Cenovus Energy cuts production outlook due to impact from wildfires, profit slumps

Story by Reuters • 

A warning sign is pictured near well heads that inject steam into the ground and pump oil out at the Cenovus Energy Christina Lake SAGD project south of Fort McMurray

© Thomson Reuters

(Reuters) -Oil and gas producer Cenovus Energy Inc reported a 64% fall in second-quarter profit on Thursday, and lowered total production outlook for 2023 as wildfires in Canada's main oil producing province Alberta forced companies to curtail output.

Benchmark Brent crude averaged $79.92 a barrel in the second quarter, nearly 28% lower than a year earlier, pressured by the banking crisis and fears of a looming recession.

Some oil and gas companies in Alberta were also forced to re-curtail output as record-high temperatures and tinder-dry vegetation led to an intense, early start to the wildfire season in western Canada this year.

The fires caused more than 30,000 people to abandon their homes while oil and gas producers shut in at least 319,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), or 3.7% of national production.

Cenovus lowered its 2023 upstream production outlook to between 775,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) and 795,000 boepd, from its earlier forecast of 790,000 boepd and 810,000 boepd.

The company had said in May about 85,000 boepd of production, primarily dry gas, had been impacted in the company's Rainbow Lake, Kaybob-Edson, Elmworth-Wapiti and Clearwater operating areas.

Quarterly upstream production fell 4.2% to 729,900 boepd from 762,000 boepd a year earlier due to the impact of wildfire and planned maintenance.

The Canadian energy firm reported downstream throughput of 538,000 barrels per day (bpd), about 18% higher than a year earlier, as volumes ramped up after work was restarted at the Superior and Toledo refineries.

The company's net debt stood at C$6.4 billion as of June 30.

The Calgary, Alberta-based company reported a net income of C$866 million ($657.41 million), or 44 Canadian cents per share, for the quarter ended June 30, compared with C$2.43 billion, or C$1.19 per share, a year earlier.

Analysts had expected reported earnings per share of 41 Canadian cents.

($1 = 1.3173 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Arshreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)

 TC Energy Corp. will split into two separate companies spinning off its liquids pipelines business.

CALGARY — TC Energy Corp. says it will split into two separate companies by spinning off its liquids pipelines business.

The Calgary-based pipeline giant says its board of directors has approved the plan, which comes as the result of a two-year strategic review.

Following the transaction, TC Energy will focus on natural gas infrastructure as well as nuclear, pumped hydro energy storage and new energy opportunities.

The new liquids pipeline business will focus on enhancing the value of the company's existing 4,900 kilometres of crude oil pipelines.

The company says the transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of 2024.

The new liquids pipeline business will be publicly traded and will be headquartered in Calgary, with an office in Houston, Texas.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 27, 2023.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TRP)

The Canadian Press

IEA says coal use hit an all-time high last year — and global demand will persist near record levels

Story by Anmar Frangoul • CNBC

The IEA said 10,440 terawatt hours were generated from coal in 2022.

That figure accounted for 36% of the planet's electricity generation.

A fossil fuel, coal's use has a substantial impact on the environment.

Freight trains loaded with coal in China on Jan. 12, 2022. According to the IEA, coal consumption hit a record high last year

Coal consumption increased by 3.3% to hit a fresh record high of 8.3 billion metric tons in 2022, the International Energy Agency said Thursday.

According to the Paris-based organization's Coal Market Update, demand increased "despite a weaker global economy, mainly driven by being more readily available and relatively cheaper than gas in many parts of the world."

Overall, the IEA said 10,440 terawatt hours were generated from coal in 2022, a figure that accounted for 36% of the planet's electricity generation.

Looking ahead, the IEA said coal consumption in 2023 would remain near last year's record levels.

Geographically, the picture in 2023 is mixed. "By region, coal demand fell faster than previously expected in the first half of this year in the United States and the European Union — by 24% and 16%, respectively," the IEA said in a statement accompanying its report.

"However, demand from the two largest consumers, China and India, grew by over 5% during the first half, more than offsetting declines elsewhere," it added.

Coal is a fossil fuel. Its use has a substantial impact on the environment, with environmental organization Greenpeace describing it as "the dirtiest, most polluting way of producing energy."

The U.S. Energy Information Administration, meanwhile, lists a range of emissions related to the burning of coal, including carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particulates and nitrogen oxides.

"Coal is the largest single source of carbon emissions from the energy sector, and in Europe and the United States, the growth of clean energy has put coal use into structural decline," Keisuke Sadamori, the IEA's director of energy markets and security, said Thursday.

"But demand remains stubbornly high in Asia, even as many of those economies have significantly ramped up renewable energy sources," he added.

Going forward, Sadamori said "greater policy efforts and investments" were needed in order to "drive a massive surge in clean energy and energy efficiency to reduce coal demand in economies where energy needs are growing fast."

Canadian Human Rights Tribunal approves $23B First Nations child welfare settlement

OTTAWA — The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has approved a $23.4-billion settlement agreement for First Nations children, youth and families harmed by the federal government's underfunding of child welfare services.

"According to the parties, this is the largest compensation settlement in Canadian history and it now includes a commitment from the Minister of Indigenous Services to request an apology from the Prime Minister," the decision, released Wednesday, reads.

Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, has been negotiating the settlement alongside the Assembly of First Nations.

While compensation is important, justice will only be achieved once discrimination stops and effective measures are put in place so it doesn't happen again, Blackstock said in a release.

"The tribunal called Canada’s discrimination 'wilful and reckless' and a 'worst-case scenario' because it separated children unnecessarily from their families and created other serious harms – including the tragic deaths of some children."

The latest settlement comes more than 15 years after the two organizations jointly launched a human-rights complaint that sparked a years-long legal battle with Ottawa.

The 2007 complaint revolved around allegations that Ottawa's underfunding of on-reserve child welfare services amounted to discrimination, and that First Nations children were denied equal access to support including school supplies and medical equipment.

The tribunal eventually ruled in the complainants' favour, setting off a range of lawsuits, appeals and proposed settlements.

Last year, Ottawa offered to spend $20 billion to reform the child-welfare system and another $20 billion on compensation, but the tribunal rejected the proposal and raised concerns that not all eligible claimants would receive compensation.

The new deal included an extra $3 billion to compensate another 13,000 people and made other amendments both sides hoped would satisfy the tribunal's concerns.

On Wednesday, the tribunal announced that the additional measures met the bar.

Those who qualify for the settlement will receive at least $40,000, with some receiving more, as the government has agreed to pay interest on the payments.

"Complete justice will be achieved when systemic racial discrimination no longer exists. The compensation in this case is only one component," the decision reads.

"The tribunal, assisted meaningfully by the parties, has always focused on the need for a complete reform, the elimination of the systemic racial discrimination found and the need to prevent similar practices from arising. This continues to be the tribunal's focus."

Blackstock thanked First Nations leadership and experts, along with a long list of Indigenous groups and lawyers for their work on the file.

"Let’s finish the job by ending the discrimination and raising the first generation of First Nations children that do not have to recover from their childhoods."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 26, 2023.

The Canadian Press

Shinjiro Atae comes out as gay as Japan faces pressure to pass pro-LGBTQ+ legislation

Story by By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN 

Japanese pop star Shinjiro Atae announced that he is gay on Wednesday – a bold move for such a public figure in Japan, a the country still does not recognize same-sex unions.

According to a press release sent to CNN, Atae hosted a fan event where he shared his news through a “moving speech,” and was met with rousing applause and support from the 2,000 attendees who were present.

