Georgia will be first state with medical marijuana in pharmacies
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia soon will become the first state in the nation to offer medical marijuana products at independent pharmacies, state officials said.
The Georgia Board of Pharmacy began accepting applications this week, and nearly 120 pharmacies have agreed to provide medication from Botanical Sciences, one of the state’s two licensed production companies, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. It will likely take a few weeks before medical marijuana is available in pharmacies. After they submit applications, inspections will be required before the board grants approval.
Medical marijuana is only available to Georgians with approval from a physician to treat severe illnesses including seizures, terminal cancers, Parkinson’s disease and post-traumatic stress disorder. Low THC oil can contain no more than 5% THC, the compound that gives users a high.
The expansion of medical cannabis sales into drug stores will put low THC oil within reach of many more patients, adding to the state’s seven dispensaries that have opened since April.
Patients will be able to buy cannabis oil at pharmacies if they show a state-issued low THC oil registry card and identification.
“Pharmacists have been fielding questions from patients for years without ever having the ability to do anything about it,” said Gary Long, CEO for Botanical Sciences. “Finally, they have the ability not just to give people advice but provide them with the therapies they’ve been seeking.”
About 90% of Georgia’s population will be within a 30-minute drive of a pharmacy selling medical marijuana when they open, according to the company.
“Pharmacists are a trusted provider, and it’s a way for us to destigmatize this new medicine,” said Mindy Leech, a pharmacist and the owner of Lee-King Pharmacy in Newnan. “It will make people more comfortable if they want to come in and ask questions about it.”
The Georgia General Assembly approved distribution of low THC oil as part of a state law passed in 2019, but it has taken years to create regulations for safety, inspections, licensing and distribution. Gov. Brian Kemp approved rules last month that were passed by the Georgia Board of Pharmacy, clearing the way for pharmacy sales to begin.
The Georgia Department of Public Health recently disclosed it had miscounted and inflated the number of registered medical marijuana patients. Just 14,000 active patients and caregivers are currently signed up, far fewer than the 50,000 previously reported.
“We’re going to have patients that need this health care in some remote parts of Georgia that probably would never have a dispensary near them,” said Jonathan Marquess, vice president for the Georgia Pharmacy Association and the owner of several pharmacies in the Atlanta area. “But they do have a caring professional, a knowledgeable professional pharmacist, in their communities who can talk to them.”
There are over 400 independent pharmacies in Georgia, and Marquess said he expects most of them will be interested in selling low THC oil. The product isn’t being sold by national drugstores like CVS and Walgreens.
Andrew Turnage, executive director for the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission, said the pharmacy rule is “definitely big news.”
“It helps both our licensees and especially our patients,” he said. “It will put access in virtually every county in the state.”
Fri, October 6, 2023
The Associated Press
Saturday, October 07, 2023
Fri, October 6, 2023
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Amazon launched the first test satellites for its planned internet service on Friday as a rival to SpaceX’s broadband network.
United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket blasted off with the pair of test satellites, kicking off a program that aims to improve global internet coverage with an eventual 3,236 satellites around Earth.
Amazon plans to begin offering service by the end of next year.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has a huge head start over Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos, who has his own rocket company, Blue Origin.
SpaceX flew its first test Starlink satellites in 2018 and the first operational satellites in 2019. It has since launched more than 5,000 Starlinks from Florida and California, using its own Falcon rockets.
Europe’s Eutelsat OneWeb also is launching internet satellites, with around 600 in orbit.
Amazon originally agreed to put the satellites on the debut launch of ULA’s Vulcan rocket. But with the Vulcan grounded by problems until at least the end of this year, Amazon switched to the long-established Atlas V.
When licensing the program, the Federal Communications Commission stipulated that at least half of the planned satellites be operating by 2026 and all of them by 2029.
Amazon has reserved 77 launches from ULA, Blue Origin and Europe’s Arianespace to get everything up.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press
Rohit Chopra: 'Financial markets are much better off with the CFPB'
US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Jennifer Schonberger
·Senior Reporter
Fri, October 6, 2023
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra said if an attempt to invalidate his agency's funding is successful before the Supreme Court, it would add more uncertainty for the mortgage industry and create "a lot of headaches" for consumers.
“I think the whole financial markets are much better off with the CFPB there,” Chopra told Yahoo Finance LIVE in an exclusive interview Friday. "I think if a CFPB had existed in the early 2000s, we wouldn't have had a subprime mortgage crisis."
US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra. (Leah Millis/REUTERS)
The interview with Chopra was his first since the Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week in a challenge to the funding structure of the CFPB, a financial regulator that was created by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in the aftermath of the subprime housing meltdown and financial crisis in 2008.
Payday lenders, who brought the challenge, have argued that the CFPB's funding that it receives through the Federal Reserve is unconstitutional and that funding should be appropriated by Congress.
The Supreme Court justices, however, appear likely to uphold that structure based on what transpired Tuesday, when some of them sounded skeptical of the arguments made by the payday lenders.
The Supreme Court building in Washington. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo, File)
Chopra says even many mortgage lenders tell the agency how much they depend on clarity from the CFPB and the rules it put in place over the last decade.
"I think many in the mortgage industry are already facing so many challenges when it comes to the higher interest rate environment," Chopra said. "We see refinancing activity and loan origination activity go down and this would add even further uncertainty and really cause a lot of headaches for consumers too."
