South Korea experts say Japan carefully answered questions on plan to release radioactive water

ByMari Yamaguchi

yesterday

Yoo Guk-hee, Chairperson of South Korea's Nuclear Safety and Security Committee arrives at the foreign ministry in Tokyo, Japan, Monday, May 22, 2023. A South Korean team of government experts has begun a two-day tour at the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant on Tuesday to have a first-hand look of a controversial Japanese plan to release into sea treated by slightly radioactive wastewater.

 (Kyodo News via AP)

TOKYO (AP) — The head of a South Korean team of experts said Wednesday they saw all of the facilities they had requested to visit at Japan’s tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant and Japanese officials had carefully answered their questions about a contentious plan to release treated but still slightly radioactive water into the sea, a sign of a further thawing of ties between the countries.

During their two-day visit, which was closed to the media, officials from the Japanese government and the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, showed the 21-member delegation facilities related to treatment, safety checks, transport and dilution of the waste water.

The plan has faced fierce protests from local fishing communities concerned about safety and reputational damage. Neighboring countries, including South Korea, China and Pacific Island nations, have also raised safety concerns.

The water release has particularly been a sensitive issue between Tokyo and Seoul, which are now repairing long-strained ties to address bigger challenges such as security threats from China and North Korea.

“We saw every necessary facility that was included in the initial plan,” said Yoo Guk-hee, the chairperson of South Korea’s Nuclear Safety and Security Commission who heads the delegation. His government has studied the water release plan since August 2021 and submitted a list of facilities it wanted to see, he said.

The delegation also received data showing levels of radioactivity of the water before and after treatment which they still need to analyze and confirm, Yoo told reporters. He did not give his evaluation of the water release plan.

His team will hold talks with Japanese officials in Tokyo on Thursday before returning home Friday.

Japanese officials say the water will be treated to legally releasable levels and further diluted with large amounts of seawater. It will be gradually released into the ocean over decades through an undersea tunnel, making it harmless to people and marine life, they say.

Some scientists say the impact of long-term, low-dose exposures to radionuclides is unknown and the release should be delayed.

Historical disputes have strained ties between Tokyo and Seoul but their relationship has thawed rapidly in recent months as the two U.S. allies, under Washington’s pressure, share a sense of urgency to mend ties amid growing regional security threats.

A massive March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant’s cooling systems, causing three reactors to melt, releasing large amounts of radiation. Water used to cool the reactor cores accumulated in about 1,000 tanks at the plant which will reach their capacity in early 2024.

Japanese officials say the water stored in the tanks needs to be removed to prevent accidental leaks in case of another disaster and to make room for the plant’s decommissioning.

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AP video journalist Yong Jun Chang in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.

What makes a storm a typhoon? 

What’s a super typhoon?

ByThe Associated Press

today

This Himawari-9 infrared satellite image taken at 2 p.m. EDT and provided by NOAA shows Typhoon Mawar passing over the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, Wednesday, May 24, 2023. (NOAA via AP)

Typhoon Mawar was a Category 4 super typhoon with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (241 kph) or greater when it crossed the northern tip of Guam on Wednesday night. It was the strongest typhoon to hit the U.S. Pacific territory since 2002.

A few commonly used weather terms and their definitions, which rely on material from the National Weather Service:

atmospheric river — Long and wide plumes of moisture that form over an ocean and flow through the sky over land.

blizzard — Wind speeds of 35 mph (56 kph) or more and considerable falling and/or blowing of snow with visibility of less than one-quarter mile (0.40 kilometer) for three or more hours.

cyclone — A storm in which strong winds rotate around a moving center of low atmospheric pressure. Depending on their size and location, cyclonic storms can be called tornadoes, waterspouts, typhoons or hurricanes.

derecho — A widespread and usually fast-moving straight-line windstorm. It is usually more than hundreds of miles long and more than 100 miles (161 kilometers) across.

El Nino, La Nina — El Nino is a naturally occurring climate phenomenon that starts with unusually warm water in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific and then changes weather worldwide. The flip side of El Nino is La Nina. It is an occasional but natural cooling of the equatorial Pacific that also changes weather worldwide.

hurricane or typhoon — A warm-core tropical cyclone in which the minimum sustained winds are 74 mph (119 kph) or more. Hurricanes are spawned east of the international date line. Typhoons develop west of the line. They are known as cyclones in the Indian Ocean and Australia.

microburst — Occurs when a mass of cooled air rushes downward out of a thunderstorm, hits the ground and rushes outward in all directions.

polar vortex — Usually refers to the gigantic circular upper air weather pattern in the Arctic region, enveloping the North Pole (but it can apply to the South Pole, too). It is a normal pattern that is stronger in the winter and keeps some of the coldest weather bottled up near the North Pole. The jet stream usually pens the polar vortex in and keeps it north. But at times some of the vortex can break off or move south, bringing unusually cold weather south and permitting warmer weather to creep up north.

snow squall — An intense but short-lived period of moderate to heavy snowfall, with strong winds and possible lightning.

storm surge — An abnormal rise of water above the normal tide, generated by a storm.

super typhoon — A typhoon with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (241 kph) or stronger. Some places in Asia have lower wind thresholds.

tornado — A violent rotating column of air forming a pendant, usually from a cumulonimbus cloud, and touching the ground. On a local scale, it is the most destructive of all atmospheric phenomena. Tornadoes can appear from any direction, but in the U.S. most move from southwest to northeast. Measured on F-scale from EF0 to EF5, which considers 28 different types of damage to structures and trees. An EF2 or higher is considered a significant tornado.

tornado warning — National Weather Service issues to warn public of existing tornado.

tornado watch — Alerts public to possibility of tornado forming.

tropical depression — A tropical cyclone in which the maximum sustained surface wind is 38 mph (61 kph) or less.

tropical storm — A warm-core tropical cyclone in which the maximum sustained surface winds range from 39 mph (63 kph) to 73 mph (117 kph).

nor’easter — The term used by the National Weather Service for storms that either exit or move north along the East Coast, producing winds blowing from the northeast.

waterspout — A tornado over water.

wind chill factor — A calculation that describes the combined effect of the wind and cold temperatures on exposed skin.

wind shear — A sudden shift in wind direction and/or speed.

