Asian Buyers of U.S. Gulf Crude Are Shopping Elsewhere After Ida

Sheela Tobben
Thu., September 9, 2021


(Bloomberg) -- Asian buyers of crude from the U.S. Gulf of Mexico platforms that where shut by Hurricane Ida are now shopping for alternatives from Russia and the Middle East, sending prices tumbling.

American heavy crudes pumped off Louisiana’s coast, such as Mars and Poseidon, fell by more than $1 a barrel against New York oil futures Thursday. It’s a sudden shift from a rally in previous days as the impact of the devastating storm may not matter so much for China.

Buyers in the Asian powerhouse and other nations such as South Korea are looking at sour crude from the Middle East, where Saudi Arabia has slashed prices for oil destined to the Far East, traders said. For U.S. refiners, Russian Urals crude are being touted as an alternative.

Over 1 million barrels a day of output from the Gulf of Mexico is still offline more than a week after Ida hit, causing weekly U.S. production to sink by the most on record. But Chinese demand for U.S. sour crudes produced offshore has taken a sharp plunge this year, so the outage may not hurt Chinese refiners, Emmanuel Belostrino, an analyst at Kpler, said.

“Chinese demand for Mars crude has been eased substantially this year as U.S. crudes have been relatively expensive compared with other grades,” he said. “Also, China continues to take large quantities of Iranian crude oil despite sanctions, and that supply can replace sour grades normally purchased in the U.S.”

Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s decision to declare force majeure on “numerous” supply contracts as it assesses damages caused by Ida to its Gulf of Mexico platforms is also pushing buyers to other markets.

Shell’s offshore outages have caused “Chinese majors to scramble for alternatives for as many of the 10–12 million barrels of Mars cargoes bought for September and October loadings have been canceled,” Yuntao Liu, an analyst with London-based Energy Aspects, said in a note to clients.

Some of these Chinese buyers could well cover their needs from the release of oil from the country’s petroleum reserves announced Thursday

U.S. oil losses from Hurricane Ida rank among worst in 16 years

September 8, 2021 EnergyNow Media

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Summary

• Ida could cut annual U.S. oil output by up to 30 million barrels
• Gulf of Mexico thunderstorms may lead to a cyclone by Thursday

HOUSTON, Sept 7 (Reuters) – Hurricane Ida’s damage to U.S. offshore energy production makes it one of the most costly since back-to-back storms in 2005 cut output for months, according to the latest data and historical records.

Ida’s 150 mile-per-hour (240 kph) winds cut most offshore oil and gas production for more than a week and damaged platforms and onshore support facilities. About 79% of the region’s offshore oil production remains shut and 79 production platforms are unoccupied after the storm made landfall on Aug. 29.

Some 17.5 million barrels of oil have been lost to the market to date, with shutdowns expected to continue for weeks. Ida could reduce total U.S. production by as much as 30 million barrels this year, according to energy analysts.

Offshore U.S. Gulf of Mexico wells produce about 1.8 million barrels of oil per day, 16% of the daily U.S. total.

“There could be volumes that are offline for a considerable amount of time,” said Facts Global Energy (FGE) consultant Krista Kuhl. “It’s just too early to tell.”

The losses are reducing U.S. exports at a time when oil prices are trading at about $70 a barrel because of continued curbs by producing-nations group OPEC and market expectations for demand.

At least 78% of Gulf of Mexico oil and natural gas were offline on Tuesday, nine days after Ida hit the Gulf Coast, causing wind and water damages to platforms and refineries, government data showed.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 remain the worst hit to Gulf Coast energy facilities. The back-to-back storms caused production losses that continued for months, removing about 162 million barrels of oil over three months, FGE said.

Production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico that year dropped 12.6%, to 1.28 million barrels per day (bpd), from the prior year, according to data for the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Total U.S. oil production fell 4.7%, EIA data showed.

Restoring output after Ida will hinge on the time needed to repair a key offshore oil and gas transfer facility. Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) on Monday said it continued to assess damage to its West Delta-143 offshore platform, which transfers about 200,000 barrels of oil and gas per day from three offshore oil fields.

A group of thunderstorms in the south-central Gulf of Mexico was expected to move northeast. The storms have a 30% chance of developing into a tropical cyclone in the next two days, the National Hurricane Center said on Tuesday.

U.S. offshore oil industry assesses Hurricane Ida storm impact

By JOSYANA JOSHUA on 8/31/2021

(Bloomberg) - Oil and gas producers, and refineries that fuel the U.S., are assessing the impact on operations after the passage of Hurricane Ida.

At least 2 million barrels a day of oil refining capacity was affected by the weather pattern, which cut power across Louisiana and left at least one facility in standing water. About 95% of oil production, and 94% of gas output had been shut-in as of Monday, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. 

Here is a list of major oil and gas production sites that were shut and their capacity in barrels per day, or barrels of oil equivalent a day.

