PHONY ALTERNATIVE TO SOCIALISM

Jamie Dimon defends ‘woke capitalism,’ saying ‘society is worse off if we don’t lift up everybody’

Erin Prater
Mon, August 15, 2022 

Misha Friedman—Getty Images

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon defended a brand of “woke capitalism” that turns words into action, on a Tuesday client call, saying that “society is worse off if we don’t lift up everybody.”

“You can ignore the bad part of society—not hire from them, not drive through parts of town,” said Dimon, as reported by Yahoo! Finance. “I think it is a mistake because our society is worse off if we don’t lift up everybody. It is far more than ‘woke capitalism.’ It is a good thing to lift up our fellow citizens.”

If young people ages 17 to 25 have a 20% unemployment rate, “you can be sure you’re going to have a social problem,” he said. “Jobs bring dignity, household formation. Jobs reduce crime. Everybody should try to help if they can.”

The July unemployment rate for young people ages 16 to 19 was 3.5%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The rate for ages 20 to 24 was 6.4%.

The term “woke capitalism” was coined by New York Times opinion columnist Ross Douthat in the mid-2010s. While the term means slightly different things to different people, it generally refers to corporations that signal their support for social issues like same-sex marriage and environmental protection, but perhaps don’t take their advocacy further.



In a 2020 piece in The Atlantic, writer Helen Lewis criticized woke capitalism, saying its “iron law” is “Better to have something you can point to and say, ‘Aren't we progressive?’ than to think about the real problem.”

A good example, according to Lewis: diversity training, which “offers the minimum possible disruption to your power structures. Don’t change the board; just get your existing employees to sit through a seminar.”

“The only question I want to ask big companies who claim to be ‘empowering the female leaders of the future’ is this one: ‘Do you have on-site child care?’” she wrote. “You can have all the summits and power breakfasts you want, but unless you address the real problems holding working parents back, then it’s all window dressing.”

AND THEN HE GOES AND SPOILS IT ALL WITH CAPITALIST DIKTAT

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon rips remote work and Zoom as ‘management by Hollywood Squares’ and says returning to the office will aid diversity

Nicholas Gordon

Mon, August 15, 2022 

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon blasted working from home and Zoom as “management by Hollywood Squares,” using the dated TV show reference on a call with the bank’s wealthy clients last week to reiterate his long-held preference that workers return to the office, Yahoo Finance reports.

Dimon argued on the Tuesday call that remote work creates a working environment that’s less honest and more prone to procrastination. “A lot of people at home are texting each other, sometimes saying what a jerk that person is,” said Dimon. (His Hollywood Squares comment referred to the decades-old game show—that’s no longer in production—in which celebrities sat in a three-by-three grid to answer questions from contestants.)

Dimon’s remarks come as the tussle between management and employees on a return to the office heats up and a possible economic slowdown threatens to erode employees’ leverage to stay home.

In the past, Dimon has said that work-from-home is a poor fit for JPMorgan’s employees. Last year, he argued that remote work “doesn’t work for people who want to hustle, doesn’t work for culture, doesn’t work for idea generation."

In a shareholder letter released earlier this year, the bank said that it expected half its employees to return to the office full-time, with an additional 40% working in a hybrid system. JPMorgan is reportedly tracking ID card swipes in order to ensure compliance with the new policy and monitoring the time employees spend on Zoom and email in order to better measure productivity.

On Tuesday, Dimon rolled out a new argument in his battle against working from home: that it damages the U.S. drive for diversity.

Dimon called the office a “rainbow room” and said that workers who stayed home were denying themselves “opportunities to meet other people.” The JPMorgan CEO argued that “if you live in certain parts of our country and go eat out there, it is all white,” meaning remote workers may end up having a more uniform experience than if they traveled into work.

Studies report that minorities, especially Black and Hispanic workers, are teleworking at lower rates than white workers. One April study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 19% of Black and 14% of Hispanic workers engaged in telework, compared with 24% of white workers and 38% of Asian workers. The CDC study argues that the difference stemmed from lower rates of college education among minority populations, as well as overrepresentation of Black and Hispanic workers in jobs that don’t allow for remote work.

A survey from the Society for Human Resource Management last September reported that half of Black office workers wanted to work from home, compared with 39% of white workers and 29% of Hispanic workers.

CEOs, real estate developers, and even city mayors have called for workers to return to the office. Developer Stephen Ross predicted in June that a recession might make “people fear that they might not have a job, [and] that will bring people back to the office.” But workers want to stay home. The Slack-funded Future Forum found in July that only one in five knowledge workers wanted to return to the office, a record low.

Nationally, office occupancy rates are hovering around 43%, according to Kastle Systems, a security company.

Apple Lays Off Recruiters as Part of Its Slowdown in Hiring

Mark Gurman
Mon, August 15, 2022 


(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. laid off many of its contract-based recruiters in the past week, part of a push to rein in the tech giant’s hiring and spending, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

About 100 contract workers were let go in a rare move for the world’s most valuable company, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the situation is private. The recruiters were responsible for hiring new employees for Apple, and the cuts underscore that a slowdown is underway at the company.

Workers laid off were told the cuts were made due to changes in Apple’s current business needs. Bloomberg first reported last month that the company was decelerating hiring after years of staffing up, joining many tech companies in hitting the brakes. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook confirmed during Apple’s earnings conference call that the company would be more “deliberate” in its spending -- even as it keeps investing in some areas.

“We believe in investing through the downturn,” Cook told analysts. “And so we’ll continue to hire people and invest in areas, but we are being more deliberate in doing so in recognition of the realities of the environment.”

Apple is still retaining recruiters who are full-time employees, and not all of its contractors were fired as part of the move. An Apple spokesman declined to comment on the decision.

