It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Saturday, August 05, 2023
Egyptian psychiatrist 'unfairly' jailed by Saudi Arabia on 'terrorism charges' over salary dispute
An Egyptian psychiatrist has been sentenced to ten years in prison on 'terrorism' charges in Saudi Arabia in retaliation for a dispute over his salary.
Shalabi has been sentenced to 10 years in prison in Saudi Arabia
An Egyptian psychiatrist jailed in Saudi Arabia was sentenced to prison on terrorism charges following an "unfair trial" triggered by a salary dispute, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.
Sabri Shalabi, 66, was taken from his home in the coastal Saudi city of Al-Wajh by plainclothes police officers in January 2020 and last year was hit with a 10-year prison term over alleged links to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, according to the New York-based rights group.
But "Saudi prosecutors based the charges largely on forced confessions and apparently in retaliation for a work-related dispute," HRW added.
Saudi Arabia and several other Gulf states view the Muslim Brotherhood as a "terrorist" organisation.
Citing a source close to the family, HRW said Shalabi had told his relatives he was being prosecuted for "expressing sympathy with the Muslim Brotherhood and voting for Mohamed Morsi", the late Islamist leader who won Egypt's 2012 elections.
Saudi officials have not responded to requests for comment on Shalabi's case.
Shalabi, who was employed by the Saudi health ministry between 2006 and 2019, had won a court case against the authorities to settle years of unpaid compensation before he was formally charged.
HRW said the accusations he had faced highlight Saudi Arabia's abuse of counterterrorism laws to silence challengers.
"Saudi Arabia's record of politically motivated prosecutions raises grave concerns that Sabri Shalabi may have been targeted in reprisal for claiming money the government owed him," said HRW researcher Joey Shea.
"The Saudi legal system shows no sign of halting its use of vague provisions of the counterterrorism law to criminalise a wide range of peaceful acts that bear no relation to terrorism."
Afghanistan women's team watch World Cup with hope and fear
While others play at the World Cup, the Afghanistan national team are making their way in Australia's regional leagues. Two years after they fled their country, the past still hurts while the future is uncertain.
The scenes at Kabul airport two years ago shook the world. Among the desperate people trying to flee the Taliban in August 2021 was national team goalkeeper Fatima Yousufi. Soon after, she found herself trying to make a new home in a land that was almost entirely unfamiliar.
"We fled to Australia. I didn't know how far it is from Afghanistan," she told DW in Melbourne. "The only thing I knew was Sydney Opera House from [Disney film] Finding Nemo. At that time, it wasn't important for us where we were going, because the most important thing was to save our lives."
Yousufi was accompanied by most of her international teammates, helped by former Afghanistan captain Khalida Popal and former Australia men's international and human rights campaigner Craig Foster. But not all of her family made it.
Fatima Yousufi (green shirt) captains the Afghan team in exile
Tom Gennoy/DW
"It just happened so fast. We made our decisions so quickly, to leave our loved ones behind. Our families are our supporters, and they were trying to help us be safe, because they knew we were a target," she continued.
"We were getting lots of bad news, in that situation, saying 'this athlete was killed today, this reporter today had been killed'. The story was going on, and it wasn't stopping. So it was a very big worry for all of us." A new life, without loved ones
Yousufi now lives with three of her siblings, while one further sibling and her parents wait in Pakistan, hoping to join her in Australia. She, in strictly relative terms, is one of the lucky ones.
"In Melbourne, I don't have a family," explained striker Manozh Noori to DW. "All of my family is in Pakistan. They moved from Afghanistan to Pakistan when the Australian government said they needed to be in a second country.
"It is the same for a lot of my teammates' families, they are all in Pakistan waiting to come here to Australia. So at the moment, I'm living alone by myself.
"It is it is still hard for me to live alone because back in Afghanistan, I had a big family. My mother, my father and my sister and brother. But here I'm alone and life is really different - go to work, soccer, pay the rent, the water bill. Everything is difficult and hard for us."
As tough as the circumstances are, Yousufi says a "miracle" has helped forge a second family in the unlikely surroundings of Australian regional football. Those national team members who made it out now represent professional men's and women's side Melbourne Victory in the sixth tier of Australian football, thanks largely to Popal and Foster.
Manozh Noori hopes to soon get a fully professional contract
Image: Tom Gennoy/DW
"Our team is a second family for each of us," said Yousufi. "We lost our first family back in Afghanistan. Before I joined Melbourne Victory and we played together as a team, I was thinking, 'Ok, being a refugee right now, we won't be playing as a team together right now. It's going to change, every one of us will go after our own lives, and we will be separated too. So it looked like the end of the story for the second family as well.
