CANADA

Proposed federal justice reforms could reduce number of Indigenous, Black people in system, say advocates

Olivia Stefanovich 
10/5/2021
© Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press A protester holds a Black Lives Matter sign behind Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as people take part in an anti-racism protest on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on June 5, 2020.

Advocates for justice system reform are welcoming new proposals from the federal government to address the overrepresentation of Black and Indigenous individuals and other racialized groups in the criminal justice system.

In the recent federal budget, the government pledged $216.4 million over five years, and $43.3 million each year after that, to divert Black and Indigenous youth and young people of colour from the courts.

The government also is proposing to give $21.5 million over five years to organizations that offer free public legal education and services to racialized communities, and to spend $26.8 million to help provinces maintain immigration and refugee legal aid support for asylum seekers.


Raphael Tachie, president of the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers, said he's encouraged by Ottawa's approach. The key, he said, will be how the measures are implemented.

"You worry that these are just election promises and after elections, they might not come through," Tachie said.

"But for the most part, the conversations that we've had have been promising."

Advocates say the funding will help chip away at the disproportionate number of Black and Indigenous individuals and other people of colour in Canada's corrections system.

Indigenous people make up more than 30 per cent of the prison population, according to the Correctional Investigator of Canada, but account for only 5 per cent of the wider Canadian population. Black Canadians comprise seven per cent of federal offenders but only represent three per cent of the general population, according to government statistics.

"The fundamental goal is to make the system fairer and more just for all Canadians," Justice Minister David Lametti told CBC News.

Aaron Bains, president of the South Asian Bar Association of Toronto, also praised the budget measures but said Ottawa should not act alone. He said municipal, provincial and territorial governments also need to step up.

"It will take a multi-tiered and multi-party approach to completely eradicate racism, if that's even possible," Bains said.
Access to justice, pardons

For Indigenous people specifically, the budget sets aside $74.8 million over three years to improve access to justice and create a national Indigenous justice strategy, which would be modelled after a similar plan in British Columbia.

The $74.8 million includes:

$27.1 million to help Indigenous families navigate the family justice system and community family mediation services.

$24.2 million for Justice Canada to consult Indigenous communities and organizations about an Indigenous justice strategy and possibly other legislation.

$23.5 million for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada to increase prosecutorial capacity in the territories.

Drew Lafond, president of the Indigenous Bar Association, said he hopes Ottawa's approach leads to an increase in the number of Indigenous courts and better representation for Indigenous people in all levels of the justice system.

"What the current budget is reflective of, I think, is a commitment on the part of the justice minister and shows there are people within his staff who are very alive to the issues," Lafond said.

The budget also sets aside $31.5 million over two years to co-develop an action plan with Indigenous partners for Bill C-15, proposed legislation to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The budget includes $88.2 million over five years and $13 million each year following that period to create an online application portal for pardons, to reduce pardon application fees and to support community organizations helping people with the pardons process.

Ottawa also plans to set aside $40.4 million over five years, and $10 million each year after that, for 25 new drug treatment courts, which help non-violent offenders access addiction services instead of facing charges for simple drug possession.

John Struthers, president of the Criminal Lawyers' Association, said he would have liked to see the government offer a complete pardon for simple possession.

"There are some things missing, but it is some excellent first steps," he said.

UNION YES
Food couriers take risks so others can stay home during the pandemic

AT THE BEGINING OF THE PANDEMIC UBER CUT THEIR WAGES BY 50%

VIDEO
Food couriers take risks so others can stay home during the pandemic | CBC.ca

Duration: 06:11

Food couriers say they're doing essential work during the COVID-19 pandemic - making deliveries and taking risks so other people can stay home. 

Many think a union would give them the protection and pay they deserve.

 cbc.ca

Worst-paying blue chip employers bolstered CEO pay in pandemic, report says

By Jessica DiNapoli 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - More than half of 100 companies with the lowest median employee wages in the S&P 500 Index boosted CEO pay by changing the rules for assessing executive performance during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report by a left-leaning policy group published on Tuesday.

© Reuters/Dinuka Liyanawatte FILE PHOTO: A delivery staff member wearing a protective mask enters a KFC fast food outlet after a delivery in Colombo

The report from the Institute for Policy Studies found that 51 of these 100 companies, including beverage and snack maker Coca-Cola Co, cruise ship operator Carnival Corp and fast food corporation Yum Brands Inc, reduced median worker pay by 2% to $28,187 on average in 2020 compared to 2019, even as the median compensation for their CEOs rose 29% to $15.3 million.


The findings offer ammunition to investors opposing executive compensation hikes in non-binding votes held at the annual shareholder meetings of companies. More companies are facing shareholder backlash against their CEO pay this year than last, Reuters has reported.

The companies studied in the report bolstered executive compensation by lowering performance targets, giving retention bonuses and swapping out stock awards linked to financial results with time-based share grants, the report found.

A Carnival spokesman said in an email that CEO Arnold Donald received no cash bonus in 2020 and his total compensation in last year was down 29% versus 2019.

A Coke spokesperson referred comment to the company's proxy statement, which notes that roughly 1,000 employees received special share awards, in addition to executives.

Gallery: McDonald’s CEO Made 1,100 Times What His Workers Did (24/7 Wall St.)


"We can't rely on corporate boards to fix the problem of excessive CEO compensation," Sarah Anderson, a co-author of the report, said in an interview. Anderson suggested in the report that companies with the highest CEO-to-average worker pay ratios should be taxed more.

The CEO-to-average worker pay ratio for the 51 companies in the report was 830-to-1.

The Yum Brands board authorized discretionary adjustments to bonus programs resulting in a $1.4 million bonus for CEO David Gibbs he otherwise would not have received, according to a securities filing. He also received a one-time stock award of $882,127, for a total 2020 compensation of $14.6 million, according to the filing.

The company's board said the compensation boost was appropriate given that Gibbs and other executives helped stabilize the business and positioned it for success coming out of the pandemic.

In a prepared statement, Yum Brands said Gibbs gave up his base salary and used it to help fund one-time $1,000 bonuses for nearly 1,200 restaurant general managers. The company also awarded special bonuses to team members in company-owned restaurants globally.

Yum Brands identified a part-time worker at its fast food chicken chain KFC as its median employee, with a total compensation of $11,377, in the filing.

(Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli in New York; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

Opinion: Corporate responsibilities on climate are changing
Margot Hurlbert

© Provided by Leader Post Justin Trudeau, Canada's prime minister, right, speaks during the virtual Leaders Summit on Climate in a video screenshot on Thursday, April 22, 2021.

While a ‘black swan’ is a term for an event that no one imagined or anticipated, COVID-19 and approaching climate change risk is a Gray Rhino, something that people foresaw, but may or may not have planned for.

As the availability of vaccines increases and the existential threat of COVID-19 reduces, the omnipresent crisis of climate change is top of mind for many as we think about a sustainable financial recovery. However, building back better not only applies to our infrastructure and businesses, but our practices and rules around climate change risk management.

What better time, after the eye-opening COVID-19 risk management experience?

The re-entry of the United States into the Paris Agreement not only strengthens global climate change response, but provides incentive for Saskatchewan and Canada to harmonize and standardize management of business climate risk with other jurisdictions in order to create a level playing field and certainty, a requirement for attracting and retaining capital investment in Canada.

Former Bank of England and Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney refers to the climate crisis as the ‘tragedy of the horizon’ as the effects of climate change will be felt well beyond most government and businesses’ traditional horizons and impose a cost on future generations that we in the current generation have little incentive to fix.

However, this state of affairs is changing. Corporate, legal and reputational responsibility is increasing.

