Congress votes to reinstate methane rules loosened by Trump


FILE - In this Feb. 25, 2015, file photo, a gas flare is seen at a natural gas processing facility near Williston, N.D. Congressional Democrats have approved a measure reinstating rules aimed at limiting climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas drilling, a rare effort by Democrats to use the legislative branch to overturn a regulatory rollback under President Donald Trump. The House gave final legislative approval Friday, June 25, to a resolution that would undo a Trump-era environmental rule that relaxed requirements of a 2016 Obama administration rule targeting methane emissions from oil and gas drilling.. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Democrats have approved a measure reinstating rules aimed at limiting climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas drilling, a rare effort by Democrats to use the legislative branch to overturn a regulatory rollback under President Donald Trump.

The House gave final legislative approval Friday to a resolution that would undo a Trump-era environmental rule that relaxed requirements of a 2016 Obama administration rule targeting methane emissions from leaks and flares in oil and gas wells.

The resolution was approved, 229-191, and now goes to President Joe Biden, who is expected to sign it. Twelve Republicans joined 217 Democrats to support the measure.

Democrats and environmentalists called the methane rule one of the Trump administration’s most egregious actions to deregulate U.S. businesses and said its removal would help launch a broader effort by the Biden administration and Congress to tackle climate change. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming, packing a stronger punch in the short term than carbon dioxide.

“Congress just delivered its first bipartisan win for the climate,″ said Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund. “Controlling methane is a winning proposition for all sides because it cuts pollution and reduces waste.″

The resolution was approved under the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to overturn certain regulations that have been in place for a short time. The Trump methane rule was finalized last September.

FILE - In this April 21, 2021, file photo the sun sets beyond a pumpjack near Goldsmith, Texas. Congressional Democrats have approved a measure reinstating rules aimed at limiting climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas drilling. The House gave final legislative approval Friday, June 25, to a resolution that would undo a Trump-era environmental rule that relaxed requirements of a 2016 Obama administration rule targeting methane emissions from oil and gas drilling. (Eli Hartman/Odessa American via AP, File)

Action on methane was one of just three Trump-era rules targeted by the Democratic-controlled Congress under the review law, a sharp contrast to 14 Obama-era rules repealed by congressional Republicans in the first year of the Trump administration.

Other rules approved by Democrats targeted Trump-era actions loosening regulations on payday lenders and another that Democrats said gave employers an unfair advantage over workers in settling discrimination claims.

Rep. Diana DeGette D-Colo., who sponsored the methane measure, called its approval “a big win in our overall effort to combat the climate crisis, and a critical first step toward sufficiently reducing our nation’s overall methane emissions.”

If Biden and Congress are “going to be serious about combating this climate crisis, we have to take steps now to cut the amount of methane in our atmosphere,” DeGette said. The legislation will keep more than 1.6 million tons of methane out of the air that all Americans breathe and require oil and gas companies “to take the steps necessary to better protect our planet and the public’s health” by reinstating methane standards put in place in 2016, she said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the action on methane was part of an effort by Congress to reassert its own power. She called the Congressional Review Act “one of the Congress’s most important tools ... to deliver for the people and to reclaim our authority under the Constitution, upholding the balance of powers that is the foundation of our American democracy.″

Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., chair of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, said the measure approved Friday “will restore common-sense safeguards to limit methane pollution from oil and gas production. It’s a modest and straightforward step in the right direction, but it’s a very important one.″

Republicans disagreed, saying the measure took unfair aim at oil and gas companies that are already working to reduce emissions of methane and other greenhouse gases.

Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minn., said the repeal measure advanced “radical activist priorities” while empowering foreign oil producers in the Middle East and Russia.

Rep. Yvette Herrell, R-N.M, said the measure would “nickel and dime the most essential business in my district,″ oil and gas producers who she said could be forced out of business by excessive government regulations.

Those statements were at odds with the oil and gas industry, which largely supported the Obama-era rule. In 2016, the Environmental Protection Agency curbed methane emissions at facilities built or modified since 2015, requiring companies to deploy technology to detect and fix leaks at oil and gas wells. Many large energy companies have embraced methane capture as a way to save money and promote natural gas as a cleaner option than coal in the nation’s power plants.

The action by Congress clears the way for the EPA to develop rules to regulate methane emissions from new and existing wells, including hundreds of thousands of older wells that are not subject to federal regulation under current law.

Oil giant BP said Friday it supports direct federal regulation of methane emissions.

“Keeping methane in the pipes is good for the planet and for business. It means that we can sell it as a cleaner fuel source rather than losing it,″ said Mary Streett, a senior vice president at BP. “We’re pleased that Congress recognizes the importance of this objective and we encourage the president to sign the resolution.″

The American Petroleum Institute, the industry’s top lobbying group, said it will work with the Biden administration to support direct regulation of methane from new and existing sources.

“We have an opportunity to build on the progress the industry has made in driving down methane emissions through technological advancement, and we are committed to finding common ground on cost-effective government policies,″ said API spokeswoman Jessica Szymanski.

US BACKED SAUDI IMPERIALISM



A father and daughter's grave marks the cost of Yemen's war

By SAMY MAGDY 2 hours ago

MARIB, Yemen (AP) — Among the growing number of graves of the war dead in the cemetery of the Yemeni city of Marib, one tombstone stands out. It has two “martyrs” listed — a father and his young daughter.

Taher Farag and his 2-year-old Liyan were inseparable, their family say. So earlier this month, when Farag drove to the market to buy food for his wife to make lunch, he took Liyan with him.

Along the way, he stopped at a gas station in Marib’s Rawdah neighborhood to fill his tank. It was then, as they waited in line, that the ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels hit the station, followed by the blast of an explosives-laden drone. The gas station went up in a ball of flame, incinerating vehicles in line.

