CANADA
Federal rule on oil and gas projects ‘does not stand up to the facts’
Yesterday 7:36 a.m.

Last week, Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault announced the approval of the deepwater oil project Bay du Nord with 137 conditions, including a requirement the project achieves net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

That same day, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) announced the requirement would also apply to all future oil and gas developments.

Those opposed to all new fossil fuel developments were quick to point out that calling any oil and gas project net-zero is misleading. Even if companies could make their products without any emissions, which so far none have, all oil and gas produce emissions when burned.

So-called Scope 3, or tailpipe emissions, are not accounted for in the government’s calculations, therefore the very definition of net-zero “does not stand up to the facts,” Angela Carter, an associate professor at the University of Waterloo and a member of the Newfoundland and Labrador government’s Net-Zero Advisory Council, told Canada’s National Observer.

She noted N.L., along with Canada as a whole, is not on track to meet its climate targets, and new oil and gas development will further hinder those goals.

Although the operation of Bay du Nord will emit less carbon than its oilsands counterparts during production, once that oil is burned, the emissions are all the same, she noted.

Bay du Nord will be operated by Norwegian energy giant Equinor and its partner company Husky, and includes numerous exploration and discovery licences, the creation of a floating oil production station and the drilling of up to 40 wells in the Flemish Pass Basin. It won final approval April 6.

Carter said moving the project forward makes any climate commitments a “farce” and noted the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report stressed the need for no new fossil fuel projects.

The lion’s share of emissions from any project, no matter how clean it is during the production stage, are released when oil is burned. Canada’s National Observer columnist Barry Saxifrage did the calculations — on average, Scope 1 and 2 emissions (which happen during production) emit 65 kilograms of carbon dioxide (kgCO2) per barrel of oil, whereas Scope 3 emissions average 430 kgCO2/barrel, or around 87 per cent of the total emissions that come from oil.

He also did the math specifically for Bay du Nord. Equinor plans to extract 200,000 barrels a day from the project, which would add 30 million tonnes of CO2 (MtCO2) to the atmosphere each year it’s burned. During production, the offshore project will emit carbon dioxide at about one-eighth the rate of Suncor's proposed Base Mine expansion in northern Alberta at the Scope 1 stage, which Guilbeault recently called out for being too high.

Nonetheless, the federal government justifies approving Bay du Nord by promising Equinor will be required to track its progress in cleaning up emissions and eventually reach net-zero during the extraction phase.

Oliver Anderson, director of communications for ECCC, pointed to the new rules that require oil and gas projects undergoing environmental assessment to be net-zero by 2050 as a major step forward for the approval process.

He said Bay du Nord will have significantly less impact on the environment than current oil and gas projects, and referenced stats from the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada that peg Bay du Nord's emissions at eight to nine kilograms of GHG per barrel compared to a typical oilsands project, which emits 80 kilograms of GHG per barrel.

When asked about Scope 3 emissions, Anderson said cutting back on pollution from the production of oil and gas will still have a big impact, since 25 per cent of Canada’s emissions come from the production of oil and gas.

“Consumption emissions are usually accounted for separately. We usually count those in all the other areas of our emissions profiles — transportation, electricity,” he said.

“And so the government, at the same time, is doing a lot and investing a ton and will continue to transition into cleaner energy.”

However, if the oil is exported, it won’t be counted in Canada’s emissions data at all.

The specifics of how Bay du Nord will reach net-zero are still up in the air, but Anderson said carbon capture and reducing methane leakage are both good examples of how that could be achieved.

The controversial carbon capture investment tax credit was the biggest-ticket climate item from last week’s budget, with the Liberals putting $2.6 billion over five years toward projects that store carbon dioxide underground or in concrete. In March, over 30,000 people called on the federal government to stop funding carbon capture, noting that “despite decades of investments, current (carbon capture) capacity is just .001 per cent of global emissions.”

Environmental groups such as the Climate Action Network said they were hoping for more money towards a just transition away from oil and gas and tangible emission cuts for the sector.

“This budget is a failed attempt to respond to the urgency of the moment. The climate and energy security crises require a vision and a transition plan that prioritize the needs of people and communities everywhere,” said Eddy Pérez of Climate Action Network Canada.

“... Minister Freeland has announced that Canada still intends to keep the fossil fuel industry in the driver’s seat by giving them expensive tax credits instead of using those funds to invest in a safe, sustainable future.”