Directors and advisors of corporations have a duty to act honestly and in good faith in the best interest of their enterprises, exercising care, diligence and skill. Legal opinions in Canada and elsewhere have made it clear management of climate risk is a core part of their duties.

Climate risk includes failure of businesses to take action to adapt to climate change impacts (drought, flood, extreme events), financial losses surrounding infrastructure, failure to incorporate climate risks in corporate investments (such as infrastructure that is carbon intensive and assets that may be ‘stranded’ in the future), and failure to report climate risks and for issuing disclosure that is misleading, weak or lacking in rigour.

For example, three lawsuits have been brought by shareholders against ExxonMobil alleging executives and board members misled investors about how much risk climate change poses to the company’s assets, resulting in faulty asset valuation.

The 2017 Report of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) has buttressed the call for disclosures in existing financial filing requirements. Organizations are required to disclose governance around climate-related risks, a strategy identifying climate-related risk, the resilience of the organization’s strategy taking into consideration different climate related scenarios including a 2 C or lower scenario, and processes for managing these risks.

Included is the impact of climate change on their businesses and strategy in areas of products, services, supply or value chain, adaptation and mitigation activities, investment in research and development, and operations.

Canada’s Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance recommended adopting the TCFD’s recommendations, beginning with large companies and Crown corporations, and eventually being phased in for smaller enterprises. Canada’s 2021 budget includes requirements for climate disclosures from Crown corporations in line with TCFD, while in the United States the SEC announced the creation of an Enforcement Task Force focused on climate and ESG issues.

Arguably, based on legal standards of reasonableness, these requirements apply to Saskatchewan businesses, pension funds, Crown corporations and credit unions. However, Saskatchewan should be taking proactive action clarifying this through legislation. Not to do so risks first uncertainty in respect to director and management responsibility giving rise to costly and time-consuming litigation, but secondly, and most importantly, business and financial losses for Saskatchewan investors, citizens, and taxpayers.

The transition to a net-zero economy requires that businesses realign their strategy to prepare for risks or take advantage of opportunities associated with climate change. Taking meaningful action also requires that a business set measurable goals and targets related to carbon emissions and other environmental indicators.

These types of changes to a business’s strategy and direction require the board of directors (or trustees) to provide oversight, engagement and leadership and to understand their evolving fiduciary obligations as they relate to climate change.

Margot Hurlbert is a Johnson Shoyama Graduate School professor and Canada Research Chair in climate change, energy and sustainability policy.

Thousands around world still plagued by impact of Trump Muslim ban, says N.Y. Rep. Ritchie Torres

Chris Sommerfeldt, Shant Shahrigian


Former President Donald Trump’s Muslim travel ban is finished, but thousands of people around the world are still suffering the consequences and unable to come to America, according to Bronx Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres.

The first-term lawmaker planned to introduce the “Keeping Our Promise Act” in Congress on Monday to smooth the way for nearly 21,000 would-be immigrants by giving them a year to claim their green cards or resume applications that were put on ice under the Trump policy.

President Biden signed an executive order on his first day in office that ended Trump’s ban, which prohibited residents of nearly a dozen Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S

.

© Andrew Harnik A protester held up a sign reading

A protester held up a sign reading "No Muslim Ban" during a rally against former President Donald Trump's immigration policy in Washington in April of 2018. (Andrew Harnik/)

But data from the State Department show that 20,900 green card lottery winners are still struggling to claim their immigration papers, Torres said.

They live in Burma (Myanmar), Eritrea, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, according to the State Department.

“Even though the Trump Muslim ban has been repealed, the victims of the travel ban were never made whole,” Torres said.

© Adam Hunger Ritchie Torres spoke to the media on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, when he was elected to the House of Representatives from the Bronx borough of New York.

Ritchie Torres spoke to the media on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, when he was elected to the House of Representatives from the Bronx borough of New York. (Adam Hunger/)

His legislation will “fully reverse the discriminatory and destructive legacy” of Trump’s ban, he said.

Just hours after Biden took office on Jan. 20, when he ended the ban, he called it “a stain on our national conscience ... inconsistent with our long history of welcoming people of all faiths and no faith at all.”

Trump issued his self-described Muslim ban seven days after he took office in 2017, claiming it would protect the U.S. from terrorist attacks.

The ban went through several iterations after courts struck down some of its provisions as unconstitutional.

China rocket crash: US blamed for hyping fears of uncontrolled rocket reentry as space race heats up
Analysis by Nectar Gan and James Griffiths, CNN

For a week, China's Long March 5B grabbed global attention, as space agencies and experts closely tracked its trajectory, speculating where debris would fall upon the rocket's uncontrolled reentry

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© STR/AFP/Getty Images TOPSHOT - People watch a Long March 5B rocket, carrying China's Tianhe space station core module, as it lifts off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China's Hainan province on April 29, 2021. - China OUT (Photo by STR / AFP) / China OUT (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

In China, however, the country's space administration stayed silent for days amid criticism that allowing such a large rocket stage to free fall towards Earth was irresponsible and posed a safety risk -- albeit a small one -- to many countries.


Finally, on Sunday morning Beijing time the China Manned Space Engineering Office broke its silence, confirming the remnants of the rocket had plunged into the Indian Ocean near the Maldives, after most of it had burned up in the atmosphere.

For many who have followed the rocket's return, the news came as a big relief. In China, it was not only seen as a vindication of the rocket's design, but also used by state media to argue that the intense global attention was merely a Western effort to discredit China's space program and thwart its progress.

"Their hype and smears were in vain," the Global Times, a state-run newspaper, said in an editorial Sunday, accusing US scientists and NASA of "acting against their conscience" and being "anti-intellectual."

"These people are jealous of China's rapid progress in space technology," the paper said. "Some of (them) even try to use the noises they made to obstruct and interfere with China's future intensive launches for the construction of its space station."

While Beijing has long accused Western countries and media of holding China to a different standard, Chinese officials also routinely have a nationalist response to any criticism, branding it an ill-intended attempt to "smear China."

Such fierce defensiveness is particularly evident when it comes to China's space program, an important point of national pride for the Chinese public and a source of prestige for the ruling Communist Party.

China was a latecomer to space exploration, launching its first satellite only in 1970, 13 years after the Soviet Union and 12 years after the United States. But in recent decades, it has swiftly become a frontrunner in the space race -- it was the first country to land on the far side of the moon in 2019, and successfully brought back lunar rocks last year.

The defensiveness to criticism from the West, especially the United States, is partially born out of what Beijing perceives as Washington's hostility to block its progress beyond Earth's atmosphere.

Since 1999, the US has imposed export controls on satellite technology to China. And in 2011, Congress passed a law that imposed restrictions on NASA engagement with China.

Consequently, Chinese astronauts are barred from the International Space Station (ISS) -- the only space station in orbit and a collaboration between the US, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada.

© Sipa Asia/Shutterstock Alibaba was hit with a record fine earlier this year for behaving like a monopoly.

As a result, China is building its own space station, the Tiangong (meaning heavenly palace in Chinese). Last month, it successfully launched its first module with the Long March 5B -- the rocket that drew the world's scrutiny.

In blaming the West for their "smear campaign," however, Chinese state media and space experts omitted to explain why the Long March 5B had caused anxiety among global scientists.

Rocket stages are often dropped before they reach orbit along trajectories that can be predicted before the launch. And when they are designed to reach orbit, they usually come with devices that allow more controlled reentries and aim for the ocean. Or they are left in so-called "graveyard" orbits that keep them in space for decades or centuries. The Chinese rocket, estimated to weigh over 20 tons, is the largest space object to return uncontrolled to Earth in nearly three decades -- and a major deviation from the practice of other space agencies.

© Fuyang District Government This partially sedated juvenile leopard was captured on May 8, having escaped a week earlier from a safari park in Hangzhou, China.

