Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Banks in Canada push for deposit insurance boost to cut risk

Derek Decloet, Bloomberg News

A coalition of Canadian lenders is urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to increase the limits on deposit insurance, arguing that it would send “a strong signal” about financial stability and reduce the risk of bank failures.

Canada’s insurance program protects depositors up to C$100,000 (US$73,200) per account, far less than the US$250,000 cap on most accounts covered by the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Executives of smaller financial institutions asked Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to announce a review of the limit in her March 28 budget.

“Increased protection limits would send Canadians a strong signal about the stability of the financial system while greatly reducing any concern about the damage a ‘run on the bank’ could have on an institution and its depositors,” says a letter to Freeland signed by five executives, including Equitable Bank Chief Executive Officer Andrew Moor and Home Capital Group Inc. CEO Yousry Bissada. It was sent under the letterhead of the Banks & Trust Companies Association, which represents small and medium-sized financial institutions in Canada.

The group has been lobbying for deposit insurance reform since before the March 10 collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, which has put US regional banks under extreme pressure. Asked to comment on the letter, Freeland’s office stressed safeguards are already in place to protect deposits.

In Washington, officials are now looking at ways to temporarily expand FDIC coverage to all deposits — a measure that a group of mid-sized US banks argues is needed to shore up confidence. Treasury Department staff are reviewing whether federal regulators have enough emergency authority to lift the current limit, even if they don’t consider such a move necessary right now, people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg.

SVB’s failure, followed by the closing of Signature Bank just two days later, led regulators to take extraordinary measures to reassure depositors of both banks. But it hasn’t stopped fear from spreading to other regional banks such as San Francisco-based First Republic Bank, which tumbled 47 per cent on Monday as S&P Global cut its rating for the second time in a week.

Canada’s banking system, which is dominated by six domestic institutions with a large and diverse base of depositors, operates under a different regulatory structure than the U.S., and has proved to be relatively stable. The last financial institution failure handled by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corp. was in 1996 — though Home Capital suffered a run on deposits in 2017 that nearly took it down before it received a lifeline from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Among other benefits, a higher deposit insurance limit would be useful to business owners who need a cash float of more than C$100,000 and help create more choice in the market, the Canadian financial executives said in their letter to the finance minister. “Competition in financial services is an important issue and increasing CDIC deposit protection limits would help achieve that,” they said.

In an interview, Moor said the Canadian financial system “looks really solid in this environment” and hasn’t seen the same problem of deposit flight that’s afflicting some U.S. regional banks. But adjusting the deposit limit to a level more comparable to the U.S. — such as C$200,000 to C$300,000 — would improve it, he said. CDIC insurance is funded by premiums paid by financial institutions.

The Trudeau government is “committed to a strong deposit insurance framework,” Freeland’s press secretary, Adrienne Vaupshas, said by email Tuesday. “There are stringent safeguards in place” through both CDIC and the main national financial regulator “to ensure the deposit insurance framework continues to meet the key objectives of protecting Canadians’ savings, securing the trust and confidence of depositors, and supporting the stability of Canada’s financial system.”

The Canadian Bankers Association, a trade group that includes the biggest banks, doesn’t currently have a position on the deposit insurance limit, according to a spokesperson.

Canada’s bank deposit insurance limits

being reviewed after SVB collapse, trade

group says

Canada’s bank deposit insurer is reviewing deposit insurance limits to safeguard the country’s financial system, the head of the Bank and Trust Companies Association said on Tuesday, after the trade group called for better coverage.

The group, representing the country’s medium and small banks, wrote to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland last month urging the Canada Deposit

Insurance Corporation (CDIC) to double its coverage to $200,000 per depositor.

Canada has the lowest level of deposit insurance among G7 countries, the letter dated Feb. 7 said.

“The CDIC is reviewing their depositor insurance regime to make sure that it is effective,” said Andrew Moor, chair of the group, in an interview. “They are always trying to make sure that things are relevant.”

CDIC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In an email, a spokesperson for Freeland said the government was committed to a “strong deposit insurance framework.”

About 65% of deposits at Canada’s top six banks — Royal Bank of Canada, TD Bank, Bank of Montreal, CIBC, Scotiabank and National Bank of Canada — are uninsured, according to DBRS Morningstar.

