CANADA

Deloitte survey finds competition for workers among top issues for retailers in 2022


TORONTO — Canadian retailers expect competition for workers to heat up over the next 12 months as the country's jobless rate hits record lows.


© Provided by The Canadian PressDeloitte survey finds competition for workers among top issues for retailers in 2022

A new survey by Deloitte Canada released Tuesday found the fight for talent is expected to emerge as one of the greatest hurdles over the coming year, with 77 per cent of retailers polled saying they believe it will be tough to hold on to their best employees.

Labour shortages are expected to be most acute in store operations, customer service and IT departments, Deloitte's 2022 Canadian retail outlook found.

Canada's unemployment rate dropped to 5.3 per cent in March, the lowest jobless rate since comparable data became available in 1976, Statistics Canada said last week.

Meanwhile, supply chain difficulties remain top of mind for retailers, with 87 per cent saying worsening supply chains are the biggest risk for 2022.

The vast majority of retailers said they expect customers to prioritize stock availability over brand or store loyalty, making the avoidance of so-called stock-outs — when inventory or products are out of stock — a top priority.

Almost two-thirds of retailers polled said they plan to diversify their overseas supplier network, while 10 per cent said they will reduce their reliance on overseas vendors altogether.

The poll also found retailers generally upbeat about revenue growth but concerned about margin erosion amid high inflation.

In all, 77 per cent of retailers surveyed said they expect revenue to rise in 2022, but 40 per cent said they expect margins to fall.

Retailers also believe environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards will become increasingly important, with 63 per cent expecting employees are more likely to prefer working for a retailer with clear ESG goals.

The Deloitte survey also found 70 per cent of retailers expect staff-free, cashier-less stores to be common within a decade.

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

The Canadian Press

Torngat Mountains MHA says she won't accept residential schools apology from provincial government

 

Newfoundland and Labrador's minister of Indigenous affairs and reconciliation says the provincial government's long-awaited apology for its role in residential schools is coming soon, but an Inuk MHA says she's not interested.


© Mark Quinn/CBC

Lela Evans, MHA for Torngat Mountains, says she wants to see the government do more to improve health care and services in northern Labrador.

In an interview with CBC News, Lela Evans, the MHA for Torngat Mountains, said she won't accept an apology from the provincial government until there are significant improvements to health care, communications, transportation and other infrastructure in northern Labrador.

"When you look at the Inuit of northern Labrador, we never, ever got equal access to services and infrastructure. We've been neglected year after year after year," she said.

Evan's said she didn't see enough targeting health care and the cost of living for people living in Labrador in the 2022 provincial budget, which she called "disappointing on every level." Evans said she won't accept an apology from the provincial government until she sees more progress on those issues.

"There's no reconciliation. I won't accept it. I will not accept it. And I don't think any Indigenous groups can until there's real reconciliation.
A long time coming

Thousands of Indigenous children in Newfoundland and Labrador were taken from their communities to attend five residential schools run by the International Grenfell Association or the Moravian church.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered an apology on behalf of the federal government in November 2017, and then-premier Dwight Ball promised to deliver one on behalf of the provincial government too. More than five years later, that apology has yet to materialize.


© CBCJustin Trudeau apologized to residential school survivors in Labrador in November 2017.

The delay has been criticized by Indigenous groups and residential school survivors, but the government has repeatedly reiterated its intention to give the apology — it has pointed to COVID-19 and scheduling as two main reasons behind the extended delay.

While speaking with reporters on Thursday, Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair MHA Lisa Dempster — the minister responsible for Labrador Affairs, Indigenous Affairs and Reconciliation - said the apology is coming "in the not too distant future," but declined to give a timeline.

"We are well on our way. As a government we made a commitment to carry out the apologies and, like many things, the pandemic hit in March 2020 and there was a pause. What I can tell you is recently the draft texts have gone out into the hands of the various Indigenous groups in this province," she said.

But Evans said the apology isn't enough — and she isn't impressed by the government's decision to rename the Colonial Building and Discovery Day either.

"What good is that when people still struggle to feed their children, heat their homes, to provide a house?" she asked.

Concerns about province-wide health authority

Evans said she's particularly concerned about the decision in the budget to amalgamate the four regional health authorities into one, province-wide health authority — a move she believes will put Labrador at a disadvantage, especially if the headquarters are far away.

