In Major Win for Indigenous Rights, Supreme Court Rules Much of Eastern Oklahoma Is Still a Reservation
10 July
Popular
Much of Eastern Oklahoma, including most of Tulsa, remains an Indian reservation, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday. JustTulsa / CC BY 2.0
Much of Eastern Oklahoma, including most of Tulsa, remains an Indian reservation, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.
<p>The 5-4 decision, which <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/us/supreme-court-oklahoma-mcgirt-creek-nation.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> said was possibly the biggest legal victory for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous" target="_self">Indigenous</a> Americans in decades, affirmed that lands granted to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation by Congress in the 19th century remained theirs after Oklahoma became a state.</p><p>"This is a historic day," Principal Muscogee (Creek) Chief David Hill told The New York Times. "This is amazing. It's never too late to make things right."</p>
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<p>The decision comes after a long and painful history of forced removals and broken treaties endured by Native Americans at the hands of the U.S. government. The land in what is now Oklahoma was granted to the Creek in the first place following their forced relocation from their homes in Georgia and Alabama in the 1830s. This is something that Justice Neil Gorsuch acknowledged in writing the majority opinion.</p><p>"On the far end of the Trail of Tears was a promise," he wrote.</p><p>Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan joined him in the majority, while Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the minority opinion, according to the <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/07/opinion-analysis-justices-toe-hard-line-in-affirming-reservation-status-for-eastern-oklahoma/" target="_blank">SCOTUS blog</a>.</p>
<p>The case that led to the ruling, <em>McGirt v. Oklahoma</em>, involved a Seminole man named Jimcy McGirt who was convicted of sex crimes against a child on Creek land, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/07/09/889562040/supreme-court-rules-that-about-half-of-oklahoma-is-indian-land" target="_blank">NPR explained</a>. After he was convicted, he argued that his case should be retried in federal court because the state court lacked jurisdiction: Congress had never disbanded the Creek reservation, so the tribe retained sovereignty, according to NPR and The New York Times.</p><p>The Supreme Court agreed.</p><p>"When our tribes were removed west of the Mississippi, to what is now Oklahoma, we were promised that this land would be ours for as long as the grass grew and the waters ran. That commitment from the United States was more than just a promise — it was the law. For more than a century, Oklahoma ignored the law and stepped on our treaty rights. Today, the Supreme Court said no more," Cherokee Nation citizen Rebecca Nagle said in an article published by <a href="https://medium.com/@IndigenousRising/on-the-far-end-of-the-trail-of-tears-was-a-promise-4bc9cef058ce" target="_blank">Indigenous Rising Media</a>.</p>
<div id="0f5a4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2cde7da40389e37d787d22e434a5d64d"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1281525996697587713" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Today the US Supreme Court effectively ruled a portion of Oklahoma is indeed Indian Territory. It is a great day to… https://t.co/HCV7gXXnTu</div> — Indigenous Environmental Network (@Indigenous Environmental Network)<a href="https://twitter.com/IENearth/statuses/1281525996697587713">1594374581.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The ruling has two main implications, according to NPR.</p><ol><li>Native Americans accused of major crimes committed on reservation land will now be tried in federal court, while those accused of minor offenses will be tried in tribal courts.</li><li>Native Americans tried and convicted by the state of Oklahoma in the past will have grounds to challenge these convictions.</li></ol><p>The decision impacts the Muscogee (Creek) and four other nations with similar treaties: the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Seminole.</p><p>In his minority opinion, Roberts worried this would lead to confusion for the state's criminal justice system.</p><p>"The state's ability to prosecute serious crimes will be hobbled and decades of past convictions could well be thrown out," Roberts wrote, according to The New York Times. "On top of that, the court has profoundly destabilized the governance of eastern Oklahoma."</p>
<p>However, United States Attorneys for the Northern, Eastern and Western Districts of Oklahoma said they were confident they could handle the new arrangement.</p><p>"As Oklahoma's United States Attorneys, we are confident tribal, state, local, and federal law enforcement will work together to continue providing exceptional public safety under this new ruling by the United States Supreme Court," they said in a statement reported by <a href="https://www.mvskokemedia.com/2020/07/09/scotus-opinion-upholds-tribal-treaties-promises/" target="_blank">Mvskoke Media</a>.</p><p>There is also a chance the ruling could impact <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil-and-gas" target="_self">oil and gas</a> operations in Eastern Oklahoma, <a href="https://www.eenews.net/energywire/stories/1063536563" target="_blank">E&E News explained</a>. That's because those operations will now be taking place on federal land, rather than state land, and could be subject to tougher regulations.</p><p>"The status of land is a really big point in determining who has regulatory authority, and that's why it has broad implications," Elizabeth Kronk Warner, dean of the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah, told E&E News. "Anytime there is oil and gas development on federal land, you have to go through the federal government to get your permitting and everything, and that's true for development in Indian Country."</p>
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A climate activist holds a victory sign in Washington, DC. after President Obama announced that he would reject the Keystone XL Pipeline proposal on November 6, 2015. Mark Wilson / Getty Images
By Jake Johnson
The Supreme Court late Monday upheld a federal judge's rejection of a crucial permit for Keystone XL and blocked the Trump administration's attempt to greenlight construction of the 1,200-mile crude oil project, the third such blow to the fossil fuel industry in a day—coming just hours after the cancellation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the court-ordered shutdown of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
<p>While the ruling was not a total victory for the climate—the high court <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/06/politics/keystone-xl-supreme-court-pipeline/index.html" target="_blank">said</a> other pipeline projects can proceed as environmental reviews are conducted—green groups applauded the delay of Keystone XL construction as further confirmation of their view that the Canada-owned pipeline will never be built thanks to legal obstacles and fierce grassroots opposition.</p><p>"Three dangerous pipelines delayed within 24 hours should serve as a clear warning to any companies hoping to double down on dirty fossil fuel projects," <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/scotus-denies-trump-administration-further-delaying-keystone-xl-pipeline/" target="_blank">said</a> Greenpeace USA climate campaign director Janet Redman. "For more than a decade now, a powerful movement has been taking on reckless oil and gas pipelines and fighting to put Indigenous rights, a just economy, and our environment before oil company profits."</p><p>"It is past time to leave fossil fuels in the ground," Redman added, "and begin a just transition to a Green New Deal and 100 percent renewable energy."</p>
<div id="4dce6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d65802fa887eb38051c6d92edeab4500"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1280301750352633857" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">24 hours. 3 dirty pipelines delayed.
✅ #NoACP
✅ #NoDAPL
✅ #NoKXL
The movement to put people before profits and… https://t.co/51cuHSdp9w</div> — Greenpeace USA (@Greenpeace USA)<a href="https://twitter.com/greenpeaceusa/statuses/1280301750352633857">1594082698.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The Supreme Court's decision upheld a Montana judge's April <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/16/tremendous-victory-indigenous-and-climate-campaigners-celebrate-federal-court-deals" target="_blank">ruling</a> that the Trump administration violated the Endangered Species Act by issuing a water-crossing permit for Keystone XL without fully assessing the damage the pipeline could inflict on wildlife along its planned route from Alberta, Canada to Nebraska.</p><p>As <em>Bloomberg</em> <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-06/keystone-pipeline-stays-blocked-in-u-s-supreme-court-order" target="_blank">reported</a>, the Supreme Court's ruling "means almost all Keystone XL construction is delayed until 2021."</p><p>Kendall Mackey, Keep It in the Ground campaigner with 350.org, <a href="https://350.org/press-release/us-supreme-court-kxl-permit-ruling-upheld/" target="_blank">celebrated</a> the high court's decision to stall construction of Keystone XL "despite the Trump administration's desperate pleas and corporate pandering."</p><p>"This pipeline continues to be an epic boondoggle for Big Oil," said Mackey. "Tribal nations, farmers and ranchers, and allies across the country in solidarity with resistance to Keystone XL are not going anywhere—we will continue fighting to protect our climate from fossil fuel corporations at every turn."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/07/07/24-hours-3-dirty-pipelines-delayed-supreme-court-rejects-trump-effort-greenlight" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p><a href="https://commons.commondreams.org/t/24-hours-3-dirty-pipelines-delayed-supreme-court-rejects-trump-effort-to-greenlight-keystone-xl-construction/79909" target="_blank"></a>From Your Site Articles
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Members of the Pipeline Compliance Surveillance Initiative hiked into the George Washington National Forest to document tree felling for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Ben Cunningham / YouTube
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), which would have carried fracked natural gas through 600 miles of West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina, will never be completed.