There are also worrying precedents for what happens in such incidents: the US Skylab space station broke up over the Indian Ocean and scattered debris across Western Australia when it returned to Earth in 1979. More recently, a piece of debris from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket landed on a farm in Washington state, after the second stage of the rocket broke up on reentry.

But amid deepening political mistrust of the US, and a lack of technological exchanges, meaningful scientific international exchanges with Beijing are being sidestepped in favor of fanning the flames of nationalist anger.

China fires back after NASA criticism of rocket debris reentry

Dominick Mastrangelo

THE HILL 10/5/2021

The Chinese government is firing back at NASA officials who criticized the country's space program following reports of debris from an uncontrolled rocket falling into Earth's atmosphere and splashing down in the Indian Ocean over the weekend.

© Getty Images China fires back after NASA criticism of rocket debris reentry

"China has been closely tracking its trajectory and issued statements on the re-entry situation in advance," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said, according to The Associated Press. "There has been no report of harm on the ground. China also shares the results of re-entry predictions through international cooperation mechanisms."

On Saturday, U.S. Space Command confirmed the event and NASA Administrator Bill Nelson blamed China for a failure to "act responsibly and transparently in space."

"Spacefaring nations must minimize the risks to people and property on Earth of re-entries of space objects and maximize transparency regarding those operations. It is clear that China is failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris," Nelson said in a statement.

Hua on Monday shot back at Nelson and U.S. officials for what she described as a double standard China is being held to when it comes to space.

"American media used romantic rhetoric like 'shooting stars lighting up the night sky,' " Hua said. "But when it comes to the Chinese side, it's a completely different approach."

Hua said China is "willing to work with other countries including the United States to strengthen cooperation in the use of outer space," but added "we also oppose double standards on this issue."

Liberal MP questions Justice Department's legal advice on fired scientists

OTTAWA — A Liberal MP is advising the Public Health Agency of Canada not to rely on legal advice from the federal Justice Department because it is not always right.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Toronto MP Rob Oliphant, parliamentary secretary to the Foreign Affairs minister, gave the advice late Monday at a House of Commons committee that is trying to find out why two scientists at Canada's highest security laboratory were fired.

PHAC president Iain Stewart told the special committee on Canada-China relations that revealing details would breach the Privacy Act and jeopardize national security and an ongoing RCMP investigation.

He says that advice was given by the Justice Department.

Committee members, backed up by parliamentary law clerk Phiippe Dufresne, insist they have the constitutional authority to order the production of any documents they please and that their authority takes precedence over any other laws.

But Christian Roy, director and senior general counsel of health legal services at the Justice Department, says the department has never recognized the power of committees to compel documents in violation of the Privacy Act or other laws.

Oliphant questioned Roy's legal opinion.

"Lawyers are not always right and Justice lawyers are particularly, in my mind, not always right," he told the committee.

He noted that Justice lawyers were wrong in claiming a law banning genetic discrimination was unconstitutional, after fighting it all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Moreover, Oliphant said he was "horrified" to discover that Justice lawyers had advised the Canadian Security Intelligence Service to illegally keep potentially revealing electronic data about people over a 10-year period.

"I have learned to now question of Department of Justice lawyers," Oliphant said, suggesting that Stewart get "a second opinion because the Justice Department is not giving you the best advice."


The committee voted unanimously later Monday to give PHAC 10 days to turn over unredacted documents about the fired scientists, which the parliamentary law clerk is to review and advise committee members as to what needs to be blacked out to protect privacy, national security and the police investigation.

If the agency continues to refuse to disclose the unredacted documents, the committee will seek an order to do so from the House of Commons.

PHAC formally terminated the employment of Canadian scientists Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, in January.

The pair was escorted out of the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in July 2019 over what Stewart has described as "relating to possible breaches in security protocols."

The Winnipeg lab is Canada’s only Level Four laboratory, designed to deal safely with deadly contagious germs such as Ebola.

PHAC has previously said the pair's escorted exit had nothing to do with the fact that four months earlier, Qiu had been responsible for a shipment of Ebola and Henipah viruses to China's Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Stewart has released some redacted documents to the committee about that virus transfer, which he said show that all laws and protocols were followed.

He also assured the committee Monday that there is no link between those viruses and the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, which first surfaced in China's Wuhan province.

That didn't stop Conservative MP Michael Chong, who referred to the two fired scientists as being Chinese when they are in fact Canadians.

"There is no doubt that (Qui) trained technicians at that very institute of virology to establish a Level Four lab, the only Level Four lab in the People's Republic of China, and there is no doubt that the coronavirus emerged ostensibly in Wuhan a number of months later," Chong said.

He dismissed suggestions that he was peddling a conspiracy theory, citing various experts who've posited that the coronavirus may have been inadvertently released from the Wuhan lab.

Oliphant accused Chong of "drawing two threads that are completely unrelated together," calling it "absolutely irresponsible" and "cheap politics."

Bloc Quebecois MP Stephane Bergeron agreed that Chong's language was inflammatory.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 10, 2021.

The Canadian Press

The fight for racial equity, legalization from within the marijuana industry

Nearly a decade ago, Linda Greene was having dinner with some of her friends when she heard that marijuana had been legalized for medicinal use in Washington, D.C. Having lived through the 1960s counterculture, she saw an opportunity.

Greene opened Anacostia Organics in 2019. The push to open the medicinal marijuana dispensary began after Greene saw that of the 15 original cultivator and dispensary licenses issued by the district’s Department of Health, none had been awarded to residents of the U.S. capital, and only two had been awarded to people of color.

Anacostia Organics became the first medical marijuana dispensary east of the Anacostia River, located in a poverty-stricken area that was also home to the majority of the city’s patients registered to buy marijuana for medicinal purposes. Greene, who aims to uplift the community in which her dispensary is located, said the drug has been misunderstood.

“This is not a stoner industry,” she told ABC News. “It’s been misconceived. ... It’s the industry of healing.”

© The Washington Post via Getty Images, FILE Linda Greene, founder of Anacostia Organics, listens to speakers at the ribbon cutting ceremony of Anacostia Organics, the first medical marijuana dispensary east of the Anacostia River, on Jan. 24, 2019 in Washington, D.C.

Greene is one of over 320,000 Americans who work in the cannabis industry. The drug, which has been legalized for recreational use in 17 states and Washington, D.C., accounted for $17.5 billion in sales in 2020.

Yet, even as revenues from cannabis continue to grow across the country, the drug remains a federally prohibited Schedule 1 controlled substance -- in the same category as heroin, ecstasy and LSD.

That may change, though. Ninety-one percent of Americans surveyed believed marijuana should be legalized, according to a Pew Research Center survey from last month. Of those participants, 60% said it should be legalized both recreationally and medicinally. Only 8% said it should not be legal for any adult use.

The survey was conducted amid a heightened push by lawmakers to decriminalize the drug at the federal level and provide restorative justice to those who’ve been incarcerated for certain marijuana offenses. The House recently passed the SAFE Banking Act of 2019, which would make it easier for cannabis companies to operate in states where sales of the drug are legal.

During a press briefing on April 20, widely considered to be an unofficial holiday for marijuana users, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that President Joe Biden supports “decriminalizing marijuana use and automatically expunging any prior criminal records. He also supports legalizing medicinal marijuana.”

© The Washington Post via Getty Images, FILE Mayor Muriel E. Bowser makes remarks at the ribbon cutting ceremony of Anacostia Organics, the first medical marijuana dispensary east of the Anacostia River, on Jan. 24, 2019 in Washington, D.C.