"But a miracle happened, and it's amazing to see we're playing as a team right now. We have been through a lot, and it would have been difficult if we had been separated. That's why it's such a great moment for us that we are together." Recognition hard to come by
Both Yousufi and Noori spoke to DW in English after a 4-0 victory on a rainy Sunday in Melbourne. Neither could speak the language when they arrived but both have integrated quickly.
"When I first came to Australia, I only knew 'thank you' and 'my name is Manozh.' It was really hard to learn the language and the culture, the people. But I really tried to learn the English language and talk with people and be in the community. It was really hard for me, but now I feel better about it, I'm learning day by day,'" Noori said.
Though their shirts bear reference to their history as a national team, it remains a sore point that Afghanistan, as they are a team in exile, are no longer recognized by FIFA, particularly with the World Cup being played in Australia and New Zealand. World Cup remains the dream
"Since I have come here, I've said one of my biggest dreams is to play in the World Cup, to represent my country and be amongst the other flags," said Yousufi, who also captains the side.
"You can see here, right now, it's the World Cup, and other countries are here. It's amazing. But deep down as a player who, once upon a time, was representing their country, it's hard right now when you don't have that right. And you can't see your flag on there. It's very hard to see."
Though accepting such a fate is difficult, Yousufi added that their experiences mean this is not a team easily bowed.
"My hopes are so high, I'm not going to give up on my dream. We as a team will fight for our dreams, because of what we've have been through. That's what we have done until now. I think we will fight to have our voices louder to say: 'This is our right as a woman.'
"We have a second chance and it's amazing to be alive. So we now need to have our second chance to represent the country, to represent the girls and our sisters and mothers who are back in Afghanistan and suffering from a situation where they don't have the right to play, to go out and get education, to go outside and be themselves."
Edited by Matt Ford
Russia’s war with Ukraine has generated its own fog, and mis- and disinformation are everywhere
Police officers inspect area after an apparent Russian strike in Kyiv Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. On the battlefields of Ukraine, the fog of war plagues soldiers. A related issue afflicts those who are far from the fighting but avid to learn developments in the vast war. Disinformation, misinformation and absent information all cloud civilians’ understanding. Officials from each side denounce devious plots being prepared by the enemy, which never materialize. They claim victories that can’t be confirmed and stay quiet about defeats.AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)Read More Smoke rise from an air defence base in the aftermath of an apparent Russian strike in Mariupol, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. On the battlefields of Ukraine, the fog of war plagues soldiers. A related issue afflicts those who are far from the fighting but avid to learn developments in the vast war. Disinformation, misinformation and absent information all cloud civilians’ understanding. Officials from each side denounce devious plots being prepared by the enemy, which never materialize. They claim victories that can’t be confirmed and stay quiet about defeats. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File) Ukrainian emergency employees and police officers evacuate injured pregnant woman Iryna Kalinina, 32, from a maternity hospital that was damaged by a Russian airstrike in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 9, 2022. On the battlefields of Ukraine, the fog of war plagues soldiers. A related issue afflicts those who are far from the fighting but avid to learn developments in the vast war. Disinformation, misinformation and absent information all cloud civilians’ understanding. Officials from each side denounce devious plots being prepared by the enemy, which never materialize. They claim victories that can’t be confirmed and stay quiet about defeats. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File) Donetsk People Republic Emergency Situations Ministry employees clear rubble at the side of the damaged Mariupol theater in Mariupol, in a territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Thursday, May 12, 2022. (AP Photo. File) BY JIM HEINTZ August 4, 2023
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — On the battlefields of Ukraine, the fog of war plagues soldiers. And far from the fighting, a related and just as disorienting miasma afflicts those who seek to understand what’s happening in the vast war.
Disinformation, misinformation and absent information all cloud civilians’ understanding. Officials from each side denounce devious plots being prepared by the enemy, which never materialize. They claim victories that can’t be confirmed — and stay quiet about defeats.
None of this is unique to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Any nation at war bends the truth — to boost morale on the home front, to rally support from its allies, to try to persuade its detractors to change their stance.
But Europe’s largest land war in decades — and the biggest one since the dawn of the digital age — is taking place in a superheated information space. And modern communications technology, theoretically a force for improving public knowledge, tends to multiply the confusion because deceptions and falsehoods reach audiences instantly.