The case, he added, wouldn't stop the CFPB from its focus. "The business of the CFPB continues," he added.
'Lurching' toward China-style payments system
One main focus for the agency at the moment is ensuring the US payment system is safe and fair for consumers and not just conglomerates.
Chopra warned Friday that the US payment system is careening towards a Chinese-style system where Big Tech companies are taking advantage of blurring traditional lines drawn within the financial sector as they move into finance, threatening the separation between banking, money, and payments as well as the real economy.
"One of the things that I think we're seeing in the market is that the US is really lurching toward a market structure that's more like what we see in China," said Chopra.
"One that is fueled by a lot of surveillance and even censorship, one that actually mixes up banking payments with commercial activities. And we've had a long tradition in our country of trying to separate from the real economy so that they're supporting other businesses, not steering to those businesses."
Chopra said the CFPB is looking at appropriate authorities to use to conduct supervisory examinations of nonbanks that are operating consumer payment platforms, essentially tech firms.
"We have a number of authorities to do so, such as when these firms serve as service providers to large depository institutions," he said. "Another one of these authorities includes defining larger participants in this market, by rule, which would subject nonbanks meeting a particular size threshold to CFPB supervision."
Chopra says the agency plans to issue supplemental orders to certain large technology companies to get more information to help the CFPB better understand their business practices, especially when it comes to the use of sensitive personal data and any issuance of private currencies.
The CFPB released a report last month that found that Apple and Google are acting as “choke points” to the US payment system, cutting off innovation by keeping other apps out.
The CFPB said last month that Apple and Google are acting as "choke points" to the US payment system. (Dado Ruvic/REUTERS/Illustration
"It's worrisome when we don't have a real open and decentralized system that consumers and businesses and new types of startups in the financial sector can all use to get ahead," said Chopra. "So we're going to be continuing to look really carefully at how that data harvesting and surveillance is working."
Chopra also said regulators need to make sure the consumer payment firms are not trafficking fraud and find ways to restrict how some of the payments firms can harvest surveil and monetize Americans’ personal data.
Later this month, Chopra said the agency will propose new rules around open banking and personal financial data rights.
"[We want] Americans to have confidence when they share their financial data that those companies aren't reselling it or trafficking it for purposes that the consumer never even wanted," said Chopra.
Chopra says the CFPB is also closely looking at currencies being issued by Big Tech firms. He said all regulators are going to take a close look at a coming stablecoin from PayPal.
"Paypal, which operates Venmo, has had a number of run-ins with the law when it comes to compliance with consumer protection and privacy laws. So obviously, it's going to require a close look from all the regulators."
'I've never met a single banker that ever wanted to hold more capital'
Chopra also sits on the board of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which is among the regulators that recently proposed new capital requirements for banks.
The banks vehemently oppose the proposal, arguing higher capital requirements could hurt credit availability in the US and push banking into unregulated areas like the shadow banking system.
Asked whether regulators would consider softening in any areas of the proposal, Chopra cited the massive bailouts of banks that followed the financial crisis of 2008.
The FDIC building in Washington. (Getty Images)
“I don't think we can have a system where banks and bank executives can roll the dice where they get all the winnings, but then taxpayers and our economy are holding the bag when their bets go badly. We've got to make sure that if they are taking insured deposits that they have some real skin in the game.”
Chopra said regulators are taking public feedback on the rules before finalizing them.
"I have never met a single banker that ever wanted to hold more capital," he said. "So it's no surprise that they will not want to do this. But we've got to think of our country and the economy too."
Jennifer Schonberger
·Senior Reporter
Fri, October 6, 2023
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra said if an attempt to invalidate his agency's funding is successful before the Supreme Court, it would add more uncertainty for the mortgage industry and create "a lot of headaches" for consumers.
“I think the whole financial markets are much better off with the CFPB there,” Chopra told Yahoo Finance LIVE in an exclusive interview Friday. "I think if a CFPB had existed in the early 2000s, we wouldn't have had a subprime mortgage crisis."
US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra. (Leah Millis/REUTERS)
The interview with Chopra was his first since the Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week in a challenge to the funding structure of the CFPB, a financial regulator that was created by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in the aftermath of the subprime housing meltdown and financial crisis in 2008.
Payday lenders, who brought the challenge, have argued that the CFPB's funding that it receives through the Federal Reserve is unconstitutional and that funding should be appropriated by Congress.
The Supreme Court justices, however, appear likely to uphold that structure based on what transpired Tuesday, when some of them sounded skeptical of the arguments made by the payday lenders.
The Supreme Court building in Washington. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo, File)
Chopra says even many mortgage lenders tell the agency how much they depend on clarity from the CFPB and the rules it put in place over the last decade.
"I think many in the mortgage industry are already facing so many challenges when it comes to the higher interest rate environment," Chopra said. "We see refinancing activity and loan origination activity go down and this would add even further uncertainty and really cause a lot of headaches for consumers too."
The case, he added, wouldn't stop the CFPB from its focus. "The business of the CFPB continues," he added.
'Lurching' toward China-style payments system
One main focus for the agency at the moment is ensuring the US payment system is safe and fair for consumers and not just conglomerates.
Chopra warned Friday that the US payment system is careening towards a Chinese-style system where Big Tech companies are taking advantage of blurring traditional lines drawn within the financial sector as they move into finance, threatening the separation between banking, money, and payments as well as the real economy.
