For the third time this year, Hecla Mining Company’s Lucky Friday Mine suffered a rock burst.
It happened before 19:30 hours on the evening of December 14. This time the miners were actually ‘lucky’. Seven miners were rescued, with one going to a local hospital.
But two other mine employees were not lucky. They were both killed by rock bursts at the same Lucky Friday silver mine. The first rock burst happened in April, the second happened just last month!
The ongoing nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, and a bad mine operation deal in Africa, is bringing down a major player in international nuclear power; Areva. The result will mean job losses all over the world, and possibly here in Idaho.
French government owned Areva recently announced that their revenues have crashed since the Japanese nuclear disaster began in March, and, since the French government opened an investigation into Areva’s purchase of a mining operation in Namibia, Africa.
On 13 December 2011, Areva officials unveiled a five year plan to reduce the size of the company. This is because of a projected loss of U.S.$2.1 billion for just this year, and expected losses in the next few years.
Areva officials have already announced they will not replace French employees who retire, and they are laying off 1,500 German employees.
This is because of a negative backlash against nuclear power, as a result of the Japanese nuclear disaster. In Germany, the government decided to end all reliance on nuclear power. In Japan, the prefectural governments are refusing to allow nuclear power plants to start back up. Both actions in Germany and Japan are at the demands of the majority of the citizens.
Areva’s loses also come from what is looking like a pig in a poke deal, from their purchase of uranium mines in Namibia, Africa. Areva spent $2.5 billion on the mines, and the French government is now investigating because it turns out the mines have only half the projected uranium that Areva officials were told it had.
As part of their five year turn around plan Areva has suspended the construction of a uranium enrichment plant near Idaho Falls, Idaho. State officials claim that Areva has agreed to keep on their payroll about 300 Idaho employees, but that’s only until the end of 2012.
The problem now is that Areva has stated that their continued operation depends on the sale of ten new generation EPR (European Pressurized Reactor) nuclear power units. Those sales need to take place between 2012 to 2016.
“The bottomline is that about 7.7% of U.S. households have no account in an insured financial institution and an additional 17.9% are underbanked, meaning they have an account but they utilize high cost financial service providers.”– Martin Gruenberg, FDIC
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 17 million people in the United States do not have bank accounts. According to Tom Putnam with the Idaho non-profit group, Partners for Prosperity, that number could actually be as high as 28 million!
The reasons vary from just not understanding the concept of bank accounts to people who’re fed up with getting ripped off by the banks. The FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) says at least half of the people who’ve stopped using banks have done so because of a bad experience.
Another factor is that with all the fees banks charge, and with declining incomes, many people say it just not worth it to put their hard earned money into a bank.
According to Tom Putnam, the percentage of people who don’t use banks here in Idaho is bout 7%.
“It’s gone up in a period of ten years from about $300 connection fees to about $5,000!”-Al Tetz, BCASE
The Building Contractors Association of Southeast Idaho (BCASE) says the city of Pocatello is charging outrageous, and illegal hook up fees. And they believe it’s one of the main reasons for the drop in local construction jobs and home sales.
BCASE members also say the huge jump from $300 to $5,000 could be an attempt by city officials to try and make up for lost tax revenues, and millions of dollars generated from those fees have been placed in Pocatello’s general fund, which violates Idaho state law.
The construction organization is suing the city.
Officials with the city of Pocatello have no comment, because they haven’t been served with any notification of a lawsuit (as of December 13).
“This recent string of sub-par showings has raised concerns whether the sales tax will be able to recover enough to meet its targets during the important holiday shopping season.”-Derek Santos, Chief Economist for Idaho
After years of being ‘optimistic’ in his rhetoric regarding the local economy, Idaho’s Butch Otter is finally sounding more realistic: “…for both fiscal 2012 and fiscal 2013 to be years of limited growth that will require us to be very selective in the authorization of new general fund spending.”-Clement Leroy ‘Butch’ Otter, Governor of Idaho
If times were bad when he was being optimistic, what’s really gonna happen now?
The reason why Governor Otter is turning down his optimism is that month after month State tax revenues have been much lower than hoped for. November was no different. Derek Santos, Idaho’s Chief Economist, says November 2011’s tax returns were 4.1% lower than November 2010. And last year’s tax returns were down as well.
In fact, sales tax revenues for the first half of fiscal 2012 are already $19 million below what was hoped for! Income taxes are $6.7 million below expectations!
Idaho’s fiscal 2012 year runs from July 2011 to June 2012.
Economic analysts hope that Idaho will end fiscal 2012 with a surplus of $130 million. But realize that the State has run through $395 million in reserves since 2009! Now add to that the fact that analysts also expect tax revenues to continue to drop. One report said that State leaders did not have a “plan B” for when they run out of surplus money.
The only way that tax revenues will go back up is if a lot of good paying jobs are created. I guess that would be part of any “plan B” that our exalted leaders have failed to come up with.