“The Russian government is trying to portray a certain version of reality, but it’s also being pumped out by the Ukrainian government and advocates for Ukraine’s cause. And those people currently also have views and are using information very effectively to try to shape all of our views of the war and its impact,” says Andrew Weiss, an analyst at the Carnegie Foundation for International Peace.
THE ‘FOG’ IS NOT A NEW DEVELOPMENT
Even before the war began, confusion and contradiction were rife.
Russia, despite massing tens of thousands of soldiers on the border, claimed it had no intent of invading. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy consistently downplayed the likelihood of war — an alarming stance to some Western allies — although the defense of Kyiv showed Ukrainian forces were well-prepared for just that eventuality.
Within a day of the war’s start on Feb. 24, 2022, disinformation spread, notably the “Ghost of Kyiv” tale of a Ukrainian fighter pilot who shot down six Russian planes. The story’s origin is unclear, but it was quickly backed by Ukrainian official accounts before authorities admitted it was a myth.
One of the most flagrant cases of disinformation arose in the war’s second week, when a maternity hospital in the besieged city of Mariupol was bombed from the air. Images taken by a photographer for The Associated Press, which had the only foreign news team in the city, appalled the world, particularly one of a heavily pregnant woman being carried on a stretcher through the ruins.
The brutal attack flew in the face of Russian claims that it was hitting only targets of military value and was avoiding civilian facilities. Russia quickly launched a multi-pronged and less-than-coherent campaign to tamp down the outrage.
Diplomats, including Russia’s U.N. ambassador, denounced AP’s reporting and images as outright fakes. It claimed that a patient interviewed after the attack — who was standing and appeared uninjured — and the woman on the stretcher were the same person and that she had been a crisis actor. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov alleged Ukrainian fighters were sheltering in the hospital, making it a legitimate target.
The patient who was interviewed muddied the situation by later claiming she had not given journalists permission to cite her and sayimg she had not heard planes over the hospital before the blasts, suggesting it could have been shelled rather than bombed. Russian authorities seized on those statements to bolster their claims, although the woman confirmed the attack itself was real.
A week later, Mariupol’s main drama theater was destroyed in an airstrike even though the word “children” was written in Russian in large letters in two spots around the theater to show that civilians were sheltering there. The blast killed as many as 600 people.
Russia denied the attack, claiming again that Ukrainian fighters were sheltering inside and that the fighters themselves blew up the building.
RUSSIA MAKES ITS OWN CLAIMS ABOUT ITS PROGRESS
The Russian ministry almost daily makes claims of killing dozens or hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers, which cannot be confirmed and are widely believed to be inflated.
In January, the Defense Ministry bragged that its forces killed as many as 600 Ukrainian soldiers in a missile attack on buildings in the city of Kramatorsk, where the soldiers were temporarily billeted. However, journalists including an AP reporter who went to the site the next day found the buildings without serious damage and no sign of any deaths.
Russia said the purported attack was in retaliation for a Ukrainian strike on a Russian base that killed at least 89, one of the largest known single-incident losses for Russia.
Sometimes the fact of shocking destruction cannot be denied, but who caused it is disputed. When a renowned cathedral in Odesa was heavily damaged in July, Ukraine said it was hit by a Russian missile; Russia said it was hit by the remnants of a Ukrainian defense missile.
The disastrous collapse in May of the Kakhovka dam, which was under Russian control, brought vehemently competing accounts from Russia — which claimed it was hit by Ukrainian missiles — and Ukraine, which alleged Russian forces blew it up. An AP analysis found Russia had the means and motive to destroy the dam, which was the only remaining fixed crossing between the Russian- and Ukrainian-held banks of the Dnieper River in the frontline Kherson province.
Both sides play at demonizing the other with claims of the other’s devious plans. Sometimes one alleges the other side is preparing a “false-flag” attack, as when Ukraine claimed Russia planned missile strikes on its ally Belarus in order to blame Ukraine and to draw Belarus’ troops into the war.
Russia and Ukraine both invoke the specter of nuclear disaster. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu grabbed worldwide attention in October with claims that Ukraine was preparing a “dirty bomb” — a conventional explosive that spreads radioactive material. Zelenskyy in turn has repeatedly warned that Russia has planted explosives to cause a catastrophe at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which it occupies. Corroborating evidence of either is absent.
