This politician reacted to the Roe v. Wade news in the most Canadian way

MP Karina Gould was quick to ensure that American women who could make the trip knew they would be able to access abortions in Canada.

WE NEED POP UP ABORTION CLINICS ON THE BORDER

Lidia Likhodi - 
Today's Parent
© Used with permission of / © St. Joseph Communications.

When a leaked document showed the U.S. Supreme Court’s intentions to overturn Roe v. Wade, putting American women’s right to abortion in jeopardy, the outcry didn’t stop at the border. And in Canada, MP Karina Gould was quick to ensure that American women who could make the trip knew they would be able to access abortions in Canada.

In an interview with CBC News, Gould, the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, expressed her concern for the health and safety of women seeking abortions amidst the looming decision. “We need to make sure that we are protecting this right here in Canada, and around the world,” she said. “Twenty-five million unsafe abortions happen every single year. Criminalizing abortion doesn’t mean that those abortions won’t happen—it means that those will be unsafe abortions.”

Studies show that American women who weren’t able to access wanted abortions experienced economic hardship that lasted for years, and were at higher risk of developing serious health conditions. Conversely, women who receive a wanted abortion are more financially stable, set more ambitious goals, raise children under more stable conditions and are more likely to have a wanted child later.

Related video: 'Abortion is health care,' says sexual health and rights expert (cbc.ca)

The Supreme Court opinion was reported to have been circulating since February, and leaked to the news site Politico on Monday. It showed that at least five of the nine justices support overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that guaranteed abortion rights to women across the country. In a statement Tuesday, the court confirmed the draft was authentic but noted that it didn’t represent its final opinion. The opinion relates to a pending Mississippi case, which is expected to be decided in late June or early July. It would allow states to decide their own rules around abortion. This would put women at the mercy of restrictive local governments, and force them to seek abortions elsewhere—including Canada.

“Americans who come to Canada are able to access medical services here today if they need it,” a spokesperson for Gould told Today’s Parent on Wednesday. “Americans accessing health care services in Canada would continue to have to pay for the service out-of-pocket or by their own private insurance if they are not covered by a provincial health insurance, by the Interim Federal Health Program or Non-Insured Health Benefits.”

News of the leak sparked reactions across the U.S., with President Joe Biden issuing a statement on Tuesday that he believes a woman’s right to choose is fundamental. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau followed suit on Twitter, saying: “The right to choose is a woman’s right and a woman’s right alone. Every woman in Canada has a right to a safe and legal abortion. We’ll never back down from protecting and promoting women’s rights in Canada and around the world.” Liberal states like California braced themselves to take on an influx of women seeking abortions. Demonstrations raged outside of the Supreme Court and in cities across the U.S.

In her interview with CBC, Gould said she was not only concerned about the impacts of the decision on American women, but also on Canadian women, many of whom don’t live near big cities and have to access abortion providers in the United States. The Liberal party platform promised to uphold abortion rights, and the government has already taken actions against New Brunswick over access to abortion concerns. Alberta, Manitoba, PEI, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon do not have a single rural abortion clinic. Ontario has only four, and British Columbia only a single one. This means that women in rural areas in need of an abortion have to arrange travel to obtain one.

“In Canada, there is no room for encroaching on reproductive rights,” Gould’s spokesperson said. “Our Government will continue to protect this right for Canadian women.”

Inbreeding won't doom the last of the vaquitas, but fishing might: study

Vaquita porpoises are on the edge of extinction, with just 10 left in their sole habitat within Mexico's Gulf of California.


© Paula OLSON

This undated image released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows a mother and calf vaquita surfacing in the waters off San Felipe, Mexico

AFP - Yesterday 

However, a new study published Thursday in the journal Science offers some hope: the world's rarest marine mammals aren't doomed by a lack of genetic diversity, and can recover if illegal "gillnet" fishing ceases immediately.

"We're trying to push back on this idea that there's no hope, that nothing we do could save them at this point. It's just not an accurate assumption," lead author Jacqueline Robinson of the University of California San Francisco told AFP.


© -This handout pictured taken on October 18, 2017, and released by the Mexican Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) shows scientists with a six-month-old vaquita calf

Porpoises are closely related to dolphins, and share many things in common including great intelligence.

The vaquita, whose name means "little cow" in Spanish, measures four to five feet (about 1.5 meters) in length, making it the smallest of all cetaceans.

Shy and elusive, they are known for distinctive dark circles around their eyes, and relatively large dorsal fins, which are thought to help them dissipate heat in their warm habitat.

Vaquita numbers were decimated in the 20th century as a result of being accidentally trapped and drowning in gillnets: long walls of nets hanging in open water that are used to catch fish and shrimp.

Fishermen sought in particular the totoaba, a large fish about the size of the vaquita, whose swim-bladder is prized in traditional Chinese medicine.

The totoaba itself is endangered and its fishing is illegal, but the ban isn't always respected.