But while Biden’s position may fall short of full recreational legalization, Andrew Freedman, the former director of cannabis coordination for the state of Colorado, said now may be one of the best chances to legalize the drug.

Freedman was widely known as Colorado’s cannabis czar. He spearheaded the state’s framework for recreational marijuana use legalization -- the first in the country. Since 2014, the industry has amassed $10 billion in sales and over $400 million in tax revenue that has been used in part to fund the state’s school-related projects.

He said the state has had legal marijuana for long enough now that it’s not even taboo anymore.

“If you go to Colorado right now, and you have conversations about cannabis, it’s the most normal thing in the world,” he said. “It stands right alongside alcohol. It stands right alongside the Denver Broncos as just a thing to have a conversation about.”

© Leigh Vogel/WireImage via Getty Images, FILE Andrew Freedman, Director of Marijuana Coordination, Office of the Governor, State of Colorado, speaks during the Aspen Ideas Festival 2015 in Aspen, Colo., July 3, 2015.

Freedman, who went on to advise other state governments about how to establish cannabis regulations, is now the executive director of the Coalition for Cannabis Policy, Education and Regulation. The think tank represents stakeholders including big tobacco, big beer and security companies, among others.

With more states legalizing it, Freedman said the think tank’s goal is to focus on the “hows” of marijuana legalization rather than the “ifs.”

“Our strategy is really to stop focusing on if legalization should go forward, recognizing that legalization has gone forward,” he said. “It’s a reality for almost half of America.”

Virginia became one of the latest states to legalize marijuana for recreational use last month. But while it’s the first state in the South to do so, it’ll take three years for people to be able to sell the drug legally. Gov. Ralph Northam recently pushed the state legislature to speed up the timeframe to legalize simple possession in an effort to limit marijuana-related arrests.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, Black Americans are nearly four times more likely than white Americans to be arrested for marijuana possession, despite similar rates of use.MORE: New York legalizes recreational marijuana, expunges former pot convictions

Shanita Penny was charged with possession nearly a decade ago. She said she believes her encounter with the law is an example of the racial bias often seen in policing minorities who are caught with marijuana.

“It’s personal. I was on [Interstate 95] in Virginia when I was pulled over and arrested for cannabis possession,” she told ABC News. “Born and raised in Virginia, I didn’t think that would happen.”

Penny paid nearly $3,500 to expunge her record after being charged with possession. She said she believes it was only because she was able to get the help of an attorney. It was a difficult process, she said, even “for someone who’s reasonably resourced.”

“But for someone who’s not, this becomes a game-changer in the worst way,” she said.

© Paul Frangipane/Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE Workers trim the flowers of hemp plants at Hempire State Growers farm in Milton, N.Y., March 31, 2021.

Penny worked for several Fortune 500 companies as a consultant before founding cannabis consulting firm Budding Solutions. She said she thinks wielding her skills in compliance and business development will not only help cannabis businesses thrive but will also balance the scales of justice for minorities.

“It lit a fire under me to make legalization happen in a way that people who were not interested in consuming this plant or being part of this industry would fully understand why legalization is so important and how equitable legalization can impact your life, whether you’re touching this plant or not,” she said.MORE: Legal marijuana movement builds as more states change laws

Decriminalizing marijuana possession first and foremost is important, she said, because if legalization is “truly going to prioritize racial equity and the harm that’s been done, then we needed to stop the harm as soon as possible.”

Like in Colorado, other states are increasingly seeing the revenue from their cannabis sales as a source of funding to pursue racial equity and economic opportunity, Freedman said.

“A lot of the conversation now is, how do you make sure that the economic opportunities available from a new economy are there for the communities most harmed by the war on drugs?” he said.

A resolution passed in Evanston, Illinois, in March would provide reparations to the communities hit the hardest: A portion of tax revenues from cannabis sales would go toward a $10 million fund over 10 years to help pay for home repairs or down payments for Black residents who’ve faced historically unfair housing practices.

In Virginia, the law to legalize cannabis includes the so-called Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Fund, which would direct 30% of tax revenue to communities that have been overpoliced for marijuana-related crimes.

“We have a lot of hopes on the commercial market here, particularly in Virginia,” said activist Chelsea Higgs Wise, executive director of the group Marijuana Justice. “But it is going to be a hard push to truly make that equitable, and we would like to really say that this is a first step forward. This is a progressive step forward.”

In Washington, D.C., Greene says she also feels compelled to reinvest the fruits of her labor into her community. Along with opening Anacostia Organics in her own neighborhood, she also employs people who live there and teaches them the inner workings of the industry so that they, too, can one day build up.

Review of federal prison isolation units 'not adequate,' new study says

OTTAWA — A study has found shortcomings with the process intended to serve as a check on new units for isolating federal prisoners from the general jail population.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

In response to criticism of solitary confinement, the government ushered in "structured intervention units" for inmates requiring isolation to allow better access to programming and mental-health care.

Prisoners transferred to the units are supposed to be allowed out of their cells for four hours each day, with two of those hours engaged in "meaningful human contact."

According to the Correctional Service, personnel known as independent external decision makers review inmate cases on an ongoing basis, and provide binding recommendations related to their conditions and length of confinement.

However, a new study by academic experts says the reviews are "not adequate," and it points to a lack of information about the nature of the information used by the decision makers, the logic behind their findings and the timing of the implementation of their decisions.

The study, made public Monday, was prepared by criminologists Anthony Doob and Jane Sprott and law professor Adelina Iftene using data provided by the Correctional Service.

The prison service said it was reviewing the report.

"We continue to work hard to help inmates take advantage of the opportunities for time out of cell and meaningfully engage in diverse activities and programs, especially during the pandemic," said spokeswoman Isabelle Robitaille.

As of this week there were 188 inmates in a structured intervention unit at federal prison facilities across Canada, representing about 1.5 per cent of the inmate population, she said.

An earlier report by Doob and Sprott, released in February, said 28 per cent of the stays in the units could be described, given international standards, as solitary confinement and 10 per cent could be considered to be torture.

The latest study examined data dealing with decision makers' reviews of the length of a unit stay.

It found cases were often referred to decision makers within 67 days. However, there were 105 cases in which the person stayed in a unit for at least 76 days with no record of the case ever being sent to a decision maker.

The study also found:

— Although the decision maker may have "independent" authority to decide that someone should be released from a unit, the prison service can arrange the timing of that release to meet its own needs;

— Black prisoners' stays in units were longer than the stays of other groups;

— The review process did not help remove those with mental-health issues more quickly.

The study concluded that the decision makers' reviews "as they currently exist are not adequate."

"Without access to considerably more information about the manner in which these reviews are carried out, it is difficult for us to know whether this system of oversight can be made adequate," the authors wrote.

"Most disturbing to us, however, is not the fact that we were not able to examine in detail how the (decision makers') process actually works, but that nobody seems to be doing this."

Based on the new findings and previous analysis of data about the units, "it is clear that change is desperately needed," the study said.

"Our findings also point to the importance of there being an oversight body that can look systematically not only at the kind of data that we, as volunteers, have been looking at, but also at other more detailed data related to the operation of the (units) and the practice of solitary confinement."

Robitaille said the prison service is working with stakeholders and values their feedback on ongoing enhancements to the new model.

"While there is more work to do, we remain strongly committed to the successful implementation of SIUs as we work to safely and successfully rehabilitate offenders."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 10, 2021.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press

UCP FAILS BLAMES OTHERS

Opposition, Ottawa, media looking for COVID-19 disaster: Alberta justice minister

EDMONTON — Alberta’s justice minister says a COVID-19 disaster is what the provincial Opposition, the federal government and the media "were looking for and want" in the province

.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Kaycee Madu, in Facebook comments posted Friday, said the province can't risk giving the disease a chance to "overwhelm our health-care system, then create public panic, and see Albertans in field and makeshift hospitals gasping for breath because we have run out of ventilators, manpower etc.

