Elon Musk's Twitter hit with holocaust denial hate speech lawsuit in Germany



Natasha Lomas
Wed, January 25, 2023 

Twitter owner and self-proclaimed "free-speech absolutist" Elon Musk is facing a legal challenge in Germany over how the platform handles antisemitic hate speech.

The lawsuit, which was filed yesterday in the Berlin regional court by HateAid, a group that campaigns against hate speech, and the European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS), argues that Musk-owned Twitter is failing to enforce its own rules against antisemitic content, including holocaust denial.

Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany -- which has strict laws prohibiting antisemitic hate speech -- making the Berlin court a compelling arena to hear such a challenge.

"[A]lthough Twitter prohibits antisemitic hostilities in its Rules and Policies, the platform leaves a lot of such content online. Even if the platform is alerted about it by users," the litigants argue. "Current studies prove that 84% of posts containing antisemitic hate speech were not reviewed by social media platforms, as shown in a study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate. Which means that Twitter knows Jews are being publicly attacked on the platform every day and that antisemitism is becoming a normality in our society. And that the platform’s response is by no means adequate."

For his part, Musk has repeatedly claimed Twitter will respect all laws in the countries where it operates (including European speech laws). Although he has yet to make any public comment on this specific lawsuit.

Since the Tesla CEO took over Twitter at the end of October, he has drastically reduced Twitter's headcount, including in core safety functions like content moderation -- also slashing staff in regional offices around Europe, including in Germany. Plus he's entirely disbanded Twitter's Trust and Safety Council and reinstated scores of accounts that had previously been banned for breaking Twitter's rules -- creating conditions that look ideal for hate speech to flourish unchecked.

Musk’s impact on content moderation at Twitter faces early test in Germany

Over Musk's roughly three month run as Twitter CEO, there have been anecdotal reports -- and some studies -- suggesting an increase in hate on the platform. While many former users have blamed a rise in hate and abuse for abandoning the platform since he took over.

Notably the lawsuit is focused on examples of hate speech that have been posted to Twitter over the past three months since Musk was in charge, per Bloomberg, which reported on the litigation earlier.

So it looks like an interesting legal test for Musk as the lawsuit applies an external lens to how the platform is enforcing anti-hate speech policies in an era of erratic (and drastic) operational reconfiguration under the new owner's watch.

While the billionaire libertarian generally tries to deflect criticism that he's steering Twitter into toxic waters -- via a mix of denial, fishing for boosterism, targeted attacks on critics and ongoing self-aggrandizement (of what he couches as a quasi-neo-enlightenment effort to be a handmaiden to the future of human civilization, by 'freeing the bird', as he couches his Twitter speech 'reforms') -- he did admit to an early surge in hate on the platform back in November.

At the time, tweeting a chart to illustrate a claim that Twitter engineers had succeeded in reducing hate speech impressions to a third less than "pre-spike levels" (as he christened the sudden uptick in hate seen in the period directly after his takeover of Twitter). Although he also suggested that spike was only linked to a small number of accounts, rather than to any wider reduction in the efficacy of content moderation since he took over and set about ripping up the existing rulebook.



While Musk seems to enjoy cultivating an impression that he's a "free speech absolutist", the truth, as ever with the space cowboy, looks far less binary.

For example, at Twitter he has taken a series of apparently unilateral and arbitrary decisions on whether to censor (or not) certain posts and/or accounts -- including, initially, unbanning Kanye West (aka Ye) and then re-banning him for tweeting an image of a Swastika with a Star of David; the latter being a symbol of Judaism, the former a Nazi emblem.

Or unbanning former US president Donald Trump's account, which was suspended after the violent attack on the US capital by Trump supporters -- but steadfastly refusing to reinstate InfoWars' hate preacher, Alex Jones, as Musk appears to object to Jones' infamous conspiracy falsehood that children who died in the Sandy Hook school shooting were actors.

Other decisions taken by Musk around Twitter content moderation appear to be driven purely by self interest -- such as banning an account that tweeted the location of his private jet (which he dubbed "assassination coordinates"). Last year he also suspended a number of journalists who reported on the episode as he argued their reporting had the same implications for his personal safety -- before reversing course in the face of a storm of criticism that he was censoring the free press.

Yet when not banning journalists, Musk has literally invited a number of hand-picked hacks in to sift through internal documents -- and publish what he's dubbed the "Twitter files" -- in what looks like a naked (but very tedious) bid to shape the narrative about how the platform's former leadership handled content moderation and related issues, like inbound from state agencies making requests for tweet takedowns etc; and throw fuel on conservative conspiracy theories that claim systematic shadowbanning and/or downranking of their content vs liberal views.

(Whereas actual research conducted by Twitter, pre-Musk, looking at its algorithmic amplification of political tweets found, on the contrary, its AIs actually give more uplift to right wing views, concluding: "In 6 out of 7 countries studied, the mainstream political right enjoys higher algorithmic amplification than the mainstream political left." But who cares about non-cherry-picked data right?)

On abuse and hate, Musk is also quite capable of dishing it out himself on Twitter -- using his tactic of megaphoning trolling and mockery of vulnerable groups (or "wokism") to toss red meat to his right wing base at the expense of people who are at a disproportionate risk of being abused, such as the trans and non-binary people whose pronouns he's deliberately mocked.

