Wednesday, September 08, 2021

 

Massive new animal species discovered in half-billion-year-old Burgess Shale

Massive new animal species discovered in half-billion-year-old Burgess Shale
View of Titanokorys gainesi reconstruction. Credit: Lars Fields, © Royal Ontario Museum

Palaeontologists at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) have uncovered the remains of a huge new fossil species belonging to an extinct animal group in half-a-billion-year-old Cambrian rocks from Kootenay National Park in the Canadian Rockies. The findings were announced on September 8, 2021, in a study published in Royal Society Open Science.

Named Titanokorys gainesi, this new species is remarkable for its size. With an estimated total length of half a meter, Titanokorys was a giant compared to most  that lived in the seas at that time, most of which barely reached the size of a pinky finger.

"The sheer size of this animal is absolutely mind-boggling, this is one of the biggest animals from the Cambrian period ever found," says Jean-Bernard Caron, ROM's Richard M. Ivey Curator of Invertebrate Palaeontology.

Evolutionarily speaking, Titanokorys belongs to a group of primitive arthropods called radiodonts. The most iconic representative of this group is the streamlined predator Anomalocaris, which may itself have approached a meter in length. Like all radiodonts, Titanokorys had multifaceted eyes, a pineapple slice-shaped, tooth-lined mouth, a pair of spiny claws below its  to capture prey and a body with a series of flaps for swimming. Within this group, some species also possessed large, conspicuous head carapaces, with Titanokorys being one of the largest ever known.

Massive new animal species discovered in half-billion-year-old Burgess Shale
Fossil of Titanokorys gainesi carapace close up. Credit: Jean-Bernard Caron, © Royal Ontario Museum

"Titanokorys is part of a subgroup of radiodonts, called hurdiids, characterized by an incredibly long head covered by a three-part carapace that took on myriad shapes. The head is so long relative to the body that these animals are really little more than swimming heads," added Joe Moysiuk, co-author of the study, and a ROM-based Ph.D. student in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto.

Why some radiodonts evolved such a bewildering array of head carapace shapes and sizes is still poorly understood and was likely driven by a variety of factors, but the broad flattened carapace form in Titanokorys suggests this species was adapted to life near the seafloor.

"These enigmatic animals certainly had a big impact on Cambrian seafloor ecosystems. Their limbs at the front looked like multiple stacked rakes and would have been very efficient at bringing anything they captured in their tiny spines towards the mouth. The huge dorsal carapace might have functioned like a plough," added Dr. Caron, who is also an Associate Professor in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Earth Sciences at the University of Toronto, and Moysiuk's Ph.D. advisor.

Massive new animal species discovered in half-billion-year-old Burgess Shale
The carapace of Titanokorys gainesi (lower) along with two symmetrical rigid plates (upper) that covered the head from the underside. All together they form a three-part set of armour that protected the head from all sides. The illustration “Titanokorys gainesi, viewed from the front” shows them wrapping around behind the mouth and claws. Credit: Jean-Bernard Caron, © Royal Ontario Museum

All fossils in this study were collected around Marble Canyon in northern Kootenay National Park by successive ROM expeditions. Discovered less than a decade ago, this area has yielded a great variety of Burgess Shale animals dating back to the Cambrian period, including a smaller, more abundant relative of Titanokorys named Cambroraster falcatus in reference to its Millennium Falcon-shaped head carapace. According to the authors, the two species might have competed for similar bottom-dwelling prey.

The Burgess Shale fossil sites are located within Yoho and Kootenay National Parks and are managed by Parks Canada. Parks Canada is proud to work with leading scientific researchers to expand knowledge and understanding of this key period of earth history and to share these sites with the world through award-winning guided hikes. The Burgess Shale was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980 due to its outstanding universal value and is now part of the larger Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site.

Massive new animal species discovered in half-billion-year-old Burgess Shale
Dr. Jean-Bernard Caron, Richard M. Ivey Curator of Invertebrate Palaeontology, Royal Ontario Museum, seated above a fossil of Titanokorys gainesi at the quarry site located in Kootenay National Park. Credit: Joe Moysiuk, © Joseph Moysiuk

The discovery of Titanokorys gainesi was profiled in the CBC's The Nature of Things episode "First Animals." These and other Burgess Shale specimens will be showcased in a new gallery at ROM, the Willner Madge Gallery, Dawn of Life, opening in December 2021.

A voracious Cambrian predator, Cambroraster, is a new species from the Burgess Shale
More information: A giant nektobenthic radiodont from the Burgess Shale and the significance of hurdiid carapace diversity, Royal Society Open Science, royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.210664
Journal information: Royal Society Open Science 
Provided by Royal Ontario Museum


Giant 'swimming head' creature lived in our oceans 500 million years ago


By Ashley Strickland, CNN
Updated Wed September 8, 2021






Photos: Ancient finds
This illustration shows the primitive arthropod Titanokorys gainesi from the front. This creature lived along the ocean floor half a billion years ago

.(CNN)Half a billion years ago, the oceans were filled with life that looked more like aliens than the marine animals we know today. Now, researchers have uncovered the fossil of an unusual creature that was likely a giant compared to tiny ocean life 500 million years ago.
Radiodonts, a group of primitive arthropods, were widespread after the Cambrian explosion event 541 million years ago -- a time when a multitude of organisms suddenly appeared on Earth, based on the fossil record.
The newly discovered fossil belonged to Titanokorys gainesi, a radiodont that reached 1.6 feet (half a meter) in length -- which was huge, compared to other ocean creatures that were about the size of a pinkie finger.
The fossil was found in Cambrian rocks from the Kootenay National Park, located in the Canadian Rockies. A study detailing the fossil published Wednesday in the journal Royal Society Open Science.



