Op-Ed: Why Biden's strategy for preventing domestic terrorism could do more harm than good

LIKE CLINTON'S DID AFTER THE OKLAHOMA BOMBING


Harsha Panduranga
Mon, June 21, 2021

Members of the extremist group Boogaloo Boys armed with weapons and flags rally during Lobby Day in Richmond, Va., on Jan. 18. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Even as American cities are working to reduce the use of police in responding to mental health and social crises, the Biden administration is doubling down on an ineffective strategy that further entrenches law enforcement in these same spheres under the umbrella of violence prevention.

President Biden’s just-released National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism features this approach in its plan to combat far-right violence. The Department of Homeland Security recently created a new Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships, which will provide funds and support to local law enforcement, community groups and institutions such as universities to carry out such prevention efforts. Among its purposes is to identify people who may become violent and connect them with mental health and social services, often in cooperation with police.

The Homeland Security Department describes this as a “public health” approach, which may sound appealing. But decades of research show that we cannot reliably identify potentially violent people. And trying to do so will invite more police involvement in mental health and social services and bias against the same communities that bear the brunt of far-right violence, as a new report from the Brennan Center for Justice documents.


Many of the behaviors and traits the center identifies as markers of potential violence — being socially alienated, depressed, having a “grievance,” for example — are both vague and common. Treating what are often adverse social conditions as potential police matters hurts efforts to support people struggling with these conditions.

The new center essentially puts a new label on Homeland Security's old Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention program, which Biden had promised to end. That program, in turn, was a rebrand of a war-on-terror-era program called Countering Violent Extremism, which broadly treated Muslim Americans as terrorism risks.

These earlier programs treated actions such as attending a mosque more frequently and being concerned about anti-Muslim discrimination or human rights abuses as reasons for criminal suspicion. While the Biden administration’s disavowal of the heavy-handed targeting that marked the war on terror approach is welcome, the new program’s prevention activities rest on the same flawed foundation and impose many of the same harms.

The Biden program claims its prevention model is evidence-based, but the very studies it cites say that predicting who will engage or attempt to engage in terrorism “is an unrealistic goal.” Instead, government-run studies in this field claim to identify commonalities among those who have carried out violent attacks, labeling them risk factors and indicators that bear on whether a person is going to commit violence.

The main problem is that these signs — such as mental health issues, having trouble at home or in relationships, having a political or personal “grievance” — are shared by millions and hardly serve to separate out potentially violent people from ordinary Americans. The involvement of law enforcement means that individuals with these conditions are unfairly tagged as potential criminals and become at risk of being funneled into the criminal justice system.

Nor does Homeland Security account for how race, religion and ethnicity influence who is tagged as dangerous. This holds true in schools, where discipline falls more heavily on children of color; in policing, where race often dictates who is targeted for enforcement; and in counter-terrorism, where Muslims have borne the brunt of suspicion.

The new program is supposed to work with the Homeland Security Office of Civil Rights and Liberties to ensure rights are protected, but it has not specified any concrete safeguards. The program formally requires those receiving its grants to address privacy and civil rights concerns when applying for funds. But these requirements also existed in the earlier programs, without much effect.

Of course, people experiencing conditions that the program identifies as potential markers of violence could well benefit from mentorship programs or mental health treatment. But linking access to such services to a propensity for violent crime makes it less likely that people will seek out help when they need it.

A better path forward is to wall off security agencies such as Homeland Security from efforts to address the social problems the department frames as threats and leave these issues to people with the right expertise. One blueprint is the recently reintroduced Counseling Not Criminalization in Schools Act, which proposes funds to replace police in schools with social service providers such as teachers, counselors, social workers and nurses and prohibits the use of money for partnerships with law enforcement.

Homeland Security's Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships is unlikely to help prevent violence by mixing health and social services in a law enforcement framework, but it will harm the communities it is trying to protect. The Biden administration should instead invest in badly needed social services through the agencies most equipped to provide them.

Harsha Panduranga is counsel in the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty & National Security Program.

Could Fracking Save Colombia’s Oil Industry?


Editor OilPrice.com
Mon, June 21, 2021

Despite being wracked by nationwide anti-government protests the prospects for Colombia’s beaten-down oil industry are improving. Most of the protests and blockades of major roads have been ended allowing onshore drillers to recommence operations. Another important development is the progress of allowing hydraulic fracturing in the strife-torn Andean country. This controversial technique for extracting oil and natural gas has faced strong and lengthy opposition in Colombia. It was touted by crisis-driven president Ivan Duque during late-2018 as a means of resolving a critical problem facing Colombia’s oil-dependent economy, its lack of proven oil and natural gas reserves. There have been no major hydrocarbon discoveries in Colombia since 2009. Energy ministry data shows (Spanish) that at the end of 2020 proved reserves were 1.8 billion barrels, an 11% reduction compared to 2019, which is sufficient to support six years at the current rate of production, and just under 3 trillion cubic feet of gas with a production life of almost eight years. The direness of the situation is underscored by the petroleum industry is responsible, during 2020, for nearly a fifth of government income, 3% of gross domestic product, and 28% of exports by value. Those numbers highlight just how important it is for the national government in Bogota to boost Colombia’s economically crucial hydrocarbon reserves if it is to head off a major economic crisis.

