Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s risky double game

Turkish president’s closer co-operation with Moscow could trigger retaliation from the US

DMN

20 hr ago

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine opened an opportunity for Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to play statesman and powerbroker. The Turkish president deserves credit for brokering a deal with Kyiv and Moscow that has allowed grain shipments to resume from Ukrainian ports. But he has been careful to safeguard important economic ties with Moscow. After his cosy-seeming four-hour meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin last Friday, western capitals worry Erdoğan is deepening links with Moscow when its Nato partners are doing the opposite, and the Kremlin is looking for ways to bypass western sanctions. The Turkish leader is playing a complex but risky game.

Erdoğan has had a bumpy relationship with Putin, a fellow strongman and geopolitical rival, notably over their differing priorities in the Syrian conflict. In Ukraine, Ankara courted Moscow’s wrath by providing Bayraktar attack drones to Kyiv’s forces. But Turkey has not adopted US and EU sanctions on Moscow, is buying Russian oil and gas as normal, and has kept its skies open to Russia’s commercial planes — keen to hold on to the lucrative Russian tourist trade, which it lost in 2015 after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter over Syria.

Exactly what Erdoğan and Putin agreed in Sochi remains unclear. A joint statement talked of increasing trade and energy ties and deeper collaboration in sectors including transport, industry, finance and construction. A Russian deputy prime minister said Turkey would begin paying for gas partially in roubles.

Turkey’s president was later quoted as saying five Turkish banks would adopt Russia’s Mir payments system — a boon for Russian tourists in Turkey after Visa and Mastercard suspended Russian operations. Western capitals worry the Mir link could also be used to skirt sanctions, though there was no evidence Erdoğan had accepted supposed Russian proposals, leaked by Ukrainian intelligence, for deeper banking and energy co-operation that might help Moscow evade western restrictions.

Erdoğan has good reason to woo Russian financial inflows as he tries to win re-election next year amid an escalating debt and currency crisis, caused largely by his own economic mismanagement. Inflation hit a 24-year high of 79.6 per cent in July and the lira has halved in value against the dollar over 12 months. Despite Turkey’s Nato membership, it has no legal obligation to impose US and EU sanctions against Russia.

Any deepening of economic ties with Moscow, however, is likely to inflame frictions with the west when Turkey is already dragging its feet over Sweden and Finland’s Nato membership. Erdogan’s position also provides a test of the western alliance’s ability to make sanctions stick globally. Failure to prevent sanctions leakage via Turkey would make it all the more difficult to restrain other emerging markets such as China — which has so far been cautious about providing help to Russia.

One senior official has suggested western countries might call on companies and banks to pull out of Turkey if Erdoğan follows through with the intentions he signalled on Friday. But Turkey is simply too important geopolitically and for western businesses. Europe frets over Ankara’s ability to flood the continent with the 3.7mn refugees from Syria and elsewhere that Turkey is hosting.

Yet the US has imposed punitive measures on Turkey before — for example, over its purchase of a Russian air defence system — and secondary US sanctions are a risk. Though these would have to be calibrated to avoid creating a domestic backlash that Erdoğan could exploit, they could still do damage that would offset the benefits of co-operation with Moscow. In his game of geostrategic poker, Erdoğan should be wary of overplaying his hand.

Brazil's Bolsonaro pledges privatizations if re-elected; mum on Petrobras


 Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro speaks in Sao Paulo

Wed, August 10, 2022 at 5:02 PM·2 min read

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro did not mention privatizing state-controlled oil company Petrobras in his re-election plan released on Wednesday that promises to continue pursuing policies that reduce the size of the state.

"The government ... will proceed with reordering the state's role in the economy, through privatization and divestment of state-owned companies, to focus on state participation in essential activities and in promoting Brazil's economic, social and sustainable development," the plan said.

The document contrasts with his 2018 election plan that dedicated specific pages to Petrobras. The company was not even mentioned this time, despite Mines and Energy Ministry Adolfo Sachsida requesting its privatization be studied.

Bolsonaro's 2018 plan defended Petrobras' policy of pegging domestic fuel prices to international rates, but with hedging mechanisms that smoothed out short-term fluctuations. According to the document, the company should also sell a "substantial" portion of its refining, retail and transportation units.

Leftist former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose lead in the polls has been narrowing in the run-up to Brazil's October election, has spoken often his opposition to privatizing Petrobras. His advisers also recommended bolstering Petrobras' refining capacity, including through the reversal of refinery privatizations.

The presidential palace declined to comment and directed requests to Bolsonaro's Liberal Party (PL), which did not immediately respond.

Bolsonaro has become a vocal critic of Petrobras as fuel prices have risen, pushing Brazil's inflation rate into double digits. His complaints have decreased recently, after the company decided to lower fuel prices as oil prices have dropped.

Petrobras, whose president was replaced twice by Bolsonaro this year alone, also announced a leading industry dividend payout, which will boost the Treasury's fiscal result for this year.

In his new plan, Bolsonaro promised to maintain a monthly cash handout of 600 reais ($117.77) under Auxilio Brasil, a welfare program for the poorest families. He also restated a plan to increase income tax exemptions.

The document reaffirms the government's commitment to fiscal sustainability without mentioning how it intends to increase expenditures under a constitutionally mandated spending cap.

According to the plan, a second Bolsonaro term would proceed with plans to simplify the tax regime, lower taxes for companies and reduce import tariffs to foster trade.

($1 = 5.0947 reais)

(Reporting by Marcela Ayres; Editing by David Gregorio)

U$ Taxpayers are owed more than $1 billion related to the student loan program — but not from borrowers

Jillian Berman - Yesterday

After a hiatus for parental leave, I’m back and digging into who pays for schools’ alleged misconduct.

The debate over expanding the benefits of the student loan program, including canceling loans, is often framed as a battle between taxpayers and borrowers. Provide help to borrowers, critics allege, and other Americans, who didn’t go to college or who already paid off their debt, will be on the hook.

But in many cases, there’s actually another entity that could pay for borrowers’ relief, advocates argue. The problem, they say, is that those entities almost never do.

