FOREVER CHEMICALS

A Novel, Colloidal Form of Activated Carbon Demonstrates Effective, In-Place Removal of PFAS From Groundwater

ARTICLE   Mar 08, 2021 | By Kristen Thoreson, PhD, REGENESIS

 

Credit: Pixabay.

 

PFAS in groundwater - A daunting environmental challenge

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are estimated to contaminate more than 200 million Americans' drinking water1. After decades of manufacturing and release into the environment, the potential human epidemiological toll of PFAS is only now just beginning to be grasped. PFAS have been associated with wide-ranging health effects from cancers to physiological development issues and immune system deficiencies2,3, to name just a few.

Approximately 40% of US drinking water is sourced from groundwater and an ever-increasing volume of this precious resource is being found to contain PFAS4,5. An unholy trinity of factors has contributed:

1.      unmatched chemical persistence6

2.      long-range mobility in groundwater7

3.      near-ubiquitous use in consumer products, ranging from clothing and cookware to paper and paints8

Aqueous film-forming foams are still being used for fire suppression at aviation facilities worldwide and are particular PFAS hotspots. Consequently, PFAS have been found even in the remotest of places, including in Arctic polar bears' brain tissue9. 

PFAS concentrations detected in groundwater are often quite low, in the nanograms per liter or part per trillion (ppt) range. Nevertheless, even at these low levels, there could be unacceptable health risks caused by prolonged exposure. On February 22, 2021, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made a final determination to regulate perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) under the safe drinking water act, paving the way for their designation as hazardous substances and the determination of maximum contaminant levels (MCLs)10. Currently, the EPA lifetime health advisory limit for combined PFOA and PFOS is 70 ppt.

Ahead of the EPA, numerous states have determined PFOA and PFOS concentrations in groundwater above which remediation or other corrective action (e.g., risk assessment) is required. Several of the state “action levels” approach ten ppt, a concentration that is equivalent to a single drop evenly dispersed in two Olympic swimming pools. Effectively addressing the confounding volume of impacted groundwater that poses a risk and reducing PFAS below the ppt-level concentrations considered acceptable, are among the most significant challenges facing groundwater remediation professionals today. 

Current methods for PFAS removal from groundwater

Activated carbon has been widely used for decades throughout the world to remove organic pollutants, mostly via mechanical groundwater extraction and filtration with sorptive media, such as granular activated carbon (GAC). This pump and treat (P&T) approach uses submersible pumps placed into screened extraction wells to create a hydraulic gradient. The rapid extraction depresses the water table and forms a groundwater capture zone, intercepting the impacted groundwater and pumping it through above-ground GAC vessels that sorb the contaminants out of the water. Clean water is typically discharged to a local public treatment works. Over time, the GAC will become saturated, or ”spent”, requiring the exchange of the spent GAC bed for new or regenerated GAC.

Historically, P&T has been an effective and reliable ex situ approach used by groundwater remediation hydrogeologists and engineers to prevent contaminant migration beyond a properly-placed line of extraction wells. There are drawbacks, however, to using a P&T approach for removing PFAS.

The use of mechanical P&T systems requires continuous maintenance to ensure operational efficiency and generates a contaminated waste stream that must be managed. P&T systems are also energy-intensive and subject to National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting, sampling and reporting requirements to ensure the treated water is cleaned to the permitted levels.  

A concern is developing around the pending “hazardous substance” designation of the spent GAC. This designation would result in spent carbon having to be managed as hazardous waste with further reporting, transportation, storage and disposal regulations in effect. Moreover, due to safe thermal incineration methods having yet to be established, recycling and disposal options may be limited for spent activated carbon.

A novel PFAS groundwater treatment technology - Colloidal activated carbon passive barriers

Over the past decade, scientists engaged in the PFAS-in-groundwater dilemma have researched, lab-tested and field-applied modified activated carbon materials to allow for the effective in situ (i.e., in place) removal of PFAS from groundwater.

The remediation approach rests on the simple concept of transforming aquifer materials into a groundwater purifying filter. This transformation occurs by injecting a modified form of activated carbon across an aquifer's vertical plane carrying the contaminants. This process forms a permeable reactive barrier (PRB) that passively treats groundwater as it naturally moves through the barrier. As the groundwater migrates across the PRB, PFAS is sorbed out of it, resulting in clean water discharge from the downgradient barrier wall face.

