How 'green' is New Mexico really? Do recent oil and gas reforms go far enough?

Adrian Hedden, Carlsbad Current-Argus
Thu, September 28, 2023 


Air pollution from New Mexico’s nation-leading oil and gas industry drove it to be ranked as third-least environmentally friendly state in the U.S., according to a study published on Monday.

The study commissioned by real estate company PortlandRealEstate.com used a combination of the quantity and kinds of emissions present in the state, amount of fossil fuel production and access to nature and water quality. PortlandRealEstate.com is a real estate advisory guide based in Portland, Oregon and southern Washington, made up of brokers and agents, and intended to advise potential homeowners on market conditions.

New Mexico was ranked with the third-lowest score of 35.2 out of 100, behind Louisiana at 34.6 and Mississippi at 33.7.

More: Permian Basin oil production dips although projections show growth in coming years

The study credited New Mexico as having the fourth-lowest water quality, estimating 1.1 million residents in the state were served by contaminated or unsafe facilities.

New Mexico also had the 13th-lowest air quality in the U.S., with some of the highest quantity of fossil fuel emissions in the nation, while it produces more than 9 million short tons of coal each year.

Other oil and gas states like North Dakota and Oklahoma were ranked fifth- and seventh-least green states, the study read, while Texas was ninth.

More: New Mexicans call for end of oil and gas during United Nations climate summit

Texas had the highest carbon dioxide emissions in the country, emitting 624 million tons per year, read the report.

“It is interesting to see how each state has scored in the various factors that contribute to a less green environment,” read a statement from PortlandRealEstate.com. “When deciding where to live or buy a home, a greener environment is a deciding factor for many.”

New Mexico leads in oil production, but at what cost?

New Mexico’s high ranking was likely due to its position as the second-highest producer of crude oil in the U.S. after Texas, with which New Mexico shares the Permian Basin – the U.S. busiest onshore oilfield.

More: Oil drilling could be blocked from southeast New Mexico cave system. Here's how to object.

Last year, New Mexico produced about 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd), according to the latest data from the Energy Information Administration, more than doubling in the last five years from about 683,000 bpd in 2018.

Oil and gas usually make up about a third to half of New Mexico’s state General Fund revenue and was largely responsible for a $2.2 billion growth in General Fund revenue for Fiscal Year 2023 through May, according to the latest analysis from the Legislative Finance Committee.

That marked a 25.7 percent increase compared to the same date range a year ago for the latest total of $10.6 billion, the report read.

More: $1.2 billion in Permian Basin oil and gas assets sold to Vital Energy as region leads US

“The state’s revenue strength is due to many factors, including persistently high inflation and a tight labor market, though most revenue strength appears attributable to oil and gas as production has continued to soar,” read the report.

But the economic growth brought on by oil production also brought concerns for environmental impacts.

New Mexico’s southeast Permian Basin region was being considered for a “non-attainment” designation of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ground-level ozone by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

More: New Mexico struggles to meet pollution goals, study says, despite oil and gas restrictions

That would mean the area was in violation of the standard, adding restrictions to future permitting that could ultimately stymie future fossil fuel production.

Ground-level ozone, a cancer-causing greenhouse gas, is formed by volatile organic compounds (VOCs) largely emitted from oil and gas operations, when the chemicals interact with sunlight.

In an attempt to limit air pollution emissions, the New Mexico Environment Department in 2022 enacted new rules to increase requirements for leak detection and repair at oil and gas facilities in the Permian Basin, focusing on the emission of VOCs.

More: Permian Basin adds oil and gas rig after months of declining output in New Mexico, Texas

That followed rules enacted in 2021 by the State’s Oil Conservation Division to require all fossil fuel operators capture 98 percent of produced gas by 2026 and banned the routine use of flaring or the burning off of excess gas.

Do state, federal oil gas rules go too far, or not far enough?

Despite these regulatory strides in increasing environmental regulations on the oil and gas industry, activist groups said the State should do more to reduce its impact on climate change by shifting quickly away from fossil fuels.

Amid the recent United Nations Climate Ambition Summit last week in New York City, Melissa Troutman with Santa Fe-based WildEarth Guardians said continued extraction in New Mexico would lead to worsening health problems for front-line communities along the oilfields.

More: $1B oil and gas deal coming in Permian Basin despite slight dip in forecast oil production

“There is absolutely, without a doubt, no future for anyone without an end to the extraction and burning of fossil fuels – quickly,” she said. “Our elders and our children are riddled with strange diseases and cancers that health professionals are just now linking to the extraction of fossil fuels.”

Mariel Nanasi of New Energy Economy said the state had strong potential for renewable energy and would be ideal to lead a national transition away from fossil fuels.

She criticized Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s efforts to incentivize hydrogen power development, an energy supply Nanasi said still required the use of extracted natural gas.

More: Oil and gas is 'deforming' New Mexico's land, study says, as drilling set to grow

“New Mexico is blessed with abundant solar and wind resources but rather than actualize that potential too often politicians have pandered to the financial pressure of their donors, especially the oil and gas industry, and promoted false solutions like dangerous hydrogen and carbon capture and sequestration,” she said.

Despite outcry from the environmental community that government action didn’t go far enough, industry groups charged that regulations went too far in limiting fossil fuel production and thus threatening economic stability.

In response to the Bureau of Land Management’s recently proposed oil and gas leasing reforms, Western Energy Alliance President Kathleen Sgamma said the regulations were the latest in an effort by the federal government to stymie American energy production.

More: Oil and gas industry adds billions to New Mexico's budget as economists warn of volatility

The rules would increase royalty and rental rates oil and gas companies pay to operate on public land, while also requiring environmental analysis of proposed oil and gas land leases consider climate change impacts for approval.

The agency also sought to increase requirements for bonding of oil and gas wells, which operators pay into to fund the cleanup of wells should they be abandoned on federal land.

The Alliance estimated these regulations would increase energy costs for Americans by $1.8 billion.

“BLM is discouraging companies from wanting to develop federal oil and natural gas by pricing small businesses and entrepreneurs out of the market and increasing energy costs for Americans,” Sgamma said in a Monday statement.

“The proposed rule contains significant measures designed to impede, impair, and disincentivize oil and gas development on federal land.”

Adrian Hedden can be reached at , achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on X, formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: New Mexico ranks as third-least environmentally friendly state

Biden calls for up to three oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico, disappointing all sides

MATTHEW DALY
Fri, September 29, 2023 



Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, speaks during a committee hearing, May 2, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Biden administration on Friday proposed up to three oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico over the next five years — and none in Alaska — as it tries to navigate between energy companies that have pressed for greater oil and gas production and environmental activists who have urged President Joe Biden to shut down new offshore drilling in the fight against climate change. 

