The battle over Greenland's untapped natural resources

A fight over Greenland's rich oil, gas and mineral deposits is raging, as global warming melts ice and exposes rich reserves. Now Greenlanders are struggling to balance economic growth and environmental protection.



Some in Greenland's fishing communities are relieved a proposed rare-earth mineral mine will likely not go ahead

Third-generation farmer Naasu Lund surveys her land, the silence punctuated only by a fierce wind and the bleating of grazing sheep. Her farm, near the town of Narsaq in southern Greenland, is located just 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) from a proposed uranium and rare earth elements mine.

She had been worried that the surrounding nature and her farm, which also hosts holidaymakers hoping to enjoy Greenland's untouched countryside, would be in jeopardy. She can breathe a sigh of relief. The mine has been halted for now.

"We are guardians of this land … and consider ourselves to be a part of nature," said Lund. "We have now the opportunity to develop it in the way we feel it is fair to do."

The proposed Kvanefjeld mine became a flash point for elections in Greenland this month, toppling the pro-mine Siumut party, which has had an almost uninterrupted hold on power since 1979, when the country gained home rule from Denmark.

Now, the pro-independence Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) is Greenland's largest party after it ran a green and anti-mine platform. It's promised the Kvanefjeld project will not go ahead, although it must first enter coalition negations with other parties, including Siumut.

Inuit Ataqatigiit members celebrate after winning snap elections on an environmental and anti-mine platform

The controversy over the mine reveals a split on the island over balancing future economic development with protecting the pristine Arctic environment. And the debate has heated up in recent years as global warming melts Greenland's ice cover to reveal rich mineral, oil and gas resources that are attracting international interest from countries like the China and the United States.

"Rare earths can attract many countries, but China has a monopoly on the technology and the necessary skilled labor for the extraction processes," said Jesper Willaing Zeuthen, an associate professor at the University of Aalborg in Denmark and an expert on Arctic-China relations.

Environment vs. development

Kvanefjeld is home to one of the world's largest undeveloped deposits of rare-earth elements outside of China. Seventeen elements, including scandium and yttrium, are buried deep underground there. They are used in everything from cell phones and wind turbines to electric cars. Mining advocates say tapping into them would be a major financial boon for Greenland.

Greenland Minerals Limited (GML), the Australian company developing the mine, said that the country would receive $240 million (€201 million) in taxes and royalties annually over the mine's planned 37-year lifespan. GML's biggest stakeholder is Shenghe Resources Holding, a Chinese rare-earths processing company.



Residents of the picturesque village of Narsaq were concerned about water, air and soil pollution from the proposed mine

For an economy largely dependent on fishing, tourism and a $600 million annual subsidy from Denmark, resource exploitation is seen as a way to boost government coffers and provide a path to independence. Polls indicate support for secession from Denmark. One carried out in 2018 by researchers from the University of Copenhagen found around 67% of respondents supported an independent Greenland at some point in the future.

"It is not certain that the Kvanefjeld mine project will never be realized," said Mikaa Mered, a lecturer on Arctic affairs at HEC business school in Paris. "If the Siumut party returns to power in the future, the struggle for independence could still be played through the uranium mines."

But Kvanefjeld's opponents argue that economic arguments are overplayed, saying it won't bring jobs, because the expertise to develop, extract and process rare-earth minerals doesn't exist on the 56,000-strong island. Furthermore, they argue, the potential threat to the island's pristine ecosystem is underestimated.

"Normally, local people don't earn money from mines as promised in the beginning, but after mining they are left with polluted land," said Mariane Paviasen, an IA member of parliament from Narsaq who has been campaigning against the mine since 2013, speaking of similar projects around the world.



One of the biggest concerns for Narsaq residents was the mining of the radioactive substance uranium

Narsaq's largely Inuit population were concerned that dust from uranium and other radioactive byproducts would be blown across the landscape. Locals and environmentalists, including Friends of the Earth Denmark, worried about contamination of soil, water and marine life from mining waste. Fishing is one of the town's main industries.