Yemeni fighters backed by the Saudi-led coalition look at damages in the aftermath of a ballistic missile and an explosive-laden drone fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels that hit a fuel station on June 5, 2021, killing two-year-old Liyan Taher and her father 32-year-old Taher Farag in the Rawdha neighborhood of the central city of Marib, Yemen, Sunday, June 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

At least 21 people were killed, including Farag and his daughter, in the June 5 attack, according to Liz Throssell, a spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

It was the deadliest single attack in the monthslong grind of an offensive launched by Houthi rebels trying to capture Marib, the last stronghold of the Yemeni government in the country’s north. Since February, the rebels have been waging their assault, making only slow progress as Saudi-backed government fighters dig in to defend the city and Saudi airstrikes inflict casualties on the rebels.

The Houthis have fired ballistic missiles and sent drones into Marib as well, often hitting civilian areas and camps for displaced people. More than 120 civilians have been killed, including 15 children, and more than 220 wounded in the past six months, according to the government.

At home, Farag’s wife Gamila Saleh Ali heard the explosion. She didn’t think her husband and daughter were in danger — there are plenty of explosions in Marib. Still, she called his phone to be safe. There was no answer. She called again and again, each time no answer.

A mobile photograph of two-year-old Liyan Taher, who was killed with her father 32-year-old Taher Farag on June 5, 2021 in a ballistic missile and an explosive-laden drone fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels that hit a fuel station in Rawdha neighborhood, at their home in Marib, Yemen, Saturday, June 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

Then came the scream of her husband’s mother, who lives in the same building. She went out and found her family weeping. “I realized that Liyan and her father were martyred,” the 27-year-old said. “I returned to my room and prayed to God.”

“She was a fun-loving child,” she said of Liyan, while cradling the couple’s 10-month-old son. “Her dad adored her. He used to tell me, ‘Liyan is mine, and the boy is yours.’ ... He was so attached to her and she was so attached to her father.”

The 32-year-old Farag was once a farmer in his hometown of Kharif in northwestern Yemen, before fleeing with his family after the Iran-backed Houthis overran most of the country’s north in 2014, including the capital, Sanaa.

The damaged car belonging to 32-year-old Taher Farag and his two-year-old daughter Liyan Taher, who were both killed on June 5, 2021 from a ballistic missile and an explosive-laden drone fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels hitting a fuel station in the Rawdha neighborhood of the central city of Marib, Yemen, Sunday, June 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

Like many driven from their homes, he settled in Marib, a seemingly safe refuge outside Houthi territory. He was able to find work driving a taxi. The area is now home to some 2.2 million displaced people, many of them crowded into camps on the city’s outskirts, according to official statistics.

They find themselves caught in one of the last active fronts in a war that has dragged on for nearly seven years, between the Houthis and the government, which controls much of the south and is backed by a Saudi-led coalition. The war has been largely stalemated for years but continues to wreak destruction, killing more than 130,000 people and spawning the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The tombstone of two-year-old Liyan Taher and her father 32-year-old Taher Farag, who were both killed on June 5, 2021, after a ballistic missile and an explosive-laden drone fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels hit a fuel station in the Rawdha neighborhood, at a mass graveyard in Marib, Yemen, Monday, June 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

The same day as the strike on the gas station, an Omani delegation landed in Sanaa for talks with rebel leaders, including the group’s religious and military leader, Abdel-Malek al-Houthi. Pressure is mounting on the Houthis to stop their Marib offensive and agree on a nationwide cease-fire, paving the way for peace talks.

In the meantime, Marib’s residents endure the frequent blasts of missile and drone attacks.

Gamila Salih Ali, mother and wife of two-year-old Liyan Taher, and 32-year-old Taher Farag, who were both killed in a ballistic missile and an explosive-laden drone fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels that hit a fuel station on June 5, 2021 in Rawdha neighborhood, sits near her daughters toys at their home in Marib, Yemen, Saturday, June 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the head of the rebels’ Supreme Revolutionary Committee, said the missile strike targeted a military position and called for an independent investigation. He did not provide evidence.

The gas station is located several hundred meters (yards) from the perimeter fence of a military camp.

“The blast was strong, so strong. It sent me flying far,” said one worker at the station being treated at Marib’s main hospital. His right leg was broken, and he was burned over much of his body. He spoke on condition he not be named for the safety of family living in Houthi-held territory.

“We found shrapnel and remains of burned bodies. There were screams,” said Eissa Mohammed, who lives across the street.

Farag and Liyan’s bodies, charred beyond recognition, were found inside his burned-out taxi, hugging each other, officials and family said.

“So we buried them in the same grave,” said Farag’s younger brother, Ayed.

A Yemeni man, who is unidentified for his security, severely injured on June 5, 2021, after a ballistic missile and an explosive-laden drone fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels hit a fuel station in the Rawdha neighborhood, receives treatment at a hospital, in Marib, Yemen, Monday, June 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

The entrance of the home of two-year-old Liyan Taher and her father 32-year-old Taher Farag, who were both killed in a ballistic missile and an explosive-laden drone fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels that hit a fuel station on June 5, 2021 in Rawdha neighborhood, in Marib, Yemen, Saturday, June 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

A man and boy look at damages in the aftermath of a ballistic missile and an explosive-laden drone fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels that hit a fuel station on June 5, 2021, killing two-year-old Liyan Taher and her father 32-year-old Taher Farag in the Rawdha neighborhood of the central city of Marib, Yemen, Sunday, June 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)


Children stand in front of the apartment building of two-year-old Liyan Taher and her father 32-year-old Taher Farag, who were both killed in a ballistic missile and an explosive-laden drone fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels that hit a fuel station on June 5, 2021 in Rawdha neighborhood, in Marib, Yemen, Saturday, June 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

EXPLAINER: Why some schools in Canada have unmarked graves

By ROB GILLIESyesterday


FILE - In this June 1, 2021, file photo, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visits a memorial at the Eternal Flame on Parliament Hill in Ottawa that's in recognition of discovery of children's remains at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia. Leaders of Indigenous groups in Canada say investigators have found more than 600 unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school for Indigenous children in Saskatchewan. That follows last month's discovery of about 215 bodies at another such school in British Columbia. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

TORONTO (AP) — Leaders of Indigenous groups in Canada say investigators have found more than 600 unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school for Indigenous children, which follows the discovery of 215 bodies at another school last month.

