Biden admin unveils sweeping new actions increasing costs for oil, gas leasing
The Biden administration proposed new rules that would make oil and gas leasing on public lands more costly for developers, but which it said would “ensure fair return to taxpayers.”
The proposed rules, unveiled Thursday by the Department of the Interior (DOI) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM), revise a number of financial requirements for onshore fossil fuel leasing including bonding requirements, royalty rates and minimum bids. The administration explained the changes would increase taxpayer returns, while disincentivizing speculators or “less responsible actors.”
“The Interior Department has taken several steps over the last two years to ensure the federal oil and gas program provides a fair return to taxpayers, adequately accounts for environmental harms, and discourages speculation by oil and gas companies,” said DOI Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Laura Daniel-Davis. “This new proposed rule will help fully codify those goals and lead to more responsible leasing and development processes.”
“This proposal to update BLM’s oil and gas program aims to ensure fairness to the taxpayer and balanced, responsible development as we continue to transition to a clean energy economy,” added BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning. “It includes common sense and needed fiscal revisions to BLM’s program, many directed by Congress.”
BIDEN ADMIN QUIETLY DELAYS MAJOR OIL, GAS LEASING DECISION
Under the proposal, the lease bond oil and gas developers are required to pay will be hiked from $10,000 to $150,000 and statewide from $25,000 to $500,000, the DOI said. The DOI said the current bonding requirements, established in 1960, are outdated and don’t cover potential federal costs to reclaim a well if companies don’t meet reclamation requirements.
In addition, minimum royalty rates developers must pay on their leases will be increased to 16.67% from 12.5%. And the national minimum bid for a lease will be bumped up from $2 per acre to $10 per acre and will rise with inflation after 10 years.
BIDEN ADMIN MAKES STUNNING ADMISSION ON CLIMATE AGENDA IN LEAKED INTERNAL MEMO
The proposal also includes an annual rental fee of $3 per acre for the first two years, $5 per acre for the following 6 years and $15 per acre for every following year. Finally, the rules would codify a new fee of $5 per acre for expressions of interest.
While environmental groups and Democratic lawmakers were quick to applaud the announcement Thursday, Republicans and fossil fuel industry groups blasted it for introducing new barriers to domestic oil and gas production.
“Responsible development of federal lands is critical for meeting the growing demand for affordable, reliable energy while reducing emissions,” Holly Hopkins, the vice president of upstream policy at the American Petroleum Institute, said in a statement.
“Amidst a global energy crisis, this action from the Department of the Interior is yet another attempt to add even more barriers to future energy production, increases uncertainty for producers and may further discourage oil and natural gas investment,” Hopkins continued. “This is a concerning approach from an administration that has repeatedly acted to restrict essential energy development.”
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member John Barrasso, R-Wyo., added the Biden administration will put Wyoming oil and gas workers on the unemployment line “with the stroke of a pen.”
“The president has vowed to end drilling on federal lands. This rule confirms it’s a vow he intends to keep,” he said. “Last year, the onshore oil and gas leasing program returned more than $43 to American taxpayers for every dollar spent. This destructive and punitive rule will end up costing the taxpayers far more than it helps them.”
Tupac killing: Vegas PD seize bullet cartridges, computers, photos from gang member who was in shooter’s car
Vegas police investigating Tupac Shakur’s slaying seized bullet cartridges, computers and photos from the home of a gang member who was in the shooter’s car.
Study reveals homicides in Brazil at the lowest level in over a decade
Brazilian researchers say the number of violent deaths last year reached the lowest level in more than a decade, puzzling some experts because there has been an explosion of firearms circulating in the country in recent years.
About 47,500 people were slain in Latin America’s largest nation in 2022, said a report Thursday by the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety, an independent group that tracks crimes. Its statistics are widely used as a benchmark because there are no official statistics on a national level.
While the number of killings in 2022 was down 2.4% from the previous year, it remained roughly even with levels recorded since 2019. The last time Brazil had less violent deaths was in 2011, with 47,215 killings.
