News Feeds | ecology.iww.org (2024)

It's Going Down - Fri, 05/03/2024 - 16:40

A critical look at claims that Evergreen University in so-called Olympia, WA has divested from the state of Israel following protests on campus.

Yesterday, the Cooper Point Journal ran a story with the headline: TESC AGREES TO DIVESTMENT: Greeners say ‘The Struggle Continues! In uncritical, triumphalist language, the article summarizes the terms of a supposed agreement entered into between four individuals claiming to represent the “Evergreen Gaza Solidarity Encampment” and The Evergreen State University (TESC).

Despite the article’s claim that the agreement represents “won divestment processes,” the document really doesn’t do anything – and it certainly does not mean TESC will divest its investments from the State of Israel or the Israeli, American, and international companies that enable the genocide in Palestine.

To focus on what real and/or legal effect this agreement could possibly have, we’ll have to set aside a few issues like how the “Duly Authorized Student Representatives” came to represent the camp, etc. Taking the agreement at face value, does it even accomplish what it set out to? In a word, No. The agreement merely creates an “Investment Policy Disappearing Task Force” that is “charged with proposing revisions to investment policies.” The task force will “address divestment from companies that profit from gross human rights violations and/or the occupation of Palestinian territories.” Ultimately, the task force will only gather information and “complete a recommendation.” These are just vague and unenforceable promises, and TESC will be free to ignore whatever the task force does.The agreement does not contain any specific, concrete commitment to divest.

The ability to “propose revisions” and to “address divestment” is nothing the movement doesn’t already have. We don’t need to wait years to make our recommendation – it’s already clear: We want TESC to stop providing direct or even indirect financial support for American and Israeli wars, and specifically the genocide happening in Gaza right now. TESC has the information it needs to make this happen. It can and should identify its own investments and eliminate the ones that profit from the ongoing crisis in Israel and Palestine.

Why is this agreement so bad for us? Well, the whole point of the farce is to mollify the movement. The Investment Policy Disappearing Task Force lacks power and authority by design. And it’s shocking the Cooper Point Journal article uncritically praises the agreement. TESC’s way of killing student activity by creating dead end task forces is well-developed at this point. As Peter Bohmer observed in an article he published in last year (coincidentally one day before October 7):

A common tactic by the Evergreen administration is to set up a task force called a DTF (Disappearing Task Force), where students have a token representation or the administration selects students who will go along with the objectives of the Evergreen administration even if they conflict with justice or real student power.

The Cooper Point Journal article quotes an unidentified student who said “this is the beginning not the end.” But we know the opposite is true. By negotiating the end of the encampment in exchange for a nebulous task force that could only ever make mere recommendations, the four representatives bargained away what leverage the movement made this week and only got indefinite and unenforceable promises. This is an unqualified victory for TESC, which got the pacification they wanted and keeps complete control over its investments. It’s an unqualified loss for the movement against genocide.

Don’t believe the hype / Don’t be pacified
The April 30 MOU does not mean that TESC will divest
The encampment was sold out

Categories: D1. Anarchism

It's Going Down - Fri, 05/03/2024 - 16:20

Announcement for June 11th 2024, a day of international solidarity with long-term anarchist prisoners. For more information, go here.

We once again approach June 11th, a day of remembrance and active solidarity, in a world of multiple crises and struggles for liberation. All of these are interconnected; there are no separate worlds. Across borders, languages, contexts, and identities, both catastrophes and victories of spirit and defiance reverberate around the globe. One environment is not untouched by another. The personal is not separate from the political. The positive project is not separate from that of destruction. Prison is not separate from the “free world.” Means are not separate from ends. Bridging these divides is a shared curiosity and commitment; bridging these divides is solidarity. This is not to flatten or oversimplify diversity and differences in circ*mstance, intensity, and consequence. Rather, that these different pieces are held together like organs of the body held by connective tissue. So we consider: how do we strengthen this connective tissue? How do we remain strong, yet supple and flexible? Bridges, connection, must also be built through time, especially in a world that moves too fast, from one crisis to the next. June 11th aspires to be one of these bridges: to build solidarity across borders, between movements, and among generations. Remembering and supporting long-term prisoners, as well as carrying on shared struggles, are two ways to strengthen this connective tissue. A stronger connective tissue will, in turn, bolster us against further repression.

Each year, as part of our effort to be a bridge between movements, time, and borders, we assess the terrain. We consider what threats from the state look like at this time, how imprisoned comrades can be connected to activity on the outside, how have the struggles they are a part of continued despite repression, and how remembering those locked up can become a natural part of anarchist activity. Often repression and criminalization feel new; but frequently, this is a failure of memory. There are innovations to pay attention to, while seeing their lineage in tactics and ideologies used against our forebears. What can we learn from how people have responded in the past? What can we learn from people in times and places where innovative repressive tactics were developed, and how can we act in complicity alongside them?

As the day of solidarity nears, we are struck by the unfolding of the current terrain; the horrors abound, and confront us in new ways, but these are also patterns and histories in repetition. Power is scrambling to maintain itself amidst the uncertainty of our fragilely constructed society, and individuals and groups continue on with our refusal of their world. We see continued colonial violence, through prisons, guns, bombs, and nationalist ideologies in places such as Palestine, Ukraine, and West Papua. Too, extremely harsh treatments of people in Russia acting against militarism and colonialism, as well as the criminalization of pro-Palestinian activity all over the world.

Palestinians, fighting for their freedom and against policing, surveillance and detention for decades, have faced an all-out culmination of violence and genocide at the hands of the Israeli state — crisis and colonial violence continue to rapidly unfold. So too, does an intense current of Palestinian resistance: solidarity actions have taken place across the globe in attempts to refuse complicity and the feelings of powerlessness fueled by the geographical distance, the 24-hour news cycle, and the propaganda and war machines that abound.

As people continue to flee their regions due to capitalist and imperialist-made violence, and the catastrophic consequences of climate collapse, we are witnessing a renewed fear-mongering at U.S and European borders, as white supremacist militias murmur about confronting ‘migrant caravans’, and individual states implement a greater level of violence to keep people out of artificial borders. This crisis extends throughout the globe, as people worldwide move to eek out any stability, and others rush to enforce the promised order of borders and citizenship.

