Nevada geothermal power lawsuit bound for US appeals court

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A federal appeals court will have to decide whether protecting historical tribal lands and a rare toad warrant blocking a major geothermal plant in Nevada as the nation tries to move away from fossil fuels amid a looming climate crisis.

Ormat Technologies says it may abandon the project if a 90-day court order remains in place into March at the high-desert site bordering wetlands fed by hot springs about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of Reno.

The legal battle is headed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco after a federal judge in Reno denied Ormat's request this week to lift the temporary injunction by Feb. 28.

The Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe and the Center for Biological Diversity won the Jan. 4 court order temporarily banning any activity on what they say are sacred ceremonial grounds and home to the Dixie Valley toad being considered for a U.S. endangered species listing.

They also warn that the project could end up costing ratepayers in Southern California more for electricity.

Reno-based Ormat, one of the five largest U.S. geothermal producers, says it could lose tens of millions of dollars if it can’t begin construction at the site on federal land before March.

“While this is a significant blow to the company, it may sound the death knell for the project,” its lawyers wrote in their request to cut the 90-day order in half.

Ormat said it has invested $68 million over 10 years to start construction early this year and meet a Dec. 31 deadline to begin selling power at rates above current market prices under a 2017 contract.

They told U.S. District Judge Robert C. Jones on Jan. 10 the situation makes it “virtually impossible” to meet the deadline “critical to making the project economically feasible.”

Jones said in his order late Wednesday they should take it up with the appellate court in San Francisco.

“The most efficient and direct path to resolve any party’s concerns with this court’s orders on the temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction is to pursue appeal on an expedited basis,” he wrote.

On Thursday, Ormat's lawyers filed formal notice of their intent to appeal.

It's the latest development in a lawsuit the opponents filed last month seeking to void an environmental review the Bureau of Land Management approved in authorizing the project in November.

The lawsuit says pumping water from beneath the earth in Dixie Meadows will harm the hot springs the tribe considers sacred and could push the toad to the brink of extinction at the only place in the world it's known to exist.

The opponents lawyers also say in their latest court filings that while Ormat may benefit from the energy deal it cut in 2017, electric ratepayers would not.

“Ormat’s interest in profiting from above-market prices — which would likely be borne by consumers in the Los Angeles area over the length of the contract — does not constitute irreparable harm," they wrote.

Ormat argues the ceremonial lands and the toad itself are too far from the plant to be harmed, and that the area already is developed with roads, powerlines, a wellfield and an existing gravel pit bordering the site.

Its lawyers say geothermal development is an especially important step “in the global fight to reduce greenhouse gases and slow climate change.” Unlike wind and solar, geothermal power “contributes to availability of clean energy 24 hours a day, seven days a week," they said.

“The loss of the project would deal a massive blow to the state’s efforts to replace fossil fuel combustion with renewable energy, posing an obstacle to Nevada’s constitutional requirement to procure 50% of the state’s energy from renewable resources by 2030," they wrote.

The tribe and conservationists say any delays in construction are largely of Ormat’s and the government’s “own making.”

Their lawyers say the bureau’s environmental assessment makes clear that from 2011-2016, Ormat failed to collect required surface water monitoring data as it had agreed to under its lease.

They said they alerted Ormat and the bureau in 2017 that they needed to prepare a more detailed environmental impact statement.

“The failure to resolve those issues over the subsequent years does not now create an emergency,” they wrote.

Scott Sonner, The Associated Press

Ottawa, National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation make deal to hand over residential school documents

Peter Zimonjic, Olivia Stefanovich 

The federal government has struck a deal with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation that will see it hand over thousands of residential school records, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller said today.

The memorandum of agreement outlines how and when the federal government will share the documents with the Winnipeg-based National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR).

"Canada has a moral obligation to survivors to pursue the truth and to ensure access to documents, school narratives and records, so important to healing, to closure, to education and preservation," Miller said today.

In October, the NCTR said Ottawa had yet to provide key documents detailing the histories of each government-funded, church-run institution that made up the residential school system.

In December, Miller said his government would hand over thousands of documents that the federal government had been criticized for withholding. Today, Miller said the deal will see more than 875,000 documents handed over to the NCRT.

The government said it did not release the documents earlier because of third-party obligations to Catholic entities, including the Sisters of St. Ann, Sisters of Charity of Providence of Western Canada, Sisters of the Presentation and La Corporation Episcopale Catholique Romaine De Prince Albert.

