'This has been a huge mental toll': Working moms still struggle a year into pandemic

The kitchen table has become more than just a place to eat dinner for Opal Foster and her 13-year-old son, Jeremiah, of Silver Spring, Maryland. It has also served as an office and a school for a year now.

1 year into the pandemic, working moms are still trying juggle it all

Foster lost her job last March, joining the more than 2 million women who left the workforce in the U.S. over the course of 2020.

According to the National Women's Law Center, women have lost more than 5 million jobs since February 2020. Since the pandemic began, they’ve experienced nearly 54% of overall net job losses versus men. Some economic experts refer to this phenomenon as a “she-cession.”

© Kristine Tague

Foster said she collected unemployment and was able to freelance until she was able to get a part-time job in December. All the while, she continued to work with Jeremiah to juggle remote learning. He has Down syndrome and requires extra help in class.

“In normal situations, you could reach out to somebody else and get assistance. We're kind of all in the same boat -- all stretched way thin,” Foster told ABC News

© Opal Foster Opal Foster and her son, Jeremiah, continue to work together from the kitchen table, one year into the pandemic.

Foster is not alone. As the U.S. nears the one-year mark living with COVID-19 precautions, working moms are feeling the weight from the extended pressure.

According to a recent study by the University of Southern California, 44% of women said they were the sole provider of care for their children compared with 14% of men during the pandemic.

The study found that 42% of working mothers reduced their working hours between March and July 2020 versus 30% of men. When compared to households without children, there was no dramatic gender difference in working hours.

Moreover, the study showed nearly half of mothers surveyed experienced mild psychological distress. The percentage of mothers experiencing distress remained higher than men with children and both genders without children from March through July when the study was conducted.

“This new gap in psychological distress observed between mothers and women without school-age children appears to be driven by higher levels of psychological distress among mothers of elementary school-age and younger children,” the study's researchers said.

The study has not been published or peer reviewed.

“Many of [these women] are basically trying to do three peoples’ jobs,” Joan C. Williams, director of the Center for WorkLife Law at UC Hastings Law, told ABC News. “They’re doing their own job. They’re doing the childcare worker’s job. And they’re being a tech aid to their children’s teacher.”

She added, “Of course they’re stressed out beyond belief.”

© Nicole Strauch Nicole Strauch with her family

Since the pandemic began, Nicole Strauch of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, has gone into work every day as an occupational therapist at a long-term care nursing home. Her husband works from home with her son and their nanny.

“I really kind of felt like a germ coming into the house,” she told ABC News. “I'd strip in the garage and shower and hope that I wasn't infecting my family.”

In December, the nightmare scenario happened: Her facility experienced an outbreak. She said over 90% of her patients contracted the coronavirus and more than 35 of them died.

“These are people I spend 40 hours a week with, every day,” she said. “I know their families. I know what they like for breakfast.”

She said the emotional toll of the outbreak was devastating.

“Trying to be a parent, but then also dealing with death constantly. It was the most trauma I've ever seen,” she recounted in tears.

She went on, “Just trying to care for dying people of COVID all day, not having anyone come into our house because I was around positive patients all the time, and then just trying to be a parent and feel like I'm failing my son because I can't play with him and I don't have the energy to be happy for him.”

© Nicole Strauch Nicole Strauch of Canonsburg, Pa., spends time with her son.

For Kristine Tague, balancing her work and life balance has been overwhelming.

“This has taken a huge mental toll on me,” Tague, who works as an airline industry technical illustrator in Texas, told ABC News. “The hardest thing is being OK and saying, ‘Yes, I need to take this break and it's OK.’”

Her toddler is in day care and her kindergartener attends in-person classes. Both institutions require students to quarantine if they’ve been exposed to the virus so she’s set up an area in her home office for them.

“Anytime there's an exposure, it's a quarantine of 14 days with the school district. So, basically I've had to take my children for tests, holding down my toddler, so that way he can get the nasal swab -- not fun,” she said.

Last year, her husband tested positive for COVID-19 and had to quarantine in the guest room. As he recovered, Tague continued to work full-time while taking care of her toddler and helping her kindergartener with remote learning.

“Almost a year later, it’s surreal to me that it’s still going on,” she said. “I'm working on my resilience … anytime I fail and cry and mess up, I just let myself do that. And I get back up again and keep going.”

© Kristine Tague Kristine Tague's young sons work on art projects outside.

