Low water disrupts industry along lower Mississippi River

The Associated Press
Jackson, Miss.
October 15, 2022

Low-water restrictions on the barge loads make for cautious navigation on the Mississippi River as evidenced by this tow passing under a bridge in Vicksburg, Miss. on Tuesday. The unusually low water level in the lower Mississippi River has caused some barges to get stuck in the muddy river bottom, resulting in delays.
Rogelio V. Solis | AP

Plummeting water levels in the lower Mississippi River are projected to drop even further in the weeks ahead, a projection shows, dampening the region's economic activity and potentially threatening jobs in one of the country's poorest states.

In Vicksburg, on the Mississippi River's east bank near the Louisiana line, the water is approaching its lowest level since 2012. The river’s level near that Mississippi city on Thursday was 4.3 feet (1.3 meters), and it is projected to drop to 3 feet (0.9 meters) by Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.

Falling water levels have disrupted industrial shipping and tourism in the area and are on pace to keep dropping.

“Right now, the latest forecast is going to take us down on Nov. 8 down to 2 feet (0.61 meters) at Vicksburg and it could drop a lower than that,” Marty Pope, a hydrologist at the National Weather Service Office in Jackson, told the Vicksburg Post.

A dearth of rainfall in recent weeks has left the Mississippi River approaching record low levels in some areas across several states. Nearly all of the Mississippi River basin, from Minnesota through Louisiana, has seen below-normal rainfall since late August. The low levels have caused barges to get stuck in mud and sand, disrupting river travel for shippers, recreational boaters and passengers on a cruise line.

The lower portion of a Vicksburg bridge, normally submerged in the river, has been exposed to sunlight in recent days. The American Heritage, a paddlewheeler cruise ship, navigated the river with caution.

Companies that transport industrial products along the river in barges offer a window into the regionwide economic impacts of the low water levels. Companies are loading their barges with less cargo to traverse the river safely.

Pablo Diaz, president of the Vicksburg Chamber of Commerce, said the Port of Vicksburg has already seen a steep decline in tonnage shipped through the port.

“It’s definitely lower, and by a long way,” Diaz said. “It’s a cascade effect. Everybody that is having issues north of here who might be sending products through Vicksburg, that (traffic) has slowed down a lot.”

North of Vicksburg, agricultural products remained stalled in the ports along the river, Diaz said. At least 19 companies rely on the Port of Vicksburg and together they support about 4,000 jobs in the region.

“Things were going really well on the industrial side before the water problem,” Diaz said. “This is going to be a really big problem if it doesn’t turn around soon. Many jobs depend on our industrial users in this region.”

The Mississippi River has seen water levels fluctuate year to year in the past. In 2011, the river flooded and caused $2.8 billion in damage. A drought brought the water levels to dangerous lows in 2012.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been dredging the Mississippi at several spots to keep river traffic flowing.
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Michael Goldberg is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

PAKISTAN

PTI leader Durrani misstate facts while hiring ex-CIA contractor’s firm for lobbying: Report

ANI
16 October, 2022
Pakistan's former Special Assistant to ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan

 (Image Credit: Twitter/@IftikharDurani)

Islamabad [Pakistan], October 15 (ANI): Pakistan’s former Special Assistant to ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan, Iftikhar Durrani misstated the facts as mentioned in the agreement, signed in May 2021, probably to avoid the regulatory processes in the US.

The News International citing the sources reported that Durrani had misrepresented the facts in the agreement, signed with a former Central Intelligence Agency contractor, probably to avoid the regulatory processes in the US.

“Probably in order to avoid any regulatory processes in the US, Durrani had misrepresented the facts and gave government’s cover for the agreement,” The News International quoted the sources as saying.

Earlier, on May 1, 2021, Durrani signed an agreement with a consulting firm headed by a former CIA contractor in a private capacity for the lobby and providing advice on Pakistan-US relations on May 1 of this year.

As per The News International citing agreement, “the consulting firm will maintain contacts with US government officials of both the executive and legislative branches, as well as with think tanks and other informed individuals, in addition to consulting with the client and the client’s associates, to determine how the scope of constructive relations between the U.S. government and the government of Pakistan might be enhanced, and will advise his Pakistani client and the client’s associates accordingly, both through verbal and written communications.”

Durrani, who was not holding any government position at the time of contract signing, was representing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, signed the agreement without involving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs despite the fact that dues agreed in the contract were to be paid by the Government of Pakistan

As per the agreement, the Government of Pakistan had to pay a fixed monthly amount of USD 25,000 to the lobbying firm in addition to the one-time service fee or expense retainer of UD 5,000. Although the agreement was signed on behalf of the PTI office-bearer, the amount as per the terms and conditions of the contract was to be paid by the government.

Section 11 of the agreement, a copy available with this scribe, says, “Durrani is supervised by the senior leadership of the party, which is currently the party in government power. As Durrani is supervised by senior party officials, he is effectively under their direction, and under the direction of Pakistan government officials, as well. As some of his activities are supervised, directed and financed by officials of the government of Pakistan, Durrani is also effectively under their control. Durrani disburses funds from the government of Pakistan,” according to The News International.