"One of the things that I think we're seeing in the market is that the US is really lurching toward a market structure that's more like what we see in China," said Chopra.
"One that is fueled by a lot of surveillance and even censorship, one that actually mixes up banking payments with commercial activities. And we've had a long tradition in our country of trying to separate from the real economy so that they're supporting other businesses, not steering to those businesses."
Chopra said the CFPB is looking at appropriate authorities to use to conduct supervisory examinations of nonbanks that are operating consumer payment platforms, essentially tech firms.
"We have a number of authorities to do so, such as when these firms serve as service providers to large depository institutions," he said. "Another one of these authorities includes defining larger participants in this market, by rule, which would subject nonbanks meeting a particular size threshold to CFPB supervision."
Chopra says the agency plans to issue supplemental orders to certain large technology companies to get more information to help the CFPB better understand their business practices, especially when it comes to the use of sensitive personal data and any issuance of private currencies.
The CFPB released a report last month that found that Apple and Google are acting as “choke points” to the US payment system, cutting off innovation by keeping other apps out.
The CFPB said last month that Apple and Google are acting as "choke points" to the US payment system. (Dado Ruvic/REUTERS/Illustration
"It's worrisome when we don't have a real open and decentralized system that consumers and businesses and new types of startups in the financial sector can all use to get ahead," said Chopra. "So we're going to be continuing to look really carefully at how that data harvesting and surveillance is working."
Chopra also said regulators need to make sure the consumer payment firms are not trafficking fraud and find ways to restrict how some of the payments firms can harvest surveil and monetize Americans’ personal data.
Later this month, Chopra said the agency will propose new rules around open banking and personal financial data rights.
"[We want] Americans to have confidence when they share their financial data that those companies aren't reselling it or trafficking it for purposes that the consumer never even wanted," said Chopra.
Chopra says the CFPB is also closely looking at currencies being issued by Big Tech firms. He said all regulators are going to take a close look at a coming stablecoin from PayPal.
"Paypal, which operates Venmo, has had a number of run-ins with the law when it comes to compliance with consumer protection and privacy laws. So obviously, it's going to require a close look from all the regulators."
'I've never met a single banker that ever wanted to hold more capital'
Chopra also sits on the board of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which is among the regulators that recently proposed new capital requirements for banks.
The banks vehemently oppose the proposal, arguing higher capital requirements could hurt credit availability in the US and push banking into unregulated areas like the shadow banking system.
Asked whether regulators would consider softening in any areas of the proposal, Chopra cited the massive bailouts of banks that followed the financial crisis of 2008.
The FDIC building in Washington. (Getty Images)
“I don't think we can have a system where banks and bank executives can roll the dice where they get all the winnings, but then taxpayers and our economy are holding the bag when their bets go badly. We've got to make sure that if they are taking insured deposits that they have some real skin in the game.”
Chopra said regulators are taking public feedback on the rules before finalizing them.
"I have never met a single banker that ever wanted to hold more capital," he said. "So it's no surprise that they will not want to do this. But we've got to think of our country and the economy too."
GREEN CAPITALI$M
Koch-Backed GameChange Solar Files Confidentially for 2024 IPORyan Gould, Gillian Tan and Kiel Porter
Fri, October 6, 2023
(Bloomberg) -- GameChange Solar, whose backers include a Koch Industries affiliate, has confidentially filed for an initial public offering that could take place as soon as next year, according to people familiar with the matter.
The company, adding to a roster of candidates tentatively preparing to brave the public market, is seeking to be valued in an IPO at up to $3 billion, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter isn’t public.
GameChange Solar’s plans for a listing, including the timing, could still change, the people said. A representative for the Norwalk, Connecticut-based company declined to comment.
GameChange Solar said in a 2021 statement that Koch Strategic Platforms, a subsidiary of Koch Investments Group, had made a $150 million investment to support the company’s strategic development goals.
Founded in 2012, GameChange Solar provides utility and commercial scale fixed tilt and tracker solar racking systems that have been used in projects totaling more than 29 gigawatts. It said in a statement in September that it has contracted to increase its US manufacturing capacity by 50% to 36 gigawatts a year by 2024.
A listing would follow that of solar power equipment maker Nextracker Inc., a Fremont, California-based company that raised $734 million including so-called greenshoe shares in February. Its shares have climbed 42% from their IPO price since then, giving the company a market value of more than $5.4 billion.
Blackstone Inc.-backed Esdec Solar Group is also pursuing an an initial public offering, seeking to be valued at more than $5 billion, Bloomberg News reported in August. The Dutch company was working on a listing with JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley.
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M
Analysis-US would struggle to block Exxon's politically unpopular megadealFri, October 6, 2023
By Diane Bartz and David French
(Reuters) - The White House may have blamed Exxon Mobil for high energy prices taking their toll on consumers, but would struggle to thwart the top U.S. oil producer's contemplated $60 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources, five antitrust lawyers and experts said on Friday.
Deal negotiations between Exxon and Pioneer are advanced but have not yet led to an agreement, Reuters reported on Thursday. The acquisition would give Exxon ownership of the largest producer in the biggest U.S. oilfield.
U.S. President Joe Biden has blasted energy companies for their surging profits as gasoline prices soared at the pump, and his administration has been especially critical of Exxon for not raising production despite its record earnings.