Again, Carter stressed the most recent IPCC report, which said transitioning to renewable energy such as solar and wind is essential in reducing emissions. On the same day as the Bay du Nord approval, it was announced the N.L. onshore wind farm ban would be lifted, and that the potential for offshore wind was on the table. Wind potential in the province has been called “remarkable” — it has some of the strongest winds in North America.

“We know based on the analysis from the IPCC ... that there's simply no room in the carbon budget for any more new projects,” said Carter.

“So I don't know how, I don't know why it is that we somehow get to defy science.”

Cloe Logan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer

THE REALITY IS THAT CCS IS NOT GREEN NOR CLEAN IT IS GOING TO BE USED TO FRACK OLD DRY WELLS SUCH AS IN THE BAKAN SHIELD IN SASKATCHEWAN
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-myth-of-carbon-capture-and-storage.html

ALSO SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=CCS

Hardly Anyone Is Feeding Their Dog Safely, a US Study Suggests


(Sally Anscombe/DigitalVision/Getty Images)

DAVID NIELD
13 APRIL 2022

A new study has found that only a small fraction of dog owners are aware of the official guidelines for safely handling their pet's food – in this case the guidelines set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US.

These guidelines cover how pet food should be stored and served, how food bowls should be cleaned and maintained, and how to report problems with food and treats. The problem is, not enough people are aware of these simple tips to help avoid pets and owners from getting sick.

That's not just the responsibility of dog owners but also of the FDA, the researchers say: they're calling for these guidelines to be more widely publicized, and to be followed up with some rigorous scientific research to demonstrate their benefits.

"Pet feeding involves interplay between the pet, the owner, and the food," writes the team from North Carolina State University.

"This interaction creates the opportunity for mutual exchange of microbial contaminants from food or water, dishes, and the food storage or preparation environment, which can cause health consequences for both humans and pets."

The research involved surveys of 417 dog owners and swabs on 68 dog food dishes. Less than 5 percent of respondents knew that there were any guidelines to follow; when told that such guidelines existed, only 8 percent knew that the FDA website was the place to go in order to find them.

On the positive side, several of the official guidelines were widely followed by the survey group: 86 percent check their dog food for visible damage, and 91 percent know not to use the dog bowl as a scooping utensil. Almost all (97 percent) of the dog owners reported that they didn't feed their pooches raw food.

Other FDA recommendations are less well followed. The researchers found that only 12 percent of dog owners wash their pets' bowls every day, and only 22 percent wash their hands with soap and hot water before handling pet food. A mere 13 percent clean the food-scooping utensil with soap and hot water after it's been used.

As the researchers point out, we tend to overestimate how hygienic we are, and some of that bias could be present in this study too. In summary, based on this sample, dog owners could be doing a lot more to minimize bacterial build up and the risk of infection.

"Exposure to contaminated dog food can have implications for canine and human health," write the researchers. "For example, there have been multiple outbreaks of both humans and dogs becoming ill after exposure to dog food contaminated with pathogenic bacteria.

"These risks may be amplified in households with children and/or immunocompromised individuals, which were over a third of respondents' households."

The team also measured the differences that enforcing the FDA guidelines made, reporting "significant decreases" in contamination on the bowls. However, only 8 percent of those involved in the study said they would keep up with all of the protocols in the long term.

Previous research suggests that pet food dishes are common among household surfaces that are contaminated with bacteria; the spread of drug-resistant E. coli bacteria is just one of the problems that can develop as a result.

While this research used a relatively small sample size and didn't go into too much detail in terms of bacterial analysis, it's clear that more could be done by both dog owners and health bodies to make sure both pets and humans are kept as safe as possible.

"Future studies should further examine contamination with specific pathogenic bacterial species and consider the contamination risk of other microbiological agents or toxins," write the researchers.

The research has been published in PLOS One.

An Atacama Super-Quake We Never Knew About Sent Humans Into Hiding For 1,000 Years

A gigantic tsunami-unleashing earthquake that struck northern Chile 3,800 years ago wreaked such devastation on coastal populations, it took 1,000 years for humans to return to the shore, scientists say.


© José Pablo Domínguez/Unsplash The Atacama Desert.

Peter Dockrill - Yesterday 

ScienceAlert

The ancient super-quake would have had a magnitude of around 9.5, and was so powerful it generated a tsunami that hurled boulders hundreds of meters inland in New Zealand, which is thousands of miles – and an entire ocean – away.