"Our life depends on the sea," said Ole Jorgen Davidsen, a fisherman and member the country's fishers' association KNAPK. "Our cultural heritage, our economy and even our free time are linked to where we live. Fishing is the livelihood method for the majority of families here."


GML refused to comment on the electoral outcome and what it would mean for the project but told DW before the election that it had done robust safety and environmental assessments.

"GML has used world experts in all possible environmental risk areas of the project to determine the impacts," said Jorn Skov Nielsen, the company's Executive General Manager.

A green path to independence?

For Lill Rastad Bjorst, associate professor of social science at Aalborg University, Inuit Ataqatigiit's electoral success is indicative of the importance of the environment to Greenlanders' identity and the mark left on Inuit communities by Denmark's colonization of the country. Some 88% of the island's population is Inuit or Danish-Inuit.

Bjorst has been working with the Narsaq community since 2013 and said locals felt like "bystanders to the development project" as Inuit communities have been to the 300 years of development in the country under direct Danish rule, which stretched from the early 18th century to 1979.

The IA party, she says, wants to achieve independence over time by allowing Greenland to grow economically and by improving livelihoods with a "respect for the environment." That could include improving agricultural production at home "to reduce our ecological footprint linked to transport and look for alternative ways to independence," according to IA's Mariane Paviansen. The country now largely relies on food imports.


An iceberg floating off Narsaq town. As Greenland warms, its rich mineral deposits are opening up to speculation

With the Arctic warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, the party has also promised to sign up to the Paris Agreement.

Still, a poll in local newspaper "Sermitsiaq" ahead of the election showed that while 63% of respondents were against the Kvanefjeld mining project, just 29% were against mining in general. And as climate change continues to make Greenland's natural resources more accessible and attract more international interest, Greenlanders will have to continue to find the balance between economic development and environmental protection.

"The Inuit Ataqatigiit party doesn't want uranium mining, but it has not ruled out mining activities involving zinc and gold," said lecturer Mikaa Mered. "This may be part of the Greenlandic development plan which has not yet be presented by the party."



THIS IS GREENLAND: THE WORLD'S LARGEST ISLAND
Record holder
Greenland holds a number of world records. It is the world's largest island, the least densely populated territory on Earth, and home to the only permanent ice sheet outside Antarctica. Most of its 56,000 residents are Inuit, descendants of those who migrated there from what is now Canada in the 13th century.  PHOTOS  1234567

 The Five Lies of Capitalism

Frank Jacob

362 Pages

1 File PDF

The present paper offers a reflection about capitalist exploitation and the lies this exploitation is based upon. It identifies capitalism’s narratives to secure its own existence against criticism from different protest movements and, in addition, shows that the named five lies are contested by larger crises, like the COVID-19 pandemic, the anti-racism protests in the US, as well as the menace of climate change, which unite different protest movements not only against racism or the global ecological exploitation but also against capitalism itself, the force that has been identified as the main menace for humanity and its further existence in the 21st century. Keywords: Five Lies of Capitalism, Capitalism, Global Exploitation, Capitalist Exploitation, Marxism

https://www.academia.edu/43280089/The_Five_Lies_of_Capitalism

GOOD

Cancelling Tokyo Olympics still an option insists Government official amid surging Covid-19 cases

By George Flood

Cancelling the Tokyo Olympics remains an option less than 100 days out from the rescheduled Games, according to a top official from Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

After being postponed for the very first time last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Olympics are due to take place between July 23 and August 8, with the Paralympics then being held from August 24 until September 5.

Last month, it was announced that no overseas spectators would be permitted to attend the Olympics or Paralympics, though doubts over the viability of both events have risen again since then due to surging coronavirus cases in Japan.


A recent poll conducted by Kyodo News revealed that more than 70 per cent of Japanese citizens were in favour of the Olympics either being postponed or cancelled altogether.


The prospect of a potential cancellation has now been raised again by Toshihiro Nikai, the secretary general of the LDP.

“If it seems impossible to go on with the games, they must be definitely cancelled," Nikai said on TBS TV. "If there is a surge in infections because of the Olympics, there will be no meaning to having the Olympics."

