Tesla Semi Skepticism Lingers Months After Musk’s First Delivery





Dana Hull
Thu, February 9, 2023 

(Bloomberg) --

Elon Musk has long relished trolling those who’ve doubted him and Tesla.

In 2018, he vowed to send “short shorts” to hedge fund manager David Einhorn, who’d been betting against Tesla’s stock. A couple years later, the company actually listed satin trunks as a gag gift for sale on its website.

Musk heard “various forms of ‘you’re a fraud,’” he told the crowd at Tesla’s Model Y unveiling in 2019. His defiant retort: “You can drive that fraud!”

The Tesla chief executive officer’s latest reveling had to do with the Semi, the heavy-duty truck that took five years to go from prototype to production. “Some people have said this was impossible,” Musk said during a Semi manufacturing event in Nevada last month. “But, uh, you can drive it.”

The reasons for this proverbial victory lap were clear. Weeks earlier, Tesla handed off its first Semis to PepsiCo, which took delivery of 15 of the big rigs for its massive Frito-Lay facility in Modesto, California. The purpose of the late January event in Nevada was to announce a $3.6 billion investment to expand the use of Tesla’s existing factory near Reno to build more battery cells, as well as Semi trucks.

While those are causes for celebration, there’s still a lot of uncertainty as to just how meaningful the Semi will be to Tesla’s business in the short to medium term. I had a lot of questions for the company when I drove out to Modesto to see the trucks in person last month. While I was able to climb into the Semi’s spacious cab and its centered driver’s seat, test drives were off limits.

Tesla staffers on site didn't comment. PepsiCo representatives confirmed they’d taken delivery of all 15 trucks ordered as part of a $30.8 million project I wrote about in November — the one for which California’s Air Resources Board picked up half the check — but had little else to share about the product.

It remains unclear how much the Semi costs, or whether any other customers who ordered trucks from Tesla a half decade ago have managed to get their hands on them. Tesla didn’t mention the model in its quarterly production and deliveries release last month, then referred to the Semi being in pilot production in its earnings deck. While Musk offered an update during the earnings call on when he expects Tesla to be making Cybertrucks in volume — not until next year — he didn’t have anything to say about the Semi.

Sightings of Semis on the side of the road in Sacramento and getting towed from a Nevada highway have lit up the message boards and social media networks where pro- and anti-Tesla flame wars have been fought for years.

Even before those incidents, there were still vestiges of doubt about the Semi that Musk had yet to vanquish. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets who have the equivalent of a buy rating on Tesla stock cautioned in December that the CEO may be getting ahead of himself in aiming to make 50,000 trucks in 2024. RBC was modeling for more like 4,000.

This much is for certain: there’s an urgent need for Tesla and other manufacturers to electrify big trucks. The city of Modesto has long struggled with poor air quality and high asthma rates. PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay facility spans 500,000 square feet, and the food giant’s ambition is for it to be a showcase in sustainable manufacturing, warehousing and distribution.

We should hear more about how Tesla plans to help companies like PepsiCo and cities beyond Modesto decarbonize on March 1. Musk has said the master plan he’ll deliver will chart “the path to a fully sustainable energy future for Earth.”

ANTI-TRUMP Republican Nancy Mace's Kevin McCarthy Roast Leaves D.C. Crowd In Shock

Ben Blanchet
Thu, February 9, 2023 at 5:41 AM MST·2 min read

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace (S.C.) roasted prominent members of her own party Wednesday at the annual Washington Press Club Foundation Congressional Dinner.

The fundraising dinner was billed as an evening of “lighthearted quips,” but Mace’s digs were anything but. And she managed to bash House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and ex-President Donald Trump in the same one-liner about McCarthy’s contortions to win the speakership last month.

“I haven’t seen someone assume that many positions to appease the crazy Republicans since Stormy Daniels,” said Mace, referring to the adult film actor who accused Trump of having an affair with her in 2006.

Mace later made a jab at Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who she recently branded a “fraud.” Gaetz helped lead Freedom Caucus radicals who opposed McCarthy’s speakership until he promised concessions.

“Well, let’s be honest. We all knew that Matt Gaetz would never let the vote get to 18,” said Mace. The joke about Gaetz’s alleged sexual relationship with a 17-year-old drew shocked reactions from the crowd.

“I do have a message for Matt this evening. He really, really wanted to be here tonight, but he couldn’t find a babysitter — to be his date, I mean. Come on.”

Mace wasn’t the only politician firing off jokes at members of their own party.


Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) took aim at President Joe Bidenover a clip that shows him clapping out of sync with Black churchgoers at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church last month.

Montana bill would let students misgender BULLY classmates


FILE - Demonstrators gather on the steps of the Montana state Capitol protesting anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in Helena, Mont., March 15, 2021. More than two dozen Republican Montana lawmakers are co-sponsoring a bill that would allow students to misgender and dead-name their transgender peers in a move that has alarmed LGBTQ activists and others who argue it would allow the bullying of a population of kids already struggling for acceptance. 

AMY BETH HANSON
Wed, February 8, 2023 at 4:51 PM MST·4 min read

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana schools would not be able to punish students who purposely misgender or deadname their transgender peers under a Republican-backed legislative proposal that opponents argue will increase bullying of children who are already struggling for acceptance.

The proposal, co-sponsored by more than two dozen GOP lawmakers, would declare that it’s not discrimination to use a transgender classmate’s legal name or refer to them by their birth gender. Schools would be prevented from adopting policies to punish students who do so.

It comes amid a wave of legislation this year in Montana and other conservative states seeking to limit or ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth. Montana's Senate passed a ban on gender-affirming medical care or surgery for minors on Wednesday.

But the proposal on misgendering and deadnaming is apparently the only existing legislation of its kind in the country this year, said Olivia Hunt, policy director for the National Center for Transgender Equity.

“This would make Montana unique in enshrining the right to be bigoted toward or the right to bully trans children in the state code,” Hunt said.

The proposal would not apply to teachers, but some states are considering bills that would protect teachers’ rights to refer to students by their birth names and gender.