Interestingly, on one side PTI chief Imran khan holds the US responsible for the regime change in Pakistan but on the other hand, it has a history of involving lobbying firms to build its positive image in the US.

Recently, after Imran Khan was ousted from his government, PTI USA hired a lobbying firm Fenton/Arlook to provide its services for public relations in the US. (ANI)

This report is auto-generated from ANI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.

US Regulators should finally require some transparency of large private firms

BY GEORGE S. GEORGIEV, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 10/15/22

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN 

AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL


The rapid growth of private markets has been among the biggest shifts in the capital raising ecosystem since the end of the financial crisis. In the United States, more money was raised on the opaque private markets than on the well-oiled public markets in each of the past 10 years. And most of this money has poured into private companies valued at over $1 billion.

Named “unicorns” in the early 2010s because they weren’t supposed to exist, such companies now number more than 1,100 worldwide, with more than half based in the U.S. Unicorns are even part of the cultural zeitgeist thanks to recent binge-worthy shows such as “WeCrashed” (about WeWork), “The Dropout” (Theranos) and “Super Pumped” (Uber).

Despite the carefree innocence associated with their namesakes, unicorn companies have provoked frequent consternation from investors, employees, customers, suppliers and regulators. After years of regulatory inaction, Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.) introduced an ambitious new bill last month that is poised to shine some much-needed light on unicorns by subjecting them to regulatory obligations that now apply to public companies. The bill would help protect ordinary investors, such as those saving for retirement, and it would also benefit unicorns’ employees, who are often heavily invested in their employers. Congress needs to pass this bill.

Though far-reaching, the bill would simply correct some of the deregulatory excesses of the past decade. As I discussed in recent research, private markets and private companies did not register as an investor protection concern until recently because they used to be the exclusive domain of professional and sophisticated investors, primarily private equity and venture capital funds. Retail investors and the institutions that held their retirement savings stuck to the liquid and transparent public markets. But a deregulatory cycle that started with the JOBS Act in 2012 and ended with new SEC rules finalized the day before the November 2020 election has undone this traditional balance between public and private markets.

For example, the new SEC rules made it easier for retail investors to invest, both directly and indirectly, in risky private companies. The monetary thresholds above which an investor is presumed to be sophisticated have not been updated since 1982, so the mere passage of time has increased the share of households deemed sophisticated by 550 percent. The quest for higher returns has also pushed institutional investors, retirement schemes and broadly-marketed mutual funds to invest in private markets. The JOBS Act, meanwhile, effectively erased the existing triggers that required private companies to transition to the public markets.

Unicorns have taken advantage of investors’ appetite and the absence of regulatory constraints and have opted to stay private for much longer. When Amazon went public during the 1990s, it was within three years of its founding; by contrast, Uber waited 10 years, and the average age of all firms going public since the JOBS Act is even higher.

None of this would be a problem if private markets were orderly and efficient and if private companies didn’t harm investors. But the evidence suggests just the opposite. Private markets are illiquid, prone to valuation bubbles and incapable of serving as a disciplining mechanism for wayward founders and management.

Private companies often embrace a “move fast and break things” philosophy that may be fine for a small startup but is bound to cause large-scale harm in the case of large unicorns like Uber. Indeed, the most recent spate of revelations reaffirms what we already knew about Uber’s culture of lawbreaking in its pre-IPO days. The larger the private company, the greater the potential for harm. During its unicorn days, Uber’s valuation was as high as $69 billion and outranked most of America’s well-established public companies. And when things go south, investors suffer. WeWork lost 80 percent of its value in just a year and a half trying to unwind a series of bad decisions that no one – not even its largest shareholders – knew about.

The problems often boil down to lack of transparency and supervision, which enable poor governance and waste. This is where the new bill, the Private Markets Transparency and Accountability Act, would come in.

The bill would require private companies in the United States to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) if they either reach a valuation of $700 million (excluding shares held by affiliates), or have at least 5,000 employees and $5 billion in revenues. Once a company is registered, it would need to start reporting much of the same information currently required of public companies: financial and operational performance, business strategy, risk factors, conflict of interest transactions and the like. As proposed, the bill would capture several hundred of the largest and most problematic unicorns and bring much-needed transparency to the capital markets.

Because registration would provide many of the obligations of a public listing without the benefits, we can expect that the private companies that would be caught by it would prefer to undertake a traditional IPO, which would provide them with those benefits.

This, in turn, would boost the number of public companies, whose dwindling number has been an ever-present concern, and give mainstream investors more investment options. A public listing will also ensure that the price at which those investors buy and sell a firm’s stock reflects its underlying value. And it will give employees who receive stock options as part of their compensation a much better sense of the value of that compensation. Will Russia rejoin the international community through space, post-Putin?Ten Commandments of DC

To be sure, implementing a proposal like this will not be straightforward, and the registration thresholds may well need to be adjusted upward. It may also be necessary for the SEC to act on its own existing authority if the bill doesn’t receive the bipartisan support it deserves.

