Are There No Prisons? Are There No Workhouses? The Knowledge of Charles Dickens



​Charles Dickens knew poverty and child labor. He knew these things.

Raised in a middle-class home, Charles was educated, not merely schooled. In fact, his formal schooling was mediocre, like most of the limited formal education available in early 19th century England. He learned anyway, because of the learning that comes by osmosis from a family in a literate household. And above all, he learned because he read voraciously.

And then, before he had a chance to find his own voice, disaster.

Charles' father, a spendthrift clerk, is shut up in the Marshalsea, London's infamous debtors' prison. Young Charles has been sent out to work in a soul-destroying job, pasting labels and paper lids onto jars of shoe polish.

He pastes a paper lid. He sticks it on. It demands just enough attention to stop his mind from wandering. And too little to be stimulating. He takes another lid. He picks up the fishy-smelling pastebrush. Again. And again. And again. And again.

He is only 12 years old.

But Charles Dickens is old enough to understand the implications of this turn of events: His future is destroyed. His life of joyful learning has given way to ten hours a day in a crumbling, rat-infested warehouse, doing work that is precise enough to demand his full attention, and mind-numbing enough to stifle his imagination. There is no hope of escape. No place to go. Nothing to hope for.

And yet, as we know, escape he did.

Was Charles liberated from the boot-blacking factory because of his superior intelligence? No. Because of his superior education? No.
Because powerful Victorians saw the light, and freed children from exploitation and misery? No. Because he worked hard at his humble job? Emphatically, no. There is no reward for hard work, only punishment for falling behind, for any reason.

Charles is made free because his family is middle class: His father came into a large inheritance from Charles' great-grandmother. He is sprung from prison, and so is young Charles.

But the adult Charles Dickens knew that he was both fortunate and privileged. He knew that most people were not. His anger at selfishness, greed, and callousness shines through his novels: What more bitter a statement than Scrooge's vicious response to those who solicit a charitable donation from him: Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses? When the Christmas spirits educate Scrooge by showing him historical context--past, present, future-- nobody is made more happy than the enlightened Ebenezer Scrooge himself. He's delirious. His excitement, interpreted so beautifully onscreen in 1951 by Alastair Sim in Scrooge (US: A Christmas Carol), in a performance that has never been bettered. But then Sim knew something or childhood misery himself. For the rest of his life, he tried to rescue other lads from it, starting with George Cole.

Charles Dickens needed no such liberation of the soul. His concern and compassion for others came through in his lifetime, not only in his fiction, but also in his cogent criticisms of mid-Victorian society, including education. He attacked as the heartless attitudes of the day evinced in the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, which forced the poor to choose between destitution, and prison-like workhouses where their families were forced apart.

He also attacked soulless factory-like teaching methods. Dickens supported the efforts of working men to pursue a life of the mind, but he offered fewer prescriptions for good education than he did criticisms, perhaps sensing (as do those of us who follow in his footsteps today) that good teaching is really about caring and sharing one's own life of the literate mind, not obeying bureaucratic instructions.

In every way, Charles Dickens rose above his lower middle-class circumstances to embrace a generous vision of life, precisely because he had stared into the void of a miserable, meaningless existence at a vulnerable age. Perhaps because, even after the family's windfall came, his own mother, shockingly to us, pondered leaving him in the factory. A miserable youth and successful adulthood do not necessarily lead to empathy. But a good education should. Dickens believed in education because he did not want others to suffer as he had. Above all, as he knew, education ought to mean saving oneself and others from learning the hard way.

There is a reason his voice is still relevant today. Indeed, it is growing more relevant than at any time in the past century. Confronting Scrooge (and us) with ignorance and want in the guise of two wretched children, Dickens does not offer as a solution prisons and workhouses, joyless instruction and punishment by bureaucracy. He offers aid and education, not for the few, but for all. His message is both simple and complex, and it is urgent.

Enjoy this? Join Dr. Annette Laing, the renegade historian and Brit in the US at Non-Boring History (for adults. Don't tell the kids, or they'll want to read it too) US and UK History, the interesting bits, for busy adults who are tired of doomscrolling internet clickbait while waiting at the doctor's office or in a queue. 

Few U.S. Workers Know About COVID Sick Leave Protections

© Provided by HealthDay

© Provided by HealthDay

TUESDAY, Sept. 7, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- While the United States is one of the only developed nations without universal sick leave, workers with COVID-19 can take paid emergency leave -- at least for now.

Problem is: Fewer than half of U.S. workers know it's available, according to a new study. And, the researchers add, cases of sick employees who couldn't take time off have tripled during the pandemic.

"When the government does not ensure that people have access to paid sick leave, people go to work sick," said study author Nicolas Ziebarth, an associate professor at Cornell University's Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy. "And when you have a virus going on – it could be the flu or coronavirus, it doesn't really matter -- then the sick people at work infect coworkers who go on to infect other people."

