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Today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin previewed the Agency’s imminent proposal to weaken critical protections from oil and gas pollution.  

The 2024 Methane Rule is a landmark EPA regulation designed to sharply curb methane and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from oil and fracked gas operations. Methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, is a leading contributor to climate change.

The rule, which was developed with significant input from advocates, the oil and gas industry, investors, health experts, and elected officials, provided commonsense measures to protect public health and reduce methane waste. These measures include standards to monitor and repair leaks, the phase-out of routine flaring, and the replacement of process controllers with non-emitting alternatives.  

President Trump and Administrator Zeldin’s unlawful delay of the implementation and enforcement of the Methane Rule, and now their proposal to roll it back, is a continued attack on the well-being of all Americans. Pennsylvanians in particular will be harmed by the reconsideration of the Methane Rule.  

The Commonwealth is the second-largest producer of gas, and over 1.5 million Pennsylvanians live within just half a mile of active oil and gas infrastructure. It is more important now than ever that states act. Governor Shapiro’s recent announcement to develop state rules that reduce methane emissions is a key step to protecting residents. 

“EPA’s mission is to protect human health and the environment, yet it continues to stray further from that goal,” said Alice Lu, policy analyst with Clean Air Council. “The latest proposal to roll back methane standards is an affront to the health of Pennsylvanians. This rule was the result of years of advocacy and, for impacted residents and advocates, is more than just another regulatory action. It is a way of holding oil and gas operators accountable for their wasteful practices and ensuring residents are protected from the industry’s dangerous pollution.” 

NC WARN today launched a statewide petition drive calling on Gov. Josh Stein to use his authority and political power to implement a 2-year moratorium on data centers. This move reflects the accelerating public backlash against the surge of A.I. data centers now notorious for air, water and noise pollution.

Stein has helped fuel the data center frenzy even as the public has learned about a host of harms when their communities are targeted for the sometimes massive projects, and even as A.I. has become a national pariah.

Now, it’s on the Governor to begin making amends. He must freeze current data center development, halt the secret scheming by data center proponents and establish a first-ever, transparent and fair decision-making process that prioritizes the interests and voices of targeted communities.

In June NC WARN began calling on Stein to stop Duke Energy and state officials from quietly strategizing to recruit the noxious plants. And NC WARN’s attorney has begun the steps necessary to require the Governor and Commerce department to release all public records showing their involvement in this burgeoning statewide scandal.

We and allies will use the petition to further press Gov. Stein to side with the public instead of A.I. developers and Duke Energy.

###

Now in its 38th year, NC WARN is building people power in the climate and energy justice movement to persuade or require Charlotte-based Duke Energy – one of the world’s largest climate polluters – to make a quick transition to renewable, affordable power generation and energy efficiency in order to avert climate tipping points and ongoing rate hikes.

The post Statewide Pressure on Governor for 2-Year Freeze on Data Centers — NC WARN News Release appeared first on NC WARN.

With the help of RAFI’s Beginning Farmer Stipend, Aronson will purchase a small 4x6 enclosed trailer to hitch it to the farm’s SUV in order to transport more product to markets, which will make farmers market participation much more financially viable.

The post Ida Aronson appeared first on RAFI.

Cameron and his wife Terris now operate Brownstone Family Farms in Scranton, South Carolina, growing produce for their local farmers market.

The post Jason Cameron appeared first on RAFI.

Class’s Beginning Farmer Stipend will be used to rehabilitate and convert a stall in the property’s 60-year-old pole barn into a drying area for seed saving.

The post Deena Class appeared first on RAFI.

With the help of RAFI’s Beginning Farmer Stipend, Hunt will invest in improving housing for the homestead’s animals to support healthier living conditions and increase productivity.

The post LaShauna Hunt appeared first on RAFI.

With the help of the Beginning Farmer Stipend, Johnson is building a new cold storage room to help store more produce and keep it fresher for longer.

The post Lindsay Johnson appeared first on RAFI.

Lawrence is harnessing this Beginning Farmer Stipend to improve infrastructure and prepare for late summer and fall planting.

The post Shakera Lawrence appeared first on RAFI.

The couple is excited to expand their production to include reishi and lion’s mane mushrooms for culinary, health, and wellness purposes.