The discovery is evidenced by uplifted land structures (aka littoral deposits) and samples of marine rocks, shells, and sea life washed far ashore by tsunami waves into the higher stretches of Chile's Atacama Desert. It serves as a grim warning of the destructive potential of major tsunamigenic earthquakes that may have previously escaped our notice.

"We found evidence of marine sediments and a lot of beasties that would have been living quietly in the sea before being thrown inland," says geologist and tsunami specialist James Goff from the University of New South Wales, Australia.

"And we found all these very high up and a long way inland so it could not have been a storm that put them there."


Tsunami deposits visible in a trench. (University of Southampton)

The research team, led by anthropologist Diego Salazar from the University of Chile, conducted several years of research in the Atacama Desert region, which is particularly vulnerable to megathrust earthquakes due to its proximity to the convergence of the Nazca and South American tectonic plates, with the former being subducted under the latter.

This phenomenon and its seismic backlash is what led to the most powerful earthquake on record, the 1960 Valdivia earthquake in southern Chile; thousands of years prior, it seems the same tectonic tensions led to an equally diabolical yet undocumented precursor in the north of the country.

"It had been thought that there could not be an event of that size in the north of the country simply because you could not get a long enough rupture," says Goff.

"But we have now found evidence of a rupture that's about one thousand kilometers long just off the Atacama Desert coast, and that is massive."

In their investigations, the researchers used radiocarbon dating to get a sense of the age of the littoral deposits, which stretch over some 600 kilometers (about 370 miles) of Chile's coastline.

Readings from several of the deposit sites suggest the existence of a "tectonic event that would have uplifted littoral deposits all along the study region, generated a paleotsunami, and triggered social disruption at a regional scale," the researchers write in their paper.

Collapsed stone structure. (Gabriel Easton)

At the time of the event, the people living in this part of the world were hunter-gatherer communities. Archaeological evidence suggests the tsunami wave generated by the quake toppled their stone structures – and not just once, but twice, with a strong current of tsunami backwash wreaking havoc as it flowed back out to the sea.

The effects on any people lucky enough to have survived the immediate disaster were long-lasting, with evidence suggesting the area remained uninhabited by human populations for as long as 1,000 years, despite people living on this stretch of coastline for nearly 10 millennia before the crisis.

"The local population there were left with nothing," says Goff. "Our archaeological work found that a huge social upheaval followed as communities moved inland beyond the reach of tsunamis."

With time and the passing of dozens of generations, the local people's boldness (or perhaps forgetfulness) grew, and people eventually made their way back to the ocean about 1,000 years later.

"The abandonment of previously occupied areas and changes in the mobility patterns and spatial arrangements of settlements and cemeteries were probably resilience strategies developed by hunter-gatherer societies," the researchers write.

"However, knowledge of these giant events and their consequences seems to wane over the passage of time."

Aside from filling the gaps in our historical understanding of this gigantic event – an earthquake about as powerful as anything known to humanity – the research is a cautionary note about the risks similarly powerful megathrust quakes might pose in the future, the researchers say.

"While this had a major impact on people in Chile, the South Pacific islands were uninhabited when they took a pummeling from the tsunami 3,800 years ago," Goff says.

"But they are all well-populated now, and many are popular tourist destinations, so when such an event occurs next time the consequences could be catastrophic unless we learn from these findings."

The findings are reported in Science Advances.

MANCHIN VISITS ONLY REPUBLICAN WANNABE PROVINCE IN CANADA

U.S. senator backs Alberta premier in energy security partnership


CALGARY — A high-profile United States senator is backing Alberta Premier Jason Kenney in pushing for more North American oil to supplant Russian supplies during the invasion of Ukraine.

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a key Democratic vote in the evenly divided Senate, says it's vital for the U.S. and Canada to be partners in energy security to support global demand.

Kenney says Manchin's visit to Alberta helps raise the profile of the province's resources and fosters greater collaboration between the two countries.

Both politicians expressed disappointment at the termination of the Keystone XL pipeline project, which was cancelled by U.S. President Joe Biden last year on his first day in the White House.

Manchin says he's unsure whether there's a possibility the project could be resurrected, but adds it would be foolish if it wasn't.

Earlier, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the decision on the pipeline's fate lies with the U.S.

He also said his Liberal government will continue to advocate for Canada as an energy partner for the south, with traditional and renewable resources.