Asked if cancellation was still an option, he added: "Of course."

Meanwhile, Government minister Taro Kono insisted that the Olympics could only be held under “certain conditions”, with the likely prospect of no fans in attendance whatsoever.

"I think the question is how to do the Olympics in a way that is possible in this situation," said Kono, who is in charge of Japan’s rollout of Covid-19 vaccines. "That may mean there will probably be no spectators.

"The way these Olympics will be held will be very different from past ones.”


Additional reporting by AP.

Drug-resistant malaria gaining foothold in Africa: study

Researchers on Thursday reported the first clinical evidence that drug-resistant mutations of the parasite responsible for malaria are gaining ground in Africa.

© AMOS GUMULIRA There are an estimated 229 million cases of malaria worldwide, according to the World Health Organisation

Experts have long worried about the emergence of drug resistance across the continent, which accounted for more than 90 percent of malaria deaths worldwide in 2019.

A new study published in The Lancet appears to confirm those fears.



In clinical trials, the disease lingered longer in children receiving standard treatment for malaria if they were infected with mutant strains of the disease, the study found.

The efficacy of Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) remained high, but the researchers said there was an "urgent need" for more monitoring in Rwanda, where the study was conducted, as well as in neighbouring countries.

© Kun TIAN World map showing the incidence of malaria, according to the WHO World malaria report 2018.

There are an estimated 229 million cases of malaria worldwide, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The disease killed more than 400,000 people in 2019, more than two-thirds of them children.

Malaria is caused by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite, which is carried by females mosquitos from any of several dozen species in the genus Anopheles.

"Our study shows that resistant isolates are starting to become more common," said lead author Aline Uwimana, a researcher at the Rwanda Biomedical Centre in Kigali.

Introduced in the early 2000s, ACTs are the most effective and widely used treatments for malaria.



The medication combines an artemisinin component that clears most of the pathogens from the patient's body within three days, and a long-acting partner drug that gets rid of the remaining parasites.

- Dangerous mutations -

Resistance to the artemisinin component is suspected if P. falciparum is still present after Day Three of treatment.

Currently, ten mutations in one of the parasite's genes, known as pfk13, have been confirmed as markers of partial resistance, and several others are tagged as potential markers.

Partial artemisinin resistance was first identified in Cambodia in 2008, and is today well-documented in many Southeast Asian countries.

Evidence from the Mekong region has shown that once artemisinin resistance becomes prevalent, resistance to the partner drug often follows, resulting in ACT treatment failure.

In 2006, Rwanda introduced the most widely used antimalarial as the first-line treatment for the disease.

A study in 2013 and 2014 showed some mutations, but no evidence that the drug combo was less effective.

Follow-up research in 2018, however, showed for the first time mutations in the pfk13 gene and so-called delayed parasite clearance in patients, though ACT effectiveness remained above the critical threshold of 90 percent.

In the trial, more than 200 children six months to five years old infected by the parasite received three-day standard treatment, and were then monitored for 28 days.

About 15 percent had detectable parasites three days post treatment.

"Recent data suggest that we are on the verge of clinically meaningful artemisinin resistance in Africa," Philip Rosenthal, a professor at the University of California in San Francisco, wrote in a comment, also in The Lancet.

Loss of efficacy of key ACTs "may have dire consequences, as occurred when chloroquine resistance led to enormous increases in malaria deaths in the late twentieth century," he said.

mh/jz

Malaria mutations may be gaining a foothold in Africa, shows new data

Download PDF Copy
Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Apr 15 2021

New data provide the first clinical evidence that drug-resistant mutations in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum may be gaining a foothold in Africa. The study, conducted in Rwanda, is published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal and finds for the first time that the mutations are associated with delayed parasite clearance, as was first shown in South-East Asia when artemisinin-resistance started to emerge.

The study also finds that the mutations are more prevalent than previous studies have reported, indicating likely transmission of the mutations, and raising concern about further geographical spread of resistance.

