MAGA congressional candidate: Michelle Obama might be a man, bring back Aunt Jemima

THIS SLANDER BEGAN WITH THE TEA PARTY

Mark Alesia, Investigative Reporter
April 3, 2024 
RAW STORY

Photo of congressional candidate Derrick Evans of West Virginia during the Jan. 6 riot. Evans pleaded guilty to a felony and served three months in federal prison.

 (Source: Federal court document)

There is MAGA and then there is Derrick Evans, a candidate for the Republican nomination in West Virginia’s 1st Congressional District.

Raw Story recently documented how the once-remorseful Jan. 6 admitted felon has, since a plea bargain that landed him in prison, become more than just a fire-breathing, election-denying Trump acolyte.

Of particular note, he has made his status as a Jan. 6 “prisoner” his political brand as he attempts to defeat incumbent Rep. Carol Miller (R-WV) in a Republican primary, then win the general election in this conservative congressional district.

In doing so, Evans, who on Tuesday earned the endorsement of Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, has treated the bounds of decency as he did police barriers when he charged into the Capitol.

Raw Story requested comment from Evans two days prior to publication of its story on March 22. Evans responded a day after publication. Raw Story requested a phone interview, which he declined. But Evans agreed to answer written questions.

Below is a transcript of Raw Story’s email exchange with Evans:


Raw Story: Prosecutors wrote to the judge before your sentencing that you were keeping a “low profile”: “This distinguishes Evans from some rioters with significant public profiles who have used their platforms after January 6 to brag about their conduct or to continue to promote the myth that the presidential election was stolen, justifying the incursion into the Capitol.”

Evans: Any nation that tries to disallow the accused from using their notoriety to raise funds for their legal defense is Stalinist and Totalitarian by definition.

Raw Story: You are now doing exactly what the prosecutors praised you for avoiding. Why did you become loudly defiant (calling yourself a “hostage” and “political prisoner,” promoting your status as a Jan 6 prisoner, etc.) only after presenting yourself in court as remorseful?

Evans: Since the evidence clearly shows that the J6 operation run by [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer and [former House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and [former Vice President] Mike Pence was a Reichstag Fire type event designed to explode the overreach of the police state — as evidenced by the fact that there are political prisoners still sitting in prison — I've decided to use my voice, since they're not able to use their voices, to fight against this violent brand of authoritarianism.

Raw Story: You said you were in solitary confinement in prison for several days? You served your time in a minimum security facility. Do you have any proof that you were held in solitary confinement for refusing the COVID vaccine?



Evans: When you are rewarded with the job of warden at your own gulag, you can make sure all the prisoners have paperwork proving they were put into solitary for refusing the BioWeapon.


Raw Story: Do you regret saying on social media, “Who thinks Michelle Obama is really a man?” What did you mean? Why did you post that?

Evans: Since there are no photos of Michelle Obama during either of her pregnancies, I think it is a fair question to ask whether Big Mike has had some sort of elective surgery to accommodate Barack's true wishes. (Note: "Big Mike" is a derogatory name used by some far-right activists to identify former first lady Michelle Obama.)

Raw Story: In social media posts, you have invoked “replacement theory” and said, “Put Aunt Jemima back on the syrup bottle.” How are these not racist statements?



Evans: Since Democrats are clearly the racists for taking Aunt Jemima off the syrup bottle, I thought I'd advocate returning her to the bottle.

Raw Story: You posted about the use of “Christian tax dollars.” Are there also Muslim tax dollars? Atheist tax dollars? Agnostic tax dollars?

Evans: Given that there are no-go zones in Muslim areas like Dearborn, Michigan, and Minneapolis, and Muslim [Keith] Ellison is the attorney general in Minnesota, it stands to reason that there absolutely is such a thing as Muslim, Atheist, and Agnostic tax dollars.



Source: Twitter

Raw Story: A fundraising page on your website said that when you get to Congress, “we will turn the tables and the hunters will become the hunted.” What do you mean by that? How will you become a “hunter” and what will you do to the “hunted”? Is “hunter”

and “hunted” appropriate rhetoric for a Congressional candidate, especially one who served time in prison as an admitted felon because of the violence of January 6?

Evans: Since the Biden Department of Justice is hunting President Trump, and is STILL arresting and using January 6 protestors like political footballs to try to steal another illegitimate election this November, I find it hard to believe you don't know what hunted means.

* * *

Matthew Donnellan, chief of staff for Rep. Carol Miller (R-WV), Evans’ opponent in the Republican primary, responded to Raw Story’s request for reaction to several of Evans’ comments.

“Aunt Jemima? The maple syrup?” he said. “Congresswoman Miller is more of a bacon & eggs person than a pancakes/waffles person. But frankly she's more concerned about ending Bidenflation and getting the price of everything from breakfast to energy under control than any of the unimportant distractions.”

Fury as Tory MPs vote to allow water companies to dump raw sewage into Britain's rivers and seas

MPs voted to allow water companies to dump raw sewage into rivers and seas

Just 22 Conservatives rebelled against the Government on Wednesday

Amendment to bill sought to stop companies pumping raw sewage in waterways

Last year, raw sewage was discharged into waters more than 400,000 times

By JACK WRIGHT FOR MAILONLINE
 UPDATED: 04:25 EDT, 25 October 2021

MPs are facing a backlash after voting against amending a bill to stop water companies dumping raw sewage into Britain's rivers and seas.

Just 22 Conservatives rebelled against the Government last week by voting for an amendment to the Environment Bill which sought to place a legal duty on water companies not to pump sewage into rivers.

Sewage pollution is a key component of what MPs have heard is a chemical cocktail of pollutants going into rivers, with raw sewage being discharged into waters more than 400,000 times last year.