But the underlying rationale behind the bill is solid and uncontroversial: Companies that look alike in terms of size, investor profile, number of employees and societal imprint should be subject to the same transparency and accountability obligations, regardless of whether they are private or public. Watching an investment landscape teaming with ever-larger unicorns over the past 10 years may have been fun, but it would now be better for all involved if those unicorns shed their horns and became regular public companies.

George S. Georgiev is a law professor at Emory University specializing in corporate and securities law. Follow him on Twitter @GeorgievLaw.

FOLEY: Tio Time: Latin Family Orientedness 

vs. American Individualism

Every Mexican has a tio who they aren’t quite sure is their tio — biologically, at least.

MICHELLE FOLEY
OCT 15, 2022
GUEST COLUMNIST


Every Mexican has a tio who they aren’t quite sure is their tio — biologically, at least. That is to say, if an adult around your parents’ age is around enough, they’re granted the tio title. I’ll be guilty of this, too. My friend Andrea jokes that to immerse my future children in Spanish, I can send them over to her for a month and lie that Tia Andrea doesn’t speak any English so it’ll be puro Español with her.

Mexican families are typically more extensive, and so is their role in daily life. Generally, family connectivity is celebrated more prominently in Latino cultures than American culture. Of course, no particular culture loves their families more than others — love is just shown differently. Many Latinos fundamentally believe that individual action reflects one’s family values, so loyalty, tradition and honor are prioritized accordingly. Greater group orientation characterizes the family as a larger safety net against hardship.

It’s an imperfect system. Strict adherence to the family unit may entail that instances of abuse and dysfunction are swept under the rug. At my local community college’s sociology symposium, one presenting student explained that Latinas are less likely to transfer to a four-year college after community college partly due to cultural pressure to stay home. Increased family dependence may also enforce unbalanced power dynamics, enabling parents to dictate children’s career paths or enforce religious and gendered ideas into the minutia of their children’s lives. But familial culture doesn’t necessitate hypercontrol: there’s plenty of room for diverging perspectives. A personal standout is my mom’s conversation with a friend who’d pushed her daughter to turn down a master’s degree program scholarship abroad to stay closer to family.

“It’s Mexican culture,” she said, but my mom disagreed. She told me she almost saw her children as an extension of herself, so their successes and travels felt like hers, too.

Therein lies the distinction between family-oriented and helicopter parenting. Hovering over growing children carries a perception of weakness, so many American parents pridefully send their children “out of the nest” as soon as they can. To be a “helicopter parent” implies that you believe your child can’t handle the real world on their own. A more balanced perspective is that your child can absolutely tackle adulthood, but you’ll remain an important part of it.

Americans often romanticize the ’50s nuclear family model as the suburbanite ideal, but there’s merit to an expanded family. One or two caretakers per family unit allow for fewer shock absorbers; with a smaller group of people to rely on, familial strife may affect us more acutely and leave us lonelier. One dysfunctional parent can more easily fracture a smaller family, but having grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins to turn to helps dilute the problem. “It takes a village” isn’t just a saying: it’s evolutionary biology. Take the widely-explored grandmother hypothesis, which suggests that grandparents long outlive their reproductive years partially because their presence in their grandchildren’s lives increases the parents’ reproductive fitness and resource availability. We benefit from wider familial systems not only for our own upbringing, but also for that of our children.

Platonic touch is comparatively rare in cultures like the U.S. and U.K., so we may turn to family for touch instead. We should put our fingers on the dissonance that many patients of color feel when encouraged by culturally white American therapists to simply cut off unhealed family members, or told that self-love is enough to compensate for lacking close relationships.

Of course, we should welcome various definitions of family and found family. In this way, we may stop turning to the hyper-individualistic, materialist default of American sociality for achievement, fulfillment and belonging in this world. The Latin practice of defining and redefining family combats isolation through resortion to some of the most natural systems we have. When we have a strong emotional core to return to again and again, we can live in abundance and resilience, regardless of what life has to offer.

Michelle Foley is a sophomore at Benjamin Franklin College. Contact her at michelle.foley@yale.edu .

MICHELLE FOLEY

Montana Republicans lose battle against American Prairie Reserve's bison

Darrell Ehrlick, Daily Montanan
October 14, 2022

Shutterstock.

A federal administrative law judge has denied appeals by both Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte and a separate one filed by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen that disagreed with a decision by the Bureau of Land Management to extend and add leasing acreage for American Prairie’s bison herd.

The state, in several separate appeals, challenged the BLM’s decision to continue leases it currently holds with American Prairie, and one new leased parcel. Knudsen and Gianforte argued that fencing requirements were inappropriate, that bison could spread disease to cattle, and that allowing American Prairie would economically cripple the area, including Phillips County.

However, Judge Veronica I. Larvie denied the appeal, saying that neither Gianforte nor Knudsen had presented specific evidence to support their claims.

The appeal is another chapter in a long simmering battle with Gianforte and Knudsen opposing American Prairie’s vision of restoring prairie land by private land acquisition and leasing, as well as creating more public access to land and hunting, and adding bison herds. Gianforte and Knudsen have routinely opposed the organization’s plans, saying that it harms Montana’s agricultural community by taking land from commercial agriculture production and shifting it toward conservation.

