'Most Anti-Wildlife President in History' Puts Out Lame Duck Rule to Gut Species Protection

"Today's rule will have devastating consequences for some of America's most iconic species, including the grizzly bear, whooping cranes, and Pacific salmon."

by

Brett Wilkins, staff writer

A grizzly bear saunters among the fall foliage in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

 (Photo: Ania Tuzel Photography/Flickr/cc) 

The Trump administration on Tuesday finalized a rule that wildlife advocates say will weaken the Endangered Species Act and severely limit the federal government's ability to protect habitat critical to the survival and recovery of imperiled species including grizzly bears and whooping cranes.

"President Trump has cemented his legacy as the most anti-wildlife president in history."
—Stephanie Kurose,
Center for Biological Diversity

Under the new rule adopted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the definition of "critical habitat" for an endangered species will be limited to places that could currently support such animals, not areas where they once lived and could be restored with the proper care and protections.

The rule change also fails to take into account areas that could accommodate species that will relocate due to the climate crisis.

As the Center for Biological Diversity explained when the change was announced in August:

The definition stems from a 2018 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that said the service needed to define the term habitat in relation to the highly endangered dusky gopher frog. The frog survives in one ephemeral pond in Mississippi. Recognizing that to secure the frog would require recovering it in additional areas, the service designated an area in Louisiana that had the ephemeral ponds the frog requires. However, this area would need forest restoration to provide high-quality habitat.

Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, the landowner, and Pacific Legal Foundation, a private property advocacy group, challenged the designation, resulting in today's definition and the frog losing habitat protection in Louisiana.

"President [Donald] Trump has cemented his legacy as the most anti-wildlife president in history," Stephanie Kurose, a senior policy specialist with the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement on Tuesday. "Today's rule will have devastating consequences for some of America's most iconic species, including the grizzly bear, whooping cranes, and Pacific salmon."

The Endangered Species Act has prevented 99% of the species under its care from going extinct, including the Bald Eagle. But new rules would weaken it. Act now and ask your members of Congress to stand up for this critical law. https://t.co/02K4AePFnW pic.twitter.com/RJekcw05II

— Audubon Society (@audubonsociety) December 15, 2020

"Our most vulnerable species are barely clinging to survival after being forced from their homes into smaller and smaller spaces," Kurose added. "We can't expect them to ever recover if we don't protect the areas they once lived."

The new rule was widely condemned by conservationists when it was announced by the administration. Lara Levison, senior federal policy director at Oceana, warned the change "will make it even harder to save species from extinction."

"The ESA protects threatened and endangered species like sea turtles and the North Atlantic right whale, as well as the habitats they depend on, but the draft rule released today reduces these protections," she said. 

In September, a bipartisan group of congressional lawmakers sent a letter (pdf) to the Trump administration expressing their opposition to the rule change and their alarm at the "onslaught of environmental rollbacks that threaten the survival of our nation's wildlife." 

The Trump administration has been rushing to ram through as much deregulation as possible in the months—now weeks—before President-elect Joe Biden takes office. Trump's "scorched earth" deregulation blitz involves everything from so-called "bomb trains" to biometrics to workers' rights, with environmental protections hit particularly hard. 

In late November, the U.S. Department of the Interior set the stage for modification of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's interpretation of the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act, a move the administration acknowledges will lead to an increase in the 500 million to one billion birds killed annually in the United States due to human activity. 

On Monday, the administration acknowledged that development and logging have destroyed 70% of the northern spotted owl's habitat and that the bird could go extinct without additional protection—while declining to reclassify its conservation status from "threatened" to "endangered." 

On Tuesday, the administration declined to add the monarch butterfly—90% of whose habitat has been destroyed—to the threatened species list. 

BREAKING: The monarch butterfly will have to wait to receive protection under the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the butterfly's population has fallen enough to qualify, but there are other species in line ahead of it. https://t.co/6zH8iWcLIZ

— The Associated Press (@AP) December 15, 2020

A coalition of state attorneys general is currently suing the Trump administration challenging what it says are illegal revised regulations regarding the National Environmental Policy Act and the ESA, alleging the government violated the latter by failing to consult with federal wildlife agencies to assess the effects on listed species when considering rule changes. 

"Time and time again, the Trump administration has demonstrated willful disregard for the preservation of our imperiled fish and wildlife," said California Attorney General Becerra, a member of the coalition, in November. "So it's hardly shocking that it failed to consult with federal wildlife agencies before finalizing this unlawful rule."

"But that doesn't mean we're going to let them break the law," added, Becerra—who last week was nominated to serve as secertary of health and human services in the incoming Biden administration.

