UK Offers Array Of Incentives To Rivian To Help Secure Factory

Ben O'Hare 

The British government is desperate for Rivian to choose the UK as the location for their European plant.

The British government has reportedly offered a wide range of incentives to US startup Rivian as they look to convince the automaker to build their European factory in the UK. According to the Financial Times the government has offered to build training facilities, a new M5 motorway junction and even open up closed railway lines to secure the deal.

© InsideEVs Employees hand polish and inspect a Rivian R1T body shell before a primer coat is applied in the Paint Shop at Rivian's manufacturing plant in Normal, IL.

The proposed location of the factory is somewhere on the premises of the 616 acre ‘Gravity’ business park just outside the city of Bristol. The business park offers a range of plots and buildings targeted at high-tech firms and wants to be the UK’s answer to Silicon Valley.

However, Rivian is not fully convinced just yet. The firm is also considering Serbia, as well as “at least one other European country”. It is understood Amazon will also have a key role in the final decision, with Jeff Bezos’ company owning a major stake in Rivian.

What will be built at Rivian’s European plant remains a mystery, but their bespoke van designed for Amazon could be a safe bet. Battery production may also take place at the facility. It is unlikely the R1T pickup will be built / available in Europe, meanwhile the R1S SUV’s large size means it could also be restricted to the North American market.

As Google wades through legal fight over labor issues, ex-employees accuse company of mistreatment

Jennifer Elias CNBC

Former Google employees filed a lawsuit this week that claims the company violated its own "Don't Be Evil" mission.

The new case comes as a judge in a lengthy labor suit ordered Google to release scores of documents tied to an alleged anti-union effort.

Laurie Burgess, the lawyer representing the former employees who sued Google this week, said the latest suit is meant in part to serve as "a reminder that this is still alive and kicking."

© Provided by CNBC American multinational technology company Google logo seen at Googleplex, the corporate headquarters complex of Google and its parent company Alphabet Inc.

While judges review subpoenas in an almost year-long case that pits Google against its workers, former company employees are doing their part to highlight the intensifying tension between the two sides.

Three ex-Google employees filed a lawsuit this week, accusing their former employer of terminating them for protesting a cloud deal that Google signed with the Trump administration's Customs and Border Patrol in 2019.

Rebecca Rivers, Sophie Waldman and Paul Duke claim in the complaint that when they were hired by Google, they were asked to sign a contract that included the company's catchphrase clause "Don't Be Evil." The plaintiffs say Google violated the agreement, and are asking for compensation and other relief for suffering "significant damage to reputation and ability to be gainfully reemployed."

Google parent Alphabet has little reason to be concerned financially — the company has over $140 billion in cash and equivalents on its balance sheet and a market cap of about $1.9 trillion. But a string of employee walkouts, internal battles over how the company uses its artificial intelligence technology and lawsuits related to treatment of its workforce present a potentially severe strain for a company that has long prided itself on a culture of openness and inclusivity.

Last December, the U.S. National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against Google, alleging the company illegally terminated and surveilled employees in retaliation for their efforts to unionize. The trial has been paused for the last couple of months while judges review subpoenas, and it's unclear when it will resume.

Laurie Burgess, the lawyer representing the former employees who sued Google this week, said the latest suit is meant in part to serve as "a reminder that this is still alive and kicking."

A Google spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

This week, a judge on the NLRB case, Paul Bogas, ordered Google to unseal more than 70 documents related to its communications with IRI Consultants, which describes itself as a labor relations firm. The NLRB alleged that IRI was hired as part of Google's anti-union effort, which legal documents show was dubbed "Project Vivian."

Bogas issued a 13-page response, stating that the company was "disingenuous," and that it tried to misrepresent the documents' classification.

"My review did show that the Respondent made significant contemporaneous efforts to give this non-legal, 3rd-party, material the facial appearance of privileged communications," Bogas wrote. "Many of these documents are, or involve the development of, campaign materials in which IRI provides antiunion messaging and message amplification strategies and training tailored to the Respondent's workforce and the news and social media environment."

In January, Google employees came together to create the Alphabet Workers Union, which now includes more than 800 members. Though it currently represents less than 1% of the company's total workforce, the union is proving it intends to be vocal and active. It supported Google workers, employed by contracting firm Adecco, who just won a fight against the firm and Google after the company backtracked on a bonus program for temp workers in data centers.

