Mining precious rare-earth elements from coal fly ash with a reusable ionic liquid

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

Research News

 

Rare-earth elements are in many everyday products, such as smart phones, LED lights and batteries. However, only a few locations have large enough deposits worth mining, resulting in global supply chain tensions. So, there's a push toward recycling them from non-traditional sources, such as waste from burning coal -- fly ash. Now, researchers in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology report a simple method for recovering these elements from coal fly ash using an ionic liquid.

While rare-earth elements aren't as scarce as their name implies, major reserves are either in politically sensitive locations, or they are widely dispersed, which makes mining them challenging. So, to ensure their supply, some people have turned to processing other enriched resources. For instance, the ash byproduct from coal-fired power plants has similar elemental concentrations to raw ores. Yet, current methods to extract these precious materials from coal fly ash are hazardous and require several purification steps to get a usable product. A potential solution could be ionic liquids, which are considered to be environmentally benign and are reusable. One in particular, betainium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide or [Hbet][Tf2N], selectively dissolves rare-earth oxides over other metal oxides. This ionic liquid also uniquely dissolves into water when heated and then separates into two phases when cooled. So, Ching-Hua Huang, Laura Stoy and colleagues at Georgia Tech wanted to see if it would efficiently and preferentially pull the desired elements out of coal fly ash and whether it could be effectively cleaned, creating a process that is safe and generates little waste.

The researchers pretreated coal fly with an alkaline solution and dried it. Then, they heated ash suspended in water with [Hbet][Tf2N], creating a single phase. When cooled, the solutions separated. The ionic liquid extracted more than 77% of the rare-earth elements from fresh material, and it extracted an even higher percentage (97%) from weathered ash that had spent years in a storage pond. Finally, rare-earth elements were stripped from the ionic liquid with dilute acid. The researchers found that adding betaine during the leaching step increased the amounts of rare-earth elements extracted. The team tested the ionic liquid's reusability by rinsing it with cold water to remove excess acid, finding no change in its extraction efficiency through three leaching-cleaning cycles. The researchers say that this low-waste approach produces a solution rich in rare-earth elements, with limited impurities, and could be used to recycle precious materials from the abundance of coal fly ash held in storage ponds.

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The authors acknowledge funding from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, the Georgia Power Fellowship hosted by the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Environmental Research & Education Foundation.

The paper's abstract will be available on June 23 at 8 a.m. Eastern time here: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.1c00630

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS' mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and all its people. The Society is a global leader in promoting excellence in science education and providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, eBooks and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a leader in scientific information solutions, its CAS division partners with global innovators to accelerate breakthroughs by curating, connecting and analyzing the world's scientific knowledge. ACS' main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

Rising greenhouse gases pose continued threat to Arctic ozone layer

New study shows climate change is increasing ozone depletion over the Arctic

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND

Research News

 

IMAGE: STRATOSPHERIC CLOUDS ABOVE THE ARCTIC, LIKE THOSE SEEN HERE OVER KIRUNA, SWEDEN, PROVIDE IDEAL CONDITIONS FOR CHEMICAL REACTIONS THAT TRANSFORM CHLORINE TO A FORM THAT DEPLETES THE EARTH'S PROTECTIVE OZONE... view more 

CREDIT: ROSS SALAWITCH/UMD

There is a race going on high in the atmosphere above the Arctic, and the ozone layer that protects Earth from damaging ultraviolet (UV) radiation will lose the race if greenhouse gas emissions aren't reduced quickly enough.

A new study from an international team of scientists, including University of Maryland Professor Ross Salawitch, shows that extremely low winter temperatures high in the atmosphere over the arctic are becoming more frequent and more extreme because of climate patterns associated with global warming. The study also shows that those extreme low temperatures are causing reactions among chemicals humans pumped into the air decades ago, leading to greater ozone losses.

The new findings call into question the commonly held assumption that ozone loss would grind to a halt in just a few decades following the 2010 global ban on the production of ozone depleting chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons.

The study--which was jointly conducted by UMD, the Alfred Wegener Institute's Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, and the Finnish Meteorological Institute--was published in the journal Nature Communications on June 23, 2021.

"We're in a kind of race between the slow and steady decline in CFCs, which take 50 to 100 years to go away, and climate change, which is causing polar vortex temperature extremes to become colder at a rapid pace," said Ross Salawitch, who is a professor in the UMD Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center. "The increasingly cold temperatures create conditions that promote ozone depletion by CFCs. So, even though these compounds are slowly going away, Arctic ozone depletion is on the rise as the climate changes."

