DEJOY'S SABOTAGE

Biden Administration Suffers

Crushing Defeat For Electric Vehicle Pledge

The United States Postal Service is renewing its fleet of gas-powered 

vehicles as the Biden administration promises a mostly-electric federal fleet.

• LUC OLINGA
• FEB 25, 2022 

Finally, there will be no twists or last-minute changes. The play will be played as originally written, despite pressure and controversy.

The United States Postal Service (USPS) has confirmed its deal with specialty vehicle manufacturer Oshkosh Corp  (OSK) - Get Oshkosh Corp Report to finalize plans for between 50,000 and 165,000 gas-powered delivery vehicles.

Why This Was A Controversial Decision

The USPS/Oshkosh venture had been in limbo after the Biden administration urged the United States Postal Service to reevaluate its plans to electrify only 10% of its fleet of more than 200,000 vehicles. 

The White House was looking to pause and reevaluate the USPS contract, which could have a total value of $11.3 billion over 10 years. 

Part of the pushback comes from growing frustration with President Joe Biden's pledge to transform the country's entire fleet of 645,000 vehicles into electric vehicles. Of that 645,000, around 225,000 are post office vehicles. 

But the management of USPS has just closed that door and decided to move forward with its plan to purchase its next-generation mail trucks with nearly all gasoline-powered vehicles. 

The majority of its current trucks have been in service for more than two decades.

"USPS concludes there is no legal or other basis to delay the NGDV (the Next Generation Delivery Vehicle) program," said the group in a press release.

“As we have reiterated throughout this process, our commitment to an electric fleet remains ambitious given the pressing vehicle and safety needs of our aging fleet as well as our fragile financial condition," said USPS chief executive officer Louis DeJoy. 

"As our financial position improves with the ongoing implementation of our 10-year plan, Delivering for America, we will continue to pursue the acquisition of additional BEV as additional funding — from either internal or congressional sources — becomes available.” 

Shutterstock/TheStreet

The Process Needs to Keep Moving Forward

Last year, the USPS awarded Oshkosh Corp a 10-year contract, with an initial $482 million investment. 

That will be used to finalize the production design and construction of between 50,000 and 165,000 of the next generation of the mail service's iconic right-hand-drive delivery vehicles.

But DeJoy said the plans for the new fleet need to keep an ongoing momentum.

'That's a good sign.' Manatee poop shows lettuce program for starving seacows may be working


Max Chesnes,
TCPalm | Treasure Coast Newspapers
Fri, February 25, 2022

They say hope comes in many forms. In the case of the ongoing effort to feed wild manatees, hope may come in the form of poop.

Since the unprecedented feeding experiment began in December, biologists have put out roughly 63,000 pounds of lettuce to feed sea cows, said Jon Wallace, a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service joint unified command member, in a media call Wednesday.

In an early indication manatees are digesting the leafy provisions, response teams have noticed an uptick of manatee poo floating on the surface of the feeding site at Florida Power & Light's Cape Canaveral Clean Energy Center in Brevard County.

"We're seeing more fecal material in the warm-water site, which means that animals are eating — and they're eating enough for them to process the vegetation," said Ron Mezich of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

"That's a good sign."

What does manatee poop look like?

Manatees typically take seven days to fully digest their food. In the first week of the feeding trial, biologists saw "little to no" poop in the water, but it's been a regular observation since, Mezich said.

Never seen manatee excrement? Their average fecal material comes out in a compressed, cylindrical-shaped pellet called a "bolus." It's roughly the size of what a medium dog might produce, according to Mezich.

Like with any animal, diet and health may affect manatee fecal composition, Mezich said. Researchers collected fecal samples before winter, and have collected more samples since the feeding trial began for further analysis.

How can you help?: 2021 was a record year for Florida manatee deaths. Here are 5 ways you can help sea cows

"Seeing fecal matter from the manatees at the supplemental feeding trial shows that some of the animals there are eating enough food for them to process the vegetation and produce fecal material that was not evident early in the feeding trial," Mezich said.

