MH370 went missing 10 years ago. An Indonesian family hopes it can be found
Medan, Indonesia – Herlina Panjaitan has not changed her mobile phone number since her son, 25-year-old Firman Chandra Siregar, went missing 10 years ago. Siregar, an Indonesian, was a passenger on MH370, the Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared 40 minutes into its flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in the early hours of March 8, 2014 and was never heard from again. It is important to 69-year-old Panjaitan that her number remains the same, just in case her youngest son tries to call her. “That was the number I used at the time and that is the number Firman has for me. I still hope he will call and ask me to go and pick him up, wherever he is,” she told Al Jazeera. Panjaitan had travelled to Kuala Lumpur from her home in Medan, Indonesia with her daughter-in-law and grandson the night before Siregar departed for Beijing, so the family could spend some time together before he started his new job with an oil company in China. Before he left for the airport to catch the late-night flight, Panjaitan helped her son pack his belongings, including a bag filled with warm clothing for Beijing’s freezing winter. The family took photographs together, with Siregar beaming as he played with his nephew. Panjaitan proudly displays photos of Siregan in her home, including of his graduation from the prestigious Bandung Institute of Technology [Aisyah Llewellyn/Al Jazeera] The pictures now hang on the wall of the family’s home in Medan, which lies on the other side of the Strait of Malacca facing Malaysia. “I told him to be careful and call me when he got to Beijing,” Panjaitan said. “There was no feeling that anything was about to go wrong.” The next morning, Panjaitan got a call from her daughter who worked at the Indonesian embassy in Mexico to ask her if she had heard the news about MH370. “She just said that she had heard that it had lost contact with air traffic control,” she recalled. “I didn’t know what to think.” Panjaitan and her family immediately rushed to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) where the families of the 239 passengers and crew on board were briefed on the plane’s mysterious disappearance. “That is when I started to believe that it had really gone missing,” she said. Ten years since it took off from KLIA, the plane’s fate has become one of aviation’s greatest mysteries. No one has been able to say with any certainty what happened to the Boeing 777 after Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah signed off from Malaysian air traffic control with the words “Good night, Malaysian three seven zero”, and prepared to enter Vietnamese airspace. According to satellite data, rather than continuing on to Beijing, the plane dramatically veered off course, flying back across northern Malaysia and skirting around Indonesia, before heading south towards the deep waters of the Indian Ocean. Panjaitan said that she called Siregar’s mobile phone after she heard the news and that it had rung several times but that no one had answered. A woman in Kuala Lumpur writes a message to mark the 10th anniversary of MH370’s disappearance [FL Wong/AP Photo] Two weeks later, then Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced the plane had “ended” its journey in the remote southern Indian Ocean. ‘The best child’ Siregar, a graduate of Indonesia’s prestigious Bandung Institute of Technology, was the youngest of five children – three boys and two girls – and Panjaitan says he was “the best”. “That doesn’t mean my other children aren’t amazing,” she explained. “One works as a prosecutor and another is a diplomat, but Firman was just the best child and my other children understand what I mean when I say that. He was so handsome, so well-behaved, so respectful and so kind. “He never gave me any trouble as a child, and he knew what to do and what not to do without me telling him.” Before he went to Beijing, Siregar had introduced his mother and family to his girlfriend and her parents, who had travelled from Bandung to meet Panjaitan and her husband Chrisman. “They said they wanted to get married and I was happy that he’d found his life partner,” she said. Six months after the plane went missing, Panjaitan and her husband went to Bandung to meet Siregar’s girlfriend and gave her their blessing to move forward with her life. “We said that if she wanted to get married in the future, she should do it,” Panjaitan told Al Jazeera. “She didn’t say anything, just cried. And we cried too, it was just so sad.” Many theories, few answers Endless speculation has filled the void left by the failure to find MH370. Some claim Captain Zaharie engineered a sophisticated murder-suicide plot to deliberately crash the plane into the ocean. Others suggest that the plane was hijacked, deliberately shot down, or suffered a technical malfunction that cut off its communication systems and incapacitated the pilots leading to its eventual crash. None of the claims has been proven. Searches have proved fruitless, including a significant underwater and air search across an area of 120,000sq km (46,332sq miles) that cost $147m and was led by an Australian team in conjunction with Malaysia and China. The Malaysian authorities have also launched several investigations that culminated in a 495-page report that was finally released in 2018. It found that while foul play was likely, it was not possible to say who was responsible. Last week, ahead of the 10th anniversary, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim reiterated that Malaysia was prepared to reopen an investigation if new evidence emerged. Malaysia’s transport minister, Anthony Loke, has also said that he has plans to meet US marine robotics company, Ocean Infinity, to discuss a new proposed underwater search. Panjaitan said that her family welcomes any renewed investigation. Some fragments from the plane have washed up on East African beaches, including a flaperon that forms part of the wing, but there has been nothing
