Alberta to re-index income tax as surplus jumps to $13.2 billion: Kenney

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says the province’s projected surplus this fiscal year has jumped to $13.2 billion and as a result the government will be re-indexing income tax starting this year.


Premier Jason Kenney at the McDougall Centre in Calgary on April 12, 2022

.© Provided by Edmonton Journal

Kenney made the announcement in a video posted on Twitter Tuesday, one day before the government is scheduled to release its first quarter fiscal update.

In the video Kenney credits the government with keeping its word to get Alberta’s books in order including reporting a surplus last year for the first time since 2014-15.

“Recognizing that our finances are back in order, we are now able to restore full indexation of Alberta’s provincial personal income tax system effective … (at the) beginning of this fiscal year,” he said.

“And that means when you file your taxes next spring, at the end of this fiscal year, you will see more money stays in your pocket as a result.”

When this year’s budget was first tabled in February, officials predicted a relatively small surplus of $511 million . Kenney said Tuesday that the jump is thanks to growth in commodity prices and royalty revenues.

The original budget was based on a projected average West Texas Intermediate (WTI) price per barrel of US$70. As of Tuesday afternoon, WTI prices sat at just over US$92 per barrel.

The Kenney government de-indexed income taxes — meaning tax levels were no longer tied to inflation — in 2019 and has faced heavy pressure to reverse the decision particularly as high inflation pushes up the cost of living.

Prior to Kenney’s announcement, the NDP held a news conference pushing for the government to use the expected extra surplus to institute a “fee holiday” and re-index income tax and various other supports like AISH to inflation.

Late Tuesday, Opposition finance critic Shannon Phillips issued a statement saying the 2019 decision to de-index income taxes has cost Albertans hundreds of millions in additional taxes during the worst affordability crisis in 40 years.

“Today’s announcement fails to give all of that money back to Albertans who need it to afford food, housing, utilities and car insurance. All of these costs have risen steeply thanks to the UCP,” she said.

“While it’s good to see the UCP finally reverse their terrible decision to increase income taxes on Albertans, it’s only one of several ways they have made life more expensive. They have also increased property taxes, school fees, tuition, interest on student debt, medical exams for seniors, camping and park fees, utilities, and auto insurance. At the same time the UCP has cut AISH, the Seniors Benefit, and the Child and Family Benefit.”

Kenney said going back to indexing personal income tax will benefit the average taxpayer by about $300 and cost the government about $300 million.

“We never wanted to de-index the system in the first place but we had to get the province’s finances in order and do so without cutting health care,” he said.

Kenney said the government would be making the single largest annual contribution ever to the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust — nearly $3 billion.

“We will make careful investments where there’s need, like continuing to increase health-care capacity and criminal justice to keep our streets safe. But fundamentally, funds will be going from the surplus to reduce our debt and put money into our savings account,” he said.

Nunavut ends state of emergency over water shortage in Iqaluit

IQALUIT, Nunavut — The Nunavut government says it has ended a state of emergency intended to address a water shortage in Iqaluit.

Nunavut ends state of emergency over water shortage in Iqaluit

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The territory declared the emergency earlier this month to ensure its capital could get necessary regulatory approvals to begin replenishing its reservoir.

The city declared its own state of emergency a week earlier due to a lack of precipitation and flows into the Apex River, Iqaluit's secondary water resupply source, being at a 40-year low.

As a result, Lake Geraldine, which serves as the reservoir for the city, would not be replenished before freeze-up.

Related video: Nunavut announces state of emergency over Iqaluit water shortage

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Acting Minister of Community and Government Services Joanna Quassa says Iqaluit now has the necessary regulatory approval to begin pumping.

The city plans to pump additional water from the nearby Unnamed Lake into the Apex River then into Lake Geraldine.

The city says it will need to pump more than 500 million litres of water.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published August 30, 2022.

SEE  IQALUIT WATER SUPPLY TAINTED

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2021/12/nunavuts-former-deputy-chief-public.html

Vanishing glaciers threaten Europe's water supply

Switzerland's glaciers have lost more than half their volume in less than a hundred years, and the long hot summer this year has accelerated the thaw, a new study shows.


A rise in global temperatures is causing glaciers in the Swiss Alps to shrink© BBC

The glaciers support ski resorts and attract climbers and hikers in summer, but are also essential to Europe's water supply. Now, communities across the Alps are worrying about their future.

In Switzerland, at 3,000m (9,800ft) above sea level, you expect to see ice. But above the village of Les Diablerets, where cable car company Glacier 3000 operates, there are now huge areas of bare rock.

Two glaciers, the Tsanfleuron and the Scex Rouge, have split apart, revealing ground not seen for thousands of years. "We're probably the first people walking here," says Bernhard Tschannen, who runs the company.

Mr Tschannen is watching one of Switzerland's top attractions disappear before his eyes.

Visiting tourists can see from the Eiger to the Matterhorn to Mont Blanc. They could also, until recently, walk across miles of pristine blue glacier.



Now the ice is broken up by rock, mud, and puddles. The change is dramatic.

"When we constructed this chairlift we had to dig seven metres into the ice. This was 23 years back," he explains. "Look,"' he points several metres further away, "where the glacier is now".