Figure 1: Figure depicting an in situ CAC PRB preventing migration of PFAS to sensitive receptors. Credit: Image Courtesy of REGENESIS.

Although simple in concept, specific technological hurdles had to be cleared for the approach to be practical. The first and easiest hurdle concerns the size restrictions of the aquifer materials. Typical sandy aquifer materials have openings, called pore throats, that are in the range of 10 microns. By comparison, common GAC is often in the range of 300 microns or larger. Materials scientists first had to reduce the particle size of the activated carbon, grinding them to the size of red blood cells (1 to 2 microns) to allow them to fit through the pore throats.

Shrinking their particle size alone will not permit carbon to readily pass through soil pore throats, however. This is due to the electrostatic attraction between the particles and the aquifer materials and between the particles themselves. To clear the electrostatic attraction hurdle required the micron-scale carbon to be modified into a colloidal suspension, made possible using a proprietary, non-toxic, polymeric and molecular additive treatment that stabilizes the particles and prevents them from agglomerating. Thus, a new colloidal activated carbon (CAC) material was born.

CAC passes through soil pores without resistance as the injected suspension propagates away from a delivery point (e.g., injection well or borehole). As the CAC moves through the aquifer materials, it also coats them with a thin carbon paint that encapsulates individual soil grains and leaves behind an immense surface area for chemical sorption. The single-micron CAC particle size also results in rapid kinetics for PFAS sorption, essentially removing them from groundwater immediately upon contact11. As PFAS are removed from groundwater in situ, the drinking water ingestion exposure pathway is eliminated, and so is the risk. 

Figure 2: Scanning electron microscope image of sand grains before CAC treatment. Credit: Image Courtesy of REGENESIS.

Figure 3: Scanning electron microscope image of sand grains after CAC treatment. Credit: Image Courtesy of REGENESIS.

The emergent in situ PFAS removal approach using the CAC technology has demonstrated success in the field for nearing five years to-date. As verified by independent researchers, typical CAC PRB applications are designed to be effective for decades12. If, however, PFAS were to exceed the sorption capacity over time and break through, a second PRB can be installed downstream of the first to continue PFAS removal from the aquifer.

There are no known practical, safe methods for the chemical destruction of PFAS. Therefore, full-scale treatment of PFAS-impacted liquids or solids is currently limited to sequestration technologies that remove or bind PFAS but do not destroy them13. However, there is active research evaluating methods for the destruction of PFAS, including a new startup funded by Bill Gates and other investors. As these treatment methods are developed, the in situ CAC treatment 

Previously Undetected "Forever" Chemicals Found and Fingerprinted

NEWS   Mar 08, 2021 | Original story from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

 

Credit: Pixabay.

 

Researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) found large quantities of previously undetectable compounds from the family of chemicals known as PFAS in six watersheds on Cape Cod using a new method to quantify and identify PFAS compounds. Exposures to some PFAS, widely used for their ability to repel heat, water, and oil, are linked to a range of health risks including cancer, immune suppression, diabetes, and low infant birth weight.

The new testing method revealed large quantities of previously undetected PFAS from fire-retardant foams and other unknown sources. Total concentrations of PFAS present in these watersheds were above state maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for drinking water safety.

"We developed a method to fully capture and characterize all PFAS from fire-retardant foams, which are a major source of PFAS to downstream drinking water and ecosystems, but we also found large amounts of unidentified PFAS that couldn't have originated from these foams," said Bridger Ruyle, a graduate student at SEAS and first author of the study. "Traditional testing methods are completely missing these unknown PFAS."

The research will be published in Environmental Science & Technology.

PFAS -- per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances -- are present in products ranging from fire retardant foams to non-stick pans. Nicknamed "forever chemicals" due to their long lifespan, PFAS have been building up in the environment since they were first used in the 1950s.

Despite the associated health risks, there are no legally enforceable federal limits for PFAS chemicals in drinking water. The Environmental Protection Agency's provisional health guidelines for public water supplies only cover PFOS and PFOA, two common types of PFAS. Massachusetts, along with a few other states, has gone further by including six PFAS in their new MCLs in drinking water. But there are thousands of PFAS chemical structures known to exist, several hundred of which have already been detected in the environment.