Colonial violence springs up daily, in guns drawn and territory stolen, in extraction projects and the expansion of policed land, and in the loss of the last wild spaces. But resistance to a hom*ogeneous and hollow future being sold to us by tech-giants, green capitalists and the State still continues across the world. Pipelines, cell-towers, and extraction infrastructure is being targeted, both in individual sabotage, as well as ongoing land defense world-wide. The dependence of this noxious future on policing, surveillance, and control couldn’t be clearer, and struggles are confronting the ways these practices interact. Rebellions break out against police, prisons, and the indignity and macabre realities of daily life. For every crisis, and moment of resistance we could list, there are countless others simmering, exploding, or simply being disappeared from the public, global view. Freedom and resistance always find their way through the cracks of this horrifying society.

Public food serves being harassed, heightened criminalization of houseless populations, RICO charges for bail funds and the “conspiracy” of anarchist ideas and practices, as well as proximity, associations and social networks. Intense and courageous acts of sabotage continue. Everything is new, and nothing is. The question is not ‘what are the solutions?’, but ‘how do we expand, deepen and intensify what we already know works?’. How do we see ourselves in one another, how do we understand our plights as intertwined, as inseparable, and how can we continue to expand these relationships of solidarity. How do we embrace the reality that there are no separate worlds, and explore the ways that we can break through the limiting effects of prison walls, border walls, time, place and context.

There are moments worth celebrating, when we feel the opening of possibilities and capacity, of cohesion and strength; there are certainly also many moments to mourn, when it feels like we’re losing it all and our bodies or spirits are taking a beating. We can savor a touch of solace when we notice the deep desperation apparent in the moves of the state. They’re scrambling, finding new ways to criminalize even the most basic of acts. This can serve to motivate us. If anything even vaguely anarchist is enough to throw us to the helm of repression, we must choose to live our lives as we decide, regardless of the consequences. As more and more of us interact with repression, jails, courts, prisons, let this possibility be a never-ending invitation towards continuing to remember and include those locked away as an ongoing part of our moves toward getting free. Time, geography, the barriers of the prison wall-none of these are strong enough to obliterate the vast network of bridges that keep us interdependent, connected, fighting the same enemies of freedom, worldwide.

This year saw the passing of many who carried the vivacious anarchist spirit. Some may be known to us, while many remain unknown. They sowed rebelliousness in every path they walked. Perhaps their impact is incalculable, though never nonexistent. We can carry the same spirit, traverse similar paths, and remain steadfast and diligent, just as those who have come before us have. Rest in power: Alfredo Bonanno, Klee Benally, Ed Mead, Sekuo Odinga, Tortuguita, Aaron Bushnell.

Rest in power to all of those whose names we’ve never uttered, not known, but who walked these lengths, nonetheless. Time is merely constructed; those that have come before us, and passed onto death, still impact the lives of the living, still contribute to the history of anarchists and anti-authoritarians, and our shared struggle. Let us make them a part of our active memory, and continue forward, in a fight for lives against domination. May these words spark a fire in you-encourage you to get up, forge ahead and seek what it might feel like, to live like you’re trying to get free.

Regional Prisoner Updates

Russia

In the third year of the war in Ukraine, perspectives of anarchist movement in Russia look increasingly grim. It is still possible to organise events on anarchist history or culture in some of the major cities, but the most important current topics are strictly banned in any public event, and raising them would carry serious consequences. Much of anarchist agitation can only be spread anonymously online and in the streets.

Authorities are also moving to ban anarchist prisoner solidarity. In February, Anarchist Black Cross Federation, active in United states, was labelled as an “undesirable organisation” by Russian authorities. Financing an “undesirable organisation” carries a maximum sentence of six years in prison. US Federation has no sections in Russia, but it is likely that purpose of this step is to target existing Anarchist Black Cross groups in Russia.

21st of February 2024 anti-war prisoner Anton Zhuchkov, sentenced for 10 years for planned anti-war Molotov co*cktail action against police in center of Moscow, was tortured in a Krasnoyarsk prison in Siberia, during a transfer to his distant destination colony. Among other things, during torture he was asked about the Anarchist Black Cross. Zhuchkov is not an anarchist, but in early stages of his arrest, he was contacted in name of the Anarchist Black Cross. Currently he is supported by Solidarity Zone, an anti-authoritarian initiative to support anti-war direct action prisoners. The torture of Zhuchkov is another sign that Russian authorities plan to target ABC groups, and due to these warning signs ABC Moscow has currently decided to move out from Russia and is working in exile only.

Solidarity Zone is currently providing circa 20 anti-war direct action prisoners with lawyers, and is attempting to follow cases of dozens more. Prisoners who have engaged in arson attacks against military, police or infrastructure are usually not supported by mainstream human rights organisations.

Among prisoners supported by Solidarity Zone with lawyers, two are anarchists, but neither of them have yet been sentenced. There is however, little doubt that both of them will be sentenced, and that they will be long time anarchist prisoners. Conviction rate in Russia courts is more than 99%.

First of them is Alexey Rozhkov, one of the first people who took direct action against war in Ukraine in Russia. 11th of March 2022, 15 days after beginning of the war, he attacked a military enlistment office in a suburb of the city of Yekaterinburg in Ural mountains with a Molotov co*cktail, and was immediately arrested. He was released, court pending, in the autumn of 2022, as his accusations were not severe, and he managed to escape to Kyrgysztan, from where he was illegally rendered back to Russia in May of 2023. Back in Russia, he was charged with a number of terrorist offenses, and now he will face up to 30 years in prison.

Second anarchist anti-war prisoner, supported by Solidarity Zone, is Ruslan Siddiqui, arrested in the end of November 2023 in the city of Ryazan, 180 km (120 mi) South-East from Moscow. He is accused of having derailed a freight train 11th of November, and a drone attack against airport of Dyagilevo in Ryazan region, which took place 20th of July 2023. He is charged with terrorist offenses, and may spend up to 30 years in prison.

An independent campaign has been organised to support five anarchist and anti-fascists from Ural and Siberia: Deniz Aidyn, Yuri Neznamov, Daniil Chertykov, Nikita Oleinik and Roman Paklin. They were arrested 30th-31st of August 2022, and they are accused of setting up a terrorist organisation, attempting to blow up offices of security service FSB and railroads. Evidence on the case is dubious, mostly based on confessions acquired with torture. Originally Deniz Aidyn was arrested with Kirill Brik in Tyumen, allegedly attempting to test an improvised explosive device in forest. Unfortunately, after the tortures, Kirill Brik became a cooperating witness and his testimony is in a danger of burying all the other defendants to 30 years in prison, Nikita Oleinik is facing a risk of life sentence as alleged “leader” of the group.

