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WV DEP Orders Rover Pipeline To Halt Construction

State regulators have slapped a cease-and-desist order on a natural gas pipeline, citing multiple water pollution violations, according to a letter made public by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.

The 713-mile-long Rover Pipeline, which would transport 3.25 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day from processing plants in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania, received the order on March 5 from Scott Mandirola, director of the Division of Water and Waste Management, documents show.

According to the order, DEP officials conducted inspections on four days in February, during which they said they found 14 violations in Doddridge, Tyler and Wetzel counties. The alleged offenses include leaving trash and construction debris partially buried on site, improperly installing perimeter control and failing to inspect or clean public and private roads around the construction site.

The pipeline, owned by Energy Transfer Partners, has been ordered to halt construction until state regulators inspect the site and determine that Rover Pipeline LLC is complying with the Water Pollution Control Permit issued Dec. 15, 2016. Rover also is tasked with submitting a plan of “corrective action,” due March 25, and installing devices to control erosion and sediment-water release.

Energy Transfer Partners also owns the Dakota Access Pipeline — the subject of protests in North Dakota last year.

Here's the good news: since November 2012, more than 20 states and 40 cities and counties have raised their minimum wages. We're winning the fight for a living wage. pic.twitter.com/ll7c2k27QO

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 13, 2018

A video put together by Garcia’s campaign:

Across 90 cities and 45 counties in Michigan I’ve visited, Michiganders are asking the same questions: "How do we rebuild an economy that doesn’t lock people like me out? How do we rebuild schools worthy of our kids?"

— Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) March 13, 2018

Activists plan protest of ‘Potomac Pipeline’ ahead of key deadline

Clean-water activists plan to protest a natural gas pipeline on Wednesday, demanding from the steps of the Maryland statehouse that Gov. Larry Hogan (R) halt the project before the state loses the power to intervene.

But a spokeswoman for the governor says the issue is for the federal Army Corps of Engineers to decide.

Environmentalists spent much of last year trying to block construction of the 3.5-mile pipeline beneath the Potomac River and C & O Canal in Western Maryland. They say the pipeline could jeopardize the drinking water supply of about 6 million people, many of them in the Washington metropolitan area.

Their last chance appears to be convincing Hogan to direct the Maryland Department of the Environment to initiate its own review of what activists are calling the Potomac Pipeline. Hogan would have to act before Thursday, said Denise Robbins, communications director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.

“It’s been unbelievably frustrating,” Robbins said. “All the concerns that people have about the quality of their drinking water are being completely ignored.”

World’s great forests could lose half of all wildlife as planet warms – report

The world’s greatest forests could lose more than half of their plant species by the end of the century unless nations ramp up efforts to tackle climate change, according to a new report on the impacts of global warming on biodiversity hotspots.

Mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds are also likely to disappear on a catastrophic scale in the Amazon and other naturally rich ecosysterms in Africa, Asia, North America and Australia if temperatures rise by more than 1.5C, concludes the study by WWF, the University of East Anglia and the James Cook University.

The research in the journal Climate Change examined the impact of three different levels of warming – 2C (the upper target in the 2015 Paris agreement), 3.2C (the likely rise given existing national commitments) and 4.5C (the forecast outcome if emissions trends remain unchanged) on nearly 80,000 plant and animal species in 35 of the world’s most biodiverse regions.

If governments fail to set more ambitious commitments than those currently on the table, the report projects devastating losses of more than 60% of plant species and almost 50% of animal species in the Amazon at a temperature rise of 3.2C.

If countries lift their efforts sufficiently to reach the 2C goal, the outlook is improved – but still grim – with more than 35% of species at risk of local extinction in the region. If no actions are taken, the picture is apocalyptic, with a likely loss of more than 70% of plant and reptile species and a more than 60% decline of mammal, reptile and bird species in the Amazon.