Fracking has long been held as a solution with it estimated that Colombia holds up to seven billion barrels of recoverable shale oil and 30 trillion cubic feet of shale gas. If those vast hydrocarbon resources can be successfully accessed, they will significantly boost Colombia’s hydrocarbon reserves and production life, averting a fiscal crisis and giving the economy a healthy boost. Nonetheless, there has been significant opposition to fracking in Colombia. In 2018, the country’s highest administrative court the Council of State established a moratorium against fracking. That was upheld in 2019, but the tribunal found that fracking projects were not banned. In the latest development, a bill aiming to ban fracking and the exploitation of unconventional oil and natural gas deposits in Colombia was effectively sunk (Spanish). Only half of the representatives supporting the bill arrived last Saturday to debate its approval and a vote made last week ended with the bill being delayed. This effectively stymies the implementation of the bill, indicating that it will not be approved by congress, seeing the end of a major hurdle to allowing fracking in Colombia. Earlier this year, the head of the National Hydrocarbon Agency (ANH – Spanish initials), Armando Zamora, stated that he believed the moratorium would be lifted in 2022 once comprehensive fracking regulations had been established.

Fracking pilots have been approved and are underway in Colombia’s Middle Magdalena Valley Basin. It is the La Luna geological formation that is being targeted in the basin.

EIA


Source: U.S. EIA.

La Luna has been compared to the prolific Eagle Ford shale. In 2013 the ANH released survey data to support its claim that the geological formation’s rock quality is similar to and in some cases better than many North American shale plays. Some sources believe that it could hold hydrocarbon resources of up to 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent, making it a priority target for Colombia’s energy ministry and hydrocarbon regulator.

Related: U.S. Government Considers Making Ransom Payments Illegal

Colombia’s national oil company Ecopetrol was awarded approval last November for the Kale project near the municipality of Puerto Wilches in the Middle Magdalena Valley Basin.

Ecopetrol

Source: Ecopetrol.

The state-controlled energy major expects to invest $80 million to bring the operation online, with Ecopetrol currently establishing the monitoring plan and gaining community approvals. In early April 2021 global energy supermajor ExxonMobil was awarded the only contract from the second unconventional round. Exxon was awarded the rights to the Platero project, also near Puerto Wilches in the Middle Magdalena Valley. The global energy supermajor has committed to investing $53 million in developing the asset with a seven percent local content requirement. The project is focused on exploring the unconventional geological formations of the VMM-37 Block which is 70% controlled by Exxon as the operator, with the remaining 30% held by Canadian oil junior Sintana Energy.

VMM-37 Block Middle Magdalena Valley Basin

Manati

Source: Sintana Energy.

Exxon drilled the A3 Manati Blanco well in 2015 on the block but it was never tested, and operations were suspended pending an environmental permit being awarded. That was blocked because of the controversy surrounding the introduction of fracking in Colombia and the eventual moratorium imposed on the practice.

While the latest developments bode well for the future of fracking in Colombia, the ANH is finding it difficult to attract the desired level of interest from foreign energy companies in unconventional oil exploration and production. Exxon submitted the only valid bid during the ANH’s April 2021 round, with the two other participants Drummond and Ecopetrol declining to make offers. The uncertainty surrounding the future of fracking in Colombia, coupled with an escalating security crisis and recent nationwide anti-government protests which forced onshore energy companies to shutter production, is weighing on investor sentiment. While most of the oil production shut-in by the anti-government protests and related blockades has been brought back online, considerable political turmoil remains. There are long-standing grievances among various civil society groups which were amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic that Bogota has failed to address. Roadblocks, oilfield invasions, and community protests against Colombia’s economically vital hydrocarbon sector remain ever-present threats, particularly with the oil industry’s social license deteriorating in many communities where it operates.