The main sponsor, Rep. Brandon Ler, said Wednesday during a hearing that his children, who live on a farm and ranch, “have learned from a very young age that cows are cows and bulls are bulls” and it's not open for interpretation.

“Children should not be forced to call somebody something they’re not,” Ler said.

Opponents agreed that students who accidentally use a wrong pronoun or name should not be punished, but said schools should still be able to respond to purposeful misgendering and deadnaming, perhaps under an anti-bullying policy. Refusing to acknowledge a transgender student’s preferred name and pronouns amounts to bullying, said SK Rossi, testifying on behalf of the Human Rights Campaign.

"The problem with the bill is that it takes away the ability of schools and teachers and administrators to intervene when something becomes cruel, before it becomes physical,” Rossi said.

The issue of punishment for misgendering or deadnaming doesn't appear to be a problem in Montana, according to Emily Dean, director of advocacy for the Montana School Boards Association. She said she was unaware of any students who had been punished for such actions.

Max Finn, a transgender middle schooler from Missoula, said he faces backlash from fellow students, including having crude remarks made about him and being tripped in the hallway, even though his teachers try to stop it from happening.

“If my teachers can’t or won’t intervene, it gets much worse,” Finn said.

People representing educational organizations, pediatricians, parents of transgender children and students testified against the bill, saying it would lead to unchallenged bullying and harassment as well as anxiety and depression among transgender students.

Layla Riggs told lawmakers about defending friends who were being bullied because they are transgender or gender nonconforming. Someone once threw rocks at her and a nonbinary friend after school, she said.

“School is supposed to be a place where you are accepted and a place where your safety is supposed to be one of the top priorities,” Riggs testified. “With the passage of this bill, even the illusion of safety for transgender and nonbinary students would be gone.”

A survey by The Trevor Project in 2022 found that 45% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the previous year, but that those who were supported socially or at school reported lower rates.

Jeff Laszloffy with the Montana Family Foundation told lawmakers his group supports the measure because it would avoid students possibly facing civil lawsuits over using the wrong pronoun or name. He was the lone supporter to testify in a hearing that ended without lawmakers voting on the measure.

Richard Schade told lawmakers his 9-year-old nonbinary stepchild is bullied on a near daily basis with little to no intervention from school administrators.

“This demonstrates that the stated purpose of (the bill) is to address a problem that doesn’t exist, and that the real intent is to send a message to trans kids that they deserve to be bullied because of who they are,” he said.

During his testimony against the bill, Montana Pride President Kevin Hamm intentionally misgendered Laszloffy and a male lawmaker who had earlier sought to block opposition arguments that the bill would lead to bullying. Hamm said he wanted to hear “her” reasoning on that.

“Does she feel that misgendering isn't a bullying tactic?" Hamm asked.

At that point, Rep. Amy Regier, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, interrupted, saying: "Please don't attack other testimony."

“Oh, I'm sorry,” Hamm retorted. “Is it a bullying and an attack? So you do understand what this bill will do. Thank you for proving my point. Don't enshrine a tool for bullying into the law.”

CRIMINAL CYBER STATE CAPITALI$M
UN experts: North Korean hackers stole record virtual assets

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech during a feast to mark the 75th founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Army at an unspecified place in North Korea Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. 

EDITH M. LEDERER
Tue, February 7, 2023 

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — North Korean hackers working for the government stole record-breaking virtual assets last year estimated to be worth between $630 million and more than $1 billion, U.N. experts said in a new report.

The panel of experts said in the wide-ranging report seen Tuesday by The Associated Press that the hackers used increasingly sophisticated techniques to gain access to digital networks involved in cyberfinance, and to steal information that could be useful in North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs from governments, individuals and companies.

With growing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the report said North Korea continued to violate U.N. sanctions, producing weapons-grade nuclear material, and improving its ballistic missile program, which “continued to accelerate dramatically.”

In 2022, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – the North’s official name – launched at least 73 ballistic missiles and missiles combining ballistic and guidance technologies including eight intercontinental ballistic missiles, the panel said. And 42 launches, including the test of a reportedly new type of ICBM and a new solid-fueled ICBM engine, were conducted in the last four months of the year.

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un ordered an “exponential increase of the country’s nuclear arsenal” in January, and the panel said “a new law discussed an increased focus on tactical nuclear capability, a new first-use doctrine, and the `irreversible nature’ of the DPRK’s nuclear status.”

“The ability to carry out an unexpected nuclear strike on any regional or international target, described in DPRK’s new law on nuclear doctrine and progressively in public statements since 2021, is consistent with the observed production, testing, and deployment of its tactical and strategic delivery systems,” the experts said in the report to the U.N. Security Council.

The panel said that South Korean authorities quoted in media reports “estimated that state sponsored DPRK cyber threat actors had stolen virtual assets worth around $1.2 billion globally since 2017, including about $630 million in 2022 alone.”

The experts monitoring sanctions against North Korea said an unnamed cybersecurity firm “assessed that in 2022, DPRK cybercrime yielded cyber currencies worth over $1 billion at the time of the threat, which is more than double the total proceeds in 2021.”

The variation in the U.S. dollar value of cryptocurrency in recent months is likely to have affected these estimates, the panel said, “but both show that 2022 was a record-breaking year for DPRK virtual asset theft.”

The panel said three groups that are part of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, North Korea’s primary foreign intelligence organization, “continued illicitly to target victims to generate revenue and solicit information of value to the DPRK including its weapons programs” – Kimsuky, Lazarus Group and Andariel.

Between February and July 2022, the panel said, the Lazarus Group “reportedly targeted energy providers in multiple member states using a vulnerability” to install malware and gain long-term access. It said this “aligns with historical Lazarus intrusions targeting critical infrastructure and energy companies … to siphon off proprietary intellectual property.”

Lazarus Group’s primary focus is on specific types of industry, aerospace and defense and conventional finance and cryptocurrencies, with the objective of accessing the internal knowledge bases of the compromised companies, the experts said. They quoted the cybersecurity section of an internet technology company as saying Lazarus has been targeting engineers and technical support employees “using malicious versions of open source applications.”