“Today was a very special day for me,” Atae wrote in a post on his Instagram page on Wednesday after the event, adding that after years of struggling to accept this part of himself, “I finally have the courage to open up to you about something. I am a gay man.”

His post continued, “It has taken me a long time to be able to say I am gay. I could not even say it to myself. However, I’ve come to realize it is better, both for me, and for the people I care about, including my fans, to live life authentically than to live a life never accepting who I truly am.”

Atae accompanied his announcement with the release of a new single, “Into the Light,” the proceeds of which, in part, will be donated to Pride House Tokyo – Japan’s first permanent LGBTQ+ center – and LGBTQ+ youth organization ReBit.

Known today for his solo music, Atae was previously a member of the co-ed Japanese super-group AAA (Triple A) for over a decade. The group originally debuted in 2005 when Atae was just 14.

The news of Atae’s coming out comes at a tenuous time in Japan, as the country faces increasing pressure from other Group of Seven (G7) nations to allow same-sex marriage.

Japan is the only G7 nation that doesn’t recognize either same-sex civil unions or same-sex marriage, and despite passing a bill last month to promote understanding of the LGBTQ+ community, many critics say the legislation doesn’t provide any human rights guarantees and might ultimately encourage discrimination.

For his part, Atae hopes his announcement helps others, writing on Wednesday that he hopes “people who are struggling with the same feeling will find courage and know they are not alone.”

Witness claims NYPD and federal agencies played a role in Malcolm X’s assassination

Story by By Justin Gamble, CNN • Yesterday 

A man who says he was a member of Malcolm X’s security detail the day the civil rights leader was assassinated in 1965 told reporters Tuesday he saw New York City police officers trying to prevent supporters from restraining a man thought to be involved in the killing.

Mustafa Hassan, who said he used to be a member of the Pan-Africanist organization that Malcolm X founded, made the claim at a news conference in New York.

The man being restrained, Hassan said, was Talmadge Hayer – also known as Mujahid Abdul Halim – who was later arrested and convicted in the killing.

Hassan told reporters Tuesday he believes there was a conspiracy between the New York City Police Department, the CIA and the FBI in Malcolm X’s assassination.

CNN sought comment from the NYPD, the CIA and the FBI.

Hassan said he was never interviewed about what he witnessed.

The new allegation is a part of a multimillion-dollar federal action filed on behalf of Malcolm X’s family by civil rights attorney Ben Crump in February. In his notice to the federal government, Crump accuses the FBI, the CIA and the NYPD of “fraudulent concealment of evidence surrounding Malcolm X’s murder,” according to a February news release.

Malcolm X, one of the most powerful voices in the fight against racism in the nation, was shot dead after he took the stage at the Audubon Ballroom in New York on February 21, 1965.

“The FBI had many informants in the Audubon Ballroom on that tragic day,” Crump, who also represents Hassan, said at Tuesday’s news conference. “We know that they withheld their information and would not let anybody know, sent a directive that nobody is to reveal our presence in the Audubon Ballroom where Malcolm X was assassinated.”

“Not even the informants themselves were aware of who all was involved. That’s why we are putting forth in our legal action that the government was involved in the conspiracy to kill Malcolm X,” Crump said.

Hassan said he decided to come forward now after seeing online that the family of Malcolm X was seeking a financial settlement with governmental agencies for their alleged actions during the assassination.

In a signed affidavit read at Tuesday’s news conference, Hassan said after Malcolm X was shot, he turned his attention “back to the man I had seen running away, knowing that he was in part responsible for what I witnessed.”

“I would later see the same man outside as he was being beaten by Malcolm’s followers while a group of policemen who suddenly showed up on the scene (were) asking is he with us while at the same time holding back Malcolm’s followers from beating him,” Hassan stated in the affidavit.

At Tuesday’s news conference, Hassan and Crump shared a photo showing the moment Hassan reached out and grabbed Hayer’s collar.

Hayer and two other men were convicted in 1966 for the killing and sentenced to life in prison. The two others – Muhammad A. Aziz and Khalil Islam – said they were innocent. Hayer acknowledged he took part in the assassination, but he maintained the innocence of the other two men.

In 2021, a judge vacated the convictions of Aziz and Islam. That came after a 22-month investigation by then-Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s office and lawyers for the men found that evidence of their innocence, including FBI documents, was withheld at trial.

Aziz was released from prison in 1985; Islam was released in 1987 but died in 2009 and received a posthumous exoneration.

Last year, New York City agreed to pay $26 million to settle lawsuits filed on behalf of Aziz and Islam.

 CNN.com

DEA chief grilled on Biden’s plans to deschedule marijuana

 The Hill

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) demanded further information from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) about its plan to remove marijuana from the list of schedule one drugs during a House Judiciary hearing Thursday.

DEA Administrator Anne Milgram testified before the Crime and Federal Government subcommittee during which she informed committee members that her and the agency “have not been given a specific timeline” to review and reevaluate marijuana’s classification.

President Biden put out a marijuana reform statement in October 2022 that called on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Attorney General to re-evaluate the federal law’s scheduling of marijuana.

The DEA must receive HHS’ review and recommendation to conduct its own evaluation process before coming to a scheduling decision, according to Milgram.

To Gaetz’s dismay, the DEA has yet to receive any such materials from HHS.

“That’s unsettling, isn’t it? When you don’t even know a timeline, it doesn’t really make it seem like something’s front of mind,” Gaetz said to Milgram after she disclosed the status of this procedure.

Cohen supported Gaetz’s stance on the matter, forming a rare bipartisan agreement in the House.

DECRIMINALIZED ALL DRUGS

An NDP MP Learns Drug Crisis Lessons in Portugal


NDP MP for Courtenay-Alberni Gord Johns spent a couple weeks in Portugal in July on an unofficial visit, meeting with policy makers and frontline workers to discuss the country’s harm reduction model.

Johns was travelling with Liberal MP Brendan Hanley, former chief medical officer of health for Yukon, who asked to join Johns’ trip. Johns says it has been “invaluable” to have a Canadian public health expert travelling with him.

Johns spoke with The Tyee July 14 from Portugal about what he’d learned on his travels, which he paid for himself.

He says his constituency has been particularly hard hit by the toxic drug crisis.

“I can’t count on two hands the number of people I know who have died, it’s unbelievable,” he says. “Kids that I’ve watched grow up, adults that I know, professionals that fell through the cracks and people that are recreational drug users.”

Port Alberni has been particularly hard hit by the toxic drug crisis. Over the last year Port Alberni has had over 1,000 deaths per million people, compared to all of B.C. which has had 438 deaths per million, Johns says. Portugal has had six deaths per million, he adds.

“We’re literally off the charts for overdose deaths per capita. I represent a riding very hard hit by the toxic drug crisis, especially for ages 19 to 44, who have a death rate almost five times the provincial average,” he says.

“More people died in Canada last year from overdose than the whole European Union,” Johns says. “We’ve got a lot to learn.”

Johns says it’s his job as a leader to find solutions, so he decided to head to Portugal and see if their model could be imported to Canada.

In the early 2000s there was a high rate of heroin use in Portugal, with around one per cent of the country or 100,000 people estimated to be dependent on opioids. At the same time HIV was spreading as people shared needles. Around 70 per cent of new HIV cases were attributed to intravenous heroin use.

This sparked an overhaul of the country’s drug policy. The national government introduced a “compassionate, health-based approach that is integrated top-to bottom,” he says.

