Mutations, DNA damage seen in Fukushima

Conservation group Greenpeace warned on Friday that the environmental impact of the Fukushima nuclear crisis five years ago on nearby forests is just beginning to be seen and will remain a source of contamination for years to come. The March 11, 2011 magnitude 9.0 undersea earthquake off Japan's northeastern coast sparked a massive tsunami that swamped cooling systems and triggered reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Radiation spread over a wide area and forced tens of thousands of people from their homes -- many of whom will likely never return -- in the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986. As the fifth anniversary of the disaster approaches, Greenpeace said signs of mutations in trees and DNA-damaged worms were beginning to appear, while "vast stocks of radiation" mean that forests cannot be decontaminated. In a report, Greenpeace cited "apparent increases in growth ...

Is The BOJ Quietly Intervening In Oil And Commodities?

As we said last week, the significant highs and lows in markets over history have been marked by some form of intervention (whether it be public or private policy actions). Of course, we’ve been predicting some form of intervention, and soon, to remove the systemic risk posed by persistently weak oil prices. It just so happens that key markets (oil, stocks, interest rates) all bottomed on February 11, and have move sharply higher, in unison, since. What happened on February 11? You guessed it. Intervention. We’ve said that the best suited for the job of intervening to stem the threat of weak oil prices would be the Bank of Japan. They are already in the thick of their own version of QE infinity. They’ve told us clearly they will do whatever it takes to return their stagnating, deflation burdened economy to prominence again. And, after nearly three years of QE, ...

Oil likely to recover to $55 in 12 months

Oil prices are likely to recover after 11-year low to USD 55 per barrel from the current USD 34 in 12 months, following gains in the latter half of 2016, according to a report. However, weakness in the price of crude oil is likely to continue in the short-term, with the market yet to see the end of the downside momentum, according to a research report by UBS Wealth Management's Chief Investment Office (CIO). The oil market is still oversupplied in the first half of 2016 after supply expanded 2.7 per cent in 2015. Prevailing market surpluses require accelerated supply curbs to rebalance the oil markets. Market participants fear that the lifting of restrictions on Iranian oil exports might increase global oversupply even further in the short run. A quick return of additional Iranian oil barrels would require accelerating supply curbs, including more company defaults, ...

BP CEO Gets 20% Rise in Total Pay

BP PLC’s chief executive Bob Dudley received a 20% bump in his total compensation package last year, bringing it to $19.6 million despite an ongoing slump in oil prices that has battered the energy giant’s earnings. Mr. Dudley got a boost in 2015 from a $1.4 million cash bonus—up from about $1 million in 2014—and a doubling of his retirement savings from 2014 to $6.5 million, the company said in its annual report released on Friday. Overall, the company continued a freeze on its executives’ salaries and said they would remain static in 2016 given the low oil prices. Mr. Dudley’s actual salary of about $1.9 million was little changed from 2014. BP is the first of the so-called oil majors to release details of executive pay in 2015—a year defined by a near 50% drop in oil prices that hammered the entire ...

Fukushima Disaster Will Wreak Environmental Havoc for Centuries

A report from Greenpeace reveals that the destruction of ecosystems caused by the Fukushima meltdown is worse than the government lets on. Radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan will have a long legacy of environmental destruction with up to hundreds of years of devastating impacts on the ocean, waterways, plants, and animals, according to a new Greenpeace Japan report released Friday. The report, titled “Radiation Reloaded: Ecological Impacts of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident 5 years Later,” reveals that radiation from the 2011 nuclear plant meltdown has found its way into trees, butterflies, birds, fish, and the important coastal estuary ecosystem in the region. The findings also shed light on the “flawed assumptions” that have been shared as official information by the government of Shinzo Abe and the International Atomic Energy Agency. RELATED: Japan: Fukushima Radioactive Leak Continues in Ocean “The Abe government ...