There are an estimated 229 million cases of malaria worldwide, and there were 409,000 deaths from malaria in 2019 - of which 274,000 (67%) were among children under 5 years. 94% of all malaria cases and deaths occur in Africa, and experts have long been concerned about the potential emergence of drug resistance across the continent.

While the efficacy of current therapies remains high, the authors call for more intensive surveillance in Rwanda as well as neighbouring countries to help monitor the spread of mutations and inform public health actions.

Mutations can emerge spontaneously, and previous studies have pointed to isolated cases of resistance. However, our new study shows that resistant isolates are starting to become more common and most importantly, are associated with clinical implications (delayed parasite clearance)."

Dr Aline Uwimana, Study Lead Author, Rwanda Biomedical Centre, Kigali, Rwanda

Co-author Dr Naomi Lucchi, CDC Resident Advisor for the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative adds: "our study showed that the treatment for malaria in Rwanda is still 94% effective, but new studies and ongoing monitoring are urgently needed."

Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), introduced in the early 2000s, are currently the most effective and widely used treatments for malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum. ACTs combine an artemisinin component that clears most of the parasites from the patient's body within three days, and a long-acting partner drug that clears the remaining parasites.

Resistance to the artemisinin component of an ACT is suspected if the presence of the parasite remains after day three of treatment (called delayed parasite clearance). This drug resistance is associated with parasites carrying mutations in the Plasmodium falciparum kelch 13 gene (pfk13).

Currently, ten mutations in pfk13 have been confirmed as markers of artemisinin partial resistance (including R561H, P574L and C580Y), and several other mutations (referred to as candidate markers) have been identified as potentially associated with resistance.

Partial artemisinin resistance was first identified in Cambodia in 2008. It is now well-documented in many South East Asian countries, where the C580Y mutation is common. Evidence from the Mekong region has shown that once artemisinin resistance becomes prevalent, resistance to the partner drug often follows, resulting in ACT treatment failure.

In 2006, Rwanda introduced artemether-lumefantrine (an ACT, and the most widely used antimalarial) as the first-line treatment for malaria.

The World Health Organization recommends therapeutic efficacy studies at least every two years for monitoring the efficacy of ACTs and the tracking of resistance through molecular markers. When ACT efficacy is confirmed to be below 90%, replacement with an effective antimalarial is recommended.

One such study was performed in Rwanda among children aged 1-14 years in 2013-2015 in Ruhuha and Masaka. The R561H mutation was observed in 7.4% of P. falciparum parasites collected in Masaka, and a low prevalence of the P574L mutation was reported in isolates collected in Masaka and Ruhuha in 2013-2015 and in Huye in 2015.

However, the presence of these mutations was not found to be associated with delayed parasite clearance and the therapeutic efficacy of ACT was confirmed at over 97% in both sites.

In 2018, another therapeutic efficacy study was conducted, the results of which are reported in this new article. The pfk13 R561H and P574L mutations were present in 12.8% (28/218) and 0.9% (2/218) of pre-treatment samples, respectively.

For the first time, this study shows that the pfk13 R561H mutation was associated with delayed parasite clearance, although the efficacy of artemether-lumefantrine remained high. Genetic analysis of pfk13 R561H mutants indicated their common ancestry and local origin in Rwanda.

The study was conducted across three sites in Rwanda (Masaka, Rukara, and Bugarama). 224 children aged between 6 months and 5 years who had a P. falciparum infection were treated with a three-day course of artemether-lumefantrine and monitored for 28 days, with weekly blood collections. 8/51 (15.7%) participants in Masaka and 12/82 (14.6%) in Rukara had detectable parasites three days post treatment, according to WHO criteria for partial resistance. The therapeutic efficacy was estimated at 94-97%.

Writing in a linked Comment, Professor Philip Rosenthal, University of California, San Francisco, USA (who was not involved in the study), says: "Recent data suggest that we are on the verge of clinically meaningful artemisinin resistance in Africa, as emerged in Southeast Asia over a decade ago. With resistant genotypes emerging and continued heavy drug pressure, we may anticipate continued selection of resistance.