Tague said she feels fortunate that she and her husband have been able to keep their jobs, but there’s an anxiety about what the future may hold.

“I want there to be a place where my toddler gets to know what it's like to play with other kids … and not have to worry,” she said

.

© Kristine Tague Kristine Tague's son walks past an empty playground.

With nationwide vaccination efforts underway, Foster plans to keep marching forward the best she can, hoping relief from the stresses of the pandemic is somewhere on the horizon.

“I can't wait to get back to working just one job,” Foster said. “And letting that be my primary source of income instead of trying to make a dollar out of 15 cents.”

Nova Scotia anti-racism advocates call for changes to 'racist' justice system

HALIFAX — The Nova Scotia government needs to address systemic racism that has led to the overrepresentation of Black and Indigenous people in its criminal justice system, anti-racism advocates told a legislative committee Tuesday

.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Emma Halpern, executive director of the Elizabeth Fry Society of Mainland Nova Scotia, said there needs to be mandatory anti-racism training for police and other front-line workers who encounter African Nova Scotian and Indigenous residents.

"We need to think about the way in which policing and carceral systems have infiltrated so many of our state systems and to address that at its root," Halpern told the standing committee on community services.

The Elizabeth Fry Society, a non-profit organization that helps women and girls in the criminal justice system, has seen a steady increase of Black and Indigenous clients in the last five years, Halpern said.

Robert Wright, executive director for the African Nova Scotian Decade for People of African Descent Coalition, says despite the group's advocacy for the end to police street checks, he thinks the practice continues to have support in the province.

In 2019, Justice Minister Mark Furey imposed a moratorium on police street checks following a report by University of Toronto criminology professor Scot Wortley that said the practice has had a "disproportionate and negative" impact on Nova Scotia's Black community. The RCMP, however, have since delayed a decision on whether to offer an apology to Halifax's Black community for their use of the practice.

Video: The impact of anti-Black racism on health (Global News)

Wright says his group has seen a disappointing lack of commitment to anti-racism initiatives in the province's criminal justice sector. "Government has yet to demonstrate the proper use of their authority to eliminate those things that we have identified as illegal and problematic," he said.

Halpern said government departments need to have a more "human-centred approach" for offering services to racialized people in the criminal justice system.

Candace Thomas, deputy minister of the Department of Justice, told the committee the government is implementing the recommendations from the Wortley report, but acknowledged that "much remains to be done" to tackle anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism.

She said a long and painful history of anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism has manifested in the overrepresentation of the groups in the criminal justice system.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 2, 2021.

— — —

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Danielle Edwards, The Canadian Press

Jewish groups raise anti-Semitism concerns ahead of NDP MP's chat with Corbyn

ZIONIST SMEAR OF CORBYN CONTINUES 

LEFT WING ANTI-SEMITISM TROPE

OTTAWA — Two prominent Jewish advocacy groups are voicing concerns about anti-Semitism ahead of a public conversation between NDP MP Niki Ashton and former U.K. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

ZIONISTS CRYING ANTI SEMITISM WOLF

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The planned livestream talk risks pulling New Democrats in a direction "antithetical" to Canadian values, said Shimon Fogel, head of the Toronto-based Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, in a joint statement with the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

"Jeremy Corbyn is toxic," Fogel said, accusing a "small group" of New Democrats of undermining party leadership.

“It is staggering that given the litany of catastrophic, consequential issues before us, including the pandemic, that this is where some in the NDP want to spend the party’s capital."

The British Labour party has been grappling with allegations that anti-Semitism was allowed to fester under Corbyn, a longtime supporter of Palestinians and a critic of Israel who led the party for almost five years from 2015.

The Labour party suspended Corbyn in October after he said the problem of anti-Semitism in the party had been "dramatically overstated'' for political reasons. He was readmitted as a party member in November after walking back those comments, but remains an Independent MP after his successor Sir Keir Starmer refused to let him back into the fold.

Ashton has been promoting on social media their March 20 chat, an online fundraiser for Progressive International. The organization, which is hosting the event, was launched in 2018 by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, Canadian author Naomi Klein and other progressive politicians and activists.

"This moment is all about building international solidarity," Ashton said in a Twitter thread Tuesday.

"Here in Canada and around the world, we must find a way to work with movements and activists who share our values and put forward an unapologetically bold vision for our collective future."