"It's not that they don't really want to help us," she said. "They don't know how to help us because they're so far removed from Labrador that [they] just can't fathom the issues."


© Danny Arsenault/CBC

Lisa Dempster, Minister Responsible for Indigenous Affairs and Reconciliation and the Minister Responsible for Labrador Affairs, said communities will still have input in decisions made by the new provincial health authority.

While speaking about the decision to amalgamate the health authorities, Health Minister John Haggie told reporters that the new provincial health authority will have local input on decisions that will impact individual communities.

Dempster said she supports the decision to amalgamate the health authorities.

"It's my understanding as we move forward to one health authority there will still be direct links through the administrative chain."

Dempster also pointed to the money earmarked for air ambulances, an especially important service for Labrador communities far away from medical centres or not accessible by road.

Support is available for anyone affected by their experience at residential schools or by the latest reports.

A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for former students and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour national crisis line: 1-866-925-4419.

1.7M hectares of old-growth deferred, protesters block Highway 1 in West Van

For the third time this week, traffic on the North Shore was blocked by old-growth protesters, this time along Highway 1 in West Vancouver.

Around 8 a.m. on Friday morning (April 8), Save Old Growth protesters blocked the highway eastbound between Taylor Way and 15th Street.

The old-growth advocacy group have been blocking traffic on a rolling basis this week, with protests on Monday and Wednesday mornings snarling traffic along both the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing and the Lions Gate Bridge.

Both actions resulted in multiple arrests by police.

“We’re past signing petitions, writing letters and doing marches. The people in power have ignored these for decades. Unfortunately, that isn’t enough. At this time we all need to be entering into civil resistance,” Julia Torgerson, a spokesperson for Save Old Growth, said.

The group said actions will continue until the provincial government passes legislation to immediately end all old-growth logging in the province.

“This is on the government. Our collective future is being destroyed before our very eyes. As soon as the government passes legislation we will be off the highways. Until then, disruptions will continue,” Tim Brazier, who was arrested on the Lions Gate Bridge on Wednesday, said.

North Vancouver-Lonsdale MLA Bowinn Ma said she completely understands the passion that people bring to the table regarding old-growth protection, and she’d heard from countless people across the North Shore and British Columbia about the practice.

“For a long time, British Columbian governments have failed to protect the unique biodiversity that exists in our province,” Ma said. “And it's a big part of the reason why our government is working on implementing this new vision for B.C. forests, where our oldest and rarest forests are better protected, where Indigenous peoples are full partners in sustainable forest management, and where communities and workers are benefiting from secure and sustainable jobs for generations to come.”

Ma’s comments come off the back of a recently announced provincial old-growth logging deferral plan which has secured 1.7 million hectares of old-growth forest from logging.

The announcement is the latest step after the provincial government shared in November 2021 that it would work with First Nations rights and titleholders to find agreement on deferring harvest of old-growth forests. As of April 1, 75 First Nations, in partnership with the government, have agreed to the deferral, with more than 60 asking for more time to create deferral plans.

“But having said that, the work isn't done. There are 204 Nations in British Columbia, we've received responses from about 188 of them. … So this is an interim update. It is not the end of the work,” Ma said.

Ma said that while she wishes she could “wave a wand and instantly protect all old-growth, the reality is British Columbia was practically built on the forestry sector, and is very deeply integrated into our provincial and local economies, and the well-being of many communities and families are tied to it.”

Noting there’s a huge amount of work that goes into protecting the forests, including consulting with each and every First Nation, the government is providing millions in funding to communities affected by the deferrals.

“We're also looking to shift British Columbia's forestry sector from this volume based model that we've been under for so long, to a value based model. So, mass timber products, engineered wood products, those are the kinds of products that British Columbia can be a leader in providing that don't depend on large diameter trees,” She said. “The old forestry sector just depends so much on these large diameter trees in order to be economically viable, and that's just not sustainable.”

Ma said while deferrals may look like a temporary measure, the government is using them to immediately prevent further biodiversity loss while permanent solutions are developed.

“The deferrals are not the permanent solution, there's still more work that has to be done after the deferrals are put in place. But it gives us time and space that's needed to work with First Nations and local communities to develop these new long-term approaches to managing B.C. forests in a way that that is sustainable.

“We heard really loud and clear that First Nations want to be involved in old-growth management in their territories. And in many cases, this requires time to develop a strategy around it, like how it's going to impact their communities, and manage negative impacts and bring out the positive impacts,” Ma said.