The Canadian Press

SEE 

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/04/energy-environment-facing-high-gas.html

Prime minister visits Edmonton, criticizes Alberta's response to opioid crisis


© Provided by The Canadian Press


EDMONTON — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau criticized the Alberta government Tuesday for not addressing the opioid epidemic in ways that have proven to be effective elsewhere.

“As a government, we've continued to push for safe consumption sites," Trudeau said at the old Mercer Warehouse, where he promoted his Liberal government's budget plan to relax tax laws for small businesses.

Alberta's United Conservative Party government has focused on a recovery-oriented strategy. Access to opioid dependency programs and drug-use sites has been limited.

"It's unfortunate to see Alberta going in the opposite direction, away from a science-based and harm reduction approach. We know that municipal leaders, like here in Edmonton, are serious about supporting people through this terrible tragedy."

A council committee on Monday voted to ask the city's administration to explore the issue of decriminalizing simple possession of illegal drugs and provide recommendations by early next year.

Alberta last year recorded its deadliest year for drug overdoses since it began collecting data in 2016. Government figures show 171 people died in November and 178 in December — the highest single-month numbers ever — for a total of 1,758 fatalities in 2021.

In a post on Twitter, the press secretary for Mike Ellis, Alberta'smental health and addictions associate minister, referred to another tweet about Trudeau's comments as "a joke."

"People can recover, it is shameful he can’t recognize that," said Eric Engler in the tweet

Earlier in the day, Trudeau shook hands with entrepreneurs at the warehouse, which is home to StartUp Edmonton, a workspace and incubator for small-business owners.

The business owners Trudeau spoke to included a man using machine learning to help construction companies fill job openings faster and another man hoping to create a crypto currency brokerage.

Trudeau explained Ottawa's aim to cut taxes for small businesses and highlighted a recently announced billion-dollar plan to create an independent federal innovation and investment agency.

"Canada has some of the best scientists, thinkers, entrepreneurs and innovators in the world," Trudeau said. "But in order to bring those great ideas to market and help their businesses grow, they need support for research, development and mostly commercialization."

The Liberal government's proposal would allow companies to take advantage of Canada’s low small-business tax rate for longer and until their taxable capital reached $50 million — an increase from a previous $15-million limit.

Calgary's lone Liberal member of Parliament, George Chahal, joined Trudeau alongside community business leaders.

Trudeau also met with members of the local Ukrainian and Afghan communities and visited a nature-based solutions lab to highlight investments in green technologies.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 12, 2022.

— With files from Daniela Germano in Edmonton and Alanna Smith in Calgary

___

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press

Edmonton takes step toward decriminalizing simple possession of illegal drugs

Kim Smith - Monday

At a committee meeting Monday morning, Edmonton city councillors voted in favour of asking administration to explore the issue of decriminalizing simple possession of illegal drugs and provide recommendations by early 2023.


© Provided by Global NewsAt a committee meeting Monday morning, Edmonton city councillors voted in favour of asking administration to explore the issue of decriminalizing simple possession of illegal drugs and provide recommendations by early 2023.

Mayor Amarjeet Sohi put forward the motion and councillors Tim Cartmell, Michael Janz, Karen Tang and Jo-Anne Wright all voted in favour. The motion will still need to go before a city council meeting.

"Having a comprehensive plan, including decriminalizing of simple possession, is a tool that we want to explore," Sohi told reporters following the committee meeting.

"This is a long-term strategy because it involves a comprehensive application process. It would require a lot of advocacy work that we would have to undertake with local authorities here as well as with the federal government and coordinating our efforts with other municipalities. So it's going to take some time for us to figure it out."

Read more:

There are growing calls for drug decriminalization. Could it solve Canada’s opioid crisis?

As a crisis of opioid-related overdoses and deaths rages on in Canada, advocates have long been saying that decriminalization would help to reduce stigma associated with drug use and help save lives.

In Edmonton last year, a record-breaking 666 people died from drug poisoning, according to Sohi.

"People aren't scared to tell me about their cannabis use, imagine if people weren't scared to tell me, as a physician, about their drug use and wanted to have an open and honest conversation?" Dr. Ginetta Salvalaggio, with the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association's opioid poisoning committee, told city councillors.

"That would be a game-changer," she said.

Darren McGeown, owner of Arcadia Brewing Co., spoke in favour of Edmonton decriminalizing possession of illegal drugs. He said as a business owner, he needs to be voicing his support for harm-reduction strategies to help tackle the drug crisis.

"I feel as a business owner, I have a duty to create a stronger community. A strong community outside creates a strong community inside Arcadia," McGeown told Global News.

