Coming soon to Florida beaches: Massive, messy and maybe record mounds of seaweed

2023/03/14

Pedro Portal/El Nuevo Herald/TNS

MIAMI — A giant blob of seaweed, spanning 5,000 miles and weighing an estimated 6.1 million tons, threatens to blanket Florida beaches and Caribbean islands with smelly piles of decaying brown goop.

Sargassum — the scientific name for the brown seaweed often found strewn across South Florida beaches — could start piling up in the Florida Keys in the next few days. Scientists expect Miami Beach to become a hot spot later in the sargassum season, which runs from March through October.

This year’s sargassum bloom is shaping up to be one of the biggest ever recorded. Since 2011, a combination of human activity and climate change has created a string of unusually large seaweed blobs. Every year for the past five years has set a new record for the biggest blob ever.

“We cannot predict whether this year will set a new record,” said Chuanmin Hu, who is part of a team of University of South Florida oceanography professors who track sargassum blooms via satellite and publish monthly bulletins on their outlook. “All we can say is this year will be another major sargassum year on the level of the average for the past five years.”

The problem with sargassum

The seaweed itself is harmless. But it does harbor jellyfish, sea lice, and other stinging and biting sealife. When sargassum washes ashore in big quantities, it can create headaches. “It rots under the Florida sunshine quickly,” said Hu. “It smells very bad and chases away tourists.”

The rotten egg odor of decaying seaweed, caused by the release of hydrogen sulfide, can create health issues for residents who have chronic respiratory problems. Heavy seaweed deposits can also smother the young turtles that typically hatch on the beaches between August and October.

Plus, seaweed is expensive to deal with. Miami-Dade County spends millions of dollars a year clearing seaweed piles, either by cutting them up and mixing them into the sand, or by hauling truckloads of sargassum off to landfills.

Where will the seaweed blob go?

Hu stressed that seaweed won’t blanket Florida beaches evenly. The eastern seaboard of the United States will bear the brunt of the onslaught, he said, because the Gulf Stream pulls ocean debris, including seaweed, north from the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean and drags it along the Atlantic coast. In Florida, barrier islands like Miami Beach and West Palm Beach tend to get the worst of it because they jut out closer to the Gulf Stream. But Atlantic beaches in states to the north also could see seaweed.

“Most beaches may be spared,” Hu said. Even in hot spots like Miami Beach, sargassum won’t pour in every week or even every month between now and October. Instead, it will show up on the beach in clumps when the tide is high and the wind is blowing in from east to west, pushing seaweed toward shore.

Miami-Dade County has identified four seaweed hot spots on local beaches: beaches in Haulover just north of Haulover Cut; beaches in Bal Harbour just south of Haulover Cut; Miami Beach between 26th Street and 31st Street; and the beaches alongside South Pointe jetty.

Why sargassum blooms are getting bigger

Human activity has helped create the conditions that allow seaweed to grow into huge blobs.

The main nutrients sargassum needs are nitrogen and phosphorus. Humans have raised nitrogen levels by unleashing sewage and fertilizer runoff into the sea. Meanwhile, dust blown over the oceans from the Sahara Desert sprinkles the water with phosphorus. Plus, heavy storms can stir up the nutrient-rich muck at the bottom of the sea.

“Taken together, they’ve fueled the major sargassum blooms in recent years,” said Hu. “It’s really difficult to pinpoint which is the dominant factor.”

But Hu said scientists believe climate change is contributing to the problem. Heavier-than-usual rainfall flushes more runoff from farms and cities into the ocean and pulls more Saharan dust out of the atmosphere and into the sea. Stronger storms stir up more nutrients from the bottom of the sea.
A slimy new normal

None of the factors that create bigger sargassum blooms are likely to change any time soon. So Florida is probably stuck with major seaweed blobs for the foreseeable future, according to Hu.

“It will become a new normal,” Hu said. “Actually, it has already become a new normal compared to 10 years ago.”

Hu’s research relies on satellite images to track seaweed blobs. Before the 2011 mega-bloom, that would have been impossible. There had never before been enough sargassum in the sea that it could be seen and studied from space.