In December 2022, the panel said, South Korea’s national police agency announced that Kimsuky had targeted 892 foreign policy related experts “in an effort to steal personal data and email lists.”

The police reported that the hackers didn’t manage to steal sensitive information, but they “laundered IP addresses of the victims and employed 326 detour servers and 26 member states to make tracing difficult,” the experts said. The police noted it was the first time they detected Kimsuky using ransomware, saying 19 servers and 13 businesses were affected, of which two paid 2.5 million South Korean won ($1,980) in Bitcoin to the hackers.

On military-related issues, the experts said they investigated the “apparent export” of military communications equipment from a North Korean company under U.N. sanctions to Ethiopia’s defense ministry in June 2022.

The panel said it has not yet received a reply from Ethiopia's government about a photo published by the Ethiopian media in November allegedly showing a piece of equipment from the Global Communications Co., known as Glocom, being used by a top military official. Eritrea also hasn't responded to questions about its alleged procurement of Glocom equipment, the experts said.

North Korea may also have illegally traded arms and related material with a number of countries, including sending artillery shells, infantry rockets and missiles to Russia – claims Pyongyang and Moscow have consistently denied, the panel said. And the experts said they are investigating the reported sale of weapons from a North Korean company on the U.N. sanctions list to the Myanmar military through a Myanmar company.

Tucker Carlson Goes To A Dark Place In Weird New Attack On Democrats

Josephine Harvey
Wed, February 8, 2023 at 10:20 PM MST·2 min read

Tucker Carlson likened Democratic support for reproductive health care rights to “promoting human sacrifice” in an on-brand rant Wednesday on Fox News.

The “Tucker Carlson Tonight” host joined the conservative uproar over “abortion” lapel pins worn by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) to Tuesday’s State of the Union address.

“Take a look at this pin, which has replaced the American flag on their lapels,” Carlson raged. “Notice that the ‘o’ in abortion is in the shape of a heart. They literally love abortion.”

“Do you think abortion is a wonderful, affirming act you feel so proud of you brag about it with jewelry?” he added.

“If you feel that way you should know that you are not defending a medical procedure. You wouldn’t say that about an appendectomy. No, you are promoting an ancient religious rite called human sacrifice. That’s what this is, promoting human sacrifice.”

Markey said he wore the pin because “abortion is essential health care and we need to codify this right,” while Dean noted that “abortion care saves lives.”

Notably, Carlson did not take issue with the pins that some Republicans were seen wearing this week in support of the Second Amendment. The lapel pins were shaped like AR-15 assault rifles, the type of weapon used in most of the high-profile mass shootings in recent years.

“And speaking of death cults, Joe Biden made his case last night for the sexual mutilation of children,” Carlson added, playing a clip of the president’s remarks about the Equality Act’s protections for transgender youth.

The Fox News extremist has made similar comments about abortion rights, leaning into elements of the QAnon conspiracy theory that revolves around the bizarre notion that Democrats and Hollywood celebrities are part of a shadowy, Satan-worshipping child sex-trafficking ring battled by former President Donald Trump.

Last year, Carlson suggested the Democratic Party was a “child sacrifice cult” because its donors were trying to protect women’s reproductive rights.
Related...

'Daily Show' Guest Host Chelsea Handler Burns 'Whiny Little B**ch' Tucker Carlson


Ex-RNC Chair Michael Steele Rips 'Putz' Tucker Carlson After Racist Meltdown


Mehdi Hasan Taunts GOP: ‘Embarrassing’ How Much They Fear Tucker Carlson

Republican senators seek to reverse U.S. heavy-duty truck emissions rule


 Port of Long Beach in Long Beach, California

Thu, February 9, 2023 
By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of 34 Republican senators said on Thursday they would seek to overturn U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules that aim to drastically cut smog- and soot-forming emissions from heavy-duty trucks.

The senators said the Biden administration rule finalized in December was overly challenging to implement, would make trucks cost prohibitive for small business owners and would increase supply chain costs.

Under the Congressional Review Act, a simple majority vote in both chambers of Congress can reverse recently finalized rules. Democrats hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate, while Republicans narrowly control the House.

The new standards, the first update to clean air standards for heavy duty trucks in more than two decades, are set to take effect March 27 and are 80% more stringent than current standards.

The EPA estimates by 2045, the rule will result up to 2,900 annual fewer premature deaths, 1.1 million fewer lost school days for children and $29 billion in annual net benefits.

Republican Senator Deb Fischer of Nebraska, who is leading the effort to repeal the rule, said the "aggressive" EPA rule would incentivize "operators to keep using older, higher-emitting trucks for longer."

The new EPA rules target heavy-duty truck and engine manufacturers by tightening yearly emissions limits and changing key provisions of existing rules to ensure emissions reductions in long-term road use. The rules toughen test procedures, regulatory useful life requirements and emission-related warranties.

"It's really important, especially for protecting the health of the 72 million people living near truck freight routes in America," EPA Administrator Michael Regan told Reuters in December. The rule would reduce smog-forming nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by as much as 48% by 2045, he added.

Todd Spencer, president of Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, said if small business truckers could not afford the new, compliant trucks they would stick with older, less efficient trucks or exit the industry entirely.

Some environmental groups said they backed the rules, while others said the EPA had not gone far enough to protect public health from emissions.

Separately, the EPA plans to propose by next month "Phase 3" greenhouse gas (GHG) standards for heavy-duty vehicles and new emissions standards for light- and medium-duty vehicles. Both are to take effect in the 2027 model year.

In December 2021, the EPA finalized new passenger vehicle emissions requirements through 2026 that reversed President Donald Trump's rollback of car pollution cuts.

Transportation is the largest source of U.S. GHG emissions, making up 29%, and heavy-duty vehicles are the second-largest contributor at 23%.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Jamie Freed)

This U.S. diplomat went to Haiti to talk policing. Then he got a close look at the chaos


Jacqueline Charles
Wed, February 8, 2023 

The table on a basketball court at the makeshift training ground held some of the sophisticated gear that the United States has sent to Haiti to help its overmatched police combat heavily armed gangs that have left the country in chaos.