As of January 31 of this year, higher education institutions owed roughly $1.375 billion to the Department of Education, according to a report released Wednesday by the National Legal Student Defense Network, an organization founded by former Department of Education officials that does litigation and advocacy on behalf of student loan borrowers.

That figure is up about $174 million from last year, when Student Defense first released a report tracking funds owed by institutions to the Department based on government records. The reasons the Department assessed liabilities against the schools varied; some may have closed and so the agency had to discharge the money enrolled students borrowed to attend, others perhaps overdrew from the government’s coffers or applied loan money to an ineligible student.

But regardless of the reason the Department assessed a liability against a school, the reports uncovered little evidence indicating the agency would get the money back. As of February 2021, schools had repaid just $50 million of outstanding debt owed to the government, according to last year’s report, and the Department of Education does not appear to be trying to collect from the schools or the people that own them. That’s even though Department officials have the authority to do so, according to the report.

The Department of Education did not immediately provide a comment on the report.

The $1.375 billion figure doesn’t account for the nearly $8 billion in loans the Biden Administration has discharged over the past several months for students who were scammed by their schools, the report notes. That relief came largely through a process known as borrower defense, which allows the government to cancel borrowers’ federal debt if their schools have been found to engage in wrongdoing. The Student Defense investigation didn’t find any instances where the Department assessed a liability — part of the process required to attempt to collect the funds — against the schools whose former students have had their loans wiped out.

When the government fails to pursue schools and executives for these funds, taxpayers wind up on the hook for schools’ misconduct and there’s little to deter school leaders from repeating the behavior, said Aaron Ament, president of Student Defense.

“If they know they’re not going to be held liable, you’re very likely to see them as repeat offenders, whether it’s the same company or moving onto another entity,” he said. And in some cases, institutions are still participating in the federal financial aid program and “drawing down millions of dollars in federal funds and enrolling students while their liabilities go uncollected,” he added.

Nicholas Kent, the chief policy officer for Career Education Colleges and Universities, an association representing for-profit colleges, said it was “inaccurate” that the Department isn’t moving to collect on liabilities owed to it. He noted that, for example, a school may be using a payment plan to repay the debt and therefore the institution’s progress on paying down the liability wouldn’t be reflected in the data.

Part of the challenge of understanding the true extent of the funds owed to the Department is its “slipshod record keeping,” Student Defense argued in the report. Both this year’s and last year’s reports are based on Department records. After publishing its initial investigation last year, which included a list of schools the Department had assessed liabilities against, the group became aware of at least one for-profit college complaining that they had actually repaid or were on a payment plan for the liabilities they owed to the Department even though they were still listed as owing that money. They also found evidence indicating last year’s report undercounted the funds owed to the Department by some schools.Findings come amid evidence schools and owners face few consequences

The findings come amid evidence that institutions and their owners face few consequences when their schools crumble, even as students have to contend with the financial and educational fallout and taxpayers are on the hook. Some of the most prominent examples of this dynamic include Corinthian Colleges and ITT Tech, which collapsed in 2015 and 2016 respectively, resulting in billions of dollars in discharged debt for borrowers.

Because the companies had filed for bankruptcy by the time the Department wiped out the loans and the government was treated like an unsecured creditor, there was little money available for the Department to pursue to pay for the costs of the discharge. It’s these scenarios in which the agency should be going after executives and owners for the funds, Student Defense and other advocates argue.

“The best way to protect taxpayers is to not have institutions perpetuating these kinds of mass frauds that we’ve seen,” said Kyle Southern, the associate vice president at the Institute for College Access and Success, a research and advocacy organization. “That’s why the deterrent effect of these regulations and actually using the muscle and the tools at the Department’s disposal should create an environment where folks are on notice.”

MarketWatch reported last year on a college chain that collapsed, leaving students and taxpayers in the lurch, while the owners of the chain turned to receivership — a process similar to bankruptcy — to wind down its operations and asked the judge overseeing the case to shield them from liability. As part of the same series we highlighted executives who continued to lead institutions participating in the financial aid program even after overseeing schools that had been accused of wrongdoing during their tenure.

Over the past few years, advocates and lawmakers pushed the Department of Education to hold executives liable when mismanagement of their schools cost taxpayers. U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, a Virginia Democrat and the chair of the House Committee on Education and Labor, wrote to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona last year, saying “it is clear the Department has a responsibility to pursue any and all legal avenues available to recoup money that was allocated through financial aid programs.” Officials have said they’re interested in holding executives liable

Department of Education officials have indicated that they’re interested in holding executives liable.

Richard Cordray, the chief operating officer of the Office of Federal Student Aid, told Scott in October that he thought his letter was “a good bit of a kick in the behind for us to make sure that we’re moving down the road on this.”

“We have that letter from you,” Cordray said during the Congressional hearing. “I heard you loud and clear on that. We see eye-to-eye on this, we absolutely agree, more needs to be done to prevent people from abusing these student aid programs, from cheating taxpayers, from cheating students.”

Earlier this year, James Kvaal, the under secretary of education, told reporters that the Department planned to try and recover the $71.7 million in student loans the agency discharged for former students of DeVry University from the school’s parent company, Cogswell Education. The discharges were based on Department findings indicating that between 2008 and 2015 the school advertised a 90% job placement rate, when the school’s actual rate was 58%. DeVry officials have said that the Department “mischaracterized DeVry’s calculation and disclosure of graduate outcomes in certain advertising.”

“There will be liabilities for the current owners of these schools to deter wrongdoing not just at DeVry but everywhere that it might otherwise occur,” Kvaal said in February.

Still, the report didn’t uncover any evidence that the Department is trying to get that money back. (DeVry did not respond immediately to a request for comment on the report.) DeVry is still part of the federal student aid program, meaning the school continues to draw money from government coffers on behalf of students. That’s likely true of dozens of other schools where former students could or already have had their debt discharged. ‘The luckiest guy in the room’

In addition to the $8 billion highlighted in the report, hundreds of thousands of borrowers who say they were scammed by their schools are poised to receive at least $6 billion in debt relief after years of waiting.