Now, 5,000-mile seaweed blobs are the norm. This year’s blob is the second-biggest on record for February, according to the March outlook report from Hu and his FAU colleagues. But the blob actually shrank by a third from January to February, in a time period when seaweed blobs usually grow, offering “a glimmer of hope that the overall 2023 bloom may not be as large as previously feared,” the scientists wrote in their report.

Instead of shattering records, it may simply be a garden-variety monster seaweed blob — the kind of nuisance local authorities will have to regularly deal with from now on. Like the red tide algae blooms that now routinely massacre fish on Florida’s west coast, seaweed blobs on the east coast are shifting from rare crises to commonplace problems.

“The Miami-Dade parks department has been well aware of this situation not just from this year but from past years,” Hu said, “so they are well prepared to deal with it.”

____

This climate report is funded by Florida International University, the Knight Foundation and the David and Christina Martin Family Foundation in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald retains editorial control of all content.

© Miami Herald

Bolsonaro to hand over undeclared jewels given by Saudis: report
Agence France-Presse
March 14, 2023

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro AFP

Lawyers for Jair Bolsonaro say the former Brazilian president has agreed to hand over to authorities jewels gifted by Saudi Arabia and which entered the country without being declared to tax authorities, local media reported Monday.

The ex-leader has been the target of investigations by the federal police and the Brazilian tax agency since the newspaper Estado de Sao Paulo reported that tax agents seized a package of jewels in October 2021, valued at $3.2 million, inside the backpack of an official from the Ministry of Mines and Energy who was returning from an official trip to the Middle East.

The former head of the ministry, Bento Albuquerque, told the paper that a second set of jewelry, which included a watch and a pen by luxury Swiss brand Chopard, were also not declared by the government delegation at the airport.

That would mean the second package entered the country without being detected.

The former president had withheld a watch, a pen and other luxury items, alleging that they were personal gifts and that he acted within the law, according to media reports.

Bolsonaro's legal teams asked police for the items to be deposited in the care of the court "until a later decision about them," the news outlet G1 said.

A judge on Brazil's Federal Court of Accounts (TCU), which oversees the government coffers, last week ordered Bolsonaro and Albuquerque to give depositions to investigators on whether the jewels were personal presents or gifts to the nation, and why they were not properly declared.

Bolsonaro lost reelection to another four-year term in October, and has been in the US state of Florida since two days before his leftist successor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, took office on January 1, 2023.

Judge Augusto Nardes ordered Bolsonaro not to "wear, make use of or transfer ownership of any piece from the collection."

© 2023 AFP

RIP

Former U.S. Rep. Pat Schroeder remembered as women’s rights trailblazer

Lindsey Toomer, Colorado Newsline
March 14, 2023

Former U.S. Rep. Pat Schroeder of Colorado, seen here during a press conference at the National Press Club Oct. 10, 2000, in Washington, D.C., died March 13, 2023, at 82. (Photo of Schroeder by Alex Wong/Getty Images, frame and background via Canva)

Many are remembering former U.S. Rep. Pat Schroeder, a Colorado Democrat who was a trailblazer for women’s rights throughout her life and career.

Schroeder spent time in Iowa during her childhood and graduated from Roosevelt High School in Des Moines in 1958.

Schroeder, who represented Denver in Congress for 24 years beginning in 1972, died Monday at 82 in Celebration, Florida. She is recognized for redefining women’s role in politics, regularly using her wit to stand up to those who questioned her place in Congress.

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, also a Democrat, succeeded Schroeder in Colorado’s 1st Congressional District seat

“Women have voices on every major piece of legislation — not just so-called women’s issues, but everything from defense issues, to financial services issues, to energy,” DeGette said at a press conference Tuesday. “And that’s the legacy that Pat and her generation gave to this whole next generation.”

Schroeder became the first mother of young children to serve in Congress when her kids were ages 2 and 6. DeGette said Tuesday that her children were also ages 2 and 6 when she began serving in Congress, and credited Schroeder with teaching her that she can defuse almost any situation with dignity and wit.