Charlie Carey, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, North Shore News

‘Time is now to make our voices heard again,’ Tsleil-Waututh Sacred Trust says of TMX pipeline

Yesterday

As the Trans Mountain Pipeline’s construction across Indigenous territories and B.C. faces cost blow-outs and delays, Tsleil-Waututh’s Sacred Trust said now is the time to make their voices heard, as the group organizes a rally this weekend.

Starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday (April 9), the rally will be held at šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl'e7énḵ Vancouver Art Gallery in downtown Vancouver, and feature speakers and presenters from across Turtle Island (North America), including UBCIC Grand Chief Stewart Philip and Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chief NaMoks.

“Now is a pivotal time to make our voices heard,” Tsleil-Waututh Nation councillor and Sacred Trust spokesperson Charlene Aleck said. “This pipeline is not a wise investment. It’s dangerous and environmentally irresponsible. And the opposition is stronger than ever.”

Speaking to the North Shore News, Aleck said since Day 1, TWN and Sacred Trust said they would find legal pathways to stop the construction of the pipeline.

“Visiting the banks, when it was up for sale, and meeting with investors. … We would find ways like that to just let them know how much risk that we are being asked to bear,” she said.

Aleck explained that with the court action, and subsequent pipeline construction continuing, people feel like the pipeline “will be pushed through anyway.”

“But there's been so many setbacks; financial setbacks, construction setbacks, [and] the time is now to make our voice be heard again.”

With the Sacred Trust not organizing a rally since before the COVID-19 pandemic, Aleck said while we “were all sent to our rooms” to isolated from COVID-19, “construction just went haywire.”

“Spawning beds were disrupted; nesting bird habitat was taken away and destructed. Seeing that they were allowed to push through all of that, I think was very intentional for that construction to happen, especially right in the inlet, right in our face.”

The rally comes as the federal government announced in February that it would not provide additional funding for the expansion project, which Sacred Trust has previously said infringes upon the rights, titles and interest of the Nation.

The announcement from the federal government came after a construction cost update from Trans Mountain showed the estimated cost of the project had blown out to $21.4 billion, a four-fold increase in cost since the project was purchased by Canada in 2018 for $4.5 billion.

“Sacred Trust is calling on those who oppose the pipeline, those who support Indigenous rights, and everyone fighting to stop climate change to gather and make sure our voices are heard by potential investors,” the Nation wrote in a release.

Aleck said as construction of the pipeline continues, society “as a whole, Canada as a whole,” want to do something and want to stand behind in support of Indigenous people.

“There was the apology for residential school survivors from the Pope the other day, and it's left people a little bit uneasy, both native and non-native. … We’re honoured and we feel honoured that representatives from, you know, Mohawk and Haida and Mi'kmaq are all coming to be with us.

“And [it’s] a great way to get out and see what's important for First Nations locally; this is a great opportunity.”

Charlie Carey is the North Shore News’ Indigenous and civic affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.

Charlie Carey, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, North Shore News

National Chief says there has to be a better way for First Nations in the federal budget

The Canadian Press

Monday

Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald wants to change the conversation when it comes to the annual federal budget, especially after financial commitments were revealed April 7 by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.

“What we ended up with obviously was not what First Nations had identified as being needed and it really made me wonder about the budget cycle process and why the government continually asks us what our needs are and then purposefully underfunds us,” Archibald told Indigenous news media in a virtual conference Friday.

Archibald said discussions were held with Freeland and the needs of First Nations were outlined by the AFN in a line-by-line pre-budget submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance.

What the AFN asked for—including in specific areas such as connectivity, the implementation of the Supreme Court of Canada’s fisheries decisions, lands issues, restorative justice, implementation of the Calls for Justice in the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls national inquiry—was not delivered.

Over a five-year period, the federal budget committed in a section specific to Indigenous needs entitled “Moving Forward on Reconciliation,” almost $10.6 billion. That figure is about one-tenth the amount the AFN said First Nations needed in that same time frame. The AFN asked the Liberal government for a commitment of $104 billion.

“It led me to contemplate what is it we really need out of the federal government. How do we change the budget cycle process?” said Archibald.

She was also looking at a way to change the usual response offered by national chiefs to the federal budget: Those are good investments, but not enough.