New find shows animal life may have existed millions of years before previously thought

"The sheer size of this animal is absolutely mind-boggling, this is one of the biggest animals from the Cambrian period ever found," said study author Jean-Bernard Caron, the Royal Ontario Museum's Richard M. Ivey Curator of Invertebrate Palaeontology, in a statement.
Titanokorys would have been a bewildering animal to encounter. It had multifaceted eyes, a mouth shaped like a pineapple slice that was lined in teeth, and spiny claws located beneath its head to catch prey. The animal's body was equipped with a series of flaps that helped it swim. And Titanokorys had a large head carapace, or a defensive covering, like the shell of a crab or turtle.


This is an artist's illustration reconstructing Titanokorys gainesi as it appeared in life.

"Titanokorys is part of a subgroup of radiodonts, called hurdiids, characterized by an incredibly long head covered by a three-part carapace that took on myriad shapes. The head is so long relative to the body that these animals are really little more than swimming heads," said study coauthor Joe Moysiuk, a Royal Ontario Museum-based doctoral student of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Toronto, in a statement.

Researchers are still trying to understand why some radiodonts had such a variety of head carapaces, which came in all shapes and sizes. It's unclear what this head gear was protecting them from, given their size compared to other sea life at the time. In the case of Titanokorys, the broad, flat carapace suggests it had adapted to live near the seafloor.
"These enigmatic animals certainly had a big impact on Cambrian seafloor ecosystems. Their limbs at the front looked like multiple stacked rakes and would have been very efficient at bringing anything they captured in their tiny spines towards the mouth. The huge dorsal carapace might have functioned like a plough," Caron said.



The carapace of T. gainesi (lower), along with two symmetrical rigid plates (upper), covered the head from the underside. They formed a three-part set of armor that protected the head on all sides.

The fossils of Titanokorys were found in Marble Canyon, located in northern Kootenay National Park, which has been the site of many discoveries of Cambrian fossils dating back 508 million years ago. The site is part of the Burgess Shale, a deposit of well-preserved fossils in the Canadian Rockies. The Burgess Shale is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
One of those discoveries includes the radiodont Cambroraster falcatus, so named because its head carapace is similar in shape to the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars. It's possible that these two species scuffled on the bottom of the sea for prey.
Titanokorys, and other fossils collected from Burgess Shale, will be displayed in a new gallery at the Royal Ontario Museum beginning in December.







Newly discovered dinosaur predated tyrannosaurs — and at the time was a bigger apex predator

Calgary researcher helped identify Ulughbegsaurus through bone fragments found in Uzbekistan rock formation

The Ulughbegsaurus, a previously unknown apex predator, would have been much larger than a small species of tyrannosaur that existed at the time. (Julius Csotonyi

It's roughly 90 million years ago, the Cretaceous period, and continents have begun to rift apart. 

A small tyrannosaur — roughly the size of a large horse — peers through the ferns in what would now be Uzbekistan, listening for any sign of prey to tear into with its blade-like teeth.

But the tyrannosaur's time hasn't come yet; there's still a larger apex predator ruling the jungle — a previously unknown species that may become another piece in the puzzle of how tyrannosaurs took over and ruled Asia and North America for millennia. 

Darla Zelenitsky, associate professor of dinosaur paleobiology at the University of Calgary, worked with researchers from Canada, Japan and Uzbekistan to identify a new species of carcharodontosaur — large, carnivorous dinosaurs with shark-like teeth. They announced their discovery in the Royal Society Open Science journal on Tuesday. 

Kohei Tanaka and Darla Zelenitsky have authored a paper announcing their discovery of a new dinosaur species. (University of Calgary)

The new species, Ulughbegsaurus (pronounced oo-LOOG-bek-SAW-rus), was named after 15th century astronomer and mathematician Ulugh Beg, who lived in the region. 

Like an early tyrannosaur, this carnivore would have walked on two legs, with a large head, short forelimbs and sharp claws. But that's where the similarities ended. An Ulughbegsaurus would have weighed around 1,000 kilograms and stretched more than 7.5 metres from nose to tail.

"It would have been the largest carnivorous predator of the ecosystem at that time," said Zelenitsky, who explained that the small tyrannosaurs that lived during the same period would have been one-fifth of the bigger animal's body mass.

The fossil fragments of the newly discovered Ulughbegsaurus were found in Uzbekistan. (Tanaka et al. 2021)

While it's not known what caused them to die out, the disappearance of carcharodontosaurs from the ecosystem may have helped enabled tyrannosaurs to grow larger and into their dominant predator role. 

"We don't know why carcharodontosaurs went extinct around 90 million years ago … [or] exactly how tyrannosaurs became apex predators that we see, like tyrannosaurus rex, later on in the Cretaceous," she said.

"This window of the dinosaur fossil record is pretty murky … when you've got a window of time that's very poorly known for fossils, you're always just trying to fill in gaps.

"And this is one more gap that we were able to fill in, because this is the latest occurrence of one of these shark-tooth dinosaurs."

