While the majority of Americans find themselves shut-in during the pandemic, the Department of Interior (DOI) through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has offered more than 200,000 acres of public land to oil and gas companies in five different lease sales. These sales have continued with little to no opportunity for public oversight, other than the mandatory 10 day protest period. The duration of that protest period was shortened to 10 days from 30 days in January 2018. That year generated $1.1 billion in revenue for the BLM, nearly tripling the previous annual sales record ($408 million in 2008) and almost equaling the bureau’s budget. According to the BLM Deputy Director for Policy and Programs, that’s a good thing.

This was a historic year for oil and gas, and clearly illustrates what is possible when public lands are put to work using innovation, best science, and best practices…Our sound energy policy continues to ensure reliable, safe, abundant, and affordable energy for all Americans, without putting unnecessary burdens on industry. In fact, this policy generated nearly as much revenue as the BLM’s $1.1 billion budget for 2018.”

Brian Steed, BLM Deputy Director for Policy and Programs

But maybe it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

How To Get Away With It, Legally

Oil and gas leases are nothing new for the DOI as the BLM is required to offer these competitive leases quarterly. Of the 213,000 acres offered by the BLM, 89,000 were sold at the competitive sale. The remaining acres will continue to be offered by the BLM for 10-year non-competitive leases, a process that allows oil and gas companies to control large portions of public lands for incredibly cheap. Companies with non-competitive leases, which are issued on a first-come, first-serve basis, pay $1.50 an acre for the first five years of the lease. Yet 55% of these leases are terminated early, and only 3% of them are under production at the termination at the end of their 10-year term. Those defaulted leases are returned to the BLM so they can sell them again.

The noncompetitive leasing program resembles a hamster wheel in which the BLM reviews parcel nominations; holds an auction; issues unsold oil and gas leases noncompetitively; terminates the leases when the companies fail to pay rent—and then repeats the cycle, often recycling the same parcels over again.”

The Center for American Progress

Bread and Circuses

Constantly listing, selling, managing, repossessing, and relisting public lands for oil and gas leases takes time and resources. These are time and resources that could be spent doing things that are less beneficial for the fossil fuel industry, like environmental impact reports. A judge in Montana recently ruled to vacate 287 oil and gas leases because they were improperly issued. According to the judge, his decision…

…largely relates to the absence of analysis rather than to a flawed analysis. In other words, the Court does not fault B.L.M. for providing a faulty analysis of cumulative impacts or impacts to groundwater, it largely faults B.L.M. for failing to provide any analysis.”

Federal Judge Brian Morris

Oil and gas companies don’t care if these leases default. The amount spent on the leases is virtually equal to the Bureau of Land Management’s yearly budget. While the department is meant to represent public lands and public interests, fossil fuel money is what keeps it operating. The money spent on leases that don’t yield significant oil or gas deposits pays off in diverting resources and influence.

The BLM is spending taxpayer money on an ineffective and unnecessary program. Furthermore, Americans are losing out on a fair return for the use of their resources, and the BLM’s hands are tied from actively managing the public lands for conservation, recreation, or other beneficial purposes. The BLM is already stretched thin, lacking adequate staff and resources to fulfill its complex multiple use mission on public lands, of which oil and gas development is a fraction. Devoting significant time to this program that, for all intents and purposes, appears to mainly benefit companies looking to pad their books or engage in speculative practices, takes away much-needed resources that the BLM could better use for public benefit elsewhere.”

Center for American Progress

This not a new practice from either the government or the fossil fuel industry. The government makes its decisions based on the resources they have available. These resources are provided by the interests the government is elected to regulate. The pandemic has not changed their businesses at all, essential or not. In fact, the pandemic and subsequent shutdown have served to further remove roadblocks for the massive corporations that rule our nation.

Sources:

• Giving Away Our Lands as Americans Shelter in Place – National Resources Defense Council

States and cities are rolling back plastic bag bans at the grocery store and enacting bans on reusable grocery bags as the plastics industries ramps up lobbying during the COVID-19 pandemic. San Francisco, the first municipality to ban plastic bags, has banned customers from bringing reusable grocery bags while the state of California has lifted their plastic bag ban for 60 days. Oregon has lifted its plastic bag for the same period, and cities like Bellingham, WA, and Albuquerque, NM have announced they will allow the bags during the pandemic. Massachusetts, Illinois, New Hampshire, and Maryland are among the states that have banned or strongly discouraged the use of reusable grocery bags due to coronavirus fears.