Archibald said she was “triggered” after reading an article that the federal government was going to experience a $90 billion windfall as a result of inflation and commodities.

“Of course, those commodities are being taken from First Nation lands, whether those lands are unceded or whether those lands are treaty lands, and that made me wonder what we need to do moving forward,” she said.

“Why do we continue to talk cyclically when we can actually start to change the dynamics and have a new deal for First Nations on Turtle Island, and with the Canadian government particularly?” she said.

Archibald’s public musings about changing the budget conversation got the ear of Indigenous Service Canada Minister Patty Hajdu and the two met for a “really great” conversation Friday morning.

Moving forward, Archibald wants to see a national economic growth, wealth building prosperity table created with conversation focused on “how do you share the wealth of this country with First Nations?”

“Minister Hajdu was really interested in that concept, so we’re going to start to figure out the path forward because…I always talk about the healing path forward, and a part of the healing path forward is economic reconciliation,” she said.

Some budget highlights include:

$75 million to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act;

$3.9 billion to invest in housing for Indigenous communities;

$228 million for distinctions-based mental health and wellness;

$280 million for implementing Indigenous child welfare legislation;

$275 million for addressing the “shameful” legacy of residential schools;

$20 million for a new Indigenous tourism fund;

$39 million for the purchase of firefighter equipment; and,

$131 million for partnering with Indigenous peoples in natural resource projects.

Noticeably absent in the section dedicated to Indigenous spending are the legal settlements of $40 billion for child welfare and $8 billion for long-term on-reserve boil water advisories.

The federal budget sets out $452.3 billion in new spending with a projected revenue of $408.4 billion for a deficit of $52.8 billion.

Windspeaker.com

By Shari Narine, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com, Windspeaker.com

'Optimistic' nuclear power advocates see 'baby steps' of progress in federal budget

Ryan Tumilty - Yesterday 
National Post


Ontario's Pickering Nuclear Generating Station is set to close in 2025, but advocates would like to see the federal government help pay to refurbish it instead.

OTTAWA — Advocates say the federal budget is taking “baby steps” toward supporting nuclear power, but they argue the Liberals should be taking major leaps to ensure the industry can grow and reduce carbon emissions in Canada.

The budget last week earmarked $120.6 million for small modular reactors (SMRs), a new type of reactor that is designed to be easier to set up and run, produce less waste and potentially help small communities or mining operations end their reliance on diesel power.

The budget promises $69.9 million for research on waste and another $50.7 million for the nuclear safety commission to be able to regulate new reactor designs.

Dr. Christopher Keefer, president of Canadians for Nuclear Energy, said he was pleased to see a government, which has shown little interest in nuclear, come around.

“We’re seeing baby steps. I’m very optimistic because in my discussions with Conservative caucus members, Liberal caucus and cabinet ministers, there is a huge openness to nuclear in there,” he said. “They’re really coming around to understanding what an underappreciated technology it is and that it has to be a cornerstone of our clean energy transition.”

The government also announced in the budget funding for a new critical minerals strategy, which could lead to more uranium mining, and expanded the Canada Infrastructure Bank’s mandate to allow it to invest in nuclear projects.

Trudeau says possibly expanding nuclear power is 'on the table'

Is nuclear energy green or not? Ottawa sending mixed messages: critics

John Gorman, president and CEO of the Canadian Nuclear Association, said the industry was pleased to see the Liberals are prepared to help invest.

“It clearly indicated that nuclear is going to be an important part of the solution going forward and invested in various segments of the nuclear ecosystem,” he said. “It is a genuine commitment and I think the industry recognized that.”

The nuclear association is holding a sold-out conference in Ottawa this week and Gorman said there is a lot of excitement in the industry. He said they can see there is a clear path for growth from the budget.

“The federal government has recognized that nuclear is going to be needed along with the other clean electricity and energy sources as we go forward,” he said.

As part of Canada’s emissions reduction plans, the country will require significantly more electricity in years ahead to power electric vehicles and eventually heat homes. Gorman said the next step for the industry is a clear understanding of how the government expects to reach those goals and supply all that additional power.

“We’re missing that vision, that end state, of what the 2050 energy system looks like. And as a consequence, we don’t have the architecture of these clean energy sources that are going to have to be built,” he said.

Gorman said such a plan would give provinces and industry a sense of the long-term demands for power and a guide to new reactors that would meet Canada’s power needs. He said refurbishments of CANDU reactors underway in Ontario are teaching the industry a lot and those lessons could be applied to new projects.