“When Pat started her time in Congress, she had nobody to help her figure out what to do,” DeGette said. “And so when I came to Congress 24 years later, she was there for minute things, like how do you balance the after-school schedule and the congressional schedule, but she was also there for things like how do you get a good committee assignment?”

DeGette shared a Valentine’s Day card Schroeder sent her just last month congratulating her on becoming a grandmother. The congresswoman said she has only ever voted for two people in Congress: Schroeder and herself.

When asked toward the start of her career by a congressman how she could be a mother and a congresswoman, Schroeder replied, “I have a brain and a uterus, and I use both” — a maxim DeGette said she repeated frequently. Schroeder is also credited with giving President Ronald Reagan the nickname “Teflon president,” because of his ability to escape scrutiny for his administration’s political scandals.

DeGette noted that when Schroeder became the first woman appointed to the Armed Services Committee, she was there alongside Rep. Ron Dellums, the first African American to serve on the committee. The chair of the committee made the two of them share one chair because he said women and Black members were only worth half of any other member. Through her role on this committee, Schroeder became one of the first voices advocating for women’s rights in the military.

“Rep. Schroeder was a one-of-a-kind leader and barrier breaker. Marlon and I are deeply saddened by the passing of Pat, a friend, a leader, and a champion for Colorado and our nation,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement, referring to his husband. “We send our deepest condolences to Pat’s family and all of the lives she touched and dreams she inspired across our state and country. Our daughter’s future and women across our country’s future are better thanks to her service.”

U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado said in a tweet that he’s grateful for everything Schroeder did for Colorado. He also praised her role in passing the Family and Medical Leave Act as well as prohibiting employers from firing women who are pregnant.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser called Schroeder “one of the all time greats.”

This story was originally published by Colorado Newsline, which is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: info@coloradonewsline.com. Follow Colorado Newsline on Facebook and Twitter.

Evangelicals embraced MAGA out of desperation over their 'demographic slide': expert

Matthew Chapman
March 14, 2023

Evangelical worshippers (Photo by Larry Marano for Shutterstock)

Evangelicals were driven to support former President Donald Trump out of fear of their "demographic slide" and their impending loss of political and cultural relevance, argued Robert P. Jones for Religion News Service on Tuesday — and several points of data suggest that their fear is justified.

"After a long life spanning nearly two hundred and forty years, White Christian America — a prominent cultural force in the nation’s history — has died," wrote Jones. "WCA first began to exhibit troubling symptoms in the 1960s when white mainline Protestant denominations began to shrink, but showed signs of rallying with the rise of the Christian Right in the 1980s. Following the 2004 presidential election, however, it became clear that WCA’s powers were failing."

Jones, who wrote "The End of White Christian America" just prior to Trump winning the 2016 election thanks in part to the overwhelming vote of white evangelicals, argued that the demographic information was clear then — and clear now: "The data I had available at the time identified a watershed event that was driving this desperate movement: The U.S. had become — for the first time in our history — a country that was, demographically speaking, no longer a majority white Christian country."

Public Religion Research Institute in 2022 found that just 27.5 percent of Americans identify as White Protestants — and just 13.6 percent identify as White evangelicals — down from 23 percent in 2006, wrote Jones. Meanwhile, the data are even more dramatic when broken down by generation; just 9 percent of Americans 18-29 are White evangelicals, and a plurality, 38 percent, are religiously unaffiliated.

This shift has been dramatic in the population at large, but much less so in the GOP; 8 in 10 Republicans identified as some form of White Christian in 2006, versus 7 in 10 now. "If we overlay the current ethno-religious composition of our two political parties onto the generational cohort chart, we see a stunning result," wrote Jones. "In terms of its racial and religious composition, the Democratic Party looks like 20-year-old America, while the Republican Party looks like 80-year-old America."

"[Evangelicals'] steadfast allegiance to Trump’s MAGA vision — actually increasing their support for him between 2016 and 2020 — and their unwillingness to denounce either Trump’s Big Lie that the election was stolen or the violence on Jan. 6" have made clear that they will not accept minority status in America, wrote Jones. "The continued demographic decline makes it clear that the MAGA goal of reestablishing their vision of a white Christian America can’t be realized by democratic means. But ... I’m deeply concerned that the embrace of Christian nationalism by nearly two-thirds of white evangelicals and a majority of the Republican Party will spawn more theological monstrosities justifying anti-democratic schemes to achieve this end."