It is critical to protect the public health and safety and minimize the risk of Covid-19 exposure for workers engaged in essential activities, such as those handling reusable grocery bags.”

Gavin Newsom, Governor of California

Do plastic bags actually protect workers?

There is evidence to suggest that efforts to stop the spread of coronavirus by banning reusable bags don’t actually work any better than using plastic bags does. Scientists have found that coronavirus can linger on hard surfaces like stainless steel and plastic, where the novel coronavirus can survive for 2-3 days. Meanwhile, there is no evidence to date that coronavirus can survive on what we wear and most reusable bags lack the hard buttons and zippers that clothes have.

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At the grocery store, plastic bags don’t reduce exposure for customers or essential workers any more than reusable bags do. Plastic bags have been received, stocked, and distributed by a person who has likely not been tested for COVID-19 for a multitude of reasons. Cashiers wear gloves, but many haven’t received proper training on how to limit the spread of disease while wearing gloves.

So those workers are constantly touching food, people’s money, people’s hand, carts and touch screens–without cleaning their hands or changing their gloves. But we know that the gloves can carry a bioburden and increases the risk for transfer of germs.”

Shanina Knighton, nurse-scientist/researcher at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing

Your grocery store clerk is touching money, their workstation, the plastic bag carousel, every bag they gave you, and every single item you and everyone else in store give them. Simply using plastic bags doesn’t stop that.

Properly washed reusable bags eliminate points of exposure for everyone. The cashier doesn’t need to touch the bag carousel. The customer isn’t handed bags that have been touched by multiple people. The cashier doesn’t need to touch the plastic bag carousel that has been repeatedly handled and doesn’t even need to touch the reusable bag if the customer holds it open while grocery items are dropped in. Reusable bags are touched by one person and can be washed for reuse immediately upon returning home. So why would governors ban them? The answer lies in the plastics industry.

Influence Infrastructure

Plastics makers have capitalized on coronavirus fears, including heavy pushes from lobbyists to end all plastics bag bans. Groups like Bag the Ban and American Progressive Bag Alliance have been especially active in overturning bans and promoting single-use plastics as a way to maintain public safety. Tony Radoszewski, president and CEO of the Plastics Industry Association, recently penned a letter to Alex Azar, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

We are asking that the Department of Health and Human Services investigate this issue and make a public statement on the health and safety benefits seen in single-use plastics. We ask that the department speak out against bans on these products as a public safety risk and help stop the rush to ban these products by environmentalists and elected officials that puts consumers and workers at risk.”

Tony Radoszewski, president and CEO of the Plastics Industry Association

Plastic bag sales in the U.S. were projected to reach 1.4 billion dollars this year. Thanks to the lift on bans during the pandemic, those numbers will likely be higher than expected. In addition to the rollback of previously instated bans, pending bans have also taken a hit. A proposed ban of plastic and paper bags and polystyrene food containers in New Jersey died in January. The plastics ban proposed in New York has been held since February by a lawsuit filed by Poly-Pak Industries Inc., Green Earth Food Corp., Green Earth Grocery Store, Francisco Marte, The Bodega, and the Small Business Association. Meanwhile, the plastics recycling industry is seeking a 1 billion dollar bailout due to the coronavirus. The U.S. system is notoriously bad at processing plastics with only 10% of plastics actually being recycled.

Plastics Are Not Here to Make Friends

The plastics industry is having a party, and the American people will be left with both the bill and the cleanup. Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) has proposed the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act.

By asking for a billion-dollar handout, Big Plastic is trying to maintain what already is the status quo: that is, taxpayers funding and taking responsibility for the waste of plastic producers…When we surface from this pandemic, plastic pollution will still be at crisis levels­ — and matters may be even worse, as industry tries to exploit this pandemic to leverage more marketing for single-use products.”

