Exxon lobbyist suggests climate change not 'catastrophic, inevitable' risk in undercover recording



Wed, November 24, 2021

A lobbyist for Exxon expressed doubt that climate change carries "catastrophic, inevitable risk" in remarks made earlier this month, which were obtained by the watchdog group Documented.

In the Nov. 9 remarks to the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, lobbyist Erik Oswald states, "The way I look at it as a scientist is, all's I need to think about is, is there, is there a risk? Yes, there's risk. Is it catastrophic, inevitable risk? Not in my mind. But there's risk."

"And so if we're going to work on this, you know, as a, as a society, if we're going to work on this risk, then my only ask is, let's do it as efficiently as possible," Oswald continues in the recording.

"Find me the cheapest way to put the most CO2 in the ground," he says in reference to carbon-capture technology. "And that's what I'm willing to engage in a conversation on."

In the recording, first reported by The Washington Post, Oswald says the company thinks of such technology "not as the crusaders who are going to be the climate fix" but rather "looking at markets," comparing the business opportunities of a "green premium" to consumers' willingness to buy sugar-free foods.

"The statements lack appropriate context and are not representative of the company's positions on important issues, including climate change and carbon capture," Casey Norton, a spokesman for ExxonMobil, said in a statement to The Hill. "ExxonMobil has long acknowledged that climate change is real and poses serious risks. In addition to our substantial investments in next generation technologies, ExxonMobil also advocates for responsible climate-related policies."

Exxon leaders have said they acknowledge the reality of climate change and fossil fuels' contribution to it, and that they take the threat seriously. In October testimony before the House Oversight Committee, CEO Darren Woods testified that the energy company "does not ask people to lobby anything different than our publicly supported position."

The testimony came months after the release of another recording, in which Exxon lobbyist Keith McCoy told an undercover Greenpeace activist that the company "[fought] against some of the science" and has only expressed support for carbon pricing as a "talking point." The company has disavowed his comments.

- Updated at 5:35 p.m.

Volcanic eruptions proving to be double-edged sword in Canary Islands

Mary Gilbert
Thu, November 25, 2021

More than two months after eruptions first began, the Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma, one of Spain's Canary Islands, continues to create new issues for residents. Since mid-September, residents have had to deal with a slew of hazards including ever-expanding flows of molten lava, homes buried by ash fallout and earthquakes, just to name a few.

Additional risks developed early this week after a third lava flow crashed into the ocean and set off a chemical reaction.

As the hot, molten lava met the relatively cool ocean on Monday, thick clouds of potentially toxic gases were lofted into the atmosphere and forced authorities to order a lockdown for residents of three coastal towns, according to Reuters. Residents of Tazacorte, San Borondon and portions of El Cardon were ordered to remain indoors with doors and windows shut for safety.

Even residents on the opposite side of the island from the most recent lava flow were told to take precautions early this week. In Santa Cruz, the capital city of La Palma, officials recommended that residents wear masks due to high concentrations of particulate matter and sulfur dioxide in the air, Reuters reported.

This was the first time since the Cumbre Vieja volcano began to erupt on Sept. 19 that such a recommendation was made for the capital city, home to 15,000 residents.

Although coastal lockdowns were lifted on Wednesday after the toxic gas began to disperse, masking recommendations remained in place, according to Reuters.

Since the eruption began, more than 7,000 people on the island have been forced to evacuate, according to Diario AS. At least one death has been attributed to the volcano.

Thus far, the eruption has covered about 2,654 acres (1,074 hectares) of land and led to the destruction of more than 2,600 buildings on the western side of the island, according to Copernicus Emergency Management Service, which provides mapping products based on satellite imagery.

In addition to the destruction of buildings, La Palma's banana crop has also suffered significant losses. The island's banana industry has lost an estimated $100 million USD in revenue since September, according to NPR.

Of the lava's 2,654 acres (1,074 hectares) extent, about 106 acres (43 hectares) is actually newly-formed land that was created as a result of lava flowing into the Atlantic Ocean, according to Reuters.

While thousands of buildings have been swallowed by the lava, leaving thousands without a place to live, and some banana crops that are crucial to the island's economy have been destroyed, experts say volcanic activity is actually vital for the survival of the island itself.

"If this didn't happen, the islands would be completely eroded by the sea. We wouldn't have a place to live. So, while it is destructive and traumatic, it is a constructive process. The island is expanding and growing," Carmen Solana told NPR. Solana is a volcanologist at the University of Portsmouth and grew up in the Canary Islands.

Experts say prolonged eruptions are not unusual for the region, which was formed by volcanic activity millions of years ago. Solana says the kind of prolonged eruptions like the one underway on La Palma can typically last between one and three months.

The lengthy eruption continues to disrupt operations at the La Palma Airport, located on the eastern coast of the island. The airport was shut down last weekend after ash buried the runway, leaving some passengers stranded on the island and forcing others to take a ferry to nearby islands.

The airport resumed operations on Thursday after the ash was cleaned, but officials cautioned the continued presence of the ash cloud in the atmosphere could still disrupt operations of individual airlines.

On Friday, a new fissure opened up on the volcano and ash once again covered the airport, shutting down operations.

