Union Pacific 2nd railroad to drop push for one-person crews


Sun, March 26, 2023 

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Union Pacific has become the second major freight railroad in the past week to back away from the industry's longstanding push to cut train crews down to one person as lawmakers and regulators increasingly focus on rail safety following last month's fiery derailment in Ohio.

The Omaha, Nebraska-based railroad said in a statement Saturday that it had reached an agreement with the union that represents conductors to drop its proposal to take those workers out of the cabs of locomotives just months after it was pressing to test out the idea of stationing conductors in trucks in parts of its 23-state network. Norfolk Southern made a similar announcement several days earlier.

The Feb. 3 derailment of a Norfolk Southern train that forced the evacuation of roughly half the town of East Palestine near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border after officials released and burned toxic chemicals is what sparked the renewed interest in railroad safety. A bipartisan bill that's gaining support in Congress would require railroads to maintain two-person crews and make several other changes designed to reduce the chances of future derailments. And regulators, who are also pushing railroads to make reforms, were already considering a rule that would require two-person crews.

The major freight railroads have long argued that technological advances — particularly the automatic braking system they were required to install in recent years — had made it unnecessary to have a second person in every locomotive. And railroad executives had said they believed that moving conductors off of trains would improve their quality of life by giving them more predictable schedules and keeping them from going on the road.

But the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers union and the other rail unions have long refused to agree to reducing the size of train crews because they believe train conductors play a crucial safety role and they want to preserve jobs.

The unions say conductors help monitor track conditions and radio communications while ensuring that engineers remain alert and respond to any emergencies or mechanical problems on the train. In the case of a derailment or collision, conductors are the first ones to respond before any additional help can arrive and they provide emergency responders key details about what a train is hauling.

Union Pacific Executive Vice President Beth Whited said the railroad will now focus on other ways to address the concerns about demanding schedules that workers expressed during last fall's difficult contract negotiations. The rail industry reached the brink of a strike that could have crippled the economy before Congress intervened in December and imposed a contract to prevent a walkout.

“We are pleased that Union Pacific is focusing on quality of life for our conductor workforce,” said Jeremy Ferguson, president of SMART-TD.

Railroads have also been under pressure over the past year to improve their service because they were struggling to handle all the shipments companies want them to deliver. And the industry has been defending its safety record after eliminating nearly one-third of all railroad jobs over the past six years as railroads overhauled their operations. Unions say all those cuts have left workers spread too thin and made it more difficult to keep up with all the inspections and maintenance that are needed.

The railroads maintain that they remain the safest way to transport hazardous chemicals and all kinds of other cargo across land because nearly every shipment arrives intact, but the East Palestine derailment reinforced just how devastating even one derailment involving dangerous chemicals can be.

Josh Funk, The Associated Press

'ALL NATURAL, ORGANIC' BIOWARFARE

Satellite images show breadth of massive seaweed belt stretching across the Atlantic Ocean

Large piles of sargassum seaweed could prove problematic for coastal destinations

By Greg Wehner | Fox News

Florida red tide washes up hundreds of dead fish
A video shared by Suzanne Stoker shows dead fish washed up on the beach Tuesday in Fort Myers Beach.

Satellite images show a train of sargassum seaweed stretching from the west coast of Africa to Florida, stretching as far as 5,000 miles.

With a width of nearly twice that of the U.S., the seaweed is expected to move toward Florida and the Caribbean, ultimately piling up along some of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

Seagulls lay in the sand as Monica Madrigal finds her way to the ocean through a thick raft of Sargassum seaweed that washed up on the seashore by the 71st Street area in Miami Beach in 2020. ((Pedro Portal/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, Sargassum is a large brown seaweed that "floats in island-like masses," yet never attaches to the bed of the sea.

GIANT BLOB OF SEAWEED TWICE THE WIDTH OF US TAKING AIM AT FLORIDA, SCIENTISTS SAY

Images on the University of South Florida College of Marine Science Optical Oceanography Laboratory website shows the massive size of the bloom.

The Sargassum Watch System, or SaWS, uses satellite data and models to track sargassum in "near-real time.

Satellite image showing how far the sargassum seaweed belt stretches

 (University of South Florida / NOAA)

While sargassum offers a great habitat for marine animals because of its source of food, shade and shelter, it also can be used to protect sand dunes by fertilizing and strengthening the grassroots.

CLIMATE ACTIVISTS, DEMS TURN ON BIDEN OVER LIKELY ALASKAN OIL DRILLING PROJECT: ‘AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT’

But when copious amounts of sargassum piles up on the beaches, it has the potential of causing many problems.

The university website says when sargassum decomposes, it can create a bad stench that attracts bugs and can smother turtle nests, among other things.