The new discovery was at the Marieval Indian Residential School, which operated from 1899 to 1997 where the Cowessess First Nation is now located, about 85 miles (135 kilometers) east of Regina, the capital of the province of Saskatchewan.

Ground-penetrating radar registered 751 ”hits,″ indicating at least 600 bodies were buried, said Chief Cadmus Delorme of the Cowessess. Some and perhaps most are from over a century ago. The gravesite is believed to hold the bodies of children and adults, and even people from outside the community who attended church there.

Perry Bellegarde, chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said it is not unusual to find such graves at former residential schools but is always a devastating discovery that reopens old wounds about the forced assimilation of native children at those often-abusive institutions.

Many non-Indigenous Canadians were not aware of the extent of the problems at the schools until the remains of 215 children were found last month at what was once the country’s largest such school in British Columbia.

WHAT ARE RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS?

From the 19th century until the 1970s, 1990'S more than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend state-funded Christian boarding schools in an effort to assimilate them into Canadian society. Thousands of children died there of disease and other causes, with many never returned to their families.

Nearly three-quarters of the 130 residential schools were run by Roman Catholic missionary congregations, with others operated by the Presbyterian, Anglican and the United Church of Canada, which today is the largest Protestant denomination in the country.

The Canadian government has admitted its role in a century of isolating native children from their homes, families and cultures, and that physical and sexual abuse was rampant in the schools, where students were beaten for speaking their native language. That legacy of abuse and isolation has been cited by native leaders as a cause of alcoholism and drug addiction widely seen on reservations today.

A sign, with text related to the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at the former Indian Residential Schools, is attached by orange ribbon to a light pole across the street from the St. Paul Co-Cathedral in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan., Friday, June 25, 2021. The doors of the Roman Catholic church were splattered with red paint Thursday afternoon, the paint has since been removed. (Liam Richards/The Canadian Press via AP)

Indigenous leaders have called it a form of cultural genocide.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday called it “an incredibly harmful government policy that was Canada’s reality for many, many decades and Canadians today are horrified and ashamed of how our country behaved.”

He said the policy “forced assimilation” on the children.

WHAT’S BEHIND THE DISCOVERY OF THE REMAINS?

A National Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was set up as part of a government apology and settlement, issued a report in 2015 that identified about 3,200 confirmed deaths at schools. While some died of diseases like tuberculosis amid the often- deplorable conditions, it noted that a cause of death for about half of them often was not recorded.

The government wanted to keep costs down at the schools, so adequate regulations were never established, the reconciliation commission said..

It said the practice at the schools was to not send the bodies home to their communities. Delorme said the graves at the Saskatchewan school were marked at one time, but that the Catholic operators of the facility had removed them.

WHAT APOLOGIES HAVE BEEN MADE?

Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized in Parliament in 2008 for the government’s role. Among the Christian denominations, the Presbyterian, Anglican and United churches also apologized for their roles in the abuse.

A papal apology was one of 94 recommendations from the reconciliation commission, but the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said in 2018 that the pope could not personally apologize for the residential schools.

Former Pope Benedict XVI met with some former students and victims in 2009 and told them of his “personal anguish” over their suffering.

After last month’s discovery, Pope Francis expressed his pain and pressed religious and political authorities to shed light on “this sad affair,” but didn’t offer an apology.

Trudeau said Friday he has spoken to Francis personally “to impress upon him how important it is not just that he makes an apology but that he makes an apology to indigenous Canadians on Canadian soil.”

Archbishop Don Bolen of the Regina Archdiocese posted a letter on its website this week to the Cowessess First Nation in which he repeated an apology he said he made two years ago.

WHAT COMPENSATION HAS BEEN OFFERED?

The reconciliation commission was created as part of a $5 billion Canadian ($4 billion U.S.) class action settlement in 2005, the largest in Canadian history.

Under the settlement, students who attended the schools were eligible to receive $10,000 Canadian ($8,143 U.S.) for the first school year and $3,000 Canadian ($2,443 U.S.) for every year thereafter. Victims of physical and sexual abuse were eligible for further compensation.

Trudeau has said the government will help preserve gravesites and search for unmarked burial grounds at other schools, but he and his ministers have stressed the need for indigenous communities to decide for themselves how they want to proceed.

The government previously announced $27 million Canadian ($22 million U.S.) for the effort in what it called a first step.

WHO MURDERED McAFEE IS TRENDING

Widow seeks ‘thorough’ investigation into John McAfee death

By RENATA BRITO and ARITZ PARRA

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Lawyer Javier Villalba, left and John McAfee's wife Janice speak briefly with journalists on leaving the Brians 2 penitentiary center in Sant Esteve Sesrovires, near Barcelona, northeast Spain, Friday, June 25, 2021. A judge in northeastern Spain has ordered an autopsy for John McAfee, creator of the McAfee antivirus software, a gun-loving antivirus pioneer, cryptocurrency promoter and occasional politician who died in a cell pending extradition to the United States for allegedly evading millions in unpaid taxes. McAfee's Spanish lawyer, Javier Villalba, said the entrepreneur's death had come as a surprise to his wife and other relatives, since McAfee "had not said goodbye." (AP Photo/Joan Mateu)

SANT ESTEVE SESROVIRES, Spain (AP) — The widow of John McAfee, the British-American tycoon who died in a Spanish prison this week while awaiting extradition to the United States, on Friday demanded a “thorough investigation” of his death, saying her husband did not appear suicidal when they last spoke.

Authorities in Spain are conducting an autopsy on McAfee’s body but have said that everything at the scene in his cell indicated that the 75-year-old killed himself.

An official source familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press that a suicide note had been found in McAfee’s pocket. The source, who was not authorized to speak about an ongoing judicial inquiry, refused to comment on the content of the note.

McAfee’s Spanish lawyer, Javier Villalba, said that the family had not been informed by authorities about the note.