“Some people had difficulty accessing the [Medicare] online enrollment center. Others have not had calls returned due to high call volume.”-Bill Deal, Idaho Department of Insurance
Midnight (00:00 hours) December 8 is the deadline for the elderly getting Medicare applications in, yet many are not going through. Idaho officials are reporting that phone in enrollments are overwhelming their system. For those people they will now have until December 10 to enroll.
“We’re seeing various people who delayed enrollment into Medicare for various reasons.”-Frederic Riccardi, Medicare Rights Center
And if you don’t think you need to sign up for Medicare, even though you’ve just turned 65, you’re going to pay for it later on. Medicare actually penalizes you for not signing up when you become 65 years old.
For those people who enroll in Medicare after their 65th birthday, the government will increase your Medicare premiums by 10% for each year you delay enrollment!
If you’re still a “current” employee, then you don’t need to, but the instant you lose your job you better do it. And you can’t trust Social Security officials to tell you, or even the Medicare handbook, as one man learned the hard way: “On my last day of work, I went to the Social Security office, asking for some guidance.” “I’ve never had a problem, until I tried to sign up for Medicare.” -Robert Joseph
Joseph lost his job after he turned 65. Because of bad advise from a local Texas Social Security official, and because he misinterpreted instructions in a Medicare handbook, he waited 18 months after losing his job to enroll. Now he’s paying a higher monthly premium because of those 18 months he waited!
Medicare is not ‘free’. You pay for it with the FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) taxes that are taken out of your paycheck. Then you pay again when you enroll at the age of 65, in the form of Medicare insurance premiums. And guess what? You still have to pay out of your pocket for some of your medical care! Sounds like the Mob is runin’ da joint!
On December 4, an east Idaho TV station reported that an airline route from Idaho Falls to Boise will stop service on December 31.
On December 5, the same east Idaho TV station did an update, after they talked to the President of Oregon based SeaPort Airlines. Rob McKinney said that ticket sales in east Idaho not only weren’t enough, but had steadily declined from their “…re-launch of flights between Idaho Falls and Boise.” (from July 23, 2011 SeaPort press release) back in July.
I got a response to my December 4 story about SeaPort closing down the IF/Boise/Pendleton route, from someone in the marketing office of SeaPort. After correcting a few things they also confirmed that sales in east Idaho is just too bad to continue business: “There is an official explanation for the discontinuation of this service; there was not enough passenger traffic to continue flying the Idaho Falls-Boise route.”
By the way, for some reason, as of December 7 SeaPort still has not issued an official press release on their website. The last press release is dated September 2, 2011.
This comes after months of eastern, and southeastern, Idaho business/community leaders telling us (through east Idaho media) that things were getting better!
On 01 December 2011, Russian port authorities in Vladivostok stopped a shipment of tires from Japan. They say the tires are emitting beta and gamma rays.
This is not the first time Russian inspectors found radioactive products from Japan. In April, 49 second hand (used) cars shipped from Japan were found to be emitting radiation six times the safe limit. A similar incident happened in June. Eastern Russia is a big market for used Japanese cars.
What about radiation testing in the U.S.? The latest statement from the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) claims to have conducted “…28,190 field examinations for radionuclide contamination.” However, they only talk about 1186 samples (out of the 28,190 tests) being safe. The data for the rest of their test is in a format my computer couldn’t open.
The FDA website has some statements that are pure bogusnus. Example: “Little or no harvesting of fish is taking place in the area around the reactor.” This is false! Fisherman in the Fukushima area have been fishing, including around the Daiichi power plant, it’s their only source of income! In fact the latest revelation, that strontium 90 is pouring into the ocean, has the local fishermens’ co-op threatening to sue Tokyo Electric.
Another example from the FDA: “The volume of water between particles and fish absorbs radiation, “shielding” the fish.” Bull Shit! Why have so many fish in Japanese markets turned up highly contaminated with radiation? Why are Fukushima fishermen so pissed off!?
The FDA tries a Red Herring argument by saying: “The half life of I-131 is about eight days.” They’re talking about cesium 131, they’re trying to make you feel safe. Hello, what about the strontium 90, the plutonium, and other isotopes that last virtually freakin’ forever!
They do mention cesium 137 (half life of 30 years), but here’s another amazing statement the FDA makes: “…the radionuclides also undergo biological excretion and do not continue to build up in fish…” Bull shit again! When I was a Cold War soldier, the U.S. Army had us doing yearly training for NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) warfare. One of the things we were taught is that radiation contamination freakin’ builds up over time! The longer you’re exposed the more F–ked up you get, because it builds up! You see when you work around radiative shit, you have to monitor not only the intensity of the radiation, but how long you’re exposed to it.
Finally the FDA passes the buck onto Customs and Border Protection saying they screen the cargo containers coming from Japan. The FDA also says their own people walk around the docks using hand held radiometers, and if they detect high “background” radiation levels then they do more intensive inspections. The problem is that just because the contents of the shipping container are radioactive does not means the thick steel container will emit radiation! The Russian inspectors at Vladivostok must be doing a better job at inspections than our people.
