One Dirty Secret Behind Green Energy – African Cobalt Mining

mining

by Tim Pearce   Cobalt mined under harsh conditions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a key component in items such as electric vehicles and iPhones sold around the world. Congolese freelance workers venture into dangerous mines to collect the valuable mineral with nothing more than shovels and picks. Many use their bare hands, and miners regularly suffer crippling injuries or death, The Wall Street Journal reported. The cobalt mined in Congo ends up all over the world in the form of lithium batteries and electronics. Pressure has mounted on the world’s largest companies to purge hand-mined cobalt from their supply chains since Amnesty International detailed working conditions in Congo in 2016. Many companies have pledged to cut support for such mines, but cleaning up a supply chain is often difficult and seldom foolproof because of the number of parties involved and the stranglehold Congo has on the market. Darton Commodities Ltd., a U.K.-based cobalt-trading firm, found that Congo is the source for roughly two-thirds of the world’s supply of cobalt, WSJ reported. “When we speak to companies along the battery value chain, this is one of the biggest issues they have,” Wood Mackenzie analyst Milan Thakore told WSJ. “How do we…

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IG Is Investigating Allegations of Collusion Between Volvo and EPA Officials to Sabotage President Trump’s Auto Regs Roll-Back

big rig truck

by Tim Pearce   Federal investigators are probing into a 2017 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report that claimed refurbished trucks emitted significantly more pollution than new models. The EPA Office of Inspector General (OIG) announced Tuesday that it would look into allegations that EPA officials improperly colluded with truck manufacturer Volvo to conduct a study that found that “glider trucks” – refurbished truck engines fixed in new bodies – emit as much as 40 times the pollution of new vehicles. The Trump administration is attempting to repeal Obama-era regulations that classified glider trucks as “new motor vehicles” and placed them under a much stricter class of emissions standards. Glider trucks are generally cheaper, though less efficient, than new models, earning the ire of environmentalists and large truck companies, including Volvo. After placing a stay on the rule that would put off enforcement until Dec. 2019, the EPA reversed course in June and lifted the stay. EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler lifted the stay following a D.C. Circuit Court ordered the EPA to enforce the Obama-era regulation. Anti-glider groups and companies have lobbied against the repeal of the regulations, often touting the 2017 EPA study on glider truck emissions. Congressional Republicans asked the OIG to look into…

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Police Raid Anti-Pipeline Site, Destroy Their Camp And Send Them Straight To Jail

pipeline protest camp removed

by Jason Hopkins   Law enforcement ended a lingering standoff with an anti-pipeline camp site, arresting five protesters and destroying all the makeshift homes that were built. Intense opposition has centered around the Trans Mountain pipeline project, an expansion proposal that will ultimately stretch from Alberta to British Columbia’s west coast. Construction workers for Kinder Morgan, North America’s largest infrastructure company, have been subjected to numerous environmental protests as they continue to work on the $7.4 billion-dollar crude oil pipeline. A group of environmental protesters have long congregated in a camp near a Kinder Morgan tank farm in Burnaby, British Columbia. For the past several months, Camp Cloud — the name of the protest camp site — had grown in size. Starting with a single trailer in November, Camp Cloud had grown to include numerous vehicles and trailers, a cabin, an outdoor shower, a two-story wooden “house,” and numerous tents. [ RELATED: Full-Time Work: North Dakota Pipeline Protesters Are Now Protesting In Michigan ] For months, the camp site served as a hub of local protest against the Trans Morgan pipeline. However, law enforcement finally put an end to the camp on Thursday. Workers are bulldozing a two-storey wooden structure at the camp. pic.twitter.com/JQbP7vpQQj —…

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The Battle To Repeal An Obama-Era Regulation On Trucks Heats Up

Tennessee Star

by Michael Bastasch   The battle over the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) plan to repeal an Obama-era regulation has been reignited. The Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund and Center for Biological Diversity sued EPA on Tuesday to prevent the agency from repealing regulations on refurbished truck engines, called glider kits. Their suit comes days after the House Committee on Science Space and Technology launched an investigation into potential collusion between lobbyists and EPA officials to keep regulations in place. The committee obtained emails suggesting Volvo and the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association worked with top EPA officials at the National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to put together a report on emissions from glider kits. Emails and the involvement of auto lobbyists in procuring vehicles to test “raise serious questions as to the objectivity and legitimacy of the [EPA] study” that has been held up by glider opponents, including Volvo, as evidence of why refurbished engine sales should be limited. Glider kits are trucks with refurbished engines fitted into new chassis. The glider industry sprang up as truckers looked for an alternative to new trucks that had to comply with ever-stricter federal regulations. The Obama administration took action in 2016 to close…