The vaquita's historical abundance was unknown, but by the time of the first survey, in 1997, only around 570 remained.

There were fears that harmful mutations among the surviving vaquitas could seal the species' fate due to inevitable inbreeding.

To find out whether that was the case, the researchers analyzed the genomes of 20 vaquitas that lived between 1985 and 2017, and discovered that over the past 250,000 years their population had never exceeded a few thousand.

They also learned that their genetic diversity had always been low, relative to other cetacean species such as dolphins, orcas, and other whales.

- Benefits to low genetic diversity -

"Generally, we would think of low genetic diversity as being a bad thing. But in this case, it is somewhat advantageous for the vaquitas for their possibility of future recovery," said Robinson.

Inbreeding increases the chances offspring will inherit two copies of harmful mutations, leading to genetic disorders.

But it turned out that the frequency of these mutations are very low in vaquitas to begin with, because the population has always been small.

"So those mutations were historically weeded out much more effectively, than in a larger population, where those mutations could persist and remain hidden from natural selection," explained Robinson.

There are other species that appear more resistant to so-called "inbreeding depression," including mountain gorillas and narwhals, for similar reasons.

The team then carried out simulations to forecast the species' future.

Encouragingly, there is only a six percent chance of vaquitas' extinction if gillnet fishing is eliminated.

But if such fishing is only reduced, then the extinction risk rises drastically.

Even with an 80 percent reduction in fishing, the porpoises have a 62 percent chance of disappearing.

"While we now know that the species' ability to recover is not limited by their genetics, vaquitas have very little time left," said co-author Christopher Kyriazis of the University of California, Los Angeles, in a statement.

"If we lose them, it would be the result of our human choices, not inherent genetic factors."

la/ia/des

Thousands of pigs die after April storm knocked out power to western Manitoba hog farm

Holly Caruk - Yesterday 

CBC

© M. Spencer Green/The Associated Press

A file photo shows pigs in a barn. HyLife says 2,000 hogs died when backup generators and phone notification systems failed during a spring storm on April 24 at a facility near Kola, Man.

Manitoba-based hog production company HyLife said roughly 2,000 hogs died near Kola, Man., about 300 kilometres west of Winnipeg near the Saskatchewan border, when backup generators and phone notification systems failed.

"During extremely challenging and lengthy weather conditions, which resulted in highway closures, travel advisories and dangerous driving conditions, our employees were not able to access one of our sites," Dave Penner, chief operating officer of farms for HyLife, said in an email on Wednesday.

"HyLife regrets this loss and commits to doing everything necessary to prevent this from happening again."

On April 24, a spring storm walloped southern parts of the province with rain and snow, causing flooding and power outages.

Manitoba Hydro reported numerous outages that day, including in the Virden, Man., area, which is about 30 kilometres from Kola.

The power company said nearly 5,000 customers in that region were affected, from around 10 p.m Sunday until about noon the following day.

Problem unusual: Manitoba Pork

Manitoba hog producers follow national guidelines for handling pigs and are required to have plans in place for emergencies — including backup systems to ensure ventilation, temperature regulation and feeding and watering continue.

"We have a situation where both [the] primary power source and the backup power source failed," said Cam Dahl, general manager with Manitoba Pork, the province's industry association.

"This is something that is extremely unfortunate and it's also very unusual."

"[Ventilation is] both for cooling, as well as to ensure that hydrogen sulphide levels — which is produced in hog manure — is kept out of the barns," Dahl said.

The province's chief veterinary office is investigating but won't release any details.

It's unclear whether the company could face penalties. HyLife produces 3.4 million hogs a year, with the majority of its barns in Manitoba.

"My understanding, at this time, is that this is an accident," Dahl said.

"It was the perfect storm coming together that created that loss of primary and secondary power, rather than a failure on people's parts, that's my understanding."

Both HyLife and Manitoba Pork said practices would be reviewed.

"When something unfortunate like this happens, it is taken seriously by not only producers' representatives like us, but by individual producers," Dahl said.

Industry needs oversight: Humane Society

People with knowledge of the industry say in a situation where ventilation is lost, animal deaths are likely due to overheating or breathing in concentrated toxic gases — or both.

"There is a level of suffering and essentially suffocating that occurs in either situation," said Brittany Semeniuk, an animal welfare specialist with the Winnipeg Humane Society.

"It's not ideal and it's definitely not a humane death."

Semeniuk says the deaths illustrate the difficulties of ensuring animal safety in industrialized farming, especially in cases of emergency.

"Even if someone was at the facility, it would be very, very difficult — basically impossible — to safely evacuate these animals," said Semeniuk.

The Humane Society would like to see more transparency and third-party oversight around industrial farming practices.

"There's really no way to have the public know what is going on behind closed doors other than what the facilities are willing to show," she said.

"Until we address the way we house these animals and we raise these animals in mass quantities for food production, there are going to continue to be tragedies like this."