North Korea’s COVID curbs still strangling economy, report says
Tightened border controls introduced to curb COVID-19 are still strangling North Korea’s economic activity and informal trade networks more than 18 months after leader Kim Jong Un declared victory over the pandemic, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said. North Korea was one of the first countries to act on reports of COVID-19 circulating in early 2020, sealing itself off from the outside world and its economic lifeline in China. As Pyongyang suspended freight shipments from China for two years, authorities also beefed up border barriers to prevent any movement between the countries – going as far as issuing a shoot to kill order for people and animals to prevent them from spreading COVID-19. Satellite photos of six locations on the China-North Korea border show that fencing was expanded to cover 321 kilometres in 2023, up from 230 kilometres before the pandemic, HRW said in a report released on Thursday. Existing fences were also updated to include more watchtowers, guard posts, and secondary and tertiary layers of fencing, the rights group said. Since then, heightened border security has made it nearly impossible for North Koreans to leave, with the number of defectors dropping sharply from 1,047 in 2019 to a low of 63 in 2021, and then 196 last year, the report said. “The government’s persistent drive to control its population, overbroad and prolonged responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, and expanded nuclear weapons capabilities, have combined with the intensifying external pressures of UN Security Council sanctions to turn North Korea – already effectively a country-wide prison – into an even more repressive and isolated state,” the report said. As authorities ramped up border patrols during the pandemic, officials also cracked down on bribery that since the late 1990s had allowed North Koreans to evade government restrictions on daily life to the extent they could enjoy some freedom of movement and buy goods at formal and informal markets, according to HRW. “Almost all” cross-border movement of people and formal and informal commercial trade has stopped since the pandemic began, the report said, citing interviews with 16 North Korean defectors who were in contact with family or informal brokers and smugglers still in the country. “Informal traders can only get small packages that they can carry easily in their hands or hide in their body,” Lee Kwang Baek, director of the Unification Media Group, a Seoul-based NGO that broadcasts news to North Korea, said in the report. The new security measures have made civilians afraid to even approach border regions for fear they could be shot, according to testimony from a former North Korean trader quoted in the report. “My [relative] said there were no words to describe how hard life was. There was no [informal] trade with China, not even to get some rice or a bag of wheat. If [authorities] heard of a soldier allowing that, that person would just disappear,” the trade said in the report. “Soldiers are very scared … My [relative] said people in [her area] said there is not even an ant crossing the border.” North Korean authorities have also started cracking down on jangmadang, or informal markets, which had been tolerated to supplement people’s daily needs following a catastrophic famine in the 1990s, the breakdown of the government rationing system, and continuing international sanctions, according to the report. Officials have imposed tougher punishments from forced labour to capital punishment for “distributing imported products that don’t have official trading certificates and conducting economic activity in streets or places without permits,” HRW said. The rights watchdog said it had received reports of authorities clamping down on “foreign culture, copying South Korean slang, hairstyles, and clothes”. Young people found to have watched or distributed the Netflix Series Squid Game and South Korean films have been sentenced to hard labour or even executed, according to defectors cited in the report. Before the pandemic, a study by the United States-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) recorded 436 officially sanctioned markets spread across rural and urban North Korea that provided access to food, medical supplies, and contraband films and music. Often run by married women looking to supplement low wages earned by other family members, the markets earned the government an estimated $56.8m per year in taxes and fees, according to CSIS estimates. Peter Ward, a research fellow at the South Korea-based Sejong Institute who was not involved in the report, said that North Korea has yet to move on from COVID like other countries have. “When we talk about post-COVID in the West, South Korea, Japan, we’re talking about 2022 when things start to normalise. North Korea’s normalisation has been delayed a lot and arguably they haven’t really finished normalisation yet,” Ward told Al Jazeera. “The black market… is partially supplied by cross border smugglers and smuggling networks, and these networks are substantially damaged by COVID-era lockdowns and border controls,” Ward added. Adblock test (Why?)