The move to lay off workers is unusual for the Cupertino, California-based technology giant, which employs more than 150,000 people. But it’s far from alone in taking such a step. In recent months, Meta Platforms Inc., Tesla Inc., Microsoft Corp., Amazon.com Inc. and Oracle Corp. have all eliminated jobs in the face of a tech spending slowdown.

Terminated contractors were told they would receive pay and medical benefits for two weeks. When they were laid off, employee badges were disabled and workers were told they would need to email a list of their belongings if they wanted those items to be returned. Recruiters were let go across many regions, including at Apple’s offices in Texas and Singapore.

Apple previously fired a large group of contract workers in 2019 in Cork, Ireland. At the time, the company had been relying on several hundred contractors to listen to recordings of Siri conversations to help improve the product. Apple let the workers go as part of scaling down the program in response to privacy concerns. The company also fired some contractors while working on the Apple Park campus in 2015.

Like many other companies, Apple employs contract workers for tasks such as technical support and customer service. It also uses contractors for localizing products and improving its Maps service. Contract workers typically receive fewer benefits than full-time workers and have fewer protections.

Minister Wilkinson Releases New Report Showing the Impacts of Climate Change and Necessity of Climate Adaptation in Ontario

Mon, August 15, 2022 

Canada NewsWire

OTTAWA, ON, Aug. 15, 2022

OTTAWA, ON, Aug. 15, 2022 /CNW/ - Across Ontario, Canadians are feeling the impacts of climate change in their communities and on their livelihoods. That is why today, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources, announced the release of the Ontario Chapter of the Canada in a Changing Climate: Regional Perspectives Report to help inform and support adaptation to climate change in Ontario.


According to the report, temperatures are increasing in the province, with the greatest warming observed in Northern Ontario and the largest increases occurring in the winter. With further warming, heat waves are projected to become more frequent. Annual precipitation is projected to increase along with extreme precipitation events, resulting in increased risk of flooding. Lake levels in the Great Lakes have been highly variable, experiencing both record lows and extreme highs. These changes are affecting Ontario's communities, environment and economy.

This new chapter also highlights the wide range of climate impacts that Ontario is facing and how the province is adapting. It reveals that Ontario's infrastructure is vulnerable to climate change and that nature-based solutions help address climate change impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Impacts on biodiversity are magnified through the cumulative effects of climate change, habitat loss, urbanization, pollution and other threats. In the Great Lakes Basin, adaptive management is key for addressing climate change impacts, and adaptation measures improve forest health, carbon storage and biodiversity.

Climate change brings both threats and opportunities to Ontario agriculture and food systems, while existing human health inequities will be worsened by climate change. The chapter also concludes that while adaptation is occurring, progress remains limited.

The report is a part of Canada in a Changing Climate: Advancing our Knowledge for Action, Canada's National Knowledge Assessment of how and why Canada's climate is changing, the impacts of these changes and how we are adapting. The assessment reports raise awareness and understanding of the key issues facing our country and provide information to support sound adaptation decisions and actions. The Government of Canada is also working with partners in Ontario and across the country on the development of the country's first National Adaptation Strategy, a whole-of-society blueprint for coordinated action to ensure communities and Canadians are prepared for the impacts of climate change.

By ensuring people in Ontario have access to credible, evidence-based information, this resource will enable them to make more informed decisions to prepare for, and respond to, climate change impacts.

A webinar on August 17 will follow the official release of the Ontario Chapter of the Regional Perspectives Report. Hear directly from the authors about how climate change is affecting Ontario and how communities and sectors are increasingly taking action to adapt.

Quotes

"Today's report confirms that Ontario, like every region of Canada, is facing significant climate challenges, from exacerbated health inequities to increasingly at-risk infrastructure. That is why our government is examining the regional effects of our changing climate: to better enable informed decision-making to prepare for, and respond to, climate impacts. With these reports, we are ensuring that Canadians have access to credible, evidence-based information, information that will go on to inform their choices as well as our own as we develop Canada's first National Adaptation Strategy."

The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson
Minister of Natural Resources

"Across Ontario, communities are facing challenges from a changing climate. Important evidence-based information, such as in this report, can help communities prepare. We are working with partners to develop Canada's first National Adaptation Strategy. The Strategy will help support whole-of-society action to address and better prepare for the impacts of a changing climate including communities, the natural environment and the economy. We can and we must do both mitigation and adaptation — play both offence and defence — for a complete effort."

The Honourable Steven Guilbeault
Minister of Environment and Climate Change

"Climate change is top of mind for rural communities in Ontario and across Canada. Ontarians are counting on us to make sound decisions based on the credible, evidence-based science of our country's climate experts. The insights from this report will help Ontario's communities be more prepared to take action against the continued effects of climate change and protect Ontario's vulnerable infrastructure, including the Great Lakes."

The Honourable Gudie Hutchings
Minister of Rural Economic Development

"Communities across Canada, including in Ontario, are experiencing more frequent and severe weather events due to climate change. The release of this provincial chapter underlines how important it is for climate change adaptation and emergency management efforts to be implemented together and requires close co-operation across all orders of government, industry and individuals. The Government of Canada is championing these efforts through the development of the National Adaptation Strategy and the delivery of the Emergency Management Strategy for Canada. The evidence from this report will continue to help inform our efforts as we work together to anticipate, mitigate and recover from the impacts of climate change."

The Honourable Bill Blair
President of the Queen's Privy Council and Minister of Emergency Preparedness

"Ontario is a leader in Canada when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and nature-based solutions through programs like the Greenlands Conservation Partnership Program. We've taken meaningful action to prepare for the impacts of climate change by undertaking the first Provincial Climate Change Impact Assessment, using the best available science and data. Results from the multi-sector assessment will help Indigenous communities, municipalities, businesses and local decision-makers make informed choices to adapt to climate change while building a strong economy."