In March 2020, the U.S. government introduced the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) to provide federally funded emergency paid sick leave due to COVID-19.

The researchers analyzed data from a nationwide survey conducted between October and December of last year and found that about 8 million U.S. workers took advantage of paid leave in the policy's first six to eight months.

The study found that part-time and foreign-born workers were most likely to be unaware of the program. Awareness of the COVID sick leave was especially low among service and hospitality workers.

Women had a 69% higher risk of unmet sick leave needs than men, which suggests that universal paid leave can improve gender equity, according to Ziebarth.

"One reason the unmet needs for women is so much higher is that they are overrepresented in the hospitality and service industries," Ziebarth said in a university news release. "Another is that women tend to have a higher burden of work. They are still more likely to be the primary caregiver for children and have to balance paid work, chores and child care."

Providing paid sick leave has broader benefits for society, he added. If an infection spreads to kids in the household and they go to school sick because adults can't afford to stay home with them, disease spreads quickly.

"The point is that you have more virus infections in the population, which is bad for population health," Ziebarth said.

His team's findings were recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A previous study by Ziebarth found that FFCRA prevented 15,000 new infections a day in March and April 2020. The policy, which was set to expire in March 2021, was extended through the end of September.

More information

To learn more about the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, go to the U.S. Department of Labor.

SOURCE: Cornell University, news release, Aug. 30, 2021

U.S. workers are changing jobs more often and demanding better wages -NY Fed survey

By Jonnelle Marte

© Reuters/ANDREW KELLY FILE PHOTO: Signage for a job fair is seen on 5th Avenue after the release of the jobs report in Manhattan, New York City

(Reuters) - More U.S. workers are switching jobs and asking for higher wages as the labor market continues to heal from the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a survey released Tuesday by the New York Federal Reserve.

Expectations about the labor market also continued to improve, with the expected likelihood of receiving a job offer in the next four months and the wages expected for that offer both rising, according to the report.

The share of workers who became unemployed in the previous four months dropped to 0.4% in July from 10.5% in July 2020 and is now below the 0.5% seen in November of 2019 before the pandemic. The percentage who moved to a new employer rose to 5.9% in July from 4.4% a year earlier.

The survey, which polled about 1,000 consumers about how their finances changed over the past four months, illustrates how much stronger the labor market is than a year ago, when millions more were unemployed because of the coronavirus pandemic and vaccines were not yet available to the general public.

But the latest data released by the Labor Department last week showed the jobs recovery may be stalling amid a resurgence of COVID-19 infections, driven by the Delta variant of the virus.

The New York Fed survey showed workers also raised their expectations for how much they should be paid. The average reservation wage, or the minimum annual wage consumers said they needed before they would even consider accepting a job offer, increased sharply from a year earlier to $68,954 in July 2021.

That was down from the series high of $71,403 reached in March of this year, but still above the $64,226 seen in July of 2020. The increase was largest for workers above age 45 and for people without college degrees.

(Reporting by Jonnelle Marte; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Volvo workers in Virginia say the labor shortage helped them score a 12% pay rise: report

gdean@insider.com (Grace Dean) 

 Business across the US are struggling to find workers, causing some to slash operating hours, limit operations, and raise prices. Adam Ihse/TT News Agency/via Reuters

Volvo workers in Virginia said the labor shortage helped them get a 12% pay rise, AP reported.

Striking workers rejected two offers from Volvo before reaching a better deal, per AP.

The labor shortage is forcing some companies to hike wages and improve benefits.

Workers at Volvo's largest truck-manufacturing plant got a 12% pay rise spread over six years, and say it's partly thanks to a US labor shortage that has left companies scrambling to retain staff, according to a report by AP.

The 2,900 union members - nearly 90% of total staff at the New River Valley assembly plant in Dublin, Virginia - went on strike in the spring after negotiations with Volvo failed to produce a new contract, AP reported.

The automaker offered pay raises, signing bonuses, and lower-priced healthcare to the striking workers, AP reported, but workers rejected this proposal and a second one, despite leaders from the United Auto Workers union telling them to accept.

Workers eventually accepted a third offer that included better benefits, AP reported. They will now get 12% pay raises over the six-year contract, the publication reported.

The deal will also phase many union workers out of a two-tier pay scale that gives long-time workers more money, and instead give all current workers the top hourly wage of $30.92 after six years, AP reported.

Workers will get a six-year price freeze on healthcare premiums, the publication reported.

Workers felt more confident demanding a better contract because Volvo was trying to fill vacancies at the plant, Mitchell Smith, regional director for the United Auto Workers in the South, told the publication.

Volvo told AP that it had struggled to find workers for the Dublin plant, but said that it offered a strong pay and benefits package "that also safeguards our competitiveness in the market."

Insider contacted Volvo and United Auto Workers for comment, but did not immediately hear back.

