World

Washington has invoked the environmental provisions of the North American free trade pact to urge Mexico to do more to protect the critically endangered vaquita porpoise, officials announced Thursday.

The office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) said it is requesting consultations with Mexico under the Environment Chapter of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA.

While Mexico last year put in place measures to protect the world’s most endangered marine mammal, there is evidence it is not meeting its commitments under the pact, USTR said in a statement.

“USTR is committed to protecting the environment and is requesting this consultation to ensure Mexico lives up to its USMCA environment commitments,” US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said. “We look forward to working with Mexico to address these issues.”

It is the first time a government has invoked the environmental provisions of the trade pact, which took effect in July 2020.

The vaquita is endemic to the Upper Gulf of California in Mexico, with at least six but likely fewer than 19 remaining, the statement said, noting that it is threatened largely by illegal gillnets used to catch shrimp and totoaba.

However, “scientists maintain that the species continues to be biologically viable, if given the space to recover.”

The consultations also cover illegal fishing of the totoaba.

Deputy USTR Jayme White told reporters Washington has “serious concerns about Mexico’s enforcement of its environmental laws,” and the talks will focus on finding “a durable solution.”

Under USMCA, consultations should be scheduled within 30 days, and at least 75 days must pass before Washington can escalate a dispute to the next level. 

Without a resolution it could lead to imposition of tariffs but senior USTR officials cautioned that it is premature to discuss any punitive actions.

Mexico’s economy ministry said it would coordinate work between authorities from the two countries to present “the efforts and measures adopted to protect marine species” in Mexican waters.

“The government of Mexico reaffirms its commitment to the correct implementation of USMCA and the responsibilities assumed under it,” it said in a statement.

A heatwave was bringing unseasonably high temperatures to California on Thursday, sending sun-worshippers to the beach, but also sparking a brushfire.

Forecasters issued a heat warning for the most populous US state through to Sunday, warning the mercury could hit a height-of-summer 90 Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) in Los Angeles, well above the average for winter.

California, in common with much of the western United States, is enduring a historic drought and wild swings in weather that scientists say is exacerbated by man-made climate change.

“If you warm the planet, you’re going to break heat records,” said geographer Justin Mankin of Dartmouth College.

Continuing to burn fossil fuels that release planet-heating carbon dioxide is going to make that worse, especially when coupled with natural weather variations.

“Right now you have this kind of prevailing high pressure system that’s somewhat amplified,” he told AFP.

“You have drier-than-usual conditions at the surface, which just means that more energy will go towards warming up the air rather than evaporating water.”

The heat was set to continue into the weekend, when Los Angeles is due to host the Super Bowl, American football’s showpiece final.

The previous hottest Super Bowl was in 1973, also in LA, when players trotted out in balmy 84F conditions.

In San Diego, near the Mexican border, temperatures were also expected to hit 90F.

In northern California, the UC Berkeley laboratory in the central Sierra region recorded another record Wednesday: 32 consecutive days without rain, the longest period without precipitation in winter.

A wetter-than-usual December across the state had given hope that the years-long drought might be waning, but 2022 has been dry.

While surfers were happily soaking up California’s rays, dozens of people had to flee their homes overnight around Laguna Beach, where a fire tore through 145 acres.

There were no reports of injuries or any property damage in the swanky spot, where million-dollar homes line the roads, but firefighters were urging residents to stay away.

Laguna Beach Mayor Sue Kempf told reporters the flames brought back memories of a 1993 wildfire that destroyed more than 300 homes.

“We no longer have a fire season, we have a fire year,” said local fire chief Brian Fennessy.

“It’s February 10. This is supposed to be the middle of winter and we’re anticipating 80- to 90-degree weather.

“If this is any sign of what’s to come throughout the rest of the winter and spring we’re in for a long year.”

French President Emmanuel Macron called Thursday for a “renaissance” for the country’s nuclear industry, saying he wanted up to 14 new reactors to power the country’s transition away from fossil fuels.

Acknowledging that France had hesitated on whether to continue investing in its atomic sector after the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan, he called for a bold new bet on the technology alongside renewables. 