FOG ALSO CLOAKS THE FUTURE
In the war, fog shrouds both events that occur and didn’t occur — and obscures understanding of what may occur next. And it does not creep in on little cat feet, but spreads instantly as Russia and Ukraine each take advantage of social media, messaging apps and the world’s hunger for news to put forth both facts and deceptions.
And what has or hasn’t happened isn’t the only fodder. What might or might not happen is fair game, too. Occasionally, dark allegations about what the other side is planning take a step further and complain about what supposedly won’t happen.
When a Russian journalist died in an attack by Ukrainian forces in July, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed within hours that a reaction to the death from international organizations was unlikely. She fumed that “pathological hypocrisy has long been a political tradition of Western liberalism and its unconditioned reflex.”
Among those who deplored the reporter’s death in the following days: the head of UNESCO and the International Federation of Journalists. ___
Jim Heintz has covered Russia for The Associated Press since 1999.
Lebanon: Thousands march demanding justice over Beirut blast
Exactly three years after a massive explosion killed hundreds and wounded thousands in Beirut, nobody has been held legally accountable. Families of those who died marched to mark the anniversary of the tragedy.
Thousands of protesters marched in Lebanon on Friday to commemorate three years after one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history tore through the port of Beirut.
Many protesters wore black and some carried photographs of their loved ones who died as a result of the blast.
They chanted "We will not forget!" as they marched through the Lebanese capital to the port where the explosion happened.
Thousands of people marched towards the port of Beirut
"Three years have passed and you have been turning a deaf ear to this request and this hurts a lot," Mireille Bazergy Khoury, whose was killed by the blast, told the Associated Press.
"This crime is not a Lebanese issue. Victims are all of all nationalities. Please take action."
At least 236 people died from the explosion, according to an independent count
Hassan Ammar/AP/picture alliance
Paul Naggear, who lost his 3-year-old daughter in the blast, also told the AFP news agency that he has "not been able to grieve for three years".
"We will keep demanding justice until our very last breath," he said.
At least 236 died as a result of the blast according to Lebanese rights group Maan. This figure is higher than the official government death toll of 191.
Another 6,000 people were wounded by the blast, which also caused billions of dollars' worth of damage around Beirut. No justice after three years
Nobody has been held accountable for the disaster, and an investigation into the officials who apparently allowed hundreds of tons of highly flammable ammonium nitrate to be improperly stored for years is at a virtual standstill.
There have however been repeated attempts, so far abortive or halted, to initiate prosecutions against several individuals.
The probe, currently led by Judge Tarek Bitar, has been stalled since late 2021 by a slew of legal complaints filed against him by some of the suspects, including current and former officials.
Lebanese groups, international organizations, survivors of the blast, and families of victims sent an appeal to the UN Rights Council, saying that on the third anniversary of the explosion, "we are no closer to justice and accountability for the catastrophe."
"The political class have used every tool at their disposal — both legal and extra-legal — to undermine, obstruct, and block the domestic investigation into the blast," said Aya Majzoub, Amnesty International's deputy chief for the Mideast and North Africa.
Lebanese groups have appealed to the UN Rights Council over the stalled investigation
Marwan Naamani/dpa/picture alliance
France and the United States echoed calls for a full investigation on Friday.
In a memorial church service held on the eve of the blast anniversary, Lebanon's top Christian cleric, Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai, also backed calls for an international fact-finding committee.
"What hurts these families and hurts us the most is the indifference of state officials who are preoccupied with their interests and cheap calculations," Rai said
zc/msh (AFP, Reuters, AP)
Calls for Justice and UN Investigation Three Years After Beirut Explosion
Port of Beirut was leveled in the 2020 explosion butthree years later no one has been held accountable (file photo)
Marking three years since the disastrous Beirut port explosion, the global community is joining with survivors and families of victims in calling for the completion of the investigation and for those responsible to be held accountable. Since the explosion on August 4, 2020, no one has been criminally charged while critics accuse the government and officials of political interference in the domestic investigation of the incident, consequently delaying justice.
In a joint letter sent on Friday, over 300 human rights organizations and individuals affected by the explosion called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to take over the investigation. The letter asked member countries of the council to support the establishment of an international, independent, and impartial fact-finding mission into the 2020 Beirut port explosion.
“We still don’t have access to the truth or justice, three years after the devastating explosion took our daughter, home, and our neighborhoods, in a country plagued by impunity,” said Paul and Tracy Naggear, whose 3-year-old daughter died from the explosion.