The White House wrote to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) chair Lina Khan in 2021 asking her to scrutinize deals in the sector for "anti-consumer behavior," and the antitrust regulator subsequently slowed down the approval of many of them as it reviewed them.
These transactions were eventually allowed to be completed, and the regulator has not sued to thwart an oil and gas production deal since 2000.
The lawyers and experts interviewed said the FTC would face an uphill struggle in challenging Exxon's attempted acquisition of Pioneer.
This is because oil and gas companies have been effective in arguing that U.S. mergers alone cannot stifle competition, as commodity prices are dictated by supply and demand forces in a vast global market.
Andre Barlow, an antitrust attorney with Doyle, Barlow and Mazard PLLC, said oil and gas deals such as that for Pioneer, which involve production and exploration, are easier to defend under antitrust law.
"This isn't a refinery deal or a retail deal, which are usually the main drivers of antitrust risk. Those are the deals where we see problems," Barlow said.
The White House and the FTC declined to comment. Exxon and Pioneer did not respond to requests for comment.
Political pressure was building on the FTC on Friday to investigate any agreement that Exxon and Pioneer reached.
Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse criticized Exxon for deploying money it earned from "gouging using a corrupt internal cartel... to double down on polluting the planet, pushing even more costs and dangers on consumers."
The antitrust experts agreed that, while Exxon and Pioneer stood a good chance of completing their deal, they would face a long antitrust review because of the controversy it will attract.
"The modern U.S. experience is that oil and gas deals of any notable size get a close look. Gasoline prices are creeping up and that will make a difference," said William Kovacic, a former FTC chair who teaches at George Washington University's law school.
Companies like Exxon have felt emboldened to pursue big mergers after U.S. regulators lost some high-profile attempts in court to block megadeals in recent months, including Microsoft's $69 billion purchase of "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard.
BASIN CONCENTRATION
The FTC has not challenged a major merger of oil and gas producers since BP's $27 billion acquisition of Atlantic Richfield in 2000. It sued to block the merger and only agreed to drop its objections after BP offered to divest oil production acreage in Alaska.
Exxon's deal for Pioneer would make it the biggest producer in the Permian basin, which spans West Texas and eastern New Mexico, according to consultancies Wood MacKenzie and Rystad.
Pioneer is the Permian's largest operator accounting for 9% of gross production, while Exxon occupies the No. 5 spot at 6%, according to RBC Capital Markets analysts.
The FTC earlier this year showed tolerance for consolidation in another U.S. oil field. It allowed Chevron, the No. 2 U.S. oil producer, to complete in August its $7.6 billion acquisition of PDC Energy, less than three months after the deal was announced, even as it concentrated 40% of the production in the Denver-Julesburg basin.
That is more consolidation than the Exxon-Pioneer deal would bring to the Permian basin.
It could not be learned how long Exxon and Pioneer plan to give themselves to complete their deal or whether the latter will negotiate a hefty break-up fee to allow for the possibility that regulators thwart their tie-up.
David Kass, a finance professor at the University of Maryland and former FTC antitrust economist, said regulators would have to show they have conducted a thorough analysis of Exxon's deal for Pioneer given the key role the Permian basin plays in energy production.
"(The basin) is very significant factor in this case," he said.
(Reporting by Diane Bartz in Washington, D.C. and David French in Atlanta; Additional reporting by Mike Stone in Washington, D.C.; Editing by Greg Roumeliotis and Marguerita Choy)
CRIMINAL CRYPTO CAPITALI$M
Sam Bankman-Fried stole customer funds from the beginning of FTX, exchange's co-founder tells jury
Fri, October 6, 2023
NEW YORK (AP) — Sam Bankman-Fried authorized the illegal use of FTX customers' funds and assets to plug financial gaps at an affiliated hedge fund from the exchange's earliest days, FTX's co-founder Gary Wang told a New York jury on Friday, as prosecutors pressed their case that Bankman-Fried was the mastermind behind one of the biggest frauds in U.S. history.
Eventually, the losses at the hedge fund, Alameda Research, became so large that there was no way to hide them any longer, Wang said in his second day of testimony.
“FTX was not fine,” Wang said, referring to the now-infamous tweet that Bankman-Fried wrote only a few days before the exchange filed for bankruptcy in November 2022.
Prosecutors allege that Bankman-Fried, 31, stole billions of dollars from investors and customers in order to fund a lavish lifestyle in The Bahamas and buy the influence of politicians, celebrities and the public.
Wang was FTX's chief technology officer and is part of what has been referred to as the “inner circle” of FTX executives who have agreed to testify against Bankman-Fried in exchange for leniency in their own criminal cases. He is expected to finish his testimony Tuesday. Wang has pleaded guilty to wire fraud, securities and commodities fraud as part of his agreement with prosecutors.
Prosecutors hope to have Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda and Bankman-Fried's ex-girlfriend, take the stand Tuesday.
Wang and Bankman-Fried started Alameda in 2017, then founded FTX in 2019.
Wang told the jury that, at the direction of Bankman-Fried, he inserted code into FTX's operations that would give Alameda Research the ability to make nearly unlimited withdrawals from FTX and have a line of credit up to $65 billion. Alameda was given these privileges initially because the hedge fund was the primary market maker for FTX's customers in the exchange's early days.
Alameda took advantage of its unlimited withdrawal capabilities and lines of credit from the start, Wang said, in the forms of cryptocurrencies as well as dollars. Initially it was only a few million dollars but grew over the years.