Scientists have been monitoring the shrinking of Alpine glaciers for years. A joint study by Zurich's Federal Institute of Technology and the Swiss Federal Office for Landscape compared topographic images of glaciers from the 1930s, to those from the last 10 years.

The findings are in line with long standing evidence that Europe's glaciers are shrinking, and that there is a direct link between the ice loss and global warming.

Ice caps are particularly sensitive to changes in temperature, so if the earth warms, glaciers are the first to notice, and respond, by melting.

Mauro Fischer, a glaciologist at the University of Bern, is responsible for monitoring the Tsanfleuron and Scex Rouge. Every year in spring he installs ice measuring rods, and checks them regularly over the summer and autumn.

When he went to check them in July, he got a shock.

Related video: Germany’s Glaciers Are Melting So Fast They Could Be Gone in Only 15 Years

The rods had melted completely out of the ice, and were lying on the ground. His ice measurements, he says, were "off the chart - far beyond what we've ever measured since the beginning of the glacier monitoring, maybe three times more mass loss over one year than the average over the last 10 years".


Vanishing glaciers threaten Europe's water supply© BBC

The thaw brings danger with it. In the famous resort of Zermatt, climbing trails up to the Matterhorn have had to close because, as the glaciers melt, the rock once held together by ice becomes unstable.

Richard Lehner, a Zermatt mountain guide like his father and grandfather before him, has spent less time climbing this summer, and more time repairing or rerouting risky paths. He remembers when he could walk right across the Gorner glacier. Not any more.

"The permafrost on the mountains is melting off. You have more crevasses on the glacier, because there is not enough snow from the winter, and it makes our job more challenging. You have to think more about risk management."

Melting glaciers also reveal long-held secrets. This summer, the wreckage of a plane that crashed in 1968 emerged from the Aletsch glacier. The bodies of climbers, missing for decades but perfectly preserved by the ice, have also been discovered.


The wreckage of a small aircraft has been uncovered due to the thawing of ice© BBC

But the consequences of the ice loss are far wider than the damage to local tourism, or finding lost climbers.

Glaciers are often referred to as the water towers of Europe. They store the winter snow, and release it gently over the summer, providing water for Europe's rivers and crops, and to cool its nuclear power stations.
Climate change: A really simple guide

Already this summer, freight along the Rhine in Germany has been interrupted because the water level is too low for heavily laden barges. In Switzerland, dying fish are being hastily rescued from rivers which are too shallow and too warm.

In France and Switzerland, nuclear power stations have had to reduce capacity because the water to cool them is limited.

Samuel Nussbaumer of the World Glacier Monitoring Service believes it is a sign of what is to come.

He says current projections suggest that by end of the century the only ice remaining will be high up in the mountains: "Above 3,500m there will still be some ice in 100 years. So, if this ice is gone, there won't be any water any more."

The extent of the loss this summer has focused minds. Glaciologist Mauro Fischer admits that even though he knew, because of his monitoring, what was happening, the outcome made him emotional. "It's as if the melting glaciers are crying. The high mountain environments tell us we really need to change. It makes me really sad."


At Glacier 3000, a popular tourist destination, blocks of ice have been wrapped in protective coverings© BBC

At Glacier 3000, Bernhard Tschannen has begun wrapping some of the remaining ice in protective coverings in a bid to slow down the thaw. Asked if he feels helpless, there is a long pause.

"We can contribute that it's perhaps a bit less fast, but I think we cannot stop it completely, at least not at this altitude for the glaciers."

In Zermatt, Richard Lehner's great-grandparents used to hope the glaciers would not extend too far into the valley and cover their pastures. In the 19th Century, there was so much ice that poor Swiss Alpine communities carved parts of it off and sold it to smart Paris hotels, to keep the champagne cold.

Those days are long gone, and no-one is especially nostalgic for them.

But to have no glaciers at all?

"We have a problem," says Richard. "All over Europe, it's not just up here in the mountains. These glaciers, this water, I don't know how we're going to live without the glaciers."

US Judge tosses suit that tried to deem books obscene for kids

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A judge in Virginia dismissed a lawsuit Tuesday that had sought to declare two books as obscene for children and to restrict their distribution to minors, including by booksellers and libraries.


Judge tosses suit that tried to deem books obscene for kids© Provided by The Canadian Press

The books in question were “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe and “A Court of Mist and Fury” by Sarah J. Maas.

Both books describe or illustrate sexual acts that prompted the lawsuit. In a petition to the court, Tommy Altman, a Virginia Beach tattoo shop owner and former Republican congressional candidate, said the depictions were inappropriate for children under Virginia's obscenity law. He asked the court to issue a restraining order against distributing, selling or loaning the books to minors.

The suit was filed in April and dismissed before it could proceed to trial.

Circuit Court Judge Pamela S. Baskervill struck down the suit on jurisdictional grounds, citing state law as well as principles under the U.S. Constitution.

Related video: Lawsuit on bookstores requiring parental consent to sell books with sexual content to minors proceeds in VB    Duration 2:49     View on Watch

For example, Baskervill wrote that Virginia law doesn't give her the specific authority to determine whether the books are obscene for minors.

