AP sources: Biden to pause oil and gas sales on public lands

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is set to announce a wide-ranging moratorium on new oil and gas leasing on U.S. lands and waters, as his administration moves quickly to reverse Trump administration policies on energy and the environment and address climate change.

Two people with knowledge of Biden’s plans outlined the proposed moratorium, which will be announced Wednesday. They asked not to be identified because the plan has not been made been public; some details remain in flux.

The move follows a 60-day suspension of new drilling permits for U.S. lands and waters announced last week and follows Biden’s campaign pledge to halt new drilling on federally controlled land and water as part of his plan to address climate change. The moratorium is intended to allow time for officials to review the impact of oil and gas drilling on the environment and climate.

Environmental groups hailed the expected moratorium as the kind of bold, urgent action needed to slow climate change.

“The fossil fuel industry has inflicted tremendous damage on the planet. The administration’s review, if done correctly, will show that filthy fracking and drilling must end for good, everywhere,'' said Kierán Suckling, executive director at the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group that has pushed for the drilling pause.

Oil industry groups slammed the move, saying Biden had already eliminated thousands of oil and gas jobs by killing the Keystone XL oil pipeline on his first day in office.

"This is just the start. It will get worse,'' said Brook Simmons, president of the Petroleum Alliance of Oklahoma. "Meanwhile, the laws of physics, chemistry and supply and demand remain in effect. Oil and natural gas prices are going up, and so will home heating bills, consumer prices and fuel costs.''

Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Western Energy Alliance, which represents oil and gas drillers in Western states, said the expected executive order is intended to delay drilling on federal lands to the point where it is no longer viable. Her group pledged to challenge the order in court.

"The environmental left is leading the agenda at the White House when it comes to energy and environment issues,'' she said, noting that the moratorium would be felt most acutely in Western states such as Utah, Wyoming and North Dakota. Biden lost all three states to former President Donald Trump.

Video: Study: Fossil fuel production set to exceed Paris agreement limit (Global News)

The drilling moratorium is among several climate-related actions Biden will announce Wednesday. He also is likely to direct officials to conserve 30% of the country’s lands and ocean waters in the next 10 years, initiate a series of regulatory actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and issue a memorandum that elevates climate change to a national security priority. He also is expected to establish a White House office on environmental justice to serve low-income and minority communities that suffer disproportionately from air and water pollution and industrial waste and are often located near hazardous sites such as power plants, landfills and incinerators.

Biden also will direct all U.S. agencies to use science and evidence-based decision-making in federal rule-making and announce a U.S.-hosted climate leaders summit on Earth Day, April 22.

The conservation plan would set aside millions of acres for recreation, wildlife and climate efforts by 2030, part of Biden’s campaign pledge for a $2 trillion program to slow global warming.

Under Trump, federal agencies prioritized energy development and eased environmental rules to speed up drilling permits as part of the Republican’s goal to boost fossil fuel production. Trump consistently downplayed the dangers of climate change, which Biden, a Democrat, has made a top priority.

On his first day in office last Wednesday, Biden signed a series of executive orders that underscored his different approach — rejoining the Paris Climate Accord, revoking approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada and telling agencies to immediately review dozens of Trump-era rules on science, the environment and public health.

A 60-day suspension order at the Interior Department did not limit existing oil and gas operations under valid leases, meaning activity would not come to a sudden halt on the millions of acres of lands in the West and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico where much drilling is concentrated. The moratorium also is unlikely to affect existing leases. Its effect could be further blunted by companies that stockpiled enough drilling permits in Trump’s final months to allow them to keep pumping oil and gas for years.

The pause in onshore drilling is limited to federal lands and does not affect drilling on private lands, which is largely regulated by states.

Oil and gas extracted from public lands and waters account for about a quarter of annual U.S. production. Extracting and burning those fuels generates the equivalent of almost 550 million tons (500 million metric tons) of greenhouse gases annually, the U.S. Geological Survey said in a 2018 study.

Under Trump, Interior officials approved almost 1,400 permits on federal lands, primarily in Wyoming and New Mexico, over a three-month period that included the election, according to an Associated Press analysis of government data. Those permits, which remain valid, will allow companies to continue drilling for years, potentially undercutting Biden’s climate agenda.

The leasing moratorium could present a political dilemma for Biden in New Mexico, a Democratic-leaning state that has experienced a boom in oil production in recent years, much of it on federal land. Biden's choice to lead the Interior Department, which oversees oil and gas leasing on public lands, is New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland. If confirmed, she would be the first Native American to lead the agency that oversees relations with nearly 600 federally-recognized tribes.