2 cougar kittens shot, killed; B.C. Conservation Officer Service seeking public help

The province’s Conservation Officer Service is seeking the public’s help after two cougar kittens on Vancouver Island were illegally shot and killed.

© B.C. Conservation Officer Service

The Conservation Officer Service says it’s illegal to kill cougar kittens (any cougar with spots or under one year of age) or cougars in a family unit.

According to the COS, the poaching incident happened in the Cowichan Valley area within the past week, near Hill 60 Forest Service Road, with the paws and heads of the kittens being removed.

The COS says it’s illegal to kill cougar kittens (any cougar with spots or under one year of age) or cougars in a family unit.

It also said poaching wildlife is a serious offence under the B.C. Wildlife Act.

“The killing of cougar kittens shows a blatant disregard for ethical hunting and wildlife conservation,” said Duncan Conservation Officer Mark Kissinger.

“Thankfully, this is not the type of offence we see frequently.”

Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to call the Report All Poachers and Polluters hotline at 1-877-952-7277.

Read more:
Several dogs attacked, one killed in string of cougar incidents near Victoria

Doyle Potenteau - Yesterday 

GLOBAL NEWS

UCP DEFUNDS POLICE

Shrinking photo radar cash could mean steep cuts to Edmonton's police budget, traffic safety programs

© Provided by Edmonton Journal

Jessica Lamarre poses with two mobile photo radar trucks that with a bright wrap to make them more visible to motorists.

Lauren Boothby - Yesterday 
Edmonton Journal

Edmonton cannot afford to continue giving police $22.3 million each year, and run traffic safety programs meant to curb deaths and injuries, solely from its traffic safety automated enforcement reserve, according to a staff report heading to a council committee this month. City administration expects the reserve, funded using photo radar fines, will pull in $14.6 million less than budgeted from photo radar this year and end 2022 with a negative balance of $9.1 million.

With the province taking a larger share of revenues, lower traffic volumes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, fewer tickets overall, a moratorium on adding in new locations and equipment, and changes to make mobile automated enforcement more visible, Jessica Lamarre, director of safe mobility for the city, said it’s just not possible to financially sustain these programs with this reserve anymore.

“There’s no way to continue funding all those at the same rate over the next four years,” she said Thursday. “If they want to go forward with those priorities, then the funding source needs to be diversified.”

City council hasn’t decided what to do about the programs currently supported by this reserve.

Executive committee is scheduled to review the staff report and recommendations May 18 . The way Edmonton Police Service is funded will also be discussed at the same meeting — the staff report on this item hasn’t yet been released.

Postmedia reached out to Edmonton Police Services but did not receive a response by deadline.
Safe streets

Alberta government officials have dubbed photo radar a “cash cow” used to help 26 municipalities in the province feed their bottom lines.

The province increased its share of revenue to 49.9 per cent from 36.1 per cent in fall 2019. Responding by email to questions about how police may face cuts because of this change, Joseph Dow, spokesman for Justice Minister Tyler Shandro’s office, said policing is vital for Albertans’ safety and the province has maintained or increased funds for law enforcement and will continue putting resources there.

“Alberta’s Government is committed to keeping Albertans safe by continuing to provide more than a half billion dollars of policing-related funding. However, funding decisions for local policing is primarily a municipal responsibility,” he wrote.

If Edmonton continues without changes, funds in the photo radar reserve will drop to -$28 million in 2023, and -$101 million by 2026, staff project. Clawing back the $22.3 million in photo radar reserve money from the police’s overall budget of $384.8 million (in 2022) would still leave the reserve fund in the red: -$5.7 million by 2023 and -$11.8 million by 2026.

City staff would like to see stable funding for programs coming out of the safe mobility strategy, given how they were created with the community and through public feedback, said Lamarre.

For instance, another $2 million annually would fund the safe and livable community streets program, which adds street lamps and supports the new default 40 km/hr speed limits among other programs, and $3 million for safe crossings, which adds curb extension and signals, says the report. Another $1 million would go toward buying and maintaining photo radar equipment.

Coun. Ashley Salvador said traffic and street safety was a major concern she heard while campaigning. For instance, she says the street labs program has her support as communities can come up with innovative ways to solve issues with traffic in their neighbourhoods.

How to sustainably fund these initiatives — and possibly redirecting funds from police — is something Salvador said she looks forward to discussing at committee.

“People want to know that their communities are safe. They want to know that their kids can play outside without that type of risk in their neighbourhood,” she told Postmedia Thursday.

“I think there’s definitely a valid conversation to be had about sort of reallocating some of those (policing) dollars and making sure that there’s an equitable funding formula in place.”

Stephen Raitz, spokesman for Paths for People, says programs helping Edmonton toward Vision Zero — a goal to have no traffic-related fatalities or serious injuries by 2032 — need to be funded.