Due to the size of the area and number of manatees nearby, it's difficult to quantify the amount of poop produced, Mezich said. Last week, manatees numbered anywhere from 60 to 500.

Romaine and butterleaf lettuce is purchased about three times a week from Belle Glade and Okeechobee-area farmers at about 60 cents a pound, Wallace said. Donations to the Fish and Wildlife Foundation of Florida are footing the bill.

#LiveLikeMaggy: Maggy Hurchalla, environmental advocate, former Martin County Commissioner, dies at 81

As of Thursday, roughly 96,605 pounds of lettuce were purchased from $97,400 in donations, according to foundation spokesperson Michelle Ashton. The nonprofit hopes to raise $150,000 to pay for the feeding through March.

Despite rescues, manatee death rate is still high

There's currently 82 manatees in rehabilitation facilities across 13 different facilities in Florida, Texas, Ohio and Puerto Rico, according to Teresa Calleson of Fish & Wildlife.

At least 31 manatees were rescued through Feb. 18, with roughly a third of those from Brevard County, according to the latest FWC data. Many are showing signs of emaciation along Florida's east coast.

Manatees that suffer from starvation take longer to heal, averaging anywhere from three to eight months, Calleson said. SeaWorld in Orlando has added emergency space to take on more animals.

Sea World rescue teams join the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission during a manatee rescue.

"Critical care space is always a challenge," said Jon Peterson, co-chair of the Manatee Rescue and Rehabilitation Partnership at SeaWorld. "This need doesn't stop at the end of the cold season this year. This is something that's going to carry on for awhile. A couple of years, maybe even longer."

Despite rescues and rehab, the manatee death rate is still high. At least 326 animals died through Feb. 18, according to FWC data updated Wednesday. That's nearly twice the five-year average from 2017 to 2022.

More wildlife news: Leatherback sea turtle nest is the earliest on record for Indian River County

Over two-thirds of those deaths, or 221, were in Brevard County. In just one week, there were 83 deaths statewide, with 53 logged at the die-off's epicenter in Brevard.

The deaths are pacing just behind last year, when a record 1,100 manatees died after starvation left many animals weak and emaciated.

Seagrass, their main food source, has withered away. Decades of human-caused pollution in the Indian River Lagoon has sparked repeated algal blooms, which block out sunlight and choke seagrass.

Max Chesnes is a TCPalm environment reporter focusing on issues facing the Indian River Lagoon, St. Lucie River and Lake Okeechobee. 

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Florida manatees: Are starving seacows eating? Poop sightings offer hope

CRIMINAL CANNIBAS CAPITALI$M

Congress must act to stop illegal pot grows from polluting national forests in Sierra


Craig Kohlruss/Fresno Bee file

Gary Lasky and Rich McIntyre
Sat, February 26, 2022

Today there are thousands of cartel-controlled marijuana trespass plantings (grows) that are polluting California’s public lands and making many places we love to visit potentially dangerous. These operations have increased throughout California, including in the Sierra foothills and in our national forests where major cannabis farms have been discovered and reclaimed.

Local rivers, including the San Joaquin, flow from these public lands, and are the lifeblood for communities, agriculture and wildlife.

While many hoped that the legalization of cannabis would curb destructive trespass marijuana growing on our public lands, the unfortunate truth is that it has not. These dangerous operations continue to poison our forests and waters, and are now spilling onto private lands.

Trespass marijuana grows have devastating impacts. Cartel operators routinely cut trees, remove stream-side vegetation critical to many species of wildlife, and routinely use deadly and illegal pesticides, such as carbofuran, that contaminate both soil and water.

We all know how critical our water is in the Central Valley, especially during drought. Water for residential use and agriculture, an integral part of our economy, is increasingly threatened by cartel operations that divert and pollute water upstream of our farmers and residents. Statewide, it is estimated that trespass grows consume enough water to supply a town of 50,000 people for an entire year.

Moreover we now know that these trespass operations have been the cause of major wildfires throughout California. According to research done by the Cannabis Removal on Public Lands Project, trespass grows have burned a bare minimum of 285,000 acres (over 445 square miles) on California’s public lands, which have cost billions to suppress.