Haaland, whose confirmation hearing has been delayed until next month, already faces backlash from some Republicans who say expected cutbacks in oil production under Biden would hurt her home state.

Tiernan Sittenfeld, a top official with the League of Conservation Voters, called that criticism off-base. “The reality is we need to transition to 100% clean energy” in order to address climate change, she said Tuesday. "The clean energy economy in New Mexico is thriving,'' Sittenfeld added, citing gains in renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.

Rob Black, president of the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce, said the expected moratorium would be “devastating” to his state, while failing to reduce carbon emissions in the Southwest.

A leasing moratorium “won’t reduce demand for oil,? Black said, but would merely move production from federal lands to private lands in New Mexico and Texas, where an oil boom is occurring in the Permian Basin. Only 2% of land in Texas is federally controlled, compared with about one-third in New Mexico.

The Biden administration has pledged to spend billions to assist in the transition away from fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal, and Biden has said creating thousands of clean-energy jobs is a top priority.

Matthew Daly, The Associated Press

Mysterious 'kick' just after the Big Bang may have created dark matter

DARK MATTER IS ETHER 2.0

One of the lingering mysteries of the universe is why anything exists at all.  EXESTENTIALISM

© Provided by Live Science An artist's concept of the Big Bang.

That's because, in the universe today, matter and its antimatter counterpart should form in equal amounts, and then these two oppositely charged types of matter would annihilate each other on contact. So all the matter in the universe should have disappeared as soon as it formed, canceling itself out on contact with its antimatter counterpart.

But that didn't happen. Now, new research hypothesizes that early in the universe, there was a mysterious "kick" that produced more matter than antimatter, leading to today's imbalance. And that imbalance may have also led to the creation of dark matter, the mysterious substance that tugs on everything else yet doesn't interact with light.

Coincidence or conspiracy?

We don't know what dark matter is, but it's definitely out there. It makes up about 80% of all the matter in the universe, far outweighing the stars, galaxies, dust and gas that we can see.

And while dark matter is certainly a heavyweight in our universe, it is, oddly, not that much of a dominating factor.Typically, in physics, when one process dominates an interaction, it really takes over. Unless other physics comes into play, rarely do two competing forces come out in balance. For example, when the forces of gravity and electromagnetism compete inside a giant star, eventually gravity always wins and the star collapses. So the fact that dark matter is 80% of the mass in the universe — and not 99.99999% — and regular matter is 20% as opposed to zero, strikes physicists as odd. An 80/20 split doesn't seem even when it comes to, say, sharing lotto winnings, but to an astronomer, the two amounts are practically the same.

Compounding the issue is that, as far as we know, the generation of regular matter and dark matter had absolutely nothing to do with each other. We have no clue how dark matter originated in the early universe, but whatever it was, it's currently outside the bounds of known physics.

And regular matter? That's a whole other kettle of particles. In the extremely early universe (when it was a second old), physicists suspect that regular matter was in perfect balance with antimatter (which is the same as normal matter but with an opposite electric charge). We suspect this even split because we see this kind of symmetry play out today in our particle colliders, which can replicate the extreme conditions of the early universe: If you have a high-energy reaction that generates regular matter, it has an equal chance of generating antimatter instead.

But at some point (we're not exactly sure when, but it most likely happened when the universe was less than a minute old), the balance between matter and antimatter shifted, and regular matter flooded the universe, relegating antimatter to obscurity.

So, on one hand, we have a massive symmetry-breaking event that led to regular matter winning over antimatter. On the other hand, we have a completely mysterious event that led to dark matter becoming the dominant — but not super dominant — form of matter in the universe.Perhaps these two processes are connected, and the birth of dark matter was related to the victory of matter over antimatter, the new study proposes.
Mining for goldstone

In the study, published online Dec. 29, 2020, in the preprint database arXiv and not yet peer-reviewed, researchers make this claim by relying on something called the baryon number symmetry. Baryons are all of the particles made of quarks (such as protons and neutrons). The symmetry simply states that the number of baryons entering an interaction must equal the number exiting it. (They're allowed to change identities, but the total number must be the same.) The same symmetry holds for reactions involving antiquarks.

This symmetry reigns in all of our experiments in the present-day universe, but it must have been violated in the early cosmos — that's how we ended up with more matter than antimatter.

And in physics, every time a symmetry of nature gets broken, a new kind of particle, known as a "Goldstone boson," pops up to enforce the breaking of the symmetry. (In the modern universe, for instance, the pion is a kind of Goldstone boson that appears when a symmetry of the strong nuclear force is broken.)