Loss of artemisinin activity will in turn threaten ACT partner drugs. Loss of efficacy of key ACTs, in particular artemether-lumefantrine, the most widely used antimalarial, may have dire consequences, as occurred when chloroquine resistance led to enormous increases in malaria deaths in the late twentieth century. Although it is impossible to predict the pace of progression of drug resistance in Africa, close surveillance for genotypic and phenotypic evidence of artemisinin and partner drug resistance, with prompt replacement of failing regimens, may save many lives."
Source:


The Lancet
Journal reference:


Uwimana, A., et al. (2021) Association of Plasmodium falciparum kelch13 R561H genotypes with delayed parasite clearance in Rwanda: an open-label, single-arm, multicentre, therapeutic efficacy study. The Lancet Infectious Diseases. doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00142-0.

IRELAND
Afforestation target under climate plan ‘currently unachievable’

Charles O'Donnell
Latest Farming News - Farming In Ireland - Farm Ireland - Agriland
April 15, 2021


The 8,000ha annual target for afforestation under the Climate Action Plan and Ag Climatise is “currently unachievable” according to one TD.

Sinn Féin TD Martin Browne was speaking after a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine yesterday (Wednesday, April 14), where he criticized the Department of Agriculture’s handling of the forestry licencing system.

The committee was hearing from Teagasc director Prof. Gerry Boyle at the time.

In the Climate Action Plan and Ag Climatise, the expansion of forests by 8,000ha per year is cited as one of the ambitions in sequestering or absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

However, Browne warned that this target for afforestation is under threat due to the licencing system.

“This target is currently unachievable because of the dysfunctional forestry licencing process, and poor overall management by the department which puts off new entrants to the sector,” he said.

“At this week’s meeting of the agriculture committee, I raised the matter with Prof. Gerry Boyle of Teagasc who said that, in terms of carbon storage, we are fortunate right now to be benefitting from the high-level of plantation that was undertaken 30 years ago,” Browne noted.

Boyle said that we will continue to benefit from this up to 2030 but after that we will be relying on the amount of plantation taking place right now.

The current planting, Browne highlighted, is “way below the national target and way below the levels that are needed to replenish the forest in terms of carbon sequestration”.

He argued: “This is another example of how the abandonment of the important forestry sector not only has impacts now but will have consequences in the future.

“Not alone have our foresters been let down by the manner in which the department has been overseeing forestry, but our ambitions for climate action have also been made even more difficult,” he added.

Concluding his remarks, the Tipperary TD said: “Reform of the forestry sector must speed up and be purposeful, otherwise the sector will continue to suffer right now and our climate action ambitions will be put at a disadvantage in the future”.

Dog coronavirus swept through UK at start of human pandemic

Symptoms were reported across the country by worried pet owners

By Neil Shaw

Network Content Editor

 15 APR 2021

New research suggests a coronavirus swept through the UK infecting pet dogs at the same time as the human Covid pandemic broke out.

Researchers at the University of Liverpool and the University of Lancaster say a wave of dog vomiting was likely to be strain of canine enteric coronavirus (CeCoV).

Clinical samples were taken from from 71 animals, Mail Online reports, revealing that the dogs had been infected with canine enteric coronavirus.

The outbreak lasted from December 2019 to March 2020 and peaked on February 2, according to the study.

Their main symptoms were a loss of appetite and vomiting lasting up to a week. Fewer than one per cent of the dogs died after contracting the virus.

The study, which was published in the Emerging Infectious Diseases journal, said: "In conclusion, this multidisciplinary approach enabled a rapid response to a newly described outbreak of canine gastroenteritis and identified a CeCoV as a potential cause.

"Previous CeCoV seasonality suggests further outbreaks may occur."

British Gas disgrace as workers are sacked over 'fire and rehire' pay deal

Hundreds of British Gas workers, some with decades of service, have been given their marching orders after a two week grace period to sign controversial new contacts ran out

Hundreds of British Gas engineers have lost their jobs (Image: Asadour Guzelian)

British Gas is under fire after sacking hundreds of engineers who refused new deals.