In addition, the U.S. subsidiaries of the top six have uninsured deposits ranging between 30% and 70%, DBRS estimates.

Click to play video: 'Canadian banks are stable, but ‘something is going to break’ in economy: experts'

9:55Canadian banks are stable, but ‘something is going to break’ in economy: experts

Around 25% of deposits are uninsured with the mid and small banks, DBRS said in a report released on Monday.

The recent collapse of regional U.S. lenders such as Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank has raised questions about the stability of financial institutions across the world.

Calls have grown for the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp to offer temporary guarantees for all uninsured U.S. bank deposits in the wake of collapse of several U.S. regional lenders.

Despite Canada’s lower deposit insurance cap, analysts have said the U.S. banking crisis is unlikely to spread to the northern neighbor where banks are better regulated and have ample liquidity. CDIC has some 85 members, while FDIC has more than 4,700 institutions.

(Reporting by Divya Rajagopal in Toronto and Steve Scherer in Ottawa; Editing by Richard Chang and Josie Kao)

By Divya Rajagopal Reuters

Posted March 21, 2023

Warren Seeks to Tie Higher FDIC Insurance to Tighter Regulation

Steven T. Dennis, Bloomberg News

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, speaks during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, March 7, 2023. The Federal Reserve chair is expected to echo fellow central bankers in suggesting interest rates will go higher than policymakers anticipated just weeks ago if economic data continue to come in hot. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Senator Elizabeth Warren said Tuesday she doesn’t think multibillion-dollar banks should get an increase in federal insurance without tighter regulation.

“You bet I’d tie them together,” the Massachusetts Democrat told reporters at the Capitol.

“The big banks cannot have it both ways. They can’t say they want the government to backstop them and they don’t want any additional regulation,” she said. “That’s not the way the world works or at least not the way it should.”

Warren said she’s not as concerned about smaller banks she said are “financially sound and frankly, fairly stiffly regulated.”

“It’s these multibillion-dollar banks that both pose the threat and got away with regulation that was far too weak,” she said.

She warned against simply giving bankers two years of unlimited Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation protection without tougher restrictions in the wake of the failures of Silicon Valley Bank in California and Signature Bank in New York.

“That just puts the taxpayer on the hook and puts even more distortions in the incentives and we can’t do that,” she said.

Warren will have work to do to get others to back her proposals as Republicans and many Democrats who voted for a 2018 law that loosened regulations on smaller and midsized banks say the law itself isn’t to blame.

Conservative Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia separately told reporters that he’s open to considering a higher FDIC insurance limit than the current $250,000 cap for people willing to pay for that insurance.

“It makes sense to ask the question, can’t there be some type of mechanism that allows people that are using the banks for greater deposits and want that protection to pay a different fee?” he said.

Manchin likened it to people having the option of buying more life insurance if they wish.

Yet Manchin, who added that he had spoken to bankers in his state, said he doesn’t think the 2018 law affected the failure of Silicon Valley Bank. Manchin was one of several Democrats who voted for the rollback.

“They went eight months as I’m understanding without having a risk officer,” Manchin said. “It’s hard to legislate against incompetency.”

“Somebody should be held tremendously responsible for this and the people of that bank and basically the San Francisco Fed, all of them should be held very accountable for dereliction of duty, really,” Manchin said.

Supreme Court refuses to hear appeal on millions of dollars Alberta law firm charged to First Nation

The Supreme Court of Canada will not be hearing an appeal from Rath & Company and Jeffrey R. W. Rath that the law firm is owed more than $3 million as a contingency fee from work it undertook when Tallcree First Nation received agricultural benefits in 2017 under Canada’s Specific Claims process.

The Priddis-based Alberta law firm signed an agreement with Tallcree First Nation in 2015 that set a contingency fee of no less than 20 per cent received in a settlement agreement.

Tallcree First Nation, one of approximately 20 Treaty 8 First Nations at the time negotiating an agreement with Canada, received $57.6 million based on a formula that took into account the number of band members. The settlement was consistent with offers made to other signatories of Treaty 8.

Under the agreement with Rath & Company, the contingency fee would therefore be $11.5 million, but Tallcree put up a fight.

Tallcree sought a review of the fee. The review officer upheld Rath & Company’s fee.