In addition to causing fires, trespass grow operations endanger firefighters, with many incidents of firefighters burned and being confronted by armed growers, who often set booby traps, weaponize pesticides, and leave explosive ammunition to deter firefighters and law enforcement.

Law enforcement officials commonly find banned and deadly pesticides like carbofuran, which impairs the nervous system and often causes death. Cartel operators use these pesticides to kill and prevent local wildlife from damaging their crop. One quarter of a teaspoon of carbofuran is enough to kill a 600-pound bear.

Those deadly pesticides do not stay in place; there is clear evidence of those chemicals going into public waters that connect to community water systems. The accelerating expansion of cartel marijuana grows on Central Valley lands presents a clear and present danger to public water supplies.

Our law enforcement on our public lands is outmanned and outgunned. On California’s 20 million acres of national forests, current staffing levels have only one officer responsible for protecting a minimum of 250,000 acres from these dangerous operations — in addition to their other duties.

If we are going to protect California’s public lands from the destruction of trespass grows, the federal government must increase its prevention and reclamation efforts. We can no longer accept that the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management remain woefully understaffed to prevent or even clean up after trespass operations.

Congress must act to stop this destruction, and hold the cartels responsible. The House of Representatives has voted to approve robust funding for the Forest Service and BLM to address this issue. Now is the time for the Senate to follow suit. We invite other members of Congress to join Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, in urging the Senate to support the full appropriation, and report language addressing trespass grows.

It is time for bold and swift action to protect our land, water, and environment. Our communities are counting on it.

Gary Lasky is the legal chair of the Sierra Club’s Tehipite chapter. 

Rich McIntyre is the eirector of Cannabis Removal on Public Lands Project.

EUROPE/ASIA

Albanian gangs corner market in cannabis farms

Charles Hymas
Sat, February 26, 2022


Albanian gangs are cornering the market in cannabis farms as they exploit modern slavery laws to avoid prosecution, the National Crime Agency (NCA) has warned.

NCA investigators say Albanians have brought a ruthless professionalism to cannabis farming that has displaced the Vietnamese as the main domestically-produced source of the drug.

After gaining a stranglehold over the cocaine market in London and south east of England, Albanian gangs have in the past five years imported expertise gained from industrial-scale cannabis farming in their home country to the UK, according to the NCA.

“They have brought in their own expertise, their own cannabis growers - gardeners as we call them, their own electricians, their own facilitators, their own hydroponic setups. Everything you need to grow it successfully on an industrial scale, they have brought in,” said NCA intelligence manager Ged McCann.

“If you speak to any single police force, the biggest issue with cannabis at the moment is Albanians. With cannabis comes associated violence, mostly because other groups are trying to thieve off the Albanians and vice versa.

“That will lead to violence, firearms and a lot of stabbings and kidnappings and some fairly extreme violence. That’s something we are very conscious of at the moment. We think that it’s growing. That is a real issue for us.”

TELEMMGLPICT000283144625.jpeg

When police raid the disused industrial buildings or residential properties housing the cannabis farms, the “labourers” often claim that they are victims of trafficking and exploitation to avoid prosecution and deportation.

In its annual strategy report, the NCA noted that Albanian nationals were “increasingly reported as being exploited in cannabis cultivation in England and Wales, primarily influenced by changes in the control of the marketplace.”

However, an NCA source said: “They will claim they are victims of modern trafficking and should not be prosecuted. We genuinely believe they know what they're doing. They are not being forced into it. They are there to make good money.”

One case last summer saw four Albanian “gardeners” who were caught with 70 plants and 100kg of harvested cannabis in a house in south west Wales claim they feared for their safety if they returned to Albania because of unpaid debts to the gang that trafficked them into the UK.

One had been referred to the national system for victims of exploitation although the judge said their story - that they had been recruited to work in the farm by an Albanian they met in a local supermarket - required “a significant pinch of salt.”

Albanian gangs have moved into cannabis because it is “very, very low risk,” turns a good profit due to high demand - Britons consumed 240 tonnes of the drug worth £2.4 billion last year - and does not require risky cross-border transportation because it is home-grown, says the NCA.