 

Pence, Who Backed Muslim Visa Ban, Gets Vaccine Invented by Muslim Immigrants

Pence also praised far right-wing evangelical leader John Hagee. Hagee has said that Muslim Americans are not real Americans.

by

Juan Cole

"Pence served for four years in the Trump administration, which initiated a

 visa ban against Muslims," writes Juan Cole. (Photo: CNBC/YouTube Screengrab)

Defeated Vice President Mike Pence got the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Friday.

Here is why he is a hypocrite.

Pence served for four years in the Trump administration, which initiated a visa ban against Muslims. Although he had in 2015 called any such ban “unconstitutional,” he folded when Trump insisted on it and proudly stood behind the Mad President when he signed the order.

Pence also praised far right-wing evangelical leader John Hagee. Hagee has said that Muslim Americans are not real Americans.

Pence has, further, improperly pressured USAID to route US foreign aid to the Middle East away from Muslims and to Christians instead.

Pence is a serial science denier. He says smoking cigarettes does not cause cancer. He has called the human-caused climate emergency “a myth.”

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine involves science and Muslim immigrants, so why is he getting it?

Pfizer partnered in developing the vaccine with a German firm, BioNTech, which was founded and is headed by the Turkish-German husband-wife team of Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci. BioNTech really developed the vaccine, though Pfizer is the one with the ability to mass-manufacture and distribute it.

The two are Turkish-German Muslims.

Türeci was born in Lastrup, Lower Saxony, in 1967 to an immigrant Turkish family. Her father was a physician working at a Catholic hospital. She jokes that she is the “Turkish Prussian.”

She is among the wealthiest 100 Germans.

Her husband, Ugur Sahin, was brought to Germany from İskenderun, Turkey, at the age of 4. His father worked in a Ford automobile plant. Ordinarily in the typical European education system, he would have been shunted off to a technical school, but he managed to get on an academic track, and excelled at chemistry. He was the archetypal nerd, working in the laboratory at college until all hours of the night, then bicycling back to his apartment.

He is now worth about $5 billion.

İskenderun was known as Alexandretta. It had been part of Syria but while France was occupying Syria after WW II, it had a special administrative position. France granted it and its district limited independence in 1937, and by 1939 it was incorporated through referendum into Turkey.

There are both Sunni and Alawi Shiite Muslims there.

Sahin and Türeci started Operation Light Speed to develop a vaccine against the novel coronavirus last January, and were the first to see their vaccine authorized.

Hannes Swoboda wrote at Der Standard:

To my surprise, I recently read an extremely positive contribution by the conservative economist Hans-Werner Sinn about Turkish migrants. The article in the “Frankfurter Allgemeine” was entitled “An admirable success for our Turkish immigrants”. To be concrete, it was about the founders and CEOs of the company BioNTech, Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci. We owe to them the development of a vaccine against the coronavirus. “The success of Şahin and Türeci could jumpstart the resurgence of the German pharmaceutical industry … It also proves the benefits that an aging society like Germany can achieve through immigration.”

Hans-Werner Sinn appears to be an honest conservative. Mike Pence, not so much.

Juan Cole teaches Middle Eastern and South Asian history at the University of Michigan. His newest book, "Muhammad: Prophet of Peace Amid the Clash of Empires" was published in 2020. He is also the author of  "The New Arabs: How the Millennial Generation Is Changing the Middle East" (2015) and "Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East" (2008).  He has appeared widely on television, radio, and on op-ed pages as a commentator on Middle East affairs, and has a regular column at Salon.com. He has written, edited, or translated 14 books and has authored 60 journal articles. 

© 2020 Juan Cole

APPROPRIATE OUR KULTURE , PLEASE

Op-Ed: Everything is different this year, so why not add a ninth night to Hanukkah?

The ninth candle on the menorah is the shamash, or “helper” candle.

 In 2020, this candle deserves its own night to shine.
(Los Angeles Times)
By ERICA S. PERL
DEC. 10, 2020

Hanukkah, like so many other holidays, is poised to look a little different this year.

Usually my synagogue in Washington, D.C., invites congregants to bring their menorahs into the sanctuary for a huge communal candle-lighting. This festive fire hazard is not exactly made for Zoom. Meanwhile, the invitation for my neighbors’ annual latke fest has not arrived, which is no surprise. While inviting friends over to spin dreidels, sing songs and commiserate about this dumpster fire of a year is tempting, it also screams “superspreader.”

It’s understandable but more than a little depressing. It makes me want to rip December off the calendar. Enough, already! Forget Hanukkah — bring on 2021.