Timeline: The Biden administration on Gaza, in its own words
Washington, DC – As Israel’s war in Gaza prompts mounting human rights concerns, the United States has slowly notched up criticism of the Israeli government while simultaneously continuing to arm and support its ally. On Sunday, US Vice President Kamala Harris delivered the sternest statement yet on the war’s toll, marking a shift in rhetoric within the administration of President Joe Biden. An estimated 30,800 Palestinians have been killed, with more at risk of malnutrition and starvation. “People in Gaza are starving. The conditions are inhumane, and our common humanity compels us to act,” Harris said. “The Israeli government must do more to significantly increase the flow of aid — no excuses.” However, critics were quick to point out that the Biden administration is pushing forward with its military and diplomatic support for Israel, despite acknowledging the crisis. Thursday marks five months since the Palestinian group Hamas launched its attack on southern Israel, starting the present-day war. Israel has led a deadly bombing campaign and ground offensive in Gaza, in addition to a siege that limits Gaza’s access to key resources like food and water. As the conflict enters its sixth month, Al Jazeera looks at key statements from the Biden administration on the war and how Washington’s position evolved over time. October 7, 2023: Shortly after Hamas’s attack on Israel, Biden delivers a message of uncompromising support to the US ally while also warning other parties against entering the war. About 1,100 Israelis were killed in the attack, with more than 200 others taken captive. “My administration’s support for Israel’s security is rock solid and unwavering,” Biden says. October 10, 2023: Biden sets the stage for a forceful Israeli response after speaking with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “I just got off the phone — the third call with Prime Minister Netanyahu. And I told him if the United States experienced what Israel is experiencing, our response would be swift, decisive and overwhelming,” he says. October 12, 2023: Secretary of State Antony Blinken travels to Israel to voice support for the country. “If you’ll permit me a personal aside, I come before you not only as the United States secretary of state but also as a Jew,” he tells Netanyahu. October 16, 2023: Biden warns Israel against establishing a permanent military presence in Gaza. “I think it’d be a big mistake,” he tells CBS News. October 18, 2023: After the US sends aircraft carriers to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, Biden again warns parties in the region to not enter the war. “My message to any state or any other hostile actor thinking about attacking Israel remains the same as it was a week ago: Don’t. Don’t. Don’t,” he says during a visit to Israel. October 18, 2023: The US vetoes a United Nations Security Council proposal that would have called for a humanitarian pause in the fighting. “We are on the ground doing the hard work of diplomacy. We believe we need to let that diplomacy play out,” US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield says after the vote. Palestinians gather to inspect a destroyed building following the Israeli attacks in Rafah on March 5 [Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu Agency] October 25, 2023: Biden questions the mounting Palestinian death toll. “I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war,” he says. October 26, 2023: White House national security spokesperson John Kirby acknowledges that there have been a large number of civilian casualties and predicts that more innocent people will be hurt in the conflict. “That’s what war is. It’s brutal. It’s ugly. It’s messy,” Kirby tells reporters. November 3, 2023: Blinken calls for humanitarian pauses to allow more aid into Gaza and enable the release of Israeli captives. “We believe that each of these efforts would be facilitated by humanitarian pauses,” he says. November 8, 2023: Senior State Department official Barbara Leaf says the Palestinian Authority should rule post-war Gaza. “Whatever its shortcomings, it is the government for the Palestinians in the West Bank. We do believe that ultimately Palestinian voices and aspirations have to be at the centrepiece of post-conflict governance and security in Gaza,” she tells US lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. November 15, 2023: Washington abstains on a UN Security Council resolution calling for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses”, with Thomas-Greenfield decrying the council’s failure to condemn Hamas. “What are they afraid of? Let’s be crystal clear: Hamas set this conflict in motion,” she said. November 21, 2023: Biden welcomes a deal for a four-day pause in the fighting. “I appreciate the commitment that Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government have made in supporting an