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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Brazil builds ‘rings of carbon dioxide’ to simulate climate change in the Amazon

Fabiano Maisonnave

AP

yesterday

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — In the depths of the Amazon, Brazil is building an otherworldly structure — a complex of towers arrayed in six rings, poised to spray mists of carbon dioxide into the rainforest. But the reason is utterly terrestrial: to understand how the world’s largest tropical forest responds to climate change.

Dubbed AmazonFACE, the project will probe the forest’s remarkable ability to sequester carbon dioxide — an essential piece in the puzzle of world climate change. This will help scientists understand whether the region has a tipping point that could throw it into a state of irreversible decline. Such a feared event, also known as the Amazon forest dieback, would transform the world’s most biodiverse forest into a drier savannah-like landscape.

FACE stands for Free Air CO2 Enrichment. This technology first developed by Brookhaven National Laboratory, located near New York City, has the ability to modify the surrounding environment of growing plants in a way that replicates future levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations.

“Plants absorb carbon dioxide along with water and light to produce sugars and release oxygen. What happens when one increases this input? We don’t know,” David Lapola, one of the leading scientists of the project, told The Associated Press. “We have evidence from similar experiments in temperate forests, but there is no guarantee that the behavior will be the same here in the Amazon.”

Workers appear on a tower that will be part of a complex of towers arrayed in six rings to spray carbon dioxide into the rainforest north of Manaus, Brazil, on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.

 (AP Photo/Fernando Crispim)

Lapola, a professor at the State University of Campinas, argues that the tipping point of the Amazon rainforest is more likely tied to climate change rather than the rate of deforestation. Thus, it is crucial to study the impact of higher concentrations of carbon dioxide in the forest to understand what lies ahead.

This perspective challenges the widely quoted study by Earth system scientist Carlos Nobre. According to Nobre, if deforestation reaches a critical threshold of 20% to 25% across the Amazon, the balance of the region’s rainfall system will be disrupted, leading to the transformation of the lush rainforest into a savannah.

“Even if we halted deforestation in the Amazon basin today, the forest would still be at risk of experiencing the consequences of a tipping point due to climate change,” Lapola said. “While stopping deforestation remains our primary responsibility, combating the climate change driven by atmospheric factors is not something that Brazil or other Amazonian countries can address alone.”

The construction of the initial two rings is underway and they are expected to be operational by early August. Each ring will consist of 16 aluminum towers as high as a 12-story building. The carbon dioxide will be supplied by three companies to avoid any shortage.

Situated 70 km (44 miles) north of Manaus, the project is led by the National Institute for Amazon Research, a federal institution, with financial support from the British government, which has pledged $9 million. It should be fully operational by mid-2024.

Luciana Gatti, an atmospheric chemist, praised the initiative and said it would be highly beneficial to replicate the project in the four quadrants of the Amazon, as the carbon absorption capacity varies significantly across the region, which is twice the size of India.

Gatti, who is not directly involved with AmazonFACE, coauthored a landmark study published in the journal Nature, which revealed that the eastern Amazon has ceased to function as a carbon sink, or absorber for the Earth and has transitioned into a carbon source.

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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Once a whaling port, New Bedford wants to light the world again, with wind

By Jennifer Mcdermott  

AP

today

1 of 12
The ship UHL Felicity, carrying massive parts for offshore wind turbines, arrives to dock Wednesday, May 24, 2023, in New Bedford, Mass. Once assembled by developer Vineyard Wind, the turbines at sea will stand more than 850 feet high.

(AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi)

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) — New Bedford was once the city that lit the world, exporting vast quantities of whale oil for lamps in the early 1800s. Workers packed the docks, unloading casks of oil that had been extracted at sea from whale carcasses and brought in by a fleet of hundreds of whaling ships.

Nearly two centuries later New Bedford aspires to light the world again, in a different relationship with the sea, as the offshore wind industry arrives here.

On Wednesday, the vessel UHL Felicity bringing wind turbine tower sections from Portugal reached the Port of New Bedford. Once assembled out on the water this summer by developer Vineyard Wind, the turbines will stand more than 850 feet high.

“There’s this sort of poetic coming-about for New Bedford as a center of energy,” Mayor Jon Mitchell said.

It’s also a milestone for the industry. The United States does not yet have a single commercial-scale offshore wind farm. But it will soon.


New Bedford to build first US offshore wind farm
A vessel carrying wind turbine tower sections reached the Port of New Bedford on Wednesday. Once assembled out on the water this summer by developer Vineyard Wind, the turbines will become the first US commercial-scale offshore wind farm. 

(AP Video by Rodrique Ngowi. Produced by Teresa de Miguel)

THE BUILDOUT

Vineyard Wind is building a 62-turbine wind farm 15 miles (24 kilometers) off the Massachusetts coast. It’s expected to put out 800 megawatts, enough electricity to power more than 400,000 homes, beginning this year. The first U.S. offshore wind farm opened off Rhode Island’s Block Island in late 2016. But with five turbines, it’s not commercial scale.


Another project, South Fork Wind, is scheduled to start construction this summer off the coasts of New York and Rhode Island. Since it’s smaller than Vineyard Wind, it will likely be the first U.S. commercial-scale wind farm to open.
READ MORE:– Now hiring: US offshore wind ramps up, workers taught safety

The United States is decades behind Europe, where the world’s first offshore wind farm was erected in 1991. The first U.S. wind farm was supposed to be a project off the coast of Massachusetts known as Cape Wind, but it failed after years of litigation and local opposition.

The ship UHL Felicity carrying wind turbine tower sections passes the hurricane barrier, Wednesday, May 24, 2023, to dock in New Bedford, Mass. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

Vineyard Wind CEO Klaus Skoust Moeller said New Bedford is the cradle of large-scale offshore wind in the United States, and this wind farm sets the stage for the next project, and the next, and the next.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing that first turbine out there in the sunlight,” he said. “For me, that’s a moment of many things coming together.”

The Biden administration wants to build 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030. That would be enough to power more than 10 million homes.

