Hawaii closes last coal-fired power plant as ban begins

By CALEB JONES, Associated Press - Yesterday

HONOLULU (AP) — The last bits of ash and greenhouse gases from Hawaii’s only remaining coal-fired power plant slipped into the environment this week when the state’s dirtiest source of electricity burned its final pieces of fuel.


Windmills and solar panels are shown in Kahuku, Hawaii on Monday, Aug. 22, 2022. As Hawaii transitions toward its goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning in 2023. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)© Provided by Associated Press


Windmills and solar panels are shown in Kahuku, Hawaii on Monday, Aug. 22, 2022. As Hawaii transitions toward its goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning in 2023.

The last coal shipment arrived in the islands at the end of July, and the AES Corporation coal plant closed Thursday after 30 years in operation. The facility produced up to one-fifth of the electricity on Oahu — the most populous island in a state of nearly 1.5 million people.


A windmill turns in the background in Kahuku, Hawaii on Monday, Aug. 22, 2022. As Hawaii transitions toward its goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning in 2023. 

“It really is about reducing greenhouse gases,” Hawaii Gov. David Ige said in an interview with The Associated Press. "And this coal facility is one of the largest emitters. Taking it offline means that we'll stop the 1.5 million metric tons of greenhouse gases that were emitted annually.”

Like other Pacific islands, the Hawaiian chain has suffered the cascading impacts of climate change. The state is experiencing the destruction of coral reefs from bleaching associated with increased ocean temperatures, rapid sea level rise, more intense storms and drought that is increasing the state's wildfire risk.

In 2020, Hawaii’s Legislature passed a law banning the use of coal for energy production at the start of 2023. Hawaii has mandated a transition to 100% renewable energy by 2045, and was the first state to set such a goal.

But critics say that while ending the state's dirtiest source of energy is ultimately a good move, doing so now is not. Renewable sources meant to replace coal energy are not yet on line because of permitting delays, contract issues and pandemic-related supply-chain problems. So the state will instead burn more costly oil that is only slightly less polluting than coal.


The AES Corporation coal-fired power plant in Kapolei, Hawaii is shown on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022 during a ceremony to mark the closure of the facility. As Hawaii transitions toward its goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning in 2023. 

“If you are a believer that climate change is going to end because we shut down this coal plant, this is a great day for you," said Democratic state Sen. Glenn Wakai, chair of the Committee on Economic Development, Tourism and Technology. “But if you pay an electricity bill, this is a disastrous day for you.”

The end of coal and the additional cost of oil will translate to a 7% increase in electricity bills for consumers who already face the nation's highest energy and living costs.

“What we’re doing ... is transitioning from the cheapest fossil fuel to the most expensive fossil fuel,” Wakai said. "And we’re going to be subjected to geopolitical issues on pricing for oil as well as access to oil. ”


Hawaii Gov. David Ice speaks at the AES Corporation's coal-fired power plant in Kapolei, Hawaii during a ceremony to mark the closure of the facility, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022. As Hawaii transitions toward its goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning in 2023.

The AES coal plant closure means Hawaii joins 10 other states with no major coal-fired power facilities, according to data from Global Energy Monitor, a nonprofit advocating for a global transition to clean energy. Rhode Island and Vermont never had any coal-fired power plants.

While Hawaii is the first state to fully implement a ban on coal, a handful of others previously passed laws. The 2015 law in Oregon, the first state to pass a ban, isn't effective until 2035. Washington state's 2020 coal ban starts in 2025. California, Maine and Texas are among states that have restricted construction of new coal-fired plants.

The number of coal-burning units in the United States peaked in 2001 at about 1,100. More than half have stopped operating since then, with most switching to more cost-effective natural gas.

U.S. Energy Information Administration data shows oil generated about two-thirds of Hawaii's electricity in 2021. That makes Hawaii the most petroleum-dependent state, even as it tries to make a rapid transition to renewables.


The AES Corporation's coal-fired power plant is shown in Kapolei, Hawaii during a ceremony to mark the closure of the facility, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022. As Hawaii transitions toward its goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning in 2023. 

Hawaii already gets about 40% of its power from sustainable sources including wind, solar, hydroelectric and geothermal.

State Sen. Kurt Fevella, a Republican and the Senate Minority Leader, suggested that Hawaiian Electric Company and other energy corporations should absorb the additional cost of shifting to renewables.

“The fact that Hawaii’s families are already doing what is necessary to reduce their energy uses while still paying the most in the nation for household electricity is unsustainable,” said Fevella. “While I believe utility companies like HECO can do more to reduce the energy burden passed on to Hawaii’s ratepayers, I also believe developers of renewal energy projects should also bear a greater portion of the transmission costs."


Windmills spin near the ocean in Kahuku, Hawaii on Monday, Aug. 22, 2022. As Hawaii transitions toward its goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning in 2023. 

Hawaiian Electric Company, the state's sole distributor of electricity, said it can do little to change the prices to consumers.

“We’re a regulated monopoly,” said Vice President of Government and Community Relations and Corporate Communications Jim Kelly. ”So we don’t set the prices. We don’t make any money on the fuels that we use to generate electricity.”


Oahu's power plants are shown on the horizon as an airliner takes off from the international airport in Honolulu, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022. As Hawaii transitions toward its goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning in 2023. 