Extreme winter weather becoming more common as Arctic warms, study finds

The sort of severe winter weather that has rattled parts of the US and UK is becoming more common as the Arctic warms, with scientists finding a strong link between high temperatures near the pole and unusually heavy snowfall and frigid weather further south.

A sharp increase in temperatures across the Arctic since the early 1990s has coincided with an uptick in abnormally cold snaps in winter, particularly in the eastern US, according to new research that analyzed temperature data from 1950 onwards.

Extreme cold winter weather is up to four times more likely when temperatures in the Arctic are unusually high, the study found. Researchers compared daily temperatures from across the Arctic region with something called the accumulated winter season severity index, which grades winter weather based on temperature, snow fall and snow depth, across 12 US cities.

“There’s a remarkably strong correlation between a warm Arctic and cold winter weather further south,” said Judah Cohen, a climatologist at Atmospheric and Environmental Research. “It’s a complex story – global warming is contributing to milder temperatures but is also having unforeseen consequences such as this.”

New Zealand diplomat tells US Democrats to organise against Trump or ‘we all die’

A senior New Zealand diplomat based in Washington is in hot water over a series of tweets directed at the US Democratic party saying “please get your shit together or we will all die”.

Caroline Beresford, New Zealand’s deputy head of mission to the US and ambassador to Haiti, sent the tweet in response to a post by US politics website the Hill detailing the Democratic party’s plans for the 2020 election and the possible pairing of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren as running mates. “A Sanders-Warren ticket could win big in 2020” declared the headline.
“No it couldn’t” responded Beresford in a tweet that was later deleted. “Please get your shit together or we will all die.”

In another tweet on the same article, Beresford added “They’ve learned nothing.”

A spokesperson for the New Zealand ministry of foreign affairs and trade said they were aware of Beresford’s tweets and were taking “appropriate action”.

Tower residents told to pay £500,000 to replace Grenfell-style cladding

Leaseholders in an apartment block covered in Grenfell-style cladding have been ordered to pay £500,000 to make their building safe after a tribunal ruled that they, rather than the management company, were obliged to cover the costs.

The ruling, which could be challenged, means leaseholders of the 95-apartment Citiscape complex in Croydon, south London, may face a £2m bill, which some have said would force them into financial ruin.

The building is owned by the family trust of the multimillionaire property mogul Vincent Tchenguiz, but the case was brought by FirstPort Property Services property management company, seeking clarification on who should pay.

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One resident, Richard Low-Foon, told the tribunal he needed “a miracle” to fund the works as his father was ill and could not sell his flat because of the risk the building carried for any future investor. “He is in hospital because of all this. It got too much for him,” he said.

However, the chairman of the London residential property first tier tribunal, Angus Andrew, ruled against the leaseholders, insisting they should pay because “if the manager is obliged to do work … the tenants are obliged to contribute to the cost although they remain entitled to dispute the reasonableness of the cost”.

Michael Hari: Minnesota Mosque Bombing Suspect Wanted to Build Trump’s Border Wall for $10bn

Three men from rural Illinois have been charged in connection with the 2017 bombing of a mosque in Minnesota and the attempted bombing of an abortion clinic.

Michael Hari, 47, Joe Morris, 22, and Michael McWhorter, 29, are accused of carrying out the attack on the Dar al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, just before morning prayers on August 5 2017. The building was damaged, but no one was killed or injured during the attack.

The three men are also charged with the attempted bombing of the Women’s Health Practice abortion clinic in Champaign, Illinois, on November 7 2017, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office in Springfield, Illinois.

The Associated Press reports that McWhorter allegedly told an FBI agent following his arrest the group planned to bomb a mosque to let Muslims know they are not welcome in the U.S. and to “scare them out of the country.”

Fellow suspect Hari also previously told the Chicago Tribune in April 2017 how he planned to build President Donald Trump’s border wall with Mexico for around $10 billion.

Judge agrees to issue injunction against tree sitters protesting pipeline

Opponents of the Mountain Valley Pipeline are continuing their tree-sitting protest on Peters Mountain. But how long they will stay is unclear, after a ruling in a West Virginia courtroom Tuesday afternoon.