extended pause to ensure this deal can be fully carried out and to ensure the provision of additional humanitarian assistance to alleviate the suffering of innocent Palestinian families in Gaza,” the US president says in a statement. December 8, 2023: The State Department bypasses Congress to deliver thousands of tank shells to Israel on an emergency basis. “We want to make sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself against Hamas,” Blinken says. December 8, 2023: The US vetoes a UN Security Council measure that would have urged an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire”. “The resolution retains a call for an unconditional ceasefire. This is not only unrealistic but dangerous; it will simply leave Hamas in place,” US diplomat Robert Wood says. December 12, 2023: Biden accuses Israel of indiscriminate bombardment in Gaza, a war crime. “They’re starting to lose that support by the indiscriminate bombing that takes place,” he says of Israel. December 13, 2023: The White House downplays Biden’s comments on the bombing of Gaza. “Israel will do exactly what they say they’re doing, which is to continue to go after the terrorist leaders and to do so in a way that minimises civilian harm,” Kirby says. December 22, 2023: The US abstains on a UN Security
‘Terrible tragedy’: Canada rocked by mass killing of Sri Lankan family
The victims of a rare Ottawa mass killing included four children and two adults. A 19-year-old acquaintance was arrested. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has condemned the mass killing of an Ottawa family that had recently moved from Sri Lanka, calling it an act of “terrible violence”. Trudeau’s comments on Thursday came in the hours after a family and their acquaintance were killed in an apparent late-night stabbing in the Ottawa suburb of Barrhaven. The victims include a 35-year-old woman and her four children, ages seven, four, two and two months. A 40-year-old family friend was also killed. The attack has resonated across Canada, which, unlike its southern neighbour the United States, rarely sees mass casualty attacks. There were just 14 murders in Ottawa, a city of one million, in 2023. The year prior, the tally was only 15. “Obviously, our first reactions are all ones of shock and horror at this terrible violence,” Trudeau told reporters. “We’re expecting that the community reaches out to support family and friends, as Canadians always do. And we expect the police of jurisdiction to be doing the work and keeping us all informed of this terrible tragedy.” An Ottawa Police Service officer stands near a door smeared in blood in Ottawa suburb of Barrhaven in Ontario, Canada [Blair Gable/Reuters] The motive for the killing was not immediately clear, although police said 19-year-old Febrio De-Zoysa, a student from Sri Lanka, has been arrested and charged with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. Police said De-Zoysa was an acquaintance staying with the family but had no previous contact with law enforcement. ‘Senseless act’ Ottawa police chief Eric Stubbs said, during a televised news conference, that the family was found inside a house after authorities responded to an emergency call shortly before 11pm local time Wednesday (02:00 GMT Thursday). The husband of the 35-year-old mother killed in the attack was injured but survived and was taken to a hospital in stable condition. De-Zoysa was arrested at the scene. Stubbs said an “edged weapon” was used in the killings. “This was a senseless act of violence perpetrated on purely innocent people,” he said. On social media, Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe called the attack “one of the most shocking incidents of violence in our city’s history”. I was devastated to learn of the multiple homicide in Barrhaven, one of the most shocking incidents of violence in our city’s history. We are proud to live in a safe community but this news is distressing to all Ottawa residents. Ginny and I are thinking of the family members and… — Mark Sutcliffe (@_MarkSutcliffe) March 7, 2024 Mass killings are relatively infrequent in Canada, which has a population of just over 38 million. However, 2022 saw two prominent attacks. In December of that year, a man shot five people in a Toronto suburb before being fatally shot by police. Several months prior, in September, a man also stabbed and killed 11 people in the western province of Saskatchewan. He died of a cocaine overdose shortly after being arrested. The rate of such attacks is far lower than in the US, which has a population of 331 million. In 2023, there were 42 mass killings, defined as incidents in which four or more victims are killed, according to Northeastern University’s mass killing database. The number was the second highest in the US since 2006, the year when the database began tracking mass killings. In 2019, there were 46 attacks, accounting for 234 victims killed. Adblock test (Why?)