Despite B.C. dealing with a similar total population impacted by drug use — the Ministry of Health says around 100,000 British Columbians have opioid use disorder and are at high risk of accidental overdose if they get drugs from the unregulated illicit market — Canada doesn’t have a national strategy.

In late 2021 Johns tabled a private member’s bill to decriminalize certain substances, expunge certain drug-related convictions and create a national strategy to address the harms caused by “problematic substance use.”

The bill was defeated half a year later in the House of Commons.

A year later Canada still hasn’t created a national strategy or dedicated the “major public resources” needed to save lives, Johns says.

Johns says based on his calculations of the 2023 federal budget, the government has spent $512.6 billion on pandemic-related spending but only $800 million since 2017 on the toxic drug crisis.

To follow Portugal’s example Canada needs to decriminalize personal possession of illicit substances across the country, offer safe supply and treatment on demand and focus on recovery, prevention and education, Johns says, adding this was all outlined in his defeated private member’s bill.

“The Liberals constantly use jurisdiction as a barrier, but they proved through COVID several ways to work through this and to rapidly respond,” he told The Tyee.

This comes down to a lack of political “courage,” something Johns says the Portuguese model isn’t lacking.

Portugal uses a patient-centred integrated care model that focuses equally on treatment, harm reduction, rehabilitation and prevention, he says. This brings together law enforcement, psychologists, health-care workers, social workers, doctors — “everybody is working cohesively with NGOs on the front lines to give people the best chance they can to live the best life they can,” Johns says.

In 2001 the country decriminalized all substances but set limits on quantity, so an individual is generally allowed to carry up to 10 days’ worth of a personal supply. Carrying more than that can lead to criminal charges. This wasn’t a dramatic change for the country’s drug policies because before 2001, police rarely criminalized people for drug use, instead mainly relying on fines to deter people, according to a 2014 review of Portugal’s drug policies.

In B.C. a person 18 years or older can carry up to 2.5 grams worth of certain substances without breaking the law.

Portugal’s harm reduction services mainly focus on opioid substitution treatment and needle and syringe exchanges, according to a 20-year review of the country’s drug policies.

Johns says he was impressed by the speed with which Portugal was able to scale up methadone distribution. Methadone is a long-lasting opioid used as a substitute for people addicted to heroin or morphine. The drug was affordable because the government used its own pharmaceutical labs and personnel to manufacture and scale up production, instead of asking pharmaceutical companies to manufacture the drugs for them, which he says is what Canada does.

In previous reporting about safe supply programs in B.C., The Tyee spoke with doctors, drug policy experts and people with lived experience who said offering people who use drugs alternatives to illicit street drugs has its perks and drawbacks. Offering people regular, safe access to alternatives to illicit street drugs can help people stabilize their lives and reduce the risk of overdose but the substitutions need to match the potency and combination of street drugs the person was using before, otherwise it won’t be effective, The Tyee heard.

In 2001 Portugal had 200 people using methadone and two years later they had 35,000 people using it, Johns says.

Johns says he got to spend a day riding around in the “Mobile Low Threshold Methadone Program,” also known as the “Methadone Mobile Van.”

There are two vans in Lisbon run by Ares do Pinhal, an NGO for social inclusion, that each distribute around 1,350 doses of methadone per day, Johns says. The van will drive to a set location, park for about an hour and greet the people from all walks of life who walk, drive or cycle up to it. People can also access chest X-rays, blood tests and Hepatitis C treatment in the van. After an hour the van will drive to its next set location and repeat the process.

Johns says his time in Portugal has also helped dispel some myths he’s heard about the Portugal model, like how there’s mandatory treatment or how people can go to jail if they refuse treatment.

“The Portuguese officials were very clear with me: not a single person has gone to jail by not going to treatment,” he says.

A police officer can assign someone to a “dissuasion committee” with a member of the judiciary, a health-care worker and social worker. They help connect you with resources so it’s more about creating connections and ensuring patients are aware of what resources are available to them, he says.

Portugal has a much more self-driven process where patients decide what they want, Johns says.

Forced treatment doesn’t work, he says. Instead there are programs such as the methadone van, which dispenses methadone but also gets a team out in the community to help connect people with housing and harm reduction supplies and to ensure people are staying connected with their families.

Treatment is also viewed as a long-term support system, unlike in Canada, where treatment is institutional and people can stay for 30 to 60 days before having to leave, he says.

It’s important to build relationships so that people can access support when they need it, Johns says. When the economy crashes, like in 2012 and again recently with inflation, there’s a “huge spike of relapses,” he says.

Because of the success of the Portuguese model the government had been scaling back resources as demand for treatment beds shrank and the country grappled with its own health care crisis due to a lack of health-care workers.

Now that relapses are rising the country is once again scaling up its national model and preparing for the arrival of synthetic drugs like fentanyl, Johns says. “They’re really forward thinking,” he adds.

Johns says he is “dumbfounded” that Canada still doesn’t have a national strategy to reduce overdose deaths despite B.C. declaring a public health emergency in April 2016. There have been 36,442 toxic drug deaths in Canada between January 2016 and December 2022, which is around 20 deaths per day, according to Health Canada. Since the public health emergency was declared 12,264 British Columbians died from toxic drug poisoning, according to BC Coroner’s Service.

Johns and Hanley aren’t the only politicians who have visited Portugal. In July 2017 then health minister Jane Philpott and Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, as well as Canada’s current chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam visited the country. At the time Wilson-Raybould said she learned a “great deal” and would “continue our review of Canada’s criminal justice system.”

Since that visit 10,897 British Columbians have died due to unregulated drugs, according to the BC Coroners Service.

“I’m not going to let up until the government responds,” Johns says.

Michelle Gamage, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Tyee

City flags concerns over potential spills from Trans Mountain at river crossing

Story by The Canadian Press • 

The city of New Westminster has reiterated its opposition to the Trans Mountain pipeline over concerns the line, which crosses the Fraser River, would have catastrophic effects on people and wildlife in the event of a spill.

Earlier this month, city council voted 4-2 on a motion to convey its concerns in a letter to the Canada Energy Regulator.

“A lot of this motion was getting our opposition on the record,” Coun. Nadine Nakagawa told Canada’s National Observer in a phone interview.

Nakagawa’s motion was supported by Mayor Patrick Johnstone, Coun. Ruby Campbell and Coun. Tasha Henderson. The two opposed were Coun. Daniel Fontaine and Coun. Paul Minhas. Minhas and Fontaine did not respond to requests for comment by deadline.

The July 19 letter to the regulator highlights "concerns about the structural safety of the TMX pipeline crossing of the Fraser River from Surrey to Coquitlam, B.C."

If an oil spill occurred, it “would be catastrophic,” both for the Fraser River ecosystem — including spawning salmon — and the community’s well-being, said Nakagawa.

“The city of New Westminster is built on the shores of the Fraser River. It is a historic gathering place for First Nations, it is the focal point of our community.”

She says the “basis of the motion is just to speak up against it every chance that we get.”

The City of New Westminster has stood firm in its opposition to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion (TMX) over the years. The city was an intervenor throughout the National Energy Board’s approval process for TMX in 2015, and has characterized that process as “flawed” in press releases. In 2020, the city issued a statement of support for land defenders peacefully protesting the project, and council constantly raises concerns that the TMX project is at odds with Canada’s global climate commitments.

“We have to be consistent in the way that we approach the climate crisis,” said Nakagawa, adding Canada can’t meet its climate targets while building pipelines. At a city council level, she says it’s common for people to say “I support that, but” or “I disagree with that, but.” To her, “you either agree with Trans Mountain as a concept, or you do not,” and if you do, “we can’t pretend that we care about climate and environment impacts.”