Musk has also stooped to tweeting and/or amplifying targeted attacks on individuals that have led to abusive pile-ons by his followers -- such as the one that forced Twitter's former head of trust and safety, Yoel Roth, to flee his own home. So hypocrisy about personal safety risks? Very much.

Even a casual observer of Musk-Twitter would surely conclude there's a lack of consistency to the Chief Twit's decision-making -- which, if this arbitrariness filters through into patchy and partial enforcement of platform policies, spells bad news for the trust and safety of Twitter users (and RIP for any concept of 'conversational health' on the platform).

Whether Musk's inconsistencies will also lead to a court order in Germany requiring Twitter to take down illegal hate speech, via this HateAid-EUJS lawsuit, remains to be seen.

“Twitter’s actions are based solely on its own, intransparent rules, relying on the fact that users have no chance to appeal -- for example, when it comes to the non-deletion of incitements to hatred," argues Josephine Ballon, head of legal for HateAid in a statement.

"There has been no single case where a social network was prosecuted for this by the authorities. This is why civil society has to get involved, looking for ways to demand the removal of such content. We as an NGO act as representative for the affected communities which are subject to hostility and incitements of hatred on a daily basis. Thus we can build pressure on the platforms in the long term."

Interestingly, the lawsuit does not appear to be being brought under Germany's long-standing hate speech takedown law -- aka NetzDG -- which, at least on paper, gives regulators the power to sanction platforms up to tens of millions of dollars if they fail to swiftly remove illegal content that's reported to them.

But, as Ballon notes, there have not been any NetzDG prosecutions related to content takedown breaches (although messaging app Telegram was recently fined a small amount for breaches related to not having proper reporting channels or legal representation in place).

One local lawyer we spoke to, who is not directly involved in the HateAid-EUJS case, suggested there's been something of a tacit arrangement between federal authorities and social media firm that Germany won't enforce NetzDG on the content moderation issue -- also with an eye on incoming EU digital regulation as the Digital Services Act, which starts to apply later this year for larger platforms, harmonizes governance and content reporting rules across the bloc under a single, pan-EU framework that should replace the older German hate speech regulation regime.

For their part, the litigants in this hate speech case against Twitter say they want to get legal clarity on whether individuals (and advocacy groups) can sue in court for the removal of "punishable, antisemitic and inciting content" -- such as Holocaust denial -- even when they are not personally insulted or threatened by the content.

In an FAQ on a webpage detailing their arguments, they explain [emphasis theirs]:

Whether we can demand this is to be decided by the court. To date it is unclear to what extent Twitter users, on the basis of Twitter’s Rules and Policies, are entitled to demand the deletion of such content in cases where they are not themselves affected. We believe that Twitter has to abide by its own rules which it boasts about in its contract terms -- to remove antisemitic posts and make sure that Jews can feel safe on the platform.

With our action, we take Twitter up on its contractual promises. We believe that platforms must delete antisemitic content – obviously, the platform needs to be compelled into doing so.

If they are successful, they say their hope is it will become easier for users to assert their rights to the deletion of illegal content against other major platforms, too. So there could be wider implications if the suit prevails.

"With this fundamental process, we want to have the courts clearly establish that platforms like Twitter are already obliged to protect users from antisemitic digital violence based on their own user agreements," they add. "Such a judgment will make it easier for users to assert their rights against the major platform operators in the future. The principle behind it is simple: If the terms of the contract state that hate speech is prohibited, then Twitter owes the user to remove it. This could then be enforced, for example, by NGOs such as HateAid to make the Internet more secure."

Twitter was contacted for a response to the lawsuit -- but since Musk took over the platform has abandoned having a routine external comms function and has yet to respond to any of TechCrunch's requests for comment. (But we still asked.)

It's worth noting that, pre-Musk, Twitter wasn't earning overwhelming plaudits for success in tackling illegal hate speech either.

Back in November, the most recent EU report monitoring the bloc's anti-hate speech code -- a voluntary agreement which Twitter and a number of other social media platforms have been signed up to for years -- found that, prior to Musk's takeover, Twitter was performing relatively poorly vs other signatories when it came to quickly responding to reports of illegal hate speech, with the Commission reporting that it removed just 45.4% of such content within 24 hours (vs an aggregate removal rate of 63.6%). While, over the monitored period of March 28 to May 13, Twitter received the second largest number of reports of illegal hate speech (Facebook got the most) -- reporting just under 1,100 reports. So it appeared to be both hosting a relatively large amount of illegal hate speech (vs peer platforms) and trailing its rivals in how quickly it deleted toxic stuff.

So it will certainly be interesting to see the state of those metrics when (or if) Musk-owned Twitter reports a fresh batch of data to the Commission later this year.

Musk at Twitter has ‘huge work’ ahead to comply with EU rules, warns bloc

Elon Musk tells Europe Twitter will comply with bloc’s illegal speech rules

More than 100 Harvard students walk out of class of professor accused of sexual abuse



Lauren Sforza
Thu, January 26, 2023

More than 100 Harvard students walked out of professor John L. Comaroff’s class Tuesday afternoon to protest his teaching again after he was placed on leave last year for violating the school’s sexual harassment and professional conduct policies.