The judge also wrote that restricting the books' distribution would authorize “prior restraint” of speech and violate the First Amendment. The judge also described concerns about prosecuting someone who didn't know they were selling or loaning books that were deemed to be obscene.

The judge's order comes at a time when book challenges and bans have surged across the U.S. to levels not seen in decades. And Virginia has been on the frontlines of such conflicts, with public school curricula and books serving as a major prong for Republican Glenn Youngkin’s successful run for governor last year.

Many of the books targeted in schools and libraries have focused on sexuality, gender identity or race. And Kobabe's “Gender Queer” has served as a particular flashpoint in the debate that continues to unfold across the nation. The Virginia Beach school board removed the book from school libraries earlier this year.

Tim Anderson, Altman's attorney, said the lawsuit in Virginia Beach was not focused on what the two books were about.

“This was never never about trying to ban gay literature or trans literature,” Anderson said. “This was simply just saying these have really sexual explicit content and it’s not appropriate for kids.”

Anderson said the suit's intent was on changing Virginia law, which Anderson said is "one size fits all" when defining what's obscene for both children and adults alike. Atlman wanted a “carve out" that determines what's obscene for juveniles specifically.

Ben Finley, The Associated Press

Equity is goal, not mandate, in California electric car rule


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Electric vehicle chargers are seen in the parking lot of South El Monte High School in South El Monte, Calif., Friday, Aug. 26, 2022. Discounted prices, car-share programs, and a robust network of public charging stations are among the ways California will try to make electric vehicles affordable and convenient for people of all income levels as it phases out the sale of new gas cars by 2035. Advocates for the policy say the switch from gas- to battery-powered cars is a necessary step to reducing pollution in disadvantaged neighborhoods, but that the state make sure those residents can access the cars, too.(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Discounted prices, car-share programs and at least one million more public charging stations are among the ways California will try to make electric cars easier to buy and drive as it phases out the sale of gas-powered cars.

But the state won’t force automakers to participate in any equity programs designed to ensure people of all income levels can buy electric cars.

“This rule had the opportunity to really set the path for lower income households to have increased access and affordability (for) electric vehicles, but it missed the mark,” said Roman Partida-Lopez, legal counsel for transportation equity with The Greenlining Institute.

Instead, car companies will get extra credit toward their sales quotas if they make cars available to car share or other programs aimed at disadvantaged Californians. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has pledged $10 billion over six years for incentives to get electric vehicles into the hands of low-income residents, charging infrastructure, and other efforts to put cleaner cars and trucks on the road.

The Stockton Mobility Collective is one example. Designed to increase transportation options in disadvantaged parts of the city, the collective will set up five to seven neighborhood charging stations with 30 electric cars people can rent out on an hourly or daily basis. The first cars and charging stations launched last week in an apartment complex. The program got $7.4 million from the state.

Car ownership in South Stockton is low, so interest in the program is high, said Christine Corrales, senior regional planner for the program. But its just the first step in what must be a major effort to make electric vehicles a realistic option for lower-income Californians.

“If the infrastructure is not available locally, it may be challenging to encourage people to adopt and switch over,” she said. “That’s something that we’re trying to be proactive about.”

The regulations passed by the California Air Resources Board last week say that 2035 the state will require automakers to sell only cars that run on electricity or hydrogen, though some can be plug-in hybrids that use gas and batteries. People will still be able to buy used cars that run on gas, and car companies will still sell some plug-in hybrids. Beyond questions of affordability and access, the state will need to overcome skepticism of people who think electric cars simply aren’t for them.

“We’ve got to get past the elitism that’s involved with owning an electric car,” said Daniel Myatt, who brought an electric car in 2020 through the state’s Clean Cars 4 All program, which he qualified for when he was out of work due to an illness.

Since 2015, more than 13,000 electric cars have been purchased through the program. It offers people up to $9,500 for people to trade in their gas cars for electric or hybrid models.

About 38% of the money spent on a separate rebate program has gone toward low-income or disadvantaged communities, and the state has spent hundreds of millions of dollars building charging stations in those neighborhoods. Today, though, there are just 80,000 public charging stations around the state, far short of the 1.2 million the state estimates it needs by 2030.

Under the new regulations, car makers can get extra credit toward their sales quotas if they participate in several equity programs.

Those programs include: Selling cars at a discount to car-share or other community programs; making sure cars that come off lease go to California dealers that participate in trade-in programs; or selling cars at a discounted price. To meet the third option, cars would have to cost less than $20,275 and light-duty trucks less than $26,670 to qualify for the extra credit. It only applies to model years 2026 through 2028, and there’s no restriction on who those cars can be sold to.

Southern California EVen Access is using a $2.5 million state grant to install at least 120 chargers across a 12-county region, at apartment complexes and public places like library parking lots. Apartment complex owners can get $2,500 per charger installed on the property.

Overall, the state should do more public messaging about the programs that are available to buy electric vehicles so that all communities can enjoy the benefits of fewer cars that spew emissions and pollution, said Lujuana Medina, environmental initiatives manager for Los Angeles County. The state must also invest in a workforce that can support an electric transportation economy, she said.

“There will have to be some really progressive public purpose programs that help drive electric vehicle adoption and sales,” she said.