"We're simply not testing for most PFAS compounds, so we have no idea what our total exposure is to these chemicals and health data associated with such exposures are still lacking," said Elsie Sunderland, the Gordon McKay Professor of Environmental Chemistry at SEAS and senior author of the paper.

The standard testing methods used by the EPA and state regulatory agencies only test for 25 or fewer known compounds. The problem is the overwhelming majority of PFAS compounds are proprietary and regulatory agencies can't find what they don't know exist.

The new method developed by Sunderland and her team can overcome that barrier and account for all PFAS in a sample. CSI: PFAS

PFAS are made by combining carbons and fluorine atoms to form one of the strongest bonds in organic chemistry. Fluorine is one of the most abundant elements on earth but naturally occurring organic fluorine is exceedingly rare -- produced only by a few poisonous plants in the Amazon and Australia. Therefore, any amount of organofluorine detected in the environment is sure to be human made.

PFAS compounds found in the environment come in two forms: a precursor form and a terminal form. Most of the monitored PFAS compounds, including PFOS and PFOA, are terminal compounds, meaning they will not degrade under normal environmental conditions. But precursor compounds, which often make up the majority of PFAS chemicals in a sample, can be transformed through biological or environmental processes into terminal forms. So, while the EPA or state agencies may monitor PFAS concentrations, they still are not detecting much of the huge pool of PFAS precursors.

That's where this new method comes in.

The researchers first measure all the organofluorine in a sample. Then, using another technique, they oxidize the precursors in that sample and transform them into their terminal forms, which they can then measure. From there, the team developed a method of statistical analysis to reconstruct the original precursors, fingerprint their manufacturing origin, and measure their concentration within the sample.

"We're essentially doing chemical forensics," said Sunderland.

Using this method, Sunderland and her team tested six watersheds on Cape Cod as part of a collaboration with the United States Geological Survey and a research center funded by the National Institutes of Health and led by the University of Rhode Island that focuses on the sources, transport, exposure and effects of PFAS.

The team focused on identifying PFAS from the use of fire-retardant foams. These foams, which are used extensively at military bases, civilian airports, and local fire departments, are a major source of PFAS and have contaminated hundreds of public water supplies across the US.

The research team applied their forensic methods to samples collected between August 2017 and July 2019 from the Childs, Quashnet, Mill Creek, Marstons Mills, Mashpee and Santuit watersheds on Cape Cod. During the collection process, the team members had to be careful what they wore, since waterproof gear is treated with PFAS. The team ended up in decades-old waders to prevent contamination.

The sampling sites in the Childs, Quashnet and Mill Creek watersheds are downstream from a source of PFAS from fire retardant foams -- the Quashnet and Childs from The Joint Base Cape Cod military facility and Mill Creek from Barnstable County Fire Training Academy.

Current tests can only identify about 50 percent of PFAS from historical foams -- products that were discontinued in 2001 due to high levels of PFOS and PFOA -- and less than 1 percent of PFAS from modern foams.

Using their new method, Sunderland and her team were able to identify 100 percent of all PFAS compounds in the types of fire-retardant foams that were used for decades at Joint Base Cape Cod and Barnstable County Fire Training Academy.

"Our testing method was able to find these missing compounds that have been used by the chemical industry for more than 40 years," said Sunderland.

The tests also revealed huge quantities of PFAS from unknown sources.

"Our accounting of PFAS from firefighting foams could not explain 37 to 77 percent of the organofluorine that we measured," said Ruyle. "This has huge ramifications for not only our understanding of human exposure but also for how much PFAS is discharging into the ocean and accumulating in marine life."

To follow up on these findings, Ruyle is currently working with NIH to identify some of the health impacts of PFAS from contemporary firefighting foams using toxicology studies. Sunderland's team is continuing to study the unknown PFAS to better identify their sources and potential for accumulation in abundant marine food webs on Cape Cod.

Reference
Ruyle B et al. Isolating the AFFF Signature in Coastal Watersheds Using Oxidizable PFAS Precursors and Unexplained Organofluorine. Environ. Sci. Technol. March 5, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c07296

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Unique Remote Sensor Network Monitors Urban Greenhouse Gases

NEWS   Mar 09, 2021 | Original story from Technical University of Munich

 

Measuring device of the MUCCnet sensor network set up by Prof. Jia Chen, Chair of Environmental Sensing and Modeling, at the TUM Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) on the roof of a building in Taufkirchen. 