(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's administration on Friday proposed up to three oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico but none in Alaska as it tries to navigate between energy companies seeking greater oil and gas production and environmental activists who want Biden to shut down new offshore drilling in the fight against climate change.

The five-year plan includes proposed sales in the Gulf of Mexico, the nation’s primary offshore source of oil and gas, in 2025, 2027 and 2029. The three lease sales are the minimum number the Democratic administration could legally offer if it wants to continue expanding offshore wind development.

Under the terms of a 2022 climate law, the government must offer at least 60 million acres of offshore oil and gas leases in any one-year period before it can offer offshore wind leases.

The provision tying offshore wind to oil and gas production was added by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a top recipient of oil and gas donations and a key vote in favor of the climate law, which was approved with only Democratic votes in the House and the Senate. The landmark law, the Inflation Reduction Act, was signed by Biden as a key step to fight climate change but includes a number of provisions authored by Manchin, a centrist who represents an energy-producing state.

For instance, if the Biden administration wants to expand solar and wind power on public lands, it must offer new oil and gas leases first.

“The Biden-Harris administration is committed to building a clean energy future that ensures America’s energy independence,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement. The proposed offshore leasing program “represents the smallest number of oil and gas lease sales in history” and “sets a course for (the Interior Department) to support the growing offshore wind industry,” she said.

The lease program will guard against environmental damage caused by oil and gas drilling and other adverse impacts to coastal communities, Haaland said.

Still, the plan allows drillers such as Chevron, BP and ExxonMobil to participate in as many as three oil and gas auctions over the next five years, a top priority for the industry that could lock in decades of offshore oil and gas production.

The plan goes against Biden's campaign promise to end new offshore drilling and could become a political liability for the Democratic president, who already faces sharp opposition from environmental groups angry at his decision earlier this year to approve ConocoPhillips' massive Willow oil project in Alaska.

ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance called Willow “the right decision for Alaska and our nation.” But environmental groups call the $8 billion project a “carbon bomb” that would betray Biden's pledge to cut planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. Opponents mounted a #StopWillow campaign on social media that has been seen hundreds of millions of times.

Interior Deputy Secretary Tommy Beaudreau appeared to acknowledge the contradiction on Thursday, telling a Senate hearing that the administration’s options were limited by the climate law.

“The (oil leasing) program is definitely informed by the IRA and the connection that the IRA makes between offshore oil and gas leasing and renewable energy leasing,” he said, referring to the Inflation Reduction Act.

The Interior Department can’t sell the rights to drill for oil and gas offshore without first publishing a schedule that outlines its plans. The administration faced a Saturday deadline to release the five-year plan.

Environmentalists said the decision to lease more oil reserves would worsen climate change impacts from oil and gas emissions and leave coastal communities exposed to spills that occur regularly in the Gulf of Mexico.

“President Biden is unfortunately showing the world that it’s OK to continue to prioritize polluters over real climate solutions,” said Beth Lowell, U.S. vice president for the environmental group Oceana. “Expanding dirty and dangerous offshore drilling only exacerbates the climate catastrophe that is already at our doorstep.''

The American Petroleum Institute, the top lobbying group for the oil and gas industry, said Biden "is choosing failed energy policies that are adding to the pain Americans are feeling at the pump.''

“This restrictive offshore leasing program is the latest tactic in a coordinated strategy to reduce energy production, limiting consumers' access to affordable reliable energy and compromising our ability to lead on the global stage,'' API CEO Mike Sommers said in a statement.

The oil industry and its allies have said since last year that the administration’s delay in finalizing a new offshore leasing framework after the prior five-year plan expired in 2022 would cause problems for companies trying to make their own plans. They’ve called for more leasing, not less, to ensure a steady supply of domestic oil.

At the last lease sale, in March, companies including Chevron, BP and ExxonMobil bid $264 million for drilling rights in the Gulf, a sharp rise from the previous auction in 2021. That lease sale was the first after the Biden administration raised royalty rates that companies must pay on the oil they produce to 18.75%, up from the previous rate of 12.5%.

___

Associated Press writer Matthew Brown in Billings, Mont., contributed to this story.

Biden administration approves more offshore drilling in bid to expand wind energy

Ella Nilsen, CNN
Fri, September 29, 2023 

Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The Biden administration announced Friday it is planning as many as three new oil and gas drilling lease sales in federal waters over the next five years – a move that could anger Republicans, pro-industry groups and climate advocates alike and that will likely prompt legal challenges.

But the plan, which the Interior Department was required by law to create, comes with a trade-off: It allows officials to offer more federal waters for clean wind energy.

The five-year drilling plan “represents the smallest number of oil and gas lease sales in history,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement. The administration had previously proposed more drilling areas – up to 11 possible sales.

The three sales would all take place in the Gulf of Mexico, scheduled for 2025, 2027 and 2029. The plan nixed the possibility of lease sales off Alaska’s Cook Inlet.

The plan “sets a course for the Department to support the growing offshore wind industry and protect against the potential for environmental damage and adverse impacts to coastal communities,” Haaland said.

The Inflation Reduction Act required the Interior Department to propose a certain number of oil and gas leases in federal waters in exchange for the ability to propose clean offshore wind energy projects. Three was the lowest number that would allow it to move forward with offshore wind lease sales around the country, the department said, given the requirements of the law.

Tying clean wind energy to fossil fuel drilling was a key demand of Sen. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat who wrote much of the bill.

Biden’s plan is in stark contrast to that of the Trump administration, which originally proposed 47 lease sales off all coastal areas in the US, including the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, over the five years from 2024 to 2029.

But even three drilling sales will frustrate climate advocates, who have pressed the administration to take a tougher line on offshore drilling and wanted no new oil and gas lease sales approved. Brettny Hardy, an attorney at Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental litigation firm, said she believes the administration could satisfy the requirements of law by doing the bare minimum.

“They could achieve all of the wind development they have planned with only one oil and gas sale in the five-year program,” Hardy said. “The agency can still hold those sales without any more oil and gas leasing. Under their regulations, all they need to do is hold an oil and gas sale in order to issue the wind leases that were sold.”

That argument likely would not go over well with Republicans in Congress or Manchin, who has frequently blasted the administration for what he characterizes as anti-energy policies in pursuit of climate action.

Heading into an election year, Republicans are also keen to tie any administration actions that seemingly pare down oil and gas drilling to raising gas prices – two things that are largely unrelated as gas prices are tied to the whims of global markets.

As CNN reported last year, the White House was involved in crafting Interior’s proposed offshore drilling plan, two sources familiar with the discussions told CNN, a sign of how sensitive top officials are to the politics around oil and gas decisions.