La Palma volcano, live updates today: eruption, tsunami warning and latest news | Canary Island

AS USA

Update 26 November 2021

Cumbre Vieja volcano: latest news

Headlines

- New lava flow from fresh fissure has "almost stopped", La Palma local government says

- Canary Islands regional premier promises more homes for those displaced by eruption

- Lockdown lifted in La Palma

- All flights to and from La Palma remain suspended on Friday

- Optimism that La Palma airport will be able to operate on Saturday

- Cumbre Vieja rated at alert level 3

- First V-VI intensity earthquake recorded on La Palma

- Cumbre Vieja eruption has been active for over two months, having started on 19 September

Useful information

- AS speaks to expert in volcanology about the effects of lava reaching the sea

- The lowdown on the active volcanoes on the Canary Islands

- Where are most volcanoes found on Earth

REST IN POWER
Oregon-born gray wolf dies after 'epic' California trek


FILE - This February 2021 released by California Department of Fish and Wildlife, shows a gray wolf OR93, near Yosemite, Calif. An Oregon-born gray wolf that thrilled biologists as it journeyed far south into California was found dead after apparently being struck by a vehicle, authorities said Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2021. No foul play was suspected in the death of the male wolf known as OR93, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a press release.

 (California Department of Fish and Wildlife via AP, File)More

Wed, November 24, 2021,


SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — An Oregon-born gray wolf that thrilled biologists as it journeyed far south into California was found dead after apparently being struck by a vehicle, authorities said Wednesday.

No foul play was suspected in the death of the male wolf known as OR93, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a news release. Gray wolves are listed as endangered in California, where they were wiped out by the 1920s.

“Before his demise, he was documented traveling the farthest south in California since wolves returned to the state, which is historically wolf habitat. The last documented wolf that far south was captured in San Bernardino County in 1922,” the department said.

A truck driver reported spotting the dead wolf on Nov. 10 near the Kern County town of Lebec, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

The carcass was located along a dirt trail near a frontage road running parallel to Interstate 5, and a warden who responded quickly identified the wolf as OR93 because of a radio tracking collar it wore, the department said.

A necropsy performed at Wildlife Health Laboratory in Rancho Cordova found that the wolf had significant tissue trauma to its left rear leg, a dislocated knee and soft tissue trauma to the abdomen.

OR93 was born to the White River pack in northern Oregon in 2019. He went into California’s Modoc County on Jan. 30, 2021, returned to Oregon briefly, then again entered California on Feb. 4 and headed south.

His last collar transmission was from the central coast’s San Luis Obispo County on April 5. By then he had traveled at least 935 miles (1,505 kilometers) in California, the wildlife department said.

OR93 was among a small number of gray wolves that have begun coming to California from other states.

“I’m devastated to learn of the death of this remarkable wolf, whose epic travels across California inspired the world,” Amaroq Weiss, senior wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.

“In this annual time of reflection, I thank him for the hope he gave us and for a brief glimpse into what it would be like for wolves to roam wild and free again,” Weiss said.

Flight PS752 tragedy: Passengers on doomed plane used as 'human shield', Iran tampered with electronic devices, new report says

MANY WERE CANADIAN IRANIANS


KIEV, UKRAINE - 2021/01/08: Relatives and colleagues seen during the ceremony at the site of the future monument. In memory of the victims of the flight PS752 on the first anniversary of the plane crash. Boeing 737-800 passenger plane flight PS752 of Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) crashed near the International Airport of Imam Khomeini in Tehran, Iran, shortly after taking off on January 8, 2020. All 176 people on board the airliner died. Among them 11 Ukrainians - two passengers and nine crew members. Passengers of the airliner were citizens of Iran, Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan, Germany, and Great Britain. (Photo by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)More

Elisabetta Bianchini
Thu, November 25, 2021,

A newly released report from the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims claims the Iranian government deliberately did not close the airspace to civilian flights, using passenger flights to "shield against possible American attacks."

At the highest levels of military alertness, the government of Iran used passenger flights as human shield against possible American attacks, by deliberately not closing the airspace to civilian flights.Report by Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims

On Jan. 8, 2020, 176 people on board the Ukrainian Airlines flight, including 55 Canadians and 30 permanent residents, were killed when the plane was shot down by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard after taking off from the Tehran airport.

KIEV, UKRAINE - 2021/01/08: Portraits of dead passengers and pilots displayed on a large screen during the ceremony at the site of the future monument. In memory of the victims of the flight PS752 on the first anniversary of the plane crash. Boeing 737-800 passenger plane flight PS752 of Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) crashed near the International Airport of Imam Khomeini in Tehran, Iran, shortly after taking off on January 8, 2020. All 176 people on board the airliner died. Among them 11 Ukrainians - two passengers and nine crew members. Passengers of the airliner were citizens of Iran, Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan, Germany, and Great Britain.

 (Photo by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Claims of tampering with electronic devices

The new report claims that electronics were deliberately tampered with, including missing memory cards.

"The bent electronics have raised questions and concerns among several families," the report states. "One likely explanation is that these electronics may have been bulldozed over in an attempt to destroy any potential evidence that victims recorded in the last minutes of their lives."