Former staff told of their fury at being axed over the firm’s “fire and rehire” contracts that cut workers’ pay.

Debbie Tinsley, an engineer for 30 years, said: “What have we done wrong? Absolutely nothing. 30 years of loyal service counts for nothing.”

One axed worker burned his contract.

Hundreds of workers, some with decades of service, have been axed after a two week grace period ran out.

Ms Tinsley posted photos of herself with her British Gas van now and 30 years ago when she joined.


Fellow engineer John Quelch said: “Today I handed my blue van after 19 years loyal service.

“It’s not how I wanted my time at British Gas to end, but because I won’t sign an inferior contract of employment I was given notice.”

David Griffith who today walked away from British Gas (Image: Supplied)

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British Gas engineer 'heartbroken' as he's fired after 17 years of frontline service

Devastated British Gas engineer 'bullied' into signing new contract at 11th hour

Another employee told The Mirror he was "heartbroken" after being told to leave despite 17 years of service.

David Griffith said he joined the company in 2004 as an apprentice and has "dedicated his life to British Gas".

“I have been with British Gas for 17 years,” he said.

“I have now officially been fired.

"To be seen as literally just a number when I have given so much more than that to a company which runs through my veins is heart-breaking," he added.

Another said he felt "bullied" into signing the deal: “All engineers were bullied into signing. The pressure just increased the longer you held out," the engineer told The Mirror.

“With each new deadline, more engineers signed up until we got to the very last deadline of 12noon yesterday.”

Yesterday’s deadline comes after months of wrangling over the “fire and rehire” deal.

Debbie Tinsley has lost her job after 30 years' service

Unions accused bosses of “bullying” British Gas’s 20,000 employees for telling them to accept reduced terms or risk the axe.

The row centres on changes to contracts that include pay cuts and increases to hours.

The GMB said the “mass sacking” coincided with British Gas suspending the sale of boiler insurance cover amid scenes of “van graveyards” from vehicles returned by the axed engineers.

Have you lost your job as a result of British Gas's restructuring? Get in touch: mirror.money.saving@mirror.co.uk

Debbie Tinsley when she started her job

Justin Bowden, GMB Regional Secretary said: “These sacked gas engineers are badly needed by customers to clear the huge backlog of missed planned annual service visits and repairs.

“There is sadly nothing in law to stop corporate bullying by companies of their own staff to sign terms they don’t accept and sacking those who don’t submit to this bullying.”


Labour leader Sir Kier Starmer said: “The whole labour movement stands in solidarity with British Gas workers.

“They’re defending themselves against the shameful practice of fire and rehire.

Debbie is among hundreds of engineers who have been sacked

“British Gas must abandon this practice.

“And the Government must outlaw it.”

Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy said: “It should be illegal for companies to rip-up hard-won terms and conditions like this.”

UK

High status Roman villa discovered near Scarborough hailed as first of its kind found anywhere in world

Features central circular room and bath house - but experts puzzled why something of such grandeur would have been built in such a remote part of empire

Colin Drury
Yorkshire@colin__drury
15/4/2021

A Roman villa discovered near Scarborough, North Yorkshire
(Historic England)

The remains of a high-status Roman villa and bath house, which may be the first of its kind ever discovered in the world, have been unearthed on a building site near Scarborough in North Yorkshire.

The astonishing find was made during archaeological excavations ahead of the construction of a housing development in the small town of Eastfield.

Archaeologists say the villa’s sheer size and complexity – it features a circular central room with other rooms leading off it – almost certainly indicate a stately home or some kind of religious sanctuary.

But they remain puzzled as to why something of such grandeur would have been built at what was one of the empire’s remotest outposts.

“This type of building layout has never been seen before in Britain and could even be the first of its kind to be discovered within the whole former Roman Empire,” said Keith Emerick, inspector of ancient monuments at Historic England.

And he added: “We've spoken to a number of leading Roman academics about it and we're all trying to find a comparable site and we are struggling. So in that sense it is really significant. It's really exciting as well".


