Indigenous People Refuse Nicaraguan Canal

The ill-conceived Nicaraguan Canal project has been on hold for some time and reports indicate that financial losses are slowing progress.  Backer Wang Jing is said to have loss a large percentage of his wealth in the recent Chinese stockmarket meltdown. Adding to financier's Wang Jing problems is the lack of cooperation from indigenous communities in the path of destruction. These communities complain they are being pressured to approve the project without sufficient information about the canal's consequences. Right now there is precious little information about biodiversity in the 278 kilometer footprint of the project and especially its effect on fresh water Lake Nicaragua. Scientists have criticized the quality of data in the 11,000 page Environmental and Social Impact Assessment.

The project has potent political backers in Nicaragua including former revolutionary, President Daniel Ortega, who sees the project as a means of pulling his country out of crippling poverty. But the indigenous leadership of the Rama y Kriol Territorial Government (GTR-K) are raising new alarms about the projects advisability. They say they are being pressured to sign a perpetual lease covering 263 square kilometers of land and sea by HKND Group, the canal builder.  They say the contract is supposed to be based on "free, prior, and informed consent", but its not. Nicaraguan law recognizes the inalienability of traditional lands of indigenous and ethnic communities.   According to some Nicaraguan legal experts Law 445 does not allow for a "perpetual lease" or sale of indigenous lands. No specific amount of money has mentioned by the government in exchange for the proposed lease. If the Canal is built as planned a deep water port will be built close to GTR-K territory, impacting their traditional way of life and natural resources.

A Wrench In the Gears of Big Oil

New Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, pugilistic scion of the famous political family, has just thrown a large wrench into the gears of Big Oil to export tar sand crude from Alberta to the Far East. He instructed incoming cabinet members to work to "formalize a moratorium on crude oil tanker traffic on British Columbia north coast." This directive protects preservation of Canada's temperate coastal rain forest, one of the largest on Earth, but is sure to earn the scorn of oil and pipeline companies seeking routes on which to export Canada's supply of crude oil. Canadian environmentalists say Trudeau's directive ends Enbridge's Northern Gateway Proposal for a pipleline from Bruderheim to Kitimat at the head of Douglas Channel. First Nations have already opposed the pipeline proposal and banned oil tankers from the north coast. Without a pipeline across the rugged terrain of the Rocky Mountains, companies have no high volume route to the Pacific coast for exporting oil via tanker.

Oil interests say the project is still alive, and was approved last year by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government. If built, it could bring 525,000 barrels of bitumen from Alberta a day.  A parallel pipe would also be built to transport 193,000bpd of 'dilbit' or bitumen-thinning dilutent from the coast to the Alberta tar sands.  Liberals, now forming a new government have historically opposed the project. Marine weather conditions in Hecate Strait are particularly severe in winter where waves reach twenty-six meters. Tankers would have to navigate this strait, to reach Kitimat the proposed pipeline terminus. Several major vessels, including BC's ferry Queen of the North have foundered in the narrow passages of the British Columbia coast.

DOJ Sues VW

The Department of Justice sued Volkswagen on Monday for violations of the Clean Air Act. The suit arises from the revelations that VW cheated on diesel engine products by installing "defeat devices" that could detect when the car was being tested for emissions. The devices allowed the cars to emit 40 times more nitrogen oxide than allowed under US emissions standards. Nitrogen oxide is a major component of smog. The suit seeks $18b in civil penalties as well as injunctive relief. Such suits against corporate wrongdoing are typically settled for a fraction of the theoretical maximum. For example US authorities sued Toyota for up $58b for environmental violations at the beginning of this century, but agreed to a settlement of about $34m. The complaint claims emission control systems were rigged in nearly 600,000 vehicles in the United States. DOJ alleges that VW installed the software systems intentionally and that their action has significant consequences for public health; although in a civil suit no proof of the company's intention is required. Previous company admissions about the cheating make a viable defense on the merits almost impossible. A criminal fraud prosecution is not precluded by the civil action. VW's stock fell 22% below pre-scandal levels on the news of the suit, Tuesday.

Sore Losers

The Canadian company, TransCanada, sued the United States for $15billion in damages Wednesday under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) for denial of a permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline, saying the Current Occupant's rejection of the pipeline was "unconstitutional". It also seeks an injunction in a separate action to prevent a future president from blocking construction. Obama rejected the tar sands pipeline in November after years of heavy pressure from the environmental community that said the pipeline was a disaster waiting to happen. In its NAFTA claim TransCanada said it "had every reason to expect its application would be granted". The suit spotlights the liability hazard for domestic policy decisions affected by so-called international "free trade agreements" which the administration supports. President Obama concluded in November the pipeline would not make a meaningful contribution to the long-term US economy. The Canadian government said it had no role in the dispute.

INTERPOL Busts Hundreds

The illegal wildlife trade is alive and well but thanks to INTERPOL there are fewer criminals in the trade. An INTERPOL led operation against ivory trafficking resulted 376 arrests and the seizure of 4.5 tons of elephant ivory and rhino horn. In addition to the horn, police seized pangolin scales, snake skins, warthog teeth and 173 live tortoises. Operation Worthy II took place last year across eleven African countries with the cooperation of national law enforcement agencies. More of these types of operations must take place until the wildlife trade is reduced to a size that can be effectively engaged by local agencies. Many African nations, beset by serious humanitarian problems, are just beginning to see the trade in animal parts as a threat to their security and heritage.

Another Induced Quake in Oklahoma

A 4.2 tremor hit Oklahoma City's metro area on New Year's Day, the latest in a recent series of tremors in the area. There were no injuries and only minor property damage, but there were 4,400 power outages. Oklahoma has experienced a sharp increase in the number of earthquakes in excess of 3.0 since intensive fracking operations began. Geologists think waste water injection into disused wells is pressurizing and lubricating exist faults causing quakes to increase in frequency from a few dozen in 2012 to more than 800 in 2015.  State regulators may begin reducing the volume of waste water injected, or shutting down disposal wells. There is no data directly connecting the latest Edmond quakes with wastewater disposal according to the state's oil and gas division. The strongest quake on record in Oklahoma is a magnitude 5.6 centered on Prague, OK in November 2011 that damaged 200 buildings.

Police Homicide in 2015

There were no accurate figures about how many 'Mericans have been killed by police in a year until the UK Guardian decided to count the number killed in 2015. The startling number is 1,126. It is the highest per capita death by police violence in the developed world with blacks twice as likely to be killed by police than whites. The death rate is 70 times that experienced in the United Kingdom. Of course that population is not armed to the teeth with guns like the US population. Watch this brief video to get the details:



The Washington Post conducted a similar survey and found over 1000 police homicides in 2015, yet the Post story was framed in such a way as to minimize the impact of such a significant number of deaths--"only nine percent involved unarmed civilians"-- at the hands of police. Even an armed suspect, if not directly threatening the safety of a police officer or others cannot be legally shot down in cold blood; that happened to a Chicago teenager, Laquan McDonald, who had a knife is in hand but was walking away from a police officer at a distance. Nevertheless, he was gunned down with sixteen shots recorded in a dash cam video of the incident. Even if a police homicide results from an error in judgement there is a crime to fit those circumstances:  negligent homicide. The fact is police are often given a carte blanche by authorities to use their guns to solve a tactical problem their training may not equipment them to handle.

credit: Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune
Wackydoodle sez: "If'n y'al groan, it may be used against y'al!