PLANET IN PERIL

New York Times Ordinary people suffer because of Trump's deference to powerful interests. Details here. RELATED:  Manitoba Family Believes it was Poisoned by Crop Spray  (like the one referred to in the Times story) Watch video here from Sept. 2006..

Science Magazine Cruise ships often burn bunker fuel, the very kind warned about in this story. A Wikimedia image. A few years ago, scientists funded by the Wellcome Trust, one of the world's wealthiest private philanthropies, published sobering findings about the deadly effects of air pollution. In a long-term study of elderly residents of Hong Kong, China, those exposed to higher levels of smog—especially tiny particles of soot produced by burning fossil fuels—were more likely to die of cancer than people who breathed cleaner air. Details here. RELATED: Please read my blog-story,  "How Ethical Are Ethical Funds? Conscientious investments and the tar sands connection"   l.p. by Larry Powell

by Larry Powell Manitoba's  Premier, Brian Pallister has announced  another assistance package   to Hylife Foods of more than $11 m over the next several year.  (HyLife is now Canada's biggest pork processor.) Some $9.5m will come from the province, the rest from Ottawa. It will help the company pay for a pricey expansion of its killing plant in Neepawa and a new feed mill in the southwest. Last November, I warned in a blog-post here , that Manitoba taxpayers had better be prepared to "dig deeper." Why? Because Pallister's Conservatives had just begun to deregulate this province's corporate hog sector, so it could expand. And, expand, it has! Countless new barns are going up, so that millions more animals can be raised and slaughtered here: And all with fewer regulations than ever to control pollution, disease or catastrophic barn fires.  Given past history, my article reasoned, more "corporate welfare" was surely in the wind. It do

by Larry Powell Almost 750 thousand turkeys (shown here) and some 100 thousand hogs, were lost in catastrophic flooding in North Carolina during Hurricane Floyd in 1999.  Dave Gatley FEMA It's an all-too-familiar story. Given past history, chances are good that Florence will once again turn waterways in the Carolinas - home to hundreds of huge swine and poultry barns and waste lagoons, into a toxic mess of feces, urine and animal remains. It happened when Hurricane Floyd struck in 1999 and Mathew stormed in in 2016.  Even tho they were smaller storms than Florence is now, Mathew and Floyd left their marks, too. According to "The New Food Economy," 14 lagoons flooded and millions of animals died during Mathew. Environmental groups such as The Waterkeeper Alliance, documented what they called "fields of filth" left behind, as seen here.  Floyd's toll was also devastating. (See photo, above.) North Carolina's livestock produce more than

CBC news Energy giant TransAlta paid the University of Alberta $54,000 to hand-pick one of its researchers to produce a study and other materials it used to lobby the provincial government to try to protect the coal industry, documents obtained by CBC News reveal. Story here.

The Guardian The deforestation it causes is decimating species such as orangutans and tigers - but the alternatives could be worse, finds authoritative report. More here.

NATIONAL OBSERVER BP Canada has spewed out 136,000 litres of a toxic mud into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Halifax during deepwater offshore exploratory oil drilling, a federal regulator says.  More here.

The New York Times Fracking in the Bakken formation of North Dakota.   Photo by  Joshua Doubek The American oil and gas industry is leaking more methane than the government thinks — much more, a new study says. Since methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, that is bad news for climate change. More here.

TheNarwhal Researchers find arsenic levels in animals living near mine 20 to 50 times greater than those living away from it. More here.

The Guardian A narrows in the Meykong - Laos. Photo by Hector Garcia. Government-commissioned report says proposed site is the ‘worst possible place’ for hydropower due to impact on wildlife. More here. RELATED: " Mekong - a River Rising. "

NATIONAL OBSERVER The Irving Oil Refinery in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada. Photo by  Cusack5239 Sarnia’s Imperial Oil refinery emitted 10 times more fine particulate matter, seven times more carbon monoxide and 49 times more sulphur dioxide than the Detroit plant. More here.

TheGuardian The energy-friendlly agenda inside Trump's iinterior department is revealed in rccords obtained by the Guardian and the watchdog groups, Documented and the Western Values Project.    More here.

Manitoba Co-operator Anaerobic digesters out, new barns in. Story here. RELATED:   More alarm bells sound over drug usage in the world’s intensive livestock operations.

George Monbiot The Sheffield tree massacre is one result of the monstrous, impenetrable officialdom that neoliberalism creates. Story here.   H Here in Canada, trees are also treated as a nuisance, to be gotten rid of. They rarely win the battle when "Big Ag" decides they have to go. Just watch the video, below, to see what we mean. PinP

DESMOG Clovelly Oil is not quite a household name, as far as oil and natural gas companies go, though it recently gained attention when its oil and natural gas storage rig exploded on October 15 in Louisiana. Story here.

The Winnipeg SUN A group that fears relaxed hog rules will heighten water pollution has united to fight against the proposed changes. Story here.

inside climate news An analysis of Exxon’s research and public statements shows a sharp contrast between what the oil giant knew about climate change and what it told the public.  Story here.

TheTyee Days before deadline to lay provincial charges, authorities have not completed investigation. Story here.

THE NEW YORK TIMES  When the Crystal Serenity, a 1000-passenger luxury liner, sails in August on a month-long Arctic cruise through the Northwest Passage, it will have a far more utilitarian escort; a British supply ship.     Story here.

EcoWatch "It's time  Rex Tillerson  step down or be removed," said Gigi Kellett of  Corporate Accountability International , following an announcement on Thursday that  ExxonMobil  will pay $2 million for violating U.S. sanctions against Russian officials while the now-secretary of state was the company's CEO. Story here.