New data from the study showed the lowest Arctic polar vortex temperatures and the highest ozone losses on record in 2020, beating the previous records set nine years ago in 2011.

The polar vortex is a relatively self-contained, low-pressure system that forms in the stratosphere--at an altitude of about 12 to 50 kilometers (7.5 to 31 miles)--over the Arctic every autumn and stays for varying durations throughout the winter to spring. The pattern of warm and cold winter temperatures in the polar vortex is very irregular, so not every winter is extremely cold.

But the trend toward more frequent and more extreme low temperatures in the polar vortex concerns the researchers, because those conditions promote the formation of clouds, and that promotes ozone loss in the polar stratosphere.

Most of the chlorine and a significant amount of the bromine in the stratosphere comes from the breakdown of CFCs, halons and other ozone-depleting substances. Normally within the Arctic polar vortex the chlorine is non-reactive, but clouds provide the right conditions for the chlorine to change form and react with bromine and sunlight to destroy ozone.

Despite drastic reduction of the industrial production of CFCs and halons since the Montreal Protocol in 1987 and the global ban that followed in 2010, these long-lasting compounds are still abundant in the atmosphere. According to the World Meteorological Organization, atmospheric chlorine and bromine produced by humans is not expected to fall below 50% of their highest levels until the end of this century.

To determine what this situation means for the future, the researchers projected ozone loss out to the year 2100 based on the long-term temperature trend in the polar vortex and the expected decline in chlorine and bromine compounds. They based their predictions on the output from 53 top climate models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

"All but one of the climate models we looked at show that exceptionally cold winters in the polar vortex will get colder over time," Salawitch said. "And the more greenhouse gas emissions there are, the steeper the trend, which means greater ozone depletion."

Combining these projections with analyses of meteorological data from the past 56 years, the researchers confirmed that the Arctic is already experiencing a significant trend toward lower stratospheric temperatures and associated increases in ozone losses. What's more, their observations reveal that these trends are occurring at rate consistent with the fastest climate models.

"We have been saying that a train is coming for a number of years now," said Salawitch, pointing to research papers he published in 2004 and 2006 that showed extreme winters in the Arctic were becoming colder. "We've now seen the train whizzing by with record ozone loss in 2011 and now in 2020. So, this paper is really a wake-up call that something is happening in the atmosphere that's really important for ozone, and it looks like greenhouse gases are driving it."

Salawitch and his colleagues do not yet fully understand how increasing greenhouse gas emissions and the associated changes to global climate are causing the extreme cold winters in the stratospheric layer of the polar vortex. But some of the underlying mechanisms are understood. Global warming occurs in part because greenhouse gases trap heat closer to Earth's surface, which allows cooling of the upper layers in the stratosphere, where the ozone layer is located. Warming at the surface causes changes to prevailing wind patterns, and the researchers suggest that these changes also produce lower temperatures in the polar vortex.

The researchers also note that recent years have seen a rapid increase in methane, a more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, in the lower atmosphere. As this gas travels to the stratosphere, it increases humidity, which also leads to conditions that promote ozone-destroying chemical reactions in the Arctic.

Because ozone filters much of the sun's potentially harmful UV radiation, a depleted ozone layer over the Arctic can result in more UV radiation reaching the surface of the Earth over Europe, North America and Asia when the polar vortex dips south.

But there is hope for avoiding future ozone depletion, according to the researchers. Their study shows that substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions over the coming decades could lead to a steady decline in conditions that favor large ozone loss in the Arctic stratosphere.

The research paper, Climate change favours large seasonal loss of Arctic ozone, Peter von der Gathen, Rigel Kivi, Ingo Wohltmann, Ross J. Salawitch, Markus Rex, was published in the journal Nature Communications on June 23, 2021.

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This work was supported by NASA's Atmospheric Composition and Modeling Program (Award No. 80NSSC19K0983) and the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition. The content of this article does not necessarily reflect the views of these organizations.

Media Relations Contact: Kimbra Cutlip, 301-405-9463, kcutlip@umd.edu

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About the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences

The College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland educates more than 9,000 future scientific leaders in its undergraduate and graduate programs each year. The college's 10 departments and more than a dozen interdisciplinary research centers foster scientific discovery with annual sponsored research funding exceeding $200 million.