Neither Knudsen’s office, nor Gianforte’s office immediately responded to a request for comment on this story.

While Larvie said that the BLM’s findings and plans for fencing were at times unclear and possibly even contradictory, that alone did not invalidate the permit or create enough of an issue for Montana to warrant staying, or stopping, the agency’s decision.

“(Gianforte and Knudsen) have not prevailed on their burden to show that there is a likelihood of immediate and irreparable harm, therefore their stay petitions must be denied,” the 40-page ruling said.

Repeatedly both Knudsen and Gianforte raised concerns about the requirements of the Taylor Grazing Act, which governs livestock grazing and production on publicly owned land. However, Larvie dismissed concerns quickly.

“They fail to marshal facts or legal authority to show that these inadequacies would be successful in a merits review,” Larvie said.

The judge also found that the state’s argument about economic harm done because of bison grazing compared to commercial cattle production unconvincing.

“(The state) does not attempt to provide any detailed comparison of the monetary contributions of an operation like APR’s current cattle operation in the four allotments with those of a non-production bison operation,” she pointed out. “The net result is that the record does not adequately show the extent of economic harm, if any… Appellants bear the burden of making this showing and they have failed to do so.”

Knudsen and Gianforte also raised the specter of disease transmission from bison to domestic cattle, therefore jeopardizing the economic health of central Montana. In a lengthy discussion about the different diseases and research, Larvie said the state had failed to make a convincing case, rooted in scientific and animal management research.

“They offer no evidence or analysis to show that the disease would likely be transmitted to humans,” the judge said. “In sum, appellants have failed to show that immediate and irreparable harm is likely from disease being transmitted from bison to wildlife, cattle, or humans.”

Knudsen also argued in his appeal that bison, because of being fenced in on the grazing tracts, will cause more environmental harm than cattle, and that the fencing decisions made by the BLM will only exacerbate the overgrazing.

“The Attorney General also argues that Montana’s public lands will be irreparably damaged, but without explanation or evidence to support this dire prediction,” Larvie ruled. “More importantly, the Attorney General presents no evidence to support his conclusion that the bison will overgraze and damage the range.”

Leaving the door open for a legal challenge

However, Larvie in her ruling, did suggest a legal path to challenge the BLM ruling.

“(Gianforte and Knudsen) rightfully express confusion about the specifics of BLM’s fencing plan and their inability to decipher what range improvement projects will occur where and what the final outcome will be. The fencing specifications are not immaterial or of little concern to the interested public or of negligible potential to the environment,” she said. “Appellants raise concerns about whether fencing can simultaneously be both wildlife-friendly and effective at containing bison.”

“It raises concerns whether BLM’s ultimate decision was ‘fully informed and well-considered’ As such this is ‘fair ground for litigation and more deliberative investigation.’”

Daily Montanan is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com. Follow Daily Montanan on Facebook and Twitter.

'Sad state of affairs' as Forest Service considers Montana resort proposal: Save Holland Lake

Keila Szpaller,

 Daily Montanan
October 15, 2022

Holland Lake Lodge / Shutterstock

Thousands of people are raising objections to a controversial plan to expand Holland Lake Lodge, especially after the U.S. Forest Service admits it made errors at the beginning of the process.

For one, a group that formed to fight the expansion on public land noted the number of acres currently permitted — 10.53 acres, according to the Forest Service — wasn’t presented accurately at first. Thursday, a Flathead National Forest spokesperson said mapping is underway to clarify the acreage currently in use.

“This process has been confusing from the beginning,” said Bill Lombardi, with Save Holland Lake, the group opposing the expansion and calling for greater scrutiny. “The public is confused, and now the Forest Service is confused. Seriously. And that is a sad state of affairs.”

In April, Holland Lake Lodge Inc., submitted a plan to the Forest Service to expand its resort on a pristine and popular lake in the Swan Valley. As proposed, the expansion would more than double the number of guests at the lodge from 50 to at least 90 or as many as 156, extend operations into winter, and possibly double the acres in use.

Christian Wohlfeil, majority owner of the lodge, said his interest is in selling the property to an owner who has the ability to invest in much needed upgrades and who shares his values of stewardship. For example, he said he’s never waterskied on the lake even though he grew up with the sport, and he could legally rent out jet skis, but he doesn’t.

“We’re trying to look at the long term future and have the lodge be viable for the future,” Wohlfeil said. “And that’s what this plan is.”

But the plan has not been popular with the public, in part because the Forest Service said it may not complete a full environmental assessment or more extensive environmental impact statement, or EIS, before approving the project. More than 6,500 public comments have been submitted to the Forest Service, and Save Holland Lake estimated nearly 99 percent of them opposed the project.

“The Holland Lake area is already heavily impacted. The project will change the culture and the ecology of the area. Scale back,” one commenter wrote.

Said another: “Keep it Montana.”

In their plan, property owners requested an exception, called a “categorical exclusion,” from a full scale environmental review, and the Forest Service said its initial decision is to grant the request. Typically, the exception means no EIS and no environmental assessment.