The activity is bringing jobs and opportunities for businesses across the country. Developers are investing in multi-million dollar projects to upgrade ports along the East Coast, including New Bedford, New London, Connecticut, Brooklyn, New York and Portsmouth, Virginia. They’re planning to invest in ports along the West Coast and on the Gulf Coast as wind farms are approved there.

Billions of dollars will be spent inland too, at shipyards that are building a fleet of specialized vessels to erect and maintain wind farms, according to the American Clean Power Association.

New Bedford saw it coming. Necessity had the city looking for a way forward.

The ship UHL Felicity, carrying massive parts for offshore wind turbines, arrives to dock Wednesday, May 24, 2023, in New Bedford, Mass. 

(AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi)

NEW BEDFORD’S NEXT ACT

New Bedford, now a city of about 100,000, is not part of a major metropolitan area. Like similarly situated cities, Mitchell said, they had to figure out how to make their way at a time when the spoils of the American economy are going to the big, superstar cities. The town Herman Melville immortalized in “Moby-Dick” remains a top port for commercial fishing and seafood processing, but the city’s economy can’t depend on just that, he said.

Industrial cities have been burdened with the stigma of being gritty and failing and struggling, Mitchell said. “We eschew all those victimhood labels. So to become a leader in offshore wind, to compete successfully for investment and to grow, it was really an opportunity for us, for our residents, to see our city in a different way, for the rest of the world to see our city in a different way.”

So New Bedford opened the first U.S. port facility specifically designed for offshore wind, in 2015, to become a hub for the industry as it came to the United States, recognizing its promise. Today, Vineyard Wind leases that marine terminal.

Now construction is happening all around the port of New Bedford, more than at any time since the start of the whaling industry, Mitchell said.

Bristol Community College is planning to open a National Offshore Wind Institute in New Bedford late this summer to train and certify workers.

New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell, left, and Vineyard Wind CEO Klaus Skoust Moeller shake hands in front of the ship UHL Felicity, which docked in New Bedford Harbor, Wednesday, May 24, 2023, in Bedford, Mass.

 (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

A NEXT ACT FOR PEOPLE, TOO

Ed Gilhouse, a 60-year-old construction safety expert, was at the terminal overseeing the preparations for the ship arrivals. He said he went to work for Vineyard Wind to try something new as his career winds down. It also keeps him close to home. He had been commuting out-of-state to work.

“This is just like a cherry on top for me, so to speak, to be able to do this, to take offshore wind to the next level,” he said. “This is the future.”

Before the turbine tower sections arrived, Moeller invited local business and community leaders to the terminal to share their plans for the weeks ahead.

The ship UHL Felicity, carrying massive parts for offshore wind turbines, is docked Wednesday, May 24, 2023, in New Bedford, Mass. (AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi)

New Bedford native Bernadette Souza went because she wants to be able to tell local students what’s happening here. Souza is the executive director of Youth Opportunities Unlimited, which takes students on bike rides along New Bedford’s scenic South End peninsula to introduce them to their everyday surroundings. One of their favorite destinations overlooks the marine terminal.

“They’re looking over and they have so many questions,” she said. “I want to get them excited. I love my city. I want to give these kids that opportunity, to say, ‘I know about wind. That’s where I’m from.’”

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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Target on the defensive after removing LGBTQ+-themed products

ByDee-Ann DurbinandAnne D Innocenzio

AP

today

1 of 13
Pride month merchandise is displayed at a Target store Wednesday, May 24, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. Target is removing certain items from its stores and making other changes to its LGBTQ+ merchandise nationwide ahead of Pride month, after an intense backlash from some customers including violent confrontations with its workers. 

THAT'S WHY THEY HAVE SECURITY

(AP Photo/George Walker IV)

NEW YORK (AP) — Target once distinguished itself as being boldly supportive of the LGBTQ+ community.

Now that status is tarnished after it removed some LGBTQ+-themed products and relocated Pride Month displays to the back of stores in certain Southern locations in response to online complaints and in-store confrontations that it says threatened employees’ well-being.

RELATED STORIES– Target becomes latest company to suffer backlash for LGBTQ+ support, pulls some Pride month clothing

Target faces a second backlash from customers upset by the discount retailer’s reaction to aggressive, anti-LGBTQ+ activism, which has also been sweeping through Republican state legislatures. Civil rights groups chided the company on Wednesday for caving to anti-LGBTQ+ customers who tipped over displays and expressed outrage over gender-fluid bathing suits.

“Target should put the products back on the shelves and ensure their Pride displays are visible on the floors, not pushed into the proverbial closet,” Human Rights Campaign president Kelley Robinson said in a statement. “That’s what the bullies want.”

The uproar over Target’s Pride Month marketing — and its response to critics — is just the latest example of how companies are struggling to cater to different groups of customers at a time of extreme cultural divides, particularly around transgender rights.

Bud Light is still dealing with the fallout from its attempt to broaden its customer base by sending transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney a beer can with her face on it, which Mulvaney then displayed in an Instagram post, igniting the backlash. Bud Light’s parent company is tripling its U.S. marketing spending this summer as it tries to restore lost sales.

In Florida, Disney has been engaged in a legal battle with Gov. Ron DeSantis since expressing opposition to the state’s classroom limits on discussing gender identity and sexual orientation.

Allen Adamson, the co-founder and managing partner of the marketing firm Metaforce, said Target should have thought through the potential for backlash and taken steps to avoid it, like varying the products it sells by region.

“The country is far less homogenous than it ever was,” he said. “For any brand, it’s not ‘one size fits all’ anymore.”

Shares of Target, which is based in Minneapolis, fell nearly 3% on Wednesday.

According to a 2021 Gallup poll, 21% of people in Generation Z identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, compared with 3% of Baby Boomers. Gallup has also found that younger consumers are most likely to want brands to promote diversity and take a stand on social issues.

“Pulling back is the worst thing that they could have done,” said Jake Bjorseth, who runs trndsttrs, an agency helping brands understand and reach Gen Z customers. “Not to expect potential backlash is to not understand what (LGBTQ+) members go through on a daily basis.”

“Once they fold to the more extreme edges of the issue, then they’ve lost their footing,” Adamson added. “If you can change a big brand just by knocking over a display, then they are on the defense, and you never win on the defense.”