Modi visits Indian-administered Kashmir
NewsFeed India’s PM Narendra Modi visited Indian-administered Kashmir for the first time since India’s government stripped the region of its semi-autonomy in 2019. Published On 7 Mar 20247 Mar 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Dozens of pupils abducted by gunmen in Nigeria’s northwest
Gunmen escape with children from a government primary school in Kuriga town in Kaduna state. Gunmen have attacked a school in northwestern Nigeria and kidnapped dozens of pupils as they were about to start the school day, local residents and authorities say. Police in Kaduna state did not immediately comment on the abductions, which happened at the Local Government Education Authority School in the town of Kuriga on Thursday. The number of pupils taken was not immediately clear. The assailants stormed the school shortly after morning assembly about 8am (07:00 GMT), taking the pupils hostage before any help could arrive, Joshua Madami, a youth leader in the area, told The Associated Press news agency. “They were surrounded from all angles and left with almost 200 pupils and students,” Madami said. According to Salasi Musa, chairperson of the Chikun Local Government Area in Kaduna, the number of pupils abducted was “far more than 100”. Abductions of students from schools in northern Nigeria are common and have become a source of concern since 2014 when Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in Borno state’s Chibok village. Kaduna state, Nigeria In recent years, the abductions have been concentrated in the northwest and central regions, where dozens of armed groups often target villagers and travellers for large ransoms. The last major reported abduction involving schoolchildren was in June 2021 when gunmen took more than 80 students in a raid on a school in the northwestern state of Kebbi. ‘We don’t know what to do’ Parents of the missing children told the Reuters news agency that the gunmen started shooting sporadically on arrival at the school before abducting the children and escaping. The school educates primary and secondary school students. “We don’t know what to do. We are all waiting to see what God can do. They are my only children I have on Earth,” Fatima Usman, whose two children were among those abducted, told Reuters by phone. Another parent, Hassan Abdullahi, told Reuters that local vigilantes had tried to repel the gunmen but were overpowered. “Seventeen of the students abducted are my children. I feel very sad that the government has neglected us completely in this area,” Abdullahi said. Adblock test (Why?)
People’s Protection Force patrols Gaza market
NewsFeed Groups of masked and armed men, called the ‘People’s Protection Committee’ are patrolling Rafah, on the lookout for black market pricing. The group, set up by armed factions and the Hamas-led Interior Ministry, says they’re taking over the role of municipal police who have disbanded following Israeli strikes on their forces. Published On 7 Mar 20247 Mar 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Modi makes rare pre-election Kashmir trip, but struggles to ‘win hearts’
Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir – In his first speech in the main city of Indian-administered Kashmir since scrapping its semi-autonomous status in 2019, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed the move had brought development and prosperity to the region’s residents. “I am working hard to win your hearts,” Modi told a rally on Thursday in Srinagar, where he announced a slew of developmental projects worth $777m, which he said will boost the agro-economy and tourism in the disputed region. “Today, there is no Article 370, hence the talent of the youth of Jammu and Kashmir is being fully respected and they are getting new opportunities. Today there are equal rights and equal opportunities for everyone here,” he said, referring to the constitutional provision that granted a special status to the Muslim-majority region, also claimed by neighbouring Pakistan. “The country is seeing these smiling faces of yours … [and] feeling relieved to see you all happy,” he said, concluding his 27-minute address by wishing people well during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that begins next week. A paramilitary soldier stands guard as people queue up for a security check outside the