The post William Romney and Becky Bacheller appeared first on RAFI.

Snow is harnessing RAFI’s Beginning Farmer Stipend to install a drip irrigation system, purchase planting and harvesting tools, and expand the farmstand stall and parking lot.

The post Cody Snow appeared first on RAFI.

Stachowicz will use the Beginning Farmer Stipend to purchase tools that will help increase efficiency of the market garden operation.

The post Liana Stachowicz appeared first on RAFI.

Wallace began farming to provide fresh, organic food in order to help address health challenges in his community.

The post Chris Wallace appeared first on RAFI.

This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Barbara Grady

As the Western United States grapples with severe drought, leading cities to scramble for water and farmers to abandon some crops, a new scientific study has found that 122 major oil, gas, coal, and cement companies and state-owned operations are partially responsible.

The study found that climate change from all climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions over the last 70 years has resulted in a 36% decline in annual average mountain snowpacks, the major source of surface water in Western states – and that about 40% of that decline is linked to the climate pollution caused by just 122 companies.

The annual loss attributable to those 122 companies is equivalent to the amount of water held by Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir, at full capacity. 

The authors of the peer-reviewed paper, “Carbon emissions exacerbating the Western US water crisis,” also found that global warming from greenhouse gas emissions has led to a 13% decline in average annual streamflows from mountains to the lower-lying areas that depend on them, and to a 4.3% increase in the need for agricultural irrigation. The study attributed about half the streamflow declines and roughly half the increased need for irrigation to the warming caused by the 122 companies. In other words, those companies’ products resulted in a 6% fall in streamflows in the region, according to the study. 

Nine scientists from the University of California at Merced and the Union of Concerned Scientists contributed to the study, published August 25 in the Nature magazine affiliate Communications Earth & Environment. 

The West relies on snowpack 

Summers are dry in the Western U.S. 

Precipitation occurs in winter, with much of it stored as snowpack in the mountains. The West’s multibillion-dollar agriculture industry and the reservoirs supplying cities and towns in 11 states depend on melted snow carried by rivers, streams, and water conveyance systems in late spring and summer. If the snowpack is scant or if snow melts early, water shortages can occur in summer when water demand is highest. 

The West’s historic megadrought has persisted for two decades. With less surface water available, farmers have had to pump more groundwater for irrigation, depleting aquifers so much that the ground is sinking in many agricultural areas. Some farmers in the Southwest have had to abandon crops or fallow fields for lack of sufficient water. Corpus Christi, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Phoenix are just some of the cities facing severe water shortages.

Tying drought to specific companies 

Emily Williams, lead study author and a postdoctoral research scientist at the University of California at Merced, said in an interview that the study allowed scientists to disentangle how much worse water scarcity became over the decade 2014 to 2024 because of climate-change-induced atmospheric warming, as well as how much worse it became specifically because of the warming emissions generated by 122 companies and their products. 

“It lets us get beyond how much more intense climate change is becoming to look at specific impacts like snowpack decline as well as specific sources” of emissions, she said. Her team found impacts on water resources “not just from climate change but because of emissions traceable to specific sources.” 

The 122 companies cited in the study are the world’s biggest producers of climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions cumulatively up to 2024; they are all coal, oil, gas, and cement producers. That list, known in climate science as the carbon majors and compiled by other scientists, is based on publicly reported coal, oil, gas, and cement production data along with scientific formulas for calculating emissions per unit of product produced. Since 2024, the list has grown to include 178 entities.

Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, and Shell are the fourth-, fifth-, eighth-, and ninth-biggest cumulative emitters of greenhouse gases in the world, according to the most recent version of the list. The world’s three highest emitters are state-owned coal, oil, and gas companies from the former Soviet Union, China, and Saudi Arabia (Saudi Aramco). U.S. coal producers Core Natural Resources and Peabody Energy are also in the top 25 carbon majors. 