“We are going towards an electrification of all our tasks, our way of manufacturing, of moving around,” Macron said in a speech at a turbine plant in eastern France, just two months ahead of presidential elections.

“We are going to need to produce a lot more electricity,” he said. 

As well as calling for new investments in solar, wind and hydrogen power, his headline announcement was a plan to order six new-generation EPR2 reactors from state-controlled giant EDF, while launching studies for eight more. 

“What we have to build today is the renaissance of the French nuclear industry because it’s the right moment, because it’s the right thing for our nation, because everything is in place,” he added.

Low-cost nuclear power has been a mainstay of the French economy since the 1970s, but recent attempts to build French-designed reactors at home, in Britain and in Finland have become mired in cost over-runs and delays.

Opponents of nuclear power, who worry about its safety and highly toxic radioactive waste, immediately criticised Macron’s announcements.

“The EPRs he’s promising are at best for 2040-2045,” Greens presidential candidate Yannick Jadot said during a trip to southern France on Thursday, meaning France would be condemned to a “century of nuclear power.” 

Whether Macron’s announcements amount to anything will depend on the outcome of presidential elections on April 10 and 24.

Most presidential candidates have vowed to continue investing in the industry, however, with the exception of hard-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon and Greens contender Jadot.

– French-German split –

The 44-year-old centrist argued that nuclear energy was required to help advanced economies transition to a low-carbon future because renewables were not yet a reliable energy source, nor able to produce the amount of electricity needed. 

“Some nations made radical choices to turn their backs on nuclear,” Macron said, referring to the Fukushima accident. “France did not make this choice. We resisted. But we did not invest because we had doubts.”

Germany decided to phase out nuclear industry by the end of 2022 following the Fukushima disaster, but the decision has been criticised for increasing Berlin’s reliance on carbon-emitting gas and raising power prices.

Calling French nuclear regulators “unequalled” in their strictness, Macron termed the decision to build new nuclear power plants a “choice of progress, a choice of confidence in science and technology.”

He also announced that he would seek to extend the lives of all existing French nuclear plants where it was safe to do so, and said one billion euros in funding would be made available to develop innovative new small reactors.

The French government lobbied hard — and successfully — to have nuclear power labelled as “green” by the European Commission this month in a landmark energy review which means it can attract funding as a climate-friendly power source. 

– Turbines –

The new French programmes comes as heavily indebted EDF faces difficulties in trying to build its latest-generation EPR reactors. 

Its flagship French project, in Flamanville in northern France, is expected to cost around four times the initial budget of 3.3 billion euros ($3.8 billion) and will not be loaded with fuel until next year at the earliest — 11 years later than expected.

The group has also faced shutdowns at three plants this year after France’s IRSN nuclear regulator warned of possible problems with corroded welds on the pipes of their emergency cooling systems.

Macron chose to speak from a turbine manufacturing factory in Belfort on the day the complex was brought back under French ownership. 

The site was sold by industrial giant Alstom to American rival General Electric in 2015 in a widely criticised deal associated with Macron who was economy minister in the Socialist government at the time.

The deal — between two private companies but which Macron could have blocked as minister — led to more than a thousand job cuts and fears about the loss of a strategic industry to a foreign investor.

Under pressure from the French government, EDF announced Thursday that it had agreed a deal to buy back the unit at a cost of $200 million.

jmi-pab-cho-adp/jh/yad

French President Emmanuel Macron is set to throw his support behind a massive nuclear power plant programme on Thursday despite concerns about the cost and complexity of building new reactors.

The head of state will go to a key turbine manufacturing site in eastern France on a pre-election visit dedicated to energy policy and the future of the country’s atomic industry, which provides around 70 percent of French electricity.

Low-cost nuclear power has been a mainstay of the French economy since the 1970s, but recent attempts to build new-generation reactors to replace older models have become mired in cost over-runs and delays.

Macron is set to announce the construction of at least six new reactors by state-controlled energy giant EDF by 2050, with an option for another eight, a source close to the president told AFP on condition of anonymity.  

“It (nuclear) is ecological, it enables us to produce carbon-free electricity, it helps give us energy independence, and it produces electricity that is very competitive,” another presidential aide told reporters on Wednesday.