<p>Pipeline owners Dominion and Duke Energy <a href="https://news.dominionenergy.com/2020-07-05-Dominion-Energy-and-Duke-Energy-Cancel-the-Atlantic-Coast-Pipeline" target="_blank">announced</a> Sunday they were cancelling the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuel</a> project due to mounting delays and uncertainty. They said the many legal challenges to the project had driven up the projected costs by almost half, from $4.5 to $5 billion when it was first announced in 2014 to $8 billion according to the most recent estimate.</p><p>Environmental and community groups, who have long opposed the project on <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate</a>, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a> and racial justice grounds, welcomed the news.</p>
<p>"If anyone still had questions about whether or not the era of fracked gas was over, this should answer them," <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/" target="_blank">Sierra Club</a> Executive Director Michael Brune said in a statement emailed to EcoWatch. "Today is a historic victory for clean water, the climate, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a>, and our communities. Duke and Dominion did not decide to cancel the Atlantic Coast Pipeline — the people and frontline organizations that led this fight for years forced them into walking away. Today's victory reinforces that united communities are more powerful than the polluting corporations that put profits over our health and future."</p>
<div id="7760c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="02fa5b9ea441fd87a18bdc09cdeb8193"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1279897090894835721" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">VICTORY! Dominion and Duke Energy abandon the Atlantic Coast Pipeline https://t.co/hJhEdmooRj #NoACP #breakingnews https://t.co/iqavGTa4nr</div> — SELC (Environmental Law) (@SELC (Environmental Law))<a href="https://twitter.com/selc_org/statuses/1279897090894835721">1593986220.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The utilities' announcement comes a little less than three weeks after the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines" target="_self">pipeline</a> scored an important legal victory when the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/atlantic-coast-pipeline-appalachian-trail-supreme-court-2646182413.html" target="_self">Supreme Court ruled</a> that it could pass beneath the Appalachian Trail. But environmental groups at the time pointed out that the project still needed eight other permits.</p><p>Early this year, a federal court <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/atlantic-coast-pipeline-black-community-2644561804.html" target="_self">vacated</a> a permit the pipeline needed to build a natural gas compressor station in Union Hill, a historic Black community in Virginia, after community members successfully argued that it would disproportionately harm the health of the mainly African American residents who lived nearby.</p><p>"We the People have overcome today!" <a href="http://www.friendsofbuckinghamva.org/friends/" target="_blank">Friends of Buckingham</a>, a community group instrumental to the compressor opposition, tweeted Sunday. "Many many hands, hearts n minds are singing it out!"</p>
<div id="edad6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="cb21ef5fa539806d655539c27c675b7d"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1279886821510479877" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">David & Goliath. We the People have overcome today! Many many hands, hearts n minds are singing it out!… https://t.co/kaqRMQJrH2</div> — Friends of Buckingham (@Friends of Buckingham)<a href="https://twitter.com/FriendsofBucki1/statuses/1279886821510479877">1593983772.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Courts have also tossed permits over the pipeline's plans to cut a visible scar through the forest as it crosses beneath the Blue Ridge Parkway, its crossing of more than 1,500 streams and rivers in West Virginia and its impact on <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered species</a> like the Indiana bat and Madison cave isopod, <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/atlantic-coast-pipeline-risky-and-costly-and-unnecessary" target="_blank">Sierra Magazine pointed out in 2019</a>.</p><p>"All of the ACP's problems are entirely self-inflicted," Greg Buppert, a senior attorney for the <a href="https://www.southernenvironment.org/" target="_blank">Southern Environmental Law Center</a>, told Sierra Magazine at the time. "It was never a good idea to build this pipeline through two national forests, a national park, across the Appalachian Trail, and through the steepest mountains in West Virginia."</p><p>But the legal climate described by Duke and Dominion in their statement reflects the growing vulnerability of all fossil fuel pipeline projects. The utilities' cited as a major challenge the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/keystone-xl-pipeline-waterways-endangered-species-2645978077.html" target="_self">decision</a> of the United States District Court for the District of Montana cancelling Nationwide Permit 12, a stream-and wetland-crossing permit used by the Army Corps of Engineers to fast-track infrastructure projects. The ruling was prompted by a legal challenge to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/keystone-xl" target="_self">Keystone XL</a> pipeline in particular, but it ended up cancelling the permit for all new oil and gas pipeline projects without further review of their impact on endangered species.</p>
<p>"We regret that we will be unable to complete the Atlantic Coast Pipeline," Dominion and Duke Energy chairs, presidents, and chief executive officers Thomas F. Farrell, II and Lynn J. Good said in Sunday's statement. "For almost six years we have worked diligently and invested billions of dollars to complete the project and deliver the much-needed infrastructure to our customers and communities. Throughout we have engaged extensively with and incorporated feedback from local communities, labor and industrial leaders, government and permitting agencies, environmental interests and social justice organizations. We express sincere appreciation for the tireless efforts and important contributions made by all who were involved in this essential project. This announcement reflects the increasing legal uncertainty that overhangs large-scale energy and industrial infrastructure development in the United States. Until these issues are resolved, the ability to satisfy the country's energy needs will be significantly challenged."</p><p>But the pipeline's opponents insist that pipelines like the ACP are not in fact necessary to meet the country's energy needs.</p><p>"The costly and unneeded Atlantic Coast Pipeline would have threatened waterways and communities across its 600-mile path," <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/" target="_blank">Natural Resources Defense Council</a> attorney Gillian Giannetti said in a statement reported by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/business/atlantic-coast-pipeline-cancel-dominion-energy-berkshire-hathaway.html#new_tab" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>. "As they abandon this dirty pipe dream, Dominion and Duke should now pivot to investing more in energy efficiency, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wind" target="_self">wind</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/solar" target="_self">solar</a> — that's how to provide jobs and a better future for all."</p>
<div id="380f1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="dfd22eb3c95f7d1f1f8c8c3d3150891a"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1279966961657659398" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Today's changes to the @ACPipeline #wiki are pretty remarkable. #was #cancelled https://t.co/iiouuZRazQ</div> — Gillian Giannetti (@Gillian Giannetti)<a href="https://twitter.com/GillianEnergy/statuses/1279966961657659398">1594002878.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>But someone still thinks there is money in fossil fuels. Also on Sunday, Dominion Energy announced that it was selling its natural gas transmission and storage assets to Berkshire Hathaway Energy for an estimated $10 billion, <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063511423" target="_blank">E&E News reported</a>.</p>
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A Chesapeake Energy drilling rig is located on farmland near Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, on March 20, 2012. Melanie Stetson Freeman / The Christian Science Monitor / Getty Images
By Eoin Higgins
Climate advocates pointed to news Sunday that fracking giant Chesapeake Energy was filing for bankruptcy as further evidence that the fossil fuel industry's collapse is being hastened by the coronavirus pandemic and called for the government to stop propping up businesses in the field.
