US rule would limit methane leaks from public lands drilling

Mon, November 28, 2022



WASHINGTON (AP) — The Interior Department on Monday proposed rules to limit methane leaks from oil and gas drilling on public lands, the latest action by the Biden administration to crack down on emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes significantly to global warming.

The proposal by Interior's Bureau of Land Management would tighten limits on gas flaring on federal land and require energy companies to better detect methane leaks that add to planet-warming greenhouse gas pollution.

The actions follow a more comprehensive methane-reduction plan announced by President Joe Biden earlier this month. The Nov. 11 proposal, announced as Biden attended a global climate conference in Egypt, targets the oil and gas industry for its role in global warming even as the president has pressed energy producers for more oil drilling to lower prices at the gasoline pump.

Oil and gas production is the nation’s largest industrial source of methane, the primary component of natural gas, and is a key target for the Biden administration as it seeks to combat climate change.

The proposal announced Monday would prevent billions of cubic feet of natural gas from being wasted through venting, flaring and leaks, boosting efficiency while at the same time reducing pollution, administration officials said.

“This proposed rule will bring our regulations in line with technological advances that industry has made in the decades since the BLM’s rules were first put in place, while providing a fair return to taxpayers,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement.

Venting and flaring activity from oil and gas production on public lands has significantly increased in recent decades. Between 2010 and 2020, total volumes of natural gas lost to venting and flaring on federal and tribal lands averaged about 44.2 billion cubic feet per year — enough to serve roughly 675,000 homes, Interior said. The figure represents a sharp increase from an annual average of 11 billion cubic feet lost to venting and flaring in the 1990s.

“No one likes to waste natural resources from our public lands,'' said BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning. She called the draft rule a common-sense, environmentally responsible solution to address the damage that wasted natural gas causes. The rule "puts the American taxpayer first and ensures producers pay appropriate royalties'' for natural gas flaring, she said.

Interior had previously announced a rule to restrict methane emissions under former President Barack Obama. The plan was challenged in court and later weakened under former President Donald Trump. Competing court rulings blocked enforcement of the Trump and Obama-era rules, leading the agency to revert to rules developed more than 40 years ago.

Jon Goldstein, an oil and gas expert at the Environmental Defense Fund, said new standards are needed to “end the waste of taxpayer-owned energy resources that has become far too routine on federal and tribal lands across the U.S.″

He called BLM’s proposal “an important first step, consistent with its long-standing authority to minimize waste.″

The rule would impose monthly limits on flaring and charge fees for flaring that exceeds those limits.

Some conservation groups faulted the rule, saying it does not do enough to eliminate gas flaring. “BLM must go further to implement strong action to reduce methane waste and avoid creating what amounts to little more than a pay-to-pollute system,'' said Anne Hedges of the Montana Environmental Information Center.

"The climate crisis requires immediate and strong action to reduce emissions, especially when there are technologies available today to minimize methane emissions at the well,'' she said.

The Environmental Protection Agency rule announced in Egypt targets emissions from existing oil and gas wells nationwide, including smaller drilling sites that now will be required to find and plug methane leaks.

The rule comes as Biden has accused oil companies of “war profiteering” and raised the possibility of imposing a windfall tax on energy companies if they don’t boost domestic production.

Besides the EPA rule, a sprawling climate and health law approved by Congress in August would impose a fee on energy producers that exceed a certain level of methane emissions. The fee, set to rise to $1,500 per metric ton of methane, marks the first time the federal government has directly imposed a fee, or tax, on greenhouse gas emissions.

The law includes $1.5 billon in grants and other spending to improve monitoring and data collection of methane emissions, with the goal of finding and repairing natural gas leaks.

The BLM will accept comments on the proposed rule through early February, with a final rule expected next year.

Matthew Daly, The Associated Press

 'It's tone deaf': Family practice doctors in Ontario baffled by ministry memo asking them to stay open longer

Elianna Lev
Fri, November 25, 2022 


A notice from the Ontario’s Ministry of Health, asking primary care providers to stay open seven days a week in an effort to ease wait times in hospitals, is being met with disbelief by many medical workers.