Geckos might lose their tails, but not their dinner

Ability to capture prey unaffected by defensive tail detachment

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - RIVERSIDE

Research News

VIDEO: VIDEO DEPICTS THE AWKWARD MOTION OF A GECKO CAPTURING PREY POST TAIL LOSS. view more 

CREDIT: MARINA VOLLIN/UCR

A new UC Riverside study finds geckos are fierce hunters whether or not their tails are attached to their bodies.

Geckos and other lizards can distract predators by quickly dropping their tails. The tail vertebrae are perforated, making it easier to disconnect them without any formation of scar tissue or loss of blood. Though this ability can keep lizards from being eaten, the maneuver is performed at a cost.

"Other studies have documented the negative effects of tail loss on lizards' ability to run, jump, mate, and reproduce," said UCR biologist Marina Vollin, lead author of the study. "However, few have examined their ability to capture food when they lose their tails, which is critical for regenerating the tail and for overall survival."

To help fill this gap in understanding, Vollin and Tim Higham, an associate professor in UCR's Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, observed intact and newly tailless geckos on the hunt. Their work is published in a recent Integrative and Comparative Biology journal article.

The researchers found that geckos successfully captured crickets about 77% of the time both before and after losing tails -- a surprising retention of accuracy since tails appear to help stabilize gecko body positions during and after a strike.

"The geckos were much slower without tails, and their attack strikes much more awkward," Vollin said.

Western banded geckos, native to the southwestern U.S. and Mexico, are one of the few reptiles that help control scorpion populations.

In this study, the geckos were observed hunting crickets in artificial enclosures. Vollin and Higham are planning future studies in which they hope to observe geckos hunting in the wild and feeding on other small insects.

"It is very possible that geckos suffer a loss in feeding performance and success following autotomy in nature given the complexity of the habitat and more room for the prey to escape," Higham said.

They'll also study whether geckos are able to fully regain their agility once their tails have regenerated, which can take up to a month.

"It's important to get a sense of how they operate in nature, where additional elements could affect whether they have more difficulty capturing prey," Vollin said.

Understanding how lizards like the Western banded gecko are able to survive carries a significance beyond the lizards themselves. Though they eat a variety of small insects, they also serve as a key food source for birds, snakes, and other predatory mammals.

"I've heard them referred to as 'nature's popcorn,' because other animals can eat a bunch of them at once, they're abundant, and easy to acquire," Vollin said. "They're a big part of the base of the food chain."

CAPTION

Western banded gecko, native to the southwestern US and Mexico.

CREDIT

Marina Vollin/UCR

 

Bird migration takes plants in wrong direction to cope with climate change

UNIVERSITY OF EXETER

Research News

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IMAGE: A SONG THRUSH EATING HOLLY FRUITS. THE LONG FRUITING PERIOD OF HOLLIES FROM AUTUMN TO LATE WINTER OVERLAPS WITH THE NORTHWARD MIGRATION OF SONG THRUSHES AND, THEREFORE, THESE HAVE THE... view more 

CREDIT: DAVID CHAPMAN

Migratory birds carry most seeds in the wrong direction to help plants cope with climate change, new research shows.

The study, published in Nature, reveals that the vast majority of plants from European woodlands are dispersed by birds migrating to warmer latitudes in the south, while far fewer are dispersed by birds migrating north.

As a consequence of global warming, the optimal climatic conditions of species are moving towards cooler latitudes, forcing the redistribution of life on Earth.

Mobility allows many animals to reach new areas with a suitable climate.

However, movement of plant species depends on the dispersal of their seeds at long distances.

The new study, by 18 researchers from 13 European institutions, says the trend for southwards dispersal by migratory birds is counterproductive if plants are to adapt to climate change.

"Contemporary climate change is so fast that many plants require dispersal distances far beyond those that normally take place locally," said lead author Juan Pedro González-Varo, of the University of Cádiz.

"This is where migratory birds can play a major role, as they are capable of dispersing seeds over tens of kilometres.

"With this research, we wanted to know the potential of plant species to be dispersed by migratory birds towards future favourable areas."

The research focussed on bird species that consume fruits and disperse the seeds.

Researchers incorporated information on the fruiting period of plants and migratory patterns of birds, in order to identify the potential for long-distance seed dispersal towards cooler or warmer latitudes.

They examined 13 woodlands across Europe, including a total of 949 interactions between 46 bird and 81 plant species.

Only 35% of the plants from these woodland communities are dispersed by birds that migrate northwards in spring.