Not everyone on city council agrees with Nakagawa on the issue.

“The pipeline is almost built. None of it is going through our jurisdiction,” said Fontaine, one of two councillors who voted against the motion, the New Westminster Record reported. “As was noted previously, we don’t really have any influence; this motion can pass or not pass. It will mean absolutely nothing. It really is symbolic.”

While the project doesn’t go through New Westminster's jurisdiction, council has pointed out on many occasions that the pipeline will run through the Brunette River watershed and adjacent to the Fraser River.

Nakagawa says voicing the council's opposition firmly on the record is important, as is working in solidarity with First Nations who have opposed the project. The Squamish Nation, Coldwater Indian Band and Tsleil-Waututh Nation tried, unsuccessfully, to challenge the project’s approval in court, and the Tsleil-Waututh Nation is currently involved in a regulatory dispute regarding the increased tolls Trans Mountain wants to charge oil producers to use the expanded pipeline system.

“In years to come, they might say, ‘Well, nobody opposed it’ … so I think continuing to speak up and say we don't consent to this, we don't agree to this, we don't want it, is really, really important even if it's not going to change the federal government's decision to keep pushing this forward,” said Nakagawa.

If there does happen to be a spill, voicing their opposition will be a cold comfort, she said, but insists “we just have to continue to talk about the fact that pipelines do spill (and) they have devastating impacts on communities.”

Natasha Bulowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer

MEH

Cenovus CEO shrugs off Ottawa's plan to nix subsidies
Story by Jeff Lagerquist •

Cenovus Energy logos are on display at the Global Energy Show in Calgary, Alta., Tuesday, June 7, 2022. The Calgary-based oil company says its refinery throughput for the third quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023 will be weaker than expected.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Cenovus Energy's (CVE.TO)(CVE) CEO is shrugging off Ottawa's plan to end "inefficient" fossil fuel subsidies, while taking a wait-and-see approach to the looming federal cap on oil and gas sector emissions.

"It probably should be a fairly short piece of legislation," Jon McKenzie told analysts on a post-earnings conference call on Thursday, referring to the new subsidy framework unveiled by Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault earlier this week.

"I've been in this industry for a lot of years, and many of those years have been spent in finance," he added. "I certainly remember writing a lot of cheques to the provincial and federal governments, but don't remember receiving a lot of cheques in return."

Looking to ensure alignment with federal climate targets, Ottawa's new framework will apply to existing tax measures and 129 non-tax measures. The government has not put a dollar figure on the subsidies impacted, or detailed which measures are included.

"I'm genuinely not aware of any subsidies that are direct to the oil and gas industry that they may or may not be speaking of," McKenzie said.

The new rules do not impact generally available subsidy programs, or money that flows through Crown corporations like Export Development Canada (EDC).

The federal government gave more than $20 billion in subsidies and financial support to fossil fuel companies in 2022, according to the non-profit group Environmental Defence. Of this, $19.8 billion was financing provided through EDC. Julia Levin, the group's associate director of national climate, called this a "glaring omission" in a statement on Monday.

Calgary-based Cenovus will be among the companies subject to Ottawa's planned cap on greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas sector, a final version of which is set to be published by mid-2024, according to Reuters.

Canada has committed to net-zero by 2050, with an interim target requiring the oil and gas industry to cut 42 per cent of its emissions below 2019 levels by 2030.

McKenzie says he is "waiting for more details on this."

Former Cenovus CEO Alex Pourbaix told Yahoo Finance Canada in March that a 42 per cent cut by 2030 is "not feasible by any stretch."

Cenovus reported second-quarter financial results on Thursday. The company booked a lower profit year-over-year due to weaker oil prices, while cutting its production guidance for the year due to wildfires.

Toronto-listed shares climbed 3.11 per cent to $24.55 as at 2:32 p.m. ET on Thursday.

Teck Resources says still evaluating options on coal business sale

 The Canadian Press

Teck Resources Ltd. is making progress in evaluating the various offers put forward by prospective buyers of its steelmaking coal business, the Vancouver-based mining company said Thursday.

On a conference call, CEO Jonathan Price declined to say whether a deal is imminent, but said Teck's board and an independent special committee are engaged with "multiple counterparties" and are progressing talks as quickly as possible.

"I don't want to say anything now to prejudge or pre-empt what the outcome might be. We'll take the time to get it right," said Price, who took questions from financial analysts following the release of the company's second-quarter earnings report.

"But we're not sitting on our hands here. We're taking a very active and diligent approach to moving this forward as quickly as we can."

Teck, Canada's largest diversified mining company, has been working to split its coal assets from its base metal operations, in the hope of expanding its copper and zinc production to meet growing global demand for these metals, both of which are used in the production of electric vehicles and are considered to be key resources for the coming energy transition.

But a wrinkle was thrown into that plan this spring when Swiss commodities giant Glencore launched its $25-billion hostile takeover bid for Teck.

Teck's board rejected Glencore's original offer. But Glencore notched a victory of its own in April, when Teck called off a shareholder vote on its plan to spin off its steelmaking coal operations into a separate company. It had become apparent Teck did not have the required support for its proposal, which Glencore had lobbied against.

Glencore has since presented a new offer to Teck's board, proposing to acquire the steelmaking portion of the company's business for an undisclosed amount of cash.

The Swiss company has said it also remains willing to pursue its offer for all of Teck.


Price said the various parties that have expressed interest in Teck's coal business have brought a forward a "range of proposals," and added the board will only sign off on a deal that maximizes the value of the business.

"There will be a range of considerations we need to consider as we make those decisions," he said.

"We have deliberately sought to keep a very open mind here.”

The update on the coal business negotiations came as Teck lowered its annual production guidance for its flagship project — its Quebrada Blanca, or QB2 copper mine expansion in Chile — due to construction and commissioning challenges.

The company said Thursday it now expects annual copper production of 330,000 tonnes to 375,000 tonnes, down from its previous estimate of 390,000 tonnes to 445,000 tonnes.

Price said Teck continues to expect the QB2 expansion project to be operating at full production rates by the end of this year, and added the company's copper production guidance for the mine for 2024-2026 remains unchanged.

Teck also reported the death of an employee at the QB2 mine site during the quarter.

The company's profit attributable to shareholders fell to $643 million for the three months ended June 30, down from $1.8 billion during the same period the year before, as global copper prices fell.

Revenue in the quarter totalled $3.5 billion, down from $5.3 billion in the second quarter of 2022.

On an adjusted basis, Teck says it earned $1.22 per diluted share for its most recent quarter, down from an adjusted profit of $3.25 per diluted share a year earlier.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 27, 2023.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TECK.B)

Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press

California, other states move to block 3M's $10.3 billion PFAS deal

The 3M Global Headquarters in Maplewood, Minnesota

By Clark Mindock

(Reuters) - A group of 22 states and U.S. territories on Wednesday moved to block a proposed $10.3 billion settlement that would resolve claims against 3M Co over water pollution tied to “forever chemicals,” claiming the deal fails to adequately hold the company accountable.

The group, led by California and including Texas, New York and the District of Columbia, filed a motion to intervene noting their opposition in South Carolina federal court, where thousands of lawsuits against 3M and other companies over per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are being fought.

The proposed deal would provide funds over a 13-year period to cities, towns and other public water systems to test and treat contamination of PFAS. But the states said it isn't enough to account for the damage caused by the chemicals, which are used in a wide range of products from firefighting foam to non-stick cookware to cosmetics and have been linked to cancers, hormonal dysfunction and environmental damage.