Nikki Haley slammed for 'idiotic' claim that Medicaid and food stamp recipients are 'sitting on the couch'

David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement
March 10, 2023

UN Ambassador Nikki Haley (WMBF-TV)

Former Trump UN Ambassador Nikki Haley is taking heat for falsely suggesting most Americans who use Medicaid or food stamps are "siting on the couch" and not working when they could be. In reality, the majority of food stamp and Medicaid recipients are children, seniors, or those with disabilities.

"We shouldn't be paying people to sit on the couch and adding to the rolls of welfare," Haley, the former Republican governor of South Carolina currently running for president told Fox Corporation"s Neil Cavuto Thursday (video below), as she advocated for strong cuts in spending.

"This is going to have to be harsh," Haley insisted. "It's going to take a president that is going to call out Republicans and Democrats. I did that as governor. I’ll do it again as president."

She also insisted cuts to so-called entitlement programs must happen but targeted "kids in their 20s," saying, "those are the ones that need to go and know that things are going to be changed."
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"It's the new ones coming in," Haley continued, explaining her plan to dramatically scale back the social safety net. "It's those in their twenties that are coming in. You're coming to them and you're saying the game has changed. We're going to do this completely differently. That's how you go and you focus on it."

"We've got to start doing things like that. But more than that, we have to look at the fact that there is a spending problem in DC and Republicans and Democrats have done this to us," she insisted. "Don't forget that when this all started, with the Republicans, they passed a $2.2 trillion COVID stimulus package 419-6 in the House and 96-0 in the Senate that expanded welfare. Now we have 90 million people on Medicaid. You've got 42 million people on food stamps. We should be taking people from welfare to work."

But Haley did not mention that the vast majority of Americans on programs like Medicaid and “food stamps” are not eligible to work. They are children (which Republicans are increasingly seeing as a source of labor), seniors, and those living with disabilities.

Haley also did not mention that 74% of Americans who are recipients of "food stamps," also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are categorized as the “working poor.”

Another group that is working yet struggles to eat? U.S. service members. In January the Military Times, pointing to several studies including from the Rand Corp. and the Dept. of Defense reported that about on quarter of America’s troops are food insecure.

Haley's remarks were highly-criticized.

"Just to pick one company," Helen Kennedy, a former journalist and frequent political commentator said to the former governor on Twitter, noting, "more than 14,000 people who work at @Walmart are also on food stamps because that company pays as little as possible. Walmart’s gross profit for 2022 was $143 billion. Maybe look at the big guy, not the little one."

Russell Drew, a frequent political commentator on social media blasted Haley as the "leader of the Republican Party's Grey Poupon wing."

"She has proudly succeeded Mitt Romney. She's one week away from talking about 'welfare queens in Chicago.'"

"Most non-disabled Medicaid participants of working age are, in fact, working," noted professor of politics, Dr. John Pitney, Ph.D.

Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison slammed Haley: "The only thing lazy is this idiotic statement from Nikki Haley! Just because you are poor doesn’t mean you don’t work hard. There are a lot of elders who don’t have big pensions & 401ks but receive food stamps. Medicaid expansion has provided healthcare for millions of workers."

'Such cowards': GOP blasted over bill targeting food aid for the poor

Jake Johnson, Common Dreams
March 14, 2023


More than a dozen House Republicans are expected to release legislation Tuesday that would impose more harsh work requirements on certain recipients of federal food aid, a clear signal that the GOP intends to target nutrition assistance in critical debt ceiling, budget, and farm bill talks.

Led by Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), the measure would "expand the age bracket for able-bodied [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] recipients without dependents, who have to meet complicated work requirements," according to Politico, which obtained a copy of the bill ahead of its official introduction.

Johnson's legislation, which currently has 14 Republican co-sponsors, would broaden the SNAP work requirement age bracket for able-bodied adults without dependents to 18 to 65, adding 16 years to the current age ceiling of 49, Politico reported. Former President Donald Trump previously proposed raising the age ceiling to 62.