"To me as a survivor we have to acknowledge our shared history, where we've come from, where we're at today and where is it we're going to go into the future," said Garnet Angeconeb, a residential school survivor working with the NCTR.

"This is very important in that the records that will be handed over will be a way to get at the truth, to be able to tell our stories, to be able to validate and acknowledge where we have come from as survivors."
The search for more records

Among the records not yet released are what's known as school narratives — reports compiled by Ottawa outlining an individual institution's history, including its administration, the number of Indigenous children forced to attend it and key events, such as reports of abuse.

The 11 narratives being released to the NCTR are for the following institutions:
Assumption Indian Residential School (IRS)
Fort Vermilion IRS, Grouard IRS
Sturgeon Lake IRS
Kamloops IRS
Kuper Island IRS
St. Mary's IRS
Mistassini Hostels IRS
Kivalliq Hall IRS
Fort George Anglican (St. Phillips) IRS
Norway House (United) IRS

These new documents will be added to the narratives the NCTR has for 125 other residential schools. There are no narratives or surviving documents for the residential schools at Lac La Biche, Lesser Slave Lake, St. Augustine and St Joseph's.

Miller also said that he has told his staff to look for additional documents that can also be shared with the NCTR.

"I have also committed to an extensive internal review of all documents held by my department to identify other possible records we can share while respecting the crucial privacy obligations to survivors as well as other legal processes," Miller said.

"Out of an abundance of caution, I will be issuing a directive to my department to retain any and all documents relating to these types of records."
Honouring commitments

Stephanie Scott, the NCTR's executive director, said that by transferring these record Ottawa will help to piece together a more comprehensive picture of how the residential school system operated.

Demands for the documents grew louder last year after several First Nations announced that ground-penetrating radar had located what are believed to be the remains of hundreds of children in unmarked graves on the sites of former residential schools.

At Thursday's news conference, Scott said she hopes the federal government's spring budget includes funding to allow the NCTR to get a new building and more resources to properly archive and share documents.

Miller said his government made those promises during the 2021 election campaign and it intends to honour them.

"We know that the resources of the NCTR are well insufficient as well as the building in which it is housed, so I just want to reiterate that support," he said.

GM Working on Hydrogen-Powered Generators to Make EV Charging Portable

GM is working with a company called Renewable Innovations to build tools that will bring its Hydrotec hydrogen fuel-cell technology to generators.

The automaker's mobile power generator (MPG) and Empower rapid charger offer ways to charge as many as 100 or more EVs without refilling or tapping into the electrical grid.

With the U.S. hydrogen infrastructure still in its infancy, these systems are not very cost-effective, at least for now, but they're intriguing.

General Motors announced Wednesday that it is planning to bring its Hydrotec hydrogen fuel-cell technology to generators. The company plans to test the waters with a hydrogen-powered mobile power generator, or MPG, and a rapid charger called Empower.

While GM foresees multiple use cases for its Hydrotec-based generators, it is primarily highlighting this technology’s potential to help today’s gas stations transition to electric-vehicle charging stations. That said, GM also sees the versatile MPG playing a military role, with its palletized prototype designed to provide power to temporary camps.

© General Motors GM Palletized Hydrotec-based Hydrogen MPG

Credit the hydrogen generator’s quieter operation and lower heat signature relative to its gas- or diesel-powered counterparts. In theory, these features ought to reduce the chance of enemy combatants coming across makeshift military sites.

Charge It

Yet, it's the MPG's potential role as a mobile fast charger for EVs that interests us most. As described by Charles Freese, GM's executive director of its global fuel-cell business, the MPG provides the ability to add an EV fast charger without the need to connect to the grid or break ground to install fixed charging stations. The Empower rapid charger, meanwhile, takes the basic concept of the MPG and kicks it up a few notches—notably, because of its ability to fast-charge four EVs at the same time. With its internal hydrogen tanks at full capacity, the rapid charger can charge north of 100 cars before needing a refill, according to GM.
Hydrogen Highway

GM intends to offer its hydrogen-powered generators in a variety of outputs, from as few as 60 kilowatts to as much as 600 kW, in order to satisfy varying commercial needs. Even so, the potential success of these emissions-free tools is stifled by the hydrogen infrastructure limitations of the United States. As such, refueling either of them is likely to be costly in many areas of the country

.

