Our Milky Way galaxy was not always a spiral. Here's how it changed shape

Robert Lea
Mon, August 14, 2023 

The clashing galaxies NGC 4568 (bottom) and NGC 4567 (top) as seen by the Gemini North telescope in Hawai‘i

A 100-year-old mystery surrounding the "shape-shifting" nature of some galaxies has been solved, revealing in the process that our Milky Way galaxy did not always possess its familiar spiral appearance.

Astronomer Alister Graham used old and new observations to show how the evolution of galaxies from one shape to another takes place — a process known as galactic speciation . The research shows that clashes and subsequent mergers between galaxies are a form of "natural selection" that drives the process of cosmic evolution.

This means that the Milky Way's history of cosmic violence is not unique to our home galaxy. Nor is it over. "It's survival of the fittest out there," Graham said in a statement. "Astronomy now has a new anatomy sequence and finally an evolutionary sequence in which galaxy speciation is seen to occur through the inevitable marriage of galaxies ordained by gravity."

Related: Milky Way galaxy: Everything you need to know about our cosmic neighborhood

Galaxies come in an array of shapes. Some, like the Milky Way, are composed of arms of well-ordered stars revolving in a spiral shape around a central concentration or "bulge" of stellar bodies. Other galaxies like Messier 87 (M87) are composed of an ellipse of billions of stars chaotically buzzing around a disordered central concentration.

Since the 1920s, astronomers have classified galaxies based on a sequence of varying galaxy anatomy called the "Hubble sequence." Spiral galaxies like ours sit at one end of this sequence, while elliptical galaxies like M87 sit at the other. Bridging the gap between the two are elongated sphere-shaped galaxies, lacking spiral arms, called lenticular galaxies.

But what this widely-used system has lacked until now were the evolutionary paths that link one galaxy shape to another.

The Hubble tuning fork of galactic evolution as created by Key Insights on Nearby Galaxies: A Far-Infrared Survey with Herschel survey

Reshaping galactic evolution

To cleave out evolutionary paths on the Hubble sequence, Graham looked at 100 galaxies near to the Milky Way in optical light images collected by the Hubble Space Telescope and compared them to infrared images from the Spitzer Space Telescope. This allowed him to compare the mass of all the stars in each galaxy to the mass of their central supermassive black holes.

This revealed the existence of two different types of bridging lenticular galaxies: One version that is old and lacks dust, and the other that is young and rich in dust.


a glowing orange ring-shape in space

When dust-poor galaxies accrete gas, dust, and other matter, the disk that surrounds their central region is disrupted, with said disruption creating a spiral pattern radiating out from their hearts. This creates spiral arms, which are over-dense rotating regions that create gas clumps as they turn, triggering collapse and star formation.

The dust-rich lenticular galaxies, on the other hand, are created when spiral galaxies collide and merge. This is indicated by the fact that spiral galaxies have a small central spheroid with extending spiral arms of stars, gas and dust. Young and dusty lenticular galaxies have notably more prominent spheroids and black holes than spiral galaxies and dust-poor lenticular galaxies.

The surprising upshot of this is the conclusion that spiral galaxies like the Milky Way actually lie between dust-rich and dust-poor lenticular galaxies on the Hubble sequence.

"Things fell into place once it was recognized that the lenticular galaxies are not the single bridging population they were long portrayed as," Graham explained. "This re-draws our much-loved galaxy sequence, and, importantly, we now see the evolutionary pathways through a galaxy wedding sequence, or what business might refer to as acquisitions and mergers."

A history of cosmic acquisitions and mergers

The history of the Milky Way is believed to be punctuated with a series of "cannibalistic" events in which it devoured smaller surrounding satellite galaxies to grow.

This research indicates that in addition to this, our galaxy's cosmic "acquisitions" also included it accreting other material and gradually transforming from a dust-poor lenticular galaxy to the spiral galaxy we know today.

Our galaxy is set for a dramatic merger with its closest large galactic neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy, in between 4 billion and 6 billion years. This collision and merger will see the spiral arm pattern of both galaxies erased and the new research indicates that the daughter galaxy created by this union is likely to be a dust-rich lenticular galaxy still possessing a disk, albeit without a spiral structure carved through it.

Should the Milky Way-Andromeda daughter galaxy encounter a third, dust-rich lenticular galaxy and merge with it, then the disk-like aspects of both galaxies will also be wiped clean. This would create an elliptical-shaped galaxy without the ability to harbor cold gas and dust clouds.

a white spiral galaxy in space

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Just as this new galaxy will carry the story of its evolution for astronomers in the far-future, the dust-poor lenticular galaxies could serve as fossil records of the processes that transformed old and common disk-dominated galaxies in the early universe.

This could help explain the discovery by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) of a massive spheroid-dominated galaxy just 700 million years after the Big Bang. The new research could indicate, too, that the merging of elliptical galaxies is a process that could explain the existence of some of the universe's most massive galaxies, which sit at the heart of clusters of over 1,000 galaxies.