Alicia Young of Santa Clara, California, was unsure when she first heard about the state’s trade-in program. But she eventually pursued the deal, leaving behind her 2006 Nissan for a plug-in hybrid from Ford. It cost $9,000 after her trade-in value.

The car runs more smoothly and just as fast as any gas-powered car she’s ever owned. She mostly runs it on battery charges, though she still fills the gas tank about once a month. The apartment complex where she lives with her mother does not have a car charger, so she often relies on charging stations at the grocery store or other public places.

She’s shared information about the trade-in program with her colleagues at the senior retirement center where she works, but many of them seem mistrustful, she said. The state could speed adoption by having public messengers from a wide variety of backgrounds to help build trust in electric cars, she said.

“It’s a little bit different at first, but that’s normal with any new car,” she said.

Japan PM apologizes for party’s church (CULT)

links, will cut ties


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Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama, Pool)


TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Wednesday his ruling party will cut ties with the Unification Church following a widening scandal triggered by former leader Shinzo Abe’s assassination last month, and apologized for causing the loss of public trust in politics.

Widespread cozy ties between members of Kishida’s governing Liberal Democratic Party, many of them belonging to Abe’s faction, and the South Korean-born church have surfaced since Abe was shot to death while giving a campaign speech in July.

The suspect, Tetsuya Yamagani, who was arrested at the scene, allegedly told police he killed Abe because of his apparent link to the church. In a letter seen by The Associated Press and social media posts believed to be his, Yamagani said he believed his mother’s large donations to the church had ruined his life.

Some Japanese have expressed understanding, even sympathy, as details of the man’s life emerged, creating deep implications for the political party that has governed Japan virtually uninterrupted since World War II.

While religious groups must abide by law, “politicians are strictly required to be careful about groups with social problems,” Kishida said. Members of his Cabinet and other key posts have agreed to review their past links and cut ties with the church.

“As president of the LDP, I honestly express my apology” for causing the public’s doubts and concerns over the continuing revelations in media reports about the party’s extensive ties to the church, Kishida said.

The Unification Church, which was founded in South Korea in 1954 and came to Japan a decade later, has built close ties with a host of conservative lawmakers over their shared interests of opposing communism. Abe’s grandfather and former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi was a key figure who helped the church’s political unit in Tokyo.

Since the 1980s, the church has faced accusations of problematic recruiting, sales of religious items and donations, which often lead to financial strains on the followers’ families and, according to experts, mental health of adherents’ children. The issues led to the government’s decision to cut ties with the church.

Abe sent a video message last year to the Universal Peace Federation, an international group affiliated with the church, which experts say may have motivated the suspect in Abe’s shooting. Abe had praised the federation’s co-founder Hak Ja Han Moon, who is also head of the church, for her effort in promoting traditional family values.

Experts and cult watchers also say that the church has promoted its key agendas such as the opposition to women’s advancement and same-sex marriage to influence policy.

Kishida shuffled his Cabinet earlier in August to purge seven ministers linked to the church. Among them was Abe’s younger brother Nobuo Kishi, who acknowledged that church followers volunteered in his election campaign. Dozens of LDP members have since come forward with their ties to the church and related organizations.

Kishida said at the news conference that he has instructed LDP Secretary General Toshimitsu Motegi to survey the party fully over any other members’ ties to the church. Kishida said he is rushing the effort but it may take time because the review will span decades.

Kishida apologized for the loss of public trust because of the scandal and his lack of explanation for organizing a state funeral for Abe, one of most divisive leaders in Japan’s postwar history.

The state funeral scheduled for Sept. 27 has split public opinion. The only other state funeral in postwar Japan was for former Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida, who signed the San Francisco Treaty that restored ties with the Allies and ended the U.S. occupation of Japan.

Kishida’s Cabinet last week allocated at least a 250 million yen ($1.8 million) budget to invite about 6,000 guests for the funeral at the Budokan arena in Tokyo.

Kishida insisted that Abe deserved a state funeral because of his achievement in raising Japan’s global profile as its longest-serving postwar leader. He said Japan must respond with courtesy to “outpouring of condolences” from foreign leaders and legislations.

Europe plan for floating gas terminals raises climate fears


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A tugboat helps guide a French ship, known as the LNG Endeavor, through Calcasieu Lake near Hackberry, La., on March 31, 2022. Russia’s war against Ukraine shattered its relations with Europe, which soon lost most of the natural gas that Moscow had long provided. Now, as winter nears, European nations have backed a short-term fix set to begin before the end of 2022 that has raised alarms among scientists who fear the long term consequences for the climate. (AP Photo/Martha Irvine, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — As winter nears, European nations, desperate to replace the natural gas they once bought from Russia, have embraced a short-term fix: A series of roughly 20 floating terminals that would receive liquefied natural gas from other countries and convert it into heating fuel.

Yet the plan, with the first floating terminals set to deliver natural gas by year’s end, has raised alarms among scientists who fear the long-term consequences for the environment. They warn that these terminals would perpetuate Europe’s reliance on natural gas, which releases climate-warming methane and carbon dioxide when it’s produced, transported and burned.

