Trump-loving prophets in crisis after their predictions fail to pan out: report

Sky Palma RAW STORY
February 11, 2021


(Shutterstock.com)

Throughout Donald Trump's presidency, a movement within the evangelical community that cast him as a savior sent by God grew their own immense following. Within that movement was a faction of self-described "prophets" who spewed QAnon-adjacent conspiracy theories and predictions that Trump would resume the mantle of his presidency -- even after it was clear that Joe Biden would be inaugurated.

Now, according to the New York Times' Ruth Graham, their movement is in crisis as more and more people -- even within their ranks -- are taking note of their failed prophecies.

One of those prophets was Jeremiah Johnson, who was one of Trump's earliest supporters within the evangelical movement. Johnson garnered a following of hundreds of thousands of people who believed wholeheartedly his predictions about such topics as the coronavirus pandemic, the makeup of the Supreme Court, and other debated social issues. "And they took comfort ahead of the presidential election last fall when Mr. Johnson shared a prophetic dream of Mr. Trump stumbling while running the Boston Marathon, until two frail older women emerged from the crowd to help him over the finish line," Graham writes.

When Biden was inaugurated, Johnson admitted to his followers that he was wrong. But both followers and leaders alike within the prophetic movement are still standing by the predictions.

"The backlash to Mr. Johnson's apology was immediate," writes Graham. "On Facebook, he reported that he received 'multiple death threats and thousands upon thousands of emails from Christians saying the nastiest and most vulgar things I have ever heard toward my family and ministry.' He also said he had lost funding from donors who accused him of being 'a coward, sellout, and traitor to the Holy Spirit.'"

But as Graham points out, the popularity of self-appointed prophets shows no signs of waning.

"There's this idea that you can't trust anybody except these trusted individuals," said Brad Christerson, a sociologist at evangelical Biola University. "It's a symptom of our time. People don't trust institutions, and people think that all mainstream institutions are corrupt: universities, science, government, the media. They're searching for real sources of truth."

Read the full report over at The New York Times. BEHIND PAYWALL

Trump's pathology infects the millions who follow him -- and this narcissistic symbiosis could grow even worse

Bandy X. Lee, DC Report @Raw Story
February 11, 2021




In 2017, Dr. Judith Herman and I stated in The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President: "Power not only corrupts but also magnifies existing psychopathologies, even as it creates new ones."

We warned of an authoritarian cult of personality and growing contempt for the rule of law, which would spread throughout the culture unless stopped. Donald Trump's presidency was dangerous not because of his individual afflictions but his capacity, as president, to amplify and exacerbate society's defects, especially if he faced no accountability.

To the end of his presidency, he was not contained or held accountable. The American Psychiatric Association advanced a perverse version of "the Goldwater rule" to silence expert alarms, the way the Department of Justice revived a controversial internal Office of the Legal Counsel memo to place a president above the law. As a result, Donald Trump may have left the office of the presidency, but "Trumpism" not only continues but flourishes. As the House managers in the impeachment trial have reminded us with their effective use of videos of the Capitol insurrection, the Trump infection, once spread, manifests in deadly, violent behavior.

JOYFUL MEMORIES FROM TRUMPS YOUTH

Donald Trump may have left the office of the presidency, but 'Trumpism' not only continues but flourishes.

We have already seen copycats arising everywhere in lesser positions. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a newly-elected Republican representative from Georgia, has shocked many with her brazen promotion of dangerous QAnon conspiracy theories and endorsement of violence, including execution, against Democrats.

Even while being stripped of her committee assignments, she responded with defiance: "I woke up … laughing thinking about what a bunch of morons the Democrats are for giving someone like me free time." Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) is a similar personality, having flaunted her carrying a pistol in violation of the District of Columbia's anti-gun laws, argued for the right to bring firearms onto the House floor, and on Jan. 6 tweeted about the whereabouts of the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), as the insurrectionists were actively looking for her in the Capitol.

Lack of Accountability

For mental health experts who have been warning against these dangers for years, this behavior is only expected: criminal minds see lack of accountability as a green light. Lesser examples of emboldened behavior include Capitol riot suspect Jenny Cudd asking to leave the country on vacation, while Kenosha, Wis., shooter Kyle Rittenhouse is not only out on bond but changing his address without permission and making it difficult for the authorities to find him

A dangerous president has shown that he absorbs a powerful message when an OLC memo protects all criminality, including those that threaten national security, or that "the Goldwater rule" silences all criticism, even when doing so endangers public health. Trump came to believe he could even destroy democracy to stay in power.

Disabling any kind of intervention, therefore, not only kept a problem from being solved, but enabled it. Allowing a criminally-minded and mentally-impaired person to continue in the presidency for four years has sent a powerful message to similar personalities as Greene or Boebert: that elected office could serve as a cover for lawlessness or incapacity. We as a society have mobilized delusions of grandeur, impunity, and omnipotence as a legitimate way of warding off intolerable inner feelings of inadequacy, inferiority, and powerlessness.

Epidemic of Violence

As a specialist in public health approaches to violence prevention, it is not difficult for me to see that these are the conditions for epidemics of violence, including the increasing rate of violence among women. Violence is not an issue of individual mental illness but of societal disorder, and the conditions that encourage violence are well-known.