Target has long been seen as a trailblazer among retailers in the way it embraced LGBTQ+ rights and customers. It was among the first to showcase themed merchandise to honor Pride Month, which takes place in June, and it has been out front in developing relationships with LGBTQ+ suppliers.

It has also faced backlash. In 2016, when a national debate exploded over transgender rights, the company declared that “inclusivity is a core belief at Target” and said it supported transgender employees and customers using whichever restroom or fitting room “corresponds with their gender identity.”

But even after being threatened with boycotts by some customers, Target announced months later that more stores would make available a single-toilet bathroom with a door that could be locked.

As recently as last year, law enforcement agencies were brought in to monitor a social media threat from a young Arizona man who said he was “leading the war” against Target for its Pride Month merchandise, and he encouraged others to take action.

But the company is operating in an even more politicized environment now.

There are close to 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills that have gone before state legislatures since the start of this year, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. At least 17 states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors, though judges have temporarily blocked their enforcement in some states.

Target declined on Wednesday to say which items were being pulled. But “tuck friendly” women’s swimsuits, which allow trans women who have not had gender-affirming operations to conceal their private parts, were among Target’s Pride items that garnered the most attention. Designs by Abprallen, a London-based company that designs and sells occult- and satanic-themed LGBTQ+ clothing and accessories, have also created backlash.

The controversy at Target has been exacerbated by several misleading videos circulating online. In some, people falsely claimed the retailer was selling “tuck-friendly” bathing suits for kids.

”Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior,” Target said in a statement Tuesday.

The company pledged its continued support for the LGBTQ+ community and noted it is “standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year.”

Indeed, it was business as usual at many Target locations on Wednesday.

At the Target in Topeka, Kansas, the Pride display remained up front, visible as shoppers passed a corral of shopping carts right after the entrance. It included Pride-themed clothing for kids, as well as T-shirts and women’s bathing suits for adults.

“I like that our local stores here have it front and center, when you walk in,” said Shay Hibler, a Topeka self-employed small business owner who was shopping with her 13-year-old daughter and supports LGBTQ+ rights.

Megan Rusch, a Kansas City-area resident who is studying criminal justice at Washburn University in Topeka, was shopping at the same store and said while other locations might worry about their image, “This is a pretty diverse area.”

She said she believes it’s good for the stores to have the Pride displays so that LGBTQ+ customers feel included.

Her shopping companion, Blake Ferguson, a Colorado resident who is studying accounting and finance student at Ottawa University, added simply: “Love is love.”

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Durbin contributed from Detroit. AP Writer John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas contributed to this report.

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Why is Target pulling some Pride merch? The retailer’s response to hostile backlash, explained

By Associated Press

yesterday

Pride month merchandise is displayed at the front of a Target store in Hackensack, N.J., Wednesday, May 24, 2023. Target is removing certain items from its stores and making other changes to its LGBTQ+ merchandise nationwide ahead of Pride month after an intense backlash from some customers including violent confrontations with its workers. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

WASHINGTON (AP) — After intense backlash from some shoppers, Target is removing certain items and making other changes to its LGBTQ+ merchandise nationwide ahead of Pride month.

In confirming the changes to this year’s Pride collection, which has been on sale since early May, the Minneapolis retailer cited safety concerns for employees that have been targeted by hostile customers.

“Since introducing this year’s collection, we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and wellbeing while at work,” Target said Tuesday in a written statement. “Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans.”

The confrontations in Target stores are taking place as state legislatures introduce a record number of bills targeting LGBTQ+ individuals across the country. Some advocacy groups have criticized Target’s response — calling on the retailer to not back down to hate-filled backlash and reaffirm its support with the LGBTQ+ community.

Here are some things to know about the controversy surrounding the Target Pride collection and the company’s response.

DID TARGET PULL ITS PRIDE COLLECTION?

Target did not pull its entire Pride collection, but it has removed certain items ahead of Pride month.

The chain also made other changes to the selling of its LGBTQ+ merchandise nationwide, with Target confirming that it moved its Pride merchandise from the front of the stores to the back in some Southern locations after confrontations from shoppers in the region.

WHY IS TARGET PULLING PRIDE PRODUCTS? AND WHICH ONES?

Target said it’s pulling certain items from the Pride collection due to intense and threatening backlash from some customers — which has impacted employees’ sense of safety, the company said. Target said that customers knocked down Pride displays at some stores, angrily approached workers and posted threatening videos on social media from inside the stores.

The retailer added that it would be “removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior.” Target declined to further specify which products would be impacted.

“Tuck friendly” women’s swimsuits, which allow trans women who have not had gender-affirming operations to conceal their private parts, were among Target’s Pride items that garnered the most attention. There are bogus claims on social media platforms that the swimsuits were being sold in the children’s department. Designs by Abprallen, a London-based company that designs and sells occult- and satanic-themed LGBTQ+ clothing and accessories, have also created backlash.

WHAT STARTED THE CONTROVERSY AROUND TARGET’S PRIDE COLLECTION?

The controversy gained traction online last week as conservative media attacked Target’s Pride month collection — which has also been the subject of several misleading videos in recent weeks that falsely claimed the retailer is selling “tuck-friendly” bathing suits designed for kids. The backlash also spilled over into physical stores.

Target and other retailers have been expanding their LGBTQ+ displays to celebrate Pride month in June for roughly a decade. Today’s confrontations in Target stores arrive amid a surge of legislation targeting LGBTQ+ people across the nation.

There are close to 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills that have gone before state legislatures since the start of this year, an unprecedented number, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Those efforts focus on health, particularly gender-affirming health care for transgender youth, and education. State legislatures are also pushing to prevent discussions in school regarding sexuality and gender identity.

WHAT HAS BEEN TARGET’S RESPONSE?

In addition to deciding to remove some of its items amid other adjustments to the selling of its Pride collection, Target said that the company’s focus is now “on moving forward with our continuing commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community and standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year.”

Some activists and advocacy groups, however, have criticized Target’s response — calling on the retailer to reaffirm its support with the LGBTQ+ community.