In her first public remarks since the software entrepreneur’s death on Wednesday, McAfee’s widow Janice McAfee said she wanted a “thorough investigation” to provide “answers about this was able to happen.”

“His last words to me were ‘I love you and I will call you in the evening,’” the 38-year-old told reporters outside the Brians 2 penitentiary northwest of Barcelona where she recovered her late husband’s belongings. She said they spoke earlier on the day he was found dead.

“Those words are not words of somebody who is suicidal,” she added.

John McAfee was arrested at the Barcelona airport in October last year on a warrant issued by prosecutors in Tennessee who were seeking up to three decades of imprisonment for allegedly evading more than $4 million in taxes.

The day before he was found dead, Spain’s National Court had announced that it was agreeing to his extradition to the U.S. but the decision was not final.

“We had a plan of action already in place to appeal that decision,” Janice McAfee told reporters. “I blame the U.S. authorities for this tragedy: Because of these politically motivated charges against him my husband is now dead.”

The National Court judge said John McAfee had provided no evidence to back his allegations that he was being politically persecuted. “On the contrary, according to his own testimony, he took part in primaries of a certain party to defend his convictions with a result little favorable to him,” the judge wrote in the ruling seen by AP.

In an e-mailed statement, the U.S. State Department confirmed for the first time the tycoon’s death, offering the family condolences. It said: “We are closely monitoring local authorities’ investigation into the cause of death. We stand ready to provide all appropriate assistance to the family. Out of respect to the family during this difficult time, we have no further comment.”

Results of McAfee’s autopsy could take “days or weeks,” authorities have said.

The couple reportedly met in 2012 in Miami and married the following year. John McAfee had several children from previous relationships, Janice McAfee said.

The entrepreneur had not been connected with the companies that took over the antivirus software he built after he sold his shares in the 1990s. That early success had made McAfee rich and followed him in his troubled biography.

In 2012, he was sought for questioning in connection with the murder of his neighbor in Belize, but was never charged with a crime. The controversy didn’t stop him from making long-shot runs for the U.S. presidency starting in 2016.

But it was his more recent tax problems that kept him away from the U.S., the country where the British-born entrepreneur was raised and had built his early success.

The Tennessee prosecutors’ indictments from 2020 showed that the tycoon allegedly failed to declare income made by promoting cryptocurrencies, attending speaking engagements and selling the rights for a documentary on his eventful life.

“Even though he was born in England, America was his home,” Janice McAfee said. “He came there when he was a child. He had his first girlfriend there, his first case, you know, his first job. He made his first millions there and he wanted to be there. But, you know, politics just wouldn’t allow for that to happen.”

John McAfee’s social media postings indicated that he had chosen a northeastern Spanish coastal resort town as his base in Europe at least since late 2019.

“All John wanted to do was spend his remaining years fishing and drinking,” his widow said on Friday. “He had hope that things would work out. We knew that there would be an uphill battle to continue to fight this situation. But he’s a fighter ... And anybody that knows John, that knows him even a little bit, knows that about him.”

“He was just so loving. He had a big heart and he just loved people and he just wanted to have peace in his life,” Janice McAfee added. “My prayers are that his soul has found the peace in death that he could not find in life.”

__

Parra reported from Madrid.

LIKE NAZI GOLD IN POLAND

Affidavit: FBI feared Pennsylvania would seize fabled gold

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM

FILE - This Sept. 20, 2018, file photo, Dennis Parada, right, and his son Kem Parada stand at the site of the FBI's dig for Civil War-era gold in Dents Run, Pa. Court documents unsealed Thursday, June 24, 2021, show that an FBI agent applied for a federal warrant in 2018 to seize a cache of gold that he said had been "stolen during the Civil War" while en route to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. The Paradas, co-owners of the treasure-hunting outfit Finders Keepers, have said they believe the FBI found gold at the site and have pursued legal action to get more information. (AP Photo/Michael Rubinkam, File)


An FBI agent applied for a federal warrant in 2018 to seize a fabled cache of U.S. government gold he said was “stolen during the Civil War” and hidden in a Pennsylvania cave, saying the state might take the gold for itself if the feds asked for permission, according to court documents unsealed Thursday.

The newly unsealed affidavit confirms previous reporting by The Associated Press that the government had been looking for a legendary cache of gold at the site, which federal authorities had long refused to confirm. In any case, the FBI said, the dig came up empty.

The AP and The Philadelphia Inquirer petitioned a federal judge to unseal the case. Federal prosecutors did not oppose the request, and the judge agreed, paving the way for Thursday’s release of documents.

“I have probable cause to believe that a significant cache of gold is secreted in the underground cave” in Dent’s Run, holding “one or more tons” belonging to the U.S. government, wrote Jacob Archer of the FBI’s art crime team in Philadelphia.

Archer told the judge he needed a seizure warrant because he feared that if the federal government sought permission from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to excavate the site, the state would claim the gold for itself, setting up a costly legal battle.

“I am concerned that, even if DCNR gave initial consent for the FBI to excavate the cache of gold secreted at the Dent’s Run Site, that consent could be revoked before the FBI recovered the United States property, with the result of DCNR unlawfully claiming that that cache of gold is abandoned property and, thus, belongs to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” the affidavit said.

Archer also revealed allegations against a legislative staffer who, he wrote, tried to get some of the loot for himself.

In 2013, the affidavit said, the legislative staffer contacted a pair of treasure hunters who had identified the likely site of the gold. The staffer “corruptly” offered to get the treasure hunters a state permit to dig “in return for three bars of gold or ten percent” of whatever they recovered. The staffer said he was acting on behalf of others in state government, according to Archer, including “someone who controlled money going to DCNR and someone working in the Pennsylvania governor’s office.”

No one has been charged in connection with the case, and federal prosecutors say they consider the matter closed. A spokesperson for the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources declined comment.

The FBI had long refused to explain exactly why it went digging on state-owned land in Elk County in March 2018, saying only in written statements over the years that agents were there for a court-authorized excavation of “what evidence suggested may have been a cultural heritage site.”