The fall in homicides has left many public security experts somewhat puzzled, as it has been accompanied by a sharp increase in the number of firearms held by Brazilians. Some studies have suggested that more guns circulating among the population lead to more homicides.
During his 2019-2022 term, then President Jair Bolsonaro worked to loosen regulations on gun ownership. The number of firearms registered with the Federal Police reached 1.5 million in 2022, up 47.5% from 2019.
MA RESTAURANT EMPLOYEE GETS TIME SERVED FOR GIVING BRAZILIAN COLLEAGUES FAKE GREEN CARDS
Experts have come up with at least three reasons behind the dual trend.
Samira Bueno, executive director of the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety, said he feels the main factor is the relative truce among gangs since 2018. An explosion of violence in 2017, when his group registered 63,880 killings, was largely attributed to a rivalry between the First Capital Command gang and the Red Command gang.
Carolina Ricardo, director of the Instituto Sou da Paz, a non-profit group that monitors public security, said another factor is that more Brazilian states have implemented ambitious public security policies along with social measures such as working to keep children in school.
Brazil’s aging population could be a third factor, Ricardo said. “In general, who dies and kills are young people,” she said.
But Ricardo also expressed concern about the prevalence of homicides using firearms.
“Although homicides have not increased, the percentage of deaths by firearms in Brazil is still very high,” she said. According to Thursday’s report, firearms were responsible for 77% of all homicides last year. Ricardo said that is much higher than the world average of around 44%.
Addressing other areas of violence, the report said that while homicides declined, violence against women rose and there was a record number of rapes as defined by Brazilian law, affecting mostly children. Brazil’s legal definition of rape is broader than that of the U.S. and doesn’t necessarily require sexual penetration.
There were nearly 15,000 victims of rape in 2022, up 8.2% from the previous year. Nearly two-thirds of the victims were children aged 13 or younger, the report said. Feminicides went up 6%, with 1,437 killings.
No Sanctuary: NYC Shoos Migrants Away, Warns “No Guarantee” Of Shelter, Services
No Sanctuary: NYC Shoos Migrants Away, Warns “No Guarantee” Of Shelter, Services
New York City will ‘immediately’ begin discouraging asylum seekers from seeking refuge in the self-proclaimed sanctuary city, warning migrants coming from the southern border that there’s “no guarantee” they’ll receive shelter or services, Mayor Eric Adams said on Wednesday.
“We have no more room in the city,” Adams said during a news conference at City Hall, in what the NY Times describes as a “somewhat unexpected departure from its long-held status as a sanctuary city, and as a place that guarantees a right to shelter.”
As part of the city’s shift in strategy, it will now require single adult migrants to reapply for shelter after 60 days, a move that the mayor said was designed to make room for families with children. Mr. Adams said the city would intensify efforts to help the migrants connect with family, friends or outside networks in order to find alternative housing arrangements.
If alternative housing arrangements are not available, single adult asylum seekers will have to return to the intake center and reapply for housing. It is unclear what would happen if there is not housing available at the intake centers. -NY Times
Pro-migrant activists aren’t happy.
“I have worked with thousands of people over the years whose lives were saved because of the right to shelter,” said Craig Hughes, a social worker with Mobilization for Justice, a nonprofit legal services group, in a statement to the Times. “The idea that there’s some imaginary place that people are going to go off to besides city streets is just false.”
NYC has seen an influx of more than 90,000 migrants since the spring of 2022, of which close to 55,000 are still under the care of the city. When combined with the city’s homeless population, New York is caring for a record 105,800 people across more than 188 sites, including 18 humanitarian relief centers.
Between July 10-16, there were 2,800 migrants who entered the city, according to the deputy mayor for health and human services, Anne Williams-Isom.
“Our compassion is infinite,” said a senior VP at NYC Health, Dr. Ted Long, adding “our space is not.”
The city has distributed flyers warning migrants there’s ‘no guarantee we will be able to provide shelter and services.’
“Please consider another city as you make your decision about where to settle in the U.S.,” the flier concludes.
Unfortunately for New York, the city remains under a decades-old court order requiring it to provide shelter to anyone who needs a bed.