Graham's research is published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Israel may uproot ancient Christian mosaic near Armageddon. Where it could go next sparks outcry

ILAN BEN ZION
Tue, August 15, 2023 



The Megiddo prison, where a nearly 1,800-year-old decorated floor from an early Christian prayer hall was discovered by Israeli archaeologists in 2005, is seen on Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023. Israeli officials are considering uprooting an early Christian mosaic and loaning it to the controversial Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C., a proposal that has upset archaeologists and underscores the hardline government's close ties with evangelical Christians in the U.S. 

(AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

TEL MEGIDDO, Israel (AP) — An ancient Christian mosaic bearing an early reference to Jesus as God is at the center of a controversy that has riled archaeologists: Should the centuries-old decorated floor, which is near what's believed to be the site of the prophesied Armageddon, be uprooted and loaned to a U.S. museum that has been criticized for past acquisition practices?

Israeli officials are considering just that. The proposed loan to the Museum of the Bible in Washington also underscores the deepening ties between Israel and evangelical Christians in the U.S, whom Israel has come to count on for political support, tourism dollars and other benefits.

The Megiddo Mosaic is from what is believed to be the world's earliest Christian prayer hall that was located in a Roman-era village in northern Israel. It was discovered by Israeli archaeologists in 2005 during a salvage excavation conducted as part of the planned expansion of an Israeli prison.

The prison sits at a historic crossroads a mile south of Tel Megiddo on the cusp of the wide, flat Jezreel Valley. The compound is ringed by a white steel fence topped with barbed wire and is used for the detention of Palestinian security inmates.

Across a field strewn with cow-dung and potsherds, the palm-crowned site of a Bronze and Iron Age city and ancient battles is where some Christians believe a conclusive battle between good and evil will transpire at the end of days: Armageddon.

For some Christians, particularly evangelicals, this will be the backdrop of the long-anticipated climax at the Second Coming, when divine wrath will obliterate those who oppose God's kingdom; it serves as the focus of their hopes for ultimate justice.

The Israel Antiquities Authority said that it will decide about the move in the coming weeks, following consultations with an advisory body.

“There’s an entire process that academics and archaeologists are involved with,” said IAA director Eli Eskozido. The organization said that moving the mosaic from its original location was the best way to protect it from upcoming construction at the prison.

Jeffrey Kloha, the Museum of the Bible’s chief curatorial officer, said a decision on the loan would be made solely by the IAA.

The museum “of course would welcome the opportunity to educate our thousands of visitors on important pieces of history such as this mosaic,” he told The Associated Press via email.

Several archaeologists and academics have voiced vociferous objections to the notion of removing the Megiddo Mosaic from where it was found — and all the more so to exhibit it at the Museum of the Bible.

Cavan Concannon, a religion professor at the University of Southern California, said the museum acts as a “right-wing Christian nationalist Bible machine” with links to “other institutions that promote white evangelical, Christian nationalism, Christian Zionist forms.”

“My worry is that this mosaic will lose its actual historical context and be given an ideological context that continues to help the museum tell its story,” he said.

Others balk at the thought of moving the mosaic at all before academic study is complete.

“It is seriously premature to move that mosaic," said Matthew Adams, director of the Center for the Mediterranean World, an non-profit archaeological research institute, who is involved in digs at Tel Megiddo and the abutting Roman legionary camp of Legio.

Asked about criticisms of the Washington museum’s practices, Kloha said, “Major museums and distinguished institutions committed to preserving history have had to grapple with cultural heritage issues, particularly in recent years.”

“To be clear: Museum of the Bible is proud to have proactively launched research and a thorough review of items in its collections,” he added. “The museum initiated returns where appropriate to countries of origin without obligation to do so and encourages other institutions to do the same.”

Based on other finds found in the dig and the style of the letters in the inscriptions, IAA archaeologists have dated the mosaic floor to the third century — before the Roman Empire officially converted to Christianity and when adherents were still persecuted. Nonetheless, one of the donors who paid to decorate the ancient house of worship was a centurion serving in the adjacent Roman legionary camp.

The mosaic bears Greek inscriptions, among them an offering “To God Jesus Christ.”

Since opening its doors in 2017, the Museum of the Bible has faced criticism over its collecting practices and for promoting an evangelical Christian political agenda. In 2018, it had to repatriate an ancient Mesopotamian tablet looted from Iraq and admit that several of the Dead Sea Scroll fragments in its collection were modern forgeries. American authorities also seized thousands of clay tablets and other looted antiquities from the museum’s founder, Hobby Lobby president and evangelical Christian Steve Green, and returned them to Iraq.

The mosaic loan would reinforce ties between Israel and the museum. The museum sponsors two archaeological digs in Israel, has a gallery curated by the IAA. Kloha said the museum also is planning a lecture series featuring IAA archaeologists.

Evangelical Christians, whose ranks have been growing worldwide, have become some of Israel's most fervent supporters, donating large sums of money and visiting the country as tourists and pilgrims. In the U.S., they also lobby politicians in Congress in support of Israel.