Earlier this year the Department agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of student loan borrowers who had submitted borrower defense claims and accused agency officials of stalling in their decision about whether they would discharge the debt. Under the agreement, which received preliminary approval from the court earlier this month, about 200,000 borrowers, or the bulk of the class, would have their debt automatically wiped away.

The Department determined that these borrowers are justified relief under the deal because they attended one of 153 schools where there is a “strong indicia regarding substantial misconduct,” according to the settlement agreement filed with the court. But the colleges won’t have to pay taxpayers back for the loans the Department will likely cancel as part of the agreement on behalf of the colleges’ former students.

Some of the colleges on the list have moved to intervene in the settlement, arguing that, among other things, the deal would harm the reputation of the schools on the list without giving them a chance to plead their case.

“We believe that if a school acted improperly, they lied to their students, they defrauded their students, there was a misrepresentation and the student was financially harmed, the institutions — after they’ve received their appropriate due process — should be held liable for the amounts discharged,” Kent said. “The Department, under this administration, has heavily weighted the due process rights of students while forgoing them for institutions,” he added, arguing that the settlement is an example of this dynamic.

Lawyers representing the government and the borrowers have said the schools don’t have an interest in the settlement that’s protected by law. “They are seeking simply to disrupt the orderly process for approval of a settlement they do not like—one which they cannot modify, are not entitled to negotiate, and do not have standing to block,” lawyers representing the former wrote in documents opposing the motion to intervene.

William Alsup, the federal court judge overseeing the case, indicated that he would grant the schools permissive intervention to “keep the system honest” by allowing him to hear arguments opposing the settlement. But he also highlighted the schools’ ability to walk away from the discharges the government would grant on behalf of the institutions’ former students without being held financially liable.

“The thing that bothers me about your position: You’re the luckiest guy in the room,” Alsup told one of the lawyers representing a school requesting to intervene. “You’ve already gotten the money and you don’t have to pay it back. You get the money and can go to Hawaii on a vacation, the school can give its people big time raises, and pay big-time lawyers to come in. And you’ve already gotten the money and there’s no way they can take that money back from you except through a recoupment action.”

The question of whether to hold schools and executives financially liable for alleged wrongdoing — and often the loan discharges that come with it — comes amid debate over more broad-based student debt cancellation.

The government has paused federal student loan payments and interest through August 31, but Democratic lawmakers are pushing the Biden Administration to extend the freeze. The administration is reportedly contemplating providing up to $10,000 in student loan relief per borrower and limiting the relief to those making under a certain income cutoff. Advocates and lawmakers have pushed for more.

As the debate rages on and borrowers wait for an answer, Wednesday’s report indicates that there may be some out there who are receiving debt forgiveness through inaction — those schools and executives who are on the hook to the Department for more than $1 billion.

 Biden is drawing closer to a decision on student-debt forgiveness. Here's everything he's done so far to address the $1.7 trillion crisis. (INSIDER)



Biden is drawing closer to a decision on student-debt forgiveness. Here's everything he's done so far to address the $1.7 trillion crisis.

Since Biden took office, he's taken a number of actions to address the $1.7 trillion student-debt crisis.
They include cancelling debt for borrowers with disabilities and extending the payment pause on loans.
Democrats are pushing for him to cancel $50,000 in student debt per person, which the DOJ is reviewing.

Forty-five million Americans have a $1.7 trillion student-debt burden in the country. And many of them, alongside Democrats and advocates, want President Joe Biden to forgive $50,000 of their debt.

He hasn't done that yet, but the president has taken steps to lessen the burden and provide relief during the pandemic.

As one of his first actions in office, Biden extended the pause on student-loan payments, coupled with zero growth in interest, to ensure borrowers suffering financially would not have to worry about paying off their loans.

Since then, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona has cancelled billions in student debt for borrowers with disabilities and borrowers defrauded by for-profit schools. He's also started conducting reviews of student loan forgiveness programs that don't work as they should.

But Democrats want Biden to do more.

They have been keeping the pressure on the president to cancel $50,000 in student debt per person using his executive authority. Biden has expressed hesitancy to do so, and although he has asked the Education and Justice Departments to review his executive abilities to wipe out that debt, Democrats remain adamant that he can, and should, cancel student debt immediately with the flick of a pen.

"Student loan cancellation could occur today," Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren told Insider. "The president just needs to sign a piece of paper canceling that debt. It doesn't take any act of Congress or any amendment to the budget."

Detailed below is everything Biden has done to date to confront the student debt crisis:
Read the original article on Insider

EPA identifies potential cancer-causing air pollutant at South Memphis sterilization facility


Lucas Finton, Memphis Commercial Appeal
Wed, August 10, 2022 at 8:24 AM·5 min read

The EPA has estimated the range for households that have an increased lifetime cancer risk for ethylene oxide.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced plans to speak with residents of South Memphis and more than 20 other communities that the agency believes are at an increased risk for exposure from a cancer-causing compound.

The compound, ethylene oxide, known as EtO, can be used to make plastic bottles, antifreeze, and in medical sterilization. The Food and Drug Administration has said the compound is currently used to treat about 50% of medical sterilizations.

South Memphis is one of the communities on the EPA’s list, which was based on the organization’s risk assessment. The list, comprising 23 communities, include those at a lifetime cancer risk of 100 in 1 million, meaning if 1 million people lived in the area of the commercial sterilization facility for 70 years and were exposed to the measured levels of EtO for 24 hours a day, 100 people would develop cancer.

Those living in the immediate area face a significantly higher rate at 2,000 in 1 million.
How you can be exposed to EtO

Exposure to EtO usually occurs through the air and short-term, or acute, effects are not common according to the EPA. However, acute exposure could result in headaches, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, coughing, shortness of breath and wheezing. In rare cases, the EPA said vomiting and "other stomach distress" can occur.

Sterilization Services of Tennessee is located at 2396 Florida Street, with residents up to a mile and a half away possibly being exposed to the pollutant.