It coes seven weeks after wastewater plants were told by the government they may dispose of sewage not fully treated due to a shortage of chemicals caused by the lorry driver crisis.

The amendment, introduced in the House of Lords by the Duke of Wellington, would have also forced water companies and the Government to 'take all reasonable steps' to avoid using the combined sewer overflows, which regularly release untreated waste into rivers and seas.

Campaign groups including Surfers Against Sewage said it was crucial to ensure action to tackle sewage pollution started now.

But Environment Secretary George Eustice recommended MPs reject amendments to the bill, just days before Boris Johnson hosts world leaders at the Cop26 climate change summit in Glasgow.

The vote caused a huge backlash on social media, with Twitter users posting images of the MPs who shot down the amendment.


MPs have voted against amending a bill to stop water companies dumping raw sewage into Britain's rivers and seas (stock image)


This map from The Rivers Trust shows where sewage enters local rivers. The trust advises people to avoid entering the water immediately downstream of these discharges and avoid the overflows (brown circles), especially after it has been raining


This map from Surfers Against Sewage, part of its Safer Seas and Rivers Service, tracks real-time combined sewage overflows and pollution risk forecasts, and monitors the water quality at over 400 locations around UK rivers and coastlines



A close-up of the Surfers Against Sewage map shows where swimming is advised against on a stretch of the south coast

+6



Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a visit to the Covid vaccine centre at the Little Venice Sports Centre in west London, on October 22, 2021















The vote caused a huge backlash on social media, with Twitter users posting images of the MPs who shot down the amendment

One person questioned: 'What sort of person votes to allow water companies to pump raw sewage into our water?'

Supply chain issues affect levels of sewage treatment chemicals

Wastewater plants were told by the government last month that they may dispose of sewage not fully treated due to a shortage of chemicals caused by the lorry driver crisis.

Some of the chemicals used in the sewage treatment process became one of the products left in short supply by the driver shortage, caused by a combination of Brexit and the Covid pandemic.

Plants were told they may dispose of effluent not fully treated because of disruption caused by 'supply chain failure' in a regulatory position statement issued at the start of September.

The statement came from the Environment Agency, which introduced a waiver that would allow some companies to bypass the third stage in the treatment process if they are not in possession of the right chemicals.

Defra (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) said the waiver specifically related to a shortage of ferric sulphate, an acidic solution used to suppress the growth of algae.

The government agency said the regulatory position statement (RPS) would apply until the end of the year, after which companies would required a permit in order to continue the practice.

Another wrote: 'I just emailed me MP asking her to outline the benefits of raw sewage being dumped into our waterways.'

A government source told MailOnline: 'Tory MPs have categorically not voted to allow water companies to dump raw sewage into our rivers and seas. The provisions in the Environment Bill will deliver progressive reductions in the harm caused by storm overflows. The Environment Bill requires us to set a target to drive progress on water quality, and we are already taking significant action to address water quality more widely. Claims to the contrary are simply wrong.'

The measure is now set to return to the Lords on Tuesday, where peers are expected to send it back to the Commons later next week - possibly on Thursday - and force another vote among MPs.

The Duke of Wellington, a crossbench peer, said he believed the amendment would stimulate investment in improving the systems, which date back decades and are in severe need of upgrades.

It comes as figures collected by charity the Rivers Trust show that all of England's rivers are currently failing to pass cleanliness tests, with 53 per cent of them in a poor state at least partly because of water companies releasing raw and partially-treated sewage.

In England, just 14 per cent of rivers have good ecological status and none have good chemical status because water companies are currently allowed to release raw sewage into rivers and seas as part of a 'combined sewer overflow', a legacy of Britain's Victorian drainage system, The Telegraph reported.

This means rainwater and liquid waste are combined in the same tanks and overflows into waterways as an escape valve, rather than backing up into homes and streets.

Among those campaigning to clean up British waterways is former Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey, who last year announced plans to start legal action over the Environment Agency's management of England's rivers.

Last year, raw sewage was discharged into waters more than 400,000 times. Pictured: Pollution in the Jubilee River at Eton Wick, Berkshire last year

He previously said: 'As a nation, we're going to have to face a very simple situation. Do we want our rivers full of our own human waste?

Hertfordshire's River Mimram turns PURPLE with pollution, just hours after environment ministers posed in front of it to announce plans to protect and restore England's rare chalk streams

River Mimram in Hertfordshire turned purple with pollution, just hours after environment ministers posed in front of it over plans to restore rare chalk streams.

When environment Minister, Rebecca Pow and members of the Chalk Stream Restoration Group visited the river, it was a clear looking stream.

Not long after they left, the chalk stream, that runs through North Hertfordshire from Hertford, turned a shade of purple, according to pop star and clean river campaigner Feargal Sharkey, who shared an image of the stream on Twitter.

Campaigners said this highlights the dire state of Britain's rivers, where 53 per cent are in a poor state, and only 14 per cent are in 'good ecological condition.'

The Environment Agency said the river had already returned to normal when it returned to investigate, and found no evidence of any harm to fish from the incident.

They can't say what caused it to turn purple, but campaigners speculate it could be anything from an algae bloom to dyes seeping into water from industry.

'The truth is, unfortunately, there's been a long term issue about failure of regulatory oversight, lack of political leadership, most of that, driven by concerns about the price of water, and now we've reached the situation through incompetence that every river is now basically full of sewage.'

In April this year, MPs were told that water companies poured raw sewage into rivers for three million hours last year, while paying shareholders billions in dividend payments.

The environmental audit committee heard that the huge Mogden treatment plant sent the equivalent of 400 Olympic swimming pools worth of raw effluent into the Thames over two days last autumn.

Sewage is allowed to be discharged only during periods of heavy rain, but Mr Sharkey told MPs the River Chess and Chesham plant in Buckinghamshire 'was discharging sewage for 35 days, one continuous discharge'.