The states said the deal, announced June 22, includes a broad release of liability, which could hamper future litigation.

They also said the deal could shift liability for future health concerns caused by PFAS from 3M onto the water systems themselves.

The settlement must be approved by U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel, who is overseeing the cases in South Carolina.

3M, which is facing thousands of lawsuits over PFAS contamination, did not admit liability in the proposed settlement. It said in June that the money will help support remediation at public water systems that detect PFAS "at any level."

The deal did not cover claims related to personal injury or property damage from PFAS contamination.

Three New York State cities with claims related to cleaning up PFAS at superfund sites in their jurisdiction also moved to block the settlement earlier this month. They claimed the water system settlement would reduce the amount of 3M money available to clean up those types of sites across the country, which the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates could cost more than $17 billion.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has called PFAS an “urgent public health and environmental issue.” The substances are dubbed "forever chemicals" because they do not easily break down in the human body or environment.

The EPA has taken several steps in recent years to tighten regulations for the chemicals, and in March announced the first-ever national drinking water standards for six of the chemicals.

3M in December set a 2025 deadline to stop producing PFAS.

(Reporting by Clark Mindock; editing by Amy Stevens and Aurora Ellis)

G20 environment ministers to meet amid record heat. Can Canada lead the way?
Story by Uday Rana • 2h ago

Workers install a logo ahead of G20 meeting in Gandhinagar, India, Thursday, July 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)© Provided by Global News

When the environment ministers of the G20 nations meet in Chennai, India on Friday, they will be capping off what's set to be the hottest month on record for Earth. Analysts say the meeting will set the tone for the COP28 summit in November this year and that Canada has the chance to lead the way.

The G20 nations comprise some of the world's biggest polluters, including Canada, the United States, China and India. Together, this group accounts for 78 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The meeting comes just days after Canada became the first G20 country to roll out a plan to phase out "inefficient" fossil fuel subsidies.

“This meeting is happening during unprecedented climate events across the world. We really need progress on climate action. The G20 ministers need to meet this moment,” said Pratishtha Singh, senior policy analyst at Climate Action Network Canada.

According to Indian media reports, the environment ministers are likely to discuss climate mitigation, adaptation and climate finance. Hindustan Times, a leading Indian daily, also reported that the G20 communique was likely to outline the G20’s expectations for the upcoming COP28 summit in Dubai.

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault reached India on Tuesday to attend the summit.

“Minister Guilbeault is in India to strengthen global cooperation on climate, biodiversity, and pollution alongside Indian and international partners. Together, we’re committed to building a healthier planet for all,” Environment Canada said in a statement.

A day before he left for India, Guilbeault released a framework to review and phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies. Canada is the first G20 country to roll out such a plan.

Under the framework, unless a fossil fuel company significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions, supports Indigenous participation, offers essential energy services to remote communities, provides short-term support for an emergency or supports projects that include carbon capture, their subsidies would be deemed “inefficient” and phased out.

Singh believes the timing of Canada’s announcement will pressure some of the bigger polluters to also consider phasing out fossil fuel subsidies.

“Canada is showing an example to the other G20 countries. This language around fossil fuel phase-down will come up in the coming moments,” she said.

She said while Canada’s plan is not without flaws, Ottawa must try to convince the rest of the G20 to adopt a similar framework. The global conversation, she said, is moving toward phasing out financing for fossil fuels.

The environment ministers' meeting, however, comes against the backdrop of an energy ministers’ meeting last week, which ended in disappointment. The G20 underlined the need to have a just and sustainable energy transition, but failed to agree to a framework to phase down fossil fuels. Last week’s stumbling block does not bode well for climate negotiations going forward.

On Thursday morning, UN climate change executive secretary Simon Stiell and COP28 president-designate Sultan Al Jaber issued a joint statement on the outcomes of the energy meeting.

“While the discussions at the G20 Energy Ministerial considered energy transition and aligning current pathways with the Paris Goals, the outcome did not provide a sufficiently clear signal for transforming global energy systems, scaling up renewable and clean energy sources and responsibly phasing down fossil fuels,” they said in their statement.

The joint statement said the G20 had the responsibility to lead the way in terms of climate action.

“The G20 is responsible for 85% of the world’s GDP, but also 80% of the world’s emissions. Leadership by the G20 is indispensable to enable an inclusive and ambitious development agenda that demonstrates to the world that the transformation towards a net-zero and climate resilient world comes with great benefits for growth, poverty eradication and sustainable development,” they said.

Video: Ottawa changing conditions around future fossil fuel subsidies

The G20 ministerial comes at a time when Canada is facing a record-breaking wildfire season and heavy flooding events. Europe and North America have also recorded heat waves this month.

Researchers say the deadly hot spells in the American southwest and southern Europe could not have happened without the continuing buildup of warming gases in the air.

These unusually strong heat waves are becoming more common, a recent study has found. The same research found the increase in heat-trapping gases, largely from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, has made another heat wave — this time in China — 50 times more likely with the potential to occur every five years or so.

A stagnant atmosphere, warmed by carbon dioxide and other gases, also made the European heat wave 2.5 C hotter, the one in the United States and Mexico 2 C warmer and the one in China 1 C toastier, the study found.

Experts argue that Canada’s plan to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, while a welcome measure, does not go far enough and has loopholes. In particular, they say the plan does not apply to loans, guarantees and equity given to the TransMountain and Coastal GasLink pipelines.

TransMountain was bought by the federal government in 2018 with plans to sell down the road.

The Coastal GasLink pipeline is owned by TC Energy, the Alberta Investment Management Corp. and KKR & Co. Inc., with 20 First Nations holding options agreements for a 10 per cent equity stake.

— with files from The Canadian Press

CELTIC INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT

Archaeologists discover ancient glass workshop near central European Alps

Story by By JERUSALEM POST STAFF • 

Glass bracelets from female graves in Bohemia. La Tène culture, 3rd century BC. 

The Celts, exhibition in the National Museum in Prague.

© (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

After two decades of meticulous above-ground surveys, archaeologists have finally embarked on an extensive excavation of the renowned Iron Age site of Němčice, uncovering compelling evidence of the earliest glass workshop located north of the Alps.

Němčice, a historically significant settlement site from the La Tène Period (3rd-2nd century BCE) in Central Europe, has long been celebrated for its exceptional trove of over 2,000 gold and silver coins.

Additionally, the discovery of numerous glass bracelets and beads hinted at the site's association with glass production. However, it is only through these recent excavations that this speculation has been conclusively confirmed.

Leading the research team is Dr. Ivan Čižmář from the Institute of Archaeological Heritage Brno, who expressed their fascination with understanding the Celts' glass-making techniques.

"No one yet knows how exactly the Celts made glass bracelets," he remarked, emphasizing the need to shed light on the technology of production.


Fragment of an imported glass vessel. Celtic settlement in Strakonice. Probably th century BC. (Strakonice Museum.) The Celts, exhibition in the National Museum in Prague. (credit: Wikimedia Commons)

In their endeavor to answer this long-standing question, Dr. Čižmář and the team focused on excavating an area where substantial amounts of glass objects were previously found on the surface. Their findings have been published in the journal Antiquity.

Excavation yielded an array of both complete, partially finished glass products

Although specific glass-making tools remained elusive, the excavation yielded an array of both complete and partially finished glass products, providing compelling evidence that Němčice was indeed a hub for glass production.

The excavation unearthed not only glass beads and bracelets but also fragments of amber, revealing the complex's association with multiple materials in the production process.