Interior’s pared-back plan will likely prompt legal challenges from the oil industry and Republican states. And even with the reduced number of proposed projects, the five-year plan could still set up the next fight between the Biden administration and Gulf Coast communities and environmental advocates who want the administration to stop approving new oil and gas projects altogether.

With past major new oil projects that have been approved, such as the Willow project in Alaska, the Biden administration has frequently said it must comply with laws that require certain projects to go forward. Still, that answer hasn’t satisfied environmental and youth climate groups – who have warned that new oil and gas project approvals risks alienating young voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Hardy said that the Biden administration “still has a responsibility to minimize harm to Gulf communities” as they decide the short-term future of the federal offshore oil and gas leasing program.

Biden to Offer Smallest-Ever Offshore Oil Rights Sale Plan

Jennifer A. Dlouhy and Jennifer Jacobs
Thu, September 28, 2023



(Bloomberg) -- The Biden administration is charting plans to sell offshore oil-drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico over the next five years, while trimming the program to its smallest level ever.

The oil leasing plan being released by the Interior Department on Friday will contain only a low number of sales, according to people familiar with the deliberations who declined to be named because the blueprint isn’t yet public. That’s far from the 11 sales the agency proposed last year, and it would be the lowest in history.

Still, even a single auction is a blow to environmentalists who argued new leasing isn’t compatible with the urgent need to decarbonize by mid-century and would lock in oil development for decades — even as domestic demand shrinks.

Oil industry advocates had pushed for a robust sale schedule to ensure steady production in the Gulf of Mexico, which provides roughly 15% of US crude output today.

The plan’s release comes as dwindling crude stockpiles push oil futures toward $100 a barrel. However, it would take years for any new leases to lead to exploratory drilling, much less actual crude production.

A major factor in the administration’s decision is an Inflation Reduction Act provision blocking the Interior Department from issuing new offshore wind leases unless in the prior year it had held an oil lease sale putting at least 60 million acres up for grabs. The requirement developed by Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, was seen tying the agency’s hands and forcing at least one oil auction to allow future sales of wind rights in the Gulf of Maine and off the Oregon coast.

White House and Interior Department spokespeople didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But Deputy Secretary of the Interior Tommy Beaudreau on Thursday told a Senate panel the five-year program “is definitely informed by the IRA and the connection the IRA makes between offshore oil and gas leasing and renewable energy leasing.”

Offshore wind supporters have told administration officials that they need a pipeline of new coastal opportunities to nurture a domestic supply chain that includes manufacturing of turbine towers, foundations, blades and other gear. But environmentalists stressed that the Interior Department need only hold one or two oil sales to meet offshore wind targets.

“We’re in a climate crisis, and we’re not going to drill our way to less emissions,” said Valerie Cleland, a senior ocean advocate with the Natural Resources Defense Council. “If the administration’s primary goal is to maximize all future offshore wind leasing, the administration could do all of the offshore wind leasing in the pipeline with one — at most two — offshore oil and gas lease sales.”

On the campaign trail, President Joe Biden promised to combat climate change and ban new oil and gas permitting on public lands and waters. Activists argue the industry already has a substantial portfolio of untapped leases — about 9 million acres worth, according to government data.

“We know the solution is to shift away from fossil fuels,” said Jacqueline Savitz, chief policy officer for the conservation group Oceana. “And we know President Biden knows that. He promised he wasn’t going to sell any new leases, he’s not required to do this by law, and if he does propose new leases, he’s breaking that promise.”

But the oil industry has argued the recent approach — with generally twice-yearly sales of leases across a broad swath of the Gulf of Mexico — is the most efficient way to foster development necessary to meet the world’s energy needs. They stress the oil extracted from the Gulf is among the least carbon-intensive in the world.

The typical pattern of two sales a year is an appropriate “frequency that allows the industry to step up and get the acreage they need in order to sustain production and build production,” said Erik Milito, head of the National Ocean Industries Association.

Congress will have 60 days to review the blueprint and advance legislation seeking changes once the plan is released.

The schedule is a legally required precursor to leasing offshore waters for oil development; this one is set to govern potential sales through late 2028. While a different, future administration could seek to alter course, the blueprint itself takes years to develop, defying quick pivots.

An earlier Biden administration proposal left the door open for as many as 11 auctions of offshore oil and gas leases — 10 in the Gulf of Mexico and one in Alaska’s Cook Inlet. The previous Obama-era plan, which expired June 30 of last year, also contained 11 sales.

(Updates with further leasing details and industry comment starting in first paragraph.)


Biden administration to release long-awaited offshore oil plan Friday

Rachel Frazin
Thu, September 28, 2023 



The Biden administration will release on Friday its long-awaited plan that maps out the next five years of offshore drilling, a top official said.

“We’ll be publishing the five-year program tomorrow,” Deputy Interior Secretary Tommy Beaudreau said in response to questions from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) during a Senate hearing Thursday.

“The program is definitely informed by the IRA and the connection that the IRA makes between offshore oil and gas leasing and renewable energy leasing,” he added, referring to the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act.

The Interior Department can’t sell the rights to drill for oil and gas offshore without first publishing a schedule that outlines its plans.

The Inflation Reduction Act is the name of the Democrats’ signature climate, tax and health care bill. To win support from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a key swing vote, provisions were added that tied the future of offshore wind to the future of offshore drilling.

Specifically, the bill said that to hold an auction for offshore wind rights, an auction has to have been held for offshore oil and gas rights in the past year.

Prior to the bill’s passage, the Interior Department released a draft plan last year that did not say how many auctions the federal government would have for rights to drill offshore. The draft plan said it may have as few as no lease sales or as many as 11.

While he did not elaborate, Beaudreau’s comments about the plan being informed by that legislation make the possibility of no lease sales unlikely.

Exclusive-Biden's 5-year offshore oil plan to have just three auctions - sources

Updated Thu, September 28, 2023 

FILE PHOTO: A massive drilling derrick is pictured on BP's Thunder Horse Oil Platform in the Gulf of Mexico


By Jarrett Renshaw and Nichola Groom

(Reuters) -The Biden administration's five-year plan for offshore oil and gas leasing will not include any sales in 2024 and will feature just three in the final four years, the lowest number of auctions in the history of the program, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

The plan is almost certain to disappoint both environmental groups and oil companies. In recent years, politicians, environmentalists and the oil industry have cast the national leasing program as a symbol of either the need to rein in fossil fuel development to avert the worst impacts of climate change or as a critical tool to shore up domestic energy supplies and keep pump prices low.