The Honourable David Piccini
Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks

Associated links

Register for the Webinar on August 17
Canada in a Changing Climate: National Issues Report
Canada in a Changing Climate: Advancing our Knowledge for Action
2030 Emissions Reduction Plan: Clean Air, Strong Economy
Map of Adaptation Actions
Canada's National Adaptation Strategy

SOURCE Natural Resources Canada

Analysis: Iranian nuclear deal limbo may serve interests of both U.S. and Iran


 PHOTO: Illustration shows Atom symbol and Iran flag

Sun, August 14, 2022 
By Arshad Mohammed and Parisa Hafezi

WASHINGTON/DUBAI (Reuters) - Whether or not Tehran and Washington accept a European Union "final" offer to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, neither is likely to declare the pact dead because keeping it alive serves both sides' interests, diplomats, analysts and officials said.

Their reasons, however, are radically different.

For U.S. President Joe Biden's administration, there are no obvious or easy ways to rein in Iran's nuclear program other than the agreement, under which Iran had restrained its atomic program in return for relief from U.S., U.N. and EU economic sanctions.

Using economic pressure to coerce Iran to further limit its atomic program, as Biden's predecessor Donald Trump attempted after abandoning the deal in 2018, will be difficult when countries such as China and India continue to buy Iranian oil.

The rise in oil prices brought on by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Moscow's public support for Tehran have thrown Iran economic and political lifelines that have helped to convince Iranian officials that they can afford to wait.

"Both sides are happy to endure the status quo," said a European diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"We are in no rush," said a senior Iranian official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"We are selling our oil, we have reasonable trade with many countries, including neighboring countries, we have our friends like Russia and China that both are at odds with Washington ... our (nuclear) program is advancing. Why should we retreat?"

When Trump reneged on the deal he argued it was too generous to Iran and he reimposed harsh U.S. sanctions designed to choke off Iran's oil exports as part of a "maximum pressure" campaign.

After waiting about a year, Iran began violating the deal's nuclear restrictions, amassing a larger stockpile of enriched uranium, enriching uranium to 60% purity - well above the pact's 3.67% limit - and using increasingly sophisticated centrifuges.

After 16 months of fitful, indirect U.S.-Iranian talks, with the EU shuttling between the parties, a senior EU official on Aug. 8 said they had laid down a "final" offer and expected a response within "very, very few weeks."

AUG. 15 DEADLINE?

Regional diplomats said the EU told the parties it expected an answer on Aug. 15, though that has not been confirmed. There are no signs if Iran intends to comply or to accept the draft EU text. The United States has said it is ready to quickly conclude a deal based on the EU proposals, is studying the text and will respond "as asked."

"The Ukraine war, high oil prices, the rising tension between Washington and China, have changed the political equilibrium. Therefore, time is not of the essence for Iran," said a second senior Iranian official.

After months of saying time was running out, U.S. officials have changed tack, saying they will pursue a deal as long as it is in U.S. national security interests, a formulation with no deadline.

Biden, a Democrat, is sure to be criticized by Republicans if he revives the deal before the Nov. 8 midterm elections in which his party could lose control of both houses of Congress.

"If the Iranians tomorrow came in and said, 'OK, we'll take the deal that's on the table,' we would do it notwithstanding the midterms," said Dennis Ross, a veteran U.S. diplomat now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

"It's not like the administration is out there touting this as a great arms control deal. Their position is that it's the least bad of the alternatives that are available," he added.

While Biden has said he would take military action as a last resort to keep Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, Washington is loathe to do so given the risk of sparking a wider regional war or of Iran attacking the United States or its allies elsewhere.

Domestic criticism of the administration is likely to be fiercer after last week's indictment of an Iranian man on U.S. charges of plotting to kill former White House national security adviser John Bolton and the knife attack on novelist Salman Rushdie. The writer has lived under an Iranian fatwa, or religious edict, calling on Muslims to kill him for his novel "The Satanic Verses," viewed by some as blasphemous.

DANGLING

The lack of better policy options for Washington, and Tehran's view that time is on its side, could leave the deal dangling.

"Both the US and Iran have compelling reasons to keep the prospect of a deal alive, even though neither appears willing to make the concessions that would actually facilitate its revival," said Eurasia Group analyst Henry Rome.

"It is unclear whether Iranian leaders have decided not to revive the deal or have not made a definitive decision, but either way, continuing this limbo period likely serves their interests," Rome said.

"The fact that the West has long threatened that time was running short has likely undermined its credibility in insisting that the deal on the table is final and non-negotiable," he said.

(Reporting By Parisa Hafezi in Dubai and Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Additional reporting by Jonathan Landay; Writing by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Mary Milliken and Grant McCool)

HINDUTVA IS NOT HINDUISM
Op-Ed: As a Hindu, I can't stay silent about injustices in India — committed in the name of our faith

Akhila L. Ananth
Mon, August 15, 2022 

Students protest against a Modi-backed citizenship law in New Delhi, India, in December 2019. 

(Altaf Qadri / Associated Press)

On Monday, India marks 75 years since its independence from British rule. Growing up in Orange County, I was taught that observing Hindu religious traditions made me a proud Indian. My family is Brahmin, the upper caste of Hinduism’s ancient hierarchy. I learned South Indian classical dance, attended Hindu Sunday school and spent summers at my grandparents’ home in Bengaluru, in southern India.