“I don’t think it will be responsible to simply wait until we have a disaster on our hands,” he added.

“That’s what the NDP, the media and the federal Liberals were looking for and want.”

Madu was not made available for an interview Monday.

His spokesman, Blaise Boehmer, said in a statement: “The minister was referring to the increasing tendency of different groups, including the NDP, to exploit the pandemic for their own political purposes.

“We see this every day with the NDP’s overcooked and incendiary rhetoric both in the legislative assembly and on social media.

“The minister won’t apologize for stating the obvious.”

NDP health critic David Shepherd said "what we want, and what we've wanted for the last 14 months, is to see responsible action from (the United Conservative) government … so that we would not be in the position now of Alberta being the worst jurisdiction in North America for COVID-19 new cases."

Political scientist Jared Wesley said Madu's comments raise concerns about the line in politics between respecting opponents while trying to defeat them politically versus trying to delegitimize them altogether.

"When you start accusing your opponents of literally wishing death on Albertans, that's a bridge too far,” said Wesley, who's with the University of Alberta.

"When it comes to being a minister of the Crown, when you are governing on behalf of the entire population, there's an extra onus on you to rise above that type of tribalistic rhetoric and behaviour."

Kenney’s government, in recent weeks, resisted calls for new health restrictions as Alberta COVID-19 cases climbed to record levels and doctors were given guidelines on how to triage patients should the health system become overwhelmed.

Kenney acted last Tuesday, sending all schoolchildren home to learn online while imposing sharper restrictions on capacity in businesses and in worship services.

The province also promised a renewed effort at enforcement. On the weekend, police made arrests and handed out violation tickets in Calgary and in central Alberta for public gatherings that violated health rules.

Madu's comments came days after Kenney, facing criticism that his government waited too long to react to the third wave, said no one should point fingers and politicize the fight against COVID-19.

Kenney and his minsters have repeatedly accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government of hamstringing the relief effort and, as late as April 29, Kenney blamed Alberta's entire third wave on Ottawa for a slow vaccine rollout.

Trudeau reached out last week, offering extra help if needed. Kenney declined the offer.

On Monday, Alberta recorded 1,597 new COVID-19 cases for a total active case count of 25,438. There are 690 people in hospital. Of those, 158 patients are in intensive care — the highest since the pandemic began.

Also Monday, Alberta opened up vaccine bookings for those as young as 12, with thousands getting processed soon after the online bookings went live at 8 a.m.

Alberta Health Services said it had booked almost 130,000 appointments by 4 p.m.

The expanded eligibility means that 3.8 million Albertans, out of a population of 4.4 million, are eligible to get vaccinated.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 10, 2021.

Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press

Air pollution: Animal-based food production on farms linked to 12,700 deaths each year, study says

By Isabelle Chapman, CNN

Air pollution from food production in the United States is linked to an estimated 15,900 premature deaths each year, according to a new study published Monday in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

© Daniel Acker/Bloomberg/Getty Images Beef cattle eat grain-based rations at a ranch in Texas. A new study links thousands of premature deaths to particle pollution generated by agricultural production.

Of those, an estimated 12,700 deaths -- around 80% -- are connected to production of animal-based foods.

Scientists have known for years that farming contributes to harmful air pollution, but experts say this study offers the first full accounting of deaths connected to the production of certain types of food.

"When we think of the big sources of air pollution in the U.S., our imagination usually turns to smokestacks and tailpipes," said Joshua Apte, an assistant professor at the University of California-Berkeley, who was not involved in this study. "But it turns out that agriculture is also a major contributor to our air pollution and therefore we should care about it for our health."

The study focused on a specific type of tiny pollution particles known as PM2.5.

They linger in the air we breathe and measure barely a fraction of the diameter of a human hair. But despite their small size, the particles have been linked to millions of premature deaths globally, as well as serious cardiovascular and respiratory problems, especially in children and the elderly.

PM2.5 particles kicked up into the air by tilling and fuel combustion in farm equipment are part of the problem, but the study found the majority of premature deaths are linked to ammonia emissions from livestock waste and fertilizer. Airborne ammonia reacts with other chemicals to form dangerous particulate matter.

"(It happens) mostly through ammonia, which is released when farmers use nitrogen fertilizer -- which they use a lot of -- or is released from animal manure," said Jason Hill, a professor at the University of MInnesota and a co-author of the study.

The premature deaths connected to pollution from agriculture are heavily concentrated in California, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and along the Upper Midwest's Corn Belt, the study found.

The researchers identified ways that both consumers and farmers can help reduce this type of pollution.

Eating less red meat and shifting toward plant-based diets could have huge health benefits, the study shows.

The study found that substituting poultry for red meat could prevent roughly 6,300 of the annual deaths tied to farming air pollution, and even larger reductions of 10,700 to 13,100 deaths could be achieved each year with large-scale shifts toward vegetarian, vegan, or flexitarian diets.

"It's probably healthy for them (to switch) and healthy for other people, because other people are not breathing polluted air," said Julian Marshall, another co-author of the study and a professor of environmental engineering at the University of Washington.

The study points to a few ways for farmers to cut down on the production of ammonia. Using fertilizer more precisely in order to maximize crop production can help. Farmers can also reduce the amount of ammonia produced from manure by covering animal waste and injecting manure into fields instead of spraying it.

Ian Faloona, an associate professor at the University of California-Davis, who published a study in 2018 on agriculture's production of nitrogen oxides -- another type of air pollution -- said that making these changes can also be good for farmers' bottom lines.

"In the end, it's going to be cost effective because you're making the process more efficient," Faloona said.

A spokesperson from the American Farm Bureau Federation questioned the study's results.

"On first review, it seems filled with data gaps and giant leaps to stretch the definition of cause and effect," the spokesperson said. "US agriculture is continually doing more using fewer natural resources and we're proud of that progress."

Hill said that he hopes that the report will show consumers and farmers alike that there are ways to reduce this problem.

"That's the message of hope here -- that we can actually do something about this," Hill

 said.

© Daniel Acker/Bloomberg/Getty Images Eating less red meat is one of the biggest ways consumers can help reduce the pollution generated by agriculture, a new study finds

1 CHILD POLICY A SUCCESS
1.4B but no more? China's population growth closer to zero


BEIJING — China’s population growth is falling closer to zero, government data showed Tuesday, adding to strains on an aging society with a shrinking workforce as fewer couples have children.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The population rose by 72 million over the past 10 years to 1.411 billion in 2020, the National Bureau of Statistics announced after a once-a-decade census. It said annual growth averaged 0.53%, down by 0.04% from the previous decade.

Chinese leaders have enforced birth limits since 1980 to restrain population growth but worry the number of working-age people is falling too fast, disrupting efforts to create a prosperous economy. They have eased birth limits, but couples are put off by high costs, cramped housing and job discrimination faced by mothers.

Reflecting the issue’s sensitivity, the statistics agency took the unusual step last month of announcing the population grew in 2020 but gave no total. That looked like an effort to calm companies and investors after The Financial Times reported the census might have found a surprise decline.

China, along with Thailand and some other developing Asian countries that are aging fast, faces what economists call the challenge of whether it can grow rich before it grows old.

China’s working age population of people aged 15 to 59 is declining after hitting a 2011 peak of 925 million. That is boosting wages as companies compete for workers. But it might hamper efforts to develop new industries and self-sustaining economic growth based on consumer spending instead of trade and investment.

Thursday's announcement gave no details of births last year, but earlier data showed the annual number falling since 2016.