"The union definitely strengthened people's resolve to standing up for the fight," Ned McNally, a temp worker at Google's data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, told The New York Times last month after the victory.

UK government asks Mercedes to reconsider Grenfell supplier sponsorship

Jonathan Noble 

Ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Mercedes announced a new deal with international firm Kingspan, whose logos now appear on the nose section of the W12 car.

© Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12

But with Kingspan’s involvement in the 2017 Grenfell Tower disaster which claimed the lives of 72 people still under scrutiny, amid an ongoing public enquiry into its K15 insulation that was among the products installed on the side of the building, there has been a backlash from those affected by the tragedy.

Pressure group Grenfell United, made up of survivors and bereaved families, wrote to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff urging him to reconsider the deal.

Wolff wrote back to them and said that, while remaining committed to the Kingspan sponsorship, he was prepared to meet those affected by the tragedy to understand more.

Now Michael Gove MP, who is Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, has also stepped in and urged Mercedes and Wolff to think again.

In a letter to Wolff, published on Twitter, Gove made it clear how disappointed he was with Mercedes’ decision to go ahead with the deal.

“The Grenfell bereaved, survivors and wider community have been failed in the past by both the state and the private sector,” he wrote.

“They are right to feel deeply hurt and aggrieved by your decision to sign this sponsorship deal whilst the public inquiry continues.”

Gove also warned that the Kingspan situation could be enough to prompt the UK government to change the jurisdiction it has over advertising and sponsorship in sport.

While current limitations mainly involve products related to tobacco, alcohol and gambling, Gove said he could not rule out the government stepping in to prevent deals like the Mercedes/Kingspan one being allowed.

“As Secretary of State, the planning controls for outdoor advertising spaces in England are a statutory responsibility that falls to me,” he wrote.

“Currently, broadly speaking, adverts displayed on enclosed land, such as within sports stadia, or those displayed on vehicles, are excluded from direct control of the relevant authorities.

“My cabinet colleagues and I will keep this system under constant and close review to ensure that the advertising regime remains fit for purpose and reflects the public interest.

“I am conscious that there are very real questions about whether Parliament would support a statutory regime that enabled a core participant in a public enquiry in to how 72 people lost their lives to advertise its products publicly to millions of families across the country.

“The achievements of Mercedes and Sir Lewis Hamilton in recent years represent a British success story of which we are all proud. I hope you will reconsider this commercial partnership, which threatens to undermine all the good work the company and the sport have done.”

Gove said that he also sent a copy of the letter to F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and Nadine Dorries MP, Secretary of Sporting for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

How to save the red wolf from going extinct—for a second time

Meaghan Mulholland 

With a total population below 20 individuals, the world’s most endangered wolf lives only in a small area in and around the Alligator River and Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuges in eastern North Carolina.

© Photograph by Jessica A. Suarez After decades of growth, the world’s last population of wild red wolves has plummeted. Can we get back on track and save this critically endangered species?

Called “America’s wolf,” the red wolf (Canis rufus) is the only large predator whose historic range is found entirely within the United States, stretching from Texas to New England. But hunting gradually reduced its range, and it was declared extinct in the wild in 1980. In a ground-breaking successful experiment, eight captive wolves were released in 1987 into North Carolina, eventually growing into a population over 100. But poaching and management changes enacted by the Fish and Wildlife Service resulted in their numbers plummeting.

© None None

In the spring, conservationists celebrated a small bit of good news when four captive-born pups were placed into a den and successfully adopted by a wild red wolf mother. Meanwhile, another four adults were released into the wild. The pups are thought to be still alive and healthy. But the adults didn’t fare as well. In the months after release, three were struck by cars and killed, and the fourth was fatally shot on private land.

To boost the population after these deaths, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced in November that it plans to release nine adult red wolves into their recovery area this winter, land within and surrounding two wildlife refuges. The service also recently announced it would withdraw a 2018 proposal to shrink the red wolves’ protected area in North Carolina by 90 percent, after a lawsuit accused the agency of violating the Endangered Species Act.

© Photograph by Jessica A. Suarez Ruby (2142F), a captive red wolf at Reflection Riding Arboretum and Nature Center, Chattanooga, Tennessee, rests inside her enclosure. Ruby was born at Reflection Riding in 2016 and with her mate Apollo produced two healthy male puppies in 2021, increasing the small captive breeding population. They have been selected to breed again together next season.