Keefer said one sign he would love to see from the federal government is a commitment to help fund the refurbishment of the Pickering nuclear station in Ontario.

The station, just east of Toronto, is set to close in 2025. Keefer said that is a mistake that is only going to lead to the burning of natural gas to make up for the province’s energy demands.

“We’re actually about to lose a vital piece of Canadian clean energy infrastructure, which is the Pickering nuclear station. Its loss will add the equivalent of eight million transatlantic flights of CO2 to the atmosphere every single year,” he said.

Conservative MP Corey Tochor said the budget is just a drop in the bucket for an industry that should be getting much more support.

“This government will spend more on marketing and communication exercises, in this year coming up,” he said. “They’ll spend more money on that than actually on any of the research and development that needs to happen.”

Tochor said the government should be investing in nuclear as a technology that would reduce greenhouse gasses.

“We have a great record and a great story with a supply chain that helps our economy here in Canada, and there’s nothing to encourage more nuclear generation of power in this budget,” he said. “This government hasn’t shown any willingness to lead on this file and promote it. This is great technology that lowers emissions.”

• Email: rtumilty@postmedia.com | Twitter: ryantumilty

CORN IN YOUR TANK MEANS NO CORN TORTILLA'S

EXPLAINER: Why Biden is allowing more ethanol in gasoline

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Tuesday his administration will suspend a federal rule that bars higher levels of ethanol in gasoline during the summer. The move, which Biden announced during a visit to Iowa, is intended to tamp down prices at the pump that have spiked during Russia’s war with Ukraine. Iowa is a key producer of the corn-based fuel additive.

A look at how that the decision to authorize year-round use of so-called E15 will impact gas supplies, prices and the environment.

WHAT ACTION IS BIDEN TAKING?

Most gasoline sold in the U.S. is blended with 10% ethanol. At Biden's direction, the Environmental Protection Agency will issue an emergency waiver to allow widespread sale of 15% ethanol blend that is usually prohibited between June 1 and Sept. 15 because of concerns that it adds to smog in high temperatures.

Senior Biden administration officials said the move will save drivers an average of 10 cents per gallon at 2,300 gas stations that sell E15, as the high-blend ethanol is known. Those stations are mostly in the Midwest and the South, including Texas, according to industry groups.

WHY IS BIDEN DOING THIS?

Lawmakers from both parties and ethanol advocates have urged Biden and the EPA to allow year-round sales of E15, calling it a cheaper and readily available domestic alternative to traditional gasoline. The U.S. has banned imports of Russian crude oil since the country's late February invasion of Ukraine, disrupting global markets and raising prices.

“Homegrown Iowa biofuels provide a quick and clean solution for lowering prices at the pump, and bolstering production would help us become energy independent once again,″ said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, a longtime ethanol proponent. Grassley and 15 other senators sent Biden a letter last month urging him to allow year-round E15 sales.

Ethanol groups called Biden's action a major win for American drivers and U.S. energy security. "It means cleaner options at the pump and a stronger rural economy,” said Emily Skor, CEO of Growth Energy, a biofuel trade group.

HOW WILL THIS AFFECT THE ENVIRONMENT?

Biden administration official say the short-term move will have little effect on the environment and that EPA will work with states to "ensure there are no significant air quality impacts through the summer driving season.''

Environmentalists questioned that, saying ethanol production contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and soil erosion and raises prices for corn and other crops.

“The ethanol lobby will be happy and kids with asthma will be sicker,'' said Dan Becker of the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group. “However well-meaning (Biden's action) might be, kids and the elderly shouldn’t pay the price with their health for slight gas savings.''

A recent report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences revealed that the federal ethanol mandate inflated corn prices by 30% from 2008 to 2016, made corn-based ethanol more carbon intensive than gasoline and increased annual fertilizer use by up to 8%, polluting waterways.

HAS EPA DONE THIS BEFORE?

The EPA has lifted seasonal restrictions on E15 in the past, including after Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The Trump administration allowed for year-round E15 sales starting in 2019, but a federal appeals court struck down the policy change in July 2021, saying the EPA overstepped its authority.

The decision dealt a significant blow to the ethanol industry and corn farmers who had anticipated increased ethanol demand through year-round sales of the higher blend.