”If someone is caught and arrested, they will not face much of a sentence. It is easy to set up. You don’t need an infrastructure in place. Put all that together with the unlimited cheap labour supply that they have got and it just makes a very cost effective way of working for them,” said Mr McCann.

The only major cost is setting up the lighting after which electricity is often stolen off the grid. “As to what percentage of the market is Albanian, we don’t really know. Anecdotally, most cannabis seizures in the UK have an Albanian link,” added Mr McCann.

Albanian gangs are dominant in the cocaine market in the south east of England, having established links with south American producers to bring the drug direct into Europe at cheaper cost and purer quality. They supply not only Albanian but also UK gangs as effective wholesalers for the drug.

U.S. To Help Uzbekistan Explore New Shale Deposits

Editor OilPrice.com
Sat, February 26, 2022

Scientists from the United States will team up with experts from Uzbekistan to prospect for shale oil and gas deposits this year as Tashkent moves to ramp up production to tackle energy shortages and provide raw material for the gas-processing industry.

Experts from the United States Geological Survey, or USGS, a government science agency, will join scientists from Uzbekistan’s State Geology Committee to hunt for shale reserves in May, Dunyo, the Foreign Ministry’s news agency, reported.

The prospecting mission, taking place under an existing $2.3 million cooperation agreement, will seek reserves in three regions: Samarkand, Jizzakh in central Uzbekistan, and Surkhandarya in the south.

Another team will prospect for mineral resources, including metals, at deposits already identified in the Amantazau–Kuljuktau area of the Kyzylkum desert in central Uzbekistan.

The size of Uzbekistan’s proven gas reserves is a matter of debate. The government says it boasts 1.8 trillion cubic meters, while the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, the industry’s bible for such matters, puts them at 800 billion cubic meters.

The government hopes the Uzbek-US missions will further its target of boosting prospective reserves (which are not proven but have a good chance of commercial extraction) by 35 billion cubic meters of gas and 1 million tons of liquid hydrocarbons this year, via prospecting and exploration at 20 new fields.

The extraction of oil and gas from inside shale rock by injecting a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals is controversial because of the potential for the contamination of water supplies and air pollution, and the chances of causing earth tremors.

It also uses large quantities of water, a resource which is in short supply in Uzbekistan.

The government, however, sees fracking as one solution to realizing its ambitious vision for the gas industry.

It is targeting a 20 percent rise in gas output, which has been stagnant at somewhere below 60 billion cubic meters a year for a decade, by 2030.

According to official data, Uzbekistan produced 53.8 billion cubic meters of gas last year. That was up on the 47.1 billion cubic meters produced in 2020, when the pandemic strangled demand and the government slashed production, but down on the 57.4 billion cubic meters extracted in 2019. This year Tashkent is targeting a 4 percent rise in gas output, to 56.3 billion cubic meters.

But to achieve that leap in output by the end of the decade, it urgently needs to find new reserves.

Even while targeting that exponential rise, officials plan to end gas exports altogether by 2025.

In January, Tashkent suspended exports, almost all of which go to China, to redirect gas to generate power to tackle the energy shortages that grip Uzbekistan every winter. It has not stated when, or if, it plans to resume them.

The authorities will use the extra gas from halting exports and increasing output for power generation and for the petrochemical industry.

The government says it can generate far greater revenues from processing gas into fuel and in-demand products such as plastics than exporting it raw.

In December, Uzbekistan opened one of its flagship projects for the sector: a $3.6 billion gas-to-liquids plant that will process gas into diesel, liquefied gas and jet fuel.

Its annual output of 1.5 million metric tons will save Uzbekistan $1 billion per year in fuel imports, officials say.

By Eurasianet.org

Nike just wiped out more than $900 million of Foot Locker's market value

Brian Sozzi

·Anchor, Editor-at-Large

Fri, February 25, 2022,

Nike (NKE) just stuck a size 12 basketball shoe into the groin of trusted vendor partner Foot Locker (FL) as it seeks to bank even more money from its $150-plus pairs of sneakers.