AES, the operator of Hawaii's last coal plant, has transitioned to creating clean energy and is working on large solar farms across the state, including one in West Oahu that will replace some lost coal energy when completed next year.


Makena Coffman, a professor at the University of Hawaii and the director of the university's Institute for Sustainability and Resilience, walks through campus on Friday, Aug. 12, 2022 in Honolulu. As Hawaii transitions toward its goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning in 2023. 

“Renewables are getting cheaper by the day," said Leonardo Moreno, president of AES Corporation's clean energy division. “I envision a future where energy is very, very cheap, abundant and renewable."


Scott Glenn, the state of Hawaii's Chief Energy Officer, works in his office on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022 in Honolulu. As Hawaii transitions toward its goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning in 2023. 

Sustainable energy experts say getting rid of coal is critical in curbing climate change. While the current renewable landscape is not perfect, they say technologies are improving.


Construction crews work on unfinished racks for solar panels at the AES Corporation's West Oahu solar farm in Kapolei, Hawaii, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022. As Hawaii transitions toward it goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning 2023.

“This is the decade of climate action that we really need to be moving on right now,” said Makena Coffman, University of Hawaii professor and director for the Institute for Sustainability and Resilience. “And so these are available technologies and they might get incrementally better, but let’s not wait 10 years to do it.”


Construction crews work on unfinished racks for solar panels at the AES Corporation's West Oahu solar farm in Kapolei, Hawaii, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022. As Hawaii transitions toward it goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning 2023. 

Profits from the increased electricity costs to Hawaii consumers will go mostly to overseas oil producers, said Hawaii's Chief Energy Officer Scott Glenn.


Unfinished racks for solar panels are shown at the AES Corporation's West Oahu solar farm in Kapolei, Hawaii, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022. As Hawaii transitions toward it goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning 2023. 

Hawaii’s petroleum is distributed by Par Pacific, a Houston-based company which has traditionally sourced the state's oil from Libya and Russia. But after the invasion of Ukraine, Hawaii halted oil shipments from Russia and replaced it with products from Argentina.

Extending the coal plant's operation would be complicated and costly, Glenn said, noting that the plant has been planning decommissioning for years and would now have to buy coal at market price.

“Coal is going up. It’s getting more expensive,” he said of the supply Hawaii gets from clearcut rainforests in Indonesia. "If we were using U.S. coal, it would not be the cheapest energy source on the grid.”


A coal barge is tied to a dock after delivering the last shipment of coal to Hawaii, Thursday, July 28, 2022 in Honolulu. (Hawaii State Energy Office via AP)© Provided by Associated Press

Why would Hawaii, a small U.S. state in the middle of the Pacific, try to lead the way in moving to sustainable energy?

“We are already feeling the effects of climate change,'" Glenn said. “It’s not fair or right to ask other nations or states to act on our behalf if we are not willing and able to do it ourselves. If we don’t, we drown.”

___

Associated Press data journalist Mary Katherine Wildeman in Hartford, Conn. contributed to this report.

___

Follow Caleb Jones on Twitter: @CalebAP. Follow AP’s climate and environment coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment


A coal barge and oil ship are docked in Honolulu after the state received its last shipment of coal, Thursday, July 28, 2022. (Hawaii State Energy Office via AP)© Provided by Associated Press

___

Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

AP Photo/Caleb Jones


Hawaii receives its final shipment of coal from a barge docked in Honolulu, Wednesday, July 27, 2022. (Hawaii State Energy Office via AP)© Provided by Associated Press

Lufthansa aims to minimise effect of pilots' strike on Friday

Wed, August 31, 2022 

Lufthansa ground staff in Germany go on strike over 9.5% pay claim, in Munich

BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany's Lufthansa on Thursday said it would do everything possible to minimise the effects of a pilots' strike set to begin on Friday and defended its offer during wage talks.

The union, Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), said late on Wednesday that pay talks had failed and the strike would affect both passenger and cargo services.

VC is demanding a 5.5% pay rise this year for its more than 5,000 pilots and automatic inflation compensation thereafter.

Strikes and staff shortages have already forced airlines including Lufthansa to cancel thousands of flights this summer and caused hours-long queues at major airports, frustrating holidaymakers keen to travel after COVID-19 lockdowns.

Michael Niggemann, the Lufthansa executive board member responsible for human resources, said the German carrier had made a good, balanced offer during talks and the strike would inconvenience several thousand customers.

"We want solutions at the negotiating table," he said, adding that Lufthansa's offers were a good basis for continuing talks.

Lufthansa has offered a total of 900 euros ($901.35) more in basic pay per month in two stages over an 18-month term as well as an agreement guaranteeing cockpit staff a minimum fleet size.

($1 = 0.9985 euros)

(Writing by Miranda Murray; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Kirsti Knolle

Rail Strike Leaves Normal Life In Netherlands Crippled

Almost the entire Dutch railway network was shut down on Tuesday as workers affected by soaring inflation and staff shortages went on strike to demand better pay and working conditions.


UPDATED: 31 AUG 2022 

All trains listed were marked "Cancelled" in red at Utrecht central station as train services came to a 

A stranded traveller passes an artwork of a blue train by Miffy creator Dick Bruna, at Utrecht central station as train services came to a near standstill in the latest in a series of strikes by railway workers hits the Netherlands.