The Harvard Crimson, the school’s student newspaper, reported that the students protested Comaroff’s first lecture of the year by plastering the walls of the building where he teaches with signs reading “Abusers have no place on campus” and “Stop protecting sexual predators.” After Comaroff started his lecture, students stood up from their seats and walked out, chanting “Justice for survivors” and “No more Comaroff, no more complicity,” the student newspaper reported.

Harvard student Rosie Couture tweeted a video of students walking out of the classroom that showed students protesting seconds after Comaroff started his lecture. A similar walkout occurred in Comaroff’s first lecture of the fall 2022 semester, when he returned to teaching after being placed on unpaid administrative leave, the Harvard Crimson reported.

Comaroff, who teaches African and African American studies and anthropology, was placed on unpaid administrative leave for the spring 2022 semester for violating the school’s sexual harassment and professional conduct studies. This suspension came after three anthropology students filed a lawsuit against Harvard last spring accusing the university of ignoring serious allegations against Comaroff for years.

In the complaint, the students allege that Comaroff threatened their academic careers if they chose to report him.

“When students reported him to Harvard and sought to warn their peers about him, Harvard watched as he retaliated by foreclosing career paths and ensuring that those students would have ’trouble getting jobs,’ ” the complaint filed in February of 2022 stated.

“Harvard even allowed its investigatory process to be used in service of Professor Comaroff’s campaign of professional blacklisting,” the complaint continues. “The results have been devastating: Professor Comaroff and his enablers have destroyed the educational opportunities and careers of countless students.”

One of the students who filed the complaint accused Comaroff of kissing her multiple times without her consent and of groping her in public. The lawsuit remains ongoing in the District of Massachusetts federal court.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.

New museum in Mexico spotlights endangered axolotl salamander






Thu, January 26, 2023 at 10:21 AM MST·2 min read
By Alberto Fajardo

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A new museum and conservation center dedicated to Mexico's critically endangered axolotl salamander is highlighting the amphibian's remarkable story that has captured the attention of scientists and the public alike.

With an impressive ability to heal itself, the axolotl (pronounced ah-sho-LO-tul) salamanders were showcased in the exhibit, which opened on Saturday, at Mexico City's Chapultepec Zoo.

The center aims to raise awareness of the animal, native only to Mexico and which is dwindling in the wild due to dire threats to its natural habitat.

For decades, researchers have marveled at how the axolotl can regenerate amputated limbs and damaged body tissue, even its heart and brain. Scientists also documented its ability to breathe with lungs and gills, as well as absorb oxygen through its skin, making it particularly vulnerable to polluted water.

"They are one of the few animals that can regenerate their skin, muscles, bones, blood vessels, nerves, heart, brain," said Fernando Gual, head of wild fauna conservation at the zoo.

"A hugely important part of this space is environmental education," Gual said of the new museum's exhibits, workshops and labs.

In Aztec legend, the desperate rebel god Xolotl transformed himself into an axolotl to hide and avoid being sacrificed by his fellow gods. He was still discovered, captured and killed. They were also a mainstay on the banquet tables of Aztec kings.

While the axolotl native to Mexico City's southern Xochimilco district is especially well-known, Gual points to 16 other kinds of axolotls that also call Mexico home, each one "like a wetlands ambassador."

Axolotls once thrived in Xochimilco's muddy canals, the only remaining part of a once extensive system of Venice-like waterways dating back to Aztec times. But the urban sprawl, contaminated water and non-native fish with a taste for young axolotls have led to the salamander's near-total collapse, according to population surveys.

Even so, Xochimilco still holds nearly 11% of Mexico's biodiversity, according to Gual, with the country's 370 amphibian species ranking it No. 5 worldwide.

As the museum opened to its first visitors, the axolotl's celebrity status was easy to spot.

"The truth is I'm very, very, very, very excited to be able to see how they eat, how they live, just how they are," gushed visitor Fernando, declining to give his surname but showing off a small axolotl tattoo on his arm.

"I'm marked for life."

(Reporting by Alberto Fajardo; additional reporting by Nina Lopez; Editing by Vin Shahrestani)

CORPORATE WELFARE BUM

Kinder Morgan sees tax credits speeding up clean energy investments

Wed, January 25, 2023 

HOUSTON, Jan 25 (Reuters) - U.S. funding for clean energy projects will help energy pipeline operator Kinder Morgan accelerate its investments in renewable natural gas and carbon sequestration, executives said on Wednesday.

The $430 billion Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) signed into law last September expanded tax credits for industrial projects that capture, reuse or permanently store carbon dioxide, a gas that contributes to climate change.

The funding "accelerates growth opportunities" in renewable natural gas (RNG), renewable diesel, hydrogen as well as carbon capture and storage (CCS), according to a presentation by Kinder Morgan, the largest operator of carbon dioxide pipelines in North America.

Opportunities to speed up development targets for CCS projects are tied to the increase in credits - to $85 per ton from $50 per ton - for carbon sequestration.

The law also provides $60 per ton for carbon used for enhanced oil recovery, used in Kinder Morgan's oil business.