Some anarchist long-term prisoners were already imprisoned before the war. Anarchist mathematician Azat Miftakhov was supposed to be released 4th of September last year, having finished a 6 year sentence for anarchist action in Moscow, in which a smoke bomb was thrown inside a building of the ruling United Russia party. However, Miftakhov was detained in the prison gate with a fabricated case of “justification of terrorism” due to comments supporting anarchist bomber Mikhail Zhlobitski in discussion with other prisoners. Eventually on the 28th of March, 2024 Azat Miftakhov was given a new prison sentence of 4 years, which means that he will spend altogether almost a decade in prison.

First fabricated case against anarchism due to terrorism was the Network case of anarchists in Penza and Saint-Petersburg, arrested in 2017-2018. 10 people sentenced to prison were suspected of having established an underground anarchist organisation preparing for insurrectionary activities, although no proven action had taken place. 3 of the sentenced are already released, seven are still in prison, of whom 6 are listed in the prisoner list by Anarchist Black Cross of Moscow: Viktor Filinkov (sentenced to 7 years), Vasili Kuksov (sentenced to 9 years), Mikhail Kulkov (sentenced to 10 years), Andrei Chernov (sentenced to 14 years), Ilya Shakurskiy (sentenced to 16 years), and Dmitriy Pchelintsev (sentenced to 19 years). Seventh prisoner, Maxim Ivankin, was sentenced this February to 24 years in prison due to double homicide of two of his friends who were on the run with him due to drug-related charges. Anarchist Black Cross of Moscow considers testimony against Ivankin credible, and has withdrawn support for him, although his sentence for the Network case is fabricated.

Current prison addresses are available for all of the persons mentioned in the article [see June11.noblogs.org/prisoners]. Note that all letters should be sent only in Russian language – you may use machine translation. Also, several countries have halted mail service with Russia. In case mail service is halted in your country, you may pass letters via ABC Moscow e-mail address abc-msk@riseup.net.

Ireland

Our solidarity activity continues with anarchist and antifascist prisoners in Ireland and in other parts of the world. We are active in helping to highlight incarcerations and detentions of anarchist and antifascists by the state through protest, pickets and on social media. Our website address is www.abcireland.wordpress.com

We continue to support the Irish Anarchist prisoner John Paul Wootton. John Paul has recently changed prison and welcomes letters, post cards of support and solidarity from everyone. John Paul is part of the Craigavon Two, which includes Brendan McConnville, who now along with their families continues to fight against their wrongful imprisonment and another gross miscarriage of justice inflicted upon them by the British State.

USA

After nearly ten years, Eric King has finally been released and is working and living with his family in Colorado. Jennifer Rose has been moved to a women’s facility. Marius Mason has been transferred back to Texas. Bill Dunne has been transferred in order to start cancer treatment. Michael Kimble continues to organize and support other queer prisoners in the dungeons of Alabama prisons. Sean Swain has just celebrated the 10th anniversary of his segment on The Final Straw Radio show. Malik Muhammad is stuck in isolation in retaliation for fasting during Ramadan. Many of them continue to contribute to the anarchist prisoner journal Fire Ant.

Across the US, there continues to be harsh repression against land defense struggles such as Stop Cop City- not just in Atlanta, but anywhere solidarity actions have taken place. Repression continues against those resisting the Mountain Valley Pipeline, against Palestine Solidarity protests, against those fighting back against transphobia and defending the ability for queer people to exist in public, and those who act against fake “crisis pregnancy” centers. Hunger strikes and disruptions continue at immigrant detention facilities and prisons across the nation.

Indonesia

Serikat Tahanan (The Inter-Correctional Prisoner Union) is a political organization of anti-authoritarian prisoners in Indonesia that was officially established on July 17, 2023. The union is managed by prisoners as well as comrades outside prison. It operates with a dual structure, namely members of the union (prisoners) where decision-making is taken, and a solidarity group outside that supports needs and carries out work that can’t be done from inside the prison. As of now, ST represents eight detainees ranging from arsoning cases labeled as terrorism, vandalism for incitement to riots, and marijuana and other types of drug use. Other than that, ST has also been supporting detainees of labor union activists, farmers, and those who are fighting against eviction.

In accordance with the organizational status agreed upon by the detainees, Serikat Tahananwas formed with the aims of:

1. Providing support in cases of violence, extortion, and other threats that union members have experienced while serving prison sentences.

2. Campaigning for the movement and struggles for prisoners’ rights in accordance with the Minister of Law and Human Rights and other international regulations.

3. Campaigning for decriminalization and abolition of prisons.

4. Organizing prisoner education through discussions and providing books on a regular basis to the prisons.

5. Forming a media that publishes the aspirations of prisoners and determines the direction of the prisoners’ movement.

6. Extending solidarity with all class war prisoners and social activists who are
criminalized.

7. Organizing masses in a detention center / prison, if deemed necessary.

Follow us via Instagram: @serikattahanan, Email: serikattahanan@riseup.net

*If you would like to submit an update from your region or project, email us at June11th@riseup.net

Categories: D1. Anarchism

Allegheny Front - Fri, 05/03/2024 - 14:41

The state found waste could be migrating through fractures in the shale and that the impacts create an “imminent danger” to health and the environment.

The post Ohio orders company to suspend operations at 3 drilling wastewater wells appeared first on The Allegheny Front.

Categories: G2. Local Greens

North American Windpower - Fri, 05/03/2024 - 14:31

California Community Power (CC Power), conducting joint power procurement on behalf of nine California Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs), and CADEMO have executed an MOU to facilitate advancement of CADEMO’s offshore wind project.

The MOU intends to establish a collaboration between both parties in supporting the project, set to be located off the coast of Vandenberg Space Force Base, in California state waters. CADEMO is slated to include four turbines, totalling 60 MW, and expected to produce approximately 200 GWh annually. It is expected to commence commercial operations in 2028.

“This MOU is an important step in the introduction of offshore wind in California, and we are very pleased to have reached this step with CC Power,” says Mikael Jakobsson, director of CADEMO.

“As California and the nation rely increasingly on renewable energy to reach their climate goals, they urgently need first-mover information to guide the launch of offshore wind. The CADEMO project will provide this information roughly five years ahead of any larger-scale offshore wind development. This will help offshore wind gain greater public acceptance and will resolve many practical challenges to help launch our sector and create new California jobs.”

The post California Community Power, CADEMO Execute Offshore Wind MOU appeared first on North American Windpower.

Categories:

Allegheny Front - Fri, 05/03/2024 - 14:22

Walleye season begins Saturday in Pennsylvania. We get a behind-the-scenes look as the hatchery produces another generation of the freshwater fish.

The post A trip to the fish hatchery that helps boost Pennsylvania’s walleye population appeared first on The Allegheny Front.