The bugs and the smell can also hurt tourism, impacting economics of tropical locations.

Rafts of brown seaweed, Sargassum sp., pile up on the shore of Miami Beach, Florida, USA. (Andre Seale/VW PICS/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Many times, the sargassum, when piled up in enormous amounts, must physically be removed from the beaches.

MASSIVE SMELLY ALGAE BLOOM NEARING FLORIDA WILL IMPACT HEALTH OF RESIDENTS

As the bloom moves toward the coast, some Floridians have complained about burning eyes and breathing problems. Dead fish have washed up and a beachside festival scheduled a month away was canceled.

The southwest coast of Florida experienced a toxic red tide algae earlier this month, sparking concerns it could stick around for a while.

Red tide naturally occurs in the Gulf of Mexico and is oftentimes made worse by humans because of the presence of nutrients like nitrogen in the water.

People are advised to not swim in red tide waters because of respiratory issues as well as skin irritation, rashes and sore eyes.

Bradford Betz of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.

Revealed: Jobs most at risk from artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT


Sami Quadri
Sun, 26 March 2023 

Around 80 per cent of US workers could see their jobs impacted by artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT, a study found.

ChatGPT is a free AI “chatbot” which can be used to do anything from writing essays to creating diet plans and helping users to apply for jobs.

Spectators have hailed it as one of the biggest technological advances since the invention of the computer or the internet.

OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed tech firm that created the software, claims that 80 per cent of the US workforce could have at least 10 per cent of their work impacted by the technology.

Their research also found that 19 per cent of workers could see as much as 50 per cent of their tasks impacted.

The study adds: “Our analysis indicates that the impacts of LLMs (large-language models) like GPT-4, are likely to be pervasive.”

In addition, researchers found that jobs with higher wages—which can involve the worker performing many software-based tasks—could face more exposure to potential disruption from AI-powered chatbots.

“We discover that roles heavily reliant on science and critical thinking skills show a negative correlation with exposure, while programming and writing skills are positively associated with LLM exposure,” the study says.

OpenAI researchers cataloged which professions could see the most disruption using various measurement rubrics. The most affected professions included interpreters and translators, poets, lyricists and creative writers, public relations specialists, writers and authors, mathematicians, blockchain engineers, accountants and auditors, along with journalists.

The paper also breaks down the ChatGPT impact by industry. Sectors including data processing hosting, publishing industries, and security commodity contracts, saw the most potential exposure to disruption.

In contrast, industries known for manual labour—food services, forestry and logging, social assistance, and food manufacturing—saw the least potential impact.

The paper, titled “An Early Look at the Labor Market Impact Potential of Large Language Models”, can be found on the OpenAI website.

It comes after Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates warned that artificial intelligence will radically change people’s lives as much as computers, the internet and mobile phones.

He said he believes AI will revolutionise the world of work, learning, travel, healthcare, and communication.

Writing in his blog, Gates described how he was left stunned by ChatGPT after challenging OpenAI to train an artificial intelligence to pass an advanced biology exam last year.

"I thought [that] would keep them busy for two or three years. They finished it in a few months," Gates said. "I watched in awe as they asked GPT 60 multiple-choice questions from the AP Bio exam and it got 59 of them right.

"Once it had aced the test, we asked it ‘What do you say to a father with a sick child?’ It wrote a thoughtful answer that was probably better than most of us in the room would have given. I knew I had just seen the most important advance in technology since the graphical user interface [the early version of a computer operating system]."

POLICE PEDOPHILIA

UK Police strip searching children as young as eight, damning report finds

Joe Middleton
Sun, 26 March 2023

More than a quarter of children strip-searched were aged between 10 and 15 

Police stopped and strip-searched more than 2,800 children in four years - with the youngest only 8-years-old, a damning new report has revealed.

Using data for forces across England Wales, Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza found that nearly a quarter of children strip-searched were aged between 10 and 15.

More than a third (38%) of those strip-searched were black, and with black children making up 5.9% of the population that makes them more than six times more likely to be targeted.


Overall, 2,847 strip-searches took place between 2018 and mid-2022 of children aged between eight and 17.

The report will be published on Monday and comes after the Child Q scandal which came to light last March.

The 15-year-old black schoolgirl was strip-searched by police without another adult present and while on her period after being wrongly suspected of carrying cannabis at school. No drugs were found, her parents were not told of the search and she was later sent home by taxi.

A safeguarding report into the incident said that racism was “likely” to have been a factor in the search and that it should never have happened.

After the scandal data revealed that Met Police officers strip-searched 650 children between the ages of 10-17 between 2018 and 2020, with 58% of those searched were black children.

Speaking a day before the publication of the report, Dame Rachel told the Sunday Times the findings had “kept her awake at night” and has called on police chiefs to limit strip-searching of children for only “life or death” situations.