Since 1992, no five-year plan has had fewer than 11 lease sales and most have had 15 to 20, according to data from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

The schedule for leasing in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska for 2024-2028 is due on Friday following several delays and months of battling between environmentalists and drilling advocates over what the policy should look like.

The final plan will mark a dramatic reduction from a proposal the Trump administration had crafted in 2018 that envisioned 47 lease sales, including in California and the Atlantic.

It will, however, fall short of U.S. President Joe Biden's campaign promise to end new federal drilling entirely to fight climate change, after court decisions required continued leasing and last year's Inflation Reduction Act made them a pre-requisite for new offshore wind power lease auctions.

The White House is expected to argue on Friday that holding oil lease sales is the price to pay if it wants to achieve its ambitious wind energy goals.

"The administration heard from the offshore wind industry that they need the IRA leasing mandates to be fulfilled to enable the U.S. offshore wind energy to continue to grow," a source familiar with the plan told Reuters.

Biden sees offshore wind power as a key tool in his administration's effort to decarbonize the economy.

"The number of oil and gas lease sales will be the lowest in history and will enable the rapid expansion of the offshore wind industry," the source said.

The Interior Department is required by law to create a national oil and gas leasing schedule every five years. It has been without one since the previous one expired in June 2022 due to heated debate over the program.

The Biden administration unveiled a proposed plan in July last year that had contemplated between zero to 11 lease sales.

The plan will be subject to a 60-day waiting period before it can be approved by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

(Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw and Nichola GroomEditing by Marguerita Choy, David Gregorio and Deepa Babington)

A group of bull sharks lived in a golf-course pond for 17 years. Scientists say they could be in other ponds in Australia.

Maiya Focht
Updated Fri, September 29, 2023

The group of bull sharks found in Carbrook Country Club seems to have lived there for more than half a bull shark's expected life span.

Getty Images

A group of bull sharks lived in a freshwater golf-course pond for more than 17 years.


Scientists say it's the longest they've ever seen sharks live in freshwater.


They're unsure if the original sharks are still alive since they haven't been spotted since 2015.

For almost two decades, a golf course in Australia boasted a unique selling point — a shark-infested pond near its fourteenth hole.

Bull sharks in a pond are odd enough. Sharks in a golf-course pond are odder still. But this group of bull sharks is even odder.

It's somewhat of a scientific marvel because the sharks have lived in fresh water longer than any other group of bull sharks that scientists have observed.

Groups of bull sharks have been trapped in freshwater areas in Panama and South Africa, but those groups lasted about four years, Melissa Cristina Márquez, a marine biologist who wasn't involved in the study, reported in Forbes.

A recent study concluded bull sharks could survive in fresh and brackish water for long periods, shown by the bull sharks that lived in the golf-course pond for an estimated 17 years — more than half of bull sharks' projected 30-year life span.

"This new publication highlights their impressive adaptability to a wide variety of environments," Amy Smoothey, a shark scientist who wasn't involved in the study, told Slate.
How the sharks ended up on a golf course

In the mid-1990s, three severe floods pushed six juvenile bull sharks from nearby rivers into the golf course's pond. When the flood waters receded, the sharks were left stranded.

Bull sharks usually spend their early lives in the brackish waters between a river and the ocean, hiding out from larger saltwater predators. They typically head into the sea at about five years of age, the study says. Or, in the event of a flood, they can end up stranded in ponds like this group.

Besides tossing the occasional scrap into the water to catch a look at the fish, the golf course left the bull sharks alone. They were never tagged.

The club did, however, make the sharks its mascot and logo.

Bull sharks typically live out their adult lives in salt water, though they can swim into brackish waters where river meets sea.

Alessandro Cere/Getty Images

Where are the bull sharks now?

Since the sharks were never tagged, what scientists know about the health and current whereabouts of the first sharks comes from word of mouth.

They know one shark was illegally hunted, and another turned up dead from natural causes, but the study said the others could have died or escaped over the years, especially during a series of floods in 2013.

The last time any shark was spotted in the pond was in 2015, but the scientists aren't sure if that was from the original group or not.
Watch out for stagnant bodies of water

"I think a lot of people would be scared to learn there could be bull sharks in their local pond, but the fact is, it's pretty amazing that there are animals that are able to do this," Vincent Raoult, a marine ecologist at Deakin University in Australia who wasn't involved in the study, told the New York Times.

When bull sharks usually make the headlines, it's for their attacks on humans. This species comes in third place for the most attacks on humans, trailing behind great white and tiger sharks.

As extreme floods become more common and severe with the climate crisis, it's important to be wary of bodies of water that may have recently flooded, especially in areas with bull sharks.

Even though it's unlikely that a shark will be in your favorite pond, "you should never bathe in stagnant bodies of water that once had a connection to the sea. You never know if sharks are living there," Peter Gausmann, a shark scientist, told the NYT.

Union Workers Who Support Trump Are Delusional Morons

Collin Woodard
Thu, September 28, 2023 

Instead of attending last night’s debate over which unpopular loser would make a better vice presidential candidate, Donald Trump decided instead to speak at Drake Enterprises, a small parts supplier in Michigan’s Clinton Township that is notably not unionized. Somehow, that got spun into a few stories and posts about Trump speaking to union members, which is only true in the sense that some people at the event claimed to be union members. We have no real reason to doubt them, but that doesn’t mean you’re not a delusional moron if you think Trump is in any way pro-union.

Now, it’s not surprising that some UAW members are also Trump voters. His support among voters without college degrees is scarily high, and you can probably find a few MAGA chuds in pretty much any industry. It would also be understandable if they focused on how excited they were for Trump to hurt the people they hate, which is basically his whole schtick. Yeah, he’ll probably gut worker protections, make it harder for workers to unionize and make it easier for the rich to continue getting richer, but you can also guarantee that if he’s elected again, he’ll make life hell for queer people, women and racial minorities, which is what bigots care about most.

To anyone with basic reading comprehension skills, it’s clear that Trump is anti-worker and anti-union. And a lot of Republicans love that, especially business owners. But if you think for a second that Trump actually supports the UAW or unions in general, you’re a delusional moron. The only unions Trump is ever going to help out are police unions. But hey, at least he’ll probably hurt the people that UAW Trump supporters hate even more.

Jalopnik

United States Customs and Border Patrol Releases 10 UFO Videos
Cassidy Ward
Wed, September 27, 2023

United States Customs and Border Patrol Releases 10 UFO Videos

If Resident Alien’s Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk) really did crash land in Colorado a few years back, he and his craft might have been recovered by shadowy government agencies and whisked away to a secret facility that doesn’t officially exist. At least, that’s what might have happened if UFO conspiracy theorists are correct.