Categories: G2. Local Greens

La Jicarita - Fri, 05/03/2024 - 13:51

By KAY MATTHEWS

In a decision released on May 2, District Court Judge Marie Ward ordered that Antonio “Ike” DeVargas’s petition to recall Rio Arriba County Commissioner Alex Naranjo is granted permission to proceed. As reported in the March 21 article of La Jicarita the issues raised in the recall petition are: 1) the findings of agrand jury indictmentof North Central Solid Waste Authority and Commissioner Naranjo of “malfeasance or misfeasance in office and/or violation of the oath of office,”; and 2) violation of the Open Meetings Act in deciding to reinstate the statue of conquistador Juan de Oñate at the Rio Arriba County Complex. Judge Ward’s order is based only on the second issue:

“Violating the New Mexico Open Meetings Act by making a decision outside of an open, public meeting to place the statute of Juan de Oñate at the Rio Arriba County Office Complex or acting in concert with others to do so.”

Ike DeVargas and his grandson Andres at the Oñate Monument and Visitor’s Center in Alcalde in June, 2020 when the Juan de Oñate statue was taken down by Rio Arriba County and put in storage.

While DeVargas still believes the findings of the grand jury indictment of North Central Solid Waste Authority and Commissioner Naranjo remain valid, he’s happy that the court’s decision now allows him to move forward with his petition. He’ll have to gather approximately 1,200 signatures of voters within District 2 to proceed with a recall election. This district includes the larger Española area from Hernandez to La Mesilla. While waiting for permission to proceed DeVargas announced his candidacy for District 3 county commissioner, currently held by Moises Morales and which includes the northern part of the county from Dulce to El Rito. DeVargas lives in Servilleta Plaza.

The court decision affirms DeVargas’s petition claim that “Probable cause supports the allegation that Commissioner Naranjo violated the New Mexico Open Meetings Act by making a decision outside of an open public meeting to place a statue of Juan de Oñate in a public location.” The judge found that violations of the OMA can constitute Malfeasance or Misfeasance and “that the conduct was done with the improper motive of shielding a controversial decision from public scrutiny.” She also found that County Manager Jeremy Maestas’s testimony claiming he was the official who made the decision to install the statue “lack[ed] credibility.”

The Court found that DeVargas and his attorney Richard Rosenstock didn’t establish probable cause to support the allegation that Commissioner Naranjo committed perjury when he testified before the grand jury in May 2023 regarding the North Central Solid Waste Authority. The judge found that the grand jury’s report, submitted as evidence of Naranjo’s perjury, needed additional evidence, such as documents and the testimony of multiple witnesses that were not presented to the Court (First District Attorney’s Office showed its bias against the findings of the grand jury by squelching Assistant DA Douglas Wood’s summons to vouch for the North Central grand jury’s authenticity). She also dismissed the petition’s claim of Naranjo’s dereliction of duty, incompetency, and negligence because they “are not grounds for recall.”

DeVargas’s decision to run for county commissioner is partly based on his long-time advocacy to redress the many failings of the North Central Solid Waste Authority and both Commissioner Naranjo and Morales’s failures to be held accountable. Two of his platform commitments include:
• To review and update the arbitrary, capricious, and antiquated Rio Arriba Solid Waste Ordinance that has resulted in the terrible situation that is the North Central Solid Waste Authority and;
• To review and possibly repeal other Ordinances that have been enacted without the resources to be enforced. These kind of ordinances lead to citizens disrespect for the law and eventually to the disrespect for the law makers as well.

Just as this update goes to press, Rosenstock was informed that Alex Naranjo’s attorney will file an appeal of the District Court decision allowing the recall petition to proceed before this Monday, May 6. The appeal goes to the New Mexico Supreme Court, which can affirm the district court ruling or ask for a response from Rosenstock, additional briefs, or set a hearing in its own court.

Categories: G2. Local Greens

Resource Recycling News - Fri, 05/03/2024 - 13:46

New York again aiming for packaging EPR

New York legislators are once again pushing to become the fifth state in the U.S. to implement extended producer responsibility for packaging.

Continue Reading→

The post New York again aiming for packaging EPR appeared first on Resource Recycling News.

Categories: B5. Resilience, Third Nature, and Transition

DRILL OR DROP? - Fri, 05/03/2024 - 13:18

UK onshore gas production dropped in February 2024, reflecting an 18% fall in output at the biggest producer, Saltfleetby.

Daily onshore oil production rose 2%, despite a 28% drop at Wressle, the country’s newest onshore oil producer.

Key figures

Daily oil production:12,233 barrels of oil per day (bopd) (January 2024: 11,950 bopd)

Oil volume: 56,399m3 (January 2024: 58,893m3)

Oil weight:46,579 tonnes (January 2024 48,666 tonnes)

Daily gas production: 10.83 standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d) (January 2024: 11.80mmscf/d)

Gas volume: 8,891 thousand cubic meters (ksm3) (January 2024: 10,354ksm3)

Gas weight: 7,074 tonnes (January 2024: 8,276 tonnes)

Onshore gas’s contribution to UK total production: 0.88% (January 2024: 0.91%)

Onshore oil’s contribution to UK total production: 2.01% (January 2024: 1.94%)

Volume of flared gas at UK onshore oilfields: 989ksm (January 2024: 1,142ksm)

Volume of vented gas at UK onshore oilfields: 74ksm (January 2024: 63km3)

Number of onshore fields which recorded some oil production in January 2024:30 (January 2024: 30)

Number of onshore sites which recorded some gas production in January 2024:14 (January 2024: 14)

Number of onshore fields which recordednooil production in January 2024:13 (January 2024: 13)

Number of onshore sites which recordednogas production in January 2024:11 (January 2024: 11)

This article uses data compiled and published by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) from reports by oil companies. This is published about three months in arrears. All the charts are based on the NSTA data.

Some data retrospectively changed in previous releases from NSTA. We havereported where this has happened.

DetailsDaily productionVolume and weightContribution to total UK oil and gas productionFlaring and ventingTop producing fieldsOil top 20

Ranking risers: Wareham, Scampton North, Bletchingley, Palmers Wood, Beckingham, Gainsborough

Ranking fallers: Humbly Grove, Long Clawson, Cold Hanworth, Corringham, Horse Hill

Dataupdates released in May 2024 changed the rankings at the bottom of the table for January 2024

Producing gas fields

Ranking risers: Stillingfleet, Cadeby, Markham Main, Hatfield Moors

Ranking fallers: Maltby, Warsop, Prince of Wales, Newmarket

Non-producersOil

The data shows there was no production at 13 UK onshore oil fields in February 2024. This was the same number and fields as December 2023 and January 2024.

