Hampshire with 6 000 affected. The severe weather has led to the closure of schools in the New England area and the cancellation of over 500 flights. Although the storm has moved into Canada and the rainfall has subsided in the Northeast, flood threats persist in New England where rivers continue to rise. Additional snowfall is expected in parts of western New York, Pennsylvania, the Great Lakes, and Appalachians on Tuesday.
Hundreds of thousands are without power in Northeast as temperatures are set to plummet today — At least five people are dead after a powerful storm brought dangerous flooding and travel disruptions to the East Coast and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in the Northeast, which faces cold temperatures and concentrated snowfall on Tuesday. The storm system carved a chaotic path up the East Coast, leaving a man in Pennsylvania and a woman in South Carolina – both in their 70s – dead after their vehicles were submerged in high water, officials reported. A person in northern New York also died Monday after they drove into a flooded roadway and their car was swept into a creek. The driver was found dead about two hours later, when rescuers were able to reach the car. Two other deaths were reported in Maine and Massachusetts. As the storm walloped the Northeast Monday, it unleashed 2 to 6 inches of rainfall across the region in a 24-hour period. The heavy rainfall triggered flooding that engulfed cars, trapped drivers on inundated roadways in New Jersey and Connecticut and prompted water rescues in New Hampshire and Maine. Farmington, Maine, “is virtually an island at the moment,” Town Manager Erica LaCroix told CNN on Tuesday morning, after severe flooding hit the area. Water was beginning to recede Tuesday, although multiple roads remained impassable, LaCroix said. Fire crews “went door to door in the areas of town most vulnerable to flooding” Monday night “and requested that residents evacuate, but it was not mandatory,” LaCroix said. Officials advised the public not to attempt to travel to or through Farmington. The weather hit holiday travel Monday, with over 1,200 flights delayed and 500 canceled into and out of New York, Boston and Washington, DC, area airports. Amtrak suspended all train operations in Vermont on Monday, the state’s Secretary of Transportation Joe Flynn said. Though the storm moved into Canada late Monday and rainfall has largely subsided in the Northeast, impacts will linger over New England on Tuesday. The threat of flooding remains for multiple communities where river levels are still peaking. Parts of western New York and Pennsylvania may also see snowfall, along with parts of the Great Lakes and Appalachians on Tuesday. Temperatures are set to plummet to the 30s and 40s across much of the Northeast, as more than 585,000 homes and businesses in the region remained without power early Tuesday, according to poweroutage.us. The vast majority of outages are in Maine, where more than 425,000 were in the dark. Fully restoring power to some Maine residents may take several days, warned Central Maine Power, a utility that serves more than 600,000 customers. The conditions have prompted school closures or delays in several districts in Maine and New Hampshire. Schools in Paterson, New Jersey, were closed until further notice after Mayor Andre Sayegh declared an emergency Monday afternoon in anticipation of flooding from the rising Passaic River. Flooding in the area is expected to be the worst in at least a decade. The Passaic is expected to crest around 12 feet at Singac on Tuesday afternoon, a potentially record-breaking level that could flood some adjacent roads, according to the National Weather Service. In nearby Little Falls, the mayor urged residents to evacuate before midnight Monday due to the threat of flooding, which authorities previously warned could be “catastrophic.” “Residents remain in their homes at their own peril,” Mayor James Belford Damiano said. “Flooding may cause dangers that may prohibit rescues as early as the overnight hours.” The bulk of rivers rising across the Northeast will crest on Tuesday. As of early Tuesday, nine rivers in the region were at major flood stage. Flood risk may be exacerbated in some New England states as heavy rain falls on top of an established snowpack. This may lead to rapid snowmelt and a sharp increase in the threat of flooding. In Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, a 72-year-old woman was found dead on Sunday after becoming trapped as her car was fully submerged in water, according to the Charleston’s Post and Courier newspaper. The area received more than 6 inches of rain that day. A 73-year-old man died after his car became immersed in high water caused by heavy rainfall in Pennsylvania on Monday, according to coroner’s office in Lancaster County. A 40-year-old man was killed in Windham, Maine, on Monday after a piece of a tree fell on him while he was on his roof trying to clear another part of the tree off his home, authorities said. Also on Monday, strong winds and rain in Massachusetts caused a tree to fall on a small travel trailer in Plymouth County, severely injuring an 89-year-old man inside, the local district attorney said. The man was rescued from the trailer but later died from his injuries. Cold air trailing behind the storm ushered in winter weather alerts across 10 states in the Great Lakes, Appalachians and interior Northeast. Up to a foot of snowfall fell in parts of northwestern New York and Ohio as well as central Pennsylvania and West Virginia, where winter storm warnings were in effect Tuesday morning. Wind gusts up to 50 mph are forecast in the impacted area. Surrounding areas could get between 1 to 6 inches of snow while impacted areas around the Great Lakes are forecast to receive up to 7 inches, according to the weather service.
Maine evacuations, flooding continue following Monday’s storm – Three people in the state have died, and one other is missing after being washed away by floodwaters . Over 200,000 customers were still without power in Maine on Wednesday morning, two days after a deadly storm devastated the state. Some people have been told they might not have power back until after Christmas. Maine Gov. Janet Mills on Wednesday urged residents to stay off the roads as much as possible and to heed any warnings from emergency officials. “Please, do not tempt fate. Going anywhere near downed power lines can be fatal and driving through flooded roads can be very dangerous," she said. Mills warned that restoring power will be a multi-day effort and said crews are coming from as far as Ohio to help. Central Maine Power, the state's largest utility, said they continue to make progress in their efforts to restore power to all customers, with 117,000 homes, about 29% of those affected, restored on Tuesday. "We have more than 2,000 people including 1,400 line and tree crews on the job now with more arriving tomorrow, working 24x7 until power is restored to all of our customers," the power company said in a message on its website Tuesday. Emergency officials warn that the damage is so widespread not every location will be clearly marked with signage, so the public should use extreme caution while traveling. They are coordinating with local departments and trying to prioritize assessing the most dangerous or significant locations of damage. Teresa Beaudoin, the principal at Farrington Elementary School in Augusta, is one of the many people still without electricity. She's using a generator to power her refrigerator and a couple of lights. "I was shocked," she said. "It hasn't been this bad for a long time. We were just discussing that this reminds me of 1980." Beaudoin said she has no idea when area schools will reopen. Three people have now died in Maine as a result of the storm. In Windham, police said part of a tree fell and killed 40-year-old Troy Olson, who was removing debris from his roof. And in Fairfield, 77-year-old William Tanner was fatally injured while removing a downed tree with a tractor. And a Mexico town official told News Center Maine that one of two people who were missing after their vehicle was swept away by floodwaters on Monday evening had been found dead. The second person remains missing. "We'll see if people are starting to get their power back," she said. "This looks like a big storm, so I guess the question will be how many people will get their power restored." Maine Gov. Janet Mills declared a civil state of emergency for most of the state, noting the storm had “left hundreds of thousands of people without power" and "caused significant flooding and infrastructure damage, including to the state’s federal-aid highways.” “Flooding continues to be a serious risk in many areas of the state. I cannot stress this enough - if you live in an area that is hard hit, please stay off the roads as much as possible and stay away from flooded areas, including flooded roadways,” Mills said Wednesday.
NWS warns of excessive rainfall in California - The National Weather Service warns of a Moderate Risk of excessive rainfall in Southern California, with potential flash flooding and mudflows, as a series of storms approach the state. California is preparing for a series of storms expected to bring significant rainfall to central and southern regions. The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a warning for a Moderate Risk of excessive rainfall in Southern California on Wednesday and Thursday, December 20 and 21, 2023. An upper-level low off the California coast is forecast to move southward over the Pacific, eventually making its way inland over northwestern Mexico by Saturday, December 23. This system will bring moisture into California, resulting in rain and some snow over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The Weather Prediction Center (WPC) has issued a Moderate Risk of excessive rainfall for parts of Southern California through Thursday morning. This heavy rain is likely to cause flash flooding, particularly in narrow canyons, gullies, and areas with burn scars from wildfires. In addition, many streams may overflow, potentially impacting larger rivers. The threat continues into Thursday, with moisture streaming into Southern California. The WPC has extended the Moderate Risk warning for excessive rainfall through Friday morning, December 22. This second phase of the storm is expected to affect similar areas, with a heightened risk of flash flooding and impacts on larger river systems. While the rainfall in Northern California is anticipated to subside by Thursday, isolated thunderstorms are forecast for southern California and across much of the Southwest on Friday. An upper low off the southern California coast early Friday will evolve into a more progressive open wave, moving eastward across the Southwest States and northern Mexico, NWS forecaster Mosier noted. This system brings strong ascent forces, cold mid-level temperatures, and increased mid-level moisture, fostering conditions ripe for thunderstorms in Southern California and the Southwest. Thunderstorms are expected to shift eastward, concluding with isolated storms over southeast New Mexico and far west Texas by Saturday morning.
Severe flash flooding hits Southern California, millions under Flood Watch - Southern California is under a dangerous flood threat with heavy rainfall impacting Los Angeles and San Diego areas, and moving eastward. Flood Watch is in effect for more than 20 million people from Southern California to central Arizona. As the storms continue on Friday, December 22, 2023, Southern California is grappling with a severe flood threat that has been persisting throughout the week. The Los Angeles and San Diego areas have been particularly impacted, with the severe weather conditions expected to move eastward. Over 20 million residents across Southern California and central Arizona remain under Flood Watch as cumulative rainfall totals have surpassed 250 mm (10 inches) in several mountain areas as of December 22 — Rocky Butte, for example, registered a total of 408.2 mm (16.07 inches) in 5 days, while Ventura County experienced a month’s worth of rain in just an hour. The NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center (WPC) has classified a swath of Southern California in a Level 3 out of 4 risk zone for flash flooding due to the overall rainfall amounts and potential for bursts of thunderstorm-triggered heavier rain, especially over recent wildfire burn-scar areas. For many communities, this period marks the heaviest rainfall event since the remnants of Hurricane “Hilary” impacted the region in August. Significant flash flooding has occurred in the Oxnard area, the largest city in Ventura County, after 80.8 mm (3.18 inches) of rain fell in one hour on December 21. The city’s overall storm totals approached 152.4 mm (6 inches) at the city’s civic center by Thursday evening, December 21. Local residents have been severely affected, with about 60 homes flooded and emergency evacuations, including from a senior living center. The Ventura County Fire Department reported a significant increase in emergency calls during the peak of the storm, with approximately 275 calls received within five hours. YouTube video By the end of the week, forecasters anticipate that between 125 to 200 mm (5 and 8 inches) of rain will have fallen in several areas, with some places potentially experiencing even higher amounts. This continued precipitation keeps the risk of flash and urban flooding high. The storm system is not only bringing heavy rains but also heavy snow over the Sierra Nevada Mountains and impacting other areas like the Washington and Oregon Cascades and parts of Idaho and Nevada. “A relatively slow-moving low pressure system off the southern California coast will begin to gradually accelerate off to the east and move onshore into the Southwest U.S. by tonight,” NWS forecasters Kong and Orrison noted. Deep southerly flow ahead of the low center will continue to feed moisture-laden air from the subtropical Pacific Ocean toward southern California today. Heavy rainfall will most likely be found once again along the wind-facing coastal ranges of Southern California where prolific rainfall amounts had already been reported in the past 24 hours, with additional significant flash flooding expected. Urban flash flooding will also be possible including areas of the Los Angeles basin early this morning. Debris flows and mudslides will remain likely near burn scar areas and areas of steep terrain. The Weather Prediction Center has maintained a Moderate Risk of excessive rainfall for these areas early this morning, December 22. As the low pressure system moves onshore later today, the heavy to excessive rainfall threat will begin to spread east into areas of central and southern Arizona as well by Friday night and into early Saturday. A Slight Risk of excessive rainfall is depicted across these areas where there may be some isolated to scattered areas of flash flooding. Some of the local slot canyons and burn scars closer to areas of terrain, and also the dry washes/arroyos over the deserts, will be vulnerable to seeing these runoff impacts. Generally, much of the rainfall across these areas should be beneficial.
Flooding drives millions to move as climate migration patterns emerge (AP) — Flooding is driving millions of people to move out of their homes, limiting growth in some prospering communities and accelerating the decline of others, according to a new study that details how climate change and flooding are transforming where Americans live. In the first two decades of the 21st century, the threat of flooding convinced more than 7 million people to avoid risky areas or abandon places that were risky, according to a paper Monday in the journal Nature Communications and research by the risk analysis organization First Street Foundation. Climate change is making bad hurricanes more intense and increasing the amount of rain that storms dump on the Midwest. And in the coming decades, researchers say millions more people will decide it is too much to live with and leave. First Street found that climate change is creating winners and losers at the neighborhood and block level. Zoom out to consider the whole country and Americans appear to be ignoring the threat of climate change when they decide where to live. Florida, vulnerable to rising seas and strong storms, is growing fast, for example. But that misses an important way people behave locally. Most moves are short distance; people stay near family, friends and jobs. Jeremy Porter, head of research at First Street, said “there’s more to the story” than population gains in Sun Belt states. “People want to live in Miami. If you live in Miami already, you’re not going to say, ’Oh, this property is a 9 (out of 10 for flood risk), let me move to Denver,’” Porter said. “They are going to say, ‘This property is a 9, but I want to live in Miami, so I’m going to look for a 6 or a 7 or a 5 in Miami.’ You are going to think about relative risk.” That’s what First Street projects over the next three decades: blocks in Miami with a high chance of getting hit by a bad storm are more likely to see their population drop even though a lot of the city is expected to absorb more people.Behind these findings is very detailed data about flood risk, population trends and the reasons people move, allowing researchers to isolate the impact of flooding even though local economic conditions and other factors motivate families to pick up and live somewhere else. They analyzed population changes in very small areas, down to the census block.
Severe thunderstorm wreaks havoc along Argentina’s Atlantic coast, leaving at least 13 dead in Bahia Blanca - A severe thunderstorm with wind gusts up to 150 km/h (92 mph) struck the coastal city of Bahia Blanca in Argentina on December 16, 2023, resulting in the deaths of at least 13 people. The city, located near the southern tip of Buenos Aires province, is one of Argentina’s prime grain-producing regions. The storm caused significant structural damage, including the collapse of a roof of Club Bahiense del Norte where people had taken shelter during the storm. Local media reported that the facility was hosting a skating competition when the storm struck, causing the tragic incident. The local authorities have confirmed the death toll and expressed concerns that the number of casualties might rise as search and rescue operations continue. Emergency services are currently engaged in finding survivors and providing medical assistance to those injured. “Unfortunately, the emergency service confirms the death of 13 people in the Bahiense del Norte club,” officials said in a statement, adding that some people remained trapped under the rubble. Residential homes, commercial establishments, and public facilities have all been heavily affected. The images and videos emerging from Bahia Blanca show collapsed structures, debris-strewn streets, and uprooted trees.
Extremely heavy monsoon rains in Tamil Nadu lead to fatal flooding, significant livestock losses, India - (video) Tamil Nadu’s Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena reported that heavy rainfall and floods in parts of the state have resulted in 10 deaths and significant livestock losses.Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena announced on Tuesday, December 19, 2023, that unprecedented rainsand resulting floods in the state’s southern districts have led to 10 deaths. The affected areas include Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Kanniyakumari, and Tenkasi districts. Additionally, significant livestock losses were reported, including 26 buffaloes, 297 goats, 110 calves, and 29 500 chickens.The India Meteorological Department (IMD) noted that some parts of Tamil Nadu registered an astonishing 950 mm (37 inches) of rainfall in just 24 hours, ending on December 18. The IMD has issued a red alert for the region, citing a cyclonic circulation over the Comorin area and heavy clouding over southern Kerala and Tamil Nadu.This monsoon season has seen Thirunelveli district receiving 760 mm (29.9 inches) of rainfall, 61 percent above the normal level, while Thoothukudi recorded normal rainfall of 349 mm (13.7 inches) since October. In Kerala, districts like Idukki and Thiruvananthapuram also experienced heavy rainfall. Tamil Nadu and Kerala typically receive a significant amount of their annual rainfall during the winter monsoon months from October to December.
Deadly floods and landslides strike West Sumatra, lahar warnings issued, Indonesia - Two people have died in West Sumatra, Indonesia, due to a landslide in Agam regency, with floods and landslides affecting other areas, including Lima Puluh Kota. Officials are urging residents living near Marapi volcano to be vigilant of potential cold lava flows (lahars). West Sumatra, Indonesia, has been hit by floods and landslides, resulting in two fatalities, as reported by Governor Mahyeldi Ansharullah on Monday, December 18, 2023. The landslide that occurred in Agam regency claimed the lives of two individuals, aged 18 and 33. In addition to Agam, the Lima Puluh Kota regency experienced floods and a landslide, leading to major road blockages and the inundation of several buildings. The governor has urged residents near rivers originating from the Marapi volcano to be vigilant of potential cold lava floods (lahars), especially with increasing rainfall intensity. Lahars can be extremely destructive and are more deadly than lava flows. This concern stems from Mount Marapi’s significant eruption on December 3, 2023, which claimed the lives of 23 climbers. The sudden eruption ejected volcanic ash up to 15 km (50,000 feet) into the air and generated a pyroclastic flow extending 3 km (1.8 miles) on the northern slope. The aftermath left climbers stranded and nearby villages covered in volcanic debris. Follow-up eruptions, including one on December 4 that emitted hot ash 800 meters (2 620 feet) high, severely impacted rescue operations. Governor Ansharullah added that 23 rivers stemming from the Marapi volcano are under close observation, and updates will be provided to the public as the situation develops. Gunung Marapi, distinct from the more well-known Merapi volcano on Java, is Sumatra’s most active volcano. This massive stratovolcano complex towers 2 km (1.2 miles) above the Bukittinggi Plain in the Padang Highlands.
Emergency measures in Beijing as severe cold wave brings snow and ice, China - China is experiencing a severe cold wave, with heavy snowfall and plummeting temperatures affecting transport and daily life across northern regions, including Beijing. President Xi Jinping has called for comprehensive emergency responses as temperatures drop significantly below freezing. Northern China is experiencing one of its most severe cold snaps in December, with snow, blizzards, and temperatures plummeting across the region. This has led to significant disruptions in daily life and transport, particularly in Beijing, the nation’s capital. On Friday, December 15, President Xi Jinping called for comprehensive emergency response efforts as the cold wave extended its grip over most of China. Temperatures were expected to drop below -40 °C (-40 °F) in parts of Heilongjiang, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, and Qinghai provinces. In Beijing, a mass of cold air drifted in from the west, leading to the city officials issuing the second-highest alert for blizzards through Thursday. To manage the chaos from what was anticipated to be a long-lasting round of snowfall, Beijing, a city of nearly 22 million, shut all schools from Wednesday and moved classes online. Businesses were advised to offer flexible working conditions and staggered commutes. Railway services with key cities like Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Wuhan were suspended, and trains that were still running operated at slower speeds, causing delays. Despite these challenges, Beijing’s Capital Airport continued to operate. Temperatures in Beijing were expected to reach as low as minus 18 degrees Celsius over the weekend. The National Meteorological Centre (NMC) issued its first alert since 2013 against freezing temperatures. Temperatures were forecasted to drop more than 14 °C (25 °F) across large areas of northern, northwestern, and southern China, as well as parts of Inner Mongolia and Guizhou province.
Rare snowfall hits southern China as north endures deep freeze - (video) China is experiencing a severe cold wave, with rare snowfall reported in Guangdong province in the south, while northern regions face near-historic low temperatures. China is currently undergoing a wave of cold weather, bringing rare snowfall to areas as far south as Guangdong province. Meanwhile, the northern parts of the country are experiencing near-historic low temperatures. In the north, temperatures have dipped below zero, affecting transportation and causing issues such as a brake failure on a Beijing commuter train. Despite early predictions of a warmer winter due to El Niño, the reality has been a week of frigid weather following one of the warmest Octobers in decades. Guangdong, typically seeing limited snowfall, experienced a snowy mountain top just 80 km (50 miles) north of Guangzhou. The region, usually enjoying double-digit temperatures in early winter, is now facing a low of 8 °C (46 °F). In Shanghai, snow flurries were observed, and Beijing experienced a significant drop in temperature to -15.5 °C (4.1 °F), nearing its 1952 historic low. The national forecaster warns of continued low temperatures at least until Thursday, December 21, with some regions expected to be 7 °C (13 °F) colder than typical. This cold weather is complicating rescue efforts in Gansu Province, where a recent M6.2 earthquake caused over 120 fatalities. Emergency response teams, including firefighters, soldiers, and police officers are operating under temperatures of -13 °C (8.7 °F). The earthquake in Gansu is the deadliest since the M6.1 earthquake in Yunnan Province in 2014, which resulted in 617 deaths. On December 20, 5 stations in China broke the lowest record in history.
59 deaths tied to cold wave reported in Taiwan (Taiwan News) — With the first cold winter wave there havs been 59 deaths attributed to the weather over the past two days. According to county and city fire departments, emergency cases suddenly surged. Within the past two days, 69 people were sent to the hospital due to out-of-hospital-cardiac arrest (OHCA) attributed to the frigid temperatures Of these patients, doctors were only able to resuscitate 10, reported TVBS. In northern Taiwan, the Taipei City Fire Department said that as of 5 p.m. on Thursday (Dec. 21), 10 people with OHCA had been sent to the hospital. Statistics from the New Taipei City Fire Department show that before noon on Thursday, 16 OHCA patients were sent to the hospital, eight of whom were resuscitated. The cause of OHCA in a 21-day-old baby girl is still under investigation, with initial assessments suggesting a sudden illness. In addition, there was a sudden death suspected to be caused by hypothermia reported in Taoyuan City. In Yilan County from Wednesday (Dec. 20) to Thursday morning, six patients were sent to the hospital for hypothermia and four were later pronounced dead. In Hualien County, a 90-year-old man's death was attributed to the cold weather. According to Changhua County Fire Department, in just 24 hours from 8 a.m. Wednesday to 8 a.m. Thursday, the number of emergency cases surged to 53, of whom seven were declared dead. In Yunlin County, Chiayi County, and Tainan City, 35 OHCA patients were sent to the hospital. In Tainan, 12 OHCA patients were sent to the hospital from Wednesday to Friday, while Kaohsiung City and Pingtung County each reported 10 OHCA patients, From midnight Thursday to Friday morning, there were two OHCA cases attributed to cold weather. Of particular note was a 28-year-old professional soldier who suddenly collapsed and could not get up when setting out in the morning. Despite being sent to the hospital for emergency medical treatment, the soldier did not survive. The preliminary assessment indicates that the cause of death may be related to a cardiovascular event triggered by low temperatures.
The biggest blizzard ever recorded along China’s coast - China’s Shandong Peninsula is experiencing severe snowstorms, with Yantai and Wendeng setting new historic highs for snow depth amidst a severe cold wave affecting parts of the country.The Shandong Peninsula in China is currently undergoing a historic blizzard, with seven days of snowfall out of the past ten. Yantai and Wendeng have seen record-breaking snow depths of 52 cm (20.4 inches) and 55 cm (21.6 inches), respectively, marking this as the most significant blizzard ever recorded along China’s coast.This extreme weather event is part of a broader cold wave sweeping across China. Northern regions are experiencing temperatures near historic lows, impacting transportation and even causing mechanical issues, such as a brake failure on a Beijing commuter train. The southern province of Guangdong, usually experiencing milder winters, witnessed rare snowfall.Contrary to earlier predictions of a warmer winter due to El Niño, China has seen a week of exceptionally cold weather. In Shanghai, residents observed snow flurries, while Beijing’s temperatures dropped to -15.5 °C (4.1 °F), nearing the historic low of 1952. Forecasters expect these low temperatures to persist, with some areas experiencing temperatures 7 °C (13 °F) below the seasonal average.The cold wave’s impact extends to Gansu Province, where recent earthquake rescue efforts are being challenged by temperatures of -13 °C (8.7 °F). This earthquake is the deadliest since the 2014 tremor in Yunnan Province.On December 20, five weather stations in China reported record-breaking low temperatures, with Yunzhou reaching -33.2 °C (-27.76 °F), Qingshuihe -29.7 °C (-21.46 °F), Yangqu -27 °C (-16.6 °F), Baoding -23.3 °C (-9.94 °F), and Shunping -22 °C (-7.6 °F).
Coral atoll islands may outpace sea-level rise with local ecological restoration, scientists say - Ecological restoration may save coral atoll islands from the rising seas of climate change, according to an international team of scientists, conservationists, and an indigenous leader. While global carbon emission reduction is imperative, local measures could be the key to the islands outpacing sea levels, they argue today in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution. "Far from being doomed, in their natural state, most coral atoll islands could adapt to sea level rise," says Dr. Sebastian Steibl from the University of Auckland in New Zealand, lead author of the study. "This paper is a global call to identify and quantify the best measures for restoring atoll island growth." The world's 320 tropical coral atolls comprise thousands of islands and are a treasure trove of biodiversity, homes to millions of turtles and seabirds. These islands are naturally growing up to 1 cm a year by accreting sediment—enough to outpace most predictions of sea level rise. Ecologically restoring this natural process holds the key to climate change resilience for the islands, says the team of scientists, who are already trialing restoration methods on atolls such as Tetiaroa and Palmyra in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Aldabra in the western Indian Ocean. While densely populated islands such as the Maldives will still need human-engineered solutions, most coral atoll islands are sparsely inhabited and excellent candidates for restoration, the scientists say. "Restoration of atoll island ecosystems is a proven conservation action that can significantly improve the health of the surrounding coral reef habitat," The climate damage fund announced at COP28 is one potential mechanism for funding local restoration. "Funding restoration work would empower communities to take back ownership of their futures," says co-author Professor James Russell, a conservation biologist at the University of Auckland People living on coral atolls are largely ignored when industrialized nations negotiate responses to climate change. "Local knowledge alongside cutting-edge science needs to be included in atoll restoration programs," says the cultural director of the Tetiaroa Society and co-author Hinano Teavai-Murphy, "because the traditional knowledge of Oceanian people has always been about respecting and preserving the connected marine and terrestrial systems."
Firefighters battle major wildfire near Cape Town, South Africa - On Wednesday, December 20, 2023, hundreds of firefighters engaged in a massive effort to contain a wildfire that has ravaged a mountain area near Cape Town, posing a threat to South Africa’s largest naval base in Simon’s Town. Five of the more than 300 firefighters involved in the operation have sustained injuries, according to authorities. Three helicopters were deployed to assist in water bombing the area, as strong winds intensified the fire, causing damage to one building within the Simon’s Town Naval Base. The situation led to the evacuation of nearly 40 houses in the vicinity during the early hours of Wednesday. Simon’s Town, located approximately 45 km (28 miles) south of Cape Town, is situated in a region prone to wildfires, particularly in the key wine-growing districts. The fire started on Tuesday, originating from the mountain slopes near the seaside town. As the fire spread further down Millers Point, Rocklands, and Plateau Road by 14:00 local time on December 20, major roads leading to the Cape of Good Hope/Cape Point and Simon’s Town were closed. Motorists have been advised to avoid the area as much as possible. With the expectation of stronger wind gusts later in the day and overnight, additional firefighting resources have been requested.
Homeowners face rising insurance rates as climate change makes wildfires, storms more common (AP) — A growing number of Americans are finding it difficult to afford insurance on their homes, a problem only expected to worsen because insurers and lawmakers have underestimated the impact of climate change, a new report says. A report from First Street Foundation released Wednesday says states such as California, Florida and Louisiana, which are prone to wildfires and damaging storms and flooding, are likely to see the most dramatic increases in premiums. But the fire that destroyed the Hawaiian community ofLahaina on Aug. 8, as well as the historic flooding that happened in Vermont and Maine in July, are examples of events that could drive up insurance costs for homeowners in other states. “If you’re not worried, you’re not paying attention,” said California Sen. Bill Dodd, whose district includes the wine-country counties devastated by the LNU Complex fires in 2020. First Street estimates, factoring climate models into the financial risk of properties in its report, that roughly 39 million properties — roughly a quarter of all homes in the country — are being underpriced for the climate risk to insure those properties. “Some places may be impacted very minimally, but other places could see massive increases in insurance premiums in the coming years,” said Jeremy Porter, head of climate implications at First Street and a co-author of the report. First Street, a New York-based non-profit, has been a to-go researcher on the financial implications of climate change for years. Their research is used by Fannie Mae, Bank of America, the Treasury Department and others for understanding the potential risks to properties. There are several signs that climate change is taking its toll on the insurance industry. The U.S. homeowner’s insurance industry has had three straight years of underwriting losses, according to credit rating agency AM Best. Losses for the first half of 2023 totaled $24.5 billion, which is roughly what was lost in all of 2022. “(Climate change) is a problem that is already here,” said Todd Bevington, a managing director at the insurance broker VIU by HUB. In his 30 years of doing insurance, he said “I’ve never seen the market turn this quickly or significantly.” Skyrocketing insurance costs are a serious concern for the small town of Paradise in Northern California, which was nearly wiped out by a deadly 2018 wildfire that killed 85 people. Jen Goodlin moved back to her hometown from Colorado with her family in 2020, determined to help in the town’s recovery. They began building on a lot they had purchased, and moved into their new house in October 2022. In July, she was shocked to receive notice that the family’s homeowner insurance premium would be $11,245 -- up from $2,500. “Our insurance agent said, ‘Just be thankful we didn’t drop you,’ and I said, ‘You did, you just dropped me,’” she said.