Over the last several months there’s been an uptick in UAP (unidentified anomalous phenomena) reports here in the real world, punctuated by whistleblower David Grusch testifying before congress about an alleged government-run UFO recovery and reverse engineering project. Now, we’ve got even more UAPs to mull over thanks to a release from Customs and Border Protections.

Customs and Border Patrol Releases UAP Documents

In early August and with little fanfare, the United States Customs and Border Patrol released 10 videos depicting reported UAPs along with 387 pages of supporting documents including testimony from eyewitnesses.

RELATED: We May Have Found and Killed Martian Life 50 Years Ago

The videos, some of which leaked a few years back, have added fuel to the already raging fire of public discourse around flying saucers. One video in particular, from 2013, shows an unidentifiable spot flying over an airport. The video is black and white, and the footage is grainy. The object, whatever it is, cruises over the airport at what appears to be a consistent rate, on a path taking it toward the ocean.

It doesn’t look all that unusual. If you’d tell us it was a bird or a small UAV, we’d probably believe it. The trouble starts when it gets near the water and appears to change shape. Shortly thereafter, the object seems to disappear, reappear, then vanish for good.

Some viewers have interpreted that as the object having dipped beneath the water and emerged again, seemingly without losing any speed. That would be an impressive engineering achievement, but the video is so poor, it could just as easily be a digital artifact. The important thing is what we know, and that is not equivalent to extraterrestrials.

We’ve filled the space around us with a growing number of cameras and orbiting satellites, and they’re all recording all the time. More than that, we (humans) are creating more technology, some of which isn’t public knowledge. It was probably inevitable that we would start to catch things on camera that we can’t explain. But there’s a pretty big gap between “look at that weird thing” and “I bet it came from across the stars.” Still, there is some weird stuff going on in the sky and we should devote some resources to figuring out what it is.

Schumer Proposes UAP Transparency Bill

With that in mind, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act which would establish a structure for how and when UAP documents would be released to the public.

RELATED: NASA Releases Details of Organization's UFO Investigation

“For decades, many Americans have been fascinated by objects mysterious and unexplained and it’s long past time they get some answers. The American public has a right to learn about technologies of unknown origins, non-human intelligence, and unexplainable phenomena. We are not only working to declassify what the government has previously learned about these phenomena but to create a pipeline for future research to be made public. I am honored to carry on the legacy of my mentor and dear friend, Harry Reid and fight for the transparency that the public has long demanded surround these unexplained phenomena,” Schumer said, in a statement.

The bill requires that government agencies turn over any UAP information they possess within 300 days of the act going into effect. Meanwhile, President Biden has 90 days to form a review board to investigate those documents. Finally, that board will have 180 days to review any information and an additional 14 days to publish their findings. All of which is to say we’re at least a year and a half out from seeing the extraterrestrial goods, if any goods should exist.

In the meantime, catch up on the first two seasons of SYFY's Resident Alien, streaming now on Peacock.

Bank that handles Infowars money appears to be cutting ties with Alex Jones' company, lawyer says

DAVE COLLINS
Thu, September 28, 2023 

- Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones takes the witness stand to testify at the Sandy Hook defamation damages trial at Connecticut Superior Court in Waterbury, Conn. Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022. A bank recently shut down the accounts of Jones' media company citing unauthorized transactions — a move that caused panic at the business when its balances suddenly dropped from more than $2 million to zero, according to a bankruptcy lawyer for the company.

 (Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP, Pool, File)

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A bank recently shut down the accounts of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' media company, citing unauthorized transactions — a move that caused panic at the business when its balances suddenly dropped from more than $2 million to zero, according to a lawyer for the company.

The action last week by Axos Bank also exposed worry and doubt at the company, Free Speech Systems, about being able to find another bank to handle its money.

Jones, a conservative provocateur whose Infowars program promotes fake theories about global conspiracies, UFOs and mind control, is seeking bankruptcy protection as he and his company owe $1.5 billion to relatives of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut.

The debt is the result of the families winning lawsuits against Jones for his calling the massacre that killed 26 people a hoax and his supporters threatening and harassing the victims’ families.

A lawyer for Free Speech Systems, Ray Battaglia, told a federal bankruptcy judge in Houston on Tuesday that Axos Bank had shut down the company's accounts on Aug. 21 “without notice or warning.”

Battaglia said he and a court-appointed overseer of Free Speech Systems’ finances were both out of the country when they received “frantic” messages about the company’s bank balances dropping to zero.

Bank officials, he said, didn't provide much information.

According to Battaglia, Axos claimed it had contacted Free Speech Systems in July about a transaction and the company did not respond, which Battaglia disputed. The bank also indicated there were unauthorized transactions, but didn't go into detail, he said. He said the bank informed Jones' company that it would be sending a cashier’s check for the total balance.

“So we’re perplexed,” Battaglia told the bankruptcy judge. “We have no answers for the court. They (the bank) have not provided us with any.”

Battaglia said the media company will have to seek another bank or take Axos to court “because we just don’t know who will bank us.” At the request of Jones’ lawyers, Axos did agree to reopen the company’s accounts for 30 days but it appears it will not extend the relationship beyond that, he said.

Spokespeople for Axos did not return email messages seeking comment Wednesday. An email sent to Infowars also went unanswered, as have previous messages.

Jones and Free Speech Systems make the bulk of their money from selling nutritional supplements, survival gear, books, clothing and other merchandise, which Jones hawks on his daily web and radio show.

According to the company’s most recent financial statement filed in bankruptcy court, it had more than $2.5 million in its Axos accounts at the end of August after bringing in more than $3 million in revenue during the month. The company paid out over $2 million in expenses and other costs, leaving a net cash flow of $1 million.

The bankruptcy judge, Christopher Lopez, will be deciding how much money Jones and Free Speech Systems will have to pay creditors, including the Sandy Hook families. Jones is appealing the court awards, citing free speech rights and missteps by judges.

In 2018, social media companies including Facebook, YouTube and Apple banned Jones from their platforms

United States Customs and Border Patrol Releases 10 UFO Videos

If Resident Alien’s Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk) really did crash land in Colorado a few years back, he and his craft might have been recovered by shadowy government agencies and whisked away to a secret facility that doesn’t officially exist. At least, that’s what might have happened if UFO conspiracy theorists are correct.

Over the last several months there’s been an uptick in UAP (unidentified anomalous phenomena) reports here in the real world, punctuated by whistleblower David Grusch testifying before congress about an alleged government-run UFO recovery and reverse engineering project. Now, we’ve got even more UAPs to mull over thanks to a release from Customs and Border Protections.
Customs and Border Patrol Releases UAP Documents

In early August and with little fanfare, the United States Customs and Border Patrol released 10 videos depicting reported UAPs along with 387 pages of supporting documents including testimony from eyewitnesses.