Dame Rachel de Souza is England’s Children’s Commissioner (UK government)

“The police really need to get their act together on this,” she told the newspaper. “We’ve had a report on the Met but the data that I’m going to share tomorrow I think is almost more shocking.

“My hope was that Child Q was the only child that this would have ever happened to in a school. But the data I am about to release smashed that to smithereens.

“There is this one case where a boy was strip-searched four times and four times his mother picked him up from the police station but nobody told her, including him, that he had been strip-searched.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Strip-search is one of the most intrusive powers available to the police. No-one should be subject to strip-search on the basis of race or ethnicity and safeguards exist to prevent this.

“Any child subject to a strip search should be accompanied by an appropriate adult unless there is an urgent risk of serious harm, or where the child specifically requests otherwise and the appropriate adult agrees. Such searches must be carried out by an officer of the same sex as the child.

“We take the concerns raised about children’s safeguarding extremely seriously. The Independent Office for Police Conduct is currently investigating several high-profile incidents of strip-search of children and it is vital that we await their findings.”

2 high schoolers say they've found proof for the Pythagorean theorem, which mathematicians thought was impossible


Explanation of the Pythagorean theorem drawn on a blackboard.

Getty Images

Isobel van Hagen
Sat, March 25, 2023 

Two US high schoolers believe they have cracked a mathematical mystery left unproven for centuries.

Calcea Johnson and Ne'Kiya Jackson looked at the Pythagorean theorem, foundational to trigonometry.

The American Mathematical Society said the teenagers should submit their findings to a journal.

Two high school seniors from New Orleans think they have managed to prove a 2,000-year-old theorem that has stumped mathematicians for centuries.

Their work got Calcea Johnson and Ne'Kiya Jackson far enough to present their findings to researchers, per an interview with local TV earlier this week.

Their work was on the Pythagorean theorem, a staple of high school math lessons which defines the relationship between the three sides of a right-angled triangle, expressed with the formula a2+b2=c2

Although the theory holds true in every plausible example, no mathematician has been able to establish its truth from first principles, even though the theorem has been around since ancient Greek times.

Because the theorem underpins trigonometry, experts have thought it impossible to prove, since you can't use trigonometry without already accepting that the theorem is correct.

In the abstract presented by Johnson and Jackson last week, the two teenagers gestured to this, noting the book "The Pythagorean Proposition" "flatly states" that there are no trigonometric proofs because they are "based upon the truth of the Pythagorean Theorem."

They countered in their work that the claim "isn't quite true." The two claimed they were able to prove the theorem using the Law of Sines, which did not rely on circular trigonometry.

When the American Mathematical Society met in Georgia last week, Johnson and Jackson were the only high schoolers at the meeting, according to New Orleans television news station WWL.

Their claim has not gone through the rigorous academic peer-review process — or been confirmed by other experts in the field.

Catherine Roberts, executive director for the American Mathematical Society, encouraged the young mathematicians to submit their findings to a journal where it can be assessed.

She said the society "celebrates these early career mathematicians for sharing their work," The Guardian reported.

"Members of our community can examine their results to determine whether their proof is a correct contribution to the mathematics literature," Roberts said.

In an interview with WWL, the students said they were excited just to be a part of the process.

"There's just nothing like being able to do something that people don't think young people can do," Johnson said, "A lot of times you see this stuff, you don't see kids like us doing it."

Read the original article on Insider

Violence in Greece over efforts to preserve ancient heritage of Mykonos

Story by Helena Smith in Athens • 

Under cover of darkness in an Athens side street earlier this month, Manolis Psarros, an archaeologist, was attacked as he walked toward his car. It was 8.30pm, later than usual for the state employee to return home from his office in a neo-classical culture ministry building beneath the Acropolis.



“There was a general strike the next day and I needed to get through my files on Mykonos,” said Psarros, who has oversight of the Cycladic isle. “I can remember approaching the car but after that it’s a blur,” he told the Observer. “All I know is that I was struck on the head from behind with such force I lost consciousness.”

When the soft-spoken Greek came round in a hospital bed on 8 March he had broken ribs, a broken nose and eyes that had been so severely bruised his vision remains impaired.

For doctors they were wounds that spoke: Psarros clearly had been kicked and punched in an assault that bore all the hallmarks of a professional hit. The 52-year-old was lucky to be alive.

Almost three weeks later the ramifications of an attack that might otherwise have gone unnoticed are being felt across Greece.

As police intensify their investigation, the focus of inquiry has fallen, firmly, on Europe’s most famous party island where a building frenzy has put the archaeological service, entrusted with protecting Mykonos’s rich cultural heritage, on a war footing with developers.

For the past decade Psarros has headed the division that issues construction permits on the Aegean hotspot.