Instead, I have a counterintuitive proposal: This year, we should start a new tradition and extend Hanukkah from eight nights to nine. The reason? To honor the helpers.

There is a direct connection between Hanukkah and helping. A Hanukkah menorah, also known as a hanukkiah, has nine branches. Eight are for the candles representing the nights of the holiday, which celebrates the rededication of the Second Temple after it was defiled by King Antiochus’ soldiers and the miracle in the temple of a small amount of lamp oil burning for eight days when it should have lasted only one.

The ninth branch is reserved for a special candle, the shamash, or “helper.” The shamash is used to light the other candles: one on the first night and an additional one each subsequent evening until all nine burn on the eighth and final night.

But think about it: The shamash is so busy giving its light to others that it never gets its own night to shine. And isn’t 2020 the perfect year to start an annual Hanukkah tradition of honoring the people who, like the shamash, give of themselves to help others?

I can think of lots of those people this year, starting with the friends who delivered toilet paper (and tofu, of all things) when I couldn’t find these items in any store. The hospital staff who cared for my mom when she needed emergency surgery. The teachers who juggled and pivoted to keep my kids connected and learning. The online fitness instructors, doctors, nurses, therapists and DJs. (D-Nice’s Club Quarantine got me through the month of April.) The journalists, who kept reporting, no matter how many dragons they had to slay in the process. The mail carriers, delivery people, grocery store clerks, trash collectors and so many others who, without fanfare, helped in ways great and small.





LIFESTYLE
Eight crazy nights: Local Hanukkah activities you can enjoy from afar this year
Dec. 2, 2020

The best part is, it’s easy to do — if you’re Jewish, you probably finish the holiday with extra candles you can use. And if you’re not Jewish, this is a celebration that everyone can take part in. First, make a list of the helpers in your life, and invite friends and family members to do the same. Then, on the ninth night of Hanukkah (in 2020, it will be Dec. 18), light the shamash (or any candle as an honorary shamash, if you don’t have a menorah) in honor of the helpers on your list, and let them know.

You can go big — throw a virtual Shamash Night party! — or go small, sending cards, texts or emails. Either way, you are likely to make your honorees feel acknowledged and appreciated, which means you’re helping them, too.

Like the shamash, individual people have the power to brighten the lives of those around them. That’s why Hanukkah, especially in the year 2020, is the perfect time for all of us to show appreciation for those who help us, help others and help heal the world.

And if it means eating jelly donuts and potato pancakes for one more night — well, it’s been a rough year, so who’s going to argue with that?

Erica S. Perl is an author of books for children and young adults. The most recent is “The Ninth Night of Hanukkah.”

HANUKKAH SURPRISE TOO

Justice Department Should Investigate Jared Kushner, Former Federal Prosecutor Says

   

WIN MCNAMEE / GETTY IMAGES
Damir Mujezinovic

December 19, 2020

Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, was accused earlier this week of siphoning almost half the funds raised in the 2020 presidential race to a private company. Members of the Trump and Pence family allegedly sat on the board of the organization, incorporated as American Made Media Consultants Corporation and American Made Media Consultants LLC.

According to former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner, the incoming Biden administration should investigate the matter. Per Raw Story, in an interview with MSNBC on Saturday, Kirschner argued that the best way to get to the bottom of the alleged scandal would be to have the Department of Justice probe Kushner.

Kirschner noted that it remains unclear whether Kushner and his allies violated any laws, saying that it is possible the company was set up so that members of the Trump family and other individuals in the president’s orbit could “grift some campaign contributions for themselves.”




“The only way to answer that question is really to have a full, fair, aggressive, apolitical grand jury investigation opened by the incoming Department of Justice in January.”

Kirschner explained that campaign finance is “heavily regulated” and argued that the Department of Justice could issue subpoenas because there should be a paper trail of all transactions and similar activity.

“Subpoena the records, subpoena the documents. These kind of cases are paper intensive, so there will be records, there will be documents,” the former federal prosecutor said.



Kirschner stressed that a thorough investigation is necessary and the best way to determine whether Kushner and others engaged in any kind of criminal activity when they diverted Trump campaign cash to their organization.

“Of course, they’ll interview witnesses and at the end of the process you can declare yes, what they were doing was criminal or no, what they were doing was not criminal, even if it looked pretty shady,” he said.