The videos, some of which leaked a few years back, have added fuel to the already raging fire of public discourse around flying saucers. One video in particular, from 2013, shows an unidentifiable spot flying over an airport. The video is black and white, and the footage is grainy. The object, whatever it is, cruises over the airport at what appears to be a consistent rate, on a path taking it toward the ocean.

It doesn’t look all that unusual. If you’d tell us it was a bird or a small UAV, we’d probably believe it. The trouble starts when it gets near the water and appears to change shape. Shortly thereafter, the object seems to disappear, reappear, then vanish for good.

Some viewers have interpreted that as the object having dipped beneath the water and emerged again, seemingly without losing any speed. That would be an impressive engineering achievement, but the video is so poor, it could just as easily be a digital artifact. The important thing is what we know, and that is not equivalent to extraterrestrials.

We’ve filled the space around us with a growing number of cameras and orbiting satellites, and they’re all recording all the time. More than that, we (humans) are creating more technology, some of which isn’t public knowledge. It was probably inevitable that we would start to catch things on camera that we can’t explain. But there’s a pretty big gap between “look at that weird thing” and “I bet it came from across the stars.” Still, there is some weird stuff going on in the sky and we should devote some resources to figuring out what it is.
Schumer Proposes UAP Transparency Bill

With that in mind, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act which would establish a structure for how and when UAP documents would be released to the public.

“For decades, many Americans have been fascinated by objects mysterious and unexplained and it’s long past time they get some answers. The American public has a right to learn about technologies of unknown origins, non-human intelligence, and unexplainable phenomena. We are not only working to declassify what the government has previously learned about these phenomena but to create a pipeline for future research to be made public. I am honored to carry on the legacy of my mentor and dear friend, Harry Reid and fight for the transparency that the public has long demanded surround these unexplained phenomena,” Schumer said, in a statement.

The bill requires that government agencies turn over any UAP information they possess within 300 days of the act going into effect. Meanwhile, President Biden has 90 days to form a review board to investigate those documents. Finally, that board will have 180 days to review any information and an additional 14 days to publish their findings. All of which is to say we’re at least a year and a half out from seeing the extraterrestrial goods, if any goods should exist.

In the meantime, catch up on the first two seasons of SYFY's Resident Alien, streaming now on Peacock.

Sikh group protests outside Golden Temple over killing in Canada

Fri, September 29, 2023

FILE PHOTO: A sign outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara temple is seen after the killing on its grounds in June 2023 of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in Surrey

By Manoj Kumar

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Hundreds of Sikh activists on Friday staged a demonstration outside the Golden Temple in Amritsar, in the northern Indian state of Punjab, demanding punishment for the killers of a Sikh separatist in Canada.

Earlier this month, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told parliament that there may be a link between New Delhi and the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June in British Columbia.

India has denied any role in the killing and described the allegations as "absurd". The accusations have sparked tensions between the two countries, with each nation expelling diplomats, and New Delhi suspending visas for Canadians.

Holding posters of Nijjar, the protesters outside the holiest of Sikh shrines shouted slogans asking New Delhi to stop extrajudicial operations against separatists seeking Punjab as an independent state.

Nijjar, who worked as a plumber, left the north Indian state of Punjab a quarter-century ago and became a Canadian citizen. He has supported the formation of a Sikh homeland. India designated him a "terrorist" in July 2020.

"It is time and opportunity for New Delhi to talk with Sikh leadership," said Paramjit Singh Mand, a leader of Dal Khalsa, the group, which is advocating for a separate Sikh homeland and organised the protest.

Sikhs make up just 2% of India's 1.4 billion people but they are a majority in Punjab, a state of 30 million where their religion was born 500 years ago.

Nearly 400 activists participated in the protest and later held prayers at the temple for the release of political prisoners and for the well-being of exiled separatists, said Kanwar Pal, political affairs secretary of the group.

"We thank the Canadian government for exposing the Indian design, how India is operating on foreign soil, intervening in Canadian affairs," he said.

Canadian Sikhs staged small protests outside India's diplomatic missions on Monday, burning an Indian flag, while waiving yellow flags marked with the word "Khalistan", referring to their support for making Punjab an independent state.

Separately, some farmer unions stopped trains and road traffic as part of a three-day protest in some parts of Punjab, demanding a high procurement price for crops, and compensation for those whose crops were damaged in recent rains and floods.

(Additional reporting by Sunil Kataria and Mayank Bhardwaj; Editing by Alison Williams)

Canada is serious about ties with India despite row - Trudeau

BBC
Fri, September 29, 2023 

Mr Trudeau's allegations have sparked a diplomatic row between India and Canada


Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said his country is serious about building closer ties with India despite an ongoing diplomatic row.

His latest remarks come at a time when ties between the two countries are at an all time low.

Tensions flared up when Mr Trudeau on 19 September said Canada was investigating credible allegations of India's involvement in the murder of a Sikh separatist leader.

Delhi dismissed the claim as "absurd".

Hardeep Singh Nijjar was murdered outside a temple in Canada in June.

On Thursday, the Canadian PM said it was extremely important to "constructively and seriously" engage with India.

"India is a growing economic power and important geopolitical player. And as we presented our Indo-Pacific strategy just last year, we're very serious about building closer ties with India," the National Post quoted him as saying.

Tensions between the two countries came to the fore during the G20 summit in Delhi on 9 September when Mr Trudeau skipped an official dinner of the leaders.

He held a short meeting with Indian PM Narendra Modi but experts described their body language as "frosty".

A few days later, Mr Trudeau told Canadian parliament they were pursing credible allegations of the involvement of Indian agents in Nijjar's murder.

Both countries have since expelled a diplomat each of the other nation. Last week, India also suspended visa services for Canadians citing security concerns at its diplomatic missions in the country.

On Thursday, Mr Trudeau talked about the importance of relations with India but added that the murder investigation would continue.

"At the same time, obviously, as a rule of law country, we need to emphasise that India needs to work with Canada to ensure that we get the full facts of this matter," he said.

How India-Canada ties descended into a public feud

Trudeau facing cold reality after lonely week on world stage

India has insisted that it had no role in the murder, adding that Nijjar had been designated a terrorist by Delhi in 2020 - an allegation his supporters vehemently deny.

The Indian government has often reacted sharply to demands by Sikh separatists in Western countries for Khalistan, or a separate Sikh homeland.

Nijjar vocally supported the Khalistan movement.

It peaked in India in the 1980s with a violent insurgency centred in Sikh-majority Punjab state.