“Everything about this attack is indicative of how out-of-control the situation in Mykonos has become,” says Despoina Koutsoumba, who presides over the Association of Greek Archaeologists. “It’s clear, as there are no other motives, that this was a Mafiosi-style hit executed by people who followed Manolis from work. It’s about huge business interests and was aimed at striking fear into the hearts of archaeologists.”

Euronews
Greece welcomes Vatican's return of Parthenon fragments to Acropolis
View on Watch  Duration 0:35

WIONGreece: Three ancient artefacts return, fragments belong to Parthenon temple in Athens
3:00

The Associated PressGreece welcomes back ancient art held at Vatican
1:06

WIONGreece envoy Dimitrios Ioannou says, 'India has become global voice for the South'
3:42


Greece’s centre-right Greek government appears to agree. From the prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, to law enforcers and local officials, there was consensus last week that the anomie underpinning illegal construction on one of Greece’s most popular destinations was linked to a crime for which perpetrators have yet to be found.

For years, Mykonos has been an international trailblazer as a playground for the rich; its bars, eateries and beaches, venues that have increasingly turned gargantuan profits.

But the brutal attack on Psarros has also exposed a darker side: of an island hijacked by interests that have come to see the rocky outcrop in a twilight zone beyond the reach of central government and the long arm of the law.

On Wednesday, as Mitsotakis convened a meeting of senior cabinet ministers to discuss the affair, officials were openly describing Mykonos as a “state within a state”.” Giving voice to those concerns, the Greek prime minister warned that public order measures would be enforced. In the coming days the first of 100 extra security personnel, including police officers, financial crime investigators, environment and building inspectors are expected to fly in. A crack down on illegal construction in rural areas, both on Mykonos and neighbouring islands in the Aegean archipelago, will also intensify.

Related: Pope Francis returns three fragments of Parthenon to Greece

“There is no such thing as an island where some people think they are above the law,” said Mitsotakis. “This is a situation that will be faced decisively.”

Greece’s community of archaeologists, a group no bigger than a 1000-strong, have long been regarded as the custodians of the nation’s extraordinary historical legacy. For many the hardy band of dedicated excavators and researchers are the last bulwark against depredations increasingly associated with tourism.

But with the industry accounting for 25% of GDP – and by far the biggest engine of the Greek economy – it is a delicate balancing act, one that ensures acknowledging the need for visitors with preserving the natural beauty that also lures them to the country.

The dramatic comeback of tourism post-pandemic had not helped. With Greece slated for another record season – last year it was the third most visited place on earth – the concerns of archaeologists forced to navigate a notoriously slow-moving bureaucracy matter little to investors. Fines slapped on offenders for building villas, hotels and beach bars close to, or on, ancient sites, “are nothing” compared with profits to be made, say locals who also lament the unruly development of an island that has left many unable to enjoy, or afford it. In recent years, as Mykonos has headed into a stratosphere of its own, investors from the Middle East have also moved in announcing controversial plans to construct a tourist village with a port capable of mooring superyachts.

“We want the state to be an ally to protect our island,” Mykonos’s mayor, Konstantinos Koukas, said last week. “We want mechanisms of control to be bolstered and of course we decry any threat against state employees. Today it is archaeologists. Tomorrow it will be us.”

Psarros also wants to return to work as soon as he recovers “because to do otherwise, or if I were to be removed from the post, would send the wrong message to my assailants”.

Time, says Koutsoumba, is of the essence: last week a female colleague on Mykonos was also targeted with threatening text messages. “If the government means what it says it will have to start demolishing illegal buildings,” said the archaeological association head who will participate in a protest rally outside Koukas’s town hall office on Tuesday.

“Right now it’s Mykonos, but later it will be some other island. The time has come for action and that means bulldozers being sent in. It’s the only language anyone will understand. An example needs to be set, and it needs to be set now.”

IT'S A MYTH

Opinion: Carbon capture and storage a good deal for Canada and the world
Opinion by James Millar • Friday

As we await further details on support for carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in the upcoming federal budget, there are almost daily reports expressing concern that Canada is losing ground to the United States and other competitors when it comes to breaking ground on large-scale CCS facilities.


Pipes run through a carbon capture facility in Alberta.

© Provided by Calgary Herald

Canada and the European Union are indeed scrambling to craft policies promoting private-sector investment in CCS following the landmark incentives put in place in the U.S. late last year. The United Kingdom has also doubled down with last week’s announcement of a CAD $33-billion investment in CCS for the next 20 years. Getting the right framework built, and quickly, is critical as the clock is ticking on Canada’s commitment to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Meeting this goal will rely heavily on implementing CCS in heavy industries across the country, including power generation; cement, steel and fertilizer manufacturing, mining, petrochemical processing, and oil and gas production.

