September 25, 2023

Oil Exec from UAE Running COP28 Draws Bots on X Like Wider UN of Guterres Censors

by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack

UN GATE, Sept 22 – The UN's upcoming climate change conference has as its president the head of the United Arab Emirates' oil company, ADNOC.

 Inner City Press noted this typical UN hypocrisy on X (formerly Twitter) on September 20 while reporting from an event across the street from the UN it is banned from even entering. 

 The response was indicative of today's UN system.   Robot-like response, from ostensibly unconnected accounts, came in reply.

Inner City Press had written: "Scam COP28 prez Sultan Al Jaber is at the same time the head of ADNOC, the UAE's oil company. But the UAE throws money around in the UN so who cares, right?."  

An account named @afnan_elfakhory replied, "The claim that the head of the UAE oil company is serving as president of the COP28 conference does not correctly reflect reality. The UAE is working hard to achieve global climate goals and promote sustainability. It is necessary to appreciate the efforts made by the UAE." 

But Sultan Al Jaber *is* the head of the UAE oil company. Two similarly robotic responses came from accounts named @asma__daroza and @gana_elsaieg.

  It's not just the UAE, or COP28 - UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres' head of "global communications" Melissa Fleming has bragged about using the UN's name (and public money) to combat and eliminate messages they don't agree with from the Internet. 

  Fleming and Guterres have banned Inner City Press, ignoring its June 19, 2023 application to enter and cover UNGA 2023 and then ignoring a letter from the pro bono law firm of Duane Morris, drunk with their own impunity.   Watch this site.

More on Substack here

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September 18, 2023

Citigroup has been rightly targeted with on the environment for years (see for example Predatory Bender) - but last week the ongoing lending protests turned physical, and a Citigroup staffer showed the bank's attitude, pushing and yelling and it seems splashing coffee, video here. More next week, after UNGA...

September 11, 2023

Amid all the fine talk at the G20, this: "MCD deploys water sprinklers to control pollution during G20 Summit The MCD said that 15 anti-smog guns have also been deployed at high-rise buildings, Civil Lines, Green Park zonal building and Tilak Nagar Colony hospital."

September 4, 2023

Health benefits that have resulted from reductions in fine particulate air pollution aren’t distributed equally among populations in the U.S., a new Yale-led study finds. Racial and ethnic minorities — and Black people in particular — still experience disproportionately high rates of cardiovascular disease-related deaths caused by exposure to fine particulate matter, according to the research.

The findings were published Aug. 31 in Nature Human Behavior.

August 28, 2023

Jakarta may be the most polluted city in the world, but Indonesia is only the 26th most polluted country. The most polluted? Chad...

August 21, 2023

Once a thriving and pristine freshwater expanse, Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela now stands as a haunting testament to the devastating consequences of unchecked pollution and decades of environmental neglect

August 14, 2023

The Indonesian capital of Jakarta was ranked the most polluted city in the world on Wednesday.   Swiss air quality technology company IQAir has consistently ranked it among the top 10 polluted cities around the globe

August 7, 2023

France canceled a training session Thursday for an open water swimming event in the Seine River due to pollution caused by heavy rains.  “Following recent heavy rainfall in Paris, the water quality in the Seine has currently fallen below acceptable standards for safeguarding swimmers’ health. Consequently, the decision has been taken in consultation with public health and event delivery partners to cancel the training session due to take place at 07:30 (0530GMT) on 4 August, ahead of the Open Water Swimming World Cup planned for this weekend,” the French Swimming Federation said in a communique.

July 31, 2023

From the EU: Who hasn’t enjoyed a bit of fresh air in their car by turning on the air conditioning while stationary? The practice is commonplace, and particularly welcome at a time when an intense heatwave is hitting southern Europe and Italy in particular, with temperatures frequently hovering around 40°C. Unfortunately, the practice has been banned by Italian law since 2007 as part of the fight against pollution, and offenders face heavy fines ranging from a minimum of €223 to a maximum of €444. In protest, some motorists have approached the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, none other than the former Interior Minister and President of Lega, Matteo Salvini, to ask him to arbitrate. The minister’s response was swift: sensitive to the complaints of users, he pleaded for moderation in the application of this law, which was recently updated and reinforced under his ministry. The fight against pollution is a laudable objective, but it must not be achieved at the expense of other equally important realities. Can we reasonably ask a motorist stopped in a car with young children or elderly people, for example, to turn off the air conditioning? Matteo Salvini appealed to police officers’ “common sense” and “discernment”—virtues that unfortunately seem to be disappearing when it comes to environmental considerations.