Not-So-Scary Truth About Climate Change - United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry says it will take trillions of dollars to “solve” climate change. Then he says, “There is not enough money in any country in the world to actually solve this problem.” Kerry has little understanding of money or how it’s created. He’s a multimillionaire because he married a rich woman. Now he wants to take more of your money to pretend to affect climate change. Bjorn Lomborg points out that there are better things society should spend money on. Lomborg acknowledges that a warmer climate brings problems. “As temperatures get higher, sea water, like everything else, expands. So we’re going to maybe see three feet of sea level rise. Then they say, ‘So everybody who lives within three feet of sea level, they’ll have to move!’ Well, no. If you actually look at what people do, they built dikes and so they don’t have to move.” People in Holland did that years ago. A third of the Netherlands is below sea level. In some areas, it’s 22 feet below. Yet the country thrives. That’s the way to deal with climate change: adjust to it. “Fewer people are going to get flooded every year, despite the fact that you have much higher sea level rise. The total cost for Holland over the last half-century is about $10 billion,” says Lomborg. “Not nothing, but very little for an advanced economy over 50 years.” For saying things like that, Lomborg is labeled “the devil.” “The problem here is unmitigated scaremongering,” he replies. “A new survey shows that 60 percent of all people in rich countries now believe it’s likely or very likely that unmitigated climate change will lead to the end of mankind. This is what you get when you have constant fearmongering in the media.” Some people now say they will not have children because they’re convinced that climate change will destroy the world. Lomborg points out how counterproductive that would be: “We need your kids to make sure the future is better.”He acknowledges that climate warming will kill people.“As temperatures go up, we’re likely to see more people die from heat. That’s absolutely true. You hear this all the time. But what is underreported is the fact that nine times as many people die from cold. ... As temperatures go up, you’re going to see fewer people die from cold. Over the last 20 years, because of temperature rises, we have seen about 116,000 more people die from heat. But 283,000 fewer people die from cold.” That’s rarely reported in the news.
Deadly M6.2 earthquake strikes northwest China, leaving over 100 fatalities, nearly 5 000 homes damaged - At least 118 people were killed and hundreds injured after a shallow M6.2 earthquake hit northwest China on Monday, prompting urgent rescue efforts in harsh winter conditions. The number of fatalities is expected to continue rising. A shallow M6.2 earthquake struck northwest China at 15:59 UTC (23:59 local time) on December 18, 2023, causing significant casualties and damage. Chinese state media reported on Tuesday that at least 118 people have died, with hundreds more injured as rescue teams work tirelessly to reach survivors in the freezing cold. The USGS registered the quake as M5.9 at a depth of 10 km (6 miles), while the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC) recorded it as M6.2. The epicenter was in Jishishan County, Gansu Province, near the border with Qinghai, a mountainous region on the Tibetan plateau’s edge. M6.0 earthquake Gansu-Qinghai border region, China december 18 2023 location map z (2 YouTube videos) Yesterday’s quake led to widespread house and road damage in Jishishan County. Rescuers are searching for survivors trapped under rubble, with affected residents facing the bitter cold overnight. As of Tuesday morning, Gansu’s provincial authorities reported that 105 people had been killed, 397 injured, and over 4 700 houses damaged. Neighboring Qinghai province reported 13 deaths, 182 injuries, and 20 missing persons. President Xi Jinping has called for comprehensive search and rescue operations, emphasizing the need for quick allocation of relief supplies and repairing essential infrastructure. He has also insisted on adequate arrangements for the displaced to ensure their basic living needs in the aftermath of the quake. Nearly 4 000 firefighters, soldiers and police officers were deployed or placed on standby. This is the deadliest China has experienced since August 3, 2014, when a M6.1 tremor struck Yunnan Province, resulting in 617 deaths and 112 individuals unaccounted for. Prior to that, on April 14, 2010, an M6.9 earthquake in Qinghai Province’s Yushu region caused 2 698 fatalities and left 270 missing. Historically, the deadliest earthquake in China occurred on July 27, 1976, when a M7.5 earthquake devastated Tangshan in Hebei Province, claiming over 300 000 lives. Following that in severity was the M7.8 earthquake on December 16, 1920, in Haiyuan County, Ningxia Province, which resulted in the deaths of more than 265 000 people.
Severe soil liquefaction hits Minhe County after M6.2 earthquake in Gansu, China - Severe soil liquefaction was reported in Minhe County, Gansu, China, following the deadly M6.2 earthquake on Monday, December 18, 2023. According to reports, half of one village in Minhe County was engulfed in mud, killing 19 people. The village is located about 10 km (6.2 miles) from the epicenter of the M6.2 earthquake that hit at 15:59 UTC (23:59 local time) on December 18.As of 18:00 UTC on December 19, the earthquake’s death toll has exceeded 120, with over 700 people injured. Authorities expect fatalities to rise as the extent of the damage becomes clearer. Over 5 000 buildings have been impacted by the quake, many of which were struck by subsequent mudslides, and numerous roads have suffered damage due to landslides.The widespread destruction has been partly attributed by local media to the poor quality of building construction in the affected villages, with many homes being older structures made of clay.Search and rescue operations are currently underway, with teams facing harsh conditions as temperatures plummeted to -13 °C (8.7 °F) on Tuesday.
Volcanic eruption starts near Grindavik, Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland - A new volcanic fissure eruption started at 22:17 UTC on December 18, 2023, about 4 km (2.5 miles) NE of the town of Grindavik, Reykjanes, Iceland. The eruptive fissure is about 4 km long, with the northern end just east of Stóra-Skógfell and the southern end just east of Sundhnúk. The eruption was preceded by an earthquake swarm that started at 21:00 UTC. According to the aerial observations performed by 02:10 UTC on December 19 as well as seismicity, the eruption fissure is expanding to the south. At the time, the southern end of the fissure was close to Sundhnúkur. Officials are warning this new eruption is not tourist-friendly and seems to be significantly larger than the Fagradalsfjall in 2021. The eruptive fissure is currently about 4 km (2.5 miles) long, with the northern end just east of Stóra-Skógfell and the southern end just east of Sundhnúk. The distance from the southern end to the edge of GrindavÃk is almost 3 km (1.8 miles). YouTube video. The rate of lava discharge during the first two hours of the eruption was thought to be on a scale of hundreds of cubic meters per second, with the largest lava fountains on the northern end of the fissures. Lava is spreading laterally from either side of the newly opened fissures. From real-time GPS measurements, significant ground deformation has accompanied the opening of the eruption fissures. Since midnight UTC on December 19, the level of seismicity at the eruption site has decreased. Additionally, estimates of fissure lengthening suggest that the eruption has decreased in intensity since its onset. “The decrease in intensity is evident from seismic and GPS measurements,” the Icelandic Met Office said. However, the fact that the activity is decreasing already is not an indication of how long the eruption will last, but rather that the eruption is reaching a state of equilibrium. This development has been observed at the beginning of all eruptions on the Reykjanes Peninsula in recent years. A meeting of scientists will be held on the morning of December 19 (LT) to evaluate the overnight development of the eruption.
Iceland volcano erupts following weeks of earthquakes - A volcano in southwest Iceland erupted late on Monday after the region experienced a series of earthquakes for weeks. Residents in the fishing town of Grindavik were evacuated from their homes last month after thousands of tremors shook the community, prompting fears that a volcano eruption in the nearby Reykjanes Peninsula was imminent. The Icelandic Meteorological Office announced Monday that the eruption began about an hour before midnight local time. The office noted that the eruption occurred just 2.4 miles from the town of Grindavik after a “swarm” of earthquakes rattled the region. The office reported that the fissure eruption was continuing to expand south, adding that lava was “spreading laterally from either side of the newly opened fissures.”Video footage captured by local news outlets showed heavy plumes of smoke over the lava spewing from the fissures. In an update posted early on Tuesday local time, the meteorological office said the seismic activity in the area was already decreasing.“The fact that the activity is decreasing already is not an indication of how long the eruption will last, but rather that the eruption is reaching a state of equilibrium,” the office said in its latest update. “This development has been observed at the beginning of all eruptions on the Reykjanes Peninsula in recent years.”It also confirmed that the eruptive fissure, which is the crack in the ground from where the lava spews, is four kilometers, or about 2.4 miles, long.
COP28 Outcome Dubbed a Win for Oil, Gas Producers - -- The outcome of the COP28 conference is being hailed as a landmark for its roadmap for transitioning away from fossil fuels, but the outcome is actually a win for oil and gas producers. That’s what Ellen R. Wald, the President of Transversal Consulting, told Rigzone, adding that “language affirming the long-called for ‘phaseout’ of oil, coal, and gas was rejected, in large part due to objections by oil producing countries like Saudi Arabia”. “The truth is that the world still needs hydrocarbons to maintain the modern way of life and for developing countries to improve their quality of life,” Wald noted. “Even those who pushed for the ‘phaseout’ language would not have been able to be present at the conference in the UAE without hydrocarbons,” Wald went on to state. “The fact that the next two COP conferences are scheduled to be held in countries that are major oil and gas producers and important exporters (Azerbaijan and Brazil) indicates that the climate conference is fast becoming the purview of hydrocarbon producers,” the Transversal Consulting President told Rigzone. Wald also said it is unlikely that any phasedown language will ever be agreed to now that oil and gas producers are taking a major role in the conferences. Wood Mackenzie’s latest edition of The Edge, a weekly column authored by Wood Mackenzie Chairman Simon Flowers, looked at COP28 “key takeaways” and included input from several company leaders, including David Brown, Wood Mackenzie’s Director of Energy Transition Practice, Ed Crooks, the company’s America’s Vice Chair, and Steven Knell, Wood Mackenzie’s Vice President of Power & Renewables Consulting. “The big news from the conference was that the concluding statement called for the ‘transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly, and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050’,” The Edge column published on Wood Mackenzie’s website on Thursday noted. “Some countries said the statement did not go far enough. But it is still a significant moment - the first time the governments of the world have agreed a goal to reduce consumption of oil, gas, and coal,” it added. The Edge column stated that the COP28 presidency came under intense pressure from some developed countries and from vulnerable nations to strengthen the language on fossil fuels, “in the face of opposition from leading oil and gas producers”. “The direction of travel is clear, with the calling out of oil and gas for the first time a step towards phasing out unabated fossil fuels,” the column added. “This debate will be a hot topic again at COP29,” it continued. “The commitment to triple renewables capacity, and statements in support of hydrogen, nuclear power, carbon capture and storage (CCS), and demand-side technologies (including road transport) also reflect the momentum building towards a low-carbon energy system,” it went on to state. Wood Mackenzie’s latest The Edge column noted that a phase-out of unabated fossil fuels by 2050 may be achievable but added that it will require building low-carbon supply at twice the rate of energy demand growth and a rapid acceleration of CCS. “Though governments recognize the urgency, slow progress in recent years reflects the difficulty of attracting investment,” it stated. The Edge column also highlighted that the final text “specifically calls out the role of ‘transitional fuels’ in facilitating the transition to lower-carbon technologies while ensuring energy security”. “Good news for natural gas, which can play a role in balancing intermittent renewables while the next generation of dispatchable technologies such as hydrogen-power and new nuclear capacity ramps up in the 2030s,” it added.
The World Bank is running the first-ever climate reparations fund. Nobody is happy about it. - Over the course of its 75-year history, the World Bank has been the go-to organization for solving global crises: It was charged with rebuilding Europe after the Second World War, and then again with reconstructing Iraq and Afghanistan after they were invaded by the U.S. During the global economic downturn of the 1970s, it loaned poor countries millions of dollars with the stated purpose of ending third world poverty. And earlier this month, the institution was picked to manage one of the most monumental tasks of the century: dispensing climate reparations to the developing world. The World Bank’s role managing this so-called loss-and-damage fund was formalized on the very first day of COP28, this year’s United Nations climate conference, which just concluded in the United Arab Emirates. The fund, which provides a trove of money for relatively poor countries that have emitted little carbon yet disproportionately suffer the effects of climate change, was capitalized with more than $650 million in just a few days after the start of the conference. But this success came after a string of furious debates, in which representatives from several coastal and low-income nations expressed vehement opposition to the World Bank’s management of the fund. When developing countries finally agreed that the Bank could host the fund on an interim basis for the next four years, they included a long list of conditions that the institution must meet. The deal was struck largely due to attrition, after weeks of negotiations in which wealthy nations, largely led by the U.S., rejected an alternative to set up a standalone fund. Grist spoke with former World Bank employees, COP28 negotiators, and watchdog groups to understand the opposition to the World Bank’s role in the unprecedented effort to pay out climate reparations from the new loss-and-damage fund. Experts unanimously agreed that developing countries have little trust in the World Bank as a result of its governing structure, which gives the U.S. outsized influence, as well as the failures of its past programs, which led to debt crises that compounded poverty in many developing nations during the 1980s and 1990s. Moreover, the Bank’s track record as a major investor in fossil fuel projects around the world has led some critics to question its fitness for a position meant to battle climate change. “The structure of the international organizations [like the World Bank] reflects a global power structure that is no longer the case, no longer true,” said Paul Cadario, a 37-year veteran of the World Bank who is now a distinguished fellow at the University of Toronto. “It doesn’t give sufficient weight to the concerns of the Global South. Those concerns are inevitably going to wash over something as specific as the loss-and-damage fund.” The World Bank has gained some relevant experience over the last few decades, as it’s taken responsibility for the management of a handful of funds designed to provide capital to developing countries trying to reduce carbon emissions and adapt to a warming world. As the trustee of these funds, the bank is responsible for fundraising and allocating the money raised. A loss-and-damage fund would likely work the same way: The bank would appeal to various donor countries for funds, which it would then pass on to developing nations for specific projects. But the bank has historically been slow to deploy these funds. The Green Climate Fund was established by climate negotiators at COP16 in 2010 to help developing countries tackle the climate crisis. It’s the largest multilateral fund of its kind and has received about $33 billion in pledges so far. But countries in need have had difficulty accessing the money, because project approvals take several years. The Philippines, a low-lying archipelago threatened by sea-level rise and typhoons, had just one of seven projects it proposed over seven years approved in 2021. “The process is extremely slow and very bureaucratic,” said Rohit Khanna, a former manager of global energy programs at the World Bank who also helped set up one of the bank’s climate funds. “The Green Climate Fund Secretariat is quite risk averse. The Secretariat is just anxious that if something goes wrong, the fund will die in its infancy.” (The Secretariat is a World Bank employee who manages the day-to-day operations of the fund.) “It’s very colonial in its mindset,”
College Democrats blast Biden for climate ‘indifference’ after COP28 - College Democrats demanded the Biden administration end the Willow Project, cut oil drilling on federal lands and zero in more on tackling climate change, blasting the president’s “indifference” toward climate change in the wake of the COP28 conference. The college outreach arm of the Democratic National Committee urged the administration to deliver on its climate promises and demanded Congress pass pro-environmental legislation in a letter to President Biden shared with The Hill on Wednesday. “With every waking moment of indifference in regards to the issue of climate change, we sink progressively deeper into a global environmental crisis,” the group wrote. “Its impacts, ranging from rising sea levels, unprecedented climate shifts, increased frequency of natural disasters, and worsening of air and water quality, have placed the planet that young people are destined to inherent in jeopardy.” President Biden, who attended the previous two climate summits, did not travel to the latest U.N. climate conference in Dubai. The president has infuriated climate change activists and younger voters with his approval of the Willow Project in Alaska and acceleration of gas exports to Europe. As the continent grapples with an energy crisis due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, the move by the U.S. made Europe the nation’s largest gas purchaser. The plan to increase natural gas exports caused a stir even within the Democratic Party. Just last week, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) urged the administration to stop investing in gas plants abroad, citing the $1.8 billion expenditure on fossil fuel plants overseas this year. “The United States can’t preach temperance from a bar stool, and right now, America is drunk on oil and gas production and exports,” Markey wrote last week. During the climate summit in Dubai, the administration presented a new plan to cut leaks stemming from methane production, the biggest component of the gas, in hopes of reducing one of the sources of harmful pollution. By supporting the increased production and exports from the liquid natural gas industry, the administration faces backlash from environmentalists and congressional Democrats. “Failure to avert climate disaster is a failure of the state,” the student organization wrote in the letter. “Hence, we call on our elected leaders of all levels to leave the world to their children, grandchildren, and young people throughout the nation in the same pristine condition they inherited.”
Biden Can't Back Fossil Fuels Then 'Throw a Bone' to Young Voters, Says Sunrise - While welcoming the Biden administration's new rules on clean energy tax credits, the youth-led Sunrise Movement also stressed Friday that the policy is far from enough to win over young voters concerned about the worsening climate emergency. The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday issued proposed guidance on how companies can utilize the Section 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that President Joe Biden signed last year. The Democrat campaigned on the promise of being a "climate president" and is now seeking reelection next year. "It's critical the Biden administration unleash a WWII-scale mobilization of government to stop climate change and his decision to make 45X robust and uncapped is a step towards that," Sunrise political director Michele Weindling said in a Friday statement reacting to Treasury's new guidelines. "These are the kind of effective measures we need to see more of from the administration to build renewable energy at the scale science demands," Weindling added. "However, President Biden must do so much more if he wants to be taken seriously by young voters," she continued. "He is overseeing an explosion in oil and gas production that has resulted in the U.S. producing more fossil fuels than ever before." "Biden must do so much more if he wants to be taken seriously by young voters."As Oil Change International highlighted in an analysis last month, the Biden administration can't rely on the IRA to demonstrate its commitment to the emissions reduction that scientists agree is needed, because the law leaves the fossil fuel industry with major opportunities to keep profiting handsomely from extracting more planet-heating oil and gas—which the president is enabling.Biden has come under fire from frontline communities and climate experts and groups—including Sunrise—for skipping the recent U.N. summit, continuing fossil fuel lease sales for public lands and waters,declining to declare a national climate emergency, backing the Willow oil project and Mountain Valley Pipeline, and supporting the expansionof liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.The Biden administration is now facing pressure to deny permits for the Calcasieu Pass 2 facility, a proposed LNG export terminal that would emit over 20 times more greenhouse gases than Willow. Weindling said that "he must reject new fossil fuel projects, starting with CP2, that poison communities and that will harm young people far into the future.""Biden must make a choice," she declared. "He can't one day cave to fossil fuel millionaires and the next throw a bone to young people. That's not how science works, and young voters know it."
Carbon removal isn’t weird anymore. That worries scientists. - Nearly 200 nations agreed to move away from fossil fuels for the first time last week. Yet the CEO of a major U.S. oil and gas producer months earlier saw a different future for the industry. Oil and gas companies could continue to thrive beyond the middle of this century by using technologies that suck their climate pollution out of the sky and pump it underground. “This gives our industry a license to continue to operate for the 60, 70, 80 years that I think it’s going to be very much needed,” the leader of Occidental Petroleum, Vicki Hollub, said at an oil conference in March. For many climate scientists, Hollub was saying the quiet part out loud. Removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere was originally envisioned by scientists as a way to eliminate climate pollution that is released by making cement, flying across oceans and industrial activities that are all but impossible to do without fossil fuels. That’s to say that the expensive and commercially risky technology was intended for sucking only relatively small amounts of pollution from the air. Scientists have a name for it: residual emissions. The Dubai, United Arab Emirates, climate agreement signed Wednesday accelerated a movement that is increasingly worrying scientists: The idea that carbon removal approaches can play an ever-growing role in fixing climate change, whether or not countries and corporations take the dramatic step of shifting away from oil, gas and coal. The possibility that the technology could become a reason to keep burning fossil fuels is driving a growing division in the scientific community about how much attention and money the world should be devoting to CO2 removal. It comes at a critical moment. The burgeoning global carbon removal industry is gaining momentum — and it’s unclear whether it will help or hinder the world’s climate goals. “As more and more people are saying that it’s essential, it’s really heightened the stakes,” said Gregory Nemet, an environmental policy expert at the University of Wisconsin. “And it’s led those that are critical of [CO2 removal] to really kind of raise their voice, because now it’s perceived as a threat to mitigation efforts.” Experts widely agree that at least a small level of carbon removal is essential to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Technology exists to replace most fossil fuel uses with low-carbon alternatives within the next few decades. But a few sectors of the economy, like steelmaking and industrial agriculture, will be difficult to fully clean up that quickly. These leftover emissions must be counterbalanced by pulling CO2 back out of the air, many scientists say. But there’s a problem: The technology doesn’t yet exist at the scale necessary to offset even modest levels of residual emissions. And there’s not enough land on Earth to plant the number of trees required to balance the world’s overdrawn carbon budget. If petrostates like Saudi Arabia and fossil fuel companies use the promise of carbon removal technology as a justification to keep on emitting, that could increase the pool of pollution that needs to be offset in order to achieve net zero. There’s also no guarantee that commercially unproven carbon removal approaches will be able to keep up. A growing chorus of critics now argue that the idea of using machines to pull pollution from the sky is becoming a distraction to the main event — reducing emissions. “Carbon removal technologies offer an easy way out, to cover up business as usual, and the expansion of [polluting] industries right now — without any of the major transformations we need to see in rapid emissions cuts,” said Lili Fuhr, director of the fossil economy program at the Center for International Environmental Law, a nonprofit advocacy group.
We Must All Rise Together to Keep Fossil Fuels in the Ground - The United Nations climate summit, hijacked by the fossil fuel cartel, has gifted a blank check to rich countries and Big Oil to kill one billion people and force billions more to flee their homes by 2100. The so-called ‘historic’ outcome of COP28 fails to deliver the most basic and necessary measures which would have prevented societal and ‘earth systems’ collapse, as outlined by the IPCC: eliminate fossil fuel subsidies and halt all new gas and oil projects. Instead, the new resolution includes numerous loopholes which will allow polluters to greenwash emissions through fictional carbon capture, meaningless carbon credits, and the re-classification of methane (“natural gas”) as a transition fuel. But to remain under 2°C of warming, we cannot afford to burn the fossil fuels we already have in reserve, let alone drill for more. COP28 has taken a few tentative steps in the right direction, but only thanks to the blood and sweat of many people on the frontline of our climate crisis. The summit’s overall trend to support “business as usual” will result in further delays in meaningful climate action and condemn us to miss “the brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all.” Wealthy countries have once again manipulated the climate summit in order to advance their ecocidal colonialism. Rich nations have been pillaging the natural resources of poorer ones for centuries and have used their fuels to emit far more than their share of CO2. They bear the lion’s share of responsibility to decarbonize first and fastest and provide much-needed funding to poorer nations, which are already heavily impacted by the escalating climate crisis. Instead, rich countries are racing in the opposite direction: the US, Canada, and just three other countries are responsible for more than half of planned oil and gas expansion. UN governance failure is also to blame here, however, and urgently needs addressing. Even if COP had succeeded in a commitment to phase out fossil fuels, it could not be implemented without a binding treaty and enforcement mechanisms. Additionally, COP must demand reporting of any conflicts of interest and ban fossil fuel executives and lobbyists from tainting any more climate summits. The Loss & Damage Fund could be an important first step, but without proper financing, it is condemned to fail. Loss and damage already costs more than $400 billion annually, but COP28 has only pledged $429 million in initial funding—a mere 0.1% of what is needed just for this year. By contrast, governments are using $7 trillion of our money every year to subsidize fossil fuels (despite the 1 in 5 deaths—12 million people annually—caused by air pollution alone) while the oil industry rakes inobscene profits. That said, even a fully-financed Loss and Damage Fund can never fix a dysfunctional economic system which is fundamentally flawed, is basedon endless growth, overconsumption, and extractivism, and is guaranteed to accelerate the global crisis. Studies have demonstratedthat greenhouse gas emissions are firmly linked to resource exploitation and GDP growth. We have no choice but to create an economic system which aligns with the goals of a fair and equal transition, because the current one has failed both humans and all other 10 million life forms on this planet. Implementing a low-carbon economy is cheaper than sustaining the catastrophic costs of climate change, but the need to maintain and grow profit is preventing any progress. Profit will never fix what profit has created.1.5°C is dead, and 2°C will be dead by 2050, if not earlier, if we continue down this path. 2023 was the hottest year on record; we passed 2.0°C for the first time in history, and 2024 is projected to be even hotter. Human behaviors inflict massive planetary stress beyond the burning of fossil fuels. “20 of the 35 planetary vital signs are now showing record extremes.”We cannot entrust the fight for all life to the very politicians, companies, and markets that forced us into this existential crisis in the first place and who are right now brutally marching us off the cliff. This disastrous COP28 marks the end of vague political promises. The people of Earth are on to the lies. It is time to listen to the scientists, hundreds of whom have been driven out of their labs and into the streets to engage in civil disobedience: if we want to avoid condemning both this generation and all that follow to the worst outcomes of the climate crisis, we must all rise together in order to keep fossil fuels in the ground. The time is now.
4 years in prison for Nikola Corp founder for defrauding investors on claims of zero-emission trucks (AP) — The founder of Nikola Corp. was sentenced Monday to four years in prison for his conviction for exaggerating claims about his company’s production of zero-emission 18-wheel trucks, causing investors to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars. Trevor Milton learned his fate in Manhattan federal court when Judge Edgardo Ramos announced the sentence, saying he believed that a jury in October 2022 “got it right” when it convicted him. The judge also ordered Milton to pay a $1 million fine. “Over the course of many months, you used your considerable social media skills to tout your company in ways that were materially false,” the judge said, noting investors suffered heavy losses. “What you said over and over on different media outlets was wrong.” Before the sentence was handed down, Milton fought through tears in delivering a half-hour rambling statement portraying some of his actions as heroic at Nikola and his intentions sincere as he sought to produce trucks that would not harm the environment. He claimed that big companies in the industry have followed his lead to try to create vehicles that would leave a cleaner environment. And he said he didn’t quit his company because of crimes but rather because his wife was dying. Milton did not apologize directly to investors or anyone else, but he asked the judge to spare him from prison. “I obviously feel awful for all the resources and time this has caused everybody. I don’t think you can feel human without feeling terrible for everyone involved,” he said. “My intent was not to harm others.”Milton was convicted of fraud charges after prosecutors portrayed him as a con man after starting his company in a Utah basement six years earlier. Prosecutors said Milton falsely claimed to have built its own revolutionary truck that was actually a General Motors Corp. product with Nikola’s logo stamped onto it. There also was evidence that the company produced videos of its trucks that were doctored to hide their flaws.
‘Solar for All,’ but not South Dakota: State one of six not applying for grants - South Dakota is one of six states that hasn’t applied for a federal grant program to support solar energy projects around the nation.The Solar for All initiative aims to lower utility costs and promote renewable energy. The state governments that have not applied for grants are all led by Republican governors: Florida, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada and South Dakota.Gov. Kristi Noem’s spokesperson, Amelia Joy, noted that 84% of South Dakota’s energy comes from renewable resources and that the federal funding could come with strings attached. “Governor Noem absolutely believes that the federal government’s wasteful spending, much of it at the behest of President Biden, is the single largest cause of the inflation crisis that our nation finds itself in,” Joy said in an email.The Inflation Reduction Act, passed by Congress and signed by President Biden in 2022, earmarks $7 billion for about 60 solar projects in the U.S. While states such as North Carolina and Texas are pursuing the grants, South Dakota’s inaction has frustrated environmental advocates. Arlene Brandt-Jenson is with SoDak 350, a sustainability and climate change advocacy group. She said the organization is “disappointed in that news, but not surprised,” given that Noem’s administration has already passed up other federal funding aimed at mitigating heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions, called the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program. That program offered $3 million to create a plan to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and access to a $4.6 billion fund for implementation. “In the end, it’s the homeowners and residents that are hurt by the state passing up this money,” Brandt-Jenson said of the solar grants. “It’s just going to go to other states.”