“We are more concerned about the fast decline in the working-age population,” said Lu Jiehua, a professor of population studies at Peking University.

The working-age population was three-quarters of the total in 2011 but will fall to just above half by 2050, according to Lu. The Ministry of Labor and Social Security said in 2016 that group might shrink to 700 million by then.

“If the population gets too old, it will be impossible to solve the problem through immigration,” said Lu. “It needs to be dealt with at an early stage.”

Young couples who might want to have a child face daunting challenges. Many share crowded apartments with their parents. Child care is expensive and maternity leave short. Most single mothers are excluded from medical insurance and social welfare payments. Some women worry giving birth could hurt their careers.

“First, at the interview, if you are married and childless, they may ask, do you have plans to have a kid?” said He Yiwei, who is preparing to return from the United States after obtaining a master’s degree.

“And then when you have a kid, you take pregnancy leave, but will you still have this position after you take the leave?” said He. “Relative to men, when it comes to work, women have to sacrifice more.”

Japan, Germany and some other rich countries face the same challenge of supporting aging populations with fewer workers. But they can draw on decades of investment in factories, technology and foreign assets.

China is a middle-income country with labour-intensive farming and manufacturing. The International Monetary Fund is forecasting Chinese economic growth of 8.4% this year following a rebound from the coronavirus pandemic.

The ruling Communist Party wants to double output per person from 2020 levels by 2035, which would require annual growth of about 4.7%.

The ruling party is making changes, but it isn’t clear whether any are big enough to ease strains on an underfunded retirement system.

The party took its most dramatic step when restrictions in effect since 1980 that limited many Chinese couples to having only one child were eased in 2015 to allow two.

However, China’s birth rate, paralleling trends in South Korea, Thailand and other Asian economies, already was falling before the one-child rule. The average number of children per mother tumbled from above six in the 1960s to below three by 1980, according to the World Bank.

Demographers say official birth limits concealed what would have been a further fall in the number of children per family.

The one-child limits, enforced with threats of fines, loss of jobs and other pressure, led to abuses including forced abortions. A preference for sons led parents to kill or abandon baby girls, leading to warnings millions of men might be unable to find a wife, fueling social tension.

The ruling party says it prevented 400 million potential births, averting shortages of food and water. But demographers say if China followed Asian trends, the number of additional babies without controls might have been as low as a few million.

After limits were eased in 2015, many couples with one child had a second but total births fell in 2017-18 because fewer had any at all.

Some researchers argue China’s population already is shrinking, which they say should prompt drastic policy changes.

Yi Fuxian, a senior scientist in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says the population started to fall in 2018. His book “Big Country With An Empty Nest” argued against the one-child limits.

“China’s economic, social, educational, tech, defence and foreign policies are built on the foundation of wrong numbers,” said Yi.

Chinese regulators talk about raising the official retirement age of 55 to increase the pool of workers.

Female professionals welcome a chance to stay in satisfying careers. But others resent being forced to work more years. And keeping workers on the job, unable to help look after children, might discourage their daughters from having more.

An earlier government estimate said China's population edged above 1.4 billion people for the first time in 2019, rising by 4.7 million over the previous year.

The latest data put China closer to be overtaken by India as the most populous country, which is expected to happen by 2025.

India’s population last year was estimated by the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs at 1.38 billion, or 1.5% behind China. The agency says India should grow by 0.9% annually through 2025.

Already, populations likely are shrinking in “a few pockets around China,” said Sabu Padmadas, a demographer at Britain’s University of Southampton who consulted on China for the U.N. Population Fund.

Tuesday's announcement said 25 of 31 provinces and regions in China showed population growth over the past decade. It gave no indication whether numbers in the other areas declined or held steady.

In Wenzhou, a coastal business centre south of Shanghai, the number of new births reported last year fell 19% from 2019.

“Eventually, what will happen is, it will spread,” said Padmadas.

___

Wu reported from Taipei. AP researcher Yu Bing and video producer Liu Zheng in Beijing contributed to this report.

Joe McDonald And Huizhong Wu, The Associated Press

Thousands suspended at Myanmar universities as junta targets education


(Reuters) - More than 11,000 academics and other university staff opposed to Myanmar's ruling junta have been suspended after going on strike in protest against military rule, a teachers' group told Reuters.

© Reuters/STRINGER Students protest against Myanmar’s junta in Mandalay

The suspensions come as the resumption of universities after a year closed due to the coronavirus epidemic prompts a new confrontation between the army and the staff and students who are calling for boycotts over the Feb. 1 coup.

"I feel upset to give up a job that I adored so much, but I feel proud to stand against injustice," said one 37-year-old university rector, who gave her name only as Thandar for fear of reprisals.

"My department summoned me today. I'm not going. We shouldn't follow the orders of the military council."

A professor on a fellowship in the United States said she was told she would have to declare opposition to the strikes or lose her job. Her university authorities had told her every scholar would be tracked down and forced to choose, she told Reuters.

© Reuters/ANN WANG FILE PHOTO: Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi attends Invest Myanmar in Naypyitaw

As of Monday, more than 11,100 academic and other staff had been suspended from colleges and universities offering degrees, an official of the Myanmar Teachers' Federation told Reuters, declining to be identified for fear of reprisals.


Reuters was not immediately able to ascertain exactly what proportion of total staff that figure represents. Myanmar had more than 26,000 teachers in universities and other tertiary education institutions in 2018, according to the most recent World Bank data.

Students and teachers were at the forefront of opposition during nearly half a century of military rule and have been prominent in the protests since the army detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and halted a decade of tentative democratic reforms.

Many teachers, like medics and other government workers, have stopped work as part of a civil disobedience movement that has paralysed Myanmar. As protests flared after the coup, security forces occupied campuses in the biggest city, Yangon, and elsewhere.

A spokesman for the junta did not respond to phone calls seeking comment on the suspensions.

The junta-controlled Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said teachers and students should cooperate to get the education system started again.

"Political opportunists do not wish to see such development by committing sabotage acts," it said.

BOYCOTTS

It was not clear to what extent the 11,000 staff suspensions would hamper efforts to reopen colleges but many students are also boycotting classes.

At the public West Yangon Technological University, the student's union published a list of 180 staff who had been suspended to hail them as heroes.

"I don't feel sad to miss school," said 22-year-old Hnin, a student of the Yangon University of Education. "There's nothing to lose from missing the junta's education."

Zaw Wai Soe, education minister in a rival National Unity Government set up underground by opponents of the junta, said he was touched that students had told him they would only return "when the revolution prevails".

Doubts have also been raised over the return to school of younger students, with institutions now taking registrations for the start of a new year. There are nearly 10 million school students in the country of 53 million.

Protesters daubed "We don't want to be educated in military slavery" at the entrance of a school in the southern town of Mawlamyine last week, a phrase that has been echoed at demonstrations across Myanmar by students.

"We'll go to school only when Grandmother Suu is released," read a banner of students in the northern town of Hpakant at the weekend, referring to detained leader Suu Kyi. "Free all students at once," said another sign.

Many students are among at least 780 people killed by security forces and the 3,800 in detention, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group.

At least 47 teachers are also among the detainees while arrest warrants have been issued for some 150 teachers on charges of incitement.

Myanmar's education system was already one of the poorest in the region - and ranked 92 of 93 countries in a global survey last year.

Even under the leadership of Suu Kyi, who had championed education, spending was below 2% of gross domestic product. That was one of the lowest rates in the world, according to World Bank figures.

Students could have little expectation of progress in Myanmar this year, said Saw Kapi, a founding director of the Salween Institute for Public Policy think tank.

"When it comes to education, I would suggest that instead of thinking about getting a bachelor's degree, you must go to the University of Life with a major in revolution," he wrote on social media. "You can go for a Masters or PhD later."