Some scientists say they worry that the floating terminals will end up becoming a long-term supplier of Europe’s vast energy needs that could last years, if not decades. Such a trend could set back emission-reduction efforts that experts say haven’t moved fast enough to slow the damage being done to the global environment.

Much of the liquefied natural gas, or LNG, that Europe hopes to receive is expected to come from the United States. The need arose after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shattered its ties with Europe and led to a cutoff of most of the natural gas that Moscow had long provided. Along the U.S. Gulf Coast, export terminals are expanding, and many residents there are alarmed about the rise in drilling for gas and the resulting loss of land as well as extreme weather changes associated with burning fossil fuels.

“Building this immense LNG infrastructure will lock the world into continued reliance on fossil fuels and continued climate damage for decades to come,” said John Sterman, a climate scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Natural gas contributes significantly to climate change — both when it’s burned, becoming carbon dioxide, and through leakages of methane, an even more potent greenhouse gas. Yet European nations, which for years have been leaders in shifting to cleaner energy, have proposed bringing more than 20 floating LNG terminals into their ports to help compensate for the loss of Russia’s natural gas.

The terminals, which tower over homes and stretch nearly 1,000 feet (304 meters), can store roughly 6 billion cubic feet (170,000 cubic meters) of LNG and convert it into gas for homes and businesses. They can be built faster and more cheaply than onshore import terminals, though they’re costlier to operate, according to the International Gas Union.

“Every country needs to prepare for a scenario where there may be a cut in Russian supplies,” said Nikoline Bromander, an analyst with Rystad Energy. “If you are dependent, you need to have a backup plan.”

Many environmental scientists argue that the money being earmarked for the ships — which cost about $500 million each to build, according to Rystad — would be better spent on rapidly adopting clean-energy or efficiency upgrades that could reduce energy consumption.

Constructing more solar or wind farms, which takes years, wouldn’t immediately replace Russian gas. But with adequate funding, Sterman suggested, greater energy efficiencies — in homes, buildings and factories, along with the deployment of wind, solar and other technologies — could vastly reduce Europe’s need to replace all the gas it’s lost.

Germany, among Europe’s strongest advocates for the floating LNG terminals, is expecting five of the ships and has committed roughly 3 billion euros to the effort, according to Global Energy Monitor. Germany has also approved a law to fast-track the terminals’ development, suspending the requirement for environmental assessments.

It’s a move that troubles environmental groups.

“It’s totally obvious,” asserted Sascha Müller-Kraenner, CEO of Environmental Action Germany, that “the provisions of the law were developed in close dialogue with the gas industry.”

Germany’s government and energy industry have defended their embrace of the LNG terminals as an urgent response to the loss of most of the Russian gas they had long received, which they fear Moscow will shut off completely.

“In an exceptional situation such as this, where it’s a matter of Germany’s gas supply security, it is justified to accelerate the approval process,” Germany’s energy industry association, BDEW, said in a statement.

Susanne Ungrad, a spokeswoman for Germany’s Economy and Energy Ministry, noted that efforts are being made to lower methane emissions in exporting countries like the United States. And she said that in pursuing the construction of LNG terminals, Europe authorities will conduct comprehensive assessments.

Greig Aitken, an analyst at Global Energy Monitor, noted that a terminal that’s set to open near Gdansk, Poland, has signed contracts with American LNG suppliers that extend well past 2030. That could make it problematic for the European Union to meet its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030.

Italy, Greece, France, the Netherlands, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Slovenia and the U.K. all have one or more floating LNG terminals planned, according to Rystad Energy.

In some cases, proponents argue, the ships could aid the environmental cause. They note, for example, that as Russian gas supplies have dwindled, communities in Germany and elsewhere have been burning coal, which typically produces more emissions than natural gas. Increasing the supply of natural gas would make this less necessary.

Still, methane can frequently leak along the natural gas supply chain. So in some cases, the net climate effect of burning natural gas may be no better than coal.

The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that continuing to use the fossil fuel infrastructure already in place would cause global warming to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit). At that level, heat would be expected to worsen the flash floods, extreme heat, intense hurricanes and longer-burning wildfires that have resulted from climate change and have cost lives.

“It is a little disheartening to see Europe, which has been the seat of so much energy and action and bold emissions targets, being home to this particular way with doubling down on fossil fuel infrastructure,” said Kim Cobb, a climate scientist at Brown University.

In the United States, the largest export market for Europe-bound LNG, three new export terminals are under construction. Eleven additional terminals and four expansions are in the planning stages. Some export terminals that had struggled to attract financing are now seeing more investment and interest, said Ira Joseph, a longtime energy analyst.

“What you’ve seen happen over the last two months — they’re signing up sales and purchase agreements, right and left,” Joseph said.

Rio Grande LNG, an export terminal proposed by Next Decade in Brownsville, Texas, for example, appeared to stall last year in the face of environmental protests. But this spring, a French company, Engie, and several clients in Asia signed long-term contracts to buy LNG from the terminal. Now, Next Decade says it’s likely to obtain all the financing it needs.

Europe’s gas scarcity has escalated global LNG prices, leading buyers in China and elsewhere to sign long-term contracts with suppliers in the United States. American LNG exports will likely grow by 10 million tons over the next year, said Bromander, the Rystad analyst.