The notice was sent by Nadia Surani, the director of the primary health care branch in the Ministry of Health. It addresses the issues that are plaguing hospitals this fall, with an onslaught of COVID-19, influenza and Respiratory syncytial virus, which is expected to continue into the winter.

"I am writing to call on your support and requesting your organizations to offer clinical services 7 days a week, including evening availability, until further notice, to meet the needs of your patients,” the notice reads. “Please advise your patients of this availability so they may seek care in the appropriate place for their health concerns."

Nadia Alam is a family doctor in Georgetown, Ontario and past president of Ontario Medical Association. As she juggled a full work day and four kids at home who have respiratory syncytial virus, Alam says the notice made her feel disheartened and demoralized.

"Even though they say 'we see you're working hard, thank you for that but we need you to do more,'" she tells Yahoo News Canada. "It's tone deaf."

She says all throughout the pandemic, family doctors and nurses who work in primary care have been told they haven't been doing enough.



This isn't an isolated incident, this is an on-going narrative that we need to do more to help hospitals and ER that are overwhelmed. It's frustrating because you can't expect a subset of the healthcare system to fix what is really a healthcare system problem.Nadia Alam, family doctor in Georgetown, Ontario

On social media, many family care workers were stunned by the memo.

“And who supports the family doctors: nurses, admin…are they expected to also work these horrendous hours,” Instagram user meggsd99 wrote on a post that shared the province's notice. “This government is out of their minds! Most MDs are already working well above their mental, emotional and physical abilities but sure let’s burn them and support staff out even more.”

In a note to its members, the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario followed up that many clinics across Ontario are keeping their doors open longer in order to address the high number of patients with respiratory illnesses, and that the ministry’s memo was not meant to be taken as a command.

"In discussions with the ministry, this memo was not intended to be directive nor prescriptive but was a request to communicate to your patients about how to access care, especially for sick children, with a focus on receiving care through their primary care teams first so that your patients do not seek care in the hospital if not needed," the association wrote.

The Mataafa storm was one of the worst in Great Lakes history

Randi Mann
Mon, November 28, 2022 


This Day In Weather History is a daily podcast by Chris Mei from The Weather Network, featuring stories about people, communities and events and how weather impacted them.
--
On Nov. 28, 1905, the SS Mataafa was sailing on Lake Superior when it ran into what would be its demise, the Witch of November.

The Witch of November is a term used to describe the hurricane-like winds that roar across the Great Lakes during the fall. The annual events are created when the cold Arctic air from the north-northwest and warm Gulf air from the south interact.

The "witches" were brewing up one of the worst storms to ever hit the Great Lakes. The SS Mataafa didn't have a chance against the conditions, and to this day, the weather event is dubbed “The Mataafa Storm of 1905."

This is how it all went down.

The SS Mataafa left Duluth, Minn., on Nov. 27 at 5 p.m. It didn't take long for the winds to reach 71 km/h.

The battered remains of Mataafa

The ship was towing a barge named James Nasmyth. As Mataafa approached the Duluth Ship Canal, it was clear that the ship and the barge were not going to make it through, so under Capt. R. F. Humble's orders, James Nasmyth was cut loose.

On Nov. 28, the storm really started to pick up, with winds reaching gusts of 109 km/h. Capt. Humble (retrospectively ironic names are almost never welcomed) finally resigned to the fact that the ship would have to return to Duluth.

Unfortunately, the witches were going to win this one.

The waters thrashed the SS Mataafa until it was grounded in shallow water near the north pier. The ship then broke in two.

There were 12 men in the aft of the ship that became submerged in water. Three men were able to make their way out and nine of them died on board.

There were another 15 crew members in the fore half of the ship who were able to get rescued on the morning of the 29th.

Crew saving survivors of Mataafa

A life-saving crew faces still-raging waters on Nov. 29, 1905, to rescue Mataafa survivors.