HOW IS THIS DIFFERENT FROM TRUMP'S ACTION?

Senior Biden administration officials said they expected the EPA waiver to survive a likely court challenge, saying that unlike the open-ended Trump rule, the action is limited to this summer and is prompted by a supply disruption caused by the war in Europe.

Greater use of E15 should "help alleviate some of the pain that we’ve seen since Russia launched this war against Ukraine,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan told a Senate committee last week.

But critics said the only emergency is Biden's dropping poll numbers.

Emergency fuel waivers are reserved for acute supply disruptions, such as those resulting from a hurricane, said Chet Thompson, president & CEO of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, which represents petroleum refiners.

“An additional three months of E15 sales won’t do anything to address high crude oil prices, and 98% of retail (gas) stations can’t even sell the fuel,'' Thompson said. “This is politics, not a real solution for drivers.”

WILL E15 HURT MY CAR'S ENGINE?

E15, often sold at the pump as Unleaded 88, for its octane rating, can safely be used in all cars, trucks and SUVs from 2001 on. Those model years represent more than 90% of vehicles on U.S. roads. The ethanol industry says the fuel is one of the most tested in history and has no effect on vehicle drivability. More than 20 billion miles have been driven in cars and trucks using Unleaded 88, a number continues to grow.

WHAT IS THE PRICE OF E15 GAS?

E15, or Unleaded 88, typically sells for 10 cents a gallon less than E10, the standard formulation for U.S. cars. The price difference between Unleaded 88 and conventional gasoline without ethanol is around 40 cents.

WILL I GET BETTER MILEAGE WITH E15?

There is no noticeable difference between the mileage achieved when using E15 and mileage when operating on E10.

CAN I USE E15 IN MY LAWNMOWER OR OTHER SMALL-ENGINE EQUIPMENT?

E15 has not been approved by EPA for use in non-automotive engines such as boats, motorcycles, lawn mowers and other small engines. E10, the standard ethanol formulation, is approved for small engines.

Matthew Daly, The Associated Press

'Short-term thinking': Environmentalists push back on Biden's ethanol expansion

Jon Schuppe - 



President Joe Biden's plan to reduce the price of gas by allowing the sale of higher-ethanol fuel this summer may make corn farmers and their elected representatives happy. But the move also has irked environmentalists who see ethanol as a climate-change villain.

Biden made his announcement Tuesday during a trip to Iowa, where corn — and ethanol — are crucial to the state economy. He said the Environmental Protection Agency would issue an emergency waiver from the Clean Air Act that will permit the sale of gasoline that is 15 percent ethanol, 5 percent more than the typical blend, from June 1 to Sept. 15. The change will lower gas prices by about 10 cents a gallon at the 2,300 gas stations equipped to pump it, the Biden administration says.

To environmentalists, that's a small benefit compared to the damage the decision could do to efforts to reduce the country's carbon emissions.

“What the president is doing is the definition of short-term thinking,” said Carroll Muffett, president and CEO of the Center for International Environmental Law. “The

goal here shouldn’t be to bring gas prices down by 10 cents in the near term by increasing emissions that will endanger large parts of the population.”

Although ethanol was embraced more than a decade ago as a renewable fuel, its green reputation has eroded. Scientists have found evidence that increased corn production for ethanol could increase greenhouse gas emissions; a study published in February said ethanol may be worse for the climate than gasoline.

The reason Biden needs an emergency waiver is that the summertime use of gas with 15 percent ethanol, known as E15, is known to increase smog.

“This is a quick fix that will harm the planet and not do much to support consumers,” said Jim Walsh, policy director at Food & Water Watch, a nonprofit group that opposes the use of ethanol as a climate solution.

Senior Biden administration officials have told reporters that the EPA's own analysis did not indicate that the emergency waiver was likely to harm air quality. They pointed to another study, published last year, showing that ethanol's greenhouse gas emissions are decreasing with improvements in farming and production methods.

Geoff Cooper, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, an ethanol trade association, said ethanol was "unquestionably a winner when compared to gasoline."

Biden's move also drew criticism from the oil industry. The American Petroleum Institute, a trade association for the oil and gas industries, said that the scarcity of stations equipped with E15 fuel limits the impact of the president's action.

"Americans are looking for long-term solutions, not short-term political fixes that fail to acknowledge the logistical, legal and compatibility constraints that limit the ability of E15 to influence prices at the pump today," Ron Chittim, the group's vice president of downstream policy, said in a statement.

