Canada announces new border funding after Trump tariff threat
Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed a rule to significantly reduce toxic pollution from plants like the Union Carbide facility in Institute, one of West Virginia’s few majority-Black communities. However, the pollution reductions proposed are at risk of being killed by incoming President Donald Trump, who has vowed his administration will continue to roll back pollution limits. Three citizen groups sued the federal agency last year when regulators failed to update the emission standards for facilities that produce polyether polyols — a chemical production category that can lead to emissions of carcinogens such as ethylene oxide. A settlement was reached last month requiring federal regulators to propose an updated rule by Dec. 10. In 2021 Mountain State Spotlight and ProPublica detailed how majority-Black communities across the country, like Institute in West Virginia, were saddled with a disproportionate health burden from industrial pollution. A ProPublica analysis found that Institute faces an increased cancer risk from industrial air pollution at 36 times the level the EPA considers acceptable. On Dec. 11, the EPA posted the draft of its updated rule that would reduce ethylene oxide emissions by nearly 80%. The rule also proposed additional measures, including monitoring ethylene oxide emissions at the plants’ fencelines. Environmental groups celebrated the proposed rule, declaring it a victory. “This is a critical step forward in protecting communities from the dangerous risks posed by ethylene oxide emissions,” said Adrienne Lee, an attorney for Earthjustice representing the environmental groups. However, the rule faces a lengthy process before it can take effect. Once the regulation is proposed and published in the Federal Register, there is a period for public comment before it can be finalized. Because of that process, the rule won’t be finalized before President Joe Biden leaves office, leaving the rule in the hands of Trump’s EPA. Trump has pledged to reverse federal climate, air and water regulations during his presidency. During his first term, his administration tried to roll back more than 100 environmental rules. He has tapped several major players who were involved with crafting the conservative playbook Project 2025 to serve in his second administration. The chapter devoted to the EPA says the agency should be more conservative and critiques its policies under the current administration in this way: “Not surprisingly, the EPA under the Biden Administration has returned to the same top-down, coercive approach that defined the Obama Administration. There has been a reinstitution of unachievable standards designed to aid in the ‘transition’ away from politically disfavored industries and technologies and toward the Biden Administration’s preferred alternatives.” Trump has tapped former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin to head his administration’s EPA despite Zeldin’s limited regulatory or environmental experience. The League of Conservation Voters gave Zeldin a pro-environmental voting record of 14% for his time in Congress. Despite the change in administration, the EPA is required to issue a final version of this rule by next December because of the settlement. However, what the rule looks like in its final form could be very different from the current proposed version. Even if the rule is finalized under the Trump administration as is, there’s still more to be done to address toxic air pollution, especially in communities historically overburdened by industry pollution. “Any reductions are good, that’s what’s a step in the right direction, but it really needs to be zero risk,” said Maya Nye, a Kanawha Valley resident and member of the Charleston-based People Concerned About Chemical Safety. “That’s all that’s acceptable, personally, to me.” The Union Carbide facility, now owned by Dow Chemical, is one of the facilities that this rule will impact as it makes ethylene oxide to help produce a wide variety of products, including antifreeze, pesticides and sterilizing agents for medical tools. In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Union Carbide said the company will review the proposed rule and “engage through the formal regulatory process to advocate for sensible, risk-based emissions standards based on the best available science.”Argentina’s government is racing against time as it works with major banks and payment firms to advance Javier Milei’s dollarisation strategy even as pesos are in high demand. To do so, the government plans to take two key steps — launch the first dual-currency debit card, so that Argentines can make dollar payments despite ongoing exchange rate , and allow to provide dollar loans in sectors that are currently excluded from such financing. The initiatives aim to capitalise on the recent surge of dollar inflows stemming from the government’s tax amnesty. Over the past five months, Argentines more than US$20 billion in local banks. That flow of foreign cash, combined with a move by the government to limit the supply of local currency, has helped the peso strengthen more than 20 percent in parallel markets since it hit a record low in July. Now, with a stabilised peso, dollar usage is set to increase, including in everyday transactions, President Milei said last week. “From now on, every Argentine will be able to buy, sell and invoice in dollars, or in the currency he/she considers; except for the payment of taxes,” he said on national television on December 10. Officials are urging the country’s main payment processors to develop a mechanism to allow debit card purchases in dollars, according to three people who declined to share the names of the companies involved in the talks. Economy Minister Luis Caputo wants the card to launch in January, but the companies think it might take until March, the people said. Under the plan, Argentine consumers will be able to use the dollars they deposit into their accounts without going through the foreign exchange market first, contrary to the current system that only allows them to use pesos. In addition, the Argentine government is pushing banks to extend dollar loans to more sectors. Caputo Wednesday said he wants business loans and mortgages to be offered in the US currency. Current regulations only give access to dollars to those companies that generate revenues in foreign currency. He also pointed to ongoing conversations with real-estate companies to establish dollar-denominated mortgage programmes during his remarks on Wednesday. “We aim to remonetise the economy, both in pesos and dollars,” he said in a speech in September. “We want people to use their dollars because that reactivates the economy, generates more income and allows us to lower taxes.” Milei promised to shut down Argentina’s Central Bank during his presidential campaign and adopt the dollar as the country’s currency. Once in office, he changed strategy. The approach, dubbed endogenous dollarisation, involves restricting the supply of pesos, forcing Argentines to use their dollar holdings to pay for regular expenses. Some supermarkets, manufacturers and even bars have begun accepting payments in dollars, but financial institutions are still in the process of putting in place the necessary infrastructure to process such transactions. “Dollar transactions will continue to rise in 2025 and we have to keep developing new products to meet the demand,” said Camila Gallelli, a portfolio manager at Santander Asset Management in Buenos Aires. That is particularly challenging in the financial technology space as it requires approval from the Central Bank for a uniform virtual key, or CVU, in dollars. Fintech firms have asked the monetary institution to approve it, but the Central Bank wants to level the playing field between fintech firms and banks first, a spokesman said. “The challenge is to provide more transactions in dollars. It is a general request from the fintech industry but today we are not so close,” said Mariano Biocca, executive director at the Argentine fintech chamber. The Central Bank could give its approval in mid-2025, she said. “It will become an industry standard, because you can’t not have it,” Biocca said. For the time being, both banks and fintech firms are offering alternatives to saving in dollars, in an attempt to put those tax amnesty dollars to use. One of the largest Argentine fintechs, Ualá, has already received approval from CNV, a regulator, to launch a dollar fund that will pay an annual yield similar to US Treasuries, according to a person with direct knowledge. Santander Asset Management also launched a dollar fund, which is set to be followed by others in 2025. “We're sensing an exponential growth in our dollar funds,” said Santander Asset Management’s Gallelli, who already manages US$430 million in this fund and doubled his share this year. Still, analysts doubt that the steps will be sufficient to lay the foundations for the president’s dollarisation strategy. “Dollarisation is going to take time. It needs more structural reforms that will make Argentina a normal country again,” said Alejo Czerwonko, UBS Group AG’s chief investment officer for Americas emerging markets, in an interview. “Maximising this one-time flow of dollars that Argentina received may be useful to achieve the objectives and is welcome. But by itself it is not enough.” by Ignacio Olivera Doll, Bloomberg Ads Space Ads Space
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