Under SNAP rules, people categorized as able-bodied adults without dependents are only allowed to receive federal food benefits for three months during any three-year period when they aren't employed or taking part in work training, a restriction that experts and advocates have long decried as cruel and punitive.

"Essentially, this is a time limit—which disproportionately affects people of color—that takes SNAP away when people aren't working, withholding food as a punishment for not having a stable job," the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities notes.

Most adult SNAP recipients already work, though they are often precarious, low-wage jobs with poor benefits.

While Johnson and other Republicans claim their support for more stringent SNAP work requirements stems from a desire to boost employment, research has repeatedly shown that they are ineffective at doing so. Work requirements do, however, succeed at booting many people off the program.


States are currently allowed to request waivers for the SNAP benefit time limits, but Johnson's bill would constrain the federal government's ability to grant such requests, Politico reported.

"These guys talk about states' rights all the time, except when it comes to poor people," Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said in response to the GOP bill.

Johnson's legislation comes as food insecurity is mounting across the U.S. after emergency SNAP benefit expansions lapsed earlier this month, slashing benefits for tens of millions of people amid high food prices. The cuts—the result of an end-of-year deal in Congress—have been dramatic for many, costing families hundreds of dollars per month in food aid.

"These enhanced benefits were a lifeline for millions—many of whom will now go hungry," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. "And Republicans want to cut these programs even further."

Politico reported that while Democratic lawmakers are publicly voicing opposition to the Republican Party's latest attack on food benefits, "some House Democrats are quietly raising alarms about their lack of plans to push back on the GOP proposals."

"We need to be prepared for a showdown on food security—and right now, we're not ready," one unnamed House Democrat told the outlet.

Anti-hunger campaigners are pushing Democrats to protect food benefits and fight for a permanent SNAP expansion during upcoming farm bill negotiations.

But as Slate's Alexander Sammon wrote last week, "the lack of willingness to fight for SNAP when it was already expanded is not a heartening sign."

WWII forced labour victims lash out at South Korea’s ‘dirty money’ plan


South Koreans who were forced to work for Japanese companies during World War II slam new plan to compensate them - Copyright AFP Jung Yeon-je

South Koreans who were forced to work for Japanese companies during World War II on Tuesday denounced Seoul’s new plan to compensate them and end a historic dispute with Tokyo as “dirty money”.

Seoul announced plans Monday to pay the victims with money taken from South Korean companies that benefited from a 1965 reparations deal, in a bid to break the “vicious cycle” in its relations with Tokyo.

Japan and the United States immediately welcomed the plan, which does not involve a fresh apology and envisages only voluntary contributions from the Japanese companies involved, such as Mitsubishi and Nippon Steel.

But victims’ groups said it fell far short of their demand for a full apology from Japan and direct compensation from the companies involved.

“I am 95 years old and I don’t know if I die today or tomorrow. But never in my life have I felt so distressed,” Yang Geum-deok, who worked at a Mitsubishi factory during the war, said at a rally in Seoul.

“Even if I die of hunger, I would not accept that dirty money,” she yelled, waving a placard that said: “Mitsubishi must apologise and compensate!”

Seoul aims to resolve lingering issues stemming from Japan’s brutal 1910-45 occupation of the Korean peninsula as it seeks closer ties with Tokyo in the face of growing threats from North Korea.

Around 780,000 Koreans were conscripted into forced labour by Japan during the colonial period, according to data from Seoul.

That number does not include Korean women forced into sexual slavery by Japanese troops.

“It was the Japanese who dragged us to Japan. Who do we turn to demand an apology?” said victim Kim Sung-joo at the rally, which was also attended by opposition politicians.

South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol defended the plan Tuesday, saying it was essential “for freedom, peace and prosperity, not only bilaterally but globally”.

The two countries restored diplomatic ties with the signing of the 1965 treaty, which included a reparations package of about $800 million in grants and cheap loans.

Japan has long insisted that the agreement settled all claims relating to the colonial period.