Credit: F. Dietrich/ TUM

The sensor network MUCCnet (Munich Urban Carbon Column network) consists of five high-precision optical instruments that analyze the sun's light spectra. They measure the concentration of the gases carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and carbon monoxide (CO). Since each gas has its own unique spectral "fingerprint", concentrations of these gases can be determined in the columns of air between the instruments and the sun.

"By measuring a vertical column of the atmosphere, local disturbances, such as the disproportionate influence of neighboring stacks, can be removed. Therefore, this type of greenhouse gas balancing is considered particularly robust and accurate," says Prof. Jia Chen.

Measurements at five locations in and around Munich

One of MUCCnet's measurement devices is located on the main campus of TUM and measures inner-city concentrations. Four other devices are located at the Munich city borders in all four cardinal directions (north: Oberschleissheim, east: Feldkirchen, south: Taufkirchen and west: Graefelfing).

Chen explains the principle in simple terms: "We set up one sensor upwind from the city and the second downwind. So any increase in gases between the first sensor and the second must have been generated from inside the city." To cover as many wind directions as possible, there is a sensor in each cardinal direction. With the input of the sensor data and meteorological parameters, high-performance computers can create a spatially resolved emission map of the city.

Using measured data to improve the calculated emission figures

Under the Paris Climate Agreement, atmospheric measurements are not required to meet emissions targets. "Instead, the emissions numbers we hear in the news are based on calculations," explains Prof. Chen.

Among other things, this makes it impossible to detect so far unknown sources - such as leaks in gas pipelines. Therefore, Prof. Jia Chen's team and project leader Florian Dietrich created MUCCnet to measure emissions with high precision, which can reduce inaccuracies in calculations.

Corona lockdown as a natural experiment for the measurement data series

The current Corona crisis provides a useful natural experiment for researchers because as a result of the two German lockdowns in spring 2020 as well as winter 2020/21 and severe air traffic curtailment, there have been changes in urban greenhouse gas emissions, which can be used to validate measurements as well as atmospheric transport models.

Unfortunately, the lifetime of CO2 is very long (several hundred years) and measurement results show that even such a drastic global event as this pandemic has not stopped the annual increase of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere.

Measurement data can be accessed online

Since the start of 2021, the researchers have operated a website which not only makes measurement data available to everyone, but also explains the devices used and the principles employed to gain the data. Interested parties can find absolute values of greenhouse gas concentrations on the portal and can, for example, draw comparisons between stations at different locations.

"Since climate change is a global problem, the Munich network should only be the first step," says Prof. Chen. In the future, Chen's team plans to use measurements from existing greenhouse gas satellites to expand the methods and models developed in Munich worldwide and thus make a decisive contribution to understanding and solving the climate problem.

Reference: Dietrich F, Chen J, Voggenreiter B, et al. MUCCnet: munich urban carbon column network. Atmos. Meas. Tech. 2021;14(2):1111-1126. doi: 10.5194/amt-14-1111-2021

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Invasive Weed Could Help To Treat Cancer and Diabetes

NEWS   Mar 09, 2021 | Original story from Hiroshima University

 

(A) Bud stage; (B) Flowering stage; (C) Spikelets. Credit: Quan, Hiroshima University

 

Native to the southeastern United States, a weedy grass has spread northward to Canada and also made its way to Australia and Japan. Andropogon virginicus grows densely packed and up to seven feet tall, disrupting growth patterns of other plants and competing for resources. When burned, it grows back stronger. There is no way to effectively remove the weed once it has invaded. But there might be a way to use it to human advantage.

An international team of researchers has found that A. virginicus extracts appear to be effective against several human diseases, including diabetes and cancer. The results were published on Dec. 31, 2020, in a special issue of Plants, titled "Biological Activities of Plant Extracts."

"A. virginicus is an invasive weed that seriously threatens agricultural production and economics worldwide," said paper author Tran Dang Xuan, associate professor in the Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering Program in the Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering at Hiroshima University. "However, no solution efficiently utilizing and tackling this plant has been found yet. In this paper, we highlight the potential application of A. virginicus extracts in future medicinal production and therapeutics of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and blood cancer, which can deal with both crop protection and human health concerns."