The floating LNG ships have been billed as a short-term solution to keep gas flowing for a few years while cleaner energy sources like wind and solar are built up. But critics say it’s unlikely that a ship built to last decades would permanently halt operations after a few years.

Once the floating terminals are built, they can be used anywhere in the world. So if European nations no longer want floating LNG terminals as they transition to cleaner energy, the ships could sail off to another port, essentially locking in the use of natural gas for decades.

And in some cases, particularly in Germany, some of the proposed floating terminals appear to be paving the way for on-shore terminals that would be built to last 30 or 40 years — well past the point that nations should be burning fossil fuels, environmental groups say.

“After the war is resolved and, as we all hope, peace is restored, are they really going to say, ‘Oh, let’s take it to the scrap yard?,’” Sterman asked. “They’re not going to do that.”

____

AP Writer Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.

Survey finds young people follow news, but without much joy


 A woman checks her phone in Orem, Utah, on Nov. 14, 2019.

 A survey of people ages 16 to 40 finds that millennials and Generation Z follow the news, but they aren't that happy with what they're seeing. The study conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the American Press Institute says 79% of people follow news daily, contrary to perceptions that many are tuned out. 

(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)


NEW YORK (AP) — Young people are following the news but aren’t too happy with what they’re seeing.

Broadly speaking, that’s the conclusion of a study released Wednesday showing 79% of young Americans say they get news daily. The survey of young people ages 16 to 40 — the older of which are known as millennials and the younger Generation Z — was conducted by Media Insight Project, a collaboration between The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the American Press Institute.

The report pokes holes in the idea that young people aren’t interested in news, a perception largely driven by statistics showing older audiences for television news and newspapers.

“They are more engaged in more ways than people give them credit for,” said Michael Bolden, CEO and executive director of the American Press Institute.

An estimated 71% of this age group gets news daily from social media. The social media diet is becoming more varied; Facebook doesn’t dominate the way it used to. About a third or more get news each day from YouTube and Instagram, and about a quarter or more from TikTok, Snapchat and Twitter. Now, 40% say they get news from Facebook daily, compared with 57% of millennials who said that in a 2015 Media Insight Project survey.

Yet 45% also said they get news each day from traditional sources, like television or radio stations, newspapers and news websites.

The poll found that about a quarter of young people say they regularly pay for at least one news product, like print or digital magazines or newspapers, and a similar percentage have donated to at least one nonprofit news organization.

Only 32% say they enjoy following the news. That’s a marked decrease from seven years ago, when 53% of millennials said that. Fewer young people now say they enjoy talking with family and friends about the news.

Other findings, such as people who say they feel worse the longer they spend online or who set time limits on their consumption, point to a weariness with the news, said Tom Rosenstiel, a University of Maryland journalism professor.

“I wasn’t surprised by that,” Bolden said. “It has been a challenging news cycle, especially the last three years.”

About 9 in 10 young people say misinformation about issues and events is a problem, including about 6 in 10 who say it’s a major problem. Most say they’ve been exposed to misinformation themselves.

Asked who they consider most responsible for its spread, young people pointed to social media companies and users, politicians and the media in equal measure.

That may surprise people in the media who believe they are fighting misinformation, and are not part of the problem, Bolden said. A significant number of people disagree.

“Whether that’s accurate or not, the people in this business have to deal with that perception,” he said.

He suggested that it’s important for news organizations to better explain what it is that they do and how coverage decisions are made, along with taking a step back to make clear how government functions, as well as holding leaders to account.

The percentage of people who say “news stories that seem to mostly create conflict rather than help address it” and “media outlets that pass on conspiracy theories and unsubstantiated rumors” are a major problem exceeded the number of people concerned about journalists putting too much opinion in their stories, the survey found.

That would seem to point a finger at cable news outlets that fill air time with debates on particular issues, often pitting people with extreme points of view. New CNN chief executive Chris Licht has recently called on his network to cool the overheated segments.

“There are people who have grown up in this world of political food-fight media, and this is the only world they know,” said Rosenstiel, who worked on the survey as Bolden’s predecessor at the press institute. “They might have heard their parents talk about Walter Cronkite, but they haven’t seen that.”

The topics people ages 16 to 40 say they most follow in the news? Celebrities, music and entertainment, at 49%, and food and cooking, at 48%, top the list. At least a third follow a wide range of other issues, including health and fitness, race and social justice, the environment, health care, education, politics and sports

Younger Americans use wide variety of social media sources for news

Millennials and Gen Z Americans turn to YouTube and Instagram for news and information nearly as often as they use Facebook, according to a Media Insight Project poll.

How often, if at all, do you get news and information from each of the following?

Percent of Americans ages 16 to 40

Graphic shows results of AP-NORC Center poll on attitudes toward gun restrictions. Eighty-five percent of U.S. adults say they favor a federal law requiring background checks on all gun buyers; 83%back a federal law banning convicted domestic abusers from buying a gun; 75% favor making 21 the minimum legal age to buy a gun nationwide; 59% back a nationwide ban on the sale of AR-15 style semiautomatic weapons. Only 29% say they would support state laws allowing people to carry guns in public without a permit.