In contrast, 86% of plants are dispersed by birds migrating to warmer areas in autumn (the figures do not add up to 100% because some plants' seeds are carried both north in spring and south in autumn).

Dr Benno Simmons, of the University of Exeter, said: "Under climate change, species redistribute themselves to track suitable climate conditions.

"As plants cannot move themselves, they require species like birds to disperse their seeds to new areas.

"We wanted to know how well migratory birds might be able to do this.

"We found that northward dispersal to cooler areas is done by only a small number of migratory bird species, some of which are under hunting pressure.

"Our study emphasises the importance of these species for helping European plant communities experiencing climate change."

González-Varo added: "For a plant species to be dispersed by birds migrating north, it must bear fruit between February and April.

"Plants with fruits in this period have a very long fruiting period, as occurs in junipers, or a very late fruiting period, as occurs in ivy."

Although all migratory birds in Europe migrate in the same direction (north in spring and south in autumn), the study shows that the birds with the greatest potential to disperse European plants to cooler latitudes are Palearctic species - birds that winter in central and southern Europe or North Africa.

These species are robins, blackcaps, blackbirds and various species of thrushes, which are in general very common and abundant on the European continent.

"Although these are common species, the potential for seed dispersal to the north lies with only a handful of species, some of them heavily hunted in the Mediterranean Basin, both legally and illegally," said González-Varo.

"We believe that our study gives added value to these species, since they would be responsible helping European plant communities respond to climate change."

The findings have major implications for the future composition of European woodlands, as many species could fail to move fast enough to keep up with changing conditions.

The paper is entitled: "Limited potential for bird migration to disperse plants to cooler latitudes."

CAPTION

A juvenile blackbird (Turdus merula) eating Mediterranean buckthorn fruits (Rhamnus alaternus). Resident, breeding or non-migrating birds typically disperse seeds at short distances, mostly within 1km from source plants, which is insufficient for plants to keep pace with current climate change.

CREDIT

Juan P. González-Varo

CAPTION

A blackcap eating dogwood fruits. Dogwoods have a short fruiting period in autumn, when blackcaps migrate southwards. Thus, migratory blackcaps have the potential to disperse dogwood seeds at long distances, not to cooler, but to warmer latitudes.

CREDIT

Luis Ojembarrena

New UN report calls for urgent help for world's oceans

Life in our oceans will continue to be destroyed without a coordinated global approach

UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH

Research News

 

A new United Nations report calls for an urgent change in the way the world's oceans are managed.

The report from the International Resource Panel, hosted by the UN Environment Programme, raises concerns that if changes are not made quickly, the consequences will be dire.

The Governing Coastal Resources Report was launched today at an event addressed by Ambassador Peter Thomson, UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Ocean. It outlines the effect land-based human activities have on the marine environment.

Put into context - 80 per cent of marine and coastal pollution originates on land, but there are very few, if any, truly effective governance mechanisms that manage land-ocean interactions. The report provides policy makers with options to help reduce the effect of land-based activities on coastal resources and support a transition to a sustainable ocean-based economy.

"The report draws together an evidence base that demonstrates beyond question the need for enhanced governance coordination between terrestrial activities and marine resources," said Izabella Teixeira and Janez Potočnik, Co-Chairs of the International Resource Panel.

Lead author of the report - Steve Fletcher, Professor of Ocean Policy and Economy and Director of the Sustainability and the Environment research theme at the University of Portsmouth, said: "There is no doubt that the future of our oceans are at risk, and so is the critical role they play in supporting life on Earth and human wellbeing, as well as regulating the climate. This is a global issue in which isolated interventions will have minimal impact. Systemic change is the key to success by bringing together countries, governments, business and communities to take collective action."

Professor Fletcher, who is also Director of the University's Revolution Plastics initiative, added: "We've got to stop looking at the problem in a fragmented way - land-based activities in one country may contribute to degradation of coastal resources in another region. This should now be a global priority where the most impactful land-based activities are prioritised for urgent action and so generating the most benefit most quickly."

The report sends five key messages to world policy makers:

1. Living coastal resources are most threatened by land-based activities. Agriculture, ports and harbours and aquaculture are particularly impactful activities.
2. All parts of the blue economy are vulnerable to changes in coastal resources arising from land-based activities, particularly fishing, aquaculture and tourism.
3. Existing land-sea governance approaches cannot cope with the impacts on coastal resources created by land-based activities.
4. Land-sea governance urgently needs to be strengthened to protect coastal resources from the impacts of land-based activities and to support the transition to a sustainable blue economy.
5. Tackling the impacts of land-based activities on coastal resources is a global priority.