HANUKKAH SURPRISE

Jared Kushner signed off on $617 million company to ease Trump's paranoia about Brad Parscale

How the Trump family grift grew out of the president's paranoia about Brad Parscale

By ROGER SOLLENBERGER
DECEMBER 19, 2020 SALON  

  

Brad Parscale and Jared Kushner (Getty Images/Salon)

Top White House adviser Jared Kushner, son-in-law to outgoing President Donald Trump, helped create a shell company which made it impossible to know who received nearly $620 million of the Trump campaign's 2020 expenses. Campaign lawyers devised the company to increase Trump's own insight into his campaign's expenses, a former top-level campaign staffer confirmed to Salon.

The company, American Made Media Consultants (AMMC), was launched in spring of 2018 and mostly served as a conduit for the campaign to pay media and advertising vendors. The entity also made it impossible for the public to see which vendors the campaign hired and how much they were paid. In all, the Trump campaign and sister committee Trump Victory reported that of the $1.2 billion spent on Trump's failed re-election bid this year, AMMC took about $617 million, or nearly half, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

AMMC looks to have essentially taken over the place of former campaign manager Brad Parscale's group, Parscale Strategy, after aides repeatedly voiced concerns to the president that Parscale was not being forthright about how he spent the campaign's money, according to a person familiar with the arrangement. While Kushner was not a driving force behind AMMC, the source who spoke on a condition of anonymity explained, the joint effort was led by campaign lawyers to reassure a paranoid Trump that no one was taking secret cuts. Parscale, it was thought, should not hold dual roles as head of a company serving as a campaign clearinghouse and campaign manager. Parscale and Kushner both signed off the arrangement, the source confirmed.

Campaign lawyers then suggested putting Trump's daughter-in-law Lara Trump and Vice President Mike Pence's nephew, John Pence, on the board, the only family members on the campaign, as a gesture to further calm the president. They became president and vice president, respectively — in an echo of the administration itself — and Sean Dollman, the campaign's chief financial officer, was brought on as treasurer, as Business Insider reported.

The campaign and its Trump Victory affiliate paid AMMC far more than it ever paid Parscale Strategy — about $617 million all told, according to FEC records. In comparison, the Trump campaign spent $690 million, total.) And while reports have suggested that AMMC was primarily a bonanza for Parscale, the spending increased dramatically after he stepped down as manager on July 15: Eight out of the campaign's top ten single-sum payments to AMMC came after that date, when Bill Stepien took over and the presidential race heated up. The campaign then reported paying AMMC more than $200 million after Parscale departed for good in late September, when police released video of his arrest on a domestic disturbance call at his south Florida home

The campaign has paid Parscale as recently as late November, per FEC records.

AMMC also allowed Trump family members Lara Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle, girlfriend of the president's eldest child, Don Jr., to take a regular salary but stay off the campaign's books. Previously the two women had been on the payroll at Parscale Strategy, which received regular payments from the campaign in the tens of thousands of dollars. White House sources had previously claimed that the digital mastermind paid the women each $15,000 a month, equivalent to a top White House salary; a campaign source has told Salon that number was not accurate, but would not elaborate further.

The Campaign Legal Center (CLC), a watchdog group that advocates for campaign finance transparency, alleged in a complaint filed with the FEC this summer that the Trump campaign was using AMMC to illegally evade federal reporting requirements.

While it is not unusual for campaigns to leave out some third-party vendor payments, such as a media company paying an independent videographer to do a shoot, the CLC's Brendan Fischer previously told Salon that AMMC was "a well-orchestrated scheme designed to undermine laws and transparency requirements."

"Trump took it to another level," Fischer said. "Those recipients weren't simply sub-vendors. They didn't take directions from Parscale's companies. They took directions directly from the Trump campaign. They worked for the Trump campaign, and the campaign tried to hide it."

Furthermore, Salon has reported that the campaign even hid payments to its own top officials. It has not disclosed any payments to top strategist Jason Miller, who makes $35,000 a month — effectually a $420,000 salary, or more than the presidency pays. Instead, Miller takes those payments through Jamestown Associates, a video production vendor for the campaign.

And while the campaign reports salary payments to chief of staff Stephanie Alexander and senior adviser Katrina Pierson, each of whom earn $20,000 a month, it does not appear to report paying any salary for COO Jeff DeWit or senior advisers Bob Paduchik, Bill Shine and Lara Trump, federal records show.

(Lara Trump resigned from the AMMC board in October 2019, as did John Pence, according to Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh.)

A former senior campaign official previously told Salon that Kushner directed the campaign to pay Miller through Jamestown, and that the president was usually made personally aware.

Miller presents a particularly strange case: The campaign pays him through a vendor that exclusively handles video production, but Miller himself makes the calls for the campaign's media buys and placement, as well as how the campaign uses the vendor that pays him. The media placement payments are farmed out to vendors contracted through AMMC, but the campaign, for whatever reason, does not hide its payments to Jamestown — at least, not all of them.