"These drug poisonings are happening all over the city. This isn't just a downtown Edmonton situation. I think more businesses involved, the stronger voice we have."

Edmonton is the latest Canadian jurisdiction to explore the issue.

READ MORE: Jurisdictions pushing to decriminalize small amounts of drugs as overdose deaths soar

Under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, jurisdictions can ask the federal government for exemptions to allow people to have small amounts of substances such as cocaine, heroin and fentanyl.

Vancouver formally asked for that in May 2021.

British Columbia was the first province to make its own request, in November 2021. Toronto followed in January.

With files from The Canadian Press.

Parliament adopts Conservative motion to amend CP Rail tax exemption in Saskatchewan Act


Taz Dhaliwal -
Global News

Saskatchewan senators are responding to the adoption of an amendment to the Saskatchewan Act in Ottawa last Thursday.

Last week, the Senate of Canada completed the final step of a three-part process and adopted Conservative Motion No. 14, a resolution that authorizes an amendment to the Constitution of Canada.

The act previously exempted Canadian Pacific Railway from certain Saskatchewan taxes due to the capital investments its predecessor made in 1880 to complete the coast-to-coast railway.

One of the many subsidies provided to the CPR to build the railway was an exemption from provincial and municipal taxes on the CPR’s main line.

This tax exemption was supposed to last “forever.” When the Province of Saskatchewan was created in 1905, Ottawa included the tax exemption in the Saskatchewan Act, the constitutional document that created the province.

“This motion places the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in the same position as other taxpayers and ends a century old tax exemption for the CPR imposed on Saskatchewan when the province was formed in 1905,” said Saskatchewan Senator Brent Cotter in a release.

“It is important to everyone in my home province. It is a rare situation for the Senate to consider a constitutional amendment,” he added.

The senator also said he is proud of the work senators and the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs did to better inform the decision-making process and “ultimately support the resolution, the people of Saskatchewan, and tax fairness in Canada.”

All five Saskatchewan senators and a vast majority of the Senate supported the amendment.

“To continue with a tax exemption in the 21st century, which was granted to the CPR in the 19th century, would be fundamentally unjust, unfair, unreasonable and an undeserved economic hardship on the residents of Saskatchewan,” said Saskatchewan Senator David Arnot.

Arnot said he is pleased this “inequity” has been corrected.

Read more:
Conservatives call on feds to repeal CP Rail tax exemption in Saskatchewan Act

According to the release, removing the provision from the Saskatchewan Act required consent from the Senate, the House of Commons and the legislature of Saskatchewan, in accordance with section 43 of the Constitution Act, 1982.

On Nov. 29 of last year, the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan unanimously adopted a resolution to repeal section 24 of the Saskatchewan Act.

Subsequently, parallel resolutions authorizing the proposed amendment of the Constitution of Canada were adopted by the House of Commons on Feb. 9, and the Senate of Canada on April 7.

CP Rail is currently suing the province for $341 million in relation to the clause, saying it wants a return of the taxes paid since 2002 and a declaration that future taxes are not payable.

The Saskatchewan government says the exemption ended in 1966 when CP’s president rescinded the deal in exchange for regulatory changes.

Section 24 of the Saskatchewan Act has now been repealed retroactively to Aug. 29, 1966.

– with files from Global News' David Giles and Ryan Kessler

CP to no longer be exempt from Saskatchewan taxes

Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) will no longer be exempt from multiple provincial taxes after the Senate recently passed a constitutional amendment.

© Provided by Leader PostA file photo of Canadian Pacific Railway train outside Regina.

Jeremy Simes - Yesterday 
Leader Post

The decision, which was made on April 7, may also weaken the rail company’s court case against the province, according to Saskatchewan Senator Brent Cotter.

“They (CP) can’t rely on it anymore. It has basically disappeared from the constitution,” Cotter said in an interview. “CP may have other arguments in the court case, but it can’t assert that it’s constitutionally protected from paying provincial taxes.”

The amendment repeals Section 24 of the of the Saskatchewan Act retroactively to August 29, 1966, which means CP no longer has provincial tax exemptions.

The decision comes after CP took the province to court in November, arguing it doesn’t have to pay $341 million in provincial taxes because of a contract that later became legislation.

Even though CP had still paid taxes for a century, it argued it wants to recover what it calls unconstitutional taxes going back to 2002.