The non-producing fields were:

• Angus Energy: Brockham, Lidsey
• Britnrg Limited: Newton-on-Trent
• Europa Oil & Gas: Crosby Warren
• Heyco(formerly Egdon Resources): Dukes Wood, Fiskerton Airfield, Kirklington, Waddock Cross
• Star Enery (formerly IGas): Avington, Egmanton, Nettleham, Scampton, South Leverton

Gas

There was no production reported at 11 UK onshore producing gas fields in January 2024. This was the same number and fields as in January 2024.

The non-producing fields were:

• Cuadrilla: Elswick
• Heyco: Kirkleatham
• EP UK Investments: Humbly Grove Gas Storage
• Ineos: Airth, Doe Green
• Infinis Energy: coal mine vents at Askern, Florence, Kings Mill Hospital, Mansfield, Sherwood
• Scottish Power UK plc: Hatfield Moor Gas Storage Injection

OperatorsOilGas

DrillOrDrop has closed the comments section on this and future articles. We are doing this because of the risk of liability for copyright infringement in comments.We still want to hear about your reaction to DrillOrDrop articles. You can contact us byclicking here.

2022-2024 onshore oil data archive

January 2024

December 2023

November 2023

October 2023

September 2023

August 2023

July 2023

June 2023

May 2023

April 2023

March 2023

February 2023

January 2023

2022 annual production

November 2022

October 2022

September 2022

August 2022– see note about revised data

July 2022– see note about revised data

June 2022

May 2022

April 2022

March 2022

February 2022

January 2022

Categories: G2. Local Greens

Allegheny Front - Fri, 05/03/2024 - 12:32

The company along the Ohio River was found to have radioactive liquids and sludge on the floor of its facility, among other "egregious" violations.

The post Ohio AG wants Pa. company held in contempt for failing to clean up radioactive drilling waste appeared first on The Allegheny Front.

Categories: G2. Local Greens

Solar Punk Magazine - Fri, 05/03/2024 - 12:10

New Poetry Editor at Solarpunk Magazine

We recently brought on a new Poetry Editor here at Solarpunk Magazine. We’re so excited to introduce you to her, and to see the shape our poetry department takes under her experience and leadership!

Tonya R. Moore(she/her) writes and edits speculative fiction. She is a Poetry Acquiring Editor at the 2024 Hugo Award-nominatedFIYAH Literary Magazineand an Associate Writer atGalactic Journey. Her passion projects include writing speculative fiction reviews and interviewing authors. Tonya enjoys reading, anime, and science fiction film and television. She is a newbie cozy gamer (SpaceAgeMermaid on Twitch) currently immersed in the world of the free-to-play Fantasy MMO,Palia.

In the coming weeks we’ll be updating our poetry submission guidelines to reflect what Tonya is looking for when it comes to solarpunk poetry. In the meantime, you can learn more about Tonya and her work on her website.

Pre-Order UTOPIAN WITCH

Longtime witchcraft practitioner, community organizer, and founder of Solarpunk Magazine, Justine Norton-Kertson, has a new solarpunk book coming out with Microcosm Publishing this July, and pre-orders start next week on Kickstarter.

UTOPIAN WITCH: SOLARPUNK MAGICK TO FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE AND SAVE THE WORLD is a book that joins solarpunk principles together with various craft traditions to develop a form of magickal practice that’s all about fighting for a just and sustainable future through a combination of magickal work and on-the-ground, practical, tangible action and community building.

This fresh approach to witchcraft comes at a time when it’s desperately needed.Utopian Witchis full of solarpunk spells and rituals designed to guide you in surviving (and resisting) climate crisis and dystopian political systems so you can take radical action towards a positive future.

Inside you’ll find….

• A guide to solarpunk methods, beliefs, and craft, including easy-to-learn ways to incorporate them into your life
• Explanations of radical hope and politics, and how to work them into your magickal practice
• Meditations, correspondence tables, and rituals steeped in Sun Magick
• Spells rooted in environmental and social justice

…and even more tools and ideas to help you change your life and the world around you.

Get a Notification on Pre-Order Launch DayNew Podcast Launch Day

Since we relaunched a couple weeks ago, we’ve been dropping new podcast episodes on Fridays. But we’re shifting that just slightly. Starting this week, new episodes will be released on Monday mornings so we all have something positive and hopeful to start our week with. That means there won’t be an episode dropping today, but rather this coming Monday morning.

For those who support our work on Patreon, that means early access will come by Sunday morning at the latest.

In the meantime, if you haven’t listened to the first two new episodes yet, they’re up!

Solarpunk Futures: Demand Utopia! PodcastImagitopia Podcast

If you haven’t check it out yet, our publisher Android Press launched a new fantasy fiction podcast last month called Imagitopia. Each episode presents readings of fantasy short stories that have been submitted by authors from around the world.

Four episodes of Imagitopia have been published so far, and Episode 5 drops early next week!

Listen to the Imagitopia Podcast

Categories: B2. Social Ecology

Mining.Com - Fri, 05/03/2024 - 12:05

The world’s top uranium producer,Kazatomprom(LSE: KAP), reported a 10% increase in production in its first quarter results, while sales were down by more than a half compared to last year’s first quarter.

Output came to 7.2 million lb. uranium oxide (U3O8) on an attributable basis, up from 6.4 million lb. U3O8last year, Kazatomprom said on Thursday.

However, group sales volumes of 7.2 million lb. U3O8were 55% lower than last year’s first quarter total of 15.8 million lb. U3O8, according to a release.

The results were generally a disappointment for BMO Capital Markets mining analyst Alexander Pearce, who said in a note on Thursday that by most measures the company’s results were below his previous estimates.

Pointing out that group sales were 31% lower than BMO’s estimate, Pearce said “quarter on quarter shipments variability is normal, thus deliveries are likely to rebalance over the remainder of the year.”

The quarterly results from the Kazakhstan-based miner come just days after major Canadian uranium producerCameco(TSX: CCO; NYSE: CCJ) released its own earnings, which alsopainted a mixed picture. Both companies’ quarters coincided with the first significant rise in spot uranium prices since 2007, which went over $100 per lb. in January. They sat at $89 per lb. on Friday.

Below spot price

For Kazatomprom, the spot price is generally higher than its own contract portfolio pricing for uranium, known as the average realized price, which was at $62.53 per lb. in the quarter, up 34% from last year’s $46.75.

