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☆ Senate votes to roll back Biden administration clean water rule
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Emma Newburger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The Senate has approved a resolution to overturn a Biden administration rule that would expand federal protections for the country's waterways, a measure Republicans have criticized as overbearing and burdensome to business. The vote comes after the Biden administration last year issued a rule that more broadly defined which types of waterways in the U.S. are eligible for federal water quality protections under the 1972 Clean Water Act. The White House said the revised rule is based on definitions that were in place before 2015, when the Obama administration sought to expand federal protections. The Biden administration argued that rolling back the rule would make federal regulations unclear for businesses and farmers and that increased uncertainty would threaten economic growth for agriculture, and local economies. However, a federal judge this month paused the Biden administration's waterway protections in Texas and Idaho, marking a victory for Republican challengers.

☆ Exxon’s Climate Opponents Were Infiltrated by Massive Hacking-for-Hire Operation
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Christopher M. Matthews | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

In the midst of perpetrating what federal prosecutors say was a massive corporate hacking campaign, Israeli private detective Aviram Azari in 2017 received welcome news. A group of hackers in India wrote him to say they had successfully infiltrated the email and social-media accounts of a group of environmental activists campaigning against Exxon Mobil Corp.

☆ These electric vehicles need their batteries replaced most often
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Alexa St. John | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

EV battery replacements could cost anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000, according to Recurrent. Recurrent studied how common it was for early EV models' batteries to be replaced. Including the two well-known EV battery pack recalls raises that percentage of battery replacements to 6.5%, according to Recurrent, or 975 of the 15,000. The Tesla Model 3 had one of the lower rates of battery replacement. David Zalubowski/APWhy does the likelihood of battery replacement matter?

☆ Companies Urged to Take Stock of Their Impact on Nature and Related Risks
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Joshua Kirby | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

“We used to think of nature as an endless supplier of resources into our business practices,” he said. “We’re trying to shift the conversation around the nature of the relationship between nature and business.”The final framework should give priority to the end result in natural areas, said Kat Bruce, founder and director of environmental-DNA startup NatureMetrics. Some $44 trillion of global economic value is moderately or highly dependent on nature, according to the World Economic Forum. Companies and shareholders should pay more attention to the material risk of natural degradation, Mr. Goldner said. The draft framework includes sector-specific guidance for areas including agriculture, mining, energy and financial services.

☆ Private equity deals in Asia plunged 44% in 2022. More uncertainty may be ahead
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Jihye Lee | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

watch nowAsia-Pacific's private equity market plummeted last year — as investors' appetite for risk fell in the face of inflation and geopolitical tensions, according to Bain & Company. The total deal value for the region plunged by 44% to $198 billion in 2022, the global management and consulting firm said in a Tuesday report. Lingering macroeconomic uncertainties alongside rising costs and worsening company performance that dampened investor sentiment, Bain said in its Asia Pacific Private Equity Report 2023. "For more than a decade, the Internet and tech sector has attracted the largest share of private equity capital in the Asia-Pacific region. ESG-related investmentsWhile macroeconomic conditions dampened investors' sentiment in private equity deals region-wide, Bain saw a rise in the number of deals related to environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG).

☆ Democrats want to make electric bikes much cheaper by giving you up to $1,500 to buy one
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A new bill would give Americans up to $1,500 off the purchase of an electric bicycle. The Senate cut this legislation out of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, but included subsidies for electric cars and SUVs. Biking advocates argue that electric bikes should be subsidized just as electric cars have been for years. Electric bikes have boomed in popularity in the US over the last several years. E-bike tax credits introduced by cities and states around the country have become hugely popular in recent years.

[1/7] A view shows a forest parcel from which trees burned by the last summer's wildfires have been removed, in Landiras, in the Gironde region, France, March 20, 2023. Columns of white, acrid smoke rise from a forest floor outside the town of Hostens in the Gironde region, south of Bordeaux. The Gironde region was particularly badly hit with 20,000 hectares of forest destroyed, and the risk of renewed fires is a great concern. When it comes to wildfires risk, she said that prevention was crucial, as well as swift intervention when a fire first starts, which is easier to do from above. The interior ministry said measures for fighting forest fires across France will be presented in the coming weeks.

A package containing "suspicious white powder" was discovered at noon on Friday in the building where a grand jury has been hearing evidence in the Trump "hush-money" investigation led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, officials told Insider. The package was delivered to the building's mail room, and was non-hazardous, police told Insider. The package was delivered by USPS, Fox News reported; the New York Post reported that it was an envelope addressed to "Alvin." The grand jury meets Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, sources have told Insider, and was not in session on Friday. No one was sickened or taken to the hospital; the package was determined to be non-hazardous within three hours, officials told Insider.