For The ECB, It’s No Longer About Oil

Inflation in the euro area came in at 0.2 percent in February, piling further pressure on policymakers at the European Central Bank ahead of next week's monetary policy meeting. While the largest component of the price fall in the common currency zone remains energy, the ECB is becoming increasingly concerned about second round effects and the prospect of the oil-price collapse pushing the euro area into deflation. This is a theme taken up by Frederik Ducrozet, senior economist at Pictet Wealth Management in a note sent to clients on Thursday, in which he outlines the two problems the ECB needs to tackle at its March meeting. Preserving the credit channel While things have been improving over the past couple of years for bank lending in the euro area, Ducrozet warns that the ECB should "should take the threat of a potential impairment of the credit transmission channel very ...

The Stupid Things People Do When Their Society Breaks Down

A frequent mistake that many people make when considering the concept of social or economic collapse is to imagine how people and groups will behave tomorrow based on how people behave today. It is, though, extremely difficult to predict human behavior in the face of terminal chaos. What we might expect, or what Hollywood fantasy might showcase for entertainment purposes, may not be what actually happens when society breaks down. It is also important to note that social and economic destabilization is usually a process, not an immediate event. This actually works in the favor of liberty activists and the preparedness minded. As a system moves through the stages of a breakdown, certain signals in the psychology of the population can be observed, and this gives us a warning as to how far down the rabbit hole we have actually gone. Except ...

Why Globalization Reaches Limits

We have been living in a world of rapid globalization, but this is not a condition that we can expect to continue indefinitely. Figure 1. Ratio of Imported Goods and Services to GDP. Based in FRED data for IMPGS. Each time imported goods and services start to surge as a percentage of GDP, these imports seem to be cut back, generally in a recession. The rising cost of the imports seems to have an adverse impact on the economy. (The imports I am showing are gross imports, rather than imports net of exports. I am using gross imports, because US exports tend to be of a different nature than US imports. US imports include many labor-intensive products, while exports tend to be goods such as agricultural goods and movie films that do not require much US labor.) Recently, US imports seem to be ...

Oil won’t be balanced until 2017

Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan on Thursday called on the Fed to be patient when it comes to raising interest rates, citing the effect of tighter financial conditions on U.S. economic growth. Kaplan believes that there is high downside risk in the outlook for world economic growth and also said that global financial conditions have tightened, restraining growth potential. Factors like the drop in world stock markets, the decline in the price of oil and the rise in the dollar since the beginning of the year are acting like a brake on the U.S. economic recovery, similar to the effect of an interest rate increase, he said. "While I believe that excessive accommodation carries a cost in terms of distortions and imbalances in hiring, asset allocation and investment decisions, I also believe that, at this juncture, the Fed needs to show patience ...

Oil and gas industry has pumped millions into Republican campaigns

Fossil fuel millionaires collectively pumped more than $100m into Republican presidential contenders’ efforts last year – in an unprecedented investment by the oil and gas industry in the party’s future. About one in three dollars donated to Republican hopefuls from mega-rich individuals came from people who owe their fortunes to fossil fuels – and who stand to lose the most in the fight against climate change. The scale of investment by fossil fuel interests in presidential Super Pacs reached about $107m last year – before any votes were cast in the Republican primary season. Campaign groups said the funds raised questions about what kind of leverage the fossil fuel industry might enjoy if the Republicans were to take the White House. Ted Cruz, the Texas senator seen as having the best chance of stopping Donald Trump from clinching the Republican nomination, was among the ...

Tony Hayward’s Oil Firm Cuts Reserves

Genel Energy PLC, the oil company chaired by former BP PLC Chief Executive Tony ...

Iraq’s Mosul Dam Could Burst At Any Time

A tragedy is just waiting to happen in one of the largest cities in ...

Russia Thinks It Has Solved the Oil-Price Crisis

But it may just be more wishful thinking The world’s major oil exporting economies have ...

NY nuclear plant 65,000% radiation spike is worse than Fukushima

A radioactive flow from the Indian Point nuclear power plant is leaking into groundwater ...