A carcharodontosaur skeleton is pictured on the left, in comparison with a tyrannosaur skeleton on the right. (Darla Zelenitsky)

The new species was identified in part via bone fragments and teeth originally found in the 1980s by a Russian paleontologist as part of the Bissekty rock formation in the Kyzylkum Desert.

It was stored in Uzbekistan's state geological museum until a few years ago when Kohei Tanaka, the paper's lead author, found an upper jaw in the formation and realized it belonged to a kind of predator that hadn't been found in the area before.

"I was kind of surprised because … the fossils from this formation have been well studied," Zelenitsky said. 

A reconstruction shows the upper jaw of the Ulughbegsaurus. (Dinosaur Valley Studios)

But the formation is largely filled with fragmented fossils, unlike the full skeletons that are more common in fossil beds in Alberta. And the discovery of a new carnivorous dinosaur like this is extremely rare. 

"If we're looking at dinosaurs that are younger than 100 million years, so in the 66-million- to 100-million-year window, there's only three species of this type of dinosaur [a carcharodontosaur] known from Asia."

Zelenitsky is hoping the discovery will unlock more knowledge from that period. 

"There is the possibility in the future, now that we know this species existed in that ecosystem, that we can find more of this animal and identify it."

‘A kick in the teeth’: West Kootenay doctors, nurses react to protests

Local health care workers are critical of demonstrations held in their name


Doctors and nurses gathered outside the emergency room at Nelson’s Kootenay Lake Hospital on Friday evening as local police and firefighters paraded by to show support. 
Photo: Tyler Harper

TYLER HARPER
Sep. 7, 2021 
LOCAL NEWS
NELSON STAR


As hundreds in Nelson were demonstrating against the provincial government’s plan for vaccine passports, an impossible choice was being made at the city’s hospital.

Taryn O’Genski, a registered nurse at Kootenay Lake Hospital (KLH), was working in the emergency room when a woman arrived in need of what O’Genski says was advanced breathing support.

KLH is a relatively small hospital and has no intensive care unit. The two isolation rooms it has were occupied by patients diagnosed with COVID-19, one of whom was a 51-year-old man who wasn’t vaccinated.

The woman, O’Genski said, had to be sent an hour away to Trail’s Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital (KBRH).

She later died there.

O’Genski thinks the woman may have been saved if the hospital had the resources being used by COVID patients.

In a pandemic that has now gone on 17 months with no end in sight, this is now a regular dilemma in B.C. hospitals.

“The reality is that these are the choices that we’re having to make, and I’m much more inclined to be helping someone who’s vaccinated, with breast cancer, and going through chemotherapy than a 51-year-old who’s like, ‘Why does it matter if I got vaccinated?’ ”

After the Sept. 1 protests that were held throughout B.C. and advertised as being in support of health care workers, the Nelson Star interviewed 10 doctors and nurses working in Nelson, Castlegar and Trail. Every one of them reacted to the demonstrations with anger, frustration and disappointment.

Dr. Mike Van Vliet, who works in the emergency room at KBRH, and previously spent five years in the Nelson ER, described the protests as “a kick in the teeth.

“We’ve been working so hard, and then to see people out there [protesting] without masks, and continuing to say that this is a hoax and a joke and isn’t real … I’m a bit embarrassed by it.”

A Castlegar native, Van Vliet comes from a family of local physicians. His father was a doctor for 35 years. His sister works as a radiologist, and another as a nurse practitioner. His mother is a retired nursing instructor at Selkirk College.

Daily, he’s disappointed in patients who haven’t taken the pandemic seriously or are yet to be vaccinated.

“We are making hard decisions right now on who can safely go home, who needs to be admitted, who needs to go to ICU, who needs to be put on a ventilator, and then, when we are full, where we need to send them – Kelowna, Penticton, Cranbrook, or another site that is not at capacity.

“It is making my difficult job as an ER physician a lot harder, and my empathy is running out for the patients who are not vaccinated.”

The West Kootenay went mostly untouched by COVID-19 throughout 2020, but an outbreak in the province’s Interior has seen new cases skyrocket in 2021.

The Nelson health area, which includes nearby Salmo and parts of the Slocan Valley, has had 454 cases since July 25, according to the BC Centre for Disease Control. Cases are also surging in Castlegar, Trail, Creston and Grand Forks.

On Aug. 23, the provincial government announced at least one dose of vaccine will be required for people visiting restaurants, movies and ticketed sports events as of Sept. 13. Those restrictions change to two doses on Oct. 24.

Dr. Dharma McBride, a Nelson family physician and vice-chair of Kootenay Boundary Division of Family Practice, supports the right to protest, but also believes the government is out of options.

“I really don’t know how as a society we’re going to get through this pandemic unless we reach COVID immunity via vaccination, and if this helps move the needle a little bit, maybe it’ll be seen as a success. I think we’re going to have a lot of soul-searching in terms of how we got to that place.”

Castlegar’s Dr. Megan Taylor calls the protests “farcical.” She supports the passport, which she believes will push more British Columbians to get vaccinated. There’s evidence to show she’s right – the number of first doses rose by 90 per cent in the week after the passport was announced.

“I honestly feel a little bit sad that people are motivated to get a vaccine to go to a restaurant, and not to protect the health of themselves and those around them. But if that’s what it takes, great.”