"Today’s EPA announcement about the possibility of increased risk around facilities that use EtO understandably raises concerns of people that live in the area,” Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said in a statement. “I will do everything I can to get immediate and definitive testing by EPA of this facility and information to our citizens so that we can understand whether a risk exists and what we can do to mitigate it.”

The City of Memphis commissioned an air quality assessment from Memphis-based Tioga Environmental Consultants to test the air surrounding the facility. A brief report was made publicly available in the press release, but the company would not tell the Commercial Appeal if a more extensive report exists when called for follow-up questions, citing the report's confidential nature.

The brief report, which Strickland said would be sent to the "292 homes in the community just north of the facility," found that EtO could be present for short times surrounding the facility at low concentrations.

"...It appears that ethylene oxide may be present occasionally outside the facility boundary at low concentrations for short periods of time. However, these readings could have been an artifact of the presence of carbon monoxide," the study concluded. "Additional analysis performed using passive dosimeter badges did not identify any detectable ethylene oxide during two days of sampling.

"Because of the cross sensitivity of direct read instrumentation used for this study and because passive dosimeter badges did not record concentrations of ethylene oxide, we cannot definitively conclude that ethylene oxide is or is not present. If they are present, it does not appear that concentrations of ethylene oxide are above levels determined to by harmful by OSHA. However, the sampling was performed 500 feet from the likely source of ethylene oxide and it is possible that the chemical may be present and diluted by the ambient air which would account for intermittent low level readings observed."
Biggest air polluters in Memphis

South Memphis houses Shelby County’s biggest air polluters, many of which are located on President’s Island or immediately across McKellar Lake. Those industries account for a cancer risk up to 1 in 2,400 people according to a ProPublica investigation.

The National Cancer Institute associates EtO most commonly with lymphoma and leukemia diagnoses, but has also found that stomach and breast cancer to be associated with exposure to the compound.

Limits on EtO emissions are not a new territory for the EPA. Limits were first proposed in 1994, but intentions to list it as a hazardous air pollutant took place in 1985. It would not be added officially until 1990, when Amendments to the Clean Air Act were passed.

In 1994, emission standards were set for the three different venting categories, between sterilizer vents, chamber exhausts and aeration rooms. However, the rollout of these regulations hit bumps with the EPA’s title V permitting, which are documents that hold companies accountable for their emissions.

Those permits were constantly deferred for minor emitters, due to what the EPA said in 1996 was “the unnecessary and undue regulatory burden for states and local agencies, the EPA Regional Offices, and the industry during a time when all available resources are necessary for the initial implementation of the title V permit program for major sources.”

Explosions at “several” EtO facilities put a year-long pause on regulations while the EPA investigated whether or not their requirements were in any way responsible for the explosions. In the end, the EPA found the devices used to measure chamber exhaust vent emissions were being “overfed.”

The investigation led to a two-year suspension on regulations for chamber exhaust vent, also known as backvents, EtO emissions, before a 2001 decision to completely strip EtO regulations for emitters of the aforementioned style.

By 2005, the EPA decided to scrap the requirement for title V permits for “nonmajor sources” in five categories, one of which were commercial sterilizers.

Sterilization Services of Tennessee is part of a three-location chain of Sterilization Services, with the other two located in Richmond, Virginia and Atlanta, Georgia. It is the company’s first location, opening in 1976, and is the second largest of the three, at 45,000 square feet.

The EPA will have a meeting for the South Memphis community in October, which can be registered for at this link. A nation-wide meeting is also being hosted Wednesday night, which can be registered for here.

The Shelby County Health Department issued a statement Aug. 3, saying it is "working closely with EPA, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Tennessee Department of Health, and the City of Memphis" to prepare for the community meeting. The department's goal is to ensure the affected community receives the information.

Lucas Finton is a news reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Cancer-causing pollutant, EtO, identified in South Memphis

Panama Canal grapples with climate change threat

Mon, August 8, 2022 

Guide Mahelis de García explains the workings of the canal to visitors

Global warming and changing weather patterns are affecting the water supply for one of the world's most important waterways, the Panama Canal, as well as access to drinking water for millions of Panamanians, reports journalist Grace Livingstone from Panama City.

The Panama Canal is a great feat of 20th-Century engineering.

Upon its completion in 1914, this man-made waterway linking the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans nearly halved the travel time between the US West Coast and Europe.

To this day, ships have to pass through a series of locks to overcome the differences in height along its 50-mile (80km) length. They are lifted up to 85ft (26m) above sea level before being lowered again.

The canal's locks act as a kind of elevator, using enormous amounts of water released from artificial lakes at the top of mountains to raise the vessels, explains Mahelis de García, a Panama Canal guide.

But as global warming affects weather patterns, operating the canal is becoming an ever greater challenge.

According to the Panama canal authorities, 2019 was the fifth driest year in Panama for 70 years with rainfall down 20% compared to the historic average.

But it is not only dry years that cause difficulties - heavy rain can also create problems as it can cause the artificial lakes to overflow.

As dry years and storms become more common, the canal needs to find fresh sources of water and new ways to store it.

Every time a ship goes through the locks, 55m gallons (250m litres) of fresh water is used, then released into the sea. On average, 37 ships go through the locks every day, using more than 2bn gallons (9bn litres) of fresh water.

The vice-president of water projects at the Panama Canal, John Langman, says they are working on finding solutions to ensure the canal does not run out of water.

John Langman says finding a solution to the water problem is a priority

"We understand that the canal is of huge significance to the Panamanian economy."

He explains that in the exceptionally dry year of 2019, the canal authorities had to reduce the amount of water they used to operate the locks, which meant that ships could not carry such heavy cargo because there was less water between the keel of the ship and the bottom of the canal.

To keep the locks functioning, the canal authorities are looking at ways to store more water in rainy years to ensure a sufficient supply in drier times.

They are carrying out feasibility studies on a number of options including deepening existing artificial lakes to capture more rainwater.

Mr Langman says they will aim first to find a solution within the watershed around the canal, but they may have to look at water sources in other parts of the country.