Maybe the dark matter is a kind of Goldstone boson, associated with the breaking of baryon number symmetry in the early cosmos, the study proposes.
Kicking the can

The researchers behind the idea call it "the kick." Baryon number symmetry is never broken in our experiments, but something exciting must have happened in the early universe. It was a violent but brief event, snuffing out almost all antimatter. And whatever exotic mix of conditions happened, the baryon number symmetry broke, allowing a new Goldstone boson to appear.

So, the thinking goes, during that singular event, the universe became flooded with dark matter particles. But then, whatever conditions that led to the symmetry breaking ended, and the universe returned to normalcy. By then, however, it was too late; the dark matter — and all the rest of the matter — remained.

So after that first epic minute of the universe's history, once symmetry returned to the universe, dark matter was relegated to the shadows, never to interact with normal matter again.

And the reason that there is (very roughly) the same amount of dark matter and regular matter is that they were related, the study claims. The new model doesn't predict the exact 80/20 split between dark and normal matter. But it does suggest the reason that dark matter and normal matter are in roughly equal balance is because they had their origins in the same event.

It's a very clean and intriguing idea, but it still doesn't explain exactly how that early symmetry breaking took place. But that's for another paper.

Originally published on Live Science.

Related: The 11 biggest unanswered questions about dark matter

Related: 7 strange facts about quarks

 #BLACKSNAKE

Court upholds ruling invalidating Dakota Access, but doesn't shut down pipeline

A federal appeals court on Tuesday declined to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline even as it upheld a ruling from a lower court throwing out a decision that allowed its construction.

© Greg Nash Court upholds ruling invalidating Dakota Access, but doesn't shut down pipeline

The three-judge panel ruled that the government should have conducted an environmental impact statement before going forward with the pipeline, and vacated easements granted for its construction to cross federally-owned land.

It also ordered the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers (USACE), which had granted the easement allowing for the pipeline's construction to be completed, to conduct the environmental assessment.

But the D.C. federal appeals court did not agree with the D.C. federal district court's decision that the pipeline should be shut down. It left the decision on the pipeline's future to USACE.

The panel, made up of a Clinton, Obama and Reagan appointee, decided that shutting down the pipeline isn't automatically necessary because the easement was vacated. They argued that saying so would circumvent court precedent requiring a legal test to decide whether to grant such injunctions.

However, the decision left room for both agency action and additional litigation to potentially shut down the pipeline, leaving its future uncertain.

"It may well be - though we have no occasion to consider the matter here - that the law or the Corps's regulations oblige the Corps to vindicate its property rights by requiring the pipeline to cease operation," the ruling stated.

A spokesperson for Energy Transfer, the company behind the pipeline, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill. A request for comment from USACE was also not immediately returned.

Some of the pipeline's opponents, meanwhile, expressed optimism that the Biden administration would shut it down.

"The court is giving the Biden administration the opportunity to get this right but holding the door open to further court action if they do not," said Jan Hasselman, an attorney with Earthjustice, who sued over the pipeline on behalf of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

Meanwhile, some Dakota Access supporters cautioned against administrative action.

"The Army Corps of Engineers should be allowed to proceed as they are without political interference from the Biden Administration. This is not another opportunity to wage war on North Dakota's energy producers," said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) in a statement.

The Dakota Access Pipeline was completed in 2017 after former President Trump ordered for it to be revived, a reversal from when the Obama administration denied a permit for the project.

The controversial project, which carries oil from North Dakota to Illinois has drawn significant opposition from environmentalists and tribes over the years, spurring massive protests.

Time to change the channel from fossil fuels and give space, investment to renewable energy

Shannin Metatawabin was raised on the principle of not only thinking about the present but generations into the future as well.

“I think as Indigenous people we have a responsibility to our ancestors that we continue the focus of protecting the environment and ensuring there is a world here for the future yet unborn,” he said.

“My dad raised me on that. We have to plan work and that we work for those that are not yet here. And clean energy is that opportunity to put into place clean energy projects across Canada, but this has to go hand in hand with the infrastructure in our communities.”

Metatawabin, the CEO of the National Aboriginal Capital Corporation Association, spoke as part of a presentation at the Indigenous Clean Energy E-Gathering on Jan. 22.

The presentation focused on clean energy as a major economic development-driver for First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities and peoples.

“I think we can’t do anything without access to capital,” Metatawabin said. “If we wait for government, then we’ll be waiting forever. We have more than enough partners in this world and there’s more than enough capital in this world. It’s about aligning our communities to the people that want to help our community.”