According to the affidavit, the FBI based its request for a seizure warrant partly on the work done by the treasure hunters, who had made hundreds of trips to the area. The father-son duo told authorities they believed they had found the location of the fabled Union gold, which, according to legend, was either lost or stolen on its way to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia in 1863.

After meeting with the treasure hunters in early 2018, the FBI brought in a contractor with more sophisticated instruments. The contractor detected an underground mass that weighed up to nine tons and had the density of gold, the affidavit said.

That amount of gold would today be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Archer wrote that he also spoke with a journalist, identified as “Person 3,” who had done extensive research on a Civil War-era group called the Knights of the Golden Circle. The KGC, Archer wrote, was a secret society of Confederate sympathizers that had purportedly “buried secret caches of weapons, coins, and gold and silver bullion, much of which was stolen from robberies of banks, trains carrying payroll of the Union Army during the Civil War and from northern army military posts, in southern, western and northern states.”

Archer said that a turtle carving found on a rock near the proposed dig site was “very likely ... a KGC marker for that site.”

Archer wasn’t able to confirm the U.S. Mint had actually missed any expected shipments of gold because the Mint did not have records for the Civil War period, the affidavit said.

The FBI apparently did not indicate to the judge, in writing, what it found at the site, according to the documents unsealed Thursday. A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in Philadelphia said that no such document was filed with the court because the dig came up empty.

Dennis and Kem Parada, co-owners of the treasure-hunting outfit Finders Keepers, have said they believe the FBI found gold at the site. They are seeking thousands of pages of FBI documents about the investigation as well as video files of the dig.

Their attorney, Bill Cluck, said the court documents revealed Thursday simply raise more questions.

He noted the warrant granted by U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard Lloret gave FBI agents permission to dig from 6 a.m to 10 p.m. But residents have told of hearing a backhoe and jackhammer overnight — when the excavation was supposed to have been paused — and seeing a convoy of FBI vehicles, including large armored trucks.

In addition, it is telling that the FBI never checked back with the contractor whose sensitive instruments had indicated the possible presence of gold to ask what went wrong, said Warren Getler, the journalist identified as “Person 3” in the affidavit.

“Did the science really go wrong? I am not so sure about that,” said Getler, author of “Rebel Gold,” a book exploring the possibility of buried Civil War-era caches of gold and silver.

“Why did they send four or five armored cars after the fact?” he asked. “Why did they work under cover of darkness? Why did they kick us off the mountain at 3 p.m. that day when we were supposed to be working as partners?”

The FBI assertion of an empty hole is “insulting all the credible people who did this kind of work,” Dennis Parada previously told the AP. “It was a slap in the face, really, to think all these people could make that kind of mistake.”

Experts get 1st clues on what may have caused condo collapse

By CURT ANDERSON and BOBBY CAINA CALVAN

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This photo provided by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, search and rescue personnel search for survivors through the rubble at the Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside, Fla., section of Miami, Friday, June 25, 2021. The apartment building partially collapsed on Thursday. (Miami-Dade Fire Rescue via AP)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Some of the concrete columns were cracked. The parking garage was frequently flooded with corrosive saltwater. And the roof was undergoing repairs, with crews pounding on the tower from above for weeks.

Officials don’t yet know whether any — or all — of those factors caused a Florida beachside condominium tower to suddenly collapse Thursday morning.

But experts are closely examining a 2018 repor t that identified numerous issues with the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside, including “major structural damage” to a concrete structural slab below its pool deck that needed to be extensively repaired.

“Failure to replace waterproofing in the near future will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand exponentially,” said the report from the Morabito Consultants engineering firm. The situation is a “major error” dating to the building’s original construction, according to the report, which was released with other documents late Friday by Surfside officials.

The report also uncovered “abundant cracking” and other faults in concrete columns, beams and walls in the parking garage. Some of the damage was minor, while other columns had exposed and deteriorating rebar.

It wasn’t immediately clear from the documents whether this issue or others identified in the report were ever dealt with or had any role in the building collapse. Frank Morabito, the firm’s president, did not immediately respond Saturday to an email seeking comment.

The building was in the midst of its 40-year recertification process, which requires detailed structural and electrical inspections. In an interview Friday, Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said he wasn’t sure if the inspection had been completed, but he said it may contain vital clues.

“It should have been a very straightforward thing,” Burkett said. “Buildings in America do not just fall down like this. There is a reason. We need to find out what that reason is.”

The 12-story tower’s collapse has left at least four people dead, 159 missing as of Friday and numerous questions about how this could have happened — and whether other similar buildings are in danger.

Details of the Champlain Towers recertification inspection will be made public once they are completed, Surfside Town Clerk Sandra McCready said in an email.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a news conference Friday that she has seen no evidence of a sinkhole — much more common in other parts of Florida — or of something criminal, such as a bomb.

“I can tell you that at this time, they haven’t found any evidence of foul play,” she said.

Beyond that, much focus is on ocean water, which is rising in South Florida and elsewhere because of climate change. Last year, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a measure that would require developers to complete sea-level rise studies before beginning publicly funded projects.

Like everyone else, the governor wants answers about the cause of the collapse as soon as possible.

“We need a definitive answer for how this might have happened,” DeSantis said at a news conference. “It really is a unique type of tragedy to have, in the middle of the night, half a building just collapse like that.”

Meanwhile, the land on which Champlain Towers sits has been gradually sinking, according to a study published last year by an environmental professor at Florida International University.

But the professor, Shimon Wdowinski, cautioned against blaming the collapse on the caving ground. The study used satellite data collected between 1993 to 1999 to study the sinking of land in Norfolk, Virginia, and Miami Beach.

In a video interview released by the university, Wdowinski said his study found numerous examples of sinking earth, some leading to cracks in buildings — which he called “pretty common” in Florida.

“In most cases, these buildings just move,” he said, “there’s no catastrophic collapse like in the case in Surfside, which was very unfortunate.”