Earnings before depreciation and amortization in its carbon dioxide business are set to grow 9% to $879 million this year, it said.

The company, which has a network of pipelines that transport natural gas and refined products, recently expanded its energy transition business with three acquisitions and as well as a carbon dioxide transportation and sequestration deal.

Last week, Kinder Morgan said it would move forward with an agreement with Red Cedar Gathering Company to transport and sequester carbon. It also decided to go ahead with a plan to convert its Autumn Hills landfill to an RNG facility, with construction scheduled to begin this month.

The Houston company also is evaluating whether to keep sites dedicated to producing electricity to take advantage of the EPA's proposed regulations allowing for the creation of e-RINs, a new type of credit that would be sold by electric vehicle makers if they can prove their cars and trucks are being powered by electricity from plants that burn biofuels. (Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston, editing by Deepa Babington)

Politics aside, China's CATL ramps up cell production in Germany


Illustration shows Electric power transmission pylon miniatures and CATL logo

Thu, January 26, 2023 
By Victoria Waldersee

ARNSTADT, Germany (Reuters) -Chinese battery giant CATL is putting down roots near the small central German town of Arnstadt, ploughing ahead with the ramp-up of battery cell production despite uncertainty over Germany's future relations with China.

The Arnstadt plant delivered its first sample cells to customers in December and aims to have six production lines running this year.

At full capacity, the 14 gigawatt-hour (GWh) plant can make 30 million cells annually - enough to power around 350,000 electric cars with a 40 kilowatt-hour battery. CATL expects to receive approval in June to raise that capacity to 24 GWh.

For now, the materials used are mostly imported from China, partly because CATL has long-term relationships with suppliers there. But some Chinese suppliers have set up shop in Europe near the Arnstadt plant, CATL's Europe president Matthias Zentgraf said in an interview.

Long term, the battery maker hopes to localise its supply chain further and is organising a supplier conference later this year in Weimar, around a half-hour drive away, to start building relationships, Zentgraf said.

CATL will be the largest battery maker in Europe once its planned 100-GWh plant in Hungary reaches full capacity. Construction is due to start in the second half of this year with the aim of starting production in 2-3 years, Zentgraf said.

"We're just at the start. Long term, when volume grows, we will reassess our supply relationships," he said.

Some 44% of planned battery capacity in Europe by 2030 is from Asian companies, data shows, with CATL top of the list - prompting some concern in political circles on an over-reliance on foreign producers for a key technology.

Such concerns are particularly prevalent in Germany, where the government is developing a strategy on China which aims to reduce economic dependence on what is currently the country's largest trading partner.

"I don't find it good," Zentgraf said of the strategy under development, echoing others in the autos industry who fear the strategy's tone will strain their relationship with China.

"On a personal level, it doesn't help... but I try to carry on with my daily job and let it affect us as little as possible, despite not knowing how the political circumstances will pan out."

($1 = 0.9184 euros)

(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee, Writing by Miranda Murray; Editing by Madeline Chambers and Mark Potter)

Offshore wind farms off Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard: A guide of what to know

Heather McCarron, Cape Cod Times
Fri, January 27, 2023

With more than 95,000 miles of coastline in the United States, why is Massachusetts the proverbial gold rush for offshore wind? What makes it so special that the waters off its coast are called the "Saudi Arabia" of wind power?

With one offshore wind project well underway and others in progress, Massachusetts is leading the way in the nation's green energy expansion and meeting the goals set for reducing carbon emissions.

How many wind farms areas are there? When will the first wind-powered electricity start to flow into the grid? How will the electricity get from offshore into your home? How will it affect your electricity bill? And how does it all help the environment?

Keep reading to find the answers to these, and more, questions related to offshore wind.

What makes Massachusetts the 'Saudi Arabia' of wind?

Jeff Plaisted, of Eastham, with IBEW Local 223, operates a winch unspooling 3,000 feet of electric cable being pulled under Craigville Beach Road toward Covell Beach in Centerville on Jan. 10, 2023. The cable will join the offshore cable for the Vineyard Wind project. The line will carry 220,000 volts of electricity.

Anthony Kirincich, a scientist who studies physical oceanography at the Woods Hole Oceanaographic Institution, said it's a combination of factors, but the main one has to do with the atmospheric conditions that drive the weather as well as the oceans.

The really quick answer, he said, is the larger scale atmospheric flow patterns — the polar jet stream and the subtropical jet stream — "kind of draw together" and accelerate as everything moves from west to east.

"We in Massachusetts happen to be right at that place where convergences take place," he said.

The consistently strong wind patterns off the Massachusetts coast, particularly south of Martha's Vineyard, are borne out in the 2016 Offshore Wind Energy Resource Assessment for the United States from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

But other factors than atmospheric patterns converge here to make it ideal for offshore wind power production.

"Not only are the winds fairly strong, the continental shelf — the bottom of the ocean — is shallower," Kirincich said.

State Rep. Jeffrey Roy, D-Franklin, chairman of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy who has long supported offshore wind power development, summarized, "essentially, Massachusetts has a unique combination of; one, consistent, high-speed winds within distance from shore; two, shallow waters; and, three, substantial shoreline."