Ashton did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

The event will focus on issues that range from growing inequality to the rise of the far right and the threat of climate change.

The NDP said in an email the party and its leader, Jagmeet Singh, are committed to fighting anti-Semitism amid a troubling rise in hateful ideologies.

"New Democrats have been working with organizations to dismantle hate and alt-right groups and proposing solutions to fight against online hate to keep communities safe," the party said Wednesday.

"Jagmeet and New Democrats are committed to fighting anti-Semitism and will continue to push the Liberals to take more concrete actions, like attacking online hate, to combat it."

In October, a report from the U.K. Equality and Human Rights Commission found "serious failings in leadership" and an inadequate process for handling anti-Semitism complaints under Corbyn's tenure, concluding that the Labour party was responsible for "unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination."

"Our analysis points to a culture within the party which, at best, did not do enough to prevent anti-Semitism and, at worst, could be seen to accept it."

The report was cited Tuesday by Rick Smith, executive director of the Broadbent Institute, which shares links with the New Democrats, when he criticized the event.

"This is not the sort of person that should headline a progressive fundraiser or occupy the time of Canadian progressive leaders," Smith said of Corbyn in a Twitter post Tuesday.

Smith linked to a post from former NDP MP Svend Robinson, who said he would be joining Ashton and Corbyn for the event.

Richard Marceau, general counsel for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, called the decision to feature Corbyn at a Progressive International fundraiser "mind-boggling."

"To me it betrays true progressive values. Those people would never, ever invite people who have been condemned for anti-Black racism, anti-Indigenous racism, homophobia, etc. And yet Niki Ashton is lending her name to a person who is peddling anti-Semitic tropes," said Marceau, a former Bloc Québécois MP, in an interview.

"This is not, I believe, the progressive movement that Canada needs or wants."

Progressive International did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 3, 2021.

—With a file from The Associated Pre

ICC opens Israeli-Palestinians war crimes probe
AFP 3/3/2021

The International Criminal Court opened a formal investigation on Wednesday into alleged war crimes in the Palestinian territories, in a move blasted by Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu as the "essence of anti-Semitism".

© THOMAS COEX The ICC probe will look at alleged crimes committed during the 2014 Gaza conflict

Palestinian authorities hailed the decision by ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda as an "urgent and necessary" probe into the situation in the blockaded Gaza Strip along with the Israeli-occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem since June 2014.

The move plunges The Hague-based tribunal -- which has faced frequent criticism by Israel and its ally the United States -- into the midst of one of the world's most bitter conflicts and risks inflaming an already tense situation.

Washington said it was "disappointed", and State Department spokesman Ned Price said the US would "firmly oppose" the move.

© PETER DEJONG Fatou Bensouda's mandate as chief prosecutor

 of the International Criminal Court is due to end in June

Bensouda said she had decided there were "admissible potential cases" on both sides, with the investigation focusing on the 2014 Gaza conflict, which left more than 2,000 people dead.

"In the end, our central concern must be for the victims of crimes, both Palestinian and Israeli, arising from the long cycle of violence and insecurity that has caused deep suffering and despair on all sides," the prosecutor said.

Gambian-born Bensouda said the formal investigation followed a "painstaking" five-year preliminary probe, and vowed it would be conducted "independently, impartially and objectively, without fear or favour."

Israel has refused to sign up to the court, set up in 2002 to try the world's worst crimes, but the Palestinians have been a state party to the ICC since 2015.

- 'Israel is under attack' -

ICC judges paved the way for a war crimes investigation when they ruled a month ago that the court has jurisdiction over the situation due to the Palestinians' membership.

The probe will focus on Operation Protective Edge, the military operation launched by Israel in the summer of 2014 with the stated aim of stopping rocket fire into the country by militants of Islamist movement Hamas.

Around 2,250 Palestinians were killed in the 2014 fighting, mostly civilians, and 74 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

"The state of Israel is under attack this evening," Netanyahu said in a video posted on Twitter about the ICC decision. "The international court based in The Hague reached a decision which is the essence of anti-Semitism."

Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said the country would "take every step necessary to protect its civilians and soldiers from legal persecution" and said the probe could impact the stalled peace process.

Benny Gantz, current Israeli defence minister and former chief of staff during the Gaza war, called the decision a "reward for terrorism", saying on Twitter that conflict with the Palestinians "will only be resolved through negotiations".