“It withdrew more funds than it had on exchange,” Wang said adding that the money that it withdrew “was money from (FTX) customers.”
The relationship was effectively a two-way street, where the exchange could help out the hedge fund and vice versa as FTX quickly grew between 2019 and 2022. At one point, when a technical bug caused FTX to have hundreds of millions of dollars in paper losses on a particular cryptocurrency, Wang said Bankman-Fried ordered that loss to be moved onto Alameda's balance sheet because FTX's financial condition was more visible to the public while Alameda's balance sheet was not.
Alameda’s deep financial ties to FTX were in contrast to Bankman-Fried’s public statements that the hedge fund was “no different” from any other FTX customer.
The losses at Alameda reached as much as $14 billion in the months leading up to the exchange’s bankruptcy. Bankman-Fried and Wang discussed solutions to the problems at Alameda in the summer of 2022, including shutting down the hedge fund, but by then it was too late.
“(Alameda) had no way of repaying this,” Wang testified.
FTX filed for bankruptcy Nov. 11. Wang testified that, within hours of FTX filing for bankruptcy, Bankman-Fried ordered him to send the bulk of FTX’s remaining assets to the securities regulators in The Bahamas instead of to the U.S. authorities handling the bankruptcy.
Bankman-Fried said the Bahamian regulators "seemed more friendly to him, and they seemed more likely to let him stay in control of the company compared to the U.S.,” Wang testified.
Following this exchange, Wang contacted the FBI on Nov. 17, saying he knew what he had done was wrong and he wanted to avoid a long prison sentence for his crimes.
In opening statements this week, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers claimed that Wang and other FTX lieutenants failed to do their jobs, including setting up appropriate financial hedges that would have protected FTX from last year’s crash in crypto prices. They said Bankman-Fried believed he was managing a liquidity crisis caused by cryptocurrency values that collapsed by over 70% and criticism from one of his biggest competitors that caused a run on his companies by customers seeking to recover their deposits.
In their cross examination of Wang on Friday, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers tried to downplay any special relationship between Alameda and FTX, saying it was not unusual for market-making entities such as Alameda to have losses or borrow funds from an exchange.
Ken Sweet And Larry Neumeister (), The Associated Press
US Turns to Private Investment for Minerals Projects
Ellen Milligan
Fri, October 6, 2023
(Bloomberg) -- The US is working with a network of private companies to help spur investment in up to 15 global critical-minerals projects designed to create a more secure supply chain of key metals.
The consortium, which includes mining and technology firms, will act as sources of information and investment for the Minerals Security Partnership, which comprises of 14 nations including the US, UK, European Union and Japan. The countries, along with some large producing nations, will meet in London on Oct. 10 to discuss how to finance the critical mineral projects, as well as environmental concerns. The focus will be on minerals used in electric car batteries.
“We’re now looking at 15 projects on five continents, ranging from extraction to processing,” Jose Fernandez, US under secretary for economic growth, energy and the environment, said at a press briefing in London on Thursday. One of those projects may be in the UK.
“It’s a project that is very promising that we are eager to support,” he said of the UK project. “No country can do it alone.”
Encouraging private sector companies to invest is a crucial part of the partnership’s aim to funnel foreign investment into a sector that supplies the raw materials crucial to the EVs and solar panels that underpin efforts to usher in a greener economy.
The US and other nations are also focused on securing a resource supply chain that’s crucial to advanced manufacturing but remains almost totally dominated by China, which controls most of the market for processing and refining minerals such as cobalt, lithium and other rare earths.
The US signed a critical minerals agreement with Japan earlier this year which allows EVs that use materials that have been collected or processed in Japan to be eligible for incentives under the US Inflation Reduction Act, and is negotiating similar deals with the EU and UK, Fernandez said.
“We’re currently in conversations with both the EU and with the UK and those conversations are intense, they are ongoing,” he said.
(Updates with fresh Fernandez quote in 3rd paragraph. A previous version of this story was corrected to reflect that the US isn’t planning to unveil 15 projects at this time.)
Ellen Milligan
Fri, October 6, 2023
(Bloomberg) -- The US is working with a network of private companies to help spur investment in up to 15 global critical-minerals projects designed to create a more secure supply chain of key metals.
The consortium, which includes mining and technology firms, will act as sources of information and investment for the Minerals Security Partnership, which comprises of 14 nations including the US, UK, European Union and Japan. The countries, along with some large producing nations, will meet in London on Oct. 10 to discuss how to finance the critical mineral projects, as well as environmental concerns. The focus will be on minerals used in electric car batteries.
“We’re now looking at 15 projects on five continents, ranging from extraction to processing,” Jose Fernandez, US under secretary for economic growth, energy and the environment, said at a press briefing in London on Thursday. One of those projects may be in the UK.
“It’s a project that is very promising that we are eager to support,” he said of the UK project. “No country can do it alone.”
Encouraging private sector companies to invest is a crucial part of the partnership’s aim to funnel foreign investment into a sector that supplies the raw materials crucial to the EVs and solar panels that underpin efforts to usher in a greener economy.
The US and other nations are also focused on securing a resource supply chain that’s crucial to advanced manufacturing but remains almost totally dominated by China, which controls most of the market for processing and refining minerals such as cobalt, lithium and other rare earths.