“Target should put the products back on the shelves and ensure their Pride displays are visible on the floors, not pushed into the proverbial closet. That’s what the bullies want. Target must be better,” stated Kelley Robinson, president of The Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ+ civil rights group in the U.S.

“Extremist groups and individuals work to divide us and ultimately don’t just want rainbow products to disappear, they want us to disappear,” Robinson added. “For the past decade, the LGBTQ+ community has celebrated Pride with Target — it’s time that Target stands with us and doubles-down on their commitment to us.”

An Iranian nuclear facility is so deep underground that US airstrikes likely couldn’t reach it

Iran nuclear site deep underground challenges West

In central Iran, workers are building a nuclear facility so deep in the earth that it is likely beyond the range of U.S. weapons designed specifically for such sites. That's according to experts and new satellite imagery analyzed by The Associated Press. (May 22)

 (AP video: Marshall Ritzel

Jon Gambrell

May 22, 2023

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Near a peak of the Zagros Mountains in central Iran, workers are building a nuclear facility so deep in the earth that it is likely beyond the range of a last-ditch U.S. weapon designed to destroy such sites, according to experts and satellite imagery analyzed by The Associated Press.

The photos and videos from Planet Labs PBC show Iran has been digging tunnels in the mountain near the Natanz nuclear site, which has come under repeated sabotage attacks amid Tehran’s standoff with the West over its atomic program.

RELATED COVERAGE– US bomb designed to hit targets like Iran underground nuclear sites briefly reappears amid tensions

With Iran now producing uranium close to weapons-grade levels after the collapse of its nuclear deal with world powers, the installation complicates the West’s efforts to halt Tehran from potentially developing an atomic bomb as diplomacy over its nuclear program remains stalled.

Completion of such a facility “would be a nightmare scenario that risks igniting a new escalatory spiral,” warned Kelsey Davenport, the director of nonproliferation policy at the Washington-based Arms Control Association. “Given how close Iran is to a bomb, it has very little room to ratchet up its program without tripping U.S. and Israeli red lines. So at this point, any further escalation increases the risk of conflict.”

The construction at the Natanz site comes five years after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the nuclear accord. Trump argued the deal did not address Tehran’s ballistic missile program, nor its support of militias across the wider Middle East.

But what it did do was strictly limit Iran’s enrichment of uranium to 3.67% purity, powerful enough only to power civilian power stations, and keep its stockpile to just some 300 kilograms (660 pounds).

Since the demise of the nuclear accord, Iran has said it is enriching uranium up to 60%, though inspectors recently discovered the country had produced uranium particles that were 83.7% pure. That is just a short step from reaching the 90% threshold of weapons-grade uranium.

As of February, international inspectors estimated Iran’s stockpile was over 10 times what it was under the Obama-era deal, with enough enriched uranium to allow Tehran to make “several” nuclear bombs, according to the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

President Joe Biden and Israel’s prime minister have said they won’t allow Iran to build a nuclear weapon. “We believe diplomacy is the best way to achieve that goal, but the president has also been clear that we have not removed any option from the table,” the White House said in a statement to the AP.

The Islamic Republic denies it is seeking nuclear weapons, though officials in Tehran now openly discuss their ability to pursue one.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations, in response to questions from the AP regarding the construction, said that “Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities are transparent and under the International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.” However, Iran has been limiting access for international inspectors for years.

Iran says the new construction will replace an above-ground centrifuge manufacturing center at Natanz struck by an explosion and fire in July 2020. Tehran blamed the incident on Israel, long suspected of running sabotage campaigns against its program.

Tehran has not acknowledged any other plans for the facility, though it would have to declare the site to the IAEA if they planned to introduce uranium into it. The Vienna-based IAEA did not respond to questions about the new underground facility.

The new project is being constructed next to Natanz, about 225 kilometers (140 miles) south of Tehran. Natanz has been a point of international concern since its existence became known two decades ago.

Protected by anti-aircraft batteries, fencing and Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, the facility sprawls across 2.7 square kilometers (1 square mile) in the country’s arid Central Plateau.

Satellite photos taken in April by Planet Labs PBC and analyzed by the AP show Iran burrowing into the Kūh-e Kolang Gaz Lā, or “Pickaxe Mountain,” which is just beyond Natanz’s southern fencing.

A different set of images analyzed by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies reveals that four entrances have been dug into the mountainside, two to the east and another two to the west. Each is 6 meters (20 feet) wide and 8 meters (26 feet) tall.

The scale of the work can be measured in large dirt mounds, two to the west and one to the east. Based on the size of the spoil piles and other satellite data, experts at the center told AP that Iran is likely building a facility at a depth of between 80 meters (260 feet) and 100 meters (328 feet). The center’s analysis, which it provided exclusively to AP, is the first to estimate the tunnel system’s depth based on satellite imagery.

The Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington-based nonprofit long focused on Iran’s nuclear program, suggested last year the tunnels could go even deeper.

Experts say the size of the construction project indicates Iran likely would be able to use the underground facility to enrich uranium as well — not just to build centrifuges. Those tube-shaped centrifuges, arranged in large cascades of dozens of machines, rapidly spin uranium gas to enrich it. Additional cascades spinning would allow Iran to quickly enrich uranium under the mountain’s protection.

“So the depth of the facility is a concern because it would be much harder for us. It would be much harder to destroy using conventional weapons, such as like a typical bunker buster bomb,” said Steven De La Fuente, a research associate at the center who led the analysis of the tunnel work.

The new Natanz facility is likely to be even deeper underground than Iran’s Fordo facility, another enrichment site that was exposed in 2009 by U.S. and other world leaders. That facility sparked fears in the West that Iran was hardening its program from airstrikes.

Such underground facilities led the U.S. to create the GBU-57 bomb, which can plow through at least 60 meters (200 feet) of earth before detonating, according to the American military. U.S. officials reportedly have discussed using two such bombs in succession to ensure a site is destroyed. It is not clear that such a one-two punch would damage a facility as deep as the one at Natanz.

With such bombs potentially off the table, the U.S. and its allies are left with fewer options to target the site. If diplomacy fails, sabotage attacks may resume.