The Palestinian Authority hailed Wednesday's decision meanwhile.

"The crimes committed by the leaders of the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people -- which are ongoing, systematic and widespread -- make this investigation necessary and urgent," Palestinian foreign minister Riyad Al-Maliki said.

- 'Disproportionate attacks' -

In 2019, Bensouda said in her initial application for the probe that there is a "reasonable basis" to believe crimes were committed by members of the Israel Defense Forces, Israeli authorities, Hamas and Palestinian armed groups.

These include the Israeli military allegedly "intentionally launching disproportionate attacks" during the 2014 conflict and "wilful killing and wilfully causing serious injury", she said.

Hamas and Palestinian armed groups were accused of "intentionally directing attacks against civilians" and "using protected persons as shields" during the Gaza conflict.

The ICC prosecutor also said there is scope to investigate the deaths of Palestinian demonstrators from 2018 onwards.

Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the Six-Day War of 1967, and later annexed mostly Arab east Jerusalem. Today they are home to at least five million Palestinians defined by the United Nations as living under Israeli occupation.

The Gaza Strip is blockaded by Israel, which withdrew from the territory in 2005, and ruled by the Islamist group Hamas.

The Israel-Palestinians probe will prove the first major test for incoming ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, the British lawyer who was elected in February to replace Bensouda when her mandate ends in June.

Bensouda is under US sanctions for her decision to investigate alleged US war crimes in Afghanistan.

Collins to back Haaland for Interior, sealing her approval

WASHINGTON — Maine Sen. Susan Collins said Wednesday she will support New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland to be Interior secretary, the first Republican senator to publicly back a nominee set to become the first Native American to lead a Cabinet agency.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The announcement makes Haaland's confirmation by the Senate nearly certain and follows Haaland's endorsement last week by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Manchin, a moderate from West Virginia, had been publicly undecided through two days of hearings on Haaland’s nomination by President Joe Biden. Manchin caused a political uproar last month by announcing plans to oppose Biden’s choice for budget director, Neera Tanden, a decision that played a key role in Tanden's withdrawal on Tuesday.

Collins, a moderate who frequently sides with Manchin, said she differs with Haaland on a number of issues but appreciated her role in helping to lead House passage of the Great American Outdoors Act. The landmark law, co-sponsored by Collins in the Senate, authorizes nearly $3 billion on conservation projects, outdoor recreation and maintenance of national parks and other public lands.

Collins said she also appreciated Haaland’s support on issues important to Maine, such as Acadia National Park, “as well as her deep knowledge of tribal issues, which has earned her the support of tribes across the country, including those in Maine.''

Interior oversees the nation's public lands and waters and leads relations with nearly 600 federally recognized tribes.

The Senate energy panel is set to vote on Haaland's nomination Thursday. Several Republicans, including Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the top GOP senator on energy, oppose Haaland, saying her opposition to fracking, the Keystone XL oil pipeline and other issues made her unfit to serve in a role in which she will oversee energy development on vast swaths of federal lands, mostly in the West, as well as offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska.

Barrasso said a moratorium imposed by Biden on oil and gas leases on federal lands “is taking a sledgehammer to Western states’ economies.? The moratorium, which Haaland supports, could cost thousands of jobs in West, Barrasso said.

Matthew Daly, The Associated Press 3/3/2021

Susan Collins says she will support Deb Haaland for Interior secretary

By Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN 

Sen. Susan Collins, a key moderate Republican from Maine, said Wednesday she will vote to confirm Democratic Rep. Deb Haaland as Interior secretary, further securing a likely successful confirmation for one of President Joe Biden's nominees.

© Tom Brenner/Pool/Getty Images WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 25: Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) attends the confirmation hearing for Vivek Murthy and Rachel Levine before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee February 25, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. Murthy is nominated to be Medical Director in the Regular Corps of the Public Health Service ands U.S. Surgeon General and Levine is nominated to be Assistant Secretary in the Department of Health and Human Services. (Photo by Tom Brenner-Pool/Getty Images)

"After examining Representative Deb Haaland's qualifications, reviewing her hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and meeting with her personally, I will vote to confirm her to be the Secretary of the Department of the Interior," Collins said in a statement.

Collins' backing, after Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin announced last week he would also vote to confirm, gives Haaland a greater likelihood at being approved by the Senate, which has a 50-50 partisan split. Collins is the first Republican senator to announce her support for Haaland to lead the Interior Department.