Metatawabin believes Indigenous people should be taking the lead with clean energy initiatives.

Metatawabin also believes it’s key that governments are on board about changing the channel from fossil fuels.

“I think we need to give space to renewable energy because that’s our future,” he said. “As Indigenous people we owe it to our ancestors to ensure that we’re leading in this space. And if we can, bring the government along to focus more on this and to jumpstart the investment, the creation of new instruments to attract private sector capital so that we can do more and then focus on our communities.”

Chris Henderson, the executive director of Indigenous Clean Energy, said there’s another important reason to proceed with clean energy initiatives.

“I believe if we do the right thing for Indigenous clean energy—clean energy for housing, clean energy with clean fuels, clean energy with renewable energy—we will have a huge impact on the health of the country, on the health of Indigenous peoples and communities,” he said.

Henderson, a former hospital administrator, said the benefits would be tremendous to having countless clean energy initiatives brought forward.

“If we make sure we do energy efficient housing that makes sure that we don’t breathe bad air in homes, that we make sure wood stoves are of a high quality so they’re not putting ash and particulate matter inside the home, that we’re making sure we keep mold in check so that it doesn’t contaminate people and the home, then what we will do is not only improve the health of people but let’s remember the biggest single expenditure in our country is on health care,” Henderson said.

Bill Williams, the executive director of the Nunavut Economic Developers Association, believes it only makes sense who should be leading clean energy projects.

“Indigenous peoples are the original sustainable developers,” Williams said. “They never take more than they need and they develop with what’s with them and around them in the community.”

Williams said listening to Indigenous views on these issues would be prudent.

“As a non-Indigenous Canadian, and other non-Indigenous Canadians, I think we can learn way more about sustainable development from Indigenous people if we would just listen,” he said.

Dawn Madahbee Leach, the vice-chair of the National Indigenous Economic Development Board, said building capacity is the most important thing that can be done now in terms of clean energy.

Madahbee Leach also said the International Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development released a report on Indigenous economic development last year.

One of the report’s recommendations was to explore the possibility of building Indigenous centres of excellence. These facilities would lead the way in practices and research, case studies and provide communities with the proper tools to make wise decisions.

“We would have a better chance to make informed decisions, to make better partnerships, to really be leaders in this industry because we would be looking at the leading practices and Indigenous businesses involved in clean energy projects and our employees and how to manage these projects,” she said.

Madahbee Leach also believes collaboration with others would be extremely beneficial.

“We are already building this capacity, but we need to share our progress and our missteps so we can all learn to do better,” she said. “We can share our successes with our Indigenous brothers and sisters globally as well.”

Others who spoke at the presentation were Troy Jerome, the president and CEO of SEN’TI Environmental and Indigenous Services, and Hillary Thatcher, a senior director with Canada Infrastructure Bank.

Darrell Brown, the chair of the Indigenous Clean Energy Network, moderated the presentation.

Windspeaker.com

By Sam Laskaris, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com, Windspeaker.com

Belarus: Amnesty accuses security forces of torture

The NGO says it has photos, video recordings and testimony that can be used as evidence of rights violations. The UN also accused Belarus of torturing detainees, a charge the government denies.



Belarusian riot police block the road to stop demonstrators during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk

Detained protesters in Belarus have been systematically tortured, human rights group Amnesty International said in a report released on Wednesday.

Belarusians have been taking to the streets against President Alexander Lukashenko, once dubbed Europe's last dictator, since his disputed re-election in August.

More than 30,000 protesters have been arrested, many killed and hundreds injured in the demonstrations.

Belarus President Alexander Lukaschenko says he won August's disputed vote

What does the report say?

The Amnesty report cites testimonies from detainees who say they were stripped naked, beaten and deprived of food, drinking water or medical care for days.

Amnesty says it has photos, video recordings and testimony of detainees, victims and witnesses that can be used as evidence of rights violations.

But Marie Struthers, the group's director for eastern Europe and central Asia, said the country's justice system "not only protects police with anonymity, but also encourages intimidation and further violence against victims and witnesses."

Watch video 04:57 Lithuania offers protection from Lukashenko

She said an international investigation was needed into "the unprecedented scale of the ongoing human rights violations" and the perpetrators must be prosecuted. 

Pressure from the UN

Last month, UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet urged the government to release all people unlawfully arrested in post-election protests and investigate some 2,000 complaints of torture or ill-treatment in custody.

The Belarusian government has repeatedly all of the allegations.

Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus for 26 years, claimed victory in the elections with 80.1% of the vote.

Opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and the international community, including the EU and the US, contest the results.

Belarus: Amnesty accuses security forces of torture | News | DW | 27.01.2021

PUBLIC OWNERSHIP OF BIG PHARMA NOW!

2021 Access to Medicine Index: No profit, no pharma?

A new pharmaceutical company ranking has said the industry is slowly improving access to medicine in low and middle-income countries. But it only mobilized on COVID once the pandemic threatened rich countries.



The Index ranks companies on what they are doing to improve access to their medicines in poorer countries.

Pharmaceutical companies "continue to inch forward" to improve access to medicines in poorer countries, said a report published by the Access to Medicine Foundation on Tuesday.

The Netherlands-based nonprofit organisation said there has been progress, but that progress is slow. And profit appears still to be the main driver for research and development (R&D) in medicines and vaccines.

In the foundation's 2021 ranking of the pharmaceutical industry, it said that most of the products approved since 2018 have targeted "more profitable non-communicable diseases [than less profitable] communicable diseases."

It continues: "The 2021 analysis showed that only two recently approved products target neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)."

And on COVID-19, the "industry only mobilized once it became clear that the outbreak affected rich as well as poor countries," because that opened up the potential for "substantial recurring pharmaceutical revenues."


"The state of infectious disease research today is, if I can put it mildly, on thin ice," said Dr. Jayasree Iyer, executive director of the Access to Medicine Foundation, in an interview with DW.

"It's heavily reliant on public funds and the goodwill of a few pharmaceutical companies. Many companies have actually left infectious disease R&D," said Iyer.

"But when we talk about the scale of some of these issues and the knowledge to develop a product, to produce it at scale, efficiently, and deploy it in countries, the world relies on the pharmaceutical industry," she said.

The industry might also argue that it needs recurring revenues in order to be able to respond to public health emergencies, such as a pandemic.
Conditions that get the most attention

Access to Medicine's Index ranks pharmaceutical companies on what they are doing to improve access to their medicines — their products — in poorer countries.

The ranking uses three main criteria: governance of access, research and development, and product delivery.

Our graph focuses on the top 10 companies in the ranking of 20.

GlaxoSmithKline has held onto the top position since the last Access to Medicine Index was published in 2018. Pfizer has entered the top five.

Non-communicable diseases, such as cancers, continue to dominate R&D at the top companies. Cancers account for more than two-thirds of all projects.

Among the infectious diseases, HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria continue to receive the most attention from companies, with COVID-19 joining them in 2020.

Research into maternal and neonatal health conditions increased, but "only slightly," says an accompanying report. That was by 1% of all R&D projects.
Less action on neglected tropical diseases

Access for Medicine said there has been "notable progress" in planning during R&D to make future products accessible.

"Eight companies are developing approaches for systematically ensuring all R&D projects are paired with plans to increase access in poorer countries soon after launch," wrote the report authors.

But projects targeting neglected tropical diseases have decreased from 90 to 86.

Dracunculiasis, or guinea-worm disease, is contracted by drinking contaminated water

NTDs include dengue, rabies, trachoma, yaws and guinea-worm disease. The latter two have been identified as candidates for disease eradication or disease control.

There are other diseases, such as Ebola, of which there have been a number of recent outbreaks in western Africa.

Those outbreaks, said Iyer, have provided a platform for renewed interest in Ebola, but that interest needs to be maintained and prioritized.

"The more disease priorities are well-defined, the easier it is to engage industry," said Iyer. "And the greater the public funding, and assistance to deploy [medicines], the likelier it is that we see a group of companies engaging on particular issues."

That can also come as a result of public sentiment through awareness campaigns and activism, said Iyer. That has been seen with HIV, for instance.
Planning for the next pandemic

Access to Medicine's findings also show so-called "empty pipelines" for 10 out of 16 of the emerging infectious diseases in the world. Basically, nothing's happening there — no research, no development.

One such example, said Iyer, is Nipah, an infectious disease that transmits from animals to humans, a "zoonotic" virus.

It has been found in Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa, with recent outbreaks affecting Malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh, India and Thailand. And there is no vaccine.

"Large research-based pharmaceutical companies have a critical role to play in preparing for the next pandemic," wrote the report authors. "The lag in access planning, despite hefty public funding for much R&D, suggests that pharmaceutical companies must do more."

That includes demonstrating a sustained commitment to investing more in emerging infectious disease R&D, embedding equitable distribution into their strategies and showing greater flexibility on sharing intellectual property.