Evangelicals, who make up more than a third of the world's estimated 2 billion Christians, say their affinity for Israel stems from Christianity’s Jewish roots.

Some view the founding of Israel as fulfilling biblical prophecy, ushering in an anticipated Messianic age when Jesus will return and Jews will either accept Christianity or die. That tenet has generated unease among some Israelis, but politicians have embraced evangelical support for the state nonetheless.

Since its discovery, the mosaic has remained buried beneath the grounds of the Megiddo Prison. But in recent years the Israeli government has started advancing a multi-year plan to move the prison from its current location and develop a tourist site around the mosaic.

The Tel Megiddo archaeological site is already a major attraction for evangelical Christians visiting the Holy Land. Busloads of pilgrims stop on their way to or from the Galilee to see the ruins of a biblical city and pray at the site where they believe the apocalypse will take place.

Neither the IAA nor the museum would discuss the exact terms of the loan proposal, but Eskozido suggested something similar to the decade-long global tour of a Roman mosaic found in the central Israeli city of Lod until Israel had completed a museum to house it.

Experts remain skeptical of uprooting the mosaic.

“Once you take any artifact outside of its archaeological context, it loses something, it loses a sense of the space and the environment in which it was first excavated,” said Candida Moss, a theology professor at University of Birmingham who co-wrote a book about the Museum of the Bible.

Rafi Greenberg, a professor of archaeology at Tel Aviv University, said the proposal smacked of colonialism, where historically dominant powers have extracted archaeological discoveries from colonies.

“Even if Israel doesn’t ever recognize itself as being a colony, it is actually behaving like one, which I find odd,” he said. Greenberg said that archaeological finds “should stay where they are and not be uprooted and taken abroad to a different country and basically appropriated by a foreign power.”

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
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Should cities dismantle homeless camps?

Mike Bebernes
·Senior Editor
Mon, August 14, 2023
“The 360” shows you diverse perspectives on the day’s top stories and debates.

AP Photo/Jae C. Hong
What’s happening

Last month, a federal appeals court covering the western United States refused to hear a case seeking to knock down rules that bar cities from forcing homeless people off the streets if there aren’t enough shelter beds available.

In response to the decision, a group of powerful conservative judges accused the court of “paralyzing” local communities in their efforts to combat homelessness — particularly the large homeless encampments that have become increasingly common in recent years.

In many areas — including deep-blue cities like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco — city leaders have ordered police to break up “tent cities” and imposed camping bans that make it illegal to set up shelters such as tents in public spaces. The moves have sparked a series of lawsuits seeking to limit cities’ ability to dismantle encampments. At the same time, cities like Phoenix and Portland, Ore., have received court orders demanding that they break up large encampments within their jurisdictions.
Why there’s debate

Part of what makes the debate over encampments so contentious is that it pits groups that generally agree on the long-term solutions to homelessness against each other. Most Democratic mayors of major cities and homeless advocacy groups share a vision that includes major investments in affordable housing and mental health treatment as a way to solve the broader problem, but there are deep divisions over what to do about the acute and immediate issue of encampments.

Many advocates believe that tent cities should be left standing because they are often the safest, most secure option a lot of people have. They argue that knocking down tent cities does nothing to address the underlying causes of homelessness while also destabilizing people’s lives and making it harder for them to access the one-on-one care they often need to get themselves off the streets.

But others argue that allowing people to keep living in encampments that are often hotbeds of crime, violence and disease only makes it more likely that they’ll never escape homelessness. They point out that most cities conduct sweeps only after a lengthy and expensive effort to provide people with safer and more stable housing alternatives — including, in some cases, sanctioned encampments in areas chosen by city leaders — that can serve as a true platform toward rehabilitation.
What’s next

Critics of the appeals court’s ruling say they plan to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to take up their case and are hopeful that the conservative justices will ultimately strike down existing limits on when cities can force homeless people off the streets.
Perspectives

Tent cities are frequently the best place for the homeless to set themselves on a better path

“Encampments can provide people with physical and emotional security, especially as record numbers of homeless people die on America’s streets. They can also provide people with a sense of agency and stability. That stability is also helpful for the volunteers and resources who serve the unhoused, because they know where to find the people they are working with.” — Livia Albeck-Ripka, New York Times

Society should not tolerate the types of living conditions that exist in most encampments

“What should be clear is that conditions often associated with these encampments — rodent infestations, fetid surroundings, hazardous housing — are unacceptable. They don’t help the homeless, and they should have no place in America.” — Editorial, Washington Post

Raiding camps does nothing to solve homelessness

“Sweeping homeless camps was never going to be a solution to the crisis on our streets. … It has always been a veneer, an attempt to act like the city is responding to its residents’ concerns over the homelessness crisis on their doorsteps while never actually addressing its root cause or investing in a solution.” — Nuala Bishari, San Francisco Chronicle

It’s unfair to ask local residents to sacrifice their public spaces to filthy, dangerous tent cities