Already, Natanz has been targeted by the Stuxnet virus, believed to be an Israeli and American creation, which destroyed Iranian centrifuges. Israel also is believed to have killed scientists involved in the program, struck facilities with bomb-carrying drones and launched other attacks. Israel’s government declined to comment.

Experts say such disruptive actions may push Tehran even closer to the bomb — and put its program even deeper into the mountain where airstrikes, further sabotage and spies may not be able to reach it.

“Sabotage may roll back Iran’s nuclear program in the short-term, but it is not a viable, long-term strategy for guarding against a nuclear-armed Iran,” said Davenport, the nonproliferation expert. “Driving Iran’s nuclear program further underground increases the proliferation risk.”
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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
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The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

UN conference raises less than $1 billion for climate-wracked Horn of Africa in major disappointment

Edith M. Lederer

yesterday

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 Nunay Mohamed, 25, who fled the drought-stricken Lower Shabelle area, holds her one-year old malnourished child at a makeshift camp for the displaced on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia on June 30, 2022. The United States has announced $524 million in additional humanitarian aid for the Horn of Africa that aims to put a spotlight on the extreme effects of climate change and the worst drought in the region in 40 years. The aid announcement also seeks to highlight the need for more than $5 billion. 

(AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh, File)

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A high-level U.N. conference on Wednesday raised less than $1 billion of the more than $5 billion organizers were hoping for to help over 30 million people in the Horn of Africa cope with a major climate crisis and mass displacement after years of conflict, a major disappointment to aid agencies.

The U.N. appealed for $7 billion this year to provide food and other humanitarian assistance for the three Horn of Africa countries – Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, and had only received $1.6 billion. After pledges were tallied, the U.N. humanitarian office said the total funding for 2023 now stands at $2.4 billion.

That means only $800 million in new funding was announced Wednesday – over 60% from the United States which made an additional donation of $524 million . That brought its total to more than $1.4 billion for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged would-be donors at the start of the pledging conference to make an immediate and major injection of funding to prevent the crisis caused by the longest drought on record, massive displacement and skyrocketing food prices “from turning into catastrophe.”

“People in the Horn of Africa are paying an unconscionable price for a climate crisis they did nothing to cause,” he said. “Without an immediate and major injection of funding, emergency operations will grind to a halt, and people will die.”

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who visited the Somali capital, Mogadishu, in September, said humanitarian needs in the Horn of Africa are now greater than ever, “with over 23.5 million persons facing acute food insecurity” which is why the U.S. has pledged additional funds.

“Right now, the global community is simply not meeting the moment,” she told the conference, warning that “the threat of famine looms.”

“In a world abundant with food, entire communities should never, never starve to death,” Thomas-Greenfield stressed.

But the results of the pledging conference co-hosted by the U.S., UK, Italy and Qatar were anything but bold.

According to the U.N. humanitarian office, there were 25 countries that made announcements along with the European Commission, Islamic Relief and the U.N.’s emergency humanitarian fund. But it said some pledges included funds for 2024 and beyond.

Germany’s U.N. Ambassador Antje Leendertse told the conference the 210 million euros ($226 million) in humanitarian aid for the three countries in 2023 and 2024 doesn’t include substantial funding “for development and stabilization” in the Horn of Africa.

UK Minister for Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell said the country pledged $119 million for the three Horn of Africa countries. In addition, he said, the UK pledged $27 million for Sudan, $23 million for South Sudan and $9 million for Uganda, taking its total new funding up to $178 million.

Alison Huggins, deputy director for Africa for the relief organization Mercy Corps which has worked in the Horn of Africa since 2004, said it takes the results of the conference “with a grain of salt because many of these pledges were just confirmations of existing financing commitments and remain insufficient in light of the region’s urgent and expanding needs and the many lives still hanging in the balance.”

She said people in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya contribute less than 0.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, but they are “suffering the consequences of human-induced climate change.”

The humanitarian agency CARE said the region is facing the worst food crisis in 40 years, pointing to drought, two locust invasions, conflict and rising commodity prices in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Over 31 million people need emergency aid, more than 2.5 million have left their homes, and on, due to the extreme weather more than 13.2 million livestock — a key money earner — have perished.

According to the U.N. humanitarian office known as OCHA, the Horn of Africa is the epicenter of one of the world’s worst climate emergencies.

Last year, an estimated 43,000 people died in Somalia, most likely due to drought – and half of the victims may have been children under the age of five, OCHA said.

While improved rains are starting to ease the impact of drought, they are also causing flooding and damage which has affected at least 900,000 people — and more flooding is expected later this year, OCHA said. And regardless of the rains, it will take years to recover from the historic drought.

In Somalia, where more than 6 million people are going hungry, a famine has yet to be declared, but some humanitarian and climate officials have warned that current trends are worse than in the 2011 famine, in which 250,000 people died.

Somalia is also grappling with insecurity due to the al-Shabab extremist group, which has ties to al-Qaida and has fought the Somali federal government in Mogadishu for years. The group intensified attacks on military bases in recent months after losing territory in rural areas to government forces.

In Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, nearly all the 6 million people rely on food aid after two years of civil war. Government-imposed restrictions on humanitarian relief had pushed parts of the region to the brink of famine until aid deliveries resumed after the war stopped with a cease-fire in November.

But the U.N. and USAID, the U.S. aid agency, announced earlier this month that they were suspending all food assistance to investigate the theft of humanitarian supplies.

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Associated Press writer Evelyne Musambi in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed to this report.

Caustic feedback, serious injuries and the quiet mental health suffering of horse racing jockeys

AT LEAST THEY DON'T GET EUTHANIZED 

Stephen Whyno

May 23, 2023

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 Jockey Mike Smith tips his helmet to the crowd as he rides Justify to the winner's circle after winning the 150th running of the Belmont Stakes horse race and Triple Crown on June 9, 2018, in Elmont, N.Y. Earlier in 2023, horse racing was rocked by the deaths less than six weeks apart of two young jockeys, 23-year-old Avery Whisman and 29-year-old Alex Canchari, each of whom killed himself. A friend of Whisman's, Triple Crown-winning rider Mike Smith has over three decades seen similar tragedies unfold. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)


BALTIMORE (AP) — Eurico Rosa da Silva was in a dark place.