While violence is the end-product of a long process, a lack of political will—or even the use of violence as a political tool for amassing power—has hampered prevention. Instead, our nation has fostered and propagated it. It is now remarkable that a former president's act of insurrection, sedition and even treason, according to some Constitutional scholars, will likely remain without conviction because of the physical threats his followers pose for senators who might vote in favor of it.
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In my first public-service book, I emphasized that he would grow more dangerous with time, and that, without intervention, his dangers would eventually spiral beyond control. Our failure to contain him and his followers has created a "silent pandemic" that contributes to other societal mental health problems, including a worsening of the viral pandemic itself, as well as drug addiction, depression, suicides, and homicides. In my most recent book, Profile of a Nation: Trump's Mind, America's Soul, I outline two major dynamics that are a consequence of allowing Donald Trump's pathologies to spread.

Wounded Leader

"Narcissistic symbiosis" is one, referring to the magnetic collusion that happens when a narcissistically wounded leader and followers meet. The leader, hungry for adulation that can compensate for an inner sense of inadequacy and worthlessness, projects grandiose omnipotence, while the followers, who are needy from societal stress or developmental injury, yearn for a parent figure whom they can emulate.

Such bonds make "shared psychosis," also called "folie à millions" ("madness among millions") at the national level, more likely to occur. Shared psychosis refers to the infectiousness of severe symptoms that goes beyond rational strategy or ordinary group psychology. When a highly symptomatic individual is granted an influential position with prolonged exposure to the public, conditions are set for the person's symptoms to spread. Delusions, paranoia, or violence-proneness transmit to previously healthy individuals especially powerfully. The treatment is the removal of exposure, as we have seen with the dramatic fall of approval ratings following the ban of Donald Trump from various social media platforms.

Disordered Thinking

This is not the end, however, and "the ecology" must change. The culture needs to stop normalizing, legitimizing, and glorifying disordered thinking, for once it is admitted into the mainstream, it will not go away or give up power easily, and is not amenable to facts or logical persuasion. As stated at our recent National Town Hall, we must convict, set limits on violent behavior, and return society to justice, order, and reality. We must also address the socioeconomic conditions that gave rise to poor collective mental health in the first place by reducing economic, racial, and gender inequalities.

Once an individual or a group succumbs to pathology, it is characteristic to make further maladaptive choices that descend one further into sickness. One such choice may be to use violence to ward off narcissistic needs or challenges against one's cherished delusions. This is why prevention, before resistances develop, is important. Mental health professionals who understand pathological dynamics need to engage actively with social scientists, policymakers and politicians for urgently needed interventions

REICHIANS KNOW THIS AS THE EMOTIONAL PLAGUE DISCUSSED IN WILHELM REICHS WORKS; LISTEN LITTLE MAN, THE MURDER OF CHRIST AND THE MASS PSYCHOLOGY OF FASCISM

Case dismissed against New York cops who pushed elderly man to the ground and gave him a brain injury

Sarah K. Burris
February 11, 2021

Buffalo Police with man bleeding from the Ear (Screen Capture)

During a protest in Buffalo, New York, 75-year-old Martin Gugino, a faithful peace activist and Catholic church volunteer, was shoved to the ground by police officers and was knocked unconscious. 

 HE IS AN AN ANARCHIST PACIFIST WITH THE CATHOLIC WORKERS MOVEMENT

The incident was filmed and posted online showing Gugino bleeding from his ears and ultimately "sent him to the hospital for a month to recover from a brain injury and a fractured skull," said USA Today last August.

Now, according to the New York Daily News, the charges against the two officers who shoved the man, are being dismissed.

"Buffalo Police Department officers Robert McCabe and Aaron Torgalski had faced felony charges" for their actions against the man, "fracturing his skull and causing him to bleed from his head."

Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said at a press conference Thursday, that the video of the crime was enough for him to bring charges, but the grand jury refused to bring it to trial

Read the full report at the NYDN.

CHLORINE AND WATER ARE IN THE AIR IN MARTIAN SUMMERTIME

Two studies of the Martian atmosphere are changing the way we think about its current climate and its ancient

An artist's concept of the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter

 firing its main engines.
ESA / ATG-Media Lab

A pair of investigations using data from the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO, a joint European Space Agency and Roscosmos mission) are adding to our understanding of the interactions between the Red Planet’s surface and atmosphere.

The first study concerns the detection of hydrogen chloride (HCl) gas, whose origins are still unknown. On Earth, this molecule is derived mainly from seawater. Finding it on Mars has been one of the longstanding goals of the TGO science team, because it can also be a sign of geological activity.

The second study identifies rapid variability in the ratio of variants of hydrogen atoms at different altitudes, providing new insights into how much water has been lost to space over time, and how this changes across the planet depending on climate, geography, and reservoirs (like the poles and the water found in the regolith).

Both studies, published in the February 10th Science Advances, found seasonal variations in their detections, providing a fuller picture of both the current climate in the planet’s southern hemisphere and the evolution of the Martian environment over time.

FOLLOW THE WATER — AND THE SALT

The water team, led by Geronimo Villanueva (NASA Goddard), used infrared spectroscopy to map out the abundance of water, water-based ice, and dust both across the surface and upwards, through the atmosphere.