☆ Thousands of UK civil servants to strike from April 11
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

March 24 (Reuters) - More than 3,000 British civil servants across four government departments will strike from April 11 in a dispute over pay, pensions and job security, the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union said on Friday. "They demand the government holds meaningful talks with us and puts some money on the table to give them a decent pay rise," PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka said. The action will affect the Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), Forestry Commission, Rural Payments Agency and Marine Management Organisation, the union added. Reporting by Radhika Anilkumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi MajumdarOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ European banks face renewed selling pressure
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

So people are acting with their feet and continuing to sell bank stocks. ING ECONOMICS TEAM (emailed) "Most European banks are impacted by these events mainly via the more cautious market sentiment. "It seems like post what happened to Credit Suisse last weekend, two things might be at play here. “European banks probably suffered from contagion from what was going on in the US, where the regional banks seem to be under pressure in the rising rate environment. European banks have, in fact, had no fundamental issues whatsoever.

☆ Death threat, powder sent to Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg after Trump warning of violence
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was threatened with assassination in a letter containing powder, hours after former President Donald Trump warned Friday of "potential death & destruction" if he is indicted by a grand jury in a criminal case led by Bragg. said the typewritten note in a letter contained in an envelope addressed to Bragg, WNBC reported, citing law-enforcement sources. The letter, containing an Orlando, Florida, postmark from Tuesday, was found in the DA's mail room in a lower Manhattan building after being received at 11:40 a.m. The white powder in the envelope was found to be non-hazardous, the New York Police Department told CNBC. NYPD investigators and the FBI, which has an office close by, were at the scene investigating the letter.

March 23 (Reuters) - Large companies, including asset manager Franklin Templeton (BEN.N) and web-services provider Akamai Technologies Inc (AKAM.O), joined an effort on Thursday to defend sustainable investment practices from a backlash by U.S. Republican politicians. Republicans, often from energy-producing states, have sought to block the growing use of environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations by shareholders and corporate executives. BlackRock Inc (BLK.N) for instance on Thursday said it would continue to press companies for information about climate risks. Mindy Lubber, CEO of sustainability nonprofit Ceres, which organized Thursday's statement, told a call with reporters that companies showed "some hesitancy" to speak up. But Anne Simpson, head of sustainability for Franklin Templeton, part of California-based Franklin Resources Inc (BEN.N), said on the same call that ESG efforts are "fiduciary duty at work".

☆ Oil spills and near misses: more ghost tankers ship sanctioned fuel
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Jonathan Saul | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

REUTERS/Ronen ZvulunSummary Risk of accidents in focus as 'shadow' fleet growsStirs fears of oil spills, decades after Exxon ValdezHundreds of ships carry oil from sanctioned nationsMany ship certifiers and insurers have pulled servicesLONDON, March 23 (Reuters) - An oil tanker runs aground off eastern China, leaking fuel into the water. Many leading certification providers and engine makers that approve seaworthiness and safety have withdrawn their services from ships carrying oil from sanctioned Iran, Russia and Venezuela, as have a host of insurers, meaning there's less oversight of vessels carrying the flammable cargoes. Reuters was unable to independently verify the numbers regarding the size and growth of the shadow fleet. The U.S. Treasury didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on ships carrying sanctioned oil. SHIP-TO-SHIP TRANSFERSAround 774 tankers out of 2,296 in the overall global crude oil fleet are 15 years old or more, according to data provider VesselsValue.

☆ Meet the 'methane man' with a mission: Using microbes to eat up the greenhouse gas
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Most recently, he's zeroed in on the idea of using methane-eating microbes to combat climate change. The startup was founded in 2022 and sells methane-eating microbes, or methanotrophs, to its pilot customers, farmers. "If you only look at the long term, and you don't spend anything on short term, you end up tripping over your feet," Silverman told CNBC. Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards Windfall’s propriety methane-eating microbes seen here under a microscope. First, they will move to other types of livestock farms, like cows, pigs and chickens, Silverman told CNBC.

☆ A close Russian ally is messing with the legendary spaceport it leases to the Kremlin, seizing assets over an unpaid debt
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Baikonur is a source of pride for Moscow, from which the Soviet Union sent the first man to space. Baikonur is pivotal to the Russian space program. Even though it isn't physically in Russia, it has been leased by the Kremlin since Kazakhstan became independent when the Soviet Union collapsed. Founded by the Soviet Union as a test range for intercontinental ballistic missiles, it was transformed into a space port in 1955. It remains a key part of Russia's space program, and is the only site where Russia launches missions to the International Space Station.

☆ 4 reasons why a Trump indictment could be gold for Biden, and 1 reason it’s worrying
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

If an indictment doesn't cost Trump the GOP primary, it would hover over his general election campaign. "Anything that's good for Trump in a Republican primary is also good for Biden," Bannon said. And it's unclear whether Trump is the weaker opponent or if he can even win enough support from GOP primary voters to become the nominee. Democrats say they also welcome a nasty Republican primary, especially when Biden is expected to run without any significant opposition. The downside: Cutting through 'noise' could be hardIt's possible that a Trump indictment would make Americans so sick of the entire political system that "they say 'Screw this,'" Bannon said.