Anonymously funded group stokes local opposition to Ohio solar project - An anonymously funded group is spreading misinformation about a rural Ohio solar project, according to project backers and others who reviewed claims made at a recent event.Knox Smart Development was incorporated last month by Jared Yost, a Mount Vernon resident and opponent of the planned 120 megawatt Frasier Solar project. Three weeks later, on Nov. 30, the group hosted a catered “town hall meeting” at a Mount Vernon theater that included speakers with ties to fossil fuel and climate denial groups.A company official with the solar developer, Open Road Renewables, was denied entry to the event, which was attended by approximately 500 people and featured complimentary food and drinks following the program. It’s unclear who funded Knox Smart Development so it could pay for the event.“There are people with concerns who are helping us, and they’ve all asked to remain anonymous,” Yost said when asked about its funding sources as people left the theater. “So we have local concerned citizens who are helping to fund this, including myself.”A Dec. 7 filing advised developer Open Road Renewables and others that the Ohio Power Siting Board was ready to start review of the application for the Frasier Solar Project, which was filed in October. The project would be located in Clinton and Miller townships, both in Knox County. Yost and Knox Smart Development filed to participate in the case as parties on Dec. 8.An early version of Knox Smart Development’s website included the text, “Our mission: Empowering America,” with a hyperlink to a page for an organization called The Empowerment Alliance.Research by the Energy and Policy Institute, an energy and utility watchdog group, has linked the Empowerment Alliance to the natural gas industry. Dave Anderson, the institute’s policy and communications director, found a National Review Ideas Summit program guidethat characterized The Empowerment Alliance as a project of Karen Buchwald Wright and her husband, Tom Rastin. Wright is the board chair of Ariel Corporation, which makes compressors for the natural gas industry. Its headquarters is in Mount Vernon.The Empowerment Alliance’s highest paid contractor for the past four years, according to Internal Revenue Service filings, has been a group called Majority Strategies. Its chief strategist, Tom Whatman, emceed the Nov. 30 event for Knox Smart Development. Whatman is also the former executive director of the Ohio Republican Party.Another speaker at the Nov. 30 event, Mitch Given, has appeared on behalf of The Empowerment Alliance to promote natural gas issues to county commissioners in Ashland, Madison and Logancounties. In Ashland County, Given said the alliance takes a hard line against renewables, and that Rastin, a director of Ariel Corporation, has been a major supporter.Whatman introduced Given at the program as someone who has been traveling around the state talking to farmers and others “that don’t know where to turn to find their voice to help them organize and how to push back” against solar projects.Steve Goreham, a featured policy expert on the website for theHeartland Institute, also spoke at the Nov. 30 event. Heartland is well known for its attacks on mainstream climate science, and Goreham has often argued against the scientific consensus that human-caused climate change is real and driven primarily by emissions from burning fossil fuels.Separate from the meeting, various area residents received free copies of Goreham’s latest book, which claims there will be a coming renewable energy failure. “Given the significant misinformation surrounding solar and wind arrays, I bought you this book that really lays out the facts,” said an enclosed note signed by Wright as Ariel’s chair.
Ohio Gov. DeWine considering bill to prevent cities from restricting sale of gas-fueled cars — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is considering a bill that would prevent cities in the state from restricting the sale of gasoline-fueled cars. Ohio House Bill 201 would "prohibit a state agency, county, or township from restricting the sale or use of a motor vehicle based on the energy source used to power the motor vehicle." Another part of the proposal could mean higher prices for Ohio residents.An amendment to House Bill 201 would allow gas companies to add a charge of up to $1.50 on monthly bills. The fee would help build or upgrade natural gas pipelines. If DeWine signs the bill, it would also allow the charge to be used for investments to energize development sites for six years.
Several groups of birds and mammals avoid wind turbines, finds review --While wind power is an important part of the green transition, its downsides include the disturbances caused by wind turbines in animal habitats. According to the international review of the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), many bird and mammal groups avoid wind power. The full or partial displacement of individuals from the wind turbine area may reduce population sizes, which will especially have an adverse impact on rare and threatened species. The research is published in the journal Biological Conservation. Luke's research group compiled 84 studies from 22 countries to identify 160 cases with information about the distance how far wind turbines affect different groups of birds and mammals. Effects identified in the studies included decreases in population sizes and offspring production, changes in birds' mating behavior, and increases in offspring mortality. "If any of these effects were identified near wind turbines, they were addressed as displacement. Correspondingly, cases in which these effects were not identified were regarded as non-displacement," says Anne Tolvanen, Professor at Luke, who led the review.
‘Latest battleground': How politics seized the electric grid - Calls to speed the development of the electric grid might sound familiar to George W. Bush. The former Republican president who signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005 wanted to remove “outdated obstacles” standing in the way of building a better power grid. “To keep local disputes from causing national problems,” Bush boasted at his bill signing, “the bill gives federal officials the authority to select sites for new power lines.” Bush’s attempt at boosting federal authority saw a grisly end in a federal courtroom. But the sweeping energy law aimed to meet head-on America’s persistent struggle to build electricity infrastructure for a growing economy. Advertisement It was packed with hard-fought policy wins for Republicans and Democrats. And Bush was flanked by members of both parties as he put ink to paper that day. Fast-forward to today, and the political contrast couldn’t be sharper. The rapid phase-out of coal and the shift to renewables and battery storage are forcing another reckoning with the bulk power grid and the challenge of building transmission lines. This time around, President Joe Biden’s goal of zeroing out carbon pollution, and now serious electric reliability concerns tied to the threats of extreme weather, are every bit the driver as the growing economy. As a result, that push to green the grid is stirring opposition and legal threats from a coalition of Republican attorneys general and political operatives, many with ties to Donald Trump’s campaign for president. The atmosphere has injected raw political tactics into an ongoing rulemaking at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission meant to put longer-term grid planning into practice — with the potential for a more deliberate transmission build-out to deliver wind and solar power to major metropolitan areas. Republican state attorneys general — led by Texas’ Ken Paxton and Utah’s Sean Reyes — are gearing up to challenge in court the FERC transmission planning proposal once it’s finalized. They’ve argued that the plan would force red states to pay for transmission lines that would solely benefit climate-conscious blue states. Others rallying against the FERC rule and other transmission initiatives include outgoing FERC Commissioner James Danly and former Commissioner Bernard McNamee — two Trump appointees who have become increasingly influential on energy policy in conservative circles, political analysts said. “We don’t have a transmission crisis in this country,” McNamee said last spring at the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s policy summit. “This is all driven by renewable developers who are frustrated.” Congressional Democrats and clean energy advocates have been concerned by FERC’s failure to finalize the rule more than a year and a half after it was proposed. “It’s becoming the latest battleground for renewables opponents,” said Pat Wood, who chaired FERC at the start of the George W. Bush administration. “I’m hopeful that people can see beyond it.” Investments in high-voltage transmission lines aren’t keeping pace with growing demand for electricity and the shift to renewable energy, according to research from the Department of Energy and elsewhere. And it’s almost universally recognized that permitting hurdles can ground projects to a halt. It can take 10 years or more for a big, interstate line to get fully permitted by state and federal agencies. The slow build-out could have implications for grid reliability; consumers’ power bills; and the pace at which solar, wind and other new energy projects come online. Most components of the transmission grid were built in the ‘50s and ‘60s, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, and existing lines are struggling to accommodate a wave of new energy projects. The pending FERC proposal being shepherded by FERC Chair Willie Phillips would require grid planners to consider a broader set of potential benefits from transmission, including grid reliability, protection against extreme weather events and greater access to energy resources. It would also increase the involvement of states in the process for divvying up transmission costs. “My goal is to ensure that we are efficiently planning and constructing much needed new transmission facilities,” Phillips, a Democrat, said in a letter emphasizing his support for the rule last month. Republican lawmakers say Democratic policies would “overbuild” transmission for wind and solar projects and “pass the excessive costs onto consumers,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said this month. Cramer has emerged as the GOP’sunofficial grid guru in ongoing negotiations over energy permitting and is keeping tabs on FERC’s proposed rule. Supporters of a build-out that spreads costs more broadly say consumers benefit from a more resilient electric grid built for the future — it’s not just about going green. FERC is looking for a way to address disputes over costs that have thwarted previous projects, they say. “This notion that somehow you’re going to build transmission to pay for other states’ clean energy policies — even though you hear it a lot, you see it in the media — it’s kind of overblown,” said Richard Glick, Democratic FERC chair during the first two years of the Biden administration. Conservative think tanks that have housed climate skeptics or are opposed to government policy that would replace fossil fuels have built a network of politically connected insiders to target FERC policymaking. McNamee, the former FERC commissioner, wrote the energy policy chapter of the 900-page Heritage Foundation playbook for a future Republican administration. It’s known as Project 2025. The playbook describes how a Republican president — Trump is ahead in most GOP presidential primary polls — could dismantle transmission funding and planning initiatives. Under the plan, Department of Energy offices that focus on enabling grid expansions to help bring on more renewables would close. McNamee, a former DOE official, was seen as one of the most overtly political appointees to FERC in decades when he joined the commission in late 2018. He left in September 2020. In an interview this year, McNamee said FERC should focus on reliability and fair electric rates — and not “pick and choose winners and losers” when it comes to coal, gas, nuclear, wind, solar or batteries. Legal strategies are also taking shape around the commission’s grid planning and cost allocation rulemaking. Multiple people, including former commissioners, speculate that 17 Republican state attorneys general who sent a letter to FERC opposing the pending transmission proposal took their cues directly from Danly, another Trump appointee. Danly has criticized the commission’s proposals as a thinly veiled attempt to promote an “aspirational” renewable energy future. Danly held a meeting at his own request with the Utah attorney general’s office in May 2022, less than a month after FERC’s proposal was issued, according to records. He declined to comment on the nature of the meeting in Utah. The attorney general’s office also did not respond to an inquiry from E&E News. “Even if you can’t prove that he’s talked to them, [these states] are obviously following his lead,”
CNX Resources pulls out of Adams Fork ammonia project (Reuters) - CNX Resources said on Friday it had pulled out of the Adams Fork ammonia project and is evaluating several alternative sites in southern West Virginia for clean hydrogen projects. The natural gas producer cited delays and increasing uncertainty over implementation tax credit provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and an inability to reach final commercial terms with project developers, for ending its participation in the project. Adams Fork was an anchor project in the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) and its construction was expected to begin in 2024. The project would have initial annual ammonia production capacity of 2,160,000 metric tons, with an optional additional production capacity. CNX said on Friday it remains committed to ARCH2, adding that "final investment decision remains contingent upon tax credit guidance that unambiguously supports low carbon intensity feedstock projects that will facilitate development of the regional clean hydrogen hubs, including ARCH2." The ARCH2 project includes several partners, and the consortium was selected to develop multi-state clean hydrogen hub.
Ohio consumer watchdog questions gas-rate increase — a different position than it took last time - Ohio Capital Journal - Ohio’s consumer watchdog is urging customers to raise questions about a proposal to raise monthly fixed costs for 1.2 million natural gas customers by at least 30%. That means they would initially have to pay nearly $60 a month before a single cubic foot of gas enters their homes. The amount could increase to $80 a month over seven years. The state watchdog is now under different leadership than it was last year, when — over the objections of other consumer groups — it signed off on a separate, huge increase for an even larger group of gas customers. Asked about the change, a spokesman for the agency said circumstances are different. The Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Council is raising the alarm that Dominion Energy has asked the industry-friendly Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to allow it to increase so-called “distribution” charges from $43.30 a month to $56.34 this year, and then phasing in an additional increase of as much as $29.69 by 2032, the consumers’ counsel said in a filing with the PUCO.Joining in that filing were Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, the Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio and the Ohio Poverty Law Center. They point out that many of the customers served by Dominion are near the eastern and western boundaries of the state and are likely to earn less than the $67,000 median household income in Ohio.“Many Dominion Energy consumers face the challenge of poverty, with a number of counties within their service territory experiencing poverty rates exceeding 15%,” consumers’ counsel spokesman J.P. Blackwood said in a statement.It’s an open question whether Dominion needs the increase to update its gas lines and other infrastructure as it claims. Profits for the year ended Sept. 30 were down 28% compared to a year earlier, but they still came in at $1.7 billion. And CEO Robert Blue’s annual compensation is about $8 million, or 119 times the median Ohio household’s.The company hasn’t undergone a full rate case in which all of its finances were scrutinized since 2007, the watchdog groups’ filing said. The advocates want ratepayers to contact Dominion and the PUCO and demand a public hearing on the proposed increases. And they want people anywhere in the company’s service territory to be able to attend remotely.“It is important that the public have their voices heard by their state government (the PUCO),” the filing with the PUCO said. “As required (by law), consumers are to be invited to participate in the PUCO’s review of the utility’s request for a rate increase by having local public hearings. These will be the first public hearings on the utility’s rates in 16 years!”Dominion didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.The position the consumer’s counsel is taking on the Dominion case is different from the one it took last year when Columbia Gas asked for a huge increase in distribution charges. In that case, it agreed to a maximum jump in fixed monthly charges from $36 to $56 — or more than a 50% — over five years. Instead of insisting that Columbia be forced to open its books in a “rate case,” the Office of Consumers’ Counsel agreed to a “stipulation” granting the increase. The agency justified the move by arguing that it was a better deal than the $80 increase Columbia was asking for. But other consumer groups didn’t buy it, saying utilities always start out bidding high and that any real examination of the company’s books would have gotten a better deal.So why did the consumers’ counsel go along with a big rate increase last year, while resisting one now? It’s under new leadership, with retiring Consumers’ Counsel Bruce Weston being succeeded by Maureen Willis. But when asked if new leadership meant a new direction, Blackwood, the spokesman, said circumstances are different.For one, he said, it’s much earlier in the process with Dominion’s proposed increase. Dominion’s would also take effect much more suddenly, he said.“Dominion’s proposed $56.31 monthly delivery charge for 2023 is noticeably higher than other gas utilities in Ohio, including Columbia, which has a 2023 monthly delivery charge of $38.62,” Blackwood said in an email. Under the proposal, Dominion could further jack its distribution charges up to $80 a month over the next seven years.By contrast, the Columbia increases to $60 a month are being phased in over five years. Blackwood added that the consumer’s counsel believed other parts of the Columbia deal were good for consumers.
Editorial: Veto utility subsidy - Toledo Blade -The subsidy for Ohio utility companies that was snuck, Trojan horselike, into a bill aimed at protecting Ohio’s fossil fuel industries on Wednesday has been passed by the Ohio General Assembly, but it should be swiftly vetoed by Gov. Mike DeWine.The supposed purpose of the bill is to bar any Ohio agency or local government from adopting California vehicle emission standards or mandating the phaseout of internal combustion engine cars (“Bill to block emission standards gets OK,” Thursday).That part we agree with, though there’s no evidence that it’s a problem now. Protecting gas-fueled vehicles as an option in Ohio is very important to the refineries in Toledo and the workers they employ. No Ohio agency should intentionally or unintentionally adopt California’s unrealistic emissions standards. In fact, Congress should pass a law repealing California’s ability to impose its environmental policies on interstate commerce.Unfortunately, the bill was amended to include a subsidy for natural gas utilities that will soon add an estimated $67 million to annual consumer costs. Even worse than that unjustified subsidy is the rupture between existing Ohio employers interests and state economic development strategy.The fee would help fund utilities that extend gas lines into speculative economic development projects. State development organizations, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, and some lawmakers say the fee is necessary to attract investment in new projects. “We are competing across state lines that in many cases are going to bring hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs to the state of Ohio,” according to Sen. Rob McColley (R., Napoleon).The claim is that development is moving so fast that new projects require all properties with utilities already in place, and Ohio will lose out to competitors because natural gas utilities are not financially able to extend lines to speculative sites that don’t generate revenue.The Ohio Manufacturers Association fought the gas subsidy in the General Assembly just as they fought the greedy bailout for FirstEnergy in 2019. Their argument is that the existing industry powering Ohio will be hamstrung with higher operating costs mandated by state government.Energy is a major cost to large industrial users. Damaging the financial interests of existing employers in pursuit of potential future employers is contrary to good economic development policy. Assisting the competitiveness of existing employers is the most important function of economic development organizations, and it’s revealing that the Ohio Chamber of Commerce no longer follows this path.The manufacturers warn that the “infrastructure development rider,” as the subsidy is called, will quickly add electric utilities to the program and Ohio will have a multitude of development sites, generating utility profits whether they get developed or not.The utilities say the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio will protect against this calamity because every IDR will need PUCO approval. The FirstEnergy bribery convictions and the corporate admission of a conspiracy to corrupt Ohio government for a $2 billion windfall shows the folly of depending on the PUCO for something as important as Ohio’s economic competitiveness.The PUCO is a rubber stamp for whatever serves the utilities that have been allowed to dominate the commission selection process through their lobbyists’ presence directing the nominating council.Governor DeWine vetoed this effort to subsidize gas utilities when it was part of the Ohio budget passed by the General Assembly. He must take the same action again and veto the utility subsidy attached to a vehicle-choice bill.The last thing Ohio needs after the FirstEnergy scandal is another special benefit for utilities that hits consumers and their employers with higher bills. Ohio has no shortage of economic development. It is state government integrity we lack.
Ohio HB 201 Adds Fee to Utility Bills to Upgrade NatGas Pipes| Marcellus Drilling News - Ohio House Bill (HB) 201 was recently passed by both the state House and Senate and now sits on the desk of Gov. Mike DeWine (a somewhat swampy Republican, although far superior to governors like Kathy Hochul and Josh Shapiro). HB 201 started life as a bill to block the Buckeye State from following California’s lead in adopting emissions that are stricter than national regulations and call for the phaseout of the internal combustible engine by 2035. Somewhere along the way, the bill added an additional measure allowing the state’s natural gas utilities to recover the costs of installing new pipelines by tacking a fee on utility bills. It is the pipeline amendment that has the radicals going nuts in the state.
Your natural gas bill could go up if DeWine signs bill for pipeline upgrades - Cincinnati Enquirer - Ohioans could pay more on their natural gas bills if Gov. Mike DeWine signs a bill that passed swiftly through the GOP-controlled state Legislature.Last-minute changes to House Bill 201 would allow natural gas companies to charge customers for more infrastructure upgrades, extensions and planning costs, including proposed projects that might never be built."In other words, this will not be the bridge to nowhere. This will be the pipe to nowhere," Sen. Kent Smith, D-Euclid, said.But Sen. Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, contended that the change is needed to bring new jobs to Ohio. "If we are competing across state lines for economic development projects, that in many cases are going to bring hundreds if not thousands of jobs for the state of Ohio, we need to remain competitive for those projects," he said.DeWine seems to agree. “We have a great natural advantage with natural gas in Ohio," the Republican governor told reporters Friday while not expressly saying whether he'd sign the bill. "Making sure it is in the right spots and gets to the right spots is vitally important.” The charges would be limited to $1.50 per month for customers, but utilities could collect those fees for years to come. Currently, the state's four largest gas companies charge less than the $1.50 monthly cap, according to Ohio's Legislative Budget Office.How much could that cost Ohio's 3.7 million gas customers? It's hard to say without knowing what projects will be built in the future.Sen. Niraj Antani, R-Miamisburg, called the expanded fees a "massive tax increase on consumers." Ohio's Legislative Budget Office estimated the new charges "are likely to be minimal."The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel and Ohio Manufacturers' Association oppose the new charges, saying they will hurt customers and the state's economy. "As Ohioans have less money to spend on other goods and services (such as going to a restaurant, buying clothing, etc.), Ohio’s economy will suffer, not prosper. And consumers will suffer," Ohio Consumers’ Counsel Maureen Willis wrote in a letter to lawmakers. DeWine previously vetoed a proposal that would have allowed electric companies to charge for planning, developing and building utility infrastructure for big projects. That money would have come from the All Ohio Future Fund, money earmarked for megaprojects, rather than customers' bills. At the time, DeWine said the change would put too much power in utilities' hands. Now, DeWine says access to utilities is important as the state attracts companies to sites. “If you look to the future, this is one of the ingredients that we have to have for us to grow," DeWine said. Lt. Gov. Jon Husted also emphasized the importance of having sites ready to go. "We lose deals when utilities are not in place because we can’t act fast enough to get them there,” he said.Court Orders Ohio Drillers to Produce Documents in Royalty Dispute -Marcellus Drilling News - Back in the summer of 2020, MDN told you about a lawsuit brought by an Ohio rights owner called TERA, an organization that appears to own the royalty rights for a number of leases with wells in Belmont County, OH, drilled by different producers, suing the producers for drilling into the Point Pleasant shale layer when the lease only mentions the Utica layer (see OH Landowners Sue Rice, Ascent, XTO, Gulfport for Drilling Too Deep). That lawsuit continues to grind on. Last week, a judge ruled the drillers being sued must produce certain documents sought by the plaintiff (rights owner).
PTT Working on Plan to Build Petchem Plant…in Thailand, Not Ohio -- Marcellus Drilling News -- This is your friendly (somewhat snarky) semi-annual reminder from MDN that the PTT ethane cracker project in Ohio is dead (see Facing Reality – PTT Ohio Cracker Plant Project is Dead). We periodically look for signs of life in the project, and it has been a flat line for YEARS. Nothing. Local and state leaders in Ohio sometimes pop their heads up to tell us to have hope; it will still happen. BUNKUM. Earlier today, PTT Global Chemical Public Company, the parent that would build an ethane cracker in Belmont County, OH, announced a deal with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries “to explore the utilization of hydrogen, ammonia and CCS technology to develop a large-scale petrochemical plant to achieve Net Zero.” However, the location of the plant will be in Thailand, PTT’s home country, and NOT in Ohio. We’ve pointed out for years that PTT has all sorts of money to work on big, multi-billion-dollar petrochemical plant projects elsewhere, but apparently there is not enough money for the Belmont ethane cracker. Why?
Western Pa. natural gas co. begins self-reporting air quality data as part of Shapiro partnership - A western Pennsylvania natural gas company is now publishing real-time air quality data at two of its well sites as part of a collaboration between the company and Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration. On Monday, CNX Resources Corp., a Pittsburgh-based natural gas company with shale operations across Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, began publishing air quality data from two well sites — one in Washington County and the other in Greene County. The Shapiro administration is celebrating the move as a “historic collaboration,” noting in a statement on Monday that the public-private partnership will “help to provide fact-based, comprehensive health information for Pennsylvanians” by allowing communities near well sites to access air quality data in real-time. “My Administration is setting a new standard for Pennsylvania natural gas to be produced in a responsible, sustainable way and showing how we can bring people together to get things done,” Shapiro said. “We’re going to follow through on our commitment to reduce pollution and ensure the health and safety of our communities while maintaining Pennsylvania’s proud energy legacy and our Commonwealth’s critical role in the nation’s energy economy.”The online data, which also disclosed all the chemicals and additives used in hydraulic fracturing and drilling at those sites, is currently only available for the two sites, but the administration said the company plans to expand the program to well sites across the Commonwealth. The administration and CNX did not provide a timeline for when the expansion would be completed. However, not everyone is celebrating the news. Environmental advocates have previously expressed concern over allowing a company to essentially self-report. Advocates are equally concerned that the voluntary move lacks any real enforcement from state entities, such as the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). In Monday’s announcement, the administration reports that it has directed the DEP to “take immediate action to pursue formal rulemakings and policy changes mirroring the collaboration, including:
- New requirements for the disclosure of chemicals used in drilling,
- Improved control of methane emissions aligned with the EPA’s recently announced performance standards for emission sources in the oil and natural gas sector,
- Stronger drilling waste protections, including inspection of secondary containment,
- And corrosion protections for gathering lines that transport natural gas.
Earlier this year, the University of Pittsburgh published research that showed links between the proximity of gas industry operations and the occurrence of certain health problems in residents living near fracking operations, including cancers and worsening cases of asthma. In 1971, Pennsylvania became the first state to enshrine the right of its residents “to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment” into the state constitution, a mantra that has been at oddswith the oil and natural gas industries in the five decades since.
Gas company in Pennsylvania begins posting real-time air quality data - CNX Resources Corporation, a leading natural gas producer in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, began posting real-time emissions facts and data on its new website, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Monday.The new website is part of a joint commitment made by CNX and Shapiro’s administration in November to provide greater transparency to the public. Officials said the website aims to provide a comprehensive health response regarding natural gas development in Pennsylvania by publicly disclosing all chemicals the company plans to use in drilling and hydraulic fracturing before it starts breaking ground on future gas wells.“My Administration is setting a new standard for Pennsylvania natural gas to be produced in a responsible, sustainable way,” Shapiro said in a press release. “We’re going to follow through on our commitment to reduce pollution and ensure the health and safety of our communities, while maintaining Pennsylvania’s proud energy legacy and our Commonwealth’s critical role in the nation’s energy economy.”The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is set to conduct an independent study of two future natural gas wells at sites proposed by CNX. The department plans to measure emissions and provide information on the chemicals being used and resulting air emissions at both locations before, during and after project development.In the official commitment, Shapiro directs the environmental agency to pursue policy changes, such as new requirements for the disclosure of chemicals used in drilling and improved control of methane emissions aligned with the EPA’s performance standards. The governor also urged for stronger drilling waste protections, including inspection of secondary containment and corrosion protections for gathering lines that transport natural gas.CNX’s website dedicated to public disclosure comes three years after the 43rd Statewide Investigating Grand Jury in 2020, when Shapiro was serving as state attorney general. It found that the state government failed to protect residents during a 10-year period of increased fracking throughout Pennsylvania. The grand jury’s report included recommendations to hold the natural gas industry accountable and prioritize public health and safety, including greater public health and safety disclosures. CNX said its transparency and real-time data collection will begin with a well pad in Washington County called NV110, but the company plans to expand the monitoring program to its operations across Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania environmental groups hold press conferences on fracking— A group of 10 environmental groups in Pennsylvania held two news conferences on Monday.They were held to ask Governor Shapiro to take action on fracking, which is the process of extracting natural gas. The groups point to health threats they say the process poses to people and the environment.They spoke on the steps of the State Capitol and at the Department of Environmental Protection in Pittsburgh. “It really protects communities and people in Pennsylvania to push it further back away from people. You know with something that’s bad you need to get away from it. The further you’re away from it the better you are,” Lois Bower-Bjonson said.They spoke against fracking operations close to homes and schools, which they said exposes people to unsafe levels of pollution.
SRBC Approves Water Withdrawals for 7 PA Shale-Related Projects - Marcellus Drilling News - The highly functional and responsible Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), unlike its completely dysfunctional and irresponsible cousin, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), continues to support the shale energy industry by approving water withdrawals for responsible and safe shale drilling. Last Thursday, the SRBC approved 19 new water withdrawal requests within the basin, six of them for water used in drilling and fracking shale wells in Pennsylvania (and one for a gas-fired power plant). The Marcellus/Utica shale drillers receiving a green light from SRBC included EQT, Pennsylvania General Energy, Repsol (two requests), and Seneca Resources (two requests).
PA Shale Water/Wastewater Company Expands to Texas Permian | Marcellus Drilling News -- It’s been a few years since we reported on Keystone Clearwater Solutions, a company that provides water services (clean water for fracking and wastewater hauling) for shale drillers in the Marcellus/Utica. At last check, in 2021, the company purchased the operations of competitor ECM Energy Services, based in PA, further expanding Keystone’s operations in the Keystone State (see Keystone Clearwater Buys ECM Energy’s PA Water Transport Biz). We’re happy to report Keystone is expanding to the Texas Permian oil play.
35 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 11-17 | Marcellus Drilling News - New shale permits issued for Dec 11 – 17 in the Marcellus/Utica continued the trend up over the previous week. There were 35 new permits issued last week versus 27 issued two weeks ago. Last week’s permit tally included 17 new permits in Pennsylvania, 13 new permits in Ohio, and 5 new permits in West Virginia. The company receiving the most permits last week was Ascent Resources with 8 new permits in two different counties: Guernsey and Belmont counties in OH. Antero was second highest with 5 new permits in Ritchie and Doddridge counties in WV. ANTERO RESOURCES | APEX ENERGY | ARMSTRONG COUNTY | ASCENT RESOURCES | BELMONT COUNTY | CENTRE COUNTY | DODDRIDGE COUNTY | EQT CORP | GREENE COUNTY (PA) | GUERNSEY COUNTY | GULFPORT ENERGY | MONROE COUNTY | RANGE RESOURCES CORP | RITCHIE COUNTY | SENECA RESOURCES | SNYDER BROTHERS | SOUTHWESTERN ENERGY |SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY | TIOGA COUNTY (PA) | WASHINGTON COUNTY | | WESTMORELAND COUNTY |XPR RESOURCES
EIA Dec DPR: Another Big Production Drop Coming in M-U, Haynesville -Marcellus Drilling News - The latest monthly U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Drilling Productivity Report (DPR) for December, issued Monday (below), shows EIA believes shale gas production across the seven major plays tracked in the monthly DPR for January will *decrease* production from the prior month of December. This is the sixth month in a row that EIA has predicted shale gas production will decrease for the combined seven plays. EIA says combined natgas production will slide by 200 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day). The Marcellus/Utica, called “Appalachia” in the report, is predicted to decrease by 135 MMcf/d in January compared with December, the biggest decrease in gas production for any of the seven plays.