Travis Wells, a forklift driver at the plant, told AP that staff were "emboldened by the labor shortage."

"The cost of recruiting and training a new workforce would've cost Volvo 10 times what a good contract would have," he said.

Businesses across the US are struggling to find workers, causing some to slash operating hours, limit operations, and raise prices.

Other union officials said that the labor shortage had helped staff get better contracts elsewhere, too. Martin Rosas, a union leader for the United Food and Commercial Workers in Kansas, Missouri, and parts of Oklahoma, told AP that some meat-packing workers had negotiated pay rises for some skilled positions.

The labor shortage is putting more power into workers' hands because companies are desperate to recruit new employees and retain existing ones. Susan J. Schurman, a professor of labor studies at Rutgers University, told AP that this shortage had given bargaining power to workers at levels not seen since the 1980s.

Companies including McDonald's, Starbucks, and Chipotle have hiked up wages, while other companies have rolled out better benefits packages, such as improved healthcare, education benefits, and more bonuses.

Ted Cruz told the millions of Americans who lost their unemployment benefits on Labor Day to 'um, get a job?'

"Are there no prisons?" asked Scrooge. "And the Union workhouses?" demanded Scrooge. "Are they still in operation?"

insider@insider.com (Cheryl Teh) 

© Provided by Business Insider Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, asks a question during the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Tuesday, March 9, 2021. 

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Cruz tweeted "Um, get a job?" in response to news that unemployment benefits expired for jobless Americans.

Twitter users criticized Cruz for his insensitivity and his lack of understanding of the situation.

It is estimated that more than 7.5 million Americans were affected when three federal pandemic-aid programs ended.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz reacted to news that millions of Americans lost their unemployment benefits on Labor Day by telling those who are out of work to "get a job."

Cruz tweeted on Monday night, sharing an article by ABC News which carried the headline "Jobless Americans have few options as benefits expire."

"Um, get a job?" Cruz wrote in his tweet. "There are millions of vacancies, and small businesses across the Nation are desperate for workers."

Three federal unemployment-aid programs ended as of Monday, September 6. The programs are the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, and a program that provided people with $300 a week in Federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation.

The programs were scheduled to end by Labor Day.

The ABC article that Cruz retweeted and critiqued reported that these very relief efforts allowed Americans who lost jobs during the pandemic to afford essentials like food, gas, and rent, and enabled them to pay their bills.

"The end of the pandemic unemployment benefits will be an abrupt jolt to millions of Americans who won't find a job in time for this arbitrary end to assistance," said Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at think tank The Century Foundation, to ABC.

It is estimated that at least 7.5 million Americans lost their unemployment benefits over the weekend, per reporting from Insider's Juliana Kaplan and Joseph Zeballos-Roig.

Many Americans have been left in the lurch with their benefits expiring, per CNN. The news outlet interviewed a Detroit optician named April Stokes, who said she received $1,152 in unemployment benefits per week, but saw her "lifeline" evaporate over the weekend. Stokes has had difficulty finding a job in her area that will enable her to work around her children's schedules.

"The government is not leaving us with any options," Stokes told CNN. "There are a lot of single moms out here that are really panicking right now and don't know what to do."
Read the original arti

ECOCIDE
First-Ever Spill of 'Frankenstein Fuels' Occurred Last Year, Researchers Find

Molly Taft 


A new analysis takes a look at what the authors say is the environmental impact of the first-ever spill of a new kind of marine fuel oil. The fuel was developed in response to regulations intended to lower sulfur emissions from the dirty shipping industry but is raising more environmental questions as it’s more widely adopted.

© Photo: Gwendoline Defente/EMAE (AP) 

Oil leaks from the MV Wakashio, a bulk carrier ship that ran aground on a coral reef off the southeast coast of Mauritius, last August.

The study, published Tuesday in Marine Pollution Bulletin, looks into fuel spilled during the crash of the bulk carrier MV Wakashio, which ran aground on a coral reef off the Mauritian coast in July of 2020. About a month after the crash, the Wakashio began leaking oil from cracks in its hull. Satellite images showed dark plumes of fuel ballooning out into the crystal blue Mauritian coastline, which is home to a wide variety of marine life living on its coral reefs and in mangrove forests. Two weeks after the crash, the government declared a “state of environmental emergency.”

Since the crash, there has been heavy speculation that the Wakashio, which had 4,000 tons of fuel aboard, was carrying a new type of fuel that’s causing concern among the environmental community. The government of Mauritus’s murky response to the disaster included no analyses of the type of oil spilled, which fueled more speculation.

The new study confirms that a sample of residue from the coastline taken (8 km) from the wrecked ship was fuel from the ship and that it was the new type of low-sulfur fuel. “Since the grounding of the Wakashio on a coral reef, there has been much speculation in the media about what oil was spilled, including headlines about so-called ‘Frankenstein fuels’, so we wanted to obtain a sample for research and analysis,” the study’s lead author, Alan Scarlett, a research associate at Curtin University’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said in a news release.