Researchers found high levels of flavonoids in the samples they extracted from the weed. These plant chemicals have significant antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, according to Xuan. When tested against a variety of cell lines, the extracted plant chemicals bonded to free radicals, preventing damage to the cells. At skin level, this helps prevent age spots by inhibiting a protein called tyrosinase. Among other, deeper healthful actions, this bonding also helps prevent knock-on cellular actions that can lead to type 2 diabetes.

The team also specifically applied the extracted chemicals to a line of chronic myelogenous leukemia, a rare blood cancer. The extract appeared to kill off the cancer cells.

Xuan said the researchers plan to establish a comprehensive process to isolate and purify the compounds responsible for known biological properties, as well as work to identify new uses. They will further test the therapeutical effects of the compounds, with the eventual goal of preparing functional pharmaceuticals for human use.

"Although A. virginicus has been considered a harmful invasive species without economic value, its extracts are promising sources of antioxidant, anti-diabetic, anti-tyrosinase, and antitumor agents," Xuan said.

Reference: Anh LH, Quan NV, Lam VQ, et al. antioxidant, anti-tyrosinase, anti-α-amylase, and cytotoxic potentials of the invasive weed Andropogon virginicus. Plants. 2021;10(1):69. doi: 10.3390/plants10010069

VACCINE RESISTANT

New Study Predicts SARS-CoV-2 Evolving 

To Escape Current Vaccines

IT'S A VIRUS THAT'S WHAT IT DOES IT MUTATES 

  Mar 08, 2021 | Original story from Columbia University

 

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A new study of the U.K. and South Africa variants of SARS-CoV-2 predicts that current vaccines and certain monoclonal antibodies may be less effective at neutralizing these variants and that the new variants raise the specter that reinfections could be more likely.

The study was published in Nature on March 8, 2021.

 A preprint of the study was first posted to BioRxiv on January 26, 2021.

The study's predictions are now being borne out with the first reported results of the Novavax vaccine, says the study's lead author David Ho, MD. The company reported on Jan. 28 that the vaccine was nearly 90% effective in the company's U.K. trial, but only 49.4% effective in its South Africa trial, where most cases of COVID-19 are caused by the B.1.351 variant.

"Our study and the new clinical trial data show that the virus is traveling in a direction that is causing it to escape from our current vaccines and therapies that are directed against the viral spike," says Ho, the director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center and the Clyde'56 and Helen Wu Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.

"If the rampant spread of the virus continues and more critical mutations accumulate, then we may be condemned to chasing after the evolving SARS-CoV-2 continually, as we have long done for influenza virus," Ho says. "Such considerations require that we stop virus transmission as quickly as is feasible, by redoubling our mitigation measures and by expediting vaccine rollout."

After vaccination, the immune system responds and makes antibodies that can neutralize the virus.

Ho and his team found that antibodies in blood samples taken from people inoculated with the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine were less effective at neutralizing the two variants, B.1.1.7, which emerged last September in England, and B.1.351, which emerged from South Africa in late 2020. Against the U.K. variant, neutralization dropped by roughly 2-fold, but against the South Africa variant, neutralization dropped by 6.5- to 8.5-fold.

"The approximately 2-fold loss of neutralizing activity against the U.K. variant is unlikely to have an adverse impact due to the large 'cushion' of residual neutralizing antibody activity," Ho says, "and we see that reflected in the Novavax results where the vaccine was 85.6% effective against the U.K. variant."

Data from Ho's study about the loss in neutralizing activity against the South Africa variant are more worrisome.

"The drop in neutralizing activity against the South Africa variant is appreciable, and we're now seeing, based on the Novavax results, that this is causing a reduction in protective efficacy," Ho says.

The new study did not examine the more recent variant found in Brazil (B.1.1.28) but given the similar spike mutations between the Brazil and South Africa variants, Ho says the Brazil variant should behave similarly to the South Africa variant. 

"We have to stop the virus from replicating and that means rolling out vaccine faster and sticking to our mitigation measures like masking and physical distancing. Stopping the spread of the virus will stop the development of further mutations," Ho says.

The study also found that certain monoclonal antibodies used now to treat COVID patients may not work against the South Africa variant. And based on results with plasma from COVID patients who were infected earlier in the pandemic, the B.1.351 variant from South Africa has the potential to cause reinfection.

New study contains comprehensive analysis of variants

The new study conducted an extensive analysis of mutations in the two SARS-CoV-2 variants compared to other recent studies, which have reported similar findings.