FERC Grants MVP Request to Double Transportation Rates The 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project will be completed and go online sometime in the first quarter of 2024 (see Equitrans Admits the Obvious – MVP Won’t be Online Until 2024). In September of this year, MVP filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to amend its original certificate (that established the rates it could charge) to increase the rates it charges for new customers (not existing/already contracted customers). Earlier this week, FERC granted MVP’s request to raise rates. When Equitrans began to build MVP, the company estimated it would cost around $3.7 billion to build. Then Big Green got involved and attempted to bury the project under a blizzard of lawsuits (some financed with foreign money). Groups like the odious Appalachian Voices repeatedly sued and delayed the completion ofMVP. It took an actual Act of Congress to force finish the pipeline, the FiscalResponsibility Act (FRA) signed on June 3rd by President Biden. The new estimated cost to build, following years of delays and multiple lawsuits(paying lawyers’ confiscatory rates), is now $7.2 billion — essentially double the original cost. The original rate MVP was authorized to charge was $29.5967 per dekatherm (Dth) per month to reserve capacity and $0.0035 per Dth used. In September, MVP requested the rate be raised to $53.4208 per Dth per month to reserve capacity and $0.0231 per Dth used. It makes sense MVP would ask for a doubling of the rate given it cost twice as much to build.
FERC Approves MVP Southgate Request for 3-Yr Extension to Build - In July of this year, the Democrat Governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) asking the four commissioners to deny Mountain Valley Pipeline’s (MVP) request for a time extension to build the MVP Southgate expansion project into his state (see NC Leftist Gov. Cooper Asks FERC to Deny MVP Southgate More Time). A month later, 28 Democrats in the U.S. House did the same thing (see 28 U.S. House Democrats Ask FERC to Reject MVP Southgate Project). We’re happy to report FERC ignored them all and yesterday granted the Southgate project a three-year extension to build. Equitrans Midstream, the builder of MVP, proposed to extend the 303-mile pipeline by an extra 75 miles from the current MVP terminus in Pittsylvania County, VA, to Alamance County, NC, to provide natural gas for heating and electric generation, calling it Southgate. It appeared that Equitrans had given up on the Southgate project in October 2022 when it asked a court to cancel all outstanding eminent domain lawsuits against some 70 North Carolina residents who had refused to lease their land for the pipeline (see Equitrans Signals Giving Up on MVP Southgate – Pulls Eminent Domain). However, the company asked the court to dismiss the lawsuits “without prejudice,” meaning it could revive and refile its claims later. Then the earth literally moved. Congress passed the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), and on June 3, President Biden signed it into law. The FRA provides for completing the 303-mile MVP. Not long after the FRA became law, Equitrans reactivated the Southgate project and asked FERC for three more years to build it (see Equitrans Asks FERC for Extra 3 Years to Build MVP Southgate to NC). Yesterday, FERC did just that. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that FERC Commissioner Allison Clements, a Big Green sock puppet, voted in favor of the time extension.
Chicago’s Natural Gas Pipeline Project Halted | PBS (video) The Illinois Commerce Commission’s decision to suspend a gas pipe replacement program comes as environmentalists and consumer advocates are calling for the government to invest in and transition to cleaner, renewable energy, instead of fueling money into aging energy infrastructure projects. Transcript
We Must Have More Natural Gas Pipelines To Avoid Freezing - With the dead of winter approaching, it is appropriate to reflect on last year’s gas well freeze offs Winter Storm Elliott, which occurred over Christmas and caused millions of people to lose power across the eastern United States. It followed Winter Storm Uri, which happened in Texas a year earlier. Natural gas, 40% of this country’s energy portfolio, is the primary fuel for winter heating. Some of the most progressive states, like California, with the largest renewable energy portfolios, rely on natural gas. The winter storms have taught us that waiting several years for new infrastructure to develop jeopardizes energy reliability and economic security. According to the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, the current political environment makes delivering fuel to natural gas customers taxing. "The United States needs more natural gas pipeline capacity to maintain a resilient system that affords homes and the power grid access to multiple sources of this critical fuel," the trade group said in a prepared statement. The United States Energy Association tackled this subject during its monthly virtual press briefing in which I took part. The experts responsible for delivering dependable heat and electricity to customers agreed that more infrastructure is required. The natural gas trade group said the country must have 24,000 miles of new gas pipelines by 2035, but we are planning for much less. To that end, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. cautioned that half of this country and parts of Canada could go cold this winter because of inadequate natural gas pipeline infrastructure. Indeed, NERC and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a joint statement about the potential loss of the Everett Marine Terminal in New England and its consequences for the reliability and affordability of the region’s energy supplies. “Winter Storm Elliot caused blackouts in nine states,” said Jim Matheson,” the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association chief executive during the press briefing. “We do need more pipeline capacity. In this country, specific regions are constricted, and it’s difficult to build new pipelines in this day and age.” How Will Policymakers Respond? With that, the National Economic Research Associates issued a report concluding that this country has sufficient natural gas resources to feed the domestic population and export to fuel-hungry Europe and Asia. Prices would also remain “relatively low” — $3 to $4 per million Btus. However, the researchers added that a lack of new pipeline capacity presents a “material impediment” for the industry to maintain reliability and inexpensive fuel. The report points to the Northeast, which has quick access to the Marcellus and Utica Shale Basins but has limited pipeline capacity. Several pipeline operators have canceled their projects because of regulatory and permitting hurdles. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 3 million miles of existing natural gas pipelines exist in the United States, delivering 27.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to about 77.7 million consumers. Gas producers say that as many as 62,000 miles of new pipelines are needed by 2050 to fuel electric generators and feed the chemical and manufacturing processes. “My natural gas plants are paperweights if I don’t have the fuel to run to them,” said Rudy Garza, chief executive of CPS Energy in San Antonio, Texas, during the event. “From a policy perspective, gas suppliers must be held to account the same as electric and gas utilities are. Utilities have the same predicament,” he added, noting that they already optimize natural gas storage units and diversify suppliers. Extreme weather has become the "new normal," and this winter, the Mid-Atlantic, New England, or the Midwest could suffer. Texas teaches us that it is unwise to rely on one energy source. When Texas froze in February 2021, its infrastructure failed — specifically, the natural gas supplies and the pipelines to transport it. The state also learned that it must winterize its wind turbines. As for Texas, about 52% of its electricity comes from natural gas while 23% comes from renewables, the U.S. Energy Department says. Coal supplies 17%, and nuclear makes up 8%. The state is also uncommon because its grid system is insulated, making it unable to get new supplies from other areas of the country. Pablo Vegas, chief executive of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), said Texas’ challenge is to gear up for economic growth. Transmission system operators, like ERCOT, want to work with utilities to deploy demand response — automatically controlling thermostats and asking residential and small business users to shift their energy usage. Industrial customers use demand response. “We are focused on weatherization and inspecting our power plants and transmission lines,” says Vegas. “And we make sure we have firm fuel supply — part of a structured program that ERCOT does for the summer and winter.” Getting energy infrastructure built in the United States is an exhausting task. Lawsuits abound, which for the environmental movement is often intended to preserve ecological integrity. Judges are walking a delicate line, complicated by concerns over leaking methane and the effects of climate change. Courts do not make sweeping decisions that apply to every project. If anything, though, they are trying to facilitate productivity and growth while protecting the air, land, and water — issues that are not mutually exclusive. Winter storms can wreak havoc, with Uri and Elliott providing the proof. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas said Uri — a four-day event that left 4.5 million without heat — cost the Texas economy as much as $130 billion. The question before policymakers is how to defend against those events. The answer invariably requires a mixed response given the surge in demand: building more pipelines while diversifying fuel sources. That’s a lofty goal: Expanding any kind of energy infrastructure requires regulatory support and legal backing, adding years to the process.
US weekly LNG exports reach 28 cargoes - US liquefaction plants shipped 28 liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes in the week ending December 13, while natural gas deliveries to these terminals increased by 3.9 percent compared to the week before.The US EIA said in its weekly report, citing shipping data provided by Bloomberg Finance, that the total capacity of these 28 vessels is 105 Bcf.During the week from November 30 to December 6, 29 vessels with a capacity of 105 Bcf departed the US plants. Average natural gas deliveries to US LNG export terminals during December 7-13 rose by 0.5 Bcf/d week over week, averaging 14.6 Bcf/d, according to data from S&P Global Commodity Insights. Natural gas deliveries to terminals in South Louisiana increased by 7.5 percent (0.6 Bcf/d) to 9.2 Bcf/d, while natural gas deliveries to terminals in South Texas decreased by 2.4 percent (0.1 Bcf/d) to 4.2 Bcf/d. The agency said that natural gas deliveries to terminals outside the Gulf Coast were essentially unchanged at 1.2 Bcf/d. Cheniere’s Sabine Pass plant shipped nine cargoes and the company’s Corpus Christi facility sent four shipments during the period under review. The Freeport LNG terminal, Sempra Infrastructure’s Cameron LNG terminal, and Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass each shipped four cargoes during the week under review. Also, the Cove Point LNG terminal shipped two cargoes and the Elba Island LNG facility sent one cargo.This report week, the Henry Hub spot price decreased 40 cents from $2.73 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) last Wednesday to $2.33/MMBtu this Wednesday, the agency said.Moreover, the price of the January 2024 NYMEX contract decreased 23.4 cents, from $2.569/MMBtu last Wednesday to $2.335/MMBtu this Wednesday.According to the agency, the price of the 12-month strip averaging January 2024 through December 2024 futures contracts declined 18.3 cents to $2.563/MMBtu.The agency said that international natural gas futures decreased this report week.Bloomberg Finance reported that weekly average front-month futures prices for LNG cargoes in East Asia decreased 33 cents to a weekly average of $15.77/MMBtu.Natural gas futures for delivery at the Dutch TTF decreased $1.18 to a weekly average of $11.73/MMBtu.In the same week last year (week ending December 14, 2022), the prices were $33.46/MMBtu in East Asia and $42.46/MMBtu at TTF, the EIA said.
Despite Export Strength, South Central Natural Gas Storage Enters Winter at Robust Levels, Pressuring Prices - Demand for American LNG is holding strong, but South Central natural gas storage remains elevated and, according to the latest government inventory data, the surplus of supplies relative to the five-year average continues to swell. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday reported a withdrawal of 16 Bcf from South Central storage during the week ended Dec. 15. This included an 11 Bcf pull from nonsalt facilities and 5 Bcf draw from salt caverns. Still, it proved seasonally modest and left underground supplies in the region 8% ahead of the five-year average. A week earlier, EIA printed a nonsalt draw of 11 Bcf but a salt injection of 2 Bcf, putting supplies 7% above the South Central five-year average at the time. Analysts point to record levels of production...
Conservation Groups Take Aim at Driftwood LNG Pipeline Projects in Latest DC Circuit Arguments - Environmental groups are continuing to pressure LNG export facility and pipeline developers through federal appeals courts as lawsuits seeking to repeal authorizations stack up. In the latest of a series of filings to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Healthy Gulf and the Sierra Club requested FERC’s approval of two pipelines to feed the Driftwood liquefied natural gas project in Louisiana be vacated (No. 23-01226). In the brief filed Tuesday, lawyers for the groups accused the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission of violating federal law by refusing to consider the impact or amount of greenhouse gas emissions from construction of Tellurian Inc.’s Driftwood Line 200 and Line 300 pipeline projects.
Europe continues to be main destination for US LNG cargoes - LNG Prime -- France was the top destination for US liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies in October as Europe continues to receive the majority of volumes produced at US liquefaction plants, according to the Department of Energy’s newest monthly report.The DOE report shows that US terminals shipped 53.6 Bcf of LNG to France in October, 49.8 Bcf to Spain, 49.7 Bcf to the Netherlands, 28.8 Bcf to the United Kingdom, and 28.2 Bcf to South Korea.These five countries took 54.7 percent of total US LNG exports in October.Prior to this, the Netherlands was the top destination for US LNG supplies for five months in a row.The Netherlands was the number one destination for US LNG supplies during January-October this year and the country is followed by France, the UK, Japan, Spain, South Korea, Germany, Italy, India, and China, the DOE data shows. The US exported in total 384.4 Bcf of LNG in October to 28 countries, up by 24.1 percent compared to the same month last year and a rise of 10.9 percent from the prior month, the DOE report shows.Europe received 259.7 Bcf, or 67.6 percent, of these volumes, Asia received 101.8 Bcf, or 26.5 percent, and Latin America/Caribbean received 22.9 Bcf, or 6 percent.US terminals shipped 124 LNG cargoes in October.Cheniere’s Sabine Pass plant sent 39 cargoes and its Corpus Christi terminal shipped 19 cargoes, while the Freeport LNG terminal shipped 22 cargoes and Sempra’s Cameron LNG plant sent 21 shipments during October.In addition, Venture Global’s Calcasieu plant sent 15 cargoes, Elba Island LNG sent 4 cargoes, and Cove Point LNG dispatched 4 shipments. According to DOE’s report, the average price by export terminal reached 6.81/MMBtu in October and 7.36/MMBtu in the January-October period.Moreover, the report said that in the period from February 2016 through October 2023, the US exported 5384 cargoes or 17,128 Bcf to 41 countries.The DOE data shows that South Korea remains the top destination for US LNG with 561 cargoes, followed by Japan with 438 cargoes, France with 419 cargoes, the UK with 408 cargoes, and Spain with 412 cargoes.Besides these five countries, the Netherlands, China, India, Turkey, and Brazil are in the top ten as well.
Democrats revolt against Biden plan for expanded gas exports - The Biden administration’s plans for increased natural gas exports are causing a revolt within the Democratic Party. Despite the boom in renewables reducing domestic demand for fossil fuels, the administration is backing the gas industry’s plans to sell fuel at higher prices abroad, believing they will lead to less production of climate-warming chemicals like carbon dioxide by displacing dirtier-burning coal. The fossil fuel industry is making a broader transition to gas, which it is seeking to pitch as a climate-friendly fuel — and the Biden administration has so far allowed it to more than double the number of export facilities to ship gas abroad in its pressurized and liquified form (LNG). But gas is itself a planet-heating chemical, and Democrats argue that the administration’s policies have done little to address a big problem for the climate: The U.S. fossil fuel industry plans to increase oil and gas production for decades. Democratic senators, led by Ed Markey (Mass.), have called on the administration to stop investing in gas plants abroad, noting that the administration has already spent $1.8 billion on overseas fossil fuel plants this year alone, along with voting at the World Bank to direct $400 million in new gas financing to poorer countries. “The United States can’t preach temperance from a bar stool, and right now, America is drunk on oil and gas production and exports,” Markey wrote Wednesday. In addition, 32 Democratic members of Congress urged the administration in November to begin planning for the end of fossil fuels. At the United Nations climate conference (COP28) that concluded this week, the administration unveiled a new plan to cut leaks from methane production, the predominant component in gas, in an effort to reduce one of the most serious sources of harmful pollution. But in focusing only on leaks from transporting the fuel — something the industry already has incentives to do — the Biden administration is “ducking the hard issue” on climate change, Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) told The Hill. That issue: the production of planet-warming fuels themselves.
Howard Energy Touts South Texas Natural Gas Expansions, Record Throughput as LNG Demand Taking Off - Howard Energy Partners (HEP) completed about $800 million worth of growth projects and achieved record natural gas throughput on its assets during 2023, the company said Wednesday. San Antonio, TX-based HEP owns energy infrastructure assets in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Mexico. The newly completed projects include “new major pipelines and processing facilities in the most active oil and gas producing basins in the United States and new storage and logistics facilities for renewable diesel on the Texas Gulf Coast,” management said. “The company also achieved record volumes in 2023, with current average natural gas throughput of over 2.5 Bcf/d and current average terminalling throughput of more than 160,000 b/d, representing a 7% and 25% increase...
Japan's Tokyo Gas to buy US gas producer for $2.7 billion - LNG Prime -- A unit of Japan’s city gas supplier and LNG importer, Tokyo Gas, has agreed to buy Texas-based natural gas producer Rockcliff Energy from private equity firm Quantum Energy Partners for $2.7 billion.Tokyo Gas America decided to acquire all shares of Rockcliff Energy II through its ownership interest in TG Natural Resources (TGNR), according to a statement by Tokyo Gas.TGNR is a unit of Tokyo Gas America in which the firm has a 79 percent stake while a unit of Castleton Commodities International holds the rest.Tokyo Gas has been expanding its upstream business in the US through TGNR, which became its subsidiary in 2020. Rockcliff’s main business is upstream development in Texas and Louisiana targeting Haynesville shale and Cotton Valley formations. Tokyo Gas said it is expanding its shale gas business as demand for gas is expected to increase in the US due to the construction of new LNG export terminals. Also, TGNR has been seeking to acquire “superior” assets around its existing assets in Texas and Louisiana.“With this acquisition, the outcome from TGNR will become the base of overseas earnings,” Tokyo Gas said. As a result of this acquisition, the production volume of gas and natural gas liquids held by TGNR will increase by about 4 times from some 330 million cubic feet per day (9.3 million m3/day, gas equivalent) to 1,300 million cubic feet per day (37 million m3/day, gas equivalent), it said. In the US, Tokyo Gas is working with its partners Osaka Gas, Toho Gas, Mitsubishi, and also Sempra Infrastructure to produce e-methane in Texas or Louisiana, liquefy it at Sempra’s Cameron LNG facility, and transport it to Japan. E-methane is a synthetic gas produced from renewable hydrogen and carbon dioxide and can be transported via the existing gas infrastructure, including the LNG supply chain.
US natgas jumps 5% on cold forecasts, bigger-than expected storage decrease - (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures jumped about 5% to a one-week high on Thursday on a bigger-than-expected storage withdrawal, forecasts for colder weather and higher heating demand in early January than previously expected and as a record amount of gas continued to flow to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said utilities pulled 87 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas from storage during the week ended Dec. 15. That was higher than the 80-bcf withdrawal analysts forecast in a Reuters poll and compares with a decrease of 82 bcf in the same week last year and a five-year (2018-2022) average decline of 107 bcf. Last week's decrease cut stockpiles to 3.577 trillion cubic feet (tcf), which was still 8.5% above the five-year average of 3.297 tcf for the time of year. Analysts said last week's withdrawal was smaller than usual for this time of year because warmer-than-normal weather kept heating demand low. Front-month gas futures for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 12.5 cents, or 5.1%, to settle at $2.572 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), their highest close since Dec. 8. It was the biggest one-day percentage gain since Nov. 11 when prices jumped 5.4%. "If incoming cold prompts speculators to close a massive short position, price gains are possible. Nonetheless, significant U.S. storage surpluses suggest any price increase may prove fleeting unless cold weather can be sustained," analysts at energy consulting firm EBW Analytics said in a note. With the front-month down for six weeks in a row, speculators last week boosted their net short futures and options positions on the New York Mercantile and Intercontinental Exchanges to the most since February, according to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Commitments of Traders report. Record production and ample supplies of gas in storage have weighed on gas prices for weeks, prompting some traders to forecast that futures for this winter (November-March) have already peaked at $3.608 per mmBtu on Nov. 1. Looking ahead, analysts project U.S. gas prices will rise in coming years as new LNG export plants enter service in the U.S., Canada and Mexico to meet rising global demand of the fuel. But expected delays at Exxon Mobil/QatarEnergy's Golden Pass LNG export plant in Texas and Venture Global LNG's Plaquemines in Louisiana have caused some analysts to reduce their forecasts for U.S. gas demand and prices in 2024. Financial firm LSEG said average gas output in the lower 48 U.S. states rose to 108.6 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in December from a record 108.3 bcfd in November. Meteorologists projected the weather would remain warmer than normal through Dec. 31 before turning near-normal to colder than normal from Jan. 1-5. LSEG forecast U.S. gas demand in the Lower 48 states, including exports, would drop from 126.2 bcfd this week to 120.8 bcfd next week as many businesses and government offices shut for the Christmas holiday. Those forecasts were higher than LSEG's outlook on Wednesday. Gas flows to the seven big U.S. LNG export plants rose to an average of 14.6 bcfd so far in December, up from a record 14.3 bcfd in November.
Biden Govt Sets Only Three Fossil Fuel Leases for 2024-29 - The Biden administration has cut the number of lease sales in the United States outer continental shelf (OCS) from the previously proposed 47 to just three in the final oil and gas leasing program for 2024–29. The Department of the Interior (DOI) said the reduction is needed to meet offshore wind area sales required by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). An IRA provision prioritizing fossil fuels requires that total acres offered in offshore oil and gas lease sales in the year till the issuance of any lease for offshore wind development must reach 60 million acres. The final program still needs to be reviewed by Congress within 60 days. A five-year oil and gas auction plan is required by Section 18 of the OCS Lands Act. “The [final] Program schedules three oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico Program Area in 2025, 2027 and 2029”, the DOI said in a recent press release. “These three lease sales are the minimum number that will enable the Interior Department’s offshore wind energy program to continue issuing leases in a way that will ensure continued progress towards the Administration’s goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030”. The official memorandum on the decision noted the department had the option to hold no lease sale at all in the next five years but that such a course would not meet the country’s energy needs. The DOI did decide to hold no auction next year for offshore oil and gas licenses, the first no-lease year since 1966 according to the American Petroleum Institute (API), which opposed the decision. The decision “could threaten to increase reliance on foreign energy sources”, the lobby group said in a statement. “Demand for affordable, reliable energy is only growing, yet the administration is choosing to limit future production in a region that plays a critical role in powering our nation and supplies among the lowest carbon-intensive barrels in the world”, said the statement on the API website. Production on the US Gulf of Mexico alone accounts for 15 percent of national petroleum output and five percent of US dry gas production, according to the country’s Energy Information Administration (EIA). “Over 47 percent of total U.S. petroleum refining capacity is located along the Gulf coast, as well as 51 percent of total U.S. natural gas processing plant capacity”, the EIA states on its website. The API went on to cite an industry report that claimed the carbon intensity of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico was 46 percent lower than the international average outside the US and Canada. The report, released May 16, was prepared by the ICF consulting company for the National Ocean Industries Association. “Constrained production in this basin could be replaced by higher carbon intensity barrels from elsewhere in the world”, said the statement by the API, which counts a membership of about 600 companies. “This program is a step in the wrong direction for U.S. energy security and will only make it harder to meet growing energy demand over the long-term”, the API added.
Biden admin approves smallest offshore oil program in history - The Biden administration approved the smallest offshore oil program in U.S. history Friday, a move that’s already provoked both outrage from Republicans and disappointment from climate activists who had urged the president to take more dramatic action. Over the next five years, the Interior Department will hold just three oil auctions of drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico, where most of the nation’s oil and gas production occurs. The agency first announced its plans for the next five years of offshore drilling in September. That makes the previously scheduled oil sale, taking place next week in the Gulf, the last opportunity for oil companies to buy leases in the nation’s waters until 2025. The shrunken program is the latest example of the White House’s efforts to curtail the nation’s fossil fuels footprint on public lands and waters, despite mandates to allow some development of the nation’s large stores of crude oil and natural gas. Climate activists had urged President Joe Biden to zero out oil sales in the five-year plan, consistent with his promise during the presidential campaign of 2020 to retire the nation’s drilling program. Oil supporters, however, demanded a return to previous norms with multiple oil auctions held every year. Interior rewrites the schedule for offshore oil and gas leases every five years. Recent five-year programs have included at least two auctions annually in the Gulf of Mexico and some sales in Alaska. But Interior’s offshore oil programs historically could include dozens of sales. The Biden administration allowed the last offshore oil program to end in 2022 without a replacement. A previous proposal floated by the Trump administration would have included 47 auctions over a five-year period. Interior said Friday that its three-sale schedule is the minimum required to comply with the Inflation Reduction Act. West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat who supports fossil fuels, included a provision in the 2022 climate-focused law that would prohibit new offshore wind leasing — a cornerstone in Biden’s decarbonization push — unless Interior holds an offshore oil sale of at least 60 million acres in the prior year. The five-year program announced Friday includes an oil sale every other year, in 2025, 2027 and 2029, allowing Interior ample time to conduct new offshore wind auctions. “These three lease sales are the minimum number that will enable the Interior Department’s offshore wind energy program to continue issuing leases in a way that will ensure continued progress towards the Administration’s goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030,” the department said Friday.
Biden administration auctions off 1.7M acres for Gulf drilling in last offshore oil lease sale until 2025 --The Biden administration has auctioned off the rights to drill for oil and gas on 1.7 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico in what will be the last offshore drilling auction it holds until 2025. Companies will pay a total of more than $380 million for the rights to drill on 311 tracts in the Gulf. Twenty-six companies submitted bids. The auction is expected to be the last chance for companies to bid for the rights to drill offshore until at least 2025, as the Biden administration recently finalized a plan with the fewest offshore oil and gas lease sales ever put forward in an agency five-year plan.That plan, finalized last week and covering 2024-29, offers up three chances to bid for the rights to drill offshore.The oil and gas industry was supportive of Wednesday’s sale but said more auctions should be held in the years ahead.“Although today’s congressionally mandated lease sale is a positive step … the lack of any offshore sales in the year ahead is a prime example of the administration’s failure to implement a long-term energy strategy,” said a written statement from Holly Hopkins, vice president of upstream policy at the American Petroleum Institute, an oil lobby group.“We urge the administration to reconsider its shortsighted approach and plan today for tomorrow’s energy demand,” Hopkins added. The recent sale was mandated by the Inflation Reduction Act — Democrats’ climate, tax and health care bill. However, it follows a contentious recent court battle in which environmental advocates sought to shrink the sale and add stipulations to protect the Rice’s Whale.The Rice’s Whale is one of the most endangered whales in the world, with likely fewer than 100 remaining, and can be found in the Gulf.After environmentalists and the Biden administration agreed to certain restrictions for the sale and leases that aimed to protect the whale, Chevron, the American Petroleum Institute and the state of Louisiana filed a lawsuit..Ultimately, the plaintiffs prevailed, and the sale was held without the removal of acres or the restriction of ship activity, which environmentalists had called for.“The oil industry and its allies know the Rice’s whale could go extinct if they keep expanding Gulf drilling, but they’ve pushed aggressively to prioritize their profits and hold this sale anyway,” Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a written statement. “Perpetual leasing, new fossil fuel export projects and oil spills are creating a hellish situation for marine life and Gulf communities,” she said, adding that the Biden administration should “phase out offshore drilling altogether.”
Gulf of Mexico Auction Draws Most High Bids in Years as E&Ps Step Up Competition - Interest in the final oil and natural gas auction in the Gulf of Mexico for the year – and potentially the only one until 2025 – was strong on Wednesday, with the highest bid total since 2015. Following a series of delays because of lawsuits, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) held Lease Sale 261. The auction offered almost 13,500 unleased blocks on nearly 73 million acres in the Western, Central and Eastern Planning Areas of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Twenty-six exploration and production (E&P) companies submitted 352 bids totaling $442 million. High bids totaled more than $382 million for 311 tracts, with offered blocks drawing an average 1.13 bids each.
Dallas Fed Energy Survey - -- Activity in the oil and gas sector was essentially unchanged in fourth quarter 2023, according to oil and gas executives responding to the Dallas Fed Energy Survey. The business activity index, the survey’s broadest measure of conditions energy firms in the Eleventh District face, remained positive but slipped from 10.9 in the third quarter to 3.6 in the fourth quarter. The business activity index was 7.5 for E&P firms versus -4.2 for services firms, suggesting activity slightly grew for E&P firms, but declined slightly for service firms. Oil production increased but at a significantly slower pace compared with the prior quarter, according to executives at E&P firms. The oil production index remained positive but fell from 26.5 in the third quarter to 5.3 in the fourth. Meanwhile, the natural gas production index edged up from 15.4 to 17.9.Among oilfield services firms the input cost index remained positive, but slipped from 33.4 to 21.3. Among E&P firms, the finding and development costs index rose from 18.3 to 24.4. Meanwhile, the lease operating expenses index moved down from 25.6 to 22.6.Oilfield services firms reported modest deterioration in nearly all indicators. The equipment utilization index moved down from -4.2 in the third quarter to -8.4 in the fourth quarter. The operating margin index was relatively unchanged at -32.0. The index of prices received for services turned negative and fell from 2.1 to -6.2.The aggregate employment index was relatively unchanged at 4.2 in the fourth quarter. The aggregate employee hours index remained positive but fell from 9.6 in the third quarter to 2.8 in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, the aggregate wages and benefits index edged down from 24.5 to 21.2.The company outlook index turned negative in the fourth quarter and plunged 48 points to -12.4, suggesting some pessimism among firms. The company outlook for E&P firms changed more drastically, as the company outlook index for these firms fell sharply from 46.8 to -9.0. The overall outlook uncertainty index jumped 39 points to 46.1, suggesting mounting uncertainty.On average, respondents expect a West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil price of $78 per barrel at year-end 2024; responses ranged from $51 to $110 per barrel. Survey participants expect a Henry Hub natural gas price of $3.09 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) at year-end. For reference, WTI spot prices averaged $69.77 per barrel during the survey collection period, and Henry Hub spot prices averaged $2.48 per MMBtu.