That measure and the spot price do correlate, but the producer said the growth of its average realized price, calculated as the revenue from sales of uranium concentrate, transportation and storage fees divided by the volume of concentrates sold, was lower than the rise in spot prices over the last several months.

“Deliveries under some long-term contracts in 2024 incorporated a proportion of fixed pricing components, including price ceilings that were negotiated during a comparatively lower price environment,” it said.

Pearce noted that price measure was 19% lower than BMO estimates of $77.07 per lb., and 2% lower than in last year’s fourth quarter.

“(As Kazatomprom highlighted), ‘interim results are rarely representative of annual expectations’. This suggests we should see improvement through the course of the year as per its prior realised pricing guidance,” he said.

In terms of other external developments, Kazatomprom cited the United States Senate’s passing of a bill on Tuesday that would ban imports of Russian uranium. Despite Kazakhstan’s historic closeness with Moscow as a former Soviet state, if the bill becomes law, it’s not expected to have any effect on Kazatomprom since its primary business is producing natural uranium, the company said.

“Whether shipped by Kazatomprom or its JV partners, Kazakh-origin uranium retains its origin until its arrival at a conversion facility,” it said.

Shares in Kazatomprom were down 1.7% Friday in London, to $40, valuing the company at £8.5 billion ($10.6 billion). Its shares traded in a 52-week range of $25 and $47.60.

Categories: J2. Fossil Fuel Industry

Allegheny Front - Fri, 05/03/2024 - 12:04

Science journalist Justin Nobel's shocking seven-year investigation looks at how the industry has skirted regulations and endangered public health.

The post A new book takes on the dangers of radioactivity in the oil and gas industry appeared first on The Allegheny Front.

Categories: G2. Local Greens

Spring Magazine - Fri, 05/03/2024 - 11:00

In many ways the genocide in Palestine is the Vietnam War of today. Many Canadians under age 30 are incensed, angry and protesting. In cities...

The post Gaza is this generation’s Vietnam War first appeared on Spring.

Categories: B3. EcoSocialism

Allegheny Front - Fri, 05/03/2024 - 10:57

The federal government is betting big that creating hydrogen with solar and wind will be climate solution for hard to decarbonize industries. Some experts are skeptical. A shocking new book looks at radioactivity in the oil and gas industry, and its impacts on workers. Meanwhile, two fracking waste disposals facilities in Eastern Ohio are facing consequences for noncompliance. Residents in Westmoreland County are frustrated that a hazardous waste facility wasn't shut down despite violations. We head to a fish hatchery that is key to Pennsylvania's walleye population. We have news about the removal of small dams across the region to help fish and other aquatic life, and grants for schools to address lead, mold and asbestos.

The post Episode for May 3, 2024 appeared first on The Allegheny Front.

Categories: G2. Local Greens

Global Justice Ecology Project - Fri, 05/03/2024 - 10:25

Read the original article in Portuguese here: MPF wants to prevent Suzano from carrying out works that affect traditional communities without prior consultation in Bahia

The post MPF wants to prevent Suzano from carrying out works that affect traditional communities without prior consultation in Bahia appeared first on Global Justice Ecology Project.

Categories: B4. Radical Ecology

Environmental Action - Fri, 05/03/2024 - 08:21

Categories: G3. Big Green

Clean Air Ohio - Fri, 05/03/2024 - 07:49

“The Hub” is a weekly round-up of transportation related news in the Philadelphia area and beyond. Check back weekly to keep up-to-date on the issues Clean Air Council’s transportation staff finds important.

May is Bike Month. Register for our Bike Month Challenge and log your bike rides this month for a chance to win cool prizes but most importantly see your carbon savings. Learn more about the Bike Month Challenge here → https://www.lovetoride.net/philly

Image Source: WHYY

WHYY: SEPTA releases final Bus Revolution proposal, vote expected as soon as next month – SEPTA recently released a final proposal for its Bus Revolution project, and a vote is expected from its board at the next board meeting on May 23rd. After multiple meetings and receiving feedback from the public and City Council, a few routes were reinstated or extended in the most recent plan. Portions of the new network are expected to launch in the Summer of 2025.

Image Source: BillyPenn

BillyPenn: As the bus turns: New proposal for intercity bus stop is Old City parking garage – There is a new site proposal for Philadelphia’s intercity buses. This is the fourth site in less than a year since the Filbert Street Station was closed. A Philadelphia Parking Authority garage on 2nd Street near Walnut Street in Old City is being proposed as a “pilot” terminal for Greyhound, Megabus, and other carriers until a permanent location is selected. Ideas for this site proposal are still being developed but the proposed site is already drawing criticism from nearby residents.

Image Source: The Inquirer

The Inquirer: Peter Pan returns to Center City after hearing feedback on its Spring Garden bus stop – Following feedback from passengers, the Peter Pan Bus line will return to Center City after the company moved to Spring Garden Street in November 2023. Passengers expressed difficulty getting to the stop and showed great interest in a downtown stop again. The company will put another stop on Ninth and Market Street underneath a Fashion District overpass starting May 6th, while keeping the Spring Garden stop.

Other Stories

WHYY: Green hydrogen: A climate change solution or fossil fuel bait and switch?

AXIOS Twin Cities: St. Paul proposes 100 new miles of protected bike lanes

Pittsburgh Post Gazette: A brilliant plan to re-use the Brilliant Branch — for rail transit

RealClear Energy: Stay in Your Lane: Cities Need Safer Standards for Bike Lanes

The Inquirer: Two Wissahickon Creek bridges will be rebuilt with federal grant money

Categories: G2. Local Greens

Climate Change News - Fri, 05/03/2024 - 07:40

Avinash Persaud is Special Advisor to the President of the Inter-American Development Bank on Climate Change. Previously he was a member of the negotiation committee to establish the Loss and Damage Fund and an architect of the original ‘Bridgetown Initiative’ on reform of the international financial architecture. 

After three decades of negotiations to establish the fund for climate loss and damage, its inaugural board meeting just concluded in Abu Dhabi. The establishment of this fund is a monumental milestone. We are still some way off, but equally historic are seismic shifts underway in how we may finance it. 

The first meeting was a modest success. The fourteen members chosen by developing country constituencies and twelve from developed countries demonstrated unity of purpose. Two impressive and committed co-chairs – Jean Christophe Donnellier of France and South African Richard Sherman – were elected. The new board agreed on processes to select an executive director and a host country.

Mistrust eased between some members of the board and the World Bank, which negotiators had previously chosen, with conditions, to be the secretariat of the fund. This unity and commitment are seeds of hope for the fund’s future.