The new study examined all mutations in the spike protein of the two variants. (Vaccines and monoclonal antibody treatments work by recognizing the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.)

The researchers created SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviruses (viruses that produce the coronavirus spike protein but cannot cause infection) with the eight mutations found in the U.K. variant and the nine mutations found in the South African variant.

They then measured the sensitivity of these pseudoviruses to monoclonal antibodies developed to treat COVID patients, convalescent serum from patients who were infected earlier in the pandemic, and serum from patients who have been vaccinated with the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine.

Implications for monoclonal antibody treatments

The study measured the neutralizing activity of 18 different monoclonal antibodies--including the antibodies in two products authorized for use in the United States.

Against the U.K. variant, most antibodies were still potent, although the neutralizing activity of two antibodies in development was modestly impaired.

Against the South Africa variant, however, the neutralizing activity of four antibodies was completely or markedly abolished. Those antibodies include bamlanivimab (LY-CoV555, approved for use in the United States) that was completely inactive against the South Africa variant, and casirivimab, one of the two antibodies in an approved antibody cocktail (REGN-COV) that was 58-fold less effective at neutralizing the South Africa variant compared to the original virus. The second antibody in the cocktail, imdevimab, retained its neutralizing ability, as did the complete cocktail. 

"Decisions of the use of these treatments will depend heavily on the local prevalence of the South Africa and Brazil variants," Ho says, "highlighting the importance of viral genomic surveillance and proactive development of next-generation antibody therapeutics."

Reinfection implications

Serum from most patients who had recovered from COVID earlier in the pandemic had 11-fold less neutralizing activity against the South Africa variant and 4-fold less neutralizing activity against the U.K. variant.

"The concern here is that reinfection might be more likely if one is confronted with these variants, particularly the South Africa one," Ho says.

Reference: Wang P, Nair MS, Liu L, et al. Antibody Resistance of SARS-CoV-2 Variants B.1.351 and B.1.1.7. Nature. 2021. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03398-2.

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U.S. re-imposes sanctions against Israeli businessman


The administration of President Joe Biden on Monday reversed a move by the Trump administration to exempt Israeli businessman Dan Gertler from U.S. sanctions.

Photo by Jim Lo Scalzo/UPI | License Photo


March 8 (UPI) -- The Biden administration late Monday said it revoked a special license granted by the former Trump administration to international businessman Dan Gertler that exempted him from U.S. sanctions, stating his participation in corruption in the Democratic Republic of Congo is inconsistent with U.S. values. HOW MUCH DID HE PAY TRUMP INC. FOR THAT

Gertler, an Israeli mining executive and billionaire, was quietly granted a special license by the outgoing Trump administration to exempt him from sanctions that were leveled against him in 2017 and in 2018 under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.

The Treasury has accused Gertler of amassing hundreds of millions of dollar's worth of "opaque and corrupt mining and oil deals" in the African nation through using his relationships with the country's president, Joseph Kabila, to act as a middleman to force international companies to go through Gertler to do business with the state.

From 2010 to 2012, the Treasury estimated the DRC lost $1.36 billion in revenues from underpriced mining assets sold to Gertler's subsidiaries.

RELATED U.S. offers Venezuelans TPS protection from deportation

The Trump administration granted Gertler the one-year license on Jan. 15, days before the Biden administration was to take over, permitting several U.S. financial institutes to unblock and return funds to the accused and his network.

After it was learned that the license was issued, human rights groups railed against it.

In an open letter dated Feb. 18, The Sentry, Freedom House, Human Rights First and other such groups called on the Biden administration to investigate the issuing of the license and reverse it.

On Monday, those groups cheered Biden's revocation of the license.

"This is a victory for Congolese and U.S. efforts to combat corruption, as Gertler has been at the heart of a kleptocratic system that has perpetuated poverty," Sash Lezhnez, deputy director of policy at The Sentry, said in a statement. "Fighting that system through accountability and reforms is essential to security, human rights and governance in the DR Congo and much more progress must be made."

The Sentry also called for the Biden administration to designate more companies believed to be part of Gertler's network.

"Sanctions and broader financial pressures need to be implemented and enforced in a consistent manner that inspires the confidence of financial institutions and our allies, which was undermined by this license," Brad Brooks-Rubin, general counsel at The Sentry, said.