Tallcree appealed the decision to the Court of Queen’s Bench in Alberta and the judge ruled that the fee was unreasonable and reduced it to $3 million, “inclusive of disbursements.”

Rath appealed that decision to the Court of Appeal of Alberta.

In a split decision of two to one, the higher court upheld the lower court’s $3 million contingency fee. However, the appeal court found the lower court’s conclusion was “tainted” and therefore conducted a new analysis to determine what constituted a reasonable fee.

Among the errors the appeal court majority said the lower court judge made was in the “hindsight analysis.” The lower court found that Rath could have predicted that the upcoming federal election (of 2015) would result in a government change with a new government that would be more amenable to Indigenous peoples.

The appeal court also took issue with the lower court’s conclusion that Tallcree First Nation was under economic pressure to enter into the contingency fee agreement with Rath because of impecuniosity (poverty). The appeal court said the argument wasn’t sustained by a financial statement from Tallcree.

And the appeal court found error in the conclusion that Rath & Company, because it was located in a small community, did not have the expertise to handle First Nations’ law.

“Since both the Review Officer’s and the chambers judge’s analyses of the reasonableness of the contingency fee agreement were tainted by reviewable error, it is necessary for this court to conduct a fresh analysis,” wrote Justices Frans Slatter and Kevin Feehan in their 2022 majority decision.

At the time Tallcree signed with Rath, Tallcree felt that their claim was lagging – their smaller claim was being piggybacked on the larger claims – and that their present law firm was not sharing information with them. In light of this dissatisfaction, the First Nation signed with Rath to expedite the process.

Tallcree’s business manager had not been briefed about the mandatory statutory timetable for resolving specific claims.

The Treaty 8 claimants had triggered the Specific Claims procedure, which had a specific timeline in place: three years from filing to acceptance for negotiation and a further three years to negotiate settlement. It was expected a per capita formula for the settlements would be put in place.

Tallcree’s claim was accepted as “filed” by Canada in 2013, setting 2016 as the end of the research and assessment period.

Canada had already accepted other claims for negotiation so it was highly unlikely that Tallcree’s claim would not be accepted.

The contingency fee agreement with Rath was signed 26 months into the 36-month assessment period.

Since a number of claims had already been accepted for negotiations, “the reasonable observer” would not have considered liability seriously contested, would have perceived a settlement in the near future, and would expect Tallcree to receive an offer, held the court of appeal majority opinion.

“The 20 per cent contingency would likely be triggered with minimal additional effort or risk. Given the range of settlement being discussed, the resulting fee would clearly be unreasonable…,” said the majority decision.

Rath estimated the hourly rate for work undertaken for Tallcree at $391,900. Rath had conceded before the lower court judge that a fee between $1 million and $2 million would be appropriate. The judge set $3 million as the contingency fee.

The appeal court majority said although the $3 million fee was “based on unsupportable analysis,” Tallcree had not filed a cross appeal, so the $3 million fee stood.

Dissenting Justice Thomas A. Wakeling held that Tallcree First Nation had entered into the contingency fee agreement with Rath & Company “with its eyes wide open” and understood its obligations.

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed Rath’s leave to appeal on March 16, 2023. The Supreme Court does not provide reasons for leave application judgments.

BY SHARI NARINE, LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER, WINDSPEAKER.COM
THE CANADIAN PRESS

PUBLISHED MARCH 21, 2023

Scientists use tardigrade proteins for human health breakthrough

by University of Wyoming

University of Wyoming researchers' study of how microscopic creatures called tardigrades survive extreme conditions has led to a major breakthrough that could eventually make life-saving treatments available to people where refrigeration isn't possible.

Thomas Boothby, an assistant professor of molecular biology, and colleagues have shown that natural and engineered versions of tardigrade proteins can be used to stabilize an important pharmaceutical used to treat people with hemophilia and other conditions without the need for refrigeration—even amid high temperatures and other difficult conditions. The findings are detailed in Scientific Reports.

The pharmaceutical known as human blood clotting Factor VIII is an essential therapeutic used to treat genetic disease and instances of extreme bleeding. Despite being critical and effective in treating patients in these circumstances, Factor VIII has a serious shortcoming, in that it is inherently unstable. Without stabilization within a precise temperature range, Factor VIII will break down.