In her announcement, Collins said she appreciated Haaland's "willingness to support issues" important to Maine and her "deep knowledge of tribal issues."

She also pointed to Haaland's role shepherding the Great American Outdoors Act through the House as a Democratic congresswoman from New Mexico, arguing that it will be "beneficial to the Department's implementation of this landmark conservation law." Collins was a cosponsor of the legislation, which was signed into law last year.

"Representative Haaland promised to be bipartisan in her new role at the Department of the Interior, and I look forward to working with her," Collins said.

During her confirmation hearing last week, Haaland faced sharp questioning from Republican senators, who painted her as partisan and her views on public land use and fossil fuels as radical.

If confirmed, Haaland would become the first Native American Cabinet secretary and the first Native American to lead the Interior department.

So far, 13 of Biden's 23 Cabinet-level nominees -- several of whom would make history as the first woman or person of color to serve in their role -- requiring Senate approval have been confirmed.

But the slow and contentious process of getting Biden's nominees confirmed is leading progressive groups to question whether his nominees of color are facing a higher level of scrutiny than White male nominees of past administrations.

On Tuesday, Biden had his first major setback in filling his Cabinet as Neera Tanden withdrew her nomination to run the Office of Management and Budget. Tanden, who would have been the first South Asian woman to run OMB, faced fierce opposition from Senate Republicans and some Democrats over her past statements on social media, which some called sexist and hypocritical.

Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively donate $250K to Canada-wide Indigenous mentorship program

Vancouver’s favourite celebrity couple have made a very generous donation toward supporting the mentorship of Indigenous post-secondary students across Canada.

Actors and philanthropists Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively donated $250,000 this week to the Influence Mentoring Society to help kick start its new mentorship initiative. The Influence Mentoring program is aimed at building capacity, talent, and career opportunities for eligible Indigenous students, who are committed to achieving their career goals.

Once launched, the new online program will allow for any Indigenous post-secondary student to participate from anywhere in Canada.

The program matches protégés to the most suitable mentor, who has a shared field of work to the student’s program of studies, to help them learn and grow.

Reynolds and Lively said they were “so happy to support the Influence Mentoring program that will help Indigenous youth in Canada, who are trying to successfully complete their post-secondary pursuits and enter the job market for the first time."

"All too often, diverse groups are left behind in the things we take for granted,” they added in a release.

“This program aims to rectify that imbalance.”

Colby Delorme, Influence Mentoring Society chairperson, said traditionally, mentorship has played an important role in the Indigenous community, adding that culture, traditions, spirituality, teachings and stories have all been shared and best understood through the Elder and protégé relationship.

He said the program’s mission is also guided by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's Calls to Action to help eliminate educational and employment gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians.

"This project exemplifies the spirit of reconciliation whereby Indigenous and non-Indigenous people who believe that providing mentoring opportunities for post-secondary, Indigenous youth, adapt a two-way mentoring model, and in doing so work together to build stronger relationships while improving cross-cultural understanding and appreciation,” he stated in a release.

Delorme added that eliminating these gaps and ultimately increasing Indigenous representation in the private sector, including in management and executive positions, should be a shared journey.

"We are incredibly grateful to Ryan and Blake for their generous donation of $250,000,” he said.

“This speaks not only to having the resources available to support Indigenous youth, but also is a signal of true reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians."

As part of the launch of Influence Mentoring, the society is actively recruiting mentors, protégés, and additional funders and will be seeking partnerships with post-secondary institutions to host the inaugural mentorship pilot project.

Elisia Seeber, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, North Shore News

Canada can't 'power past coal' and keep exporting it, environment group say

OTTAWA — Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says there is no path to eliminating greenhouse-gas emissions that doesn't include phasing out coal power, but critics say Canada's leadership is tainted as long as this country keeps exporting thermal coal.

Provided by The Canadian Press

Wilkinson co-hosted a virtual summit Tuesday for the Powering Past Coal Alliance. Canada created the group with the United Kingdom in 2017 to pushing the world to eliminate coal as a source of energy. The alliance says wealthy countries should be off coal by 2030, and the rest of the world by 2050.

Coal is the single biggest source of global greenhouse-gas emissions, accounting for about 38 per cent of total emissions in 2018.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told summit participants that the whole world needs to be off coal by 2040, or the global warming fight will be lost.