Deserted railway platforms are seen at Utrecht central station as train services came to a near standstill in the latest in a series of strikes by railway workers hits the Netherlands.

Escalators lead to deserted railway platforms at Utrecht central station as train services came to a near standstill in the latest in a series of strikes by railway workers hits the Netherlands.

Cars sit in traffic jams as train services came to a near standstill in the latest in a series of strikes by railway workers hits the Netherlands.


Stranded travellers use their mobile phones in an otherwise deserted Utrecht central station as train services came to a near standstill in the latest in a series of strikes by railway workers hits the Netherlands.



Deserted railway platforms are seen at Utrecht central station as train services came to a near standstill in the latest in a series of strikes by railway workers hits the Netherlands.


No departing trains are listed on the overhead screens at Utrecht central station as train services came to a near standstill in the latest in a series of strikes by railway workers hits the Netherlands.



A stranded traveller uses his mobile phone in an otherwise deserted Utrecht central station as train services came to a near standstill in the latest in a series of strikes by railway workers hits the Netherlands.



All trains listed were marked "cancelled" in red at Utrecht central station as train services came to a near standstill in the latest in a series of strikes by railway workers hits the Netherlands.

A rail worker sits on a bench in an otherwise deserted Utrecht central station as train services have ground to a near standstill in the latest in a series of strikes by railway workers hits the Netherlands.

Deserted railway platforms are seen at Utrecht central station as train services came to a near standstill in the latest in a series of strikes by railway workers hits the Netherlands.

Netherlands Rail Strike | Photo: AP/Peter Dejong

Bernie Sanders backs RMT and striking UK workers in fight against ‘oligarchs’

Bernie Sanders has spoken in support of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, saying ‘our job right now internationally is to stand together’.


US senator Bernie Sanders speaking during a Save London Transport rally at TUC Congress House, London 

(Jonathan Brady/PA) / PA Wire

By Lucas Cumiskey



United States senator Bernie Sanders has backed UK unions fighting for improved pay and conditions, saying “working people all over the globe have got to stand together”.

Mr Sanders, 80, who represents the state of Vermont, addressed the Save London Transport rally, organised by unions including the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), in central London on Wednesday.

It comes after the RMT claimed a long-term funding arrangement announcement by the Government and Transport for London on Tuesday will attack Tube workers’ pay and pensions, warning it will lead to strikes.

Mr Sanders, who competed for the US Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020, said: “Let me thank the RMT for inviting me to be with you this evening, it is in truth a real honour and I want to convey to you my belief that millions of working people throughout this country are proud of what you are doing, they’re proud of their fight for justice and we stand with you.

US senator Bernie Sanders speaking during a rally at Congress House, London (Jonathan Brady/PA) / PA Wire
Read More

Bernie Sanders hails RMT strikes as an ‘inspiration’ on visit to London

Rail workers to stage fresh strikes

“What is going on today in the UK is no different than what is going on in the United States of America, same bloody thing.

“What you are seeing is people on the top, people who are phenomenally rich, are becoming richer, you are seeing a middle class continue to shrink and you’re seeing millions and millions of people living in abject poverty.

“In the year 2022, we cannot allow that to happen, whether it’s the UK or the United States, working people all over the globe have got to stand together.”

He added: “Our job right now internationally is to stand together. Our job right now is to bring people all over the world together, to make it clear to the oligarchs that their day and their power is ending.”

Speaking ahead of the event, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch told the PA news agency: “It’s great that the senator’s come over, he reached out to us – coming here to express his solidarity for workers in the UK but also around the world, and in his own country, the USA.

“I think Sanders moved the debate in the American democratic primaries, he’s made (President Joe) Biden bring forward a very brave pro-union agenda and many people on the union side are pleased with some of the measures that President Biden has brought in, and Bernie Sanders is responsible for that.

“But he’s also responsible along with others of generating a new wave of trade union activity, with new unions, new union activists from a diverse background, getting to grips with some of these corporate profits and corporate rip-offs that are going on in the States.


“And we can learn from that over here, I’m sure that they can learn from what we’re doing, so we’ve got to make those connections and make our movement international.”

The rally at Congress House in London (Jonathan Brady/PA) / PA Wire

On what Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer could learn from Mr Sanders, he said: “He’s got to be in sympathy and empathy with working people and their problems, show working people that he understands their issues.”

He added: “The purpose tonight is the funding crisis that’s been going on in London transport ever since Covid started when the fares fell away because people were told not to travel.

“So that’s left a massive hole in London transport and Transport for London’s finances and the mayor has had a multiple arrangement of short-term deals, sometimes as little as a week or two, he’s got a 19-month deal now but that seems to have put services under threat to some extent because we have got to trust that the Tories are going to finance that.

“But also it seems to put our members’ pay, their jobs, their pensions and their terms and conditions on the table.

“This is a rally in defence of London transport services but also in defence of London transport workers.”

Double rail strike misery ahead: Aslef staff will walk out at 12 train operators on September 15 before TSSA workers down tools at nine firms on September 26 at start of Labour party conference

By MARK DUELL FOR MAILONLINE
31 August 2022

Britain's rail passengers will suffer further travel misery next month after two unions confirmed their workers will stage fresh strikes in an escalation of the national dispute over pay, job security and conditions.