Senator Tom Udall

Sources:

• Pandemic deals blow to plastic bag bans, plastic reduction – AP NEWS
• The Pandemic Is Bringing Back Single-Use Plastics in a Huge Way – Vice
• Plastic bags have lobbyists. They’re winning. – Politico
• Lawsuit holds up plastic bag ban – Hudson Valley 360
• How Long Does Coronavirus Live on Surfaces Like Food and Clothing Before It Dies? – GoodRx
• Multiple cities suspend plastic bag bans due to coronavirus concerns – The Hill

Youtube’s chief executive Susan Wojcicki said in an interview that Youtube would be banning all content regarding coronavirus that contradicts The World Health Organization. Wojcicki says the goal is to get rid of “Misinformation on the platform”, by removing anything they deem “medically unsubstantiated”.

“Anything that would go against World Health Organization recommendations would be a violation of our policy.”

Chief Executive Susan Wojcicki

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Unfortunately, what they deem medically unsubstantiated is entirely up to their discretion and not up for debate. It seems, as pointed out by Collective Evolution, that the information they deem medically unsubstantiated is information that negatively targets the establishment.

It seems that any type of information that threatens political/government, corporate and other elitist agendas is heavily targeted.

YouTube Is Banning Coronavirus Content That Contradicts The World Health Organization -Collective Evolution

Related: Google and Amazon are now in the oil business

The censoring of information by supposed “fact-checkers” could easily be seen as a blatant violation of our right to free speech. Fact-checkers continually flag information as false, or “fake news” without giving counter-evidence that proves this information to be false.

Sources:

• YouTube Is Banning Coronavirus Content That Contradicts The World Health Organization– Collective Evolution
• Coronavirus: YouTube bans ‘medically unsubstantiated’ content -BBC

A federal judge in Montana has vacated oil and gas leases on 145,000 acres of land issued by the Trump administration. Judge Brian Morris found that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) failed to consider the environmental implications of the 287 leases they sold to energy companies in December 2017 and March 2018.

BLM provided no catalogue here and little analysis to show the combined environmental impacts…if BLM ever hopes to determine the true impact of its projects on climate change, it can do so only by looking at projects in combination with each other, not simply in the context of state and nation-wide emissions.”

Judge Brian Morris

The Bureau of Land Management lease process requires the organization to conduct an environmental review before placing lands up for sale. In the case of these leases, Judge Morris found the environmental review process lacking, as it failed to consider the effects of drilling on local water supplies and climate change.

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With all due respect, we disagree with the Court’s conclusion, and the B.L.M. stands by its analysis in following the letter of the law to issue oil and gas leases in Montana. Regardless of the ultimate outcome of this dispute and despite the attempts of radical, special interest groups, the Department and the B.L.M. will continue to work toward ensuring America’s energy independence while preserving a healthy environment.”

Derrick Henry, Bureau of Land Management

The Trump administration is currently under fire for its systematic dismantling of many of the environmental protections put in place by the previous administration. Montana, in particular, has been a hotspot for legal cases between environmental groups and big oil and gas. This decision comes after a key government permit for the Keystone XL pipeline was revoked in April of this year.

The Trump administration’s lust for energy dominance at the expense of people and the environment has, fortunately, hit another brick wall. This is another major win for our climate, while protecting almost 150,000 acres of public lands from industry exploitation.”

Kyle Tisdel, attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center

Judge Morris has a record of environmentally friendly decisions. In addition to being the judge who recently revoked the Keystone XL permit, he also halted construction of the pipeline in 2018. In each case, he has ruled that further environmental study is necessary.

Sources:

• U.S. judge halts oil leases due to lack of federal study of water impacts – Reuters
• In A Setback For Trump, Judge Blocks Keystone XL Pipeline Construction – NPR

In recent weeks, the World Health Organization has received a lot of attention, most recently when President Trump decided to cut funding from WHO in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. The president cut funding while claiming that WHO is mismanaging and covering up the full extent of the coronavirus spread.

Related: Google Removed Natural Health Websites From Search Results – List of Alternative Search Engines

Recently, Wikileaks has posted about the WHO on social media, sharing confidential documents released more than a decade ago. The documents point to the influence that “Big Pharma” has over the WHO.

The compilation of documents shows the influence of “Big Pharma” on the policymaking decisions of the WHO, the UN body safeguarding public health. These confidential documents were obtained by the drug industry before their public release to WHO member states.”