• BP Plc
• Atlantis, 200,000 b/d
• Mad Dog, 100,000 b/d
• Na Kika, 130,000 b/d
• Thunder Horse, 250,000 b/d
• Royal Dutch Shell Plc
• Turritella (including Stones field) 50,000 boe/d (at peak), Stones field working to resume partial production
• Mars, 60,000 boe/d
• Olympus, 100,000 boe/d
• Appomattox, 175,000 boe/d
• Ursa, 150,000 boe/d
• Auger, 130,000 boe/d
• Enchilada/Salsa, capacity not specified
• Equinor SA
• Titan, 2,000 boe/d (producing rate in 2Q)
• BHP Group
• Shenzi, 100,000 b/d and 50 mmcf/d gas
• Murphy Oil Corp.
• Shut in production, up to 4,100 boe/d
• Chevron Corp.
• Shut all oil and natural gas platforms; volume not specified

• Average net daily production in 2018 was 186k bbl of crude, 105 million cubic feet of natural gas and 13k bbl of NGLs
  
• Exxon Mobil Corp. evacuated personnel from its Hoover platform; minimal impact on production

Ports:

• Coast Guard set condition Zulu for New Orleans
• LOOP paused deliveries until after storm

Refineries: 

• Phillips 66’s 255k b/d Alliance began idling units Friday; plant had standing water after Ida
• PBF was reducing rates at 190k b/d Chalmette; no power since Sunday, co. said Monday
• Shell was shutting 230k b/d Norco
• Marathon shut production at 578k b/d Garyville; co. evaluating restart timeline as of Monday, didn’t comment on whether facility had power loss
• Valero halted 340k b/d St. Charles and 125k b/d Meraux
• ExxonMobil’s 520k b/d Baton Rouge ran at about 50% capacity before Ida; refinery halted units Sunday but didn’t sustain damage and will begin restart process once Exxon confirms that it has access to necessary feedstocks and third-party utilities to stabilize systems

ECOCIDE

Oil-soaked birds found near oil spill at refinery after Ida

Thu., September 9, 2021

© AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Louisiana wildlife officials say they have documented more than 100 oil-soaked birds after crude oil spilled from a refinery flooded during Hurricane Ida.

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries said Thursday that a growing number of oiled birds had been observed within heavy pockets of oil throughout the Phillips 66 Alliance Refinery in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, as well as nearby flooded fields and retention ponds along the Mississippi River.

Jon Wiebe, a biologist running the state restoration program, said 10 oiled birds have been captured and transported to a rehabilitation location for cleaning. Five additional dead birds were recovered and bagged as evidence, he said.

Wiebe said efforts to capture and save more birds are ongoing. The affected species include black-bellied whistling ducks, blue-winged teal and a variety of egrets. Other animals were also seen covered in oil, include alligators, nutria and river otters.

A summary issued Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency said it had received 43 notifications of significant inland oil spills and chemical releases in its jurisdiction after Ida. The agency's compliance arm has issued 10 requests to facility operators seeking information to determine whether federal environmental laws were violated during the storm, potentially triggering penalties and fines.

That is a small fraction of the 1,539 reports of pollution a U.S. Coast Guard hotline has received since the Category 4 storm made landfall made landfall Aug. 29 at Port Fourchon, the primary port for the offshore oil and gas industry. The Coast Guard said Thursday it was actively supervising the cleanup and mitigation efforts at 564 sites. Another 197 reports were listed as unverified because there was no remaining evidence of pollution.

The Associated Press first reported the spill at the Alliance Refinery on Sept. 1 after reviewing aerial images captured by a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration aircraft. In the days after the hurricane, Phillips 66 repeatedly sought to downplay reports of damage at the company's sprawling refinery.

Asked about reports of levee failures near the refinery the day after Ida hit, Phillips 66 spokesman Bernardo Fallas told AP there was “some water” in the facility and stressed that operations were shut down in advance of the storm.

Asked two days after the storm about potential environmental hazards emanating from the facility, Fallas referred a reporter to a statement on the company’s website saying its response is focused “on ensuring the safety and well-being of our employees and our surrounding communities.”

On Day Three, after the AP sent Phillips 66 aerial photos showing extensive flooding at the refinery and what appeared to be petroleum in the water, Fallas conceded the company could had “discovered a sheen of unknown origin in some flooded areas" of the refinery and that all pollution had been “secured and contained within refinery grounds” at that time.

A Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality assessment team sent to the refinery last week reported a sizable spill of heavy crude oil at the site was being addressed with booms and absorbent pads. A levee meant to protect the plant had breached, allowing floodwaters to flow in during the storm and then back out as the surge receded.

Despite the gap in the levee remaining open for days after the storm, Fallas once again asserted Thursday no oil spilled beyond the land owned by Phillips 66.

“The breach has been secured,” Fallas said Thursday. “Clean-up crews continue to remove oil and sheen contained within some flooded areas of the refinery. There has been no offsite impact. We continue to work with all appropriate regulatory agencies.”

No estimate for how much oil might have spilled from the refinery has yet been made public by state or federal regulators. When fully operational, the Alliance Refinery can process more than 255,000 barrels of crude oil per day into gasoline and other petroleum products.

The company listed the aging refinery for sale last month, before the storm hit, citing poor market conditions. The facility remained shut down Thursday, with no timetable to reopen.

Following inquires from AP, Fallas also confirmed Thursday that a Phillips 66 pipeline in an uninhabited area outside Paradis, Lousiana, leaked during Ida. Records show the company reported to the Coast Guard on Aug. 31 that 2,700 barrels of isobutane, a liquified flammable gas often used to fuel camping stoves, had spilled.

“The site was isolated and brought under control last week,” Fallas said Thursday. “The product vaporized to the atmosphere when it was released; there was no impact to soil or water. The pipeline remains shut down while repairs are underway.”

___

Follow AP Investigative Reporter Michael Biesecker at http://twitter.com/mbieseck

___

Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org.

Michael Biesecker, The Associated Press

This image provided by NOAA shows a long black slick floating in the Gulf of Mexico. 