A Trump campaign spokesperson did not reply to Salon's request for comment.

 

Yule traditions new and old wish good riddance to 2020 at the winter solstice

The symbolism of the solstice resonates at the end of a dark, difficult year punctuated by a pandemic, political protests and a presidential election.

A bonfire to celebrate the winter solstice. Photo courtesy of Creative Commons

December 19, 2020

By 

Emily McFarlan Miller

(RNS) — On the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, Misha Magdalene and their partner will burn their Yule log and hold a solstice vigil at home, waiting up all night until dawn.

“The joke is we’re just going to make sure the sun rises,” Magdalene said.

---

RELATED: The roots of the Christmas tree: Pagans celebrate Yule

---

In 2020, nothing feels like a given.

And the winter solstice — when modern witches and pagans celebrate Yule and the return of the light — resonates at the end of a dark, difficult year punctuated by a pandemic, political protests and a presidential election.

Misha Magdalene. Courtesy photo

“I think that symbolism is speaking to a lot of people right now, because part of the point of the solstice is the return of the light in a really literal, concrete way — you get past the solstice, and the days start getting longer,” said Magdalene, a witch.

Monday (Dec. 21) marks the solstice and the beginning of the Yuletide, which many witches and pagans celebrate through New Year’s Day.

Though many observe the new year at Samhain, a holiday in the fall marking the end of harvest and the start of the darker half of the year, Yuletide also includes a number of rituals for leaving the old year behind, according to Jason Mankey, a practitioner of witchcraft and author of “Llewellyn’s Little Book of Yule.”

Some of those traditions involve burning something symbolically in a fire, which, Mankey said, overlaps with traditions celebrating the sun’s return at Yule. That might be writing down some of the things one wishes to leave behind in the coming year and burning the list in a candle or bonfire.

“To me, the focus of Yule really is about hope because it’s so dark and it’s so cold in so many places, and yet after that longest night of the year, the sun still rises and the days get longer. That rebirth of the sun is really what pagans and witches celebrate the most at Yuletide,” he said.

“Things are going to get brighter, they’re going to get warmer and they’re going to get better.”

Yule practices also can include figuring out what is going to happen in the new year through divination, such as reading tarot cards or candle wax, Mankey said. Some may perform a magical blessing to ensure prosperity and good fortune in the next 12 months.

“So there’ll be a lot of us doing things to get rid of what happened, and certainly a lot of us who will be doing things to help ensure a better and more prosperous and safer 2021,” he said.

Jason Mankey. Courtesy photo

For Mankey, the short winter days are a good time to perform rituals and magic to get rid of anything unwanted — to “magically cleanse the house and push out all of the bad energy that’s collected there during the year.”

He likes to invite the magical gift-giver La Befana into his home in Northern California to aid in the task while he sweeps the floors clean with a broom. The Italian holiday witch traditionally brings presents to children similar to Santa Claus, and her broom sweeps bad energies from the house, preparing it for a happy new year.

Many Yuletide figures like La Befana, the Icelandic Yule Lads and Krampus seem to be getting more attention in recent years, he said. Mankey has even spotted Swedish tomte, tiny spirits that look a lot like Santa, at Target.

“I think people are just really curious about the holiday season and trying to bring as much magic into it as possible — maybe especially this year. I know people who had their trees up as early as Halloween,” he said.

Mankey also usually hosts friends for a toast, simmering apple cider in a Crock Pot and adding ingredients to bring health, wealth and other positive things to the year — sometimes whiskey or rum, sometimes a little cinnamon for spice and light.

Like everybody else, witch and pagan holiday celebrations have been upended by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

Mankey said he plans to attempt a toast over Zoom this year.

Byron Ballard. Courtesy photo

Byron Ballard, senior priestess at Mother Grove Goddess Temple in Asheville, North Carolina, is sharing via Facebook her daily reflections counting down to the winter solstice.

The reflections include short essays on singing up the sun when her daughter was little, descriptions of the goddesses associated with the season and explanations of why wreaths are significant, particularly during the Yuletide.

In addition to burning things one may wish to leave behind, Ballard said people may cleanse themselves and their homes with sacred smoke, such as mugwort. They may also want to set up energetic protections called “wards” or write down their dreams and visions for the year ahead and place them in bundles on their home altars.

“We are all ready for a fresh start, new hope and a vision for how we move forward after this trauma-year,” she said.