<p>"Fracking giant Chesapeake Energy just declared bankruptcy thanks to its massive $9 billion debt," <a href="https://twitter.com/foe_us/status/1277644540866965505" target="_blank">tweeted</a> Friends of the Earth. "Meanwhile the Trump administration continues to try and bail out this garbage fire industry with our tax dollars—despite clear risks."</p>
<div id="e5f24" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6e7171f8e2904f47ed8066a7a21bd48a"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1277573943340171264" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The poster company for US fracking has fallen. https://t.co/n1MWs3sszT</div> — Andrew Thaler (@Andrew Thaler)<a href="https://twitter.com/DrAndrewThaler/statuses/1277573943340171264">1593432338.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The company, which at its peak in 2008 was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/28/chesapeake-energy-once-power-gas-business-files-bankruptcy" target="_blank">valued</a> at $37 billion, had a market capitalization of just $115 million on Friday.</p><p>"The debt bubble made it unable for Chesapeake to maneuver when the pandemic ruined demand for energy," David Dayen <a href="https://prospect.org/coronavirus/unsanitized-medicare-for-coronavirus/" target="_blank">wrote</a> of the bankruptcy for <em>The American Prospect</em>.</p><p>News reports put most of the blame for the bankruptcy on former CEO Aubrey McClendon, who bought up leases and rights around the country as the fracking industry boomed. </p><p>As <em>Forbes</em> <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidblackmon/2020/06/29/chesapeake-energy-finally-succumbs-with-chapter-11-filing/#52549bb56b58" target="_blank">reported</a>, a number of bad business decisions and moves left Chesapeake in bad condition even before gas prices collapsed due to the slowed demand from the pandemic.</p>
<p>According to <em>Forbes</em>:</p><blockquote>As natural gas prices <a title="https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/hist/rngwhhdm.htm" href="https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/hist/rngwhhdm.htm" target="_blank">collapsed in the late 2000s</a>, McClendon next turned to sales of his own company's assets or portions of working interests in big play areas as a means of continuing to finance and pay down that debt. He sold shares of the company's working interests in the Barnett, the Eagle Ford, the Marcellus and the Haynesville to various other players, like <a title="https://bp.com" href="https://bp.com/" target="_blank">BP</a> and <a title="https://cnooc.com" href="https://cnooc.com/" target="_blank">CNOOC</a>, but every sale also meant less and less cash flow coming into the company itself. Many in the business during that time joked about it being a sort of a pyramid scheme in which the debts would ultimately end up outstripping the company's income and ability to pay.<br><br>McClendon also made the decision in 2010-11 to shift Chesapeake's gas-heavy asset mix to one more heavy in liquids. That strategic decision certainly helped during a time of $100 oil prices, but the bust of 2015-16 and the current COVID-19-related price collapse ultimately proved to heavy a burden for current CEO Doug Lawler—who was brought on board in 2013—and his management team to navigate. A company that once had a market cap of over $37 billion at one point in May saw its market cap drop as low as $200 million. A company that once employed over 8,000 individuals today employs around 2,300.</blockquote>
<p>John Thieroff, a senior analyst at Moody's Investors Service, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/31f35631-7b7d-4fa1-8eef-6255bf18cf88?segmentId=b0d7e653-3467-12ab-c0f0-77e4424cdb4c" target="_blank">told</a> the <em>Financial Times</em> Sunday he expected other companies to follow suit.</p><p>"There will no doubt be others to file for bankruptcy in the near term as the sector looks to get out from under the copious amount of debt it took on during the boom," said Thieroff.</p><p>President Donald Trump has weighed bailing out the fossil fuel industry as part of a coronavirus pandemic recovery plan. The plans have been met with stiff resistance from environmental groups like Western Values Project, which <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2020/05/19/trump-admin-punishes-renewables-while-bailing-out-oil-and-gas" target="_blank">said</a> in May that the move was an example of the White House "using a public health crisis as an excuse to bail out the president's corporate cronies while leaving everyone else to fend for themselves."</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/06/29/poster-company-us-fracking-has-fallen-chesapeake-energy-files-bankruptcy" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Grand Jury Finds PA Regulators Failed to Protect Public and Environment From Fracking
26 June
Popular
A woman ignites the tap water in her kitchen on March 19, 2012 in Granville Summit, Pennsylvania, within the Marcellus Shale region. Melanie Stetson Freeman / The Christian Science Monitor / Getty Images
Pennsylvania regulators failed to protect public health and the environment from pollution and other harms caused by fracking operations, a grand jury investigation concluded.
<p>The scathing 235-page <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VXgD-730Rt62W3Mw7Zs6gLTthW6mk3Cf4bPqFJMcSJQV5nxGrV3Zsc37CgV-DVZMXRt8bLwVBW8L42H97FyDs5W6z8fL51Fyq_rW9bswbP6920tMW3CCjP44NQFFJW7p9GYv4PLw4PW2Khwcr4DF7V4W4Z6pr5904KZ6W5BVcZV24W3RyW26lMkm1YNRRFW94gGxM2Xnt-8W1Kjs-K5CVD2zW2n5Mzf7g84CcW3Vj4QW1wYl1NW1lbn1C4D99lwN3m43nGNRqWzW2vQQ0W94WwjpW4bjmlP29lX7kW8gSCdW8y75qkW2vxn4j2-Xbg4N1b_0NkRZ590W8jNLk48hWqw8W68CXTV8ZMwnlW8srL8636W2W8W1Gt6L83sLqlfW4Q3Bd91v3KGmW8P98Pf4TDPs0W8FxQbP67DjG_W4n_MFN8NnzZZW2nQ5TB2QM187W1rb0F34cQPsHW7P-X7p4_BMt2VtY2nX36G6tgVGPwKC34d21Z368v1" target="_blank">report</a>, outlined by Attorney General Josh Shapiro yesterday, is based on 287 hours of testimony from 70 households in the shale gas fields as well as government officials. It detailed the systemic failure of the state environment and health departments to protect the public from the "inherent dangers" of fracking operations. "As we see it, the purpose of government agencies like [the Department of Environmental Protection] is to proactively ... prevent harm — not wait and see if the worst really happens," Shapiro said.</p>
<p>The grand jurors concluded fracking caused residents to suffer from listing rashes, headaches, nausea, tremors, and burning eyes -- symptoms that would often subside when residents left their homes. Parents testified that their children would wake at night with severe nosebleeds and in one instance vibrations from fracking forced worms "up out of the ground" into yards and basements. "That is not a reality we are willing to accept," the jurors wrote. </p>
<p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.post-gazette.com/news/environment/2020/06/25/Grand-jury-report-Pennsylvania-systemic-failure-regulation-fracking-shale-gas-industry-oil-Josh-Shapiro/stories/202006250132?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=90290227&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9o9Rx8mgMAziSSRom-2exOu3jiclqRLU4YHECdeuaS7uIC8wDETcC7xyA1KXdjkZBMgNdD9Qh_eACsWnnmUARxO4dKtFqzTAzMRrJFU2-1wCgGXbw&utm_content=90290227&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Pittsburgh Post-Gazette</a>, <a href="https://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2020/06/25/stories/1063453181?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=90290227&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_meWqE3dqiFguy37X1nEXylBHAan6yez2iVLXbeFQwOvDM9CKrwkPx7iKVz1f3-jPQRUEpYsHGtn8xJBD16rXNjZ8uk3-lr0FmXIjWcmzadHTPhSs&utm_content=90290227&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">E&E</a>, <a href="https://apnews.com/5827e287c5b36c9deb50e1b21f5e5d74?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=90290227&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_NZcpgvZwmvmTXfIBvCki_rPwDKGQ9hsGqV-dq48vGlBa4v85vMWmGB5W-PN88N0eA4ehKtmO7BFSAZxsRaU7yB5mTlLB6n68PkuemTTBddjLudh0&utm_content=90290227&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">AP</a></p><p><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, and sign up for daily </em><a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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An oil well pumps in Long Beach, California. Proximity to a well and the level of production were found to be significantly associated with poor birth outcomes. David McNew / Getty Images
By Nina Lakhani
Living near active oil and gas wells during pregnancy increases the risk of low-birthweight babies, especially in rural areas, according to the largest study of its kind.