At the same time, my upbringing was relatively progressive. My grandfather had been a civil servant in India and taught me how corrupt governments could become. During the years he lived with us in America, I would come home from high school to newspaper clippings about global politics that he shared with me. In 2000, when I voted for Ralph Nader for president, he told me he would have too. And in 2014, he shared my grief at the election of Narendra Modi as India’s prime minister. My grandfather believed that equality and plurality were the riches of a society, and Modi represented the Bharatiya Janata Party, India’s ultra-conservative right-wing party supported by Hindus in India and abroad.

These two sides of my identity bred a contradiction. At community gatherings in California, I avoided politics like everyone else and smiled politely. I enjoyed being anonymous in a sea of Indian faces. Yet I was also involved in progressive causes with a multiracial group of activists and debated a lot with my family about racism, classism, misogyny and homophobia in the U.S.

It’s become harder to hold on to that contradiction. I want all the aunties, uncles and young people I’ve been raised around to know that I can’t stay silent about what is happening in the name of our faith in India. How can I speak out about injustice in the U.S. while ignoring India?

Modi has waged a political war against poor people, farmers, Indigenous and caste-oppressed groups and Muslims, and because of that, Hindu nationalists now feel free to brutalize those communities. In 2019, he abrogated the semi-sovereign status of Kashmir, the territory trapped between Indian and Pakistani military rule. Thousands of people protested when Modi’s government approved a bill that set religion as a condition for citizenship by only granting citizenship to non-Muslims fleeing neighboring countries.

In March, a school district in the southern state of Karnataka — where my family’s roots are — banned students from wearing hijab. Every day reports pile up on social media of Muslims being murdered or sexually assaulted in India at the hands of Hindu nationalists. Meanwhile, journalists critical of Modi have been silenced, incarcerated and harassed. Human rights groups such as Amnesty International and other non-governmental organizations have had to halt or limit operations in India.

Modi’s election showed me what was right below those polite smiles at community events I attended. At best, elders and even my parents debated me, arguing that Brahmins had also faced discrimination because of India’s reservations system, a version of affirmative action. One auntie — a term of respect we use for older women in our community, even if they’re not related to us — advised me, with love, that India was a lost cause and that I should focus my energy on the U.S. On social media, I’ve been attacked for speaking out at all.

When I was last in India in December 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, I got into several tearful debates with cousins repeating horrible stereotypes about Muslims. But conservatism in India is also culturally and financially supported by Indian communities here in the U.S. In November 2019, then-President Trump welcomed Modi to a Houston stadium with 50,000 paying Indian Americans.

We in the diaspora have a role to play against Hindu fundamentalism. The California State University system, where I work, now includes caste as a protected category, which means that students, staff or faculty can report caste-based discrimination they face on campuses to university administrators for internal investigations. That was a result of years of activism from Dalit students, who are from historically oppressed communities of the caste system, and their supporters. Just like the millions of activists in India, there is also a growing movement of progressive South Asian Americans, including Indians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans and Nepalis in the U.S. forming coalitions across religious and ethnic lines to advocate for better living conditions in the U.S. and to resist conservative policies in our homelands.

Last month, a group of us walked through the Lotus Festival honoring India at Echo Park with signs protesting Modi’s rule. We were met with many curious and supportive Angelenos, but also with Hindu conservatives, invited guests of the festival, aggressively calling us liars. One Indian woman lunged toward us before her friend pulled her back. This time, I did not smile politely. I yelled back.

On the 75th anniversary of India’s independence from Britain, I am as inspired by my progressive South Asian community as I am by the words of India’s constitution. The preamble, written by B.R. Ambedkar, the Dalit scholar and freedom fighter, proclaims that the people of India will create a secular democratic republic that secures for all its citizens: “JUSTICE, social, economic and political; LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; EQUALITY of status and of opportunity.” These are the ideals that I’ll be celebrating and that I’ll continue building toward, even if they feel out of reach right now.

Akhila L. Ananth is an associate professor of criminal justice at Cal State Los Angeles.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Brazil's Lula has 12% lead over Bolsonaro, would win run-off by 16%, says poll

Brazil's former president and presidential frontrunner 

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gestures during campaign event in Sao Paulo


Mon, August 15, 2022 
By Peter Frontini and Anthony Boadle

SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has a 12-percentage-point lead over far-right incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro ahead of the October election, according to a new poll published on Monday.

The survey by IPEC, formerly known as IBOPE, showed Lula with 44% of voter support against 32% for Bolsonaro in the first round of the election schedule for Oct. 2.

In an expected run-off between the two men on Oct. 30, should no candidate win 50% plus one of the valid votes, Lula would get elected by 51% of the votes versus 35% for Bolsonaro, a 16-point gap, the poll showed.

That advantage for the leftist former president is mirrored by other polls, which have shown Brazil's most polarized presidential race in decades narrowing in recent weeks.

Lula's lead has fallen from 26% in December to 18% in July, according to Datafolha, another major polling firm, but the leftist leader still had a 20% lead over Bolsonaro if the two men face off in a run-off.

Bolsonaro has increased spending on welfare for poor Brazilians, which may be improving his numbers. He has also pressed state-controlled oil company Petrobras to lower the price of fuel, a big factor in pushing up inflation.

Pollster Quaest, in telephone surveys, found Bolsonaro is now statistically tied with Lula in Sao Paulo, the country's largest electoral college, and has narrowed his rival's lead in Minas Gerais, the state with second largest number of voters.

But another poll commissioned by investment bank BTG released on Monday said Bolsonaro had lost ground again and dropped 4 percentage points to his rival who is leading by 11 points. Lula's advantage also grew for an expected run-off to 15 points from 12 in the previous BTG/FSB poll.

The IPEC poll said Bolsonaro's approval rating is at 29%, compared to just 19% in December, while the number of voters who see his government as bad or terrible has dropped to 43% from 55% in the previous survey.