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Study: Plastic Packaging Bans Hurt The Environment More Than They Help

plastics

by Jason Hopkins   Outright bans on plastics have an overall negative effect on the environment, and recycling initiatives make for better solutions, according to an Independent Institute report. As climate change becomes a larger political issue, more consideration is being given to bans on plastic products. France became the first country in 2016 to ban plastic plates and cups. The entire European Union is currently working to ban single-use plastic products among its members. More than 100 U.S. cities and counties have enacted ordinances that ban or restrict the use of plastic foam containers, packaging materials and utensils. Bans are the most “effective” way to combat plastic pollution, a Tuesday report by the United Nations stated. However, a new report by the Independent Institute is calling into question the validity of this popular perception. The Oakland-based think tank recently published “Plastic Pollution: Bans vs Recycling Solutions,” an analysis on the effectiveness of plastic bans. The study determined the negative environmental consequences of such bans outweigh the benefits. For example, paper substitutes to polystyrene products typically produce more waste, causing greater water and air pollution. “Biodegradable plastics are not yet a feasible alternative to polystyrene. Nationwide, there are only 113 recycling plants for composting biodegradable plastics and only about 28 accept municipal food…

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The Myth of Deforestation

Green Forest

by Alexander C. R. Hammond   Recently on the BBC, Deborah Tabart from the Australian Koala Foundation noted that “85 percent of the world’s forests are now gone.” Luckily this statement is incorrect. Moreover, due to afforestation in the developed world, net deforestation has almost ceased. I’m sure that Tabart had nothing but good intentions in raising environmental concerns, but far-fetched claims about the current state of the world’s forests do not help anyone. The record needs setting straight. Getting the Facts Straight After searching for evidence to support Tabart’s claim, the closest source I could find is an article from GreenActionNews, which claims that 80 percent of the earth’s forests have been destroyed. The problem with that claim is that according to the United Nations there are 4 billion hectares of forest remaining worldwide. To put that in perspective, the entire world has 14.8 billion hectares of land. For 80 percent of the forest area to have already been destroyed and for 4 billion hectares to remain, 135 percent of the planet’s surface must have once been covered in forests. GreenActionNews’ claim not only implies that 5.2 billion hectares of deforestation occurred at sea, but that every bit of land on earth was once forested. Ancient…

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US Conservationists Sue Trump Administration Over Migratory Bird Policy

Reuters   A coalition of conservation groups sued the Trump administration on Thursday, accusing the government of slashing protections for migratory birds. At issue is the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which the National Audubon Society and other plaintiffs say has been undermined. In the past, the act helped hold parties responsible for actions that killed or injured migratory birds. But in December, the Trump administration said energy companies and other businesses that accidentally kill migratory birds will no longer be criminally prosecuted. “As you can imagine, many causes of bird fatalities — including oil spills —could fall into this ‘unintentional’ category, so we’re taking the administration to court,” David Yarnold, president and CEO of the National Audubon Society, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said in a statement. Plaintiffs also include the American Bird Conservancy, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Defenders of Wildlife. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Defendants are the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Daniel Jorjani, the Interior Department’s principal deputy solicitor. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, representing the government in the lawsuit, declined to…

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EPA Chief Scott Pruitt Revises CAFE Standards

By Printus LeBlanc   On April 2, 2018, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt EPA’s Administrator, Scott Pruitt, announced the completion of the Midterm Evaluation (MTE) process for greenhouse gas emission standards. Pruitt concluded the current standards for vehicles in 2022-2025 were unrealistic and needed to be revised. Of course, environmental radicals went crazy, refusing to care how many people might be hurt by government regulations. Thankfully President Trump and Administrator Pruitt are not scared of the big green radicals and have set a course of prosperity for the American people. The Obama administration didn’t even try to hide its hatred for the fossil fuel industry. The industry was attacked from every angle. It restricted oil drilling, imposed excess regulations on transportation of oil and gas, and raised Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for the future to unrealistic levels. The increased CAFE standards were a direct attempt to social engineer the population. The administration didn’t like the fossil fuel industry, so it imposed regulations it believed would lead to the death of the light truck and SUV. When the Trump administration took over, one of its priorities was to ensure excessive regulations from the EPA were not putting people…

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