On the track, the jockey in his early 30s was winning races and making money. At home, he was fighting suicidal thoughts every day.

“I got to the point where I have no more choice but to go for help,” he recalled recently. “I went because if I have no choice, I would kill myself.”

Da Silva got help in 2006 and rode for more than a decade before retiring. He’s one of the lucky ones.

Earlier this year, horse racing was stunned by the suicides less than six weeks apart of two young jockeys, 23-year-old Avery Whisman and 29-year-old Alex Canchari. A friend of Whisman’s, Triple Crown-winning rider Mike Smith, said he has seen similar tragedies over three decades.

“I know several riders that I knew very well committed suicide when it was all said and done,” Smith said. “This is not all of a sudden just happening. It’s been going on. You just never heard of it.”

The dangers of riding thoroughbreds at high speed add up to an average of two jockeys dying from racing each year and 60 being paralyzed, according to one industry veteran, citing data dating to 1940. Combine that with criticism from owners, trainers and bettors and the need to maintain the low weight necessary to establish a career, and jockeys have been quietly suffering for as long as they have been riding horses.

While jockeys interviewed for this story worry that racing has lagged behind other sports in accepting the importance of their mental health on the job, there is hope that renewed conversation about it prompts real change.

“This needs to be addressed,” jockey Trevor McCarthy said. “We take a lot of beatings mentally and physically. With the mental and physical state, when you mix both of them together, it can be a recipe for disaster. Look, there’s proof of it, right? We lost two guys.”

McCarthy last year, like da Silva before him, sought help before it was too late. His father was a jockey, as is his father-in-law and his wife, Katie Davis McCarthy. They are all used to the ups and downs of the job, from the broken pelvis and collarbone from his spill during a race in November to the uncertain hold on a ride.

A particularly rough summer, including flying up and down the East Coast to ride, took a toll on McCarthy, who at 118 pounds could feel his diet and lack of calories affect his work. He wanted to quit.

“I was going absolutely nuts, and my body couldn’t handle it,” McCarthy said. “You’re constantly going through mind games. And I think a lot of guys get caught up in that with the weight and the mind game of not doing good or thinking they’re not good enough.”

His wife made him promise to talk to a sports therapist. McCarthy did so for months, learning how to find a better work-life balance that has helped him win 28 races already this year.

Now 47, da Silva was named Canada’s best jockey seven times and is the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

“In 30 years of riding horses, I can say to you that I never heard anybody talk about the emotional pain, never talked about going for help,” said da Silva, who’s now a mental health coach and spoke Tuesday at the first jockey mental health symposium in Lexington, Kentucky. “I approached many jockeys that I feel like they need help, and many times I said, ‘Go for help.’ I motivate them to go for help. They just listen, but they don’t really want to talk about.”

Dr. Ciara Losty of South East Technological University in Waterford, Ireland, pointed out that jockeys have an “underdeveloped sense of self inside of their sport,” compared to team sport or Olympic athletes who are less likely to burn out because they seek out other activities. She said jockeys can also be less familiar with mental health topics because of low literacy levels and lack the support system of a coach or coaching staff.

“Maintaining a low weight and obviously disordered eating is a big part of it,” said Losty, who co-authored a 2018 study on jockey mental health. “Being a jockey, you have a risk of serious injuries, and if you’ve had a serious injury the fear of re-injury when you engage or get back up on the horse again may impact your performance or lead you to some kind of distress.”

Dr. Lewis King, now at Ireland’s Technological University of the Shannon, did his doctoral degree in 2021 on the subject because he wanted to explore what makes jockeys susceptible to mental health problems and what stopped them from seeking help. In talking to 84 jockeys in Ireland, he said, he found 61% met the threshold for adverse alcohol use, 35% for depression and 27% for anxiety.

King’s research showed that despite nearly 80% of jockeys having at least one common mental health disorder, only a third saw a professional. He said most feared losing their jobs.

“The main barrier was stigma and the negative perceptions of others,” King said. “But primarily it was related to the negative perceptions of trainers. There was a perception within the jockeys I interviewed that if they spoke about their mental health issues or it somehow got back to their trainer that it may impact whether they get rides. The trainer may perceive them as not in the right headspace, for instance, to ride their horses.”

Trainers told King and his colleagues they felt similar worries about sharing their own mental health concerns with owners.

McCarthy, who has been a jockey since 2011, said in recent months he has actually confronted trainers in the U.S., telling them to ease up on berating fellow jockeys after races.

The entire cycle speaks to horse racing being “an old-school sport,” McCarthy said. Losty pinned the lack of progress in mental health on the masculinized nature of the industry, and da Silva said the topic is still “taboo” in racing.

“Asking for help in our sport is almost a sign of weakness, sad to say,” said Smith, who rode Justify to the Triple Crown in 2018 and is still riding at 57. “You certainly don’t want to show any signs of that. We’re supposed to be tough and be able to handle it all.”

The Jockeys’ Guild and Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority recently sent out an anonymous survey — the first of its kind — to gauge the best ways to support riders’ mental health and wellbeing, a hotline is among the ideas being considered.

The results of that survey, returned by 230 jockeys, included 10% describing their mental health as “poor,” a third saying sadness, depression or anxiety were causing challenges in their daily life over the past month and 93% expressing concern about financial stability and providing for their families.

Surveyed jockeys also said money, weight concerns and the pressure to win were among the biggest stressors; they cited the fear of losing work and a stigma around seeking support as barriers to seeking help.

“It’s important for the industry to come together on this issue and other issues to grow our industry and make sure equine and human athletes are taken care of,” said Jockeys’ Guild president and CEO Terry Meyocks, a third-generation horseman whose daughter, Abby, is married to Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Javier Castellano.

“It’s important that people talk about it,” said Meyocks, who noted an average of two jockeys have died and 60 have been paralyzed annually dating to 1940.

McCarthy only started talking seriously about it after getting married and daughter Riley was born, knowing he’s at the leading edge of thinking about mental health and how far behind other jockeys are.

“We’re just behind the 8-ball a little bit with that,” he said. “It’s going to be baby steps, but we have a long way to go.”