"If we take immediate action to end the dirtiest, most polluting, and the more and more costly fossil fuel from our power sectors, then we have a fighting chance to succeed," he said in his speech.

He said in almost every country, building new renewable power sources, like wind and solar, is now cheaper than building a new coal plant.

The alliance has grown from 18 countries and a handful of subnational governments and businesses when it began in 2017, to more than 36 nations, and 120 members in total.

Wilkinson said more governments are realizing that eliminating coal "is the first and perhaps most important step" toward reaching the goals of the Paris agreement to keep limit the global average temperature increase to 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels.

Video: Renewable energy could power the entire world within a decade (The Weather Network)

"We cannot achieve those goals or create a livable future for our children and our grandchildren with coal-fired power continuing on," he said.

Canada cut its coal-power habit by more than half in the last two decades, largely because Ontario phased out its coal plants entirely. Coal maxed out its share of electricity in Canada around 2000, when it accounted for about one-fifth of power sources. In 2018, that had fallen to eight per cent, and only Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia still rely on it.

Canada requires all coal power to be gone or equipped with carbon-capture technology by 2030. Alberta is on its way to closing or transitioning it coal plants to natural gas by 2023. The other provinces are in various stages of the transition, with individual agreements with Ottawa on how it will happen.

But as Canada is moving to strike down coal pollution at home, it's still exporting millions of tonnes of coal to produce power overseas, mostly in South Korea, Japan, Chile, Hong Kong, and Vietnam.

Julia Levin, the climate and energy program manager at Environmental Defence, says Canada's leadership in the alliance is in doubt if it curbs coal use at home only to sell it to other countries.

"There is no role for hypocritical leadership," said Levin.

Environmental Defence estimates Canada exports between 17 million and 20 million tonnes of thermal coal to make electricity each year, which would produce between 37 million and 44 million tonnes of greenhouse gases when burned.

Canada's exports also now include millions of tonnes coming up from Wyoming, Utah, and Montana, after ports on the U.S. west coast began barring thermal coal exports from their docks.

Wilkinson ordered a strategic review of thermal coal exports in 2019, and told The Canadian Press in a recent interview the question of phasing out thermal coal exports in line with closing Canada's own coal plants remains "under review."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 2, 2021.

Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press

Apaches fight to stop copper mine on what they consider sacred land



VIDEO Duration: 05:41



One Of The World’s Largest Untapped Deposits Of Copper, A Key Mineral For Fighting Climate Change, Is In Arizona, Right In The Middle Of The Most Sacred Land To The Apache People. NBC Senior Investigative Correspondent Cynthia McFadden Reports For TODAY.

NOVA SCOTIA

Provincial ‘green’ announcement in step with MODG’s renewable energy investments

GUYSBOROUGH – One of the first announcements to come out of Premier Iain Rankin’s office outlined the province’s commitment to the environment and fighting climate change through an investment of “$19 million in rebates to support low-income families in making their homes more comfortable and energy-efficient and help Nova Scotians buy clean, reliable electric vehicles.”

The news release, issued Feb. 24, also stated the province would “move toward a new renewable energy standard, with 80 per cent of Nova Scotia’s energy coming from renewable sources by 2030.”

While the new premier is showing signs that he’s sticking to his environmental platform with this announcement, that’s a playbook the Municipality of the District of Guysborough (MODG) has been following for the last decade.

Guysborough has been going green on a number of fronts for years. MODG warden Vernon Pitts said, “We as a municipal unit, have been blazing trails the last number of years in regard to renewables.” He points to the Sable Wind project in Canso/Hazel Hill, the Guysborough Waste Management Facility’s gas capturing plant (featured in this newspaper in January) and the COMFIT wind turbine program.

The MODG has also installed solar panels to heat the swimming pool in Guysborough and to supply energy to the offices at the waste management facility. And they’re not stopping there.

Pitts said, “I’d also like to see recreation tap into an electric vehicle; in the very near future I’m hoping … I think this is the way we should be going, be it wind or solar. I would also like to look at a solar project for the CLC (Chedabucto Lifestyle Centre), get weaned off electricity from Nova Scotia Power… If we could green that facility up a bit that would be another positive step going forward.”

MODG’s CAO Barry Carroll told The Journal in an email interview, “We have been monitoring electric vehicle development and will look to move in that direction as quickly as it makes sense for the vehicle uses that we have … We have jointly applied for funding for an electric vehicle as part of a new NS Power application to Government for a pilot project. The intent is to supply the vehicle to our Food Bank for their use; and for it to be connected to the building to supply power to the building in the event of a power outage.”