(Reporting by Reuters staff; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)

WHITE NATIONALIST PARTY

Maxime Bernier Held Another Canadian ‘Freedom Rally’ But Got Slapped With Hefty Fines

Duration: 01:00

People's Party of Canada (PPC) leader Maxime Bernier was slapped with a penalty of $2,800 on Saturday, after he went ahead with a "Freedom Rally" in Regina, Saskatchewan.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Group pleads guilty to running bulletproof hosting service for criminal gangs, malware payloads

Charlie Osborne  ZDNet 10/5/2021

Four individuals have pleaded guilty to running a bulletproof hosting service used by criminals to launch cyberattacks.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) said that Russian nationals Aleksandr Grichishkin and Andrei Skvortsov, alongside Lithuanian Aleksandr Skorodumov and Pavel Stassi, from Estonia, operated a bulletproof host between 2009 and 2015.

Bulletproof hosting is a service in which a private online infrastructure is offered, and operators will generally turn a blind eye to what customers use their rented domains for.

Copyright infringement notices are ignored, privacy is marketed as a feature of such services, and bulletproof offerings are the go-to for criminal groups seeking the infrastructure to host malware, establish command-and-control (C2) servers, and host illegal content including malicious software and child pornography.

However, being willing to ignore the transgressions of clients does not mean that law enforcement will take the same stance, and in this case, the group has been charged with conspiring to engage in a Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization (RICO).

According to the DoJ, the group rented out servers and domains that were used in criminal campaigns including attacks against US companies and financial organizations.

Malware including the Zeus and SpyEye Trojans, Citadel Trojan and credential stealer, and the Blackhole exploit kit -- used in drive-by downloads to serve payloads to victims -- were among those hosted by the bulletproof hosting provider.

"A key service provided by the defendants was helping their clients to evade detection by law enforcement and continue their crimes uninterrupted; the defendants did so by monitoring sites used to blocklist technical infrastructure used for crime, moving "flagged" content to new infrastructure, and registering all such infrastructure under false or stolen identities," prosecutors say.

All four have pleaded guilty to one count of the RICO charge in the US District Court in the Eastern District of Michigan and they may each face up to 20 years in prison. Sentencing has been set individually between June and September.

The FBI investigated the case with help from law enforcement agencies in Germany, Estonia, and the UK.

In December 2020 under "Operation Nova," police from the US and multiple countries seized three virtual private network (VPN) services used by cybercriminals. The VPNs were advertised on underground forums as a means to mask the location and identities of ransomware operators, Magecart attackers, and phishing fraudsters.
Previous and related coverage

Law enforcement take down three bulletproof VPN providers

MaxiDed, dead: Law enforcement closes hosting service linked to criminal activity

Why Hydrogen Might Still (Eventually) Make Sense
Steven Cole Smith 

Martin Tengler, Tokyo-based lead hydrogen analyst for BloombergNEF, likes to talk about how we’re on the cusp of at least the fourth pro-hydrogen near-frenzy since 1974. That’s the year Road & Track touted“Hydrogen: New & Clean Fuel for the Future” on its March cover. They probably didn’t mean more than 45 years in the future.

© MediaNews Group/Bay Area News via Getty Images Despite supply hiccups, and past promises that have never quite come to fruition, hydrogen-fuel technologies continue to improve, and the future still looks bright.

The second frenzy came in 2005, when the CEO of Ballard Power Systems, maker of fuel cells, said they’d be selling between 200,000 and 500,000 a year to auto manufacturers by 2010. They did not hit that mark.


And then there was 2009, when multiple auto manufacturers signed a joint letter of intent that by 2014, they would be selling hundreds of thousands of hydrogen-powered cars. That didn't happen, either.

But this next near-frenzy might be different, Tengler believes. Just in the past year, forecast growth, or at least interest, in hydrogen power has grown beyond even recent predictions. While most automakers have announced ambitious electrification plans pegged to plug-in vehicles, Honda recently made sure to include hydrogen-fuel-cell vehicles in its goal to phase out gasoline engines in North America by 2040. Daimler Trucks and Volvo have partnered in Europe to try to help cut costs and make hydrogen make financial sense for long-haul trucking.

Why is Tengler optimistic now? Especially as California, the one place in the U.S. with hydrogen infrastructure, continues to wrestle with supply in the face of even modest demand. Because costs will begin to decrease considerably for hydrogen production, and not just dirty"gray" hydrogen produced by, say, fossil fuels or coal-generated electricity, but of non-polluting green hydrogen.

Tengler thinks those costs could plunge by 85 percent by 2050. Meanwhile, no one is predicting gasoline will decline by 85 percent by, well, ever.

Costs could dip below $1 per kilogram of hydrogen by then, compared to an average cost of $16.51 per kilogram in 2019. The hydrogen-powered Toyota Mirai averages about 73 miles per kilogram, according to the EPA.

Interestingly, though, this latest hydrogen frenzy has little to do with cars. In fact, Tengler said,“Hydrogen may not be the best fuel for cars.” Compared to electricity, that is.

What has Tengler and his forecasting team excited about hydrogen is its industrial future, making steel, plastic, and cement, which it does now, and powering airplanes, ships and trains, which it doesn’t. At the head of the cost-reduction predictions are, Tengler said, solar PV. Solar photovoltaic, or PV, combines words for light (photo) and electricity (voltaic). Solar PV is how solar converts sunlight into electricity, and the process can also be used to create hydrogen fuel.“Falling costs of solar PV are the key driver,” Tengler said, behind his enthusiasm for hydrogen, which reflects his enthusiasm for solar.

Also, his enthusiasm for China. Most of the electrolyzers, which make hydrogen, are made in China, and the vast majority of solar equipment is made in China, and the overwhelming percentages are expected to grow.

"Such low renewable hydrogen costs could completely rewrite the energy map," Tengler said."It shows that in the future, at least 33 percent of the world economy could be powered by clean energy for not a cent more than it pays for fossil fuels. But the technology will require continued government support to get there—we are at the high part of the cost curve now, and policy-supported investment is needed to get to the low part."

So solar is one potential solution to improving the hydrogen supply. Two others could make their way to California by the end of the year.
WAYS2H: Garbage + Thermochemical Process = Hydrogen

Jean-Louis Kindler, co-founder and CEO of Ways2H doesn't yet practice what he preaches."I drive a gas guzzler," he said."I love my gas guzzler." Sure, he'd like to drive something powered by hydrogen to the nearest Trader Joe's, but the available inventory of hydrogen-powered vehicles doesn’t much appeal to enthusiasts of large or sporty vehicles, but Kindler thinks it’s coming.

And by then, he'll be able to pump processed garbage into its tank.

Kindler's company plans to build relatively small hydrogen refineries near garbage dumps, separate out the metal and glass, and use the rest—from milk cartons to cat litter to what is described picturesquely as"sludge"—to make"blue" hydrogen.

© TODA CORPORATION / Japan Blue Energy Co. Ltd. A nearly finished facility in Tokyo that will convert sewage sludge into renewable hydrogen gas for fuel-cell vehicles. Ways2H plans to bring the technology to California this year.

About 90 percent of today's hydrogen is"gray," made with electricity or fossil fuels. The hydrogen is then loaded into tube trailers towed by tractor-trailers and delivered to refilling stations, the majority of which are in California; that delivery is the most expensive part of the per-kilo price. As clean energies go, blue hydrogen is better. ("Green" hydrogen, the type that could be produced by solar, is the Holy Grail.)

Kindler's refineries use a chemical process to generate the necessary heat—not electricity or petroleum—to 1200-1300 degrees Fahrenheit—in an oxygen-free atmosphere."Entirely plausible," to make hydrogen from garbage, said BloombergNEF’s Tengler."It's being done here in Japan."