While it may sound like a cinematic exaggeration, “Frankenstein fuels” are a growing concern among those keeping an eye on the shipping industry’s environmental impact. The phrase was coined as a derogatory term to refer to what’s known as Very Low Sulfur Fuel Oil, or VLSFOs, a relatively new type of fuel blend that’s gaining prominence in ships across the world.

In January of 2020, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) instituted new regulations that required shipping companies to substantially lower the amount of sulfur in their fuels, to try and cut shipping’s whopping contribution to air pollution around the world. The industry began to quickly favor VLSFOs, thanks in large part to their lower price point compared to other options. VLSFOs, as the name suggests, have far less sulfur than the fuel traditionally used in shipping, and thus it fits the IMO’s new guidelines.

But since they’re such a new form of fuel, VLSFOs have raised a whole host of other chemical questions—and may help the shipping industry cut down on sulfur emissions while upping other harmful side effects. The Clean Arctic Alliance, a coalition of nonprofits that includes Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and the World Wildlife Foundation, has sounded the alarm that heavy use of VLSFOs could make black carbon emissions from the shipping sector even more pronounced. (Black carbon, also known as plain old soot, is a greenhouse gas that experts say is incredibly damaging to sensitive environments—especially the Arctic—over the short term.)

The conversation around VLSFOs reached a head last August when the wreck of the Wakashio began leaking in Mauritius, and the new study provides some much-needed answers. First, some preliminary good news about this particular spill: in the sample of VLSFO collected from the ship’s wreck, researchers found lower levels of toxins dangerous to marine mammals than are usually present in traditional shipping fuels with higher concentrations of sulfur. Thus, “the impacts on marine organisms from exposure to toxic compounds in the oil may be less severe than with previous spills that involved older types of marine fuel oil,” Scarlett said.

But because VLSFOs are so new, Scarlett cautioned that this sample couldn’t paint a whole picture of the entire fuel class. “When we analysed several other Low Sulfur Fuel Oils, we found some contained higher concentrations of toxic components than the oil discharged in the Mauritius spill, so more research will be needed before we can conclude that all the oil types within this new class pose less of a threat to marine ecosystems than heavy fuel oils,” he said.

Ultimately, it’s crucial to research the impact of this fuel on marine environments as well as air pollution, as more and more ships use VLSFOs in accordance with the new standards.

“Unfortunately, oil spills from ships continue to be a frequent occurrence, so it is likely we will see further spills involving Very Low Sulfur Fuel Oils,” Scarlett said.

ECOCIDE

U.S. probing nearly 350 reports of oil spills in Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Ida

By Staff Reuters
Posted September 6, 2021 

Hurricane Ida: Parts of US northeast cleanup, as national guard helps Louisiana residents

The U.S. Coast Guard said on Monday it was investigating nearly 350 reports of oil spills in and along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico in the wake of Hurricane Ida.

Ida’s 150 mile-per-hour (240 kph) winds wreaked havoc on offshore oil production platforms and onshore oil and gas processing plants. About 88% of the region’s offshore oil production remains shut and more than 100 platforms unoccupied after the storm made landfall on Aug. 29.

The Coast Guard has been conducting flyovers off the coast of Louisiana looking for spills. It is providing information to federal, state and local authorities responsible for cleaning the sites.

Flights on Sunday found evidence of a new leak from an offshore well and reported another leak responsible for a miles-long streak of oil was no longer active. A third report of oil near a drilling platform could not be confirmed, it said.

READ MORE: Agencies investigating reports of oil, chemical spills resulting from Hurricane Ida

Offshore oil producer Talos Energy Inc, which hired divers and a cleanup crew to respond to an oil spill in Bay Marchand, said old pipelines damaged during the storm were apparently responsible.

The source of the Bay Marchand leak remains unknown, said Coast Guard spokesman Lieutenant John Edwards. A Coast Guard-led team “will be looking at all potential sources in order to ensure any future risk is mitigated,” he said.

The spill off the coast of Port Fourchon, Louisiana, had decreased substantially since it was first discovered last week, Talos said. The company is not the owner of the pipelines and had ceased production operations in the area four years ago, said spokesman Brian Grove.

An offshore well belonging to S2 Energy was discharging oil about five miles (8 km) away from the Bay Marchand site, the Coast Guard said. The company told the Coast Guard it has secured the wellhead and it was no longer discharging oil.

S2 did not immediately reply to a request for comment

Talos Energy denies it owns leaking pipeline ruptured by Hurricane Ida

Divers at the site found a one-foot-diameter pipeline moved from a trench on the ocean floor at about 34 feet of depth

Reuters
Publishing date:Sep 06, 2021 •

In a satellite image, an oil slick is shown on Thursday south of Port Fourchon, La. 