The protests by the families are being supported by countries around the world. Mattew Miller, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State issued a statement saying, “The United States continues to stand with the people of Lebanon. The victims and their families deserve justice and accountability for those responsible for the disaster and the underlying causes. The lack of progress towards accountability is unacceptable and underscores the need for judicial reform and greater respect for the rule of law in Lebanon.”
While Lebanon initiated a domestic investigation into the explosion in 2021, it has been suspended after a series of legal challenges filed by politicians charged with crimes related to the blast. So far, two investigators appointed to lead the blast’s probe have failed to deliver meaningful results. The first lead investor Judge Fadi Sawan was removed from the case within months. The second Judge Tarek Bitar has faced over 25 lawsuits filed by Lebanese politicians to have him resign, further causing suspension of the blast inquiry.
As the case dragged on, Lebanon’s top prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat in January 2023, ordered the release of all suspects detained in the investigation. Reports have said that some of the victims, now living overseas, have been exploring filing lawsuits in the international courts.
At a UN Human Rights Council meeting in March, 38 countries through a joint statement delivered by Australia condemned the pervasive obstruction of justice in the Beirut port blast. The statement called on Lebanese authorities to abide by their international human rights obligations and safeguard the independence of the judiciary. Five months later, the groups highlight that nothing has progressed.
“UN member states should put forward a resolution at the Human Rights Council establishing a fact-finding mission into the explosion. The findings should make recommendations to Lebanon and the international community on steps that are needed both to remedy the established violations and to ensure such an incident does not recur,” stated the letter sent to UN Human Rights Council.
The August 2020 Beirut port explosion is one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history. It is believed to have claimed at least 220 people, wounded over 7,000, and caused extensive property damage around the port.
The explosion is believed to have stemmed from a fire at a warehouse that ignited nearly 3,000 tons of the highly flammable ammonium nitrate. Previous efforts had identified the dangerous material reporting that it had been improperly stored in the port since 2014. Political leaders and port officials have been accused of ignoring the chemicals and failing to act to reduce the danger to the port and city.
Installation Begins at Largest Offshore Wind Farm, UK’s Dogger Bank
Voltaire departing on August 1 loaded with first elements for the Dogger Bank installation (SSE)
Offshore installation work was scheduled to begin at the end of this week on the world’s largest offshore wind farm, the UK’s Dogger Bank site. When it is completed in 2026, the project is expected to produce 3.6 GW of electric power compared to the current largest project in operation which provides 1.4 GW of power.
The commencement of the campaign to install the first of the 277 GE Renewable Energy's 13MW Haliade-X turbines, one of the largest and most powerful turbines in the world, is being billed as a pivotal moment for the project. Work is beginning approximately 80 miles off the coast and each of the turbines will stand 850 feet. Seeking to emphasize the enormity of each turbine, the company highlights that each turn of the 350-foot blades will produce enough energy to power an average UK home for two days.
“Dogger Bank is one of the biggest and most complex engineering and infrastructure projects anywhere in the world,” said Alistair Phillips-Davies, CEO of SSE which is the lead operator for the development and construction of the Dogger Bank Wind Farm. “It is action, not ambition, that will secure our energy future and this project shows action on a massive scale. But we will need many more Dogger Banks to achieve our goals and we look forward to working with the government to bring forward more projects at pace.”
SSE is working in conjunction with joint venture partners Equinor and Vårgrønn. Equinor will be the lead operator of the wind farm on completion for its expected operational life of around 35 years. Vårgrønn is bringing specialist offshore wind expertise to the project, while Jan de Nul won the assignment for the installation work.
SEE highlights that construction on this scale in the challenging conditions of the North Sea is unprecedented and that the project has already delivered several world-firsts that will significantly accelerate the speed at which future offshore projects can be developed. These include the deployment of new 13MW and 14MW turbine technology, the world’s first unmanned offshore High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) substation platform, and the first use of HVDC technology on a UK wind farm.
The installation vessel, Jan de Nul’s Voltaire, the largest offshore jack-up installation vessel ever built, is leading the offshore work. Built in China, and delivered in December 2022, it is the world’s tallest jack-up vessel with nearly twice the deck space of the company’s previous largest vessel.
Dogger Bank has been positioned as a cornerstone of the UK’s next phase of offshore power development. The UK has ambitious targets to increase offshore wind fivefold to 50 GW by 2030.