The study authors based their calculations on emissions since 1950, rather than earlier, because that was the decade when major oil and gas companies began to suspect that use of their products would cause changes to the Earth’s climate. Engineers at ExxonMobil who studied the issue determined that burning large amounts of fossil fuels would affect planetary climate systems. After its engineers shared their conclusions with management in the 1970s, ExxonMobil at first expanded that research to learn more and then – a decade later – pivoted to hiding the scientific findings and denying the existence of climate change, as reported in the Pulitzer Prize finalist series “The Road Not Taken” by Inside Climate News. Other major oil companies did the same. 

The study authors wrote that “roughly 70% of global industrial carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions since 1854 are traceable to 122 fossil fuel producers and cement manufacturers (“Carbon Majors”), and ~97% of these emissions occurred after 1950.” 

U.S. oil companies remain silent

When asked on August 27 for a comment on the water crisis study, Chevron – the largest U.S. emitter since 1950 – sent an automatic thank-you note but did not respond to the question by publication. 

Chevron’s second quarter earnings report, released August 12, highlighted record-breaking oil production. The report said the company “achieved new U.S. upstream production record of nearly 2.1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day and record U.S. refinery throughput of over 1 million barrels per day” as well as “competitive growth” in operations “around the globe.” Chevron also has embarked on developing oil resources in Venezuela, which has large deposits of heavy crude – a variety of oil that’s highly polluting to process. 

A media relations receptionist for ExxonMobil, the second-largest U.S. emitter, politely pledged to convey the reporter’s question to the media relations team, but the company did not respond. 

The methodology that Williams and her eight colleagues used involved overlaying observational data of recorded temperatures, precipitation, relative humidity, and hydrologic conditions annually over the decade 2014 to 2024 in seven water basins across the Western states with global climate models. Then they introduced emissions data in three variable scenarios to disentangle the effect of emissions from the carbon majors. One scenario included all human-caused emissions since 1950, the second included no anthropogenic emissions, and the third scenario excluded emissions traced to the 122 companies. 

“By comparing these scenarios and using pattern scaling, we calculated how much of the observed changes in snowpack, streamflow, and irrigation demand are attributable to climate change and specifically to emissions from the Carbon Majors,” the authors wrote.

Governments seek damages from polluters 

The study is part of a growing body of what’s called attribution science. As scientific consensus has solidified around climate change resulting from atmospheric warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels, emissions of methane, and destruction of forests, scientists are looking more deeply at the impacts of that warming, how to minimize future warming, and the specific sources of the emissions. 

Similar studies have attributed the size of areas burned in intense wildfires, specific measures of sea level rise, and the increased likelihood and intensity of extreme heat events to emissions from the carbon majors. 

Read: Scientists agree: Climate change is real and caused by people

“We have a choice of how much worse climate change is going to get, and that is a function of how much emissions we allow,” Williams said. She said some changes to the planet’s climate system are already irreversible, but we do have a choice to avoid others and the worsening of some that are already baked in.

Many states and cities around the world are taking the biggest climate polluters to court in hopes of getting financial resources to help them address damages from extreme hurricanes, wildfires and floods whose intensification can be linked to climate change. 

Two states – New York and Vermont – have passed climate superfund laws requiring that the biggest historical emitters help pay for climate damages incurred in their states. Many other states, including California, are considering such legislation. New York’s law was recently struck down in court, but the state also plans to appeal the decision. Meanwhile, several states are suing major fossil fuel companies over the damage they allege was wrought by their emissions.

“As climate impacts become increasingly severe, communities will be asking for more action” to help recover from damage and adapt to climate changes, said Carly Phillips, another author of the water study and senior research scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists. 

Communities, states and small countries are bearing an unfair share of the costs of the impacts of emissions, Phillips contended, compared with the companies that ignored the looming crisis for decades and even lobbied Congress against taking action sooner.

 “Given the outsized contribution of certain entities to the problem – 122 companies is a very small number – there should be some accountability,” she said.

This article first appeared on Yale Climate Connections and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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I started birding in 2005 after pulling a used field guide off a bookstore shelf. I had never been birding, didn’t know any birders, and only knew one birding fact: It was not cool.But where did I...

HARRISBURG, PA (October 7, 2026) —Today, families and environmental and health organizations from across the state called on Governor Shapiro to establish greater protective distances between new fracking wells and nearby homes, schools, and water sources.