As Shale Runs Dry, EOR Companies Respond with Solutions - The reservoir wells of the shale revolution, once gushing like geysers, are beginning to run dry.“Since [the shale revolution], there’s been about 100,000 horizontal shale wells drilled and put in production, [increasing] our production by about 6 million barrels a day,” Robert Downey, CEO of Shale Ingenuity, told Hart Energy. “But today, about a third of those wells are now producing less than 10 barrels a day because they come on like gangbusters and then they have a really steep decline. Pretty much all the wells drilled prior to 2015 are [almost] depleted.”According to a Texas Bureau of Economic Geology study, the estimated typical oil recovery is about 6% of the oil in place, or as Downey explains, “you drill this horizontal well, spend $7 million on it and produce for 10 years. And by the time the well is pretty much producing nothing, you’ve recovered a whopping 6% of the oil.”The Williston and Permian basins and the Eagle Ford Shale hold a combined 3.1 trillion barrels of oil. A 6% recovery at full development leaves 2.9 trillion barrels of oil in place, which is 77 times the proved reserves of the U.S. Getting that remaining 94% of oil is the challenge for oil and gas companies today.SuperEOR is Shale Ingenuity’s solution to the shale wells running dry. The SuperEOR process is similar to huff and puff injection, as it involves injecting a solvent into the reservoir, which expands into a gas and drives the oil out of the rock. However, the solvent has a specific composition, making this process more sustainable than other EOR methods. That’s because the solvent is able to be recovered from the rock and reused multiple times.“It’s much different than if you just injected natural gas or CO2 [into the well], because with natural gas or CO2, you have to get the bottom of pressure up to 3,000 [psi] or 4,000 psi to get those gases to go into solution. Our solvent goes into solution at 700 psi,” Downey said. “Once you inject it, it forces all this oil through the pores. It expands to a gas and it flows up the wellbore and you recover it on the surface, condense it back into a liquid state, store it on location and then reinject it.”When using SuperEOR for a core test, over 90% of the oil was able to be recovered out of the core, said Downey. The recovery process is also quick and efficient, as only five days to 10 days of solvent injection can lead to between 10 and 20 days of flowback.“If you were injecting gas, you’d be injecting for one month to two months and then flowing back for three or four months, but our cycles are fast and the recovery is much greater. So, instead of getting maybe 10% to 40% more oil, we can get 300% to 500% more oil,” Downey said.Another sustainable EOR solution is actually an OOR, or organic oil recovery solution.California-based Titan Oil Recovery uses a specialized EOR process that takes advantage of indigenous microbes that have adapted to the environment over millions of years in order to extract oil from mature reservoirs.Titan activates the biology and ecology of oil reservoirs by working with specific species of microbes that can physically deform oil, turning them into micro oil droplets. This allows the trapped oil in reservoirs to escape and be recovered. The technology has a low carbon footprint and can also reduce hydrogen sulfide production in oil fields.
Fed methane emissions rule could have big impact in ND - New federal regulations that will require the oil and gas industry to get more active in tamping down on climate-warming methane emissions could uniquely affect North Dakota. The federal Environmental Protection Agency this month released a long-anticipated list of regulations that aim to reduce 80% of methane pollution from U.S. oil and gas production. The sector is the country's second-largest contributor of methane emissions behind agriculture. The rule will prevent 58 million tons of methane emissions between next year and 2038. That is equivalent to the annual emissions of over 360 million gas-powered cars, according to an EPA calculator. Methane is the primary component of natural gas. Its warming impact is 28 times stronger than CO2 over the course of a century, according to EPA. The Bakken oilfields in western North Dakota are primarily home to oil wells where natural gas is a byproduct. When the associated gas from an oil well cannot be captured, or used on site due to a lack of infrastructure capacity, it is wastefully flared. One part of the regulations will eliminate routine flaring on new wells over the next two years. Many existing wells will also have to phase out flaring, though there will be some exceptions. The purpose of flaring is to convert gas to less-potent CO2, but methane still gets released at varying degrees depending on the strength of the flare. The practice also releases health-harming volatile organic compounds such as benzene into the air, according to EPA. North Dakota has seen large cuts in flaring over the past few years due to an increased buildout of gathering lines and processing facilities. Gas capture percentages statewide trended in the low 80s five years ago but have climbed to the middle 90s this year. The number hit 95% this September, according to the most recent report from regulators. Figures lag by two months. The state's gas capture goal of 91% has been in place since 2020. But officials have warned that flaring could climb again as producers move beyond the Bakken oil field's core area. Dakota Resource Council Executive Director Scott Skokos said the federal rule was "a long time coming." "This will make (producers) think infrastructure first, wells second," he said. But some worry the new regulations will curtail production in a state whose economy is heavily reliant on oil. Of North Dakota's 18,538 producing wells, 1,383 have no access to gas-gathering infrastructure, according to the Department of Mineral Resources, the agency that oversees the petroleum industry in the state. Mineral Resources said the flaring rule could cause a loss of 45,000 barrels of oil a day. North Dakota produced an average of 1.27 million barrels a day in September. Brady Pelton, vice president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, a trade group representing over 500 oil and gas producers, said he believes the rule will constrain production. "The gas-to-oil ratio in the Williston Basin is only increasing, and will increase in the future ... if (the gas) has nowhere to go, it has to be flared and if it can't be flared, production will cease," he said. The ratio rises as reservoirs age due to drops in pressure, bringing more gas to the surface.
Culver City's deal to end oil production could be a model - Culver City has struck a deal with one of California’s largest oil producers to end petroleum extraction and plug all wells within the city limits by the end of the decade — an agreement that environmentalists say could serve as a model for other municipalities.After two years of negotiations, Culver City and Sentinel Peak Resources reached a settlement agreement to ban oil drilling in the city’s portion of the Inglewood oil field. The agreement requires the company to seal its 38 Culver City wells by 2030, ensuring that taxpayers are not responsible for footing those costs.The announcement comes as environmental activists focus increasing attention onthe health and financial risks of idle oil wells in Southern California, a region once dominated by oil derricks and pumpjacks. The agreement also means that Culver City will be among the first communities in the region to end fossil fuel production and cap its wells.“It’s a win for public health. It’s a win for our communities. And it’s an inspiration for others,” said Meghan Sahli-Wells, an environmental advocate and former Culver City mayor. “There are 38 oil wells in Culver City. Those will be 38 fewer pockets of poison in our community.”More than a century of oil and gas drilling in California has left more than 100,000 wells unplugged, allowing them to leak planet-warming methane and dangerous chemicals, such as benzene.The cost of properly closing these wells could run as high as $23 billion, according to a recent Sierra Club analysis. Some activists and state legislators argue that taxpayers could be on the hook for those capping expenses if oil companies fail to take responsibility.Around 41,000 of California’s uncapped wells are classified as idle, meaning they haven’t produced any oil or gas in at least two years.Three oil companies — Chevron, Aera Energy and California Resources Corp. — own two-thirds of these idle wells, according to Jasmine Vazin, an author of the report. Although the companies have recorded billions in profit in recent years, Vazin said they have been allowed to leave their wells unplugged indefinitely because there is no mandated timeline to cap inactive wells in California.“These companies have been profiting at extreme rates from extracting California’s natural resources for over a century,” said Vazin, a Sierra Club senior organizer. “So we believe when you look at the global profits of these large entities and their parent companies, there is more than enough profit to cover the cost of cleanup of their legacy of pollution in California.” California recently enacted legislation that requires oil companies to obtain a bond— a financial guarantee similar to an insurance policy — that would cover the full cost of plugging their wells. The state also collects idle well fees, which can run up to $1,500 a year for each inactive well. But Vazin said that has done little to motivate oil producers, noting more than 12,000 wells in California have been idle for at least eight years. “We have this issue where operators are sitting on thousands of idle wells and not doing anything about it. And so if there’s no policy change to really prompt and kind of force that cleanup at a much, much faster rate than is currently happening, we’re just creating this problem that just piles on top of itself,” Vazin said.
Chevron slashes California spending on ‘adversarial’ fossil-fuel policies – Chevron Corp. is slashing oil-refinery investments in California because of “adversarial” policies toward fossil fuels, a move that may boost what already are the highest pump prices in the nation. The oil giant headquartered in the San Francisco Bay area has cut spending in the Golden State by “hundreds of millions of dollars since 2022,” according to comments filed with the California Energy Commission this week. Chevron is a key supplier of jet fuel to the San Francisco and Los Angeles airports.The comments come as California lawmakers consider limiting the profits in-state refiners can reap. The most-populous US state already has the nation’s toughest fuel standards as well as a carbon cap-and-trade program that critics say forces consumers to pay more at the pump.“California’s policies have made it a difficult place to invest so we have rejected capital projects in the state,” Andy Walz, president of Chevron’s Americas Products business, wrote in the filing. “Such capital flight reflects the state’s inadequate returns and adversarial business climate.”As recently as September, Governor Gavin Newsom accused the oil industry of lying about climate change, and the state has sued Chevron and other companies for reaping excessive profits at the expense of residents and the environment. Chevron rejected those claims, saying that halting climate change requires a global policy response rather than lawsuits.The governor’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment for this story. Newsom last year announced a plan for California to reduce climate-damaging emissions 85% by 2045 and cut gasoline demand by 94% during the same time frame. On some levels it’s doing well. The state has the highest electric-vehicle adoption rate in the country and its conventional diesel demand has fallen by half since 2016 amid rising production of low-carbon alternatives such as renewable diesel and biodiesel.
Santa Barbara County pleads guilty to oil spill offenses - Santa Barbara County’s Water Resources Division pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts related to oil discharges at the Toro Canyon Oil Water Separator. [KCOY] The discharges occurred between Jan. 2018 through July 2021 and in Jan. 2023. The Toro Canyon Oil Water Separator is an Environmental Protection Agency-designed facility that the county has monitored since 2009.Water Resources Division personnel failed to properly maintain the separator and did not apply for any of the permits required to operate it, according to the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office. The DA’s office cited internal emails where county employees acknowledged not meeting legal requirements. Santa Barbara County’s Water Resources Division has agreed to pay a $15,000 criminal penalty and to be placed on one year of unsupervised probation. The county states that it has resolved potential civil liability over the spills by agreeing to a stipulated judgment requiring a $300,000 payment for supplemental environmental projects, $375,000 in civil penalties and $75,000 for a consultant for statutory and regulatory compliance at the oil water separator facility.After the Thomas Fire melted parts of the separator’s underground pipeline, oil was determined to be leaking from the damaged pipelines and visibly contaminating the creek, a Public Records Act request revealed. More than three and a half years later, in Aug. 2020, oil was still actively leaking into the surrounding environment from the lower section of the pipeline.A Water Resources Division employee reported oil-saturated soil to Public Works Department management. However, for 17 days, that went unreported to both the Certified Unified Program Agency (CUPA) and the California Office of Emergency Services. By law, both of those agencies must be contacted immediately about oil spills of this nature. When the CUPA received the report, the agency was not aware that the separator system was in operation because the necessary permits had not been filed. Investigators also documented other violations, including failure to have a Hazardous Materials Business Plan outlining how to handle spills and issues with the integrity of the system’s underground storage tank.In July 2022, the State Water Resources Control Board issued funding and approved a contractor to begin repairs on the system and start remediating soil from Toro Canyon Creek, which by then, was saturated with oil for the entire length of its surface flow. Even after the County Water Resources Division began cleanup efforts, the agency failed to obtain necessary permits from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, nor did it conduct environmental impact assessments before directing contractors to begin vacuuming the creek. Once Fish and Wildlife learned of those violations, it ordered the County Water Resources Division to conduct the cleanup under its supervision. In Jan. 2023, when heavy rain fell in the area, the underground storage tank overflowed. The leak was not reported until nine hours later when a homeowner called in the incident. By the time county fire and CUPA officials got hold of Water Resources Division employees, hundreds of gallons of oil spilled from the underground storage tank, and oil was detected flowing at least a half mile downstream.’
BP restarts pipeline after gasoline spill in Washington state-source (Reuters) - BP (BP.L) has restarted its Olympic Pipeline that had leaked roughly 25,000 gallons of gasoline near Mount Vernon in Washington state, a source familiar with the pipeline's operations said on Thursday. The pipeline was restarted following repairs, integrity testing, and regulatory approval of the restart plan, the source said. The company has been cleaning up the spill since Sunday with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and local officials. Nearly 7,000 gallons had been recovered, according to the latest update from BP and the EPA on Wednesday, which added that at least one American beaver, one pine siskin bird, and one mallard duck died due to the spill. The leak was caused by a tubing failure inside a concrete vault that connected one of the pipelines to a pressure sensor, and the main pipeline was shut down by Monday after detecting a loss in pressure. Gasoline was 2 cents stronger at 5 cents a gallon under NYMEX January gasoline futures in the Pacific Northwest market, traders said on Thursday. Around 2,100 feet (640 meters) of boom remained deployed to contain the spill and no gasoline or sheen has been seen on the Skagit River, while State Route 534 reopened to one-way traffic, according to BP and the EPA. The Olympic Pipeline had ruptured in June 1999, spilling over 230,000 gallons of gasoline that caught fire near Bellingham, Washington, and killed three young people. The explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010 led to the largest oil spill in U.S. history that left 11 rig workers dead and caused $70 billion in damages.
Biden’s Arctic oil rules may leave ‘big gaps’ on climate - Proposed Interior Department rules for drilling in the Western Arctic are spurring two contradictory views: that President Joe Biden has thwarted an oil boom in northern Alaska or paved the way for one. Which perspective turns out to be right has significant implications for climate change and the future of the oil industry in the Arctic, considering the size of the petroleum reserves in the region. The Bureau of Land Management proposal, which could strengthen Interior’s ability to block future drilling on protected lands in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, follows Biden’s controversial decision earlier this year to approve the massive Willow oil project in the same reserve. Drillers say the NPR-A rules could infringe on their development rights, while green groups say it fails to shift the NPR-A away from its origins as a potential stockpile of crude oil. How Interior officials apply the new language could determine which side will eventually claim victory. Earthjustice attorney Jeremy Lieb said the proposed NPR-A rules, while an improvement, don’t address the serious question of how ongoing oil development in the reserve will “align with climate commitments.” “Those are big gaps,” he said. The draft rules, which are expected to be finalized in the coming months, would direct BLM to consider cumulative impacts of oil and gas activity in the NPR-A — which some argue could include big consequences such as climate change — and require actions to mitigate those effects. The proposal doesn’t explicitly bar development across the roughly 13 million acres of the reserve that are currently set aside for conservation, but it could make drilling far more difficult where it is allowed. BLM is also proposing to potentially change or expand the boundaries of the reserve’s most protected lands every five years, which oil and gas supporters say could put the most prime drilling areas out of reach. “This rule generally sets aside most of the areas that are most prospective to oil and gas development,” fumed John Boyle, Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, during a November congressional hearing. He said the proposed regulations would make it “technologically infeasible for any company to put together a development plan.” The dispute underscores how the Biden administration is trying to traverse a middle ground between thwarting fossil fuel development to prove its allegiance to climate action while also following legal mandates to carry out a national oil program. The administration’s high-wire act is perhaps most visible — and criticized — in the Arctic, which NOAA said earlier this month experienced its sixth-warmest year on record. Thawing permafrost and changing temperatures are creating climate refugees in the region by forcing the relocation of villages. Exacerbating the administration’s political challenges is the fact that the NPR-A, perhaps more than other swaths of public land in the country, is governed by laws that prioritize oil and gas. For example, the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act of 1976 directs Interior to manage the NPR-A’s oil and gas leasing program. Signed by then-President Gerald Ford during a period of tumultuous energy prices, the law was meant to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil. “This is an oil and gas reserve,” said Mark Myers, a commissioner on the U.S. Arctic Research Commission and a former oil and gas regulator for the state of Alaska. “The requirements were always that oil and gas was a high priority — not an exclusive priority by any means, but a high priority.” Steve Feldgus, deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals management, acknowledged oil’s prominence in the region during a Nov. 29 hearing of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources. Pressed by Republicans angry over the proposed rules, Feldgus said the NPR-A “generates tens of millions of dollars in oil and gas revenue each year and will remain an important energy resource for some time.”
COP28 Outcome Dubbed a Win for Oil, Gas Producers - -- The outcome of the COP28 conference is being hailed as a landmark for its roadmap for transitioning away from fossil fuels, but the outcome is actually a win for oil and gas producers. That’s what Ellen R. Wald, the President of Transversal Consulting, told Rigzone, adding that “language affirming the long-called for ‘phaseout’ of oil, coal, and gas was rejected, in large part due to objections by oil producing countries like Saudi Arabia”. “The truth is that the world still needs hydrocarbons to maintain the modern way of life and for developing countries to improve their quality of life,” Wald noted. “Even those who pushed for the ‘phaseout’ language would not have been able to be present at the conference in the UAE without hydrocarbons,” Wald went on to state. “The fact that the next two COP conferences are scheduled to be held in countries that are major oil and gas producers and important exporters (Azerbaijan and Brazil) indicates that the climate conference is fast becoming the purview of hydrocarbon producers,” the Transversal Consulting President told Rigzone. Wald also said it is unlikely that any phasedown language will ever be agreed to now that oil and gas producers are taking a major role in the conferences. Wood Mackenzie’s latest edition of The Edge, a weekly column authored by Wood Mackenzie Chairman Simon Flowers, looked at COP28 “key takeaways” and included input from several company leaders, including David Brown, Wood Mackenzie’s Director of Energy Transition Practice, Ed Crooks, the company’s America’s Vice Chair, and Steven Knell, Wood Mackenzie’s Vice President of Power & Renewables Consulting. “The big news from the conference was that the concluding statement called for the ‘transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly, and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050’,” The Edge column published on Wood Mackenzie’s website on Thursday noted. “Some countries said the statement did not go far enough. But it is still a significant moment - the first time the governments of the world have agreed a goal to reduce consumption of oil, gas, and coal,” it added. The Edge column stated that the COP28 presidency came under intense pressure from some developed countries and from vulnerable nations to strengthen the language on fossil fuels, “in the face of opposition from leading oil and gas producers”. “The direction of travel is clear, with the calling out of oil and gas for the first time a step towards phasing out unabated fossil fuels,” the column added. “This debate will be a hot topic again at COP29,” it continued. “The commitment to triple renewables capacity, and statements in support of hydrogen, nuclear power, carbon capture and storage (CCS), and demand-side technologies (including road transport) also reflect the momentum building towards a low-carbon energy system,” it went on to state. Wood Mackenzie’s latest The Edge column noted that a phase-out of unabated fossil fuels by 2050 may be achievable but added that it will require building low-carbon supply at twice the rate of energy demand growth and a rapid acceleration of CCS. “Though governments recognize the urgency, slow progress in recent years reflects the difficulty of attracting investment,” it stated. The Edge column also highlighted that the final text “specifically calls out the role of ‘transitional fuels’ in facilitating the transition to lower-carbon technologies while ensuring energy security”. “Good news for natural gas, which can play a role in balancing intermittent renewables while the next generation of dispatchable technologies such as hydrogen-power and new nuclear capacity ramps up in the 2030s,” it added.
Shell, Trinidad and Tobago Finalize Natural Gas Export Deal from Venezuela’s Dragon Field - Venezuela’s state-owned oil and natural gas company and the government of Trinidad and Tobago have clinched a production and export agreement with Shell plc that could help provide feed gas to Atlantic LNG. After months of negotiations between both governments, Shell and Trinidad’s National Gas Company (NGC), and the United States, officials met in Caracas Thursday to solidify a natural gas export license agreement for the offshore Dragon field. “We got it done,” Trinidad energy minister Stuart Young said in a Thursday evening post on X, formerly Twitter, after Venezuela’s Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) disclosed the agreement. “This is a great development for the people of Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago.”
Swiss National Bank Urged To Exit Investments in Fracking - The Swiss National Bank (SNB) was urged to divest from oil and gas fracking companies on Monday, when climate activists handed over a petition signed by 60,000 people demanding the Swiss central bank exit its fracking investments. Last month, a study by SNB Coalition and Climate Alliance Switzerland showed that the Swiss bank had investments worth a total of $16.1 billion in fossil fuel companies. According to the report from the climate campaign groups, as of the end of 2022, the SNB was invested in 69 companies that produce oil and gas using fracking or transport oil and gas produced using fracking. The total investment in fracking amounts to $9 billion.“The SNB is responsible for greenhouse gas emissions due to fracking of around 7 MtCO2e through its investment shares. This is as much as the emissions of the entire Swiss agricultural sector,” the climate groups said.In Switzerland, 14 cantons, which are home to 69 percent of the Swiss population, have positioned themselves against fracking. These cantons own around three quarters of all SNB shares held by the cantons.“Due to the broadly supported rejection of fracking by cantonal governments and the population, it can be considered a norm and value of Switzerland, which the SNB should also respect,” the climate groups said in November, noting that fracking violates the bank’s investment policy. Some banks in Europe have started to reduce funding to oil and gas projects as part of their own climate targets. The most drastic measure yet was taken earlier this year by France’s biggest bank, BNP Paribas, which said in May that it would no longer provide any financing for developing new oil and gas fields regardless of the financing methods. The bank also pledged to reduce its financing for oil exploration and production by 80% by 2030 as part of its energy transition goals.
SNB Told to End Fracking Investment in Petition Signed by 60,000 - -- Climate activists handed the Swiss National Bank a petition signed by more than 60,000 people demanding a stop to investments in companies that use fracking technologies to mine oil and gas. The central bank, which has a quarter of its 641.7 billion francs ($738.4 billion) of foreign-currency reserves in stocks, has invested $9 billion in fracking companies, according to organizations Climate Alliance Switzerland and Eko. The SNB should exit them because there’s a consensus against the technology in Switzerland, the activists said. Some of the institution’s private shareholders handed over the petition Monday at the SNB office in Zurich, they said. While the protesters say 14 of the 26 Swiss cantons have banned fracking or positioned themselves against it in other ways, the central bank doubts that a consensus against the technology exists in the country. It’s banned coal mining from its investments, but refuses to do the same for fracking. “We are investing our reserves in a way that they can support monetary policy at any time,” deputy rate-setter Thomas Moser said last Thursday. “We exclude investments which violate values which are widely recognized in society.” He said the central bank “regularly checks” its investment guidelines, “because values can change.”
Environmental groups announce Rosebank legal challenges - Environmental campaign groups Uplift and Greenpeace UK will launch separate legal challenges against the decision to approve the Rosebank oil field development. Both campaign groups will ask the Court of Session in Edinburgh for a review of the approval granted by the Energy Secretary and the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) regulator. It will then be up to the Court of Session to decide whether to grant permission for a full hearing of the case. A UK government spokesperson told Energy Voice it will “robustly defend” its decision to approve Rosebank. The Rosebank field, located 80 miles northwest of Shetland, is the UK’s largest undeveloped oil reserve. Norwegian state-owned Equinor received approval for its plans to extract 300 million barrels of oil from Rosebank using the Knarr FPSO in September. UK offshore operator Ithaca Energy holds a 20% stake in the Rosebank project. In a joint statement Uplift and Greenpeace said they will argue the decision to approve Rosebank was unlawful because it ignores the impact of downstream emissions and is not compatible with the UK government’s net zero and climate targets. The groups also said the Rosebank plans will damage marine life in a protected area of the North Sea.
Shell fined £1m after North Sea worker’s feet are crushed --Shell has been fined £1 million by the UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after a North Sea worker’s feet were crushed offshore. Martin Hill, then 63, was part of a group of maintenance workers being transferred on the “Kroonborg” support vessel towards the Shell Galleon platform on October 17, 2017 when the incident took place on the “walk to work” gangway. HSE said the transfer went ahead in high wind and heavy seas, when it should not have, in the “pre-sunrise gloom, with not enough artificial lighting in the right places. Both of Mr Hill’s feet were trapped as the gangway telescoped together, and, after being airlifted to hospital “he narrowly avoided having both of his feet amputated”. Until 2015, transfers to Galleon had taken place by helicopter, but walk to work is statistically the safest form of personnel transfer for such installations. After pleading guilty to breaching HSE obligations, Shell was fined £1,031,250 and ordered to pay £247,000 in costs at Chelmsford Crown Court last week. The oil major said this was a rare serious accident, adding it is “concerned at and sorry” for Mr Hill’s injury. Gangway operator Ampelmann was fined £206,250 and ordered to pay £247,000 in costs. Mr Hill, now 68, said: “Both of my feet got stuck between the two sections of the gangway and consequently my feet got very badly crushed. When they got the bridge off me I passed out and next thing I knew I was on the medical centre on the ship. . “Most of the bones in my feet were broken and most of the skin was pulled off. I have used magnetic therapy to help with my injuries which has been a big help. “I am not 100% now, my feet will play up if I try and do DIY when there are steps or ladders involved, or if I go for a reasonable walk. I like to think it didn’t affect me mentally but it did – I haven’t returned to offshore work after the incident.”
Spot LNG shipping rates, European prices continue to drop - Spot charter rates for the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier fleet continued to decline this week, while European and Asian prices dropped as well.Last week, the Spark30S Atlantic decreased to $142,500 per day, while the Spark25S Pacific decreased to $117,000 per day.“LNG freight rates fell once again week, with a 6 percent week-on-week decrease for Atlantic rates and a 12 percent week-on-week decrease for Pacific rates,” Qasim Afghan, Spark’s commercial analyst told LNG Prime on Friday. Afghan said that the Atlantic rate decreased by $8,750 to $133,750 per day, whilst the Pacific rate decreased by $13,500 to $103,500 per day.As per European LNG pricing, the SparkNWE DES LNG front month also declined from the last week.The NWE DES LNG for January delivery was assessed last week at $11.887/MMBtu and at a $0.745/MMBtu discount to the TTF.“The SparkNWE DES LNG price for January delivery is assessed at $10.489/MMBtu and at a $0.740/MMBtu discount to the TTF,” Afghan said on Friday.He said this is a $1.398/MMBtu decrease in DES LNG price, and the discount to the TTF narrowed by $0.005/MMBtu, when compared to last week’s January prices.“This is the 3rd consecutive week-on-week decrease in SparkNWE DES LNG prices,” Afghan said.According to Platts data, JKM, the price for LNG cargoes delivered to Northeast Asia, dropped from the last week.JKM for January settled at $15.325/MMBtu on Thursday.Platts recently said the Panama Canal delays have helped to keep Asian LNG prices at a premium to those seen in Europe as shippers seek alternative routes for US LNG shipments, while high inventories and mild temperature forecasts have kept gas demand subdued in Europe.
Additional LNG Import Projects Progress in Europe as Developers Weigh Energy Transition - New additions to European LNG import capacity are moving forward as developers straddle the line between a current natural gas supply shortage and the region’s forecasted pivot to alternative fuels in the next decade. Hanseatic Energy Hub (HEH) GmbH disclosed it expects to reach a final investment decision “in the coming weeks” on Germany’s first onshore import terminal after completing its marketing and permitting phase earlier in the month. Planned near the city of Stade in Lower Saxony, the 13.3 million metric ton/year (mmty) facility is permitted to begin importing liquefied natural gas and renewable natural gas, as well as ammonia, before being converted into a hydrogen production hub by at least 2043. .
Greece's first FSRU arrives in Alexandroupolis - Greece’s first floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) has arrived in Alexandroupolis, where it will soon start serving Gastrade’s LNG import project.According to its AIS data, the 153,600-cbm Alexandroupolis was on Sunday anchored offshore the Greek port of Alexandroupolis.Greece’s Gastrade confirmed the arrival of the FSRU in the waters of the Thracian Sea in a statement issued late on Sunday.The firm previously said that the FSRU would arrive in the port on December 17 from Singapore.Last month, the vessel left Seatrium’s yard in Singapore following the completion of the conversion work at the yard.Gastrade’s shareholder and Greek LNG shipping firm GasLog told Keppel Offshore & Marine, now Seatrium, in February last year to proceed with the conversion of the 2010-built, GasLog Chelsea, to an FSRU. The vessel entered the yard in February this year and the partners renamed it to Alexandroupolis.