Shares of Foot Locker crashed nearly 35% on Friday — wiping out about $950 million in market value — as the sneaker retailer warned on lost business from its large customer this year. Foot Locker said no single vendor (in this case Nike) is expected to represent more than 60% of its business this year, down from 70% in 2021 and 75% in 2020.

"This change reflects Nike's accelerated strategic shift to direct-to-consumer and Foot Locker's ongoing brand and category diversification efforts," said Foot Locker CFO Andrew Page on an earnings call.

Added Foot Locker CEO Richard Johnson, "There was a concentration into some very specific styles that Nike certainly drives through their direct-to-consumer [business] and that's where the allocation pressure will be. We still have access to all of those products, we'll just see different quantities flowing our way."

AMSTERDAM NETHERLANDS - JUNE 27: A man points at a sneaker as a woman looks on as they stand in front of sports sneakers, including brands such as Nike, Adidas, and New Balance, displayed inside a window of Foot Locker at Kalverstraat, a shopping street, on June 27, 2020 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Photo by Yuriko Nakao/Getty Images)

The shift put a spotlight on a mixed end to the year for the sneaker seller.

Here is how Foot Locker performed compared to Wall Street estimates for the fourth quarter:

• Net Sales: $2.34 billion vs. $2.33 billion

• Same-Store Sales: +0.8% vs. +3.8%

• Diluted EPS: $1.67 vs. $1.48

Foot Locker outlined cautious guidance for the year, in large part reflecting the shift in thinking by the team at Nike.

The company outlined full-year earnings of $4.25 to $4.60 a share, well below analyst forecasts of $6.56 a share. Sales are seen down 8% to 10%. Analysts were looking for a slight sales increase.

"We continue to be a strong strategic partner of Nike's and we are working on building complementary strategies to their direct-to-consumer growth. They are supportive of us in specifically basketball, kids and sneaker culture continues to be elevated. So, again I feel great about the relationship. We have ongoing dialogs with them as we plan our business. And this has been something in process for a while," Johnson added.

Chevron in Talks for $3 Billion Renewable Energy Group Deal


Liana Baker and Kiel Porter
Fri, February 25, 2022, 2:17 PM·1 min read

(Bloomberg) -- Chevron Corp. is in advanced talks to buy Renewable Energy Group Inc. for about $3 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, as the oil major looks to make a big bet on green diesel.

Renewable Energy rose more than 36% in after-market trading on the news.

Chevron is discussing paying $61.50 per share for Renewable Energy, said the people, who asked to not be identified because the matter isn’t public. A deal could be announced as soon as next week, the people added. No final decision has been made and the terms could change or talks could still fall through.

Renewable Energy closed up 1.7% to $43.81 in New York trading Friday, giving the company a market value of about $2.2 billion.

Representatives for Chevron and Renewable Energy declined to comment.

The deal would give a significant boost to Chevron’s push into renewable fuels, demand for which is expected to grow in the coming years as businesses and governments move away from oil and gas to cut carbon emissions. Chevron said last year that it expects to invest $10 billion through 2028 on low-carbon technologies.

Based in Ames, Iowa, Renewable Energy describes itself as North America’s largest producer of advanced biofuels. Led by Chief Executive Officer Cynthia “CJ” Warner, it turns feedstock into fuel at more than a dozen locations in the U.S. and Germany, according to its most recent annual report.

Investors Embrace Lula and Stoke Furious Rally in Brazil

“Lula is the devil that we know”

Vinícius Andrade and Augusta Saraiva
Fri, February 25, 2022, 



Investors Embrace Lula and Stoke Furious Rally in Brazil

(Bloomberg) -- After embracing Jair Bolsonaro’s anti-establishment stance just four years ago, investors are now warming to a very familiar face in Brazilian politics: Lula.

Money managers are piling into the nation’s assets, sending the currency to the highest level since July and fueling a world-beating rally in stocks after a horrible year for both. The inflows come on the back of aggressive interest rate hikes that have sent yields soaring and even as Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the left-wing leader who ran he country two decades ago, mounts a comeback.