While it’s unclear what the Senate’s decision means for the court case, CP said in a statement on Tuesday it will carefully review the actions taken by the House of Commons and the Senate.

“CP has a fiduciary duty to its shareholders to protect the company’s rights,” the company stated. “CP fulfilled its commitments under the 1881 agreement. CP has a valid legal right to uphold the bargain that was struck, and is now asking the courts to ensure that the governments honour their commitments.”

Justice Minister Gordon Wyant told reporters he’s pleased the Senate passed the resolution.

He said he thinks CP’s case against the government will now be weaker.

“I think we stand on very, very good legal ground when it comes to the defence of the interests of the province against the CPR,” Wyant said. “I think this constitutional amendment underscores the fact that we’re an equal partner, certainly when it comes to the taxation of the CPR.”

CP stated it has been willing to discuss a “win-win” solution for the company and provinces affected by the agreement.

It added it continues to pay “significant amounts of tax” across Canada. This matter won’t affect how it does business, CP said.

Wyant said the province’s legal team has been in touch with lawyers representing CP.

He was unable to provide a date on when the matter is back in court, given both parties were waiting on this decision.

Cotter, a former dean of the College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan, explained the approval in the Senate means the changes take immediate effect. He said it’s not like other laws that require royal assent.

He said the vote in the Senate was not unanimous, though there wasn’t a count on how each senator voted.

The House of Commons and the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan voted unanimously in favour of proceeding with the amendment.

“In terms of tax fairness, I think it’s the right thing to do,” Cotter said.

He said he believes this is the first time a constitutional amendment has passed that’s applicable to a Western province.

Constitutional amendments can be a lengthy process as they require support from a provincial legislature, the House of Commons and the Senate.

“It’s genuinely a Saskatchewan success,” Cotter said. “There are people — and sometimes I’m included in that — who have reservations about the value of a Senate. But it felt like on this occasion, five Saskatchewan senators and the whole Senate got good work done on behalf of the people of Saskatchewan.”

jsimes@postmedia.com

Storm chaser captures moment lightning strikes car in Iowa

A storm chaser captured the moment a car was struck by lightning in Iowa and said the person in the car “was fine,” but the vehicle was “demobilized.”

Energy & Environment — Facing high gas prices, Biden relaxes regulation

Rachel Frazin -  The Hill

The Biden administration is allowing gasoline with a higher content of ethanol to be sold this summer, and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has floated a “rebranded” Keystone XL pipeline.

This is Overnight Energy & Environment, your source for the latest news focused on energy, the environment and beyond. For The Hill, we’re Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.
Biden allows summer gasoline with more ethanol

President Biden formally announced a waiver on Tuesday that will allow fuel with higher ethanol content to be sold during the summer months, an action he said would help lower soaring gas prices.

Current regulations prevent the fuel from being sold between June and September due to concerns about its effect on smog and other forms of air pollution.

Advocates have said the regulations in question were written for fuels that are 10 percent ethanol rather than the type known as E15, which is 15 percent ethanol.

Administration officials, announcing the decision Monday night, projected it would save the average family 10 cents a gallon, a figure Biden also cited in his remarks Tuesday afternoon.

“Homegrown biofuels have a role to play right now … as we work to get prices under control and reduce the costs for families,” the president said in Iowa on Tuesday, during a speech at POET Bioprocessing in Menlo, next to a giant pile of cornmeal.

It all comes back to Russia: In his remarks, Biden emphasized the role of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the energy market, blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin for the recent surge in fuel prices.

“I’m doing everything within my power by executive orders to bring down the price and address the Putin price hike,” the president said.

“Your family budget, your ability to fill up your tank, none of it should hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide half a world away,” he said, also describing Putin’s actions as “genocide” for the first time.

Read more about the move here.

Manchin floats ‘rebranded’ Keystone XL

Swing vote Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) floated the idea of a “rebranded” or “rerouted” Keystone XL pipeline during a visit to Canada on Tuesday.

“The brand of the XL pipeline is probably gone,” Manchin told reporters when asked about the chances of a revival of the never-completed vessel. “Can it be rebranded, can it be rerouted, can it be these different things?”

He added that it’s not clear whether the Biden administration “is going to entertain that” but added that “they’d be foolish not to.”

What say you, WH? Asked for comment, a White House spokesperson said that the U.S. is engaging with various oil-producing countries to address the current supply imbalance, but also noted that the Keystone pipeline would not have added to current supply.

During his first day in office, President Biden killed a key border-crossing permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have transported Canadian tar sands oil to the U.S.