"Bulldozing the crash site and not delivering many electronic devices of passengers and flight crew clearly demonstrate the government of Iran’s attempts to systematically conceal the downing of flight PS752."

Examination of four devices showed damages that were "inconsistent with damages caused by a sudden and hard impact."

"The fact that these memory/data components are missing is not consistent with damage caused by a sudden and hard impact," the findings from former Toronto police homicide detective, Mark Mendelson, whose consulting firm examined electronic devices, reads.

"Moreover, the fact that screws were removed and covers pried open strongly suggests that concerted efforts were made to extract these components, rendering a review of data impossible."

The report goes on to claim that DNA testing on some victims' bodies did not align with the stated identification by Iranian authorities.

"This neglectfulness on the part of the government of Iran has had serious psychological consequences for families, some of whom did not receive the whole bodies of their loved ones and were given the remains of other victims instead," the report reads.

The report highlights that Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corp operator of the missile system that shot down the plane had "vast experience" with these systems and it is "difficult to imagine that the operator could not distinguish between an alleged cruise missile and PS752."

It also states that it is "highly unlikely" that the missile system operator "could not distinguish the aircraft from a cruise missile, as claimed by Iran."

"It is implausible that the missile system operator simply confused a much larger civilian aircraft, moving in more gradual patterns and at a slower speed, for a cruise missile," the report reads.

'We need urgent actionable support'

The Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims has been calling for domestic and international investigations, and continues to urge the Canadian government to facilitate a clarification of what happened on Jan. 8, 2020 with the necessary legal and political actions.

“The findings of our report reinforce why we need urgent actionable support and help from governments to facilitate the clarification and truth about what happened that led to the downing of Flight PS752,” a statement from Hamed Esmaeilion, president and spokesperson of the association, reads.

“It’s clear that this tragedy cannot be referred to as just a horrific combination of coincidences. Among logistical findings, the systematic concealment of the root cause of the crash, the destruction of evidence at the crash site, and Iran's vague and misleading reports, all indicate that the downing of Flight PS752 was deliberate.”

In collaboration with the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR), a joint submission has been filed with the UN to appoint an impartial fact-finding mission into the downing of Flight PS752.

“As we approach the two-year anniversary of the downing of Flight PS752, Iran continues to conceal evidence and do everything in their power to silence the victims and shield officials from accountability,” a statement from Honourable Irwin Cotler, RWCHR Chair and former Justice Minister of Canada.

“The report’s comprehensive body of evidence provides the necessary grounds to open domestic and international criminal investigations to bring the high-level perpetrators to justice.”

DRC
Flood damage exposes Kinshasa's unbridled urbanisation




Unplanned urbanisation and a lack of maintenance have caused roads

 to collapse in Kinshasa during the rainy season (AFP/ALEXIS HUGUET)

Marthe BOSUANDOLE
Fri, November 26, 2021, 7:05 AM·3 min read

The water transformed a main road into a ravine. It gutted homes, exposing their innards to the world. It left a school playground teetering on the edge of a precipice.

These images come from Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a population influx combined with scant urban planning has exposed many poor people to the impacts of extreme weather.

Millions of people have moved into the city in recent years, although the exact numbers are unknown as no census has been conducted for more than 30 years.

According to some estimates, the city is home to at least 12 million people, a doubling in two decades, out of a national population of some 90 million.

Many have built homes in areas where there has been little planning oversight, especially on hillsides where drains and channels are needed to cope with runoff during the rainy season.

In November 2019, forty Kinshasans died after heavy rains caused flooding and landslides -- but two years later, the problems posed by extreme rainfall remain.

A woman and a boy look through the collapsed wall of a house after a landslide in Kinshasa (AFP/ALEXIS HUGUET)

- Abyss -

At the top of a cliff in Kinshasa's southern district of Mont-Ngafula, disused water pipes hang in a void and residents must battle through a gully of shifting sand to reach the neighbouring district.

Floodwater dug out an asphalt avenue, replacing it with an abyss at least 15 metres (50 feet) deep, separating the University of Kinshasa from a Jesuit-run library, one of the biggest in Africa.

Widowed mother-of-seven Esperance Tsimba, 57, saw the earth swallow her shop and livelihood as the rains fell.

"I lost my business. Since then, it has been hard to send my children to school", she said.

Local residents are building dykes to protect their homes, piling up sandbags in the hope of slowing the landslide and diverting rainwater flows.

They staged a protest to demand action from the authorities, blocking Highway 1, which crosses the town, said resident Magloire Kangondi.

The authorities sent in a Chinese-owned construction vehicle, which has started to smooth out the sand on the road downstream.

But locals are worried that work will stop at a temporary fix, and not address the underlying problem.

"This isn't the first time that they've repaired the road -- it's been done several times without success," said Sylvain Nsumbu, headmaster of a primary school whose wall had fallen into the abyss.

Nsumbu said children as young as four had to cross the ravine to attend a kindergarten and that some parents even preferred not to send their offspring to school.

Christel Bulembi, an environment management specialist and community leader in the neighbourhood of Ngansele, said the solution was for the authorities to dig at least one rainwater retention pit to minimise the damage caused by runoff onto the road.