The considerable uncertainty surrounding the future of fracking and Colombia’s oil industry is being magnified by former leftist presidential candidate and senator Gustavo Petro taking a massive lead in the polls. Those numbers indicate that at this time he will win the 2022 presidential elections. Petro’s 2018 candidacy and subsequent lead in the polls prior to the May 2018 electoral round unnerved financial markets, the oil industries, and mining industries, notably because he campaigned (Spanish) on a platform of reducing Colombia’s dependence on oil as well as opposing fracking. It was Ivan Duque’s eventual victory that saw much of that nervousness dissipate. The sharp increase in political turmoil, Bogota’s inability to reactivate the economy, and heightened insecurity are all weighing on the outlook for fracking in Colombia.

By Matthew Smith for Oilprice.com

BP is planning to drill for fossil gas on edge of world’s largest cold-water coral reef


Daisy Dunne
Tue, June 22, 2021

Artist’s impression of Greater Tortue Ahmeyim gas project in west Africa (BP)

BP is planning to drill for fossil gas on the edge of the world’s largest cold-water coral reef – raising the risk of biodiversity loss, further global heating and toxic fuel spills.

The British oil giant has begun construction work on a fossil fuel project close by to the 580km-long coral ecosystem off the coast of west Africa, which is in an area crucial for migrating waterbirds, as well as threatened sharks, turtles and whales, according to an investigation by Unearthed and SourceMaterial shared with The Independent.

The project is the “first step” in a series of developments in the region that, if approved, aim to produce around 40 trillion cubic feet of gas over the next 30 years, according to an independent estimate from Rystad Energy, a research firm.

When burned, this amount of gas would produce 2.2 billion tonnes of CO2 – nearly twice the annual energy emissions of the entire African continent. In global terms, it equates to between 0.3 and 1 per cent of the remaining global “carbon budget” left to keep the global temperature rise to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

A BP spokesperson said they were unable to comment on Rystad’s projection, and declined to provide their own forecast.

BP has previously promised to slash its emissions to net zero by 2050 and to cut its oil and gas production by 40 per cent within a decade. The oil firm is also a partner of Prince Charles’s Terra Carta initiative, which aims to “bring prosperity into harmony with nature”.

Last month, a major assessment from the world’s energy watchdog, the International Energy Agency, said there can be no further fossil fuel expansion in any country beyond 2021 if global climate goals are to be met.

Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa, a think tank based in Nairobi, Kenya, described further fossil fuel development as a “a major threat to Africa’s food security, water security and public health”.

Any future oil or gas drilling will “ultimately undermine our livelihoods and development,” he told The Independent.

“We can’t excuse a company like BP, at a time when it seems to be taking climate change more seriously, simultaneously bankrolling a project that may end up having a big impact on Africa’s carbon footprint and future.”

BP’s fossil gas development threatens an expansive cold-water coral reef off the coast of Mauritania and Senegal (TL, Sven Loven Centre, Uni Gothenburg)

The Independent’s Stop Fuelling the Climate Crisis campaign is shining a light on UK support for fossil fuels ahead of Cop26, a major climate summit being held in Glasgow in November.

BP’s Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project will develop a new gas field 2.7km below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Senegal and Mauritania. Such a deep drilling project has never been attempted before in Africa, but previous research shows deep sea gas production can cause long-lasting damage to fragile ecosystems such as coral reefs.

The first 20-year phase of the project has already been approved, with drilling expected to produce gas in two years’ time. It is one of BP’s three developments in the pipeline for the west Africa region, where it hopes to operate for at least 30 years if it is able to obtain approval.

An environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) carried out for the project, seen by The Independent, Unearthed and SourceMaterial, states that an eruption of a well used in the production process could lead to a spill of condensate, a liquid byproduct of natural gas.

Though it says the chances of a spill occurring are “extremely rare”, it warns that any such event could prove lethal or damaging to the unique ecosystems surrounding the project site, according to the assessment.

The area chosen for the project is close to key sites along the east Atlantic flyway, a major migration route for millions of birds travelling between the bottom of Africa and the Arctic. Birds using the route include Eurasian spoonbills, grey plovers and red knots.

Eurasian spoonbills are one of many species that travel along the east Atlantic flyway (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The gas project is also just 5km away from Diawling National Park, which hosts 250 different bird species as well as monkeys, warthogs and monitor lizards. It is a similar distance away from the marine protected area of Saint-Louis, a key site for local fishing and feeding whales and dolphins.

Without careful management, BP’s construction and drilling operations could threaten these important wildlife hotspots and the livelihoods of local fishing communities, Sandra Kloff, a consultant marine biologist who has worked in the region for 25 years, told The Independent.

She added that the wildlife in the region already faces large threats from overfishing by international companies.

“Since the 1980s, it has been a total wild west for biodiversity off this northwest African coast despite scientific proof that this region is the most important feeding area for charismatic wildlife in the Atlantic Ocean – and in spite of the fact that these waters are home to the longest cold water coral mounds,” she told The Independent.