Wind resource maps show that wind speeds off the Massachusetts coast are slightly above 9 meters per second. A map from the Marine Cadastre National Viewer, compiled with data from National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Wind Integration National Dataset (WIND) Toolkit, shows how windspeed decreases as you move south along the East Coast, down to about 7 meters per second off Florida.
Offshore wind farms: Who is building them? who owns the waters? And who assigns the leases?

The offshore lease areas are in federal waters on the outer continental shelf south of Martha's Vineyard, southeast of Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay and west of Montauk Point on Long Island, New York. Together they amount to about 800,000 acres.

"Waters in the outer continental shelf are considered public waters, so nobody owns them in the traditional sense of the word; however, they are considered federal — not state — waters because the federal government holds and manages them for the public good," Roy said.

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, an agency within the Department of Interior, assigns the leases. Permitting and environmental reviews are done at the federal, state, regional, local and tribal levels.

After a Construction and Operations Plan is approved, each lessee has an operating term of 25 years.

Here are the offshore wind projects in Massachusetts and Rhode Island

Several offshore wind areas are in the outer continental shelf south of Martha's Vineyard, each at different stages of development and each variously landing in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. They include:

What is Vineyard Wind?

Touted as the nation's first commercial-scale offshore wind enterprise, Vineyard Wind 1 is an 800-megawatt project that is co-owned by Avangrid Renewables, LLC and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. Power will go to Massachusetts and provide electricity to 400,000 homes, according to Avangrid.

What is Park City Wind?

An 804-megawatt project owned by Avangrid Renewables. This project is the first phase of a larger project called New England Wind and will occupy the northeast portion of the company's offshore lease area. Energy from Park City Wind will go Connecticut.

What is Commonwealth Wind?

A 1,232-megawatt project owned by Avangrid Renewables. This project is the second phase of New England Wind and will occupy the southwest portion of the company's offshore lease area. Power will go to Massachusetts and provide electricity to 700,000 homes.

What is Mayflower Wind?

A joint venture between Shell and Ocean Winds, this project has the potential to generate more than 2,400 megawatts of power. At this point, Mayflower Wind has contracts to produce about 1,200 megawatts, which will go to Massachusetts.

What is Revolution Wind?

A project owned jointly by Ørsted U.S. Offshore Wind and Eversource that will bring 304 megawatts to Connecticut and 400 megawatts to Rhode Island. The transmission cable is planned to land in North Kingston, Rhode Island.

What is South Fork Wind?

A 132-megawatt project owned jointly by Ørsted US Offshore .Wind and Eversource, with 12 turbines planned about 35 miles east of Montauk Point. Bringing power to the local grid in East Hampton, New York. A construction and operations plan was approved last year and onshore work is underway. Offshore work is set to start this spring.

What is Sunrise Wind?

A 924-megawatt project jointly owned by Ørsted U.S. Offshore Wind and Eversource to serve New York. The construction and operation plan is in progress, permitting has yet to start. The transmission cable is expected to land in central Long Island.

What is Beacon Wind?

A 1,230-megawatt project owned by Equinor and bp to serve New York. Permitting is yet to start. No cable landing site has been identified.

What are the advantages of wind power?

Wind power helps the environment by eliminating the use of fossil fuels in power generation and reducing emissions. Each wind project benefits the overall health of the environment.

For example, Vineyard Wind 1 will eliminate 1.68 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, according to the company. That is the same as taking 325,000 cars off the road.

Commonwealth Wind is looking at cutting greenhouse gas emissions by more than 2.35 million tons annually, which is like taking another 460,000 cars off the road, while Park City Wind would reduce emissions by 1.59 million tons a year (310,000 car equivalent).
How will wind-generated energy impact your electricity bill?

With wind power in the mix, wholesale electricity rates won't be as sensitive to changes in the market as fossil fuels.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, natural gas was the largest source of energy for electricity production in the U.S. in 2021, accounting for about 38%, followed by coal at 22% and petroleum at less than 1%. Other sources are nuclear energy and renewable energy.

When fossil fuel prices go up, or supplies are short, electricity rates rise. With power from offshore wind flowing through the grid, there will be less volatility and generally lower rates overall, Ian Campbell of Vineyard Wind said.

Where are the Massachusetts-bound wind projects connecting to shore?

Vineyard Wind has already landed two, 230-kilovolt power export cables at Barnstable's Covell Beach. These will eventually be connected to the wind farm south of Martha's Vineyard.

Commonwealth Wind is proposing to land three cables at Barnstable's Dowses Beach, a plan that has drawn strong opposition from neighbors. An ad hoc community group called Save Greater Dowses Beach is circulating a petition, both on paper and online via Change.org, to stop the company's plans.

Concerned in Barnstable:Cold wind blows on proposed offshore cable landing at Dowses Beach

Park City Wind's plan calls for bringing two 400-megawatt transmission cables ashore at Barnstable's Craigville Beach.

Mayflower Wind is exploring landing sites in Falmouth but has also met with some criticism. Somerset is another possible landing site. On Dec. 19, the Falmouth Select Board turned down the company's request to explore three public sites for possible electric cables — officials said they took the action because of unanswered questions from the public.

When will wind turbines be built off Cape Cod?