Lula, who leads early polls for the October vote, hasn’t given a clear direction of his core economic policies yet. While his advisers point to more spending if he is elected, investors are betting on his pragmatism and signals toward moderation, much like he showed in his first election in 2002.

Back then, they had initially dumped stocks and bonds on fears that he would default, but were reassured by his pledge to honor the country’s sovereign debt and keep the nation’s fiscal accounts in check -- and went on to reap gains in almost all of his eight years in office. The shine wore off as his Workers’ Party was engulfed by corruption scandals that landed him in jail and his handpicked successor, Dilma Rousseff, throttled economic growth with an ever-growing web of restrictions and controls.

“Lula is the devil that we know,” said Edwin Gutierrez, the head of emerging-market sovereign debt at abrdn in London. “He’ll say things that will upset the market from time to time regarding energy prices and the role of the state, but overall, he isn’t going to mark a return to the Dilma era.”

The Brazilian real has strengthened more than 9% against the dollar this year, the most among all currencies in the world, despite the escalating conflict in Ukraine that has sapped risk appetite. Foreign investors added over 56 billion reais to the local equity market this year ($11 billion), helping to send the Ibovespa benchmark index up 15% in dollar terms. Offshore money has poured into Brazilian stocks for every single session since mid-December, the best run since at least 2008.

The perceived decline in local political risk has added to optimism with Brazilian assets, which were already becoming more appealing to foreign money amid rising yields and cheap valuations. Even after the recent rally, the Ibovespa is trading at 8.3 times forward earnings, well below its 10-year average of 11.7. Meanwhile, the central bank is expected to raise rates to above 12% in the coming months, up from 2% a year ago.

“Foreigners return to Brazil from time to time, doing the same trades and causing the same market distortions,” said Felipe Guerra, founding partner at local hedge fund manager Legacy Capital, at an event earlier this month. “Then they go away and leave us” with the problem, he said.

But even locals, who haven’t been as bullish as foreigners, are turning more optimistic. Brazil-based funds trimmed their long dollar hedges by $2.6 billion since Jan. 3, according to local exchange data compiled by Bloomberg.

The warm welcome for Lula is nothing like last year, when markets briefly panicked on the prospect he would run for office again after a judge tossed out criminal convictions against him. Signs the former union leader may be elected also sent chills through markets in 2018, when he was ultimately barred from running, and in 2002, when investors sent stocks and the currency down as much as 40% in the year and ditched the nation’s bonds amid default concerns.

This time, it took Lula only a hint of moderation to convince investors that his third mandate wouldn’t be this harmful for the economy and markets. In between criticism of state-run oil company Petrobras and comments on reviewing the nation’s labor laws, the former president signaled he could tap centrist former Sao Paulo governor Geraldo Alckmin to join his ticket as vice president. The nod to a moderate running partner sent the real rallying.

“Lula’s smart enough to know what he has to say in order to get the market comfortable,” said Cathy Hepworth, head of emerging markets debt at PGIM Fixed Income. “He’s done this before.”

Overseas investors were also encouraged by similar episodes in Chile and Peru, where recently elected leftist presidents toned down their speeches after winning.

Despite the rally, a sluggish recovery in Latin America’s top economy, double-digit inflation and potential for further public spending ahead of the October vote still pose risks. Incumbent Bolsonaro has flirted with additional expenses as he seeks to boost his approval ratings ahead of the election.

Chances of winning

Lula has led most election polls since he was cleared to run for office early last year, and the latest one showed a 17 percentage-point advantage over incumbent Bolsonaro in the first round. Political consultancy Eurasia gives him a 70% chance of winning.

During his tenure, a surge in commodities and orthodox picks for the economy ministry and the central bank helped keep fiscal accounts in check and catapult Brazil to market-darling status. The former president oversaw a 113% rally in the real, the best-performing emerging-market currency in the span. Stocks surged six-fold in his eight years in office.

Meanwhile, Bolsonaro, who rose to power in 2018 on an anti-establishment, anti-left wing platform, has been struggling as inflation eats into Brazilians’ purchasing power and the economy posts lackluster growth.