US Designates Last Shallow Water East Coast Offshore Wind Areas
BOEM is seeking comments on three proposed areas that could be the last shallow water offsite sites on the East Coast (file photo)
The United States is continuing to move forward aggressively with the efforts to develop its emerging offshore wind energy industry. In the latest development, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced three additional Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) offshore Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. If fully developed, the bureau reports these areas could provide between four and eight gigawatts of additional energy production.
The designation of the three areas, which was published today, August 1, 2023, in the Federal Register will initiate a 30-day public comment period. The areas represented a subset of the original 3.9 million acres that the Department of the Interior identified for public comment in April 2022. BOEM had requested public comment on eight draft WEAs on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf offshore North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware, covering approximately 1.7 million acres.
BOEM highlights the three designated areas as significant as they are likely the last WEAs in comparatively shallow water along the East Coast. BOEM published its Notice of Intent to prepare an environmental assessment of potential impacts from offshore wind leasing in the WEAs as the next step in the process. After receiving the additional comments and completing its environmental assessment, BOEM would define the areas and decide if it plans to move forward with a lease sale in any of the WEAs. There would be another comment period and review before the auction would be scheduled.
The three WEAs total approximately 356,550 acres which were selected in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science to develop a comprehensive, ecosystem-based ocean planning model that assisted in the selection of the final WEAs.
The first of the three designated areas is 101,767 acres and is located 26 nautical miles from Delaware Bay. The second is 78,285 acres and about 23.5 nm offshore Ocean City, Maryland. The third is 176,506 acres and located about 35 nm from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, offshore Virginia.
As part of BOEM’s ongoing coordination with the Department of Defense and NASA, an in-depth review of WEA B-1 (the second of the three areas) will continue to determine if their activities could co-exist with wind energy development. The results of the final in-depth assessment from DoD and NASA will be used to inform whether WEA B-1 should be included in a possible lease sale, which would be the next step in the wind energy process.
BOEM also continues its broader review of the region for longer-term planning. They noted the bureau may identify additional WEAs in deepwater areas offshore the U.S. Central Atlantic coast for future leasing once further study of those areas has been done.
In less than a year, BOEM has conducted lease auctions for the New York Bight, Carolina Long Bay, and northern and central California. BOEM has also completed another step in reviewing a potential offshore wind research lease in the Gulf of Maine and is moving forward with plans for a lease area off the coast of Oregon. Just about two weeks ago, BOEM announced the next wind energy lease auction, which will be the first for the Gulf of Mexico. The areas will be auctioned on August 29 and will have the potential to generate approximately 3.7 GW and power almost 1.3 million homes. One area is over 102,000 acres offshore of Lake Charles, Louisiana. Two other areas are offshore Galveston, Texas comprising a total of approximately 200,000 acres.
Biden has committed the United States to 30 GW of offshore wind energy by 2030.
CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Canadian Oil Platform Operator HMDC Pleads Guilty to Causing 2019 Spill
Canada's Hibernia Platform operator pleaded guilty and is paying a fine for the July 2019 oil spill (HMDC)
Canadian regulators and the Hibernia Management and Development Company (HMDC), an oil company in part owned by ExxonMobil Canada, Chevron Canada Resources, and Suncor, have agreed to a settlement for a 2019 oil pollution incident from a platform off St. John’s Newfoundland. Under the terms of the agreement, HMDC is pleading guilty to a charge of failing to stop work causing pollution and paying fines and penalties totaling C$400,000 (US$300,000).
The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB), an independent regulator of petroleum activities in the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Area, had filed charges in August 2022 against the company after its investigation into the July 2019 incident which released an estimated 12,000 liters of a crude oil and water mixture into the Atlantic Ocean.
The regulators at the time expressed concern about the operating procedures at the platform investigating a possible delay in shutting down the operations. Their concerns were further raised when less than a month later, the platform had a second, smaller release of contaminated water.
The Hibernia Platform is approximately 195 miles east of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Avalon Peninsula. It rests on the seabed in approximately 260 feet of water.
The July 2019 incident released an estimated 12,000 liters of oil into the Atlantic (C-NLOPB photo)
The platform was in production when on July 17, 2019, a portion of crude oil and water was unexpectedly discharged into the ocean via the deballast system. An operator responded within eight minutes to an alarm that sounded shortly after midnight and stopped the displacement of fluid from the affected cell into the deballast water system. The alarm level continued for four hours with the control room receiving reports of oil on the ocean surface shortly before 07:00. Production continued till after 17:00 when a controlled shutdown began.