© General Motors GM Hydrotec-based Hydrogen MPG

In fact, Freese acknowledged as much during a media call, saying that today's practice of trucking hydrogen is often cost-ineffective due to the vast distances traveled. However, Freese believes hydrogen production will eventually happen closer to points of use, which ought to afford shorter trucking routes and bring down the price.

Nevertheless, GM and its manufacturing partner Renewable Innovations are continuing to develop these hydrogen-powered generators, with the two companies planning to start public demonstrations of the MPG later in the year. Renewable Innovations is also working to place 500 Empower rapid chargers across the U.S. before 2026.

Despite this progress, GM is keeping coy about the potential price of the MPG or Empower generators. Likewise, the company's not quite ready to discuss the possibility of producing a smaller hydrogen generator for personal use. Regardless, it seems it's only a matter of time until gas- and diesel-powered generators are replaced by zero-emission alternatives.

Chevron, Total exit Myanmar over deteriorating human rights

PARIS (AP) — TotalEnergies and Chevron, two of the world's largest energy conglomerates, said Friday they were stopping all operations in Myanmar, citing rampant human rights abuses and deteriorating rule of law since the country's military overthrew the government.

The announcement came just a day after the French company called for international sanctions targeting the oil and gas sector, which remain one of the military government's primary sources of funding.

Total and Chevron had come under increasing pressure over their role in running the offshore Yadana gas field, and Thailand’s PTT Exploration & Production. Total has a majority stake in the venture and runs its daily operations, while MOGE collects revenues on behalf of the government.

“Since the Feb. 1 coup, we have seen the evolution of the country and it is clearly not favorable: The situation of rule of law and human rights in Myanmar has clearly deteriorated over months and despite the civil disobediance movements, the junta has kept power and our analysis is that it's unfortunately for the long term,” Total said.

Since the takeover, the military has cracked down brutally against dissent, abducting young men and boys, killing health care workers and torturing prisoners.

Total said it would withdraw without financial compensation and hand over its interests to the other stakeholders.

About 50% of Myanmar’s foreign currency comes from natural gas revenues, with MOGE expected to earn $1.5 billion from offshore and pipeline projects in 2021-2022, according to a Myanmar government forecast. Prior rounds of U.S. and European sanctions against the Myanmar military have excluded oil and gas.

In a statement released shortly after Total’s announcement, Chevron said it too was planning to leave “in light of circumstances.” The company has condemned the human rights abuses and said it would comply with any international sanctions.

The Myanmar-based human rights group Blood Money Campaign called on the companies to ensure that future payments are made into accounts inaccessible to the military and "stop treating the criminal junta as a legitimate government.”

Human Rights Watch welcomed the decision.

"The next step is to ensure that gas revenues don’t continue to fund those atrocities,” said Ken Roth, executive director of the organization.

___

Associated Press writers Elaine Kurtenbach in Bangkok, Victoria Milko in Jakarta, Indonesia and Kristen Gelineau in Sydney contributed to this report.

Lori Hinnant, The Associated Press

Alberta government decimates funding for parent council support organization


Some Alberta parents who serve on school councils say the provincial government is trying to circumvent and silence them.

In the past two years, the United Conservative Party government has all but eliminated nearly $650,000 annual grant funding to the Alberta School Councils' Association (ASCA) – an organization that trains and represents volunteers serving on councils.

The cutback comes after the organization's membership criticized government policies, including the proposed new draft curriculum, education funding and how the province has managed COVID-19 in schools.

"Many parents and many of our members are left wondering if it's because of their advocacy positions that the entirety of the association is being penalized," said ASCA president Brandi Rai.

The organization applied for a $170,000 grant this year. The education ministry turned them down, saying the government doesn't fund non-profit groups' operations.

Instead, they offered ASCA a $15,000 grant to do a project on learning loss during the pandemic. This, after government funding made up the bulk of ASCA's revenue for at least 15 years.

Rai isn't sure if the organization will accept the money offered. She said after laying off some staff, ASCA is already stretched thin with their existing work.

"Our organization refuses to be a check box," Rai said.

They have raised membership fees, and now charge parents for training courses that were once free.

In August, Education Minister Adriana LaGrange announced the government would spend $1 million to send $500 directly to every school council in Alberta. A news release at the time said it was to help prepare volunteers for the work, and to "strengthen engagement and the parental voice in their schools."

Although councils can spend the money on professional development, Rai says they can't spend it on ASCA membership fees or to attend their annual conference.