The US signed a critical minerals agreement with Japan earlier this year which allows EVs that use materials that have been collected or processed in Japan to be eligible for incentives under the US Inflation Reduction Act, and is negotiating similar deals with the EU and UK, Fernandez said.
“We’re currently in conversations with both the EU and with the UK and those conversations are intense, they are ongoing,” he said.
(Updates with fresh Fernandez quote in 3rd paragraph. A previous version of this story was corrected to reflect that the US isn’t planning to unveil 15 projects at this time.)
Bloomberg Businessweek
Starbucks must disclose spending on response to union campaign, judge rules
Fri, October 6, 2023
By Daniel Wiessner
(Reuters) - Starbucks Corp must provide U.S. regulators with documents detailing its spending on efforts to discuss unionizing with workers, part of the agency's probe into whether the coffee chain violated financial disclosure laws, a federal judge has ruled.
The decision, which the U.S. Labor Department announced on Friday, requires Starbucks to document travel expenses it paid to send former CEO Howard Schultz and other company officers to Buffalo, New York in 2021 after workers there filed a petition to hold a union election.
The Labor Department subpoenaed the information as part of its investigation into whether Starbucks should have disclosed expenses related to the trip and bonuses paid to the company officers. Federal law requires employers to report expenses aimed at discouraging organizing and union membership.
A Buffalo Starbucks in December 2021 became the first in the company's history to unionize, and workers at more than 360 U.S. locations have followed suit.
Starbucks and Schultz have faced allegations of widespread illegal union-busting from workers, labor groups and Democratic lawmakers. The company has denied the claims and is defending itself against scores of complaints before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which is separate from the Labor Department.
Last week, the NLRB said Starbucks must turn over a document dubbed the "petition store playbook" outlining how the company would respond to worker petitions for union elections. NLRB lawyers requested the document in a case involving organizing at a Connecticut store.
In the ruling issued Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman in Seattle also ordered the coffee chain to provide records of its expenses to create and maintain a website providing information about union organizing.
Starbucks in a statement said it had not been accused of wrongdoing by the Labor Department, and would "continue to engage with government officials to provide clarifying information on our compliance with decades of labor law."
Jeff Freund, director of the Labor Department office that enforces the reporting law, said the judge's ruling will help the agency determine whether Starbucks was required to report expenses related to the trip to Buffalo and the website.
The department served the subpoena on Starbucks earlier this year and filed a court petition in May after the company objected.
Starbucks had argued that the disclosure law did not require reporting of payments to its own employees involved in responding to union campaigns.
The company said the Labor Department had never previously required that information, and that it was illegal for the agency to reverse course without adopting a formal rule.
Pechman in her ruling said Starbucks could raise those arguments as defenses if the Labor Department accuses the company of violating the disclosure law, but not in an attempt to toss out the subpoena.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and David Gregorio)
Fri, October 6, 2023
By Daniel Wiessner
(Reuters) - Starbucks Corp must provide U.S. regulators with documents detailing its spending on efforts to discuss unionizing with workers, part of the agency's probe into whether the coffee chain violated financial disclosure laws, a federal judge has ruled.
The decision, which the U.S. Labor Department announced on Friday, requires Starbucks to document travel expenses it paid to send former CEO Howard Schultz and other company officers to Buffalo, New York in 2021 after workers there filed a petition to hold a union election.
The Labor Department subpoenaed the information as part of its investigation into whether Starbucks should have disclosed expenses related to the trip and bonuses paid to the company officers. Federal law requires employers to report expenses aimed at discouraging organizing and union membership.
A Buffalo Starbucks in December 2021 became the first in the company's history to unionize, and workers at more than 360 U.S. locations have followed suit.
Starbucks and Schultz have faced allegations of widespread illegal union-busting from workers, labor groups and Democratic lawmakers. The company has denied the claims and is defending itself against scores of complaints before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which is separate from the Labor Department.
Last week, the NLRB said Starbucks must turn over a document dubbed the "petition store playbook" outlining how the company would respond to worker petitions for union elections. NLRB lawyers requested the document in a case involving organizing at a Connecticut store.
In the ruling issued Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman in Seattle also ordered the coffee chain to provide records of its expenses to create and maintain a website providing information about union organizing.
Starbucks in a statement said it had not been accused of wrongdoing by the Labor Department, and would "continue to engage with government officials to provide clarifying information on our compliance with decades of labor law."
Jeff Freund, director of the Labor Department office that enforces the reporting law, said the judge's ruling will help the agency determine whether Starbucks was required to report expenses related to the trip to Buffalo and the website.
The department served the subpoena on Starbucks earlier this year and filed a court petition in May after the company objected.
Starbucks had argued that the disclosure law did not require reporting of payments to its own employees involved in responding to union campaigns.
The company said the Labor Department had never previously required that information, and that it was illegal for the agency to reverse course without adopting a formal rule.
Pechman in her ruling said Starbucks could raise those arguments as defenses if the Labor Department accuses the company of violating the disclosure law, but not in an attempt to toss out the subpoena.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and David Gregorio)
AUSTRALIA
Iron Ore Billionaire’s Lithium Raid Leaves Investors GuessingSybilla Gross and Annie Lee
Fri, October 6, 2023
(Bloomberg) -- Gina Rinehart, Australia’s richest woman, has muscled in on one of the largest battery-metals deals to date, building a near-17% stake in Liontown Resources Ltd. and threatening its A$6.6 billion ($4.2 billion) takeover by US giant Albemarle Corp.