“You aren’t a bad person for wanting safe and clean public places. That’s something local governments are supposed to provide. That necessitates limits on their use. This is normal. Drivers are free to use the freeway but people aren’t allowed [to] walk down the middle of it. Public spaces require rules that will allow the public broadly to use and enjoy them.” — Victor Joecks, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Encampment sweeps create chaos for people who are already living on the brink

“A tent is a tent, but for many it’s the safest, most private space someone may have while experiencing homelessness. When encampments are removed, people lose more than their belongings or shelter, they lose stability and trust in their community.” — Amy Denhart, San Diego Union-Tribune

If encampments are going to exist, city leaders should at least choose the right location

“[A sanctioned camp is] a more stable landscape. It also dramatically improves the ability of social service providers to connect regularly with those in need, gain their trust and hopefully open the door to tailored social services. It is the option that can make a difference in a matter of months, not years.” — Editorial, Sacramento Bee

No camps should be allowed to stand when better options are available

“Many of those in encampments don’t want to go to shelters because of rules against pets, drug use, and intimate relations. But there is an upper limit to the increased violence and public health dangers city residents should tolerate just because homeless people feel that the available shelters cramp their preferred lifestyles.” — Editorial, Washington Examiner

If cities put enough resources into actual solutions, encampments would all disappear

“This is how we end encampments. Not by raiding tents or by criminalizing people at their most vulnerable. But by working, as a community, to ensure everyone has safe, warm homes where they can live independently and with dignity.” — Amy Denhart, San Diego Union Tribune

Cities break up tent cities to placate voters, not to help the homeless

“By now, it’s clear that elected officials are more interested in managing constituent ‘frustrations’ over witnessing poverty than they are in addressing the underlying conditions that have made cities uninhabitable for poor people.” — Jonny Coleman, Appeal

UK

Biggest rise in wages since records began


Matt Mathers
Tue, 15 August 2023

Wages grew at a record annual pace in the past three months as unemployment rose slightly, official figures show.

The Office for National Statistics said regular pay rose by 7.8 per cent between April and June.

Unemployment, meanwhile, rose to 4.2 per cent in the three months to June, up from 3.9 per cent in the previous three-month period.

The unemployment rate is the highest since the three months to October 2021, the ONS said, and brings the measure above pre-pandemic levels.

In real terms, regular pay rose 0.1 per cent for the year when adjusting for Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH) inflation.

It is the first time since October 2021 that real wages have increased, the ONS added.

Growth in wages comes against a backdrop of high inflation, or rising prices, which have begun to ease but remain at 7.9 per cent - well above the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target.

The inflation figures for July are published later this week and analysts expect the rate to fall by nearly a full percentage point.

The data is expected to show consumer prices index (CPI) inflation falling from 7.9 per cent to around 7 per cent.

However, The Independent understands that analysis by Treasury officials shows that inflation will rebound again in August – with the unwelcome reversal set to show up in figures released the following month.

The ONS data published on Tuesday also showed that inactivity in the labour market due to long-term sickness hit a new record high.

Job vacancies also fell by 66,000 though remain just above the million mark (1.02m).

Jack Kennedy, senior economist at the global hiring and matching platform, Indeed, said: “There are signs the cost of living could finally start to ease after record annual pay growth drove pay above inflation for the first time in over one-and-a-half years.

“Regular pay growth jumped to a record 7.8 per cent year on year in the second quarter of 2023, the highest it’s been since comparable data began in 2001.

“Including bonuses, the figure was 8.2 per cent year on year, driven by one-off NHS bonuses in June.”

He added: “While the wage growth figures will grab attention, the ONS data also showed the labour market continuing to rebalance.

“The unemployment rate jumped by a larger than expected 0.3 percentage points to 4.2 per cent, driven by an increase in long-term unemployment and more people moving out of inactivity. However, inactivity due to long-term sickness hit a new record high.”

The data also shows the number of payrolled employees increased by 97,000 to 30.2 million in July, although the ONS said this is a "provisional estimate and is likely to be revised when more data are received next month".

Responding to the figures, chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: "Thanks to the action we’ve taken in the jobs market, it’s great to see a record number of employees.

"Our ambitious reforms will make work pay and help even more people into work - including by expanding free childcare next year - helping to deliver on our priority to grow the economy."

ONS director of economic statistics Darren Morgan said: "The number of unemployed people has risen again while the number of people working has fallen back a little.

"This is mainly due to people taking slightly longer to find work than those who started job hunting in recent months.

"The drop in those neither working nor looking for work is mainly among those looking after their family or home.

"Meanwhile the number of people prevented from working by long-term sickness has risen again to a new record.

"Job vacancies have now fallen over a quarter of a million since this time last year. However, they remain significantly above pre-Covid levels.

"Earnings continue to grow in cash terms, with basic pay growing at its fastest since current records began.

"Coupled with lower inflation, this means the position on people’s real pay is recovering and now looks a bit better than a few months back."

Former FBI agent says he was not aware of interference in Hunter Biden probe

Reuters
Mon, August 14, 2023 

U.S. President Biden's son Hunter to face tax charges in federal court


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former FBI agent who helped lead the probe of Hunter Biden told congressional investigators that he was not aware of any political interference in the case, though he said higher-ups blocked an interview with President Joe Biden's son weeks after the 2020 presidential election, transcripts show.