Train drivers' union Aslef said its members will walk out at 12 train operating companies on Thursday, September 15 in a dispute over pay that has already resulted in two other days of industrial action over the last five weeks.

Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, Greater Anglia, Great Western Railway, Hull Trains, LNER, London Overground, Northern, Southeastern, TransPennine Express and West Midlands Trains will all be affected.

In addition, members of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) at nine train operating companies as well as Network Rail will also walk out from midday on Monday, September 26 until the same time the following day.

The operating companies affected by the TSSA action will be Avanti West Coast, c2c, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway, LNER, Southeastern, TransPennine Express and West Midlands Trains.

The TSSA strike will coincide with the Labour Party conference in Liverpool. As a Labour-affiliated union, the TSSA said it will be looking for support from delegates and MPs to join them on picket lines - but Sir Keir Starmer will not join striking workers and insisted today that he would instead be focused on forming the next government.

The TSSA said it remains in talks with Network Rail about the possibility of a settlement to avert industrial action, but is urging Transport Secretary Grant Shapps to intervene in a bid to break the deadlock.

It follows seven previous rail strikes in recent months by Aslef, the TSSA and the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) that have caused chaos for commuters and those travelling around the UK for events and summer holidays.

+7
View gallery


+7
View gallery


Empty platforms at London King's Cross railway station during the last TSSA strike on August 20 which was with the RMT

Manuel Cortes, leader of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association, 

joins the picket line at London Euston station on July 27

'SIR' Keir Starmer won't join the transport strike
Duration Time0:28 Watch video

The TSSA's leader Manuel Cortes has written to both Mr Shapps and bosses of Department for Transport-held train companies in recent days. He wants the Government to allow operators to 'return to the negotiating table with a revised deal which improves on the insulting 2 per cent offer which was rejected earlier in the summer'.

Mr Cortes said today: 'The dead hand of Grant Shapps is sadly stopping train operating companies from making a revised, meaningful offer.

Which strikes are taking place in September?

Strikes or ballots for industrial action are being announced virtually every day as workers across the UK join the growing campaign for pay rises to match soaring inflation in the face of the cost-of-living crisis.

Unions have described it as a 'summer of solidarity' amid worsening industrial relations and accusations from union officials that the Government is doing little or nothing to help workers struggling with mounting bills.

Here are some of the upcoming strikes and potential disputes stretching into the autumn:September 5: Barristers in England and Wales start an indefinite strike over Government-set fees for legal aid work.
September 8 and 9: Royal Mail workers in the Communication Workers union strike again over pay.
September 11: A strike ballot of Unite's NHS members in England closes.
September 15: Train drivers at 12 rail companies will strike in the dispute over pay, their union Aslef said.
September 15: A strike ballot of Royal College of Nursing members opens.
September 16: A strike ballot of Unite's NHS members in Wales closes.
September 26: A national strike ballot opens of Public and Commercial Service union members over pay, pensions, jobs and redundancy terms.
September 26: Members of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association at a number of rail companies stage 24-hour strike in the long running row over pay, jobs and conditions.

'Frankly, he either sits across the negotiating table with our union or gets out of the way to allow railway bosses to freely negotiate with us, as they have done in the past.

'The reason for the current impasse lies squarely at Shapps' door and passengers are paying a high price for his incompetence and intransigence.

'I welcome the fact that negotiations are ongoing with Network Rail and the gap towards a resolution is narrowing. Time will tell whether a deal can be done to avert our next strike.

'I will be standing on our picket line in Liverpool and will be encouraging fellow delegates and Labour MPs to do likewise, so they can rightly show they stand shoulder to shoulder with those fighting the Tories' cost-of-living crisis.'

Labour leader Sir Keir again ruled out joining workers on a picket line today. He told Channel 5's Jeremy Vine: 'When it comes to industrial action, I completely understand why people are voting to go on strike.

'I understand how much they're struggling - wages have been stagnant for the best part of 10 years, we've now got a cost-of-living crisis, so prices are going up.'

Asked if he would join TSSA workers on the picket line he said: 'No. I want a Labour government, I want to be a Labour prime minister. You can't sit around the Cabinet table resolving issues and then walk onto a picket line, they are different jobs.'

Meanwhile Aslef's general secretary Mick Whelan said today as his union announced the new strikes: 'We regret that, once again, passengers are going to be inconvenienced.

'We don't want to go on strike – withdrawing our labour, although a fundamental human right, is always a last resort for a trade union – but the train companies have forced our hand.

'They want train drivers to take a real terms pay cut – to work just as hard this year as last, but for 10 per cent less.

'Because inflation is now in double figures and heading higher – much higher, according to some forecasts – and yet the train companies have offered us nothing.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer ruled out joining workers on a picket line, while appearing on Channel 5's Jeremy Vine today

TSSA leader Manuel Cortes with Labour's then-leader Jeremy Corbyn at the party's conference in Brighton in September 2015

Empty platforms at Wandsworth Common railway station in South London on August 20 during the last strike by the TSSA

'And this for train drivers who kept Britain moving – key workers and goods around the country – throughout the pandemic and who have not had an increase in salary since 2019.'