The U.S. Coast Guard said it is investigating reports of possible oil spills resulting from Hurricane Ida after the publication of aerial photos by The Associated Press.

NOAA VIA AP

Photos captured by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration aircraft Tuesday, August 31, 2021, and reviewed by The Associated Press show a miles long black slick floating in the Gulf of Mexico near a large rig marked with the name Enterprise Offshore Drilling.NOAA VIA AP

 British Columbia

Fairy Creek protest now considered largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history

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882 arrests made so far at the old-growth logging protest on Vancouver Island surpasses Clayoquot Sound

Karin Larsen · CBC News · Posted: Sep 09, 2021 

Police prepare to arrest activists who chained themselves together to block a road into the headwaters of the Fairy Creek watershed on Saturday May 21, 2021. (Brad MacLeod)

With 882 arrests so far, the old-growth logging protest at Fairy Creek has now surpassed Clayoquot Sound as the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history, according to B.C. Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau.

"The civil disobedience occurring at Fairy Creek is the public taking recourse against a government that refuses to act," said Furstenau in a statement calling on the provincial government to do more to protect old-growth ecosystems.

In 1993, 856 arrests were made during months of logging protests at Clayoquot Sound, which became known as the "war in the woods." 

In its latest update, RCMP say 16 individuals were arrested at Fairy Creek on Tuesday as police removed obstructions and people locked inside trenches and on tripods along a forest service road.

The RCMP said it is also investigating a helicopter which may have had its identification markings illegally obscured, after intercepting a supply drop that included cement and materials to make locking devices.

Police arrest an activist at a blockade at Clayoquot Sound in 1993. (CBC)

"Anyone found to be aiding or abetting those breaching the B.C. Supreme Court injunction can also be charged," said the RCMP.

A spokesman for activist group Rainforest Flying Squad said loggers are preparing to cut old-growth adjacent to an area that was granted a two-year logging deferral in June. 

• Read more about the Fairy Creek logging protests in B.C.

"We're now at the point where River Camp, which has been occupied for the better part of seven months ... has now been aggressively cleared out and there is machinery waiting at the bottom of the hill to cut down thousand-year-old trees," said Luke Wallace.

"This whole story about the deferrals and the media storm that the government received, the positive media light ... is seemingly not meaning much because these forests are literally on the opposite bank of Fairy Creek — we're talking about contiguous forest that has been left unprotected and will be logged in the coming days."

A barrier set up by activists in the Fairy Creek watershed on Sunday May 30, 2021, to prevent Surrey-based Teal-Jones Group from logging in the area. (Kieran Oudshoorn/CBC)

Protest actions have been taking place in the Fairy Creek watershed since August 2020 to protect what is the last stand of old-growth not located in a park on southern Vancouver Island.

• LISTEN
  Inside the die-hard camp at B.C.'s Fairy Creek & the fight to protect old-growth trees

On April 1, 2021, the company that owns the logging rights in the contested area, Teal-Jones Group, was granted an injunction in B.C. Supreme Court prohibiting protesters from blocking access to roads and company activity.

RCMP began enforcing the injunction and arresting people in May, with tensions escalating through the summer and protesters levelling accusations police were using excessive force and obstructing media.

Application to extend injunction

Teal Cedar, a subsidiary of Teal-Jones, has applied to have the injunction extended beyond its Sept. 26 expiration date. The application is set to be heard over four days in Nanaimo next week.

"Our lawyers will be arguing the case that every day that the police have operated in the enforcement of this injunction, they've been there in direct violation of the law laid out in that injunction," said Wallace.

Furstenau says the provincial government is not meeting its commitment to protect old-growth. 

"We need to see permanent protection for these rare ecosystems, backed by economic support for affected communities and workers," she said.

The Clayoquot Sound action ended in 1994 with the promise of a provincial government review, which wound up reducing the annual allowable cut and clearcuts in the area to a maximum of four hectares. 

As of 2007, logging controlled by aboriginal-owned logging companies of some 10,000 hectares of forest is now allowed.

Security, anti-hate expert urge Trudeau to use caution with campaign 'mobs'

Wed., September 8, 2021,



OTTAWA — The time has come for Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau to start taking the protests dogging his campaign a little more seriously, a security expert and a member of an anti-hate group say.

While they don't think the threat has reached the level where he needs an American-style secret service bubble to protect him, they say the rising displays of anger dictate that he takes more precautions.

Trudeau's campaign has been repeatedly stalked by vocal groups of protesters — he has called them "anti-vaxxermobs" — that have shouted racist and misogynist slurs at his security detail while hurling obscenities and, in some cases, death threats at the Liberal leader.

The seriousness of the disruptions escalated noticeably on Monday when dozens of protesters, some carrying signs criticizing COVID-19 vaccines and lockdowns, surrounded Trudeau's campaign bus in London, Ont., and threw a handful of gravel at him.

The RCMP declined to comment on what extra precautions they might be talking, beyond saying they constantly review their safety measures.

But a retired RCMP officer who served in the protection details of former prime ministers says Trudeau needs to reconsider the political gain of doing such events, because the next time he could face something more dangerous than gravel.

"Next time, maybe it'll be something harder, or pointier or hotter, and these things have a tendency to ramp up, particularly when you're dealing with people now who are under this long-term stress of having been locked up due to COVID," says Mathers, the founder of an international security consultancy.

"We all have friends that we thought were normal, and we see now that they're perhaps not so much. And these are the kinds of people that are coming out."