"In underdeveloped regions, during natural disasters, during space flight or on the battlefield, access to refrigerators and freezers, as well as ample electricity to run this infrastructure, can be in short supply. This often means that people who need access to Factor VIII do not get it," Boothby says. "Our work provides a proof of principle that we can stabilize Factor VIII, and likely many other pharmaceuticals, in a stable, dry state at room or even elevated temperatures using proteins from tardigrades—and, thus, provide critical lifesaving medicine to everyone everywhere."

Measuring less than half a millimeter long, tardigrades—also known as water bears—can survive being completely dried out; being frozen to just above absolute zero (about minus 458 degrees Fahrenheit, when all molecular motion stops); heated to more than 300 degrees Fahrenheit; irradiated several thousand times beyond what a human could withstand; and even survive the vacuum of outer space. They are able to do so, in part, by manufacturing a sugar called trehalose and a protein called CAHS D.

According to the research paper, Boothby and his colleagues fine-tuned the biophysical properties of both trehalose and CAHS D to stabilize Factor VIII, noting that CAHS D is most suitable for the treatment. The stabilization allows Factor VIII to be available in austere conditions without refrigeration, including repeated dehydration/rehydration, extreme heat and long-term dry storage.

The researchers believe the same thing can be done with other biologics—pharmaceuticals containing or derived from living organisms—such as vaccines, antibodies, stem cells, blood and blood products.

"This study shows that dry preservation methods can be effective in protecting biologics, offering a convenient, logistically simple and economically viable means of stabilizing life-saving medicines," Boothby says. "This will be beneficial not only for global health initiatives in remote or developing parts of the world, but also for fostering a safe and productive space economy, which will be reliant on new technologies that break our dependence on refrigeration for the storage of medicine, food and other biomolecules."

Boothby and other researchers hope that their discoveries can be applied to address other societal and global health issues as well, including water scarcity. For example, their work might lead to better ways of generating engineered crops that can cope with harsh environments.

More information: Maxwell H. Packebush et al, Natural and engineered mediators of desiccation tolerance stabilize Human Blood Clotting Factor VIII in a dry state, Scientific Reports (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-31586-9. www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-31586-9

Provided by University of Wyoming

Researchers reveal new knowledge of microscopic creature's durability

The world's toughest animal could one day help save your life
By Bronwyn Thompson
March 20, 2023

Water bear, moss piglet, scientific marvel: the tiny tardigrade
DepositphotosThey’ve been fired from a gas gun to test their candidacy for panspermia, are believed to have survived the Beresheet lunar probe's crash-landing on the Moon, can live without water, withstand radiation, survive being frozen and are expected to be one of the final forms of life on Earth when the sun begins to dim in about five billion years.

So it’s no surprise that everyone’s favorite microscopic critter has yet another superpower up its chubby sleeves: some clever chemistry unique to the tardigrade that can stabilize medicines without refrigeration. It has huge potential for getting life-saving treatment to those who need it.

Researchers at the University of Wyoming have homed in on one of the tardigrade’s key survival skills, anhydrobiosis. The team believed that the animal’s ability to enter reversible suspended animation when faced with extreme water loss from cells, could provide the same stable dry storage for biologic medicines that would otherwise require the chilled environment.

Biologics – vaccines, antibodies, stem cells, blood and other blood products – are derived from living organisms and require cold conditions to prevent heat breaking down the protein and destroying it. One that relies on this prohibitive cold-chain infrastructure is human blood-clotting (coagulation) factor VIII (FVIII), which among its therapeutic applications are treating genetic diseases such as hemophilia A and those with extreme physical trauma and bleeding.

By harnessing a specific protein and sugar that the microscopic water bear produces in anhydrobiosis, the researchers found that it could offer FVIII similar desiccation shields, meaning the biologic could be dehydrated and then rehydrated for use without the loss of its natural qualities. What's more, their study shows the FVIII remained stable for 10 weeks in its treated form.

“In underdeveloped regions, during natural disasters, during space flight or on the battlefield, access to refrigerators and freezers, as well as ample electricity to run this infrastructure, can be in short supply,” said Thomas Boothby, assistant professor of molecular biology at UW. “Our work provides a proof of principle that we can stabilize factor VIII, and likely many other pharmaceuticals, in a stable, dry state at room or even elevated temperatures using proteins from tardigrades – and, thus, provide critical live-saving medicine to everyone, everywhere.”