Ned Price, the U.S. State Department spokesman, said the license was revoked as it was "inconsistent with American's strong foreign policy interests in combatting corruption around the world, specifically including U.S. efforts to counter corruption and promote stability in the Democratic Republic of Congo."

"The United States will continue to promote accountability for corrupt actors with all the tools at our disposal, in order to advance democracy, uphold international norms and impose tangible costs on those who seek to upend them," he said in a statement.

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UK banks face climate conflicts of interest: study

Issued on: 09/03/2021 - 

A majority of 50 out of the top 64 directors at the five biggest UK banks -- Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest and Standard Chartered -- have past or present links to major polluters, DeSmog said in a statement. 

London (AFP)

British banks face potential conflicts of interest over climate change because almost 80 percent of board members have links with high-polluting sectors, a study showed on Tuesday.

DeSmog, an investigative climate campaign group, revealed the main finding of its research into UK banks' management.

A majority of 50 out of the top 64 directors at the five biggest UK banks -- Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest and Standard Chartered -- have past or present links to major polluters, DeSmog said in a statement.

And one quarter of directors have, or have had, direct links with the carbon-intensive fossil fuel sector, it added.

"The analysis ... shows many of the banks' directors have close ties to polluting industries and their financial backers, either as current directors, advisors or previous employees," DeSmog concluded.

"This could affect their ability to be impartial judges of shareholder resolutions trying to push the banks to actually end financing of fossil fuels."

Standard Chartered declined to comment. Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and NatWest did not immmediately respond to requests for comment.

The corporate world meanwhile faces mounting demands to respond to climate change.

NatWest chief executive Alison Rose has put the climate high on her agenda by pledging to end loans for coal projects by 2030.

HSBC aims to achieve net-zero carbon emissions across its investments by 2050.

Both Barclays and HSBC meanwhile face shareholder motions to curb or phase out exposure to fossil fuels.

"Banks have a significant role to play in addressing the climate crisis by cleaning up their portfolios, and removing support for environmentally damaging industries," said Rachel Sherrington, DeSmog's lead researcher for the study.

"Public support for scientifically-led action on the climate crisis is high, and the directors of the UK's banks have the chance to put themselves on the right side of history."

Oil giants BP and Royal Dutch Shell have both vowed to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 -- but both faced criticism from green campaigners over a lack of detail.

The British government, which has committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050, will host UN climate gathering COP26 in Glasgow in November.

© 2021 AFP

'Trapped' protesters in Myanmar allowed 

to leave after tense standoff

Issued on: 09/03/2021

In this image taken from video, people stand outside their homes and gather together on a road in Insein township in Yangon, Myanmar, on March 8, 2021.

 AP

Text by: NEWS WIRES

Video by: Fraser JACKSON

Hundreds of young Myanmar protesters who had been trapped by security forces in a district of Yangon overnight have been able to get out, activists said on Tuesday, after calls from western powers and the United Nations for them to be allowed to leave.

Thousands of people defied a night time curfew to take to the streets of Myanmar's main city in support of the youths in the Sanchaung district, where they had been holding a daily protest against the Feb. 1 coup.

The army takeover and arrest of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi has plunged Myanmar into chaos. Security forces have killed over 60 protesters and detained more than 1,800 since then, an advocacy group said.

In Sanchaung, police firing guns and using stun grenades announced on Monday they would check houses for anyone from outside the district and would punish anyone caught hiding them.

Youth activist Shar Ya Mone said she had been in a building with about 15 to 20 others, but had now been able to go home.

"There were many free car rides and people welcoming the protesters," Shar Ya Mone said by telephone, pledging to keep demonstrating "until the dictatorship ends."

Another protester posted on social media that they had been able to leave the area at around 5 a.m. after security forces pulled out.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had earlier called for "maximum restraint" and the safe release of all protesters without violence or arrests, a call echoed by the U.S. and British embassies in Myanmar.

An advocacy rights group said around 50 people had been arrested in Sanchaung after police searched houses, though checks were still being made.

A junta spokesman did not answer calls requesting comment.

State television MRTV earlier said: "The government's patience has run out and while trying to minimise casualties in stopping riots, most people seek complete stability (and) are calling for more effective measures against riots."

Three protesters were killed in demonstrations in northern Myanmar and the Irrawaddy Delta on Monday, according to witnesses and local media.