The scientists kept an eye in particular on the ratio of deuterium — a heavier form of hydrogen with an extra neutron — to regular hydrogen, which contains only a proton in its nucleus. Measuring the deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio (D/H) on Mars helps estimate how much water the planet used to have, but we can’t get a good global average until we know how much it actually varies by place and time

.

These videos from the Mars Color Imager camera onboard 

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show how dust enveloped

 the planet during the summer of 2018.
NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS

As Villanueva and his colleagues observed major weather events — including a global dust storm, an intense local storm, and the seasonal migration of water from the ice cap in the southern summer as it thawed — they watched the D/H ratio vary significantly from latitude to latitude.

High up they also saw lots of deuterium, hinting that lighter hydrogen might escape more easily. This finding supports previous detections of high D/H ratios compared to Earth, one of the reasons people think Mars used to be much wetter.

They also saw D/H spikes during the summer, which would make sense if deuterium captured in the polar ice caps were released as they melted — it could then be lofted up into the atmosphere during the seasonal storms.

“When water is exposed to the upper atmosphere and to space, some is lost, some is changed,” Villaneuva explains. “The ratio of regular water to heavy water in the atmosphere is interesting to us, because it can tell us a bit of a planet’s history.”

The team studying hydrogen chloride, led by Oleg Korablev (Space Research Institute, Russia), also used spectroscopy to find hydrogen chloride gas. Hydrogen chloride had been predicted on Mars, but never seen before. Villanueva’s team corroborated these observations during the aforementioned global dust storm, during which the scientists verified the gas’s presence while taking the water ratio measurements.

The exact process that creates hydrogen chloride is unknown. One mechanism could be surface dust that’s rich in chloride minerals, like salt (NaCl), interacting with water. But volcanic activity could also make the gas

.

This graphic describes a possible new chemistry cycle on Mars 

following the discovery of hydrogen chloride in the Martian 

atmosphere by the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter.
ESA

CHEMISTRY IS HISTORY

NASA’s Phoenix lander revealed perchlorates, a chlorine-based salt, in the Martian regolith a decade ago, and the discovery of hydrogen chloride could explain where all those salts came from.

“One of the leading theories is that ancient Mars had lots of active volcanoes releasing hydrogen chloride into the atmosphere,” Kevin Olsen (Oxford University, UK) explains. “We are seeing a seasonal creation of hydrogen chloride from the surface chlorine, which has implications about the whole cycle.”

David Catling (University of Washington), who was involved with the original detection of perchlorates, agrees: “I would speculate that perchlorate might be generated continually from the hydrogen chloride, and that we don’t need to invoke past volcanic sources of chlorine.”

The polar ice cap at the Martian south pole, shown here in a Mars Express image, is one kind of water reservoir that's interacting with the atmosphere on a seasonal basis as water freezes and sublimates over the course of a trip around the Sun.
ESA/DLR/FU Berlin / Bill Dunford

These studies leave a lot of open questions, all of which impact the past and present state of Mars’s surface — and its future habitability for human settlers. The highly variable D/H ratios might indicate how key reservoirs — like the polar ice caps and the ice-rich regolith — influence the climate, and vice versa in the planet’s water cycle, but more information is needed to be sure. And while the observation of a never before-seen-halogen, hydrogen chloride, is important, we also want to know how it is being produced.

“Going forward we need to model the chemistry of the atmosphere,” Olsen says. At the moment no one knows exactly how the hydrogen chloride gas is interacting with other gases and particulates in the air. “Dedicated laboratory studies will also help to show that the predicted chemistry is actually plausible.”

The water team has a similar need for better, more detailed atmospheric models. “The moral of the story is that we have more to learn before we can infer what the true isotopic ratios of the reservoirs are,” Villanueva says.

Chlorine and Water Are in the Air in Martian Summertime - Sky & Telescope (skyandtelescope.org)

Shell under pressure as net zero plan disappoints investors and campaigners

Tom Belger Finance and policy reporter
Thu, 11 February 2021, 

Shell stocks dipped on Thursday. Photo: Rafael Henrique/SOPA/LightRocket via Getty

Shares in energy giant Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB.L) slid on Thursday, as its plan to reach net zero emissions left investors and climate campaigners disappointed.

The company pledged to be carbon-neutral by 2050, and outlined a series of new plans and targets to help limit its contribution to climate change. It said more than 16,500 staff’s pay was linked to its emissions reduction targets, and will invest in an extra 25 million tonnes a year of carbon capture and storage capacity by 2035.

It vowed to “rebalance” its portfolio towards a transition to cleaner energy, saying total carbon emissions peaked in 2018 and oil production in 2019. Renewable electricity provision will be doubled by 2030, and Shell hopes for a “double-digit share” of global clean hydrogen sales.

Shell will spend between $2bn (£1.4bn) and $3bn a year on “renewables and energy solutions” as part of its net-zero drive.

The plans were welcomed by the Church of England, which has sought to pressure energy companies to greater action on emissions through its pension fund.

READ MORE: Oil prices higher as OPEC+ curbs supply

Adam Matthews, ethics and engagement director of its pensions board, said Shell’s net-zero target was “industry-leading and comprehensive.” The commitment includes oil and gas produced by others but sold by Shell.