The pandemic hasn’t changed too many Yule practices for Cat Heath, a Heathen and founder of the Cult of the Spinning Goddess. Heath and her family, who live in Maryland, usually begin their Yuletide celebrations at sundown on the winter solstice, making offerings of food and mead to the Norse gods, leaving out offerings for the local spirits, setting a place at the table for their ancestors and feasting.

They’ll spend the next 13 days or so together, eating good food, going for walks and video calling faraway relatives.

A solstice altar. Photo courtesy of Byron Ballard

“There’s just something wonderful about holing up with the people you love the most in the world for a while and simply enjoying each other’s company. That will never not be deeply meaningful,” she said in an email to RNS.

And members of the Cult of the Spinning Goddess aren’t just spinning wool together at the end of 2020, they’re also encouraging each other to do something to take care of themselves at least once a day and checking in with each other on Zoom, she said.

Sometimes, at the end of a bad year, Heath said she’ll do a 12-night spinning ritual. She’ll spin black wool to trap bad luck for the first four nights, then red wool for luck and amulets and finally white wool as an offering to the Spinning Goddess.

She’s not sure yet if she’ll perform the ritual this year.

“I think 2020 just feels too big to shake off with cleansing spells and rituals. I mean, it’s one thing to try and shuck off your own personal bad luck, but it’s quite another to try and shuck off a whole out-of-control pandemic and political upheaval!” Heath said.

It’s not just the past year Magdalene hopes to shake off, but also the past four years as 2021 also brings with it a new president.

“For an awful lot of people — a lot of working class people, a lot of marginalized communities — it’s been a really dark period,” said Magdalene, who is trans.

A Yule log for the winter solstice. Photo courtesy of Jason Mankey

So they will burn a Yule log and decorate a tree at home in the Seattle area with their partner and cats.

They’ll be a little sad they can’t share many of their favorite traditions with their friends: Usually, they also invite people to write their hopes, aspirations and concerns for the coming year onto a calendar. They’ll refer to the calendar all year — spending time, energy and intention working for, or praying for, their friends — and then burn it.

“2020, I think, for all of us has just been a car fire inside a dumpster fire of a year,” said Magdalene.

#OHS HUMAN SACRIFICE FOR PIPELINE

Trans Mountain ends contracts with 2 companies on halted expansion project

© Trans Mountain Workers with the SA Energy Group work on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project in this undated photo.

Two companies hired to work on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project have had their contracts terminated.

The terminations follow Trans Mountain's announcement on Thursday that work on the project was being voluntarily shut down until Jan. 4 due to work site safety incidents the company described as "unacceptable."

The company did not mention specific incidents in its announcement, but on Dec. 15 a contractor was seriously injured at a Trans Mountain construction site in British Columbia.


In October, a worker was killed while working on the pipeline in Edmonton.

The worker injured, Samatar Sahal, 40, worked with SA Energy Group, one of the companies that has now had its contract terminated.

Sahal was struck and killed by a piece of equipment.

SA Energy Group had been hired as the general contractor for portions of pipeline construction in the Greater Edmonton area, the North Thompson region in B.C. and the Fraser Valley.

This weekend though Trans Mountain said it had terminated its contract with SA for the Edmonton and North Thompson portions, known as spreads.

"Alternative construction contractors will be confirmed for these spreads in the coming weeks," it said in an email to CBC News.

In announcing the awarding of the contract to SA Energy in January of 2018, Trans Mountain said the company had "substantial experience with large diameter pipeline construction."

SA Energy is a member of the Pipeline Contractors Association of Canada.

Trans Mountain did not explain why two of the contracts with SA were terminated.
'Insist' on safety

"We do not wish to comment on the terms of our contractual relationships with contractors," Trans Mountain said this weekend. "What we can say is that Trans Mountain is committed to a strong culture of safety above all else and insist that our project contractors and subcontractors are equally committed."

Trans Mountain also ended its contract, a joint venture, with Spiecapag Canada Corp. and Fort St. John's Macro Enterprises Inc.

The contractors were hired to build one of the toughest sections of the pipeline through B.C.'s Coquihalla-Hope area, or spread 5B.

Trans Mountain said that the "changes in the joint venture contract between Macro and Spiecapag led us to terminate the current contract."

Trans Mountain said it's working during the two-week shutdown to finalize a new contract for the area.

Macro said in a release that the contract was terminated "due to ongoing challenges between the joint venture and Trans Mountain."

It also said that it's in discussions with Trans Mountain, "regarding future opportunities" for other contracts in the new year.