In transcripts from a July 17 interview with the Republican-controlled House of Representatives Oversight Committee, the unidentified FBI supervisory agent corroborated earlier testimony by an Internal Revenue Service whistleblower that investigators were not allowed to interview Hunter Biden on Dec. 8, 2020, after top Secret Service officials and the Biden transition team were notified of the plan.

The former agent, who retired last year after more than 20 years with the agency, told investigators that he was frustrated over the decision by more senior officials to block the interview but didn't consider the outcome problematic.

"I wasn't aware of political interference, personally," the former agent said.

Republicans pointed to the testimony as evidence that the Justice Department intervened to delay the Hunter Biden probe, even though the events took place while Republican President Donald Trump was in office.

"Tipping off the transition team and not being able to interview Hunter Biden as planned are just a couple of examples that reveal the Justice Department's misconduct in the Biden criminal investigation," House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said in a statement on Monday when the committee released the transcript.

Comer said the alleged misconduct occurred under U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Trump appointee who was named special counsel in the Hunter Biden investigation last week over the objections of many House Republicans including Comer.

Hunter Biden in July pleaded not guilty to charges of failing to pay taxes on more than $1.5 million in income in 2017 and 2018 despite owing more than $100,000. He did not enter a plea in a separate case where he is charged with unlawfully owning a firearm while using illegal drugs, which is a felony.

The former agent said investigators had planned to surprise Hunter Biden with their interview request, but first had to notify the Secret Service, which had begun protecting the son of the then-president-elect days earlier.

In the end, both FBI and Secret Service headquarters were notified about the interview plan, the interviewers' access to Hunter Biden was blocked and the former FBI agent heard from an attorney for Hunter Biden.

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Scott Malone and Howard Goller)

Border officers at Edmonton airport find tarantulas in plastic container, toy plane

The Canadian Press
Mon, August 14, 2023 a



EDMONTON — The Canada Border Services Agency says officers discovered two live tarantulas hidden inside plastic containers at the Edmonton International Airport earlier this year.

In May, officers saw irregularities in a small package from Hong Kong and found a male tarantula hidden inside a plastic container.

Weeks later, an inspection of another package from the same shipper found a female spider hidden inside a children’s toy plane.

It turns out the species of tarantula, which is native to Hong Kong, did not require permits to import into Canada.

But the agency says the spiders were seized because they weren't transported humanely.

They have since found a new home at the Royal Alberta Museum.

The agency says all living creatures, including pets, must be declared when importing them into Canada in order to avoid spreading disease and introducing foreign species.

"CBSA officers were able to find and rescue these two tarantulas from inhumane shipping methods. All living creatures need to be transported and imported properly to keep Canada’s ecosystem and biodiversity safe," said Lisa Laurencelle-Peace, the agency's regional director of the Prairie region.

"The CBSA works closely with its enforcement partners, including (Environment and Climate Change Canada) enforcement officers, to keep Canada’s border secure and stop the illegal wildlife trade."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Aug. 14, 2023.

The Canadian Press

CANADA
Housing minister says federal government should have stayed in housing game

The Canadian Press
Mon, August 14, 2023 



BURNABY, B.C. — Housing Minister Sean Fraser says the federal government should have never got out of the housing business even as high-income professionals are struggling to find affordable housing.

Fraser says federal governments over the past half century, both Liberal and Conservative, stepped away from the file and now much of the country is dealing with a housing crunch that has no easy fixes.

He told media in Vancouver that past federal governments were mostly preoccupied with providing subsidized housing to low-income people, but there's been a fundamental shift as working professionals struggle to afford a home.

Fraser says it's important for housing to be built for people across the income spectrum, and his government is looking at ways to speed up construction of housing through subsidies and other incentives.

The minister was unable to point to a specific price he would consider affordable rent for a one-bedroom apartment, while the average price for such a unit in Vancouver was recently reported to be $3,000.

Fraser says he believes bringing more rentals to the market will drive prices down, but concedes Canadian home prices are subject to many market forces that make them difficult to predict.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 14, 2023.

The Canadian Press

PETULANT CLIMATE CHANGE DENIER

Alberta premier offers up contradictory versions for imposed wind and solar pause


Mon, August 14, 2023

CALGARY — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has offered conflicting explanations for why her government put a temporary ban on large wind and solar energy projects.

Smith told reporters in Calgary today the Alberta Utilities Commission and the Alberta Electric System Operator wrote to the government on July 21 asking for a pause.

But neither letter asks for such a moratorium.

When reporters pressed Smith on the contradiction, the premier said the Utilities Commission did ask for the pause, but her office has declined to clarify when or how it did so, and the commission could not be immediately reached for comment.

Smith’s government has faced criticism for announcing the moratorium on Aug. 3 with no advance notice and without consulting stakeholders, jeopardizing billions of dollars in potential investment in renewables.