BP has previously pledged to reduce harm to biodiversity by committing to not establishing new oil and gas operations in Unesco world heritage sites or in nature reserves that meet a set of specific criteria. Its Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project does not contravene these rules.

Awa Traore, an oceans campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, said BP’s actions amounted to “greenwashing”.

“More fossil fuel production is only going to expose communities to more harm, undermining the renewable energy investment which can effectively lift millions of people out of poverty,” she told The Independent.

“By adopting renewable energy instead of fossil fuels, African countries have the opportunity to leapfrog dirty energy to meet their energy security needs, with massive potential benefits for the population.”

A BP spokesperson said: “We want to help conserve the marine ecosystem in Mauritania and Senegal and the project’s environment and social impact assessment was approved by the governments and regulators of both Mauritania and Senegal when the project was sanctioned for development.”

The spokesperson added that BP was currently developing an additional biodiversity action plan for the project alongside “scientists and other stakeholders”.

“This will integrate the latest scientific data and allow us to identify and implement appropriate biodiversity-related mitigation and management measures for the project,” the spokesperson said.

“We are working to set up an independent scientific panel of national and international scientists for peer review of our plans.”

They added that emissions from the first phase of the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project will be included in BP’s climate targets.

“Emissions from any further projects that were approved and developed would also be included as and when they began operation,” the spokesperson said.

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UNESCO: Great Barrier Reef should be listed as 'in danger'

Tue, June 22, 2021

The Great Barrier Reef has held World Heritage status since 1981

Australia's government has lashed out after a United Nations report claimed it had not done enough to protect the Great Barrier Reef from climate change.

UN body Unesco said the reef should be put on a list of World Heritage Sites that are "in danger" due to the damage it has suffered.

Key targets on improving water quality had not been met, it said.


Environment minister Sussan Ley said UN experts had reneged on past assurances.

She confirmed that Australia planned to challenge the listing, which would take place at a meeting next month, saying: "Clearly there were politics behind it; clearly those politics have subverted a proper process."

The World Heritage Committee is a 21-nation group chaired by China, which has had a vexed diplomatic relationship with Canberra in recent years.

"Climate change is the single biggest threat to all of the world's reef ecosystems... and there are 83 natural World Heritage properties facing climate change threats so it's not fair to simply single out Australia," said Ms Ley.

Environmental groups say the UN's decision highlights Australia's weak climate action, however.

"The recommendation from Unesco is clear and unequivocal that the Australian government is not doing enough to protect our greatest natural asset, especially on climate change," said Richard Leck, Head of Oceans for the World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia.

The latest row is part of an ongoing dispute between Unesco and Australia over the status of the iconic site.

The reef, stretching for 2,300km (1,400 miles) off Australia's north-east coast, gained World Heritage ranking in 1981 for its "enormous scientific and intrinsic importance".

After Unesco first debated its "in danger" status in 2017, Canberra committed more than A$3 billion (£1.bn; $2.2bn) to improving the reef's health.

However, several bleaching events on the reef in the past five years have caused widespread loss of coral.

Great Barrier Reef suffers another mass bleaching

Racing to save one of the great wonders of nature

Scientists say the main reason is rising sea temperatures as a result of global warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

In 2019, Australia's own reef authority downgraded the reef's condition from poor to very poor in its five-year update.

But Australia remains reluctant to commit to stronger climate action, such as by signing up to a net zero emissions target by 2050.

The country, a large exporter of coal and gas, has not updated its climate goals since 2015. Its current emissions reduction target is 26-28% of 2005 levels by 2030.

Analysis box by Shaimaa Khalil, Australia correspondent

These have been a tough few months for Australia and its climate change policy.

International pressure has been mounting on Scott Morrison's government to pledge net zero emissions by 2050 and the prime minister has time and time again refused to commit - including as recently as last week at the G7 meeting in the UK.

In his address to US President Joe Biden's virtual climate conference with global leaders in April, the prime minister said the country will "get there as soon as we possibly can," adding that "for Australia, it is not a question of if, or even by when, for net-zero but, importantly, how".

That in itself is at the heart of the problem. The "when" is as crucial as the "how" when it comes to climate change.

Scientists and global leaders say Australia is not doing enough or going fast enough.

The Great Barrier Reef row between Unesco and the Australian government is not new, but it will be quite embarrassing if the country's World Heritage Site is downgraded to the "in danger" list.

It's another reminder that if Australia does not get serious about tackling climate change with clear and decisive measures, this will affect its standing in the world, not just diplomatically and economically but culturally too.

Map of Great Barrier Reef

If the reef is downgraded, it will be the first time a natural World Heritage Site has been placed on the "in danger" list primarily due to impacts of climate change.