While much attention is on the hefty upfront price tag for building large-scale CCS infrastructure, what is often lost in the debates over how to create the right conditions for investment in CCS are the longer-term costs to our society if we do not proceed on pace with the massive build-out required if we hope to meet our Paris Agreement commitments.

At the highest level, the world can’t afford to ignore CCS as a key tool in fighting climate change. The International Energy Agency estimates that CCS will be required for as much as one-quarter of the GHG reductions necessary by 2050, while the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change forecasts that the cost of climate mitigation could more than double without the application of CCS technologies.

It is also important to look beyond the direct cost of building a CCS facility, and consider how the cost of CCS impacts end users of the products we all rely on for daily life. A new study by Norwegian and Dutch experts concluded that implementing CCS on large-scale industrial projects yields significant CO2 reductions at minimal cost to the public over the long term. The researchers concluded that CCS is a relatively cheap emissions reduction solution for the end users of the commodities that heavy-emitting industries provide. After all, the average person does not tend to buy a lot of steel, cement, fertilizer or crude oil, but we do rely on these inputs for our homes, buildings, roads, clothing, food, pharmaceuticals and electronic devices. It turns out the overall cost for mitigating CO2 emissions from these products with CCS is marginal and well within the normal range of variation we see in market prices for such goods.

Focusing on the situation in Canada, our current federal emissions reduction plan calls for more than tripling Canada’s current CCS capacity by 2030. Adding the capture facilities, pipelines and underground storage systems needed for keeping at least another 15 million tonnes of CO2 per year from entering the atmosphere by the end of the decade is a massive undertaking that will require enormous political will, public confidence, and collaboration between industry, government, academia, Indigenous communities, and other partners.

Related video: Pressure grows on the shipping industry to accept carbon levy (WION)   View on Watch

The major players in Canada’s heavy-emitting industries – which provide major contributions to national GDP and government revenues, employ millions of people, and include firms that are at the core of most Canadians’ pension plans and investment portfolios – are committed to achieving net zero by 2050, and they are set to invest billions in Canada. Capital Power announced last December a limited notice to proceed for its Genesee CCS project. Heidelberg Materials continues to advance the world’s first CCS project on a cement plant in Edmonton. And the oilsands industry is already spending tens of millions of dollars on environmental assessments, early-stage engineering work and stakeholder engagement that is necessary to receive permits for construction.

All heavy emitters are awaiting key details to be released in the March 28 budget for how the Government of Canada will create a competitive regulatory environment with co-financing models allowing for multi-decade investments that will be tenable through the volatile cash flows that can define industry, especially the oil and gas sector.

Canada’s federal government has already lined up significant support for CCS projects through a proposed investment tax credit, new capital cost allowance classes for CCS projects, a federal price on carbon emissions, and several federal and provincial carbon credit systems that will allow companies to monetize the emissions they permanently send underground. When taken together, these incentives provide a promising basis for CCS investment in Canada.

The focus now needs to be on ensuring these programs move from proposals to reality, and for the government to provide long-term certainty on its carbon pricing regime so that industry can be confident its economic models won’t collapse due to the shifting winds of climate politics in the decades to come.

In the meantime, the risk that capital available for CCS development will move south of the border continues to grow. The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act contained straightforward incentives for CCS, including a production tax credit that provides $85 for every tonne of CO2 captured – a juicy carrot analysts believe will cover two-thirds of a project’s lifetime capital and operating costs.

As the world’s good intentions for addressing climate change become concrete plans with dollar figures attached, some argue that funding for the energy transition be directed towards renewable power and other emissions reduction technologies, but not CCS. This is an unrealistic approach considering the magnitude of the challenge ahead.

To be clear, global decarbonization requires using all the tools we have at our disposal. CCS is the only proven solution we have today that can dramatically cut CO2 emissions from heavy industries that are the pillars of our economy. It is worth pointing out that investment in this emission reduction pathway has been virtually non-existent compared to the trillions of dollars that have been spent on wind turbines, solar panels, electric vehicles and energy efficiency programs so far this century – during which time greenhouse gas emissions have continued to climb and the share of fossil fuels in the world’s energy mix has only budged marginally from 87 per cent in 2000 to 84 per cent by 2020.

It’s time to bring CCS to life, and Canada is uniquely suited to capture enormous value from the CCS boom on the horizon. With the right geology for safely storing CO2 deep underground, the technical experience from building and operating many of the world’s first CCS facilities, and the desire to fight climate change in a just and sustainable manner, Canada is poised to continue its global leadership in the CCS space.

Let’s make sure we don’t miss out on this once-in-a-generation opportunity. Our children are counting on us.

James Millar is president and CEO of the International CCS Knowledge Centre.