PHOTO BY MAXAR TECHNOLOGIES VIA AP

HOUSTON — The U.S. Coast Guard said on Monday it was investigating nearly 350 reports of oil spills in and along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico in the wake of Hurricane Ida.

Ida’s 240 kph winds wreaked havoc on offshore oil production platforms and onshore oil and gas processing plants. About 88% of the region’s offshore oil production remains shut and more than 100 platforms unoccupied after the storm made landfall on Aug. 29.

The Coast Guard has been conducting flyovers off the coast of Louisiana looking for spills. It is providing information to federal, state and local authorities responsible for cleaning the sites.

Flights on Sunday found evidence of a new leak from an offshore well and reported another leak responsible for a miles-long streak of oil was no longer active. A third report of oil near a drilling platform could not be confirmed, it said.

Offshore oil producer Talos Energy Inc, which hired divers and a cleanup crew to respond to an oil spill in Bay Marchand, said old pipelines damaged during the storm were apparently responsible.

The source of the Bay Marchand leak remains unknown, said Coast Guard spokesman Lieutenant John Edwards. A Coast Guard-led team “will be looking at all potential sources in order to ensure any future risk is mitigated,” he said.

The spill off the coast of Port Fourchon, Louisiana, had decreased substantially since it was first discovered last week, Talos said. The company is not the owner of the pipelines and had ceased production operations in the area four years ago, spokesman Brian Grove said in a statement issued Sunday evening.

Divers at the site said the 1-foot-diameter pipeline was moved from a trench on the ocean floor at about 34 feet of depth and ruptured.

The area where the spill is located is a latticework of old pipelines, plugged wells and abandoned platforms left behind by decades of oil and gas drilling, the Associated Press reported on Saturday.

An offshore well belonging to S2 Energy was discharging oil about five miles (8 km) away from the Bay Marchand site, the Coast Guard said. The company told the Coast Guard it has secured the wellhead and it was no longer discharging oil.

S2 did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) said it is working with the Coast Guard and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to require companies responsible for any spills to halt and clean up the discharges.

“If necessary USCG and/or the EPA can open federal funding streams to cover mitigation costs,” LDEQ said. (Reporting by Arpan Varghese and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru, Gary McWilliams in Houston and Stephanie Kelly in New York Editing by Marguerita Choy and Matthew Lewis)

.

The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) said it is working with the Coast Guard and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to require companies responsible for any spills to halt and clean up the discharge

“If necessary USCG and/or the EPA can open federal funding streams to cover mitigation costs,” LDEQ said.

The EPA also said it was working with LDEQ and the Coast Guard.

“EPA has received 39 reports relative to the Hurricane in our Area Of Responsibility and has been evaluating those reports and following up with responsible parties to ensure they are being addressed,” the agency said in a statement.

(Reporting by Arpan Varghese and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru, Gary McWilliams in Houston and Stephanie Kelly in New York Editing by Marguerita Choy, Matthew Lewis, Peter Graff)

An oil leak off the coast of Louisiana spread for miles and no one knows who is responsible

When Talos Energy was notified of an oil spill off the Louisiana coast after Hurricane Ida, the company said, it sent a response team to the site

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© Satellite image © 2021 Maxar Technologies Oil slicks on the water near the East Timbalier Island National Wildlife Refuge and the area south of Port Fourchon, Louisiana.

By Theresa Waldrop, CNN 

Divers found the leaking pipe in Bay Marchand on Sunday, and on Monday, Talos put a containment dome on it, "which allows for the recovery of the release and transfer to surface vessels" of the oil, Talos said in a Tuesday release.

Talos says its operations were not the source of the oil. The company said it had been contacted because it was a prior lessee of the block where the leak was, although it had stopped production there in 2017 and had isolated its wells and removed all its infrastructure.

So who is responsible for the spill? That has yet to be determined.

And that shouldn't be a big surprise, given the number of old pipelines and abandoned wells in the Gulf of Mexico, according to Wilma Subra, a chemist and technical adviser at the nonprofit Louisiana Environmental Action Network.

"If you would look at all the pipelines, on a map, offshore, it looks like spaghetti, you just threw spaghetti in there. Pipelines everywhere, everywhere, everywhere," Subra said.

"There are lots of pipelines out there, lots of old pipelines as well as newer ones, and ones like Talos has gotten rid of over the years," she said.

According to a Government Accountability Office report released this year, "the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has allowed the offshore oil and gas industry to leave 97% of pipelines (18,000 miles) on the seafloor when no longer in use," since the 1960s. "Pipelines can contain oil or gas if not properly cleaned in decommissioning."

The bureau "does not have a robust oversight process for ensuring the integrity of approximately 8,600 miles of active offshore oil and gas pipelines located on the seafloor of the Gulf of Mexico," nor does it have "robust process to address the environmental and safety risks posed by leaving decommissioned pipelines in place on the seafloor."