This discovery further underscores Němčice's regional significance as a center for craftsmanship and trade.

Simultaneously, the researchers explored a square area within Němčice, identified through a geophysical survey as the highest part of the site.

The similarities it shares with potential ritual structures found in Austria suggest the presence of shared beliefs among Central European communities.

Dr. Čižmář elaborated, "The presence of these likely sacred features at Němčice indicates the character of the site not only as a trade and production center but also as a seat of an elite and a ritual center."

Moreover, the possibility of Němčice serving as both a production center and a focal point for shared beliefs suggests its integration into a broader Central European network along the famed "Amber Road."

This ancient trade route facilitated significant commerce between Northern and Southern Europe, highlighting the site's pivotal role in regional connectivity during ancient times.

As e-bikes proliferate, so do deadly fires blamed on exploding lithium-ion batteries

NEW YORK (AP) — The explosion early on a June morning ignited a blaze that engulfed a New York City shop filled with motorized bicycles and their volatile lithium-ion batteries. Billowing smoke quickly killed four people asleep in apartments above the burning store.

As the ubiquity of e-bikes has grown, so has the frequency of fires and deaths blamed on the batteries that power them, prompting a campaign to establish regulations on how the batteries are manufactured, sold, reconditioned, charged and stored.

Consumer advocates and fire departments, particularly in New York City, are urging the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to establish mandatory safety standards and confiscate noncompliant imports when they arrive at the border or shipping ports, so that unsafe e-bikes and poorly manufactured batteries don't reach streets and endanger homes.

These aren’t typical fires, said New York City Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh. The batteries don’t smolder; they explode.

“The number of fire incidents has rapidly increased. Other cities across the country have begun seeing these issues as well, and municipalities that are not yet experiencing this phenomenon may be facing similar incidents in the future," Kavanagh told the commission Thursday at a forum focused on e-bikes and lithium-ion batteries.

“We have reached a point of crisis in New York City, with ion batteries now a top cause of fatal fires in New York,” she told commissioners.

With some 65,000 e-bikes zipping through its streets — more than any other place in the U.S. — New York City is the epicenter of battery-related fires. There have been 100 such blazes so far this year, resulting in 13 deaths, already more than double the six fatalities last year.

Nationally, there were more than 200 battery-related fires reported to the commission — an obvious undercount — from 39 states over the past two years, including 19 deaths blamed on so-called micromobility devices that include battery-powered scooters, bicycles and hoverboards.


New York’s two U.S. senators, Democrats Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, introduced legislation last month that would set mandatory safety standards for e-bikes and the batteries that power them.

Because mandatory standards don't exist, Schumer said, poorly made batteries have flooded the U.S., increasing the risk of fires.

In many cases, authorities have been challenged to track the source of batteries manufactured overseas, many of them bought online or from aftermarket dealers.

Earlier this year, New York City urgently enacted a sweeping package of local laws intended to crack down on defective batteries, including a ban on the sale or rental of e-bikes and batteries that aren’t certified as meeting safety standards by an independent product testing lab.

The new rules also outlaw tampering with batteries or selling refurbished batteries made with lithium-ion cells scavenged from used units.

Meanwhile, New York City officials also announced they had received a $25 million federal grant for e-bike charging stations across the city, which fire marshals hope will reduce the risk of fires.

Related video: Fire deaths prompt federal review of e-bike rules 

(The Associated Press)   Duration 3:19   View on Watch

“When they fail, they fail quite spectacularly,” Kavanagh said in interview last week. “Once one of these ignites, there is a huge volume of fire, often so much so that the person in their home can’t get out and the firefighters can’t get in to get them."

Such was the case in April when two siblings, a 7-year-old boy and his 19-year-old sister, died when a scooter battery ignited a fire in Queens.

Because of the fire hazard, some residential buildings have banned e-bikes. Last summer, the New York City Housing Authority sought to prohibit tenants in all of its 335 developments from keeping or charging e-vehicles in their units, only to back down a few months later after protests from delivery workers.

Use of motorized bicycles grew dramatically in the city during the COVID-19 pandemic as homebound people turned more to food delivery workers for meals and groceries.

With the rash of fires, delivery workers like Lizandro Lopez say they are now more mindful about precautions.

“As soon as the battery is charged, I disconnect it. You shouldn’t leave it charging for too long,” Lopez said in Spanish, “because if you leave it on there too long, that’s when you can cause a fire.”

Los Deliveristas Unidos, which represents app-based delivery workers in the New York area, estimates that fewer than 10% of e-bikes sold in the city have been deemed safe by a third-party evaluator, such as UL Solutions, a product testing company that certifies safety compliance for a host of electrical products, including Christmas lights and televisions.

E-bike batteries rely on the same chemistry to generate power as the lithium-ion batteries in cellphones, laptops and most electric vehicles — products that were initially prone to overheating.

Tighter regulations, safety standards and compliance testing drastically reduced the risk of fires in such devices, according to Robert Slone, the senior vice president and chief scientist for UL Solutions.

The same can happen with e-bike batteries, he said, if they are made to comply with established safety standards. One feature most of these batteries lack is the ability to automatically shut off to prevent overheating and “thermal runaways” that lead to explosions and fires.

“We just need to make them safe, and there is a way to make them safe through testing and certification," Slone said, “given the history that we’ve seen in terms of fires and injuries and unfortunately, deaths as well — not just in New York, but across the country and around the world.”

In London, the fire brigade says lithium batteries are the city’s fastest growing fire risk, with one fire erupting about every two days. Last year, there were a total of 116 fires involving e-bikes and e-scooters. At least one death has been attributed this year to an overheated battery.

In San Francisco, there have been at least 21 battery fires so far this year — compared with just 13 battery-related fires in 2017, according to an analysis by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Last year, some 1.1 million e-bikes were imported into the U.S., according to the Light Electric Vehicle Association, an industry group. In 2021, more than 880,000 e-bikes came into the country — about double from the year before and triple the number in 2019.

Many of the batteries now on the road are substandard or aftermarket products that are known fire hazards but are popular with delivery workers because they are cheaper.

PeopleForBikes Coalition, an industry trade group, called on the government Thursday to close off the borders to unsafe lithium-ion batteries.

“If the agency follows through and creates these regulations, those regulations alone won't be enough,” Matt Moore, the group's general and policy counsel, told the commission.

Even with new rules and standards, he said, overseas sellers and manufacturers could still ship possibly unsafe products to the United States.

“Our research has shown there are over 400 online sellers of e-bikes who are not our members, companies that are not present in the United States except to sell their products to consumers,” he said, including generic products and accessories that falsely claim they are certified.

___

Associated Press video journalist Ted Shaffrey and video producer Vanessa A. Alvarez contributed to this report.

Bobby Caina Calvan, The Associated Press

Ocean shippers playing catch up to electric vehicle fire risk

Story by By Lisa Baertlein and Anthony Deutsch •  Thomson Reuters

Smoke rises as a fire broke out on the cargo ship Fremantle Highway, at sea

LOS ANGELES/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Electric vehicles are crisscrossing the globe to reach their eager buyers, but the battery technology involved in the zero- emission automobiles is exposing under-prepared maritime shippers to the risk of hard-to-control fires, industry, insurance and emergency response officials said.

That risk has been put under the spotlight by the burning car carrier drifting off the Dutch coast. The Dutch coastguard said the fire's cause was unknown, but Dutch broadcaster RTL released a recording in which an emergency responder is heard saying "the fire started in the battery of an electric car."