☆ Health experts call for a ban on toxic 'forever chemicals' after EPA moves to cut them from tap water
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | Jessica Orwig | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Toxic PFAS, aka "forever chemicals," are in water, food, furniture, and clothes across the US. The EPA's new proposal to limit the substances in drinking water is a step in the right direction. On Tuesday the US Environmental Protection Agency proposed strict limits on six per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water. The chemicals are prolific in everyday human environments — in our water, food, air, and even the dust in our homes. That means more and more of them are getting into the environment — and drinking water — every day.

An Insider review found that his company has sold to foreign governments, including a $228 million dollar contract. What Mills didn't advertise was Pacem's munitions contracts with foreign governments. The company's chief legal officer Joseph Schmitz said all of Pacem's foreign munitions sales are approved by the Department of State. Mills's influence over American military spending while having ties to a munitions company poses the potential for conflicts of interest, an ethics watchdog said. In Congress, Mills sits on the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees, which oversee military spending and foreign weapons sales.

☆ A Spanish firm wants to kill one million octopuses a year using 'ice slurry' baths at first-ever factory farm
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A proposed commercial octopus farm is sparking outrage among experts and animal rights campaigners. The farm would slaughter roughly one million octopuses each year by submerging them in icy water. In a report released Thursday, the activist group said that Nueva Pescanova intends to slaughter around one million octopuses each year by submerging them in a freezing "ice slurry." In particular, it said, the slaughter of the octopuses "involves proper handling that avoids any pain or suffering to the animal." "To kill them with ice would be a slow death," Dr. Peter Tse, who studies octopus cognition at Dartmouth, told the BBC.

☆ Fighter jets are 'worthless' over Ukraine, and it's a sign of what US pilots and troops may face in future battles
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Christopher Woody | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

As a result, neither side is able to provide close air support to its troops on the front line. US pilots and ground troops may face a similar situation in future wars, US Air Force leaders say. They're not doing a whole lot because they can't go over and do close air support," Hecker said. "Close air support in a contested environment, that's not what we do, no matter who you are," Brown added. William GreerSince taking over as the top Air Force officer in August 2020, Brown has stressed that future battlefields will be more complex and deadly for the Air Force.

Ohio sued rail company Norfolk Southern over the derailment of a train carrying toxic materials in the town of East Palestine last month, the state's attorney general announced Tuesday. The state is seeking damages, civil penalties and a "declaratory judgement that Norfolk Southern is responsible," he said. "This derailment was entirely avoidable," Yost said, adding that Norfolk Southern has seen an 80% increase in accidents over the past decade. According to the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, the derailment is one of a "long string" of Norfolk Southern derailments and hazmat incidents. Since 2015, at least 20 Norfolk Southern derailments involved chemical discharge, the state claims.

☆ This Isn't What Millennial Middle Age Was Supposed to Look Like - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +25 min

Things have been difficult for her family, she says, but one thing she isn’t worried about: a midlife crisis, looming just over the horizon. One of our questions was about whether they had experienced a midlife crisis and how they would define the term. Many people said they felt they couldn’t be having a midlife crisis, because there was no bourgeois numbness to rebel against. “Who has midlife crisis money?”The traditional midlife crisis, as presented in popular culture, at least, unfolds amid suburban ennui. We just increase our Lexapro.”Was the midlife crisis ever even real?

☆ Biden Administration Approves Willow Oil-Drilling Project in Alaskan Arctic
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Benoît Morenne | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Willow approval paves the way for ConocoPhillips to build more than 430 miles of ice roads and other infrastructure. The Biden administration approved the massive Willow oil-drilling project in the Alaskan Arctic over the objections of environmentalists and many Democrats who wanted the project scuttled. The green light means Houston-based ConocoPhillips can start construction on its roughly $7 billion project in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve, which the company expects will produce about 180,000 barrels of oil a day at its peak—equivalent to about 40% of Alaska’s current crude production.

☆ Biden Declares U.S. Arctic Ocean Off Limits to New Oil and Gas Leasing
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Andrew Restuccia | Benoît Morenne | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The limits apply to future leases and wouldn’t stop ConocoPhillips’s Willow project from moving forward. WASHINGTON—President Biden moved to block future oil and gas leasing in the Arctic Ocean’s federal waters, part of a sweeping plan to protect 16 million acres of land and water in Alaska. Sunday’s announcement comes as the administration is preparing to approve the massive Willow oil-drilling project in the Alaskan Arctic over the objections of environmentalists and many Democrats who wanted the project scuttled, according to people familiar with the matter.

☆ These are the 10 worst places to live in the U.S. if you want clean air
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Celia Fernandez | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

You might be surprised to learn that the place with the most polluted air in the U.S. isn't a big city, but a small town in California. This month, The Guardian released an analysis in conjunction with a group of researchers from several institutions, including the University of Washington, to rank the neighborhoods across the contiguous U.S. that have the worst air pollution. Julian Marshall, professor of environmental engineering at the University of Washington, told The Guardian that the analysis shows that neighborhoods with the worst air quality were predominantly Black and Hispanic. "What we're seeing here is segregation," Marshall said. "You have segregation of people and segregation of pollution."

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