July 24, 2023

 Sadiq Khan in U-turn on ‘eco’ wood-burners amid pollution fears Campaigners’ pressure sees London mayor withdraw approval for stoves billed as better for the environment  Jon Ungoed-Thomas and Skyler King Sat 22 Jul 2023 09.03 EDT The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has withdrawn his endorsement of wood-burning stoves promoted as “environmentally friendly” after a surge in sales of the appliances, which contribute to harmful air pollution.  In 2018, Khan endorsed the Ecodesign stoves,

July 17, 2023

EJ in Iraq: Pollution in Iraq's River Tigris threatens people's health and safety. Chemicals and waste materials from various government institutions and power plants are polluting the River Tigris, causing skin diseases and colon cancer.  Sewage waters are also poured into the River Tigris, which passes through the capital, Baghdad, which has a population of approximately 9 million.

July 10, 2023

Thick clouds of toxic foam covered parts of a river in southeast Brazil, scattering downward and worrying residents on Friday (July 7). Drone images showed clouds of foam floating on the Tiete River in the town of Salto, the largest river in Sao Paulo with more than a thousand kilometers and crossing the state from east to west.  The stinky foamy layer comes from detergent wastes and chemical residues dumped into the river without treatment

July 3, 2023

Dateline London: Just Stop Oil protesters disrupted London’s Pride march in protest over the event accepting sponsorship money from “high-polluting industries”. A number of protesters were arrested after blocking the road in front of a Coca-Cola truck.

June 26, 2023

London's The city's Ultra Low Emission Zone, which imposes a daily charge on the most-polluting vehicles, is expanding despite some resistance...

June 19, 2023

Air pollution in Minnesota's Twin Cities likely hit an all-time high this week, according to preliminary observations from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.   The agency reported a 24-hour air quality index value of 175 on Wednesday, indicating a level of airborne particle exposure equivalent to smoking four cigarettes. A typical AQI value for the Twin Cities in June is around 33, according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency.

June 12, 2023

Amid Environmental Claims by Administration Bank Regulators Ignore Pollution on Mergers

by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack

FEDERAL COURT, June 4 – The Biden Administration has ordered all "federal agencies to consider and report on measures to ameliorate and prevent disproportionate negative environmental and health impacts on historically marginalized communities."

  But what does it mean, for the bank regulators?

Take for example the Federal Reserve Board, which has routinely ignored, and official stated it can and will ignore, environmental justice, and even despite its claims, climate change.   For example in approving BMO Harris' application to acquire Bank of the West - protested by Fair Finance Watch and Inner City Press - ruled that

"Some commenters expressed concerns regarding the amount of funding that BNP Paribas and Bank of Montreal have provided to fossil-fuel companies, while one commenter requested that the combined organization publish annual disclosures related to environmental issues. In addition, one commenter expressed concern that BOTW had not disclosed information regarding the diversity of its employees. These comments concern matters that are outside the scope of the limited statutory factors that the Board is authorized to consider when reviewing an application under the BHC Act. See Western Bancshares, Inc. v. Board of Governors, 480 F.2d 749 (10th Cir. 1973)."   

Inner City Press wrote, The Fed sure loves that 1973 case. It's time to amend the BHC Act and CRA to provide a private right of action and of judicial review. 

 But what about the Biden Administration's Executive Order? It doesn't only apply to the FDIC and OCC - it references independent regulatory agencies. Watch this site. 

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June 5, 2023

 Ten most Ten most polluted countries  Nepal: 99.73 μg  Niger: 94.05 μg  Qatar: 91.19 μg  India: 90.87 μg  Saudi Arabia: 87.95 μg  Egypt: 87 μg  Cameroon: 75.01 μg  Nigeria: 71.80 μg  Bahrain: 70.82 μg

May 29, 2023

So under the Biden Administration's Environmental Justice EO every agency is supposed to consider EJ - and the bank regulators? We'll have more on this.

May 22, 2023

US Sen. Bill Cassidy is convinced he has the policy that can challenge China’s geopolitical and military might, put a dent in its bountiful greenhouse gas emissions, strengthen the U.S. economy, and, perhaps most importantly, get to 60 votes.   Cassidy said he’s floating a proposal around to his colleagues, which he hopes to introduce later this year, to impose a “foreign pollution fee” on various product imports from fuel, to chemicals, cement, aluminum, steel, and plastics to deal with these various China-related political, environmental, and national security interests at once

May 15, 2023

Scientists have found “alarmingly high” concentrations of potentially toxic particles in the air in New York City subway stations.  New York University researchers surveyed 271 platforms in December 2021 and found levels of airborne iron particles were a staggering 126 times more than the outdoor average, according to a paper published last month in the International Atmospheric Pollution Research journal.

May 8, 2023

Ohio will have until the end of June to finish a plan to aimed at combating toxic algae blooms that have flourished in Lake Erie since the late 1990s. The deadline is part of settlement agreement approved by a federal judge

May 1, 2023

Maine regulators issued a pollution law violation notice to Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), the rail company whose six train cars derailed in Somerset County two weeks ago

April 24, 2023

The signingof the EJ EO was good - but to position it only in terms of climate change, and not also toxic pollution, is a mistake.

April 17, 2023