Groups made this push as Pennsylvania faces an influx of proposed data centers. These proposals raise concerns about increased reliance on fracked gas and the potential for additional drilling and fossil fuel infrastructure across the state, putting Pennsylvania families in danger.

Pennsylvania’s current rules allow fracking wells to be located as close as 500 feet from buildings (and even closer with exceptions) — a distance that was never set based on health studies and are woefully insufficient to protect public health and the environment from the numerous dangers of fracking.

To address harms from fracking, Clean Air Council and Environmental Integrity Project filed a rulemaking petition with the Environmental Quality Board (EQB) in October 2024, asking the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to increase minimum setback distances from fracking wells. This October marks two years since the petition was filed. Minimum setbacks, also referred to as protective buffers and no-drill zones in the context of fracking, are mandatory distances that fracking companies must abide by to keep fracking operations separated from homes, schools, hospitals, drinking water wells, and surface water.

“Pennsylvanians are frustrated with politics that seem to work against our cries for a better environment and better health,” said Lauren Otero, Staff Attorney at Clean Air Council. “This is a simple step forward, yet we wait years for our Commonwealth to help us.”

“Nothing has given me more hope than watching communities all across Pennsylvania come together, speaking out against the predatory and parasitic companies looking to pollute our homes and exploit our natural resources,” said Katie Weber, who helped form grassroots group, Protect Burgettstown. “We are united and our message is clear: We do not want data centers. And we do not want fracking anywhere near our homes, schools, or daycares.”

“Pennsylvania can do their part to protect Pennsylvania citizens with far more protective setbacks between fracking activities, people and water,” said Kurt Limbach, a member of Concerned Residents of Western PA and Mountain Watershed Association. “It could also do its part by conducting a thorough review of any air permits to potentially massive polluters like the Homer City fracked gas power plant. The Pennsylvania constitution guarantees the rights of Pennsylvania citizens to clean air and water. Our citizens should not be forced to live in a sacrifice zone to power AI. “

“Too many Pennsylvania families are being harmed by fracking and drilling right next to their homes, schools, and daycare centers,” said Lisa Graves Marcucci, Pennsylvania Coordinator of Community Outreach for the Environmental Integrity Project. “We need protective buffers now. The current 500-foot minimum setback distance was never based on any public health information. And Pennsylvania’s inaction has put more communities at risk each day. Since we filed our Petition for Rulemaking on October 22, 2024, at least 784 new fracking wells have been drilled with only a 500-foot setback required to protect nearby Pennsylvanians. We urge the Shapiro Administration and the Environmental Quality Board to act now to increase minimum setback distances.”

Registered nurses will hold a rally and community event on Saturday, Oct. 10 in Washington, D.C. to demand that MedStar Washington Hospital Center reopen its shuttered postpartum unit in the midst of a Black maternal health crisis in the District. Following the rally, the nurses and allies in the community will make their way to the hospital where they will deliver a letter to management calling for the immediate reopening of the unit.

Climate group commends Virginia’s Lt. Governor for taking a clear stance against creation of largest utility monopoly in the world 

RICHMOND, VA — Virginia Lieutenant Governor Ghazala Hashmi announced yesterday her opposition to NextEra’s acquisition of Dominion Energy. The announcement came after the conclusion of a five-stop listening tour during which the Lt. Governor heard Virginians’ concerns about the merger in Loudoun County, Norfolk, Richmond, Charlottesville, and Roanoke. CCAN Virginia Director joined the Lt. Governor as the energy expert on the panel in Roanoke.

The Virginia State Corporation Commission decision on the merger, which would create the largest regulated utility monopoly in the world, hinges on whether approval would impair or jeopardize “just and reasonable rates.” Recent polling shows that three in four Virginians (76%) believe the merger will increase electric bills.

Victoria Higgins, Virginia Director of Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), issued the following statement:

“We are thankful that Lieutenant Governor Hashmi took the time to hear out Virginians on this topic, and ultimately for taking a strong stance in opposition. We, too, are hearing deep concerns from people all over the state. Virginians see this for what it is: one more leg of the billionaire class’s AI arms race that is robbing everyday families of money, health, jobs, land, and water. It appears that NextEra is only here to capitalize on and accelerate data center infrastructure buildout as the rest of the country wakes up and turns them away.”