Peter Hammond, retired former professor of computational biology at University College London, said his analysis of sewage treatment works had found 160 breaches of permits granted by the EA to allow sewage discharges.

He said the watchdog has only prosecuted 174 cases of illegal discharges in the last decade.

'My research has found that many of the treatment works do not continue to treat a minimum rate of sewage when they are spilling and many of these illegal spills are not identified by the EA,' Hammond told MPs on the environmental audit committee.

'My research found 160 breaches of permits in 2020. I believe they are in order of magnitude that I think is 10 times more … than the agency have identified.'

The EA revealed there were 403,171 spills of sewage leaked into England's rivers and seas in 2020 due to 'storm overflows'. It also said that there were more than 3.1 million hours of spillages in 2020.

The data was published 'proactively' for the first time as part of a pledge to increase transparency around the issue.

BC

PROTEST
‘We haven’t protected the old growth:’ dozens gather on land & water to protest raw log exports



Demonstrators from Extinction Rebellion Nanaimo conducted a protest against raw log exports on land and sea in downtown Nanaimo on Saturday, Oct. 30. 

(Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)
By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

Oct 30, 2021 | 1:56 PM


NANAIMO — Around 100 protesters had a clear and simple message for B.C.’s provincial government: end raw log exports and stop old-growth logging.

The crowd gathered at 1 Port Drive in downtown Nanaimo on Saturday, Oct. 30, first holding a small rally in the parking lot before approximately 20 people took to the water in various boats, including a First Nations canoe, for a flotilla protest in front of a log barge stationed at the port.

Leah Morgan, a program coordinator with Extinction Rebellion Nanaimo, told NanaimoNewsNOW a lot of talk has taken place on old growth logging and raw log exports, but little has actually been done.

“Nothing changes when nothing changes. We will not survive the climate emergency unless we take action. So far, our government has done very little action and a lot of promises which have not come to fruition.”

Morgan added no action has occurred on the topic, despite 14 recommendations from a strategic review done for the Ministry of Forests in 2020.

“In that forest review panel report it stated clearly the old growth needed to be protected within six months of the report being released, which was a year and a half ago. We haven’t protected the old growth.”

Both Extinction Rebellion members and guest speakers consistently reiterated they were not anti-logging, but wanted to continue the practice in a measurable and sustainable way while keeping logs cut in B.C., milled in B.C.

Around 10 boats, including a large First Nations canoe, took to the water early Saturday afternoon and blockaded a stationary log boom on the water in front of downtown Nanaimo.

 (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Torrence Coste of the Wilderness Committee told the crowd assembled between five and six million logs are exported, raw from B.C. every year during a recent string of record volume years.


He said if you loaded those logs onto trucks, parked end to end, the line would stretch between Vancouver and Montreal.

“That is a staggering amount of logs that we could either be leaving in the forest to suck up carbon from the atmosphere, provide habitat for endangered species, or sending to mills right here on Vancouver Island or across B.C. to be turned into higher value things by people working here.”

Coste added they are expecting another announcement from the provincial government in the near future on the next steps related to log exports and old-growth forestry.

He was skeptical on its content.

“[The province does] have some solid scientists working for them on this. We’re expecting their diagnosis to be good, it’s whether their treatment or not actually meets the scale of the challenge.”

Coste was adamant any solution for logging in B.C. must include First Nations consultation, including return of land to traditional owners.

Around 100 people attended a demonstration at 1 Port Drive in downtown Nanaimo and a subsequent water flotilla on Saturday, Oct. 30. Their demands included ending raw log exports and stopping old growth logging.(Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Angela Davidson, also known as Rainbow Eyes, is a high-profile member in the ongoing demonstrations at Fairy Creek, with protesters aiming to protect an area of old growth land on southwestern Vancouver Island from logging.

Hundreds of arrests have occurred at the site as protesters defied court injunctions and property boundaries at the site.

Davidson told onlookers on Saturday the RCMP didn’t understand the connection certain people feel to the land.

“The people on the mountain are the strongest people I’ve ever met, they’re stronger than the RCMP, stronger than industry because we’re up there together. We don’t have the hard system, the law protecting us, we’re going up against the system.”

She added protesters were tired, but holding the line at the site in continued efforts to preserve old growth on Vancouver Island.

“We are not activists, this is just how we live our life. The RCMP will start arresting people and it’s B-S, it’s f***ing B-S. They’re going to make us the criminals, they have, but we’re going to remember this for the rest of our lives.”

Organizers stated at the rally two members of Extinction Rebellion Nanaimo were arrested Saturday morning, prior to the rally. NanaimoNewsNOW was unable to verify the claim.

VIDEO

https://view.vzaar.com/23586283/player

alex@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @alexrawnsley

A protest flotilla gathers in the waters off 1 Port Dr. in Nanaimo, speaking against exporting of raw logs from Canada. (Karl Yu/News Bulletin)
B.C. environmental activists form flotilla in protest of raw log exports

Extinction Rebellion Nanaimo and others warn of exporting of raw logs, climate crisis
KARL YU
Oct. 30, 2021

Protesters and forestry worker representatives were among those joining together to protest raw log exports at central Vancouver Island on Saturday, Oct. 30.

With a raw log carrier vessel in the background, speakers, including ones from Extinction Rebellion, Public and Private Workers of Canada union and the Wilderness Committee, spoke of the dangers of exporting raw logs out of Canada at a rally in Nanaimo.

Leah Morgan, Extinction Rebellion Nanaimo coordinator, told the crowd the aim was to unite all walks of life in solidarity to deal with the climate crisis effectively and immediately

“This raw log barge behind us, this is literally exporting B.C. jobs and money out of Canada,” said Morgan. “These are unprocessed logs being shipped abroad for bottom dollar instead of being processed here and sorted here with the value-added industry that could be on top of milling our own wood. Countless jobs.”