The regulator’s overflights of the platform initially spotted one oil slick estimated to be nearly three miles at its widest point. The following day they reported locating two smaller slicks. By the end of the month, they reported that the concentrations of oil had decreased to the point that mechanical recovery and dispersion operations were no longer possible.
The Hibernia Platform was permitted to resume production on August 15, but just two days later on August 17, there was a second incident when an estimated 2,184 liters of oil were released into the ocean. A subsequent report showed that this incident was due to a loss of power on a generator when the other generator was offline for maintenance. The fire suppression deluge system was inadvertently activated causing drains to overflow and the release of contamination.
After a suite of corrective actions, that included procedural changes, training, and a certifying authority review, the regulators approved a restart plan on September 26, 2019.
For the August discharge they initially issued a notice of violation for C$40,000 but it was reduced to C$28,000 in April 2022. However, after an extensive investigation, three charges were brought in August 2022 against the operator for the July 2019 incident. This included not ceasing work without delay, failing to follow their procedures for managing risk, and for the oil spill. HMDC initially in January 2023 entered a plea of not guilty to the charges.
In addition to pleading guilty to the single offense related to failing to cease work causing the pollution, HMDC will pay C$90,000 as a fine. A further C$310,000 will be paid into an Environmental Damages Fund. HMDC said it regretted the incident and has taken actions to address the lessons learned.
CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
EPA Fines CMA CGM and Four Ships Over Claims of Clean Water Act Violations
EPA cited four CMA CGM ships for testing, monitoring, and record keeping issues for their ballawater systems between 2017 and 2021 (file photo)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) settled a series of claims against CMA CGM over claims of violations of the U.S. Clean Water Act related both to the quality of water discharges and the vessels’ testing and record keeping. This settlement is the latest in a series of cases brought by the EPA as it seeks to become more aggressive in its enforcement of a program of permitting and self-testing for large ships calling in U.S. ports.
Under the terms of the settlements, CMA CGM will pay $165,000 in penalties for claims of violations by four of the company’s ships. The claims ranging between 2017 and 2020 involved ballast water discharge, record keeping, inspection, monitoring, and reporting.
Over the past decade, the EPA has required commercial vessel owners and operators whose ships enter the ports and waterways of the United States to comply with the Vessel General Permit program. They are required to file a notice of intent for discharges that are incidental to the normal operation of a vessel. As part of the permits, the vessels are also required to conduct self-testing programs and maintain a series of records.
“The Vessel General Permit is a key element of the Clean Water Act,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman. “When companies and their ships don’t comply with this permit, the quality of our nation’s already-challenged waters can be seriously impacted. “It’s incumbent upon vessel owners and operators to properly manage what they discharge into our oceans, and to meet their monitoring and reporting requirements.”
The settlement with CMA CGM involves four vessels. The CMA CGM Fidelio (113,964 dwt – 9,415 TEU) was subjected to the largest fine of $52,197 for violations between 2018 and 2020 that included failing to properly report ballast water discharges and testing results, failing to conduct the annual calibration of the ballast water treatment system’s sensors and equipment, and failing to conduct sampling for biological indicators.
Two other vessels, sister ships CMA CGM A. Lincoln and CMA CGM T. Jefferson (each 149,000 dwt – 14,360 TE) were each fined just over $48,000. The Lincoln had record keeping errors in 2018, 2019, and 2020 and had a compliance failure due to reporting an untreated ballast water discharge to navigable waters at Norfolk, Virginia in 2021. The APL Columbus (115,000 dwt – 9,200 TEU) was fined $16,293 for record keeping errors in 2017 and 2018. EPA's settlement with CMA CGM resolves claims of Clean Water Act violations and are subject to a 30-day public comment period prior to final approval.
The EPA emphasizes that the vessel self-inspections are required as a means of identifying, for example, potential sources of spills, broken pollution prevention equipment, or other issues that might lead to permit violations. Self-inspections they said permit owners and operators to diagnose and fix problems in a timely manner to remain compliant with the permit and with U.S. law. The EPA is moving to increase its enforcement because they say the permitting program relies on self-reporting by the permit holders.
In June 2023, the EPA also settled cases involving Singapore-based Swire Shipping and Japan-based MMS Co., part of the Meiji Shipping Co. group, resulting in a total of $337,000 in fines for similar violations. The EPA in November 2021 also assessed a total of more than $81,000 in penalties against two vessels, the MSC Aurora and Western Durban also for failing to conduct and record testing, monitoring, and calibration of the vessels’ ballast water treatment systems.