CNN reached out to the BSEE on Tuesday but did not immediately hear back.

In a letter to the GAO in response to its report and attached as an appendix to it, a Department of the Interior official wrote that the "Department generally agrees with the report findings."

"BSEE has begun to implement GAO's recommendation to further develop, finalize, and implement updated pipeline regulations to address long-standing limitations regarding its ability to (1) ensure active pipeline integreity and (2) address safety and environmental risks associated with decommissioning," wrote Laura Daniel-Davis, principal deputy assistant secretary, Land and Mineral Management, at the US Department of the Interior.

Members of the US Coast Guard National Strike Force who flew over the Bay Marchand area Sunday saw no visible discharge of oil in the area, according to Lt. John Edwards.

"What was observed was an unrecoverable, dissipating rainbow sheen that was approximately 11 miles in length," Edwards said in an email to CNN. The source of the discharge is unknown, though, he said.

Talos said it observed pipelines owned by other companies that were likely impacted by Ida, including a 12-inch pipe that it says appeared to the source of the release.

"Talos conducted both physical inspections and subsea sonar scans that confirmed Talos assets were not the source or cause of the release," the company said.

Finding the responsible party will be part of the investigation, Coast Guard Petty Officer Gabriel Wisdom said.

Talos said it is working with the Coast Guard and other state and federal agencies to determine ownership of the damaged pipeline and to organize a coordinated response to the spill.

In the meantime, the USCG said it is "prioritizing" approximately 350 oil spill "incidents for further investigation by state, local, and federal authorities" in the wake of Hurricane Ida, which hit the gulf coast as a powerful Category 4 storm.

Those are incidents reported by the general public and range from "minor to potentially notable pollution reporting," Wisdom said.

While they could be duplicate reports of the same thing, "right now we treat them all individually," and they will all be inspected, he said.

For Subra, the Bay Marchand leak is an example of "the potential out there to happen every time there is a hurricane or even a weather front that disrupts the Gulf and disrupts the waters near the bottom" because of the numerous old pipelines and abandoned wells there, many that haven't been plugged, she said.

On the day Ida made landfall, more than 95% of the Gulf of Mexico's oil production facilities were shut down, regulators said.

The BSEE said Tuesday that its hurricane response team "continues to monitor offshore oil and gas operators in the Gulf as they return to platforms and rigs after the storm."

WHERE IS MY $100 I GOT VACCINATED

Alberta's vaccine lottery had little effect on boosting vaccination rates, doctors say
Stephanie Dubois 

© Chris Schwarz/Government of Alberta Back in June, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Minister of Health Tyler Shandro promoted the idea of a vaccine lottery to boost vaccination rates.

Doctors say vaccine incentives like Alberta's "Open for Summer" lottery and the recently announced $100 gift cards for people who get their first and second doses aren't enough to boost COVID-19 vaccination rates in the province.

As of Monday, Alberta has the lowest percentage of eligible people with a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the country, according to CBC's vaccine tracker.

Physicians in the province say a vaccine passport or stronger restrictions on access to public spaces for those not vaccinated is needed to boost vaccine rates in the province — not more incentives.


"The lottery really didn't have a particularly significant effect. And so I'm not sure that an individual incentive will make a huge difference, either," said Dr. Stephanie Smith, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Alberta Hospital.
Did the lottery boost vaccine rates?

An analysis of Alberta Health daily vaccine data shows that after the $3 million vaccine lottery was announced on June 12, and travel prizes a few days later, there was an increase in first-dose rates.

But by mid-July, when outdoor prizes were added to the lottery, first-dose vaccination numbers had largely plateaued.

Number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered by day in Alberta

"When we think about incentivizing vaccine uptake, we would expect that it would really be the first dose that should jump up if people were going to be incentivized by a lottery," said Smith.

"There really was not any kind of indication that the lottery made a huge difference."

Premier Jason Kenney and Health Minister Tyler Shandro justified the province's lottery by citing Ohio's vaccine lottery and an increase in vaccine rates.

"The early evidence is in and lotteries can help boost vaccination rates," Shandro said on June 14.

It was reported that vaccine uptake after the lottery announcement increased, but a study published July 2 in the medical journal JAMA Network found no evidence "that a lottery-based incentive in Ohio was associated with increased rates of adult COVID-19 vaccinations."

The study's authors noted a vaccine uptick in Ohio and other states without a lottery when 12- to 15-year-olds became eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

In addition to the lottery, Alberta is now turning to $100 gift cards in hopes of sparking demand for vaccines, Kenney announced on Friday.

"We tried the lotteries. We saw an uptick. It helped a bit. And we're going to try this. And we don't know if it will work or not," Kenney said Friday, adding the incentive is cheaper than the cost of COVID-19 hospitalizations.
Vaccine passports

Doctors in Alberta say the answer to increasing vaccine rates is not more incentives, but a vaccine passport or mandate that will restrict those without a first or second dose from visiting certain public places.