Egyptian LNG Exports Lifted by Return of Israeli Feed Gas - Egypt’s LNG exports have bounced back this month after domestic gas shortages and war in Israel have curbed output this year. Kpler data showed this week that Egypt has exported three full cargoes so far this month and a fourth vessel has a port call for Idku on Thursday. One of those cargoes is destined for Europe, while the rest are Asia-bound. The upcoming loading had no destination as of Dec. 18. “Kpler forecasts Egypt to export 0.35 million tons (Mt) in December, up from 0.18 Mt in November. We see full-year liquefied natural gas exports at 3.5 Mt in 2023,” Kpler analyst Ana Subasic told NGI.
LNG Vessels Avoid Red Sea as Tension Rises Liquefied natural gas tankers are diverting their routes from the Red Sea as violence linked to the Israel-Hamas war threatens longer journeys and delays of the super-chilled fuel. At least five ships have changed course since Friday away from waters off the coast of Yemen, an unavoidable waypoint for ships using the Suez Canal that links Europe and Asia, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. It isn’t immediately clear if all ships were diverted due to the tension. Companies that transport natural gas, including BP Plc and Norway’s Equinor ASA, are choosing to avoid the Red Sea as Iran-backed Houthi militants stepped up attacks in support of Hamas. Qatar, one of the world’s largest LNG producers and a key supplier to Europe, continues to transit the Red Sea toward the Suez Canal, according to shiptracking data. The diversions are also happening at a time when the world’s other vital ocean-to-ocean waterway for LNG, the Panama Canal, is being severely restricted by drought. That means more US LNG shipments to Asia may need to take longer routes around southern Africa. European natural gas prices jumped 7 percent on Monday amid growing fears of disruptions to energy flows. Still, North Asia, home to the biggest LNG importers, are well stocked for winter and buyers aren’t rushing to find alternative supplies yet, according to traders.
US LNG Cargoes to Asia Embark on Longer Routes to Avoid Red Sea - US LNG Cargoes to Asia Embark on Longer Routes to Avoid Red Sea - BNN Bloomberg -- Liquefied natural gas cargoes recently loaded from the US and bound for Asia are changing course for longer voyages lasting more than a month as they avoid the Red Sea, according to ship-tracking data on Bloomberg. The diversions highlight a shift in global trade flows after Houthi attacks in the crucial waterway forced hundreds of ships to take safer but longer routes, delaying cargoes. LNG is key for the biggest buyers in northeast Asia, particularly in the winter demand season. The US is the top shipper of the fuel. The Vivit Americas LNG vessel, which loaded at the Cove Point plant in Maryland on Dec. 16, initially flagged course to the Suez Canal before diverting three days later to travel around Africa. The ship is now signaling arrival in Japan on Jan. 25, more than a month since loading. Another tanker, Prism Courage, is also avoiding the Suez Canal on its way to South Korea. The cargo was taken from the Freeport LNG plant in Texas on Dec. 16 and will arrive in the Asian country on Jan. 26. Data intelligence company Kpler also flagged the diversions. LNG vessels began avoiding the Red Sea this week, including ballast vessels headed to pick up their next cargoes. The shorter routes from the US to Asia are via the Panama Canal, where vessels now face delays amid a drought-induced congestion, or via the Mediterranean and Suez. Qatari LNG shipments have so far continued to sail via Suez to Europe, ship-tracking data show.
Naval Force Mobilizing to Stop Red Sea Attacks Eases Natural Gas Supply Concerns in Europe - European natural gas prices retreated on Tuesday after the United States announced an international naval force to protect commercial and energy cargoes transiting the Red Sea. The Title Transfer Facility erased the gains it made Monday amid escalating tensions in the Middle East. The prompt month contract fell 8% to close at $10.47/MMBtu, its lowest point since September. The Pentagon said the UK, Bahrain, France, Norway and other countries would join the naval force to stop Iranian-backed Houthi militants from attacking commercial vessels. The Houthis, who support Palestine and Hamas, have launched rocket and drone attacks from Yemen against vessels transiting the Bab al-Mandab strait in the southern Red Sea. The strait is a key waterway that allows ships to travel to the Suez Canal and Mediterranean Sea...
Papua New Guinea Looks to Finance Stakes in LNG Projects Despite Environmental Opposition - Papua New Guinea’s Kumul Petroleum Ltd. has been gauging interest with several international banks about backing two LNG projects, but environmental opposition could be pushing the state-owned firm to rely on Chinese banks for financing. Banks in Australia, Europe and the United States have been increasingly wary of funding the island nation’s existing and proposed liquefied natural gas facilities due to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. Kumul’s Managing Director Wapu Sonk recently told news media the company is now in advanced talks with three Chinese banks, thanks in part to the Chinese financial industry’s “different view on ESG.” Australian oil and gas explorer Santos Ltd has twice extended an offer to Kumul after it failed to secure financing...
Uniper Joins Others in Avoiding LNG Shipments Via the Red Sea – Uniper SE has joined other energy companies, including BP plc and Equinor ASA, in avoiding the Red Sea for LNG shipments amid escalating tensions in the region. Iran-backed Houthi rebels are launching attacks on commercial vessels in the southern Red Sea. As of Friday, eight LNG vessels have diverted from the Red Sea and Suez Canal, including five that have loaded in the United States, according to Kpler data. Despite turmoil in the shipping market and longer voyages to avoid the Red Sea, LNG freight rates continue a slide that started last month amid a lull in global demand and similar prices for the fuel in Asia and Europe that have limited arbitrage opportunities. According to Spark Commodities, rates in the Atlantic Basin were down 8.53% day/day on Friday to $96,500/day, while rates in the Pacific Basin were down 6.42% to $76,500/day. Russia’s PAO Novatek has sent force majeure notices to some of its Arctic LNG 2 offtakers, saying shipments from the project will be delayed due to sanctions imposed by the United States in November, according to Reuters. Arctic LNG 2 is expected to start-up by the end of the year and begin shipping some LNG cargoes in 2024, but the sanctions will limit its shipments, according to the Reuters report, which cited anonymous sources.
China’s LNG imports rise in November - China’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports rose for the second month in a row in November, according to customs data.Data from the General Administration of Customs shows that the country received about 6.80 million tonnes in November, a rise of 6.6 percent compared to the same month last year.This is the highest monthly figure for Chinese LNG imports this year, the data shows.LNG imports in November also rose compared to 5.17 million tonnes in October, which also marked a year-on-year rise. The country’s imports in September declined after rising for seven months in a row.China imported 62.99 million tonnes of LNG during January-November, up by 10.9 percent compared to the same period last year, the data shows.However, Chinese LNG imports fell last year due to due to very high spot LNG prices and Covid lockdowns, which affected economic activity.LNG imports dropped compared to the January-November period in 2021 when China imported 71.36 million tonnes of LNG.Including pipeline gas, China’s gas imports rose by 8.5 percent year-on-year to 107.39 million tonnes in January-November this year.The country’s pipeline gas imports rose by 6.6 percent in November to 4.15 million tonnes, the data shows.
Russia to Raise Gas Export to China via Eastern Route - Gazprom PJSC and China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) have agreed to increase the volume of Russian gas export to China through the Power of Siberia Pipeline next year, Russia’s state-owned Gazprom said. At a meeting between representatives of the oil and gas majors, “[i]t was noted that Russian gas supplies via the eastern route, i.e. the Power of Siberia gas pipeline, are carried out in a reliable manner”, Gazprom said in a press release, providing no data on volumes. “The companies are preparing for the increase of these supplies which is planned for 2024. “Apart from that, a significant increase in the volumes of the gas supplies has already been provided since mid-November this year in line with the previously signed Supplementary Agreement to the relevant Sales and Purchase Agreement”. In October 2023 Gazprom announced the Supplementary Agreement with CNPC, also a state-owned company, for the supply of Russian gas to China for the rest of the year via Power of Siberia. In February 2022 Gazprom and CNPC signed a long-term agreement for gas supply for China via the pipeline. "As soon as the project reaches its full capacity, the amount of Russian pipeline gas supplies to China is going to grow by 10 billion cubic meters [353.15 billion cubic feet], totaling 48 billion cubic meters [1.7 trillion cubic feet] per year (including deliveries via the Power of Siberia gas trunkline)", Gazprom said in a news release at the time. In June 2022 the companies signed a technical agreement that "outlines the key technical parameters of the gas pipeline's trans-border section, including the submerged crossing under the boundary river Ussuri, as well as the physical and chemical properties of gas to be supplied", Gazprom said in a media release then. Connecting Russia’s Far East region and China, Power of Siberia was put onstream December 2022, as announced by Gazprom at the time.
Startup of Russian LNG Project Delayed over US Sanctions - The start of supply from Russia’s newest liquefied natural gas project will be delayed after the company declared a force majeure on shipments in the wake of US sanctions. European gas prices rose on the news. Russia’s Novatek PJSC, which leads the Arctic LNG 2 project, sent force majeure notices to some of the facility’s buyers, said people familiar with the matter who declined to be named as details are private. Sanctions that the US imposed on the project in November are making it impossible to make shipments for the time being, they said. Force majeure is a legal clause that allows companies to suspend deliveries due to factors beyond their control. The development adds to supply risks elsewhere in the market, as ships have rerouted away from the Red Sea in recent days due to attacks on vessels there. While the outlook for Arctic LNG 2 had already been clouded due to the US measures, the move presents significant challenges for the project — and could curb extra LNG supply for the global market this winter. Novatek had planned to start production from first of three trains by the end of the year with an aim for the first cargoes from the facility in early 2024. The force majeure “does not necessarily mean that no LNG will be exported from Arctic LNG 2, only that external factors are likely to prevent Novatek from fulfilling all of its contractual obligations,” Energy Aspects Ltd. analyst Jake Horslen said in a research note. Exports from the project will depend on Novatek’s ability to deliver Arctic LNG 2 volumes under existing term contracts or in spot deals “with the limited pool of potential buyers willing to ignore US sanctions,” he added. Shipping will be a limiting factor, Horslen wrote. European gas prices surged as much as 8.3 percent before settling 2 percent higher at EUR 34.20 a megawatt-hour. Novatek shares reversed earlier gains in Moscow, falling as much as 4.8 percent and heading for the lowest close since July. Arctic LNG 2 is critical for Russia’s ambition to more than triple its LNG production by the end of the decade. The plant is also set to make up a large portion of the LNG supply expected to come online in 2024, said Talon Custer, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. “If the project is significantly delayed or it does not ship cargoes next year, this would severely limit global LNG supply growth — down to about 2.5 percent versus the 3.5 percent that we projected,” he said. “Lower-than-anticipated supply growth could boost prices and amplify volatility.” Novatek holds a 60 percent stake in the project. France’s TotalEnergies SE, China’s CNPC and Cnooc, and a consortium of Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co. and Jogmec hold the remainder.
Two gas wells producing 200,000 cubic meters per day commissioned in Ukraine(Interfax) - JSC Ukrgazvydobuvannya (UGV) has commissioned two gas wells at the same field producing a combined 200,000 cubic meters of gas per day, Ukrainian media reported on Tuesday, quoting the press office of Ukraine's Naftogaz. The first well was drilled back in 1975, but became idle due to technical difficulties. Following analysis, the well was sidetracked and several stages of hydraulic fracturing were performed. "This approach proved successful, providing more than 100,000 meters of additional natural gas for the country," said UGV head Oleg Tolmachev. The second well, an appraisal well, is also producing more than 100,000 of gas per day thanks to the successful selection of the drilling site and four stages of hydraulic fracturing. Active drilling has been carried out since 2021 at the field. Despite the situation in the country and related difficulties, 15 new production wells have been added to the existing well stock over the past year and a half. Several more are currently undergoing drilling and testing. This year, the gas field will return to annual production of more than 1 bcm for the first time in more than 10 years. UGV's Ukrburgaz branch drilled both wells. UGV aims to boost natural gas production 1 billion cubic meters to 13.5 bcm in 2023. UGV reduced saleable gas production 3% to 12.5 bcm in 2022.
UkrGasVydobuvannya commissions two high-flow wells -Ukraine is set to boost domestic gas production by launching two new wells, each capable of producing over 200,000 cubic meters daily.The announcement comes from PJSC UkrGasVydobuvannya, a subsidiary of the Naftogaz Group, via a press release on Dec. 19.According to the statement, UkrGasVydobuvannya activated two high-flow wells, both originating from the same deposit.One of the wells, initially drilled in 1975, had been dormant for nearly 50 years due to technical challenges. To revive its productivity, UkrGasVydobuvannya carried out multiple hydraulic fracturing stages, resulting in an additional 100,000 cubic meters of natural gas.The second well, designed for appraisal and exploitation, is expected to contribute over 100,000 cubic meters of gas.Over the past 18 months, 15 new operational wells have been established at this particular deposit, with several more in the process of drilling and testing. This should increase the deposit's annual production to over 1 billion cubic meters this year, marking a significant milestone after over a decade.
Aker BP contains oil spill following North Sea Alvheim restart - — Aker BP has resolved technical issues that recently caused unplanned downtime at the Alvheim Field in the Norwegian North Sea. This arose following a malfunction in new equipment that had been installed during maintenance, and it led to a one-month halt to production from the Alvheim area. During the operations restart, about 50 cu. m of oil leaked to the sea. The company says it notified the authorities and executed appropriate oil spill response measures, with no environmental harm reported. In a separate development, the company has signed an amendment with Odfjell Drilling that extends its firm contract for the semisub Deepsea Nordkapp, starting Jan. 1, 2025, and continuing for two years. These additional years are compensated on a market-based rate mechanism. In addition, Aker BP will pay performance and fuel savings incentive bonuses. The contract extension remains subject to approval from the license partners.
Deepsea Nordkapp cleared for production drilling in Alvheim area - Norway’s oil and gas player Aker BP has restored production at a field located in the central part of the North Sea, close to the British sector. The production restart follows unplanned downtime due to technical issues and an oil spill from the field’s FPSO, which have now been sorted out. According to Aker BP, the downtime at the Alvheim field resulted from a malfunction in new equipment installed during maintenance activities in the previous quarter, causing a deferral of around one month in the production from the Alvheim area. While explaining that about 50 cubic meters of oil leaked into the sea during the restart of operations after the shutdown, the Norwegian player confirmed that the authorities were notified and proper oil spill response measures were implemented. Furthermore, no environmental harm has been reported because of this incident since Aker BP immediately closed all valves to stop the discharge from the FPSO Alvheim when satellite images revealed oil on the sea surface at the Alvheim field. A preliminary estimate indicated a discharge of 51 m3 of oil through the produced water outlet. Aker BP’s emergency response organization mobilized alongside the Norwegian Clean Seas Association for Operating Companies (NOFO) and the Norwegian Coastal Administration to deal with the oil on the sea surface, which chose to use the oil spill response measure known as mechanical degradation, where the propellers on the Esvagt Stavanger standby vessel mixed the oil down into the water column until it dissolved. Ine Dolve, Aker BP’s SVP Alvheim, commented: “This oil spill response operation has been effective and was characterized by very good teamwork between the involved contributors. We’ve started an investigation of the incident aimed at learning and strengthening our barriers to avoid any similar incidents in the future.” Moreover, satellite and aerial surveillance measures were also initiated, in addition to the standby vessel’s oil radar. Aker BP claims that the oil spill response measure proved to be “highly effective” and the oil slick was significantly reduced in size as early as the next day. The Norwegian Coastal Administration, in consultation with the company and NOFO, decided to end the operation the next day, on December 1. At this point, no oil was visible on the sea surface in satellite images and flyovers.
Red Sea Tanker Traffic Falls Sharply amid MidEast Tension - A steep decline in the number of tankers entering a vital Red Sea conduit suggests that attacks on ships in the area are further disrupting a key artery of global trade. So far this week, only about 30 tankers, including crude oil and fuel carriers, have entered the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which lies at the sea’s southern end, according to vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s equivalent to a drop of more than 40 percent versus the daily average over the previous three weeks. Less well-known than the Suez Canal at the other end of the Red Sea, the strait between Yemen and Africa is almost as crucial. Massive volumes of crude, diesel and other petroleum products from the Middle East and India are hauled through these waters on their way to Europe. Russian oil to India and China heads the other way. The Red Sea crisis is interfering with world trade, with container vessels already sailing round Africa to avoid the area. Yemen’s Houthi militants have vowed to continue targeting ships, despite a US move to compile an international naval task force to protect shipments. To be sure, vessel-tracking provides only a broad picture of how trade is being affected. The figures, which are for oil and chemical tankers, include vessels that aren’t carrying cargo. And shippers may not show up if they’ve turned off their AIS signal equipment, which is allowed for security reasons, according to guidance from industry group Bimco and others. Nevertheless, it provides an early look at how trade through the region is being affected. Separate tracking data point to the same phenomenon: the STI Solidarity, carrying petroleum product, was sailing toward Suez — but after idling off the coast of Oman for a few days, is now heading in the direction of the Cape of Good Hope.
Oil spill cleanup work continues in northeastern Taiwan | Taiwan News — Oil continues to wash ashore, aided by strong waves in Yilan County’s Toucheng Township, making cleanup difficult and time-consuming. Yilan County Government planned to complete oil cleanup operations near the Dali Fishing Port by Monday (Dec. 18), but the arrival of more oil has complicated the cleaning effort. The municipal government now believes more work is needed, per UDN. The coasts of five counties and cities in northern, eastern, and southern Taiwan have all experienced oil pollution notifications since Dec. 1. The Coast Guard is turning to science and technological aids to trace the source of the oil pollution. It is still collecting evidence and has yet to find the source of illegal oil discharges from ships at sea. The Yilan County Environmental Protection Bureau said today that oil pollution first appeared on the rocks lining the coastline for about 40 m near the Dali Fishing Harbor on Dec. 10. After receiving the report, personnel were sent to clean up the coastline. Local volunteers also pitched in to help with the cleanup, with an initial deadline set for Monday (Dec. 18). However, more oil continues to wash ashore, aided by strong waves and strengthening northeasterly monsoon winds in recent days. Such conditions have made it harder for cleanup personnel to work, even posing a safety risk as strong winds and waves led to a one-day suspension of work on Wednesday (Dec. 20). Operations will resume as soon as weather conditions improve.
Shell Nigeria Records 75 Oil Facility Breaches in One Year - Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has said it recorded 75 oil spill incidents as a result of crude oil theft and facilities’ vandalism by third parties in 2022 in the Niger Delta. In its recently-released: “Nigeria Briefing Notes For 2022 Business Activities,” the company also noted that during the year under review, 10 incidents caused by operational failures were experienced. However, the report noted that over the last 12 years, the total number of oil spill occurrences attributable to operational failures had reduced considerably. The report added that the 75 breaches were lesser compared with 106 incidents in 2021, which led to considerable spill into the environment. In 2022, SPDC said it successfully remediated an additional 230 impacted sites, compared to 187 sites remediated in 2021, adding that 776 affected sites had been remediated since 2016. “In the Niger Delta, over the last 12 years, the total number of operational hydrocarbon spills and the volume of oil spilled from them into the environment have been reduced significantly. “In 2022, about 88 per cent of the oil spills, more than 100 kilogrammes from the SPDC operated facilities were caused by the illegal activities of third parties- 75 incidents with volume of 0.6 thousand tonnes, compared with 106 incidents in 2021, with volume of 3.3 thousand tonnes. “The decreased incidents in 2022 correlate with a shutdown of production for about six months because of an unprecedented increase in crude oil theft from the Trans-Niger Pipeline, which is operated by SPDC on behalf of the SPDC JV partners. “In 2022, SPDC successfully remediated an additional 230 sites, compared to 187 sites remediated in 2021. Since 2016, 776 sites have been remediated. “Most oil spills in the Niger Delta region continue to be caused by crude oil theft, the sabotage of oil and gas production facilities, and illegal oil refining, including the distribution of illegally refined products.
Chennai Authorities Explore Solutions for Oil Spill Cleanup in Ennore – Officials from the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) are in discussions with the Water Resources Department (WRD) to transport dredged soil to areas affected by the oil spill in Ennore. The Ennore estuary underwent dredging in April 2023, with the dredged soil initially deposited near the estuary. The GCC, TNPCB, TNFDC, and Chennai Enviro Solutions, a private agency managing solid waste, collaborated on a cleanup effort. So far, 160 tonnes of solid waste linked to the oil spill has been cleared along Buckingham Canal, with an additional 120 tonnes removed from interior Ennore. The oil spill resulted from floodwaters mixing with oil after Cyclone Michaung, affecting an estimated area of 20 sq. km.
Emergency oil spill recovery work in Ennore completed: Tamil Nadu govt - Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday night said it has completed the emergency oil spill recovery work in the ecologically-sensitive Ennore Creek area by removing 105.82 kl oily water and 393.5 tonnes oily sludge since December 12. The oil spill from the Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL) refinery in Manali, which was let into the flood water on December 4-5 when the city was swamped under the influence of Cyclone Michaung, spread into an area of about 20 square kilometers, severely affecting people’s lives and the livelihood of several fishermen. While fishermen didn’t venture into fishing due to the fish catch smelling of oil, residents of Ernavur and near-by areas had to deal with oil stains which damaged their household items and faced several health issues due to strong odour of the oil that entered their homes. After the Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) took up the case suo motu, the Tamil Nadu government took up the oil spill cleaning work by splitting the affected area into four stretches – Ennore Creek mouth to Bridge, Bridge to Railway Bridge, Railway Bridge to entrance of Buckingham Canal, and Sivanpadai Veedu to Sathyamurthi Nagar. “A total of 105.82 kl of oily water and 393.5 tonnes of oily sludge was removed until date,” a press release from the government said. It added that CPCL, which was blamed by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) for the oil spill, has deployed three ambulances with a team of specialised doctors to take care of health concerns in the impacted areas. The NGT had expressed displeasure over the slow pace of the recovery process, even as the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) said the oil spill had spread to about 20 square km. Nearly 900 people, including trained personnel from sea cleaning agencies and local fishermen, worked for over eight days to complete the emergency cleaning work, which was necessitated to ensure that the oil sludge doesn’t enter the sea. A team led by Environment and Forests Secretary Supriya Sahu took a boat to review the completion of operations during which it observed that while the oil recovery and mitigation was over in most of the areas, deposits of oil in Mangroves needed a longer time period, as it is a specialized task and has to be done carefully. In consultation with experts. “It was decided to shift the entire focus now on cleaning oil ingress in Mangrove areas. It was further decided that for this purpose, the Forest Department shall engage local fishermen through CPCL resources to undertake oil cleaning work in Mangroves with the help of smaller boats using oil boomers and soak pads,” the statement added. Besides deploying five gully sucker machines, the Tamil Nadu government also installed containment booms in an area of about 1,100 metres to prevent the oil from entering the ocean. The oil which was released by CPCL into flood water reached the Kosasthalaiyar River via the Buckingham canal.
First Phase Of Chennai Oil Spill Cleanup To Be Over In 4-5 Days: Minister -Tamil Nadu Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin has said that the first phase of cleanup of the recent oil spill in Chennai will be over soon. After he surveyed the site on Friday, the minister said the cleanup will be a long process but the first stage will be over in 4-5 days. The minister also assured that a framework will be developed to deal with similar incidents in the future. The oil spill, which has crossed at least 20 sqkm into the sea, occurred shortly after Chennai began recovering from the devastating Cyclone Michaung and is now threatening to destroy the eco-sensitive Ennore creek outside Chennai. The oil spill mitigation work gained momentum on Friday, a day after the National Green Tribunal (NGT) rebuked the Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd (CPCL) over the slow pace of the cleanup. The oil company, from who's refinery the oil spill originated, had assured that 95% of the oil spill will be removed by the end of this week. "Crucial time has been lost. The spill has spread. We are doing our best," a expert told NDTV. While experts say it's a long, laborious process, the key focus is to save the Ennore Creek. The plan is to gradually remove a significant amount of oil using skimmers, gulley suckers besides manual collection of the spill by nearly 300 fishermen on 100 boats and then use thousands of pads to further absorb the leftover floating oil films. The company has deployed four layer boomers to contain the spread along with consulting a private oil spill mitigation company from Mumbai. At least two skimmers operating on boats have been deployed in the creek to pump waters into containers, from the worst-affected pockets. A statement from the Tamil Nadu Government said, "About 276 barrels containing 48.6 tonnes of oil waste was collected containing approximately 15 tonnes of oil". IIT Madras is investigating the impact to assess the quantum of the oil spill as CPCL has not shared any data on this yet. The Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd has assured that medical checkups are underway for communities living around the creek.
CPCL to pay ₹7.5 crore compensation for oil spill in Ennore - The Hindu - The Tamil Nadu government has fixed a total of ₹8.68 crore as relief fund for families and boats that were affected by the oil spill from industries, in Ennore during Cyclone Michaung. Of this, ₹7.53 crore will be paid by the Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL). During the hearing of a suo motu case on the oil spill on Thursday, the Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) was informed that the livelihood of 2,301 fisher families has been affected and as many as 787 boats belonging to Kattukuppam, Sivanpadaikuppam, Ennorekuppam, Mugadwarakuppam, Thalankuppam, Nettukuppam, VOC Nagar, Ulaganathapuram, and Sathyavanimuthu Nagar were damaged. The Fisheries Department further said that a relief amount of ₹78.7 lakh for the boats (₹10,000 each) and ₹287.6 lakh for the affected families (₹12,500 each) was also fixed. According to the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), 6,700 houses were affected by the oil spill and ₹7,500 will be given for each. For this, the GCC told the tribunal, ₹502.5 lakh relief is needed. Of the total ₹8.68 crore relief fund, the CPCL will pay ₹7.53 crore to the Tamil Nadu Disaster Management Authority and the remaining ₹1.15 crore will be borne by the Authority. On Wednesday, the CPCL and the State government said the emergency recovery work has been completed. While the oil seems to have been removed from most parts of the Kosasthalaiyar, traces of the slick continued to flow near Manali when The Hindu visited the area on Thursday. “CPCL has been asked to deploy 60 boats, each with four fishermen as they know the river better, to clean the remaining oil coming out from pockets every now and then, till December 31,” said Supriya Sahu, Additional Chief Secretary to Environment, Climate Change and Forests department. Another 20 boats will carry out mangrove restoration works for a month, she added.
Oil Prices Jump As BP Halts Shipments Through Red Sea After Rebel Attacks - - Oil prices have found some respite from a six-week sell-off as BPPLC BP became the latest company to announce it was halting shipments through the Red Sea due to the “deteriorating security situation for shipping.” The development comes amid increasing attacks on vessels in the Red Sea by Houthi militants in Yemen, according to Reuters. On Monday, the price of the U.S. benchmark Nymex WTI contract rose 3.9% to $74.57 a barrel, but was still 22.5% lower than its peak in September. European benchmark Brent crude, rose by 3.8% to $79.47 a barrel, but remained nearly 20% lower than its September high mark. The United States Oil Fund USO, an exchange traded fund that tracks the price of light sweet crude, was up 3.6% in early trade, but still lags its 2023 peak by 19%. American Depository Receipts in BP were trading 1.2% higher in midday trading on Monday. Among the US majors, Exxon Mobil XOM gained 1.5% to $102.47 and Chevron CVX added 0.7% to $150.50. In an emailed statement to Benzinga, BP said, “In our trading and shipping business, as in all BP businesses, the safety and security of our people and those working on our behalf is BP's priority. “In light of the deteriorating security situation for shipping in the Red Sea, BP has decided to temporarily pause all transits through the Red Sea. We will keep this precautionary pause under ongoing review, subject to circumstances as they evolve in the region.” BP is among a number of companies who have now suspended shipments through the area. Last week Moller Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, the second- and third-biggest container shippers in the world, said they were halting shipments through the Red Sea. On Monday,Evergreen Line said it would suspend Israel import and exports services “due to rising risk and safety considerations.” The Red Sea is an important shipping route for goods and commodities moving to and from the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa, to Europe and the Eastern U.S. Joining up with the Suez Canal, goods can be shipped though the Mediterranean Sea to Northern Europe and across the Atlantic to ports on the East Coast of the U.S. In March 2021, Brent crude gained 8% over a couple of days when the Suez Canal was blocked for nearly a week by container ship Ever Given. Brent continued to rise into April as the build up in backlogs slowed down the rate of oil shipments into Europe. The alternatives are crossing the Indian and Pacific Oceans to the U.S. West Coast or sailing around Africa. Either of which can add thousands of miles on to the journey and rack up significant extra shipping costs.