Daily

 or more

Several

 times a week/Once a week/Less than once a week

Never

Facebook

40%

34%

25%

YouTube

37%

40%

22%

Instagram

34%

31%

35%

TikTok

29%

25%

46%

Snapchat

24%

25%

51%

Twitter

23%

27%

49%

Reddit

16%

28%

55%

LinkedIn

12%

22%

64%

Twitch

11%

17%

71%

Nextdoor

10%

19%

71%

Survey conducted May 18 to June 8, 2022, with 5,975 U.S. respondents ages 16 to 40.

Source: AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research

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The AP-NORC poll of 5,975 Americans ages 16-40 was conducted May 18-June 8, using a combined sample of interviews from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population, and interviews from opt-in online panels. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 1.7 percentage points. The AmeriSpeak panel is recruited randomly using address-based sampling methods, and respondents later were interviewed online or by phone.

US life expectancy plunged again in 2021, down nearly a year

- In this March 10, 2021 file photo, a couple walks through a park at sunset in Kansas City, Mo. U.S. life expectancy dropped for two consecutive years in 2020 and 2021, marking the first such trend since the early 1920s, according to a new government report. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. life expectancy dropped for the second consecutive year in 2021, falling by nearly a year from 2020, according to a government report being released Wednesday.

In the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the estimated American lifespan has shortened by nearly three years. The last comparable decrease happened in the early 1940s, during the height of World War II.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials blamed COVID-19 for about half the decline in 2021, a year when vaccinations became widely available but new coronavirus variants caused waves of hospitalizations and deaths. Other contributors to the decline are longstanding problems: drug overdoses, heart disease, suicide and chronic liver disease.

“It’s a dismal situation. It was bad before and it’s gotten worse,” said Samuel Preston, a University of Pennsylvania demographer.

Life expectancy is an estimate of the average number of years a baby born in a given year might expect to live, given death rates at that time. It is “the most fundamental indicator of population health in this country,” said Robert Hummer, a University of North Carolina researcher focused on population health patterns.

U.S. life expectancy rose for decades, but progress stalled before the pandemic.

It was 78 years, 10 months in 2019. In 2020, it dropped to 77 years. Last year, it fell to about 76 years, 1 month.

The last time it was that low was in 1996.

Declines during the pandemic were worse for some racial groups, and some gaps widened. For example, life expectancy for American Indian and Alaskan Native people saw a decline of more than 6 1/2 years since the pandemic began, and is at 65 years. In the same span, life expectancy for Asian Americans dropped by about two years, and stands at 83 1/2.

Experts say there are many possible reasons for such differences, including lack of access to quality health care, lower vaccination rates, and a greater share of the population in lower-paying jobs that required them to keep working when the pandemic was at its worst.

The new report is based on provisional data. Life expectancy estimates can change with the addition of more data and further analysis. For example, the CDC initially said life expectancy in 2020 declined by about 1 year 6 months. But after more death reports and analysis came in, it ended up being about 1 year 10 months.

But it’s likely the declines in 2020 and 2021 will stand as the first two consecutive years of declining life expectancy in the U.S. since the early 1960s, CDC officials said.

Findings in the report:

—Life expectancy for women in the United States dropped about 10 months, from just under 80 years in 2020 to slightly more than 79 in 2021. Life expectancy for men dropped a full year, from about 74 years to 73.

—COVID-19 deaths were the main reason for the decline. The second largest contributor was deaths from accidental injuries — primarily from drug overdoses, which killed a record-breaking 107,000 Americans last year.

—White people saw the second biggest drop among racial and ethnic groups, with life expectancy falling one year, to about 76 years, 5 months. Black Americans had the third largest decline, falling more than eight months, to 70 years, 10 months

—Hispanic Americans had seen a huge drop in life expectancy in 2020 — four years. But in 2021, life expectancy for them dropped by about two months, to about 77 years, 7 months. Preston thinks good vaccination rates among Hispanics played a role.

The report also suggests gains against suicide are being undone.

U.S. suicides rose from the early 2000s until 2018. But they fell a little in 2019 and then more in 2020, the first year of the pandemic. Experts had wondered if that may have been related to a phenomenon seen in the early stages of wars and national disasters in which people band together and support each other.

The new report said suicide contributed to the decline in life expectancy in 2021, but it did not provide detail. According to provisional numbers from a public CDC database, the number of U.S. suicides increased last year by about 2,000, to 48,000. The U.S. suicide rate rose as well, from 13.5 per 100,000 to 14.1 — bringing it back up to about where it was in 2018.

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The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Gen Z, millennials speak out on reluctance to become parents

By LEANNE ITALIE

yesterday

1 of 4

This Aug. 15, 2022, photo shows El Johnson, right, with her girlfriend, Sara Goodie, in Austin, Texas. Johnson has decided not to bear children, though she hasn’t ruled out adoption. The birth rate in the U.S. has dropped dramatically as more young people decide not to have children. 

(El Johnson via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — At 24, El Johnson has made up her mind that she won’t bear children, though she and her girlfriend haven’t ruled out adoption.

The graduate student who works in legal services in Austin, Texas, has a list of reasons for not wanting to give birth: the climate crisis and a genetic health condition among them.