Listing a site as "in danger" can help address threats by, for example, unlocking access to funds or publicity.

But the recommendation could affect a major tourism destination that creates thousands of jobs in Australia and was worth A$6.4bn prior to the pandemic.

Australia rejects U.N. climate warning over Great Barrier Reef status

Adela Suliman
Tue, June 22, 2021

The Great Barrier Reef could have its prestigious World Heritage status downgraded after a report from the United Nations said Australia wasn't doing enough to protect it from the effects of climate change.

Australia, which attracts millions of snorkeling tourists and beachgoers each year, vowed on Tuesday to fight any change of status that could hurt its travel industry or see the U.N. step in to take tougher measures to reduce the country's greenhouse gas emissions.

The U.N. World Heritage Committee's draft report on Monday found that there was "no possible doubt" that the network of colorful corals off Australia's northeast coast was "facing ascertained danger" due to climate change.


The committee proposed the Great Barrier Reef be added to UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger, a move that could create a monitoring role for UNESCO to put in place "corrective measures" to reduce emissions, which it said are harming the reef and its marine life. The report said such measures would take into account the fact that Australia "on its own cannot address the threats of climate change."

Image: Australia said Tuesday, June 22, 2021, it will fight a recommendation for the Great Barrier Reef to be listed as in danger of losing its World Heritage values due to climate change (Kyodo News / AP)

Any downgrade of the reef's World Heritage status could also reduce tourism revenue that the natural wonder generates and shake Australians' national pride, along with confidence in their government's ability to care for the coral reef ecosystem.

Australia's environment minister Sussan Ley said on Tuesday the country would fight the listing and that she and foreign minister Marise Payne had spoken to UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay to express their government's "strong disappointment" and "bewilderment" at the proposal.

"This is a complete subversion of normal process," Ley said. "The reef is an icon internationally and we are here to fight for the reef and we are here to challenge the decision."

Ley said that although she recognized the threat of climate change to the reef, Australia would oppose the listing.

"This decision was flawed. Clearly there were politics behind it," she told reporters.

However, environmentalists welcomed the U.N. body's draft decision.

"The recommendation from UNESCO is clear and unequivocal that the Australian government is not doing enough to protect our greatest natural asset," Richard Leck, head of oceans for the World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia said in a statement.

The listing would also serve as a wake-up call for the country, he added.

"The prospect of losing the World Heritage status of our reef will be a huge shock for many Australians, but it is a powerful message that our government needs to urgently lift its ambition."

Environmental group Greenpeace Australia Pacific also said the government had to work harder to give the reef a "fighting chance" and take its role as an "environmental custodian seriously," said spokesperson Martin Zavan.

"The UNESCO warning could not be any clearer, the Great Barrier Reef is in danger," Zavan said in a statement. "The situation for the reef could easily go from bad to disastrous."

The world's most extensive coral reef ecosystem — a network of 2,500 reefs covering 348,000 square kilometers — has been World Heritage-listed since 1981 and is held in awe by visitors for its dazzling coral and multicolored fish.

But scientists have repeatedly warned that its health is under increasing threat from climate change and rising ocean temperatures.

The U.N. report found that the site had suffered significantly from coral bleaching and mortality caused by unusually warm ocean temperatures in 2016, 2017 and last year.

"The long-term outlook for the ecosystem of the property has further deteriorated from poor to very poor," the draft report said, adding that the deterioration "has been more rapid and widespread than was previously evident."

The final decision, based on the report's recommendations, will be made in July by the World Heritage Committee and could see the reef added to the list of 53 other sites deemed in danger, in country's such as Afghanistan and Peru.

RIP

Joanne Linville, who played the Romulan commander in a memorable 1968 Star Trek episode and had scores of other screen credits, died Sunday. She was 93. CAA made the announcement but did not disclose a cause of death.


Linville began racking up TV guest roles in the mid-1950s, appearing on such series of the era as Studio One, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Kraft Theatre and Playhouse 90. She continued to guest on drama series throughout the ’60s, including such classics as Bonanza, Gunsmoke, The F.B.I., Route 66, Ben Casey, I Spy and a two-part Hawaii Five-0.

Of her work in that era, she might be most recognizable as Lavinia Gordon, the owner of a ruined Southern mansion in the Civil War-themed 1961 Twilight Zone episode titled “The Passersby,” which also starred James Gregory.

But despite her prolific active career from the mid-’50s to the late-’80s, and included a few latter-day roles, Linville is best remembered for her role in a 1968 episode of the original Star Trek. “The Enterprise Incident” is one of the few times Leonard Nimoy’s Spock character Spock romanced a woman. Linville played a powerful Romulan commander who is drawn to and ultimately seduced by the Vulcan’s charms. She discovers too late that Spock’s attentions are a ruse so that Captain Kirk can steal the fabled Romulan cloaking device, which renders ships invisible.