Brent Futures Rallies After Red Sea Shipping Disruption -- Oil futures settled Monday's session with gains between 1.5% and 2%, triggered by a disruption in shipping at the Red Sea following a series of attacks by Iranian-aligned Houthi forces on commercial vessels in the region. Some 8.8 million barrels (bbl) of crude oil transits each day through the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb in the Red Sea, a narrow water passage between the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the amount of oil moved through the waterway chokepoint is up from 4.9 million barrels per day (bpd) seen just two years ago as more Russian oil was rerouted from the European continent towards Asia in the aftermath of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Similarly, 4.4 million bpd of petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, were shipped during the first half of 2023 via the same chokepoint from Asian and Middle Eastern refiners towards Europe and North America. Given the key role the shipping routes on the Red Sea play in the global oil trade, the recent attacks on commercial vessels by the Houthi rebel group are particularly troublesome for traders. Oil giant British Petroleum said on Monday the company halted all oil transit through the Red Sea as it continued to assess security for its vessels. Tanker firms Moller-Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, and Euronav have also stopped their ships from entering the southern tip of the Red Sea after a recent spike in violence against commercial shipping. U.S. and European officials are reportedly working on a multifaced security force in the Red Sea to escort all vessels passing through the waterway. Iran-allied Houthi fighters claim they are only attacking ships linked to Israel as part of their strategic shift towards maritime operations to put a stop to the war in Gaza. Further spurring gains for the oil complex, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Dec. 17 that it would deepen oil export cuts in December by potentially 50,000 bpd or more than previously pledged, although it was unclear if this was a result of the disruptions. Regardless of the outcome for Russian exports, the disruption will surely increase shipping costs and voyage time for all tankers and container vessels. At settlement, NYMEX West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures for January delivery added $1.04 bbl to $72.47 bbl, and international crude benchmark Brent February futures advanced to $77.95 bbl, up $1.40. NYMEX RBOB January futures rallied $0.0220 to $2.1590 gallon, and NYMEX ULSD January contract advanced $0.0520 to $2.6728 gallon.
WTI Slides After US Crude Productions Hits New Record High, Inventories Rise Across The Board - Oil prices were higher again this morning (3rd day in a row, at two week highs) as traders and shippers braced for the prospect of more disruptions in the Red Sea. The escalated geopolitical risks have introduced a premium to an oil market plagued by skepticism that OPEC+ will adhere to production cuts and concerns that supplies from outside the cartel are increasing, especially from the US. Some of that concern has been tempered by wagers that global central banks will embark on a rate-cutting cycle next year as inflation slows. But the inventory/production data will be the driver of the next leg one way or another. API:
- Crude +939k (-2.5mm exp)
- Cushing +1.853mm
- Gasoline +669k (+700k exp)
- Distillates +2.738mm (+700k exp)
DOE
- Crude +2.9mm (-2.5mm exp)
- Cushing +1.68mm
- Gasoline +2.7mm (+700k exp)
- Distillates +1.5mm (+700k exp)
US crude stocks jumped 2.9mm barrels last week (hugely beating the 2.5mm draw expected), Cushing stocks and product inventories also built... Source: Bloomberg https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfmAC88_0.jpg?itok=6fX0FHx_ The Biden administration added 629k barrels to the SPR last week - the most since September... US Crude production jumped 200k b/d to a new record high, despite the trend lower in rig counts...WTI was trading just above $75 ahead of the print and started sliding fast soon after...But prices are still holding some geopol risk premia...
Oil Prices Swing on Unexpected Inventory Surge and Trade Flow Disruptions The oil market on Wednesday traded lower in light of the EIA report showing an unexpected build in crude stocks on the week, with record U.S. oil output and larger than expected builds in product stocks. The crude market retraced more than 62% of its move from a high of $79.67 to a low of $67.98 as it posted a high of $75.37 ahead of the release of the EIA’s weekly petroleum stock report. It was well supported by concerns over global trade disruption and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East following the recent attacks on ships by Yemen’s Houthi militants in the Red Sea. On Wednesday, the leader of the Houthi militants warned that his group would start firing missiles at U.S. warships if Washington got more involved in its affairs or targeted Yemen. This followed his comments on Tuesday when he vowed to defy the U.S.-led naval mission and to keep targeting Red Sea shipping. However, the crude market erased all of its earlier gains and traded below the $74.00 level following the release of the EIA report. It posted a low of $73.60 in afternoon trading. The February WTI contract settled up 28 cents at $74.22 and the February Brent contract settled up 47 cents at $79.70. Meanwhile, the product markets ended the session in negative territory, with the heating oil market settling down 83 points at $2.7085 and the RB market settling down 1 point at $2.2007. The EIA reported that crude oil stocks increased by 2.909 million barrels in the week ending December 15th. The report showed that U.S. crude oil production increased by 200,000 bpd on the week to a record 13.3 million bpd. The head of Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis, Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, said his group would start firing missiles at U.S. warships if Washington got more involved in its affairs or targeted Yemen. IIR Energy reported that U.S. oil refiners are expected to shut in 14,000 bpd of capacity in the week ending December 22nd, after operating at full capacity in the previous week. U.S. Gulf Coast refiners have reduced gasoline export prices to their lowest since 2021 because restrictions on shipping through the Panama Canal have left exporters unable to send as much of the motor fuel to international markets. The number of U.S. gasoline cargoes crossing the waterway nearly halved last month from year-ago levels. The canal is the shortest route for fuel tankers from the U.S. Gulf Coast to South America's Pacific Coast and eastern Asia. Analysts said some less cost-efficient U.S. refiners may need to reduce production to prevent fuel inventories building, as the canal maintains transit restrictions in place at least through year end. That could hit supplies of products like heating fuel, which see higher demand in the winter. Some Gulf Coast refiners have offered gasoline for export at as low as $75/barrel this month for the first time since February 2021. They have been forced to cut prices to make it economically viable for shippers without reservations who face higher costs to either secure passage slots through the Panama Canal's daily auctions or to take much longer routes sailing around it. The restrictions in Panama have led foreign buyers of U.S. gasoline to begin sourcing product elsewhere. Data from ship tracking service Kpler showed that Chile, a big buyer of U.S. gasoline via the waterway, cut its imports from the Gulf Coast to the lowest level in three years, while Asian purchases were the slowest in half a decade. According to Kpler data, Gulf Coast gasoline exports through the Panama Canal fell about 40% in November from a year ago to 203,000 bpd. Meanwhile, shipments of U.S. gasoline to storage facilities in the Bahamas were at their highest rate last month since the Covid-19 pandemic crushed demand in April 2020.
Oil prices finish lower after Angola announces decision to leave OPEC Crude-oil futures settled lower for the first time in four sessions Thursday, with traders fretting over a possible shake-up in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries following Angola's decision withdraw its membership from the group of oil producers. Crude futures had already been under pressure after a buildup in U.S. petroleum supplies and record domestic production cooled a rally sparked by disrupted shipments in the Red Sea. Price action West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery CL00 CL.1 CLG24 fell 33 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $73.89 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange but ended off the session's low of $72.44.February Brent crude BRN00 BRNG24, the global benchmark, lost 31 cents, or 0.4%, at $79.39 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.January gasoline RBF24 shed 1.9% to $2.16 a gallon, while January heating oil HOF24 fell 0.4% to $2.70 a gallon.Natural gas for January delivery NGF24 settled at $2.57 per million British thermal units, up 5.1%. Angola's oil minister, Diamantino de Azevedo, announced Thursday the withdrawal of his country from OPEC, according to state-controlled news agency Angop. He said that Angola would not gain anything by remaining in the organization. News that Angola is leaving OPEC lifted concerns that there might be "growing pressure within the OPEC cartel to raise production," "On the surface Angola leaving OPEC is not that big of a deal because they can barely pump their oil quota," However, the concern is that "Angola's departure might signal some underlying tension with the fact that the cartel is losing market share to non-OPEC producers and mainly the United States." Also read: Why 2023 was a tough year for commodities even as gold and orange-juice prices hit records In a weekly report released Wednesday, the Energy Information Administration said U.S. petroleum production marked a climb to another record high at 13.3 million barrels a day. On Thursday, however, Baker Hughes (BKR) reported a third straight weekly decline in the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil, implying an upcoming fall in output. That number fell by three to 498 this week. Several shipping companies have suspended shipments through the Red Sea after a series of drone and missile attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. The U.S. earlier this week announced a naval coalition would move to halt the attacks. "We think oil passing through the Red Sea could ultimately be rerouted through other shipping channels, albeit at a longer distance and higher cost," "Disruptions at the Strait of Hormuz, on the opposite side of the Arabian peninsula, would pose a much bigger risk, as it allows for roughly 20% of global supply to pass. "In general, the abundance of geopolitical conflicts today place an upward bias on the price of oil," he told MarketWatch. Read: Attacks in the Red Sea add to global shipping woes Looking ahead, trading volume in oil is likely to lighten, said Tariq Zahir, managing member at Tyche Capital Advisors. The situation for oil has "not really changed much, with cuts by OPEC announced and potential slowing of the U.S. economy battling each other for the next direction of crude oil," he told MarketWatch. Zahir also said he does not believe it's a big deal "at all" that Angola is reportedly leaving OPEC. As the energy market begins a new year, Zahir said prices may start a move higher, albeit "slowly and possibly choppy." Brent and WTI rose for a third straight session Wednesday, ending at their highest since Nov. 30 but below session highs after the EIA reported a rise in U.S. crude, gasoline and distillate supplies last week. Separately Thursday, the EIA reported that U.S. natural-gas supplies in storage fell by 87 billion cubic feet for the week ending Dec. 15 - slightly more than the 83 billion-cubic-foot decline forecast by analysts surveyed by S&P Global Commodity Insights.
Oil Futures Post Weekly Gains on Red Sea Shipping Disruption -- Oil futures nearest delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Brent crude on the Intercontinental Exchange edged lower during Friday's afternoon session, although all petroleum contracts registered their second consecutive weekly advance amid improved sentiment in financial markets and shipping disruption in the Red Sea following a series of attacks by Houthis militia on commercial vessels off the southern coast of Yemen. In broader markets, the U.S. dollar index lost ground against a basket of foreign currencies to finish the week at 101.338, down 1.2% from the prior Friday, after fresh consumer data in the United States showed sentiment improved markedly in December, led by a more positive outlook on the labor market and business conditions. Notably, consumer expectations for inflation plunged to the lowest point since March 2021, sitting just above the 2.3%-3% range seen in the two years prior to the pandemic. Long-run inflation expectations fell from 3.2% last month to 2.9% this month, staying within the narrow 2.9%-3.1% range for 26 of the last 29 months. More evidence of easing inflation pressures could be found in Friday's release of the Personal Consumption Index, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure, which fell 0.1% from the previous month on a core basis. What's more, core PCE increased just 1.9% over the past six months, indicating that if current trends continue, the Fed essentially has reached its goal. The Fed's inflation target is 2%. Separately, oil traders continue to monitor the developing situation in the Strait of Bab al-Mandab as more shipping operators vowed to avoid the Red Sea amid heightened security concerns. The United States announced a maritime security coalition consisting of 10 countries to protect safe passage for commercial vessels through the narrow waterway passage. Market sources said despite the coalition, the disruption to shipping won't be resolved quickly. The Red Sea has increased importance in global oil flow, with 8.8 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil transiting through the waterway in the first half of 2023, up from 4.9 million bpd two years ago, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Suez Canal and Strait of Bab al-Mandab have become particularly important for Russian crude oil exports that rose from just 120,000 bpd in the two weeks leading up to the war in Ukraine to 1.7 million bpd during the most recent six months. Similarly, 4.4 million bpd of petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, have been shipped during the first half of 2023 via the same chokepoint from the Asian and Middle Eastern refiners towards Europe and North America. Limiting upside for the oil complex are concerns of fracturing within the OPEC+ alliance after Angola abandoned the quota system to pursue private investments for expansion of its oil industry. "We feel that at the moment Angola does not gain anything by remaining in the organization and, in defense of its interests, it has decided to leave," said Joao Loureno, president of Angola, according to the Angola Press Agency. The decision to leave the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries following 16 years follows a dispute over production quotas in late November. OPEC+, chaired by Saudi Arabia and Russia, lowered Angola's production quota for 2024 to 1.28 million bpd from 1.455 million bpd, citing consistent underperformance on its output targets. At settlement, NYMEX West Texas Intermediate futures for February delivery slipped $0.33 to $73.56 per barrel (bbl), while Brent declined $0.32 to $79.07 per bbl. NYMEX RBOB January futures moved down $0.0284 to $2.1301 per gallon, and the NYMEX ULSD January contract fell $0.0356 to $2.6612 per gallon.
Oil Posts Largest Weekly Gain Since October on Red Sea Turmoil | Rigzone -- Oil posted the biggest weekly gain since October as attacks in the Red Sea forced hundreds of ships to take safer but longer routes, delaying the delivery of oil cargoes. US benchmark WTI edged down to settle below $74 a barrel on Friday as reports that Russia was scaling back its export reductions in January undercut some of the Red Sea risks. Crude was still up 3% for the week. Attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi militant group forced more ships take extensive detours to avoid the vital waterway, with disruptions seen lasting through February. So far this week, only about 30 tankers, including crude oil and fuel carriers, have entered the Bab al-Mandab Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, according to vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s a drop of more than 40% versus the daily average over the previous three weeks as the Houthis target merchant ships in a show of support of Hamas in its war with Israel. Crude is headed for its first annual drop since 2020 as surging production from the US and elsewhere counters efforts by the OPEC+ alliance to shore up the market through output cuts. The outlook for demand is also fragile, with the International Energy Agency forecasting that growth will slow sharply next year. Geopolitical events provide a buffer to oil’s decline, but “fundamental weakness continues to be the overarching concern,” said Rebecca Babin, a senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth. WTI for February delivery fell 0.4% to $73.56 a barrel. Brent for February settlement fell 0.40% to $79.07 a barrel. Brent’s prompt spread was 27 cents in backwardation on Friday, after being in the opposite, bearish contango pattern for most of this month.
New task force will combat Houthi threat in Red Sea - The Pentagon announced Operation Prosperity Guardian to protect merchant ships and commercial boats from the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.The new task force includes the U.K., Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain.It will fall under the Combined Maritime Forces, a multinational alliance tasked with defending the world’s shipping lanes.The new security initiative will also be included in the alliance’s Task Force 153, in charge of defending the Red Sea and other regional areas.Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the task force will help keep the Houthi rebels at bay after the group has attacked several merchant ships through the important transit corridor of the Red Sea.“This is not just a U.S. issue — this is an international problem, and it deserves an international response,” Austin told reporters on Monday.Not everyone has backed the idea.Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the Biden administration must deter the Houthis from attacking in the first place. “We cannot let terrorists dictate the flow of global trade in the world’s largest shipping lane,” Wicker said in a statement, warning there could be a “catastrophe” in the Red Sea if the U.S. fails to act.Several companies — including oil giant BP and container shipping firmMaersk — have already said they will redirect transit routes to avoid the Red Sea.The World Shipping Council welcomed the news of the new task force. “The mission of this task force is critical to protecting seafarers and to defending the foundational principle of freedom of navigation,” the organization wrote in a statement.
US Formally Launches Red Sea Military Operation in Response to Houthi Attacks - The US has formally announced the launch of a new military operation in the Red Sea aimed at responding to attacks on commercial shipping by Yemen’s Houthis that started in response to the brutal Israeli assault on Gaza.Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the initiative, dubbed Operation Prosperity Guardian, while on a trip to the region and said the other countries taking part include the UK, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, and Spain.The Houthi attacks have forced some of the world’s largest shipping lines to suspend Red Sea transits, which risks a major impact on the global economy. The British energy giant BP announced Monday that it was stopping all shipments of oil and gas through the waters.The Houthis, formally known as Ansar Allah, have vowed to target all ships heading to and from Israel and said the only way to “restore calm” to the region is through a lasting ceasefire in Gaza. The Houthis have shown no sign of backing down and announced on Monday that they launched two drone attacks on commercial vessels.The US is considering taking military action against the Houthis, which would involve bombing Yemen. The US has backed a Saudi-UAE coalition against the Houthis since 2015, but it’s rare that the US takes direct military action against them.Bloomberg reported that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are split on how the US should respond. The UAE wants military action and for the US to redesignate the Houthis as a “foreign terrorist organization,” which wouldmake the implementation of a Yemen peace deal impossible. For their part, the Saudis fear that military action could provoke more Houthi attacks and break the fragile truce that’s held relatively well in Yemen since April 2022. Before the ceasefire, the Houthis had launched multiple successful missile and drone attacks against Saudi oil facilities.
US announces naval operation targeting Yemen and Iran - US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced Monday the start of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a naval operation in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, targeting the Houthi rebels in Yemen and threatening Iran. Austin made the announcement in Israel, thus underscoring the role that Israeli forces, now engaged in mass murder in Gaza, will play in any future war with Iran. “The recent escalation in reckless Houthi attacks originating from Yemen threatens the free flow of commerce, endangers innocent mariners and violates international law,” Austin said Monday in a statement. “This is an international challenge that demands collective action.” Austin made clear the main target of the operation was Iran, saying at a press briefing in Israel, “Iran is raising tensions by continuing to support terrorist groups and malicious attacks by these Iranian proxies who threaten the region and risk a broader conflict.” In a backhanded threat, Austin said, “Of course, the United States does not seek war. And we urgently call on Iran to take steps to de-escalate.” The US has sent an armada of nearly 20 warships to the Middle East, led by two aircraft carrier battle groups. The new naval operation will include most of the major imperialist powers, including the UK, France, Italy and Spain. On Saturday, the US Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Carney engaged over a dozen drones launched from Yemen. Austin said the initiative was begun “to tackle the challenge posed by this non-state actor launching ballistic missiles and uncrewed aerial vehicles at merchant vessels from many nations lawfully transiting international waters.” At a press briefing with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Austin said, “We’re taking action to build an international coalition to address this threat.” After Austin leaves Israel, he is scheduled to visit the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, currently in the eastern Mediterranean. Austin’s visit is part of a parade of high-level US officials visiting Israel. General C. Q. Brown, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, was also in Israel on Monday. Last week, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan visited Israel, while CIA chief Bill Burns also met with Qatari and Israeli officials in Warsaw, Poland. Earlier this month, Sullivan threatened military action against the Houthi rebels, saying the US would “take appropriate action … at a time and place of our choosing.” USNI News, the news service of the US Navy, gave a sense of the massive deployment currently under way: “The U.S. Navy has at least three destroyers in the vicinity of the Bab el Mandeb strait between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden—USS Carney (DDG-64), USS Mason (DDG-87) and USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116) have all operated in the region. The U.K. Royal Navy guided-missile destroyer HMS Diamond (D34) and the French Navy guided-missile frigate FS Languedoc (653) have operated in the Red Sea as well. “Over the weekend, the U.S. moved aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) and its escorts to the Gulf of Aden—between Somalia and Yemen, according to USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker. Shipspotters also saw guided-missile destroyer USS Laboon (DDG-58) enter the Red Sea from the Suez Canal on Monday.” During his visit to Israel, Austin reaffirmed the US’s unlimited support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza. “I’m here with a clear message,” Austin said. “America’s support for Israel’s security is unshakable.” He added, “Hamas committed atrocities during its attack on Israel. It is a continuation of its professed goals: the killing of Jews and the elimination of the Jewish state. No country should tolerate such a danger.” He concluded, “Israel has every right to defend itself against a fanatical terrorist group whose stated purpose is to murder Jews and eradicate the Jewish state. … So make no mistake, Hamas should never again be able to project terror from Gaza into the sovereign state of Israel.”
Houthis Say They Won't Back Down Even If US 'Mobilizes the Entire World' - Yemen’s Houthis responded to the US launching a new military operation in the Red Sea by vowing attacks on commercial shipping in the region will continue even if the US “mobilizes the entire world.”The US launched a 10-nation naval task force, dubbed Operation Prosperity Guardian, after major shipping companies began pausing Red Sea transits due to the Houthi attacks. Bahrain is the only Arab country to participate in the coalition, and no nations with coasts on the Red Sea have joined. “Even if America succeeds in mobilizing the entire world, our military operations will not stop … no matter the sacrifices it costs us,” Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a senior member of the Houthis’ political bureau, wrote on X.In another post, al-Bukhaiti said, “America’s announcement of the establishment of the Coalition of Shame will not prevent us from continuing our military operations until the crimes of genocide in Gaza are stopped and food, medicine and fuel are allowed to enter its besieged population.”The Houthis have vowed to target all commercial vessels heading to or from Israeli ports and have also fired missiles and drones at Israeli territory. In some cases, US warships have intervened and intercepted Houthi attacks.The Houthis, formally known as Ansar Allah, have controlled the Yemeni capital of Sanaa since 2014 and govern the area of Yemen where 70-80% of Yemen’s population lives. The US is considering taking direct military action against the Houthis, which would mean bombing Yemen, a step that could shatter the fragile truce between the Saudis and Houthis that has held relatively well since April 2022.The US is also threatening to kill a Saudi-Houthi peace deal by redesignating the Houthis as a “foreign terrorist organization,” which would make the implementation of the agreement impossible. For their part, Riyadh is asking the US not to strike the Houthis directly over concerns that it would provoke more attacks.
Too Late For US Naval Deterrence In Red Sea After Biden Misled World On Houthi Attacks - It has become clear there's a full-blown Houthi war on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. Weeks ago, we featured commentary that cited US defense officials who were frustrated that the Pentagon was being held back from responding forcefully against Houthis positions in Yemen by the Biden White House. President Biden stood accused of "downplaying" the threat, as statements in Politico have underscored, "Some current and former military officials were frustrated by the administration’s initial response to the Houthis’ Sunday attacks on the ships." This as some top military brass pushed for a more forceful response, lest the Iranian proxies grow more emboldened.But more emboldened is precisely what has happened, as container ships are coming under drone and missile attack on a daily basis at this point, triggering delays and rising prices on goods as major liners avoid Red Sea transit altogether. Fast-forward to this week, now nearing the end of December and The Wall Street Journal has run an alarming but apt headline this which spells out U.S. Naval Deterrence Is Going, Going, Maybe Even Gone.Increasingly, Biden's desire to make nice with the Iranians in order to keep global energy prices down ahead of the 2024 election is translating to a posture of 'looking the other way'—and some analysts worry it's too late to reestablish deterrence. The Commander-in-Chief hasn't so much as ordered a military response when American warships in waters off Yemen themselves come under direct attack. Again, this is what has deeply frustrated Pentagon leaders, who feel handcuffed. In its fresh commentary, WSJ points to the reality and immediate consequences of the US Navy coming under attack, but failing to respond or decisively hit back: Recently the news broke that the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Carney had fended off several missile and drone attacks in the Red Sea. While Biden administration officials tried to frame the battle, for a battle it surely was, as the Carney’s defending nearby merchant ships, it seems clear that Iranian-supplied Houthis were targeting the Carney directly as well as the commercial ships it was accompanying. This was only one of several recent assaults on American naval assets in the region. They have happened despite the presence of the Ford carrier strike group in the eastern Mediterranean and the Eisenhower strike group in the Gulf of Aden—a conventional level of naval deterrence that should have reduced aggressive activities by U.S. enemies. Instead, Iran attacked American ships and allies. But still, if the last 20+ years of the so-called global war on terror has taught Washington anything, it is that it's hard to deter a hardened and determined ragtag army of insurgents with things like giant naval assets sitting off a coast which are designed to fight bigger, conventional wars.
Iran threatens to close Mediterranean Sea citing US ‘crimes’ in Gaza -- Iran threatened Saturday that the Mediterranean Sea could be “closed” if the U.S. and Israel continued “crimes” in Gaza, state media reported, according to Reuters.The Iranian government has showed support for militant group Hamas in its war against Israel, while the U.S. has strongly backed Israel — despite growing criticism of the Israeli military’s war effort.“They shall soon await the closure of the Mediterranean Sea, (the Strait of) Gibraltar and other waterways,” state media Tasnim quoted Iranian Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Naqdi as saying.Iran has accused the Israeli military, and the U.S. as its close ally, of committing war crimes in Gaza. Over 20,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict since early October, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.The Biden administration has pressed the Israeli military to step back from major military operations amid the rising civilian death toll and international pressure.It is unclear how Iran would follow through on such a threat, as the country has no direct access to the Mediterranean Sea and no major naval presence outside the Persian Gulf. Naqdi referenced attacks on Gibraltar would be an escalation of Red Sea attacks on shippingfrom Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Iran-backed rebel group launched attacks on cargo ships and U.S. warships near the Horn of Africa last week, stepping up operations in the years-long Yemeni Civil War. “Yesterday, the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz became a nightmare for them, and today they are trapped … in the Red Sea,” Naqdi said, referencing the Houthi attacks, according to state media.The Biden administration has faced pressure to strike back at the Yemeni group over the attacks. A Navy taskforce will be deployed to the region to protect shipping, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced Monday.Iran’s proxy groups in the eastern Mediterranean, Hezbollah in Lebanon and an allied group in Syria, are not believed to have the capability of long-distance strikes.Tansim reported that an Iran-backed group in Iraq attacked an Israeli natural gas facility off the coast of Israel earlier this week.
US Forces Have Come Under Attack Over 100 Times in Iraq and Syria Since October - A Pentagon official said Thursday that US troops in Iraq and Syria have come under attack at least 102 times since October 17, when the attacks started due to US support for the Israeli onslaught on Gaza.The Pentagon official told Military Times that the number includes 47 attacks in Iraq and 55 in Syria that involved a “mix of one-way attack drones, rockets, mortars, and close-range ballistic missiles.”At least 66 US troops have been injured in the attacks so far, including five who have been awarded Purple Hearts. US officials say most of the rockets and drones fired at US bases didn’t reach their intended target.Most of the attacks have been claimed by the Islamic Resistance of Iraq, an umbrella group of Iraqi Shia militias. The US has launched several rounds of airstrikes in Syria and Iraq in response and specifically targeted Kataib Hezbollah, one of the main Iran-aligned Shia militias in Iraq.The latest attack that’s been confirmed by the US military took place on Wednesday. US Central Command said a 122mm rocket was fired at the Ain al-Asad airbase in western Iraq, causing no casualties or damage.In 2020, Iraq’s parliament voted to expel all foreign military forces over the US drone strike in Baghdad that killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.The US refused to leave Iraq and pressured the Iraqi government to allow its forces to stay. In an effort to placate anti-US factions, the US formally changed its presence in Iraq from a combat role to an advisory role in December 2021 to help in the fight against ISIS remnants, but the US did not withdraw any troops at the time, and there are 2,500 in the country today.
3 hostages were shot dead after being misidentified by soldier, Israel says : NPR — An investigation into the killing of three hostages held by Hamas in Gaza has found that the captives were shirtless and waving a white flag as Israeli soldiers fired on them.The preliminary report Saturday by the Israel Defense Forces, or IDF, said the hostages had managed to evade their captors in the northern Gaza neighborhood of Shijaiyah before they were "mistakenly identified" as they exited a building on Friday. They were then shot by an Israeli soldier.Two were killed immediately and another was wounded and ran back into the building, an Israeli official said in a briefing on Saturday. Soldiers then heard a cry for help in Hebrew. The soldier's battalion commander ordered the firing to stop. The third hostage later died of his wounds. Last month, Hamas released more than 100 hostages in a seven-day truce in exchange for about 300 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held by Israel. The three captives killed on Friday were among the more than 100 hostages believed still held by the Palestinian militant group.The preliminary report concluded that the soldiers involved in the accidental shooting did not follow the IDF's own rules of engagement. The hostages had been dressed in civilian clothes and waving a white flag before they were shot by a soldier who felt under threat, the military official said.Hamas militants wear civilian clothes to deceive the military, the official said.
Anger at Israeli government mounts after military admits to mistakenly killing hostages—— Mounting anger at the Israeli government spilled onto the streets of Tel Aviv Saturday after it emerged that the country’s military hadmistakenly killed three hostages in Gaza who “had a stick with a white cloth on it.”In a plaza in downtown Tel Aviv known as “Hostage Square,” Raz Ben Ami, who was released from captivity late last month, told a crowd of hundreds that she had “warned” the Israeli government that military operations in Gaza were putting hostages at risk and had “unfortunately” been proven right.Emotions were raw a day after news broke that Yotam Haim, Samer Talalka and Alon Shamriz had been killed by soldiers from their own side.Ben Ami, whose husband, Ohad Ben Ami, remains in captivity, told the crowd that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war Cabinet should present a proposal to free the dozens of people still held by Hamas. Holding an hourglass, Ruby Chen, whose 19-year-old son Itay Chen is still being held hostage, said the government “needs to be active” in getting a new deal. He added that it was evident the current strategy wasn’t working very well. The protest, which followed another demonstration on Friday night, erupted after an official from the Israel Defense Forces revealed Saturday that the hostages “had a stick with a white cloth on it” before they were killed. The hostages were believed to have either “been abandoned or escaped” Hamas’ captivity, the official said, adding that a soldier felt threatened and opened fire. “Two are killed immediately, one is injured and runs back into the building,” the official said. He added a that “cry for help” had been heard in Hebrew, but after the battalion commander issued a cease-fire order there was “another burst of fire,” and “he also dies.” A preliminary investigation has been launched “at the highest level,” the official said, adding that the conduct went “against our rules of engagement.”
