Tuesday, May 07, 2019

U.S. sinks Arctic accord due to climate change differences

May 7, 20195:13 AM Reuters0 Comments

The United States has refused to sign an agreement on challenges in the Arctic due to discrepancies over climate change wording, diplomats said on Tuesday, jeopardising cooperation in the polar region at the sharp edge of global warming.

Temperatures in the Arctic are rising at twice the rate of the rest of the globe, and melting ice has opened vast untapped oil and gas reserves to potential commercial exploitation.

A meeting of nations bordering the Arctic in Rovaniemi in northern Finland on Tuesday was supposed to frame a two-year agenda to balance the challenges of climate change with sustainable development of mineral wealth.

But Finland's Foreign Minister Timo Soini said the joint declaration was "off the table" and would be replaced by a short statement from ministers attending the conference.

A diplomatic source with knowledge of the discussions said the United States balked at signing as it disagreed with wording in the declaration stating that climate change was a serious threat to the Arctic. A second source confirmed that.

It was the first time a declaration had been cancelled since the Arctic Council was formed in 1996. The U.S. delegation could not immediately be reached for a comment.

Addressing the Council, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said President Donald Trump's administration "shares your deep commitment to environmental stewardship" in the Arctic. But he said collective goals were not always the answer.

"They are rendered meaningless and even counter-productive as soon as one nation fails to comply," he said.

The Arctic Council consists of the United States, Canada, Russia, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Iceland.

Agreements between countries are non-binding.

President Trump has frequently expressed scepticism about whether global warming is a result of human activity and has stood by his 2017 decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord signed by almost 200 governments in 2015. That has put him at odds with campaigners and many other countries.

"A climate crisis in the Arctic is not a future scenario, it is happening as we speak," Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said in her address to the Council.

The Paris accord agreed to limit a rise in average global temperatures to "well below" 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial times by 2100. Worldwide, temperatures are up about 1C (1.8F).

(Additional reporting by Anne Kauranen in Helsinki; Editing by Niklas Pollard and Andrew Cawthorne)

SEE Pompeo says Canada's claim to the Northwest Passage is 'illegitimate'

Oregon denies water permit for Pembina’s Jordan Cove LNG export terminal

May 7, 20199:25 AM Reuters

Jordan Cove LNG rendering

Oregon environmental regulators denied water quality certification for Canadian energy company Pembina Pipeline Corp’s proposed $10 billion Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) said on Monday its decision was made “without prejudice,” meaning Pembina may reapply for certification and submit additional information that could result in a different decision.

Pembina said on Tuesday its management team was “working to better understand this decision and its impacts and will communicate updates when available.”

The DEQ said it originally planned to make a decision on certification, one of several federal and state approvals needed before Pembina can build the project, in September, but accelerated that schedule to ensure it does not unintentionally waive Oregon’s authority to review the water quality impacts of the proposed project.

Federal courts have said a state has a year to make a water quality certification decision or they waive their authority. That waiving of rights has played a part in a few proposed gas pipelines, including National Fuel Gas Co’s Northern Access and Williams Cos Inc’s Constitution projects in New York.

The DEQ said it denied Pembina’s request due to the expected effects of construction and operation of the proposed pipeline on water temperature and sediment in streams, among other things.

Earlier this week, Pembina delayed Jordan Cove’s planned startup by a year to 2025.

Jordan Cove is one of more than three dozen LNG export projects under development in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Analysts have said they expect only a handful or so of the plants to actually get built over the next decade.

Andrew Scheer has a problem

Antonia Zerbisias

This is a must-read with themes that bear repeating over and over and over, some obvious and some not.

I was particularly struck by this paragraph because Scheer, Rempel and his band of merry racists were flat out lying -- or too stupid to read the Global Migration Compact -- when they tweeted about how it would destroy the fabric of Canada, overrule its sovereignty and allow any and all in which, of course, are all lies:

In fact, the UN agreement is a non-binding, unenforceable framework for international co-operation on coping with migrants, mostly on innocuous matters like collecting and sharing data on migrants, standardizing documentation and recognizing migrants’ qualifications and skills. Yet it has been turned into a stalking horse for paranoid attacks from the right.>

MACLEANS.CA

Andrew Scheer has a problem - Macleans.ca

Bottom line: In a deplorable tweet Vice President Mike Pence makes the despicable and false claim that Democrats are advocating for “late term abortion and even infanticide.”