Rail union threatens strikes over new £1.2billion TfL rescue deal... and users face more fare rises: RMT says bail out will lead to job losses as campaigners fear prices will soar after government agreed to plug £740million funding hole

Unions today warned that a funding deal for Transport for London will lead to fresh strikes over concerns it will attack Tube workers' pay and pensions – while travel campaigners voiced fears over future fare increases.

The Department for Transport confirmed last night that it had struck a deal with Transport for London (TfL) to help the service cope with potential lost revenue caused by uncertainty over post-pandemic demand.

TfL expects to receive around £1.2billion of funding from the Government until the end of March 2024 to help should passenger numbers not recover at the rate budgeted for, amid continued concerns over home-working.

But London Mayor Sadiq Khan said a £740million funding gap remains in TfL's budget over the next 20 months, with fare increases and service cuts under consideration alongside efficiency savings.

Mr Khan accused the Government of seeking to provoke further strikes under the terms of the agreement, which require him to continue work on introducing driverless trains on the Underground and seek pension reforms.

Assurances over revenue will enable TfL to commit to £3.6billion on investment projects - but the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) claimed that the deal would hit Tube workers' pay and pensions.

The union said the deal 'appears conditional on attacks on workers' pensions, potential job losses and a push for pay restraint in the future despite the astronomical rise in inflation and an escalating cost of living crisis'.

He added: 'We want the companies – which are making big profits, and paying their chief executives enormous salaries and bonuses – to make a proper pay offer to help our members keep up with the increase in the cost of living.

'That's why we are calling on the companies today to do the right thing – the decent thing – and come back to the negotiating table with an offer our members can accept.'

Aslef members have already walked out for 24 hours on Saturday, July 30 and on Saturday, August 13 at the 12 train operators.

The union added that this year it has 'successfully concluded pay deals with nine companies' – those being DB Cargo; Eurostar; Freightliner Heavy Haul; Freightliner Intermodal; GB Railfreight; Merseyrail; MTR Elizabeth line; PRE Metro Operations; and ScotRail.

Aslef added that it is in negotiations with Direct Rail Services and Transport for Wales, and has put an offer from Colas IM to its members.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: 'For the eighth time this summer, union leaders are choosing self-defeating strike action over constructive talks, not only disrupting the lives of millions who rely on these services but jeopardising the future of the railways and their own members' livelihoods.

'These reforms deliver the modernisations our rail network urgently needs, are essential to the future of rail, and will happen. Strikes will not change this.'

It comes as another rail union warned that a funding deal for Transport for London (TfL) will lead to fresh strikes.

The RMT said the announcement of a long-term funding arrangement by the Government and TfL yesterday will attack Tube workers' pay and pensions.

The union said driverless Tube trains were included in reforms called for by Mr Shapps as part of the deal.

RMT, along with other transport unions, will be holding a Save London Transport rally tonight with special guest US senator Bernie Sanders.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: 'This deal negotiated in secret by TfL and Government ministers will likely see our members pensions attacked and further pay restraint in the future, coupled with driverless trains.

'Grant Shapps' attack on Tube workers would be unacceptable at any time but in an escalating, cost-of-living crisis it is shameful and will be resisted through further strike action.

'The rally tonight will send a message that RMT and other transport unions will not tolerate attacks on workers' pay and conditions or cuts to public services.'

Climate-Fueled Wildfires Are Depleting the Ozone Layer, New Study Shows

Smoke fills the sky as Sydney is enveloped in a thick bank of hazardous bushfire smoke forcing authorities in Australia's most populous city to scale back controlled forest burning nearby on May 2, 2021.

SAEED KHAN / AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

BYJulia Conley,

  Common Dreams

August 28, 2022

Scientists were stunned in early 2020 when bush fires that spread across Australia generated their own extreme weather patterns, including thunderstorms — and a study published last Thursday revealed the blazes had an even greater climate impact than previously known.

Researchers at University of Exeter in England found that aerosols from the smoke created by the fires caused the highest temperatures in the Earth’s stratosphere in decades and likely created a hole in the ozone layer over most of Antarctica.

With global fossil fuel extraction and the global heating it causes showing few signs of slowing down, extreme weather events like the bush fires are likely to continue, said the authors of the study — and with them could come more damage to the ozone layer.

“Under global warming, the frequency and intensity of wildfires is expected to increase, which would lead to more” stratospheric warming and depletion of the ozone layer, study co-author Jim Haywood told The Washington Post.

Generally, volcanic eruptions like that of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991 are the only phenomena on the planet which change the temperature of the stratosphere.

During the bush fires of early 2020, though, the temperature of the Earth’s second atmospheric layer reached 3°C over Australia and 0.7°C across the globe.

As Tessa Koumoundouros explained at ScienceAlert, the heat-induced weather systems — called pyrocumulonimbus — caused by the fires “pumped the smoke into remarkably high altitudes, with the sun’s rays heating the dark particles and causing them to rise further, in a process called self-lofting.”

“Over the period of a month, the aerosol plume drifted across the South Pacific and was clearly detected in the stratosphere by [NASA instrument] CALIOP as well as surface-based lidars and sun-photometers operating from the southern tip of South America,” the report, published in Scientific Reports, reads.

Unusually high temperatures in the stratosphere persisted for the first four months of 2020, and the continued heating likely caused changes in atmospheric circulation and chemical reactions on the surface of the smoke particles — depleting the ozone layer.