Carroll also stated that the investment in existing housing was good news, “As we have quite a bit of older housing stock and that should [be] of great help to homeowners.”

Apart from the MODG’s in-house projects, Pitts is enthusiastic about Port Hawkesbury Paper’s (PHP) update last month on its plans to install a 112-megawatt wind farm in Guysborough County, across from Point Tupper in Richmond County, to supply green power directly to PHP; the largest energy consumer on the Nova Scotia grid.

In a Feb. 12 news release, PHP stated construction could begin on the project in 2022, “Subject to all appropriate legislative and regulatory requirements … Construction of the farm would generate local employment and significant ongoing tax revenues in the province.”

If the PHP project moves ahead, it will be the largest wind farm in the province. Pitts said, “We are really looking forward to that if it goes … to me that is a phenomenal project.”

That said, Pitts cautioned that a diversity of renewable energy sources were needed, all the eggs shouldn’t be in one basket. “I think we have to do a combination of wind and solar… It’s the way of the future.”

Lois Ann Dort, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Guysborough Journal

TOPICS FOR YOU

Energy firms bet on hydrogen boom, but payday far away

By Ron Bousso and Stephanie Kelly 
3/3/2021

© Reuters/Lucy Nicholson FILE PHOTO: A Shell hydrogen station is seen in Torrance,CA

(Reuters) - Governments and energy companies are placing large bets on clean hydrogen playing a leading role in efforts to lower greenhouse gas emissions, but its future uses and costs are highly uncertain.

"Without hydrogen by 2050 we cannot aim to be a net zero (carbon) economy," Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden told the CERAWeek online conference this week.

The universe's most abundant element, hydrogen has been touted for decades as an alternative to fossil fuels, but attempts to commercialise it for use in vehicles and industry have largely failed.

So far, commercial-scale production has been from natural gas or coal and it is a niche market used mainly in oil refining and heavy industry.

But so-called blue hydrogen, where carbon emissions from its production are not released into the atmosphere, and green hydrogen, which is made with renewable power, are attracting huge interest as a clean alternative to natural gas that can be used for heating homes, heavy industry and transportation.

 Reuters/DAVID GAFFEN FILE PHOTO: Attendees at IHS Markit’s CERAWeek conference watch the keynote address by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from the George Brown Convention Center in Houston

The European Union, Britain, Japan and South Korea, as well as leading oil and gas companies, such as Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Total, have set out plans to invest heavily in hydrogen.

In the Canadian province of Quebec, where hydropower is abundant, green hydrogen is going to be a reality, Canadian Natural Resources Minister Seamus O'Regan said. Canada last year unveiled a hydrogen strategy that could be worth $40 billion.

But converting natural gas storage, pipelines, furnaces and boilers to hydrogen will be a costly and long process.

"Hydrogen will not be the solution to each and everything... it's not the silver bullet that solves all problems," Siemens Energy CEO Christian Bruch told the conference.

"I don't see really a large-scale commercial viability any time before 2025 or even the end of the decade," Bruch added. "There is still some way to go to prove we have resilient and reliable systems."

One challenge is the cost of producing green hydrogen, which cannot compete with natural gas or with hydrogen produced from natural gas.

Known as grey hydrogen, hydrogen produced from natural gas or coal in a process that emits high levels of carbon dioxide, is the most common form of the fuel produced today and costs around $1 per kilogram.

Cleaner blue hydrogen, which captures and stores the carbon dioxide, costs $2 to $3 per kg to produce while green hydrogen - based on the use of clean energy and electrolysis to extract hydrogen from water - costs around $5 per kg, BP's head of innovation & engineering David Eyton said.

He said transporting hydrogen was also expensive even if it is converted to liquid in the form of ammonia, which Saudi Arabia's national oil company Aramco has begun offering customers.

"Hydrogen is expensive to transport. So if you can use it locally, that's a much more sensible thing to do than sending it a long distance," Eyton said.

Shell's van Beurden also said that hydrogen was for now a very small business.

"It will scale up, and it will take a long time before it is a business that is large enough to start making a real difference on sort of planetary scale," he said.

(Additional reporting by Isla Binnie and Nia Williams; editing by Barbara Lewis)