Critics while recognizing the importance of the program also say the regulations are poorly drafted. They say there is confusion about what is compliant. They point out the EPA imposed stricter and more frequent testing requirements than recommended by the equipment manufacturers.
Legislation Would Help Terminal Operators Buy Zero-Emission Cargo Equipment
Legislation proposes tax incentives to help terminal operators invest in low-emission equipment (file photo)
A new bi-partisan bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives designed to maximize investment in equipment and infrastructure used by the United States private marine terminal operators. The bill is designed to provide tax incentives that help support the terminals as they transition to lower-emission cargo handling equipment.
"Our legislation helps modernize the infrastructure at America's ports and harbors and strengthens our supply chains," said Congressman Mike Ezell of Mississippi who along with Congressman Troy Carter, Sr., of Louisiana are co-sponsoring the legislation. It specifically calls for expanding the Capital Construction Fund administered by the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) to allow private marine terminal operators to use a tax-deferred account to purchase American-made cargo handling equipment.
The National Association of Waterfront Employers (NAWE) is supporting the legislation highlighting the critical need and costs private terminal operators will be facing in buying new near-zero and zero-emission cargo handling equipment. The trade association whose member companies are privately owned stevedores, marine terminal operators, and other waterfront-related employers, provided statements of support from its membership for the proposed legislation.
They point out that the terminal operators will require tens of billions of dollars in private capital to meet the pending requirements to reduce emissions from their operations. In addition to the required investments in new equipment, the association also highlights that the terminal operators will be required to prematurely retire existing, diesel-powered cargo handling equipment before the end of its expected life.
The Inflation Reduction Act created new Environmental Protection Agency programs to fund the purchase or installation of zero-emission cargo handling equipment, but it is largely only available to public port authorities or the state and regional, and local entities. NAWE highlights that a majority of the investments will be made by private marine terminal operators.
The legislation would make it possible for private terminal operators to defer tax on operational income and income from the sale of existing cargo handling equipment. The income would be deposited into a Capital Construction Fund approved by MARAD and could only be withdrawn on a tax-deferred basis for the purchase or construction of new cargo handling equipment. They point out that the bill does not include appropriation funds for the purchase of the equipment.
Last year, Congress expanded the use of Capital Construction Funds to make eligible the acquisition, construction, or reconstruction of vessels engaged in the U.S. coastwise trade, including all classes of vessels working in the domestic oil and gas industry and tugs and barges engaged in the transportation of U.S. agricultural cargoes on America’s inland waterways. The proposed legislative amendment, drafted in partnership with NAWE and its members, seeks to expand the program to include private marine terminal operators.
The bill’s sponsors said the change in the authorization would provide financial flexibility that will allow for the development and expansion of port infrastructure. The “Buy American” elements they said will also support the industry and create new jobs.
The legislation to add cargo handling equipment to the Capital Construction Fund program has been referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
The Port of Klaipeda, Lithuania has ordered a rare class of all-electric vessel: a battery-powered waste tanker.
In a newly-announced deal, Port of Klaipeda will pay Baltic Workboats AS and BLRT Grupp a total of $12 million for a new liquid waste vessel. The 140-foot vessel will have enough room in its tanks for 100,000 gallons of waste, and will be highly automated to support operations with a crew of only three. With about 2,000 kilowatt-hours of battery capacity, it will have about eight hours of operating time in between recharging periods.
BLRT Grupp will supply the design through its Western Baltic Engineering subsidiary, and its Western Baltija Shipbuilding unit will build the hull and most of the auxiliary systems.
“Our shipyard is delighted to be part of a consortium with Baltic Workboats to construct, paint and equip a waste collection vessel that will contribute to reducing the environmental impact in the harbor waters," said Ilja Andrusenko, head of marketing at Western Baltija Shipbuilding. "This will be the first all-electric engine vessel we construct."
Baltic Workboats will provide the design and installation of the electric propulsion system, as well as the interiors. Work on the design phase is already under way. “We have built hybrid and electric ferries and patrol vessels in the past and are excited to build our first tanker with fully electric propulsion – what makes us especially proud is that it will sail in one of the Baltic states," said Rimo Timm, Head of Sales at Baltic Workboats.
Delivery for this one-of-a-kind vessel is scheduled for mid-2025.
Port of Klaipeda is also expanding its facilities and deepening its harbor to accommodate the largest vessels in the Baltic, with support from the European Union. It is also working with Proman on plans for methanol bunkering, along with a possible methanol-to-power project for supplying electricity to shoreside consumers.