The state "must accept its responsibilities" by having allowed the neighbourhood to urbanise, and would win the local population's support by doing so, Bulembi suggested.

mbb/bmb/at/imm/ri

IMAGINE THIS IN ALBERTA

Oil gushing from Nigerian wellhead blasts hopes of those living nearby

#ECOCIDE

A view of an oil spill from a well head is pictured at Santa Barbara, in Nembe, Bayelsa

Fri, November 26, 2021,
By Tife Owolabi

NEMBE, Nigeria (Reuters) - Three weeks after the Santa Barbara wellhead failed, it is still blasting water, gas and oil across Nembe in Nigeria's Delta, littering the shoreline and water with yellow-brown clumps of waste as cleanup crews and booms struggle to contain it.

Santa Barbara wellhead owner Aiteo Eastern E&P, the petroleum minister and Nigeria's president have all promised that specialist workers would quickly stop the spill.

But experts say the difficulties containing it are a reminder of how the once-fertile, fish-filled creeks, mangrove swamps and waterways that crisscross Nigeria's Delta became some of the most polluted areas on the planet amid decades of energy exploration.

"The crayfish that I sell for a living, now they are all dead," said Afieyegha Seiyefa, showing her oil-covered hands after reaching into the water where just a few weeks ago she could fish for a living. "We cannot get anything."

Aiteo has said the high pressure of the leak made access to the wellhead difficult. In a statement on Friday, it said Halliburton subsidiary Boots and Coots would contain the leak within days and was mopping up oil with booms and barges.

Oil gushing from Nigerian wellhead blasts hopes of those living nearbyOil slick is seen on Santa Barbara creek, following an oil spill in Nembe Bayelsa

Environment minister Sharon Ikeazor told journalists this week that the government was considering tougher penalties for firms involved in spills.

Aiteo bought the Santa Barbara well from oil major Royal Dutch Shell in 2015.

Some locals and environmental activists had hoped domestic companies, with closer ties to the region, would be more effective in preventing spills. But local ownership is little comfort to Benson Daniel, the community development chairman of the Sandsand Fishing Settlement.

"We can't even cook in our house because we are scared we may start a fire," he said of the gas smell that permeates the air.

People living in the creeks around the Santa Barbara well say tougher regulatory action cannot come soon enough.

"People that are suffering in the area… they cannot do anything," Kelcy Agbenido, a youth leader for the Nembe-Bassambiri community, told Reuters.

(Reporting By Tife Owolabi, additional reporting by Temilade Adelaja; Writing by Libby George. Editing by Gerry Doyle)

Members of Nembe community paddle a canoe across Santa Barbara, following an oil spill in Santa Barbara, Nembe Bayelsa

Tesla’s Texas Battery Bet Costs Carmaker $1.3 Billion German Aid



Stefan Nicola and Arne Delfs
Fri, November 26, 2021

(Bloomberg) --

Tesla Inc. will forgo 1.14 billion euros ($1.3 billion) of state aid for the factory it’s building in Germany because it has decided to try to produce a new type of battery cell at scale in Texas first, a person familiar with the matter said.

The U.S. automaker has been working on so-called 4680 battery cells at a site near its car plant in Fremont, California. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said last year that after the company proved it could make them on a pilot assembly line there, it would manufacture them at scale at the factory it’s been constructing outside Berlin.

This made Tesla eligible to receive public funds from Germany as part of the European Union’s Important Project of Common European Interest initiative, which backs first industrial deployments of battery projects in member states. Now that Tesla has shifted gears and is further along producing 4680 cells at its factory under construction in Austin, Texas, it is no longer eligible for the money, according to the person, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.

Tesla informed German authorities it won’t tap the support package, Beate Baron, a spokesperson for the country’s Economy Ministry, said earlier Friday. She didn’t discuss the reason for the decision.

“It has always been Tesla’s view that all subsidies should be eliminated, but that must include the massive subsidies for oil & gas,” Musk tweeted after the ministry’s announcement. “For some reason, governments don’t want to do that …”

Musk, who also runs rocket maker Space Exploration Technologies Corp., has bristled for years at detractors faulting him for taking advantage of government support. Examples of this include the U.S. loan that helped Tesla get the Model S sedan into production, which the company paid back early. SpaceX is a major contractor for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and U.S. Defense Department.

After his initial post, Musk revisited a three-and-a-half-year-old exchange with another Twitter user who criticized Tesla and SpaceX’s use of subsidies.

“Combined Tesla+SpaceX market cap is now over $1.2T,” wrote Musk, who then took issue again with a figure mentioned in a May 2018 Twitter thread. Tesla shares fell 3.1% on Friday.

Tesla has almost completed construction of an EV factory in the small town of Gruenheide, southeast of the German capital, and also plans to manufacture battery cells at the site.

While Musk wants to start assembling Tesla Model Ys in Gruenheide before the end of the year, local authorities still haven’t granted final approval for the project.

Germany’s Economy Ministry estimates that Tesla is investing around 5 billion euros in Gruenheide. Der Tagesspiegel newspaper reported Tesla’s decision earlier on Friday.