Manchin’s latest comments also follow a Wall Street Journal report that said that the administration was looking for ways to import more Canadian oil after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drove up fuel prices.

Republicans, meanwhile, have ramped up their criticisms of the Keystone decision in recent weeks amid the high prices, even though the pipeline was only about 8 percent completed upon its cancellation last year.

The company behind the pipeline, TC Energy, said in 2020 that the vessel would not have delivered oil until 2023.

What else did he have to say? Manchin, in his trip to Alberta, also touted an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy.

“My definition of all-of-the-above is every that we possibly can, so if you’re looking at wind and solar, geothermal, you’re looking at hydro, you’re looking at fusion in the future, you’re looking at everything that we possibly can do to reduce our carbon — nuclear.”

Read more here.

GREEN RECOVERY GETS MORE MONEY IN WEALTHY COUNTRIES

The gap is expanding for planned renewable energy spending on the COVID-19 recovery between wealthier and lower-income nations, with less wealthy countries constrained by the cost of commodities like fuel and food, according to a report released Tuesday by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The report found that advanced-economy governments are on track to spend $370 billion on renewables by next year, which tracks with what the IEA says is necessary to reach net zero emissions by 2050. However, those governments dedicated more than 10 times the financial resources to the issue as emerging and developing economies, according to the IEA.

In emerging and developing nations, government spending on renewable energy is on track for about $52 billion by 2023, or less than 25 percent of the trajectory necessary for the zero-emissions goals. Many of these governments, the report notes, have been forced to focus their financial resources on counteracting rising food and fuel prices, meaning they will likely stay low in the months ahead.

“Countries where clean energy is at the heart of recovery plans are keeping alive the possibility of reaching net zero emissions by 2050, but challenging financial and economic conditions have undermined public resources in much of the rest of the world,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a statement. “International cooperation will be essential to change these clean energy investment trends, especially in emerging and developing economies where the need is greatest.”

The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent spikes in fuel prices have compelled governments to focus on reducing energy costs. Governmental affordability support for energy has increased to about $270 billion since the beginning of winter 2021 in the Northern Hemisphere.

However, the report states that these efforts have not included many of the strategies that could do the most good for reducing fossil fuel demand, such as public transport expansion and heat pump installation.

Read more here.

QUOTES OF NOTE

In a wide-ranging discussion hosted by the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) weighed in on climate change and a potential Democratic reconciliation package:

On climate: “We’re going to continue to make strides on climate but through technology, not through clamping down on production. We have to have a practical approach to moving in that direction, and their goals are completely unrealistic and unattainable,” McConnell said, when asked about the Biden administration’s energy policies.

On Build Back Better: “You guys remember the old movie ‘Fatal Attraction?’ Build Back Better reminds me of Glenn Close in ‘Fatal Attraction.’ Every time I think it’s gone, it kind of keeps bouncing back.”

WHAT WE’RE READING

Indigenous people are being killed to ‘protect’ a Congolese park (Grist)

 
The Clean-Power Megaproject Held Hostage by a Ranch and a Bird (Bloomberg)

 
What the 1970s teaches about today’s energy crisis (E&E News)

Toxic ‘forever chemicals’ aren’t defined as hazardous in Wisconsin — so the state can’t force cleanup, judge says (The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

And finally, something offbeat and off-beat: Joy ride.

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Energy & Environment page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow

Atlantic lobster prices reach all-time high: 'I view it as a very serious thing'

There may be no greater pleasure than fresh Atlantic lobster. For many, summer is incomplete if they do not get to enjoy a buttery lobster tail or a tangy lobster roll.

Jessica Mundie - 

 National Post 

In 2021, the value of Canadian lobster exports reached $3.2 billion which is more than $700 million higher than pre-pandemic.

This year, however, with high demand from export markets and expensive harvesting costs lobster lovers may have to pay more as prices reached all-time highs going into production season.

Two weeks ago, at wharfs in Nova Scotia, the price of lobster was the highest it has ever been. Stewart Lamont, managing director of Tangier Lobster Company, a live Lobster exporter in Nova Scotia, said the shore price for lobster – the amount fishermen get from buyers – was $18 a pound. That’s more than double the regular pre-pandemic price.

It has since gone down due to a drop in exports and higher supply. Lamont said this week lobster was around $12 to $12.50 a pound.

While high prices mean more money for lobster exporters and fishermen, Lamont said he is scared that if lobster becomes too expensive people and businesses will simply stop buying it.