“Edmontonians want a safer transportation system where everybody gets home safely no matter the mode that they choose,” he said. “The Vision Zero street labs program for example — people want that so bad in their neighbourhoods. For the past two years, it’s been oversubscribed. There have been so many people interested in doing tactical, small-scale changes.”

Photo radar ticket trends since 2012 show the number of violations dropping as drivers changed their behaviour, which is a “positive outcome and achieves the ultimate purpose of automated enforcement,” the report states. There’s been a 10 per cent drop every year in violations at mobile automated enforcement sites and 15 per cent drop where there are intersection safety devices.

Some Alberta defence lawyers say they will no longer take Legal Aid cases over controversial contract

Several Edmonton defence lawyers say they will no longer take on Legal Aid clients over a contentious new contract.


Lawyer Simon Renouf, seen on May 4, 2022, is one of an unknown number of lawyers withdrawing from Legal Aid work over a contentious new contract.

Jonny Wakefield - Yesterday 

Edmonton Journal

Last year, Legal Aid Alberta introduced a new agreement for lawyers on its roster — who handle criminal, family law and other cases in which a person cannot afford to hire a lawyer at market rates.

Lawyers who have seen the contract, which took effect May 1, said it allows Legal Aid to terminate lawyers without notice or cause.

Simon Renouf, a defence lawyer in practice for 30 years, said he knows of between 40 and 50 Alberta lawyers who have refused to sign the agreement. He said the result will be fewer experienced lawyers able to defend needy clients.

A spokesperson for Legal Aid, however, said there would be no change in service if lawyers do walk away from the roster. Meanwhile the organization announced plans to “modernize” its fee framework for the first time in years.

“There’s going to be a trickle-down effect, in that more serious cases will go to more junior lawyers, because of Legal Aid’s unwillingness to negotiate with senior members of the bar,” Renouf said, adding the process left some lawyers feeling “that we were not being respected by Legal Aid.”
‘In the best interest’

Founded in 1973, Legal Aid is an non-profit organization funded by the federal and provincial governments, as well as interest from lawyers’ trust accounts. The organization is independent from government but answers to the minister of justice and the Law Society of Alberta.

It is different from a U.S.-style public defender system, in which the government directly employs defence lawyers.

Renouf said senior lawyers take on legal aid clients out of a sense of duty or because the case interests them. For new lawyers, legal aid cases are a steady source of work that can help raise their profile.

Deborah Hatch, an Edmonton defence lawyer, said the defence bar first learned of the new contract last spring. In December, Hatch and a dozen other senior defence lawyers sent a letter to Legal Aid suggesting changes to some of the language.

“The response we received back indicated that no terms would be negotiated and we’ll be sorry to see you go if you choose not to sign it,” she said

The provision allowing for causeless firing “is an appalling way to treat human beings,” she said. “I’ve never seen any kind of contract that would have that kind of a term in it.”

Andy Gregory, a spokesperson for Legal Aid, defended the new agreement.

“It’s been over a year, we consulted with and got support from leadership in the criminal and family bar … and we’re confident it’s in the best interest of the legal aid system and disadvantaged Albertans,” she said in an email.

Other defence lawyers who declined to sign the contract include Rory Ziv and Tom Engel — who said two other lawyers in his firm initially signed the contract but later withdrew over concerns with the new terms.

Legal Aid promises fee structure reform — but new funding up in air

On Thursday — days after new funding was announced for judges and Crown prosecutors — Legal Aid announced plans to simplify its fee tariff structure to ease “administrative burdens.”

It stopped short of committing to new funding, which is in the hands of the provincial government.

Ministry of Justice press secretary Joseph Dow said with the review underway, “it is too early to determine the final outcome.”

“We look forward to Legal Aid Alberta’s findings, which are expected this fall.”

Danielle Boisvert, president of the Criminal Trial Lawyers’ Association, hopes the overhaul will not only simplify the system, but increase the base pay for legal aid lawyers, “similar to what Crown prosecutors just received.” The Legal Aid tariff rate currently sits at $92.40, which critics say barely covers the costs of running an office.

Boisvert, who signed the new contract, said the CTLA debated the issue but ultimately took no position. She said going forward, the organization will focus on improving the fee structure, while acknowledging the concerns some lawyers have.

“We absolutely respect that there is a group of lawyers who wish to express their disappointment with the contract publicly,” she said.

Gregory said the organization’s roster sat at around 1,200 lawyers both before and after the May 1 contract. She said it was not possible to say how many lawyers left the roster since the agreement because new lawyers have been added and others who no longer practise have been removed.

She said the Legal Aid roster “grows by the week” and that 50 new lawyers have signed on in 2022.

“There’s absolutely no concern … that we would have any issues getting a lawyer for a client,” she said.