Ron Sutherland of the Wildlands Network, who is based in the red wolf’s last stronghold of North Carolina, says it’s crucial that the feds have abandoned this wrong-headed proposal. And yet “the situation now is even more urgent than it was in 2018—this should launch the conservation community in the U.S. into crisis mode to save this species and bring it back from the brink.”

“We are committed to continuing to work with stakeholders in identifying ways to encourage and facilitate more effective coexistence between people and red wolves,” Emily Weller, red wolf recovery lead for the Fish and Wildlife Service, said in an email to National Geographic.

Here are the latest steps conservationists, researchers, and the federal government are taking to help rescue imperiled red wolves, such as releasing more wolves, better preparing them for the wild, trying to reduce vehicle collisions, and educating locals about this critically endangered species.
Born to be wild© Photograph by Jessica A. Suarez Damaged radio collars with GPS capability were collected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from red wolves killed in vehicle collisions in eastern North Carolina during 2021. Vehicle strikes are one of the leading causes of death for wild red wolves.

In addition to the current small population in North Carolina, some 240 red wolves now live under human care at zoos and nature centers across the country. These facilities are part of the red wolf’s Species Survival Plan (SSP), which includes captive breeding to help rebuild their population and maintain genetic diversity. (Learn more: Eight red wolves released into wild provide hope for species.)

Chris Lasher, an animal management supervisor with the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro and coordinator of the Red Wolf SSP, says that researchers would like to grow the captive population to a total of 400 individuals, an important step for preventing their extinction.

Next, more wolves need to be released, according to advocates like Sutherland and the Southern Environmental Law Center, whose lawsuit on behalf of conservation groups is what instigated the recent court-mandated releases. These releases need to continue, he says, “until the wild population hits 40 to 50 animals again and shows signs of taking off.” At this point, the red wolves can be best supported “by fostering captive pups into wild litters rather than releasing adult and adolescent wolves.”

© Photograph by Jessica A. Suarez A wild red wolf hunt in an agricultural field at dawn in Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, North Carolina.

This includes adults and pups. Perhaps the best way for red wolves to become savvy about their environment is from their parents, who ideally would pass on generations of learned wisdom about avoiding roads, how to hunt, and where to den. The process of pup fostering has a 100 percent success rate with red wolves and helps promote genetic diversity in the population.

It’s a difficult and time-sensitive procedure, however, and there must be wild litters on the landscape in order for it to be possible. 2019 and 2020 were the first years in the history of the red wolf recovery program—begun in 1987—in which no pups were born in the wild. But 2021’s foster effort appears to have been a success, and it remains to be seen if some of the pairs to be released this winter will produce more litters in the spring.

Better preparing wolves for release is another ongoing process. To do so, the animals are kept in large enclosures containing landscape features they would encounter in the wild. Roads are difficult to prepare them for—but keepers carefully experiment with potential forms of “negative enrichment,” which can be as simple as letting captive wolves associate car noises with semi-stressful experiences like health exams. In contrast, positive enrichment uses things like novel scents, natural objects, recorded animal sounds, hidden food and whole prey carcasses to provide mental and physical stimulation, says Regina Mossotti, Animal Director of the Endangered Wolf Center in Eureka, Missouri.

Feeding times are varied to prevent captive red wolves from associating humans with food. When possible they are also housed in family groups, Lasher says, “that would be similar to what they would experience in the wild.”

The Fish and Wildlife Service is also developing strategies to reduce vehicle strikes, working on things like motorist signage, wildlife crossings, road reflectors, and aversive conditioning—helping red wolves learn to avoid cars and roads, according to the agency. The Service plans also to modify the tracking collars of future red wolf releases to include orange reflective material, making them more visible on roadways at night, and more easily identifiable to hunters.

Like the ones slated for this winter, future releases will also take place outside the agricultural growing season, when there should be less traffic on nearby farm roads as well as on Highway 64, a main route to the Outer Banks, a popular vacation destination. Coordinating with the state’s Department of Transportation, the Fish and Wildlife Service purchased four portable electronic message boards to be used at various locations to urge people to drive with caution.