Mathers' previous protection assignments included serving on the security detail of Brian Mulroney in the 1980s when the then-prime minister sparked angry protests by showing friendship to American president Ronald Reagan. Mathers was in the Quebec City hotel when the two leaders sang "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" as angry protesters slammed metal barricades outside.

Mathers dismisses some pundits who have opined that Canada needs to adopt a harder security line akin to the U.S. Secret Service. He says comparing the protection requirements of an American president to a Canadian prime minister is "apples to oranges."

Mathers says he knows his ex-colleagues are taking the threats extremely seriously today and are dealing with a client — Trudeau — who is also heeding their advice quite closely.

"My friends who protect the PM did say one thing about him — he always stays in the box, which is in the square of bodyguards, unlike some of the other prime ministers," Mathers says.

Evan Balgord, the executive director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, says it is possible that some of those following Trudeau could be fantasizing about using violence against their perceived enemies.

PM TRUDEAU HATED EVEN THEN BY THE RIGHT

In their view, those would include Trudeau and public health officials who they blame for the COVID-19 lockdowns,he adds.

Balgord says the groups that have been stalking Trudeau's campaign across the country are organized and believe in conspiracy theories around COVID-19 pandemic.

"I am actually a little bit surprised that more precautions haven't been taken by the prime minister's entourage in particular, to try to keep him safe," Balgord said.

"An unstable person in that environment might take it upon themselves to act out on everybody's shared fantasy of killing the prime minister."

Balgord describes the groups that have been protesting against Trudeau as a "violent insurrectionist movement" that doesn't believe in democracy or in science.

Although the anti-lockdowns movement is "loose" and includes many who are not members of hate groups, it still contains many extreme far-right groups, he says.

He says these groups are organizing their protests in chats groups that his organization monitors on Facebook and Telegram, which allows far-right activists to try to further radicalize those who believe in COVID-19 conspiracy theories. He says they are spreading racist and anti-LGBTQ messages.

Mathers says Trudeau's security detail is also trying to track hostile movements in cyberspace, but the challenges there are growing as more people turn to encrypted apps to cover their tracks.

But he also says the protesters are not as sophisticated as some fear, noting they are getting their information from social media.

"Some people fall victim to their more basic desires, and urges," he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 8, 2021.

Mike Blanchfield and Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press

Fact check: have GHG emissions risen under Trudeau?
Wed., September 8, 2021

Have emissions gone up in Trudeau's tenure as Prime Minister, as the NDP says? 

(Eddy Kennedy/CBC - image credit)

The NDP attacked Justin Trudeau and the Liberals' record on climate change Tuesday, asserting that in spite of big promises, the Grits have failed to lower greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in Canada.

Trudeau and Singh traded barbs Tuesday on the campaign trail over plans to address climate change and lower emissions.

"In 2016, Justin Trudeau ratified the Paris Agreement with a commitment to reduce emissions to 30% below 2005 levels by 2030. He promised 'an ambitious plan to reduce emissions,'" the NDP said in a news release.

"Since then, Canada's emissions have only grown – faster than any other G7 nation."

In signing the Paris Climate Agreement, the government initially committed to lowering emissions to 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. The Liberal government has since adopted a more ambitious target of 40 to 45 per cent by 2030.

But have emissions gone up since that agreement was signed in 2016, which was also the first full year of Justin Trudeau's Liberal government?

With climate change a top issue for many voters this election, CBC decided to fact-check that charge.

What goes up may come down

Strictly speaking, the NDP's statement is true when looking at the official data currently available.

In 2016, Canada's GHG emissions were 707 megatonnes (Mt) of carbon dioxide equivalent, according to government data. In 2019, the most recent year data are available, that number was 730. Emissions rose slightly from 2018 to 2019 from 728 to 730.

But there are some important nuances to the issue, experts say. The lack of data for 2020, for example, may help the NDP's point.

"It's good that they didn't include 2020, because with COVID of course there were lots of dramatic changes to activity and thus also to emissions," said Felix Pretis, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Victoria and co-director of the Climate Econometrics Research Project.

Canada's greenhouse gas emissions since 1990

Kathryn Harrison, a professor of political science at the University of British Columbia who studies climate politics, agrees.

"It is very likely that they fell from 2019 to 2020, because of economic contraction during the pandemic — but we don't have that data yet."

It's important to note that GHG emissions have mostly levelled off since the turn of the millennium after rising steadily throughout the nineties.

One might conclude, based on the veracity of the NDP's claim, that the Trudeau government's policies on climate change aren't effective at reducing emissions. But both Pretis and Harrison say that's not necessarily the case.

Pretis cites the introduction of carbon pricing as an example, which came into effect in 2019.

"We wouldn't expect to see a change in emissions in the same year," he said. "When you put this sort of mechanism in place, a pricing mechanism, it takes a couple of years until we really see a change."

"This past performance of 2016 to 2019 is not necessarily indicative of future performance."

He adds that as the price on carbon goes up — the party plans to raise it to $170 per tonne by 2030 — the policy will have even more of an impact.

CBC

Harrison says it's a policy "lag" the NDP could expect to see with many of its own pledges on fighting climate change.

She also points out that the Liberals have never promised that GHG emission reductions would be linear — that a drop would start in 2016 and continue all the way until reaching the Paris Agreement target in 2030. The Liberals, in other words, may still be able to claim that their plan to reduce emissions and combat climate change is ambitious and on track.

"When you're on an upward trajectory, policies that are working may initially only level off emissions," Harrison said.