Still, 57% of Brazilians disapprove of the way Bolsonaro, a former army captain and right-wing firebrand, governs the country, while only 37% approve, according to IPEC.

It was IPEC's first national poll of voter intentions and interviewed 2,000 people in person between August 12-14. The poll has a margin of error of 2 percentage points up or down.

(Reporting by Peter Frontini in Sao Paulo and Anthony Boadle in Brasilia; Editing by Sam Holmes)

PUBLIC OWNERSHIP AND A PLANNED ECONOMY WOULD
Money Won’t Solve America’s Power Grid Problems

Editor OilPrice.com
Mon, August 15, 2022 

Despite tens of billions of U.S. dollars earmarked for grid modernization, the United States continues to face challenges in making sweeping investments in upgrading electricity systems and making them more resilient to extreme weather.

As heat waves and winter storms continue to test the reliability of the U.S. power grid, the modernization actions and investments are constrained by the shared federal and state jurisdiction over the systems, regulatory issues, and politics.

By some estimates, America would need $360 billion invested in transmission through 2030 and $2.4 trillion by 2050 in a “high electrification” scenario. Yet, it’s not only a matter of money, many analysts and industry consultants say. That’s because the U.S. currently lacks a national strategy that clearly defines the roles of policymakers, states, federal agencies, grid operators, and utilities in preparing the transmission system on a national level to handle a surge in renewable power generation, demand from EV charging, and the “electrify everything” drive at home.

“Today, oversight of the grid is the responsibility of a patchwork of federal and state authorities. The 2005 Energy Policy Act designated the Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) as the primary authority over power generation and transmission across the United States. However, jurisdiction of local-level retail power distribution, which actually delivers that power to end users, remains in the hands of state and municipal governments,” James McBride and Anshu Siripurapu of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) wrote in an explainer on the U.S. power grid last month.

Therefore, the push from the federal government for a massive investment in grid modernization and a major boost of renewable energy sources could be met with resistance at a local level.

“Resistance from states and localities can delay projects for years or even kill them altogether,” CFR’s McBride and Anshu Siripurapu note.

Romany Webb, senior fellow at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, tells CNBC, “The fact that we have this split authority between the federal government and the states is one of the factors that contributes to the complexity of the sort of modernizing the grid and building out additional infrastructure.”

Moreover, in states where public utility commissioners are elected officials, there is often pushback from those officials against expensive investments that would raise electricity bills for the people electing the commissioners, Webb told CNBC.

The NC Clean Energy Technology Center based in North Carolina said in a report last month that 549 grid modernization actions were taken across America in the second quarter of 2022. However, regulators approved only $478.7 million out of the $12.86 billion in investment under consideration, according to the center’s data cited by CNBC.

The regulatory and political issues make investments in the grid more complicated, which could delay much-needed transmission infrastructure updates and thus, push further the timeline of the clean energy goals, analysts say.

The grid is in dire need of modernization, the industry and experts say.

According to the North American Electric Reliability Corp (NERC), extreme weather, inverter issues, and cyber threats pose unprecedented challenges to the grid.

“Severe weather challenged the grid, putting resilience into focus,” NERC said in its 2022 State of Reliability report last month.

Another key finding in the report was that “Large geographic areas have become dependent upon renewable resources to meet peak loads and multiple instances of the loss of solar in Texas and California in 2021 confirm that unaddressed inverter issues increased reliability risk.”

Extreme weather and supply issues have resulted in more power outages in recent years.

U.S. electricity customers experienced, on average, just over eight hours of electric power interruptions in 2020, the latest available statistics from the EIA showed. That’s the most since the administration began collecting electricity reliability data in 2013.

To solve the reliability and security issues, the U.S. needs not only trillions of dollars of investment but also improved federal-state-local community cooperation and dialogue on who should do what to strengthen the resilience of the power grid in challenging geopolitical times.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

A historic climate-fueled drought in Europe revealed ominous, centuries-old 'hunger stones' warning of hardship

Paola Rosa-Aquino
Mon, August 15, 2022 

A child stands on one of the "hunger stones" revealed by the low level of water in the Elbe River in 2018.REUTERS

Carved boulders used to record historic droughts have emerged in Europe's shrinking rivers.

A growing body of research links intensifying droughts in many parts of the world to climate change.

Researchers say the current drought that Europe is experiencing could be the worst in 500 years.

An intense drought is shrinking rivers across Europe, revealing stones carved centuries ago to give future generations a warning of hard times ahead.

The Miami Herald reported that locals said the centuries-old boulders, known as "hunger stones," reappeared last week as rivers in Europe ran dry due to drought conditions.

One such stone is on the banks of the Elbe River, which begins in the Czech Republic and flows through Germany. The boulder dates back to 1616 and is etched with a warning in German: "Wenn du mich seehst, dann weine" — "If you see me, then weep," according to a Google translation of the phrase.

In a 2013 study, a team of Czech researchers wrote that these boulders are "chiselled with the years of hardship and the initials of authors lost to history," adding that the "basic inscriptions warn of the consequences of drought."

"It expressed that drought had brought a bad harvest, lack of food, high prices and hunger for poor people," researchers wrote. "Before 1900, the following droughts are commemorated on the stone: 1417, 1616, 1707, 1746, 1790, 1800, 1811, 1830, 1842, 1868, 1892, and 1893."

A view of the "hunger stone," which dates back to 1616.REUTERS

These "hydrological landmarks" last surfaced during a 2018 drought, NPR reported.

But the current drought Europe is experiencing could be the worst in 500 years, according to Andrea Toreti, a senior researcher at the European Commission's Joint Research Center.

At a news conference on August 9, Toreti said no other events in the past 500 years were "similar to the drought of 2018. But this year, I think, is worse," Euronews reported. He added there was "a very high risk of dry conditions" continuing over the next three months.