In November, the Senate passed, and President Biden signed, a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which includes $350 million to help states fund the construction of wildlife crossings. The bill also calls for a nationwide study of wildlife-vehicle collisions and guidance on how to prevent or reduce them. Wildlife crossings go over or under existing roads and have been shown effective at reducing car-caused fatalities—but they are expensive. Newly designated federal funds may enable the state’s Department of Transportation to add some on Highway 64, which cuts through the refuge. Some have already been designed by the state.
Staying alive

One critical part of saving red wolves is helping people to understand they belong on the landscape—and pose no threat to human life. (Learn more: Red wolves are a unique species, authoritative study shows.)

Red wolves are legally protected under the Endangered Species Act, but a recent study published in the journal Biological Conservation found that a small minority of humans in their recovery area are the main factor driving this species toward extinction. Despite a majority of locals reporting positive impressions of red wolves, eleven percent of area hunters said that if they encountered a wolf, they would kill it. Among other conservation groups, the Wildlands Network has been working for years to teach the truth about red wolves—that they aren’t dangerous to humans, and don’t harm local wildlife resources.

Federal agencies and conservation groups are hoping to work together through outreach programs, some of which have been hindered by pandemic restrictions. These include virtual information sessions, billboards and other publicity campaigns, as well as Prey for the Pack, a program in which local landowners are offered incentives in exchange for agreeing to create and maintain habitat beneficial for red wolves, and to allow red wolves on private property. The Fish and Wildlife Service now has around a thousand acres of privately owned land under agreements via Prey for the Pack, and is working to secure more, the agency said in an emailed statement.

The Fish and Wildlife Service recently assembled a team of experts to develop an updated recovery plan for the red wolf, which in large part will have to involve more successful reintroductions. The plan will also include research into other potential sites within the red wolf’s historic range—outside of eastern North Carolina—where a wild population could thrive.

The service also says they are recommitting to capturing and sterilizing coyotes to help red wolves hold territory and avoid hybridization—a successful measure that they had abandoned in recent years.

While red wolf recovery might seem in a sense to be “starting over,” as the nearly restored species once again teeters on the brink of extinction, biologists and experts have gained a wealth of insights over the past three decades about what must be done for the species to succeed.

Despite unfortunate missteps, setbacks, and challenges still ahead, Mossotti says it’s inspiring to see many people “working to help restore the species to its native range…and finding new reasons to hope.”

US will work with allies to limit the export of surveillance tools to authoritarian governments

Igor Bonifacic 

On the same day Reuters published a report on how NSO spyware may have been used to target State Department officials, the Biden administration announced the US would work with other countries to limit the export of surveillance software and other technologies to authoritarian governments. In a media event involving The Wall Street Journal, White House officials said the administration wants to coordinate with allies on a code of conduct related to export-licensing policies. Those involved in the effort would share information on tools used against political dissidents, journalists and foreign government officials.

The Biden Administration will announce the effort at the upcoming Summit for Democracy. The event, set to run for two days between December 9th and 10th, will see national governments and the private sector meet to discuss some of the challenges facing democracies in 2021 and beyond. Notably, China and Russia weren’t invited to attend the meeting.

Officials told The Journal the effort is in part a response to a global increase in the use of digital surveillance tools. “Technology is being misused by governments to surveil and, in some cases— as in the case of the [People’s Republic of China] — to control their population,” an administration official told the outlet. The effort could include some of the existing members of the Wassenaar Arrangement, a pact that sets voluntary export controls on military and dual-use technologies.

The initiative would build on work the US government is already doing to limit the export and resale of cyber intrusion software to China and Russia. At the end of October, the Commerce Department announced a new set of rules that will require companies that want to sell their hacking tools to countries “of national security concern” to obtain a license from the department before they can do so.

A veteran Taco Bell worker of 20 years says he quit because customers have gotten so 'unreasonable' and hard to deal with

mmeisenzahl@businessinsider.com (Mary Meisenzahl)

© Provided by Business Insider REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

A Taco Bell manager is leaving after 20 years for a non-food service job.

He says customers have gotten more demanding and abusive since the pandemic started.

Workers are also burnt out and pushed to their limits, he says.

After 20 years of working at Taco Bell, a worker told Insider that he's leaving because customers have gotten too difficult in the past year.

The worker, whose employment was confirmed by Insider and who asked to remain anonymous for fears of impacting his future employment, has been in the fast-food industry for years, putting in six years at McDonald's before his two-decade career at Taco Bell.

"Fast food is pretty much the only thing I've ever known," he told Insider. If customers hadn't become so unreasonable and angry, "I probably would've just kept doing what I was doing. I loved my job until Covid hit."