"It would be interesting to see how Mr. Singh's government would deliver immediate reductions.".

Pretis adds that while Canada has seen a small rise in absolute emissions from 2016 to 2019, emissions per capita have been roughly flat.

Most of the growth, the two experts say, is because of changes in transportation and oil and gas extraction.

Comparing Canada

The NDP may have good reason to single out Canada within the G7.

Many European countries have seen emissions fall in the past few years, an accomplishment Canada cannot claim. The UK saw GHG emissions drop 2.8 per cent in 2019 compared with the previous year.

"They introduced climate legislation much earlier," Pretis said. "So we have the UK Climate Change Act, which came into effect in the late 2000s, that really started biting a couple of years after that."

The European Union, Harrison says, deserves particular praise in this area. It saw a 3.7 per cent decline in GHG emissions from 2018 to 2019.

"The EU has really led in ambitious climate policies," she said.

The U.S. has seen a decline in emissions since 2005, but not because of a determined government plan — it's largely because coal has become less economical as a power source.

Harrison notes that Canada's population growth may be contributing to its comparatively poor performance in lowering emissions. Canada's population has grown more quickly than Germany's over the past two decades, for example.

While both experts say there are caveats to the NDP's criticism, they still say it's important that Canada lower emissions and not just keep them steady.

"It's important to be forward looking," Pretis said.

"We will need high levels of carbon pricing in order to see a substantial change in emissions, and that's ultimately where we have to get to if we want to reach net zero, which is something that we should all be doing."

Fact check: True.

How rising tennis star Leylah Fernandez overcame pushback en route to U.S. Open


Wed., September 8, 2021,

As a young girl, Leylah Fernandez first dreamed of becoming a soccer player, just like her father. But he had other ideas.

"I don't believe a child should go into a sport because her parents are in it," Jorge Fernandez said. "I want it to belong to her."

A little more than a decade after picking up a racquet, Fernandez, 19, has convincingly laid claim to tennis, preparing to compete in the U.S. Open semifinals, the most important match of her career to date.

She took New York by storm and by surprise, defeating defending champion Naomi Osaka and former world No. 1 Angelique Kerber — but Montrealers who know her from her childhood say it was a long time coming.

The rising tennis star had to overcome pushback on her home turf long before getting her shot at a match in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Leylah Fernandez/Instagram

Fernandez, center, and her family moved from Quebec to Florida to help her career. (Leylah Fernandez/Instagram - image credit)

As a budding tennis player, she learned the sting of rejection early in her career when Tennis Quebec's development program dropped her when she was only seven years old.

"When she found out, she was really heartbroken," Jorge said, holding back tears.

"Some kids get disappointed and then they're off to the next new toy, but she felt it."

Since then, Jorge has coached his daughter, despite not having any previous tennis experience.

Early on, he entertained the possibility of her wanting to quit after a couple of years, but she never did.

Love-Star Alexis, a high school friend of Fernandez at École secondaire Antoine de Saint-Exupéry who used to practise with her on the tennis courts, says she knew her former classmate always had the potential to become a superstar.

Alexis said she remembers Fernandez spending at least three hours a day on the courts, repeating the same shots over and over with her father, and devoting an additional hour to fitness training.

Submitted by Love-Star Alexis

"A lot of people don't put in that much work and also manage school," Alexis said. "I remember people would say 'Oh my God, she's so crazy for training so much, it's not going to lead anywhere,' but she proved the exact opposite."

Her former high school classmate Kylian Mairesse says the reserved Fernandez often missed class for competitions, but her fellow students celebrated her victories — if they found out about them.

"She wasn't someone who ever bragged about winning," he said.

To close friends, Alexis said, Fernandez is "really talkative and really funny" but also "always focused."

Sylvain Bruneau, head of Women's Pro and Transition Tennis for Tennis Canada, said he recalls Fernandez's sheer determination to succeed, even at age 11.

"She's not a big player, but she has a huge heart and huge determination," he said.

"I was really impressed, even then, with her ability to take the ball so early … [and] just the way she was able to focus for 90 minutes non-stop."

"In the tennis world these days, the girls are extremely big and very tall and strong, and she's a little different."

Bruneau said Fernandez's agility and, above all, her mental strength compensate for her "schoolgirl" stature, adding that her success in the game would popularize tennis among young women.

"I think she shows everybody, if you really want it bad and you're willing to do whatever it takes, everything is possible," Bruneau said.

Despite her newfound fame, her father says coming from a "two-car and mortgage" home keeps Fernandez grounded.

But he, like those who knew her as she worked to greatness, also understood that Fernandez's determination would take her places.

"It's expected. We trained so hard," he said.

"It was just a matter of waiting for it to transition to the big stage."

Submitted by Love-Star Alexis

As some countries welcome Afghanistan's refugees, others want to keep them out

Thu., September 9, 2021

Afghan refugees are shown at a Red Cross camp in Avezzano, Italy, on Aug. 31. 

(Andrew Medichini/The Associated Press - image credit)

As pictures of desperation were beamed from Kabul's airport last month, showing thousands of Afghans trying to escape the Taliban and get out however they could, French President Emmanuel Macron went on national TV.

France, he said, needs to "protect itself from a wave of migrants" heading for Europe, declining to say, for now, if it will take more Afghan refugees.

In another corner of the European Union, Croatian President Zoran Milanović declared "all of them should find their place in the United States."

"It's no longer 2015," he said, referring to Europe's last refugee crisis, when 1.3 million people sought asylum there — led by a wave of those fleeing the war in Syria, but which also included many Afghans.