The impact of Australia’s bush fires on the stratosphere were “unprecedented as far as the observational record goes,” Olaf Morgenstern of New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research told the Post.

The research shows that continued global heating — and the wildfires that have been linked to the climate crisis — could reverse the success of the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which pushed the global community to end its production of ozone-damaging chemicals.

“It is plausible that the good work carried out under the Montreal Protocol,” Haywood told the Post, “could be undone by the impact of global warming on intense fires.”

Endangered Galapagos tortoises were hunted and eaten, Ecuadorean prosecutors fear
Stefano Pozzebon -

Ecuador’s Attorney General’s office has opened an investigation into the deaths of four giant tortoises in the Galapagos archipelago, amid allegations the endangered animals have been poached for their meat.

Hunting the tortoises is illegal under Ecuadorean law, and the Galapagos islands have been protected as a national park since the 1960s.

However, tortoise meat is considered a delicacy by wildlife hunters and, according to the Galapagos Conservancy – a US-based non-profit organization focusing on sustainable development of the archipelago – more than 15 animals have been found dead in the Galapagos in the last year, raising fears the animals are being targeted by a wildlife trafficking network.

“This is not an isolated incident. In September 2021, the remains of 15 critically endangered Giant Tortoises from the subspecies Chelonoidis guntheri were found on Isabela. Evidence from the investigation showed that the reptiles had likely been hunted for consumption,” it said in a statement, adding that the organization “strongly condemns the poaching and eating of Giant Tortoises as an environmental crime.”

Related video: These Are Just Some of the Reasons You Shouldn’t Keep Desert Tortoises as Pets
Duration 2:55 View on Watch

Prosecutors said that a special unit for environmental crime (UNIMEN) traveled to the islands Tuesday, which are located roughly 600 miles offshore of Ecuador’s Coast, in the Pacific Ocean.

The team comprises of experts in animal necropsy and detectives who are interviewing park rangers, according to the Attorney General’s office.

Giant Galapagos tortoises are among the longest-living animals on the planet, with a lifespan of more than 100 years. They were heavily researched by English biologist Charles Darwin, who pioneered the theory of evolution, in the 19th century.

The tortoise, the largest cold-blooded terrestrial herbivore found on Earth, plays a critical role as an agent of stability in the Galapagos.

Numbers of Galapagos tortoises have declined by 85% to 90% since the early 1800s, according to a June 2022 study, when whalers and pirates first arrived in the archipelago. As pirates raided South American colonies and whalers hunted in the surrounding waters, they made the giant tortoises their food source.

 

Anti-US military protest, Seoul, South Korea, August 13, 2022. 

Screen grab via Chinese state supported media outlet CGTN/YouTube.co

US media ignored major 

anti-US military protest in South Korea

Fake news about Kim Jong-Un gets wall-to-wall coverage

 but citizens of a key ally opposing a joint military exercise 

goes largely unnoticed.

Written by
Tim Shorrock

AUGUST 23, 2022

In America these days, almost any information about North Korea, be it rumor, fake news, or just plain silly, becomes fodder for the mainstream media. From TMZ to The Guardian, reporters know there is an insatiable appetite for anything that puts Kim and his regime in a bad or crazy light.

But when it comes to South Korea, which hosts 28,500 American ground troops and the Pentagon’s largest military base outside of North America, U.S. media coverage is, shall we say, highly selective. That was made resoundingly clear on August 14, when Seoul was the scene for the largest public demonstration in decades against the U.S. military presence in South Korea.

Amazingly, not a word about the protest appeared in the U.S. media.

That Saturday, thousands of people chanting “this land is not a U.S. war base” demonstrated against Ulchi Freedom Shield, the first large-scale military exercises between U.S. and South Korean forces since 2017. The protests were organized by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), South Korea’s second-largest labor federation. They were joined by a range of progressive allies, including People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD), an influential citizen’s group founded in 1994.

“At a time when military tensions on the Korean Peninsula are escalating and there is no clue for inter-Korean dialogue, we are concerned that an aggressive large-scale military exercise will exacerbate the situation,” PSPD declared. “We once again urge the US and ROK governments to suspend the ROK-US joint military exercise and make efforts to create conditions for dialogue.” At the demonstration, protesters took direct aim at the heart of U.S. policy in Korea, with signs that read “No war rehearsal, No U.S.” and “No Korea-U.S.-Japan military cooperation.”

Outside of the Korean press, the only outlets to cover this massive showing against militarism were Iran’s Press TV and China’s CGTN, which provided extensive video of the mobilization. The single print story on the march appeared in Xinhua, China’s daily wire service. Neither the New York Times or the Washington Post, which often set the pace for U.S. press coverage of Asia, deemed the demonstration newsworthy. 

Hypocrisy? Yes. As I put it in a sardonic tweet, “Every rumor, fake news, intelligence leak or eyebrow twitch about Kim Jong Un and North Korea gets star treatment in the US media.” Yet, when “thousands of SOUTH KOREANS” march in Seoul against US-ROK war games, “NOT ONE PEEP.” The contrast seemed to hit a nerve: by the weekend, nearly 6,000 Twitter users had “liked” my post and over 2,000 had retweeted it.