The employee says that things have gotten especially bad since the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020. Customers have become more critical and angry towards workers in the service industry, and suddenly "people think it's perfectly okay to be intolerant, demand things, and just be unreasonable," he said, to the point where his work is "almost untenable."

This shift in customers is in part thanks to the rapid advances in technology used by fast-food chains, like online ordering, and people becoming accustomed to being at home and having everything delivered, the worker said. Many customers are "starting to treat fast food as their personal catering service," the worker said, with extreme modifications to every item and no empathy or understanding for overwhelmed workers.

Understaffed stores and burnt-out workers exacerbate these problems, the worker told Insider. He was a senior shift manager at the time he left, regularly working 60 hours a week, but all crew members were scheduled for at least 45 hours a week, he said. The effects of angry customers and overwork are evident in the restaurant: in the last two weeks, he has had three separate workers break down and need to leave during their shifts, and he also had his first panic attack in 27 years, he told Insider.

"That was when I realized, it's time for me to get out."

Fed-up workers are leaving food service jobs across the country. A group of five workers, including a general manager, quit their Austin Chipotle jobs together earlier this month over endless digital orders. Chipotle, Taco Bell, and the broader restaurant industry have seen instances recently of workers walking out and quitting as a symptom of what's referred to as a labor shortage. Business owners say they're unable to find staff, and some even cite a lack of desire to work. But workers say they can demand better pay and benefits in the tight labor market. This mismatch has led to restaurants decreasing hours and closing dining rooms.

According to restaurant workers surveyed by Lightspeed, 62% said that customers are more demanding than ever before. This fits with other data coming out of the industry, including a majority of restaurant workers reporting emotional abuse and disrespect from customers. Of restaurant operators, 72% agree that customer behavior has gotten worse over the past year.

Northwest B.C. MLA’s billboard near Smithers vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti

Stikine MLA Nathan Cullen called out propagators of hate crime after his highway billboard sign was vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti last week.

A swastika was drawn across Cullen on the Billboard, on Hwy 16 west of Smithers, with the words “DOC Bonnie Hitler” scribbled at the bottom.

Calling the incident a “blatant act of anti-Semitic vandalism,” Cullen sad this is not the first time people have used such terrible, hateful imagery.

The incident was reported to the RCMP on Thursday, Dec.2 and the police have begun investigating, said Sgt. Chris Manseau.

“Anti-Semitism, racism, and discrimination affect the entire community, not just those targeted,” said the MLA in a Dec. 1 social media post. “As a descendant of Jewish people, I can tell you of the pain and hurt these images cause within the community and many others. It simply must stop.”

Smithers has been home to more anti-vaccination and anti-restriction rallies than most places in northwest B.C. With a vaccination rate (double dose for people aged 12 and above) at 75 per cent in Smithers, it ranks lower than neighbouring local health areas such as Terrace (82 per cent), Kitimat (95 per cent), Prince Rupert (84 per cent).

In the Nov. 15 legislature, Cullen had spoken in support of Bill 20-2021 the Access to Services Act., which looks at establishing hospitals, schools, COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites etc. as “bubble zones,” restricting access to protesters. Cullen discussed the challenges faced by frontline workers in his constituency of Smithers because of protests at hospital sites.

He also spoke about his Jewish heritage and how some protests in his community were using the yellow Stars of David and other Holocaust symbols when protesting science and vaccines.

“It is so ludicrous, it is so insensitive, it is so inflammatory to use images of the Holocaust to describe public health orders in British Columbia and in Canada right now,” Cullen had said in the legislature.

Further speaking about the billboard vandalism, Cullen said the provincial NDP government stands with anyone in B.C. who is facing racism and anti-Semitism.

“Should you witness or become the victim of a hate crime, I encourage you to report it to your local authority or reach out to the Resilience BC Anti-Racism Network for support,” said Cullen.

The billboard vandalism also took place around the same time Cullen was issued an eviction notice from Hazelton by Gitxsan hereditary chiefs on Nov. 27 owing to RCMP arrests and escalating pipeline violence in Houston.

The billboard defacement does not appear to be related to that conflict.

Binny Paul, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Terrace Standard

Loblaw Financial wins Supreme Court case over tax treatment of Barbados subsidiary

OTTAWA — Loblaw Financial Holdings should not have to pay Canadian taxes on income from a subsidiary the company ran in Barbados, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

In a 7-0 decision Friday, the top court said Canadian provisions at issue in the case do not apply to the subsidiary, Glenhuron Bank, meaning tax on its income is not payable in Canada.