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Pipeline opponents from West Virginia and Virginia crowded into the Monroe County courthouse Tuesday afternoon to support them.

During a lengthy hearing, MVP ‘s lawyer argued that the company has the property rights and the legal authority to move forward.

Project Manager Robert Cooper testified that the protest could delay the project and add millions of dollars to the cost.

But an attorney representing protestors questioned whether MVP had actually established that the tree sitters are in West Virginia, and whether they have received proper legal notice. He said the delay was of little consequence to a multi-billion dollar company.

“The young people in the trees are trying to shine a light on the fact that this process has been unfair,” said Monroe County resident Nancy Bouldin.

“These two trees and the people sitting in ’em hold a big message for our communities and that is that they have a future in which they are invested,” said Roanoke County resident Roberta Bondurant.

The judge said he would grant the injunction after the company submits additional documentation from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Keystone XL pipeline gets another delay as Appeals Court OKs one-month extension

The much-delayed Keystone XL pipeline has hit another delay, this time to allow attorneys another month to prepare legal briefs.

But the Nebraska Court of Appeals, in a ruling Monday, warned that it would be unlikely to allow another postponement.

“Neither the stipulation of the parties nor the press of other business” will justify another delay, the court wrote, after granting a request to push back the deadline for a written brief to April 16.

Dozens of landowners are contesting the decision last year by the Nebraska Public Service Commission to approve an alternative route across the state for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. They argue that the commission had the authority to approve only the preferred route submitted by pipeline developer TransCanada, and not the alternative route that was given the OK.

The initial, written arguments from the landowners were due this Friday, but their attorneys, Dave Domina and Brian Jorde of Omaha, asked for a 30-day extension of the deadline because of the complexity of the issues, and the volume of the exhibits, which exceeded 20,000 pages.

Single-payer bill all but dead this year as California lawmakers craft new health package

California Democratic lawmakers are quietly working on a package of up to 20 health care bills that would soften the political blow from the all-but-certain death of a single-payer universal care bill this year.

Senate Bill 562 cleared the Senate last year but stalled in the Assembly when Speaker Anthony Rendon blasted it as “woefully incomplete.” The legislation still lacks a plan to cover its $400 billion price tag, a way to control rising health care costs and a strategy to secure federal waivers needed from the Trump administration.

Rendon has not formally killed the bill, but he told The Sacramento Bee earlier this month that a fresh health care package is in the works – the clearest sign yet that Senate Bill 562 is dead.

Democratic Assemblymen Jim Wood of Healdsburg and Joaquin Arambula of Fresno, who chair a special health committee formed by Rendon last year after the single-payer bill passed the Senate, said Tuesday they are eying legislation this year that seeks to improve quality, expand access and lower rising health care costs.

Both expressed doubt, however, that single-payer bill could move forward this year.

“I would say single-payer is not a reality this year because of the complexity of the steps that we need to go through,” Wood said.

ELECTIONS U.S. Congress, 6th Dist. Amanda Howland making another bid for office

Civil rights attorney Amanda Howland, who in 2016 unsuccessfully challenged Republican incumbent for his post as 6th District U.S. Representative, is making another try for Roskam’s office. Defining herself as “unapologetically progressive,” she’s facing the large field of contenders in the March 20 Democratic primary. Those opponents include Becky Anderson Wilkins, Sean Casten, Jennifer Zordani, Ryan Huffman, Carole Cheney and Kelly Mazeski.

Windy City Times: What prompted your run?

Amanda Howland: I ran last cycle. I was asked to run because they wanted someone with name recognition, but they really didn’t think I would do anything. They never saw it as a viable seat. Roskam spent $3 million. I spent $130,000 and I didn’t have any full-paid staff until June 2016. I got 41 percent of the vote. So we mobilized a big group of progressives and grassroots people to make sure I got on the ballot and got on the vote, and I thought I di exceptionally well, given the limited resources.