Whatever the 44-year-old head of state announces will depend on the outcome of presidential elections in April, however, with his rivals likely to review and change his proposals if they defeat him.

Most presidential candidates have vowed to continue investing in the industry with the exception of hard-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon and Greens contender Yannick Jadot who object to it on environmental grounds.

– French-German split –

The French government lobbied hard — and successfully — to have nuclear power labelled as “green” by the European Commission this month in a landmark energy review which means it can attract funding as a climate-friendly power source. 

Macron has consistently argued that nuclear energy is required to help advanced economies transition to a low-carbon future, with ministers frequently citing German policy as an example of what can happen if it is abandoned.

Germany decided to phase out nuclear industry by the end of 2022 following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, but the decision has been criticised for increasing Berlin’s reliance on carbon-emitting gas and raising power prices.

The new French programmes comes as heavily indebted EDF faces difficulties in trying to build its latest-generation EPR reactors in separate projects in France, Britain and Finland. 

Its flagship French project, in Flamanville in northern France, is expected to cost around four times the initial budget of 3.3 billion euros ($3.8 billion) and will not be loaded with fuel until next year at the earliest — 11 years later than expected.

The Flamanville overruns have been denounced as “a fiasco at the French public’s expense” by Jadot.

– Turbines –

Macron is set to law out his vision “of our future energy mix, for nuclear but also renewables and energy efficiencies,” according to the aide.  

He will speak in Belfort, home to a key manufacturing site that produces turbines that will be used in the future power stations.

The site was sold by French industrial giant Alstom to American rival General Electric in 2015 in a widely criticised deal associated with Macron who was economy minister in the Socialist government at the time.

The divestment led to more than a thousand job cuts and fears about the loss of a strategic industry to a foreign investor.

Under pressure from the French government, EDF announced Thursday that it had agreed a deal to buy back the unit at a cost of 200 million dollars (175 million euros).

jmi-pab-cho-adp/sjw/ach 

A northern Swiss region will vote Sunday on whether non-human primates should enjoy some of the same basic fundamental rights as their human cousins.

The vote in the Basel-Stadt canton, which is home to the city of the same name and to one of Europe’s best-known zoos, is being keenly followed by animal rights activists.

– Giving primates ‘integrity’ –

Triggered by the campaign group Sentience under Switzerland’s direct democracy system, the regional vote concerns whether to give primates the right to life and the right to “mental and physical integrity”.

“This will mark the first time worldwide that people can vote on fundamental rights for non-human animals,” the group claims.

Basel-based Sentience says primates are highly intelligent and maintain an active social life, and feel pain, grief and compassion.

However, they cannot defend themselves against interventions in their lives — so humans need to take responsibility and grant them rights, says Sentience.

The group says some 150 primates live in the canton, which borders France and Germany.

– Legal challenge –

In 2020, Switzerland’s Supreme Court deemed a public vote on the topic was valid, rejecting an appeal.

It found that the proposal would not extend fundamental rights to animals — but instead introduce specific rights for non-human primates.

However, it said the proposal would only bind the cantonal and municipal authorities in Switzerland’s third-biggest city, and “not directly private persons”.

The impact on private research institutions, and on Basel Zoo — in the hands of family shareholders — would therefore be limited.

And, according to the court, the local authorities and their public bodies do not have any primates.

– Establishing the law –

The vote is “a statement of intent so that primates live in better conditions,” said Pedro Pozas, the Spanish director of the Great Apes Project, an international movement which demands a set of rights.

Animal defenders say the vote is highly symbolic. Its scope could be very wide, said Steven Wise, a US lawyer specialising in animal rights.

The vote “would give certain rights to primates, which would have to be litigated out as to what rights those are”, he told AFP.

Wise said the proposal raises several questions, including who would plead a primate’s case in court if its rights were violated?

If the vote goes through, Swiss courts would meanwhile not be the first to hear such cases.

In 2017 in Argentina, a court granted a female chimpanzee the right not to be imprisoned without trial, under habeas corpus. It was the first chimpanzee in the world to benefit from this right.