stadium in Srinagar where PM Narendra Modi held the rally [Mukhtar Khan/AP Photo] But independent analysts and many Kashmiris said they were left disappointed by the PM’s speech, which many had anticipated might have offered more substantive political messaging aimed at reaching out to a region that New Delhi and Modi’s party have long had a tense relationship with. The 2019 break For decades, the abrogation of Article 370 was a core agenda of Modi’s Hindu majoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in order to “fully integrate” the region with the rest of India. The article allowed the region to have its own laws and barred outsiders from buying land or getting local jobs. But Modi’s government split the former state into two territories – Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir – and brought them under New Delhi’s direct rule. To curb street protests against the action, the government launched a security crackdown and curtailed civil liberties and press freedom. In defence of its controversial move, the government said New Delhi’s direct rule would bring progress to Kashmir and eradicate the armed rebellion against New Delhi’s rule that began in 1989. Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the conflict since, turning the Himalayan territory into one of the most militarised regions in the world. But the BJP’s move was opposed by Kashmiris, who feared the government was trying to change the region’s demography by allowing people from other parts of India to settle or invest there. “This is the new Jammu and Kashmir which we had been waiting for decades,” Modi said in remarks made ahead of the national election in April and May in which he is seeking a third straight term. People attend the rally addressed by Modi [AP Photo] ‘Disappointed the audience’ Residents, however, said they had low expectations for the prime minister’s visit – and that their grievances were not addressed in his speech. “The highest expectation was the restoration of the statehood. The second could have been the restoration of democracy since the central rule has been far too long. People don’t have a voice here,” said a 33-year-old Kashmiri who did not want to reveal his identity over fears of reprisal by the authorities. Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir has not had regional elections since 2014. The government formed then was dissolved by the BJP’s central government in 2018. In December 2023, the Supreme Court, while upholding the scrapping of the special status, said state elections must be held by September this year. But on Thursday, Modi did not give any assurances about holding the vote in his speech. “Two things people wanted to hear was the dates of elections and statehood,” New Delhi-based academic Radha Kumar, who has worked extensively on the Kashmir conflict, told Al Jazeera. “On both those points, PM Modi disappointed the audience,” she said. “One would expect he would give reassurance that the elections would be held by the deadline. Surprisingly, there was no reference.” But Zameer Ahmad, a BJP member from Kashmir’s Kupwara district, defended Modi’s visit, saying it gave the residents a chance to talk about their issues. “We have a future with the BJP because they will win elections. I think the PM will listen to us and solve our problems,” he said. Government employees mobilised as crowd Modi’s BJP is not a key player in Indian-administered Kashmir. Multiple government employees, including teachers, said their departments and offices had effectively ordered them — around 20,000 people in all — to attend Modi’s rally. Many schools in the region were closed for the day. “We hardly got any sleep and left home at 4am. It was a job compulsion,” Ahmad, a 45-year-old employee from Anantnag district, 50km (31 miles) from Srinagar, told Al Jazeera, outside the football stadium in the city where the event was held. A female teacher from southern Kashmir said she felt no excitement for the event. “I can’t say anything. We were directed by the administration to come.” Mehbooba Mufti, the last elected chief minister of the region, criticised the government for mobilising its employees for the rally. “This visit is only meant to address and drum support amongst the BJP’s core constituency in the rest of India for the upcoming parliament elections,” she posted on X. Adblock test (Why?)