FUDDLE DUDDLE REDUX

Trudeau Is Accused Of Dropping An

 'F-Bomb' In Parliament & He Had The Sassiest Response

Helena Hanson - Yesterday
Narcity


Did Justin Trudeau swear in Parliament? That's the question on a lot of people's lips after the prime minister was accused of dropping an "F-bomb" during a heated exchange on Wednesday.

According to some Conservative Party members, Trudeau used a "six-letter F-word" during a heated exchange in the House of Commons on May 4.

Conservative House leader John Brassard described the alleged expletive as an "unparliamentary term" and said, "it wasn't fuddle-duddle."

He said that everybody who was in the two rows across from Trudeau heard him use the term.

Brassard said that the PM was being asked about military aircraft flying over Ottawa during the Freedom Convoy when he used the "F-bomb."

Trudeau responded that the question was "dangerously close to misinformation and disinformation designed to gin up fears and conspiracy theories," per Global News.

Speaking to reporters, Brassard went on to say that the prime minister has "shown this type of emotion in the past."

He referenced a time in 2011 when Trudeau (who was a Liberal MP in opposition at the time) called then-environment minister Peter Kent a "piece of sh*t" during another heated debate.

In response, after being asked about what happened by reporters, Trudeau channelled his father.

"What is the nature of your thoughts, gentlemen, when you move your lips in a particular way?" he said as he left the House of Commons.

It's similar to what his father — former PM Pierre Trudeau — said in 1971 when he himself was accused of mouthing a four-letter obscenity at the opposition benches.

At the time, he'd said, "What is the nature of your thoughts, gentlemen, when you say fuddle-duddle or something like that?"

According to reports, the Speaker has been formally asked to review whether unparliamentary language was used on Wednesday.

It was a chaotic question period overall, with shouting from both sides drowning out the Speaker on several occasions and MPs being warned that they "did cross a couple of lines."

In response to the drama, former Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Canada Catherine McKenna tweeted, "It has to be said that the atmosphere in the House of Commons [especially] during Question Period is too often appalling. Shouting, mocking, bullying, cheap antics."

She added, "It's a dysfunctional work place. And embarrassing for kids to watch. It needs to be fixed if we want good people to run."

Narcity has reached out to Justin Trudeau's office and the Conservative Party for comment.

This article’s cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.

THE CHAIR RULED THE HOUSE WAS TOO NOISY FOR HIM TO HEAR WHAT WAS SAID SUFFICE IT TO SAY HE REMINDED HOUSE MEMBERS OF THE PROPER DECORUM BY WHICH TO CONDUCT THEMSELVES WITH OUT USING OFFENSIVE OR UNPARLIAMENTARY LANGUAGE.

Xinjiang cotton found in Adidas, Puma and Hugo Boss tops, researchers say

Philip Oltermann 

in Berlin - Yesterday 

The Guardian


Researchers say they have found traces of Xinjiang cotton in shirts and T-shirts made by Adidas, Puma and Hugo Boss, appearing to contradict the German clothing companies’ promises to revise their supply chains after allegations of widespread forced labour in the Chinese region.

Recent reports have suggested more than half a million people from minority ethnic groups such as the Uyghurs have been coerced into picking cotton in Xinjiang, which provides more than 80% of China’s and a fifth of the global production of cotton.

The US banned cotton imports from the autonomous region in north-west China last year, a move also debated in the European parliament but not enacted by the European Commission. Nonetheless, several large western clothes brands and fashion brands vowed to no longer use Xinjiang cotton in the light of the revelations.

Hugo Boss said that as of October 2021 its new collections “have been verified in line with our global standards again”, and that it “does not tolerate forced labour”. Puma stated in 2020 it had “no direct or indirect business relationship with any manufacturer in Xinjiang”, while Adidas said the same year it had no contractual relationship with any Xinjiang supplier but had instructed its fabric suppliers not to source yarn from the region in the wake of reports about human rights violations.

However, researchers at the Agroisolab in Jülich and the Hochschule Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, both in western Germany, say an isotope analysis has found traces of Xinjiang cotton in Puma and Adidas T-shirts, shirts by Hugo Boss and the German outdoor wear brand Jack Wolfskin, and a pullover by the fashion company Tom Tailor.

“The isotopic fingerprints in the cotton are unambiguous and can be differentiated from cotton sourced from other countries and even other Chinese regions,” Markus Boner of Agroisolab told the German public broadcaster NDR’s investigative programme STRG_F.

Isotope analysis is usually used by archaeologists or forensic scientists to trace the geographic origin of organic or non-organic substances.

The five German clothes brands have been contacted by the Guardian for a response to the findings, which STRG_F said it would share with the companies.

A spokesperson for Puma told the Guardian that “we strongly insist on the fact and reconfirm that Puma does not source any cotton from the Xinjiang region. We do reiterate that we do not have any relations – direct or indirect - with any cotton supplier in the Xinjiang region.

“Based on all the information we obtained through our investigations, and the traceability controls we put in place in our supply chain, we are confident that we do not source cotton from the Xinjiang region.”