<p>Researchers analyzed the records of nearly 3 million births in California to women living within 6.2 miles (10km) of at least one oil or gas well between 2006 and 2015. It is the first such study to look at birth outcomes in rural and urban areas, and to women living near active and inactive oil and gas sites.</p><p>Proximity to a well and the level of production were found to be significantly associated with poor birth outcomes. </p><p>Specifically, the study found that in rural areas, pregnant women residing within a mile (1km) of the highest producing wells were 40% more likely to have babies with low birthweights and 20% more likely to have babies who were small for their gestational age compared with people living farther away from wells or near inactive wells only. </p><p>Even among full-term births, babies born to mothers living close to wells were on average 1.3 ounces (36 grams) smaller than those of their counterparts.</p>
<p>Newborns are deemed to have low birthweight when they weigh less than 5lb and 8oz. It can lead <a href="https://www.marchofdimes.org/complications/low-birthweight.aspx" target="_blank">to multiple short-term development issues</a> as small babies often struggle to eat, gain weight and fight infections. Studies also suggest small- and low-birthweight babies are more likely to have medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and intellectual and developmental disabilities in later life. </p><p>About one in 12 babies in the US have a low birthweight.</p><p>The study found a link between oil and gas wells and small babies born in urban areas, but it was significantly less marked than in rural communities. Differences in air quality, maternal occupation and housing conditions may have contributed to the urban-rural divide.</p><p><span></span>The findings, <a href="https://news.berkeley.edu/" target="_blank">published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives,</a> add to a growing body of evidence linking proximity to oil and gas wells to a variety of adverse birth outcomes, including <a href="http://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=uDPfAnrJXoDw8-2BCe3b2e6mZrSzbfGkKzHANYO0uE0YiBqlF3rwXf2Mr8SRCLvDAzIKXnVtU-2B2QmvGPXvbocsH1WxvC9WZ-2FnbDzIGlBM7gt4-3DG8Y-_jtSSy6k4LvvOnG6bC4MxkkskRoGFcJutWr-2FczNTSmZEKc2UkvAYUnM1UvdBOSUfSWlkZChzLFF0OSmfgf2dNDCYyAlXeLhnh8lXkCG-2Bh4gfJiugP86eMdPQJGLGSe8q-2Fzi89ajL8M1G0yJUDLeQTurraaPJvSVTvcNFBvKQ65yg9L0st8Zw2e3-2F2KcuApBUzZu6vTXwlqzMBXaeeHa9Qde1HtqxvJArrH7br7t6OodlNV8UCvzfgmVl-2Brsbbj-2BwC-2BRGbE8Bif-2BqAgdNq-2FJm8SgBeVoh8YrckkUO-2FbOnxfOcPlQfZcjH8CINtgZ4GNkItQz3jhh7yT2x8mcp6YZXw-2BhpSMoOal1eFo7HgLLqa7v2GrLkRbP8JYWNcYXsJNAvNXS-2F1Af06Du-2BS4Qd5FkUvKg-3D-3D" target="_blank">premature birth</a>, <a href="http://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=uDPfAnrJXoDw8-2BCe3b2e6hgoqaL-2BohOC0J7kADrfydvdbxgrKXlEfuGHkUP-2FrI06ux1zHyOisOVxWs-2F76-2FIfd1I9Nr0Mmh9x7SUvFmgjYGz6QzRmQWTfcRHOBJflsKK-2FXjLaX6LMOnzwdfdzw3bcOWAvlUx2y7yXJeEK18hBvOE-3DvtkG_jtSSy6k4LvvOnG6bC4MxkkskRoGFcJutWr-2FczNTSmZEKc2UkvAYUnM1UvdBOSUfSWlkZChzLFF0OSmfgf2dNDCYyAlXeLhnh8lXkCG-2Bh4gfJiugP86eMdPQJGLGSe8q-2Fzi89ajL8M1G0yJUDLeQTurraaPJvSVTvcNFBvKQ65yg9L0st8Zw2e3-2F2KcuApBUzZu6vTXwlqzMBXaeeHa9Qde1HtqxvJArrH7br7t6OodknnCXsa-2B7RGiQWNQcdTUYvk7k53gLgIDDHD47z5c8Wkeibnk2FkaKrcF6BQ9qf-2BjU2-2FQ9V5OTw5JsyIYnU60j3Mp26xfI8BxabQ3hC6KjJtNsN6SJ6RmeZR2I-2Bw629WtDiFYSj4t7VM7BPsgNEUuLtmtjsn-2FZNOS9FxlTWlEVzrA-3D-3D" target="_blank">heart defects</a> and <a href="http://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=uDPfAnrJXoDw8-2BCe3b2e6qFwob4WVAc9Z5otCrKTzf8dcuXWlU8h1BN0RqeD-2BmdhPGUZd2jvTG96rXyRG8j2PXBuFuIqs46iqub1FamNwCx0wxh8c0d72pJH10EoQPTe1CRiRA-2F6pSpP7EngHj-2F4HcLPIZXIHQjFYtGlN-2B0nG2w-3DyRVS_jtSSy6k4LvvOnG6bC4MxkkskRoGFcJutWr-2FczNTSmZEKc2UkvAYUnM1UvdBOSUfSWlkZChzLFF0OSmfgf2dNDCYyAlXeLhnh8lXkCG-2Bh4gfJiugP86eMdPQJGLGSe8q-2Fzi89ajL8M1G0yJUDLeQTurraaPJvSVTvcNFBvKQ65yg9L0st8Zw2e3-2F2KcuApBUzZu6vTXwlqzMBXaeeHa9Qde1HtqxvJArrH7br7t6OodkDGAGpHSbPOvt95OWgeaNnW-2F6fDeCCMtvDwgr0UHPFcHcCyyClto5w7I4OVggNHfULOiae8zidgEsj06uafiCW-2F6-2B1WQBUCbRyuBxU2zfcy-2BFHClFv6b3VgwtElx58itL2EpyWckY2z-2BSHOlQjkhH853GJl47-2FAY10M8RvXztyNg-3D-3D" target="_blank">low birthweight</a>.</p>
<p>Nationwide, oil and gas production has risen significantly in recent years thanks to the expansion of non-conventional, hyper-polluting extraction techniques such as fracking. In 2011, during Barack Obama's first term in office, the US <a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=40973" target="_blank">surpassed Russia</a> as the world's largest natural gas producer, and in early 2018 it <a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=37053" target="_blank">overtook Saudi Arabia</a> as the leading producer of crude oil, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).</p><p>Active and inactive oil and gas sites create myriad environmental hazards including air and water pollutants, noise and excessive lighting, which have all been linked with poor health outcomes.</p><p>"Results from health studies such as ours support recent efforts to increase buffers between active [oil and gas] well activities and where people live, go to school and play," said Rachel Morello-Frosch, a professor of public health and of environmental science, policy and management at the University of California, Berkeley, and senior author of the paper. </p><p>"This scientific evidence of adverse health effects facing vulnerable populations, including pregnant women, should be taken into account as Californians debate the extent to which we want to expand oil and gas drilling in our state." </p>
<p>Four of America's 10 largest oil fields are in California. However, oil production in California has <a href="http://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=uDPfAnrJXoDw8-2BCe3b2e6mBjshWo3tDIQyDrpNNae6kaj-2BDN4popCFk-2BVLS29Vp8ew0uPhvj71iyHIiiHrNPM3feyzdgmtapiKpiZGHmQ3sxcsyLkxcYj-2F9LfTNObgZWmAce_jtSSy6k4LvvOnG6bC4MxkkskRoGFcJutWr-2FczNTSmZEKc2UkvAYUnM1UvdBOSUfSWlkZChzLFF0OSmfgf2dNDCYyAlXeLhnh8lXkCG-2Bh4gfJiugP86eMdPQJGLGSe8q-2Fzi89ajL8M1G0yJUDLeQTurraaPJvSVTvcNFBvKQ65yg9L0st8Zw2e3-2F2KcuApBUzZu6vTXwlqzMBXaeeHa9Qde1HtqxvJArrH7br7t6Oodm1AAdEl0hgVdr2tdlaR69Hio7cna5Y8YTPiDtt5pq48YpLS1uzybSagj63rxaEi2jyNJKiyzxz2h6L1EcGaTAsj4MG2MCzorbZvwAthN4gkiZpTS0noA9DcMQTiEm5MOKugWePzdEwN6SBUYUmNg1hkcX3YlsJ-2BYhl5xSHFTmg3Q-3D-3D" target="_blank">declined</a> over the past three decades, and generally the state has older, more conventional oil and gas sites than other parts of the US, and a larger number of inactive sites.</p><p>But many of the sites in California also use newer techniques such as fracking and steam and water injection to access hard-to-reach oil reserves, said the study's co-author Kathy Tran, a graduate student in environmental health sciences at UC Berkeley.