But investors appeared less satisfied by the proposals, with Shell stocks sinking 1.8% in morning trading on the London Stock Exchange.

Spending no more than $3bn annually on cleaner energy sources “seems a low number percentage wise” compared with spending in other areas, said Michael Hewson, chief analyst at CMC Markets UK. He noted total annual capital expenditure added up to $20bn.

WATCH: Shell profits sink to 20-year low




Russ Mould, investment director, at AJ Bell, noted it would invest around twice as much in gas and chemicals and four times as much in oil and gas as renewables.

“Shell saying that its oil production has peaked is a major turning point for the business. However, some people will be surprised that it isn’t being more aggressive with its move towards renewable energy,” he said.

He said the company had “lost a lot of fans” by slashing its dividend last year, but also risked losing further investor interest to other greener companies.

READ MORE: Shell stocks fall despite reintroducing dividend

On the 2050 target, Mould added: “We’re living in a world that demands businesses be environmentally friendly today, not long in the future.”

The company also faced fiercer criticism from environmental campaign group Greenpeace.

“Shell’s climate plan’ is outrageously inadequate. A climate plan that doesn't involve slashing oil production & serious investment in renewables is a plan to keep the status quo not for the major changes we need to tackle the climate emergency,” it said in a statement.

“This just goes to show that we can't rely on oil companies to make the changes we need - the government needs to step in to make sure we have a proper plan to move away from fossil fuels & transition workers into green jobs.”

Stonehenge: Did the stone circle originally stand in Wales?

Stonehenge was built over many hundreds of years, with work beginning in the late Neolithic Age, around 3000 BC


One of Britain's biggest and oldest stone circles has been found in Wales - and could be the original building blocks of Stonehenge.

Archaeologists uncovered the remains of the Waun Mawn site in Pembrokeshire's Preseli Hills.

They believe the stones could have been dismantled and rebuilt 150 miles (240 km) away on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire.

The discovery was made during filming for BBC Two's Stonehenge: The Lost Circle Revealed.

The Welsh circle, believed to be the third biggest in Britain, has a diameter of 360ft (110m), the same as the ditch that encloses Stonehenge, and both are aligned on the midsummer solstice sunrise.

Solved: Mystery of where Stonehenge's stones come from
Stonehenge: First residents from west Wales
Patrols aim to tackle heritage crime in Wales

Several of the monoliths at the World Heritage Site are of the same rock type as those that still remain at the Welsh site.

And one of the bluestones at Stonehenge has an unusual cross-section which matches one of the holes left at Waun Mawn, suggesting the monolith began its life as part of the stone circle in the Preseli Hills before being moved.

Archaeologists unearthed the ancient stone circle at Waun Mawn 

in the Preseli Hills, Pembrokeshire

Multiple large "stone holes" were found at Waun Mawn

It is already known that the smaller bluestones that were first used to build Stonehenge were transported from 150 miles (240 km) away in modern-day Pembrokeshire.

But the new discovery suggests the bluestones from Waun Mawn could have been moved as the ancient people of the Preseli region migrated, even taking their monuments with them, as a sign of their ancestral identity.

They would then have been re-erected at Stonehenge.

Archaeologists said this could explain why the bluestones, thought to be the first monoliths erected at Stonehenge, were brought from so far away, while most circles are constructed within a short distance of their quarries.

The team was working in bad weather in the Preseli Hills when the circle was discovered

The archaeological investigations as part of the Stones of Stonehenge research project, led by Professor Mike Parker Pearson of University College London, previously excavated two bluestone quarries in the Preseli Hills.

Their discovery that the bluestones had been extracted before the first stage of Stonehenge was built in 3000 BC prompted the team to re-investigate the nearby Waun Mawn stones to see if it was the site of a stone circle supplied by the quarry and later moved.

Only four monoliths remain at the site, but an archaeological dig in 2018 revealed holes where stones would have stood, showing the remaining stones were part of a wider circle of 30-50 stones.

And the scientific dating of charcoal and sediment from the holes reveal it was put up around 3400 BC.

Neolithic people

The Preseli Hills are 150 miles (240 km) from Stonehenge in Wiltshire

Findings of the discovery, published in the journal Antiquity, show significant links between Stonehenge and Waun Mawn.

It also confirms that the region was an important and densely settled area in Neolithic times until 3000 BC when activity seems to have ceased.

Prof Parker Pearson said: "It's as if they just vanished. Maybe most of the people migrated, taking their stones - their ancestral identities - with them."

Analysis of the remains of people buried at Stonehenge at the time the bluestones were erected there would seem to back up the theory, as it shows some of them were from western Britain, possibly Wales.

With only a few of the Stonehenge stones directly linked to Waun Mawn, the archaeologists also believe monoliths from other stone circles could have been taken from Wales to form part of the new monument.

Prof Parker Pearson said: "With an estimated 80 bluestones put up on Salisbury Plain at Stonehenge and nearby Bluestonehenge, my guess is that Waun Mawn was not the only stone circle that contributed to Stonehenge.

"Maybe there are more in Preseli waiting to be found. Who knows? Someone will be lucky enough to find them."