A spokesperson for Adidas said the company “sources cotton exclusively from other countries and takes a variety of measures to ensure fair and safe working conditions in its supply chain”.

Asked by STRG_F’s researchers in advance of publication whether they could rule out that Xinjiang cotton was used in their products, Hugo Boss said it did not tolerate forced labour in its supply chains.

Jack Wolfskin did not directly answer a question about the use of Xinjiang cotton in its supply chain but said its cotton was certified. Tom Tailor did not reply to queries from the programme.

Speaking anonymously, one auditor investigating Chinese subcontractors told STRG_F it was practically impossible for western companies to thoroughly shed a light on their own supply chains as their access in China was restricted by the communist government of Xi Jinping.

“It is theoretically possible but highly unlikely that western businesses can say with certainty that there is no forced labour in their cotton supply chains in Xinjiang,” the auditor said.

Vast amount of water discovered hidden beneath Antarctica


By Katie Hunt, CNN - Yesterday
© Kerry Key, Columbia University


Hidden deep below the ice sheet that covers Antarctica, scientists have discovered a massive amount of water.

The groundwater system, found in deep sediments in West Antarctica likely to be the consistency of a wet sponge, reveals an unexplored part of the region and may have implications for how the frozen continent reacts to the climate crisis, according to new research.

"People have hypothesized that there could be deep groundwater in these sediments, but up to now, no one has done any detailed imaging," said the study's lead author, Chloe Gustafson, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, in a news statement.

"Antarctica contains 57 meters (187 feet) of sea level rise potential, so we want to make sure we are incorporating all of the processes that control how ice flows off of the continent and into the oceans. Groundwater is currently a missing process in our models of ice flow," she added via email.

The ice cap that covers Antarctica isn't a rigid whole. Researchers in Antarctica have discovered in recent years hundreds of interconnected liquid lakes and rivers cradled within the ice itself. But this is the first time the presence of large amounts of liquid water in below-ice sediments has been found.

The authors of this study, which published in the journal Science on Thursday, concentrated on the 60-mile-wide (96.6-kilometer-wide) Whillans Ice Stream, one of a half-dozen streams feeding the Ross Ice Shelf, the world's largest, at about the size of Canada's Yukon Territory.

Gustafson and her colleagues spent six weeks in 2018 mapping the sediments beneath the ice. The research team used geophysical instruments placed directly on the surface to execute a technique called magnetotelluric imaging.

The technique can detect the differing degrees of electromagnetic energy conducted by ice, sediment, bedrock fresh water and salt water and create a map from these different sources of information.

"We imaged from the ice bed to about five kilometers (3.1 miles) and even deeper," said coauthor Kerry Key, an associate professor of earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University, in a separate statement.

The researchers calculated that if they could squeeze the groundwater from the sediments in the 100 square kilometers (38.6 square miles) they mapped onto the surface, it would form a lake that ranged from 220 to 820 meters (722 to 2,690 feet) deep.

"The Empire State Building up to the antenna is about 420 meters (1,378 feet) tall," Gustafson, who did the research as a graduate student at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, said in the statement.

"At the shallow end, our water would go up the Empire State Building about halfway. At the deepest end, it's almost two Empire State Buildings stacked on top of each other. This is significant because subglacial lakes in this area are two to 15 meters (6.6 to 49 feet) deep. That's like one to four stories of the Empire State Building."
How did it get there?

The mapping revealed that the water got saltier with depth, which was a result of how the groundwater system formed.

Ocean water likely reached the area during a warm period 5,000 to 7,000 years ago, saturating the sediment with salty seawater. When the ice advanced, fresh meltwater produced by pressure from above and friction at the ice base was forced into the upper sediments. It probably continues to filter down and mix into the groundwater today, Key said.

The researchers said more work needed to be done understand the implications of the groundwater discovery, particularly in relation to climate crisis and rising sea levels.

It was possible that the slow draining of water from the ice into the sediment could prevent water from building up at the base of the ice -- acting as a brake for the ice's forward motion toward the sea.

However, if the surface ice cap were to thin, the reduction in pressure could allow this deep water to well up. This upward movement would lubricate the base of the ice and accelerate its flow.

"This finding highlights groundwater hydrology as a potentially critical piece in understanding the effect of water flow on Antarctic ice sheet dynamics," Winnie Chu, an assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, wrote in a commentary on the research that was published in Science. She was not involved in the study.


© Kerry Key, Columbia University

The team check the data from a magnetotelluric station 

they used to map beneath the ice sheet.


© Kerry Key, Columbia University

The team of researchers spent six weeks in Antarctica.

CANADA

Hauling freight trains with electric locomotives is now starting to happen

Emily Chung

 Yesterday 
cbc.ca

Canada's railway giants, CN and CP, are testing battery and hydrogen locomotives in a move toward electric, zero-emissions freight rail. At least one smaller railway, Southern Railway of B.C., is working on hydrogen locomotive technology too. Here's a look at why they're electrifying and the technologies they're testing.