</p><p><a href="http://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=uDPfAnrJXoDw8-2BCe3b2e6jKu41dHLpaTFayl-2B9Sdk2rBtD4MqLoRNXsODwX5oBxVzONbgt644qXDbWO5-2BgBWPhVba8fSLRVEHoYxrAMXIvNn3fhXnvDIm0vfSt6BLF-2Fx1FyLFjBLdiiDkSws-2B5Qqlodt-2BppG4taCWWbXNLexu6pd5IlXJOLl84c6n6vY-2BK5ekbzI_jtSSy6k4LvvOnG6bC4MxkkskRoGFcJutWr-2FczNTSmZEKc2UkvAYUnM1UvdBOSUfSWlkZChzLFF0OSmfgf2dNDCYyAlXeLhnh8lXkCG-2Bh4gfJiugP86eMdPQJGLGSe8q-2Fzi89ajL8M1G0yJUDLeQTurraaPJvSVTvcNFBvKQ65yg9L0st8Zw2e3-2F2KcuApBUzZu6vTXwlqzMBXaeeHa9Qde1HtqxvJArrH7br7t6OodnHnYB-2FFt1MzRlnf1z6UYZj7Bl29y7Q29BACXoEgE3HCCTTTwafmIfCCtv-2Fgn-2BqfpDvNwlqz6anYznAicIvwRzwmfyPxDiw0Qsc0HfV3p0zxeiXNvmaZC23My6-2FEqufGWMEHiOiJHmN0rX5HZjABqHNFYM4z0Lj3Eq7Sq5PRjsrhg-3D-3D" target="_blank">Stricter regulations</a> on new fracking permits were issued last year, but the state issued <a href="http://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=uDPfAnrJXoDw8-2BCe3b2e6vqtybg0rN7VvTT-2BoqOKR1Jhg1bHpZH1I0SWcOTglnSNFUGTKHVwAMcAEYUVgsVAi0B7DNMWIDNOXquMpVO-2BfqFAw7iRf9yGyC4SJNPo1w-2BpUiWFNc5JVV-2FLlxH7KjI-2BAA-3D-3DPUwP_jtSSy6k4LvvOnG6bC4MxkkskRoGFcJutWr-2FczNTSmZEKc2UkvAYUnM1UvdBOSUfSWlkZChzLFF0OSmfgf2dNDCYyAlXeLhnh8lXkCG-2Bh4gfJiugP86eMdPQJGLGSe8q-2Fzi89ajL8M1G0yJUDLeQTurraaPJvSVTvcNFBvKQ65yg9L0st8Zw2e3-2F2KcuApBUzZu6vTXwlqzMBXaeeHa9Qde1HtqxvJArrH7br7t6OodkniPaWG63uDdnwiNYIcqObz-2F4tlPa5ff40khJ87quNB7DgMLaG6c5e3LIQAHmAIiXS5y2dLalYwhNBxqS1am2fDQWrl4sIn9EgU86lwSaHiUYUreJ1ZEW5lTcGASTr7IvmPEjBTQiPJXL49FU2if2Pb5wtAuO0pPZo9lfSjgiHKA-3D-3D" target="_blank">24 new fracking permits</a> in early April, and another 282 are awaiting review. </p><p>"Because researchers don't have direct access to the actual oil and gas sites, it's hard to get a good estimate of what people actually experience," said Tran. "The more in-depth exposure assessment we can get, the more we can really understand why we are seeing the [birth outcome] effects that we see."</p>
<p><em>This story originally appeared in</em><em><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/03/living-near-oil-and-gas-wells-linked-to-low-birthweight-in-babies" target="_blank"> The Guardian</a></em> <em>and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Cars stuck in city traffic in Denmark, Copenhagen. plus49 / Construction Photography / Avalon / Getty Images
By Johnny Wood
A group of Danish companies are joining forces to build one of the world's largest facilities producing synthetic fuels. The unique partnership aims to help decarbonize the country's transport sector by manufacturing sustainable alternatives to fossil-based fuels like gas and diesel.
<p>Participating companies include many of Denmark's key transport and logistics players: Copenhagen Airports, A.P. Moller – Maersk, DSV Panalpina, DFDS, SAS and Ørsted. The vision includes generating hydrogen, an emissions-free alternative fuel, using electrolysis powered by renewable energy, as well as synthetic fuels for sectors <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/the-future-of-hydrogen" target="_blank">which currently have limited low-carbon fuel options</a> (producing methanol for the shipping or e-kerosene for aviation).</p><p><br>Fully scaled up, the finished facility in 2030 would have capacity to deliver 250,000 tonnes of synthetic fuel each year, to power buses, trucks, maritime vessels and aircraft, reducing annual carbon emissions by 850,000 tonnes.</p><p>As well as positioning Denmark at the vanguard of sustainable-fuel technology, the project could create numerous jobs and establish a mass-scale clean fuel model for others to follow.</p>
Generating Hydrogen
<p>In the project, <a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-production-electrolysis#:~:text=Electrolysis%20is%20a%20promising%20option,a%20unit%20called%20an%20electrolyzer." target="_blank">hydrogen will be produced using electrolysis</a>, a process that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzM3ODQyNS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwOTg5ODM3OH0.9SF_kA9yTBTm-echo-ENi3e6ZwrfdvrUmsUbcNk0ZMU/img.png?width=980" id="cf0d1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="16d97a3f5edc7c415388258d9e87dc86" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
What electrolysis looks like. U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
<p>When an electrolyzer is powered by renewable energy sources like offshore wind, <a href="https://oilandgas.mhi.com/stories/hydrogen-powering-a-net-zero-future/?_ga=2.38535141.775327741.1591182039-1110157552.1562745288" target="_blank">the hydrogen produced is emissions-free</a>. Unlike fossil-based fuels like gas or diesel, when hydrogen combusts it doesn't produce carbon dioxide emissions.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzM3ODQ1Ni9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5ODMzMjk2Mn0.vmJoYYgJwqbTiKI4DhPOMqsQ0pd0rR7UpvKVuf8CnY4/img.png?width=980" id="586c4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a73d9d0956dd186ef004addffd36ecab" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Global demand for pure hydrogen, 1975-2018. IEA, Paris
<p>Although still at the planning stage, the entire Danish project will be powered by renewable energy sources, like offshore wind, and comprises three phases.</p><p>The first phase involves constructing a 10MW electrolyzer producing clean hydrogen to fuel buses and trucks, which could be operational by 2023. By phase two, the electrolyzer facility will increase to 250MW, and hydrogen will be used to produce renewable methanol to power maritime vessels and renewable jet-fuel for aviation. This is done by reacting the hydrogen with carbon dioxide captured from sources in Copenhagen.</p><p>The final phase will upgrade electrolyzer capacity to 1.3GW – making the facility one of the largest of its kind in the world. Given the current plans, this could be fully operational by 2030.</p>
Cutting Costs
<p>This sort of industrial scale is key to bringing down the cost of sustainable fuels – and meeting climate targets, like Denmark's moves to cut <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-denmark/denmark-should-sharply-increase-carbon-tax-to-meet-emissions-target-government-adviser-idUKKBN20W1M6" target="_blank">carbon emissions to 70% of 1990 levels</a> by the end of the decade.</p><p>The group behind the project believe that to be competitive the production of these fuels will need to see similar cost reductions as offshore and onshore wind and solar.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzM3ODQ3MC9vcmlnaW4uZ2lmIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5NjU2OTkwMX0.XY38yV6-xQIrN8UKrgj7QC8O4udmpm0uz-c9-2lQqec/img.gif?width=980" id="ece6e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="55ed56c3381b3e9b51271b500a65a7b1" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/danish-companies-hydrogen-fuel-facility-electrolysis/" target="_blank">World Economic Forum</a>.</em></p>Falling cost of renewables. IRENA
<p>But challenges remain. The COVID-19 crisis has paused some countries' efforts toward renewable energy. Resulting economic downturns could create barriers to the types of investments needed to make these shifts a reality. Additionally, as the IEA explains, a broad portfolio of clean energy technologies will be needed to truly decarbonize all parts of a country's economy.</p><p>As part of its Shaping the Future of Energy and Materials platform, the World Economic Forum has set up the<a href="https://www.weforum.org/projects/accelerating-clean-hydrogen" target="_blank"> Accelerating Clean Hydrogen</a> initiative to help overcome these challenges by helping forge new collaborations to scale clean hydrogen.</p>From Your Site Articles
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The coronavirus adds a new wrinkle to the debate over the practice of eminent domain as companies continue to work through the pandemic, vexing landowners. Patrick J. Endres / Getty Images
By Jeremy Deaton
Pipeline giant Kinder Morgan is cutting a 400-mile line across the middle of Texas, digging up vast swaths of private land for its planned Permian Highway Pipeline. The project is ceaseless, continuing through the coronavirus pandemic. Landowner Heath Frantzen said that dozens of workers have showed up to his ranch in Fredericksburg, even as public health officials urged people to stay at home.