IDF soldiers who killed hostages disobeyed orders to hold fire - The Jerusalem Post - The IDF soldiers who accidentally shot and killed three hostages held by Hamas in Gaza did so despite being ordered not to shoot, a recent investigation by the IDF revealed. Speaking to 103FM, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, former national security adviser to the prime minister, said this reflected a need to tighten the IDF's open-fire policies. Reflecting on his experience in Gaza, Amidror expressed discomfort over the fact that people emerged from a half-ruined building waving a white flag, but were still gunned down. He emphasized the importance of not passing judgment without understanding the complexity of the situation from an insider's perspective. Amidror acknowledged the challenges of coordinating forces in an area where limited visibility often hampers decision-making. Efforts are being made to utilize drones to overcome this issue, but there is no foolproof solution yet. Shifting the focus to negotiations for hostages, Amidror cautioned against involving the public and family members too extensively in hostage negotiation. Drawing from his involvement in past cases, Amidror stressed the necessity of keeping certain aspects of negotiations confidential, as public exposure can hinder success. While understanding the families' willingness to take action for their loved ones, Amidror highlighted the limited impact such actions ultimately have. Balancing the families' needs with the need for discretion is crucial, he argued.
Three Israeli Hostages Killed in Error Had White Flag, Israel Says - The Israeli military on Saturday said three hostages mistakenly killed by Israeli troops had been shirtless, unarmed and bearing a makeshift white flag. The troubling details of how they died have created widespread anguish and prompted renewed calls for a pause in the fighting to allow more hostages to be released. The military, which acknowledged that the killings violated its rules of engagement, announced the deaths on Friday, hours after saying it had recovered the bodies of three other Israeli hostages in Gaza. Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevy, the Israeli military chief of staff, said on Saturday that the three hostages had done “everything so that we would understand” that they were harmless, including removing their shirts to show they bore no explosives. “The shooting of the hostages was carried out contrary to the open-fire regulations,” he said. “It is forbidden to shoot at those who raise a white flag and seek to surrender.” As the death toll of Palestinians killed in 70 days of war soared to nearly 20,000, according to Gazan health officials, the shootings of the Israeli hostages underlined the continuing risks for the more than 120 people who Israel says are still captive and raised questions about Israel’s prosecution of the war. Some families of the hostages seized on the shootings to urge the government to make securing the captives’ freedom its highest priority. Itzik Horn, whose children Eitan, 37, and Yair, 45, were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, said the killings reinforced his belief that Israel must immediately reach a deal to free all the captives, even if it means releasing Palestinians being held in Israeli jails on terrorism charges. “Let them free all the Palestinian prisoners we have here, all the terrorists — what do I care,” Mr. Horn said in an interview. “The most important thing isn’t to defeat Hamas. The only victory here is to bring back all the hostages.”
Israel's killing of 3 hostages seen as example of force against Palestinians (AP) — Israelis were left stunned and speechless when three hostages held by Hamas were killed by Israeli forces in the middle of an active war zone after they waved a white flag and screamed out in Hebrew to show they did not pose a threat.For some, the incident was a shocking example of the ugliness of war, where a complex and dangerous battlefield is safe for no one. But for critics, the incident underscores what they say is the excessively violent conduct of Israel’s security apparatus against Palestinians. Except in this case, it cut short the lives of three Israelis trying desperately to save themselves.“It’s heartbreaking but it’s not surprising,” said Roy Yellin, director of public outreach with the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. “We have documented over the years countless incidents of people who clearly surrendered and who were still shot.”Yellin said the killings violated basic military ethics and international law that prohibit shooting at people trying to surrender, whether combatants or not. But he said it was part of a long trend of largely unpunished excessive force that in recent weeks has ensnared Israelis themselves.According to a military official, the three hostages, all men in their 20s, emerged from a building close to Israeli soldiers’ positions in the Gaza City neighborhood of Shijaiyah, where troops have been battling Hamas militants in intense combat. They waved a white flag and were shirtless, possibly trying to signal they posed no threat. Two were killed immediately, and the third ran back into the building screaming for help in Hebrew. The commander issued an order to cease fire, but another burst of gunfire killed the third man, the official said. The army’s chief, Lt. Col. Herzi Halevi, said hostages “did everything possible” to make it clear they did not pose a threat, but that the soldiers acted “during combat and under pressure.” On Sunday, Halevi reviewed the rules of engagement with troops, saying the prohibition against opening fire on those who surrender must also apply to Palestinians. “When you see two people who do not threaten you, who don’t have weapons, who have their hands up and are not wearing shirts, take two seconds,” he said in comments broadcast on Israeli TV. “And I want to tell you something that is no less important: if these are two Gazans with a white flag who want to surrender, will we shoot them? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. That is not the IDF (Israel Defense Forces).” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that the killings “broke my heart, broke the entire nation’s heart,” but he indicated no change in Israel’s intensive military campaign. With popular opinion firmly behind the military effort, the hostages’ deaths weren’t likely to prompt a change in the public mood.
As Gaza Death Toll Crosses 20,000, Aid Group Warns True Number Is Higher -After 10 weeks of Israeli military operations in Gaza, authorities have counted 20,000 dead Palestinians. An overwhelming number of the dead are innocent civilians with no ties to Hamas. An aid group warns the actual death toll is probably greater since thousands of missing Gazans remain buried under rubble. Israeli officials say civilian deaths are viewed as part of eliminating Hamas.“As the official death toll in Gaza passes 20,000, Islamic Relief is warning that the actual toll is likely to be even higher – as thousands of people are still missing and buried under the rubble and young children are increasingly suffering severe hunger and disease,” a press release from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. “To see 20,000 people killed in such a short space of time is a stain on the world’s conscience.”According to Gaza’s Government Media Office, the dead include 8,000 children and 6,200 women. At least an additional 50,000 are injured.An Israeli official told reporters on Wednesday that the mass destruction of civilian targets in Gaza is a part of Tel Aviv’s strategy of defeating Hamas. Reuters reports a legal advisor to the Israeli Defense Forces said the IDF was carrying out “thousands and thousands of attacks and often attacks that require heavy firepower” to destroy tunnels under Gaza used by Hamas. He added, “Really tragically that results in a large number of civilian casualties.”Last month, the Israeli outlet +972 Magazine reported speaking with sources who said the civilian deaths were intentional. “Nothing happens by accident. When a 3-year-old girl is killed in a home in Gaza, it’s because someone in the army decided it wasn’t a big deal for her to be killed — that it was a price worth paying in order to hit [another] target.” The source continued, “We are not Hamas. These are not random rockets. Everything is intentional. We know exactly how much collateral damage there is in every home.” The article also explains Israel’s targeting “power targets,” which include civilian infrastructure, such as high-rise apartment buildings, banks, universities, and other public buildings. The OCHA press release described the results of the Israeli policy. “The scale of destruction is staggering with at least 60% of homes and 69% of schools now reportedly damaged or destroyed, and almost 80% of hospitals no longer able to function,” it says.
Witnesses Say IDF Troops 'Executed' Women and Children in Gaza School -Eyewitness testimony reported Wednesday by Al Jazeera accused Israeli troops of massacring forcibly displaced women and children sheltering at a school in northern Gaza, an allegation that prompted a leading U.S. Muslim advocacy group to demand a response from President Joe Biden. The reported massacre took place at the Shadia Abu Ghazala School in the al-Faluja area west of the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. Video footage aired by the Qatar-based news network showed numerous covered bodies piled in one of the school's classrooms."The Israeli soldiers came in and opened fire on them," one unidentified witness said. "They took all men, then entered classrooms and opened fire on a woman and all the children with her," including "newborn children.""The Israeli soldiers executed those innocent families point-blank," she added.A man who arrived at the scene after the alleged mass murder told Al Jazeera that "we found dozens of dead bodies in the classrooms.""There is no sign of any missiles or shells," he added. "All those who were in the buildings were executed from point-blank. The Israeli soldiers opened fire on them. Many families came searching for their children. They found them all killed. They were all killed, executed at gunpoint." As of press time, the alleged massacre had not been independently verified.
Pope Francis Condemns Israeli 'Terrorism' After IDF Kills 2 Women at Catholic Church in Gaza - Pope Francis on Sunday condemned an Israeli attack on the only Catholic church in Gaza as “terrorism.”The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Catholic authority in the region, said Saturday that the Holy Family Church’s compound in Gaza City was under Israeli bombardment and that Israeli Defense Forces snipers killed two women on the grounds.“A sniper of the IDF murdered two Christian women inside the Holy Family Parish in Gaza, where the majority of Christian families have taken refuge since the start of the war,” the patriarchate said.The two women, an elderly woman and her daughter, were shot and killed while walking to a nun convent on the grounds of the parish, and seven more people were wounded by gunfire. “No warning was given, no notification was provided. They were shot in cold blood inside the premises of the parish, where there are no belligerents,” the patriarchate said.The patriarchate said that earlier in the day, IDF tank fire targeted the Convent of the Sisters of Mother Theresa on the parish grounds, where 54 disabled persons live. The Israeli attack destroyed the building’s generator, its only source of electricity, as well as its fuel and water resources. The tank fire left the home uninhabitable, and the 54 people who lived there “are currently displaced and without access to the respirators that some of them need to survive.”According to Vatican News, Israelis have claimed a rocket launcher is present at the parish, but Catholic authorities say there are only unarmed civilians on the compound. Pope Francis said on the parish grounds there are “no terrorists, but families, children, people who are sick and have disabilities, and nuns” and that in Gaza, “unarmed civilians are the targets of bombings and gunfire.” The pope named the two Christian women who were killed, Nahida Khalil Anton and her daughter, Samar Kamal Anton. “Some say, ‘This is terrorism. This is war.’ Yes, it is war. It is terrorism,” he said. “That is why the Scripture affirms that ‘God stops wars… breaks the bow, splinters the spear’ (Psalm 46:10). Let us pray to the Lord for peace.”
Pressure Mounts on Netanyahu to Reach New Deal With Hamas After IDF Killed 3 Israeli Hostages - The Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is coming under increasing domestic pressure to reach a new hostage deal with Hamas after the Israeli military mistakenly killed three Israelis who escaped from captivity in Gaza.Israeli troops in Gaza shot the three Israeli hostages while the escapees were shirtless and waving a white flag. Two died immediately, and the third was wounded and sought shelter in a nearby building. He cried out for help in Hebrew before being shot again and killed.At a funeral for one of the victims, Alon Shamriz, family members said he was abandoned and murdered by the Israeli military. “Those who abandoned you also murdered you after all that you did right,” Shamriz’s brother said.Family members of Israeli hostages in Gaza met with ministers in Netanyahu’s war cabinet on Saturday and called for Israel to cease its current operations and work toward another deal with Hamas. More than 100 Israeli women and children were released as a result of the last deal with Hamas, and over 130 Israelis remain captive in Gaza, although some are dead.Netanyahu’s government faced backlash after it was revealed that the war cabinet blocked Mossad chief David Barnea from restarting hostage negotiations in Qatar, where Hamas political leaders are based. But now it appears some diplomacy has resumed as Barnea met with Qatar’s prime minister in Europe on Friday, and Doha said it’s involved in diplomatic efforts to reach another pause in the Israeli onslaught in Gaza.Despite the growing calls for diplomacy, Netanyahu on Sunday vowed to keep military operations going. He said the brutal Israeli assault will continue “to the very end” until “there will be no authority that will continue training for terror” in Gaza. “After we have eradicated Hamas and Gaza will be demilitarized under the control of Israel, there will be no one who will educate their children to annihilate Israel,” he said.
Israeli Town Council Head Says Israel Should Make Gaza Look Like Auschwitz - David Azoulai, the council head of the northern Israeli town of Metula, has called for Israel to make the Gaza Strip look like the infamous Nazi-operated Auschwitz concentration camp. According to The Jerusalem Post, Azoulai said Gaza should be emptied of Palestinians and flattened. He suggested the Israeli Navy could transport Palestinians to refugee camps in Lebanon.“Then, a security strip should be established from the sea to the Gaza border fence, completely empty, as a reminder of what was once there. It should resemble the Auschwitz concentration camp,” Azoulai said.“Tell everyone in Gaza to go to the beaches. Navy ships should load the terrorists onto the shores of Lebanon. The entire Gaza Strip should be emptied and leveled flat, just like in Auschwitz. Let it become a museum, showcasing the capabilities of the State of Israel and dissuading anyone from living in the Gaza Strip. This is what must be done to give them a visual representation,” he added.Many Israeli officials have been calling for other countries to take Palestinian refugees to facilitate the ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip. A leaked document authored by Israel’s Intelligence Ministry said the best option for a post-war Gaza would be for the entire population to be pushed into Egypt, but Cairo is strongly opposed to the idea, forcing Israeli officials to look elsewhere.The town of Metula, where Azoulai leads the council, is near the Israel-Lebanon border and has been evacuated due to the exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah. Israeli officials have been threatening war in Lebanonif Hezbollah doesn’t move back from the border. Azoulai said in order for residents to return to Metula,Hezbollah needs to be pushed back to the Litani River, which is 18 miles north of the border.
Lloyd Austin Visits Israel, Vows Continued Support for Gaza Slaughter - Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with Israeli officials in Tel Aviv on Monday and vowed continued US military support for the Israeli onslaught on Gaza despite the massive civilian casualty rate.In a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Austin said the US “commitment to Israel is unshakeable,” according to The Times of Israel. “America’s commitment to Israel is unwavering, and no individual group or state should test our resolve,” he said.Austin vowed the US would continue to provide Israel with “the equipment that you need to defend your country,” referring to bombs and other military aid the US has been shipping to Israel since October 7 on a near-daily basis. US officials have said they want Israel to wrap up the current phase of its war, which involves constant airstrikes and a ground campaign, in the next few weeks and take a more targeted approach against Hamas. Austin said the US had thoughts about more “surgical” operations but made clear the timeline of the onslaught is up to Israel.“Regarding the timeline, this is Israel’s operation, and I’m not here to dictate timelines or terms. Our support to Israel’s right to defend itself is ironclad, as you’ve heard me say a number of times, and that’s not going to change,” he said. At a press conference with Austin, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the Israeli military will “continue to operate in different levels of intensity” as it sees fit and will eventually be able to “transition gradually to the next phase.”
UN Report Says Over 570,000 People are Starving in Gaza - One in four Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip — over 570,000 people — are starving due to the Israeli siege,according to a report using data from the UN and other aid agencies that was released Thursday.The report, published by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), said the Israeli onslaught in Gaza has “caused catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity across the Gaza Strip.”The IPC has a five-phase scale for malnutrition, and the report estimates the entire population of Gaza is facing Phase 3 or higher. Phase 3 is defined as: “Households either have food consumption gaps that are reflected by high or above-usual acute malnutrition; or are marginally able to meet minimum food needs but only by depleting essential livelihood assets or through crisis-coping strategies.”One in four households in Gaza is in Phase 5, which means catastrophic famine-like conditions. Phase 5 is defined as: “Households have an extreme lack of food and/or other basic needs even after full employment of coping strategies. Starvation, death, destitution, and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident. For famine classification, the area needs to have extreme critical levels of acute malnutrition and mortality.” The IPC report came after Human Rights Watch said Israel was committing a war crime by using starvation as a weapon of war against Gaza’s civilian population. HRW said Israeli forces were “deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food, and fuel, while willfully impeding humanitarian assistance, apparently razing agricultural areas, and depriving the civilian population of objects indispensable to their survival.”
'Not Worth the Paper It Is Written On': US Guts Gaza Resolution -- Anger at the Biden administration grew late Thursday after the United Arab Emirates circulated a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that omits an earlier version's call for a suspension of hostilities in the Gaza Strip, a change that could render the text's demand for an increase in humanitarian aid moot. The U.S., Israel's chief ally and arms supplier, has repeatedly delayed a vote on the resolution as it has worked to gut several elements of the text, including an effort to put the U.N. in charge of monitoring humanitarian aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip with the goal of expediting shipments as hundreds of thousands of people starve.Israel urged the United States—which has veto power at the U.N. Security Council (UNSC)—to oppose the language.The latest draft requests that the U.N. secretary-general appoint an official "with responsibility for coordinating, monitoring, and verifying" humanitarian relief shipments to Gaza while "consulting all relevant parties."The resolution that the Security Council is expected to consider on Friday—barring any last-minute objections—is a far cry from the initial draft, which demanded an "urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities." After U.S. objections earlier this week, the text was amended to call for a "suspension" of hostilities.The latest draft merely backs "urgent steps" to "create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.""This is disgraceful," Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, wrote on social media. "Biden has turned the latest UNSC resolution increasingly meaningless. By striking the call for suspension of hostilities, the resolution will now ensure that Israel's slaughter in Gaza continues."U.S. President Joe Biden "is effectively running war crimes management for Israel," Parsi added.
Biden says he did not ask for cease-fire in call with Israel’s Netanyahu - President Biden said that he did not ask Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to negotiate a cease-fire in the country’s war with Hamas during a call Saturday, despite rising pressure to do so. Biden told reporters that he had a “long talk” with Netanyahu, not discussing its contents, later adding that he did not ask for a cease-fire.The international community has nearly unanimously urged the U.S. and Israel to push for a cease-fire in Gaza, as the Palestinian death toll from the Israeli military offensive rises.Over 20,000 Palestinians have died in the war, Gaza health officials said, and nearly the entirety of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is in dire need of humanitarian aid, according to the United Nations.In a U.N. vote last week, just eight countries joined Israel and the U.S. in voting against a cease-fire resolution, and the U.S. abstained on a U.N. Security Council vote Friday on Gaza aid after negotiating for days to water down the measure.Within the U.S., a rising number of lawmakers and members of the public have also called on the Biden administration to change its Israel policy. A half dozen moderate Democrats urged the administration to step up pressure on Israel to end its all-out ground offensive on Gaza this week in a letter to the president.“We are deeply concerned by [Netanyahu’s] current military strategy in Gaza. The mounting civilian death toll and humanitarian crisis are unacceptable and not in line with American interests; nor do they advance the cause of security for our ally Israel,” the letter reads.“We also believe it jeopardizes efforts to destroy the terrorist organization Hamas and secure the release of all hostages,” the lawmakers continued.American support for military aid to Israel among the public has also waned since the start of the war in early October.
"America's Dictator" Sweeps To 3rd Term As President Of Egypt With Nearly 90% Of Vote - In the Middle East region, Israel has for decades been the biggest recipient of US foreign aid, but less commonly known is that Egypt has long held the number two spot. This ultimately goes back to the Camp David Accords signed in 1978 which led to the formalizing of a permanent state of peace between Egypt and Israel. Since then, the $1.3 billion given to Egypt annually at American taxpayers' expense largely goes towards maintaining the military and national security bureaucracy. Bottom line is that it all goes toward securing the regional order on Washington's terms, with Israel's security as the number one priority. While Washington might talk about "spreading democracy" - any such talk is largely an illusion in Egypt, which has long been known for violently suppressing protests, horrendous political prisons, and torture. People regularly get "disappeared" in Egypt and the US hardly bats an eye. US politicians and media pundits like to mock as "banana republics" nations it doesn't like (or those targeted for regime change: Libya, Syria, Russia, etc.), but the reality is that America long ago purchased its own banana republic in Egypt, and ever since it's been a Western media game of pretending there's a true "Egyptian democracy". Below, are details of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's having just won nearly 90% of the vote, via The Cradle [emphasis ZH]... Egypt’s election authority announced on Monday that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has secured a third six-year term leading the North African nation. Sisi won another term with 89.6 percent of the vote, the National Elections Authority said. Over 39 million Egyptians voted for the former army chief, who has ruled the nation for over a decade. This will be Sisi’s final term in office as the Egyptian constitution only allows a president to sit for three terms. He was first sworn into office in 2014 after the overthrow of the country’s first popularly elected president, Mohammed Morsi, and was reelected in 2018, both times winning with over 90 percent of the vote.
Israel Has Backed Itself Into a Corner on Post-War Gaza Occupation, Diplomats Say - As Israel continues its war against the Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, killing approximately 20,000 people including mostly women and children, it is setting the stage for a future military reoccupation of the coastal enclave. Three Western diplomats, including two ambassadors, told the Times of Israel that – despite the Israeli government’s repeated denials that they seek such a scenario – this is where the policy is ultimately headed.According to the outlet, the diplomats “explained that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rejection of the Palestinian Authority returning to govern Gaza, his failure to advance viable alternatives, and [Tel Aviv’s] assertion that Israel will maintain overall security control of the Strip are dissuading regional and global actors from cooperating with US efforts to rehabilitate the enclave after the war.”Netanyahu recently boasted he is proud that he “prevented the establishment of a Palestinian state,” even as he has come under pressure for supporting Hamas as a way to achieve this by isolating the secular Palestinian Authority (PA).One of the sources speaking with the Times pointedly asked, “We will work to prevent the reoccupation of Gaza, but there aren’t any volunteers to govern there besides the PA, which the current Israeli government is determined to weaken, so where does that leave us?”The diplomats’ viewpoint reportedly exemplifies that of Western governments which support Israel’s war effort but hold reservations regarding Netanyahu’s plans for the future of Gaza.Another diplomat speculated that the Israeli apartheid army could occupy Gaza once again for several more years. He hinted, though, there might come a time when that could change – as when Tel Aviv withdrew from southern Lebanon, that occupation having lost public support amid fierce resistance by Hezbollah.Washington has made clear its opposition to a reoccupation in Gaza, but Netanyahu has declared that after the current war in Gaza, Israel will hold “overall security control.” Concurrently, war cabinet minister Benny Gantz promised “[Israel] will establish full security control over the place, including a territorial seizure that will allow the continuation of the operational effort.” Israel’s ostensible aim is to create a security buffer in Gaza that would permit the military to conduct violent operations at will in the Strip to root out any resistance pockets left following the war. According to the Times report, Israeli officials are privately “[likening] the future status they envision for Gaza to that of the West Bank’s Area B, where Israel maintains security control while not being responsible for civilian services for Palestinians.” The White House insists a “revitalized” PA should “take charge in Gaza once the conflict is over, unifying its administration with the West Bank.” One diplomat dismissed this plan, saying “No Arab force will agree to enter Gaza under such circumstances,” pointing to the PA’s severe unpopularity. Roughly 90% of Palestinians are demanding Abbas’ resignation. In any case, the PA has clarified they would only return to Gaza in the event of a full withdrawal of Israeli forces as part of a larger initiative to finally establish a Palestinian state. Netanyahu has refused to entertain this idea, vowing to never allow Gaza to become “Fatahstan,” referring to PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ party. For decades, Netanyahu’s Likud party supported the Islamist Hamas group both directly and indirectly. This was done strategically to undercut the nationalist PA so Tel Aviv could claim they have no “partner for peace,” perpetually avoiding international pressure to negotiate a Palestinian state and an end to the occupation while expanding settlements in the West Bank
Hostage Talks Resume, But Several Hurdles Remain Before Deal Reached - Israel and militant groups based in Gaza have resumed talks on reaching an agreement that would see Israeli hostages released. However, the parties’ demands remain far apart.The Wall Street Journal reports the talks will be held in Egypt and include representatives from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). PIJ is another militia group based in Gaza. On October 7, members of PIJ also crossed into southern Israel and took captives.WSJ reports that Egyptian officials say Israel is demanding Hamas release 40 captives – including all women, children, and elderly men with compromised health – in exchange for a one-week pause in fighting. According to the journal, Hamas is seeking a two-week pause in fighting.However, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh met with Iranian officials on Tuesday and said the group was seeking a permanent ceasefire. “The problem this time is different interpretations from Israel and Hamas,” he explained, according to Al-Jazeera. “Hamas insists this time the deal cannot be a prisoner exchange solely – it has to be based on a permanent ceasefire.”Hamas official Ghazi Hamad said, “Our vision is very clear: We want to stop the aggression. What is going on in the ground is a big catastrophe.” Hamas says the remaining female captives are soldiers in the Israeli military. PIJ is requesting a ceasefire before any hostage release agreement.Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu says a permanent end to the war with Hamas is not possible as Tel Aviv is determined to eradicate the group. “Whoever thinks we will stop is detached from reality… All Hamas terrorists, from the first to the last, are dead men walking,” he said.
Most Large Container Ships Abandon Red Sea As Key Trade Route Freezes - Tracking the supply chain mess unfolding across the Red Sea is a post on X showing container ships with 8,000 or more twenty-foot equivalent unit container capacity have mostly diverted from the critical maritime trade route. "Every containership over 8,000TEUs, except for one, have turned from the Bab el-Mandeb," X user Sal Mercogliano wrote. Mercogliano continued, "This means that all the major ocean container lines have abandoned the region even after the @DeptofDefense and @CENTCOM have announced Op Prosperity Guardian." Earlier, Bloomberg reported container ship re-routings from the Red Sea around the Cape of Good Hope would cause possible shortages of some products due to an extra one to two weeks at sea. Ikea and Abercrombie are two retailers already concerned about not having enough products on store shelves due to shipping disruptions: Swedish flatpack furniture giant Ikea said it's looking for other options to secure the availability of its products, many of which normally pass through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal on their way from factories in Asia to Europe and other markets. Global shipping companies including A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S and Hapag-Lloyd AG have diverted cargoes after Iran-backed Houthi militants intensified attacks on commercial vessels navigating the Red Sea. The attacks, linked to the Israel-Hamas war, have created another shipping emergency more than two years after a vessel stuck in the Suez Canal snarled global trade. Ohio-based Abercrombie aims to swap sea freight for air wherever possible to avoid disruptions, according to an email to suppliers seen by Bloomberg News. –Bloomberg The current concern is that turmoil in the Red Sea might persist for weeks, possibly months, surpassing the six-day blockage of the Suez Canal in 2021 caused by the Evergiven container ship incident.
Putin could be open to a pause in fighting amid Russia-Ukraine war: Report Russian President Vladimir Putin may be open to a cease-fire in his war with Ukraine, so long as the country could still declare victory, a new report by the New York Times found. Putin, still confident in his forces, said that Russia’s goals have not changed. In his annual year-end press conference last week, Putin warned that there would be no peace solution in Ukraine until Russia achieves its overarching goals, the “denazification” and demilitarization of Ukraine. Putin’s message might be different now, as he has reportedly signaled he is ready to make a deal. Since September, Putin has signaled that he is open to a pause in fighting along the current lines, which is much shorter than his intention to dominate Ukraine, according to the Times who cited two former senior Russian officials. According to the United Nations, more than 10,000 civilians have been killed and 18,500 have been injured since the start of the war nearly two years ago. According to American officials, Putin also put out feelers for a ceasefire in the fall of 2022 after he was not happy with how much territory Russia had captured.
US Granted Access to 15 Military Bases in Finland Under New Deal - The US and Finland signed a Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) on Monday that gives the US access to 15 military bases in the Nordic nation, which shares an over 800-mile border with Russia. According to The Barent’s Observer, the northernmost site in the agreement is a border guard base in Ivalo, a small town located only about 30 miles from the Russian border. Moscow has warned that it will respond to the expansion of NATO infrastructure in Finland, the alliance’s newest member, by building up military assets in western Russia. The Kremlin said on Friday that the DCA will increase tensions in the region. “This will certainly lead to tension. We can only regret this,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “We had excellent relations with Finland. No one threatened anyone, there were no problems or complaints against each other. No one infringed on anyone’s interests, there was mutual respect.” Peskov continued, “But now, when Finland is a NATO member and NATO’s military infrastructure will already enter Finnish territory, this will pose an obvious threat to us.” The US already signed a similar deal with Sweden, which gives the US access to 17 bases. Sweden is still waiting for Turkey and Hungary to ratify its NATO membership so it can formally abandon its centuries-old policy of neutrality.
Germany to Permanently Deploy 4,800 Troops in Lithuania - Germany is set to permanently station 4,800 troops in Lithuania as part of NATO’s military buildup in Eastern Europe aimed at Russia.Lithuania shares a border with Kaliningrad, the Russian oblast on the Baltic Sea that’s separated from the Russian mainland. Germany already leads a NATO deployment in Lithuania with 1,000 troops, but an agreement signed on Monday will establish a permanent home for German soldiers.The new German units will be based in two locations: the town of Rukla, which is 60 miles from the border of Kaliningrad, and near Lithuania’s capital of Vilnius, just 20 miles from Russia’s ally Belarus. Map of Lithuania.German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius signed the deal with his Lithuanian counterpart on Monday. “With this war-ready brigade, we are assuming a leadership responsibility here in the alliance and on NATO’s eastern flank,” he said. “The speed of the project clearly shows that Germany understood the new security reality.”New deployments will begin next year, but the full force will not be established until 2027. Germany plans to send a tank brigade to Lithuania, but one of the armored units that will be part of the deployment sent all of its Leopard tanks to Ukraine, and it’s unclear if they will be replenished by 2027.
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