Then-President Donald Trump tried allowing the year-round use of E15 fuel in 2019 but a federal court overruled him following a challenge from oil refiners.

Sheila Karpf, a senior policy analyst at Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonprofit government watchdog group that opposes ethanol subsidies, said she expected Biden's waiver to be challenged in court as well.

"We have seen decades of corn ethanol subsidies, and the handouts to the industry continue to happen," she said.

Cooper, of the ethanol trade group, said that he too expected the oil industry to challenge Biden's expansion of E15 but that it will survive, because it involves the temporary use of emergency powers allowed by the Clean Air Act.

"If war in Ukraine and $4 gas and a shortage in the marketplace don’t warrant an emergency, I don’t know what would," he said.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Cryptocurrency expert gets 5 years in N.Korea sanctions case

NEW YORK (AP) — A cryptocurrency expert was sentenced Tuesday to more than five years in federal prison for helping North Korea evade U.S. sanctions.

Virgil Griffith, 39, pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy, admitting he presented at a cryptocurrency conference in Pyongyang in 2019 even after the U.S. government denied his request to travel there.

A well-known hacker, Griffith also developed “cryptocurrency infrastructure and equipment inside North Korea," prosecutors wrote in court papers. At the 2019 conference, he advised more than 100 people — including several who appeared to work for the North Korean government — on how to use cryptocurrency to evade sanctions and achieve independence from the global banking system.

The U.S. and the U.N. Security Council have imposed increasingly tight sanctions on North Korea in recent years to try to rein in its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The U.S. government amended sanctions against North Korea in 2018 to prohibit “a U.S. person, wherever located” from exporting technology to North Korea.

Prosecutors said Griffith acknowledged his presentation amounted to a transfer of technical knowledge to conference attendees.

“Griffith is an American citizen who chose to evade the sanctions of his own country to provide services to a hostile foreign power,” prosecutors wrote. “He did so knowing that power — North Korea — was guilty of atrocities against its own people and has made threats against the United States citing its nuclear capabilities.”

Defense attorney Brian Klein described Griffith as a “brilliant Caltech-trained scientist who developed a curiosity bordering on obsession” with North Korea. “He viewed himself — albeit arrogantly and naively — as acting in the interest of peace,” Klein said. “He loves his country and never set out to do any harm.”

Klein added that he was disappointed with the 63-month prison sentence but “pleased the judge acknowledged Virgil’s commitment to moving forward with his life productively, and that he is a talented person who has a lot to contribute.”

A self-described “disruptive technologist,” Griffith became something of a tech-world enfant terrible in the early 2000s. In 2007, he created WikiScanner, a tool that aimed to unmask people who anonymously edited entries in Wikipedia, the crowdsourced online encyclopedia.

WikiScanner essentially could determine the business, institutions or government agencies that owned the computers from which some edits were made. It quickly identified businesses that had sabotaged competitors’ entries and government agencies that had rewritten history, among other findings.

“I am quite pleased to see the mainstream media enjoying the public-relations disaster fireworks as I am,” Griffith told The Associated Press in 2007.

Klein previously said Griffith cooperated with the FBI and “helped educate law enforcement” about the so-called dark web, a network of encrypted internet sites that allow users to remain anonymous.

Jim Mustian, The Associated Press

 Life Is Worth Losing - Dumb Americans - George Carlin

Aleksandr Dugin: The far-right theorist behind Putin's plan

In the days leading up to Russia's February invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin gave a televised address that rejected the idea of Ukraine as an independent country. It never had the "stable traditions of real statehood," Putin said. Instead, modern Ukraine was "entirely created by Russia or, to be more precise, by Bolshevik, Communist Russia."


© Francesca Ebel / APAP_16254370676378


Brit McCandless Farmer - Yesterday - 
CBS News


More than prelude and pretext for a bloody war, Putin's words echo the writings of a man who has proselytized this idea for almost three decades: Aleksandr Dugin. A Russian political philosopher, Dugin has been influential with Russian military and political elites — even with Putin himself.

Called "Putin's brain" by some political analysts, Dugin has taught at Russia's leading university, planned courses for Russian military institutions, and appeared on Russia's top television channels. Because of his perceived proximity to the Kremlin, the U.S. government sanctioned him in 2015, following Russia's annexation of Crimea the previous year.