Kindler’s first Ways2H refinery is coming from Japan, three containers that will go on the boat in June, and could be producing hydrogen from garbage in California by the end of the year. Where in California? He isn’t ready to say. Larger systems would be built in place, but Kindler wanted to start with a smaller one to illustrate its portability. It will be a modest operation at first, taking garbage from the community where its located, then returning the hydrogen to the city to power.

The standard-sized Ways2H system"processes 24 tons of waste per day, for a 1- to 1.5-ton hydrogen yield," said Kindler, enough to fill the tanks of 200 to 300 passenger vehicles.

"Did you know there are 30,000 hydrogen-powered forklifts in America?" he said. We did not. But it makes sense—no pollution inside the warehouse, and no three to four-hour downtime as they recharge their batteries.

Kindler said the refineries are scalable, and can be made much larger to produce commercial hydrogen that can be marketed. A major customer? The long-haul trucking industry, which is hard at work on hydrogen-powered vehicles.

And, for Kindler, maybe a big, comfortable hydrogen guzzler, as soon as somebody makes one.
POWERTAP: Making hydrogen on-site at gas stations.

If you watched the IndyCar season opener from Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama on April 18, maybe you saw some Andretti Autosport crewmen with"PowerTap" on the back of their uniforms. It was a quiet coming-out for a company that says it plans to have 500 hydrogen refueling stations open in the next few years, starting with 29 in California, at existing stations owned by racer-businessmen Mario and Michael Andretti.

Unlike current stations, PowerTap plans to construct small buildings at the existing stations that will house hydrogen production equipment. It will use natural gas and city water to produce blue hydrogen, capturing and storing leftover carbon.

© PowerTap A rendering of the hydrogen fuel production facility planned by PowerTap.

It's a conventional method—"The technology dates back a hundred years," Tengler said, and China is cranking out inexpensive electrolyzers at an impressive rate, so the buy-in isn't that expensive.

But like Ways2H's Kindler, PowerTap CEO Raghu Kilambi sees a much more immediate path to profit through the 18-wheeler and medium-sized truck market, rather than through automobiles. Yes, he’s aware of battery-powered semis like the proposed Tesla version,"but I don’t believe it's commercially viable now." The size and weight of the necessary batteries, the length of time to charge them, the infrastructure required to recharge semi-trucks—hydrogen is ready now, as soon as truckers have a place to buy it. Toyota is likely to be the first on the road with a hydrogen-powered heavy truck, unless Nikola can get its house in order.

Plus, all you have to do to sell a new type of truck is to be sure it makes business sense."Cars are often emotional purchases," Kilambi said."People don’t buy Ferraris because they generate income. Trucking companies will buy what they need to make a profit." The ability to locate hydrogen production and refueling stations all over the country is a major boon for the hydrogen-powered trucking initiative—no need to transport hydrogen to far-flung places through pipelines, rail or trucking.

Kilambi also said that his stations can produce a kilo of hydrogen for several dollars. If he can sell it for, say, $8 a kilogram, it would nearly halve the price of current hydrogen outlets.

What’s making PowerTap possible is just what Tengler said would be necessary—"policy-supported investment"—or in other words, government money. And California's generous carbon credit system. At one point, Kilambi said, you got carbon credits for what you sold. But now, you can get carbon credits for the infrastructure as soon as you have something to sell, and that plays a big part in PowerTap's financial strategy. Carbon credits are a tradable asset, and their value, under the Biden administration, is likely to blossom, and may spread to other states, Kilambi hopes.

In a chicken-or-egg scenario, it appears the egg is being financed by the government before they sell any chickens. PowerTap will build the stations with largely private capital, and once they are built, they'll collect enough carbon credits to tide them over until the hydrogen market catches up to the new supply.

On paper, it works. We could see how well it works in the real world before the end of the year.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

U.S. pipeline hackers say their aim is cash, not chaos


By Raphael Satter and Joseph Menn

© Reuters/Handout . Holding tanks are seen at a Colonial Pipeline 

facility in an undated photograph

WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -The ransomware gang accused of crippling the leading U.S. fuel pipeline operator said on Monday that it never meant to create havoc, an unusual statement that experts saw as a sign the cybercriminals' scheme had gone awry

.

© Reuters/KEVIN LAMARQUE U.S. President Joe Biden 

speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington

The FBI accused the group that calls itself DarkSide of a digital extortion attempt that prompted Colonial Pipeline to shut down its network, threatening extraordinary disruption as Colonial works to get America's biggest gasoline pipeline back online by the end of the week

.

© Reuters/STAFF Holding tanks are pictured at 

Colonial Pipeline's Linden Junction Tank Farm in Woodbridge

A terse news release posted to DarkSide's website did not directly mention Colonial Pipeline but, under the heading "About the latest news," it noted that "our goal is to make money, and not creating problems for society."

The statement did not say how much money the hackers were seeking. Colonial Pipeline did not offer any comment on the hackers' statement and U.S. officials have said they have not been involved in ransom negotiations.

The hackers did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

The FBI, Department of Energy and White House have all been involved in a rapid response to the hack, and a server used by the gang was shut down over the weekend.

A person familiar with the matter said on Monday that the server held Colonial data and also files stolen in other DarkSide ransomware operations in progress, and that some of the group's other victims were in the process of being notified.

The FBI office in San Francisco, which had already been investigating DarkSide, was now involved in the law enforcement probe into the Colonial attack along with the FBI in Atlanta, near where the pipeline company is based.

The FBI declined comment.

DarkSide's statement went on to say that its hackers would launch checks on fellow cybercriminals "to avoid consequences in the future." It added the group was "apolitical" and that observers "do not need to tie us" with any particular government.

The statement, which had several spelling and grammatical errors, appeared geared toward lowering the political temperature around one of the most disruptive digital extortion schemes ever reported.

Gasoline prices at the pump have already risen 6 cents in the latest week - potentially putting them on course for the highest level since 2014.

On Sunday the largest U.S. refinery - Motiva Enterprises LLC's 607,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery - shut two crude distillation units because of the outage at Colonial, according to people familiar with the matter.

Some security experts said the DarkSide hackers were now trying to put some distance between themselves and the chaos they had unleashed.

"This isn't the first time a threat group has gotten in over their heads," said Lior Div, the co-founder and chief executive of Boston-based security company Cybereason.

He said that ransomware groups like DarkSide depended on being able to squeeze their victims discreetly, without attracting too much law enforcement scrutiny.

"The global backlash is hurting their business," said Div. "It is the only reason they are offering a mea culpa."

There is evidence that the DarkSide group operates out of Russia, U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters on Monday. He said that while there was "so far" no evidence that the Russian government was involved, "they have some responsibility to deal with this."

A U.S. official said investigators were still working out the nuances of whether and to what degree the alleged Russian indifference to the cybercriminals was deliberate.

The Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately return a message seeking comment. The Kremlin routinely denies having anything to do with cyberattacks on the United States.

Tackling the steady drumbeat of ransomware incidents taking American businesses hostage has ranked high on the Biden administration's list of priorities. A senior official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's cyber arm, CISA, said that the dramatic pipeline company hack should serve as a wakeup call well beyond the energy industry.

"All organizations should really sit up and take notice and make urgent investments to make sure that they're protecting their networks against these threats," said Eric Goldstein, CISA's executive assistant director for cybersecurity.

"This time it was a large pipeline company, tomorrow it could be a different company and a different sector. These actors don't discriminate."

(Reporting by Raphael Satter in Washington and Joseph Menn in San Francisco; additional reporting by Stephanie Kelly in New York; Editing by Howard Goller)