In the 2018 election run-up, markets rallied on bets Bolsonaro would seek to shrink the size of the state and approve a series of economic reforms. While he delivered some promises -- including a much awaited overhaul of the pension system -- he also spooked markets by spending big during the pandemic.

“Bolsonaro would be an A-, if he has a second term. Lula is more of a B, but I don’t think he’s going to be a D,” said Jason Devito, a Pittsburgh-based money manager at Federated Investment Management Co., which has $669 billion under management. “I’m not expecting a disastrous outcome here.”


©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

NOT AS EFFECTIVE AS A CARBON TAX
California Cap-And-Trade Auction Fails to Sell Out

David R Baker
Thu, February 24, 2022,

(Bloomberg) -- The latest quarterly auction in California’s cap-and-trade carbon market failed to sell out, a sign that a growing surplus of banked credits may be hampering the system used to fight climate change.

The market, which also includes the Canadian province of Quebec, holds quarterly auctions of “allowances,” each of which gives the holder the right to emit one ton of greenhouse gases. The number of allowances available decreases over time, giving companies an incentive to cut their emissions. Holders can also sell their allowances on a secondary market.

The most recent quarterly auction, held Feb. 16, sold out all available allowances to be used in the current year, at a price of $29.15 each, according to results published Thursday by the California Air Resources Board. But about 11% of allowances meant to be used in the future failed to sell, and the price for such future allowances fell to $19.70. That’s a steep decline from the last quarterly auction, in November, when future allowances sold for $34.01.

Concern has been growing that companies participating in the market have been buying and holding more allowances than they actually need, in part because the pandemic reduced economic activity in both California and Quebec. A recent report from an independent market monitoring committee warned such banked credits could hinder California’s greenhouse gas reduction goals.

Canada to buy COVID vaccine made in Research Triangle Park. Here’s how it’s different.

Richard Stradling
Sat, February 26, 2022, 

A new plant-based COVID-19 vaccine that will be made in Research Triangle Park has been approved by health regulators in Canada, where the government has agreed to buy millions of doses.

The vaccine, COVIFENZ, was developed by GlaxoSmithKline and Medicago, a Canadian biopharmaceutical company based in Quebec City. Medicago will begin manufacturing the vaccine at its plant in RTP later this spring, said Brian Ward, the company’s medical officer.

Ward said the company has a contract to supply up to 76 million doses of the vaccine to the Canadian government and expects to ship 20 million doses this year.

Medicago uses plants to produce what it calls “virus-like particles” that mimic the structure of viruses and trigger an immune response in the body. The company says because the particles lack core genetic material they are non-infectious and unable to reproduce.

Health Canada, the Canadian version of the Food and Drug Administration, approved COVIFENZ on Thursday for use in adults ages 18 to 64. It cited clinical trials that showed the vaccine was safe and 71% effective against all variants of the COVID-19 virus except for omicron, which wasn’t circulating during the study period.

Clinical studies measuring the response against the omicron variant should be finished in the coming weeks, according to spokeswoman Lindsey Bailys. Nearly all new cases of COVID-19 in the United States are caused by the omicron variant, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Medicago and GSK are also seeking approval for COVIFENZ from the FDA, the World Health Organization and health regulators in the United Kingdom.

Like the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, two doses of COVIFENZ are needed to be fully effective. Pfizer and Moderna both reported that two doses of their vaccines were more than 90% effective against COVID-19, though that effectiveness waned over time, prompting both companies and public health officials to urge booster shots.

COVIFENZ arrives more than a year after the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines became available and at a time when many people are acting as if the coronavirus pandemic is over.

But the virus has not shown signs of going away, and Medicago says there’s still a strong market for vaccines, especially one that might appeal to different people because of how it’s made.

“COVIFENZ is the first COVID-19 plant-based vaccine, which diversifies the pool of vaccines available to help improve public health and protect more people,” Ward wrote in an email. “We are in discussion with several countries regarding supply,” though he declined to name them because the discussions are “confidential in nature.”