Another theory is that the saltwater ubiquitous in the area, which is subject to flooding during so-called King Tide events, intrudes into concrete supports, corrodes the steel-reinforcing rebar inside and weakens the concrete.

Abi Aghayere, an engineering researcher at Drexel University, said determining if there was such deterioration could be one key to the collapse.

“Did a column fail by itself? This column has been carrying this load for 40 years, why would it fail now?” said Aghayere, adding that it is rare for rebar to be corroded without anyone noticing. “You will have concrete popping out, falling out.”

Others have cited frequent flooding in the building’s lower parking garage, including the possibility of water seeping up underneath through the porous limestone rock on which the barrier island sits that includes Surfside and Miami Beach.

Surfside officials say roof work was ongoing at the now-collapsed tower but have downplayed the possibility that work was a cause. Barry Cohen, a lawyer who escaped the crippled Champlain Towers building with his wife, said the roof work could be part of a “perfect storm” of causes that combined to bring down the structure.

“They were doing a new roof. And I think, all day long, the building was pounding and pounding and pounding. They’ve been doing it for over a month,” Cohen said.

Another issue cited by some people is construction at a nearby building that might cause vibrations that weakened Champlain Towers. Cohen said he raised concerns previously that the work was possibly causing cracked pavers on the pool deck.

The collapse is already drawing lawsuits, including one filed hours after the collapse by attorney Brad Sohn against the condo’s homeowners association seeking damages for negligence and other reasons for all of the tower’s residents.

The association, the lawsuit contends, “could have prevented the collapse of Champlain Towers South through the exercise of ordinary care, safety measures and oversight.”

An attorney for the association, Ken Direktor, did not respond Friday to an email requesting comment.

_____

Associated Press writers Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and Bernard Condon in New York contributed to this report.

SEE

 https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2021/06/collapsed-miami-condo-had-been-sinking.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2021/06/third-world-usa-construction-corruption.html

LET'S NOT FORGET THIS HAPPENED ONLY 

THREE DAYS EARLIER

USS Gerald Ford shock trials register as 3.9 magnitude ...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uss-gerald-ford-shock-trials-earthquake-florida

2:07

2021-06-21 · The blast registered as a 3.9 magnitude earthquake. June 21, 2021 / 2:26 PM / CBS/AFP. The U.S. Navy has started a series of tests on its newest and most advanced aircraft carrier

US Navy detonates huge 40,000lb bomb next to its own aircraft carrier triggering earthquake 100 miles away in Florida

THE US Navy detonated a mammoth 40,000lb bomb next to its OWN aircraft carrier – triggering an …

The Sun · 3d

1 of 20

‘Deep fire’ slowing rescue effort at collapsed Florida condo

By RUSS BYNUM, CURT ANDERSON and BERNARD CONDON

SURFSIDE, Fla. (AP) — A “very deep fire” hampered rescue efforts Saturday at the collapsed oceanfront condominium tower near Miami where authorities are racing to recover any survivors beneath a mountain of rubble, officials said.

Rescuers were using infrared technology, water and foam to battle the blaze, whose source was unclear. Smoke has been the biggest barrier, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said during a news conference.

“We’re facing very incredible difficulties with this fire. It’s a very deep fire. It’s extremely difficult to locate the source of the fire,” she said.

One hundred fifty-nine people remain unaccounted for since Thursday’s collapse, which killed at least four.

Authorities also announced Saturday they are beginning an audit of buildings nearing their 40-year review — like the fallen Champlain Towers South — to make sure they’re safe.

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials have joined local and state authorities at the site, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said.

The news came after word of a 2018 engineering report that showed the building had “major structural damage” to a concrete slab below its pool deck that needed extensive repairs, part of a series of documents released by the city of Surfside.

While the report from the firm of Morabito Consultants did not warn of imminent danger from the damage — and it is unclear if any of the damage observed was responsible for the collapse — it did note the need for extensive and costly repairs to fix systemic issues with the building.

It said the waterproofing under the pool deck had failed and had been improperly laid flat instead of sloped, preventing water from draining off.

“The failed waterproofing is causing major structural damage to the concrete structural slab below these areas. Failure to replaced the waterproofing in the near future will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand exponentially,” the report said.

The firm recommended that the damaged slabs be replaced in what would be a major repair.

The report also uncovered “abundant cracking and spalling” of concrete columns, beams and walls in the parking garage. Some of the damage was minor, while other columns had exposed and deteriorating rebar. It also noted that many of the building’s previous attempts to fix the columns and other damage with epoxy were marred by poor workmanship and were failing.

Beneath the pool deck “where the slab had been epoxy-injected, new cracks were radiating from the originally repaired cracks,” the report said.

Gregg Schlesinger, a former construction project engineer who is now a lawyer handling construction defect cases, said another area of concern in the report is cracks that were discovered in the tower’s stucco facade. Schlesinger said that could indicate structural problems inside the exterior that could have been critical in the collapse.

“The building speaks to us. It is telling us we have a serious problem,” Schlesinger said in a phone interview Saturday.

He added that there are frequently “telltale signs” on oceanfront buildings indicating problems structurally largely from saltwater and salty air intrusion.

“This is a wakeup call for folks on the beach. Investigate and repair. This should be done every five years,” Schlesinger added. “The scary portion is the other buildings. You think this is unique? No.”

Abi Aghayere, a Drexel University engineering researcher, said the extent of the damage shown in the engineering report was notable. In addition to possible problems under the pool, he said several areas above the entrance drive showing signs of deterioration were worrisome and should have been repaired immediately because access issues prevented a closer inspection.

“Were the supporting members deteriorated to the extent that a critical structural element or their connections failed leading to progressive collapse?” he wrote in an email to the AP after reviewing the report. “Were there other areas in the structure that were badly deteriorated and unnoticed?”

On Saturday, a crane could be seen removing pieces of rubble from a more than 30-foot pile of debris at the collapse site. Scores of rescuers used big machines, small buckets, drones, microphones and their own hands to pick through the mountain of debris that had been the 12-story Champlain Towers South.