Stonehenge: The Lost Circle Revealed will be broadcast on BBC Two at 21:00 GMT on Friday 12 February.

Morgan Stanley: Gasoline Industry Is About to Become Totally Worthless

By Alex Kimani - Feb 09, 2021, 

The average energy investor is by now well aware of the sector's monumental shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Coal-powered power plants have been shuttering at an alarming clip as the price of electricity from natural gas and renewables undercuts them while wind and solar generation continue to gain the ascendancy.

But nowhere has this change been as dramatic as the transport industry, with EV titans such as Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) and NIO Ltd. (NYSE:NIO) now commanding substantially higher valuations than their imposing ICE brethren, General Motors (NYSE:GM) and Ford Motors (NYSE:F). Indeed, the global EV sector now carries a higher valuation than the global ICE sector despite accounting for less than 3% of new vehicle sales in 2020.

It's a situation eerily reminiscent of the thousands of buggy and whip companies that were rendered obsolete in the early 20th century.

But now, a section of Wall Street says the situation is a lot more dire than that.

Morgan Stanley has argued that traditional ICE makers are destined to become money-losers as early as 2030.

MS' analyst Adam Jonas says the market may be ascribing zero or even negative value for ICE-derived revenues at GM and Ford and has listed a variety of factors that are likely to transform the companies' once-profitable assets into potentially cash-burning and loss-making businesses.

Pivoting to EVs

Morgan Stanley is hardly alone in its very dim outlook of the traditional auto industry.

A recent survey on institutional investors by the investment firm has revealed that 17% of respondents think ICE technology has no zero or negative value today, while 60% have rated ICE technology as only slightly positive. Just 23% think gasoline and diesel tech still carries a significant positive value.Related: Oil Prices Slip On Large Gasoline Build

But don't get us wrong: Nobody is saying that GM and F stocks are about to go the way of DMC, maker of the once-iconic DeLorean car of the Back to the Future fame.

In fact, GM and Ford could gain a new lease of life after belatedly going all-in into the EV megatrend.

Indeed, General Motors has vowed to end production of all diesel and gasoline-powered cars, trucks and SUVs by 2035 as part of the company's plan to shift its entire new fleet to electric vehicles.

GM also says it plans to use 100% renewable energy to power its U.S. facilities by 2030 and in its global facilities by 2035 and intends to become GM carbon neutral in both its global products and its operations by 2040. Further, the automaker says it will focus on offering zero-emissions vehicles across a wide range of price points and work with various stakeholders to build out the necessary charging infrastructure while promoting consumer acceptance.

If you think that does not sound like the usual GM playbook, you are not imagining things.

GM supported the Trump administration's pro-carbon lawsuit that was meant to force California and several other states with gas-mileage standards to lower them to the national standards. GM, however, flipped after Trump lost in November and withdrew from the suit on Nov. 23 after Biden became the clear winner. Since then, GM has announced a raft of electrification plans, which has helped GM stock rally 35% in the year-to-date.Related: Russian, Saudi Oil Giants To Benefit From Biden’s Anti-Oil Agenda

Morgan Stanley itself prefers General Motors to Ford, maintaining an Overweight rating on the stock while dropping Ford to an Underweight rating from Equal Weight due to a less-than-stellar sum-of-the-parts value.

In fact, Adam Jonas thinks GM's fair value could exceed 50% of current share price while Ford's is 20% lower:

"Our revised DCF and SOTP composition through the 2030 horizon factors in greater caution on our ICE forecasts for both companies, while increasing the value of the EV and AV-related businesses for each. For GM, the offset of the negative ICE adjustments and positive EV adjustments drives an increase in our price target to $80, suggesting over 50% upside. For Ford, our adjustments are substantially offsetting. This, combined with the recent run-up in the stock (which has kept pace with GM YTD) offers more than 20% downside to our price target."

Nevertheless, F shares have similarly climbed 35% YTD.

Need we say that both ICE stocks have handily outperformed TSLA, which has only managed a 20% YTD return.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

Windsor Salt and Canada Steamship Lines Partner on Construction of Cutting-Edge Self-Unloading Ship

The new ship will serve as a beacon of sustainability, safety and efficiency

to deliver critical deicing salt Canadians know and trust 

MONTREAL, Feb. 11, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - K+S Windsor Salt Ltd. ("Windsor Salt") and Canada Steamship Lines ("CSL"), a division of The CSL Group, are excited to announce a strategic partnership to build a new state-of-the-art self-unloading ship with a deadweight of 26,000 metric tons that will chart new waters in safe, sustainable and efficient shipping in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Great Lakes region.

Leveraging their shared values of safety, sustainability and innovation, Windsor Salt and CSL began construction of the custom-made vessel in August 2020 after several years of collaborative planning, which included an environmental impact analysis, ship and shore personnel safety reviews, an efficiency evaluation of cargo operations, and navigational optimization. 

The distinctive, purpose-designed vessel was created to service Windsor Salt's need to deliver deicing salt from its Mines Seleine salt mine on the Magdalen Islands to stockpiles in Montreal, Quebec City, and other destinations within the provinces of Quebec and Newfoundland. Windsor Salt's consistent and timely delivery of deicing salt helps keep roadways safe during the winter season across Eastern Canada.