Shortly after that race, I found out that I had a malignant kidney. I was in the hospital December 19, had the kidney removed the next day and, at that point, I was not thinking of running, except that I saw what was happening with the Trump wave. The more my husband and I talked about it, the more we realized that you need to run more than once to get the name recognition to win. So we decided to that I was going to throw my hat in the ring again. Since then, in Washington, things have only gotten worse.

WCT: What do you perceive attitudes towards Roskam as being like in the district? Why do you think so many people feel compelled to challenge him?

AH: What he’s been able to do in the past is [play off the fact that] people don’t look at his voting record; they look at him as a person because he grew up there. He went to high school there. His family’s there, so everybody knows him. Now that people are people are starting to scrutinize voting records, they saw what he did with the Planned Parenthood issue over and over. They saw him with the Hillary-bashing. They saw him stand with Trump on various things that outraged people, and he helped write the tax bill that they jammed down everybody’s throat. People are looking at him in a different light; people are saying, “He’s not the moderate guy I thought he was. We better start paying attention to the votes.” … The thing that’s most different is, I’ve had many moderate Republican women that I know come up to me and say, “We are so sorry we did not vote for you last time. We will not vote for Roskam this time.”

Rashida Tlaib keeping it real

Ask your average candidate why they want to go to Congress, and you are likely to hear them gas on about making a difference.

When I ask Rashida Tlaib for the No. 1 reason she is running, she doesn’t hesitate. “I think this is about electing the jury that will impeach him, and I would be a heck of a juror!”

No need to ask who “him” is. Tlaib is running in the Democratic primary in the 13th district, which takes in, roughly, the bottom half of Detroit and then twists up, down, and hooks to the west — a successfully gerrymandered Republican creation designed to corral as many Democrats into one place as possible.

No Democrat ever needs to campaign here in the fall; whoever wins the primary on Aug. 7 will be the next member of Congress. This district is unique in several ways. It is not only the poorest (by far) congressional district in Michigan, it is the third poorest in the nation, or was at the time of the last census eight years ago.

It is also the only Congressional district in the state that is contained entirely within one county (Wayne) and the only one that doesn’t have a congressman — not since the disgraced John Conyers quit, allegedly because of his health, on Dec. 5.

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Tlaib, who is openly proud of her heritage as a Muslim (potentially the first Muslim woman in Congress) and prouder of her heritage as a Detroiter, and she vows to stay one.

“I’ve been looking at the schedule, and I found out I’d only have to be in Washington nine days out of each month,” she tells me.

Not only is she promising not to “go Washington,” she clearly doesn’t want to. “These are my people. They are who I care about. This is where I belong,” she tells me.

Oklahoma should prioritize students, teachers — not oil, gas companies

On March 5, the superintendent of Tulsa Public Schools district, Deborah Gist, presided over what became a less than typical school board meeting. Gist rallied school board members to vote for a resolution supporting the thousands of Oklahoma teachers threatening a strike over low pay. In a written statement, the district mentioned “joining school districts … to advocate for a proposal to restore funding to education and increase teacher salaries.”

Pinning the entire blame of Oklahoma’s current circumstances on one event or one person is difficult. But the most blame sits at the desks of Mary Fallin, governor of Oklahoma and the state legislators who have protected the oil and gas industry. Now, the state’s budget cannot accommodate for basic services like adequate education funding and decent teacher pay.

Gov. Fallin, and her colleagues in the state legislature have intentionally left revenue-generating opportunities on the table. Chief among them is more appropriately taxing energy companies.

From Asthma to Cancer, ‘Blistering’ New Report Details Human Cost of Fracking

A team of researchers on Tuesday released a “blistering” report on the serious public health threats—from headaches to asthma to cancer—posed by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a process of injecting a mix of water and chemicals into rocks to release oil and natural gas.