EU pins hope on Norway raw materials discovery

Norway has discovered a huge deposit of critical raw materials. This could make the EU less dependent on China and Russia and boost the bloc's energy transition. DW's Mikhail Bushuev has this exclusive report.


Norge Mining is working feverishly to get the Dalane deposit project off the ground


Michael Wurmser was a banker, investor and strategic consultant before he met new business partners from Norway. They offered the Swiss national five licenses for a lucrative phosphate deposit in Norway which had previously caught the attention of local scientists.

What sounded rather unspectacular at first has turned into one of Europe's most fascinating discoveries. Norway does not belong to the EU. Its huge deposit has certainly piqued the interest of the 27-member bloc and China. Wurmser's company claims to have discovered the biggest deposit of its kind globally, which could produce 70 billion to 80 billion tons of ore-containing material.
Phosphate, vanadium and titanium

After backing from Swiss and German investors, Wurmser and his partners founded Norge Mining in the UK in 2018. They started taking soil samples in the Dalane region in sparsely populated southwestern Norway.

Besides phosphates, two other important minerals were found: vanadium and titanium. Vanadium is tipped to become the most important raw material of the future. About a tenth of all globally mined vanadium is currently used to produce high-performance batteries that store renewable energy.


Soil samples from the Dalane deposit have shown a high content of rare raw materials

Vanadium batteries are far superior to conventional lithium-ion batteries. They can be charged faster and survive 10 times more recharging/discharging cycles without losing performance. Besides that, recycling them is easier. Titanium is important for the steel industry, while phosphates are required for the production of fertilizers.

Electromagnetic field tests, carried out from a helicopter in 2019, produced a 3D visualization of the whole ore deposit. At first, Norge Mining only expected the raw materials to reach a depth of 300-400 meters (984-1,312 feet). Further test drilling and lab studies helped them calculate that the mineralization of the ore deposit reaches at least 2,200 meters (7,217 feet) deep. The company now believes the depth could be up to 4,500 meters.


"At first, we didn't expect the deposit to have such gigantic dimensions," Wurmser told DW. Norge Mining says it has since secured six licenses for the development of an area four times the size of Paris, some 420 square kilometers (261 square miles). In 2012, the Geological Survey of Norway put the value of the deposit at some €30 billion ($36.4 billion). But that estimate assumed the ore deposit would have a depth of just 100 meters.

British consulting firm SRK calculated that the total ore body contains 70-80 billion tons of phosphate-containing material, which would make it the world's largest phosphate deposit, ahead of Morocco's 50 billion and China's 30 billion tons. Added to this is some 3.5 billion tons of ore-containing rock material, which contains 2.45 million tons of vanadium. Norge Mining didn't provide any details on the titanium deposit.

Critical raw materials for the EU

The Norwegian mega deposit has spurred the European Union's interest, all the more since phosphate, vanadium and titanium are on the European Commission's list of critical raw materials. The list contains 30 rare earths and other minerals which are classified as crucial for the bloc's economic and climate protection policies but predominantly need to be imported. Often, importing these materials is risky or complicated. China, for instance, has reserved the right in its latest five-year plan to curtail exports of rare raw materials should they be needed for domestic production.


Michael Wurmser is confident that the Norwegian deposit can help the EU become less dependent on China

Over 60% of the EU's phosphate, vanadium and titanium supplies come from China, along with 20% from Russia and the rest from Kazakhstan, Morocco and other African nations. By 2030, demand is likely to soar — up to 58% for vanadium alone, according to Berlin-based consortium EIT RawMaterials.

Seeking to reduce the risk of supply bottlenecks, Brussels has created the European Raw Materials Alliance (ERMA). The initiative is backed by 160 companies, including Norge Mining, to make raw-material supply chains resilient.

But the company hasn't specified just how much vanadium, titanium and phosphates it aims to supply to the bloc, arguing it's too early to say. After all, it will take about five years to begin extraction. The EU doesn't see an immediate bottleneck in the supply of critical raw minerals, but the Economic Council of Germany's center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party has called for the creation of reserves just in case.
Alternative to oil exports

The European Commission is in talks with Norwegian authorities about potential supplies. Oslo, with its dwindling oil reserves, is already readying itself for the post-fossil fuel era. Extracting and exporting rare earth minerals could become a new pillar of economic growth.

Odd Stangeland, the mayor of Eigersund where the huge deposit is located, told DW the locals are happy about the discovery, especially as Norge has pledged to adhere to strict environmental protection standards. Such is the backing for rare earth minerals, a highway may be rerouted so as not to be in the way of future mines, despite costing €330 million. Wurmser thinks that is a relatively small sum, given the expected yields. He says the Dalane deposit could be a multigenerational project, lasting for more than a century.

