MORE COUNTRIES PUT UP BARRIERS AS MIGRANTS FLEE CLIMATE CHAOS

With many governments still dragging their feet on climate action, many are also actively preparing—via militarized borders and regressive immigration policies—for one of its most dire and tragic consequences: refugees fleeing climate-driven conflict, desertification, and sea level rise.

In Montreal recently on a book tour, Tucson-based journalist Todd Miller described seeing this dysfunctional and inhumane response first hand as Latin Americans, fleeing north from a region that climate scientists describe as “Ground Zero for climate change,” come up against an increasingly militarized American border.

NEW YORK STATE REJECTS $1-BILLION NATURAL GAS PIPELINE

Presenting their decision as rooted in a responsibility to protect state waters from pollution, New York State regulators have rejected a contentious US$1-billion dollar natural gas pipeline that would have linked their state to the gas fields of Pennsylvania.

The state’s conservation department “laid out its decision in technical terms, noting that construction would contaminate New York’s waters with mercury and copper,” reports the New York Times. But while the authorities made no mention of the climate crisis, climate advocacy groups celebrated the win, after arguing for months that the pipeline would “handcuff New York to fossil fuels and hobble the state’s march toward renewable resources.”

Oklahoma-based Williams Companies and other business interests countered that the decision “could devastate the state’s economy and bring a gas moratorium to New York City and Long Island.” In the lead-up to the decision, Williams had pitched the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline “as a crucial addition to the region’s energy infrastructure, one that would deliver enough fuel to satisfy New York’s booming energy needs and stave off a looming shortage.”

But that was little more than crisis-mongering, concluded Suzanne Mattei, a former state official hired by 350.org to review the company’s claims. She noted that Williams itself, in a 2018 company presentation, predicted “flat to negative gas demand growth” over the next 20 years, as renewables surge.

With 90% of more than 45,000 comments to state regulators coming in opposed to the project, NESE was also rejected by multiple Democratic officials, including New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and the city’s comptroller. As well, shortly before the regulatory decision was rendered, 11 state representatives including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) wrote a letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo. They stated their strenuous opposition to the pipeline on public health and environmental grounds, with explicit reference to its climate impacts.

Although Cuomo was lauded by progressives for banning fracking in the state in 2015, the governor “has demurred when asked to stop taking money from fossil fuel companies,” writes the Times, and was the indirect recipient of $20,000 in in-kind campaign contributions from a lobbying firm that works for Williams.

The operator and other business interests are not the only ones decrying the rejection of the pipeline, however. Representing more than 40,000 workers in the construction industry, the New York State Laborers’ Union “spent more than $600,000 on Facebook ads in the past year promoting the pipeline.”

And the battle is far from over. Williams plans to reapply for regulatory approval, and its opponents stand ready to pick up the fight.“The state has made it clear that dangerous gas pipelines have no place in New York,” said NRDC Senior Attorney Kimberly Ong, and we will continue to ensure this reckless project is shelved forever.”

FORD’S ANTI-CARBON TAX TV AD BACKFIRES, BUT INDIGENOUS BUDGET CUT HITS HOME

The Doug Ford government in Ontario faced widespread ridicule last week for an inept anti-carbon tax video that delivered the opposite of its intended message when played on mute.

The TV ad showed nickels cascading out of air vents, fuel pumps, and store shelves, in a bid to illustrate the surcharges Ontarians could expect to pay as a result of the federal backstop price on carbon.

Provincial Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk had already criticized the ad campaign for failing to reflect all the “relevant facts”—including federal rebates that will work out to the advantage of most of the province’s households. But the outright mockery began when Smart Prosperity Senior Director Mike Moffatt spotted and tweeted about a small problem with the ads.

“Did nobody in the government watch this with the sound off?” he tweeted. “This literally looks like an ad *promoting* the carbon rebate. You’ll be showered with money!”

“You’ll have so much money, it’ll pour out of your vents,” he added. “Every time you open your wallet, money will fall out, because you’ll have so much of it.”

Moffatt’s Twitter followers got into the act, and hilarity ensued.

“Good thing nobody mutes their TV during commercial breaks, eh?” said Scott Piatkowski.