None of the options are easy.

One possibility that canal authorities are studying is building a dam on the river Indio, in the province of Coclé in central Panama.

But this could displace thousands of small farmers, and it has worried Diego Herrera, who farms 40 hectares of land with his family in Coquillo.

Diego Herrera is concerned that he could be displaced from his family's farm if a dam were constructed

"What will we do if they flood our land? Where will we go? They haven't explained to us where they will relocate us."

It is important to emphasize that this dam is only one of many possible options under consideration, and the canal authorities stress that they will opt for a solution that has the lowest environmental and social impact.

The search for water sources is not just about ships and commerce.

The Panama Canal Authority also supplies drinking water to half of the Panamanian population, including the residents of the capital, Panama City.

The drinking water comes from the same artificial lakes that is used to run the locks.

The Panama Canal Authority is considering desalinating sea water for human consumption, enabling more of the water in the artificial lakes to be used for the canal.

Environmentalist and former deputy mayor of Panama City, Raisa Banfield, says that as the population of the city grows, with more buildings constructed and forest areas depleted, there is increasing pressure on Panama's water resources.

Pressure on Panama City's water resources is growing

Climate change is making the search for solutions urgent.

The Panama Canal has extremely good meteorological data because it has been monitoring rainfall since 1880.

Steven Paton, a scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, says this 142 years of data shows changes in rainfall that are consistent with climate change.

He says that in the past 25 years, "we've had eight of the 10 greatest storms, the two driest years and the driest three years in a row, in which the average rainfall was lower than in any other three-year period. We've set all kinds of records."

He adds that weather patterns are becoming less predictable: for example 2022 has seen the earliest start to the rainy season in Panama since records began.

"There's no analogue to what's happened this year," he says.

The original steel-plated gates made over 100 years ago are still opening the locks to ships from around the world, but as rainfall patterns change it is becoming more and more difficult to source the water to operate the canal.

Oil and gas industry attacks New Mexico's air pollution controls as feds step in



Adrian Hedden, 
Carlsbad Current-Argus
Wed, August 10, 2022 

Attempts by New Mexico regulators to limit air pollution from the oil and gas industry drew immediate backlash as they took effect last week, with a trade group representing the state’s smaller producers looking to the courts for solace.

The Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico (IPANM) announced the day the rules went into effect that it filed an appeal with the New Mexico Court of Appeals, and expected technical arguments in the case to be presented within 30 days.

Executive Director Jim Winchester said the rules would not improve the environment enough to justify the economic hardship they could bring onto New Mexico oil and gas companies.

More:Will Yvette Herrell's defense of oil and gas in climate change debate mean reelection?

The Association represents smaller operators in the state, which critics of the rules argued would struggle to meet the cost of compliance.

“At a time when the public supports responsible domestic production to reduce gasoline prices and a decrease in our dependency on foreign sources of energy that are unquestionably worse for the environment, IPANM strongly feels this is the wrong rule at the wrong time,” Winchester said.

The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), after an about two-year rulemaking process and approval from the State’s Environmental Improvement Board, enacted regulations applying to oil and gas facilities that would limit the emission of pollutants known to form cancer-causing ground-level ozone.

More:Air pollution from oil and gas in Permian Basin leads to feds investigating via aircraft

The rules taking effect on Friday added requirements for operators to detect and repair air pollution emissions, report such releases to the State and use more modern gas-capturing technology like low-bleed pneumatic valves throughout the fossil fuel supply chain.

This applied to areas of the state, including the southeast New Mexico Permian Basin in Eddy and Lea counties, known for elevated ozone levels in excess of the federal National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS).

Operators in the gas-producing San Juan Basin were also subject to the new rules, as were areas in Rio Arriba, Sandoval, Dona Ana and Valencia counties – all known for ozone levels exceeding the NAAQS.

More:$219M Permian Basin oil and gas land sale closes, company to cash-in on region's growth

It’s part of the administration of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s broader agenda to crack down on climate change impacts from the state’s energy sector, which leads the U.S. as the second-highest producer of crude oil.

Upon taking office, Lujan Grisham signed an executive order that called on state officials to devise ways to reduce their impact on the environment, including forming a Climate Change Task Force made up of NMED and the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD).

EMNRD’s Oil Conservation Division last year enacted its own emissions restrictions, banning flaring – the burning of excess natural gas – while also making spills illegal and requiring all operators capture 98 percent of produced gas by 2026.

More:$3.5B Permian Basin natural gas merger marks high growth expected in the region

NMED reported its rules would reduce volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and oxides of nitrogen, which form ozone when interacting with sunlight, by about 260 million pounds each year, while cutting methane emissions annually by 851 million pounds.

But Winchester said the NMED’s new rules, although devised with industry input, would serve only to put small oil and gas operators out of business.

“While IPANM does support a fair and balanced Ozone Precursor regulation, we have no choice but to appeal this version of the rule that will force operators to plug still-productive wells and will inflict economic hardship on New Mexicans with little to no gain for the environment,” he said.

More:Oil and gas spends thousands on June primary. New Mexico GOP hopes to win big in November

Another industry group Power the Future voiced support for the Association’s challenge of the rules, as Santa Fe-based spokesman Larry Behrens said they would only raise energy costs for New Mexicans during a time of nationwide pain at the pump.

“This rule will not only raise the cost of living on our families, but it will place a massive burden on the remaining small businesses that are already struggling,” he said. “This appeal is a critical first step to stopping Governor Lujan Grisham from taking unilateral action to raise the cost of gas even further.”

But environmentalists in the state celebrated the new rules as needed action to address pollution and its effects on the climate, pointing to extreme weather events like the wildfires raging throughout the state this spring and worsening drought.

More:Permian Basin oil and gas could be on the decline as prices fall, market struggles

Samantha Kao with Conservation Voters New Mexico said the rules were “nation-leading” regulations that could provide a template for other states and the federal government to reduce the environmental impact of energy production.