Loss and damage board speeds up work to allow countries direct access to funds

These seeds will need money to grow. The only long-run solution to the escalating climate crisis is accelerating the energy transition from fossil fuels. However, due to the lack of progress, we now face losses and damages that require financing of over $150bn per year – according to the IHLEG Report for COP26 and 27.

These losses disproportionately affect the most vulnerable, exacerbating poverty and inequality. Adding injustice to a bleak situation is that the wealthiest countries are most responsible for the stock of greenhouse gases that cause global warming. 

The OECD estimates that total development assistance is $200bn per year, and even though this is half of the commitments made five decades ago, the politics of the day suggest aid money is more likely to be re-channelled for domestic purposes than increased substantially. So where could $100bn plus come from?

Some developed countries promoted the idea that they would initially pay the insurance premiums for a small number of small countries. Twinning insurance to disaster seems natural – especially if you want to minimise using tax-payers money. But with insurers pulling out of California, Louisiana and Florida because of climate risks, those living in other climate-vulnerable countries – 40% of the world’s population – felt this was at best not scalable and at worse disingenuous.

Climate, like a preexisting medical condition, has become uninsurable. It is now a risk of substantial loss that is growing – and increasingly certain, frequent, and correlated – and so insurance’s spreading and pooling qualities don’t work. If the annual known climate loss is $150bn and rising, yearly premiums cannot be much less without direct or cross-subsidies that no one is budgeting. It’s insurance, not magic.

Time to test new taxes

For the climate-vulnerable today, the only real insurance against future loss and damage is investing massively in resilience which would generate future savings several times their cost.

One idea mooted by the Inter-American Development Bank is that the multilateral banks lend for a resilience project in a climate-vulnerable country at little more than the banks’ preferential borrowing rates, and donors separately contribute to a substantial reduction in the interest rate once an independent assessment has certified that the investment has achieved the intended resilience.

Countries can borrow for resilience if the repayment period is sufficiently long to capture the savings, but not for current loss and damage. Without grants to fund that, vulnerable countries will drown in debt long before sea levels rise.

The global financial crisis and COVID showed the promise of long-dismissed ideas. Over the past twenty-four months, 140 countries have agreed an internationally minimum corporate income tax, and the EU has put on an extraterritorial carbon border adjustment tax. The International Maritime Organisation is debating an international levy to fund the shipping industry’s decarbonisation.

Southern Africa drought flags dilemma for loss and damage fund

The fund’s board will want to hear proposals from the new taskforce established by Barbados, France, and Kenya to consider international taxes to pay for global public goods.

They will also be interested in the just-published proposal for a Climate Damages Tax on the production of fossil fuels by an amount related to the damage they will cause. One dollar per barrel of oil produced, and its equivalent for coal and gas – an amount easily lost in the monthly volatility of prices – could finance both the loss and damage fund and rebates for the poorest consumers. There are enforcement mechanisms. Oil producers could be required to show they have paid the tax before their shipping insurance is legally enforceable.

Knowledge that scalable solutions exist is vital because some use their absence to stall progress. However, what we do is not about the how, but how much it matters to us. G7 central bankers purchased $24 trillion of government bonds to stave off recession during COVID and the global financial crisis. It was unprecedented and heroic.

With hindsight, if they had bought bonds that financed climate mitigation, the recovery would have been stronger and quicker, and inflation – heavily driven by fossil fuels – would have been weaker. They would have saved the economy and progressed halfway to ending climate change and limiting loss and damage. Viable financing solutions exist. We have to decide to use them.

The post Seismic shifts are underway to find finance for loss and damage appeared first on Climate Home News.

Categories: H. Green News

North American Windpower - Fri, 05/03/2024 - 07:17

Dominion Energy has released a statement saying that rumors of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project being delayed are false.

Last month, special interest groups filed a petition in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking to delay CVOW construction.

Dominion Energy says the filings were based on arguments already rejected by the courts, including last week by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in relation to a Massachusetts offshore wind project. The company has taken the stance that the project is compliant with all legal requirements.

Installation of monopiles by the DEME-operated vessel “Orion” is scheduled to commence next week.Therefore, the company says, suggestions of delays due to legal action are false.

The post Dominion: NO Delays with Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project appeared first on North American Windpower.

Categories:

The Revelator - Fri, 05/03/2024 - 07:00

Originally published by Centro de Periodismo Investigativo with The BVI Beacon, The Virgin Islands Daily News, America Futura – El País América, Jamaica and the RCI Guadeloupe.

For more than 20 years, Mexican biologist María del Carmen García Rivas has led a crusade to protect the coral lining the Yucatan Peninsula in the Caribbean Sea.

As director of the Puerto Morelos Reefs National Park in México, she has advocated for reforms to reduce runoff and other pollution from coastal development.

She has spearheaded efforts to control lionfish, an introduced species that has put at risk the nearly 670 species of marine fauna that inhabit the park. And since 2018, she has organized brigades to restore reefs damaged by tissue-destroying coral diseases known as white syndromes. But now, yet another threat has been keeping her awake at night: massive blooms of sargassum seaweed reaching the coast of the park.

“When the sargassum, a macroalgae that usually floats, reaches the coasts, it begins to decompose, generating an environment without oxygen that kills different organisms,” she said. “It mainly affects species that cannot move or move very little, such as some starfish, sea urchins, the sea grasses themselves, and of course corals.”

Along the coast of Quintana Roo, the Mexican state where the Puerto Morelos Reefs National Park is based, the local government collected 70 tons of sargassum during 2023 alone, said Huguette Hernández Gómez, the state’s Secretary of Ecology and Environment. Added to what they collected during the last four years, the figure reaches 200 tons.

Regional Problem

This story is familiar across the Caribbean. Though modest amounts of sargassum benefit marine life in the region, massive influxes arriving since 2011 have upset the ecological balance in some areas in ways that could be irreversible. Scientists blame the explosive growth of the seaweed on global pollution, climate change, and other international problems that Caribbean islands did little to cause and lack the political power to resolve.

The seaweed has exacerbated existing stress on the region’s reefs, which last year faced a massive bleaching event linked also to warming waters associated with climate change. Exposure to extreme temperatures for extended periods breaks down the relationship between the corals and the algae living inside of them. Corals are left pale or white, and the lack of food from algae can lead them to die, according to the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Sargassum mats have also blocked sea turtle nesting sites and inundated mangroves, which serve as crucial nurseries for countless aquatic species.

Birds feed on small fish caught in seaweed mat along the South-Eastern coast of the Portmore Causeway in St. Catherine, Jamaica on May 2, 2023.
Photo by Kirk Wright | Television Jamaica

In some areas, beaches have been eroded by the seaweed and by the heavy machinery used to remove it. Many fishers complain that their catch has dwindled sharply.