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AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

STOOPID HOOMAN

Yellowstone baby bison put to death after visitor picks it up, leading herd to reject it
yesterday

 A herd of bison grazes in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone National Park on Aug. 3, 2016. Yellowstone National Park officials say they had to kill a newborn bison because its herd wouldn’t take the animal back after a man picked it up. Park officials say in a statement the calf became separated from its mother when the herd crossed the Lamar River in northeastern Yellowstone on Saturday, May 20, 2023.

 (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) — A man who picked up a bison calf in Yellowstone National Park caused it to be shunned by its herd, prompting park officials to kill the animal rather than allow it to be a hazard to visitors.

Park officials quickly defended the decision to kill the newborn bison.

“We made the choice we did not because we are lazy, uncaring or inexpert in our understanding of bison biology. We made the choice we did because national parks preserve natural processes,” the park said in a statement posted Tuesday on Twitter.

Park officials’ options for dealing with the animal were limited, according to the statement, which said bison must be quarantined before being sent to conservation herds outside the park. A bison calf abandoned and unable to care for itself is not a good candidate for quarantine, the statement said.

The calf became separated from its mother when the herd crossed the Lamar River in northeastern Yellowstone on Saturday. The unidentified man pushed the struggling calf up from the river and onto a roadway, park officials said in a news release.

Human interference with young wildlife can cause animals to shun their offspring. Park rangers tried repeatedly to reunite the calf with the herd but were unsuccessful.

At one point, visitors saw the calf walking up to and following cars and people. This created a hazard, so park staff killed the animal, according to the news release.

It’s the latest example of Yellowstone visitors getting in trouble or hurt after approaching bison. Park officials euthanized a newborn bison after a similar incident in 2016, when a Canadian man and his son put the calf in their SUV, thinking they could rescue it.

FINE IS PEANUTS

The man pleaded guilty. He was fined $235 and ordered to pay $500 to the Yellowstone Park Foundation Wildlife Protection Fund.

Bison have gored several people in Yellowstone in recent years, often after they got too close to the animals.

Many of Yellowstone’s larger animals — including bison, which can run up to 35 mph (55 kilometers per hour) and weigh up to 2,000 pounds (900 kilograms) — are deceptively dangerous, even when they are just grazing or resting.

Park rules require visitors to keep at least 25 yards (23 meters) away from wildlife including bison, elk and deer, and at least 100 yards (91 meters) away from bears and wolves.

Park officials are investigating the bison calf incident. The suspect was a white male in his 40s or 50s who was wearing a blue shirt and black pants, the statement said.

The calf’s body was left on the landscape, similar to the 25% or so of Yellowstone’s newborn bison that don’t survive, park officials said in the Twitter statement.

“Those deaths will benefit other animals by feeding by feeding everything from bears and wolves to birds and insects. Allowing this cycle of life to play out aligns most closely with the stewardship responsibility entrusted to us by the American people,” the statement said.

Shell agrees to pay $10 million for air pollution at massive new Pennsylvania petrochemical plant

Michael Rubinkam

yesterday

 Construction is under way on Shell Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex and ethylene cracker plant on May 12, 2020, in Potter Township, Pa. Shell has agreed to pay $10 million to resolve allegations that it polluted the air around its massive new petrochemical refinery in western Pennsylvania. The administration of Gov. Josh Shapiro announced the penalty Wednesday, May 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

Shell has agreed to pay $10 million to resolve allegations that it polluted the air around its massive new petrochemical refinery in western Pennsylvania, the administration of Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Wednesday.

Shell acknowledged that the plant, located along the Ohio River about 30 miles (48 kilometers) outside of Pittsburgh, violated air emissions limits, officials said. The multibillion-dollar facility opened in November, only to be shut down months later after the company said it identified a problem with a system that’s designed to burn off unwanted gases.

Shell said it has made repairs and planned to restart the plant on Wednesday.

Under an agreement with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Shell Chemicals Appalachia LLC — a subsidiary of British oil and gas giant Shell plc — will pay a civil penalty of about $5 million, a portion of which will go toward environmental projects in Beaver County. The company will funnel a total of $6.2 million to the community, according to state officials.

Pennsylvania is “taking steps to hold Shell accountable and protect Pennsylvanians’ constitutional right to clean air and water while encouraging innovation and economic development in the commonwealth,” Rich Negrín, the state’s acting environmental secretary, said in a written statement.

The plant uses ethane from a vast shale gas reservoir underneath Pennsylvania and surrounding states to make polyethylene, a plastic used in everything from consumer and food packaging to tires. At full capacity, the plant is expected to produce 3.5 billion pounds (1.6 billion kilograms) of polyethylene annually. Shell had projected to spend $6 billion on the refinery, which took years to build.

Environmental advocacy groups had fought the plant and predicted that it would generate more plastic pollution, as well as compounds that form smog and planet-warming greenhouse gases. The Clean Air Council filed suit against Shell earlier this month.

Environmentalists likened the penalty announced Wednesday to a parking ticket that would have little impact on Shell’s bottom line.

“The overwhelming and toxic pollution residents have been exposed to has already harmed this community — there is no price tag that will allow for this to be acceptable,” said Andie Grey, who lives 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) from the Shell plant and is part of the Eyes on Shell watchdog group.

Grey said “there is ample evidence Shell has no desire to protect this community.”

Shell has said it is using the best available technologies to try to minimize air pollution.

“We’ve learned from previous issues and remain committed to protecting people and the environment, as well as being a responsible neighbor,” Shell spokesperson Curtis Smith said Wednesday.

The plant exceeded rolling 12-month emission limits for volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and other hazardous pollutants, according to state regulators. The state said Shell also violated limits on visible emissions from its flares, allowed foul odors to be released by its wastewater treatment plant and committed other violations.

Shell warned it would continue to exceed air emissions limits through the fall as the plant ramps up production. It will be required to pay additional civil penalties for any future violations.

Shell CEO Wael Sawan had cast the problems as expected “technical niggles.”

The plant’s startup phase has “been slower than we would have hoped for,” Sawan said on a conference call with analysts earlier this month. “But the team is dong a great job battling with some of the obvious technical niggles that startups typically have.”