“As New Mexico continues to identify pathways to comprehensively address climate pollution, the ozone precursor rule is a critical next step in meeting the state’s goals to address carbon pollution economy-wide,” she said.
Federal government taking action to cut oil and gas pollution

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced in June it was considering listing the Permian Basin region in New Mexico and Texas under “non-attainment” of federal air quality standards, which would slow the permitting process for oil and gas operations in the area.

More:Oil and gas operations blamed for earthquakes in Permian Basin. New Mexico takes action

The agency also announced it would conduct aerial surveys throughout the region in August, seeking to find which companies are polluting the air the most and potentially issuing fines and other punishments for non-compliance with federal law.

Upon the EPA’s announcement, NMED Cabinet Secretary James Kenney said the ozone rules were intended to avoid such a listing by the EPA which planned to rule in September.

He blamed the industry for failing to reduce its emissions enough to prevent federal action.

More:$600M sale of Sendero Midstream complete amid growing interest in Permian Basin oil and gas

"A designation is coming. I’m 100 percent certain they’re going to do that. The science indicates that’s where we are. The rulemaking is catching up,” Kenney said. “We won’t see the benefit of our rule going into effect in lowering ozone levels in a way that is meaningful to the EPA.”

The U.S. Department of Energy also hoped to take up the effort of reducing air pollution from oil and gas methane emissions nationwide, announcing Friday a $32 million appropriation to devise new technology to do so.

Projects across the country can apply by Oct. 4 for part of the funding to improve gas capture at abandoned oil and gas wells, pipelines, compressors and other industry facilities the DOE estimated emit about 8 million tons of methane every year.

"Methane is more destructive than carbon dioxide to our health and environment, so it’s crucial we develop solutions to identify and mitigate leaks at their source,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm in a statement.

“Today's funding bolsters DOE’s efforts to advance next-generation technologies and systems to help make the natural gas infrastructure leak-tight, which will dramatically reduce methane emissions across the country and deliver cleaner air for all.”

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Oil and gas industry attacks New Mexico's air pollution controls

Former GOP congresswoman: Coddling the oil and gas industry is unpatriotic


Claudine Schneider
Tue, August 9, 2022 

Growing up in western Pennsylvania, fossil fuels were a familiar sight during my childhood and since they employed some of my family, I believed these facilities represented America's "can do" attitude.

When I became a Republican member of Congress in 1981, well-paid oil and gas lobbyists were a familiar sight in the halls of Congress, and many of those lobbyists had a "can do" attitude: "We can do whatever we want because we are one of America's most powerful special interests."

Kayakers paddle down a portion of Interstate 676 after flooding from heavy rains from hurricane Ida in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 2, 2021. Flash flooding caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida killed at least 44 people in four northeastern US states one night, including several who perished in basements during the historic weather event officials blamed on climate change.

I often made these fossil fuel special interests uncomfortable during my decade in Washington because, despite my roots in fossil fuel-dependent western Pennsylvania, I was building bipartisan support to prevent climate change —even back in the 1980s — by reducing our country's unhealthy reliance on fossil fuels.

Now, four decades later, climate change caused by burning fossil fuels is causing costly damage to America's economy and the profit-motivated price of a gallon of gas is causing inflation.

Despite the immense damage their products are causing, fossil fuel industries continue to receive $6.7 billion in government subsidies this year alone! Think about that for a moment.

Subsidies originated to assist the launch of or temporarily prop up ailing industries. But oil and gas has been on the taxpayer "gravy train" for decades! Thanks to taxpayers' subsidies, as well as today's inflated prices for us at the pump, the six largest oil and gas industries' profits last year totaled a whopping $91 billion. We're paying twice for their profits.

Even now, as the spiraling costs of climate change are impossible to deny, with destruction from fires, drought, extreme heat, flooding, tornados and the increase in asthma and other respiratory ailments, Congress continues to coddle the least patriotic industry in our nation.

This is like buying cigarettes for a lung cancer survivor.

Oil and gas companies are so used to getting their way from Congress that when they say "jump," Congress asks "how high?"

Calling all conservatives, and Republicans who say they oppose "handouts": Fossil fuel subsidies are handouts. Why does Congress continue to favor this damaging industry? Look at the campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry. The largest recipients — Republicans!

Congress could — and should — have prevented our current fossil dependency. Unfortunately they've chosen "crisis management" over less costly and disruptive "preventive measures." An ounce of prevention worth a pound of cure? Absolutely!

Claudine Schneider

We in Congress knew of climate challenges in the 1980s. My revenue-neutral Global Warming Prevention Act of 1989 enjoyed broad bipartisan support in Congress. It would have implemented market-based clean energy policies while growing our economy and reducing our dependence on dirty and costly fossil fuels. However, oil and gas opposition helped kill parts of this bill, costing us three decades of lost opportunities.

It is past time to hold the oil and gas industries, as well as Congress, accountable.

Until we break our longtime addiction to oil and gas, and until Congress stops favoring them with outsized subsidies, these companies will continue to rob our federal coffers, increase our deficit, and continue to rely on us, the taxpayer, for their outsized profits.

Coddling wealthy fossil fuel companies is not in America's best interest; it is unpatriotic.

Claudine Schneider, born and raised in Clairton, Allegheny County, served as a Republican member of Congress from 1981 to 1991. She has been actively involved in climate mitigation since leaving office and serves on the board of Taxpayers for Common Sense.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Former GOP lawmaker: Coddling the oil and gas industry is unpatriotic

Boosting renewable energy use can happen quickly – and reduce harm to low-income people if done thoughtfully


Erin Baker, Professor of Industrial Engineering Applied to Energy Policy, UMass Amherst
Wed, August 10, 2022 
THE CONVERSATION

Offshore wind farms will assist in the renewable energy transition and offset the effects of climate change. Abstract Aerial Art/DigitalVision via Getty Images

With many nations making efforts to transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy, SciLine interviewed Erin Baker, a professor of industrial engineering and operations at UMass Amherst. Baker discussed the technological, political and regulatory efforts needed for this transition, as well as ways that our fossil fuel-dependent system disproportionately harms poor communities and communities of color.