It is unclear whether Japanese companies will make any contributions, with Nippon Steel saying Monday: “Our company’s understanding is that this issue has been resolved by the 1965 agreement”.

By AFP
Published March 7, 2023

Critics hail 'long overdue' Biden tax boost targeting the rich

Julia Conley, Common Dreams
March 11, 2023

Joe Biden laughs at the SEIU Unions for All Summit on October 4, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

While far-right Republicans continue threatening to blow up the global economy unless Congress makes cuts to popular social programs, progressive taxation experts are celebrating U.S. President Joe Biden's latest push to invest in "widespread prosperity" by raising taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations.

As part of his fiscal year 2024 budget blueprint unveiled Thursday, Biden calls for a 25% minimum tax on the wealthiest 0.01%; reforms to ensure high-income individuals pay their fair share into the Medicare Hospital Insurance trust fund; and repealing 2017 tax cuts and restoring the top tax rate of 39.6% for people making over $400,000 a year.

Along with pushing for raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%—which is still far below the 35% rate that was in place prior to Republicans' 2017 tax overhaul—the president advocates expanding the child tax credit while eliminating tax subsidies for cryptocurrency transactions, fossil fuel companies, and real estate.

Biden also "proposes to reform the international tax system to reduce the incentives to book profits in low-tax jurisdictions, stop corporate inversions to tax havens, and raise the tax rate on U.S. multinationals' foreign earnings from 10.5% to 21%," according to a White House fact sheet.

Although many of these proposals are unlikely to go anywhere due to the GOP-controlled U.S. House and divided Senate, Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens said Friday that "it's great to see President Biden leading the charge to increase taxes on billionaires, crack down on stock buybacks by massive corporations, and prevent the wealthiest Americans from cheating on their taxes and avoiding paying what they owe."

"The tax policies laid out in this budget are fair, popular, and long overdue," she declared. "The next time someone claims that we can't afford to protect Social Security and Medicare for future generations—or that we need to cut popular investments in education, healthcare, housing, or clean energy—show them President Bident's latest budget proposal and ask them why they care so much about protecting the ultrawealthy from paying their fair share."

According to Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy executive director Amy Hanauer, "President Biden's budget proposal presents a bold vision for what tax justice should look like in America."

"The provisions would raise substantial revenue, fund important priorities, and increase tax fairness," she stressed. "The revenue raisers are laser-focused on taxing very wealthy individuals and corporations, and the budget would reduce the deficit while easing costs for American families, particularly for middle and low-income parents."

Americans for Tax Fairness executive director Frank Clemente asserted Thursday that "President Biden's budget plainly shows whose side he's on: working families struggling with the high cost of healthcare, childcare, housing and more—not the wealthy elite and their big corporations rolling in dough and dodging their fair share of taxes."

"Republicans have already made clear they're on the side of the 1 Percenters and big corporations by trying to shield rich tax cheats and endangering Social Security and Medicare with deficit-busting tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations," Clemente added. "The contrast couldn't be sharper."

As Common Dreams reported earlier Friday, the House Freedom Caucus said its 45 members would "consider voting" to raise the U.S. debt limit if their colleagues in Congress abandon some of Biden's key economic priorities, slash hundreds of billions of dollars in social spending, and restrict federal agencies' future budgets.

Responding on Twitter, Biden said that "extreme MAGA House Republicans are showing us what they value: tax breaks for the rich."

CEO of failed Silicon Valley Bank no longer a director at SF Fed
Reuters
March 10, 2023


By Michael S. Derby

(Reuters) - The chief executive officer of failed Silicon Valley Bank, Greg Becker, is no longer on the board of directors at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

Becker's departure was effective on Friday, a spokesperson for the Federal Reserve said. Earlier on Friday, Silicon Valley Bank <SIVB.O> was closed by regulators.

The spokesperson declined to say how Becker exited the San Francisco Fed board. Becker served as a Class A director at the San Francisco Fed, one of three finance executives representing member banks in the San Francisco Fed district.

Each regional bank is overseen by boards comprised of private citizens. In addition to having three directors to represent banks, there are six other directors who present a mix of local businesses and community interests. Three of those directors are selected by the Fed's Board of Governors in Washington, while the remainder are selected in a local process.