“I always watch videos on social silently,” said Mark Chapeskie, and “this absolutely looks like money coming from everywhere! Quick grab some buckets!”

“This is actually hilarious!!” agreed Leah Miltchin. “The obvious symbolism would have been, oh, I don’t know, say a vacuum cleaner sucking money out of people’s wallets. How much did the PCs pay the ad agency that came up with this?”

“Did they upload this to Twitter in reverse?” asked Kevin Milligan. “Does it say ‘Paul is dead’?”

“I filled up today and not one nickel dropped,” tweeted one disappointed viewer. “I brought a bucket to the grocers to catch the money waterfall, but alas, nothing. Maybe file complaints to the [Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission] for this misleading advert.”

Then Braeson Holland, press secretary to federal International Development Minister Maryam Monsef, decided the ad could do with a new voiceover. “Fixed a few things in [Premier Doug Ford]’s climate change attack ad,” he tweeted.

“The federal government has put a price on pollution,” the new narrator intoned over the original footage. “They made it revenue neutral, so big polluters are paying and you get a rebate.”

“It works great,” Wilfrid Laurier University associate professor of digital communications Simon Kiss said of the spoof. “The script in the parody is honestly more logical and fits the visuals better than the government’s own ad.”

But despite a badly-needed moment of catharsis, critics warn that such propaganda is far from harmless—reflecting the Ford government’s preference to rule by sensationalism and stealth, rather than governing through sober reflection and consultation. A case in point was its recent decision to cut funding to a non-profit dedicated to ensuring Indigenous involvement in conservation and natural resource management by 70%— without notice or consultation.

The Anishinabek/Ontario Fisheries Resource Centre (A/OFRC) first learned its mandate was in peril the day after the provincial budget was read, via a letter from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources informing the organization that it was “seeking changes” to its current funding package, National Observer reports.

Prior to the Ministry letter, the centre understood itself to be at the beginning of the second year in a three-year transfer payment agreement, providing an annual budget of $860,000. “The money was part of a critical program designed to help about 40 First Nations participate in government decision-making related to conservation policies.”

Two days after being warned of coming “changes” to its budget, “the Anishinabek/Ontario Fisheries Resource Centre was informed by the ministry that their transfer payment had been reduced by 70%, to $250,000, for the 2019/20 year.” There is as yet no provincial commitment to funding for next year, Observer adds.

All of this came as a terrible shock to the organization. “We had no indication, prior to the receipt of the letter on April 12, that we were specifically targeted for funding cuts. We had certainly no indication that we were looking at cuts of the magnitude of 70% of our baseline that we ended up being handed,” said A/OFRC General Manager Peter Meisenheimer.

“We’re scrambling right now, having already begun our fiscal year and project season, to find alternative sources of money, and we’re making a very serious effort to make sure the important work of our organization goes on and that we can do what we’ve done for the last quarter of century,” he added.

Formed in 1993 “to mend contentious relationships between the Anishinabek First Nation and the then Conservative government led by Premier Mike Harris,” the centre has proven its worth, said former Ontario Regional Chief Isadore Day. Having developed both technical and reporting capacity, as well as a storehouse of knowledge both Indigenous and science-based, A/OFRC has become “something of an important institution” in its ability to nurture productive relations between the province and First Nations.

“The centre began its field season last month and had a list of 15 to 20 projects scheduled or under way, including one looking at the health of fish in the Thames River with the Chippewa First Nation,” Observer reports. Now, with “only enough money left to pay for one staff member and a small office,” its future is uncertain.

A spokesperson for Ontario Natural Resources Minister John Yakabuski said the province’s 2019 budget was the product of a “close and thorough review” that was “meant to ensure that duplication is eliminated, and valuable programs and services are delivering outcomes for the people of Ontario.”

Describing the cuts as “callous” and shortsighted, Day said the sudden change to centre operations will mean the loss of precious data that would otherwise help Ontario fight climate change.Recent polls show support for the Ford government falling fast under the weight of brutal budget cuts, with the Pollara Strategic Insights survey placing its popular support at 30%, down from 40.5% less than a year ago. An Environics Research survey foundthat 75% of Ontarians think the province is on the wrong track.

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