The report also provides policy makers with five options for strengthening existing land-sea governance structures:

1. Ecosystem-based management should be a guiding principle of coastal resource governance as it provides a holistic approach to the consideration of all influences on coastal resources.
2. Existing area-based management tools, with enhancement and adaptation, should be used to counteract the impacts of land-based activities on coastal resources.
3. Improved coordinating mechanisms are needed to overcome fragmented governance between sectors and between terrestrial and marine governance arrangements.
4. Implementation-focused capacity development programmes should be formulated and disseminated to target land-sea governance practitioners.
5. Filling evidence gaps, particularly related to the impacts of land-based activities on abiotic coastal resources, should be prioritised and their implications for effective governance determined.

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East Antarctic summer cooling trends caused by tropical rainfall clusters

A new study identifies key linkages between rainfall occurring in the tropics and climate trends in Antarctica

INSTITUTE FOR BASIC SCIENCE

Research News

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IMAGE: (LEFT) EAST ANTARCTIC WARMING ASSOCIATED WITH AN ANOMALOUS HIGH PRESSURE (H) EXCITED BY THE MJO RAINFALL EVENTS IN THE INDIAN OCEAN. (RIGHT) EAST ANTARCTIC COOLING ASSOCIATED WITH AN ANOMALOUS LOW... view more 

CREDIT: ZHEN FU

Our planet is warming due to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions; but the warming differs from region to region, and it can also vary seasonally. Over the last four decades scientists have observed a persistent austral summer cooling on the eastern side of Antarctica. This puzzling feature has received world-wide attention, because it is not far away from one of the well-known global warming hotspots - the Antarctic Peninsula.

A new study published in the journal Science Advances by a team of scientists from the IBS Center for Climate Physics at Pusan National University in South Korea, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Ewha Womans University, and National Taiwan University, uncovers a new mechanism that can explain the regional warming/cooling patchwork over Antarctica. At the heart of the mechanism are clusters of rainfall events in the western tropical Pacific, which release massive amounts of heat into the atmosphere by condensation of water vapor. Warm air rises over the organized rainfall clusters and sinks farther away. This pressure difference creates winds which are further influenced by the effect of earth's rotation. The interplay of these factors generates a large-scale atmospheric pressure wave which travels from west to east along the equator with a speed of about several hundred kilometers per day and which drags along with it the initial rainfall clusters. This propagating atmospheric wave is known as the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO), named after Roland Madden and Paul Julian, who discovered this phenomenon in 1971. The characteristic atmospheric pressure, convection and wind anomalies, which fluctuate on timescales of 20-70 days, can extend into the extratropics, reaching even Antarctica.

The international research team arrived at their conclusions by analyzing observational datasets and specially designed supercomputer climate model simulations. "Our analysis provides clear evidence that tropical weather systems associated with the Madden-Julian Oscillation can directly impact surface temperatures over East Antarctica." says Prof. Pang-Chi Hsu from Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, who co-led the study.

More specifically, as the MJO rainfall clusters move into the western Pacific towards the location of the Solomon Islands, the corresponding global atmospheric wave tends to cool East Antarctica three to eleven days later (Image, right panel). In contrast, when the MJO-related rainfall occurs in the Indian Ocean, East Antarctic shows a pronounced warming (Image, left panel).

"During recent decades, MJO rainfall and pressure changes preferably occurred over the western tropical Pacific but decreased over the Indian Ocean. This situation has favored cooling of East Antarctica during austral summer.", says Prof. June-Yi Lee from the IBS Center for Climate Physics and Pusan National University, and co-leader of the study.

The research team estimated that up to 20% to 40% of the observed summer cooling trend in East Antarctica from 1979 to 2014 can be attributed to the long-term changes in the character and longitudinal core location of the MJO. Other contributing factors include the ozone hole and the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation - a slowly varying weaker companion of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. The new Science Advances study highlights that climate change even in remote regions such as Antarctica, can be linked to processes that happen nearly 10,000 km away.

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FIRE HIM
CRTC chairman under fire over one-on-one meetings with big telecom lobbyists

Anja Karadeglija 

Meetings that Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission chairman Ian Scott had with lobbyists from big telecom companies – including a one-on-one at an Ottawa pub with the now-CEO of Bell – are further reasons to overturn a recent CRTC decision and fire Scott, a small internet provider told the Liberal government.