“Lobster is discretionary. We can have it if we’d like and we can afford it,” he said. “I think we should be very cautious that we don’t overprice our products for the long haul.”

It would also be unfortunate if Atlantic Canadians and the tourists that visit the Maritimes to indulge in lobster are unable to afford it, said Lamont.

“When people feel they can’t afford to buy their own provincial seafood, especially lobster, I view it as a very serious thing.”

The price of lobster has increased dramatically since the beginning of the pandemic.

Geoff Irvine, executive director of the Lobster Council of Canada explained that in the spring of 2020 lobster prices fell. The shore price reached record lows, with a catch reported to get between $3.50 to $4.50 per pound. This is compared to the regular pre-pandemic shore price of $6 to $8.

Lobster exports also fell during the pandemic. Canada’s lobster export value dropped 19 per cent from 2019 to 2020, from $2.59 billion to $2.09 billion. This was due to the drop in the quantity of lobster exported around the world as well as a drop in price per pound.

“However, as we got to the fall of 2020, our industry demonstrated that despite COVID, there was still demand for lobster,” said Lamont. “As people were locked down, one of the things they did was to buy more hard-shell lobster,” he said.


© Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press/FileFishing boats, loaded with traps, head from port in West Dover, Nova Scotia.

From October 2020 to February of this year, Lamont said that the demand for lobster was consistent and prices were higher than normal due to limited supply in the winter months and competition between companies.

The value of Canadian lobster exports has skyrocketed since the world began reopening. In 2021, exports reached $3.2 billion which is more than $700 million higher than pre-pandemic. Irvine said this increase was largely due to the renewed demand for processed lobster meat in the United States.

“We sold lobster tails and lobster meat in U.S. retail where we didn’t think we would ever sell such volumes at such prices,” said Irvine.

He said as restaurants reopened in the U.S. throughout the year the demand for retail lobster rose and has stayed high.

The Canadian lobster industry is driven by the sale of processed lobster, said Irvine. Around 55 per cent of lobster sold is in the form of lobster tails and cooked or frozen meat. The remaining 45 per cent is live, which is sold mainly to China.

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One of the reasons lobster prices at the wharf in Nova Scotia have dropped in the past couple of weeks is because of the reemergence of COVID-19 in mainland China, said Lamont. With more cities in lockdown, there has been less of a demand for Maritime lobster.

Usually, Lamont said China will make up for 40 to 60 per cent of live lobster exports in Nova Scotia in a year.

Lamont said he sees the price of lobster trending down for now, but many factors determine price at a given time. With the start of lobster season in May comes more inventory, which will lower prices. But inflation and the high price of gas and bait may bring them up.

As fishing season comes to a close at the end of the summer, Lamont said prices may rise again.

Ontario Liberals Want To Make It Mandatory For Jobs To Post Their Salaries If Elected


The Ontario Liberals have a plan to give "equal pay and equal opportunity" to women in the province should they get elected, and with that, they might force companies to be upfront and transparent with how much people can make when they apply for a job.


© Provided by Narcity

On Tuesday, April 12, the Liberal Party released its plan aimed to benefit working women, which also includes implementing the Pay Transparency Act.

This would not only force companies to include salary ranges on job postings, but it would also require them to share the pay gaps by gender at the workplace as well as prohibit them from asking about how much money you've made at past jobs.

The Ontario Liberals also promise to lower the cost of childcare, offer $10 before- and after-school care and even "top up" the 18-month parental leave program so that EI benefits aren't cut down.

"The best way to build lasting prosperity is to ensure that all Ontarians have the same opportunity, and are treated equally in the workforce," Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca said in the announcement.

"I refuse to accept that my daughters will grow up in a province that doesn't protect their future or ensure equal pay. If Ontario Liberals are elected, they won't have to."

On top of its plan for working women, Del Duca also detailed the party's goals to boost women's health and safety. Among these promises include free period products at schools and in other public places, and expanding the province's fertility program to cover one cycle of egg freezing.

The party also promises to "create an Ontario Women's Health Strategy," provide more support for gender-based violence prevention at universities and colleges and "create more supportive homes for women fleeing domestic abuse."

This is the newest string of promises Del Duca and the Ontario Liberals are putting out leading into the provincial election, with a four-day workweek pilot and a higher minimum wage among the other policies in their platform.

Election day in Ontario is coming up on June 2.

This article’s cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.