Norge Mining's drilling activities have already started, with actual extraction to kick off in a couple of years

China calling

Wurmser noted how rare earth minerals have become a political hot potato. As well as the EU, China's state-run enterprises are taking a keen interest in its Norwegian project. "Every 10 days, there's a call from China," Wurmser told DW, sensing an unspoken wish to buy his firm, which he insisted is out of the question. "We only see them as potential recipients [of our minerals]."

In contrast, Norge sees the EU as a key partner, as it will help the bloc realize its ambition of becoming carbon-neutral by 2050. This goal cannot be achieved without green technologies and long-lasting batteries, produced with the help of rare raw minerals that are mined responsibly, he told DW.

Adapted from German

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Can China stop rare earths exports to the US?

As China looks for ways to retaliate against the US amid an escalating trade row between the two giants, speculation is rife that Beijing could slash the export of rare earth metals as a counterstrike to US tariffs.

Scientists in Greece find 20 million year-old petrified tree

By Elias Marcou

© Reuters/ELIAS MARCOU Rare fossilised tree, part of a petrified forest, unearthed on the island of Lesbos

LESBOS, Greece (Reuters) - Greek scientists on the volcanic island of Lesbos say they have found a rare fossilized tree whose branches and roots are still intact after 20 million years.

The tree was found during roadwork near an ancient forest petrified millions of years ago on the eastern Mediterranean island and transported from the site using a special splint and metal platform.

© Reuters/ELIAS MARCOU Rare fossilised tree, part of a petrified forest, unearthed on the island of Lesbos

It is the first time a tree has been found in such good condition complete with branches and roots since excavations began in 1995, said Professor Nikos Zouros of the Museum of Natural History of the Petrified Forest of Lesbos.

© Reuters/ELIAS MARCOU Rare fossilised tree, part of a petrified forest, unearthed on the island of Lesbos

"It is a unique find," he said. "[It] is preserved in excellent condition and from studying the fossilized wood we will be able to identify the type of plant it comes from."

Lesbos' petrified forest, a 15,000-hectare, UNESCO-protected site, is the result of a volcanic eruption 20 million years ago which smothered the island's then subtropical forest ecosystem in lava.

© Reuters/ELIAS MARCOU Rare fossilised tree, part of a petrified forest, unearthed on the island of Lesbos

The fossilized tree, about 19 metres long, was preserved by a thick layer of volcanic ash after it fell. A large number of fruit tree leaves were found in the same spot, adding to the picture along with animal bones from the general area.

© Reuters/ELIAS MARCOU Rare fossilised tree, part of a petrified forest, unearthed on the island of Lesbos

"During the excavations the various forests that existed between 17 and 20 million years ago on Lesbos are being uncovered and we can reconstruct the ecosystem that existed during that period," said Zouros.

(Writing by Deborah Kyvrikosaios; editing by James Mackenzie and Alexandra Hudson)

CANADA HAS THE LARGEST SIKH DIASPORA 

Calgary Punjabis take to the highway to support Indian farmers

© Dan McGarvey/CBC Cars and trucks with stickers and posters supporting Indian farmers made the trip Tuesday morning to Edmonton in support of the cause.

Dozens of cars and trucks braved the icy highway between Calgary and Edmonton on Tuesday to show support with farmers protesting controversial new agriculture laws in India.

The car convoy left CrossIron Mills headed for the legislature to raise awareness of the situation that's been unfolding in India since last September. Cars were flying flags and displaying stickers and homemade posters.

New legislation came into effect in India last year changing the rules around the sale, pricing and storage of produce from India's agricultural regions.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the changes will allow farmers to set prices and allow them to sell crops to private businesses and corporations, giving them more freedom.

Farmers are worried it will leave them open to being exploited and devastate them financially, and they say they weren't consulted

.

© Dan McGarvey/CBC Cars and trucks covered with signs, decals and flags travelled up the highway in a convoy to Edmonton.

Until now, farmers had relied on selling crops direct to the government at guaranteed prices.

Some families in Calgary still own land in rural India and the change in laws has direct implications for some.

Half of India's vast population is employed in the agriculture sector in some form.

"We want to give our memorandum in support of farmers protesting, that's the purpose," said Vik Sahiwal.

"Opening up the market is the intention, but with such small land holdings, just two acres on average, those farmers are not educated and equipped to deal with the free market," said Sahiwal.

"We want the government to repeal these laws," he said.