Vineyard Wind completed permitting in 2020, broke ground in 2021 and is on track to be fully operational in 2024.

Environmental review and state and local permitting are ongoing for Park City Wind, Commonwealth Wind and Mayflower Wind.

Jeff Plaisted, of Eastham, with the IBEW local 223, operates a winch unspooling 3,000 feet of electric cable being pulled under Craigville Beach Road toward Covell's Beach in Centerville on Jan. 10, 2023. The cable will connect to the Vineyard Wind project south of Martha's Vineyard.

Park City Wind is more than halfway through the process. According to the company, it has completed the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act environmental review process and a substantial portion of the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) review process. Benchmarks for 2023 include hearings by the Cape Cod Commission and the Barnstable Conservation Commission. It is scheduled to begin delivering power in 2025.

On track to bring power ashore this yearOffshore wind company lays final cable at Barnstable beach. What is next?

Commonwealth Wind is early in the permitting and environmental review process, with a goal to be online by the end of 2027.

When will power from wind energy come ashore in Massachusetts?

Vineyard Wind is on track to bring its first wind-generated power ashore later this year, and expects to be fully operational by next year.

Park City Wind expects to bring power ashore starting in 2025, followed by Commonwealth Wind in 2027 and Mayflower Wind in 2028.
How much does it cost to build a commercial-scale wind farm?

The cost of developing an offshore wind project runs into the billions. The various companies tend to keep their exact costs close to the vest for competitive reasons, but as an example, Vineyard Wind CEO Klaus Moeller says his company secured $2.3 billion from nine banks around the world.
How have world events caused wind farm construction costs to increase?

What's troubling offshore wind companies that are still early in their permitting process is a sharp increase in prices owing to international market conditions and burgeoning worldwide interest in offshore wind development. Executives with New England Wind at a January open house about Park City Wind pointed at the war in Ukraine, record increases in interest rates, inflation, supply chain issues and exploding demand for wind farms in Europe and elsewhere as causes.

Criticism in FalmouthMayflower Wind responds, after criticism in Falmouth over communication

The war in Ukraine particularly has "wreaked havoc" on the cost of steel, a key component in the construction of wind turbines, according to the project's manager of external affairs Pat Johnson. He said the Russian invasion of Ukraine highlights the need for alternative, more stable energy sources, consequently bumping up interest in offshore wind development in Europe and elsewhere.

Mayflower Wind is targeting the end of January 2024 to have its environmental review and permitting completed. The company is looking to start delivering power by 2028.

Johnson said while Park City Wind and Commonwealth Wind were bid in 2019 and 2021, their supply chain contracts were not locked in because there were still years of permitting ahead. Now, given the world economic situation, "projects that were profitable under yesterday's economic conditions are no longer profitable."

For this reason, Avangrid is planning to re-bid its projects while continuing with the permitting already underway. Commonwealth Wind will do this with the next Massachusetts offshore wind power procurement round in April, and the company is working with Connecticut officials either to renegotiate their existing contract or go to bid again.
How many wind turbines does each wind farm plan to install?

Vineyard Wind is planning a total of 62 General Electric Haliade-X turbines, spaced 1 nautical mile apart. Each turbine will be able to generate up to 13 megawatts

Park City Wind plans 50 turbines. There is no turbine count for Commonwealth Wind, since Avangrid has not yet made a final turbine selection for the project. Turbines will be spaced 1 nautical mile apart.

Mayflower Wind also has yet to determine the number of turbines. The number of turbines needed depends on the type of turbine that will be used.
So, how big is a wind turbine and its blades?

Just how big are the turbines? That really depends on the type of turbine used.

Vineyard Wind's General Electric Haliade-X turbines can serve as an example, though. Each of these turbines include a monopile that will anchor it to the seafloor, topped by a transitional piece at the surface, then a tower topped by a nacelle and the blades. Each blade is 107 meters, or almost the length of a football field including the end zones (109.7 meters). The height of each turbine is about the same as three Statues of Liberty stacked up, (about 850 feet) from blade tip to the water's surface.

According to the U.S. Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, this scale is typical for offshore wind turbines. The greater heights and longer blades allow each turbine to create more energy more efficiently, therefore fewer turbines are needed to produce the same power that shorter turbines with shorter blades would generate.
Wind Turbines: How offshore wind power works

Wind turbines work on a simple principle, the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy notes: "Wind turns the propeller-like blades of a turbine around a rotor, which spins a generator, which creates electricity."

Specifically, the kinetic (or moving) energy of wind is converted into electricity using the aerodynamic force from the blades.

"When wind flows across the blade, the air pressure on one side of the blade decreases. The difference in air pressure across the two sides of the blade creates both lift and drag," according to the agency. "The force of the lift is stronger than the drag and this causes the rotor to spin."

The rotor, in turn, creates rotation in a generator that converts the mechanical energy into electricity. The power is collected by an offshore substation before it is transmitted ashore through submarine cables, is run through on-shore substations and finally enters the power distribution grid. In the case of offshore power, the electricity travels under the seabed at higher voltages than onshore because it is more efficient. Onshore substations put the power through a series of transformers to downgrade the voltage so it is compatible with the capacity of the distribution lines.
Offshore wind versus onshore wind power

Offshore wind is just getting started in Massachusetts, but the state is no stranger to wind power. It is home to more than 44 land-based wind farms in more than 30 communities, according to the state Renewable and Alternative Energy Division. Collectively they generate more than 100 megawatts of power.