Last fall, LaGrange also created a new minister's parent advisory council, composed of 40 volunteers from across the province.

Rai said it shows the minister only wants to hear from hand-picked parents on topics she chooses.

Parents worry school councils will be diminished

Alberta's Education Act requires all public schools have a council.

It's not a fundraising group. Parents involved review the school budget, look at academic results, and consult on school goals and policies.

Last year, about 83 per cent of the province's 1,500 school councils were ASCA members. They include public, Catholic and charter schools.

Red Deer parent Wendy Fath has served on her youngest son's school councils for seven years.

She said, at first, most parents don't understand what councils do. She credits ASCA for training thousands of volunteers for the work and organizing networking events.

Fath said the $500 government grant to each council is a "small shiny thing to take away from the big thing that we're losing."

She worries parents won't get adequate training, and become disengaged and disempowered.

© Submitted by Meagan Parisian Meagan Parisian is a Red Deer parent of three children. She's the president of the school council at Ecole Barrie Wilson Elementary in Red Deer.

Meagan Parisian, a parent of three and president of the Ecole Barrie Wilson school council in Red Deer, said the government is cherry-picking parents to hear from.

"We don't need a parent advisory committee," she said. "We have ASCA."

Minister LaGrange's press secretary, Katherine Stavropoulos, says ASCA doesn't represent all parents.

"Alberta's government is proud to expand opportunities to engage directly with parents," she said.

Stavropoulos said the advisory council isn't a replacement for ASCA, but a way to reach different parents.

She said the $500 grants reinforce the government's commitment to parent councils.

Rai said the cuts have left ASCA in a "dire" position, but it's not dead yet.

"I think that they anticipated that we would go away," she said. "But we've been here for 90 years, and if we need to look different for a few years while we rally, and regroup, we will. But we will be here long past this sitting government."

Alberta announces advisory group to help roll out new K-6 curriculum subjects in fall

The Alberta government says work by its K-6 Curriculum Implementation Advisory Group is already underway to help shape how portions of a new K-6 curriculum will be rolled out in the fall.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Adriana LaGrange, Minister of Education, speaks about the draft K-6 curriculum during a press conference at the McDougall Centre in Calgary on Monday, December 13, 2021.

In a news release Thursday, the government announced the group, meeting monthly until June, will provide recommendations to the government on timing, preparing the education system, and classroom supports.

It comes after Education Minister Adriana LaGrange announced in December the government would delay some of the most controversial subjects of its draft curriculum, including social studies, while new drafts, expected in the spring, could be developed.

Beginning in September, sections on K-6 English language arts and literature, physical education and wellness, and mathematics will be taught in classrooms, while remaining subjects will undergo updates and be piloted in classrooms beginning in fall 2022, before being rolled out province-wide for the 2023 school year.

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Education Minister Adriana LaGrange said in a statement the government aims to make piloting and implementation manageable for teachers and students.

“Alberta’s government has been listening to all input from Albertans about the draft K-6 curriculum review process,” LaGrange said.

Members of the 17-member panel, some of whom remain anonymous so they “do not become targets of online harassment,” include Education Ministry officials, representatives from the Alberta School Boards Association and College of Alberta School Superintendents, and three teacher representatives.

The group’s work will be confidential, and won’t involve reviewing the content of the curriculum or making recommendations about funding.

At a Thursday virtual news conference, Alberta Teachers’ Association president Jason Schilling said teacher involvement on the panel is woefully inadequate, even though teachers will be the ones responsible for implementing the curriculum and delivering lessons — not school boards or superintendents.

“There are more members of government than there are people working in classrooms today,” said Schilling, who added he would have liked to see at least 50 per cent of the group made up of teachers.

He repeated calls for the government to halt implementing the curriculum until its content is significantly improved, noting there are still outstanding questions and concerns from teachers about content and resources for subject areas moving ahead in the fall.

“To implement this during this time when the system is already so stressed, just seems to be a huge mistake to do it this quickly,” said Schilling.

Schilling noted the ATA has not seen transparency from the government about feedback it’s received on curriculum development.

“This government is quick to say they’ve consulted with teachers, but the engagement that has been done so far lacks authenticity, and the advice is routinely ignored.”

lijohnson@postmedia.com

twitter.com/reportrix

Industrial development giving coyotes an edge in wolverine habitat: study


EDMONTON — Industrial development is helping coyotes move into wolverine country and edge out the rare carnivore despite its fierce reputation, newly published research suggests

.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

"Roads and seismic lines were actually driving competition between wolverines and coyotes," said Gillian Chow-Fraser of the University of Victoria, lead author of the paper published in the journal Biological Conservation.