To hear more about the Witch of November and “The Mataafa Storm of 1905," listen to today's episode of "This Day In Weather History."

 

 

Seaweed found 100 metres underwater in Antarctica 'could help in climate change battle'

ROB WAUGH

28 November 2022, 

Scientists have found red seaweed 100 metres deep in Antarctica and believe their find could help play a role in the battle against climate change.

The researchers hoped to understand how deep down seaweed in Antarctica could survive – and used a robot craft to find seaweed attached to rocks.

Finding the red alga Palmaria decipiens deep underwater is key in our understanding of Antarctica, "a continent that is so important to understand for addressing the environmental challenges the world faces today", the scientists said.

A team working at the Rothera Research Station on Adelaide Island, off the south-western Antarctic Peninsula, made the discovery.

Read more: A 1988 warning about climate change was mostly right

Professor Frithjof Kuepper, of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Aberdeen, described the "huge role" seaweeds can play in protecting the environment.

He said: "We know that carbon capture will be crucial to limiting global warming as we move forward, and seaweeds sequester large amounts of CO2 [carbon dioxide].

"Seaweeds have the potential to play a huge role in protecting the environment by storing carbon at the bottom of oceans when they die and reducing ocean acidification.

"Seaweeds are also an important food source to numerous animals and fish and have been eaten by people in many coastal communities in parts of the world for centuries... [and] have been used in a variety of cosmetic and pharmaceutical goods and with carbon-neutralising properties it represents a sustainable product."

Professor Frithjof Kuepper, of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Aberdeen, said seaweeds play a 'huge role' in climate change. (PA)

Using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) from a small boat, the researchers successfully collected seaweed samples for further examination.

They had set out to clarify the maximum depths that seaweed could grow in Antarctica.

Kuepper said: "We now know that seaweeds can live at least down to 100 metres depth in Antarctica. That is quite a lot, but we can't rule out that they may live even deeper."

Read more: Why economists worry that reversing climate change is hopeless

Ben Robinson, of the British Antarctic Survey and University of Southampton, added: "In Antarctica, icebergs scour and remove seaweed from the shallows, leading to lots of loose seaweed at depths where it is no longer attached to the seafloor.

"Due to cold temperatures, it can take many years for these loose seaweeds to even start breaking down, so we could not rely on appearance.

"Instead, we needed to use an ROV to test and collect seaweed to confirm whether they were attached to the seafloor and to confirm a new depth limit for seaweed."

UK Government makes ‘another screeching U-turn’ over plans to drop a ban on onshore wind farms

A general view of a wind farm

TORY ministers are set for “another screeching U-turn” over plans to drop a ban against onshore wind farms, campaigners said today.

Greenpeace UK said the government is “finally beginning to realise the obvious” after Business Secretary Grant Shapps hinted that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak could back down amid a growing Conservative rebellion over the issue.

Despite once branding the structures “white satanic mills,” former PM Boris Johnson is reported to be among 30 Tory MPs backing ex-Cabinet minister Simon Clarke’s pro-wind amendment to the Levelling Up Bill.

The move, also allegedly supported by Mr Johnson’s short-lived successor Liz Truss and current Levelling-Up Secretary Michael Gove, would allow wind farms in rural areas where there is community consent.

Mr Shapps claimed that this is also Downing Street’s policy, but the PM actually vowed to continue the Tory moratorium on new onshore wind — imposed in 2015 — during his first party leadership bid over the summer.

The Business Secretary attempted to play down the significance of the latest revolt, which follows reports that Mr Sunak has also dropped plans to reform planning laws amid growing unrest in his party, saying he is “completely mystified” by headlines about it.

He told Times Radio: “It’s the most extraordinarily overwritten story I’ve read.”

But Green Party MP Caroline Lucas tweeted: “Yet another screeching U-turn from a PM who has failed time after time to show climate leadership.”

Greenpeace UK policy director Doug Parr urged the government to “put facts before ideology and scrap one of the most absurd and damaging policies ever introduced.”