Hundreds of people gathered in Nelson on Sept. 1 to protest the provincial government’s planned vaccine passport program
Photo: Bill Metcalfe

Nelson’s Dr. Lauren Galbraith said she was disheartened by the protests, but relieved they didn’t occur outside local hospitals. In Kelowna, scenes of a crowd outside the hospital there, blocking the path of an ambulance, went viral.

“It’s tough when people’s decisions are affecting other people’s health. This small group of individuals, for whatever reason, can’t seem to wrap their head around.”

A sore point for the doctors and nurses interviewed focuses on the people claiming they were supporting health care workers while also refusing to wear masks, get vaccinated, or follow a public health mandate.

A registered nurse at KLH, Cam Butler was disappointed to be lumped in with a cause he does not support.

“We live in a country where we have freedom of speech and choice, and all those things, and protesting for what you believe in, objectively, is great and I support that.

“It just comes at a challenging time when we’ve been working against this pandemic for a year and a half … and we all just want it to be over. I feel this is kind of like a step in the wrong direction.”

For Dusty Portz, a registered nurse in Castlegar, being vaccinated is a key element to working in public health.

“I know the huge majority of people really actually do care and are doing the right thing. This is just a small minority of outspoken people who for some reason think they’re warriors for humanity, when really they’re just putting us backwards.”

Other doctors and nurses interviewed expressed outrage that some colleagues, who they did not name, were at the demonstration.

Ty Wright, a registered nurse in Castlegar, said those health care workers did not speak for the majority of nurses.

“It’s shocking to me that there’s so many people who are just caught in this loop of protecting their rights and freedoms when it’s not even really a restriction of the rights and freedoms in the grand scheme of things.”

But not everyone has lost hope.

Lisa Keech, a registered nurse in Trail, is critical of the protests and any health care workers who took part, especially as there is now ample evidence to show the seriousness of the pandemic.

“I can’t believe that our communities are going to be divided. People are going to see that their lives really aren’t going to be that impacted … and most people are doing the right thing.”

READ MORE:

Outbreak at Nelson Jubilee Manor over: Interior Health

‘We can’t handle this many cases’: Trail doctor warns hospital ICU could be overrun by COVID-19

Vaccine card plan leaves too many unanswered questions, says Nelson Chamber of Commerce

43 days, 187 cases: Nelson and surrounding area suffers as COVID-19 spreads

 

The Horror! Transphobic Trudeau Government 

To Block Chelsea Manning From Entering 

Canada!

Canada aims to block Chelsea Manning from entering country

A decade after Chelsea Manning revealed U.S. state secrets about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, officials in Ottawa are seeking to permanently block her from entering Canada.

A tribunal hearing to determine Ms. Manning’s admissibility – meaning, her legal ability to enter Canada – is scheduled to take place on Oct. 7.



Canada aims to block Chelsea Manning from entering country


Sep 7, 2021 | Canada

Former military intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning speaks to the press ahead of a Grand Jury appearance about WikiLeaks, in Alexandria, Virginia, on May 16, 2019. Officials in Ottawa are seeking to permanently block her from entering Canada.
ERIC BARADAT/AFP/Getty Images

A decade after Chelsea Manning revealed U.S. state secrets about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, officials in Ottawa are seeking to permanently block her from entering Canada.

A tribunal hearing to determine Ms. Manning’s admissibility – meaning, her legal ability to enter Canada – is scheduled to take place on Oct. 7.

In 2013, an American judge ordered the former U.S. Army private to spend 35 years in jail after finding her guilty of providing the WikiLeaks organization with hundreds of thousands of sensitive U.S. military and diplomatic documents. That sentence was later commuted by U.S. president Barack Obama.

Now, Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), an administrative tribunal that makes decisions about who can enter Canada, is about to revisit the case. Federal officials are preparing to argue that Ms. Manning’s past crimes render her too dangerous to be allowed entry into the country. The government’s position is that she should be blocked on grounds of serious criminality. Thousands of people are turned away at the Canadian border for similar reasons each year.

Chelsea Manning says she was denied entry to Canada over criminal record

But lawyers acting in Montreal for Ms. Manning describe her case as anything but routine. They argue in pre-hearing submissions that the government’s bid to block “one of the most well known whistleblowers in modern history” would offend Canada’s constitutional and press freedoms.

Legal questions surrounding Ms. Manning’s ability to cross the Canadian border have been unresolved since 2017. That year, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) guards turned her away at a crossing. The federal government later let her enter Canada for a few days in 2018, without making a formal decision about her admissibility.

Ever since, Ms. Manning’s lawyers have been fighting for an admissibility hearing, which she is entitled to have under immigration laws. After years of delays, the hearing will now happen in October.

Pre-hearing submissions filed in August to the IRB by Canadian lawyers Joshua Blum and Lex Gill plead the case for Canada to open its doors to Ms. Manning.

Their filings recall the events of 2010, when she was an Army private deployed abroad as a military analyst, with ample access to U.S. government databases. “Her work involved reviewing intelligence about on-the-ground activities in Iraq and Afghanistan,” the documents say, adding that she “gradually became incapable of ignoring the devastation that U.S. forces were inflicting on Iraqi and Afghan civilians.”

Ms. Manning’s handovers to WikiLeaks were in turn passed along to global news organizations, which used the disclosures to highlight cases of wrongful civilian casualties caused by U.S.-led military coalitions.

She also handed over hundreds of thousands of government records that remain relevant today. For example, years before the Taliban took over Afghanistan this summer, Ms. Manning disclosed U.S. reports about how the war effort against them was foundering. Some of the material highlighted how American officials feared Pakistani officials were secretly supporting the extremist insurgents.