The 12 regional Federal Reserve banks are quasi-private institutions overseen by the Fed in Washington. Their respective boards watch over the banks directly and provide advice on governance as well as local economic intelligence.

Most importantly, these boards also lead the process to select new presidents when there are vacancies, although directors from firms regulated by the Fed are not allowed to participate in that process.

The directors of the Fed banks have been in the spotlight in recent years as the central bank has faced criticism that bank directors lacked racial and gender diversity and were too weighted towards the business and banking community. The Fed has been working on expanding who serves in these roles.

The boards have also created issues for the Fed in years past. The New York Fed’s board was heavily dominated by bankers at the onset of the global financial crisis and even included the leader of Lehman Brothers, a firm whose failure in the fall of 2008 is widely seen as kicking off the most acute phase of the financial crisis.

In 2019, the Chicago Fed’s then board chair resigned her term early as her employer faced legal trouble.

(Reporting by Michael S. Derby; Editing by Leslie Adler and Diane Craft)

BAT SHIT CRAZY

Mayor Of Seoul Calls For South Korea To Develop Nuclear Weapons

NO! NO! NO!

By Charles Kennedy - Mar 13, 2023

South Korea should develop and build nuclear weapons as a means to defend itself from the growing nuclear threat from North Korea, the mayor of Seoul, Oh Se-hoon, said in an exclusive interview with Reuters published on Monday.

South Korea doesn’t have a domestic nuclear weapons program, but the recent tensions over increased threats from North Korea have intensified calls from some politicians in South Korea that the south needs to be able to defend itself.

“North Korea has nearly succeeded in miniaturising and lightening tactical nuclear weapons and secured at least dozens of warheads,” Oh told Reuters in an exclusive interview.

“We've come to a point where it is difficult to convince people with the logic that we should refrain from developing nuclear weapons and stick to the cause of denuclearisation.”

Oh and other members of South Korea’s ruling conservative People Power Party have been advocating for a domestic nuclear arsenal in the increasingly heated debate over whether South Korea should have nuclear weapons.

According to the most recent opinion polls among South Koreans, a majority of them support the development of nuclear weapons in the country.

“Taken together, the data suggests that the support for a domestic nuclear weapons program is robust, long-standing, and unlikely to dissipate,” Karl Friedhoff, the Marshall M. Bouton Fellow for Asia Studies at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, wrote last month.

Meanwhile, North Korea said on Monday that it would “mercilessly punish” the United States, just ahead of the largest U.S.-South Korea military drills in years. North Korea has also launched two cruise missiles from a submarine.

South Korea’s Joint Chief of Staff on Monday confirmed it had detected a launch from North Korea, adding that the “The detailed specifications are being analyzed precisely by the South Korean and US intelligence authorities,” per the statement cited by Bloomberg.   

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

Top UK Pension Funds Intend To Vote Against BP And Shell Directors

By Tsvetana Paraskova - Mar 13, 2023

Following announcements from BP and Shell that they intend to continue supplying the oil and gas the world needs, some of the largest UK pension funds are threatening to vote against individual directors at the annual general meetings because of the companies’ reduced emissions targets.

Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and Borders to Coast, which have a combined $157 billion (£130 billion) in assets under management, intend to vote against individual directors at Shell and BP at this spring’s annual general meetings of the two UK-based supermajors, representatives of the pension funds told the Financial Times.

BP and Shell have recently signaled they would be producing more oil and gas for longer than planned when they announced their net-zero strategies in early 2020.

Last month, BP said it would be producing more oil and gas for longer, and now aims for a fall of 20% to 30% in emissions from the carbon in its oil and gas production in 2030 compared to a 2019 baseline, lower than the previous aim of 35-40%. 

Earlier this month, Shell’s new CEO Wael Sawan told The Times that the supermajor’s plan to have its oil production decline by up to 2% each year this decade is currently under review.

The pension funds in the UK do not seem happy with climate targets taking a back seat at the oil supermajors.

On Sunday, USS said that “Our new Stewardship and Voting Policy will see us vote more personally against responsible directors where possible,” announcing it would vote against individual directors on climate transition plans.