However, one week following a contentious public meeting about the proposal, Flathead National Forest Public Information Officer Tami MacKenzie said the Forest Service will conduct some type of environmental review, although the agency has not determined the extent of it, nor is it legally bound to complete an environmental study. She also confirmed a second public comment period will take place after more analysis and “acreage clarifications.”

“This really is just the beginning of this process,” MacKenzie said. “I know they (the public) feel like they were blindsided, but this is really step one. I would encourage everyone to just continue through this process with us and see where it ends up.”

In the meantime, Holland Lake Lodge is marching forward. Thursday, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality noted it had received the lodge’s application to construct two public water wells so they can be tested for quality and quantity. DEQ said if they both are acceptable, they may be used to serve the development in the future.

A lodge for the future

Wolfheil, who has owned the lodge for 20 years, recently sold minority shares to POWDR, a ski resort and “adventure life” company, in anticipation of a full transfer in the future. He said POWDR, based in Utah, can make the investments necessary to build an “eco-friendly” resort, upgrade parts of the property in disrepair, and maintain it all.

“Right now, the foundation of the lodge is crumbling, and we’d like to put it on an actual foundation and preserve it for future generations,” Wolfheil said.

He said the Forest Service needs to confirm the acreage in question. Generally, he said his interest is in increasing overnight guest capacity to an average 130, or more than doubling it, upgrading the infrastructure, including sewer, parking and power, creating employee housing, and potentially running at least some services all year long.

“If we can do year round operations, it would be at least 20 year round jobs, which we could then do full medical, dental, vision and 401K benefits,” Wolfheil said.

Although he admits the capacity at the lodge would be at least twice its current limit, he also said the number of additional visitors should be viewed in the context of all of the use at the lake. For example, the Forest Service estimates peak use at 500 people a night for the campground, group site and Owl Packer Camp, not including the day-use area.

The lodge sits in a grizzly corridor, so Wolfheil said he can submit a proposal, or “master development plan,” to the Forest Service just once every 10 years. That means the current proposal should include anticipated expansion plans for the next decade, he said.

“So we have to ask for as much as we want to do now,” he said.

Some members of the public have called for him to scale back the project, and Wolfheil said it’s possible to downsize, but doing so would mean pushing up rates for the project to pencil out. Currently, he said the lodging range is estimated at $200 to $240 a night for a smaller cabin that sleeps two people, and $400 to $450 a night for a cabin that sleeps four to six, not including meals (“no glamping,” he said).

The current nightly rate for two people is $340, including meals.

POWDR doesn’t need a return on its investment right away, he said, but it needs a return sooner or later. Just this summer, he said he received 4,000 inquiries via email alone about cabins, and he was sold out from April through September.

“My point is there is demand,” Wolfheil said.

If he was starting from scratch, he said, he would understand the call for a full environmental study, but the Forest Service suggested the owners ask for a “categorical exclusion” because the resort is already in operation. Plus, he said, the exclusion won’t bypass a review, it will allow for a less intensive analysis.

Over the years, he said he’s worked 70 or 80 hours a week at the lodge and worn every hat, so it’s not easy for him to hear impassioned public comment against the expansion. He also said the project represents one of the tensions in a state that’s growing.

“Montana people are sort of sensitive to all the people moving in and all the crowds coming with Covid,” he said. “It’s a Catch-22 because we also need tourism in our state that helps our economy.”

‘Fouled up’ process

But the proposal and process both have raised the ire of residents of the Swan Valley.

What will happen to water quality? Grizzly bears? How much acreage is permitted anyway? And what happens if people responded to a proposal that wasn’t totally accurate?

Kristine Akland, with the Center for Biological Diversity, said the Forest Service’s preliminary decision to grant a “categorical exclusion” doesn’t square with a proposal to possibly triple capacity at the lodge. She said that type of exception can be used for expanding a toilet or a shower facility or replacing a chairlift.

“There are a lot of people that believe the use of a categorical exclusion would be illegal,” said Akland, a lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity.

She also said POWDR has a helicopter skiing business, and another concern is whether the company would eventually apply for a permit to do heliskiing in the Swan Valley. The current plan does not mention helicopter skiing, but Akland said that doesn’t preclude the company from making a request in the future.

She said she didn’t know if a lawsuit would end up being filed, but one of the concerns with granting an exception to an environmental assessment or more in depth environmental impact statement is work can start right away — and the proposal notes changes will begin in 2023.

“That’s why that’s so concerning to us and a lot of the locals and local groups, is that if the Forest Service decides to utilize a categorical exclusion, they can issue a decision immediately and begin ground disturbing activities,” Akland said. “ … We don’t get the opportunity to make sure they’re considering all the important resources.”

In the meantime, Lombardi pointed to grizzly bears, lynx, bull trout, elk, loons, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, and said they all merit a rigorous environmental review. And he said the Forest Service needs to know — and present accurately to the public — the actual scope of the permit and project.

“It’s just a very pristine valley that has all kinds of wildlife, so we’re just puzzled and concerned why the Forest Service one, would propose a categorical exclusion, and two, didn’t tell anyone until September when they’ve had this planned until at least April of this year,” Lombardi said.