But because of the magnitude of the relatively recent problem — which is affecting coastlines from West Africa to the Americas — the true extent of the environmental damage is poorly understood, according to Dr. Brian LaPointe, a biologist and sargassum expert at Florida Atlantic University.

“We haven’t gotten very far in the research to understand the causes or how to deal with it and manage and mitigate the impacts on the environment,” LaPointe said.

Second Largest Barrier Reef

The effects that García Rivas has seen in Mexico illustrate the implications for the entire region. The park she oversees is part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, which stretches along more than 600 miles of coastline in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras.

As the second longest barrier reef in the world — only the Great Barrier Reef in Australia is longer, at about 1,400 miles — the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef is home to some 500 species of fish and 60 species of stony corals, according to the World Wildlife Fund. It also supports the livelihoods of one to two million people in the region, the WWF states.

Floating sargassum can provide a healthy habitat, but when it washes against the shore in mass quantities it often suffocates certain organisms, said James Foley, director of oceans for The Nature Conservancy.

“In coastal areas like Belize, the problem is further exacerbated by the fact that the sargassum also attracts a lot of marine rubbish: local garbage that runs off from the rivers that come into the Caribbean from Central America. So it ends up being a pretty toxic environment,” he said.

The sargassum also creates a barrier that blocks light and prevents organisms below it from photosynthesizing, according to Foley.

A 2021 study published in the scientific journal Climate Change Ecology, which analyzed the situation in three bays in Quintana Roo, Mexico, found that under the sargassum mats the light seepage decreased up to 73% and the water temperature could be as much as 5 degrees Celsius warmer.

Bacterial Diseases

In addition, García Rivas said, bacteria carried by the sargassum may be affecting the corals as well.

“Some of the diseases suffered by the corals could be related to all the bacteria brought in by the sargassum or that arise during its decomposition,” she said. “Although it becomes an environment without oxygen, there are bacteria that may be able to survive, affecting not only the corals but also generating fish mortality.”

Such effects exacerbate existing threats to the reef, she said, noting that the worst historical damage has come from coastal development and inadequate management of sewage and other waste.

“In general, contaminated seawater does not allow corals to live properly,” she said. “It weakens them. And when they present diseases or are stressed by heat, it is easier for them to die.”

A similar scenario has played out in Jamaica, according to Dr. Camilo Trench, a marine biologist at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica.

“The problem is that the seaweed grows fast and the corals grow slowly,” Trench said. “So if the sargassum is in the area with other macroalgae, it can overgrow the coral reef area quite quickly. So now it will not only reduce the space that the corals will have to grow: It will also reduce the settlement area of the coral nursery.”

Sargassum Smothers Other Species

Coral might be one of the most visible animals affected by sargassum, but is not the only one. A study published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin analyzed a massive sargassum influx that swamped the shores of the Mexican Caribbean in 2018, decomposing and turning the water cloudy. As a result, the researchers found, organisms from 78 wildlife species died. The worst affected were demersal neritic fish, which live at the bottom of shallow areas of the sea, and crustaceans.

Other scientists have raised concerns about sargassum’s effects on turtle nests. In 2017, Briggite Gavio, a professor of marine biology at the National University of Colombia, visited Cayo Serranilla, a tiny 600-by-400-meter island at the northernmost tip of the Colombian Caribbean. The island is only inhabited by military personnel and it’s a perfect place for sea turtles to nest.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sargassum Monitoring® (@sargassum_monitoring)

But when Gavio was there as part of a scientific expedition, sargassum had formed a mat up to 40 centimeters (16 inches) high on the beaches. “We were able to observe that some turtle hatchlings had trouble getting past the barrier posed by the sargassum mat, and were vulnerable to predation by ghost crabs, rats and other predators,” she wrote in a 2018 paper about her observations.

Similar observations about the effects of sargassum in sea turtles have been made by scientists on other islands such as Antigua and Barbuda.

Killing Mangroves, Too

Sargassum also appears to have a potentially lethal impact on Caribbean mangroves, an important natural barrier for extreme hurricanes.

“These are plants that live on the seashore and are tidal plants, but they depend on their aerial roots and their respiratory roots, which are underground, for oxygen,” said Trench, the biologist in Jamaica. “Now imagine a mat covering those roots and preventing oxygen from flowing through them. It can definitely cause death if it is long-term and similar to the impact of something like oil slicks on the mangrove or litter, such as solid waste.”

As with corals, mangroves sometimes end up smothered, sustaining damage themselves and putting at risk other species that depend on them.

No ‘Virtuous Circle’

For García Rivas, the biologist in Mexico, one fact is particularly alarming: Unlike many other problems facing the reefs she oversees, the sargassum influx has no clear solution.

“We haven’t come up with a virtuous circle as we have, for example, with lionfish,” she said. “Despite being an invasive species, [lionfish] can be fished and eaten, which mitigates the problem.”

Local Government Looks for Solutions

Faced with this problem, last year the state of Quintana Roo created a committee of 60 experts from different areas that worked for seven months to help create what is now known as the Integral Strategy for the Management and Use of Sargassum in Quintana Roo.

The strategy covers eight areas: health; research and monitoring; knowledge management, processes and logistics; utilization; legal framework; economic instruments and cross-cutting axes. Its key advances include designating the state of Quintana Roo as the authority in charge of granting permits to researchers and companies working to turn sargassum into a product.

“The state government is the one that gives all the permits for issues ranging from transportation, collection to final destination. With that we avoid that companies are going around in circles between whether to ask the federal or municipal government where to acquire the permits,” said Hernández Gómez, the ecology and environment secretary.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ronald Lusk (@ronaldlusk)

The response is costly. Last year, she said, the Secretariat of the Navy was assigned about $3 million to collect sargassum at sea using its ships and anchorage barriers, while the Federal Maritime Terrestrial Zone was assigned about $7 million more to collect it from beaches. In Quintana Roo, through the Secretariat headed by Hernandez Gómez, another $1.7 million is coming in to address the problem.

“And this year that investment will be maintained,” she said.

This investigation is the result of a fellowship awarded by the Center for Investigative Journalism’s Training Institute and was made possible in part with the support of Open Society Foundations. Read the rest of the stories in this series.

Previously in The Revelator:

New Hope for Horseshoe Crabs — and the Shorebirds That Depend on Them

The post Smothered by Seaweed: Sargassum Wreaks Havoc on Caribbean Ecosystems appeared first on The Revelator.

Categories: H. Green News