The new vessel will bring a long-term, safe, sustainable and reliable shipping solution to the region that relies on the Mines Seleine salt mine.  

"Through our partnership with CSL, we wanted to prove not only that we could – but we should strive for better – because it's important to challenge the status quo, especially when we have the opportunity to reduce our environmental impact and improve safety while delivering the deicing salt Canadians know and trust," said Tom Labash, Marine Distribution Manager for Windsor Salt.

More Sustainable Marine Transportation

Given the shipping route is located in the sensitive marine environment of the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Windsor Salt and CSL worked together to bring several innovations to enhance sustainability and reduce the environmental footprint of the new ship, including:

• Diesel-electric tier 3 engines and a unique hull design that will contribute to cutting CO2 emissions and improve energy efficiency;
• A ballast water treatment system that is expected to reduce the transfer of invasive species;
• Quieter machinery that will reduce vessel noise to protect the area's North Atlantic right whales and other marine mammals.

Compared to the previous vessel servicing the same salt routes, the new ship is expected to emit approximately 25% less greenhouse gas emissions and 80% fewer harmful air pollutants.

Safer and More Efficient Shipping

The new ship also features several innovations to enhance efficiency and safety including:

• A fixed, single point of loading system with a single hopper into which the salt is loaded, combined with a cargo handling system that eliminates the need for the vessel to shift during loading, which will improve the efficiency of cargo operations and the safety of ship and shore personnel.
• A modern hull design and state-of-the-art propulsion system to enhance the maneuverability of the vessel and increase the safety of navigation in the shallow Magdalen Island channel.

"We are honoured to be joining forces with our long-time customer Windsor Salt – a visionary partner willing to make concrete commitments to integrate sustainable and safety-first choices into their supply chain," said Louis Martel, President and CEO, The CSL Group. "CSL is very excited about leading the design and construction of this pioneering ship for our customer and introducing a new level of safety and environmental sustainability in Canadian waters. We would also like to thank the Ministère des Transports du Québec for its financial contribution to the newbuild project, as part of the Ministry's program to improve the efficiency of marine, air and rail transportation. Thanks to this generous support, CSL is able to acquire and install equipment to reduce the new vessel's greenhouse gas emissions."

The keel laying ceremony for the newbuild was held at Chengxi Shipyard in Jiangyin, China, on

January 29, 2021. The vessel is expected to commence operations in the Magdalen Islands at the start of the 2022 navigation season.

For more information about the project, visit www.CX9203.com.  

About Windsor Salt

K+S Windsor Salt Ltd. is headquartered in Pointe-Claire (Quebec) and employs approximately 800 people across Canada. The company's highly recognizable Windsor brand has been a part of Canadian life since 1893. Today, the Windsor portfolio includes a full range of premium products for consumers, business and industry, from culinary salts and water softening salts to deicing products and pool salts. For more information, please visit WindsorSalt.com.

Windsor Salt's Mines Seleine mine has been in operation since 1982 and employs approximately 143 people.

About Canada Steamship Lines

Canada Steamship Lines is a division of The CSL Group, the largest owner and operator of self-unloading ships in the world. Headquartered in Montreal with regional operations in the Americas, Australia, Europe and Asia, CSL delivers millions of tons of cargo annually for customers in the construction, steel, energy and agri-food sectors.

 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/windsor-salt-and-canada-steamship-lines-partner-on-construction-of-cutting-edge-self-unloading-ship-301227129.html

SOURCE The CSL Group Inc.

The Most Overlooked Energy Source On Earth

By Alex Kimani - Feb 11, 2021, 

About a month ago, a report by clean energy watchdog Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) confirmed that the renewable energy sector has remained the most resilient to the ravages of Covid-19, with global energy transition investments in 2020 clocking in at a record $501.3 billion, good for 9% Y/Y growth. As expected, solar, wind power, and EVs commanded the lion’s share of clean energy investments, while investments in hydrogen tech and carbon capture and storage (CCS) managed to reach a combined $4.5B.

Unfortunately, one renewable energy source has continued to be conspicuous by its absence: Tidal and wave power.

But make no mistake about it: BNEF has warned that the world could be unable to reach its climate goals in the stipulated time to avoid catastrophic climate change if it continues to ignore fringe technologies such as CCS and hydrogen. You can add ocean power to that list.

IRENA has estimated the wave energy potential at around 29,500 TWh per year, meaning ocean power alone could theoretically meet the energy needs of the entire globe. 

Yet, tidal and wave power have remained woefully underrepresented in our energy mix. For instance, Europe has some of the most developed ocean power facilities for electricity generation. Yet, ocean energy accounted for a mere 0.06% of all electricity generated by the formerly 28-member bloc from renewable sources in 2019.

However, this could be the tipping point when tidal and wave power finally go mainstream and even begins to rival conventional renewables such as solar and wind.

Blue energy explosion

The EU has acknowledged that blue energy is destined to play a much bigger role in our energy mix as the world transitions to clean energy.

While still focusing chiefly on wind power, the commission’s upcoming offshore energy strategy will seek to boost other ocean energy sources, including wave and tidal, according to a draft policy document. The objective is for offshore wind to reach installed capacities of 60 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 and 1-3 GW for ocean energy by a similar date. That will pave the way for a much bigger buildout of 300 and 60 GW, for offshore wind and ocean power, respectively, by 2050.