A growing body of research links more frequent and intense droughts to climate change. Rising global temperatures cause changes in precipitation and enhance evaporation. According to the European Drought Observatory, 47% of Europe is in drought warning conditions, which means there is a deficit of moisture in the soil; another 17% is on alert, which means vegetation is stressed.

Another stone on the banks of the river Elbe was marked during low water levels in 2003.

Sebastian Kahnert/picture alliance via Getty Images

The stones are not the only hidden relic to emerge in European rivers due to drought. Receding waters due to climate change in Italy's Po River also revealed a slew of archaeological treasures.

The sunken shipwreck of a World War II-era barge resurfaced in June after the river — the country's largest — reached low levels during its worst drought in 70 years. More recently, in late July, the drought-stricken Italian river revealed a previously submerged 1,000-pound bomb from World War II.

"The bomb was found by fishermen on the bank of the River Po due to a decrease in water levels caused by drought," a local official told Reuters. Experts had to safely remove it.

Murder of the Dead by Amadeo Bordiga 1951

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The basis of marxist economic analysis is the distinction between dead and living labour. We do not define capitalism as the ownership of heaps of past, ...

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Time has all but run out for world's 'largest carbon capture project'

Karin Rives
Sun, August 14, 2022 

In less than 60 days, the San Juan Generating Station is scheduled to produce its final kilowatt-hour of power and release its last pound of CO2 into the atmosphere.

Proponents of a $1.4 billion-plus carbon capture project at the New Mexico coal-fired plant hope the facility will be transferred to new owners and keep operating past its Sept. 30 retirement date. Retaining high-paying jobs and much-needed local tax revenue are priorities for labor unions and the city of Farmington, N.M., which owns 5% of the plant.

Enchant Energy, the three-year-old startup leading the carbon capture venture, has retained a new plant operator and is already offering power purchase contracts to customers in other states.

But after three years of negotiations between Enchant, Farmington stakeholders and the current owners of the plant, little progress has been made on resolving several crucial issues such as who should be liable for decommissioning and the environmental clean-up of the plant if the facility were to change hands. It looks unlikely they will have a deal before the plant closes Sept. 30.

Time has all but run out for world's 'largest carbon capture project' | S&P Global Market Intelligence (spglobal.com)

"There remain threshold issues, which are not resolved," Tom Fallgren, vice president of generation for PNM Resources Inc., said in an interview. "So PNM has a contractual obligation to proceed with an orderly shutdown."

These pulverizers once crushed coal for unit 3 at the San Juan Generating Station. They have since been shut down along with the unit.

PNM, the majority owner of the San Juan plant, is required by the facility's ownership agreement and state law to shutter the 46-year-old facility's last operating unit by the end of September. The utility must also file a demolition plan with San Juan County within 90 days of closing the plant — all work that is being planned out now, Fallgren said.

More than 30 workers at the coal plant took voluntary layoffs June 30 in anticipation of San Juan production winding down. PNM is focusing on operating the plant safely through September but is no longer investing in maintenance of the aging site.

More:FEUS has not finalized plans to replace its 47 megawatts from San Juan Generating Station

New plant operator ready to roll

The small group behind the San Juan carbon project, led by a former PacifiCorp executive and two investors with New York hedge fund Acme Equities, remains undeterred.

Enchant Energy is finalizing a contract with one of the nation's largest power plant operators, NAES Corp., to run San Juan. NAES has already held initial talks with local union leaders about staffing the facility.

"It's a best-case scenario," Charlie Hoock, NAES' senior vice president of power services and renewables, said in an interview. "We've gotten an abundance of qualified local people that are excited about having a job at the power plant. That's fantastic for us."

The contract with Enchant would be executed if and when the plant is transferred to the new owners. NAES could restart operations at San Juan should its last unit close before there is a deal, Hoock said.

Cindy Crane, Enchant's CEO, told S&P Global Commodity Insights the company has customers lined up to purchase San Juan's power once the facility changes hands but declined to identify them. Enchant expects to contract with third-party companies with transmission rights to get the electricity past a local switchyard and onto the grid.

Cindy Crane

"We believe reasonable parties can agree," Crane, a former CEO of PacifiCorp's Rocky Mountain Power, said of the difficult plant transfer negotiations. "We are very comfortable that the project, that [decarbonization], is economic and is financeable."

Crane said Enchant expects to do what nobody else has: equip an 847-MW coal plant with financially viable technology to capture 95% of its carbon pollution with an average plant capacity factor of 85%. Enchant markets the venture as the "largest carbon capture project in the world."

Hurdles to overcome

One of the owners has the right to take over the San Juan plant under the ownership agreement among PNM, Tucson Electric Power Co., Los Alamos County, the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems and City of Farmington.

Enchant and Farmington want to pursue a deal in which the city would take full ownership of the plant and transfer 95% of the facility to Enchant, with the city retaining its 5% share. But such a transfer, which could take months, can only happen if all other owners sign off on the deal. The owner who takes over the plant must make a formal request to assume responsibility, something Farmington has yet to do.

Transmission lines take power away from the San Juan Generating Station.

The current plant owners, which include a group of 40-plus Western municipalities, have voiced concerns over how Enchant plans to finance the operation and ultimate cleanup of the plant, considering that the company has yet to secure sufficient private investments or any federal funds.

The original price tag of $1.2 billion in 2019, when the carbon capture project was first proposed, has since grown to $1.4 billion. Crane said the latest estimate is now "slightly higher than that" due to inflation.

Much or most of the funding will come as monetized federal 45Q tax credits, grants from the 2021 infrastructure law, and loans from the U.S. Agriculture and Energy departments, Enchant reported in a February filing with the DOE. None of those grants or loans are guaranteed, however.