The federal government purchased the Trans Mountain pipeline and its expansion project in 2018 for $4.4 billion. Twinning the Alberta-to-B.C. line is expected to cost $12.6 billion.

So far, 20 per cent of the pipeline is complete, the Crown corporation said this week, with peak construction going forward in 2021.

When the Trans Mountain expansion is finished, the project will boost the pipeline's capacity from about 300,000 to 890,000 barrels per day.

Trans Mountain said Thursday it remains committed to "the safe, timely and efficient completion" of the project.

Electromagnetic images help scientists deconstruct ancient Jewish parchment



Researchers used a combination of imaging techniques to extract details about the materials and history of an ancient Jewish parchment. Photo by Ioana Maria Cortea, et al./Frontiers in Materials

Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Scientists were able to deconstruct an ancient Jewish parchment using a combination of sophisticated imaging techniques.

The research -- published Friday in the journal Frontiers in Materials -- could help scientists better understand how historical documents and artifacts degrade over time.T

For the study, researchers at Romania's National Institute for Research and Development in Optoelectronics examined a poorly preserved manuscript containing several chapters from the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible.

"The goal of the study was ... to understand what the passing of time has brought upon the object, how it was degraded and what would be the best approach for its future conservation process," Luminita Ghervase, study co-author and research scientist at the institute, said in a news release.

RELATED Researchers decipher ancient Dead Sea Scrolls with help of advanced imaging

By deploying a variety of spectroscopic instruments and capturing images from a multitude of angles, researchers were able to elicit details about the ancient parchment's material origins.

"The use of complementary investigation techniques can shed light on the unknown history of such an object," Ghervase said. "For some years now, non-invasive, non-destructive investigation techniques are the first choice in investigating cultural heritage objects, to comply with one of the main rules of the conservation practice, which is to not harm the object."

Using what's known as multispectral imaging, researchers scanned the parchment within different portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Because different materials absorb and reflect light in different ways, this imaging technique can highlight irregularities.

RELATED Researchers unearth second parchment copy of Declaration of Independence

For example, researchers spotted an area with heightened ultraviolet absorption, suggesting a patch of the parchment was repaired with an organic material such as resin.

The multispectral scans also revealed two different kinds of ink, possible evidence that attempts to restore the parchment's text were made at some point during its history.

Researchers relied on a computer algorithm to identify the parchment's spectral signatures and super fine scales, a technique that could be used in the future to decipher text.

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Using a separate technique called X-ray fluorescence -- which can be used to identify specific chemicals in the ink and parchment material -- scientists found large concentrations of ink, commonly used in bleaching treatments, further evidence of past restoration attempts.

After determining the parchment was made of animal skin, researchers used a Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer to measure the deterioration rate of collagen in the scroll.

Researchers hope their work could inform historians' efforts to date the parchment, as well as aid the restoration attempts of conservators.

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"They can wisely decide if any improper materials had been used, and if such materials should be removed," Ghervase said. "Moreover, restorers can choose the most appropriate materials to restore and preserve the object, ruling out any possible incompatible materials."

Russian ISS cosmonauts struggle to find an air leak

ANOTHER ONE!

Cosmonauts are considering sealing off the affected area, but worry this would impact the overall operation of the orbital station. 

Russia's space agency has said it can send more oxygen to the ISS, if necessary

The 20-year-old spacecraft has hosted a wide variety of experiments in zero gravity

The International Space Station is still losing oxygen but the situation is under control, Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Saturday, adding that the agency was ready to send an additional supply of oxygen if the problem escalates.

The leak is affecting the Russian section of the ISS, with the fault apparently located in an access section to the Zvezda module. The exact location is not yet clear, Russian media reported.

"We have had this leak for quite some time, the rate is very small, nothing has happened. One of the leaks was found and reduced, but it still remains," Roscosmos Program Director Sergei Krikalev told Russia's Interfax news agency.

Pressure to find the source of the leak is growing, as oxygen reserves and air pressure continue to decrease.
Cause of damage unknown

A 4.5-centimeter (1.7-inch) rip was already uncovered in October with the help of a floating tea bag, and sealed.

The astronauts, unaware of what caused the damage, then realized there was another leak from elsewhere in the same section of the 20-year-old spacecraft. However, they failed to find the fault during a spacewalk in November.

The astronauts are considering the possibility of sealing off the affected section and using oxygen reserves, but say this would impact the overall operation of the ISS.
'Everything is under control'

Roscosmos has said there is no danger to the seven people on board the ISS, which includes four Americans, two Russians and a Japanese astronaut.

Agency head Dmitry Rogozin assured the public that there were reserves of oxygen on board and that a scheduled cargo delivery in February would include oxygen.