Big Pharma inside the WHO: confidential analysis of unreleased WHO Expert Working Group draft reports, 8 Dec 2009

“Big Pharma” has a similar influence over Congress in D.C, making up the largest lobbying group in Washington. Large pharmaceutical companies have more lobbyists in Washington D.C than D.C has congressmen and senators. Despite the obvious hold on our government and the World Health Organization, this corruption isn’t highlighted in mainstream media.

Source:

• Wikileaks Highlights The Influence “Big Pharma” Has On The World Health Organization -Collective Evolution

A prison in Ohio is accounting for the majority of coronavirus cases in Marion County, which has the leading number of coronavirus cases in Ohio. Officials are attributing the large number of cases to mass testing. Everyone, both staff and inmates have been tested for coronavirus. No COVID-19 deaths have been reported, however, more than 100 staff members and 2,000 inmates have tested positive for the virus.

“Because we are testing everyone — including those who are not showing symptoms — we are getting positive test results on individuals who otherwise would have never been tested because they were asymptomatic.”

Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction

Although California, Florida, Georgia, and Texas all have larger prison populations than Ohio, no one has reported case numbers as large as Marion County. Michigan has also reported a high number of inmates testing positive for coronavirus with 572 inmates testing positive out of 889 inmates tested. Michigan has some of the highest case numbers in the country. New York, who also has extremely high case numbers is only testing inmates who show symptoms and has only reported around 1,000 cases within the prison system.

In the midst of the pandemic, the Ohio governor recommended 300 out of 49,000 inmates be released early. Ohio is not the only state to release prisoners early, however, the governor has stated that he is not planning a “Wholesale release” where every prisoner in certain categories is released.

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• ABC Says Homemade Sanitizers Don’t Work For Coronavirus – We Disagree, So Here’s a Recipe
• Does Elderberry Increase Risk Of Death With CoVID-19?

Source:

• 73% Of Inmates At An Ohio Prison Test Positive For Coronavirus -NPR

The United States healthcare system could be facing a bigger crisis than CoVID-19. While New York Governor Andrew Cuomo begs for healthcare volunteers to combat coronavirus, hospitals throughout the country are furloughing or laying off employees at the highest rate since 1990.

On April 6th, the West Virginia University Health System announced that some of their employees will see temporary 25% pay cuts during the pandemic. As the hospital system is seeing less clinical volume, WVU Health is moving people to new roles, and those who are not matched to a new role will be sent home with a 75% salary guarantee. This new policy will be reevaluated in mid-May.

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The WVU Health System hospitals are only one example of the grim reality facing many healthcare workers. According to Altarum, a nonprofit research and consulting firm…

Health care has traditionally cushioned the blow of non-health sector job losses during and immediately following economic downturns…This time, health care looks to be contributing to instead of counterbalancing an accelerating economic calamity. Health care lost 43,000 jobs this month, by far the largest monthly drop in our data series going back to 1990.”

Ani Turner, Altarum

In the case of West Virginia, the state has seen relatively few coronavirus cases during the pandemic, with the number of total reported cases in the state less than 1000. In additional cost-cutting measures, the WVU Health System will institute a hiring freeze, suspend employer match to all employee’s 403(b) for the remainder of 2020, and the health system CEO, hospital CEOs, and certain senior executives will see a 10% percent salary reduction for the next six months.

WVU Medicine employees are lucky. Workers who are sent home will still be making a significant portion of their salary. It’s likely that the employees sent home by the hospital administration will be in lower levels positions or less busy areas of the hospitals.

According to Indeed.com, people in administrative assistant and registered nurse positions at WVU Medicine make $30,000 and $51,000, respectively. Twenty-five percent of these salaries represent a significant chunk of income. Yet health system CEO, hospital CEOs, and certain senior executives are only receiving 10% pay cuts. The average CEO salary in West Virginia is $720,000. If the CEOs of the eleven hospitals in the WVU Health System make that average salary were made to take the same temporary 25% pay cut as hospital nurses and administrators, the hospital system could potentially save $1.98 million. Why are hospital workers on the front lines of our healthcare system being asked to sacrifice further when there are those in much better positions to step up financially?

Sources

• Some WVU Health employees to see temporary pay cut during pandemic – WCHS News
• Amid pandemic WVU Medicine announces executive pay cuts, salary guarantees, hiring freeze & retirement match suspensions – WBOY
• Hospital are laying off workers in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic – Vox.com