“I don’t think it’s responsible to bring children into this world,” Johnson said. “There are already kids who need homes. I don’t know what kind of world it’s going to be in 20, 30, 40 years.”

She’s so sure, in fact, that she’ll soon have her tubes removed. It’s a precautionary decision sealed by the fall of Roe v. Wade and by tight restrictions on abortion services in her state and around the country.

Other women interviewed also cited climate change, along with overwhelming student debt coupled with inflation, as reasons they’ll never be parents. Some younger men, too, are opting out and more are seeking vasectomies.

Whatever the motivation, they play a role in dramatically low birth rates in the U.S.

The U.S. birth rate fell 4% in 2020, the largest single-year decrease in nearly 50 years, according to a government report. The government noted a 1% uptick in U.S. births last year, but the number of babies born was still lower than before the coronavirus pandemic: about 86,000 fewer than in 2019.

Walter and Kyah King live in suburban Las Vegas. Walter, 29, a sports data scientist, and Kyah, 28, a college career counselor, have been together nearly 10 years, the last four as a married couple. The realization that they didn’t want to have kids came on slowly for both of them.

“It was in our early 20s when the switch sort of flipped,” Kyah said. “We had moved to California and we were really just starting our adult lives. I think we talked about having three kids at one point. But just with the economy and the state of the world and just thinking about the logistics of bringing children into the world. That’s really when we started to have our doubts.”

Finances are top of mind. Before taxes, the two earn about $160,000 combined, with about $120,000 in student loan debt for Kyah and about $5,000 left for Walter. The couple said they wouldn’t be able to buy a house and shoulder the costs of even one child without major sacrifices they’re not willing to make.

But for Kyah, the decision goes well beyond money.

“I think we would be great parents, but the thought of going into our health system to give birth is really scary. Black women, black mothers, are not valued in the same way that white mothers are,” said Kyah, who is Black.

When Kyah’s IUD expires, Walter said he’ll consider a vasectomy, a procedure that went on the rise among men under 30 during the pandemic.

Jordan Davidson interviewed more than 300 people for a book out in December titled, “So When are You Having Kids?” The pandemic, she said, led many to delay childbirth among those contemplating children at all.

“These timelines that people created for themselves of, I want to accomplish X by three years from now, changed. People weren’t necessarily willing to move the goalposts and say, OK, I’m going to forgo these accomplishments and do this differently,” she said. “People still want to travel. They still want to go to graduate school. They still want to meet certain financial benchmarks.”

Fears about climate change have cemented the idea of living without children for many, Davidson said.

“Now with increased wildfires, droughts, heat waves, all of a sudden it is becoming real that, OK, this is happening during my time, and what is this going to look like during the time that my children are alive?” she said.

In New York City, 23-year-old Emily Shapiro, a copywriter for a pharmaceutical ad agency, earns $60,000 a year, lives at home as she saves money and has never wanted children.

“They’re sticky. I could never imagine picking up a kid that’s covered in ice cream. I’m a bit of a germaphobe. I don’t want to change a diaper. If I did have one, I wouldn’t want them until they’re in, like, sixth grade. I also think the physical Earth isn’t doing so great so it would be unfair,” she said.

Among those Jordan interviewed, concerns over the environment were far more prevalent among the younger group. Questions of affordability, she said, troubled both millennials and members of Gen Z.

“There is a lot of fear around having children who would be worse off than they viewed themselves during their childhoods,” Davidson said.

Dannie Lynn Murphy, who helps find software engineers for Google, said she was nearly 17 when she was removed from her home by child protective services due to a pattern of child abuse. Her wife, she said, was similarly raised in a “not great” environment.

“Both of us at one point would have said yes to kids,” she said. “In my late teenage, early adult years, I saw and understood the appeal and was attracted to the idea of getting to raise someone differently than I was raised. But the practical realities of a child kind of suck.”

Murphy earns about $103,000 a year, with bonuses and equity that can drive that amount up to $300,000. Her wife earns about $60,000 as an attorney. They don’t own their Seattle home.

“I can’t see myself committing to a mortgage, let alone a child,” the 28-year-old Murphy said. “I think the primary reason is financial. I would prefer to spend that money on traveling versus sinking a half a million dollars into raising a child. Secondarily, there’s now the fear of behaving with our children the way our parents behaved with us.”

Alyssa Persson, 31, was raised in small town South Dakota. Getting married and having children was ingrained in the culture, she said. It wasn’t until after her divorce from her high school sweetheart that she took a step back and asked herself what she actually wanted out of life.

“Most women where I’m from lose their identities in motherhood,” said Persson, who now lives in St. Louis and earns about $47,000 a year as a university librarian.

She’s carrying student loan debt of about $80,000. Persson is a former teacher who loves children, but she feels she is now thinking more clearly than ever about the costs, implications and sacrifices of parenting.

“Having children sounds like a trap to me, to be frank,” she said. “Financially, socially, emotionally, physically. And if there were ever any shadow of a doubt, the fact that I cannot comfortably support myself on my salary is enough to scare me away from the idea entirely.”

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Follow Leanne Italie on Twitter at http://twitter.com/litalie

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