The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is making things more confusing , because they’ve been revising their “methodologies” and policies (isn’t that convenient). They don’t inspect products, but are supposed to be testing air and water. I’ve written about how many of the RadNet sites were not even working during the first few months of the nuclear crisis in Japan.
The EPA has changed how they report their RadNet data. In Idaho there’s only one RadNet site, in Idaho Falls. Their gamma counts show a lot of spikes, but it’s not clear if it’s because of Fukushima or not. On the old RadNet web page there was a detection of cesium 131 (short half life) in precipitation readings on 01 April 2011. However, the new RadNet sites are even more confusing, there is no way the general public can make use of them, what a waste of taxpayer money!
Fend for yourself!
The trade war between Chinese photovoltaic companies, and their supposed ‘U.S.’ rivals heats up as the U.S. International Trade Commission votes to continue the Department of Commerce investigation.
I say “supposed ‘U.S.’ rivals” because it turns out the gang leader is owned by a European corporation. Likewise, at least one supposed ‘U.S.’ polysilicon producer is owned by a Chinese corporation.
The U.S. Department of Commerce is set to render a judgment on January 19, 2012. It could mean that actions will be taken to reduce photovoltaic (PV) products (solar power) coming into the U.S. from China. China has responded by investigating polysilicon producers in the United States. Polysilicon is used to make the solar power products.
Hawaii based Hoku International (owned by China’s Tianwei New Energy) announced they will be selling Chinese made photovoltaic modules through a subsidiary called Tianwei Solar USA. Hoku is about to start up a polysilicon plant in Pocatello, Idaho. Their silicon buyers are Chinese companies.
So Hoku is set up in a bad position; action by the U.S. government could hurt their new plans to sell Chinese PV products, and retaliation by the Chinese government could hurt their pending polysilicon orders.
But while looking into this mess, I discovered that what’s really going on is an economic war between China and the European Union, with the United States the battlefield.
The U.S. investigation was started by complaints from CASM (Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing). The lead company in the complaint is SolarWorld Industries Americas. Their U.S. base of operations is Oregon, but they’re actually a German corporation (SolarWorld) headquartered in Bonn.
CASM’s web site says six other companies operating in the U.S. have joined their organization, but they refuse to name the other members. They also have a interesting slogan (being that SolarWorld is a German company): “Solar technology was invented here [meaning the U.S.], and we intend to keep it here!”
CASM, through the U.S. Congress, recently sent a letter to President Barack Obama (sign by dozens of members of Congress), outlining what they call illegal trade practices by the Chinese government. Some of those practices were employed by the city of Pocatello, in trying to get Hoku to build its long delayed polysilicon factory in Idaho.
One of the claims is that “…cheap or free land from local or provincial governments; extensive tax breaks…” This is exactly what the city of Pocatello did to win over Hoku. The land was, in a round about way through huge property tax breaks (equaling the value of the land), given to Hoku. Union Pacific Railway even got involved.
Union Pacific is going to be the main transporter of the finished polysilicon products. Recently it was discovered, by Idaho officials, that in the rush (ironic ’cause it’s years behind schedule) to build the factory, that Hoku forgot to build the required double access roads! Currently the only access to the factory is at the end of a dead end residential street (it was the residents, tired of the traffic jambs, that brought the issue up with officials)!!! Hoku worked some magic with Union Pacific, who’s agreed to build the access roads.
By the way, one of the individuals credited with bringing Hoku to Pocatello, Gynii Gilliam, is now working at the state level as Idaho’s chief economic development officer.
So, the Europeans (specifically Germans, through CASM) are using the U.S. to launch an economic war with Chinese PV makers, but the charges they’re making against local governments in China are also applicable to local governments in the U.S.! The pot calling the kettle black. Unfortunately many ‘mericans (‘specially those working for Hoku, and other polysilicon producers) could actually end up losing their jobs if CASM is successful.
GLOBAL ECONOMIC WAR: CHINESE OWNED HOKU ABOUT TO START OPERATIONS IN IDAHO. WILL U.S. INVESTIGATION INTO CHINESE SOLAR PRODUCTS PUT THE BRAKES ON HOKU’S OPERATIONS?
Southwestern Idaho’s KRTV, channel 12, is no longer a Fox affiliate, and it has ended its Boise area news coverage.
“In the spring of 2011, the Fox Television Network and Block Communications parted company. Although we did offer to sign a new affiliation agreement with Fox for KTRV, they chose to move the affiliation to another station. A network affiliate requires a different business model than does an independent station. As a result a reduction in staff is taking place this week.”-Bill Lamb, Block Communications
General manager of KRTV, Rick Joseph, said “We have some exceptional people here who put forth a terrific and honorable effort every day. But the new business model we find ourselves having to adopt does not include news.”
Employee layoffs began December 5.
Merry Xmas!