What’s slowing down America’s clean energy transition? It’s not the cost
For the first time, clean energy in the United States is at the same price as energy from burning fossil fuels thanks to policy measures, including President Joe Biden’s signature climate legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). But a new report says non-cost barriers are now slowing the country’s transition to renewables. The report, released in February by the Clean Investment Monitor, analysed different modelling scenarios and found that the IRA is expected to meet its goal of reducing GHG emissions by roughly 40 percent by 2030. Passed in 2022, the IRA is the largest investment to address the climate crisis ever passed in the US. The investment is significant in a country that is one of the world’s largest contributors to GHG emissions. (China, the US and India are the world’s top three emitters.) The report found that electric vehicle sales were at the top of the projected range in 2023, and investment in utility-scale clean electricity reached record levels last year. However, factors like local opposition to renewables and long delays in grid connection are slowing the pace of the clean energy transition. Trevor Houser, one of the lead authors of the report, said two decades of policy work, including the passing of the IRA, have reduced the cost of clean energy to the point that it is competitive with coal and fossil gas (called “natural gas” by the fossil fuel industry), and can be deployed without increasing prices for households and businesses. “It’s exciting to see those two decades of work paying off and these new, cleaner technologies having achieved a level of cost reduction and a point of scale where they can be widely deployed,” Houser said. Now, the only issue is the speed of the transition. In the last two years, high inflation and supply chain issues led to temporary price increases. “That appears to be correcting now,” Houser said. The bigger obstacles, he said, are ramping up manufacturing, connecting transmission lines, and addressing growing opposition to renewables. “The thing that’s more concerning to me is the ability to get local acceptance and to get projects permitted and built fast enough,” he added. Opposition to renewables The area of land needed to deliver solar and wind power is much larger than coal or fossil gas plants, leading to tension when homeowners and other groups hear of renewable projects proposed nearby. Backlog in connecting clean energy to the grid is slowing down US transition [File: AP Photo] “People are supportive of wind and solar, generally, but just don’t want it right next to them,” Houser explained. “The way that a lot of homeowners are very supportive of homeless shelters just as long as it’s not on their block.” But this NIMBYism, an acronym for “not in my backyard” that reflects the opposition of residents to developments in the vicinity of their homes, is not isolated to a few corners of the country. A 2023 report by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School found organised opposition in 35 states, resulting in at least 228 significant local restrictions against wind, solar and other renewable energy facilities. The report found that nearly 300 projects had encountered serious opposition, ranging from letter-writing campaigns to lawsuits. “Delays from litigation alone can kill a project,” noted Matthew Eisenson, the report’s author and senior fellow at the Renewable Energy Legal Defense Initiative at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. While some concerns are rooted in impacts to tribal lands, resources and sacred sites, known as “green colonialism”, Eisenson said opposition from tribes affects only a small percentage of renewable energy projects. Instead, he said, most complaints about clean energy projects are from non-Indigenous communities with concerns about visual impacts, community character, impacts on property values and loss of agricultural land. The most intense opposition can be found in the Midwest, especially Ohio and Michigan, and parts of the South, including Virginia, according to Eisenson’s research. Opposition has been especially effective at the municipal level, where town and county boards are staffed by common citizens who aren’t experts in energy policy, he said. Often it only takes a small number of people to show up at meetings to block a project. “But that’s not to say that a majority of people in all these communities actually support stopping projects,” Eisenson said. Opponents have successfully passed not only local bans but also state laws. Eisenson pointed to Ohio, where a state law enacted in 2021 allows counties to establish restricted areas where wind and solar projects are banned. At least 16 counties have since established restricted areas on solar farms. Offshore wind, especially, has faced fierce opposition from non-environmental groups, and it is “the area where we see the highest correlation between misinformation and opposition,” Eisenson said. “There has been a concerted misinformation campaign to tie whale beachings to offshore wind development and exploration.” Eisenson is concerned that all this pushback is having a significant impact on the rollout of renewables. “There’s still a big question mark about how much of this infrastructure actually gets built,” he said. Referring to the NIMBYism, Houser said the question is when to put the collective interest of the climate over the interest of the individual. “The challenge now for policymakers is, can they prioritise rapid construction to clean energy for climate relative to some other issues when there are trade-offs?” he said. Backlogged grid Another major obstacle that’s slowing the renewable transition is a backlog in connecting clean energy to the grid. The grid is the transmission system that moves power across long distances towards cities, where local distribution brings power to homes and businesses. But delays have emerged as new projects ask to be connected to the grid, explained Lori Bird, director of US Energy for the World Resources Institute, a global research organisation. New projects must apply to connect to the grid. “They have to go through a study process to be able to get an interconnection agreement,” she
Could soaring housing prices affect Biden’s re-election bid?
The US economy is remarkably strong. But, borrowing costs are high and many Americans can’t afford to buy a home. The American economy is booming. Inflation is down, the job market is strong and wages are rising. Yet, many people in the US do not feel better off now than when Joe Biden took office in 2021. Americans are getting ready to cast their ballots in November. The health of the US economy is vital to any president seeking re-election. While Biden has avoided a recession, there’s one major factor weighing heavily on consumer sentiment – the housing market. Also, having made the G20 agenda, is a global tax on billionaires coming? Plus, checked bag fees are at record highs. Adblock test (Why?)