WikiLeaks also disclosed documents that showed how Canadian Forces commanders had been struggling to get feuding Afghan and Pakistani factions to work together to tackle Taliban fighters. Canada lost 158 soldiers in the coalition effort in Afghanistan before it pulled its troops out in 2014.

Diplomatic cables disclosed by Ms. Manning revealed the political calculations surrounding Canada’s security alliances. One showed that past prime minister Paul Martin was worried that his party’s decision to stay out of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq could cause the Americans to cut off Canada from intelligence sharing. Other documents spoke to how diplomats and detectives in the U.S. were tracking alleged Chinese and Iranian agents in Canada.

If a foreigner who comes to Canada has been convicted abroad of crimes that could have led to a Canadian jail sentence of 10 years or more, border guards can deem them inadmissible. Statistics show such considerations lead the agency to turn away as many as 4,000 people each year. Such red-flagged travellers usually return to their home countries and forgo their right to hearings.

But Ms. Manning has pressed for years for the government to send her case to the IRB. Lawyers acting for her accuse the CBSA of failing to live up to its legal obligation to refer the case to the immigration tribunal. They say in documents that this fall’s hearing is happening only after they repeatedly pressed the border agency to follow through. “Three and a half years have elapsed with the tribunal never being sent this case,” reads a copy of a letter Ms. Manning’s legal team sent to the CBSA in March.

“The CBSA is unable to speak to the specifics of this case for privacy reasons,” agency spokesperson Jacqueline Callin said in an e-mail.

Filings to the IRB on Ms. Manning’s behalf argue that the records she disclosed “were of profound historical significance and played an essential role in transforming the public’s understanding of the so-called War on Terror.”

Last year she spent several months in jail in the U.S. after refusing a summons to testify in continuing legal matters involving WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested in Britain in 2019 and is now facing extradition to the U.S. Prosecutors allege he unlawfully solicited and published volumes of state secrets that emanated from Ms. Manning. The U.S. Department of Justice said in a 2019 statement that the disclosures from 2010 included “approximately 90,000 Afghanistan war-related significant activity reports, 400,000 Iraq war-related significant activities reports, 800 Guantanamo Bay detainee assessment briefs, and 250,000 U.S. Department of State cables.”


The Globe And Mail
Enbridge advances Gulf Coast strategy with US$3B Moda Midstream purchase

By Staff The Canadian Press
Posted September 7, 2021 
In this file photo taken on March 11, 2019 a refinery near the 
Corpus Christi Ship Channel is pictured in Corpus Christi, Texas. 
LOREN Elliott/AFP via Getty Images

Enbridge Inc. has signed a US$3-billion deal to purchase a U.S.-based terminal and logistics company

The Canadian pipeline giant says it will buy Moda Midstream Operating LLC from private-equity firm EnCap Flatrock Midstream.

READ MORE: Energy exodus — Life in the Lone Star State for Canadians

As part of the deal, Enbridge will acquire the Ingleside Energy Center located near Corpus Christi, Texas.

Ingleside is North America’s largest crude export terminal. It loaded 25 per cent of all U.S. Gulf Coast crude exports in 2020.

READ MORE: Alberta budget benefits from oil prices no one had bargained for

The deal also gives Enbridge access to other crude export assets in the Gulf Coast region, including the Cactus II Pipeline, the Viola Pipeline and the Taft terminal.

Enbridge says the purchase will advance its U.S. Gulf Coast export strategy.

It says the deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter and will immediately add to the company’s earnings.

Enbridge in US$3B deal to add U.S. oil export capacity


Enbridge Inc., the Canadian pipeline giant, agreed to acquire a smaller U.S. rival to add export capacity on the Gulf Coast.

The company is buying Moda Midstream Operating LLC for US$3 billion in cash from EnCap Flatrock Midstream, Enbridge said Tuesday in a statement. Enbridge’s stock price rose as much as 50 cents to CUS$50.62 in Toronto, the highest since March 2020, before erasing gains.

The deal marks a shift in focus toward the U.S. market for Enbridge as it wraps up construction of the Line 3 oil sands export line after years of regulatory and legal battles to build the project. The company, which already handles about a quarter of all crude produced in North America, is betting on a strong outlook for exports of oil pumped from the Permian and Eagle Ford shale basins in Texas.

The fracking revolution has not only revived U.S. oil production over the past decade, it has turned the country into one of the largest shippers of the commodity. The deal includes Ingleside Energy Center, near Corpus Christi, Texas. Built in 2018, it’s North America’s largest crude export terminal, which loaded 25 per cent of all U.S. Gulf Coast crude exports last year.



“Our strategy is driven by the important role that low cost, sustainable North America energy supply will play in meeting growing global demand,” Enbridge Chief Executive Officer Al Monaco said in the statement.

Enbridge will also acquire a 20 per cent stake the Cactus II Pipeline, which connects the Permian with the Gulf Coast, plus the Viola pipeline and the Taft Terminal.

Enbridge seeks to increase its dividend and cash flow, and the Moda Midstream acquisition is a quick way to advance that strategy at a low price, Matthew Taylor, an analyst at Tudor Pickering & Holt, said by phone. Still, some investors would have wanted the company to pay down debt or invest in core assets instead, he said.