Chow-Fraser said it's another example of how human activities on a landscape have far-reaching consequences for all the animals living on it.

"We see them changing the animal community in all sorts of ways."

Chow-Fraser, her university colleagues, and the Alberta government examined data from 154 camera traps collected in 2006-08 and 2011-13 from two areas of the province — the relatively untouched Willmore Wilderness Area and Kananaskis Country, which is heavily laced by roads and cutlines from forestry, energy and recreational development.

Altogether, the study analyzes data from 2,790 weeks of camera deployment.

Coyotes and wolverines have different habitats and wouldn't normally interact, Chow-Fraser said.

But, as development clears pathways into the boreal forest and foothills of the Rockies, now they do.

"It was increasing the odds they co-occur in an area," Chow-Fraser said.

The data showed that on a road or cutline, the two animals were three times more likely to show up at the same spot within a week of each other than elsewhere.

Wolverines are fierce beasts and Chow-Fraser doesn't suggest coyotes are beating them fang-to-fang. It's more a case of coyotes, with their superior numbers, using up resources wolverines could once count on for themselves and their kits.

"We're talking about a competition for resources or space," she said. "There's a lot of coyotes and they're outcompeting wolverines in these places where there's high density of linear features."

Other predators such as wolves, cougars or bears aren't the problem, Chow-Fraser said. Those animals feed differently and don't compete with wolverines.

Wolverines are considered a "data deficient" animal in Alberta. The province's most recent population estimate — now 20 years old — is fewer than 1,000 animals.

"The Alberta population is considered to be declining at an unknown rate," says Alberta's fact sheet on wolverines.

A 2020 study by the Alberta Conservation Association for the provincial government concludes there are no "robust" population estimates for wolverines across the vast majority of its habitat.

"In 2022, Environment and Parks will be reviewing new information and data available on wolverines to determine if an updated status evaluation should be conducted," said department spokesman Jason Penner.

Federally, wolverines have been listed as a species of special concern since 2014. That status under the Species At Risk Act doesn't compel governments to develop a recovery plan for the animal.

"There really needs to be a reassessment of wolverine numbers in Alberta," Chow-Fraser said. "We definitely need to start taking the status of wolverines more seriously."

The study shows how human intervention on a landscape creates new circumstances that change how species have interacted for millennia. Chow-Fraser compares the wolverine situation to that of caribou, now suffering from wolf predation because roads and cutlines have opened the way into the deep forest.

"We need to think about how industrial development is fundamentally changing the wildlife community."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 19, 2022.

— Follow Bob Weber on Twitter at @row1960Bob Weber, The Canadian Press

COPS ARE PART OF THE DRUG PROBLEM
Alberta police chiefs oppose talks of decriminalizing personal possession of drugs before more supports available

Stephanie Babych 

 Provided by Calgary Herald Calgary Police Chief Constable Mark Neufeld was photographed on Monday, December 6, 2021.

Video player from: YouTube (Privacy Policy, Terms)

Alberta police chiefs are taking a stand against decriminalizing the personal possession of drugs.

The Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police (AACP) said Thursday they will not support the decriminalization of minor drug offences before supports are improved and public policy is modernized.

The announcement comes as Edmonton city council is poised to discuss a motion on Monday that would lay the groundwork for the city to request an exemption from the federal government to decriminalize the personal possession of drugs, similar to exemptions being pursued by officials in Vancouver and Toronto.

Edmonton Coun. Michael Janz said on Twitter that council’s discussion will be an opportunity to take the first step toward a public health approach to the ongoing drug poisoning epidemic.

During a news conference Thursday, Calgary police Chief Mark Neufeld, the chair of the AACP, said Alberta communities are not ready for the effects of decriminalization.

While Neufeld acknowledged that decriminalizing minor drug offences could be part of an integrated approach to redirect drug users away from the criminal justice system and toward appropriate health supports and care, he said Alberta chiefs don’t believe those supports are currently available — including quickly accessible treatment services.

“Drug decriminalization triggers an immediate need for structural and societal changes in areas that do not currently exist,” Neufeld said. “Jurisdictions that have implemented decriminalization have added a range of administrative sanctions in replacement of criminal justice outcomes.”