Torrance Coste, Wilderness Committee national campaign director, said it’s not about ending logging, but rather getting more out of trees being cut down. The two issues cannot be separated, he said.

“We need to set aside vast swaths of forest,” said Coste. “That’s what the biodiversity crisis demands. That’s what the climate crisis demands. The forest that we are leaving open to some logging, we need to be turning them into more valuable things. We need to be spreading those benefits more efficiently and more effectively and more justly throughout our communities.”

Cam Shiell, PPWC environmental sustainability officer, said he has lobbied both B.C. NDP and Liberal governments for policy change, but to no avail. The union has a long-standing history of advocating for a transition from old growth harvesting and the focus needs to be on second- and third-growth harvests and getting more value from the forests, he said.

“I am 43 years old and in my working career, I believe I will see the end of old-growth logging,” said Shiell. “Either it’s going to be transitioned out, phased out, or we’re just going to come to an end of the trees. For me, I don’t want to see a world with no more old growth.”

After the rally, a flotilla of kayaks and other vessels paddled out to the raw log barge in further protest.

Morgan estimated 70 people were present.

Organizers said police arrested a protester prior to the flotilla setting off.

READ ALSO: One arrested after Extinction Rebellion Nanaimo Airport protest

The EU's risky dependency on critical Chinese metals

The EU needs critical metals and rare earths to succeed in its energy transition and digitization drive. But most of the materials come from China.

Europe has imported large amounts of rare earths from China

Even as the EU tries hard to cut its energy supplies from Russia, the bloc is also heavily dependent on China when it comes to the industrial metals and rare earths that the bloc needs for wind turbines, electric vehicles, solar cells and semiconductors.

Given the increased speed of digitization and energy transition, demand for such raw materials is bound to rise further, but mining is concentrated in only a handful of regions in the world.

This means that in the future China could cause a big headache for the European Union. The Asian country exports many raw materials that are indispensable for future-oriented industries. On top of that, China plays a pivotal role not just in mining, but also in the processing of materials, says Siyamend Al Barazi of the German Mineral Resources Agency (DERA).

The production of EV batteries requires a lot of cobalt and other raw materials that the EU has to import

China's de facto monopoly

The European Union's dependency on metal imports is somewhere between 75% and 100% depending on the metal. Of the 30 raw materials that the EU classifies as critical, 19 are predominantly imported from China. The list includes magnesium, rare earths and bismuth where China has a de facto monopoly, providing up to 98% of the supplies needed in the EU.

This dependency could even increase in the future. The EU reckons that cobalt demand alone will rise fivefold by 2030. Lithium demand is expected to increase 18-fold by 2030 and 60-fold by 2050 on the back of the bloc's e-mobility campaign.

Political leverage

Back in 2010, some analysts said China was using its raw materials monopoly to exert political pressure when Beijing limited the export of rare earths, seeing prices jump. The move was later looked into by the World Trade Organization and China had to reverse its export cuts.

"Europeans including Germans gained more trust in China actually willing to play by the rules," said Raimund Bleischwitz from the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research.

There's no guarantee, though, that Europe's demand will be fully covered in the future. A March report by the German business daily Handelsblatt said experts in the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology debated in January 2021 whether to stop the export of rare earths to the US.

Europe shouldn't be surprised if China reduces raw materials exports. In its latest five-year plan, Beijing made it clear that exports would be cut to satisfy growing domestic demand.

China hopes to become climate-neutral by 2060 and needs more critical raw materials for itself. In a strategic move, China has already secured vital imports from Africa and elsewhere through large-scale investments and long-term contracts.

Instead of exporting raw materials, China aims to become a global technology leader in key industries.

There's always a danger of China suddelnly reducing its rare earth exports

Germany in a bind

Germany has been trying for years to diversify its raw materials imports. Rare earths are now being imported not only from China, but Brazil too. In 2010, it set up the German Mineral Resources Agency, which constantly monitors the availability of resources worldwide.

"We've been pointing to a higher market concentration for 10 years now, said DERA's Al Barazi.

"There's a kind of attention cycle among industry leaders and politicians," added Bleischwitz. "The topic always comes up when prices rise as they did over the last 18 months — action plans are hammered out, but when the prices start falling again, the topic falls from view and nothing is done anymore."

DERA research shows that Germany continues to rely largely on Chinese imports, including raw materials and processed goods.

China seems willing to embark on more sustainable production methods and do more for environmental protection. Domestic inspections in the magnesium-producing industry toward the end of last year resulted in the shutting down of a number of plants across China. As a result, the price per ton of magnesium jumped from $2,000 to $10,000 (€1,850 to €9,250).

According to Al Barazi, the same thing happened in the silicon-producing industry in China, leading to reduced overall output

Increased mining in Europe?

The autumn of 2020 saw the founding of the European Raw Materials Alliance, which is meant to enhance supply security and diversify imports for Europe's industries. In addition, the EU aims to increase its own mining and processing activities.

"There have been endeavors for years in the EU to support domestic mining activities," said Al Barazi. Some of the critical materials can indeed be found in Europe, but many countries don't want any dirty mining activities in their vicinity.

Spain just experienced public protests against plans to open a lithium mine in Estremadura. Such protests also occurred in Serbia and Portugal.

There are lithium deposits in Germany too. Following a lengthy period of looking for investors, lithium mining is slated to start in the German state of Saxony in 2025.

The financing of new mining projects remains a huge issue, says Al Barazi, pointing to a lack of venture capital. If you just consider the price of the raw materials in question, European mining is not competitive, given that China for instance subsidized mining heavily in the 1990s and has laxer environmental requirements, leading to lower prices.