Just how ambitious is that goal?

Well, the commission points out that aiming for 60 GW of ocean energy by 2050 will mean a massive ramp-up of the technology at a speed that has no equivalent in any other energy technologies in the past.

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Currently, there are 13 MW of ocean power facilities being tested in EU waters, with tidal considered closest to commercialization while wave energy technologies are mostly still at the R&D stage.

And a lot more money will have to flow into the sector for that ambitious goal to be met. Wave and tidal technologies in Europe have only managed to attract a total of  €3.84 billion in research funds between 2007 and 2019, with the majority (€2.74 billion) coming from private sources.

Riding the Tidal Wave

The EU is in good company.

The Ocean Energy Systems (OES), an offshoot of the International Energy Agency, has been working round the clock to pool all the research it can in a bid to achieve large-scale ocean power deployment in the near future.

The 24-member OES, including the United States, China, most E.U. nations, and India, believes ocean power has the potential to become the Holy Grail of renewable energy due to its sheer potential.

The OES has identified several challenges centered around affordability, reliability, operability, installability, standardization, funding availability, and capacity building that will require to be solved before ocean power can become a mainstream renewable energy source.

The organization, in particular, emphasizes the need for significant cost reductions required for ocean energy technologies to compete successfully with other low-carbon technologies. The European target is to get tidal stream energy down to €0.10 per kilowatt-hour and wave power down to €0.15 by 2030, which would also make them competitive with fossil fuels if these traditional sources were obliged to pay for capture and storage of the carbon dioxide they generate

Ocean power benefits

Ocean power comes with some distinct advantages.

First off, it’s clean and compact, featuring higher energy density than either solar and wind projects. For instance, Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station in South Korea, the world’s largest tidal project with an installed capacity of 254MW, was easily added to a 12.5km-long seawall that was built in 1994 to protect the coast against flooding. Compare that to the 781.5MW Roscoe wind farm in Texas, which takes up 400km2 of farmland, or the 150MW-Fowler Ridge wind project in Indiana that sits on a 202.3km2 parcel of land.Related: Iran’s Geopolitical Powerplay Continues With Iraqi Oil Deals

Even solar farms are usually bigger, such as the Bhadla Industrial Solar Park in Rajasthan, India, that is spread across 45km2 of land or the Tengger Desert Solar Park in China that covers 43km2. This means that even smaller countries with long enough stretches of coastline can use tidal power to compete with bigger, land-rich countries such as the United States, China, and India that can afford to dedicate large tracts of land for solar and wind projects.

Unfortunately, only Scotland currently generates any meaningful amounts of ocean power. 

Scotland has enormous natural potential thanks to its impressive archipelago of islands with heavy tidal currents that can be easily tapped. Located in the Northern territory of the U.K., the nation now boasts the largest tidal array of underwater turbines in the world. Scotland’s tidal turbines have even exceeded expectations, with the MeyGen company now planning to vastly increase the number of installations.

Other leading countries developing ocean power technologies are Canada and the United Kingdom, both endowed with some of the highest tides anywhere in the world. Canada has a number of tidal energy schemes along its Atlantic coast, primarily in Nova Scotia, where scores of competing companies are testing various prototypes. The U.K. has more than 20 of these projects in the pipeline, some still in the research and development stage, but many in the process of being scaled up for deployment.

Meanwhile, China encourages tidal stream energy by offering a generous feed-in tariff 3x the price of fossil fuels. That’s similar to the rate deployed by countries that are trying to launch solar and wind power. The incentive is high enough that one Chinese company is already feeding ocean power into the main grid profitably.

As for the United States, the EIA says that the country lacks an abundance of suitable sites to harness ocean power and will have to be content with other low-carbon technologies such as solar, wind, and biofuels, where it has better competitive advantage.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

Nova Scotia's first in-stream tidal turbine starts producing power

The Maritime province's two-megawatt turbine is now connected to the power grid



Left: An illustration of Cape Sharp Tidal's in-stream tidal turbine, which was deployed in the Bay of Fundy on Nov. 7 and was connected to the grid today. Right: Map showing location of the Fundy Ocean Research Centre (FORCE). (Illustration: Tyana Awada/Canadian Geographic; Map: ©2016 Google)

By Michela Rosano
November 22, 2016


Nova Scotians are about to receive a flicker of power from North America's first in-stream tidal turbine. On Nov. 7 Cape Sharp Tidal, a partnership between Emera and OpenHydro/DCNS, deployed the first of two 1,000-tonne two-megawatt turbines at the Fundy Ocean Research Centre (FORCE) in the Bay of Fundy’s Minas Passage and today, it was connected to Nova Scotia Power’s transmission system. The turbine will help power 500 homes.

A second 16-metre turbine will be lowered into the surging tides in 2017 and complete the first phase of a commercial-scale tidal energy project at FORCE, which aims to produce up to 300MW of power in the 2020s.

FORCE is a non-profit organization that provides a testing site for tidal technology in four underwater, 200-metre-wide berths (the only sea floor in Fundy with a Crown lease for energy development), and doubles as a research institute with an environmental watchdog mandate.