Musk, 50, is the world’s richest person with a $304.4 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He’s added $134.7 billion to his net worth this year, more than double the next-biggest gain in the index.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

Most plastic recycling produces low-value materials – but we've found a way to turn a common plastic into high-value molecules


Susannah Scott, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, University of California Santa Barbara
Fri, November 26, 2021, 

Bales of plastic waste destined for recycling. Koron/Getty Images

If you thought those flimsy disposable plastic grocery bags represented most of our plastic waste problem, think again. The volume of plastic the world throws away every year could rebuild the Ming Dynasty’s Great Wall of China – about 3,700 miles long.

In the six decades that plastic has been manufactured for commercial uses, more than 8.3 billion metric tons have been produced. Plastics are light, versatile, cheap and nearly indestructible (as long as they don’t get too hot). These properties make them incredibly useful in an enormous range of applications that includes sterile food packaging, energy-efficient transportation, textiles and medical protective gear. But their indestructible nature comes at a cost. Most of them decompose extremely slowly in the environment – on the order of several hundred years – where they are creating a global epidemic of plastic trash. Its consequences for human and ecosystem health are still incompletely known, but are potentially momentous.

I am a chemist with experience in designing processes for making plastics, and I became interested in using plastic as a large, untapped resource for energy and materials. I wondered if we could turn plastic waste into something more valuable to keep it out of landfills and the natural environment.

A new way to use plastic waste

Plastics are made by stringing together a large number of small, carbon-based molecules in an almost infinite variety of ways to create polymer chains.

To reuse these polymers, recycling facilities could, in principle, melt and reshape them, but plastics’ properties tend to deteriorate. The resulting materials are almost never suitable for their original use, although they can be used to make lower-value stuff like plastic lumber. The result is a very low effective rate of recycling.

A new approach involves breaking the long chains down into small molecules again. The challenge is how to do this in a precise way.

Since the process of making the chains in the first place releases a lot of energy, reversing it requires adding a large amount of energy back in. Generally this means heating up the material to a high temperature – but heating up plastic causes the stuff to turn into a nasty mess. It also wastes a lot of energy, meaning more greenhouse gas emissions.

My team at UC Santa Barbara, working with colleagues at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Cornell, discovered a clean way to turn polyethylene into useful smaller molecules.

Polyethylene is one of the world’s most useful and most used plastic types. It is also one of the largest contributors to plastic waste. It represents a third of the nearly 400 million metric tons of plastic the world makes every year, for purposes ranging from sterile food and medical packaging, waterproof films and coatings, cable and wire insulation, construction materials and water pipes, to wear-resistant hip and knee replacements and even bulletproof vests.
How the new process works


The process we have developed does not require high temperatures, but instead depends on tiny amounts of a catalyst containing a metal that removes a little hydrogen from the polymer chain. The catalyst then uses this hydrogen to cut the bonds that hold the carbon chain together, making smaller pieces.

The key is using the hydrogen as soon as it forms so that the chain-cutting provides the energy for making more hydrogen. This process is repeated many times for each chain, turning the solid polymer into a liquid.

The chopping slows down naturally when the molecules reach a certain size, so it’s easy to prevent the molecules from becoming too small. We’re able to recover the valuable liquid before it turns into less useful gases.

A majority of the molecules in the recovered liquid are alkylbenzenes, which are useful as solvents and can easily be turned into detergents. The global market for this type of molecule is about US billion annually.

Turning waste plastic into valuable molecules is called upcycling. Although our study represented a small-scale demonstration, a preliminary economic analysis suggests that it could easily be adapted to become a much larger-scale process in the next few years. Keeping plastic out of the environment by reusing it in a way that makes good economic sense is a win-win.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Susannah Scott, University of California Santa Barbara.

Read more:

If you recycled all the plastic garbage in the world, you could buy the NFL, Apple and Microsoft

The world’s plastic problem is bigger than the ocean

COVID-19 has resurrected single-use plastics – are they back to stay?

Susannah Scott receives funding from the US Department of Energy, Mitsubishi Chemical, and Dow Chemical, for her work in polymer upcycling. She is a coinventor on a US patent application related to this discovery, filed by the University of California.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
‘Their goal is to bleed owners dry.’ $34 million victory in Florida HOA lawsuit is rare, experts say

Trevor Fraser, Orlando Sentinel
Wed, November 24, 2021

When Martin Kessler moved to the Solivita development in Poinciana, Florida in 2008, he says he quickly realized it was a big mistake. This was the first place the 97-year-old had ever lived with a homeowners association.

“Living in an HOA is not really a pleasant thing for a resident,” Kessler said. A retired economist, he said the fee he was required to pay was “a capitalist’s perfect dream of a business. People must join whether they like it or not, and they pay all the expenses of the business.”

Kessler is among more than 5,000 members of the 55-plus community locked in a class action lawsuit since 2017 against Solivita developer Avatar Properties, which they allege improperly collected HOA fees. On Nov. 2, Polk County, Florida, Circuit Judge Wayne Durden awarded the residents $34.8 million.