Loblaw Financial, part of a larger group that includes the well-known grocery retailer, incorporated the subsidiary in 1992. Barbados' central bank issued a licence for it to operate as an offshore bank.

In 2013, Glenhuron was dissolved, and its assets were liquidated to help Loblaw buy Shoppers Drug Mart.

Loblaw Financial and affiliated companies made capital investments in Glenhuron, which engaged in corporate banking, between 1992 and 2000.

For several taxation years from 2001 and 2010, Loblaw Financial did not include income earned by Glenhuron in its Canadian tax returns as foreign accrual property income, known as FAPI.

The federal revenue minister issued reassessments to Loblaw Financial that required it to pay tax on Glenhuron's income on the grounds it fell under the provisions.

The federal Tax Court agreed with the minister in 2018 that Glenhuron's income did not qualify for an exclusion afforded to foreign banks.

The court concluded that Glenhuron conducted business principally with affiliated corporations, not parties with whom it was dealing at arm’s length, as required by the legislation.

The Federal Court of Appeal overturned the decision, referring the reassessments back to the minister for reconsideration. The Crown then took its case to the Supreme Court.

In its unanimous decision, the top court found the vast majority of business was conducted between Loblaw Financial’s foreign affiliate and arm's-length parties, so the exception in the law did in fact apply.

A parent corporation does not conduct business with its foreign affiliate when it provides capital and exercises corporate oversight, the Supreme Court said.

On the arm’s-length side, Glenhuron invested in short-term debt securities, cross-currency swaps and interest swaps, Justice Suzanne Côté wrote on behalf of the court.

"These were by far the most lucrative activities undertaken by Glenhuron, amounting to at least 86 per cent of its income during the years in issue."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 3, 2021.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press

B.C.’s old growth still falling with delay of provincial logging deferrals


Old-growth forests the B.C. government has identified for logging deferrals are still at risk of being clear cut, according to a West Coast conservation group.

“Intentions don’t stop chainsaws,” said Torrance Coste, campaign director for the Wilderness Committee, of the government’s failure to immediately act on the deferrals announced Nov. 2.

Mapping by the committee indicates at least 50,000 hectares of the at-risk forest identified by the province — an area four times the size of Vancouver — is already approved for logging, has approvals pending or may already be cut down since being announced, Coste said.

What’s more, approximately 2,000 hectares of the total cutblocks approved or applied for have occurred in the last month, he said.

Acting on input from an independent panel of experts, the province committed to set aside 2.6 million hectares of the rarest, most at-risk forest ecosystems for two years and gave First Nations a month to decide if they supported the deferrals or not.

Many First Nations leaders have criticized the government process and timeline as being impossibly short for making decisions that reflect free, prior and informed consent, a fundamental aspect of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which the province has adopted.

Additionally, the province didn’t outline how or if First Nations communities would be offered compensation to offset lost logging revenue should they support deferrals.

The province has put First Nations into an impossible situation, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, said in a press statement Thursday.

“While chainsaws are still roaring and old-growth forests continue to fall, First Nations must confront multiple, complex challenges around resourcing conservation and safeguarding their livelihoods,” Phillip said, adding the province has thrown the problem of old-growth conflict into the laps of Indigenous people and must ac

“That means immediately deferring logging in at-risk old growth while resourcing communities to pursue permanent protection,” Phillip said.

Coste agreed asking First Nations to consider the deferrals without replacing lost revenue from forestry wasn’t offering them a choice at all.

“If nations look around and see that the government's counter offer is $0, they're going to have to make the only choice that they can.”

Plus, announcing deferrals but not immediately implementing them only jeopardized irreplaceable ecosystems even further, he said.

“How many logging companies are seeing the writing on the wall and racing to the finish?” he said.

The province has taken a positive step of putting logging on hold immediately within the tenures controlled by BC Timber Sales, the government’s forestry arm, he added.

That means approximately 20 per cent of the total forests slated for deferral by the government is safe for the time being.

But the public shouldn’t mistake deferrals with the enduring protection old-growth forests urgently and ultimately need, Coste said.

“Yes, logging deferrals are needed immediately, but they’re not a permanent solution — they’re a tourniquet.”