The Lt. Governor is the first statewide elected official to flatly oppose the merger. Governor Abigail Spanberger is a formal intervenor in the case before the State Corporation Commission and has expressed that she is “skeptical of the benefits this merger would deliver to Virginia.”

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Chesapeake Climate Action Network is the first grassroots organization dedicated exclusively to raising awareness about the impacts and solutions associated with global warming in the Chesapeake Bay region. Founded in 2002, CCAN has been at the center of the fight for clean energy and wise climate policy in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC.

The post Lt. Governor Hashmi Right to Oppose NextEra and Dominion Mega-Merger appeared first on Chesapeake Climate Action Network.

One month before a referendum vote that will include a question on Alberta independence, a free-market organization promoted “free cities” as a solution to separatist grievances at a Calgary conference. Free cities have received backing from MAGA tech CEOs.

“Here in Alberta, I know that you have questions about sovereignty, decentralization, provincial authority, and political distance”, said Mailyn Salabarria, senior advisor on U.S. Development and Strategic Partnerships for the Free Cities Foundation. “The free cities movement in general pushes your questions and your concerns a little step forward.”

The Free Cities Foundation promotes the creation of self-governing cities through conferences, media, and a global directory of Free Cities. Salabarria made these comments at the Capitalism and Morality conference in Calgary in early September.

The Free Cities Foundation is part of a broader effort to create autonomous jurisdictions as low-tax, private enclaves attractive to investors and entrepreneurs. There are many different names for and formations of these projects, including special economic zones, charter cities, startup cities, and network states. The movement has significant backing from tech CEOs close to the Trump administration. 

This pitch to Alberta separatists is “not surprising”, said Quinn Slobodian, Professor of International History at Boston University. “[T]he possibility of breaking up existing nation-states, especially very large ones like Canada, has been on the mind of these radical libertarians now for at least 30 plus years,” he told DeSmog in an interview. Slobodian traced the history of free marketeers and libertarians designing special economic zones and charter cities in his 2023 book Crack up Capitalism.

Salabarria pitched free cities to the Calgary crowd as something smaller and more nimble than a breakaway state: “How small can the political decision-making be for ordinary people to actually have meaningful choices? For some of you, the answer might be greater provincial autonomy. For others, it could be a general seccession. For another group, it can be charter jurisdictions, especially economic zones, competitive municipalities, or private communities,” said Salabarria.

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Email Address Sign Up Send me intelligence from: All US/Global team UK/Europe team Sign Up --> (function($){ $('.newsletter-container .ijkidr-us').click(function() { $('.js-cm-form').attr('data-id', '2BE4EF332AA2E32596E38B640E905619D07B21962C5AFE16D3A2145673C82A3CEE9D9F1ADDABE965ACB3CE39939D42AC9012C6272FD52BFCA0790F0FB77C6442'); $('.js-cm-email-input').attr('name', 'cm-vdrirr-vdrirr'); }); $('.newsletter-container .ijkidr-uk').click(function() { $('.js-cm-form').attr('data-id', '2BE4EF332AA2E32596E38B640E905619BD43AA6813AF1B0FFE26D8282EC254E3ED0237BA72BEFBE922037EE4F1B325C6DA4918F8E044E022C7D333A43FD72429'); $('.js-cm-email-input').attr('name', 'cm-ijkidr-ijkidr'); }); })(jQuery); Tech CEOs and Próspera

The Free Cities Foundation’s founder and president is Titus Gebel, a German entrepreneur and thought leader on special economic zones. Between 2017 and 2019, he served as chief legal officer for the company operating Próspera, a special economic zone (known as a ZEDE) in Honduras. Located on the island of Roatán, Próspera was first pitched in 2017 and broke ground in 2020, promoted as a libertarian paradise where businesses can choose from a list of regulatory frameworks, or mix and match their own. 

Companies can be set up by e-residents without stepping foot on Roatán. Those companies then pay taxes to the economic development zone, not the municipality or Honduran government. Bitcoin is accepted as legal tender and innovative experimental medical clinics allowed Milton Friedman’s grandson Patri Friedman get a Tesla key implanted in his hand.   