“That’s the biggest award I’ve ever heard of,” said Harvella Jones, president of the National Homeowners Advocate Group. Based in Texas, Jones’ organization specializes in helping people fight HOAs and lobbies for homeowner protections. “We get calls from all over the country, but no one has ever reported to us a win as large as (Solivita).”

Experts agree that fighting HOAs is hard for residents and big wins are even rarer. In Florida, HOAs govern more than 44% of the population, according to research by analysts at iProperty Management.

With fees that can reach into the thousands of dollars from an estimated 3.5 million homes in the state, HOAs can make lawsuits long and costly for residents.

“Their goal is to bleed owners dry,” said Jan Bergemann, president of Cyber Citizens for Justice, a homeowner’s advocacy group based in DeLand. “They will hit you with motion after motion, tie it up for years.”

HOAs are infamous for limiting what signs can go up yards, raising free speech issues. They sometimes even ban basketball goals or other sports equipment from yards or tell residents how many cars they can have. A Florida HOA was accused this month of threatening a family with a $100 a day fine for putting up Christmas lights too early.

Avatar, which was purchased by homebuilder Taylor Morrison in 2018, developed Solivita and other communities in Poinciana in the early 2000s. Avatar also built amenities such as pools and clubhouses. When the time came to turn management of the community over to the Poinciana Community Development District, Avatar wanted to sell them to the community for $73 million.

But there was a problem. A certified appraiser said the amenities were only worth about a quarter of that.

“I was immediately against it. It was the most stupid thing in the world,” Kessler said.

Avatar based its number on the future value of a roughly $86 a month club fee they were charging, said attorney Carter Andersen of Bush Ross in Tampa, who represented the residents. That fee, the lawsuit alleged, was illegal. Residents couldn’t opt out of it and could even have their homes foreclosed upon for nonpayment.

Taylor Morrison, who has handled the defense in this case since acquiring Avatar, did not return requests for comment for this story.

Andersen said the $34 million figure is only the beginning. He estimates another $27 million in pre-judgment interest, and at least $4 million in fees collected this year that were not added to the ruling.

There will also be, Andersen estimates, $5 million to $10 million in attorneys’ fees for the two firms that represented the residents. The case was taken on a contingency with no retainer from the residents, which means it was a gamble for the lawyers who fought for it.

Bergemann says it’s rare to find attorneys who will take such a complicated case without some assurance of payment. “Unfortunately, wins [such as Solivita] would be very common if the owners had the money,” he said.

Bergemann says he’s spoken to attorneys who want thousands of dollars just to get building documents residents should be able to see anyway. “And who just has that?” he said.

Jones said another problem residents face is harassment for speaking up, which she says happens when residents don’t act together. “You can’t have one or two people taking the brunt of everything,” she said.

For Jones, much of the problem is a lack of government oversight. She says many HOA board members cling to their power.

“Even when we have rules about elections, they still won’t hold [to] them,” she said. “If you can’t get rid of them, that’s the main problem.”

Jones got started fighting a homeowners association in the 1990s when she lost her Texas home for nonpayment of HOA fees. “They take advantage of foreclosures, which is why they should be regulated,” she said.

Although Andersen says the Solivita case is likely to be appealed by the developer, Bergemann said wins such as Solivita’s are important because they can create a domino effect leading to more victories for homeowners around the state.

“Homeowners have rights but they often aren’t being enforced,” he said. “[HOAs] don’t want decisions coming down for homeowners.”

The win gives hope to people such as Slade Chelbian, a resident of the Bellalago community in Poinciana, also built by Avatar.

Chelbian has been a plaintiff in a class-action suit for the same activity that led to the Solivita suit since 2019.

“This was great news in the fight to stop this sort of action,” Chelbian wrote in an email. “This makes me believe we can win this action in court.”

For Chelbian, winning would mean an end to the fee he’s been challenging.

“Defeat is the status quo,” which he said is, “paying the developer a mandatory ‘for profit’ fee forever. That is not fair.”

NUKE NEWS 

Pilgrim nuclear plant may release 1M gallons of radioactive water into bay. 

What we know


Doug Fraser, Cape Cod Times
Wed, November 24, 2021

PLYMOUTH — One of the options being considered by the company that is decommissioning the closed Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station is to release around one million gallons of potentially radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay.

The option had been discussed briefly with state regulatory officials as one possible way to get rid of water from the spent fuel pool, the reactor vessel and other components of the facility, Holtec International spokesman Patrick O'Brien said in an interview Wednesday. It was highlighted in a report by state Department of Environmental Protection Deputy Regional Director Seth Pickering at Monday's meeting of the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel in Plymouth.

"We had broached that with the state, but we've made no decision on that," O'Brien said.

Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, which was permanently closed in 2019 and is undergoing decommissioning.

As of mid-December, Holtec will complete the process of moving all the spent fuel rods into casks that are being stored on a concrete pad on the Pilgrim plant site in Plymouth. After that, O'Brien told the panel, the removal and disposal of other components in those areas of the facility will take place and be completed sometime in February.

O'Brien said the remaining water used to cool the fuel rods in the pool and inside the reactor will be dealt with — the process to decide on a disposal method will get underway within the next six months to a year. Two other possible options discussed at Monday's meeting are trucking the water off-site to an approved facility, as Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant did in shipping its contaminated water to a site in Idaho or to evaporate it, a process that has already been employed in some areas of the Plymouth plant.