By law, the U.S. can’t supply Haiti with weapons or ammunition. But there is plenty else: night vision goggles, advanced combat telescopic rifle scopes, riot helmets, ballistic vests with plates that can sustain piercing rounds. Nearby were two Haiti National Police officers in new battle-ready uniforms. The U.S. has donated hundreds of the sets along with several armored vehicles.

Todd Robinson, a senior Biden administration official overseeing the U.S. effort to help the Haitian National Police, surveyed the impressive array. “So between this and the MRAPs, they should be pretty well protected?” he said, referring to mine-resistant armored vehicles the Haitian government recently purchased.

The United States is helping the Haiti National Police train new SWAT officers in the country. The group recently showed off its skills for the head of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Todd Robinson, during a January 2023 visit to Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

A U.S.-hired expert in tactical operations agreed. Then he offered an assessment to Robinson of the reality, a sobering reminder that the ongoing battle to seize control from gangs won’t be won with just more armored vehicles and vests.

Several SWAT members live away from home “all the time” because their homes are too close to current gang activity.

Rioting police and a volatile Haiti

Robinson, an assistant secretary of state in charge of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, visited Port-au-Prince late last month, a trip that coincided with rioting by police after two gang attacks in five days left 11 police officers dead.

Enraged over the killings, armed officers, joined by fired cops and gang members, blocked roads, fired shots in the air and erected burning barricades in the capital and two other regional departments.

What was supposed to be a visit to see a newly U.S. trained SWAT team in action and deliver much needed policing equipment quickly became a firsthand look at the volatility in Haiti, the increasing fragility of the country’s sole law enforcement institution and the increasing reach of powerful gangs.

“The trend line regarding violence and instability is going in the wrong direction,” Robinson, 59, said. “I don’t think anybody can put a time limit on when things are going to explode. But I would say that the trend line is not good and that if we don’t act quickly, to come to an agreement on an overall plan for how the international community is going to support the institutions that are here now, if we don’t do that quickly, we could be looking at serious problems. Not at a moment of our choosing, soon.”

Todd Robinson, assistant secretary of state in charge of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, left, stands next to U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Eric Stromayer as they visit a U.S.-financed SWAT training at the Haiti National police training grounds. They are joined by Haiti National Police Chief Frantz Elbé and an aide during the Friday, Jan. 27, 2023, visit in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

As Robinson met with Prime Minister Ariel Henry and later Haiti National Police Director General Frantz Elbé inside a secure room in the Toussaint L’Ouverture International Airport, protesters stormed into the departure area and forced their way through the gate of the diplomatic lounge. None of the three were harmed.

“Our message to the government of Haiti, and to the Haiti National Police, is that we are here; we are going to find a way to help. We want to be as helpful as possible,” said Robinson, whose bureau has helped funneled $92 million in security assistance to Haiti since the summer of 2021. “We want to work with our partners in the international community to be helpful. But whatever happens, the United States is not going to allow lawlessness and gang violence to win the day.”
A police force with high rates of attrition

Gang violence in Haiti has surged since the July 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse created a power vacuum. Armed groups, fighting for control of territory, now control at least 60% of the capital, according to the United Nations. They have infiltrated the police while also targeting them.

In October, the U.N. secretary-general called for “a rapid action” force to be deployed to Haiti, after Henry asked for international military aid. Last week, Jamaica offered to deploy soldiers and El Salvador said it is willing to send a security team to help with a plan, but four months later, no large countries have stepped forward

At a U.N. Security Council meeting ahead of Robinson’s overnight visit, neither the representatives of Canada nor the United States, two countries some international observers hope would lead such a force, offered any hint that foreign troops are on their way.

“Haiti must address its continued insecurity challenges,” the U.S. deputy representative to the U.N., Robert Wood, said as he acknowledged that the current level of gang violence is “unprecedented.”

Bob Rae, the Canadian ambassador, said past foreign military interventions have not worked and Canada — which last weekend deployed a military aircraft over Haiti to collect intelligence on gangs for police — is focused on better equipping the police and helping in other ways.

Speaking to journalists afterward, Helen La Lime, who heads the U.N. ‘s political office in Haiti, acknowledged the training and other international community efforts. This includes a U.N. effort to raise $28 million to equip the police and a training program by France, which last year trained 300 specialized and regular officers in tactics and kidnapping negotiations and plans to expand the program this year.

“We’re still not doing enough to be able to win this fight at this stage,” La Lime said, endorsing the call for outside military support. “We will not win this fight without significant levels of additional support.”

9,000 active duty officers

The Haiti National Police, La Lime said, is “down to about 9,000 active duty forces... ready to go at any particular time.” This means that it’s difficult for police to make sustained progress against gangs.

On top of desertions, temporary suspensions and other absences, the police suffer from high attrition numbers, the U.N. has said. So many cops are leaving that recruitment efforts can’t keep up. Elite units like the anti-drug trafficking brigade are now hollow shells of themselves, as most officers with U.S. visas have left the country.

Adding to the challenge is the Biden administration’s new two-year parole program for Haitians who have people in the U.S. willing to sponsor them. So many police officers have applied for passports to leave the country that the director of the Immigration and Emigration office, Jean Osselin Lambert, told the Herald that he’s creating a special center just for cops to drop off applications.

“The attrition rate is not only depleting the ranks but is a reflection of the frustrations and growing distrust with senior leadership and political leadership — that is a very serious problem,” said Georges Fauriol, a Haiti expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Fauriol said a 9,000-member active-duty police force, along with newly trained SWAT-like teams, may be enough to cover the Port-au-Prince region, but is totally inadequate to cover all of Haiti and its nearly 12 million inhabitants.

Haiti security experts say the country needs a specialized international force, accompanied by the training that Robinson is touting, and charismatic leadership to address the issues within the country’s internal politics.