All levels of government and stakeholders would have to establish regulations for issues such as the use of drugs in public spaces, the use of drugs in areas near minors, discarded needles or other debris, and public complaints, Neufeld said. And it would be essential to include input from rural and Indigenous communities, he added.

“These must be established prior to decriminalization so that individuals who want access to treatment can be connected to those services and supports without unreasonable delay.”

Blood Tribe Police Service Chief Brice Iron Shirt said at the news conference that he does not recommend decriminalization of drug possession for Indigenous policing in Alberta, though he said Blood Tribe Police Service is taking a holistic approach to the opioid crisis that’s specific to Blackfoot culture and beliefs.

Elaine Hyshka, assistant professor and Canada research chair in health systems innovation at the University of Alberta, said charging people with minor possession of drugs does not deter substance use but contributes to significant harm to people’s health, well-being and economic chances.

In Alberta, nearly 1,400 people died from substance-related overdoses between January and October 2021.

Hyshka said she’s glad to see Edmonton council open discussions in the province, and hopes other communities — including Calgary — follow in their footsteps. The cities would be pursuing a Section 56 exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, which would be reviewed by Health Canada and the federal minister of Health.

Hyshka said the exemption would make it so police could no longer charge people caught in possession of small amounts of drugs with a criminal offence. Officers would still be able to lay charges in cases of drug trafficking and organized crime.

“I don’t think we need a new policy framework. I think it’s actually quite feasible to move forward with the existing policy framework and I think, frankly, it’s long overdue,” she said. “I think municipal councils are recognizing that the status quo is not acceptable.”

Calgary Coun. Courtney Walcott said he took notice of Edmonton’s motion.

“It’s setting a roadmap,” said Walcott. “This action on behalf of Edmonton, it’s going to have a trickle-down effect because we’ll be able to take a look at it, see the response, see the response from the public and, honestly, plan accordingly.”

Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra said decriminalization is something a number of Calgary councillors are looking into, in an effort to understand the best role the municipal government can play in a heavily interjurisdictional issue.

“We’ve committed to a trauma-informed harm-reduction approach to better take care of our most vulnerable citizens, and we’ve committed to anti-racism. This work is right in that wheelhouse,” said Carra.

He said he’s pleased to see Edmonton move forward with the motion, and said Calgary councillors will continue seeking to examine what this could look like for Calgary.

— With files from Madeline Smith

sbabych@postmedia.com

Twitter: @BabychStephanie

'DARK MONEY'

Washington justices uphold $18M fine in GMO-labeling case

SEATTLE (AP) — The Washington Supreme Court has narrowly upheld an $18 million fine levied against an association of large food brands that funneled dark money into a state political campaign.

 Provided by The Canadian Press

The 5-4 decision Thursday found that the penalty against the Grocery Manufacturers Association — now known as the Consumer Brands Association — did not violate the U.S. Constitution's ban on excessive fines. The association said it would petition the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.

The group, which included companies like Coca-Cola and Nestle, in 2013 collected $14 million from its members. It then contributed $11 million of that to help defeat a Washington state ballot initiative that would have required labeling of genetically engineered ingredients on food packaging.

The association failed to register as a political committee in the state, did not disclose which companies contributed the campaign money and filed no campaign-finance reports until after Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued.

As part of the lawsuit, the state uncovered evidence that one association executive noted during a meeting that having a pooled campaign account would “shield individual companies from public disclosure and possible criticism.”

“The GMA’s offense struck at the core of open elections,” Chief Justice Steven González wrote for the state supreme court's majority. “The grave nature and broad extent of GMA’s offense suggests the penalty is not grossly disproportional.”

The dissenting justices, led by Justice Sheryl Gordon McCloud, said that the association’s failure to file campaign disclosure reports was serious for a reporting violation but that it was only a reporting violation. She called the $18 million penalty “grossly disproportionate” to that offense.

The justices previously found that the Grocery Manufacturers Association's violations were intentional, but sent the case back to a lower court to determine whether the fine was excessive. The 8th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits excessive fines.

“This is a victory for fair and transparent elections in Washington, and a defeat of special interest dark money,” Ferguson said in a statement.

Consumer Brands general counsel Stacy Papadopoulos said in an email that the association was disappointed in the ruling.

“The state’s legal process has been tainted by partisan politics, and the ruling in this case will chill core political speech by legitimate organizations based on their viewpoints,” the statement read. “The only winner in this decision is politics – not the law, the facts or the American public.”