At the public meeting last week, Flathead Forest Supervisor Kurt Steele admitted to the public the Forest Service initially presented the scope of the project as a footprint of 15 acres, same as the current resort, according to the Missoulian. But the Forest Service later said the permit was for 10.53 acres, and Thursday, MacKenzie said the agency still needs to confirm the acreage in question.

But thousands of people have already submitted comments based on the original plan, Lombardi said: “What is the administrative procedure now that they don’t know? … The process has been fouled up from the beginning.”

Complicated acreage, process

MacKenzie, with the Flathead National Forest, said the Forest Service has not yet made a decision to use a categorical exclusion. She said Thursday she anticipates a decision will be made in the next week or two.

However, she said typically, a categorical exclusion doesn’t include a second period of public comment, but she said the Forest Service will hold one open in this case even if it grants the exception. She said an environmental assessment or EIS are still possible.

“I think the next step is for us to really get deep into the public comment,” MacKenzie said.

She also said the Forest Service will conduct some sort of environmental review even if it grants a categorical exclusion. However, she said the Forest Service has discretion over how much related documentation it needs to provide.

She also said questions about acreage still need to be answered, and figuring out boundaries is not straightforward. If the Forest Service considers all the infrastructure currently in place, she said it’s greater than 15 acres based on a preliminary assessment.

“The acreage is a complicated one,” she said. “So we have 100 years of permits for this thing, and no two permits are really giving us the same layout and acreage.”

She said the request from Holland Lake Lodge was for 15 acres — the plan notes a wastewater area of 3.8 acres is separate — but it appears to be currently permitted for 10.53 acres. However, she said the boundary for the permit is “still pretty unknown” because modern mapping tools haven’t been used on the property.

“So we have people going out to do the mapping portion of it,” she said.

If the project moves forwards, she said the Forest Service will prepare an analysis to present to the public and open another public comment period likely after the first of the year.

Daily Montanan is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com. Follow Daily Montanan on Facebook and Twitter.

Scientists scour global waters testing ocean plankton and pollution

Agence France-Presse
October 16, 2022

Tara left Lorient, France, in December 2020 for a 70,000 kilometer journey (AFP)

After a near two-year "Microbiome" mission around the world, scientists said on Saturday they had gathered thousands of samples of marine micro-organisms in a bid to better understand ocean plankton and pollution.

The survey was carried out from the 33-year-old Tara research schooner, which returned to her home port of Lorient on France's western coast at the weekend.

From Chile to Africa, via the Amazon and the Antarctic, nearly 25,000 samples were collected over the 70,000 kilometer (43,000-mile) route.

"All this data will be analyzed," Tara Ocean Foundation director Romain Trouble told a press conference.

"Within 18 months to two years we will start to have the first discoveries from the mission," he said.

At the base of the food chain, micro-organisms were the "invisible people of the sea", accounting for two-thirds of marine biomass, said Trouble.

"They capture atmospheric CO2 (carbon dioxide) and supply half of the oxygen we breathe."

Trouble said the mission sought to find out how it all works.

"How do all these marine viruses, bacteria, micro-algue manage to interact to produce oxygen?"

"And how will that change tomorrow with climate change and pollution?"

The Tara team paid particular attention to the impact on the oceans of the River Amazon, which has a water flow rate of 200 million liters (53 million gallons) per second.

They wanted to test a theory that deforestation and the spread of agriculture has increased nitrate fertilizer discharge, leading to an abundance of toxic algae along river banks and coasts, particularly in the Caribbean.

The 22-month odyssey also sought to trace the sources of plastic pollution at river mouths, to understand distribution and the types of material involved.

The mission was Tara's 12th global journey and involved 42 research institutions around the world.

Next spring, Tara sets off to research chemical pollution off European coasts.

© Agence France-Presse

Earth’s oxygen has varied dramatically over time – here’s how our data could help us spot alien life

The Conversation
October 16, 2022

Earth (AFP Photo/NASA)

Are we alone in the universe? This is a question that has intrigued humans for centuries and inspired countless studies and works of fiction. But are we getting closer to finding this out? Now that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is in operation, we might have taken one giant leap in being able to answer this one day.

One of the four main objectives of the JWST is to study exoplanets – planets which reside outside of our solar system – and determine what gases their atmospheres are composed of. Now our new research into the variation of oxygen on Earth over geological time has offered clues about what to actually look for.

To try and comprehend how, when and why life might evolve on other planets, it makes sense to look to the only planet we currently know of which hosts life: Earth. Understanding our own planet’s complicated evolutionary history might provide the key to finding other planets capable of supporting life.

Life and oxygen

We know that animals require oxygen in order to survive, although some, such as sponges, require less than others. Yet, while oxygen is readily available today, making up 21% of the atmosphere, we also know that this was not true for the majority of Earth’s history.

If we travelled deep into our past, beyond around 450 million years ago, we would need to carry a handy supply of oxygen tanks with us. But what we are less certain of is the absolute amount of oxygen in the atmosphere and oceans through time and whether rises in oxygen levels fueled the evolution of animal life, or vice versa. These questions have in fact sparked numerous debates and decades of research.