Carbon Capture Technology And Its Growing Role in Decarbonisation

Editor OilPrice.com
Sat, March 25, 2023

With a greater number of climate policies coming into place worldwide, from the Biden Administration’s IRA to the European Union’s New Green Deal, companies are feeling mounting pressure to decarbonise. And while some are doing it to enhance their ESG practices and futureproof their business, others are concerned about rising carbon taxes, which could slash their profits. So, as well as introducing green energy technology, many are turning to carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies to support their decarbonisation efforts. Big Oil is pumping billions into CCS equipment at operations around the globe to keep production ‘low-carbon oil’, while other industries, such as manufacturing, are looking to the technology to help clean up operations.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) sees CCS technology as key to the decarbonisation of fossil fuel operations and industrial processes, particularly useful as a bridge to greater renewable energy production. By 2021, the total annual carbon capture capacity stood at close to 45?Mt?of CO2, a figure that is expected to increase substantially with approximately 300 projects under construction. CCS equipment could capture more than 220 Mt CO2 a year by 2030. This will help companies achieve net-zero ambitions when paired with renewable energy technologies.

By 2022, 35 commercial facilities were using CCS for industrial processes, fuel transformation, and power generation. Deployment of the technology has been slow to date but investment in the sector is rising sharply, as companies look for ways to reduce their carbon output, improve their ESG practices, and avoid carbon taxes, to support a green transition. However, improved political policies and regulatory frameworks are required to ensure the effective rollout of the technology, in line with climate policies.

According to research by Wood Mackenzie, 2023 will be a milestone year for CCS. The global CCS pipeline rose by more than 50 percent in 2022, with projects planned across several industrial sectors. In recent years, government funding of up to 50 percent has helped CCS projects get off the ground, a trend that is expected to continue. The U.S. government has so far committed $3.7 billion to finance CCS projects and meet its net-zero goal by 2050. The introduction of new climate policies worldwide will also support the uptake of the technology.

In terms of how the CO2 is used, much of the sequestered carbon is currently going to enhanced oil recovery operations at present, responding to the ongoing need for fossil fuels to ensure energy security worldwide. However, as green energy capacity increases worldwide, much of the CO2 will go to designated storage sites, with 66 percent expected to be pumped deep underground by 2030. New legislation and supporting incentives for CO2 utilisation will encourage this change.

David Lluis Madrid, the CCUS analyst at BloombergNEF (BNEF), explained, “CCS is starting to overcome its bad reputation.” Madrid added, “It is now being deployed as a decarbonization tool, which means the CO2 needs to be stored. A lack of CO2 transport and storage sites near industrial or power generation point sources could be a major bottleneck to CCS development. But we are already seeing a big increase in these projects to serve that need.”

One of many projects underway globally is an innovative CCS offshore site, the Greensand project, in the Danish part of the North Sea, where construction began this month. CO2 captured in Belgium will be transported via ship for injection in a depleted oil field, located 120 miles from the North Sea coast. The project is being undertaken by a consortium of companies including Germany’s Wintershall Dea and Britain’s INEOS. It is considered to be the world’s first cross-border offshore carbon dioxide storage with the explicit purpose of tackling climate change.

Meanwhile, in Norway, a joint venture between Equinor, TotalEnergies, and Shell is also underway. The Northern Lights project will see 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 injected into saline aquifer near the Troll gas field annually, starting in 2024. In the U.K., the Accorn CCS project is being launched off the coast of Scotland, aimed at creating an annual capacity of 5-10 mtpa of CO2 by 2030. The project is being operated by Storegga, Shell, Harbour Energy and North Sea Midstream Partners. And in the Netherlands, the Porthos project by the Port of Rotterdam, Gasunie, and EBN is expected to provide a storage capacity of 2.5 mtpa of CO2. Porthos will be located in depleted Dutch gas fields in the North Sea, with operations expected to start in 2026.

Many companies worldwide are now looking to CCS technologies to help them achieve decarbonisation aims without giving up on their traditional operations. The rollout of CCS around the globe will be supported by new climate policies, decarbonisation incentives, and better regulation of the industry. In addition, greater public funding for CCS projects is expected to spur private investment in the sector and boost the world’s CO2storage capacity significantly in the coming decades.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

Why Japan Isn’t Tapping It's Incredible Geothermal Potential

Editor OilPrice.com
Sun, March 26, 2023

Japan, a large energy importer where coal and gas make up two-thirds of electricity generation, has one abundant domestic renewable energy source that has remained untapped—geothermal energy.

Geothermal resources in Japan, thought to be the world's third largest, could stay deep underground despite Japan's net-zero by 2050 pledge and the fact that it is still very much dependent on fossil fuels for a large part of its electricity consumption.