“What Haitians most want right now is security; security to go about their lives without the fear of being injured or kidnapped when they leave their homes,” La Lime said. “The gangs are active in Haiti. They are subjugating populations, they are terrorizing populations. They are continuing on a wave of criminality, the likes of which we’ve never seen before. That includes killing, rape, manipulation of populations making it difficult to deliver humanitarian assistance.”

Controversial Thacker Pass Mine Gets Permit

 

U.S. judge  handed down a mixed ruling in the highly fraught Thacker Pass lithium mine case.

Darren Thompson
Wed, February 8, 2023 

(Photo from the Protect Thacker Pass Facebook page)

RENO, Nev. — A U.S. judge on Monday handed down a mixed ruling in the highly fraught Thacker Pass lithium mine case.

The ruling upheld the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) decision to approve the Thacker Pass lithium mine in northern Nevada but ordered the BLM to review the mining claims Lithium Americas, the company developing the mine, has in according with a 19th-century law that governs mining on public lands.

BLM, which issued a permit for the mine in 2020, had faced legal challenges from conservation organizations, a local rancher, and several tribes to stop the project.

U.S. District Court Judge Miranda M. Du wrote in her order on Monday that the court “affirms BLM's decision, rejecting arguments that the Project will cause unnecessary and undue degradation to the local sage grouse population and habitat, groundwater aquifers, and air quality in violation of Federal Land Policy…”

In oral arguments on Jan. 5, 2023, attorneys for the plaintiffs said that BLM failed to fully analyze the mine’s impacts on the environment and did not fully consult with tribes. The court disagreed and cited that BLM reasonably consulted with the Burns Paiute Tribe and Reno-Sparks Indian Tribe.

“We have expected this decision for some time,” Arlan Melendez, Chairman of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, said in a statement on Feb. 7. “This does not mean consultation was done correctly and it does not mean this fight is over. We will be continuing to advocate for this sacred site.”

Thacker Pass is called Peehee Mu’huh, or Rotten Moon, in Paiute because, in 1865, federal cavalry killed men, women and children and then left their bodies to rot.

Du wrote in her order on Monday, “None of the tribes who spoke to BLM’s consultant who prepared the Ethnographic Assessment identified the Thacker Pass area as either sacred or a massacre site.”

According to the court order, federal land managers sent letters to consult with the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe, the Summit Lake Paiute Tribe and the Winnemucca Indian Colony in December 2019, but BLM did not receive responses before the approval decision was released in 2020.

People of Red Mountain is an Indigenous organization of traditional knowledge keepers and members of the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe. They have been opposing the Thacker Mine project since 2021 and say that the lawsuit is a matter of protecting their culture and sites considered sacred to them.

“Federal Justice Miranda Du and her decision with the Thacker Pass lithium mine has just slithered into the malicious patterns of American law and a corporate-priority government,” People of Red Mountain said in a statement to Native News Online. “People of color are not treated with respect and equality in United Corporations of America, and capitalism is the number one threat to our climate future.

“Our hearts are heavy in hearing the decision that Judge Du did not revoke the permits for the Thacker Pass lithium mine. Indigenous Peoples’ sacred sites should not be at the expense of the climate crisis the U.S. faces.”

Last week, Native News Online reported that automaker General Motors is investing $650 million in Lithium Americas if it clears the permit process.

About the Author: "Darren Thompson (Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe) is a staff reporter for Native News Online who is based in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. Thompson has reported on political unrest, tribal sovereignty, and Indigenous issues for the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, Indian Country Today, Native News Online, Powwows.com and Unicorn Riot. He has contributed to the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Voice of America on various Indigenous issues in international conversation. He has a bachelor\u2019s degree in Criminology & Law Studies from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. "

Contact: dthompson@nativenewsonline.net

Nevada lithium mine wins ruling; green energy fights rage on



 - Melissa Boerst, a Lithium Nevada Corp. geologist, points to an area of future exploration from a drill site at the Thacker Pass Project in Humboldt County, Nev., on Sept. 13, 2018. A federal judge on Monday, Feb. 6, 2023, ordered the government to revisit part of its environmental review of a lithium mine planned in Nevada but denied opponents' effort to block the project in a ruling the developer says clears the way for construction at the largest known U.S. lithium deposit.

 (Suzanne Featherston/The Daily Free Press via AP, File)

SCOTT SONNER
Tue, February 7, 2023

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A U.S. judge has ordered the government to revisit part of its environmental review of a lithium mine planned in Nevada, but denied opponents’ efforts to block it in a ruling the developer says clears the way for construction at the nation's largest known deposit of the rare metal widely used in rechargeable batteries.

The ruling marks a significant victory for Canada-based Lithium Americas Corp. at its subsidiary’s project near Nevada's border with Oregon, and a setback — at least for now — for conservationists, tribes and a Nevada rancher who have all been fighting it for two years. The opponents said they are considering an appeal based in part on growing questions raised about the reach of an 150-year-old mining law.

It’s the latest development in a series of high-stakes legal battles that pit environmentalists and others against so-called “green energy” projects President Joe Biden’s administration is pushing to help speed the nation’s transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

The White House says the mine on the Nevada-Oregon line is critical to ramped up efforts to producing raw materials for electric vehicle batteries.

Critics argue digging for lithium poses the same ecological threats as mining for any other mineral or metal in the biggest gold-mining state in the U.S. They say efforts to downplay potential environmental and cultural impacts amount to “greenwashing,”

“We need truly just and sustainable solutions for the climate crisis, and not be digging ourselves deeper into the biodiversity crisis,” said Greta Anderson, deputy director of the Western Watersheds Project, one of the plaintiffs considering an appeal.

U.S. District Judge Miranda Du in Reno concluded late Monday that the opponents had failed to prove the project the U.S. Bureau of Land Management approved in January 2021 would harm wildlife habitat, degrade groundwater or pollute the air.

She also denied — for the third time — relief sought by Native American tribes who argued it could destroy a nearby sacred site where their ancestors were massacred in 1865.

In her 49-page ruling, Du emphasized deference to a federal agency's approval of such projects. But she also acknowledged the complexity of laws regulating energy exploration under a recent U.S. appellate court ruling she adopted that could pose new challenges for those staking claims under the Mining Law of 1872.