Linville continued to work steadily in TV throughout the 1970s and ’80s. While never a series regular, she appeared on some of those decades’ most popular shows: Columbo, Kojak, Charlie’s Angels, CHiPs, Dynasty and L.A. Law.

Born Beverly Joanne Linville on January 15, 1928, in Bakersfield, CA, she grew up in Venice, CA. The actress also had some film roles during her long career including A Star Is Born (1976), Scorpio (1973) and The Seduction (1982).

During the 1980s, she and her teacher Stella Adler started an acting conservancy under the latter’s name, and Linville also authored the 2011 book Seven Steps to an Acting Craft.

Linville was married to On Golden Pond director Mark Rydell from 1962-73 and was the great-grandmother of actress Billie Lourd and Austen Rydell’s son, Kingston. Along with the four of them, she is survived by her children Christopher and Amy, and grandchildren Ruby and Ginger.

Tom Tapp contributed to this report.

WHY  WORKERS NEED UNIONS

Exxon Prepares to Cull U.S. White-Collar Ranks by as Much as 10%



Joe Carroll and Kevin Crowley
Tue, June 22, 2021, 

(Bloomberg) -- Exxon Mobil Corp. is preparing to reduce headcount at its U.S. offices by between 5% and 10% annually for the next three to five years by using its performance-evaluation system to suss out low performers, according to people familiar with the matter.

The cuts will target the lowest-rated employees relative to peers, and for that reason will not be characterized as layoffs, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public. While such workers are typically put on a so-called performance improvement plan, many are expected to eventually leave on their own. This year’s evaluation is happening now but affected employees have not yet been notified, the people said.

“Our annual performance assessment process has been occurring over the last several months,” Exxon spokesman Casey Norton said in an email. “Where employees are not contributing to their highest ability, they may need to participate in an improvement plan. This is an annual process which has been in place for many years, and it is meant to improve performance. This process is unrelated to workforce reduction plans.”

The plan is separate from Exxon’s announcement last year that it will cut 14,000 jobs worldwide by 2022, and it would extend reductions well beyond that original time frame. It’s a tumultuous time for Exxon, which is still grappling with the fallout from last month’s annual meeting, when shareholders rebuffed top management and replaced a quarter of the company’s board over climate and financial concerns.

Exxon had 72,000 employees globally at the end of last year, of which 40% worked in the U.S., according to a company filing.

White-Collar Jobs

Several high-profile traders have also left in the last few weeks. While the performance-review process mostly applies to white-collar jobs such in areas such as engineering, finance and project management, there’s no suggestion the trading departures were related to the review program.

Exxon’s other cost-cutting initiatives have included suspending bonuses and halting employee-contribution matches to 401k savings plans as the pandemic crushed demand for crude, saddling the company with a record annual loss.

International crude prices have surged 44% this year to almost $75 a barrel, improving Exxon’s financial position markedly. Still, the supermajor has some way to go to pay down debts accumulated during 2020’s market collapse. A smaller and more efficient workforce is key to further improvements.

Exxon achieved $3 billion of annual “structural cost reductions” in 2020 and will continue to make savings through 2023, Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods said at the annual meeting in May.

“We’ve got additional work to continue to take advantage of the new organization and find opportunities to reduce our costs,” Woods said.

Exxon’s shares rose 3.6% to $62.59 at the close in New York trading Monday amid a broad rally in energy stocks on stronger oil prices.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

USA

Since 9/11, military suicides dwarf the number of soldiers killed in combat

Courtney Kube
Mon, June 21, 2021

Since 9/11, four times as many U.S. service members and veterans have died by suicide than have been killed in combat, according to a new report.

The research, compiled by the Costs of War Project at Brown University, found an estimated 30,177 active duty personnel and veterans who have served in the military since 9/11 have died by suicide, compared with 7,057 killed in post 9/11 military operations. The figures include all service members, not just those who served in combat during that time.

The majority of the deaths are among veterans who account for an estimated 22,261 of the suicides during that period.

“The trend is deeply alarming,” the report says. “The increasing rates of suicide for both veterans and active duty personnel are outpacing those of the general population, marking a significant shift.”

The Department of Veterans Affairs releases information on deaths by suicide, but it does not distinguish by conflict. The report’s author, Thomas “Ben” Suitt III, took the VA data and estimated the total number of veteran suicides based on their ages and other factors.

A total of 5,116 active duty service members have died by suicide since Sept. 11, 2001, the report says. Figures for the National Guard and Reserves are not available for the first 10 years, but from 2011 to 2020 an estimated 1,193 National Guard and 1,607 Reservists have died by suicide.