<p>"There weren't wearing masks. They weren't wearing gloves. They weren't practicing social distancing," he said. Frantzen believes the workers pose a danger to him and his 85-year-old father, whom he cares for. While the laborers are confined to the pipeline's path, he worries they could spread the coronavirus by touching fence railings or gates that he might later handle.</p><p>In Texas, where the governor exempted <a href="https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-issues-executive-order-implementing-essential-services-and-activities-protocols" target="_blank">pipeline projects</a> from his March <a href="https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-issues-executive-order-implementing-essential-services-and-activities-protocols" target="_blank">stay-at-home order</a>, companies like Kinder Morgan have <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/kinder-morgan-texas-hill-country-lawsuit/" target="_blank">few checks</a> on their power of eminent domain, which allows them to build pipelines through privately owned farms and ranches that lie in their way. Eminent domain is <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.1086/687322" target="_blank">broadly unpopular</a> and, when used for pipelines, <a href="https://www.stanfordlawreview.org/online/the-public-use-clause-in-an-age-of-u-s-natural-gas-exports/" target="_blank">legally contentious</a>. The coronavirus adds a new wrinkle to the debate over the practice as companies like Kinder Morgan continue to work through the pandemic, vexing landowners.</p><p>"It is wild that people are being forced to accept others onto their land at this time, and if they have an issue with what's happening, they have to put themselves at risk to address workers directly," said Erin Zweiner, who represents Blanco County and Hays County in the Texas House of Representatives. "These are workers who hop all over the country, so they're pretty high-risk spreaders."</p><p><span></span>Allen Fore, vice president of public affairs at Kinder Morgan, said the company has instructed workers on how to avoid spreading the coronavirus, though, he added, it is not always possible to take every precaution.</p>
<p>"Once construction is underway and you're on site, there are some limitations on masks and the distance people need to be away from each other simply for safety and construction purposes," he said, "We do leave that to the discretion of the contractor specific to the tasks that they are performing."</p><p>While eminent domain does entitle landowners in the pipeline's path to compensation, it does nothing for those living nearby who may be impacted by construction. In March, Kinder Morgan <a href="https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/blanco-water-contaminated-kinder-morgan-permian-highway-pipeline/269-b4224661-b5ab-452f-ae68-e75acf6c2ec4" target="_blank">reportedly</a> spilled drilling fluid into an underground water supply in Blanco County. Teresa Albright, who lives close to the site, <a href="https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/blanco-water-contaminated-kinder-morgan-permian-highway-pipeline/269-b4224661-b5ab-452f-ae68-e75acf6c2ec4" target="_blank">told KVUE</a> that brown fluid later poured out of her faucet, making it harder to wash her hands or clean her clothes, even as the coronavirus demanded she do both.</p><p>Fore said that Kinder Morgan has supplied water and food to affected homeowners and promised to pay for plumbing repairs. He also said that the company, which is currently facing a <a href="https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/kinder-morgan-to-be-sued-over-drinking-water-contamination/269-e77fcd0a-7761-4984-92c6-07e48d2146b2" target="_blank">lawsuit</a> over the spill, has halted work at the site of the accident and is looking for alternate routes for the pipeline.</p>Rebekah Sale, executive director of the Property Rights and Pipeline Center, emphasized that Texas isn't the only place where pipeline projects are creating headaches for landowners worried about the coronavirus.
<p>"We have people sending us pictures from these pipeline sites all over where no one's wearing a mask," she said. "People are gathered together. In some cases, they need to bring in 'man camps' of workers to build these pipelines in communities."</p><p>Marvin Winstead of Nash County, North Carolina is battling the planned Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which would run through his farm. In March, Winstead learned the project's managers would be sending assessors from Maryland to estimate the value of his property.</p><p>"Not only did they want to be on my property, they wanted to send these assessors into the interior of my home," he said.</p><p>A spokesperson for Dominion Energy, which is leading the project, said the appraisal would have taken place before North Carolina issued its stay-at-home order at the end of March. After conferring with landowners' attorneys, however, it agreed to postpone its appraisals indefinitely. Winstead was nonetheless alarmed that Dominion had planned to send workers into his home during a pandemic.</p>
<p>Stacey McLaughlin of Douglas County, Oregon said the pandemic has made it more difficult to pay for a lawyer, and thus, harder to fight off Pembina, the company behind the Pacific Connector Pipeline, which would run through her property, a plot that she and her husband restored after it had been logged by the previous owners.</p><p>"I personally have lost all of my income from my work for 2020, and now we are being faced with exorbitant and extraordinary legal fees to fight for our land and against eminent domain," said McLaughlin, a consultant for local governments. "They could, at any day, pursue a court order to try to get on our property to do surveying."</p><p>Champions of the project are <a href="https://www.westernnaturalgas.org/post/openlettertogovernorbrown" target="_blank">pressuring</a> Oregon governor Kate Brown to greenlight the pipeline, claiming it would create thousands of jobs, helping to overcome the economic slump. But McLaughlin said that with the virus still raging, she does not want workers to come onto her land. With two parents in their eighties and a son who is a nurse at a nearby hospital, she is already feeling overwhelmed.</p><p>"We're losing sleep at night for a lot of reasons," she said. "Having to deal with this pipeline as we struggle to keep ourselves and our families safe is just inhumane."</p><p>Sale said that the Pacific Connector Pipeline is an especially egregious example of eminent domain. The legal justification for such projects comes from the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/717f" target="_blank">Natural Gas Act of 1938</a>, which allows for the use of eminent domain for pipelines that will serve the interests of the American public — namely to deliver gas to homes and power plants. The Pacific Connector Pipeline will primarily carry gas drilled in Canada and the Rockies to a port in Oregon so it can be shipped to Asia.</p>
<p>"Because the frantic oil and gas industry is trying to get the last dollars out of what seems, very clearly, to be a dying industry, they just run roughshod over property rights," Sale said.</p><p>Drillers have flooded the market with cheap fracked gas, driving down prices. As a result, gas has proven <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/11/business/energy-environment/natural-gas-shale-chevron.html" target="_blank">increasingly unprofitable</a>. Companies have <a href="https://ieefa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Bankruptcies-in-Fracking-Sector-Mount-in-2019_January-2020.pdf" target="_blank">amassed debt</a>. Stock prices have <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/energy-stocks-are-black-eye-on-the-s-p-500-again-11580468400" target="_blank">slumped</a>. And the coronavirus has only <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/how-covid-19-will-reshape-global-gas" target="_blank">accelerated</a> these trends.</p><p>"It seems pretty hard to argue with a straight face that these projects are financially essential right now when we're seeing a reduction in production," Zweiner said. "I think a lot of folks are assuming that it will suddenly reverse one day, but I suspect we're looking at a much longer term issue."</p><p>When landowners do triumph over pipeline firms, it usually isn't by challenging the use of <a href="https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2020/05/27/stories/1063242935" target="_blank">eminent domain</a>. More often, it is by persuading officials to deny needed permits. On that front, landowners may have just gotten a big helping hand. A federal judge in Montana recently <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/anthony-swift/federal-court-halts-trump-attempt-fast-track-keystone-xl" target="_blank">revoked</a> a blanket permit allowing pipeline projects to skirt environmental review. The Trump administration is appealing the ruling, which could create major hurdles for pipeline projects.</p><p>Over the long term, lawmakers may seek to narrow the use of eminent domain. In January, House Democrats released a draft climate bill that, <a href="https://www.niskanencenter.org/a-clean-future-eliminates-eminent-domain-for-interstate-natural-gas-pipelines/" target="_blank">experts say</a>, would effectively end the practice for pipeline projects. McLaughlin said landowners should be clamoring for such a measure.</p><p>"You have people across this country who are up in arms — and bearing arms — so they don't have to stay inside their houses and they don't have to wear a mask," McLaughlin said. "That's nothing compared to the violation of our constitutional rights as property owners."</p>
<p><em>This story originally appeared in</em> <em><a href="https://nexusmedianews.com/" target="_blank">Nexus Media</a> </em><em>and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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"Most of this fossil fuel finance flowed to wealthier countries," the report says, noting that China (pictured), Canada, Japan, and Korea provided the most public finance for dirty energy projects from 2016 to 2018.