“I think the spreadsheet math makes a lot of sense but it’s not what investors were looking for at this time,” he said. Shareholders “want to see growth and returns but in a way that reduces emissions intensity and attracts new investors.”

Enbridge said the acquisition will be initially funded with current liquidity, and that the deal -- which is expected to close in the fourth quarter -- will immediately add to earnings.

Barclays Plc is Enbridge’s financial adviser on the deal. Sidley Austin LLP is the company’s legal counsel in its purchase agreement with Encap Flatrock Midstream to acquire Moda Midstream.

Simon Casey and Robert Tuttle, Bloomberg News

Enbridge's US$3 billion Moda Midstream purchase raises questions about terminal for Canadian producers

Enbridge's deal in Texas expands the company’s footprint in the heart of the largest oilfield in the U.S.

Author of the article:Geoffrey Morgan
Publishing date:Sep 07, 2021 •
Pipelines run to Enbridge Inc.'s crude oil storage tanks at their tank farm in Cushing, Oklahoma, March 24, 2016. 
PHOTO BY NICK OXFORD/REUTERS FILE PHOTO

CALGARY – Enbridge Inc., North America’s largest pipeline company, is spending US$3 billion to buy North America’s largest oil export terminal and expand its customer base among Texas oil producers, leaving questions about the future of an export terminal designed for Canadian oil producers.

“We’re very excited about acquiring North America’s premium, very large crude carrier (VLCC) capable crude export terminal,” Enbridge president and CEO Al Monaco said in a release Tuesday, announcing a deal with San Antonio, Tx.-based EnCap Flatrock Midstream to buy Moda Midstream Operating LLC and its Ingleside Energy Centre port near Corpus Christi for US$3 billion in cash.

Ingleside, which will soon be renamed Enbridge Ingleside, is the largest crude export terminal on the continent and is capable of moving 1.5 million barrels of oil per day off the U.S. Gulf Coast. The facility can also store 15.6 million barrels of oil on site.

Calgary-based Enbridge’s deal in Texas also expands the company’s footprint in the heart of the largest oilfield in the United States. The pipeline giant is also buying the 3000,000-bpd Viola pipeline, a 20 per cent stake in the 670,000-bpd Cactus 2 pipeline and a storage terminal to move oil from the prolific Permian Basin in West Texas to export markets.

“With close proximity to world-class Permian reserves, and with cost effective and efficient export infrastructure, our new Enbridge Ingleside terminal will be critical to capitalizing on North America’s energy advantage,” Monaco said in a statement.

Enbridge released a map showing the close proximity between the Ingleside facility and its existing pipelines, including Flanagan South and the Seaway Twin, which move heavy oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast, but analysts expect the Ingleside facility to be primarily used to export American crude from Texas given its location.

“Ingleside is not connected to our existing assets but adds a complementary light value chain with sustainable competitive advantages,” the company said in a statement. “It’s expected the majority of North American crude exports will be light barrels from the Permian and Eagle Ford, with estimates suggesting Permian could comprise about 80 per cent of U.S. exports by 2035.”


Enbridge had also been working alongside Enterprise Products Partners LP to build the Sea Port Oil Terminal in the Houston region and some analysts now question how quickly Enbridge will develop that project, which would more directly to serve heavy oil proucers in Western Canada, following its Tuesday’s deal for the Ingleside terminal.

Enbridge’s commitment to funding the SPOT terminal “could be modest” given Tuesday’s deal to buy the Ingelside terminal, National Bank analyst Patrick Kenny wrote in a research note Tuesday.

SPOT is a proposed 2 million bpd export terminal in the Houston area that is directly connected to Enbridge’s existing south-bound pipelines Flanagan South and Seaway Twin and is designed to handle both heavy and light oil exports, making it an ideal export facility for Western Canadian oil producers. The company is expecting approvals of that project in the second half of 2021.


Kenny called Tuesday’s acquisition of Ingleside a continuation of the company’s “buy-over-build crude oil export growth strategy.”

Enbridge also has regulatory approvals in place to expand the Ingleside terminal to ship 1.9 million bpd and to expand the shipping berths at the facility to handle Suezmax crude oil tankers.

The Ingleside terminal in Corpus Christi is positioned to export crude oil from the Permian and Eagle Ford oil plays in Texas, “almost exclusively,” said John Coleman, research director at Wood Mackenzie in Houston.

“It gives them a much stronger presence in probably the lone growth region for the Lower 48 (oil) supply going forward. The Permian Basin is really the lone growth engine of the Lower 48, so if you’re going to increase your long-haul presence that’s not a bad place to do it,” Coleman said.


MORE ON THIS TOPIC

Enbridge buys Moda Midstream for $3 billion in cash to bolster presence in U.S. Gulf Coast


Enbridge to start moving oilsands crude in the new Line 3 in October



“It’s kind of a no brainer for Enbridge to go for that,” Coleman said.

But Enbridge could likely pursue both port projects at the same time, offering capacity at Ingleside primarily to U.S. producers and at SPOT to Canadian producers.

“I think the SPOT terminal is really going to be a strong solution for what I would call their bread and butter customers,” he said. “Just because they bought a highly attractive export terminal in the Corpus Christ market, it doesn’t preclude them from moving forward with the SPOT terminal because it gives them solutions for a more prevalent part of their client base.”

Tuesday’s US$3-billion acquisition, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter, will not put a financial strain on Enbridge, according to one analyst.