© Provided by National Post CRTC Chairman Ian Scott.

TekSavvy has filed a petition to the federal cabinet asking it to reverse the CRTC’s May decision not to lower internet wholesale rates. Critics have said that surprise ruling, in which the CRTC reversed a 2019 decision that lowered rates, will lead to higher internet service prices for Canadians.

MPs on the House of Commons industry committee also weighed in on the decision in a report released this week, saying they were “very frustrated with the CRTC’s decision to cancel the new wholesale rates.”

“The committee questions this change of direction by the CRTC,” it said.

TekSavvy announced Thursday it has filed additional evidence, based on lobbying records, that Scott held “numerous ex parte meetings with litigants with open CRTC files, apparently unaccompanied.”

“In particular, Mr. Scott held at least 11 reported solo meetings with Bell, Rogers or Shaw during the course of the CRTC’s open and active file,” TekSavvy said in a press release.

“Remarkably, at least one of Mr. Scott’s ex parte meetings took place in a social setting, alone, with the CEO of one of the primary litigants in the open file. Mr. Scott met one-on-one with Mirko Bibic, then chief operating officer of Bell (and now CEO) at D’Arcy McGee’s, an Ottawa bar on December 19, 2019.”

TekSavvy, which declined an interview request Friday, is urging the government to fire the CRTC chairman for bias.
Calls for federal government to reverse decision on internet wholesale rates, fire CRTC head
'Boggling' CRTC flip-flop on wholesale internet rates could mean higher prices for consumers: critics

The company pointed out the meeting with Bibic was held a week after the CRTC began the review of its 2019 decision to lower the rates. That review application was part of an effort by the country’s biggest telecom companies to fight the lower rates through every avenue available to them, including the courts and an appeal to cabinet.

Four years ago the Liberal government fired CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan for reasons including meetings with stakeholders who had open files in front of the commission. Shoan later argued in court documents that such meetings are commonplace, and that given some companies file more than a dozen CRTC applications a year, they’d never have a chance to meet with the commission if that rule was followed.

The meetings between Scott and the large telecoms were first reported by the Toronto Star earlier this month. A former CRTC chairman told the Star that when he was at the commission, his practice was to include a third party in meetings with lobbyists, while a former vice-chair said the recommended practice was to have such meetings in the office and have a third party present.

Asked whether the CRTC has any policies about meeting with lobbyists, spokesperson Patricia Valladao said that prior to accepting such meetings, “it is always established by parties that matters that are in front of the commission are not to be discussed.”

“To better understand the Canadian communications industry, CRTC staff and commissioners routinely meet with stakeholders, including consumer groups. These meetings must comply with the reporting obligations set out in the Lobbying Act,” Valladao said in an email.

A Bell spokesperson said Scott’s meeting with Bibic “in the public establishment, a busy and popular meeting place in Ottawa for government officials, public servants and news media,” was registered in the federal lobby registry, with broadcasting as the topic of discussion.

“Meetings between Bell representatives and government officials cover a range of topics including broadcasting and telecom policy, infrastructure development and technology issues. These meetings occur regularly and are registered in the federal lobby registry as required,” the spokesperson said.

In its report on the affordability of telecommunications services released this week, the House industry committee said that during its study, independent ISPs “repeatedly stressed the importance of implementing” the lower wholesale rates “to provide affordable services to their customers and thereby put downward pressure on the price of services offered” by incumbent telecom companies.

It said the decision not to lower rates, alongside a separate CRTC ruling on wireless wholesale access, doesn’t meet “Canadians’ expectations of affordability in the telecommunications sector.”

“They certainly do not advance this objective as much as they should, and the Committee believes that the CRTC should do more to address affordability,” it said.

The committee added the “federal government should intervene to encourage the CRTC to put in place decisions that promote specific objectives, including affordability and accessibility.”

Among 16 recommendations, the committee said the CRTC should set standards for what makes an affordable rate.

“While prices have gone down in recent years, they are still too high for much of the population. The Committee is aware that some people have to choose between buying food and paying their bills for telecommunications services,” the report outlined.

The committee also took aim at the process that has seen the implementation of new CRTC rates drag for years.

It said the government should “issue a directive to encourage the CRTC to revise its process for implementing and appealing new rates so that incumbent telecommunications service providers stop using the appeals process as a delay tactic.”