Levine Cava told WPLG there was no change in the number of people still unaccounted for: “We are at status quo,” she said. “I’m hopeful this will be a day that we have will have a breakthrough.”

Rachel Spiegel was anxious for any update on her missing mother, 66-year-old Judy Spiegel, who lived on the sixth floor.

“I’m just praying for a miracle,” Spiegel said. “We’re heartbroken that she was even in the building.”

Jeanne Ugarte was coming to grips with what she feared was a tragic end for longtime friends Juan and Ana Mora and their son Juan Jr., who was visiting his parents in their condo at the tower.

“I know they’re not going to find them (alive),” Ugarte said. “It’s been too long.”

While officials said no cause for the collapse early Thursday has been determined, Gov. Ron DeSantis said a “definitive answer” was needed in a timely manner. Video showed the center of the building appearing to tumble down first, followed by a section nearer to the beach.

The 2018 report was part of preliminary work by the engineering company conducting the building’s required inspections for a recertification due this year of the building’s structural integrity at 40 years. The condominium tower was built in 1981.

___

Condon reported from New York. Associated Press Terry Spencer in Surfside contributed to this report.

TOYOTA ARMY

Iraq paramilitaries show off weaponry in big, anniversary parade

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Thousands of Iraqi paramilitary fighters, including powerful Iran-backed factions, marched at a military base in eastern Iraq on Saturday showcasing tanks and rocket launchers in their biggest formal parade to date

.

© Reuters/MEDIA OFFICE PMF Iraq's PMF holds military parade in Diyala province

The event, attended by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, marked seven years since the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) were formed to fight the Sunni Muslim extremist Islamic State group.

"I esteem your sacrifices, and the sacrifices of the Iraqi armed forces" in fighting Islamic State, Kadhimi said, warning against any "sedition" within the PMF, but without elaborating.

The PMF's establishment created a state-sanctioned umbrella organisation of mostly Shi'ite militias backed by Iran.

The Iran-aligned factions, which are the most powerful in the PMF, have since Islamic State's defeat in 2017 expanded their military, political and economic power and attacked bases housing the 2,500 remaining U.S. forces in Iraq.

© Reuters/MEDIA OFFICE PMF Iraq's PMF holds military parade in Diyala province

They have allies in parliament and government and a grip over some state bodies, including security institutions.

Video: Afghan leaders on troop drawdown, Taliban threat (Associated Press)

Those factions are also accused of killing protesters who took to the streets in late 2019 demanding the removal of Iraq's ruling elite. The groups deny involvement in activist killings.

Kadhimi, a U.S.-friendly interim premier, has tried to crack down on the most powerful Iran-backed factions but without success because of their military strength and political influence.

The membership of Iran-aligned groups in the PMF has made it difficult for Kadhimi and state security forces to check the power of the militias, since they are effectively part of the state itself.

On Saturday Kadhimi watched, flanked by militia commanders while hundreds of armoured vehicles drove past a banner of the late PMF military chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, an Iran-backed commander who was killed in a U.S. drone strike last year.

© Reuters/MEDIA OFFICE PMF Iraq's PMF holds military parade in Diyala province

The parade, a demonstration of military might, took place at a base once occupied by U.S. troops near the border with Iran.

The PMF was formed in 2014 after Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani urged all able-bodied Iraqis to take up arms against Islamic State, which had taken over a third of Iraq.

(Reporting by John Davison; Editing by Christina Fincher)

GOOD NEWS

Study confirms the low likelihood that SARS-CoV-2 on hospital surfaces is infectious

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - DAVIS HEALTH

Research News

 

A new study by UC Davis researchers confirms the low likelihood that SARS-CoV-2 contamination on hospital surfaces is infectious. The study, published June 24 in PLOS ONE, is the original report on recovering near-complete SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences directly from surface swabs.

"Our team was the first to demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 virus sequences could be identified from environmental swabs collected from hospital surfaces," said Angela Haczku, a respiratory immunologist and senior author on the study.

Changing cleaning and ICU protocols linked to lower SARS-CoV-2 contamination

In April 2020, a COVID-19 outbreak among hospital staff led an interdisciplinary team of UC Davis researchers to investigate if there was virus contamination of frequently used surfaces in patient serving ICU and staff meeting areas at the UC Davis Medical Center. At that time the role of fomites (surfaces) in spreading the disease was highly debated. They collected multiple samples during the first (April 2020) and the second (August 2020) waves of COVID-19 from surfaces and HVAC filters in the hospital.

The researchers analyzed the surface swabs for SARS-CoV-2 RNA and infectivity and assessed the suitability of the RNA for sequencing.

Despite a significant increase in the number of hospital patients with COVID-19 during the second surge, the team found that only 2% of swabs tested positive in August, compared to 11% of samples collected in April.

"The reduction in the virus contamination was likely due to improved ICU patient management and cleaning protocols," Haczku said. Haczku is a professor of medicine, director at the UC Davis Lung Center and associate dean for translational research at the UC Davis School of Medicine.

Genome sequence of coronavirus found on surfaces

The study demonstrated that by genome sequencing, SARS-CoV-2 could be detected even from samples that otherwise tested negative (undetectable) by commonly used PCR tests. The results also confirmed that the SARS-CoV-2 RNA picked up from a surface, although containing near- intact genomic sequence, was not infectious. This finding supports the hypothesis that contaminated surfaces may not be a major way for spreading COVID-19 disease.

"For the first time, to our knowledge, we were able to determine the viral genome sequence from surface swab samples obtained in a hospital environment," said David Coil, project scientist at the UC Davis Genome Center and the first author on the study. "We found SARS-CoV-2 in samples that were tested negative by RT-PCR, suggesting that the sequencing technology is superior for virus detection in environmental samples."

According to Coil, the genome sequencing performed on the hospital surface swab samples is very important. By getting accurate viral genomic sequences, the researchers could track the source and figure out how an infection moves.