“We do not expect Enbridge will require equity to finance the acquisition,” Bank of Montreal analyst Ben Pham said in a research note Tuesday, adding the company has between $5 billion and $6 billion in annual financial capacity, $9 billion in balance sheet liquidity and “lots of breathing room” on its credit rating.

• Email: gmorgan@nationalpost.com | Twitter: geoffreymorgan
VACCINE EVADERS SHOULD BE QUARNTINED 
Braid: MLA says Kenney was mean to the unvaxxed — while offering them $100
WHAT A SNOWFLAKE
Kenney was quite kind to the unvaxxed, actually. He offered them $100 each to get the jab, thereby irritating the majority of Albertans who did it for free

Author of the article: Don Braid • Calgary Herald
Publishing date:Sep 07, 2021 •


ANTI VAX SYMPATHIZER SNOWFLAKE
MLA Peter Guthrie for Airdrie-Cochrane. 


The restless peace in the UCP caucus is over. The latest to blast his own premier is Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie.

Guthrie’s biggest gripe is that Jason Kenney wasn’t nice to the unvaccinated.

He wrote on Facebook on Tuesday: “Last Friday the Government of Alberta announced restrictions, adopting a disparaging tone towards unvaccinated individuals.

“People refusing COVID-19 shots were painted as culpable for creating challenges to the health-care system.

“This type of communication from our leader feeds a narrative of anger and division which is unproductive in an already turbulent time.

“The $100 vaccine incentive has also created animosity within the constituency, and I am not in favor of the negative tone adopted by leadership.”

Kenney was quite kind to the unvaxxed, actually. He offered them $100 each to get the shots, irritating the majority of Albertans who did it for free.

But Guthrie’s thinking, common in the UCP caucus, is that we should all embrace each other in blissful harmony, with no one group demeaning another.

“If one believes that we should have these individual rights and we are indeed ‘in this together,’ then we should respect the decisions of our fellow constituents regardless of what those decisions may be,” the MLA wrote.

There’s very little embracing of the unvaccinated in the medical community. Nothing angers doctors and nurses more than devout anti-vaxxers who suddenly show up in hospital to fight for their lives.

“It feels like some people want to punch a hole in the life-rafts, while expecting health-care workers to keep bailing,” said Dr. Peter Brindley of the department of critical care medicine and other senior roles at the U of A.

“We have done our compassionate best not to shame, but it hasn’t worked,” he wrote in a blog post.

“We respect your ability to make choices, but choices come with consequences.

“I have witnessed too many people reject science right up until they reach the hospital doors, and then suddenly demand science ‘STAT’.”

Dr. Brindley worries about a growing loss of empathy among exhausted health workers, who see first-hand evidence that the fourth wave is caused by the unvaccinated.
Peter Brindley, Department of Critical Care Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, and the Dosseter Ethics Centre, University of Alberta, Edmonton. universityhospitalfoundation.ab.ca

Dr. Scott Malmberg, who just worked a 48-hour stretch in the Medicine Hat COVID ward, wrote on Facebook: “It is unequivocally negligent for eligible people to avoid a life-saving vaccine, then clog our hospitals . . .

“Please get vaccinated, take your $100 reward for being negligent, and give us our hospital back.”

MLA Guthrie’s criticism aligns him with Todd Loewen and Drew Barnes, who were kicked out of the UCP caucus for criticizing Kenney.

But does the premier dare to eject more people? How many more would follow voluntarily?


Debate on new measures continued in caucus last Thursday for at least three hours, and in cabinet committee for another two hours.

That was a clear sign of rekindled discontent. Some MLAs would prefer only the mildest measures, or none at all.

They dislike the subsidy and hate the very idea of a vaccine passport, which Guthrie says would “create a false sense of security for those who are vaccinated.”


The result of all that debate was just weird — a bounty reward for vaccination, to cover off rekindled hostility to masking.


On Tuesday there was no sign of an uptick in vaccinations, even with the incentives.


It’s early. The payoff could still work, but even in government there are doubts.

In June, Kenney was ecstatically saying the pandemic was as good as over and we’d have the greatest summer ever. People working on COVID were soon shifted to other duties.















There was almost an incentive to look the other way while the fourth wave crept up the ladder.

Behind it all lay the fear of another caucus rebellion that could upend Kenney’s leadership.

That may be one way to hold a government together during a pandemic. It is no way to govern a province during a pandemic

.
Premier Jason Kenney announces a three-stage plan to reopen Alberta by early July on Wednesday, May 26, 2021, in Edmonton.
 PHOTO BY CHRIS SCHWARZ/GOVERNMENT OF ALBERTA

Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald
Twitter: @DonBraid
Facebook: Don Braid Politics



'Feeds a narrative of anger and division': Letter from UCP MLA questions Kenney’s leadership

Dave Dormer
CTVNewsCalgary.ca Digital Producer

Published Tuesday, September 7, 2021 

CALGARY -- A UCP MLA has penned an apology letter to constituents saying he is sorry the province imposed new health restrictions after he and others declared "Alberta was not only 'Open for Summer' but 'Open for Good.'"

Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie also took aim at Premier Jason Kenney, accusing the province of taking a "disparaging and accusatory tone" toward those who choose not to be vaccinated.

Gutherie said he "truly believed," the province wouldn't have to re-impose COVID-19 health measures when he made the statements about Alberta being open, "yet here we are, weeks later, imposing restrictions on constituents again."