Kevin Frayer / Stringer / Getty Images
Kevin Frayer / Stringer / Getty Images
By Jessica Corbett
Even after the world's largest economies adopted the landmark Paris agreement to tackle the climate crisis in late 2015, governments continued to pour $77 billion a year in public finance into propping up the fossil fuel industry, according to a report released Wednesday.
<p>The new <a href="http://priceofoil.org/2020/05/27/g20-still-digging/" target="_blank">report</a>, from Oil Change International and Friends of the Earth (FOE) U.S., focuses on financing for oil, gas, and coal projects from members of the Group of 20 (<a href="https://g20.org/en/about/Pages/whatis.aspx" target="_blank">G20</a>), which comprises governments and central bank governors from 19 countries and the European Union.</p><p>Although U.S. President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/11/04/delivering-catastrophic-message-moment-great-urgency-trump-formally-begins-ditching" target="_blank">began</a> the one-year withdrawal process for ditching the Paris accord in November 2019 after years of <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/06/01/destructive-fossil-fuel-puppet-trump-ditches-climate-deal-fact-free-speech" target="_blank">threats</a>, other G20 nations remain committed to the agreement, which aims to keep global temperature rise well below 2°C (35.6 F) and further limit it to 1.5°C (34.7 F) by 2100.</p><p>Despite their public commitments to the Paris agreement, "G20 countries continue to subsidize the fossil fuel industry even as it makes bad business decisions that hurt people and the planet," FOE U.S. senior international policy analyst Kate DeAngelis <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2020/05/27/report-g20-governments-bankrolling-fossil-fuel-industry-least-77-billion-year" target="_blank">said</a> in a statement.</p><p>"Our planet is hurtling towards climate catastrophe and these countries are pouring gasoline on the fire to the tune of billions," she said. "We must hold G20 governments accountable for their promises to move countries toward clean energy. They have an opportunity to reflect and change their financing so that it supports clean energy solutions that will not exacerbate bad health outcomes and put workers at greater risk."</p>
<div id="19615" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="fc626c0dd110d303e518e96fd2453ab1"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1265419719403876353" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">⚡⚡Just Released: Our new report w/ @FoE_US reveals G20 countries provided at least $77 billion a year in public fin… https://t.co/wizlSeXnRT</div> — Oil Change International (@Oil Change International)<a href="https://twitter.com/PriceofOil/statuses/1265419719403876353">1590534546.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The new report—<a href="http://priceofoil.org/content/uploads/2020/05/G20-Still-Digging.pdf" target="_blank"><em>Still Digging: G20 Governments Continue to Finance the Climate Crisis</em> </a>(pdf)—warns that "with the health and livelihoods of billions at immediate risk from Covid-19, governments around the world are preparing public spending packages of a magnitude they previously deemed unthinkable."</p><blockquote>In normal times, development finance institutions (DFIs), export credit agencies (ECAs), and multilateral development banks (MDBs) already had an outsized impact on the overall energy landscape and more capacity than their private sector peers to act on the climate crisis. In the current moment, their potential influence has multiplied, and it is imperative that they change course. The fossil fuel sector was showing long-term signs of systemic decline before Covid-19 and has been quick to seize on this crisis with requests for massive subsidies and bailouts. We cannot afford for the wave of public finance that is being prepared for relief and recovery efforts to prop up the fossil fuel industry as it has in the past. Business as usual would exacerbate the next crisis—the climate crisis—that is already on our doorstep.<br></blockquote><p>As Oil Change International research analyst Bronwen Tucker put it: "Fossil fuel corporations know their days are numbered. Their lobbyists are using the Covid-19 crisis as cover to try to secure the massive new government handouts they need to survive."</p><p>Echoing <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/26/hundreds-medical-professionals-and-groups-say-covid-19-stimulus-plans-must-be" target="_blank">recent calls</a> from climate campaigners, advocacy groups, progressive policymakers, and healthcare professionals, the report urges G20 governments and multilateral development banks to support a global, just recovery to the coronavirus pandemic.</p><p>"Government money must instead support a just transition from fossil fuels that protects workers, communities, and the climate—both at home and beyond their borders," said Tucker. "Instead of bankrolling another major crisis—climate change—our governments should invest in a resilient future."</p><p>Based on information from Oil Change International's Shift the Subsidies database, the report details financing from public institutions controlled by G20 governments—DFIs, ECAs, and MDBs. Key findings include that support for the fossil fuel industry has "stayed steady" since the Paris agreement and ECAs are "the worst public finance actors."</p><p>"Most of this fossil fuel finance flowed to wealthier countries," the report says, noting that China, Canada, Japan, and Korea provided the most public finance for dirty energy projects from 2016 to 2018.</p>
<div id="3a4c3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3a8dab253abb0ab96502809508dffa35"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1265623289118015492" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">New research from @PriceofOil & @foe_us shows Canada has the 2nd highest public finance for fossil fuels in the G20… https://t.co/CC21WVmLhZ</div> — EnvironmentalDefence (@EnvironmentalDefence)<a href="https://twitter.com/envirodefence/statuses/1265623289118015492">1590583080.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p><em>Still Digging</em> examines just one way these nations support planet-wrecking oil, gas, and coal projects, acknowledging that "unlike the 2017 version of this report, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/07/05/talk-cheap-g20-told-end-public-subsidy-all-dirty-fuels-2020" target="_blank"><em>Talk is Cheap</em></a>, it does not include public finance directly from G20 government departments due to a gross lack of transparency."</p><p>The report also doesn't cover "majority government-owned banks without a clear policy mandate, sovereign wealth funds, or public finance institutions with subnational governance," or "subsidies to fossil fuel production at the national level in G20 state budgets, which previous analysis has indicated may provide an additional $80 billion per year in support to fossil fuel production."</p><p>However, <em>Still Digging</em> suggests that G20 public finance institutions—as entities owned by governments party to the Paris accord—could be catalysts for more climate-friendly financing decisions "due to their economic and political power."</p><p>"Private and public financial investors alike will need to shift rapidly," the report says, "but the role of public institutions is unique because of both their outsized influence on energy finance and their capacity and mandate to lead on climate action."</p>
<div id="acfed" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4c26ee7a9cd92203449579ca4aa553e7"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1265668484349992961" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">📖New Report📖: As #G20 governments spend historic levels of public finance on #COVID19 stimulus, our new report w/… https://t.co/bw8awZru86</div> — Oil Change International (@Oil Change International)<a href="https://twitter.com/PriceofOil/statuses/1265668484349992961">1590593856.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>More than 30 groups from across the globe endorsed the report—including Justica Ambiental, or FOE Mozambique, which has worked to raise alarm about international public finance supporting the expansion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in southern African country.</p><p>"It is unacceptable that such a high investment, which will provide billions of profits for foreign companies like Total, is contributing to the impoverishment and oppression of already vulnerable local communities," said Justica Ambiental director Anabela Lemos.</p><p>"Peasant and fishing families have lost their livelihoods for a lifetime," Lemos added. "The discovery of gas has stolen their identity and failed to provide them with the conditions stipulated in the so-called community consultation processes."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/27/new-report-details-how-g20-nations-spend-77-billion-year-destroy-climate" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Drilling on Public Lands: Native American Voices Frustrated by Virtual Public Hearings Over Zoom
20 May
Politics
Nuiqsut resident Martha Itta said that she was "frustrated and saddened" after an April 23 online meeting where she says she was muted. She described technology as a hurdle that excludes many members of the public in rural Alaska. U.S. Department of the Interior
The Trump administration has attempted to plow forward with its plans to open up public lands to drilling for oil and gas exploration. To do so, it has continued to hold public meetings over Zoom. That means that Native American groups who often have spotty internet service or no service at all are not able to participate in the public meetings, according to The Washington Post.