The “necessary but tiny step” was welcomed by Labour for a Green New Deal co-founder Chris Saltmarsh.

However, he told the Morning Star that public ownership of energy production is needed to free Britain from its “slow, parasitic private market.”

MORNINGSTAR

Twitter search spam campaign hides China riots, researchers say 

Elon Musk meanwhile muses whether Apple 'hate[s] free speech in America' because the company mostly stopped advertising on Twitter

Thomas Claburn
Tue 29 Nov 2022 

Twitter over the weekend was flooded with spam and suggestive ads in what appears to be an attempt to help the Chinese government hide news about rioters protesting coronavirus restrictions in China.

"Chinese bots are flooding Twitter with 'escort ads', possibly to make it more difficult for Chinese users to access information about the mass protests," wrote Mengyu Dong, a researcher with the Stanford Internet Observatory, a social media research project, in a Twitter post. "Some of these [accounts] have been dormant for years, only to become active yesterday after protests broke out in China."

Other researchers have similarly concluded that recent Twitter searches using Chinese characters for Beijing, Shanghai and other cities have been returning significantly more ads for escorts, gambling, and the like as a way to drown out politically sensitive search results.

Alex Stamos, director of the Stanford Internet Observatory, said via Twitter that he'd previously warned about the risks billionaire Elon Musk was taking by cutting so many of the company's staff and that this appears to be the first major failure to stop a government interference campaign under Musk's leadership.

Stamos said the spam campaign, which produces escort ads and other content when Chinese city names are entered into Twitter search, appears to be "an intentional attack to throw up informational chaff and reduce external visibility into protests in China" given that Twitter is blocked within China.

China over the weekend saw mass protests over the government's coronavirus lockdown policy in cities all across the country.

Musk – who relies on the favor of Chinese authorities to safeguard Tesla's market and assets in China and appears to have courted that favor with government-appreciated remarks about Taiwan – attempted to make light of the pro-government influence operation through his recently purchased social media mouthpiece.

"The amount of pro psy ops on Twitter is ridiculous! At least with new Verified they will pay $8 for the privilege haha," he tweeted.

Then he followed up with an image of hate symbol Pepe the Frog, encircled by the phrase, "Honestly I don't care about this particular psyop."

The Chief Twit, as Musk has referred to himself, subsequently used his $44 billion personal social media bully pulpit to challenge Apple's decision to mostly stop advertising on Twitter.

"Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter," he wrote. "Do they hate free speech in America?"

Twitter's own fact checking system Birdwatch explained in an addition to Musk's post that Apple's ad agency had recommended clients stop buying ads on Twitter and that Apple is exercising its right to free speech by not advertising.

Last week, Media Matters for America, a non-profit that monitors for conservative misinformation, reported that Twitter had lost 50 of its top 100 advertisers less than a month after Elon Musk acquired the social media site. At the time, Musk said he had purchased Twitter "to try to help humanity, whom I love," as he put it in a letter he wrote to calm advertisers worried about his agenda and antics.

Apple – which coincidentally faces a potential iPhone shortfall as a result of the lockdown protests in China and shares Musk's deference toward the Chinese government as a matter of business interest – was not among controversy-shy advertisers listed by Media Matters and the iGiant did not respond to a request to confirm that it had dialed back its advertising on Twitter.

Musk, who manages to find time for social media arguments despite his supposed leadership role at other companies, subsequently claimed, "Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why."

Yet it appears Musk has some idea that Apple's alleged threat arises from not following the company's iOS rules. Apple requires a 30 percent sales commission for in-app purchases and imposes content moderation requirements on social media services – something less evident on Twitter during the Musk regime than it was during previous management.

After professing ignorance about the cause of Apple's discontent, the Chief Twit posted an image suggesting he would "go to war" rather than pay Apple's 30 percent app commission, which presumably would reduce revenue from in-app sales of any service Twitter chooses to offer through its iOS app.

War against Apple – in court, presumably, despite Musk's gun pandering – has not worked out well for Epic Games, which failed to convince a judge that Apple's platform rules are unlawful. Nonetheless, that decision is being appealed. What's more, cracks in Google's similar Play Store payment requirements have appeared.