The Conversation has collaborated with SciLine to bring you highlights from the discussion, which have been edited for brevity and clarity.

How is our country doing at making the transition to renewable energy?

Erin Baker: There has been amazing technological change over the past 15 years. Offshore wind costs 50% less than it did six years ago. Solar has had a sixfold decrease in costs since 2010. And I think there’s a lot of evidence that technology will adapt and improve if we set the goals and incentives for it.

In terms of policy and regulations, we are moving forward, but we need to be more aggressive. Something that we’re missing and that would be really helpful would be a coherent, federal-level climate policy – whether that is regulatory policy, such as we have for pollution, or a carbon tax or some kind of a cap. The Inflation Reduction Act would be a fantastic starting point if it becomes law.

A good example of something that has been done is President Biden’s move to coordinate and streamline the federal approval process for offshore wind. There are seven federal agencies involved, and having them all separate and moving at their own pace was really difficult for offshore wind energy developers. So Biden has coordinated that, and that’s fantastic. But there are tens of local and state-level agencies and processes that developers still have to go through. It would be really great if we could figure out ways to coordinate and streamline those.

How does our current energy system disproportionately harm poor communities and communities of color?

Erin Baker: Unfortunately, in a lot of different ways. Polluting facilities tend to be located disproportionally in areas that are low income and home to people of color, which can lead to negative health outcomes. Also, in the Texas blackout last winter that killed around 250 people, some research done by my colleague Jay Tenaja showed that the long blackouts were four times as likely in communities of color as in predominantly white communities. And, unfortunately, the energy transition won’t necessarily be any more equitable.

For example, it’s common for states to subsidize rooftop solar. And this is good, but the people who get the subsidies are people who own roofs with sun shining on them. People who live in apartments and in cities don’t have access to this, and yet they’re paying for the subsidies. We take the money for the subsidies from everyone, including low-income people, and send them mostly to white, wealthy suburbs.

How can injustices in our energy system be rectified?

Erin Baker: There’s obviously no one solution, but there are a couple of categories of things we can do. One thing that would be really helpful would be to collect data. We have very little data about energy equity issues.

We also need to involve and listen to the traditionally marginalized communities that are most affected by the inequities.

What do you think of the federal and state targets set for offshore wind?

Erin Baker: The Biden administration set a target for 30 gigawatts by 2030. That’s an ambitious goal, since in 2019 the entire world had only 30 GW. But it’s growing rapidly, with global capacity at an astounding 56 GW.

Having this goal of 30 gigawatts helps to organize the supply chain – all the pieces that need to get done for this to happen. We need people who know how to install offshore wind farms. We need special ships. We need planning for transmission. Having these goals really helps to organize all that and make sure all these pieces are in place.

What are the environmental costs and benefits of offshore wind?

Erin Baker: Offshore wind is a really promising technology. The ocean has really good wind resources. And it’s near population centers – we have lots of cities up and down the coasts. Because wind energy is carbon-free, it will provide benefits by reducing emissions and reducing costs.

Some of the work I’ve done has shown that there are billions, and maybe even trillions, of dollars of climate value in offshore wind. We lose between US$10 million and $150 million per year per wind farm by delaying them. We really want to keep these large global environmental benefits in mind as we plan. These can be balanced against local environmental costs and benefits, as well as other factors, like jobs.

In terms of local environmental benefits, when you build an offshore wind farm, the stuff underneath the water ends up creating an artificial reef and actually increasing sea life in that area, which is a benefit.

Negatively, they interfere with bird migrations. Birds don’t actually fly into the wind turbines that much. They fly around them. But if there are a lot of wind farms, that’s a lot of flying around, and that can be hard on the birds. And some animals, like right whales, can get caught in mooring lines if we have floating wind turbines. So, there are local environmental costs. What we need to do is balance these with the global benefits from addressing climate change.

Are you hopeful about our ability to address climate change?

Erin Baker: I am optimistic that we can solve climate change, because humans are very inventive. My work on technological change has shown that once we have a goal or incentive, we tend to improve technologies much faster than we ever predicted. So I think we can be ambitious. We can aim for net-zero by 2030 instead of 2050. And we can solve climate change while at the same time stimulating innovation, fueling growth and increasing quality of life. But we have to set these goals. To access the benefits of the energy transition, we really need to act boldly and decisively.

Watch the full interview to hear more about what’s required for a just, renewable energy transition.

SciLine is a free service based at the nonprofit American Association for the Advancement of Science that helps journalists include scientific evidence and experts in their news stories.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Erin Baker, UMass Amherst.

Read more:

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Affordable housing – in pandemic times, what works and what doesn’t?

Erin Baker receives funding from NSF and Sloan Foundation.

Climate change reversing 900 years of cooling in Gulf of Maine



Gianna Melillo
Wed, August 10, 2022

In an effort to chronicle changing water temperatures in the Gulf of Maine, researchers assessed data collected from shells and simulated variability through climate models.

They found that following a prolonged period of cooling, climate change has contributed to rising temperatures in the region.

These increased temperatures have already taken a toll on local marine life and will likely worsen in the future.

Using data from shells in the western Gulf of Maine along with other proxies for water properties, researchers revealed global warming has been reversing a thousand-year cooling process in the region since the late 1800s.

According to authors, this is likely due to increased atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations and changes in western North Atlantic water dynamics. Findings were published in Communications Earth and Environment.

Climate model simulations also show “warming over the last century was more rapid than almost any other 100-year period in the last 1,000 years in the region.”

Extreme marine sea surface temperature (SST) heat waves have been documented in the Gulf of Maine in recent years and have taken a toll on the region’s ecosystems, including certain whales, fish and lobster.

America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.

However, little is known about temperature variability or water properties prior to the installment of the Boothbay Harbor (BBH) SST, dating back to 1905. To address this knowledge gap, researchers set out to construct a 300-year data set chronicling hydrographic variability in the Gulf of Maine.