A smaller but steady flow of Afghan migrants has continued ever since, as fighting persisted in the country, then accelerated as the U.S. announced it was preparing to leave after 20 years of conflict.

Last year, well over three million Afghans found their way abroad.

Top 20 countries that took in Afghan refugees in 2020

While Afghanistan's latest humanitarian emergency grows, the UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, says "our own monitoring is not confirming any kind of large movements of population outside of Afghanistan."

It's a different story inside the country of 39 million. UNHCR estimates some 570,000 Afghans have left their homes since the start of the year, gravitating to larger cities like Kabul. Around 80 per cent of these internally displaced people are women and children, according to the UN agency.

Some of them may make it out of Afghanistan eventually, but there are few international commercial flights and land crossings are unpredictable and sometimes dangerous.

CBC

With options limited, few refugees reach Western borders, said UNHCR Canada spokewoman Melanie Gallant in an interview.

At this point, "it's not really a crisis" for Europe or the United States, she said, nor does the UNHCR expect it to become one.

Instead, it's neighbouring countries who are bearing the brunt of Afghanistan's flow of refugees.

The UNHCR is planning for up to 500,000 people in Pakistan, Iran and other nearby countries, though Gallant estimates the actual numbers haven't approached that yet, as Afghans who want to flee may not have the means or the necessary visas to leave.

K.M. Chaudary/The Associated Press

Last month, immediately after Kabul fell, more than 100,000 people were hastily airlifted out of Afghanistan by the U.S. military and its coalition partners, including Canada. Those rescued were mainly a mix of foreign nationals and Afghans who worked closely with NATO troops, making them potential targets for a vengeful Taliban.

Officials in Ottawa say 3,500 people came to Canada during the mass evacuations: 1,500 to 2,000 Afghan citizens, and the rest Canadians or residents.

But Ottawa has committed to taking 20,000 Afghan refugees, including those it considers to be the most vulnerable — women, girls and members of Afghanistan's LGBTQ community, as well as those who worked with Canadian Forces.

Some 7,000 Afghans have already come to Canada in the last few years.

CBC News

The U.S. is preparing for 34,000 new arrivals, with many staying in third countries — Colombia and Uganda, for example — temporarily for security screening and processing.

The U.K. has also promised to take in 20,000 Afghan refugees: 5,000 in 2021 and the rest in the coming years.

Still, other countries are firmly closing their doors. Turkey's military has been sent to evict refugees already inside its borders and to prevent new ones from coming in, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisting that his country would not become the EU's "migrant storage unit."

CBC

Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared that Moscow "doesn't want militants under the guise of refugees."

China is also not accepting any Afghan refugees, worried, in part, that they could import unwelcome religious and political ideas to Xinjiang, the region bordering Afghanistan. It's also the region where Beijing has been working forcefully to supress the local Uyghur population and Muslim practices.

Driven by a mix of violence, fear and rising uncertainty as the Taliban consolidates control in Afghanistan, Gallant cautions that the flow of those displaced is a "volatile situation," which could still upend current estimates and predictions.

Biden, Dems push Civilian Climate Corps in echo of New Deal

Wed., September 8, 2021



WASHINGTON (AP) — Inspired by the New Deal-era Civilian Conservation Corps, President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats are pushing for a modern counterpart: a Civilian Climate Corps that would create hundreds of thousands of jobs building trails, restoring streams and helping prevent catastrophic wildfires.

Building on Biden's oft-repeated comment that when he thinks of climate change, he thinks of jobs, the White House says the $10 billion program would address both priorities as young adults find work installing solar panels, planting trees, digging irrigation ditches and boosting outdoor recreation.

“We must seize this opportunity to build a big, bold pathway to critical careers, for a diverse generation of Americans ready to take on this existential crisis that we face,'' said Ali Zaidi, deputy White House climate adviser. "It’s national service meets family-supporting careers meets the moment.''

The effort comes as the White House and many Democrats are intensifying their focus on climate change after a series of devastating storms recently battered much of the nation. Touring neighborhoods in New York and New Jersey this week that were devastated by flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Ida, Biden said climate change has become “everybody's crisis.”

“The threat is here. It is not getting any better,” Biden said. “The question is can it get worse?”

The proposed climate corps was not included in a bipartisan infrastructure bill approved by the Senate, but it is a key part of an emerging $3.5 trillion package backed by Democrats to help families and address climate change. A vote in the House on both bills could occur by the end of the month.

Rep. Joe Neguse, a Colorado Democrat who has co-sponsored a climate corps bill, said it's important to train the next generation of U.S. land managers, park rangers and other stewards of our natural resources.

“This bold investment is a necessary response to the climate crisis and prioritizes the maintenance and upkeep of public lands,'' he said.

While the jobs should pay at least $15 an hour, those likely to join the climate corps “are not doing it for the compensation,'' Neguse said. "They know it's important to connect to nature and do important work for their state and the nation.''

Details are still being worked out, but Neguse and other Democrats say the program should pay “a living wage'' while offering health care coverage and support for child care, housing, transportation and education.

David Popp, a professor of public administration at Syracuse University, said a key distinction between the original Civilian Conservation Corps and the new climate contingent is that the U.S. economy is not in a depression — great or otherwise — as it was during Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency.

While U.S. employers added just 235,000 jobs in August, the unemployment rate decreased slightly to 5.2% as the economy continues to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

Most of those being targeted for the new climate corps “could find employment elsewhere,'' Popp said, noting a proliferation of help-wanted signs at retail businesses across the nation.