The GMO-labeling measure, known as Initiative 522, failed by a vote of 51% to 49%.

Gene Johnson, The Associated Press

Doctors Transplant Two Pig Kidneys at Once Into a Human

This week, a team at the University of Alabama said they were able to transplant two kidneys from a genetically modified pig into a brain-dead patient, a step beyond previous experiments that transplanted only one pig kidney. The Alabama doctors say the kidneys were able to function as expected and weren’t immediately rejected by the body.

 Photo: Tim Graham (Getty Images) Photo: Tim Graham (Getty Images)

In October 2021, doctors at New York University Langone Health reported that they had, for the first time, successfully transplanted a kidney from a genetically modified pig that was then able to function normally without rejection from the human body for two days. By December, the same team reported a second working transplant.


Both of these experiments were only meant to test the short-term feasibility of the procedure. They involved recipients who were deemed to be functionally dead and whose bodies were only being kept alive through life support. But earlier this month, a team at the University of Maryland Medical Center transplanted a pig heart into a living patient named David Bennett. Bennett had a terminal heart disease but was medically ineligible for a standard transplant or heart pump. And with both his consent and the permission of the Food and Drug Administration, the doctors were allowed to carry out the one-off experimental surgery.

This latest feat comes from doctors at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine. It’s the first such transplant to be detailed in a peer-reviewed journal, an important step for validating any research. And it appears to be the first to transplant two of these modified kidneys into a single human.

As with the NYU transplants, the recipient was a brain-dead patient, and the experimental procedure was not intended to save the person’s life. The doctors transplanted the kidneys into the recipient’s abdomen and monitored them for 77 hours. During that time, the kidneys filtered blood, produced urine, and avoided rejection from the host body. The team’s findings were published Thursday in the American Journal of Transplantation.

“This game-changing moment in the history of medicine represents a paradigm shift and a major milestone in the field of xenotransplantation, which is arguably the best solution to the organ shortage crisis,” said lead author, Jayme Locke, director of the Comprehensive Transplant Institute at UAB’s Department of Surgery, in a statement from the university.

There are some key differences between all of these transplants. Namely, the NYU team relied on pigs that had only a single gene edited—one responsible for producing a sugar in their muscles that humans don’t make. This incompatibility is thought to be a major reason why past attempts to use animal organs for human transplants haven’t worked, since most mammals produce the sugar. But the pigs used by the UAB and the Maryland team had 10 genes edited to make them more compatible with humans. In all of the procedures, though, the genetically engineered pigs were supplied through the company Revivicor.

With their findings today, the UAB team firmly believes that their methods are ready to be tested out in clinical trials sooner than later.

“We have bridged critical knowledge gaps and obtained the safety and feasibility data necessary to begin a clinical trial in living humans with end-stage kidney failure disease,” Locke said.

Alberta government and physicians set to get back to formal negotiations

Lisa Johnson 13 hrs ago

The Alberta government and Alberta Medical Association are looking to get back to formal negotiations over a new agreement with the province’s doctors.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Health Minister Jason Copping.

Minister of Health Jason Copping and Alberta Medical Association (AMA) president Dr. Michelle Warren issued a joint statement Thursday announcing that before returning to the negotiating table, both parties have agreed to work on “high-priority health-care system issues that will support system stability,” including addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, delaying some changes to physician compensation, and increasing access to virtual care.

In a Thursday letter to members , Warren said discussions between the AMA and government “are entering a new stage.”

Last year, the government agreed to delay its planned changes in services stipends, fee reductions and AHS overhead policy after the AMA asked for the changes to be put off . Two virtual fee code changes bringing pay for virtual visits in line with in-person visits also came into effect Jan. 1.

Warren noted that progress on those and other issues paved the way for formal negotiations, which will take a different approach than in the past.

“There is still a difficult road ahead. I’m encouraged that we’ve set out in a spirit of collaboration and with hopes for a better relationship between government and the physicians of Alberta,” Warren wrote.

On Thursday, NDP Opposition health critic David Shepherd said in a statement he is pleased to see the potential return to formal negotiations almost two years after the UCP government tore up its agreement with doctors .

However, he added that as long as the government’s Bill 21 remains in effect, the government has the power to renege on any future contract.

“To enter these negotiations in good faith, the UCP must repeal these elements of Bill 21,” said Shepherd.

lijohnson@postmedia.com

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