In September 2021, thousands of activists in Serbia protested against a planned lithium mine

Recycling part of the solution?

One thing's for sure: Europe cannot fully meet its demand with mines of its own. Part of the solution could be to reuse more materials through more efficient recycling procedures and focus more on a circular economy. But there are limits to this.

As long as overall demand keeps rising steadily, recycling can only mitigate the problem in Germany, according to Peter Buchholz who runs DERA. "Industry can only recycle the stuff that's actually available," he noted. "Some 40 years ago, copper demand amounted to 10 million tons a year, today it's over 20 million tons."

In order to absorb the shock of possible export cuts, many EU nations, the US and Japan have tried to accumulate considerable reserves of natural resources.

When debating the risks of Germany's dependency on China, "you must not forget that China is also dependent on imports from Germany," said Bleischwitz. "Before the COVID-19 pandemic, China actually imported more raw materials from Europe than it exported, for instance forestry products and processed metals."

This at least goes to show there's a mutual dependency.

This article was first published in German.

 

Resource-efficient and climate-friendly with sodium-ion batteries

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

 

IMAGE: 

SODIUM-ION BATTERIES CONTAIN SODIUM – A VERY COMMON SUBSTANCE FOUND IN TABLE SALT – INSTEAD OF LITHIUM.
 

view more 

CREDIT: CHALMERS

The transition to a society without fossil fuels means that the need for batteries is increasing at a rapid pace. At the same time, the increase will mean a shortage of the metals lithium and cobalt, which are key components in the most common battery types. One option is a sodium-ion battery, where table salt and biomass from the forest industry make up the main raw materials. Now, researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, show that these sodium-ion batteries have an equivalent climate impact as their lithium-ion counterparts – without the risk of running out of raw materials. 
"The materials we use in the batteries of the future will be important in order to be able to switch to renewable energy and a fossil-free vehicle fleet," says Rickard Arvidsson, Associate Professor of Environmental Systems Analysis at Chalmers.

According to the European Commission's Critical Raw Materials Act, the demand for critical raw battery materials is expected to increase exponentially as EU countries transition to renewable energy systems and electric vehicles. The green transition will also require more local production of batteries and other new fossil-free technologies, and a steady supply of raw materials is needed to meet demand. At the same time, such production carries a high risk of supply disruptions, due to the limited number of sources for raw materials.
"Lithium-ion batteries are becoming a dominant technology in the world and they are better for the climate than fossil-based technology is, especially when it comes to transport. But lithium poses a bottleneck. You can't produce lithium-based batteries at the same rate as you want to produce electric cars, and the deposits risk being depleted in the long term," says Rickard Arvidsson. In addition to this, critical battery materials, such as lithium and cobalt, are largely mined in just a few places in the world, posing a risk to the supply. 

Sodium-ion batteries offer promising technology
The development of new battery technologies is moving fast in the quest for the next generation of sustainable energy storage – which should preferably have a long lifetime, have a high energy density and be easy to produce. The research team at Chalmers chose to look at sodium-ion batteries, which contain sodium – a very common substance found in common sodium chloride – instead of lithium. In a new study, they have carried out a so-called life cycle assessment of the batteries, where they have examined their total environmental and resource impact during raw material extraction and manufacturing.
"We came to the conclusion that sodium-ion batteries are much better than lithium-ion batteries in terms of impact on mineral resource scarcity, and equivalent in terms of climate impact. Depending on which scenario you look at, they end up at between 60 and just over 100 kilogrammes of carbon dioxide equivalents per kilowatt hour theoretical electricity storage capacity, which is lower than previously reported for this type of sodium-ion battery. It's clearly a promising technology," says Rickard Arvidsson.

The researchers also identified a number of measures with the potential to further reduce climate impact, such as developing an environmentally better electrolyte, as it accounted for a large part of the battery's total impact.

Green energy requires energy storage
Today's sodium-ion batteries are already expected to be used for stationary energy storage in the electricity grid, and with continued development, they will probably also be used in electric vehicles in the future.
"Energy storage is a prerequisite for the expansion of wind and solar power. Given that the storage is done predominantly with batteries, the question is what those batteries will be made from? Increased demand for lithium and cobalt could be an obstacle to this development," says Rickard Arvidsson.

The major advantage of the technology is that the materials in the sodium-ion batteries are abundant and can be found all over the world. One electrode in the batteries – the cathode – has sodium ions as a charge carrier, and the other electrode – the anode – consists of hard carbon, which in one of the examples the Chalmers researchers have investigated can be produced from biomass from the forest industry. In terms of production processes and geopolitics, sodium-ion batteries are also an alternative that can accelerate the transition to a fossil-free society.
"Batteries based on abundant raw materials could reduce geopolitical risks and dependencies on specific regions, both for battery manufacturers and countries," says Rickard Arvidsson. 

More about the study
The study is a prospective life cycle assessment of two different sodium-ion battery cells where the environmental and resource impact is calculated from cradle to gate, i.e. from raw material extraction to the manufacture of a battery cell. The functional unit of the study is 1 kWh theoretical electricity storage capacity at the cell level.  Both types of battery cells are mainly based on abundant raw materials. The anode is made up of hard carbon from either bio-based lignin or fossil raw materials, and the cathode is made up of so-called "Prussian white" (consisting of sodium, iron, carbon and nitrogen). The electrolyte contains a sodium salt. The production is modelled to correspond to a future, large-scale production. For example, the actual production of the battery cell is based on today's large-scale production of lithium-ion batteries in gigafactories.  
Two different electricity mixes were tested, as well as two different types of so-called allocation methods – that is, allocation of resources and emissions. One where the climate and resource impact is distributed between coproducts based on mass, and one method where all impact is allocated to the main product (the sodium-ion battery and its components and materials).