In an interview, Suitt said the number 30,177 is likely well below the actual number of suicides for active duty and veterans. He believes one of the reasons the numbers continue to climb is indifference by the American public.

“For veterans to come home to an uncaring civilian population or to an uncaring public, that must be devastating,” Suitt said.

Other factors include the increase of improvised explosive devices causing more traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress and other medical and emotional factors connected to suicidal ideation, Suitt said.

Suitt said his research found that some service members may not get the medical treatment they need, making them more vulnerable to suicidal behavior.

“There was a sense that an active service member would rather lie on a screening to be able to stay in the military,” he said.

“If they have a traumatic brain injury but no other physical injuries, they downplay the injuries to stay in their career.”

His research found that some service members felt they would lose their sense of identity by being discharged early for a medical issue and they “would do anything to avoid leaving the military.”

A Defense Department spokesperson said it takes a "comprehensive approach" to suicide prevention.

"Every death by suicide is a tragedy," the spokesperson said. "Over time, suicide deaths have increased in the broader U.S. general population. Our service members are not immune to trends that occur in society. Two of the most at-risk groups for suicide in the U.S. are males and younger individuals, and the military is heavily comprised of young males."

“Veteran suicide remains a challenging and heartbreaking issue that VA is fully committed to working in partnership with federal, tribal, state, and local government to find innovative ways to reduce suicides and deliver expedient care to those in need,” said VA press secretary Terrence Hayes.

Suitt expressed regret that some Americans don’t know that men and women are still serving in post 9/11 conflicts.

“The public needs to care. They really, really should,” he said.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.

A demotivated dollar-store worker quit retail after an impressed customer told her to apply to a law firm. She got the job, and now earns $3-an-hour more, plus benefits.
Mary Hanbury
Mon, June 21, 2021

Disillusioned restaurant and store workers are looking for new opportunities. LM Otero/AP Photo


Retail workers across the US are abandoning low-paying jobs at stores and restaurants for new opportunities.


Christina Noles, 34, is among them. Noles left her job at a dollar store for a law firm, she told The Washington Post.


She learned about the law-firm job from a customer who was impressed by her work ethic, she said.

A dollar-store worker who was tired of working in retail quit her job to work at a law firm after being recommended by a customer, The Washington Post reported.


STILL NOT $15 PER HOUR

Christina Noles, 34, was earning $10.25-an-hour working closing shifts during the pandemic, and increasingly felt that a future in retail was "untenable," she told The Post. During one busy shift, a customer approached Noles and said they were impressed by her work ethic. The customer told Noles to apply for an opening at their law firm.

Noles applied, and was offered the job shortly after, per The Post. She is now pulling in $3-and-hour more than at the dollar store, plus benefits, as an intake specialist, she said.

"There's a part of me that feels like this must all be a dream," Noles told The Post. "There were a lot of things I liked about retail: I love talking to people and helping them, but the pandemic made me realize it was untenable."

Noles is one of many retail workers abandoning low-paying jobs at stores and restaurants to find new opportunities.

As Insider's Mary Meisenzahl reported, many workers say demanding customers and the stress of the work isn't worth their while.

Read more: Dissatisfied retail workers are leaving the industry because of abusive customers and low pay, and that's making the labor crunch worse

Businesses across the US are grappling with a national labor shortage, and are trying to attract workers back. Some US business owners have had to get more creative on who they hire, and are tapping teen workers to fill these spaces.

According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, cited by The Wall Street Journal, teen unemployment rates in the US are at their lowest level since 1953, and the number of teens in work has reached the highest rate since 2008.

One Amazon warehouse destroys 130,000 items per week, including MacBooks, COVID-19 masks, and TVs, some of them new and unused, a report says

Isobel Asher Hamilton

Mon, June 21, 2021

A worker loading a truck with packages at an Amazon packaging center on November 28, 2019, in Brieselang, Germany. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

A probe into a UK Amazon warehouse found it marked millions of items for destruction each year.

One former Amazon employee said staff were given a weekly target of 130,000 items to destroy.

Amazon said the warehouse handled returns and destroyed items for the entire UK.

An Amazon warehouse in Scotland destroys millions of unsold products every year, an investigation from the British news outlet ITV found.

ITV filmed undercover footage inside Amazon's warehouse in Dunfermline, Scotland. The footage showed laptops, TVs, jewelry, headphones, books, and face masks being loaded into crates marked "destroy."

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An anonymous former Amazon employee told ITV that workers at the warehouse were given a weekly target of 130,000 items to destroy. This was corroborated by an internal memo viewed by ITV, which showed that during one week in April, 124,000 items were marked "destroy."