Such is its importance that the layout of the new housing estate has now been redesigned by Keepmoat Homes to preserve the remains.

Karl Battersby, corporate director of business and environmental services at North Yorkshire County Council, said: “This is a remarkable discovery…

“Work by North Yorkshire archaeologists has already established the buildings were designed by the highest-quality architects in Northern Europe in the era and constructed by the finest craftsmen.

“There will be further work on the finds and environmental samples to try to establish exactly what this enigmatic site was and why it was created so far from other Roman centres.

Republicans turn to the socialism playbook on Biden's infrastructure bill, labeling anything other than roads and bridges as 'Soviet'

© Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images House Republicans including Reps. Steve Scalise, Jim Jordan, and Matt Gaetz address reporters during a news conference. Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images  

GYM JORDAN POSING ALL HE NEEDS IS HIS SUPERHERO CAPE

While the parties disagree on infrastructure, the GOP is making false statements and calling the other side "socialist."

GOP leadership insists less than 6% of Biden's plan goes to roads and bridges, ignoring EV investments.

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise on Wednesday dismissed the bill as "Soviet-style infrastructure."

SCALISE SUFFERS DEMENTIA FROM LEAD POISONING

Amid arguments over the definition of infrastructure, Republicans are making false statements about President Joe Biden's $2 trillion infrastructure bill and labeling the Democratic effort as "socialist."

The GOP's longstanding strategy of attaching the socialism label to any Democratic policy proposal is not new. It's been the go-to move for the party ever since the rise of the Tea Party in the 2010 midterms, and became integral to former President Donald Trump's losing campaign in 2020.

However, many of the recent socialism critiques of the Biden plan are misleading, particularly in how Republicans have been quibbling over what constitutes infrastructure.

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana during a Wednesday news conference compared the American Jobs Plan to the Soviet Union.

"Frankly, when you look at the socialist agenda being pushed Speaker Pelosi and President Biden, people are turning away from it," Scalise said. "They're talking about an infrastructure bill. It's Soviet-style infrastructure, what they're talking about.

"Over 90% of the bill they're proposing has nothing to do with roads and bridges," he continued. "People would expect, if you're gonna have a $2 trillion bill, that it would be all about roads and bridges. Theirs is not. It's a lot of Green New Deal, expanding the role of the federal government."

Scalise's office did not respond to Insider's request for comment about what he meant by invoking the USSR, which fell in 1991.

A recent Morning Consult/Politico poll shows most Republican voters actually like several parts of the Biden infrastructure plan, including parts that are not traditionally defined as strictly infrastructure, such as the expanded child tax credit and increased low-income housing.

But both Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy, the Senate and House minority leaders, respectively, have criticized the plan for earmarking less than 6% of its spending to roads and bridges.

Scalise too, with his "over 90%" comment, omitted the $174 billion dedicated to expanding the availability of electric vehicles, which use roads and bridges. Much of the spending in the bill is also left to the discretion of states and local authorities, which does not constitute "expanding the role of the federal government" to the extent Scalise indicated.

McCarthy - who was not in attendance at Wednesday's House GOP leadership press conference - recently dismissed the bill as a "kitchen sink of wasteful progressive demands" while ignoring major items with bipartisan support, such as subsidizing broadband internet access for rural communities.

Outside of the beltway, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem was mocked online for her comments on Fox News, where she wondered aloud why items like "housing and pipes and different initiatives" were included in the bill despite falling well within a general definition of infrastructure.

These claims have taken over the GOP messaging in place of a more viable negotiating posture, which began to emerge on Wednesday when Republican Sen. Shelly Moore Capito of West Virginia floated the idea of cutting the bill by more than half to settle around a "sweet spot" figure of $600 billion to $800 billion.

To counter the GOP talking points, the White House released its "infrastructure report cards" on Tuesday to highlight and quantify areas of disrepair state by state.

The home states of Scalise, McCarthy, and Noem received a D-plus and two C-minuses, respectively.