So who knows. Musk might well benefit from joining the battle to break into Apple's walled garden and loot it. With sufficient help from government trustbusters, he might get the full $8 demanded of companies, governments, and individuals seeking to make their free speech Twitter "Verified."

Meanwhile, mitigating Twitter search manipulation may have to wait for spam damage that Musk cares about. ®

TURKEY'S IMPERIALIST AGGRESSION
Russian army chief in Syria meets Kurds over Turkey tensions


Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, speaks during a news conference in Hassakeh, Syria, Saturday, Nov. 26, 2022. Abdi said Saturday they have halted operations against the Islamic State group due to Turkish attacks on northern Syria over the past week. 

(AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad)

BEIRUT (AP) — The chief of Russian forces in Syria has met with a Kurdish commander over threats by Turkey to launch a new incursion into northern Syria, a Kurdish spokesman and an Arab TV station said Monday.

Siamand Ali, a spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, confirmed to The Associated Press that Lt. Gen. Alexander Chaiko met Sunday with Kurdish commander Mazloum Abdi in northeast Syria, adding that he has no details about what they discussed.

Chaiko’s trip to the northeast came days after Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to order a land invasion of northern Syria targeting Kurdish groups following the Nov. 3, explosion in Istanbul that killed six people and wounded dozens.

Russia has called for de-escalation along the Turkey-Syria border.

Turkey has launched a barrage of airstrikes on suspected militant targets in northern Syria and Iraq over the past week, in retaliation for the Istanbul bombing that Ankara blames on the Kurdish groups. The groups have denied involvement in the bombing, and say Turkish strikes have killed civilians and threatened the fight against the Islamic State group.

The Lebanon-based pan-Arab Al-Mayadeen TV reported that Chaiko discussed with Abdi tensions along the northern border and what can be done to avoid a new major incursion by Turkey. The station, which has reporters in different parts of Syria, said Chaiko suggested the deployment of Syrian government forces along the border with Turkey up to 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of the border.

Another SDF spokesman, Aram Hanna, told the Al-Arabiya TV station Monday that the Russians put forward during the talks the conditions of the Turkish side. He added without giving detail: “We reject all the demands of the Turkish occupiers.”

US maintains Türkiye has 'right to defend themselves' against terror

'They have the right to defend themselves. They have suffered terrorist attacks,' says White House

ARMED STRUGGLE OF THE OPPRESSED IS NOT TERRORISM

Michael Gabriel Hernandez |29.11.2022
WASHINGTON

The US on Monday backed Türkiye's right to self-defense following this month's terrorist attack in Istanbul, but emphasized the need for de-escalation in Syria.

"Turkey continues to fall victim to terrorist attacks, whether its near that border or elsewhere inside the country. And they have a right to defend themselves and their citizens against attacks," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at a briefing.

"They have suffered terrorist attacks, but we don't want to see actions, particularly inside Syria that are going to lead to potential for more casualties, more loss of innocent life, and any diminution from our efforts, a distraction away from our efforts, because we have troops in Syria, to go after ISIS," said Kirby.

"We also don't want to see the actions inside Syria by Turkey or anyone else that could put American lives at risk because there are Americans on the ground in there helping the SDF," he added.

Kirby was referring to the US's principal partner in Syria, which is led by the YPG. The YPG is the Syrian affiliate of the PKK, a designated terrorist organization in the US and Türkiye.

US support for the YPG has long strained bilateral relations between Ankara and Washington.

The Pentagon last Wednesday expressed concern over Türkiye's airstrikes in northern Syria, saying they posed a threat to US personnel and harmed the fight against Daesh/ISIS.

"Recent airstrikes in Syria directly threatened the safety of U.S. personnel who are working in Syria with local partners to defeat ISIS and maintain custody of more than ten thousand ISIS detainees," said Spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder in a statement.