Smith says it should have been obvious drastic action was coming given she spoke publicly in the spring about whether renewable energy was sufficiently backstopped by natural gas and expressed concern over projects taking up too much farmland.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 14, 2023.

The Canadian Press

Democrats’ climate law set off a wave of energy projects in GOP districts. A backlash followed.

Michael Conroy/AP Photo

Josh Siegel, Kelsey Tamborrino and Jessie Blaeser
Sun, August 13, 2023 


President Joe Biden’s year-old climate law triggered a deluge of clean energy spending in almost every state — and it’s splitting conservatives across rural America.

Some communities are welcoming their slice of the $370 billion pot of federal tax incentives meant to accelerate the development of renewable energy and the deployment of electric vehicles as a way to bring back jobs. Others see the Inflation Reduction Act as a vehicle for boosting Chinese businesses and the reach of their government.

While Republicans on the campaign trail and in Congress regularly bash the law — which Biden signed a year ago Wednesday — as big-government overreach by Democrats bent on killing off fossil fuels, its benefits are disproportionately landing in their communities. And as the measure supercharges efforts to combat climate change, it’s also rekindling economies where people have felt forgotten, potentially softening how some voters view Biden as he seeks reelection.

“We always knew that it would fall across America, not in one particular state or another,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in an interview. “We know that rural areas have been neglected, we know that rural areas have fallen behind, and we wanted to help those rural areas. And if some of those rural areas are red, so be it.”

For the companies that are hoping to reap federal tax incentives as well as state and local sweeteners, Republican parts of the country often look more attractive. Of the 200 project locations that have been announced through July, more than 60 percent are in GOP-held districts, according to a POLITICO analysis.

“Companies are building projects where they will be the most effective and generate the most resources,” said Jason Grumet, CEO of the American Clean Power Association, a clean energy industry trade group. “It is no surprise in the Southeast, Upper Midwest, where you have significant amounts of manufacturing capacity, much of which has been idled and left the country.”

As the IRA hits its first anniversary, POLITICO traveled across the nation to examine how the law is playing out in Oklahoma (where the Republican governor is claiming credit for the state’s booming clean energy sector), Michigan (where multibillion-dollar battery projects will generate jobs but are provoking uproars over Chinese ties) and upstate New York (where Republican congressmembers in Biden districts are trying to navigate the politics of the IRA).

MICHIGAN: Green Charter Township and Marshall

Jim Chapman, the Republican supervisor for Green Charter Township, a small rural community an hour’s drive north of Grand Rapids, said he’s received several death threats over a planned $2.36 billion battery component manufacturing facility in the area.

“I accepted the fact that I was going to have to be the lightning rod,” Chapman said in an interview from his office. He is facing a recall effort launched by residents worried about the plant’s sponsor, Gotion, and its links to China.

“Where you have people that are concerned about the Chinese Communist [Party] — they don’t know how to [fight] it in Lansing. They don’t know how to deal with it in Washington. They can deal with it locally,” he said.

Gotion Inc., which recently finalized the purchase of 270 acres in Green Charter Township, is a U.S. subsidiary of Gotion High-tech Co., an international company founded in China.

Residents and some elected officials point to Gotion High-tech documents that include language to “carry out Party activities” in accordance with the Chinese Communist Party.

Chuck Thelen, the vice president of North American manufacturing at Gotion, has insisted there is no such language in the U.S.-based company’s articles of incorporation. Thelen said the Chinese Communist Party has no presence in the North American company.

“The rumors that you’ve heard about us bringing communism to North America are just flat-out fear-mongering and really have nothing based in reality,” he said.

The plant’s backers say the opposition represents just a small minority of residents and argue it will bring much-needed economic growth.

“We desperately need good-paying jobs,” said Carlleen Rose, 69, a local business owner.

But those who oppose the project have a lengthy list of concerns, including a lack of transparency in the process up to this point and potential for air and water pollution stemming from battery materials.

Thelen said the company is currently going through the permitting process for the facility, including the next phase of an environmental study.

“All you gotta do is drive around the community and you’ll see how many people are against it,” said Lori Brock, 58, the owner of a local real estate agency and a horse farm across from the planned site.

“They’re pushing it down our throats,” Brock added. “Why are we giving our tax money to China when we’re almost at war with China? Why aren’t we giving our tax money to an American company?”

That antipathy is shared by local elected officials, including Republican Rep. John Moolenaar, who represents the district.

“Gotion North America is a subsidiary of a company that pledges allegiance to the CCP and I don’t think they should be receiving taxpayer money to build in Michigan,” he said in an interview.

The site’s proximity to a military training center has also raised national security concerns, although the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States reportedly determined earlier this year the factory was outside of its jurisdiction.

The project — along with a separate Ford Motor Co. battery facility in Marshall, Mich., that will license technology from a Chinese company — mark a recurring theme of distrust that undergirds some of the manufacturing announcements that are flowing to red districts.

More than 40 percent of the new manufacturing announcements made since the IRA was enacted were led by companies based outside the U.S. or by companies outside the U.S. in partnership with a U.S. company, according to data shared with POLITICO by national business group E2. At least six of those announcements were made by, or in partnership with, a Chinese-based company.