Three sources of chemical proxies were used to assess water changes including shells, oxygen isotopes (to measure temperature and salinity) and nitrogen isotopes (to measure water mass source).

Prior to the documented warming, the region was consistently cooling for many years thanks to volcanic forcings, researchers said. The cooling followed by rapid warming detected in the study is consistent with the Community Earth System Model-Last Millennium Ensemble (CESM-LME), which shows reconstructions of external forcings, like greenhouse gas or solar variability, over the last millennium.

The CESM-LME Northern Hemisphere surface temperature simulations also detail the impact of volcanic forcings prior to 1850 and greenhouse gas and aerosol forcings after 1850, authors said.

In addition, the position of the gulf stream, which helps dictate what proportion of slope water enters the Gulf of Maine, also plays a large role in dictating temperatures.

Future projections of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations along with a projected weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation indicate warming in this region will likely continue, “leading to continued and potentially worsening ecologically and economically devastating temperature increases in the region in the future,” authors concluded.

Bad News for Earth: Rainwater Is No Longer Safe to Drink Thanks to Plastic

Manasee Wagh
Wed, August 10, 2022 

Photo credit: sarayut Thaneerat - Getty Images

The environment contains thousands of hazardous chemicals from plastics.

A recent study shows that at least four of these plastics have pushed us beyond safe limits for plastic contamination.

Drinking rainwater could negatively impact human health around the world.

Remember when you were a kid, and it was fun to tip your head back during a rainstorm and open your mouth to drink the drops? You shouldn’t do that anymore. That’s because you’ll be ingesting too many particles of Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), the hazardous chemicals that leach from the ultra-durable plastics we’ve created for about the past 120 years.

Earth is officially past its safe zone for plastic contamination. The PFAS “boundary has been exceeded,” according to a study published August 2 in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. PFAS are known to be hazardous to both the environment and human health. At this point, these “forever chemicals” are all over the globe and have seeded the atmosphere. Most importantly, they don’t break down in the environment.

“Based on the latest U.S. guidelines for PFOA in drinking water, rainwater everywhere would be judged unsafe to drink. Although in the industrial world we don’t often drink rainwater, many people around the world expect it to be safe to drink and it supplies many of our drinking water sources,” Ian Cousins, a professor at Stockholm University’s Department of Environmental Science, and the lead author of the study, says in a news release.

There are thousands of different PFAS substances floating around. The study compared the levels of four common forms (PFOS, PFOA, PFHxS, and PFNA) in various sources: rainwater, soils, and surface waters such as streams, lakes, and oceans. They found that levels of at least two forms of PFAS in rainwater, PFOA and PFOS, “often greatly exceed” the safe levels in drinking water, as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) advises. Levels of the chemicals also exceed environmental protection agencies’ standards in different parts of the world, too.

Depending on the type of PFAS, maximum safe levels according to the EPA range from 0.004 parts per trillion (ppt) for PFOA to 2,000 ppt for PFBS (another form of the PFAS chemical, which the study didn’t focus on). While the idea of imbibing any plastic is abhorrent, when the human body exceeds safe limits, it can lead to deleterious affects throughout the body, impacting the immune system, cardiovascular system, fertility, and child development to name a few physiological consequences. It can also suppress children’s response to vaccines, making them less effective. There’s evidence that PFOA can likely cause cancer in humans, according to the EPA.

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PFAS continually cycles from the sea into the air through sea spray, the study found. Air currents carry it into the atmosphere, where it seeds rain clouds and ends up back on Earth.

Microplastics—the end result of all the plastic products and industrial waste we throw away—are one source of PFAS, and they often wind up in oceans and other waterways, impacting wildlife. While trash in landfills takes thousands of years to completely degrade, it forms minute bits of plastic that are tinier than 5 millimeters long. Their size means they end up everywhere, even in our blood, where they range in size between 700 nanometers and 5,000 nanometers. (A human hair is about 17,000 nanometers).

Reaching the U.S. safety levels for PFAS in the environment is impossible without “huge cleanup costs in drinking water treatment plants given that most drinking water sources on the planet will have PFAS levels above the advisory levels,” according to the study.

But something needs to be done, Jane Muncke, managing director of the Food Packaging Forum Foundation in Zürich, Switzerland, says in the release. She wasn’t involved in the study, but agrees with the authors that the results are alarming. “The vast amounts that it will cost to reduce PFAS in drinking water to levels that are safe based on current scientific understanding need to be paid by the industry producing and using these toxic chemicals. The time to act is now,” she says.

Why There Is So. Much. Plastic.

Photo credit: Andrew Fox - Getty Images

Plastic changed life in the 20th century. The first 100 percent synthetic plastic emerged in 1907. Later in the century, energy companies like ExxonMobil and DowChemicals were trying to turn the waste material leftover from processing crude oil and natural gas into something useful. Their experiments led to the creation of Perspex, polyethylene, Nylon, Teflon, and many other plastic compounds that have made their way into everyday life. Being super durable, plastic never rotted or broke down.

Plastic made manufacturing of all kinds of goods cheaper and faster. It soon took over all kinds of products, from hair clips to cameras, and even clothing and baby bottles. And plastic could be designed to resemble various other materials that were traditionally more expensive or in short supply. Bakelite, for example, gives a rich, almost woody look to household staples like telephones and radios, and it was all the rage in the 1930s. Depending on the compound, plastic can have useful properties, like heat resistance. During World War II, polyethylene plastic was an ideal insulator for radar cabling and, after the war, stocked household pantries in the form of Tupperware. People all over the world hailed plastic as one of the most versatile inventions ever.

While it’s certainly convenient, plastic now permeates everything. The polyethylene terephthalate, (PET, a form of polyester) bottle used for water and other drinks, is light, cheap, and unbreakable compared to traditional glass bottles. It’s so ideal, that about 500 billion PET bottles are now made every year.

Recycling what we have seems like a great option, but it’s complicated by the fact that these items must be well-separated into their different forms before they can be melted down for reuse. Even two PET objects, like a water bottle and a cookie cutter, melt at different temperatures. If combined, they create unusable waste.