Japan lies along the western edge of the Pacific Ring of Fire, one of the most seismically active places on Earth. As much as 10 percent of the world's volcanic activity takes place in Japan, and the country is blessed with geothermal resources.

But a very powerful and centuries-old Japanese industry and tradition – hot spring resorts – is opposed to large-scale development of geothermal energy, fearing that tapping the resources would affect the temperatures and quality of hot springs, a major business with more than 13,000 inns and baths across Japan.

Japan has some geothermal plants, around 20 facilities generating a total of 535 megawatts (MW). This represents only 0.3% of the total electricity generation in Japan, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

There have been some rare examples recently of small geothermal plants co-existing with hot springs – the so-called 'onsen' in Japanese. But an overwhelmingly large part of onsen owners are opposed to geothermal development.

"Rampant geothermal development is a threat to our culture," Yoshiyasu Sato, owner of a secluded inn next to a hot spring in the mountains of Fukushima Prefecture, told The New York Times' investigative reporter Hiroko Tabuchi.

"If something were to happen to our onsens, who will pay?" Sato says.

Yutaka Seki, executive director with the National Hot Spring Association, told NYT, "We aren't opposed to geothermal energy for the sake of opposing it."

"But we strongly caution against unchecked large-scale development."

Opposition to geothermal energy development has remained even after the energy crisis of the past two years, which has had Japan's energy import bill surge due to high coal and natural gas prices and has resulted in calls on households and businesses to conserve energy.

In 2021, natural gas accounted for 35% of electricity production in Japan, followed by coal at 32.5% share. Geothermal energy represented just 0.3% of power generation, despite the fact that the potential would be equivalent to 23 gigawatts (GW), according to IRENA. High upfront costs and rigorous regulatory processes have hindered geothermal development, despite the technical and construction achievements of Japan's domestic giants such as Toshiba and Mitsubishi.

Some local governments with hot spring resorts have recently introduced new restrictions on geothermal plant development. For example, the town of Kusatsu passed an ordinance last year stating that companies seeking to develop geothermal resources have to prove a project would not negatively impact hot springs in the area.

Even nuclear energy generation in Japan has made more progress since the start of the energy crisis and the focus on energy security after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Japan is bringing back nuclear power as a key energy source, looking to protect its energy security in the crisis that has led to surging fossil fuel prices. The Japanese government confirmed in December a new policy for nuclear energy, which the country had mostly abandoned since the Fukushima disaster in 2011.

A panel of experts under the Japanese Ministry of Industry decided that Japan would allow the development of new nuclear reactors and allow available reactors to operate after the current limit of 60 years.

But Japan's hot springs are a hurdle to the development of a domestic renewable source of energy. Geothermal energy could generate 10% of Japan's electricity if tapped, analysts say.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

32% of all racist incidents in 2022 were directed at Arab Israelis - Justice Ministry

Story by By JERUSALEM POST STAFF • Yesterday

Israel's Justice Ministry released a study examining the racist incidents which occurred in Israel in 2022 last week in honor of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on March 21, 2023,

RALLYING AGAINST racism in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square.© (photo credit: TOMER NEUBERG/FLASH90)

The data represented incidents that were reported to the Justice Ministry's Unit for Coordinating the Fight Against Racism in 2022

According to the report, the complaints were primarily about discrimination in the provision of public services (19% of all complaints), employment (12%), and general racist statements in the public sphere (11%). There were also reports of racist advertising in public, racism on the part of the police, racial discrimination from public servants and educators, and racially-motivated criminal offenses.

In total, 415 racist incidents were investigated by the Justice Ministry in 2022. This, according to Tuesday's report, indicates a general downward trend in the number of reported instances of racism.

Of those, 32% of incidents represented allegations of racism against Arabs and 17% alleged racist action against Ethiopian Israelis. 18% of racist incidents were reported by Israelis who came from the former USSR, 5% from Mizrahi Israelis, 5% from haredim, and another 15% from miscellaneous categories not listed by name in the report.



PALESTINIAN SUPPORTERS and Israeli delegates argue outside the World Conference Against Racism, in Durban, 2001. (credit: REUTERS)© Provided by The Jerusalem PostPALESTINIAN SUPPORTERS and Israeli delegates argue outside the World Conference Against Racism, in Durban, 2001. (credit: REUTERS)

The percentage of cases opened for Ethiopians between 2019-2022 represents twice the percentage of the Israeli population which Ethiopians make up. That is to say, 3.5% of all cases 2019-2022 alleged racism against Ethiopian Israelis, who constitute approximately 1.7% of the population of Israel. This proportion is slightly smaller for Arab citizens, who represented 35% of cases in the three-year period and constitute approximately 21% of the population.