While all logistics companies deal with the risk of EV lithium-ion batteries burning with twice the energy of a normal fire, the maritime industry hasn't kept up with the developing technology and how it creates greater risk, maritime officials and insurers said.

There were 209 ship fires reported during 2022, the highest number in a decade and 17% more than in 2021, according to a report from insurer Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS). Of that total, 13 occurred on car carriers, but how many involved EVs was not available.

The European Maritime Safety Agency said in a March report the main cargo types identified as responsible for "a large share of cargo fire accidents included ... lithium-ion batteries."

Dutch news agency ANP, citing operator "K" Lines, said there are almost 4,000 cars on the ship. That total includes 25 EVs.

A person answering the phone at "K" Line's main U.S. office said he was not authorized to discuss the fire. Japan's Shoei Kisen, which owns the ship, said it was working with authorities to get control of the fire.

The cause of the fire, while still officially undetermined, has raised questions about "what blind spots there are when transporting electric cars powered by batteries - which when they catch fire can't be extinguished with water, or even by oxygen deprivation," said Nathan Habers, spokesperson for the Royal Association of Netherlands Shipowners (KVNR).

"The first question that comes to mind is: Does the current code stack up against the risk profile of this type of goods?" he added.

One hazard in lithium-ion batteries is "thermal runaway," a rapid and unstoppable increase in temperature that leads to fires in EVs that are hard to extinguish and can spontaneously reignite.

Fire extinguishing systems on the massive ships that haul cars weren't designed for those hotter fires, and shipping companies and regulators are scrambling to catch up, said Douglas Dillon, executive director of the Tri-state Maritime Safety Association that covers Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Recent fire-related losses are resulting in increased insurance costs for automakers shipping cargo and costs are likely to increase for vessel owners as well, said John Frazee, a managing director at insurance broker Marsh. As ship owners seek to limit losses by legally pursuing automakers whose vehicles are determined to have caused a fire, automakers are buying additional liability protection, he said.

Exacerbating the risks is the business model used by the companies that includes tightly packed ships. Auto carriers like the burning ship are known as RoRos, which stands for roll-on/roll-off - the way cars are loaded and unloaded.

RoRos are like floating parking garages and can have a dozen or more decks carrying thousands of vehicles, industry officials said. Unlike parking lots, however, cars are parked bumper-to-bumper with as little as a foot or two of space overhead.

Firemen typically put out EV battery fires on roadsides by clearing the area around the burning vehicle and flooding the underside with water, something difficult to do on a RoRo, Dillon said.

"There's no way for a firefighter in protective gear to get to the location of a fire" on a ship, he said, adding the cramped conditions increase the danger getting trapped.

While trains and trucks also transport EVs, isolating and extinguishing fires is easier as workers can unhook a rail car and a trucker can pull over, said Frazee.

Frazee expects insurers to lead the charge on strengthening safety systems on ships. Options being worked on include new chemicals to douse flames, specialized EV fire blankets, battery piercing fire hose nozzles and proposals to segregate EVs.

"I see no quick solution," Frazee said.

The International Maritime Organization, which sets regulations for safety at sea, plans to evaluate new measures next year for ships transporting EVs in light of the growing number of fires on cargo ships, a spokesperson told Reuters.

That could include specifications on types of water extinguishers available on boats and limitations on the amount a battery can be charged, which impacts flammability.

With EVs here to stay, KVNR's Habers said his group is discussing tightening regulations to account for the additional safety risks.

"There is already a whole lot of communication underway about this," he said, "but with this incident it becomes apparent we might need to speed up the process, especially when you consider that the number of this sort of cars is only going to rise."

Global auto sales last year totaled 81 million vehicles, 9.5% of which were EVs, according to EV-Volumes.com. China and Europe have been the most aggressive regions in pushing automakers to shift to EVs, and U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has proposed rules that could result in as much as two-thirds of the new vehicle market shifting to EVs by 2032.

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles and Anthony Deutsch in Amsterdam, additional reporting by Victoria Waldersee in Berlin, editing by Ben Klayman and Diane Craft)

Alaska asks US Supreme Court to strike down the rejection of a proposed copper, gold mine



ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The state of Alaska wants the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down a federal agency's rejection of a proposed copper and gold mine in southwest Alaska's Bristol Bay region.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in January blocked the proposed Pebble Mine, citing concerns with potential impacts on a rich aquatic ecosystem that supports the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery. It was the 14th time in the roughly 50-year history of the federal Clean Water Act that the EPA flexed its powers to bar or restrict activities over their potential impacts on waters, including fisheries.

Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor in a statement Wednesday said having a case heard directly by the Supreme Court rather than first in the lower courts is “an extraordinary ask, but it’s appropriate given the extraordinary decision being challenged.”

“The EPA’s order strikes at the heart of Alaska’s sovereignty, depriving the State of its power to regulate its lands and waters,” according to the court filing.

An EPA spokesperson said the agency was reviewing Wednesday's filing, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

The EPA has said its decision would prohibit certain waters from being used as disposal sites for the discharge of material for the construction and operation of the proposed Pebble project. The decision also would prohibit future proposals to build or operate a mine to develop the deposit that would result in the same or greater level of impacts.

Canada-based Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. owns the Pebble Limited Partnership, which is pursuing the mine. Northern Dynasty President and CEO Ron Thiessen in a statement said the company plans to support the state in its legal action and left open the possibility of pursuing separate litigation.

In cases where states sue the federal government, they can bring complaints directly to the court, though only a few such cases are heard annually.

A Virginia-based law firm known for championing conservative causes, Consovoy McCarthy, is representing the state in the lawsuit as Supreme Court counsel. The firm previously contracted with the state in a dispute with public employee unions.

Alaska Native tribes and environmental groups have long pushed for the rejection of the mine.

Alannah Hurley, executive director of the United Tribes of Bristol Bay, called the state's filing a “slap in the face to Bristol Bay” and said tribes “will use every tool at our disposal to protect our waters, our salmon, and our people.”

The Associated Press

US Supreme Court allows construction to resume on the Mountain Valley Pipeline




WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed construction to resume on a contested natural-gas pipeline that is being built through Virginia and West Virginia.

Work on the Mountain Valley Pipeline had been blocked by the federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, even after Congress ordered the project's approval as part of the bipartisan bill to increase the debt ceiling. President Joe Biden signed the bill into law in June.

The high court's order came as a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was hearing arguments in the case.

The Biden administration backed the company in calling for the Supreme Court’s intervention.

“All necessary permits have been issued and approved, we passed bipartisan legislation in Congress, the president signed that legislation into law, and now the Supreme Court has spoken: construction on the Mountain Valley Pipeline can finally resume, which is a major win for American energy and American jobs,” West Virginia Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said in a statement.

Lawyers for the company said they needed quick Supreme Court action to keep plans on track to finish building the 300-mile (500-kilometer) pipeline and put it into service by the winter, when the need for natural gas for heating grows.

Related video: Appeals court blocks construction on Mountain Valley Pipeline even after Congress says it can't (WTVR Richmond, VA)
Duration 1:20  View on Watch

Environmental groups have opposed the the $6.6 billion project, designed to meet growing energy demands in the South and Mid-Atlantic by transporting gas from the Marcellus and Utica fields in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Jamie Williams, president of The Wilderness Society, said in a statement that allowing the pipeline to proceed “puts the profits of a few corporations ahead of the health and safety of Appalachian communities. The Mountain Valley Pipeline is a threat to our water, our air, and our climate.”