The article Prospective life cycle assessment of sodium-ion batteries made from abundant elements has been published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology. The authors of the study are Rickard Arvidsson, Sanna Wickerts, Anders Nordelöf, Magdalena Svanström and Patrik Johansson. The researchers are active at Chalmers University of Technology.

The study was funded by the Swedish Energy Agency through the Battery Fund Program.

 

For more information, please contact:

Rickard Arvidsson, Associate Professor, Department of Technology Economics and Management, Chalmers University of Technology, +46 31 772 21 61, rickard.arvidsson@chalmers.se

The researchers involved in this research, Rickard Arvidsson, Sanna Wickerts, Anders Nordelöf, Magdalena Svanström and Patrik Johansson speak English and Swedish fluently and are available for live and pre-recorded interviews. At Chalmers, we have podcast studios and broadcast filming equipment on site and would be able to assist a request for a television, radio or podcast interview.

---

JOURNAL

Journal of Industrial Ecology

DOI

10.1111/jiec.13452 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Prospective life cycle assessment of sodium-ion batteries made from abundant elements

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

13-Dec-2023

EU pins hope on Norway raw materials discovery

Norway has discovered a huge deposit of critical raw materials. This could make the EU less dependent on China and Russia and boost the bloc's energy transition. DW's Mikhail Bushuev has this exclusive report.


Norge Mining is working feverishly to get the Dalane deposit project off the ground


Michael Wurmser was a banker, investor and strategic consultant before he met new business partners from Norway. They offered the Swiss national five licenses for a lucrative phosphate deposit in Norway which had previously caught the attention of local scientists.

What sounded rather unspectacular at first has turned into one of Europe's most fascinating discoveries. Norway does not belong to the EU. Its huge deposit has certainly piqued the interest of the 27-member bloc and China. Wurmser's company claims to have discovered the biggest deposit of its kind globally, which could produce 70 billion to 80 billion tons of ore-containing material.
Phosphate, vanadium and titanium

After backing from Swiss and German investors, Wurmser and his partners founded Norge Mining in the UK in 2018. They started taking soil samples in the Dalane region in sparsely populated southwestern Norway.

Besides phosphates, two other important minerals were found: vanadium and titanium. Vanadium is tipped to become the most important raw material of the future. About a tenth of all globally mined vanadium is currently used to produce high-performance batteries that store renewable energy.


Soil samples from the Dalane deposit have shown a high content of rare raw materials

Vanadium batteries are far superior to conventional lithium-ion batteries. They can be charged faster and survive 10 times more recharging/discharging cycles without losing performance. Besides that, recycling them is easier. Titanium is important for the steel industry, while phosphates are required for the production of fertilizers.

Electromagnetic field tests, carried out from a helicopter in 2019, produced a 3D visualization of the whole ore deposit. At first, Norge Mining only expected the raw materials to reach a depth of 300-400 meters (984-1,312 feet). Further test drilling and lab studies helped them calculate that the mineralization of the ore deposit reaches at least 2,200 meters (7,217 feet) deep. The company now believes the depth could be up to 4,500 meters.


"At first, we didn't expect the deposit to have such gigantic dimensions," Wurmser told DW. Norge Mining says it has since secured six licenses for the development of an area four times the size of Paris, some 420 square kilometers (261 square miles). In 2012, the Geological Survey of Norway put the value of the deposit at some €30 billion ($36.4 billion). But that estimate assumed the ore deposit would have a depth of just 100 meters.

British consulting firm SRK calculated that the total ore body contains 70-80 billion tons of phosphate-containing material, which would make it the world's largest phosphate deposit, ahead of Morocco's 50 billion and China's 30 billion tons. Added to this is some 3.5 billion tons of ore-containing rock material, which contains 2.45 million tons of vanadium. Norge Mining didn't provide any details on the titanium deposit.

Critical raw materials for the EU

The Norwegian mega deposit has spurred the European Union's interest, all the more since phosphate, vanadium and titanium are on the European Commission's list of critical raw materials. The list contains 30 rare earths and other minerals which are classified as crucial for the bloc's economic and climate protection policies but predominantly need to be imported. Often, importing these materials is risky or complicated. China, for instance, has reserved the right in its latest five-year plan to curtail exports of rare raw materials should they be needed for domestic production.


Michael Wurmser is confident that the Norwegian deposit can help the EU become less dependent on China

Over 60% of the EU's phosphate, vanadium and titanium supplies come from China, along with 20% from Russia and the rest from Kazakhstan, Morocco and other African nations. By 2030, demand is likely to soar — up to 58% for vanadium alone, according to Berlin-based consortium EIT RawMaterials.

Seeking to reduce the risk of supply bottlenecks, Brussels has created the European Raw Materials Alliance (ERMA). The initiative is backed by 160 companies, including Norge Mining, to make raw-material supply chains resilient.

But the company hasn't specified just how much vanadium, titanium and phosphates it aims to supply to the bloc, arguing it's too early to say. After all, it will take about five years to begin extraction. The EU doesn't see an immediate bottleneck in the supply of critical raw minerals, but the Economic Council of Germany's center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party has called for the creation of reserves just in case.
Alternative to oil exports

The European Commission is in talks with Norwegian authorities about potential supplies. Oslo, with its dwindling oil reserves, is already readying itself for the post-fossil fuel era. Extracting and exporting rare earth minerals could become a new pillar of economic growth.

Odd Stangeland, the mayor of Eigersund where the huge deposit is located, told DW the locals are happy about the discovery, especially as Norge has pledged to adhere to strict environmental protection standards. Such is the backing for rare earth minerals, a highway may be rerouted so as not to be in the way of future mines, despite costing €330 million. Wurmser thinks that is a relatively small sum, given the expected yields. He says the Dalane deposit could be a multigenerational project, lasting for more than a century.