Ryder said the US recognizes Türkiye’s legitimate security concerns and added "we will continue to discuss with Türkiye and our local partners maintaining cease-fire arrangements."

Early Nov. 20, Ankara launched Operation Claw-Sword, a cross-border aerial campaign against the YPG/PKK terror group which has illegal hideouts across the Iraqi and Syrian borders where they plan attacks on Turkish soil.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that Türkiye's determination to establish a 30-kilometer-deep (18.6-mile) security strip next to its borders continues, something it previously sought to do with US and Russian cooperation on its southern border. Turkish officials have complained that Washington and Moscow failed to uphold their ends of the deal.

"We do not need to get permission from anyone while taking steps concerning the security of our homeland and our people, and we will not be held accountable to anyone," Erdogan added.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Meta fined USD 275 million by European Union
Penalty against Meta for violating European privacy rules

The penalty, imposed by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, brings the total fines to more than $900 million that the regulator has imposed on Meta since last year.
Representational picture

Adam Satariano | London | Published 29.11.22

TOMORROW'S NEWS TODAY

In the latest penalty against Meta for violating European privacy rules, the tech giant was fined roughly $275 million on Monday for a data leak discovered last year that led to the personal information of more than 500 million Facebook users being published online.

The penalty, imposed by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, brings the total fines to more than $900 million that the regulator has imposed on Meta since last year.


In September, the same regulator fined the company roughly $400 million for its mistreatment of children’s data.

Last October, Irish authorities fined Meta, which was previously called Facebook, 225 million euros, or about $235 million, for violations related to its messaging service WhatsApp.

The accumulating penalties will be a welcome sign to privacy groups that want to see EU regulators more aggressively enforce the General Data Protection Regulation.

The law was hailed as a landmark moment in the regulation of technology companies when it took effect in 2018, but regulators have since faced criticism for not applying the rules strongly enough.

Ireland has been under pressure because of the key role it plays in enforcing EU data protection rules.

The country is tasked with policing tech companies’ compliance with the 2018 law as aresult of companies such as Meta, Google and Twitter alllocating their EU headquarters in Ireland.

TikTok, which also set up a EU hub in Ireland, is the subject of another investigation there.

The fine issued on Monday stems from an investigation started last year by Irish regulators into reports that Facebook had not safeguarded its platform against being“scraped” for information, leading to the publication on an online hacker forum of data that included users’ names, locations and birthdates, in violation of rules.

New York Times News Service

What headline? 'Gaslighting' is Merriam-Webster's word of 2022

Leanne Italie

Nov 28 2022

“Gaslighting” – mind manipulating, grossly misleading, downright deceitful – is Merriam-Webster's word of the year.

Lookups for the word on the US-based merriam-webster.com increased 1740% in 2022 over the year before. But something else happened. There wasn't a single event that drove significant spikes in the curiosity, as it usually goes with the chosen word of the year.

The gaslighting was pervasive.

“It’s a word that has risen so quickly in the English language, and especially in the last four years, that it actually came as a surprise to me and to many of us,” said Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster's editor at large, in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press.

Profile By Gaslight An Irregular Reader About The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes

by Edgar W. Smith

Publication date 1944

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.157375/mode/2up

Calgary Loblaw distribution centre workers accept offer hours before lockout: union

The Canadian Press

Unionized workers at a Loblaw distribution facility in Calgary have accepted a contract offer hours before they were scheduled to be locked out.

Teamsters Local Union 987 said 66 per cent of its members who work at the Calgary Freeport Facility voted Friday to accept the employer's final offer.

The union said 534 members had received layoff notices ahead of the planned lock-out.

Loblaw spokeswoman Catherine Thomas issued a statement on Saturday saying the company is pleased the workers accepted the offer and avoided a work stoppage, describing its offer as containing "some of the most competitive wages in the industry."

The workers, whose previous contract expired in June, had twice rejected offers from the employer during what the union called a "difficult" bargaining process.

John Taylor, business agent for the Teamsters local, said last week that while the company had offered a decent wage increase, workers were looking for more guarantees around shift scheduling and seniority.