Medicago opened its RTP plant and greenhouses in 2010 using a grant from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. At the time, the agency was looking for ways to make large quantities of vaccine to respond to epidemics, bioterrorist attacks and other public health emergencies.

The company employed about 200 in RTP as of December and is looking to fill about 40 positions as it gears up to produce COVIFENZ.

In this Aug. 14, 2014, photo, biotech greenhouse specialist

 Maggie Cole waters tobacco seedlings at Medicago in Research Triangle Park.

Canada Approves First Plant-Based COVID-19 Vaccine


Vandana Singh
Fri, February 25, 2022


As Sanofi SA (NASDAQ: SNY) and GlaxoSmithKline Plc's (NYSE: GSK) COVID-19 vaccine finally heads to regulators, another shot using GSK's pandemic adjuvant has won its first global approval.


Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation-backed Medicago's recombinant COVID-19 vaccine, dubbed Covifenz, has snagged a green light in Canada in individuals 18 to 64 years of age.


The vaccine uses a plant-based virus-like particles technology to mimic the coronavirus' spike protein and is combined with GSK's pandemic adjuvant.


Covifenz marks the first approved vaccine for Medicago and the first nod for a COVID shot using GSK's pandemic adjuvant.


Related: Medicago, GSK's Plant-Based COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate Hits 75% Efficacy Against Delta Strain.


In a Phase 3 trial conducted in more than 24,000 adults, Covifenz showed a 71% efficacy against COVID-19 by various SARS-CoV-2 variants, though not omicron because the now-dominant variant wasn't present at the time of the study.


The virus-like particles platform allows Covifenz to be stored at normal refrigeration conditions from 2 degrees Celsius to 8 degrees Celsius. Two doses of the vaccine are given intramuscularly 21 days apart.


Also See: Sanofi-GSK Prepare Regulatory Filings For COVID-19 Vaccine After Booster Data.


Price Action: GSK shares are up 1.53% at $41.82 during the premarket session on the last check Friday.

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Sanofi-GSK Prepare Regulatory Filings For COVID-19 Vaccine After Booster Data

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SCHADENFREUDE

Billionaire Accused of Anti-Vax Misinfo 

Now Reportedly Has COVID


Noah Kirsch
Sat, February 26, 2022

Getty

He was an unvaxxed billionaire accused of spreading anti-vaccine misinformation. Now he reportedly has COVID.

Clive Palmer, the 67-year-old Australian mining magnate and political provocateur, is battling both the coronavirus and pneumonia, according to unnamed sources cited by The Australian. The outlet reported that the billionaire “remains very sick.”

Earlier this week, Palmer was transported to the hospital in an ambulance after experiencing symptoms consistent with COVID-19. He was pictured leaving the hospital wearing a face mask that did not cover his nose.

“I’m not vaccinated and I don’t intend to be vaccinated,” the billionaire proudly declared at a rally last year.

A spokesperson for Palmer could not immediately be reached for comment or to confirm the news.

In recent months the tycoon has made headlines for his political aspirations, as he leverages both a Trumpian playbook and enormous sums of cash to advance his United Australia Party.

As the Sydney Morning Herald reported this week, he has dropped more than $20 million on attack ads since the summer, “100 times more than [the] major parties.”

“Think about in the United States one of the Koch brothers running for president or something and outspending the Democrats and the Republicans,” University of Sydney senior lecturer Peter Chen told The Daily Beast earlier this month, of Palmer’s political spending. “It’s that sort of crazy money.”

Despite his ad blitzes, the billionaire remains hugely unpopular. As of December, polling showed that just 8 percent of the country had a positive view of him, compared to 59 percent with a negative opinion, making him Australia’s “least likable politician.”

There are mixed opinions about whether Palmer has sincere political ambitions or whether he is simply trolling. Others believe he is just trying to intimidate his way into favorable mining policies.

“One of the most dangerous places to be in Australia is between Clive Palmer and his business interests. He is obsessed with money and obsessed with talking about his wealth,” Member of Parliament Patrick Gorman told The Daily Beast last month.

As Australia readies for elections this spring, time will tell whether Palmer can bounce back quickly to exert his influence in the final stretch.