“This approach is a change from voting more generally against a company’s Annual Report and Accounts and allows us to hold individual directors accountable – research suggests taking a more personal approach to voting is more likely to drive change, which is why it’s now at the forefront of our voting policy,” USS said.

After BP’s pivot on emissions targets last month, Border to Coast said that “Oil majors and banks must make greater progress on climate pledges or risk losing the support of Border to Coast Pensions Partnership on key votes this AGM season.”

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

Strikes That Shut Down French LNG Terminals Expected To Continue

By Michael Kern - Mar 13, 2023

The strikes in France against a labor market reform have shut down the LNG import terminals, and the impact will continue to be felt this week, French union representatives told Reuters on Monday.

France is in the midst of massive protests and strikes in many sectors against a proposal by French President Emmanuel Macron to raise the retirement age by two years to 64.

The strikes across France have disrupted power supply, refining operations, and fuel deliveries for more than a week of strikes and street protests against the pension reform.

Despite the strikes and protests, this weekend the French Senate voted in favor of the proposed reform. The bill has yet to clear other legislative hurdles, including votes in both houses and a committee of the Senate and the lower house, the National Assembly.

The disruption at France’s LNG terminals is expected to last beyond March 14, a union official told Reuters today.

“All the gas terminals and storages are in the hands of the strikers. Terminals are shut down. There is a decline in storage,” the union official added.

France has four LNG receiving terminals, Dunkirk, Montoir, Fos Cavaou, and Fos Tonkin. The Montoir, Fos Cavaou, and Fos Tonkin LNG import terminals have been offline since March 6, and will be out of operations until March 14, the operator of the facilities Elengy told Kpler last week.

Last week, deliveries to Europe and Turkey fell by nearly 19%, according to ship-tracking data by Kpler cited by Montel. 

Europe’s LNG imports could be the lowest since October 2022, according to Kpler.  

The halted operations at the French LNG import terminals sent the European benchmark gas price at the TTF hub up by 25% over Thursday and Friday last week, also due to a cold snap in northwest Europe and renewed concerns about France’s nuclear power fleet availability. On Monday, prices were down in Amsterdam trade, due to higher wind power generation across northwest Europe and a weather outlook for milder temperatures.  

UK Subsidies To Fossil Fuel Producers Far Exceed Renewables

By Michael Kern - Mar 13, 2023

Fossil fuels received £20bn more UK support than renewables since 2015, according to new research commissioned by Liberal Democrats.

The UK government has given £80bn in support to fossil fuel producers, surpassing the £60bn it has given to renewables. While fossil fuels were receiving this greater investment, renewable energy was not far behind, with 2020 being the first year when support for renewables exceeded that of fossils.

Despite the uptick, however, 2021 saw a sharp increase in financial aid provided to fossil fuel companies, rising from £1bn in 2020 to nearly £2bn. This is a 10.7% increase compared with just a 0.01% rise for renewable energy.

Analysis by the House of Commons library also uncovered that one-fifth of the money given directly to fossil fuel businesses supported new extraction and mining projects – showing that there is a need for more stringent action against this industry if we are to meet our net zero targets. 

In response, politicians have called on the government to put net zero at the heart of all policy decisions and allocate funds away from these companies to help expedite clean measures such as renewable energy generation.

Wera Hobhouse, climate and energy spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, said: “It's extremely worrying that the Conservative government have received so much money from taxpayers as well as failing to enforce proper taxes on oil and gas giants’ record profit,” Adding, “The COVID-19 crisis could have been used as an opportunity for long-term investments into renewables, yet these announcements show that the current administration failed grasping that chance”

Hobhouse believes her party would bring about radical change if elected into power, ending new listings of fossil fuel companies on the London Stock Exchange and requiring existing businesses to declare their plans towards transitioning towards net zero emissions amongst other actions.

Shell made £32bn while BP pulled in £23bn last year, but their investments into renewable energies paled significantly in comparison; Shell invested only 10% of what it placed into oil and gas projects into its green portfolio, while BP reduced its ambition for emission-cutting targets from 35-40% by 2030 down to 20-30%.