The study—described as “the most authoritative” of its kind—was published by Concerned Health Professionals of New York and Physicians for Social Responsibility. Researchers found that “by several measures, evidence for fracking-related health problems is emerging across the United States and Canada.”

Looking to Pennsylvania—a hotbed for fracking—as an example, the report says that “as the number of gas wells increase in a community, so do rates of hospitalization, and community members experience sleep disturbance, headache, throat irritation, stress/anxiety, cough, shortness of breath, sinus, fatigue, wheezing and nausea.”

“Drilling and fracking operations are also correlated with increased rates of asthma, elevated motor vehicle fatalities, ambulance runs and emergency room visits and gonorrhea incidence,” according to the report, for which researchers analyzed thousands of journalistic investigations, government research and peer-reviewed scientific articles.

Democratic gubernatorial primary is one to watch

In case you haven’t heard, there is a Democratic primary race for governor, and A.J. Balukoff — the presumptive frontrunner — is happy to see it.

“I was telling people what I was hoping that we were going to have a (Democratic) primary,” he said. “I was trying to recruit people to run against me, and no one wanted to do that.”

Then, along came former Rep. Paulette Jordan of Plummer, and the Boise millionaire’s wish was granted.

Perhaps Balukoff should be more careful about what he wishes for, because from what I hear, Jordan has a good chance of winning this race. There are good reasons she has a reasonable shot at winning.

Jordan is 38, and the future is in the hands of people of her generation. Balukoff is 72 and perhaps a decade or two away from assisted living. Her experience in the Legislature gives her some background in state government and working with legislators. His main government experience is 21 years on the Boise School Board. She appears comfortable while posing atop a horse; he has the look of an elderly man who likes bow ties.

The voter turnout should be low, with at least some Democrats being more inspired to register for the Republican primary. But members of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, and other Native Americans, no doubt will be motivated to vote for Jordan – and that’s a huge voting bloc. Jordan doesn’t advertise the fact that she would be the first woman, and the first Native American of any state, to win the governorship. But she doesn’t need to.

Everything you need to know about the 1st potential Muslim woman in Congress

“In Arabic, my name means ‘precious stone.’ In English, it means 17 different spellings on my Starbucks cup.” This is how the campaign video for 34-year-old Congress-hopeful Fayrouz Saad begins.

Saad, a “proud progressive,” announced her candidacy in July 2017, and if she’s elected into the seat for Michigan’s 11th District — now filled by Republican Dave Trott — she’ll be making history as the first Muslim congresswoman.

“I say quite simply that I am the product of the American Dream,” Saad told Amna Nawaz on ABC’s “Uncomfortable” series.

Her parents came to the U.S. from Lebanon over 40 years ago and started a small meat wholesale business in Detroit’s Eastern Market. “I watched them be successful. I watched them integrate into America,” Saad, one of six siblings, said. “They really inspired me, and seeing the success that they were able to have, I entered into a career in public service because of that.”

Dan Lipinski Raked in Rail Industry Campaign Dollars While Delaying Safety Standards

Chicago-area Rep. Dan Lipinski has a significant cash advantage over his rival in an upcoming Democratic primary, activist Marie Newman. The war chest is thanks in significant part to Lipinski’s friendly relationship with the railroad industry.

Nearly one out of every six dollars Lipinski raised to accumulate a $1.2 million campaign war chest over the last decade came from rail company PACs, a review of Federal Election Commission reports reveals.

But his push on behalf of the industry has put him at the center of one of most heated public-safety controversies of our time, the railroad industry’s resistance to installing the automatic braking technology known as Positive Train Control. Lipinski helped lead a push in 2015 to delay the requirement that railways install the technology that experts say will save lives when finally implemented.

Lipinski, one of the most conservative Democrats facing a serious progressive primary challenge this year, won his seat when his father, longtime Rep. William Lipinski, announced his retirement after the primary in 2004, allowing his son to ease his way onto the ballot and effectively face no competition. The senior Lipinski, long backed by the Illinois Democratic machine, went on to become a rail-industry lobbyist.