What the iron ore billionaire has yet to do is explain what she will do with her increasing sway in the lithium miner.
The big picture is clear. Rinehart, arguably the most formidable figure in Australian mining, is making her biggest bet on lithium at a time when forecasts point to surging long-term demand for materials tied to the energy transition — and to a declining outlook for the steelmaking commodities that built her family’s fortune.
Other Western Australian tycoons are following a similarly green path, most notably Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. founder Andrew Forrest, who has embraced hydrogen.
But what Rinehart’s gambit means in practice is less clear, even with Albemarle expected to conclude its due diligence on Liontown within days — the last major step before a binding offer can be signed. It’s left shareholders on all sides with more questions than answers.
“Investors seem keen to know Rinehart’s plan,” Seth Goldstein, an equity strategist at Morningstar Research Services LLC, said. “So far, there has been nothing except buying shares, any alternative proposal for value creation has not yet been presented.”
Liontown, coveted for its promising Kathleen Valley lithium project, announced in early September that it would support an improved offer from Albemarle, after a months-long pursuit. Rinehart’s privately-held Hancock Prospecting Pty., which had already been buying stock, followed days later with the announcement that it had built up a share of just over 7%, raising that progressively to perilously close to a blocking minority.
On Friday, it took its holding even further to 16.7%, though the price has again not crossed A$3 per share — the bid on the table from Albemarle.
Hancock said it was now Liontown’s largest shareholder and welcomed “the opportunity to participate in the Kathleen Valley project as a shareholder, and have an influence on the company’s overall future direction”, sticking to the vague language on helping to manage “operational ramp-up risks” of past statements.
It did hint at further increases to 19.9%, just shy of the threshold that would normally trigger a mandatory takeover, yet provided no blueprint and said it did not plan to push for a board seat for now.
Fly in the Ointment
Even so, every purchase further complicates Albemarle’s chances of winning a shareholder vote which would require 75% approval — and the chances of getting to the vote at all.
Pedro Palandrani, director of research at ETF issuer Global X, which holds Liontown’s shares via its $2.5 billion Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF, is among the investors who mostly see a “significant inconvenience for Albemarle”. A problem, given “spodumene in Australia is critical for Albemarle’s ambitions to expand their lithium hydroxide capacity.”
What is certain is a battle among industry heavyweights.
Rinehart, the combative only child of one of Australia’s iron ore pioneers, has described inheriting a “bankrupt estate and the chairmanship of a company in serious difficulties.” She built up massive iron ore mines in Western Australia that export about 60 million tons of the steelmaking material a year, and has since expanded her portfolio into copper, gold and coal, along with cattle, dairy and property.
Read More: Iron Ore Tycoon Muscles In On Albemarle’s Lithium Takeover
She is not, however, known for her green credentials. A vocal skeptic, she criticized school curriculums in a 2021 speech for teaching the science of human-induced climate change.
Still, with a net worth of $18.9 billion, she is a powerful opponent, and one with a track record in mining success, even if lithium operates at a different scale. Howard Klein, a partner at RK Equity who himself holds Albemarle stock, said he saw collaboration as an option, given Albemarle already operates with partners elsewhere.
“Albemarle, which doesn’t have much direct mining expertise, could benefit from a strong Australian partner like Rinehart,” he said.
There’s also the option that Albemarle chooses to throw in the towel. Rinehart is a potentially troublesome minority shareholder, and not the only fly in the ointment for the US giant, with lithium prices plunging on China’s sputtering recovery and disappointing short-term demand, after a buying frenzy that sent global prices soaring through last year. Liontown shares closed on Friday at A$2.99 — uncomfortably close to Albemarle “best and final” offer.
“The risk the deal could be blocked is rising, yet the Liontown share price is still trading very close to the proposed Albermarle offer,” said Carrick Ryan, a portfolio manager at Westbeck Capital Management who holds lithium miners but not Liontown.
“While we don’t know if Hancock are going to bid, the deal is looking increasingly more expensive as the sector valuations fall.”
--With assistance from Georgina McKay and Jason Scott.
Alaska fishermen will be allowed to harvest lucrative red king crab in the Bering Sea
The Canadian Press
Fri, October 6, 2023
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska fishermen will be able to harvest red king crab for the first time in two years, offering a slight reprieve to the beleaguered fishery beset by low numbers likely exacerbated by climate change.
There was no such rebound for snow crab, however, and that fishery will remain closed for a second straight year, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Friday.
“The Bristol Bay red king crab fishery for the prior two seasons were closed based on low abundance and particularly low abundance of mature-sized female crabs,” said Mark Stichert, the state department’s ground fish and shellfish management coordinator,
“Based on survey results from this year, those numbers have improved, some signs of modest optimism in terms of improving abundance in Bristol Bay red king crab overall and that has allowed for a small but still conservative fishery for 2023 as the total population size is still quite low,” he said.
The reopening of the red king crab fishery was welcome news for fishers.
“We're really happy they're opening up the king crab season, it'll bring some much needed relief,” said Gabriel Prout, a third-generation fisher and president of the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, a nonprofit trade association.
But Prout expects fewer boats to participate in this season's crab fishery. Difficulty in finding crew members and having enough money to maintain boats may limit the number of vessels participating this season, he added.