Norge Mining's drilling activities have already started, with actual extraction to kick off in a couple of years

China calling

Wurmser noted how rare earth minerals have become a political hot potato. As well as the EU, China's state-run enterprises are taking a keen interest in its Norwegian project. "Every 10 days, there's a call from China," Wurmser told DW, sensing an unspoken wish to buy his firm, which he insisted is out of the question. "We only see them as potential recipients [of our minerals]."

In contrast, Norge sees the EU as a key partner, as it will help the bloc realize its ambition of becoming carbon-neutral by 2050. This goal cannot be achieved without green technologies and long-lasting batteries, produced with the help of rare raw minerals that are mined responsibly, he told DW.

Adapted from German

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We asked a government agency about AI. They sent us 62 blacked out pages.

Alexandria Jacobson, Investigative Reporter
March 27, 2024

Raw Story received 62 blacked out pages in response to a Freedom of Information Act request about artificial intelligence. 

Shutterstock/William Potter

When it comes to understanding artificial intelligence and its role in the government, expect to encounter a black box.

Or two.

Or 62.

That’s exactly how many entirely blacked-out pages Raw Story received in response to a Freedom of Information Act request that asked a federal government agency for records about its use of — and potential threats from — artificial intelligence.

The Export-Import Bank — the federal export credit agency that supports American businesses in exporting their products abroad to compete in foreign markets — responded in a decidedly non-transparent fashion, sending Raw Story a heavily redacted 136-page document earlier this month

An “IT Modernization Strategy” planning document, for example, was blacked out in its entirety.

The few records that included comprehensive information often addressed AI- and computer-related security concerns. The Ex-Im Bank disclosed presentation slides from a routine security awareness training and a warning from the agency’s chief information officer about phishing attacks, which attempt to trick recipients into sharing personal information or downloading malware by posing as legitimate people or organizations via messages.

Howard Spira, the Ex-Im Bank’s CIO and senior vice president, noted on June 8 “an uptick” in phishing emails targeting staff through messages pretending to be from “EXIM Senior Officials.”

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“The rapid release of powerful generative AI tools, e.g., ChatGPT, is also quickly leading to a significant improvement of the quality and believability of phishing attacks,” Spira wrote. “Scammers are using AI to automate various aspects of a phishing attack, making them more effective and targeted.”

Otherwise, any information about how the agency itself is using artificial intelligence — a rapidly evolving technology giving machines the power to simulate human intelligence and problem solving — was withheld by agency officials.

Raw Story filed its FOIA request, which sought agency records from a seven-month period starting in November 2022, on May 25. It took the agency nearly 10 months to respond with its heavily redacted documents.
‘No government-wide guidance’ for AI

The Export-Import Bank’s refusal to release detailed information about its use of and relationship with AI comes as government entities and private business alike grapple with the potential benefits and threats of AI technology.

Congress, for one, has conducted several recent hearings on various aspects of AI.

And AI has become an unchecked force on the campaign trail, too, with many politicians fretting about bad actors using AI to misrepresent them and harm their reputations.


But the government, as a whole, lacks consistency around how it regulates the use of AI.

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“There’s no government-wide guidance on how agencies should acquire and use AI,” said a December report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. “Without such guidance, agencies can't consistently manage AI. And until all requirements are met, agencies can't effectively address AI risks and benefits.”

President Joe Biden issued an executive order in October announcing a "coordinated, Federal Government-wide approach" to the development and use of AI, which he said "holds extraordinary potential for both promise and peril."

In response to Raw Story’s questions about how the Export-Import Bank uses AI, Lennell Jackson, a FOIA public liaison with the Ex-Im Bank, pointed to an undated webpage that said the agency did not identify any AI use cases — ”specific challenges or opportunities that AI may solve,” according to the Government Accountability Office.

Jackson declined further comment. Any other questions about the Ex-Im Bank’s AI policies and procedures, she said, could only be addressed by Raw Story administratively appealing the agency’s decision to not release unredacted AI-related records. Raw Story is awaiting a response to its appeal.

The Ex-Im Bank’s Office of Communications and External Engagement did not respond to Raw Story's request for comment.
‘They pick and choose’: Obtaining government records

The Freedom of Information Act is a 57-year-old law intended to provide the public with transparency about the federal government through access to previously undisclosed information and documents.

But the government may choose to withhold records by claiming one of nine exemptions

In Raw Story’s case, the Ex-Im Bank withheld records by citing the “deliberative process privilege.” This exemption aims to protect the agency’s decision making processes and its staff’s ability to express “candid opinions” and “free and frank exchange of information,” said a March 15 letter from Lance Matthews, deputy chief FOIA officer at the Ex-Im Bank.

“We have applied the ‘foreseeable harm’ standard in reviewing these records and have balanced the harm that disclosure would have to a protected interest against the goal of maximizing discretionary disclosure,” Matthews wrote.


Jamie Wright, a California attorney and political strategist, told Raw Story she has found government agencies to not be forthright and transparent when fulfilling FOIA requests as “they pick and choose when they want to be,” she said.

Oftentimes, lack of disclosure from government agencies relates to “fraud, waste and abuse” or toeing “the ethical line when it comes to a lot of their decision-making processes,” Wright said.

“Whenever you're dealing with a government entity you can expect to get stonewall after stonewall after stonewall, and typically they're not going to be forthright, absent some kind of court order compelling them to,” said Wright, who has won her own legal battles against government agencies using the “deliberative process privilege” exemption.

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However, given how new and quickly evolving artificial intelligence is, Wright expects that the Ex-Im Bank is likely protecting itself from “serious legal ramifications” by avoiding premature disclosure of any AI policies, she said.