Foreign policy analysts have since looked to Dugin for a more fulsome understanding of Putin's goal in Ukraine. Specifically, they turn to Dugin's magnum opus, a 1997 book called The Foundations of Geopolitics: The Geopolitical Future of Russia.

Published a quarter-century ago, Dugin's book prescribes that for Russia to rebuild its power globally, it would need to use disinformation, destabilization — and annexation. One of the targets for Russian annexation, he wrote, should be Ukraine. In Dugin's mind, an independent Ukraine stands in the way of Russia becoming a transcontinental superpower.

"Ukraine as a state has no geopolitical meaning," Dugin wrote in his treatise. "It has no particular cultural import or universal significance, no geographic uniqueness, no ethnic exclusiveness."

 
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In 2017, 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl interviewed Dugin in Moscow as part of a story she reported about Russia's disinformation campaign and the 2016 presidential elections. The interview did not make the broadcast.

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During the conversation, Stahl asked Dugin to explain his 1997 book.

"I always believed, and I believe, in the future of greatness of Russia because Russia was always and tried to be a superpower," Dugin said in 2017. He told Stahl his goal is not unipolarity, with Russia becoming an unchallenged superpower. Instead, he looks to return Russia to superpower status as one among several countries leading the world order.

To do this, Dugin said, would require more than military strength.

"We need a kind of spiritual sovereignty," he said. "We need to be free and liberated, not only physically as a state, as a people, but as well [a] revival of Russian logos, of Russian spirit, of Russian identity that is much more important."

This Russian identity is a key component of the nationalist ideology called Eurasianism, which Dugin laid out in "The Foundations of Geopolitics." The idea suggests that Russia, uniquely positioned between Europe and Asia, is unassimilable within Western civilization. Instead, Dugin thinks Russia should embrace its geopolitical distinctiveness and dominate both spheres, uniting Europe and Asia into one great empire ruled by ethnic Russians. Dugin has set Eurasianism in direct opposition to liberalism and the whole "Atlantic" world he believes is led by the United States.

Russia analysts have found it to be a philosophy Putin has embraced since taking office. In November 2000, six months into his term as Russian president, Putin publicly declared, "Russia has always perceived of itself as a Eurasian country," according to John B. Dunlop, an expert on Soviet and Russia politics.

How, then, does Ukraine factor into Russia's imperialist dream? It is an obstacle, according to Dugin.

"Ukraine as an independent state with certain territorial ambitions represents an enormous danger for all of Eurasia and, without resolving the Ukrainian problem, it is, in general, senseless to speak about continental politics," Dugin wrote in his 1997 book.

Moreover, according to Russian history professor Jane Burbank's translation, Dugin sees total control of the whole north coast of the Black Sea as an "absolute imperative" for Russian geopolitics and thinks Ukraine must become "a purely administrative sector of the Russian centralized state" for Russia's goals to be realized.

Putin clearly agrees. In an article he wrote last year, he declared that "Russians and Ukrainians were one people" who share "the same historical and spiritual space." He claimed their shared "Ancient Rus" lineage challenges the legitimacy of Ukraine's relatively recent borders. During his address ahead of February's invasion, Putin called Ukraine a "colony with a puppet regime."

Since Russia's war in Ukraine began, Dugin has remained steadfast that subsuming Ukraine is the only path forward for Russia. Last month, he posted a video to Telegram, a messaging service that has become the dominant social networking app in Russia, in which he explained why Russia invaded its neighbor. "Without Ukraine, Russia cannot become once more the empire," Dugin said in the video. "With Ukraine inside of Russia zone of control, it will become empire once more."

In her 2017 interview with Dugin, Stahl pointed out to him that Putin seems to have listened to all his recommendations. Not only had Dugin called for Russia to annex Ukraine, which Russia first did in Crimea in 2014, but Dugin had also suggested that Russia make Iran an ally and encourage Britain to leave the European Union.

Dugin rebuffed the suggestion that Putin is following his blueprint. He pointed out that his policy prescriptions were decades old, and that Putin was only just now fulfilling the first steps.

"We demand from him to be much more authoritarian than he is," Dugin told Stahl. "So he a little bit disappoints us because it [takes] too long."

The video above was produced by Brit McCandless Farmer and Will Croxton. It was edited by Will Croxton.

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/03/putin-guru-aleksandr-dugin-has.html

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