The estimates of spawning crab and the number of mature female red king crab were above thresholds required to open the fishery in Bristol Bay, according to analysis of surveys by both the state and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Fishermen will be allowed to catch 2.1 million pounds (952,500 kilograms) of red king crab for three months beginning Oct. 15, the state announced.
More than 2.65 million pounds (1.2 million kilograms) were caught in 2020. The fishery saw nearly 130 million pounds (59 million kilograms) caught in 1980 before declining for the next three decades.
While the red king crab have been off limits for two years, the snow crab season was also canceled last year.
State fishery officials also decided to close the snow crab season for a second year, siding on conservation of the stock.
The Tanner crab fishery will open as normal after the number of adult mature male Tanner crabs exceeded the threshold, one species that has signs of optimism in the coming years for fisheries managers.
The total allowable catch for Tanner crab in the western Bering Sea was set at 1.3 million pounds (589,700 kilograms), while the eastern Bering Sea fishery was capped at 760,000 pounds (344,700 kilograms). The fishery also opens Oct. 15 and runs through March 31.
The decisions come after a first-ever closure for the snow crab fishery last year and a second-straight year of closure for the red king crab fishery in the Bering Sea after an annual survey in 2021 found all-time lows in the crab populations. Scientists think that population decline was a result of two years of low sea ice cover and abnormally warm ocean temperatures due to climate change may have altered the ecosystem in a way that snow crab couldn’t survive.
In 2020, snow crab fishers caught about 45 million pounds (20.4 million kilograms) of snow crab worth almost $106 million, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The following season, that fishery shrank to about a tenth of the previous season - 5.5 million pounds (2.5 million kilograms) were harvested at a value of just over $24 million.
The closure of the snow crab fishery in 2022 squeezed commercial fishers in Kodiak, Alaska, with some losing much of their income. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Commerce allocated almost $192 million to assist fishers affected by the closures of the red king crab and snow crab fisheries in 2021 and 2022, but some fishers expressed doubt that they could stay in business until that money arrives.
___
Bickel reported from Cincinnati.
___
Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Mark Thiessen And Joshua A. Bickel, The Associated Press
The Canadian Press
Fri, October 6, 2023
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska fishermen will be able to harvest red king crab for the first time in two years, offering a slight reprieve to the beleaguered fishery beset by low numbers likely exacerbated by climate change.
There was no such rebound for snow crab, however, and that fishery will remain closed for a second straight year, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Friday.
“The Bristol Bay red king crab fishery for the prior two seasons were closed based on low abundance and particularly low abundance of mature-sized female crabs,” said Mark Stichert, the state department’s ground fish and shellfish management coordinator,
“Based on survey results from this year, those numbers have improved, some signs of modest optimism in terms of improving abundance in Bristol Bay red king crab overall and that has allowed for a small but still conservative fishery for 2023 as the total population size is still quite low,” he said.
The reopening of the red king crab fishery was welcome news for fishers.
“We're really happy they're opening up the king crab season, it'll bring some much needed relief,” said Gabriel Prout, a third-generation fisher and president of the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, a nonprofit trade association.
But Prout expects fewer boats to participate in this season's crab fishery. Difficulty in finding crew members and having enough money to maintain boats may limit the number of vessels participating this season, he added.
The estimates of spawning crab and the number of mature female red king crab were above thresholds required to open the fishery in Bristol Bay, according to analysis of surveys by both the state and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Fishermen will be allowed to catch 2.1 million pounds (952,500 kilograms) of red king crab for three months beginning Oct. 15, the state announced.
More than 2.65 million pounds (1.2 million kilograms) were caught in 2020. The fishery saw nearly 130 million pounds (59 million kilograms) caught in 1980 before declining for the next three decades.
While the red king crab have been off limits for two years, the snow crab season was also canceled last year.
State fishery officials also decided to close the snow crab season for a second year, siding on conservation of the stock.
The Tanner crab fishery will open as normal after the number of adult mature male Tanner crabs exceeded the threshold, one species that has signs of optimism in the coming years for fisheries managers.
The total allowable catch for Tanner crab in the western Bering Sea was set at 1.3 million pounds (589,700 kilograms), while the eastern Bering Sea fishery was capped at 760,000 pounds (344,700 kilograms). The fishery also opens Oct. 15 and runs through March 31.
The decisions come after a first-ever closure for the snow crab fishery last year and a second-straight year of closure for the red king crab fishery in the Bering Sea after an annual survey in 2021 found all-time lows in the crab populations. Scientists think that population decline was a result of two years of low sea ice cover and abnormally warm ocean temperatures due to climate change may have altered the ecosystem in a way that snow crab couldn’t survive.
In 2020, snow crab fishers caught about 45 million pounds (20.4 million kilograms) of snow crab worth almost $106 million, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The following season, that fishery shrank to about a tenth of the previous season - 5.5 million pounds (2.5 million kilograms) were harvested at a value of just over $24 million.
The closure of the snow crab fishery in 2022 squeezed commercial fishers in Kodiak, Alaska, with some losing much of their income. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Commerce allocated almost $192 million to assist fishers affected by the closures of the red king crab and snow crab fisheries in 2021 and 2022, but some fishers expressed doubt that they could stay in business until that money arrives.
___
Bickel reported from Cincinnati.
___
Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Mark Thiessen And Joshua A. Bickel, The Associated Press
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)