Some of Próspera’s most prominent backers are Silicon valley Tech CEOs who have ingratiated themselves with U.S. President Donald Trump. Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen have both invested in Próspera through Pronomos Capital, a fund for charter cities.

Thiel has provided capital for a similar venture that the Free Cities Foundation promotes, called “seasteading”, which entails creating “autonomous ocean communities”. Thiel’s software company Palantir has been assisting the Trump administration’s massive deportation campaign, has said that freedom and democracy are incompatible, and has called Greta Thunberg the antichrist.

Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen is now a new member of the U.S. Pentagon Defense Policy board. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has also backed Próspera, along with Praxis, another free city. Praxis’ architects wanted to site the project in Greenland before settling on Uruguay. Altman donated $5M to Trump’s Super PAC ahead of the 2025 inauguration through his Tools for Humanity company. Thiel and Andreessen are also invested in Praxis through Pronomos Capital.

Residents of Roatán have fiercely opposed Próspera. According to Human Rights Watch, “Indigenous and Afro-Honduran organizations say that such zones were created within their traditional territories without proper consultation, including free, prior, and informed consent”. Locals reported they were not approached by Próspera until 2019, two years after the project was approved, and at that point it was presented as a resort.

Locals grew more concerned that their land could be expropriated when Próspera posted development designs on its website that included Crawfish Rock, an adjacent community. Honduras has faced a long history of U.S. and corporate incursion; it is where the term “Banana Republic” was invented in response to the control of the United Fruit and Standard Fruit companies. Salabarria told DeSmog in a statement that “Free Cities Foundation does not support any project involved in expropriation of land from any community, including First Nations communities”.

Honduras’ Supreme Court struck down the zone laws which allowed for the creation of Próspera in September 2024 and ruled that the framework violated human rights. Próspera is suing Honduras for nearly US $11B, equivalent to almost two thirds of Honduras’ national budget in 2022. The case is still pending at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.

Juan Orlando Hernández, the Honduran president who pushed the special economic zones initially, was extradited to the U.S. on drug trafficking charges, and a U.S. court later sentenced him to 45 years. He was pardoned by U.S President Donald Trump and returned to Honduras, where he was cleared of criminal charges. 

Salabarria told DeSmog in a statement “Free Cities Foundation has no direct financial relationship with Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, Sam Altman, or their companies. We have worked with Próspera in limited, time-bound ways in the past”. Salabarria shared that Free Cities Foundation is independent from Próspera, though the foundation held its most recent conference in the ZEDE in September 2026, and Próspera has sponsored some Free Cities Foundation events.

Free Cities, for Whom?

In Alberta, Salabarria urged conference attendees: “Please don’t buy [into] the stereotype that these alternative forms of governance are only for rich people fighting or trying to look for tax havens”. 

Salabarria presented free cities as an opportunity to strengthen Albertans’ rights and freedoms. “It is mostly a concept, an umbrella, a legal framework where territories can be created by a contract within a host nation, with meaningful local autonomy, stronger protection of individual rights, and much more freedom on how people can live, work, conduct their business, innovate, build, invest, and organize their communities,” she said.

According to Slobodian, there are two sides to the Free Cities Foundation’s proposal. One is the creation of special economic zones to create opportunities for private investors. The other side is the promise of gated communities that “offer their residents a certain sense of increased security, often cultural and class homogeneity, stability for their real estate investments.” Slobodian explained that service provision within these communities can become quite costly when publicly funded services are privatized. In that way, free cities are for the wealthy few who “already have many, many options for living according to [their] preferences,” he said.

Salabarria told DeSmog that “free cities are not only for the wealthy” and named another special economic zone in Honduras, Ciudad Morazán, as providing affordable housing to local residents. She also said these zones offer employment and higher earnings to locals. 

The conference was organized by Econ Americas, a Colorado based financial consulting firm, and talks ranged from banning trans athletes from competitive sports and managing diabetes through the paleo diet, to getting rid of government altogether.

Credit: Danielle Paradis

At the opening evening of the conference Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich was given a “Good Rebel” award. In a Substack post ahead of the conference, Econ Americas founder Fergus Hodgson wrote that “[t]here is an incredibly rare opening in Alberta to peacefully build a state-of-the-art nation that can lead the world for freedom.” Conference sponsors included Bow Valley Credit Union and Alberta Women for Independence, as well as right-wing websites Western Standard and Juno News.