Using the Hypsibius dujardini species, the team fine-tuned a treatment based on the cytosolic abundant heat soluble (CAHS) proteins and the sugar trehalose. In particular, the CAHS D protein protects enzymes in its dehydrated state, forming gel-like filaments to keep the animal’s cell structure intact. When hydration returns, the filaments retreat without causing cellular stress.

Taking the biophysical properties of CAHS D and trehalose, the team was able to stabilize the FVIII, opening the door to develop this transport and storage technology across the spectrum of biologics.

“This study shows that dry preservation methods can be effective in protecting biologics, offering a convenient, logistically simple and economically viable means of stabilizing life-saving medicines,” said Boothby. “This will be beneficial not only for global health initiatives in remote or developing parts of the world, but also for fostering a safe and productive space economy, which will be reliant on new technologies that break our dependence on refrigeration for the storage of medicine, food and other biomolecules.”

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Source: University of Wyoming

Tardigrade protein can keep medicines stabilized without refrigeration

The results demonstrated that FVIII could remain stable in its treated form for up to ten weeks.

Mrigakshi Dixit
Created: Mar 21, 2023

Tardigrade stock image.

The tiny tardigrades, which measure less than half a millimeter in length, are frequently referred to as scientific marvels.

They can withstand harsh conditions such as freezing cold or super hot temperatures; they can survive without water, thrive in outer space, and can combat harmful radiation. These critters do, in fact, have a survival superpower.

It turns out scientists can tap into their superpower, which could help save medicines in unsuitable conditions and places.

Understanding tardigrade's survival skill

Scientists have delved into understanding how tardigrades survive frigid conditions, which could pave the way for medicines to be stabilized without refrigeration. This study is led by scientists from the University of Wyoming.

These microscopic creatures, also known as water bears, survive by producing trehalose (sugar) and CAHS D (protein). They do so through a process called anhydrobiosis — meaning life without water in Greek.

For this, the team fine-tuned the biophysical properties of CAHS D and trehalose in order to stabilize Factor VIII. Factor VIII is a critical protein in human blood clotting.

The results demonstrated that FVIII could remain stable in its treated form for up to ten weeks. It survived in the absence of refrigeration, dehydration/rehydration, dry storage, and even heat.

“Our work provides a proof of principle that we can stabilize Factor VIII, and likely many other pharmaceuticals, in a stable, dry state at room or even elevated temperatures using proteins from tardigrades — and, thus, provide critical life-saving medicine to everyone everywhere,” said Thomas Boothby, assistant professor of molecular biology, in a press release

Medicines require cold storage

Biologics, which include vaccines, antibodies, stem cells, blood, and other blood products, require cold temperatures to prevent heat from breaking down and destroying the protein.

Among these is factor VIII (FVIII), which has a significant pharmaceutical application and is heavily reliant on cold-chain infrastructure. It is used to treat genetic diseases such as hemophilia A and individuals who have experienced physical trauma and bleeding.

“In underdeveloped regions, during natural disasters, during space flight or on the battlefield, access to refrigerators and freezers, as well as ample electricity to run this infrastructure, can be in short supply. This often means that people who need access to Factor VIII do not get it,” said Boothby.

This method is also considered "logistically simple and economically viable" for preserving medicines. The details have been published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Study abstract:

Biologics, pharmaceuticals containing or derived from living organisms, such as vaccines, antibodies, stem cells, blood, and blood products are a cornerstone of modern medicine. However, nearly all biologics have a major deficiency: they are inherently unstable, requiring storage under constant cold conditions. The so-called ‘cold-chain’, while effective, represents a serious economic and logistical hurdle for deploying biologics in remote, underdeveloped, or austere settings where access to cold-chain infrastructure ranging from refrigerators and freezers to stable electricity is limited. To address this issue, we explore the possibility of using anhydrobiosis, the ability of organisms such as tardigrades to enter a reversible state of suspended animation brought on by extreme drying, as a jumping off point in the development of dry storage technology that would allow biologics to be kept in a desiccated state under not only ambient but elevated temperatures. Here we examine the ability of different protein and sugar-based mediators of anhydrobiosis derived from tardigrades and other anhydrobiotic organisms to stabilize Human Blood Clotting Factor VIII under repeated dehydration/rehydration cycles, thermal stress, and long-term dry storage conditions. We find that while both protein and sugar-based protectants can stabilize the biologic pharmaceutical Human Blood Clotting Factor VIII under all these conditions, protein-based mediators offer more accessible avenues for engineering and thus tuning of protective function.