© Dan McGarvey/CBC Vik Sahiwal says the car rally is a way for Punjabis in Alberta to express their support and passion for the farmers’ protests happening in India.

Tens of thousands of farmers travelled to the Indian capital, Delhi, late last year from rural regions like Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, with many making the journey in tractors and other farm equipment. They've been there for months,

In the past 24 hours, those peaceful protests turned violent, with farmers breaching police barricades and storming Delhi's historic Red Fort complex.

The protesters were part of a rally being held to mark India's Republic Day and were given routes to stick to by police, but some ignored the guidance leading to chaotic scenes and clashes.

"It's heartbreaking for everyone," said Sahiwal. "Last night, watching those scenes, you're worried about the safety or older people and women and children. We hope things calm down and sense prevails, peace prevails," he said.

He says Calgarians have been glued to TV screens and devices following the news back home minute by minute.

"We're scared for our families back home," said Paramjit Singh.

"This cold, it's nothing compared to what they're facing. We have heaters in our cars, they have nothing," said Singh, who has also been following events.

© Dan McGarvey/CBC Paramjit Singh says Punjabis in Calgary support the farmers protests in Delhi after new laws were passed that farmers say will their kill their livelihoods.

"We were watching and we were all scared," he said.

Leaders of farmers unions issued appeals to protestors and have condemned the recent violence.

The government offered to put the laws on hold last week, but farmers say they want a full repeal.

#NOFARMERSNOFOOD

Heavy security, roads closed after Delhi farmer riots

Issued on: 27/01/2021 - 

The farmers want new agricultural reforms scrapped 

Money SHARMA AFP

New Delhi (AFP)

Indian police imposed heavy security and closed several main roads around New Delhi on Wednesday a day after farmers went on the rampage the capital, leaving one person dead and dozens injured.

The violence marked a dramatic escalation in a standoff between the government and thousands of farmers camped out on the outskirts of the city since late November.

The farmers, mostly from northern Indian states including Punjab, want new agricultural reforms scrapped that they fear will leave them at the mercy of big corporations.

On Tuesday -- during annual Republic Day parade -- convoys of farmers on tractors smashed through barricades to converge on the city centre, seeing off police baton charges and volleys of tear gas.

One farmer was killed in what police said was an accident after his tractor overturned after hitting a barricade. At least 86 police were injured, an official statement said.

Around the city, security forces fought running battles with demonstrators. Farmers also laid into police with branches and metal bars and hijacked buses used to block their convoys.

At the historic Red Fort landmark farmers broke through police lines and put up their own emblem on the flagpole to cheers from the large crowd before being dispersed from the ramparts by security forces.

On one main road, people on rooftops threw petals on the tractor convoys. Elsewhere people cheered and applauded as farmers went past waving Indian flags and blowing horns.

As night fell, the farmers retreated to the camps outside the city where they have been braving Delhi's chilly winter nights since late November.

Home Minister Amit Shah ordered 15 companies of paramilitaries to boost security forces in the capital, according to media reports.

On Thursday morning a number of major roads were blocked by police and security forces set up barricades, leading to major traffic congestion. Riot police were stationed near the Red Fort.

- Blow for Modi -

Smaller farmer demonstrations were held in Mumbai and Bangalore and in the rural state of Haryana on Tuesday.

The unrest was a major embarrassment for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government, for whom the farmer protests represent the biggest challenge since coming to power in 2014.

Farming has long been a political minefield, with nearly 70 percent of the population drawing its livelihood from agriculture in the vast nation of 1.3 billion people.

The government has offered to suspend the reforms for 18 months, but farmer unions -- who insist they did not condone Tuesday's violence -- want nothing short of the laws being binned.

The government says that the farmers have been manipulated by opposition parties which have largely backed the protests.

It insists the reforms will allow farmers to sell to private buyers instead of just at state markets.

Ten rounds of talks between farm unions and ministers have failed to break the deadlock.

"We're ready to die. This government has been ignoring us for long but they can no longer do that," Singh told AFP at the 400-year-old fort.

Majid Ali, 55, who lives near the Red Fort said he was appaled by what happened at the landmark but backs the farmers.

"I've never seen this much security in my life... If the farmers don't fight for their rights and lives, how will we eat? I am with the farmers," Ali told AFP.

ja-grk-abh-ash/stu/je

© 2021 AFP

India: Farmers mount fresh protests in New Delhi

Tens of thousands of Indian farmers protesting agricultural reforms have driven a convoy of tractors into New Delhi as the capital celebrates Republic Day. DW's India correspondent Nimisha Jaiswal reports from the scene.

#NOFARMERSNOFOOD