The same ratios were even more dramatic when applied to "contact cases" which are cases of alleged assault by a police officer. The percentage of police violence cases brought to the Justice Ministry by Ethiopians is approximately two and a half times larger than the Ethiopian percentage of the Israeli population. For Arabs, the percentage of cases is twice the percentage of the total population.


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The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the UDHR

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was established by the United Nations and is observed on March 21, the day the police in Sharpeville, South Africa, killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration against apartheid in 1960, per the United Nations' website.

The protesters were specifically demonstrating against the "pass laws," South Africa's internal passport system which allowed the strict maintenance of racial segregation.

The 2023 theme of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination focused on the urgency of combatting racism and racial discrimination, according to the United Nations' website. The 2023 observance of the day marked 75 years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Among many other things, the UDHR states unequivocally that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

Racism against Ethiopian Israelis

Teachers from a school in Netivot opened a racist WhatsApp group earlier this month in which they gossiped and laughed about their Ethiopian students.

The students departed for a school trip on March 12, and the girls sitting behind the teachers on the bus noticed their teachers texting in the group called “Black [Girls] School Trip.”

The girls who saw this took photos and videos and shared them with the rest of the class.

One of the girls sent out a message to the teachers admonishing them for their racism.

The teachers were made to attend a hearing, where it was decided that they could continue teaching and their status would be reviewed in the next academic year.

Ariella Marsden contributed to this report.

‘They are formidable creatures’: life with Northumberland’s rare white wild cattle

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Story by Mark Brown North of England correspondent • 7h ago

From a distance they look so placid and approachable, but you would not want to get on the wrong side of the wild white cattle of Chillingham, one of the rarest animals in the world.

“They are formidable creatures,” says the warden, Ellie Waddington. “If they are cornered, they will defend themselves. Obviously we think of cattle as being big, lumbering, docile animals that we have in fields today … but these guys are a completely different beast.”


The cattle are very different to what you would see on a farm. For one thing, they are ghostly white with beautiful mottled faces. They are nimble, short, stocky with big muscles in their shoulders and chests, and they have wonderful horns akin to fancy-dress Viking headgear.

The herd lives in 150 hectares (380 acres) of idyllic north Northumberland countryside, and they are remarkable survivors of the ancient cattle that once roamed Britain’s forests.

This year, there are about 130 cattle, so they are far more rare than mountain gorillas or pandas. They live as wild animals and are not handled by anyone or treated by vets. The only way to see them is by taking a tour organised by a charity that manages the park and conserves the landscape. Those tours begin this year on 3 April.

Quite why the cattle were brought to what was a deer park in Northumberland, perhaps 700 years ago, is unclear. But here they remain. Waddington says the wild cattle are some of the most inbred animals in the world. They have had no human interference for centuries and have not been subject to the breeding processes that other cattle have gone through to improve meat or dairy output.

“These guys are incredibly inbred,” she says. “It is kind of a marvel that they’re still here and standing because realistically, when you look at animals that do inbreed over a long period of time, they become infertile and they die out.”

It can be a tough life. “They have been breeding for survival so the bulls will fight for dominance. It’s the biggest, strongest bulls that win those fights and pass on their genes. If there is a calf that’s weak and isn’t able to make it then it dies. It is survival of the fittest.”

The cattle live in smaller subherds with dominant bulls. When a younger bull challenges, there can be a full-on fight, although rarely to the death. “Most of the time one bull backs down. It would have to be an incredibly stubborn animal that would carry on until it was dead.”

Generally, the cattle could not care less about human observers, and the biggest danger might be from a mother that has calved for the first time and will be hyper-alert to possible threats. “There are certainly animals I would take you a little close to and others I wouldn’t,” says Waddington.

The cattle are important as a scientific marvel – Charles Darwin was a fascinated visitor – but also important because of their magic and mystery.

No one knows for sure why they are here. Were they brought over by the Vikings or Romans? Are they part of Celtic folklore that talks about the Irish goddess Brigid being raised on the milk of a white cow?

It is known that the wild cattle were once hunted and that is one reason they are still here, says Waddington. “We wouldn’t be able to look at them today if they weren’t a hunted animal. It was a bit of a novelty because there was nowhere else where you could hunt wild white cattle.”

Waddington, whose husband and sister are also wardens, has understandably developed a real affection for the wild white cattle.

“They are very relaxing, very soothing,” she says. “But then I’ve always found cattle quite relaxing. I’ve just come back off maternity leave and when I was giving birth I had a playlist of cattle sounds because I find them so relaxing.”

Chillingham cattle were not on the playlist but perhaps they should be recorded. “They make a wonderful noise,” Waddington says. “The bulls make a wonderful loud hooting bellow to compete with the other bulls and show how big and strong they are.”

The charity-organised tours begin on 3 April and run to October