“While this case encapsulates the tensions among competing interests and policy goals, this order does not somehow pick a winner based on policy considerations," Du warned in the introduction of her verdict.

Other projects that face legal challenges in U.S. court in Nevada include a proposed lithium mine where a desert wildflower has been declared endangered, and a proposed geothermal power plant on federal land near habitat for an endangered toad.

Last week, General Motors Co. announced it had conditionally agreed to invest $650 million in Lithium Americas in a deal that will give GM exclusive access to the first phase of the Thacker Pass mine 200 miles (321 kilometers) northeast of Reno. The equity investment is contingent on the project clearing the final environmental and legal challenges it faces in federal court.

“The favorable ruling leaves in place the final regulatory approval needed in moving Thacker Pass into construction,” Jonathan Evans, Lithium Americas’ president and CEO, said in a statement Tuesday. The company expects production to begin in the second half of 2026.

Du handed a partial victory to environmentalists in agreeing that the Bureau of Land Management had failed to determine whether the company had valid mining rights on 1,300 acres (526 hectares) adjacent to the mine site where Lithium Nevada intends to bury waste rock.

But she denied the opponents’ request to vacate the agency’s approval of the overall project’s Record of Decision, which would have prohibited any construction from beginning until a new record of decision was issued.

Environmentalists clung to the lone part of her decision favorable to them. That part incorporates a recent ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a fight over the Mining Law of 1872 in a case in Arizona that could prove more onerous to mining companies that want to dispose of their waste on neighboring federal lands.

The San Francisco-based appellate court upheld an Arizona ruling that the Forest Service lacked authority to approve Rosemont Copper’s plans to dispose of waste rock on land adjacent to the mine it wanted to dig on a national forest southeast of Tucson. The service and the Bureau of Land Management long have interpreted the mining law to convey the same mineral rights to such lands.

“It’s disappointing that the BLM and the Biden Administration can’t see through the greenwashing," Wildland Defense's Katie Fite said Tuesday.

US judge orders waste rock study for Thacker Pass lithium project

Reuters | February 7, 2023 | 

The Thacker Pass lithium project in Nevada is the main part of one company as Lithium Americas plans to split in two. (Image: Lithium Americas)

A US judge ordered regulators to reconsider part of the permit approving Lithium Americas Corp’s Thacker Pass lithium mine project in Nevada, though the mixed ruling allows construction to begin and rejects claims that the project would cause unnecessary harm to the environment or wildlife.


Shares of Vancouver, British Columbia-based Lithium Americas rose 9% to $25.52 on Tuesday after the ruling, which was issued Monday evening.

The proposed mine would be North America’s largest source of lithium for electric vehicle batteries and a key pillar in US President Joe Biden’s efforts to wean his country off Chinese supplies of the metal.

General Motors Co signed a $650 million deal last week to help develop the project, an agreement that hinges in part on a positive outcome in the long-running court case.

In a 49-page ruling, Chief Judge Miranda Du of the federal court in Reno, Nevada, ordered the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to determine whether Lithium Americas has the right to dump waste rock at the site, just south of Nevada’s border with Oregon.

Du, however, did not vacate a 2021 decision by then-President Donald Trump to approve the mine. The ruling can be appealed.

Much of the US mining industry is ruled by an 1872 law that gives companies wide berth to extract metals on federal lands. However, an appeals court ruled last year in an unrelated case that miners do not necessarily have the right to store waste rock or erect buildings on federal land not containing valuable minerals.

Du ordered the BLM to determine whether roughly 1,300 acres (530 hectares) at the Thacker Pass site where Lithium Americas hopes to store waste rock – a byproduct of the mining process – contains lithium. Federal officials had told the court last month they believe the entire site contains lithium.

Lithium Americas is meeting on Tuesday with the BLM to begin the review, which should take no longer than six months, Chief Executive Jon Evans said in an interview. “There is evidence in the record of lithium mineralization throughout the project area,” he said. “This is an easy fix.”

Site preparation should begin almost immediately, with heavy construction likely to start this summer and last about three years, Evans said.

Du also rejected claims from the Reno Sparks Indian Colony and other Native American tribes that they were not properly consulted about the project and its potential effects on cultural and historical sites.

Representatives for General Motors, the Reno Sparks Indian Colony and several environmental groups did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

(By Ernest Scheyder and Arshreet Singh; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Jamie Freed and Jonathan Oatis)

What India’s discovery of first ever lithium deposits means for country

Stuti Mishra
Fri, February 10, 2023 

 Lithium is a crucial mineral for production of batteries (AP)

Significant lithium reserves have been found in India for the first time, in an important discovery that bodes well for the country’s plans to transition into clean energy and a push for electric vehicles.

Lithium is a rare mineral that is highly reactive, lightweight and can store large amounts of energy in a compact space, making it the ideal material for use in batteries.

The demand for lithium has grown globally as countries race to reduce carbon emissions and switch to clean energy. Energy storage plays a crucial role in that.

India has so far remained dependent on foreign supplies for crucial minerals like nickel and cobalt – including lithium – as the country pushes on with its ambitious plans to expand energy storage tech and electric vehicles market.

Now, officials from India’s federal government announced they had found 5.9m tonnes of lithium reserves in the Reasi district of the northern Jammu and Kashmir region.

“For the first time, lithium reserves have been discovered and that too in Jammu and Kashmir,” Mines Secretary Vivek Bharadwaj told reporters.

Describing it as a way for India to become “aatmanirbhar”, a slogan promoted by the Narendra Modi government that means self reliance, Mr Bharadwaj said the critical mineral discovery will aid domestic production of batteries for a number of devices, including mobile phones and solar panels.

Recently, India began a major push for research and development of crucial minerals as part of a national mission on advanced energy storage aimed at developing next-generation energy storage tech that also involves the use of lithium.

The government has set up a task force to explore opportunities for domestic lithium production as well.

“We have re-oriented our exploration measures towards critical and strategic minerals and this discovery is a vindication of our efforts,” Mr Bhardwaj told the Mint business newspaper.