<p>While tribal groups are often vociferous in public meetings in an attempt to protect their land from encroaching industry and the pollution that accompanies it, some have complained that the technology creates a roadblock to participating in the public discussion.</p><p>More than 30 percent of tribal lands lack access to basic broadband, <a href="https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-19-44A1.pdf" target="_blank">according</a> to the Federal Communications Commission.</p>
<p>The issue was recently relevant in Alaska, where ConocoPhillips is looking to expand its drilling operation in Alaska's North Slope. The project would move drilling deeper into the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska in the direction of currently protected habitat. It would also increase development that may affect the Alaska Native village of Nuiqsut, which sits just inside the petroleum reserve border and is home to roughly 400 people, as <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063068097" target="_blank">E&E News</a> reported.</p><p>Martha Itta, a resident of Nuiqsut, said in a letter to the Bureau of Land Management's project manager, Rachael Jones, that she was "frustrated and saddened" after an April 23 meeting. She described technology as a hurdle that excludes many members of the public in rural Alaska, as <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063068097" target="_blank">E&E News</a> reported.</p><p>She also noted in the letter that the Zoom platform gave outsized control to the moderator. "I myself was muted after my initial comment and they would not unmute me," she wrote in her letter, as <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063068097" target="_blank">E&E News</a> reported.</p>
<p>"How many North Slope members have access to WiFi?" Raymond Ipalook, vice president of the tribal council in the Alaska Native village of Nuiqsut, asked during one virtual hearing on April 21, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2020/05/18/the-energy-202-public-hearings-on-zoom-have-native-americans-worried-they-won-t-be-heard-on-oil-projects/5ec15672602ff11bb1183c87/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>. "That's what I want to know. How many of them know that this webinar is going on?"</p><p>A similar problem happened with a proposed project in New Mexico, where there were complaints of speakers being dropped by bad connections and moderators muting the microphones of meeting participants.</p>
<p>The Bureau of Land Management, however, is telling another story, saying that the virtual meetings are a resounding success and allowing more people to participate in the meetings. According to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2020/05/18/the-energy-202-public-hearings-on-zoom-have-native-americans-worried-they-won-t-be-heard-on-oil-projects/5ec15672602ff11bb1183c87/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>, more than 300 people participated in eight virtual public meetings in Alaska while 100 participated in the first in New Mexico last Thursday, with yet more viewing on Facebook, the BLM said. By contrast, 250 attendees showed up to six in-person meetings held in Anchorage, Fairbanks and other spots in Alaska last year.</p>
<p>In northwestern New Mexico, where an oil and gas project would infringe on Pueblo land, speakers asked the government to pause the public comment period, since they would like more time to make their voices heard before the government moves forward with a plan that will bring energy and other development near cultural sites considered sacred to New Mexico's Pueblos and other tribal groups within the Chaco Culture National Historical Park, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2020/05/18/the-energy-202-public-hearings-on-zoom-have-native-americans-worried-they-won-t-be-heard-on-oil-projects/5ec15672602ff11bb1183c87/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p><p>"Although I am participating in today's virtual public meeting, I want to make clear that the All Pueblo Council of Governors and our member Pueblos have not had the resources necessary to meaningfully comment," said Marissa Naranjo, policy director with the All Pueblo Council of Governors, noting that the two counties surrounding the protected area have some the highest coronavirus infection rates in New Mexico, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2020/05/18/the-energy-202-public-hearings-on-zoom-have-native-americans-worried-they-won-t-be-heard-on-oil-projects/5ec15672602ff11bb1183c87/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p><p>The entire congressional delegation for New Mexico has asked that the public comment hearing be extended 120 days.</p>
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Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette says that Secretary Steven Mnuchin, pictured, worked with the Federal Reserve to bail out mid-size oil companies.
Two top administration officials, at the direction of President Trump, helped the Federal Reserve alter its lending program intended to bail out small businesses specifically to aid mid-size oil companies, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette told Bloomberg TV this week.
<p>"Secretary Mnuchin worked very closely with the Federal Reserve ... and made that program available to what we refer to as mid-cap-sized companies," Brouillette said Tuesday. The Fed, which is legally prohibited from targeting specific sectors for relief, denied that it changed the emergency lending program in order to aid the oil sector. Oil and gas companies lobbied the Fed over the first weeks of the pandemic to ease eligibility requirements and use restrictions for the program, and the Fed altered its requirements in late April, a move praised by oil-state lawmakers and the oil and gas industry.</p>
<p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong></p><p><em>Brouillette claims: <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2020-05-12/energy-chief-says-fed-was-asked-to-expand-lending-for-oil-firms?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=87851446&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8NmrI66CzajonN3JQNlAne8qxX2lcRj3Jtb7PUK0Xt-8eepJvd7qHlAP-_yfBQ80kRH5i67doW75pf_Rg_i1txI8l6Ib6fpZTUqPsFu1BXW9Ihfdo&_hsmi=87851446" target="_blank">Bloomberg</a>. April Fed program changes: <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/30/main-street-loans-coronavirus/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=87851446&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8NmrI66CzajonN3JQNlAne8qxX2lcRj3Jtb7PUK0Xt-8eepJvd7qHlAP-_yfBQ80kRH5i67doW75pf_Rg_i1txI8l6Ib6fpZTUqPsFu1BXW9Ihfdo&_hsmi=87851446" target="_blank">Washington Post</a>, <a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2020/05/11/oil-and-gas-companies-asked-then-received-changes-to-fed-coronavirus-stimulus-program/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=87851446&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8NmrI66CzajonN3JQNlAne8qxX2lcRj3Jtb7PUK0Xt-8eepJvd7qHlAP-_yfBQ80kRH5i67doW75pf_Rg_i1txI8l6Ib6fpZTUqPsFu1BXW9Ihfdo&_hsmi=87851446" target="_blank">NPR State Impact</a>, <a href="https://www.rollcall.com/2020/04/30/fed-change-allows-oil-companies-to-qualify-for-recovery-loans/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=87851446&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8NmrI66CzajonN3JQNlAne8qxX2lcRj3Jtb7PUK0Xt-8eepJvd7qHlAP-_yfBQ80kRH5i67doW75pf_Rg_i1txI8l6Ib6fpZTUqPsFu1BXW9Ihfdo&_hsmi=87851446" target="_blank">Roll Call</a>, </em><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/30/feds-expansion-of-lending-program-sparks-oil-bailout-worries-227545?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=87851446&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8NmrI66CzajonN3JQNlAne8qxX2lcRj3Jtb7PUK0Xt-8eepJvd7qHlAP-_yfBQ80kRH5i67doW75pf_Rg_i1txI8l6Ib6fpZTUqPsFu1BXW9Ihfdo&_hsmi=87851446" target="_blank"><em>Politico</em></a><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-11/buffett-backed-solar-project-near-vegas-wins-trump-blessing?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=87782018&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--TNVauhW3bvDHKpcc7GzS09_vXwDgTZ1ok8ohBT7dEKo4yo_-GOJeQxLtP5ZVk4pJVt4Y4QHQZWtAUpYbnAyjiPb-xVUTAkSMs9abNMrNgYCbQ_UM&_hsmi=87782018" target="_blank"></a></p><p class=""><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, and sign up for daily </em><a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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