The contradictions were evident on Twitter itself. As it often does with countries we’re not supposed to like, it slapped a label on one of my posts about the demonstration, urging users to “stay informed” because “this Tweet links to a Iran state-affiliated media website.” With that warning, Twitter was effectively delegitimizing my own coverage of the demonstration.

To be fair, political rallies on the left and right are a common occurrence in South Korea; obviously, editors and reporters must make choices about what to cover. But in a country where a majority of its citizens support the presence of U.S. forces and a U.S. general has operational control over their army in times of war, a rally of several thousand citizens openly calling for a U.S. troop withdrawal is certainly newsworthy.

At the same time, the drills have been a hot topic for years. In 2018, with much of Washington opposed, they were downgraded to computerized simulations as a way to build trust during the denuclearization talks between President Donald Trump and North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un. Those talks collapsed in 2019, primarily over Trump’s refusal to lift U.S. sanctions in return for a partial shut down of the North’s nuclear infrastructure.  

This year, with North Korea regularly testing its long-range missiles, the new presidents in Washington and Seoul, Joe Biden and Yoon Suk Yeol, decided to resume the real-life exercises. The air, land, and sea drills, which in the past have mobilized around 50,000 South Korean and 17,500 U.S. soldiers, began on August 22 and wind up on September 1.

Sadly, the discrepancies in coverage reflect old patterns going back to the early days of the Cold War.

Editorial staffs of major U.S. newspapers and cable news shows (and now, Twitter’s upstart crew) are steeped in Cold War mythologies about the Korean War and largely reflect the viewpoint of Washington’s national security community. Currently, both parties see in the North a determined and dangerous long-term foe, and in the South a reluctant ally torn between loyalty to the United States and its expansive economic ties with China, America’s new nemesis. In this world, there is little room for coverage of South Korean trade unionists, leftists, and progressives who stand against the American consensus.

That mindset was recently on display at the Post when it praised South Koreans for electing Yoon, an inexperienced conservative hawk who said during his campaign that he might consider a pre-emptive strike on North Korea “to protect peace” on the peninsula. “South Korea makes a welcome turn toward the U.S. — just when it is really needed,” the headline crowed. The Post editorial also took a nasty swipe at former President Moon Jae-in, parroting right-wing talking points that he had “consciously” played down North Korea’s human rights record and “balked” at adding new batteries to the American THAAD missile deployment that has drawn Beijing’s ire.

For America’s papers of record, the failure to cover South Korea’s progressive left also reflects a failure of nerve. The KCTU and People’s Solidarity that organized this month’s antiwar demonstration have deep roots in the democratic movement of the late 1980s, when years of struggle culminated in the massive demonstrations of 1987 that forced the pro-U.S. generals who had ruled the South for 26 years to step aside. During that tumultuous era, both the Times and the Post offered extensive (and often outstanding) coverage of dissidents and government repression. But in recent years, they have been far more interested in covering North Korean defectors and warning the public (repeatedly) about a possible underground nuclear test than exploring the complex internal politics of South Korea.

Ironically, these papers are better prepared now to cover Korea than any time in the past 40 years. Since 2020, they have built large bureaus in South Korea and relocated their Asian news hubs from Hong Kong to Seoul, giving them an opportunity for first-class coverage of perhaps the most dynamic country in Asia. “Looking at a five, 10, 20 year horizon, [Seoul] just feels like it’s right in the middle of the action,” Stephen Dunbar-Johnson, the Times’sinternational president, recently told the Korea Joongang Daily.

But in this coverage, the opinions and views of all Koreans need to be heard. That is particularly true when dealing with an issue as critical as the U.S.-Korean alliance, which President Biden has called “a linchpin of peace, stability, and prosperity” but many Koreans now view as a barrier to their country’s future.

Written by
Tim Shorrock

How the killing of Iran’s top general squandered US leverage in Iraq today

Washington’s decision to take out Soleimani in Baghdad ruined its chances for playing a role in mitigating a serious crisis there now.

Written by

Steven Simon

AUGUST 23, 2022

Two years ago, I wrote an op-ed for the New York Times on the arms control implications of hypersonic weapons. Thinking about hypothetical instances in which such as a weapon might be used to destabilizing effect, I wrote that a U.S. administration possessing this kind of weapon might use it to kill, say, Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Quds Force. 

A day later, Soleimani was dead, killed by a U.S. strike, along with his Iraqi counterpart Abu Mahdi al Muhandis just outside of Baghdad International Airport. Conspiratorially inclined social media users swiftly concluded that I was a traitor with inside information attempting to warn Soleimani of an impending attack. (For the record, this is not true.) 

It’s fair to say that most observers familiar with U.S. military operations in the region and the role Soleimani played in choreographing Iranian proxy activities in the Middle East would have taken Soleimani’s presence on the U.S. list of high value targets for granted. Equally, most observers would not have imagined that he’d be killed on Iraqi soil while a guest of its government.

I’m reminded of this episode — for reasons I’ll explain — by the ongoing discussion, mostly among pundits, about whether and how the political crisis in Iraq will affect U.S. interests and, relatedly, whether the United States could or should be doing something to help resolve the crisis before it does affect U.S. interests.

Some knowledgeable commentators, like Bilal Wahab, note that the Biden administration’s hands-off stance during the crisis has perpetuated it. He recalls correctly that there was a time when the United States was deeply enmeshed in the formation of successive Iraqi governments, most significantly in the accession of Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister in 2006.