"First, the station itself has oxygen reserves. That is, if it is necessary to replenish oxygen and nitrogen in the event of atmospheric pressure losses, we have such reserves. And we are going to send a cargo ship to the ISS in February. It already has a supply of oxygen," Rogozin was quoted as saying by Russia's TASS news agency.

"If necessary, we can use our relationship with NASA and send part of the cargo, including oxygen, with an American cargo ship," said Rogozin. "There is no need to worry, everything is fine, everything is under control."

Watch video 02:48 NASA, SpaceX go boldly where no man has gone before

mvb/dj (dpa, Interfax)

Giant iceberg starts to break up in the South Atlantic

The #A68a iceberg has been on a potential collision course with the British overseas territory of South Georgia for some weeks. Researchers are concerned about its impact as it starts to break up


The massive A-68A iceberg has been drifting toward South Georgia for several weeks

There is growing concern over a collosal iceberg on a collision course with the British territory of South Georgia, a largely uninhabited South Atlantic island of roughly the same size.

Measuring 158 kilometers long (98 miles) and 48 kilometers wide, A68a — as the iceberg is called — is believed to be the biggest currently in the southern ocean, and one of the largest on record.

As the iceberg has moved closer to the island over the past weeks, aerial images have shown it breaking up. This has sparked concern over the impact of freshwater from the melting ice on local marine life.

"This is basically an area that's completely thriving with wildlife," Geraint Tarling, a professor with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), told DW. "The island has globally significant populations of penguins and seals ... Enormous numbers that if they were not there anymore, there would be severe declines in quite a few species."

Scientists are due to set off for the region next month on the research ship RRS James Cook to assess the impact on local biodiversity. The waters around the island are home to recovering populations of humpback and blue whales. South Georgia is also home to one of the largest numbers of albatrosses in the world.

Two underwater robotic gliders will be used to get as close to the iceberg as possible to measure water temperature, salinity and plankton concentrations.



The waters around South Georgia are home to species such as the humpback (above) and the blue whale

'Iceberg graveyard'

Scientists had expected A68a to shatter after breaking off from the Larsen C ice shelf on the east coast of the Antarctic peninsula in summer 2017.

According to the European Space Agency (ESA), the icy giant has lost at least two large chunks during its long journey, prior to which it was roughly twice the size of Luxembourg.

Although A68a would be the biggest to hit the island, it would not be the first in the region named the "iceberg graveyard." In 2004, a smaller iceberg grounded a few kilometers from land.

What is particularly concerning about this one is not only its size but its shallow shape, explained Tarling. According to ESA, the iceberg is only a few hundred meters thick.

The iceberg has been at sea since calving from the Larsen C ice shelf in July 2017

"This one has the potential to go right on the shore and really block those [animal] colonies from getting to their food sources and coming back to get the food back to their pups and chicks.”

In addition to preventing access to foraging paths to offshore food sources for penguins, seals and albatrosses, it could also disrupt conditions for marine algae at the base of the food chain, said Tarling. "And if that's not there, then everything that depends on it can't thrive either.”

The iceberg could also impact creatures on the ocean's floor, he added, many of which store carbon in their bodies and secure it in the seabed. "If this is scoured, it gets churned up, it goes back into the water column and then goes back into the atmosphere potentially.” 

South Georgia is home to huge colonies of penguins as well as albatrosses that could be adversely affected by the iceberg

Currents will decide iceberg's path

While still traveling through the water, icebergs of A68a's size can also have a positive environmental impact through the meltwater they produce, said Grant Bigg, professor in earth systems science at the University of Sheffield in northern England.

Bigg said the icebergs can release plumes of material, sometimes hundreds of kilometres long, which contain iron, picked up while the ice moved over land before reaching the ice shelf. This can fertilize the ocean and support organisms such as phytoplankton.

If the iceberg, which has already traveled an estimated 1,600 kilometers, continues on a direct trajectory at its current speed of one kilometer per hour, BAS predict it could arrive at the island between late December and early January.

"It's too large to really do anything about it," said Bigg. "It's a case of waiting and seeing, and hoping the currents will send it around the south [of the island] or break it up."


FASCINATING ANTARCTICA: ICY FACTS ABOUT THE MOST SOUTHERN REGION IN THE WORLD
99 percent ice
Antarctica is the largest desert in the world, covering an area of 13,829,430 square kilometres (533, 957 square miles) — about 1.3 times the size of Europe. Even in the Antarctic summer, from December to February, 99 percent of Antarctica is covered with ice, some of it up to 5000 meters thick.
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