Pentagon UFO report: 'UAP threaten flight safety, lack a single explanation'

Eric Mack CNET


The US Pentagon report on UFOs finally landed on Friday, and it reveals that all those sightings of bizarre flying things over the years fall into several categories, require more study and remain largely unexplained and unidentified.

© Provided by CNET This still shows the unidentified object tracked by a Navy pilot in 2015 in the "Gimbal" video.

 Video screenshot by Amanda Kooser/CNET





"The limited amount of high-quality reporting on unidentified aerial phenomena hampers our ability to draw firm conclusions about the nature or intent of UAP," reads the summary of a report posted online by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence shortly before 2 p.m. PT.

"There are probably multiple types of UAP requiring different explanations based on the range of appearances and behaviors described in the available reporting ... UAP clearly pose a safety of flight issue and may pose a challenge to US national security," the summary says.




According to the nine-page document, each report of an UAP would "probably... fall into one of five potential explanatory categories: airborne clutter, natural atmospheric phenomena, USG or US industry developmental programs, foreign adversary systems, and a catchall 'other' bin."

A few of those categories lead the report authors to highlight potential concerns:

"Safety concerns primarily center on aviators contending with an increasingly cluttered air domain. UAP would also represent a national security challenge if they are foreign adversary collection platforms or provide evidence a potential adversary has developed either a breakthrough or disruptive technology."

Notably, the Department of Defense UAP Task Force reported 11 "documented instances in which pilots reported near misses with a UAP."

Video: U.S. report finds no evidence UFOs were alien spacecraft (CBS News)




The report goes on to say there isn't enough data to determine whether any UAP belong to a potential adversary.

Some hoped the report would include reality-altering revelations, or at least a watershed moment for the UFO truth movement on par with the Roswell crash incident of 1947 (which was a secret military reconnaissance mission rather than an alien craft). This remains to be seen, however.

"I (am) pleasantly surprised with the report," said blogger Mick West, who has been a prominent debunker of alien spacecraft explanations for UAP, on Twitter. "It seems like a generally accurate assessment of the situation."

For years, pilots and other military personnel have encountered strange things in the sky that have come to be called "unidentified aerial phenomena." The change from "UFO" to "UAP" is, in part, a nod to the likelihood that some of the incidents may be explained by technical glitches or environmental phenomena rather than actual tangible objects.

The report begins by acknowledging some UAP may simply be bugs in the system.

"Various forms of sensors that register UAP generally operate correctly and capture enough real data to allow initial assessments, but some UAP may be attributable to sensor anomalies."

But it goes on to conclude that "most of the UAP reported probably do represent physical objects."

As for the Navy videos (known by equipment acronyms like Flir, Gofast and Gimbal) that have been seen millions of times in the media and appear to show some sort of craft moving at high speeds and even seeming to perform physics-defying maneuvers, there's this nod:

"In a limited number of incidents, UAP reportedly appeared to exhibit unusual flight characteristics. These observations could be the result of sensor errors, spoofing, or observer misperception and require additional rigorous analysis."

The report was mandated by a funding bill passed last year. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio added a passage requiring the director of national intelligence to produce a report "on unidentified aerial phenomena (also known as "anomalous aerial vehicles"), including observed airborne objects that have not been identified."

The report is required to be public and also includes a classified annex. Officials previously told The New York Times this addendum doesn't contain any evidence of alien visitation.

The report doesn't resolve humanity's long-standing question about whether we've been visited by aliens, but it doesn't mention E.T. at all, either.

This is a developing story that will be updated...

Pentagon UFO Report Videos Reveal Mysterious Objects That Baffled U.S. Military
Jack Dutton 18 hrs ago


A highly-anticipated Pentagon report on UFOs is due to see the light of day before the end of June

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© U.S. Navy The highly-anticipated Pentagon report will shed more light on some of the incidents recorded by the military over the years.

The report was demanded by Congress after numerous sightings from the U.S. military of vehicles moving through the sky.

UFOs, long dismissed and relegated to movies and science fiction, have begun to shed the farce label in recent years after the release of footage of high-profile U.S. military encounters with aircraft of unknown origin. Although widely anticipated, the Pentagon report isn't likely to yield much conclusive evidence about whether UFOs exist.

The report features 120 incidents involving UFOs examined by Pentagon officials over the last two decades, including three declassified videos that were previously released last April showing "unexplained aerial phenomena."

The videos, released by the Air Force and Navy, show unexplained objects on radar traveling at ultra-fast speeds and performing aerial maneuvres that defy logic and appear to defy physics too.