© Scott Neufeld/CBC 

Dr. Shahzeer Karmali, a general surgeon at Edmonton's Royal Alexandra Hospital, says stronger measures to promote vaccinations are needed.

"We realize that there's different ways to generate acceptance of vaccinations. One of them is obviously a proactive idea of a lottery, but we realize that it's not working as well as we want it to," said Dr. Shahzeer Karmali, a general surgeon at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton.

"We have to look at stronger measures to promote vaccinations. Other provinces, other countries have definitively introduced a vaccine passport or an idea that if you're unvaccinated, then there's limited access to society, because this is where we're at."

In B.C., government officials saw a massive increase in interest in the COVID-19 vaccine since announcing a new program to require proof of vaccination.

Smith said Alberta should take note.

"When we look at the places that have created those vaccine passports or made those mandates … there has been an increase in vaccine uptake," Smith said.

"I think that there's a much stronger indicator that that is effective compared to incentivizing with gift cards or lotteries.

Edmonton Journal 

Tuesday's letters: 

Give the unvaccinated fines instead of bribes

On Friday, Mr Kenney announced that the unvaccinated would be given $100 if they obtain the vaccine. True, the hospitals are facing overloads, staff are overworked, and ICU beds may have to be shared (or something), but this is wrong!

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Premier Jason Kenney announces the province’s new COVID restrictions at McDougall Centre in Calgary on Friday, Sept. 3, 2021.

The majority of us have been vaccinated, though some can not be, and we should not be asked to devote our tax dollars to bribe the recalcitrants. If pressure is needed, and if $100 makes a difference, let it be in the form of a fine for those who are not yet part of the solution. Furthermore, impose a prohibition against them for attendance at multi-person events.


Certainly offer a clear vaccine certificate that can be easily checked so that those of us who do the right thing need not have to bribe the lazy, the inconsiderate, the anti-vaxxers, the fearful misinformed, and the main developers and spreaders of variants.

Peter Willott, Seba Beach

Should unvaxxed hold out for more?

Premier Kenny made an opening bid of $100 for the unvaccinated to roll up their sleeve and get the COVID-19 vaccine. I am just wondering if these individuals should be holding out for a higher bid? $200? $500?

When the next pandemic arrives, as it surely will, is the lesson here not to be an eager beaver but to hold out as long as possible for best financial inducements? Sure, it is a gamble but we already had two vaccine lotteries with prizes up to a million dollars so precedents have been set. Thank you Premier Kenney. Great to know that your government is willing to gamble away people’s lives and the economy of the province.

Richard McFarlane, Edmonton

Data shows vaccine experts were right

With the most recent data showing that over 80 per cent of hospitalizations are those that are unvaccinated, it has become more apparent than ever that — surprise — the medical community was correct in their efficacy numbers, and the real-world data supports what they’ve said all along.

The goal of the vaccinations are to reduce the long-term and serious effects of COVID, with less chance of spreading it being a secondary benefit. Why has it become so difficult for us to care about the well-being of others and trust our experts? It’s depressing how people don’t trust health-care providers, but will go to them if they are unable to breathe from COVID, or have negative side effects from trying unproven deworming medication.

Can’t have it both ways. People need to wake up and exit their social-media echo chambers. You are not the star of your own personal movie.

Ryan Black, Edmonton

Alberta’s vaccine record system unworkable

Seems this province is in the Middle Ages. I registered with Alberta Health to access my immunization record and get a proper document that I am fully vaccinated. Guess what? The website does not work properly and spits out error messages. A phone call to their help line advised me that the wait time on the phone is — hold on — 10.5 hours!

Only option left is to see my GP to get a print out from her. I have an appointment in two weeks. Does anyone agree that this is absolutely ridiculous?

Karin Fodor, Edmonton

Anti-vaxxers free to stay at home

Anti-vaxxers do have a choice. They have the freedom to remain unvaccinated and not travel, not go to concerts or sporting events, not work in essential-service jobs, not attend universities and secondary schools, not go to public indoor spaces.

They can enjoy their private, non-compliant, freedom bubble; just keep away from those children, immunocompromised, vulnerable people and hospitals that care for the health of the entire society.

Maxine Newbold, Edmonton

COVID skeptics don’t need medical care

What bothers me is with all the anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers and COVID deniers, once they do get COVID, they go running off to the hospital like little wheezing babies. That plugs up hospitals resulting in other procedures being cancelled.

Come on you people, tough it out at home. It is “just the flu,” right?

Niel Johnson, Edmonton

Liberal job plan ensures better opportunities

Re. “Liberals deserve to be shut out of Alberta,” Opinion, Sept. 2

Mr. Marciano is misleading the public about the Liberal plan for job creation in Alberta. See the facts for yourself in our detailed, comprehensive, and — unlike the Conservatives — fully costed platform.