These infographics, adapted from a larger piece that appeared in Canadian Geographic’s July/August 2015 issue, depict the four tidal-power prototypes (including the Cape Sharp Tidal turbine) that had been signed up for testing at FORCE at the time of the magazine's publication, and where they were set to be deployed. 




(Illustrations: Tyana Awada/Canadian Geographic; Maps: Chris Brackley/Canadian Geographic)

Water Is Being Traded on the Stock Market for the First Time

Some say trading water as a commodity could help mitigate future water crises, but others are highly skeptical


Drew Costley

THE COLOR OF CLIMATE

Photo illustration, sources via Getty: Abstract Aerial Art/DigitalVision; Marnie Griffiths/Moment; Creativ Studio Heinemann

This is The Color of Climate, a weekly column from Future Human exploring how climate change and other environmental issues uniquely impact the future of communities of color.

In 2016, California experienced one of the worst droughts in the history of the state. Over 100 million trees died and billions of dollars in agriculture were lost. Farmers across the state were stuck between a rock and dry place: They needed more water for their crops, but the price of water was higher and more uncertain because of the drought.

Now, despite a powerful recent winter storm that brought rain and snow to California, the state is once again experiencing some form of drought. This is a recurring and growing problem for local farmers, especially in Southern California, as the historically dry state becomes even drier as a result of climate change. And in December 2020, to address the dire need for water, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange recently made a historical move: For the first time, it allowed investors to trade water as a commodity on the stock market. Some say trading water as a commodity will partially help improve California’s water crisis, but others are highly skeptical of the move.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange partnered with two companies — WestWater Research, a consulting firm that generates the pricing data used for the market, and Nasdaq — to make this possible. These companies say the move will help farmers and water districts in Southern California have more price certainty during dry periods and could help mitigate the state’s water scarcity problem.

“This isn’t going to solve any water problems. This isn’t going to produce more water.”

California previously divided its water supply through “water rights.” Whoever holds the rights to the water in a certain location can pump it from the state’s ground and reservoirs. Districts with surplus water supply can sell their water rights to other districts in need. The problem is that during dry years, water is more expensive for the farmers who need it the most, and there is uncertainty in terms of the supply of water in the state at any given time (and how much it will cost) because of how dry the state gets.

The creators of the new exchange hope that it will bring more price transparency to the state’s water market by creating price points in the future that investors can bet on.

Now, with the new exchange, districts that are paying for extra water in a dry year can bet on futures contracts — agreements between buyers and sellers to trade something at a predetermined price and at a specific time — to offset the price of water rights in the future.

“We’re bringing first and foremost more marketing information or price transparency into the market that alone should help drive a lot of efficiency around how people make decisions about how much water they need, or how much water they may make available for others to use,” Clay Landry, managing director at WestWater Research, tells Future Human.

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The futures contracts will help Californians “manage the financial risk of droughts,” wrote Ellen Hanak, an economist and director of the Public Policy Institute of California’s Water Policy Center, in a guest commentary for the Sacramento-based nonprofit newsroom CalMatters.

“By compensating those with long-standing water rights for moving water to activities and places where the lack of water will be more costly, trading encourages partnerships and cooperation in the sustainable management of this vital resource,” she wrote.

Others have mixed feelings about the exchange. Peter Gleick, president emeritus of the Pacific Institute, a water research institute based in Oakland, California, tells Future Human he’s “concerned” about the possibility of investors betting on the scarcity of water in an already dry state.

“This isn’t going to solve any water problems. This isn’t going to produce more water,” Gleick says. “It’s a financial tool to hedge changes in the price of water, which might provide a little bit of an economic benefit to certain well-water users.”

Basav Sen, climate justice project director at the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank, told Earther that he was “horrified” when he first read about the exchange.

“What this represents is a cynical attempt at setting up what’s almost like a betting casino so some people can make money from others suffering,” Sen told Earther.

Landry, however, says that a “people versus the market” narrative is false. “I don’t think anyone wants people in our society to go without water,” he says.

In her guest commentary for CalMatters, Hanak acknowledged and addressed the fear that many Californians have about the new exchange but said investor involvement in the state’s water market won’t change the amount of water that’s available in California or its price. “Crucially,” she wrote, “the futures market won’t disrupt protections already in place to ensure actual water trades are done responsibly.”

Although there is a lot of disagreement about the potential benefits and perils of the exchange, there is agreement that the immediate impact of it will be small. On the day Landry spoke to Future Human, he said there had been seven trades on the exchange, and that it hasn’t been very active since its inception. Still, with California looking like it’s headed for another drought, it should be interesting to see how activity on the exchange picks up.

California isn’t the only state experiencing water scarcity that could end up trying this strategy to help with the issue. Landry says WestWater is looking at areas with “similar geographies” to California, like Arizona, Colorado, and Washington, to set up potential exchanges in the future.

The fear of commoditizing water has been covered for decades now in documentaries, by environmental justice activists, and even through films like Mad Max. As Landry tells Future Human, It’s a “messy and complicated situation” about a resource that everyone needs, which warrants innovations like water futures. But we should keep an eye on this going forward to make sure investors aren’t taking advantage of the system.