Ford’s planned $3.5 billion BlueOval Battery Park Michigan project two hours south of the Gotion plant is expected to create 2,500 new U.S. jobs.

But its reliance on technology from China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., a large global battery producer, has drawn pushback both locally and in Washington, where Republicans are putting the project under a microscope. Residents have also lodged concerns about the plant's effects on the environment, particularly to the Kalamazoo River, and the loss of farmland.

Ford spokesperson Melissa Miller said there’s “a lot of misinformation” about the Marshall project. Ford, she said in a statement, will own and control the plant with “zero foreign investment” and its Chinese partner’s involvement will be as a licensor of battery cell technology and a service provider on a contractual basis.

“CATL does not and will not have any equity in the plant and will receive zero tax dollars,” Miller said.

On the environmental concerns, she said the company is still designing the plant, but has begun identifying and mitigating potential failures.

Residents in both communities have packed into town meetings over the months and launched Facebook pages devoted to their opposition. The two projects have prompted recall efforts for local officials and in the case of the Marshall project, a citizen-led lawsuit.

“America’s gotta wake up. We’re being taken over,” Debbie Dygert, 71, said in an interview after a recent Green Charter Township board meeting, which devolved into shouting over concerns of China’s influence and claims by some of xenophobia.

Both the Ford and Gotion facilities were applauded by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, and are taking advantage of hundreds of millions of dollars in state-level incentives, on top of the likely incentives under the IRA.

Quentin Messer, Jr., the CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, a quasi-state agency, called it “critically important” for Michigan to maintain a foothold in battery manufacturing.

“You always have to make the affirmative case as to why growth and progress are going to be beneficial, and not something to be feared,” Messer said. “And I think that’s something that we understand we have to do and make more explicit to folks.”
OKLAHOMA: Inola and Oklahoma City

Bill McAnally, a self-declared “Trump fan,” was ecstatic when an Italian company, Enel, announced plans in May to spend more than $1 billion — the largest private investment in the state’s history — to build a solar cell and panel manufacturing facility a half-hour drive east of Tulsa.

He owns a diner that is one of the few restaurants around Inola, a town home to 1,500 people, and stands to see sales jump from the influx of new customers.

“It’s a great deal,” said McAnally, 68, since Enel, through its affiliate 3Sun USA, expects to generate 1,000 manufacturing jobs in 2025. “All it does is help my business.”

But when told by a reporter that Enel plans to take advantage of tax credits included in Biden’s climate law, McAnally abruptly changed his tune.

“I don’t support it now,” he said. “The federal government doesn’t need to get involved. We all support bringing in green, but we don’t want to give them all this free money.”

But Oklahoma’s Republican governor, Kevin Stitt, has no qualms about the IRA incentives that are attracting multinational companies to his state.

“Obviously some of these incentives from the federal government are causing people to look into the U.S. market,” Stitt said in an interview in the state capitol.

In addition to Enel, electric vehicle startup Canoo announced plans in November to manufacture cars in Oklahoma City, where it says it will employ 500 people, as well as battery modules in Pryor.

But Stitt also personally takes credit for attracting clean energy manufacturing, a sector he said dovetails with Oklahoma’s oil and gas industry, low energy costs, ample transportation infrastructure and central location in the country. The state also draws about 40 percent of its power from wind and is home to more electric vehicle fast-charging stations per capita than any other state.

“We’re just trying to be smart,” Stitt said. “All the [research and development] dollars are flowing into electric vehicles. Batteries. So then I’m thinking, let’s go where the puck is headed. Oklahoma doesn’t want to get left behind. We want the jobs.”


At Stitt’s behest, the Legislature approved taxpayer-funded rebates to companies that build facilities and create jobs in the state, including a $180 million incentive package to help lure Enel. It offered $300 million in incentives to Canoo, though the California-based company saw that figure drop after it missed construction targets.

But some in the state’s all-Republican congressional delegation are resisting the push — including Rep. Josh Brecheen, a freshman member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who represents the district where Enel is building its huge solar project.

“Do I want jobs to come to Oklahoma? Yes. Do I want companies to stand on their own and be on an even playing field without taxpayer subsidization? Absolutely,” Brecheen said in an interview where he ridiculed wind and solar energy as “unreliable.”

Rep. Kevin Hern, who represents the larger Tulsa area surrounding the Enel project site, has helped lead GOP efforts to undo Biden’s climate law as chair of the Republican Study Committee, which released a proposal in June to repeal the IRA.

But Stitt doesn’t support repealing the law because companies have already factored in the incentives.

“I would never want to change the rules on someone mid-game,” he said.

Ron Burrows, one of three Republican commissioners for Rogers County, home to a river port in Inola that is set to host the plant, said local political leaders were important in sealing Enel’s decision to locate in Oklahoma.

“Local government is the last welcome mat before they enter the door, and my role is to give them some peace of mind that I’m supportive and not adversarial,” Burrows said.