When it comes to power-generating capacity, offshore wind is the real workhorse because the ocean environment provides higher and more consistent wind speeds.
What are the advantages of wind power?

Wind power helps the environment by eliminating the use of fossil fuels in power generation and reducing emissions. Each wind project benefits the overall health of the environment.

For example, Vineyard Wind 1 will eliminate 1.68 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, according to the company. That is the same as taking 325,000 cars off the road.

Commonwealth Wind is looking at cutting greenhouse gas emissions by more than 2.35 million tons annually, which is like taking another 460,000 cars off the road, while Park City Wind would reduce emissions by 1.59 million tons a year (310,000 car equivalent).

Contact Heather McCarron at hmccarron@capecodonline.com.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Offshore wind energy projects: A guide of wind turbines to dates

US company gets $120 million boost to make 'green steel'






Clean Steel Boston Metal Research and development engineer Ravneet Kailey performs an experiment to produce iron without using carbon in a glowing lab cell, left, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023, at Boston Metal, in Woburn, Mass. The manufacture of ‘green steel’ moved one step closer to reality Friday, Jan. 27, as Boston Metal announced a $120 million investment from the world's second-largest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal.

 (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

ED DAVEY
Thu, January 26, 2023

The manufacture of "green steel" moved one step closer to reality Friday as Massachusetts-based Boston Metal announced a $120 million investment from the world's second-largest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal.

Boston Metal will use the injection of funds to expand production at a pilot plant in Woburn, near Boston, and help launch commercial production in Brazil. The company uses renewable electricity to convert iron ore into steel.

Steel is one of the world’s dirtiest heavy industries. Three-quarters of world production uses a traditional method that burns through train loads of coal to heat the furnaces and drive the reaction that releases pure iron from ore.

Making steel releases more climate-warming carbon dioxide than any other industry, according to the International Energy Agency — about 8% of worldwide emissions. Many companies are working on alternatives.

The financial package by global steel giant ArcelorMittal is the biggest single investment made to date by the firm’s carbon innovation fund. Microsoft is another investor.

Tadeu Carneiro, CEO of Boston Metal, said its technology is “designed to decarbonize steel production at scale” and would “disrupt the industry.”

The company's technology was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Professors Donald Sadoway and Antoine Allanore, experts in energy storage and metallurgy respectively, are the founders.

Instead of burning coal, their process runs electricity through iron ore in a metal box or “cell” the size of a school bus to separate the iron from the oxide. Operators then collect the liquid iron from the bottom, Carneiro said. Boston Metal said it can eliminate all carbon dioxide from its steel production and hopes to ramp up production to millions of tons by 2026. As a bonus, it said, it is able to extract metals from slag normally considered waste.

Steel is in the early stages of a transition to cleaner processes that have less impact on the climate. Many major European steelmakers have announced alternatives to traditional coal-fired steelmaking and some automakers are buying the cleaner steel to fulfill promises to shareholders and customers.

By far the most steel is made in Asia. Both China and Japan have made moves in the direction of cleaner steel.

In the United States, most steel is already cleaner, because it is made by melting down old steel, for example junked cars. That can be done in electric kilns and emits a fraction of the climate-changing gases as virgin steel production.

It will be years before steel is cleaned up on a mass scale, Carneiro said. “It takes time to develop and scale up and get traditional and conservative industries to change things.”

Several industry alliances are working to speed things up. A non-profit called ResponsibleSteel, for example, brings together stakeholders from up and down the supply chain — mining to finished steel products — to cooperate on cleaning up steel.

In related news, on Thursday, U.S. steelmaker Nucor announced it will start making heavy grade steel at a new $1.7 billion mill in Brandenburg, Kentucky, using electric furnaces to make new steel from scrap. The company says the product is intended for the offshore wind industry.

Offshore wind is key to many plans to address climate change, because it partially replaces fossil fuel-burning electricity. It will require massive amounts of steel as turbines are built miles offshore from U.S. coastlines. Nearly 90% of an offshore turbine’s weight is steel, and each one, including the foundation, requires roughly 180 tons of steel per megawatt, according to the industry group American Clean Power.

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Associated Press writer Jennifer McDermott in Providence, R.I. contributed.

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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.

Hundreds of children packed in El Salvador's overcrowded prisons -rights group

Thu, January 26, 2023

(Reuters) - Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Salvadoran authorities on Friday of "mass due process violations" in the detention of tens of thousands of people, including hundreds of children, in over-crowded prisons, citing leaked government data.

The rights watchdog said following the introduction of a state of emergency suspending key rights to address gang violence in March last year, tens of thousands had been put into overcrowded prisons for "broadly defined crimes".

The state of emergency remains in force after multiple extensions, despite criticism from human rights groups.

El Salvador's government did not immediately respond to a late night request for comment from Reuters.

"This leaked database points to serious human rights violations committed during the state of emergency," said Tamara Taraciuk Broner, acting Americas director at HRW, which said more than 61,000 people had been arrested since March.