THIS IS KNOWN HISTORICALLY AS THE ANTI-SEMITIC BLOOD LIBEL TROPE
USED AGAINST JEWS

Mike Pence Claims Democratic Governors Support Infanticide (Image via YouTube)

PATHEOS.COM

Georgia City Councilman: Interracial Marriage Is Not How Christians Should Live

YES VIRGINIA
HE IS A RACIST AND HE PROBABLY DOES NOT BELIEVE IN RELIGIOUS INTERMARRIAGE EITHER.
ESPECIALLY BETWEEN CHRISTIANS AND JEWS AND BETWEEN CHRISTIANS AND CATHOLICS

MONDOWEISS.NET

Introducing May Golan: Israel’s new openly racist lawmaker

ISRAEL IS NOW A JEWISH ONLY STATE WHICH HAS LIMITED THE RIGHTS OF ISRAELI ARABS AND NON JEWS INCLUDING CIVIL, HUMAN AND VOTING RIGHTS
ISRAEL IS NOW THE APARTHEID STATE THAT PRO PALESTINE ACTIVISTS HAVE LONG CLAIMED IT IS

Kenney is protecting “groups that aim to claw back the rights of other groups of people”

PRESSPROGRESS.CA

Jason Kenney’s Deceptive ‘Free Speech’ Policy Creates Safe Spaces for Anti-Abortion Activists and Hate Groups

SEE MY PREVIOUS POST UCP prepares to roll out Ford-flavoured post-se...
#ABORTION

everything you need to know about the military budget, also link to a recent briefing call on the military budget (one with Bill Hartung) on the UFPJ website: http://www.unitedforpeace.org/…/listen-to-ufpjs-two-nation…/

COMMONDREAMS.ORG

Boondoggle, Inc: Making Sense of the $1.25 Trillion National Security State Budget

THE REAL AMERICAN ENTITLEMENTS

Canada’s gun lobby President goes crazy, compares gun safety advocate to a Nazi

The gun lobby is just as crazy as the NRA.

North99 Staff April 14, 2019

Rod Giltaca, President of Canada’s leading gun lobby the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights (CCFR) compared a gun safety advocate to Nazi Joseph Geobells.

https://twitter.com/CivilAdvantage1/status/1116705986440392710

Giltaca deleted the tweet but a screenshot was preserved.

The tweet came in response to a gun activist posting a Washington Post article explaining how Canada’s gun lobby orchestrated a campaign to attack and discredit members of the Canadian Doctors for Protection from Guns, a grassroots organization of doctors working to strengthen Canada’s gun laws.

Giltaca’s comments were heavily criticized online, with users pointing out how his message diminished the 6 million Jews killed in the holocaust.

SWAMP THING Posters Find Alec Holland And Abby Arcane Becoming One With Nature

A couple of new promotional poster for DC Universe's upcoming Swamp Thing series have been released, and they give us a first official look at Abby Arcane (Crystal Reed) and Alec Holland (Andy Bean)...

Mark Cassidy | 5/6/2019

Filed Under: "Swamp Thing"

On the heels of the recent trailer, DC Universe has released a couple of new promo posters for the upcoming Swamp Thing live-action series.

Though they were glimpsed very briefly in the teaser, this artwork gives us a first proper look at series leads Abby Arcane (Crystal Reed) and Alec Holland (Andy Bean) in the process of being absorbed by the swamp's mystical vegetation

We recently found out that cameras had stopped rolling on Swamp Thing prematurely, and that the show will only air 10 of its originally scheduled 13 episodes. Despite what appear to be some pretty significant behind-the scenes problems, it is still in track for its May 31st premiere.

Swamp Thing” centers on CDC researcher Abby Arcane (Reed). When she returns to her childhood home of Houma, Louisiana, in order to investigate a deadly swamp-borne virus, she develops a surprising bond with scientist Alec Holland — only to have him tragically taken from her. But as powerful forces descend on Houma, intent on exploiting the swamp’s mysterious properties for their own purposes, Abby will discover that the swamp holds mystical secrets, both horrifying and wondrous — and the potential love of her life may not be dead after all.

Swamp Thing is being developed as a one-hour show, and has Mark Verheiden (Battlestar Galactica) and Gary Dauberman (It) on board to write the pilot. They'll also executive produce alongside Michael Clear and James Wan. Len Wiseman will helm the first episode.

Canadians for Political Accountability, Social Justice, a Green Future

15 mins

Rage would be good from all Canadians, no one should be living under serviced. Reconciliation would mean returning resources and land management to the rightful owners, First Nations across the country would be able to have all the amenities and services, because instead of colonial companies stealing their riches, they could profit from their resources and manage them as they see fit. This patriarchal colonial set up, has to go.