“I personally see Alberta nationhood as tremendously beneficial,” Hodgson said in response to DeSmog’s request for comment, explaining that it would increase government accountability and individual choice for Albertans. 

“Ottawa loyalists who push the notion that Americans are behind the movement demonstrate a lack of understanding and an eagerness to turn a blind eye to the disaffected, homegrown, and highly motivated movement that is staring them in the face”, said Hodgson.

 Salabarria wasn’t the only speaker calling for an end to government as we know it. “Democracy is not reformed. It is progressively displaced by property-based decision-making,” said Darcy Gerow, former deputy leader of the Libertarian Party of Canada, in a talk he called “The Anarcho-Capitalist Case For Alberta”. Gerow argued in favour of an independent Alberta where “[a]ll public assets should be privatized by distributing shares to the people who funded them and rightfully owned them, the taxpayers”.

Gerow said the same logic that is applied to privatizing education and healthcare should be extended to security, the courts, and finance. He also proposed that only property owners and net tax contributors should have a say over local taxes and regulation, with private contracts taking the place of a constitution, and competition and secession standing in for elections.

Gerow did not respond to DeSmog’s questions.

According to Slobodian, American investors would be very interested in the creation of free cities or special economic zones in Alberta, especially in the context of the Canada- U.S. trade war and increasing energy demands for artificial intelligence. This could be “part of like a U.S. driven oil grab that’s driven by the energy demands of the tech sector …which is exploiting this secessionist energy and exploiting culture war issues for very direct economic ends.”

Meanwhile, Alberta separatist leaders have visited the U.S. State Department to offer up resources including water and oil royalties. Republican political operatives visited Calgary to present software to identify Albertans likely to vote yes in a referendum on separation.

Salabarria stated “We are not currently working with any specific investors, groups or proposals to establish a Free City or Special Economic Zone in Alberta. We are, however, open to engaging with serious proposals aimed at creating new zones with greater autonomy where these  are based on voluntary participation and lawful agreement.”

Slobodian argued that “I can see tons of reasons why a tech-adjacent investor, of which most of these network state people are, would see this as an opportunity to grab access within the continent.”

CORRECTION (10/14/26): The original version of this article referred to Próspera as a “fully privatized city state”. The article has been updated to clarify the proper terminology of special economic zone or ZEDE. The original version of this article stated that the Free Cities foundation is a “free-market organization with links to MAGA-tech CEOs”. The language has been updated to better reflect the relationship between the foundation and these individuals.

UPDATE (10/14/26): This article has been updated to include an example of a startup city that Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen are invested in through Pronomos Capital, Praxis.

The post MAGA Tech-Aligned Group Offers Advice To Alberta Separatists appeared first on DeSmog.

(October 7, 2026) - Last week, the U.S. Senate passed legislation to reauthorize the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a federal program that invests millions of dollars to clean up toxic...

Consumer Pesticide Safety Bill of Rights rcoleman October 7, 2026 EWG and Consumer Reports October 14, 2026 details { border-bottom: 1px solid #ddd; margin-bottom: 0; } details summary { cursor: pointer; list-style: none; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; align-items: flex-start; gap: 12px; padding: 12px 0; } details summary::-webkit-details-marker { display: none; } details summary::after { content: "+"; font-size: 2.5rem; font-weight: 300; line-height: 1; flex-shrink: 0; margin-top: 2px; } details[open] summary::after { content: "−"; } details summary h4 { margin: 0; } details .details-body { padding-bottom: 16px; } Consumers have the right to warnings on the products they bring into their homes, including the right to know whether a pesticide is linked to cancer and other health harms.

Pesticide residue can lurk on a range of everyday products we wouldn’t immediately think of. Consumers deserve to know whether the pesticides they bring into their homes – ranging from insecticides to lawncare or petcare products – may pose the risk of long-term health harms.

Children are especially vulnerable to the chemicals that may be present in the pesticides designed to kill insects found in and around our homes. One study found an average of over 30 different pesticides in urine samples from every American child surveyed.