"I don't know that an unemployed coal worker in West Virginia is going to move to Montana to take a minimum-wage job to restore streams,'' he said.

On the other hand, some of his own students are highly motivated by the climate crisis and may want to spend a year or two on an outdoor job that helps address an existential threat to the planet, Popp said.

"Many young people are very passionate about the environment, and they may see this as an opportunity to do something about the environment and still get paid for it,'' he said.

Republicans largely dismiss the climate corps as a do-gooder proposal that would waste money and could even take away jobs from workers displaced by the pandemic and the push for so-called green jobs.

“My grandfather worked for the CCC, and I remember him telling me how terrible it was, how backbreaking the work was,” said Arkansas Rep. Bruce Westerman, the top Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee.

“We don’t need another FDR program, and the idea that this is going to help land management is a false idea as well,” Westerman said.

At a committee meeting last week, Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ore., called the proposed climate corps “delusional,'' adding: "Why would we think people are going to suddenly jump at doing really, really hard, dirty, dangerous work because we offer them $15 an hour? That’s not going to happen.”

In a widely circulated piece, the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial page said Democrats want to "expand government into every corner of American life. It isn’t enough to lecture Americans about the supposed perils of climate change. Now they also want to tax you and other Americans to pay your children to spend years lecturing you.''

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., a prominent supporter of the climate corps, said such criticism overlooks important benefits.

The program will help communities recover from climate disasters such as Hurricane Ida and Western wildfires while creating “good-paying jobs that can turn into clean-economy careers,'' Markey said. In the process, the climate corps will “make the country a safer, healthier place that can compete in the global economy,'' he added.

"As the West Coast fights fires and the East Coast fights storms and smoke, the editorial board fights straw men,'' Markey said in a letter to the newspaper.

The urgency of the climate crisis “recalls past chapters of national mobilization,'' Neguse said. “In standing up the Civilian Climate Corps, we will build on that legacy and existing infrastructure to meet the challenges of today.”

Matthew Daly, The Associated Press

Biden Shifts Balance of FERC to Democrats With a Nomination

Ari Natter and Mark Chediak
Thu., September 9, 2021



(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden plans to nominate a Washington utility regulator to fill the remaining open seat at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, potentially tipping the panel’s balance of power in favor of Democrats.

Willie Phillips Jr., the chair of the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia, would replace former FERC Commissioner Neil Chatterjee, who stepped down at the end of last month. Phillips’s appointment, if confirmed by the Senate, would give the top U.S. energy regulatory agency commission a majority of members appointed by Democrats.

The independent five-member agency, which plays a role overseeing liquefied natural gas export facilities, gas pipelines and wholesale power markets, is poised to play a pivotal part of fulfilling Biden’s clean-energy ambitions.

The commission could help Biden deliver on those promises by propelling a massive build-out of transmission lines to connect remote solar and wind farms to towns and cities. The agency could also make it more difficult to build natural gas pipelines.

Commissioners serve five-year terms at the bipartisan agency. The White House designates the chair.

“As the Biden administration advances its plans to tackle the climate crisis and create a clean electricity grid by 2035, FERC will maintain an important role regulating the transmission of renewable energy across the country,” the White House said in a statement obtained by Bloomberg announcing the intent to nominate Phillips.

Phillips is a relatively uncontroversial choice, which could boost his chances of swift Senate confirmation, ClearView Energy Partners said in a research note. He’s is more of a technician and a green pragmatist than a politician or progressive, according to the note.

Progressive Opposition

Some progressive environmental activists, including more than 400 green groups that had pushed other candidates for the job, opposed the nomination.

“This is a disappointing selection,” Food & Water Watch policy director Mitch Jones said in a statement. “Willie Phillips has spent his career working on the side of the oil and gas industry and electric utility giants.”

West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, who leads the panel that would approve the nomination, said in a statement that he looked forward to having Phillips appear before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and “will carefully examine his record and qualifications to serve in this important role.”

The agency dictates how electricity is bought and sold in wholesale markets, which are where most utilities get their power. And the commission’s decisions governing gas pipelines can give developers a green light to invoke eminent domain and install projects on private land.

Phillips, a lawyer with nearly 20 years of legal experience as a utility regulator, led the District Public Service Commission’s efforts to modernize the energy grid and implement the city’s clean energy and climate goals, according to the White House. Before that, he was an assistant general counsel for the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, a regulatory body.

Polish Senate rejects media bill affecting US-owned company

Thu., September 9, 2021

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's Senate voted on Thursday to reject a media bill seen as targeting a U.S.-owned television network's ability to keep broadcasting independent news that is often critical of the right-wing government.

However, the Senate has no power to stop the bill altogether, as it will now return to parliament's lower house. If it passes there, it would then go to President Andrzej Duda — who, however, has said he would not sign it into law in its current form.

The bill, which passed parliament's lower house last month, would prevent any non-European entity from owning more than a 49% stake in television or radio broadcasters in Poland.

Its practical effect would be to force Discovery Inc., the U.S. owner of Poland’s largest private television network, TVN, to sell its Polish holdings.

The nationalist governing party, Law and Justice, argues that it's a matter of national security to prevent outside bodies from being able to influence public opinion within Poland.

Bogdan Klich, a senator with the opposition party Civic Platform, called the law an “act of war against freedom of speech.”