Though the transportation sector is the second-biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions after oil and gas, the Railway Association of Canada says rail generates only 3.5 per cent of transportation emissions.

Still, said Josipa Petrunic, president and CEO of the Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium, given Canada's ambitious greenhouse gas emissions targets, even those need to be eliminated. Rail companies are now facing pressure from both governments and shareholders to reduce emissions, she said, especially now that the price on carbon is expected to ratchet up over time — and, with it, the price of diesel that powers Canadian trains.

"They know they've got to cut this cost before it starts hitting their bottom line," said Petrunic, who co-authored a 2020 report on rail innovation in Canada.

Gord Lovegrove, associate professor of civil engineering at the University of British Columbia Okanagan, agreed that there is increased shareholder pressure on railways to address climate change.

"And that's why [electrification] is happening in advance of any federal regulation," he said.

But he noted that diesel-burning trains also generate a lot of other pollutants that are bad for human health. These include nitrogen oxides, fine particulate matter, as well as sulphur dioxide linked to acid rain.


© Mark Blinch/ReutersTrains are seen in the yard at the at the CN Rail Brampton Intermodal Terminal in Ontario 2019. Electrification has been touted as a solution to the noise and pollution from train yards in urban areas.

In urban areas, these pollutants and the noise generated by locomotives can be a huge nuisance near switching yards, which is where rail cars are stored, loaded, unloaded and hitched together. The small switcher locomotives that move cars around in those rail yards represent just a fraction of Canada's locomotive fleet, Lovegrove said, but can generate double or triple the emissions of a long-haul locomotive engine.

The B.C. government has started to charge fines for older, more polluting locomotives, he said. But it has promised to return the last three years of fines back to Southern Railway of B.C., if it retrofits its locomotives to include zero-emission technology.

"So not only are they realizing reduced fuel costs, reduced public complaints [but] they're getting money back to fund their business case," Lovegrove said.

In the longer term, given climate and pollution concerns, he said, rail companies need to electrify "because diesel is going to be regulated out of existence."

CN Rail, headquartered in Montreal, announced in November that it had purchased a Wabtec FLXdrive battery-electric heavy-haul freight locomotive. The company has set a target of reducing its greenhouse gas emission intensity by 29 per cent by 2030 compared to 2015 — and achieving net zero by 2050.

Janet Drysdale, CN Rail's vice-president of sustainability, said 85 per cent of the company's emissions are produced by its diesel-powered locomotives.

"So solving this locomotive issue is really critical for us."

The plan is to test it on a small, isolated piece of track near Wabtec's headquarters in Erie, Penn. The company has received funding from that state for the pilot.

This particular locomotive was tested in California in 2021. But Drysdale said because CN operates in Canada, one of the things that needs to be tested is how the battery is affected by cold.

Battery-electric locomotives have been tested in train yards, but the CN/Wabtec pilot will also do tests pulling freight on the main line.

CN said the electric locomotive, which will operate along with up to six other locomotives, could reduce emissions by up to 30 per cent on routes where the topography allows it to partially recharge the battery with regenerative braking. Regenerative braking recovers some of the energy used to slow down the vehicle and turns it into electricity.

In the future, Gina Trombley, executive vice-president and chief commercial officer for Wabtec, said the companies expect most of the recharging to happen via overhead catenary wires and pantographs, similar to those used by streetcars, during low-speed loading at locations such as grain terminals.

"In order to fully operationalize fully electric locomotives, you're going to have to find a way to charge on the move," she added.

Trombley said the CN project is still at the design stage, but the two companies think they'll have the locomotive running in the second half of 2023.

Calgary-based Canadian Pacific announced in December 2020 that it planned to develop North America's first hydrogen-powered line-haul freight locomotive. Nearly a year later, it said it was expanding the program from one to three locomotives after receiving a $15-million grant from the Alberta government. The fuel cells for the first locomotive were delivered by Vancouver-based Ballard Power Systems in January. Structures and logistics company ATCO Group announced this week that it had reached a deal to build two hydrogen production and refuelling stations, one in each of CP's rail yards in Calgary and Edmonton.

CP declined to be interviewed for this article, but in an interview on Ballard's website posted in September, Kyle Mulligan, chief engineer at CP, said initial trials are expected to run between Calgary and Lethbridge.

Kate Charlton, vice-president of investor relations at Ballard, said the company's fuel cells are already running passenger trams in China and being tested for passenger rail with Siemens in Germany. But ones required to haul freight are roughly double the size.

However, she said the fuel cells are similar in size to the diesel engine currently used to power the train's electric powertrain.

"So they basically pull the diesel engine out and replace it with a fuel cell," Charlton said.

She added that fuelling times should be similar.