Heartland Polymers begins integrated commercial PP production in Alberta

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Heartland Polymers says it has successfully started production at its propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant in Strathcona County, Alberta, which is now providing on-site feedstock for commercial polypropylene (PP) production, said Canplastics.

“Thanks to the dedication and hard work of our operations team, I am proud to report that our propane dehydrogenation plant has been providing a reliable onsite source of feedstock to our polypropylene production since the end of 2022,” Heartland CEO Todd Karran said in a March 16 news release. “Heartland is responsibly producing and shipping [PP] to customers daily, and we continue to focus on optimizing our service. As the new entrant to the market and one that brings Heartland’s promise of reliability, service and sustainability, there is high interest in our products. We expect it will continue to grow now that we have achieved commercial production."

Calgary-based Heartland says it produced approximately 200 million pounds of PP in 2022 after the initial PP production began in July, followed by the PDH plant’s start-up in October 2022.

Heartland also says the plant is unique to the industry in that it produces both polymer grade propylene (PGP) feedstock and PP product at a single site.

Heartland’s PP plant and its co-generation central utilities block (CUB) were commissioned in 2022. Before the PDH plant entered into service, Heartland was producing PP with PGP feedstock from parent company Inter Pipeline’s NGL business, Canada’s only PGP producer prior to PDH entering into service. This alternate feed source enabled Heartland to begin PP production in late fall 2022 and remains a key aspect of Heartland’s reliability in addition to its geographic location.

Heartland is currently producing a range of homo-polymers with a plan to add random co-polymers to its production schedule later in 2023. Production currently focuses on serving demand for film, sheet extrusion, fibres, and injection molding, the release said.

We remind, avago, a Belgium-based chemicals group, and Heartland, a US-based industrial hemp firm, have reached a joint development deal to produce the next generation of plastic resins. This partnership intends to drive material innovation for firms that purchase huge volumes of plastic. Heartland's hemp additives will help these producers cut the weight, cost, and carbon footprint of raw materials. Ravago is among the world's top plastic recyclers, distributors, and compounders. Along with subsidiaries, it supplies more than 6.6 M tonnes of rubber and polymer. Heartland is constructing America's first dependable industrial hemp supply chain to offer plastics additives. By leveraging renewable and carbon-negative plastic additives such as industrial hemp, Ravago can provide lighter, stronger, cheaper, and more sustainable composite products.

mrchub.com

Huge Phillips 66 biofuels project will test the industry’s green promises

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In the oldest refining town in the American West, Phillips 66 is promising a greener future as it moves to halt crude-oil processing and build a massive renewable diesel plant, leading a global trend, said Reuters.

That plan, announced in 2020, was initially welcomed by residents weary from a history of pollution and toxic leaks. But some have grown skeptical as the project’s details cast doubt on the environmental benefits of revamping the 127-year-old complex on 1,100 acres in Rodeo, California.

The company’s initial claim that it would slash greenhouse gasses by half doesn’t match the project’s environmental impact report, published by county regulators, which shows a 1% reduction, according to a Reuters calculation of emissions data in the report. What’s more, refining of petroleum byproducts may continue as a side project.

And renewable-diesel production will require a surge in marine and train traffic, increasing emissions and spill risk. The conversion also requires boosting natural-gas usage to produce hydrogen required to make the biofuel. These dynamics and other variables raise questions about Phillips 66’s marketing of renewable diesel as a green fuel and make it impossible to tell whether and how much the refinery overhaul will reduce community pollution, three independent environmental experts told Reuters.

The project’s environmental impact will be a test case for similar facilities worldwide. Several dozen new U.S. renewable diesel plants are planned, according to energy consultancy Stratas Advisors. Most will be conversions of oil refineries. Production capacity could triple, to 6 billion gallons, by 2026, Stratas says. Europe and Asia are seeing similar trends.