"Our data indicated that the sequences determined for the viral RNA from surfaces were identical to the ones derived from the patients hospitalized in the ICU at the time of sample collection. The ability to identify viral genome sequences from environmental samples may have high public health significance in outbreak surveillance and monitoring the spread of new viral variants," Haczku said.

###

This study was funded by a UC Davis CRAFT Award and The Chester Robbins Endowment.

UC Davis co-authors are Timothy Albertson, Christian Sandrock, Daniel G Tompkins, Maya Juarez, Brandt Robinson, Shefali Banerjee, Greg Brennan, Satya Dandekar, Stefan Rothenburg , Ana Stoian, A.J. Campbell, Ivy Jose, Samuel L. Díaz-Muñoz, Stuart H. Cohen, Jonathan A. Eisen, Tracey Goldstein and Alexandre Tremeau-Bravard.

 

Decoding humans' survival from coronaviruses

UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE

Research News

 

IMAGE: CORONAVIRUS GRAPHIC view more 

CREDIT: PIXABAY IMAGE BY GERD ALTMANN

An international team of researchers co-led by the University of Adelaide and the University of Arizona has analysed the genomes of more than 2,500 modern humans from 26 worldwide populations, to better understand how humans have adapted to historical coronavirus outbreaks.

In a paper published in Current Biology, the researchers used cutting-edge computational methods to uncover genetic traces of adaptation to coronaviruses, the family of viruses responsible for three major outbreaks in the last 20 years, including the ongoing pandemic.

"Modern human genomes contain evolutionary information tracing back hundreds of thousands of years, however it's only in the past few decades geneticists have learned how to decode the extensive information captured within our genomes," said lead author Dr Yassine Souilmi, with the University of Adelaide's School of Biological Sciences.

"This includes physiological and immunological 'adaptions' that have enabled humans to survive new threats, including viruses.

"Viruses are very simple creatures with the sole objective to make more copies of themselves. Their simple biological structure renders them incapable of reproducing by themselves so they must invade the cells of other organisms and hijack their molecular machinery to exist."

Viral invasions involve attaching and interacting with specific proteins produced by the host cell known as viral interacting proteins (VIPs).

In the study researchers found signs of adaptation in 42 different human genes encoding VIPs.

"We found VIP signals in five populations from East Asia and suggest the ancestors of modern East Asians were first exposed to coronaviruses over 20,000 years ago," said Dr Souilmi.

"We found the 42 VIPs are primarily active in the lungs - the tissue most affected by coronaviruses - and confirmed that they interact directly with the virus underlying the current pandemic."

Other independent studies have shown that mutations in VIP genes may mediate coronavirus susceptibility and also the severity of COVID-19 symptoms. And several VIPs are either currently being used in drugs for COVID-19 treatments or are part of clinical trials for further drug development.

"Our past interactions with viruses have left telltale genetic signals that we can leverage to identify genes influencing infection and disease in modern populations, and can inform drug repurposing efforts and the development of new treatments," said co-author Dr Ray Tobler, from the University of Adelaide's School of Biological Sciences.

"By uncovering the genes previously impacted by historical viral outbreaks, our study points to the promise of evolutionary genetic analyses as a new tool in fighting the outbreaks of the future." said Dr Souilmi.

The researchers also note that their results in no way supersede pre-existing public health policies and protections, such as mask wearing, social distancing, and vaccinations.

###

The team involved in this study also included researchers from Australian National University and Queensland University of Technology.

Changes in farming practices could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70% by 2036

DOE/ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY

Research News

 

Team used Argonne's GREET model to simulate changes, predict outcomes.

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory participated in a study that shows innovation in technologies and agricultural practices could reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from grain production by up to 70% within the next 15 years.

Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, the study identifies a combination of readily adoptable technological innovations that can significantly reduce emissions and fit within current production systems and established grain markets.

The study, "Novel technologies for emission reduction complement conservation agriculture to achieve negative emissions from row crop production," maintains that reductions in GHG emissions could be attained through digital agriculture, crop and microbial genetics and electrification. The new technologies, when implemented, promise to drive the decarbonization of agriculture while supporting farm resilience and maintaining profitability and productivity. 

Technologies were grouped across three phases: optimize, replace and redesign. The team used Argonne's GREET® model to simulate adoption of the new technologies for holistic greenhouse gas emission reductions of grain production. Argonne developed GREET (the Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Technologies Model), a one-of-a-kind lifecycle analytical tool now used worldwide by government, industry and the science community.

The study offers insights for the development of possible new approaches for agriculture decarbonization and suggests entry points for public and private investment based on a timeline of expected returns on investments in new technologies.

"Our study emphasizes the importance of a two-pronged approach -- reducing farming emissions and maximizing soil carbon storage -- to addressing the climate crisis through agriculture. Practices that enhance soil carbon storage continue to gain momentum. Complementing this approach by developing and broadly applying emission reduction technologies, including seed genetics, is critical to achieving net negative production," said Dan Northrup, lead author of the study and director of special projects at Benson Hill, a St Louis based company leveraging the natural genetic diversity of plants to develop more healthy and sustainable food choices.

Argonne Energy Systems Division's senior scientist Michael Wang, who leads the Systems Assessment Center and is one of the study's principal investigators, added, "Our holistic assessment of agriculture decarbonization highlights technical areas and focus points so that U.S. agriculture will be a solution to the climate challenge."

###

Other research team members included Philip Benfey of Duke University, HHMI and Hi Fidelity Genetics, a company commercializing an in-field sensor-based root monitoring platform for crop plants; Bruno Basso of Michigan State University and CiBO Technologies, innovators of a breakthrough technology platform that accelerates regenerative agriculture; and Cristine Morgan of the Soil Health Institute, a nonprofit that safeguards and enhances the vitality and productivity of soil through research and advancement.

This research is funded by the SMARTFARM Program of DOE's ARPA-E and DOE's Bioenergy Technologies Office in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy supports early-stage research and development of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies to strengthen U.S. economic growth, energy security, and environmental quality.

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America's scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science.