More:PNM plans for Sept. 30 SJGS shutdown as Enchant Energy continues negotiations with owners

Utah cities consider San Juan power

There are questions over who will ultimately buy the power that Enchant would seek to sell. About 71% of the electricity that would be produced by the plant's units 1 and 4 would be sold, and the rest would be used to operate the carbon capture facility.

The City of Logan is one of several Utah municipalities considering signing a 15-year power purchase agreement with Enchant at $33.75 per MWh, in addition to transmission and scheduling costs. But the city's Renewable Energy and Sustainability Advisory Board strongly advised against the deal in October 2021, and local environmental groups are campaigning against the plan.

For now, city officials have deferred the matter to September, said Patrick Belmont, a watershed sciences professor at Utah State University and a vice chair of the advisory board. Enchant faces too many obstacles for Logan to lean on the company for its power needs, Belmont said in an email.

"They don't have transmission rights, they don't have any way to meet the state CO2 emissions standards that go into effect in September, they have not started any of the years of work to obtain permits for the carbon capture aspects of the project," Belmont wrote. "At best, this project is a costly distraction from what we need to be doing, transitioning to clean energy sources as quickly and fairly as possible. At worst, it's a boondoggle."

Critics of the San Juan project have questioned Enchant's promises to capture 95% of the carbon pollution the plant emits. A study released Aug. 1 by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis found that the actual capture rate could be as low as 49% when methane from the San Juan coal mine feeding the plant is factored in.

The DOE is reviewing a front-end engineering study Enchant conducted with a $7.5 million grant from the agency but is not verifying the capture rate as part of that review, agency officials said.

New Mexico climate law looms large

Enchant also needs to secure multiple environmental permits required to own and operate the San Juan plant. Besides various permits under the Clean Air Act, the company would need federal and state clearance to handle hazardous waste, wastewater, cooling water, stormwater runoff and contamination from coal ash, according to a list compiled by the Western Clean Energy Campaign.

All permits would "need to be transferred to Enchant as part of its takeover of the plant, a time-consuming process that has not yet begun and that remains burdened by questions of who will assume liability for those permits," the group wrote in a memo.

None of that ensures compliance with New Mexico's landmark Energy Transition Act. Enchant said the carbon capture project will not be operational until 2025, meaning the plant would continue to operate as is, should the company assume ownership. According to the DOE, the plant generates about 2,000 pounds of climate-warming CO2 for each megawatt-hour of power it produces — nearly twice what New Mexico will allow as of Jan. 1, 2023.

Coal is seen being delivered from the San Juan Mine to the San Juan Generating Station. An extension of the coal supply contract was reached between the station's operator and the mine's owner to provide enough coal to fuel the station until Sept. 30, 2022, when PNM plans to shut down operations.

It is uncertain how that issue will be resolved. Meanwhile, workers at the San Juan coal plant are hoping for a small miracle.

"If there's no owner agreement in place, more than likely — and what I've discussed — is that they will probably file for an order to decommission the plant and take it down to dirt," said Pete Trujillo, business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 611, which still has 80 members working at the San Juan coal plant.

"Everything's at stake for these guys," said Trujillo, who worked for 30 years at the coal plant before taking the June severance package. "We're trying to maintain those jobs."

Karin Rives is a reporter for S&P Global Commodity Insights and produces content for S&P Capital IQ Pro. S&P Global Commodity Insights produces content for distribution on S&P Capital IQ Pro. This article was reprinted with permission.

This article originally appeared on Farmington Daily Times: Time has all but run out for San Juan Generating Station

CDC changes guidance after dog contracts monkeypox from owners
By HealthDay News

A 4-year-old Italian greyhound in France developed lesions and tested positive for monkeypox 12 days after its owners first showed symptoms. Photo by Jeeby/Pixabay

Adding yet another wrinkle to the monkeypox outbreak, a new case study suggests that people can pass the virus on to their pet dogs.

Therefore, people who are infected with the virus should avoid close contact with their pets, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control now advises in an updated guidance.

The change reflects the first documented cases of a pet getting the virus from its owner, according to CBS News. That case happened in France, according to a new paper published in The Lancet.

"To the best of our knowledge, the kinetics of symptom onset in both patients and, subsequently, in their dog suggest human-to-dog transmission of monkeypox virus," the researchers concluded in the paper.

In this case, a 4-year-old Italian greyhound developed lesions and tested positive for monkeypox 12 days after its owners first showed symptoms. The owners are two male partners who live together but were not sexually exclusive. They routinely allowed their pooch to snooze in their bed.

The couple began having symptoms of monkeypox a few days after sleeping with other partners. Both men said once their symptoms started they'd been careful to prevent their dog from coming into contact with other people or pets, CBS News reported.

It's not new information that animals can carry monkeypox, but this is the first time a reported case has happened in domestic dogs or cats, the researchers said.

It's been long known that wild animals, including rodents and primates, can carry monkeypox in countries where the virus is endemic. Captive primates have also contracted the virus from imported animals in Europe, the researchers noted. They said there's a need for further investigation into secondary monkeypox transmission through pets.

"Our findings should prompt debate on the need to isolate pets from monkeypox virus-positive individuals," they wrote.

The World Health Organization declared monkeypox virus -- which is now spreading in places where it has not been endemic -- a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on June 23.

People with monkeypox should avoid close contact with animals, the CDC said, and any pets that have not been exposed to the virus should be cared for by friends or family in another home while the owner recovers.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on monkeypox.

Copyright © 2022 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

French nuclear plants break a sweat over heat wave

Successive heat waves are putting French nuclear reactors under strain. But that is not pushing them into an existential crisis, as Lisa Louis reports from Paris.