Before they decide on any options, O'Brien said they would do an analysis to determine what contaminants the water contains. Likely, it will be metals and radioactive materials, he said.

Decommissioning process: Main emissions stack at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station set to come down

Radioactive water inspected before it is released

Pickering pointed out that any water discharged under the federal Clean Water Act discharge permit overseen by the federal Environmental Protection Agency would have to be part of an approved plan reviewed by the EPA, the DEP and the state Department of Public Health.

"Mass DEP, and the U.S. EPA have made the company aware that any discharge of pollutants regulated under the Clean Water Act, (and) contained within spent fuel cooling water, into the ocean through Cape Cod Bay is not authorized under the NPDES (National Pollution Discharge Elimination System) permit," Pickering said. But he went on to say that radioactivity is not listed under the NPDES as a pollutant and is regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Pine duBois, vice chair of the citizens decommissioning panel, cited a memorandum of understanding signed by Holtec that governed the decommissioning of Pilgrim — negotiated by the state Attorney General's office — that stated discharge of pollutants into Cape Cod Bay is not permitted.

"It's not permitted by the EPA, but that doesn't mean it can't happen if the NRC allows it," duBois said.

O'Brien noted that it was a fairly common practice in the nuclear industry, known as "overboarding," to release water, including radioactive water, into the ocean from power plants. He said it happened recently during the decommissioning of New Jersey's Oyster Creek facility, which is also being done by Holtec.
Opposition to plan comes from Cape Cod resident and officials

But state Sen. Susan Moran, D-Falmouth, said she is opposed to any release of radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay as part of the decommissioning process. She called for Holtec to release plans on how they will handle all waste materials at the plant.

The Nov. 7 accidental release of over 7,200 gallons of water into Cape Cod Bay — when contractors, seeking to drain a flooded electrical vault to do repair work following the October nor'easter, pumped water into a storm drain that emptied into the sea — did not inspire confidence in the execution of protocols, plant watchdogs say. That discharge was believed to be non-radioactive water.

"Although the recently reported violation of the station national pollutant discharge elimination system has been described as isolated, it brings to light that there are not sufficient safeguards and procedures in place to prevent discharges of contaminated water into the Cape Cod Bay. The potential for pollutants and dangerous materials being discharged in our water resources is alarming," Moran said in an email Wednesday. "Further, it is imperative that the federal agencies stop kicking the can down the road and determine long term solutions for the removal of these materials safely and expeditiously."

Diane Turco, of Harwich, the director of Cape Downwinders, a citizen group that was at the forefront of the effort to close Pilgrim, called any option that included sending radioactive water into the bay "outrageous" and "criminal." Turco said she has no confidence in the decommissioning process.

"The process has been to allow radioactivity into the environment," she said. "The answer should be no you can't do that."

Richard Delaney, the president of the Center for Coastal Studies, agreed.

"My immediate reaction to putting radioactivity into the ocean, into that part of Cape Cod Bay is that it would be nature-negative," he said. "We have been monitoring water quality in Cape Cod Bay for 20 years and there's already enough pollutants going into the bay. To put radioactive waste on top of that — it shouldn't be an option."

Delaney said he wondered if it was included as an option to be analyzed, but one that in the end wouldn't seriously be considered. DuBois agreed.

"I have a hard time thinking the NRC overrules (the EPA)," duBois said, adding that Holtec will be careful about damaging the environment.

"I think Holtec wants to do this right because they want to be a giant of the (decommissioning) industry. If they mess up Pilgrim, their reputation is dead," duBois said.

Turco called on the public to start paying more attention to the decommissioning process and attend citizens advisory board meetings in person and remotely. But O'Brien and duBois said the public comment period pretty much passed with the issuance of the NPDES permit.

"I don't think there's a requirement for public comment," duBois said.

Contact Doug Fraser at dfraser@capecodonline.com. Follow him on Twitter: @dougfrasercct.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Pilgrim nuclear plant may release radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay

Tepco finds melting of ice wall at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant


An employee of TEPCO looks up at a tank reserved for storing treated water at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town


Thu, November 25, 2021, 

TOKYO (Reuters) -Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) will launch remedial works at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to strengthen an ice wall intended to halt the flow of groundwater after testing indicated partial melting.

The work could begin as early as the start of December, according to a presentation from the plant operator dated Thursday, part of a costly and troubled effort to secure the site following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The ice wall is intended to limit the seepage of groundwater into the plant, which has created large amounts of toxic water being stored by Tepco in tanks.

Japan plans to release https://www.reuters.com/article/disaster-fukushima-water-release-idTRNIKBN2HQ0FT more than 1 million tonnes of water into the sea after treating it. The water contains the radioactive isotope tritium, which cannot be removed.

(Reporting by Sakura Murakami and Sam Nussey; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Stephen Coates)

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant gets 13K nuclear waste shipments, plans to 'ramp up' to 17 a week

Adrian Hedden, Carlsbad Current-Argus
Fri, November 26, 2021

A 13,000th shipment of nuclear waste was delivered to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant repository near Carlsbad Nov. 11, marking a milestone since the facility first began accepting waste in 1999.