Although warnings often alert consumers to risks like eye or skin irritation, labels on residential-use pesticides don’t warn consumers about other risks associated with long-term exposures.

These risks include harm to the lungs, the brain, reproductive or hormone systems, breast cancer, and cancer in children. Even low levels of exposure can affect a young child’s behavioral development.

The Environmental Protection Agency reports that long-term exposure to some pesticides used in our homes can result in damage to the liver, kidneys and the hormone and nervous systems. For example, some pet care products designed to kill fleas and ticks contain a chemical that may be dangerous to consumers, especially children and pregnant people. Exposure to this chemical can increase the risk of learning disabilities.

The National Poison Control Centers report more than 28,000 household pesticide exposures to children under the age of 5 and over 35,000 adults each year. In 2024, pesticides were pregnant people’s third most common exposure to poison.

Consumers have the right to know if someone nearby is spraying a pesticide that can make them sick.

Consumers deserve to know whether someone living or working near their home has applied pesticides that can make people sick. In most states, consumers have no way of knowing whether a toxic pesticide has been sprayed nearby. Farmers and other commercial and government applicators are not required to notify their neighbors about potential risks.

Pesticides can travel from their intended target. Some pesticides can drift in the wind after they are applied. Others can volatilize and travel as an invisible vapor.

For example, federal experts using a screening model recently estimated that paraquat, a highly toxic pesticide that’s been linked to Parkinson’s disease, could reach levels of concern in air up to or beyond 2.7 miles from where it’s applied.

And though the people who spread the chemicals may be required to wear special protective gear, communities nearby remain unprotected.

Consumers have the right to know that what they feed their children is subject to the toughest pesticide safety standards.

Consumers deserve to know that the pesticides found on foods most commonly consumed by children – fruit like strawberries and blueberries and vegetables like broccoli and carrots – are subject to the strictest food safety standards.

Federal law requires by default that the EPA apply an additional safety factor when it sets limits on pesticide residues on fruits and vegetables. But it rarely does.

While pesticide residues detected on fruits and vegetables meet federal standards, they are not set low enough to ensure they are safe, especially for kids.

An EWG peer-reviewed study found the EPA fails to adequately consider children when setting limits for 90% of the most common pesticides.

Consumers have the right to expect their kids are protected from toxic pesticides at school and in local parks.

Consumers deserve to know children are safe when they are at school. They have the right to expect the pesticides sprayed in school, on school grounds and near schools are not toxic. Children face higher risk from pesticides because their developing bodies and nervous system are more vulnerable to chemical toxicity.

Despite mounting scientific evidence of these potential harms, school pesticide safety standards vary from state to state.

Some allow pesticide application within proximity to schools. EWG found 3,901 public elementary and middle schools located within just 200 feet of a crop field where pesticides could be sprayed.

Nearly 25,000 other schools are situated within a quarter-mile of a pesticide-treated crop field.

Consumers have the right to expect America’s pesticide regulators will act quickly to review toxic pesticides when other nations ban the chemicals.

When a pesticide is banned by another country, U.S. consumers have the right to expect the EPA will quickly evaluate whether we should ban it too.

But dozens of pesticides, including those linked to serious health harms, such as cancer and Parkinson’s disease, have been banned by other nations – yet are still allowed for use in the U.S. And many will not be reviewed by the EPA for safety for years to come.

Consumers have the right to know where and when pesticides have been used and misused and when they’re detected in food and water.

Consumers have the right to know more about the impact and details of pesticide use, including especially:

• Where and how much is manufactured
• Where and how much is applied
• Which pesticides can be detected in food and water
• When spills may pose a risk to our health

Some of that information is publicly available. But it is often hard to find, and when it is, may be out of date.

And in most states, this kind of data about the location and quantities of manufacturing and application isn’t available at all.

Consumers deserve to know more about pesticides so they can protect their families.

Consumers have the right to seek justice when pesticides have caused harm.

The Supreme Court this year blocked many pesticide lawsuits, leaving consumers who have been harmed by a pesticide with fewer ways to hold pesticide corporations accountable. When pesticides have made us sick – and consumers can show their health was harmed because of their exposure to pesticides – they should have access to justice through the courts.