Wise said the animal rights movement was trying to “break through the barrier” limiting the extent to which rights can be applied.

He compared the situation to previous battles to extend rights among humans, citing children, women or racial minorities.

Pozas said the United Nations should also make a declaration on the rights of great apes.

– Euthanasia question –

While the proposed new law would only concern primates kept by public bodies, Basel Zoo board member Olivier Pagan fears a spillover effect on their primates.

“If the initiative was adopted, the scrutiny of their well-being and safety would no longer be the responsibility of experienced biologists, veterinarians and experienced caregivers, but of a mediator… or even unqualified lawyers,” he said.

When a primate is in serious pain, it might not be possible to end its suffering, under the right to life clause.

Zoo veterinarian Fabia Wyss said: “If the initiative is adopted and if I decide to put the animal to sleep, I put myself beyond the law.”

“But by letting an animal suffer unnecessarily, I am also equally culpable.”

Scientists in Britain announced Wednesday they had smashed a previous record for generating fusion energy, hailing it as a “milestone” on the path towards cheap, clean power and a cooler planet.

Nuclear fusion is the same process that the sun uses to generate heat. Proponents believe it could one day help address climate change by providing an abundant, safe and green source of energy.

A team at the Joint European Torus (JET) facility near Oxford in central England generated 59 megajoules of energy for five seconds during an experiment in December, more than doubling a 1997 record, the UK Atomic Energy Authority said.

That is about the power needed to power 35,000 homes for the same period of time, five seconds, said JET’s head of operations Joe Milnes.

The results “are the clearest demonstration worldwide of the potential for fusion energy to deliver safe and sustainable low-carbon energy”, the UKAEA said.

The donut-shaped machine used for the experiments is called a tokamak, and the JET site is the largest operational one in the world.

Inside, just 0.1 milligrammes each of deuterium and tritium — both are isotopes of hydrogen, with deuterium also called heavy hydrogen — is heated to temperatures 10 times hotter than the centre of the sun to create plasma.

This is held in place using magnets as it spins around, fuses and releases tremendous energy as heat.

Fusion is inherently safe in that it cannot start a run-away process. 

Deuterium is freely available in seawater, while tritium can be harvested as a byproduct of nuclear fission.

Pound for pound (gram for gram) it releases nearly four million times more energy than burning coal, oil or gas, and the only waste product is helium.

– Reagan-Gorbachev fusion –

The results announced Wednesday demonstrated the ability to create fusion for five seconds, as longer than that would cause JET’s copper wire magnets to overheat.

A larger and more advanced version of JET is currently being built in southern France, called ITER, where the Oxford data will prove vital when the site comes online, possibly as soon as 2025.

ITER will be equipped with superconductor electromagnets which will allow the process to continue for longer, hopefully longer than 300 seconds.

About 350 scientists from EU countries plus Britain, Switzerland and Ukraine — and more from around the globe — participate in JET experiments each year.

JET will soon pass the fusion baton to ITER, which is around 80 percent completed, said Milnes.

“If that’s successful, as we now think it will be given the results we’ve had on JET, we can develop power plant designs in parallel… we’re probably halfway there” to viable fusion, he said.

If all goes well at ITER, a prototype fusion power plant could be ready by 2050.

International cooperation on fusion energy has historically been close because, unlike the nuclear fission used in atomic power plants, the technology cannot be weaponised.

The France-based megaproject also involves China, the EU, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the US.

Tim Luce, head of science and operation at ITER, said the project emerged in the 1980s from talks on nuclear disarmament between US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

“And the one thing they did agree on was using fusion as a cooperation,” he told AFP.

“Somehow fusion has had the scientific panache to bring together disparate governmental entities and actually choose to work together on it.”

Despite dozens of tokamaks being built since they were first invented in Soviet Russia in the 1950s, none has yet managed to produce more energy than is put in.

The latest results use about three times the amount of energy that is produced.

Ian Fells, emeritus professor of energy conversion at the University of Newcastle, said Wednesday’s result was a “landmark in fusion research”. 

“Now it is up to the engineers to translate this into carbon-free electricity and mitigate the problem of climate change,” added Fells, who is not involved in the project.