City comptroller Brad Lander said the announcement undermines the city’s right to shelter, and “the defining role of New York as a beacon of promise inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty.”
Housing advocates have called on NYC officials to make room in the shelter system by moving homeless people to permanent housing.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/20/2023 – 18:20
SBB to Raise $228 Million From Share Sale to Morgan Stanley Fund
The landlord at the center of Sweden’s property crunch plans to further cash in on its portfolio of residential properties as it aims to strengthen a balance sheet straining under $8 billion of debt.
SBB to Raise $228 Million From Share Sale to Morgan Stanley Fund
The landlord at the center of Sweden’s property crunch plans to further cash in on its portfolio of residential properties as it aims to strengthen a balance sheet straining under $8 billion of debt.
SBB to Raise $228 Million From Share Sale to Morgan Stanley Fund
The landlord at the center of Sweden’s property crunch plans to further cash in on its portfolio of residential properties as it aims to strengthen a balance sheet straining under $8 billion of debt.
SBB to Raise $228 Million From Share Sale to Morgan Stanley Fund
The landlord at the center of Sweden’s property crunch plans to further cash in on its portfolio of residential properties as it aims to strengthen a balance sheet straining under $8 billion of debt.
SBB to Raise $228 Million From Share Sale to Morgan Stanley Fund
The landlord at the center of Sweden’s property crunch plans to further cash in on its portfolio of residential properties as it aims to strengthen a balance sheet straining under $8 billion of debt.
NH woman’s 1981 murder solved with DNA evidence; perp died from overdose in 2005
More than four decades after a young New Hampshire woman was killed, law enforcement officials have solved the crime through DNA analysis and the use of forensic genealogy technology, the state attorney general said Thursday.
But solving the case doesn’t bring with it the satisfaction of seeing justice: The man responsible for killing 23-year-old Laura Kempton died from an overdose in 2005, Attorney General John Formella said.
Formella told reporters at a news conference in Portsmouth, where the killing took place in September 1981, that the investigators’ conclusion was “bittersweet” but underscored their resolve.
MOM IMPLICATED IN MAINE’S 1985 ‘BABY JANE DOE’ COLD CASE GETS 6 YEARS
The conclusion of the investigation after so many years should “send a message to anyone who has been affected by a case that has gone cold in this state that we will never stop working these cases,” he said. “We will never forget about these victims.”
A police officer found Kempton dead in her apartment after attempting to serve a court summons for parking meter violations. An electrical cord was tied around her ankles, and a phone cord was around her neck and shoulder area. Blood was on a rug underneath her head, and an autopsy concluded that she died from head trauma.
Kempton, a Portsmouth Beauty School student who worked at a gift shop and ice cream parlor, was last seen earlier that morning, returning alone to her apartment after a night out with a friend, police said.
Evidence collected at the scene, including a cigarette butt, a pillow and a glass bottle, revealed a male DNA profile years later.
For the next four decades, investigators pursued many leads and potential suspects, but without success. Last year, the Portsmouth Police Department and cold case unit worked with New Hampshire and Maine’s forensic laboratories and a forensic genetic genealogy firm to identify the person believed to be responsible for Kempton’s death. A DNA profile was a confirmed match to another in a public genealogy database.
NEBRASKA ARMY VET FACES EXTRADITION TO GERMANY FOR KILLING MISTRESS IN 1978
The man believed to be responsible was Ronney James Lee, who was working as a security officer in 1981, Formella said. Members of Lee’s family were briefed on the investigation’s conclusion. Investigators declined to release their names to reporters.
The Associated Press attempted to reach several people believed to have been associated with Lee, but messages were not immediately returned.
There was no known relationship between Kempton and Lee, who was 21 at the time. Lee, who died at 45 in February 2005 from a cocaine overdose, would have been charged with murder if he were still alive, Formella said.
The Kempton family expressed gratitude to the Portsmouth Police Department. “Their diligence and determination, along with extraordinary personal commitment over the past decades, have led to this moment for Laura,” the family said in a statement.