"I think most Albertans watched in trepidation over the last several weeks as patient numbers in hospitals, particularly ICUs, began to climb and vaccination rates stalled," the letter read in part.

"Increased anxiety from the public regarding the load on the healthcare system triggered discussions on mandatory vaccination, masks and vaccine passports. These contentious issues have created division in our community."

New rules imposed by the province call for masks to be worn in all indoor public settings and alcohol sales to end at 10 p.m. The province is also now offering $100 to Albertans who receive their first or second dose of vaccine until Oct. 14.

Guthrie says he is vaccinated and believes vaccines are an effective way of protecting Albertans, but he also supports the right of an individual to choose.

"Last Friday, the Government of Alberta announced restrictions adopting a disparaging and accusatory tone toward unvaccinated individuals," the letter read.

"People refusing COVID-19 shots were painted as culpable for creating challenges to the healthcare system. This type of communication from our leader feeds a narrative of anger and division which is unproductive in an already turbulent time. The $100 vaccine incentive has also created animosity within the constituency and I am not in favour of the negative tone adopted by leadership."


Guthrie also accused the province of shifting its position on vaccine passports, which Kenney has said several times would not be used in Alberta.

"During last week's announcement it was also revealed to me that the province will be introducing a QR code for Albertans to use as proof of vaccination for organizations choosing to introduce a so-called 'vaccine passport,'" he wrote.

"Such a move suggests that the government's position on this practise is shifting. Various public opinions exist on the use of vaccine passports, but I am not convinced it is a good practise for domestic use as it not only limits access to services and isolates individuals, it also provides a false sense of security for those who are vaccinated."

CTV Calgary has reached out to Kenney's office for comment.

Guthrie declined comment, saying the letter stands for itself.



Alberta MLA accuses government of 'disparaging' the unvaccinated

Peter Guthrie says 'negative tone' of premier's recent speech feeds 'anger and division'

Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie says he supports the rights of the unvaccinated to choose and condemned his own government for its 'disparaging and accusatory tone.' (Facebook)

An Alberta MLA who criticized his colleagues for breaking ranks with Jason Kenney's government has himself taken aim at its new policy on masks and vaccinations. 

Peter Guthrie, the United Conservative Party MLA for Airdrie-Cochrane, which hugs the north and west edges of Calgary, said Tuesday that the provincial government's recent announcement about renewed mask mandates and incentives for vaccinations adopted a "disparaging and accusatory tone" toward the unvaccinated.

"People refusing COVID-19 shots were painted as culpable for creating challenges to the health-care system," he wrote in a letter to constituents posted to his social media. 

Kenney on Friday said the large number of unvaccinated people in Alberta was causing problems, as cases of the delta variant rip through that population. 

"I wish we didn't have to do this, but this is not a time for moral judgments," the premier said, as he announced a $100 incentive for those receiving first or second doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. 

"We still have 30 per cent of the eligible population without full vaccine protection — that is to say, without two doses. And the delta variant is ripping its way through this group at an aggressive rate."

Guthrie did not offer specific examples from the premier's speech, but said that the "negative tone adopted by leadership" feeds "a narrative of anger and division." 

He also argued against vaccine passports and apologized to constituents for supporting the government's promise earlier this year that the province was "open for good."

Earlier this year Guthrie criticized 16 of his fellow UCP MLAs after they wrote a letter objecting to the government's return to pandemic restrictions in April. 

WATCH | Alberta health-care workers say they're frustrated with COVID-19 response:

Health-care workers speak out against Alberta’s pandemic response

8 hours ago
2:57
As the worsening fourth wave of COVID-19 takes a severe toll on health-care workers, some are voicing their disapproval over how the province has handled the pandemic and say the official case count has been understated. 2:57

CBC News has reached out to the premier's office, and to Health Minister Tyler Shandro, for comment on Guthrie's letter. 

Guthrie's office declined an interview request and said they would let the letter speak for itself.

Alberta currently leads the country in daily new COVID-19 cases and active cases. On Monday the province reported 4,903 new cases over past four days, and 17 more deaths.

Letter 'confusing'

It's unclear what Guthrie thinks should happen to stem the tide of hospitalizations.

"It was confusing," said Duane Bratt, a professor of political science at Mount Royal University in Calgary, when asked about the letter. 

"He talks about the importance of vaccination and then criticized the premier for criticizing the unvaccinated. Well, the stats back up what Kenney said. You know, the vast majority of those hospitalized in the ICU for COVID are unvaccinated. This is a crisis of the unvaccinated."

Bratt argues the letter could indicate a broader sentiment in caucus and explain why the government was unable or unwilling to bring in a more forceful measures like a vaccine passport.

Guthrie said in his letter that he is vaccinated but supports "the rights of individuals to choose for themselves."

He argues that creating division is unproductive and says the province should focus on incentivizing Albertans to get vaccinated, while also accusing it of sowing division for offering $100. 

Guthrie's proposals, presented in the letter, involve wage incentives for health-care employees, "increased use of rural facilities and the possible utilization of temporary private services" to deal with the crush of new cases.

"The degradation of our public health system and the inability to react to an evolving situation is the issue at hand, not accusing individuals who are unvaccinated," he wrote. 

Bratt said that kind of logic is faulty. 

"That would be like saying we've got a whole bunch of people in hospital because of drunk driving, but let's not blame the drunk drivers," he said.

With files from Colleen Underwood