Rochelle Baker / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada’s National Observer

Rochelle Baker, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer

UK
Storm Arwen: PM faces rage of ‘freezing and forgotten’ north

Boris Johnson faces calls for an urgent inquiry into the “appalling” response to Storm Arwen and the resilience of the country’s electricity networks after thousands of people were left without power for more than a week.

© Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA St Margaret's Church in Hawes, North Yorkshire, surrounded by snow last week.

Jon Ungoed-Thomas 

THE GUARDIAN

Local residents say they felt abandoned after the failure to restore power to more than 9,000 homes, mainly across the north-east and Scotland. MPs said it was a “national scandal” that the elderly and vulnerable had been put at risk in bitterly cold conditions.

Ed Miliband, the shadow secretary for climate change, said: “It is completely outrageous that thousands of people have been without power for over a week. People are being left in the most appalling circumstances but there has been an absence of government leadership.

“Communities in the north with their power cut off are being treated like second-class citizens. The government must get a grip on the immediate crisis and we need an urgent investigation to understand what went wrong, and to ensure that our power systems are never again this vulnerable to extreme weather events.”

Storm Arwen has been one of the worst in a generation, with electricity poles snapped and wires down across large swathes of the country. The Wye Valley, the Lake District, Aberdeenshire and Perthshire were among some of the areas most badly hit.

Opposition MPs say that after severe storms in 2013 the government said lessons would be learned.

Mary Foy, Labour MP for Durham City, said: “The response has been a national scandal and the storm has shone a spotlight on the lack of preparedness. If this had happened in the home counties, the government would have sprung into action and the prime minister would have got on his wellies and visited immediately. People have been freezing in their homes and it has put people at risk. My constituents feel they have been forgotten and betrayed.”

Some of the worst affected areas are supplied by Northern Powergrid, which provides power for eight million people. It says it has restored power to 98% of homes, but 5,100 were still cut off on Friday evening.

The company now faces questions over its electricity infrastructure, despite its proposals submitted to Ofgem, the regulator, earlier this year for extra investment in infrastructure.

Farmer Ian Backhouse, from Reedness in East Yorkshire, said there had been a lack of investment: “There are several rotten and leaning poles that are only a strong wind away from falling over.” Stuart Roberts, deputy president of the National Farmers’ Union, tweeted: “We are now seeing the devastating consequences of that lack of investment.” He said many farms were without power and the damage would take years to rectify.

Stephen Deakin, from Dissington, near Newcastle, told the BBC he had been without power for eight days. He said: “I understand it’s kind of an unprecedented situation but why did they not have a plan in place? Why were people not helped sooner?”

Kevan Jones, Labour MP for North Durham, said some residents have been told repairs have been delayed because of the challenge of finding the parts for ageing infrastructure.

He said Phil Jones, the chief executive of Northern Powergrid, should consider resigning over complaints by householders of the firm’s inadequate response. “They made the crisis worse by putting out the wrong information on when power would be restored to homes. We now need an urgent assessment of the resilience of the network.”

Major incidents have been declared in County Durham and Northumberland. The Ministry of Defence said about 300 personnel from the British Army and Royal Marines were supporting local services, conducting door-to-door checks on vulnerable people.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: “Our dedicated Armed Forces personnel are working side by side with civil authorities to provide essential support to communities impacted by Storm Arwen.”Ofgem announced on Friday it was launching a review into the impact of Storm Arwen, which will focus on the role of the network companies in maintaining the resilience of the system and their emergency response. It says it will take enforcement action against firms which failed to restore power quickly enough.

Residents can claim £70 for each 12-hour period they are without power, after an initial £70 for the first 48 hours. A £700 cap on compensation has been lifted.

Tim Farron MP, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Rural Affairs, said: “There is no time to lose on learning the lessons of Storm Arwen. Winter has only just begun and it is clear our infrastructure cannot withstand any more storms. The past week has been a scandal and the Government has been asleep at the wheel.”

Supplier Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks has said 950 properties were without power on Friday evening. Northern Powergrid apologised yesterday for poor communication with residents during the power cuts.

The Energy Networks Association, which represents the UK’s electricity and gas network companies, said: “Our focus remains firmly on reconnecting the remaining customers without power. It’s clear that we must continue to learn from events like these, to ensure we are prepared for the future.” The association says power networks have spent £730m on resilience since 2015.