The Rodeo conversion could be either “a model or a cautionary tale,” said Gwen Ottinger, an associate professor in the Center for Science, Technology and Society at Drexel University who has studied air-pollution monitoring in Rodeo.

Phillips 66 representatives say the project, dubbed Rodeo Renewed, will significantly cut certain regulated pollutants, and will lead to large cuts in greenhouse gasses when the biofuel is burned in vehicles. The refinery’s general manager, Jolie Rhinehart, said renewable diesel is the cleanest-burning option for use in transporting goods by truck.

“Heavy-haul trucking is a vital aspect to our way of life in this country and in this world,” she said. “And renewable diesel is the lowest-emission way to fuel that energy that we need to keep our trucks moving." Rhinehart added that emissions directly from the plant, affecting local residents, would be “significantly reduced” by the project.

Some Rodeo residents worry the overhaul could become another chapter in a long story of local pollution. Sitting across the bay from San Francisco’s glittering cityscape, Rodeo is a poster child for post-industrial problems. In addition to the Phillips 66 plant, the area has hosted a second oil refinery, a lead smelter, and a dynamite factory. Vacant storefronts and rusted-out cars blight the boulevard leading to a beach too toxic for swimming. The community, in unincorporated Contra Costa County, has much higher concentrations of illness, poverty and brownfield cleanup sites than most others in California.

We remind, Nexus Circular has signed a long-term commercial agreement with Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPChem) for the supply of a significant volume annually of circular liquid feedstocks from a new advanced recycling facility. This long-term contractual commitment further strengthens CPChem’s relationship with Nexus for advanced recycled plastic feedstocks to produce Marlex Anew Circular Polyethylene.

Nova Scotia wind farm gets environmental approval

A wind farm in Guysborough County received environmental approval on Monday. - File

A proposed wind farm in Guysborough County got approval from Environment and Climate Change Minister Timothy Halman on Monday.

The Port Hawkesbury Paper Wind Partnership applied for an environmental assessment of the project in January.

Plans calls for the construction of 29 turbines, which would collectively produce 130.5 megawatts to diversify the energy mix that powers the Port Hawkesbury paper facility.

The turbines will be up to 195 metres tall and individually produce up to 4.5 MW.

The project centre is seven kilometres northeast of Lincolnville and 7.4 kilometres southeast of Mattie Settlement.

Construction is slated to begin this summer or fall, with the turbines predicted to be operational for 25 years, beginning in 2025.

Before work can begin, the company must submit a wildlife management plan dealing with any potential impact the project might have on birds, bats and mainland moose, including monitoring bird and bat deaths caused by the turbines for two years. Other conditions of the approval pertain to noise levels and shadow flicker.

Public comments on the registration were accepted until Feb. 27, and all comments received from the public consultation are posted at the Environment Department’s website.

Idaho city’s only hospital blames anti-abortion laws as it ends obstetrical services

BY OLAFIMIHAN OSHIN

- 03/22/23

Sarah A. Miller/Idaho Statesman via AP, File
An attendee at Planned Parenthood’s Bans Off Our Bodies rally for abortion rights holds a sign reading “Idaho the women as property state” outside of the Idaho Statehouse in downtown Boise, Idaho, on May 14, 2022.

The only hospital in Sandpoint, Idaho, has announced it will no longer provide obstetrical services, blaming stringent restrictions on reproductive care enacted by the state’s government.

“Without pediatrician coverage to manage neonatal resuscitations and perinatal care, it is unsafe and unethical to offer routine labor and delivery services,” Bonner General Health said in a statement.

The hospital said that the decision to remove obstetrical services was an “emotional and difficult” one, citing the loss of pediatrician coverage, changing demographics and the state’s recent laws surrounding abortion.

According to the Idaho Capital Sun, which first reported the change at Bonner General, Idaho has one of the most severe bans on abortion in the U.S., with state physicians facing felony charges and revocation of their licenses if they violate the law.

“Highly respected, talented physicians are leaving. Recruiting replacements will be extraordinarily difficult,” the hospital said in its news release. “In addition, the Idaho Legislature continues to introduce and pass bills that criminalize physicians for medical care nationally recognized as the standard of care. Consequences for Idaho Physicians providing the standard of care may include civil litigation and criminal prosecution, leading to jail time or fines.”