A significant reserve like this can provide a major boost to the country’s plans to expand to establish itself as a dominant player in the global electric vehicle market, Experts say. India aims for electric vehicles to make up 30 per cent of the total vehicles sold in the country by 2030.

However, it’s going to be a long process for the newfound lithium could be in use.

“The discovery of India’s first lithium reserve is a positive step for India’s energy security and EV manufacturing ambitions,” says Siddharth Goel, a senior policy advisor at the International Institute for Sustainable Development.

“But international experience shows that environment permitting and mine development can take 10 years or more. In the short-term, India still needs a strategy to source critical minerals, for its 2030 clean energy and EV targets.”

Aarti Khosla, director at Delhi-based research organisation Climate Trends, says that although the recent discovery of lithium is “encouraging”, the reserves are categorised as being in the “inferred category,” signifying that the quality of the mineral can not be ascertained at this point.

“Before going forward, there is a need to do a preliminary finding via actual extraction to check its feasibility and convert this estimated resource to the exploitable category with a high degree of confidence level and explore its chances of augmenting it.”

As of now, lithium is the only reliable option for producing batteries for electric vehicles because of its high density and ability to retain its charge for a long time.

China is a top player in the production of lithium-ion batteries. More than three-quarters of the total such batteries in the world are produced by India’s neighbour and rival.

But for India, exports form around 80 per cent of the total lithium used by the country. India obtains many minerals – particularly lithium – from Australia and Argentina.

The country had earlier in 2021 found a smaller lithium deposit in the southern state of Karnataka, but experts point out that a discovery like the current one can accelerate India’s production capacity.

Lithium is also key for India’s transition to renewables. Large reductions in the cost of renewable technologies such as solar and wind have made them cost-competitive with fossil fuels in recent years.

Effective storing solutions, however, remain a challenge for the adoption of these intermittent sources of energy for many countries that need low-cost solutions. Lithium-ion batteries are the most commonly used for this, and there has been significant price reduction in them since the 1990s.

Meanwhile, the global demand for lithium is expected to increase by approximately 761 per cent from 2020 up to 2030, according to the Lithium Industry Association’s forecast.

Africa gears up to keep more of the profits from lithium boom

Reuters | February 9, 2023 | 4:14 am Battery Metals Intelligence Africa Lithium

Zimbabwe has large deposits of lithium. (Image courtesy of Human Rights Watch)

Lithium-rich African countries, including Zimbabwe and Namibia, are trying to develop processing and refining industries to capture more of the profits of global demand for the battery material.


As the auto industry shifts towards electric vehicles (EVs) – spurred by proposed bans on fossil-fuel cars beginning at the end of the decade – lithium prices and demand have soared.

China, the world’s top lithium refiner and a leading producer dominates the supply chain, but Western governments and international companies are trying to challenge that and see Africa’s lithium reserves as an opportunity.

For their part, African countries are determined to retain more of the value of their resources than they have in the past, which means not just mining them but processing them before export, which economically is referred to as beneficiation.

“We are saying to ourselves, if you have got the minerals that everybody wants now, you need to make sure that at least you probably mine those minerals differently and not in the usual manner,” Namibia’s mines minister Tom Alweendo told Reuters in an interview at the Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town.

“We are going to insist that all lithium mined within the country has to be processed in the country.”

Africa’s lithium production is set to rapidly increase this decade. From 40,000 tonnes this year, the continent will likely produce 497,000 tonnes in 2030, commodities trader Trafigura estimates, with the bulk of that coming from Zimbabwe.

Prices for lithium more than doubled last year as demand from the electric vehicle industry outstripped supply.

Zimbabwe in December imposed a ban on raw lithium exports, a measure aimed at stopping the smuggling of lithium ore and spurring mines to process in the country.

“We made plans to only allow the export of concentrates,” the country’s mining minister Winston Chitando told Reuters. “Because of the ban, other investors have come in wanting to mop up lithium ores and develop them to concentrate stage.”

‘Poison of greed’

Mining has often been linked to the exploitation of workers or environmental degradation by foreign powers. In his visit to Democratic Republic of Congo, Pope Francis at the end of January condemned the “poison of greed” for mineral resources that has exacerbated conflict in the country’s east.

The latest effort by African governments is far from the first time they have resolved to retain more of the value of their mineral wealth, which ultimately should boost tax revenue, encourage new businesses and add jobs.

The global transition away from fossil fuels is giving a sense of urgency, although many obstacles remain, notably insufficient electricity supply.

As companies and investors around the world focus on goals to reduce carbon emissions and increase supplies of the minerals that should help, companies and investors are reconsidering projects they may have previously overlooked.

“These are really unique times we are living in, with this whole transition to a clean energy future and Ghana could be part of this story,” Len Kolff, interim chief executive officer at Atlantic Lithium, said.

The company’s Ewoyaa mine project is set to be the first lithium producer in the West African country. US firm Piedmont Lithium has signed a deal to get 50% of the lithium produced.

“Everybody’s approaching us, like the whole who’s who on the Chinese list and now it’s all the Western OEMs [original equipment manufacturers],” Kolff said.

In Mali, Leo Lithium’s Goulamina mine plans to take advantage of high prices to export two 30,000-tonne shipments of lithium ore by the end of this year, managing director Simon Hay said.

The proceeds would help to develop the project to allow domestic processing, Hay said, with first production expected in the middle of next year to be sent to China’s Ganfeng Lithium.

($1 = 0.9319 euros)

(By Clara Denina, Wendell Roelf and Helen Reid; Editing by Barbara Lewis)

Future Mexican lithium tie-ups must give govt majority stake: LitioMx CEO

Reuters | February 9, 2023 |

Image from Bacanora Lithium.

Future lithium mining joint ventures between Mexico’s new state-run company and private producers must give the government a majority stake, the head of LitioMx told Reuters, while also expressing openness to offer tax breaks to kick-off projects.