GOP lawmakers, he said, need to take into account how their actions affect the districts they serve.

“You got to weigh what your belief system is versus what in reality is happening in the community,” Burrows said. “If things get passed outside of what [they] believe in, then [they have] to trust in us to spend that money to the best of our ability and we will grow these rural populations.”
NEW YORK: Kingston

The Hudson Valley has been waiting for an industrial reboot for almost 30 years. And now that Biden’s climate law is offering some flicker of hope, some Republicans are lining up to claim some bit of credit.

With the lucrative IRA incentives on offer, Canadian company Zinc8 Energy Solutions is planning to use a former IBM computer factory to make batteries for EVs and ones that can bolster electric grids, although it hasn’t finalized the site yet.

Having seen the economic engine of the region empty out 7,000 jobs a generation ago, both Democrats and Republicans support bringing the new project to Ulster County.

GOP Rep. Marc Molinaro, who represents the county, acknowledged the federal program is an “exceptionally important tool” in helping draw Zinc8 — despite his joining most Republicans in voting for legislation that would’ve repealed many of the climate law’s clean energy incentives.


In an interview, Molinaro, who is one of Democrats’ top targets in 2024, minimized the importance of his vote, saying the measure was mostly a messaging bill ahead of the debt ceiling fight with Democrats this spring. He insists he would fight to keep the IRA clean energy subsidies intact in the future and that enough Republicans agree.

“When you grow up living along the Hudson River and seeing businesses contaminate and leave, you grow up understanding the value of protecting our natural resources, and building the next generation of industry in a sustainable way,” he said. “I embraced that well before most folks in elected office in Hudson Valley.”

But Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan, who represents the neighboring 18th Congressional District, had no sympathy for Molinaro’s political predicament.

“You can’t sit there passively,” said Ryan, whose grandfather worked for IBM for 36 years before a restructuring shuttered the site. “We need people to champion [IRA tax credits] and block terrible public policy [to repeal it] at exactly the wrong moment.”

Ryan, who was Ulster County executive before being elected to Congress in 2022, and other local officials had begun taking action to revitalize the site. But the passage of the IRA was “like jet fuel,” Ryan said.

New York has also offered a grant of up to $9 million to Zinc8 to locate in the state, and the company is receiving a $10 million bond from the Ulster County Industrial Development Agency to help acquire machinery and equipment.

Local officials are cognizant of challenges that remain to ensure Zinc8’s success in Ulster County, which has seen previous efforts to redevelop the former IBM site fail, including a hollowed out workforce, which they are seeking to bolster through training programs with local schools and community groups.

“We literally don’t have the trained workers,” said Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger, a Democrat. “But now we have this enormous opportunity to turn it into a real hub for the new green economy.”

Grant Schwab contributed to this report.

Biden’s climate law has led to 86,000 new jobs and $132 billion in investment, new report says

Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN
Mon, August 14, 2023 

A year after Democrats passed their sweeping $750 billion climate and health care law, it’s leading to a surge of clean energy projects and job creation, according to a recent Bank of America report.

More than 270 new clean energy projects have been announced since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), with private investments totaling $132 billion, according to the report. These investments are expected to be accompanied by more than 86,000 jobs, including 50,000 jobs related to electric vehicles.

The Inflation Reduction Act “is not only working to strengthen supply chains but also to boost domestic manufacturing and create new jobs,” Bank of America said in the report.

The White House is attempting to keep focus on the one-year anniversary of the lnflation Reduction Act’s passage this week with an assortment of senior officials traveling across the country to mark the occasion – selling the bill to voters, a White House official says. A recent poll found most voters still don’t know what’s in the law.

The nearly $370 billion clean energy and climate package, which passed on a party-line vote, was the largest climate investment in US history. Its goal is to reduce carbon emissions by 40% by 2030. Inflation has cooled over the past year, but it doesn’t have much to do with the law.

The bill contained many tax incentives meant to bring down the cost of electricity with more renewables, and spur more consumers to switch to clean electricity to power their homes and vehicles.

Close to half of private investment went to EVs and battery production, while the rest went to renewable energy like solar, wind and nuclear projects, grid investments, and other projects, according to Bank of America. The law is driving the most clean energy job growth in Georgia, South Carolina, Nevada and Tennessee.

The Inflation Reduction Act’s “impact is becoming more evident,” Bank of America said. The law is expected to “play a vital role in incentivizing investments and creating jobs” in 2024 and 2025, too.
White House touts law

President Joe Biden is traveling to a clean energy manufacturing company in Wisconsin Tuesday and holding an event celebrating the anniversary back at the White House Wednesday.

It comes after a Washington Post-UMD poll out last week found 71% of Americans have heard “little” or “nothing at all” about the legislation one year after its enactment.


Last week, Biden lamented the choice of the law’s name.

“The Inflation Reduction Act – I wish I hadn’t called it that, because it has less to do with reducing inflation than it does to do with dealing with providing for alternatives that generate economic growth,” he told donors, according to a transcript provided by the White House.

CNN’s Betsy Klein contributed to this article.