Over the past year, Raw Story has fought for disclosure of public records from public universities to local governments, revealing previously undisclosed information about taxpayer money usage and public and government concerns about political appearances.

In August, Raw Story filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of the Navy, following the agencies’ refusal to release records related to a former U.S. Marine and avowed neo-Nazi.

Explainer: Where are the critical raw materials the EU needs for its green transition?


Marie Lecoq
Fri, 10 March 2023 

Raw materials are present in the ground all over the world but some are more common in certain areas than others.

All of the clean energy technologies that we need to decarbonise the energy system require large amounts of minerals and metals.

These minerals and metals are used in many technologies, from smartphones to wind turbines and electric car batteries.

And as countries around the world are setting out to reduce carbon emissions, the demand for clean technologies is increasing, and with it so is the demand for raw materials.

K.C. Michaels is a legal advisor and critical minerals expert at the Internation Energy Agency, an intergovernmental organisation analysing data on the energy sector worldwide.

“Essentially all of the clean energy technologies that we need to decarbonise the energy system require large amounts of minerals and metals,” he explains.

Electric vehicle (EV) batteries for instance need large amounts of lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite. While rare earth elements are mainly used in permanent magnets for EV motors and wind turbines.

An excavator piles up salt at the Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia, one of the biggest reserves of lithium in the world, October 10, 2009 - MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP

The European Union has established a list of 30 critical raw materials, mostly minerals, that are considered strategic to the EU’s economy and that have high supply risk.
But where do we get them from?

“The first challenge is the availability of those critical raw materials,” explains Dario Liguti, the director of sustainable energy at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.

“The production of some of those materials is highly concentrated in certain countries today,” he adds.

More than three-quarters of the global production of critical raw materials used for energy comes from just three countries.

China leads with 66% of the global supply share, followed by South Africa with 9% and the Democratic Republic of Congo with 5%.

And in some cases, a single country can be responsible for over half of the global output.

“For example, cobalt supply from the Democratic Republic of Congo is about 60 or 70% of the world production,” Liguti explains.

China also plays a huge role in refining, a necessary step before the materials can be used.

So for example, even though cobalt is primarily mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo, almost all of it goes to China for processing.

This concentration of resources can lead to major issues in supply, particularly for places like Europe, which produces very little in-house.

“If we imagine a world where there are ten suppliers of lithium and one of those suppliers has a strike or some sort of issue and a shutdown, there are a lot of opportunities to switch to other suppliers. But if we imagine a world where there are only two suppliers and there's a disruption from one, then there's a really big impact,” Michaels says.

An aerial view of wind turbines off the coast of Great Yarmouth, eastern England, on February 15, 2023 - DANIEL LEAL/AFP

“Their demand is already right now explosive and it will only become so as the transition towards a less carbonised energy system becomes even more important,” Liguti says.

The International Energy Agency projects that if the world stays on track to meet its global climate goals and reach net zero by 2050, the overall demand for minerals is going to quadruple by 2030.

“This is a huge increase in just the next seven or eight years,” Michaels says.

“When we start to look at specific minerals, then the demand increase can be much higher. Specifically for lithium, it's as many as 40 times, depending on the scenario,” he adds.

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So can the current supply keep up with growing demands?

“There is a real risk that we won't be able to ramp up production fast enough to meet these goals,” Michaels says.

The quantities necessary for the green transition are staggering.

“Even if we could have 100% re-use of all the minerals and metals that are out there today, we're still not even close,” he adds.

According to Liguti, increasing production won’t be enough. “The quantities necessary for the green transition are staggering,” he says.

“The answer to that demand is not only through increased primary production, but it is as well through the increase of the recycling and the reuse of those raw materials, on establishing the circular economy, the traceability of those minerals, so we exactly know at which stage of the value chain those raw materials are,” he explains.

A child and a woman break rocks extracted from a cobalt mine in Lubumbashi on May 23, 2016 - JUNIOR KANNAH/AFP

Securing the supply is not the only issue at stake. Mining can have a destructive impact not only on the environment but also on local communities.

"While we develop lithium mines and cobalt mines and manganese mines, even if the scale of operations is smaller, we don't want to do the same errors that we did when we started exploiting oil and gas, ” Liguti says. So we have to consider what happens to mines at the end of their lifecycle, he adds.

This means looking at "what to do with the mine, how to involve the local communities, how to account for negative externalities on the environment and mitigate those aspects”, he explains.

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So how can we ensure a sustainable and ethical supply chain of raw materials?

One of the solutions, experts say, is supply chain diligence.

“Companies will be required to look into their suppliers and really try to understand where the materials are coming from, what the risks are and what they can do as purchasers to reduce those risks,” Michaels explains.

This principle will be used in the new EU battery regulations, to ensure that batteries on the European market are sustainable and circular throughout their whole lifecycle, from the sourcing of materials to their collection, recycling and repurposing.

Once the purchasing companies, the car manufacturers become engaged, then they can bring a lot of change.

“It can lead to real efforts to improve the situation because once the downstream companies, the purchasing companies and the car manufacturers become engaged, then they can bring about a lot of change. They can speak to their suppliers, they can push for new standards and push for improvement,” Michaels adds.

Innovation can also play a big role in reducing the demand on raw materials.

New technologies can help improve how we use and mine these materials but also find alternative sources, develop substitutes and improve recycling.

“A raw material might not be critical a few decades from now as they were not critical a few years ago,” Liguti says.

“But they are critical now and we need to take care of that. So in 20 years, we don't have to look back and say: "Oh, we did the same errors that we did 100 years ago when we started exploiting oil and gas",” he adds.

To address this, the EU will adopt a Critical Raw Materials act on the 14th of March, 2023. The initiative aims to make sure Europe has a diverse and reliable supply of materials, and ensure social and environmental standards are respected.