The hospital noted that it plans to continue providing women’s health services and to coordinate care for “OB patients scheduled to deliver in May and after.”

Sandpoint has a reported population of more than 9,000 people.

“Lastly, thank you all for the decades of partnership and for entrusting your care with our outstanding Obstetricians and Labor & Delivery staff on our team,” the hospital said in its news release. “The closure of obstetrics will not be an easy transition for our Bonner General Health teams or our community and surrounding area.”

GOP-led states across the country moved to sharply curtain abortion after the Supreme Court struck down the nearly 50-year-old Roe v. Wade decision last year. Advocates and health care groups have repeatedly warned of the risks such moves pose to women’s health.Netanyahu hits back after Biden expresses alarm over judicial overhaul Rand Paul among lawmakers opposing TikTok ban bills: ‘I think it’s a mistake’

“We have made every effort to avoid eliminating these services,” Ford Elsaesser, the president of Bonner General’s board said in its statement. “We hoped to be the exception, but our challenges are impossible to overcome now.”

Bonner General delivered 265 babies in 2022, according to the Idaho Capital Sun.

Editor’s note: This story was updated March 22 to include a link and attribution to the Capitol Sun. The Sun’s story was also published by the Idaho Statesman.

Idaho hospital to stop delivering babies as doctors flee over abortion ban

Near-total ban on abortions is driving doctors away, hospital says, leading to lack of nearby labor and delivery care for thousands

Gloria Oladipo
@gaoladipo

Mon 20 Mar 2023

An Idaho hospital has planned to stop delivering babies, with the medical center’s managers citing increasing criminalization of physicians and the inability to retain pediatricians as major reasons.

Bonner General Health, the only hospital in Sandpoint, in the north-west of the state, announced on Friday it would no longer provide labor, delivery and a host of other obstetrical services.

The more than 9,000 residents of Sandpoint will now forced to drive 46 miles for the nearest labor and delivery care, the Idaho Capital Sun reported.

In a statement, the hospital said the decision to eliminate the obstetrics unit stemmed from the “political climate” in Idaho.

“Highly respected, talented physicians are leaving. Recruiting replacements will be extraordinarily difficult,” officials said in a press release.

“We have made every effort to avoid eliminating these services,” the hospital’s board president, Ford Elsaesser, added in the statement.

“We hoped to be the exception, but our challenges are impossible to overcome now.”

The hospital’s statement also said that the closure comes as the number of deliveries at Bonner continues to decline, with only 265 babies delivered last year and fewer than 10 pediatric patients admitted.

The hospital also lacks enough pediatricians to manage its neonatal resuscitations and perinatal care, finding no permanent solution after contacting to active and retired physicians to fill vacancies.

Hospital officials are hoping to keep obstetrics services available until 19 May, but said it largely depends on staffing.

New patients are no longer being seen at the hospital, effective immediately, while current patients are being offered alternative referrals.

Since the supreme court in June eliminated the nationwide abortion rights that Roe v Wade established, states with total abortion bans have passed laws with the threat of prison time for doctors who perform abortions in violation of state law.

The supreme court decision legalized an Idaho state ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. The state is the first to pass a copy of Texas’s controversial bill. Idaho is also one of six that prosecutes doctors for providing abortion, CBS News reported.

In August, the justice department filed a lawsuit against Idaho for its near-total ban on abortions, with doctors in the state writing in a court brief that physicians were often forced to choose between violating the state ban or federal healthcare law, the Associated Press reported.

The implications of the ban is driving doctors out of the state, the Bonner hospital’s press release said.

“The Idaho legislature continues to introduce and pass bills that criminalize physicians for medical care nationally recognized as the standard of care,” the hospital’s statement said.

“Consequences for Idaho physicians providing the standard of care may include civil litigation and criminal prosecution, leading to jail time or fines.”

Dr Amelia Huntsberger, a Bonner General Health obstetrician-gynecologist, wrote in an email to the Capital Sun that she would be leaving the hospital and the state because of its restrictive abortion laws, and because the Idaho legislature was terminating its maternal mortality review committee.

“What a sad, sad state of affairs for our community,” Huntsberger wrote.

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