Our job creation plan is focused on ensuring energy workers and communities have even greater opportunities than they do today. I have knocked on thousands of doors in the last several weeks and heard repeatedly from folks who understand that while traditional oil and gas jobs won’t completely dry up overnight, we must start transitioning to greener jobs that are already in demand globally. Unlike Mr. Marciano, Mill Woods residents understand that Alberta is losing jobs due to global economic forces beyond our control — and we’ve got to act quickly. That is why the Liberal government is committing $2 billion to a futures fund for Alberta and other oil and gas-dependent provinces. Meanwhile, Jason Kenney spent nearly $2 billion on a dead-end pipeline.

If the Conservative plan for jobs was credible, it would be working in Alberta. Clearly, it is not. Instead of fear-mongering and not-so-subtly implying that they are entitled to hold office here, Alberta’s Conservatives need to start earning their votes with ideas that will ensure our city’s economic future is resilient and thriving.

Ben Henderson, Liberal party candidate for Edmonton Mill Woods

A tough year for Mother Nature and farmers

For any of our urban cousins who think farmers are nothing but whiners, here’s a message from a rural cousin. Stock up! Buy extra flour, oats, barley, flax, canola oil and any other grain you may use. Also spices and rice that come from abroad. This year Mother Nature has shown herself to be suffering from bipolar disorder. Her fields look like burnt toast. Grass did not grow in pastures and failed crops have been cut for silage to be used as feed for animals.

Her heat dome stretched from sea to sea. Fish died in rivers and lakes. Her hot flashes were felt by every living thing. If she is going through menopause, we are in for some more troubled years.

Nancy Mereska, Two Hills

ID requirements at Alberta supervised consumption sites delayed, advocates say

Janet French CBC

© Sam Martin/CBC

 Edmonton lawyer Avnish Nanda says the government's new supervised consumption site standards could cost lives.

Supervised consumption site staff won't have to ask clients to show identification until the new year, the Alberta government says.

A new licensing requirement for the sites to collect health-card information from clients is one of several new provincial rules that were set to take effect Sept. 30.

It's a contentious move that critics say will deter substance users from going to the sites and could increase overdose deaths.

"Alberta's in the midst of an unprecedented opioid overdose crisis and one of the major barriers for folks accessing care, accessing supervised consumption sites, is if they'll be outed or revealed as a substance user," Edmonton lawyer Avnish Nanda said Tuesday. He represents two organizations that are taking the provincial government to court in a bid to stop the new licensing requirements.

Nanda says he learned from the government last week that supervised consumption sites wouldn't be required to ask for ID until Jan. 3, 2022.

In an email, an acting press secretary for Mike Ellis, the associate minister of addictions and mental health, said a later date for requiring ID has always been the case. Eric Engler said the new standards will improve community safety and the quality of services.

He said some supervised consumption sites (SCS) need more time to prepare to become authorized "custodians" of personal health information.

But Tricia Smith, executive director of Edmonton's Boyle McCauley Health Centre, which runs an SCS, said the first formal word she received of a time extension was Tuesday afternoon. Her organization was preparing to begin checking health cards on Sept. 30.

New licensing requirements

Although SCS services are authorized by the federal government, the Alberta government in June introduced a new set of standards the services must meet to be licensed to operate in the province. Existing sites had 120 days to adapt, and new sites must immediately meet the new standards.

SCS staff must refer clients to treatment and recovery services, and track the outcome of those referrals. Leaders must broker yearly "good neighbour" agreements with surrounding residents and businesses. Among new bureaucratic requirements is the collection of personal health numbers.

A 2016 study from University of Alberta researchers found only a third of substance users would be willing to attend an SCS where they had to show identification.

Opioid overdose numbers began to soar in the province after the COVID-19 pandemic reached Alberta in March 2020. Last year, a record 1,154 people died of opioid poisoning in the province, according to Alberta Health data. Between January and May 2021, 576 people died.

The incoming identification requirements have prompted advocates to fear more people will use alone, leaving them more vulnerable to dying of an overdose.

Kym Porter works with Moms Stop the Harm, which is one of two groups suing the government. Her son Neil died at age 31 from fentanyl poisoning five years ago in Medicine Hat.

Porter said people have many reasons for staying anonymous while using an SCS: they may fear their name will be passed on to the police. They could fear deportation. Some worry about stigma from other health-care workers who might see their health records. Others see jobs at risk.

"In conversation with people who are using sites currently, they've said they would no longer use those sites," she said.

Smith said the health information they collect will be entered into an internal electronic record, unavailable to people outside the organization.

Smith said the government said they won't have to turn away any clients to refuse to, or can't, provide a health card. However, she is concerned about potential consequences for the organization, should a large proportion of clients refuse to share that information.