Maliki’s policies during the eight years he occupied the office are generally thought to have contributed to the rise of ISIS in Iraq. This charge is debatable. ISIS originated in Syria owing to the anarchic conditions of civil war and was inadvertently armed by outsiders, including the United States. The movement at one point was assessed to include 14,497 fighters from Russia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Tunisia, and France with smaller contingents from dozens of other countries. 

And there were the thousands of Syrians caught up in a brutal civil war who enlisted or were conscripted in ISIS, the biggest insurgent player in Syria by 2013. When these insurgents entered Iraq through its long, open border with Syria, they were in effect an invading army. On this view, the claim that the ISIS conquest of major Iraqi cities, like Mosul, was a homegrown protest against Maliki’s policies is at odds with reality. Not that these policies helped, or that Maliki’s hollowing out of the Iraqi army, which disintegrated in the face of the ISIS onslaught, was anything but disastrous. 

Whether there had been better alternatives to Maliki in 2006 when Washington selected him as its man in Baghdad is up for debate; indeed, it was debated within the White House at the time. While we cannot know whether there was a better choice, the United States learned in 2014 and the fall of Mosul that Maliki had not been a good one. The law of unintended consequences proved to be implacable.

In this case, Bilal’s recommendations are more about using leverage indirectly rather than open heart surgery. Thus, the United States provides the Kurdish Regional Government with a great deal of money, which could be withheld if the Kurdish leadership balked at a more constructive role in government formation. But this sort of leverage is theoretical; if it were not, a parade of U.S. administrations over the years would have persuaded Israel to halt settlement activity. There’s just some leverage that is too complicated to use, especially where the gain might not outweigh the political costs. 

There is also the inducement that the United States might be able to offer in the form of the international legitimacy Washington’s endorsement could confer on a compromise government. This too is theoretical. Iraqi factions are jockeying for wealth and power, not Western approval.

The current crisis stems from an intra-Shia split between two factions led by unelected leaders, Nouri al Maliki and Moqtada Sadr. Both have longstanding ties with Iran punctuated by squabbles, some of which were intense. Maliki worked closely with the United States as a matter of necessity during the long U.S. occupation. Sadr of course has not. He appears to be defying Iran’s will by taking an ax to Iraqi Shi’a unity, which reduces the transaction cost of Iran’s influence in Iraq, and by subordinating the Shi’a groups opposing him to a majority government under his control. 

This, however, makes Sadr neither a strategic foe of Iran nor a friend to the United States. At this stage, his attempt to transform his initial electoral victory into such a majority government has been quashed by the both the Iraqi Supreme Court and his own breathtaking decision to remove his 73 members of the Assembly and watch his adversaries take their seats. As a result, he has taken to fight to the streets and to the Parliament where his followers are mostly just hanging out smoking sheesha, waiting for developments.

At the same time, Sadr is attempting to seduce young, profoundly disappointed and mainly non-aligned protesters by claiming that their fight against the corrupt status quo is his own fight. How far this ploy gets Sadr is open to question. His own forces, after all, were involved in the bloody suppression of youth demonstrations in 2019. Violent conflict between the Sadrists and the Popular Mobilization Forces (also known as the People’s Mobilization Committee) — Shi’a militias that form part of Iraq’s hybrid armed forces — seems likely at the moment. 

There are off ramps, but it is primarily Sadr’s sole decision to avail himself of them, yet no one really knows what his intentions are. His militia would presumably be outgunned in a fight, which suggests that he’ll resort to bargaining at some point. 

This brings us back to Soleimani’s death at U.S. hands in Iraq. If there were one avenue for U.S. involvement in ongoing, broader attempts to unwind the confrontation, it would be through contact with the main Iraqi players. Yet, if this crisis is truly intra-Shi’a, Soleimani’s death signaled the end of U.S. influence with moderate Shi’a actors who had until that moment interacted more or less constructively with the United States. 

Whatever their personal views about Iran and the United States, Iraqi Shi’a had no choice but to condemn the Trump administration’s liquidation of a prominent representative of Iran’s government within Iraq. This disregard for Iraqi sovereignty was too blatant to wave off, especially for Parliament, which denounced cooperation with the United States. Nor was it simply a breach of Iraqi sovereignty. Iraqis saw Soleimani and al-Muhandis — and the largely Shi’a popular mobilization committees — as their saviors from ISIS tyranny.

As with other reckless steps Trump took, especially his withdrawal from the JCPOA, the targeted killing of Soleimani has had an afterlife that makes it hard for his successor to advance U.S. interests. U.S. influence is further stymied by sanctions against Popular Mobilization Forces that impede U.S. diplomatic communication when it is most needed.

U.S. interests in Iraq are not existential. But they are important. A stable Iraq is a factor in a stable region and stability lowers the prospects for — and temptation of — U.S. intervention. As a practical matter, this means helping Iraq keep ISIS down, mainly by keeping Iraqi capabilities up, and avoiding skirmishes with Iran that could make Iraqi politics even more wobbly than they already are.

If Iraqi politics devolve to open warfare between heavily armed factions, or simply fails to produce a government, these limited U.S. interests will be harder to preserve, even as the Trump administration’s missteps make it harder for the U.S. to contribute to a solution.