The current thinking is that oxygen levels have risen in three broad steps. The first, called the “great oxidation event”, occurred around 2.4 billion years ago, transforming the Earth from a planet essentially devoid of oxygen in the atmosphere and oceans to one with oxygen as a permanent feature of it. The third occurred around 420 million years ago and is called the “Paleozoic oxygenation event”, which saw a rise in atmospheric oxygen to present day levels.

But in between, some 800 million years ago, lies the second step: the “Neoproterozoic oxygenation event” or NOE. Initially, information extracted from sedimentary rocks formed on the ocean floor suggested that it was during this time that oxygen rose to something like modern levels.

However, more data gathered since has suggested a more intriguing oxygen history. Importantly, the NOE occurred just before evidence of the very first animals, appearing around 600 million years ago.


James Webb image of a cluster of galaxies about 4 billion light years from Earth.
NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

Modeling oxygen levels

We set out to explore and reconstruct atmospheric oxygen levels during the NOE to see what conditions the first animals appeared under. To do this, we built a computer model of the Earth, incorporating knowledge about the various processes which can deliver oxygen to the atmosphere or remove it.

We investigated carbon-bearing rocks, deposited worldwide, to calculate ancient photosynthesis rates. Photosynthesis is the process by which plants and microbes use sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to create oxygen and energy in the form of sugars – the main source of oxygen on Earth.

Carbon naturally exists in many isotopes – atoms with a different number of neutrons in their nucleus (the nucleus is made up of protons and neutrons). Different isotopes therefore have slightly different sizes and masses from one another.

We looked at isotopes of carbon known as carbon-12 and carbon-13, which do not undergo radioactive decay. Plants prefer to use carbon-12 - the lightest isotope - during photosynthesis, leaving the seawater and subsequently the rocks which form on the ocean floor enriched in carbon-13 instead.

When we analyze these rocks, millions or even billions of years later, if we find more carbon-13 than carbon-12 we can predict that more photosynthesis, and thus more oxygen production, occurred. We then modelled volcanic activity, which can release gases that react with oxygen, removing it from the atmosphere.

This approach might sound a little strange, and you might ask why there was nothing more direct for us to measure. This is because most geological evidence from this time is not preserved, and these carbon isotope ratios are one of the few well-defined data sets we have through this time period.

What we found is that, rather than a simple jump in oxygen levels during the Neoproterozoic era, the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere changed significantly and, on geological timescales, very rapidly. While 750 million years ago, oxygen made up 12% of the atmosphere, in just a few tens of millions of years, it had dropped to about 0.3% – a tiny fraction – before rising again a few million years later.

Our research shows that atmospheric oxygen probably continued this dance between high and low levels until plants gained a foothold on the land some 450 million years ago.

Searching for alien life

These results are intriguing for a number of reasons. We have often thought that the relative stability that Earth has experienced for much of the last 4.5 billion years is necessary for life to flourish. After all, when big events, such as asteroid impacts, have occurred it has not gone well for some of Earth’s inhabitants (sorry, dinosaurs).

But if the first animals did evolve against a backdrop of highly variable oxygen levels, it suggests that some dynamic changes might instead be required in order to foster ecological innovation.

Our results suggest that periods of low atmospheric oxygen levels could have been important for developing more complex life by driving the extinction of some simple organisms and allowing the survivors to expand and diversify when oxygen levels rose again. So, we should not rule out taking a closer look at exoplanets that have a poorly oxygenated atmosphere.

Of course, this is a very Earth and even animal-centric view. Alien life may be completely different to life on Earth. For example, it could well exist on planetary bodies such as Titan – one of Saturn’s moons – which has seas of liquid methane and ethane. But as a starting point in our search for extra-terrestrial life, understanding the history of atmospheric oxygen on Earth is a useful guide.

Alex Krause, Research Fellow in Earth System Modeling, UCL and Benjamin J. W. Mills, Associate Professor of Biogeochemical Modeling, University of Leeds

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Changing climate claims railways, houses and beaches in California

Agence France-Presse
October 16, 2022

The sea is swallowing homes, tracks and California's beautiful beaches Robyn Beck AFP

Steve Lang can see catastrophic erosion worsened by climate change happening in real time along one of the world's most scenic railroad lines, where the sea is swallowing homes, tracks and California's beautiful beaches.

"Every day I come here and watch this, and it makes me want to cry," the 68-year-old tells AFP on rail tracks he crosses to go surfing.

Powerful waves wash in from the Pacific over the rails where the "Pacific Surfliner" runs, ferrying sightseers through the stunning coastal landscapes of southern California.

Not long ago, the railway was cushioned by hundreds of feet (tens of meters) of golden sand. But violent southern swells have washed that sand away.

With the beach gone, there was nothing to protect the rails from the fury of Tropical Storm Kay as it lashed the coast in September, eating away at the land on which they stood.

The track, which carries 8.3 million passengers annually between San Diego and San Luis Obispo, is now closed for emergency work.

- Climate change -

In the luxury Cyprus Shore settlement, an enclave of about a hundred plush villas that was once home to former president Richard Nixon, residents look on uneasily.

Without the beach to protect it, the hillside on which it is built is being eaten away and multi-million dollar homes are sliding towards the sea.