Pavol Szalaj, a representative of the Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders traveled to Warsaw to urge its rejection, saying to a group of protesters outside the Senate ahead of the vote that press freedom in Poland is under threat. He cited other threats in the past to media diversity and said that the today's target is TVN.

“TVN has been a jewel in the crown of Polish democracy for decades,” he said.

Senators in the 100-seat body voted 53-37 against the bill, with three abstentions. When it returns to the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, the vote on the bill will also be a test of whether the ruling party still has a legislative majority following some defections in the governing coalition.

TVN also faces a separate challenge: A refusal to date by the broadcast authority to renew the license for TVN24, the network's all-news station, which expires later this month.

Kasia Kieli, Discovery’s president and managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said that despite the Senate's vote the company is “still concerned about the future of TVN and independent media in Poland as the bill can still be passed by the Sejm and the license for our news channel TVN24 is still not renewed.”

Duda, though an ally of Law and Justice, last month called the bill “a controversial solution that is incomprehensible" to the United States, citing the U.S. attitude toward the protection of property and freedom of speech.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month that the U.S. was “deeply troubled” by the proposed legislation.

Vanessa Gera, The Associated Press

THE WAR ON VAPING

FDA delays decision on e-cigarettes from vaping giant Juul

Thu., September 9, 2021,


WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials on Thursday delayed a high-stakes decision on whether to permit bestselling vaping brand Juul to stay on the market, while banning the sale of thousands of other electronic cigarettes.

The Food and Drug Administration said it rejected applications for nearly 950,000 e-cigarettes and related products, mainly due to their potential appeal to underage teens. Some of the products are currently being sold while many others were only proposed by manufacturers. But the agency didn't rule on Juul, the most popular brand with adult smokers and many teens.

Parents, politicians and anti-tobacco advocates have pressured the FDA for years to ban Juul's high-nicotine devices, which many blame for the recent spike in underage vaping. But the agency said it would need more time to rule on that company's products.

“There’s more work to be done to complete our remaining reviews and ensure that we continue taking appropriate action to protect our nation’s youth from the dangers of all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes,” the agency said in a statement. The agency noted 80% of teens and children who vape use flavored products.

Thursday’s action is part of a sweeping review by the FDA to bring scientific scrutiny to the multibillion-dollar vaping industry after years of regulatory delays. The agency has yet to authorize any vaping product as a less harmful option for smokers.

The FDA faced a court deadline Thursday to issue decisions on marketing applications from Juul and hundreds of other companies. The date was set by a federal judge after anti-tobacco groups successfully sued the FDA to speed up its review.

To stay on the market, companies must show that their e-cigarettes benefit public health. In practice, that means proving that adult smokers who use the products are likely to quit or reduce their smoking, while teens are unlikely to get hooked on them.

FDA regulators previously said they would prioritize Juul and a handful of other key players, but none were included in the agency's announcement.

The delay was immediately panned by anti-vaping groups.

“This is an outrageous move by FDA,” said Meredith Berkman, co-founder of Parents Against Vaping E-cigarettes. “Millions of families whose kids’ lives have been upended by the youth vaping epidemic created by Juul have waited long enough for action.”

The FDA didn't indicate when it might rule on Juul and other major manufacturers. Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said his group will go back to court if the FDA doesn’t clarify its timeline for the remaining decisions.

E-cigarettes first appeared in the U.S. more than a decade ago with the promise of providing smokers with a less harmful alternative to smoking traditional tobacco cigarettes. The devices heat a nicotine solution into a vapor that’s inhaled.

But there has been little rigorous study of whether the e-cigarettes truly help smokers quit. And efforts by the FDA to begin vetting vaping products and their claims were repeatedly slowed by industry lobbying and competing political interests.

Today, the vaping market includes hundreds of companies selling an array of devices and nicotine solutions in various flavors and strengths. But the vast majority of the market is controlled by a few companies including Juul Labs Inc. — which is partially owned by tobacco giant Altria — and Vuse, part of cigarette maker R.J. Reynolds.

Juul accounts for nearly half of the $4 billion U.S. market but sales have fallen sharply from when the company controlled more than 75%. In 2019, the company was pressured into halting all advertising and pulling all of its flavors except for menthol and tobacco.

The FDA received applications for more than 6 million vaping products. The agency said Thursday it has taken action on 93% of those applications, including for 4.5 million products that were immediately rejected because they were missing key information.

It is still reviewing a smaller number of applications for other non-traditional tobacco products like hookahs, pipes and mini cigars. Those products weren’t covered by the original 2009 law that first gave the FDA authority to oversee some parts of the industry, including the review of new products. Also awaiting review: larger vaping devices with refillable tanks that are mainly popular with adults and sell at specialty vape shops.

The vaping issue took on new urgency in 2018 when Juul’s high-nicotine, fruity-flavored cartridges became a nationwide craze among middle and high school students, leading the FDA to declare an “epidemic” of underage vaping. Last year, the FDA limited flavors in those small vaping devices to just tobacco and menthol, and teen vaping dropped. But the question of whether e-cigarettes should be sold at all remained.

Most experts agree the chemicals contained in e-cigarette vapor are less harmful than tobacco smoke, which contains thousands of cancer-causing chemicals.

“E-cigs and other reduced harm products present a fantastic opportunity to replace cigarettes with far less dangerous products,” said Jonathan Foulds, an addiction and public health specialist at Penn State University. “But I’m concerned this may be the start of an overly aggressive regulation for e-cigarettes — especially compared to how we treat regular cigarettes.”

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Matthew Perrone, The Associated Press