It was quelled by force and has little resonance in India now, but is still popular among some in the Sikh diaspora in countries such as Canada, Australia and the UK.

The row between India and Canada, who have been close allies for decades, has also tested Western countries.

The US, UK and Australia have urged Delhi to cooperate in the investigation but stopped short of critising India, which is seen by them as bulwark against China's rise in Asia.

Mr Trudeau added that he had been assured by the US that foreign secretary Antony Blinken would raise the allegations when he met his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar in Washington.

The foreign ministers met on Thursday but made no mention of Canada in their press conference.

BBC News India is now on YouTube. Click here to subscribe and watch our documentaries, explainers and features.

Blinken raises Sikh leader’s murder in meeting with Indian foreign minister Jaishankar

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
Fri, September 29, 2023 

India says murdering separatists abroad is ‘not our policy’ amid Canada row
India has told Canada that it was not the government’s “policy” to be involved in acts such as the assassination of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on foreign soil. Source: Council on Foreign Relations

US secretary of state Antony Blinken reportedly asked Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to cooperate with Canada's investigation into the killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Ties between India and Canada plummeted after prime minister Justin Trudeau accused the Indian government of involvement in the killing of the Canadian national.

Nijjar – a designated terrorist in India – was assassinated in Surrey on 18 June by two masked men. He has been linked to the secessionist Khalistan movement, which calls for a separate homeland for the Sikh religious community to be carved out of India's Punjab state.

India vehemently denied what it called an "absurd" allegation, adding it was not New Delhi's "policy" to be involved in assassination on foreign lands.

“Blinken raised the Canadian matter in his meeting, (and) urged the Indian government to cooperate with Canada’s investigation,” Reuters quoted a US official as saying, though a State Department statement made no mention of the issue.

Mr Trudeau has been reportedly mounting pressure on Canada's "Five Eyes" intelligence-sharing allies to push India into cooperating with the investigation.

The prime minister on Thursday said he was certain that Mr Blinken would broach the issue with India's Jaishankar.

The US State Department’s formal statement on its website after Mr Blinken’s meeting with Mr Jaishankar made no mention of Nijjar’s murder or of Canada.

A readout from the State Department listed points like India's G20 presidency, the creation of an India-Middle East-Europe corridor, defence, space and clean energy as topics of conversation between the two.

Mr Jaishankar on Tuesday said New Delhi has told Canada it was open to looking into any "specific" or "relevant" information it provides on the killing.

Mr Trudeau, who is yet to publicly share any evidence, said last week he shared the "credible allegations" with India "many weeks ago".

Mr Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan said last week the United States was “deeply concerned” about the allegations raised by Canada.

India has responded to the allegation by suspending visa services in all categories for Canadian nationals citing “security threats” to its consulates. Each country expelled one senior diplomat from the other in a tit-for-tat move.

A group of hackers called the “Indian Cyber Force” claimed responsibility for temporarily taking over the official website of the Canadian Armed Forces on Wednesday.

"That's a very common thing that happens, unfortunately, often. But our cyberofficials and security officials acted very, very quickly," defence minister Bill Blair told reporters.

With agency inputs

India raids 53 sites nationwide as crackdown on Sikh separatists deepens

Rhea Mogul, CNN
Thu, September 28, 2023 

ANI/Princess Ilvita/Reuters


India’s anti-terror agency has raided 53 sites across seven states and union territories in a crackdown on what it says are “terrorists” and “gangsters,” some of whom it alleges have links to Sikh separatist groups.

The National Investigative Agency (NIA) said Wednesday it had seized pistols, ammunition and a large number of digital devices during the raids, and that among those it had detained were several people with suspected links to “pro-Khalistan” groups.

“Khalistan” is a reference to a separatist movement that seeks to create a homeland for Sikhs in the Punjab region of India.

News of the raid comes as India remains in a tense diplomatic standoff with Canada, following allegations by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that India may have been involved in the killing in British Columbia of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh Canadian who was a vocal advocate of Khalistan.


India, which has strenuously denied Trudeau’s claims, has previously accused Nijjar of being a terrorist with links to the Khalistan movement and of “trying to radicalize the Sikh community across the world.”

But it has long accused multiple foreign countries of harboring what it describes as Sikh militants within their diaspora communities.

The NIA said Wednesday the latest raids “relate to conspiracies of targeted killings, terror funding of pro-Khalistan outfits, extortion, etc. by the gangsters, many of whom are lodged in various jails or are operating from various foreign countries, including Pakistan, Canada, Malaysia, Portugal and Australia.”

“Many of the criminals and gangsters who were earlier leading gangs in India have fled abroad in recent years and are now pursuing their terror and violence related activities from there, as per NIA investigations,” the statement said.

“These criminals have been engaged in planning and commissioning serious crimes, including contract and revenge killings, in association with criminals lodged in jails across India,” it added.

The operation spanned the states of Punjab, Harayana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttarakhand, and also included the union territories of Delhi and Chandigarh.

New Delhi has responded angrily to Trudeau’s claims and the deepening spat has seen both nations expel senior diplomats in reciprocal moves, raising the prospect of an awkward rift between key partners of the US.

Things escalated further when India suspended visa services for Canadian citizens over what it said were “security threats” against diplomats in Canada.

Though Modi is yet to speak publicly about the growing dispute, Indian authorities last week announced an “intensified crackdown” on what it says is a “Khalistani terrorist campaign.”

Last week, the NIA promised a cash reward for five individuals who they accuse of “spreading terror” in the state of Punjab.

Digital vandals hit Canadian websites amid tensions with India

Thu, September 28, 2023


Digital vandals hit Canadian websites amid tensions with IndiaA message left by a group calling itself the "Indian Cyber Force" is seen on an archived version of a website of a Canadian dental clinic

By Raphael Satter

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A handful of Canadian websites were defaced and the site for the country's armed forces was briefly disrupted Wednesday amid simmering tensions with India.

The low-level hacks were claimed by an obscure pro-India group going by the name "Indian Cyber Force," whose logo includes an American bald eagle with orange and green wings, the colors of the Indian flag.

The hackers told Reuters via Telegram, "Everyone know" why they were targeting Canada but did not elaborate. The group has previously said it was retaliating against Canadian allegations that India had a hand in the killing of Sikh separatist leader outside Vancouver on June 18.

Indian officials have denied the charge and downsized the Ottawa's diplomatic presence in India, issuing travel warnings and freezing visa issuance to Canadians.

Digital vandalism is typical whenever tensions between two countries rise and intrusions of the kind claimed by the Cyber Force rarely deal lasting damage. Several targeted websites appeared to have been picked at random; among them was an Ontario dental clinic.