Reuters was not able to independently confirm the data.

HRW said the database was from the country's public safety ministry and listed people prosecuted between March and August last year. It showed that close to 1,082 children, largely boys, had been sent to pre-trial detention as of August, HRW said.

This was made possible under a March 2022 law that lowered the age of criminal responsibility in gang-related crimes from 16 to as young as 12, it added.

Citing the database, the HRW added that dozens have died in custody, mostly at the country's Izalco and La Esperanza prisons which respectively held three and four times as many prisoners they were designed to house.

Other prisons, such as Ilopango's women's prison and San Miguel, for men, were six times over capacity, it said.

More than 50,000 people were sent to pre-trial detention as of late August, the group said, while nearly 40,000 were charged with "unlawful association", a crime which includes people who take part in gangs or receive "indirect benefits".

Authorities also charged 8,000 with membership of a "terrorist organization", a broad term under Salvadoran law which the Human Rights Watch said opens the door for arbitrary arrests and does little to ensure justice.

(Reporting by Sarah Morland; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Brazil Justice Moraes fines Telegram for not complying with court order


The Telegram messaging app logo is seen on a website in Singapore

Wed, January 25, 2023 

BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazil's Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes fined on Wednesday messaging app Telegram for failing to comply with a court order that called for the suspension of accounts of supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro.

Telegram will be fined 1.2 million reais ($236,527), the decision said.

The ruling, made under an inquiry investigating acts of vandalism in public buildings in the country's capital earlier this month, said that Telegram was ordered to block five different accounts that had shared content related to hate speech and encouragement of institutional disruption.

However, Telegram did not block an account owned by congressman-elect Nikolas Ferreira, according to the decision.

Ferreira was Brazil's most voted congressman in the 2022 election, reaching 1.47 million votes.

"The malicious non-compliance by the providers involved indicates, objectively, consent with the continued perpetration of the crimes under investigation," the ruling said.

Moraes gave Telegram five days to pay the fine from the day of the decision.

Telegram did not immediately respond to a request to comment.

In March 2022, Moraes ordered the suspension of messaging app Telegram, saying it had repeatedly refused to adhere to judicial orders to freeze accounts spreading disinformation. The suspension was revoked days later, after the company complied with court requests.

($1 = 5.0734 reais)

(Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Editing by Chris Reese and Christopher Cushing)

Japan Tried to Build a Hydrogen Society. It Backfired Spectacularly.

Darren Orf
Thu, January 26, 2023 

Japan Tried—and Failed—to Build a Hydrogen Society

Andriy Onufriyenko - Getty Images

Japan has long been a leader in hydrogen energy and fuel cell technology.

Companies like Toyota plan to build entire cities entirely powered by hydrogen.

A new report from an environmental think-tank argues that Japan is investing in the wrong applications for hydrogen technology and the determine of its decarbonization efforts.

In the past couple decades, scientists and engineers have come up with lots of ways to rapidly decarbonize the planet—but some ideas are better than others.

Take, for instance, hydrogen. Thanks to the discovery of electrolysis, hydrogen’s been a known source of energy for centuries, but Japan became a frontrunner in that energy source in recent years because of its status as a resource-poor country. A steady supply of renewable energy isn’t just an important climate initiative, it’s a matter of national security.

However, Japan may have taken things a bit too far.

In 2017, the country became the first in the world to adopt a national hydrogen plan, and companies like Toyota have committed to constructing futuristic cities powered by the technology. In 2021 alone, Japan spent around $800 million on investments into hydrogen power and fuel cells.

But according to the Renewable Energy Institute (REI), a Japanese environmental think tank, this push to use hydrogen in every conceivable energy sector is actually doing more harm than good.

From the report:

“The 2017 Basic Hydrogen Strategy is misguided, both in terms of what hydrogen is used for and how it is produced. Moreover, it promotes the use of gray hydrogen, which does not contribute to emission reductions.”

Gray hydrogen is the most common form of hydrogen production, which uses the greenhouse gas methane.

The 20-page report doesn’t argue for hydrogen’s complete removal from the energy mix. In fact, REI argues that hydrogen is vital for industries where decarbonization is particularly tricky (think: aviation, shipping, and steelmaking). However, to use hydrogen in place of electrification via other renewable sources is a mistake, REI says.

The report continues:

“The scope of applications where energy demands can be met with electrification has grown, and the range of areas that need hydrogen have decreased. This has led to a common understanding worldwide that hydrogen should be limited to applications where it would be difficult to achieve decarbonization with other methods.”

The report identifies “bad idea applications” that have already gobbled up 70 percent of the country's hydrogen budget—things like hydrogen cars, refueling stations, and residential power systems. Adoption of this hydrogen technology has lagged far behind Japan’s estimations, and the report argues that fuel cell cars will hit just 1/40th of their sales target by 2030. This lopsided interest in hydrogen could also be harming the country’s solar panel adoption as the report notes Japan lags behind some European peers when it comes to building out its solar infrastructure.

REI punctures the often-reported facts about Japan’s utopian-esque hydrogen society. It’s unlikely the report will put a stop to megaprojects like Toyota’s “Woven City,” but those cities might not live in the green-energy future that they imagined.