Myanmar ambassador in London backs protests

Demonstrations have been held daily for more than a month to demand the release of Suu Kyi and respect for the election her National League for Democracy (NLD) party won last November.

The army took power citing fraud in the ballot - an accusation rejected by the electoral commission. It has promised another election, but without giving a date.

The military has brushed off condemnation of its actions, as it has in past periods of army rule when outbreaks of protest were bloodily repressed.

This time it is also under pressure from a civil disobedience movement that has crippled government business and from strikes at banks, factories and shops that shut much of Yangon on Monday.

In a diplomatic blow to the junta, Myanmar's ambassador in Britain followed its U.N. representative in calling on Monday for the release of Suu Kyi - drawing praise from British foreign minister Dominic Raab.

Britain, the United States and some other Western countries have imposed limited sanctions on the junta.

The European Union is preparing to widen its sanctions to target army-run businesses, according to diplomats and two internal documents seen by Reuters.

(REUTERS)

GREEN CAPITALI$M

Morrisons pledges to have first net zero British farms by 2030

9 March, 2021 | by The Retail Bulletin

Morrisons has pledged to be the first supermarket to be completely supplied by net zero carbon British farms.

The retailer has committed to do this by 2030, five years ahead of the market.

Over the next nine years, Morrisons will work with its 3,000 farmers and growers to produce affordable net zero carbon meat, poultry, fruit and vegetables. It expects eggs to reach net zero carbon status as early as 2022 and lamb, fruit, vegetables, pork and beef in the years to follow.

This month, Morrisons will start working with a selection of meat and produce farmers to create net zero carbon farm models which will then be shared with all Morrisons farmers.

The models will look at various ways to reduce carbon including rearing different animal breeds, using low food-mile feedstuffs, renewable energy and low emission housing, and reducing fuel and fertiliser use. They will also look to offset carbon emissions by planting grassland, clover and trees, restoring peatland, improving soil health and  seeding hedgerows.

When it comes to meat, Morrisons will work with its beef farms to use smaller cattle breeds, pick low methane feeds, and look at methane reducing supplements.

David Potts, chief executive of Morrisons, said: “Climate change is one of the biggest challenges for our generation and growing food is a key contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. As British farming’s biggest supermarket customer, we’re in a unique position to guide our farms and help lead changes in environmental practices. It’s years ahead of industry expectations – and an ambitious target – but it’s our duty to do it.”

STILL A THREAT

Alleged Chinese attack on Microsoft Exchange remains an 'active threat,' says US government

Despite Microsoft's security patches, the recent hack on its Exchange server software remains an "active threat."

SEAN ENDICOTT

8 Mar 2021 

Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central


What you need to know

The recent hack of Microsoft's Exchange email server software remains an "active threat."

Microsoft rolled out patches to vulnerabilities, but organizations that were already compromised are still at risk.

At least 20,000 organizations have been compromised by the hacks, according to recent reports.

Last week, news emerged that Microsoft's Exchange email server software was hacked. Microsoft blamed a state-sponsored group out of China, but Beijing has denied any involvement. The company released several security updates to address vulnerabilities, but the hacks remain an "active threat," according to the U.S. government.




Reuters reports that while Microsoft released a patch that addresses the vulnerability, that any server already compromised by the attack can still be accessed through a "back-door."

The National Security Council sent a Tweet over the weekend regarding the attack that states:

Patching and mitigation is not remediation if the servers have already been compromised. It is essential that any organization with a vulnerable server take immediate measures to determine if they were already targeted.

A White House official told Reuters that "This is an active threat still developing and we urge network operators to take it very seriously." According to a source that spoke with Reuters, more than 20,000 organizations had been compromised by the hack as of March 7, 2021.

Top U.S. security officials are working to decide the next steps, according to a White House official that spoke with Reuters.

Organizations that have already been compromised could include credit unions, local government offices, and small businesses. Reuters states that the situation has "left U.S. officials scrambling to reach victims, with the FBI on Sunday urging them to contact the law enforcement agency."

A Microsoft representative told Reuters that the company is working with the U.S. government and others to help customers. The company also urged impacted clients to apply the software updates that it has rolled out as soon as possible.

A source told Reuters that only a small percentage of networks have been compromised through the back-door vulnerability, but that more attacks are expected