The Golfech nuclear plant in southwestern France is among the nation's power stations that have run into problems

Like other European countries, France has been baking in temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) for several weeks. Although that is putting French nuclear reactors under strain, this does not seem to be calling the country's nuclear-heavy energy strategy into question.

Nuclear power plants normally generate roughly 70% of electricity in France — making nuclear's share of the energy mix there higher than in any other country.

But more than half of the country's 56 reactors have been closed for several months due to planned or extraordinary maintenance.

And about a fifth of them would normally need to interrupt their activity or at least reduce it to a bare minimum, as the water temperature of the rivers into which plants discharge their cooling water exceeds a certain limit.

But the government has suspended that rule until at least September 11.

'Ripple effects throughout the food chain'

For Jean-Pierre Delfau, an environmental activist at local group FNE86, that is an exasperating decision.

"I just can't understand how they can keep the reactors running although that will have a disastrous impact on the ecosystem," he told DW, as he and two other environmentalists made their way through high grass on the bank of the Garonne river to take a water sample on a recent afternoon.

The Garonne supplies cooling water for the Golfech nuclear plant in southwestern France. One of the power station's two reactors has been standing still for months, after authorities found corrosion and small cracks on pipes relevant for the plant's safety. The second reactor is still functioning.

"Due to the heat, the Garonne's water throughput is already down to 50 cubic meters per second, from several thousand in normal times," Delfau said. "The Golfech plant makes that worse, as it uses 8 cubic meters for its cooling system but only discharges 6 cubic meters back, as some of the water evaporates during the process," he pointed out.

He added that the plant's cooling processes have increased the water's temperature by 6 degrees C, which has triggered ripple effects throughout the food chain.

"The warmer water destroys microalgae that are food for certain small fish, which bigger fish feed on," explained the 79-year-old, who has been an anti-nuclear protester for more than 50 years.

"Plus, warmer water contains more bacteria. In order to make it potable, we have to add a lot of chemicals, which people then drink."

Environmental activist Jean-Pierre Delfau wants some of the reactors to at least suspend operations amid the current heat wave

Not an existential crisis for French nuclear power

Power company EDF, which runs all of France's nuclear power plants, declined an interview request with DW. A spokeswoman replied by email that the situation was "extraordinary" and that so far, environmental probes had not revealed any negative impact on the flora and fauna around the respective reactors.

Despite environmental concerns, current issues are not throwing French nuclear power into an existential crisis. The government is planning to soon nationalize EDF and construct additional nuclear plants.

That has Anna Creti, climate economy director at Paris University Dauphine, scratching her head.

"It's not quite clear how this strategy is supposed to work on a technology level, especially in the short run," she told DW.

Technology not ready

"France is banking on so-called small modular reactors (SMRs), for which there exist roughly 40 different technologies, all of them in a pilot phase," Creti said. "Getting them ready for deployment could take up to 10 years," she added.

"The government also plans to construct more pressurized-water, so-called EPR reactors — a model that has encountered numerous problems," she continued.

According to current predictions, the country's first EPR plant is to go live next year in Flamanville in the north of the country. According to developer EDF, building costs have so far at least tripled, to roughly €13 billion ($13.3 billion).

Pressurized-water, so-called third-generation European Pressurised Reactors (EPR) are being built in the town of Flamanville

The European Court of Auditors puts that figure at €19 billion — with construction taking more than 10 years longer than planned. Other EPRs in Britain, China and Finland are reported to experience construction, conceptual or production problems.

"The government has nevertheless earmarked €150 billion for refurbishing existing nuclear plants and constructing new ones," Creti said, adding that no such funding boon was announced for renewables, although Paris is working on new rules to cut red tape for development of renewables.

"Putting more money intorenewables would make sense, as theyhave become ever cheaper over the past few years, and their technology is sufficiently advanced for them to be deployed immediately across the country," she emphasized.

France is the only European country not to have reached its 2020 EU renewables targets. Renewable energies make up only roughly 19% of energy production, instead of the planned 23%.

Various reasons for France's approach

But Christian Egenhofer, associate senior research fellow at Brussels-based think tank Center for European Policy, says the EU's so-called strategic autonomy is one reason France is betting on nuclear energy. The EU is aiming for independence not only regarding defense, but also energy independence.

"We have roughly 100 nuclear power plants in Europe. We need nuclear scientists and engineers to take care of their maintenance work — or we will have to farm out these tasks to the US, China or Korea, which would pose security issues," he told DW.

He added that France's grid structure is additionally a stumbling block for a massive deployment of renewables.

"The country's electric grid is centralized around Paris, where most of the electricity is consumed. All the power is brought there and redispatched across the country. That's not suitable for decentralized renewables projects, and adapting the grid will take years," Egenhofer explained.

Nevertheless, he believes France will shift to more renewables in the long run.

France has planned to build out its renewable energy capacity

Energy shortages expected in winter

Philippe Mante is strongly hoping for that. He's in charge of climate affairs at EELV, France's green party, which is opposed to constructing new nuclear plants. For the sake of energy security, the party is not in favor of immediately dismantling existing nuclear energy plants.

"Even supporters of nuclear energy must know, given the current situation, that we need to massively and right away deploy renewable energy projects," he said in an interview with DW.

But even Mante has little expectation of that happening right away.

"I think we should all quickly buy very warm pullovers, as we are likely to face electricity shortages this winter," he said gloomily.

Neighboring countries will be watching closely. Until now, France has been Europe's biggest net energy exporter. This year, however, the country will have to import more electricity than it's exporting.

That's likely to add even more pressure to energy prices, which are already skyrocketing, due among other things to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and reduced delivery of Russian gas.