The Canadian Armed Forces said in an email Thursday that the disruption had been limited to a few hours and has since been "rectified." The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security said in a statement that "geopolitical events often result in an increase in disruptive cyber campaigns" and that it was keeping an eye out for developing threats.

(Reporting by Raphael Satter; Additional reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Tire Dust Makes Up the Majority of Ocean Microplastics, Study Finds

Lewin Day
Thu, September 28, 2023

Tire Dust Makes Up the Majority of Ocean Microplastics, Study Finds photo

When contemplating the emissions from road vehicles, our first thought is often about the various gases coming out of the tailpipe. However, new research shows that we should be more concerned with the harmful particles that are shed from tires and brakes.

Scientists have a good understanding of engine emissions, which typically consist of unburnt fuel, oxides of carbon and nitrogen, and particulate matter related to combustion. However, new research shared by Yale Environment 360 indicates that there may be a whole host of toxic chemicals being shed from tires and brakes that have been largely ignored until now. Even worse, these emissions may be so significant that they actually exceed those from a typical car's exhaust output.

A research paper published in 2020 highlighted the impact of tire pollution by examining the plight of coho salmon in West Coast streams. Scientists eventually identified a chemical called 6PPD, typically used in tire manufacturing to slow cracking and degradation. When exposed to ozone in the atmosphere, the chemical transforms into multiple other species, including 6PPD-quinone—which was found to be highly toxic to multiple fish, including coho salmon. The same chemical has since been detected in human urine, though any potential health impacts remain unknown.

The discovery of 6PPD-q and its impact has brought new scrutiny to the pollution generated by particles shedding from tires and brakes. In particular, tire rubber is made up of over 400 different chemical compounds, many of which are known to have negative effects on human health

.

New research efforts are only just beginning to reveal the impact of near-invisible tire and brake dust. A report from the Pew Charitable Trust found that 78 percent of ocean microplastics are from synthetic tire rubber. These toxic particles often end up ingested by marine animals, where they can cause neurological effects, behavioral changes, and abnormal growth.

Meanwhile, British firm Emissions Analytics spent three years studying tires. The group found that a single car's four tires collectively release 1 trillion "ultrafine" particles for every single kilometer (0.6 miles) driven. These particles, under 100 nanometers in size, are so tiny that they can pass directly through the lungs and into the blood. They can even cross the body's blood-brain barrier. The Imperial College London has also studied the issue, noting that "There is emerging evidence that tire wear particles and other particulate matter may contribute to a range of negative health impacts including heart, lung, developmental, reproductive, and cancer outcomes.”

It's an emissions problem that won't go away with the transition to EVs, either. According to data from Emissions Analytics, EVs tend to shed around 20 percent more from their tires due to their higher weight and high torque compared to traditional internal combustion engine-powered vehicles.

Indeed, the scale of these emissions is significant. Particulate emissions from tires and brakes, particularly in the PM2.5 and PM10 size ranges, are believed to exceed the mass of tailpipe emissions from modern vehicle fleets, as per a study published in Science of the Total Environment this year.

This issue has largely flown under the radar until recently. Tailpipe emissions are easy to study, simply requiring the capture or sensing of gases directly at the engine's exhaust. Capturing the fine particulates emitted from tires and brakes is altogether more difficult. Doing so in a way that accurately reflects the quantity of those emissions is yet harder. Such pollution is perhaps unlikely to have a direct impact on issues like climate change, but the potential toxicity for humans, animals, and the broader environment is a prime concern.

Regulators are already scrambling to tackle this issue, heretofore largely ignored by governments around the world. In the EU, the Euro 7 standards will regulate tire and brake emissions from 2025. In the U.S., the California EPA will require tire manufacturers to find an alternative chemical to 6PPD by 2024, to help reduce 6PPD-q entering the environment going forward. In turn, manufacturers are exploring everything from alternate tire compositions to special electrostatic methods to capture particulate output.

Expect this issue to gain greater prominence in coming years as regulators have more accurate data to act upon. There is great scope to slash this form of pollution if we properly understand the impacts of our cars in full.

OTD In Space - September 28: 

Canada Launches Its 1st Satellite

Space

Thu, September 28, 2023 

On Sept. 28, 1962, Canada launched its first satellite, Alouette 1. This made Canada the third country to build and launch its own satellite after the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Alouette 1 was designed to study Earth's ionosphere, which is a region in the upper atmosphere that is ionized by solar and cosmic radiation. The mission lasted 10 years before the satellite was decommissioned, but the derelict satellite is still orbiting the Earth.

UK
Energy secretary blames eco ‘zealots’ for climate change failures

Daniel Martin
Thu, September 28, 2023 

Claire Coutinho, who recently replaced Grant Shapps as Energy Secretary - SIMON WALKER/NO 10 DOWNING STREET


Eco “zealots” are the biggest threat to tackling climate change, the Energy Secretary has said.

In her first interview since taking the role last month, Claire Coutinho said voters in many European countries were “revolting” against net-zero policies because their leaders had pushed the issue too hard.

She told the Spectator, however, that she does not have a heat pump or an electric car and drives a second-hand Fiesta instead.

Ms Coutinho, a former aide to Rishi Sunak, was brought in as Energy Secretary to water down some of the more onerous net-zero commitments.

Last week, the Prime Minister announced he was delaying the 2030 petrol and diesel car ban by five years, as well as slowing down the phasing-out of gas boilers – while recommitting to the net-zero target of 2050.

Mainstream pushback

Earlier this week French president Emmanuel Macron followed suit, ruling out the banning of gas boilers in residential buildings.

Ms Coutinho said she believed her reforms would help save the net-zero commitment.

“The biggest threat to the cause isn’t the climate change deniers, it’s the zealots who are turning people off,” she said.

“Look at what’s happening in Europe: you can see the AfD [Alternative for Germany], a climate-sceptic party in Germany, at its highest point in decades.

“In the Netherlands, you have got the farmers’ party and in France, just yesterday, Macron said he is not going to ban boilers.”

She said her agenda was part of a mainstream pushback against climate hardliners – ensuring that the UK “won’t see some of the revolts that we’ve seen in the rest of Europe”.

Safeguarding the future

Ms Coutinho added: “I’ve worked with Rishi for a long time and I’ve talked to him about the environment and climate change.

“We are actually safeguarding the future of climate change policy. What you see in Europe is that lots of people are losing faith, they see it as something that politicians are doing to them.

“Clobbering them in their personal finances for a cause that they don’t completely understand because they see their emissions as much lower than other countries.”

The new Energy Secretary said she has not yet invested in an electric car herself, saying “I drive a second-hand Ford Fiesta.”

Similarly, she does not own a heat pump, though she did previously live in an off-gas grid home.