In the same week, 28,000 products were marked "donate."

"There's no rhyme or reason to what gets destroyed: Dyson fans, Hoovers, the occasional MacBook and iPad; the other day, 20,000 COVID (face) masks still in their wrappers," the ex-employee told ITV. About half of the items marked for destruction were still in their shrink-wrap, while the other half were returned items in good condition, they said.

An Amazon spokesperson told Insider that Dunfermline handles all products marked for destruction for the entire UK.

Read more: Amazon Prime employees say women get few promotions and there's a culture of aggressive male-dominated management

If 130,000 is a weekly average, that would translate to more than 6 million products marked for destruction every year. In 2019, undercover reporters in France found that Amazon destroyed over 3 million products in one year.

ITV filmed the boxes of products marked "destroy" being loaded into trucks and driven to recycling centers, as well as to a landfill site.





In a statement to Insider, the Amazon spokesperson said the landfill site mentioned by ITV was also a recycling center.

"We are working toward a goal of zero product disposal and our priority is to resell, donate to charitable organisations, or recycle any unsold products. No items are sent to landfill in the UK. As a last resort, we will send items to energy recovery, but we're working hard to drive the number of times this happens down to zero," the spokesperson said.

In 2019, the Mail on Sunday sent undercover reporters into a different UK warehouse where they witnessed unsold products being placed in a so-called "destruction zone." The Mail then tracked the products from that warehouse as they were loaded into trucks and taken to a waste-disposal site and a landfill.

Amazon's spokesperson did not comment on whether the company had changed its infrastructure since the Mail's 2019 investigation.

Do you work at Amazon and process goods marked for destroy? Contact this reporter at ihamilton@insider.com or iahamilton@protonmail.com.

Read the original article on Business Insider

US Employees say their companies aren't sticking to the promises they made on racial justice

Mela Seyoum, USA TODAY
Mon, June 21, 2021

As Juneteenth approaches, employees are reflecting on the commitments to racial justice made by their employers and finding them lacking.

A new survey from Benevity reveals that while nearly half of employees can remember their companies making commitments about racial justice after the murder of George Floyd, only 26% believe those commitments were fulfilled, compared with 61% of employees who can't say whether their companies fulfilled their commitments.

"I believe it is essential that businesses make meaningful investments in building diverse, inclusive workplace cultures," Lisa Lewin, CEO of General Assembly, told USA TODAY in an email. "At a minimum, when it comes to topics like racial justice or climate change, companies must 'do no harm.' "

The survey was conducted from May 24 to June 6 and spanned 1,000 U.S. employees from fortune 500 and midlevel companies.

Over 70% of employees agreed that it’s important to have difficult conversations in the workplace about racial and social justice. More than half (69%) also said they would recommend their companies to others if addressing those issues is prioritized. More than a third of employees said they would quit if their workplace doesn’t do so.

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"True social progress is not possible without the business community taking meaningful action to address the most intractable problems facing our world," Lewin said.
What companies are doing

Employees also noticed the lack of action taken by leadership, with 55% of those surveyed saying leadership addressed racial justice and equity in written or oral statements but nothing more.

Almost half (47%) said they felt that company leadership displayed the same or less amount of racial sensitivity in the past year.

In the wake of Derek Chauvin’s guilty verdict in Floyd's murder, companies like Facebook, General Motors, Starbucks and Microsoft made public statements offering condolences and affirming their stance against racism.

Protest march after a Juneteenth rally at the Brooklyn Museum in New York on June 19, 2020.

But some, like the Las Vegas Raiders, faced backlash over social media posts or inaction.

The corporate world has long struggled with a lack of diversity in its ranks, and a report compiled by the Alliance for Board Diversity and the consultancy Deloitte recently showed that while the boards of Fortune 500 companies are improving in their diversity, that progress is still slow. These companies often tap the same pool of candidates, and of their newly appointed officials, white women greatly outnumbered people of color.

The report did show some progress, with 29 Fortune 500 companies having 60% of their boards made up of women or people of color.
Working from home

While the pandemic forced most employees into remote work, 49% of those now working from home said they would prefer to continue working that way because of the lack of inclusivity in their workplace.

Other employees, especially parents, have also expressed wishes to continue working from home and additional services to help ease struggles with child care, according to the Bright Horizons Modern Family Index. More than 9 in 10 working parents said they worried about what they were dealing with mentally, and women and people of color didn’t feel as supported by their employers as white parents.

The Benevity survey also noted that employees have a continued interest in their companies addressing these issues and others like gender inequity, LGBTQ and poverty.

Contributing: Charisse Jones, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Juneteenth: Survey on racial justice shows companies lacking