Championed by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexican lawmakers enacted sweeping lithium nationalization last year seeking to ensure government control over the country’s nascent industry, even as opponents sharply criticized the move as likely to dissuade private investment in Mexico’s mostly clay-based deposits.


But in an interview late on Wednesday, LitioMx Chief Executive Pablo Taddei stressed that private players could partner up with the new state-owned company so long as the government can exercise control over the projects, which the government has declared as strategic.

“There isn’t any doubt that the Mexican government must have control in a strategic association with private companies,” Taddei said.

Lopez Obrador created LitioMX, formally known as Litio Para Mexico, by decree last August, even though the country does not yet produce any lithium despite indications it could hold potentially rich deposits of the ultra-light white metal.

Lithium is coveted by makers of rechargeable batteries, crucial components for future fleets of electric vehicles.

Taddei, who holds graduate degrees from Harvard University and the University of Michigan in the United States, added that the government was also prepared to offer tax incentives in an effort to make such tie-ups attractive to both sides.

“They have to be associations that are attractive to them and us,” he said, adding that future lithium mining projects will be analyzed on a case-by-case basis.

“We are open to giving those incentives to make it a win-win.”

Taddei declined to detail tax or other would-be financial incentives the government might consider.

But Taddei did explain that future joint ventures would take into consideration factors, including the type of deposit, in deciding what percent of projects the government should own.

To date, Mexican lithium deposits identified in early exploration efforts reveal mostly clay-based deposits, which many industry experts argue will be much more difficult and costly to develop.

Nearly all global lithium production is today mined from brine salt flats, or from traditional rock deposits.

Taddei also declined to name companies with which his team has held meetings, only that some come from outside the United States and Canada.

Ganfeng controls Mexico’s most advanced lithium project, Bacanora Lithium located in northern Sonora state, but Taddei declined to comment on talks over the project.

He did, however, say an announcement concerning the project will come later this month.

Going forward, LitioMx must also have a stake in all technological patents stemming from future projects, Taddei said.

He did not specify a start date for the state company’s first project but expressed optimism that Mexico will ultimately benefit from surging demand for lithium.

(By Valentine Hilaire; Editing by David Alire Garcia and Jacqueline Wong)

DeepRock Minerals options mineral claims near Sigma Lithium in Brazil

Staff Writer | February 9, 2023 

Sigma Lithium’s Grota do Cirilo lithium project in Brazil. Credit: Sigma Lithium

DeepRock Minerals (CSE: DEEP) has entered into an option agreement with two Brazilian companies to acquire a 100% interest in the Esperança lithium property, comprising about 2,970 hectares of mineral claims located in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state.


The property covers mapped metasediments of the Salinas formation, where Brazil’s only lithium producer CBL has been mining spodumene for almost 30 years. The same unit also hosts Sigma Lithium’s Grota do Cirilo, which is the the largest hard-rock lithium deposit in the Americas.

As per the option agreement, DeepRock can acquire 100% ownership in the Esperança property over a three-term period through C$100,000 in total cash payments, the issuance of 200,000 common shares, and an accumulative expenditure of C$200,000 in exploration work. The previous owner will retain a 2% net smelter royalty.

Following the agreement, DeepRock intends to immediately start prospecting, sampling, detailed mapping and multispectral analysis of satellite data to identify potential exploration targets on the property.

In addition to Esperança, the company has three other projects under development: the Ralleau VMS project located in the Abitibi region of Quebec, the Golden Gate project in New Brunswick and the Zapozilor polymetallic project in Romania.

Shares of DeepRock Minerals surged 25% The CSE-listed miner has a market value of C$4.5 million ($3.4m).

Savannah Resources aims to cut Portugal lithium mine’s direct emissions to zero
Cecilia Jamasmie | February 6, 2023 |

The Mina do Barroso mine could become the first European supplier of spodumene, a lithium-bearing mineral. (Image courtesy of Savannah Resources.)

Savannah Resources (AIM: SAV), the company trying to build western Europe’s largest lithium mine in Portugal, said on Monday it had found a way to significantly cut the project’s direct emissions (or Scope 1) to zero.


The company said it had confirmed that using battery electric mining equipment would be the most effective way to eliminate its flagship Barroso lithium project’s emissions.

It also said the project’s indirect emissions (or Scope 2), which are those tied to inputs a miner purchases, like electricity, could be lowered by 54% from the original 2019 forecast, thanks to a potential reduction in the plant’s power requirement.

Despite earning a preliminary stamp of approval in April 2021 from authorities, the country’s Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente (APA) asked the company to resubmit last year its its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the proposed mine.

The consequent delay triggered the departure of chief executive David Archer, who was replaced on an interim basis by Dale Ferguson, previously the company’s technical director.

The updated strategy disclosed on Monday was created following the completion of the initial study phase by ECOPROGRESSO, a Portuguese environmental, sustainability, and climate change consultant.

Such research aimed to update the project’s greenhouse gas inventory, reduce emissions, and create a preliminary decarbonization strategy.

Looking ahead, the lithium company said future work would include more detailed analysis as part of the definitive feasibility study on the project, as well as studies to determine a site specific solution for a transition to a battery operated mining fleet and associated charging infrastructure.

Europe’s first

Savannah Resources had hoped to secure EIA approval for the project last year, as Barroso is poised to help Europe reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and speed up its “green transition.”

The company acquired a 75% interest in the lithium project in May 2017, maintaining a fast paced development approach since. January’s 2022 parliamentary election in Portugal, chairman Matthew King recently said, impacted the timing of the assessment as meetings with government officials were postponed.

The Barroso project holds a resource estimate of 27 million tonnes of lithium with over 285,900 tonnes contained Li2O, at an average grade of 1.06% Li2O, which the company believes to be enough to supply a “material proportion” of Europe’s lithium demand over the coming decades.

The mine will also yield a feldspar and quartz co-product used in the ceramics industry, which will be sold to customers locally and in neighbouring Spain.

Portugal, already Europe’s top lithium producer, accounts for about 11% of the global market, but its output is entirely used to make ceramics and glassware, which is why Europe relies on lithium imports from Latin America’s Lithium Triangle, as well from Australia and China.