The cliffside parking lot is collapsing and two villas with cracked walls are now officially uninhabitable.


"These homes were valued at minimum $10 million each," says Lang.

"We've been trying to raise the alert for years, but we don't get much traction."

The tragedy of the encroaching waters is not limited to San Clemente, says acting mayor Chris Duncan, but a problem for the whole state.


"This area here in Cyprus Shore... is a microcosm," he says.

"The entire California coast is threatened by climate change and threatened by coastal erosion."

Erosion is a natural phenomenon that has helped shape our continents over millennia.


But scientists say it is being speeded up by the warming of the planet; exacerbated by rising sea levels brought about by melting ice caps and glaciers, and by the more powerful waves that warmer oceans hold.

Humanity's unchecked burning of fossil fuels since the industrial revolution has pushed average global temperatures up by 1.2 degrees celsius. They are expected to continue rising.

- 'Lost battle' -


By 2050, between $8 billion and $10 billion of infrastructure could be underwater in California, and other construction valued at $6 billion to $10 billion will be in a high-tide hazard zone, according to a 2019 study released by California's state legislature.

In San Clemente, local transport authorities are trying to stabilize the shifting tracks.

By 2050, between $8 billion and $10 billion of infrastructure could be underwater in California Robyn Beck AFP


Every day, tons of rocks are dumped to reinforce the seawall and protect them, in a $12 million project expected to last more than six weeks.

But "it's a losing battle," Duncan sighs.

The line was closed in September 2021 to add 18,000 tons of rock, and that didn't solve the problem.


"While the rock might temporarily stabilize the slope, it causes exponential sand loss," he says.

"Because now when the waves hit, it doesn't hit a soft beach. It hits a hard rock, bounces off, takes all other sand with it."

Duncan wants federal money to build back the beaches.


"I'm talking about breakwaters, about living shorelines, about possibly groins where it might be appropriate."

Every day tons of rocks are dumped to reinforce the seawall Robyn Beck AFP

Some advocate a more radical solution to save the railway line.


"The best would be to move (the track) back away from the coast," says Joseph Street, a geologist at the California Coastal Commission.

"But of course that's obviously a big, big effort to do that, very expensive."

And, he points out, it does nothing to protect the homes that are at risk behind the track.
Retreat

"A lot of our urban planners and decision makers have really dragged their feet on responding to this problem," says Stefanie Sekich-Quinn, of Surfrider Foundation.

The environmental NGO advocates moving the line away from the coast, an option put forth in a 2009 federal report.

The tragedy of the encroaching waters is not limited to San Clemente, says acting mayor Chris Duncan, but a problem for the state of California Robyn Beck AFP

California has a handful of such initiatives. On the same rail line, authorities in nearby San Diego announced this year a $300 million project to relocate a portion of tracks further inland.

But in San Clemente, that's really a last resort, says Duncan.

"People are going to want officials like me to work to save our homes, to save our rail corridor, and not just give up," he says.

© 2022 AFP

Trump's Truth Social broke the law, says former VP — who gave the Feds the evidence: report

Bob Brigham
October 15, 2022

(Shutterstock.com)

Federal investigators have received evidence of crimes from a former executive at the Trump Media & Technology Group, which runs his Truth Social clone of Twitter, according to a bombshell new report by The Washington Post that was published online on Saturday afternoon.

The newspaper reports the company's former senior vice president of operations, Will Wilkerson, is pursuing whistleblower status from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Wilkerson believes Trump forced out company co-founder and former contestant on the TV show "The Apprentice" Andy Litinsky for not handing over shares in the company to his wife, Melania Trump. Wilkerson provided the newspaper with an email from Litinsky saying the former president was retaliating against him.

"The email — one of hundreds of previously unreported company messages, documents, photos and audio recordings that Wilkerson has provided to the SEC in connection with a whistleblower submission — reveals a stunning portrait of the animosity that has built up inside Trump Media since its high-profile debut last year," the newspaper reported.

Shortly before midnight on Friday evening, Trump posted that "Truth Social was Number One on the Internet today!"

"Promoted as the centerpiece of Trump’s post-presidential business ambitions, the company had marketed itself as a budding media empire, with enterprises planned in social media, video streaming, live events and online payments — a powerful rival not just to Twitter but Disney, Google and Amazon," the newspaper reported. "But inside the company, Wilkerson said, those plans gave way to bitter infighting, technical failures and a chaotic jockeying for power among Trump allies that undermined its potential and left some employees crying at their desks."

The newspaper reports Wilkerson filed a whistleblower complaint in August and was fired on Thursday after speaking to Post reporter Drew Harwell.

"Wilkerson is cooperating with investigations into Trump Media by the SEC and federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York, said his attorneys, Phil Brewster, Patrick Mincey and Stephen Bell," the newspaper reported. "Among the materials he filed with the SEC’s whistleblower office is a detailed, day-to-day computer log compiled by company co-founder Wes Moss, Litinsky and Wilkerson about their daily company-related activities. He also provided to The Post a copy of that log as well as numerous other memos, photographs and videos that chronicled the creation of Trump Media."

Read the full report.