One shows a small disc-like object speeding across the radar while the other two show a saucer-like object appear to turn over in front of the military aircraft.

However, military leaders have warned that if the technology isn't extra-terrestrial, it may belong to U.S. rivals, such as China or Russia.

A classified version of the report was shared with lawmakers earlier this month. The report is not expected to reveal any groundbreaking revelations about UFOs. The New York Times reported on June 3 that American intelligence officials found no evidence that aerial phenomena witnessed by Navy officials in recent years are alien spacecraft, but the report still cannot explain the odd sightings. Citing anonymous officials, the paper reported that the majority of the report did not originate from any American military or other U.S. government technology, but officials said that the investigation will not likely reach any other firm conclusions on UFOs.

Video: New video raises more UFO questions ahead of Pentagon report release (TODAY)

The Defense Department has been quietly gathering data since 2007 as part of the military's little-known Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program. More recently, in June 2020, tucked into the 2021 Intelligence Authorization Act, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) added language requesting that the director of national intelligence and the secretary of defense create a report with "a detailed analysis of unidentified aerial phenomena data and intelligence reporting." Two months later, the Pentagon became more serious about UFOs, and created a task force to investigate the encounters by U.S. military aircraft.

The task force's job is to "detect, analyze and catalog" alien events, and "gain insight" into the "nature and origins" of UFOs, according to the Pentagon.

In May, former Navy pilot Lieutenant Ryan Graves told CBS that his F/A-18F squadron began seeing UFOs hovering over restricted airspace southeast of Virginia Beach in 2014.

He said his pilots see them off the Atlantic Coast all the time. "Every day. Every day for at least a couple years," he said.

The government has mainly ignored UFOs since 1969, when it closed its Project Blue Book investigation. It logged 12,618 UFO sightings between 1947 and 1969.

 A new survey published on Tuesday by market research company Piplsay has found that nearly half of Americans say they are more interested in UFOs and aliens in the wake of new footage that was recently released by the Pentagon, and the promise of more to be released soon. This is a stick image of an artist's rendering of a UFO. ursatii iStock/Getty

AMERIKAN FASCISM
Trump aides drafted order to invoke Insurrection Act during Floyd protests: report

Celine Castronuovo 

Aides to former President Trump last year reportedly drafted an order that would have allowed him to invoke the Insurrection Act amid the ongoing demonstrations and civil unrest in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd

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© UPI Photo Former President Trump addresses the North Carolina Republican Party Convention on June 5

The New York Times reported Friday that according to two senior Trump administration officials, a group of White House staff members prepared the document on June 1, 2020, after Trump had expressed in a meeting with several top officials that he wished to deploy thousands of active-duty troops throughout Washington, D.C., to respond to the protests.

Trump expressed his interest in doing so to then-Attorney General William Barr, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, who all later talked the commander in chief out of the plan, according to The Times.

However, the sources told The Times that some Trump aides went ahead and prepared a draft order just in case Trump decided to go through with invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807, which allows the president to deploy U.S. military personnel and National Guard troops throughout the country to quell waves of civil disorder or insurrection.

The act has only been invoked twice in the past 40 years to respond to unrest following Hurricane Hugo in 1989, and in response to the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

One senior administration official told the Times that Trump was aware of the draft document, which was prepared the same day law enforcement agencies forcibly removed protesters from Lafayette Square shortly before Trump crossed the area for a photo-op with a Bible at a nearby church.

The officials also said that Trump continued to propose deploying military troops in the weeks that followed the June 1 demonstrations, including in cities like New York and Portland, Ore., were massive demonstrations against police brutality took place.

However, Trump in a statement to The Times denied that he wanted to deploy troops on U.S. citizens.

"It's absolutely not true and if it was true, I would have done it," Trump reportedly said.

Additionally, a Trump adviser reportedly told The Times that the former president rejected invoking the Insurrection Act when it was proposed by some aides, adding that if he had done so, Trump would have politically "owned the problem."

The Hill has reached out to a Trump representative for comment.

Trump claimed exoneration in the forced clearing of protesters in Lafayette Square after the Department of Interior's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) said in a report that while there were failings in law enforcement's responses to the demonstrations, Trump's plans to visit the park did not influence officers' decision to clear it.

A federal judge this week ruled that Barr, as well as current and former officials named in lawsuits regarding the clearing of Lafayette Square, are entitled to qualified immunity over their actions during the June 1, 2020, protests.