Mountain Valley Pipeline said the work is largely complete, except for a 3-mile (5-kilometer) section that cuts through the Jefferson National Forest.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who had asked the Supreme Court to take up the case, said after the ruling that there was an “urgent need” for the pipeline to be completed without delay.

The appeals court did not immediately rule on Mountain Valley Pipeline’s motion to dismiss challenges to the project over concerns about the pipeline’s impact on endangered species, erosion and stream sedimentation.

Derek Teaney, an attorney for Appalachian Mountain Advocates, told the appeals court that Congress’ action last month requiring that all necessary permits be issued for the pipeline's construction “crosses the fence between the judicial power and the legislative power.”

Appeals Judge James A. Wynn acknowledged, “If we grant the motion, this is probably the last time we’re going to see it.”

___

Associated Press writer John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, contributed to this report.

The Associated Press

Edmonton  bat monitoring program aims to explore natural pest control

Story by Emily Williams • CBC

T he easiest way to find a bat roosting site is to look for traces of guano — or bat droppings — underneath a bridge. Especially during the summer period when bats are raising their pups.

The City of Edmonton is undertaking this work with a new bat monitoring program this year. It's the first time the city has done an official assessment of what bats are in the city, and where.

Initiated due to a shift in the city's Mosquito Control Program, the bat monitoring program can help support species that serve as natural pest control.

The city wants to decrease pesticide use and reduce habitat suitable for mosquitoes, said Sarah McPike, senior biological sciences technologist at the city's Pest Management Lab.



Guano, a telltale sign that a bat roosting site is nearby. (Emily Williams/CBC)© Provided by cbc.ca

A bat's diet is more than just mosquitoes, however.

"While bats do use mosquitoes as part of their diet and we want to help support them in continuing to eat mosquitoes, they also eat a lot of other things like beetles and some aquatic bugs and moths — things that are big and juicy," McPike said.

"So all of that helps to contribute to a healthy ecosystem and we want to help support that within the city limits."



Cory Olsen, Nikqueta Mazur, and Sarah McPike looking under a bridge for bats. (Emily Williams/CBC)© Provided by cbc.ca

Nikqueta Mazur, biological science technologist at the Pest Management Lab, said the city is looking to see if there is anything they can do to encourage bats to be in the city. One way of doing that is looking at what habitats they prefer.


Martha Stewart Living   How to Attract Bats to Your Yard—and Why You Want To
0:44

"Currently our best way of monitoring them is to do evening exit surveys," Mazur siad.

"We'll go to either a bridgeside or a bat box that we want to know if it's being used. And we will sit there in the evening for about an hour and see if we can see the bats exiting as they're coming out to feed."

Bats tend to nestle themselves into tight sheltered spots. While a bridge isn't a natural habitat for bats, they are a popular choice for roosts.

Bat boxes are artificial roosts, typically made out of wood and placed up high. The city installed several of them across the city this year.



Thermal cameras can be used to see bats nestled in bridge crevices. (Emily Williams/CBC)© Provided by cbc.ca

Cory Olson, program co-ordinator for the Alberta Bat Program, says another way to see how active an area is for bats is recording echolocation calls using specialized equipment.

These calls are at a frequency that cannot be heard by humans and are used for navigation. The sounds that bats make that we can hear are the social calls.

"You can imagine that if you're in a group with hundreds of other bats that you might get upset every now and then," Olson said. "So they emit this squeaking sound that kind of tells their roommate to back off."

Olson said if people stumble upon a bat roosting site, the best thing to do is leave it alone.

The bats in the city are fairly healthy for the time being, he said.

But white-nose syndrome is just starting to enter Alberta and may impact the province's bat population. Guano samples can be taken for testing to determine if the fungus that causes this disease is present.


A guano sample, collected to be tested for the fungus which causes white-nose syndrome. (Emily Williams/CBC)© Provided by cbc.ca

Another threat to bats in the city is cats, Olson said.

"The majority of the bats that get brought to wildlife rescue centres are bats that have been injured by cats. Keeping cats indoors is one of the most important things that we can do to help bats in the city."

What you need to know about solar storms, the extreme weather of space

Story by Chris Knight • National Post 

An artist's conception of a solar storm that hit Earth in 1989, knocking out Quebec's power grid.© Provided by National Post


This week it was reported that a solar storm had struck the Earth a day ahead of schedule , for unknown reasons. Some speculated that the coronal mass ejection (CME) that was the cause of the storm was moving faster than expected. Others suggested it was an entirely different CME that had escaped our notice. Here’s what to know about solar storms.

What is a solar storm?

A solar storm is a disturbance on the surface of the sun, usually in the form of a large explosion called a solar flare, or a burst of plasma known as a coronal mass ejection, or CME. When the charged particles from the storm reach the Earth they interfere with our planet’s magnetic field in what’s known as a geomagnetic storm.
Are they dangerous?

Solar storms pose no direct risk to humans, as long as they’re shielded by the Earth’s atmosphere. So if you’re not in space, you’re fine. In fact, they make for great viewing of the Northern Lights, as the Earth’s auroral displays become brighter and are visible farther south than usual.

However, they can pose great risks to electrical and electronic equipment. On March 13, 1989, Hydro-Quebec experienced a complete blackout of its system due to a powerful solar storm. The solar particles couldn’t easily pass through the Canadian Shield and instead found an outlet through transmission lines. The province subsequently invested billions of dollars in toughening up its systems against future storms.

Even more powerful was the Carrington Event, a solar storm that hit the Earth in 1859 and remains the strongest one recorded to date. Telegraph operators reported sparking and even small fires in their equipment, while some disconnected their power sources and were still able to receive and transmit messages just by using the current passing through the atmosphere.

A solar storm in February of 2022 caused 40 SpaceX Starlink satellites to fail and fall back to Earth during launch, not because their electronics were fried, but because the storm caused Earth’s outer atmosphere to heat up and expand slightly, meaning the small satellites didn’t have enough fuel to reach orbit.

That said, it should be noted that solar storms tend to affect large-scale infrastructure such as power lines, and not individual devices like a cellphone, computer or car. In a recent interview with Scientific American , heliophysicist Erika Palmerio advised caution, not panic.

“As a person who works with this every day, I am way more scared of a ‘doomsday’ derived from terrestrial weather like forest fires, hurricanes and extreme weather,” she said. “We have to monitor, and we have to be prepared. But we do not have to lose sleep over this.”


A sunset on Mars. NASA’s rovers on the Red Planet have been used to observe parts of the sun not visible from Earth.© NASA

Can we predict solar storms?

Much like terrestrial weather, solar storms are unpredictable. But, like the weather, we can make forecasts and educated guesses. Solar flares and storms tend to reach their peak roughly every 11 years, as the sun goes through what’s known as a solar cycle. Solar cycle 1 started in 1755. We’re near the peak of solar cycle 25 now, expected to reach its maximum sometime between now and 2025. So the next few years are likely to see more and stronger solar storms.

It’s also worth noting that solar flares release energy at the speed of light, so there’s no advance warning for the eight minutes it takes their energy to reach us from the sun. Coronal mass ejections can take several days to reach Earth, so some warning is available.

Spacecraft like the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (launched in 2006) and the Parker Solar Probe (launched in 2018) are studying the sun and its corona to help scientists better understand their behaviour.

We’re also getting assistance from other planets. Currently, Mars is on the opposite side of the sun from the Earth, and so scientists have asked the Perseverance rover there to periodically take a peek at the sun and report back on any sunspot activity not visible from Earth. The Curiosity rover performed a similar task in 2015, near the previous solar maximum, although its cameras were not as sensitive.

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