Mulligan told Ballard that CP plans to roll out hydrogen fuelling infrastructure "coinciding with our existing diesel fuelling operation locations."

Charlton, who works closely with CP, said the company expects the hydrogen locomotives to be running in 2023.

Meanwhile, New Westminster-based Southern Railway of B.C., a short line railway, announced last year that it was converting one of its switcher locomotives from diesel-electric to hydrogen-electric, in partnership with fuel cell maker Loop Energy and hydrogen storage firm Hydrogen in Motion. The locomotive has been dubbed the "Green Goat." Lovegrove and his group are involved in the research and development for that project.

Lovegrove said the fuel cells and batteries are coming this summer and fall, and the system will be tested over the next year or two.

There are operational reasons why CP and CN think their projects make sense. For example, CN says it has an ideal testing ground near Wabtec's headquarters in Pennsylvania, and that state is providing some financial support.

CP's Mulligan said that the company chose hydrogen because "battery electric requires recharging that can take time that — from our current operation, which is diesel powered — we don't necessarily have a provision for," according to the Ballard interview.

However, it can roll out hydrogen fuelling at its Ogden solar farm, and there are natural gas refineries in the Edmonton area that can produce hydrogen.

Drysdale said there are only a small group of railways and suppliers in the industry. "So what we want to avoid is us all testing the same things, right?"

Across North America, different rail companies are testing different technologies for different applications and in different local conditions.

"All of this work ultimately is going to benefit all of us," Drysdale said.

Lovegrove said batteries "will be a constant throughout" — whether they're charged by hydrogen fuel cells or some other method.

However, he thinks hydrogen will be a key technology when hauling heavy loads over long distances.

Petrunic said she expects there to be a mix of battery-electric and hydrogen-electric locomotives.

"There's going to be those switch yard locomotives and several regional rail routes that may make sense mostly with battery alone," she said, "and then others where hydrogen is going to have to be the solution because [of] not only the range, but the availability of fuel."

She called both CN's and CP's projects "baby steps in the right direction."

"But," she added, "these baby steps are going to basically end there unless there is a very significant effort to build out both the electrical capacity across the country for this, as well as the hydrogen supply chain."

NAT GAS BLUE H2

ATCO to deliver on hydrogen production and refuelling facilities for CP locomotive program

Canadian Pacific Railway’s Hydrogen Locomotive Program is about to get a power boost.


© Provided by Calgary HeraldATCO Group has plans to build two new Hydrogen production and fuelling stations in Alberta for Canadian pacific Railway.

Josh Aldrich  

Yesterday 
Calgary Herald

ATCO Group announced Wednesday an agreement with the railway to build two hydrogen production and refuelling facilities in Alberta — one each in Edmonton and Calgary.

The project will not produce any carbon emissions from either the locomotive or at the point of production.

“We don’t talk about CO2 reduction because there is no CO2,” Bob Myles, executive vice-president for corporate development for ATCO, said in an interview with Postmedia.

CP began its Hydrogen Locomotive Program in December in an effort to lower its carbon footprint, using hydrogen fuel in place of diesel. The company currently has one locomotive running on hydrogen with another two in the works.

CP chief financial officer Nadeem Velani said at an investor conference in March that the Calgary-based program is still in the testing phase but the first hydrogen-powered line in North America pulling freight will soon be a reality.

“It’s still early days, but it’s moving on its own,” he said. “We did a test run. We think by the end of the year we could have a revenue service move with the hydrogen locomotive.”

The hydrogen will be created using water as opposed to natural gas, which often comes with some form of carbon capture utilization and storage component.

There may still be some carbon footprint from the operation of the two facilities, depending on the source of electricity. The Calgary facility will be powered in part by CP’s existing five megawatt solar power facility co-located at CP’s headquarters.

“The Calgary and Edmonton fuelling stations will be essential to bringing zero-emissions hydrogen locomotive propulsion into reality as part of CP’s commitment to sustainable and responsible operations,” Kyle Mulligan, CP assistant vice-president of operations technology, said in a news release.

CP is receiving $15 million through Emissions Reduction Alberta for the program.

Construction is expected to begin later this year, with production and supply of hydrogen to begin in 2023.

This is the tip of the iceberg for ATCO, which has invested heavily in hydrogen for four different applications. This includes blending hydrogen into natural gas distribution for utilities, industrial applications such as the recent partnership with Suncor to reduce emissions, heavy-haul transport through trucks and rail, and for exporting.

“We are strong believers in the future of hydrogen,” said Myles.

Last week, Premier Jason Kenney announced $50 million in provincial funds for a Clean Hydrogen Centre of Excellence while the private sector has made billions of dollars worth of investments into the sector in the past 12 months. Meanwhile, Suncor recently announced its intentions to divest its interests in other renewable energies to focus on hydrogen in its path to net-zero.

jaldrich@postmedia.com
Twitter: @JoshAldrich03