The shipment was made up of transuranic (TRU) waste from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory from that facility’s Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project.

About half of WIPP’s shipments in its lifetime came from the Idaho lab, about 6,600.


More: WIPP readies 8th panel to dispose of nuclear waste, altering air quality requirements

During that same week, eight shipments arrived at WIPP, including two from Los Alamos National Laboratory in northern New Mexico.

TRU waste is made up of clothing materials, equipment and other wastes like sludge irradiated during nuclear operations.

Most of the shipments were labeled “contact-handled (CH) waste, meaning that have lower radioactivity than remote-handled (RH) waste and can be handled safely without additional shielding during processing, transportation and disposal emplacement.

More: WIPP: Air shaft project to resume despite objections at nuclear waste site near Carlsbad

Of the 13,000 shipments of waste sent to WIPP in the last two decades, 775 were considered RH waste, handled in shielded casks and emplaced in the walls of the WIPP underground – an underground salt deposit that gradually buried the waste permanently and blocks radiation.

To get that waste to the WIPP facility from nuclear sites owned by the DOE around the country, truck drivers logged about 15 million miles, per a DOE news release, without a “serious injury” or radiological release.

DOE Environmental Management (EM) Senior Adviser William White commended WIPP’s workers for reaching 13,000 shipments, including underground miners, waste handlers and drivers that move the waste across the country.

More: Safety issues at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant slow disposal of nuclear waste near Carlsbad

“It's another huge milestone for the EM program,” White said. “I want to congratulate everyone involved in this milestone, from the employees at the generator sites who certify and package the waste, to the workers at WIPP who mine the disposal rooms and prepare the waste before it's permanently disposed underground.”

WIPP’s first shipment was delivered for disposal from Los Alamos in March 1999, and the site went on to dispose of waste from 13 facilities around the U.S.

The final shipment from Rocky Flats and Environmental Technology Site in Colorado came in 2005, and the 10,000 shipment was received – also from Idaho – in 2011.

More: Waste Isolation Pilot Plant adds space for nuclear waste disposal near Carlsbad

The first RH waste shipment was disposed of at WIPP in 2007, and the facility hasn’t receive RH waste since 2014, although the process of resuming RH waste was underway and expected to take about three years.

Reinhard Knerr, manager of the DOE’s Carlsbad Field Office said WIPP was a key part of the DOE’s efforts to clean up nuclear waste in the U.S.

“WIPP continues to be the cornerstone of DOE’s efforts to reduce the legacy defense TRU waste footprint,” Knerr said. “WIPP’s transportation program has been a tremendous success, and I congratulate everyone involved on a job well done.”

More: Groups look to block controversial air shaft project at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

During a recent public meeting, Knerr explained WIPP’s progress in increasing weekly shipments in pursuit of a goal of 17 shipments per week.

Over the last year, Knerr said WIPP received 199 shipments. He touted continued waste emplacement despite multiple halts in operations amid the COVID-19 health crisis which first struck New Mexico in March 2020.

WIPP officials projected 258 shipments this year, Knerr said, but despite not reaching the goal he said he still considered the number “successful” during the pandemic.

More: U.S. Senate bill has implications for New Mexico nuclear waste projects

“Given the pandemic and the large spikes of COVID-19 that we’ve had in the community, we take a look back at this year as a very large success,” Knerr said. “We do project a ramp up to 17 shipments per week on average.”

Reinhard Knerr, manager of the U.S. Department of Energy's Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) gives an update on operations at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, Nov. 18, 2021 at the CBFO building in Carlsbad.

That’s about 680 shipments per year, and WIPP will continue to prioritize shipments from Los Alamos and Idaho, Knerr said, for the “bulk” of the next decade.

Knerr said increasing shipments can be achieved ahead of an ongoing rebuild of the facility’s ventilation system planned to go into service in 2025 or 2026.

More: WIPP: Judge upholds change in how nuke waste is counted. Could keep site open to 2050

“We believe we’re going to be ready to resume increased shipments well before that,” he said.

To achieve that goal, Knerr said WIPP must complete multiple projects: filling and closing out the 7th waste disposal panel by 2022 and finishing emplacement in Panel 8 by 2025.

Then, he said WIPP hopes to emplace waste in Panels 11, 12 in the coming years and Panel 13 by 2034.

More: WIPP: Critics accuse feds of expanding nuclear waste repository before New Mexico task force

Plans were recently announced to mine Panels 11 and 12, described by WIPP officials as “replacement” panels for capacity lost in an accidental radiological release in 2014 that led to a three-year halt of WIPP’s primary operations.

To support the increase in waste emplacement and mining, Knerr said a fourth shift was intended to be added to the WIPP workforce.

“We have to make sure that we are mining,” Knerr said. “That includes the access drifts as well as mining out the panels themselves. We need to be sure that we have enough staff on site to support not only the mining needs that we have, but the waste emplacement as well.”

Adrian Hedden  @AdrianHedden on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Waste Isolation Pilot Plant gets 13K nuclear waste shipments