FERC Ponders Allowing Public Input, Environmental Review of Proposal for Electrical Generators in Whale Route

It was one year ago that my article entitled "Limited Time Only - Act now to own your piece of the ocean off the Mendocino Coast" (posted below) was published. This week the alliance of Northern California coast commercial and recreational fishing associations known as Fishermen Interested in Safe Hydrokinetics (FISH) has announced that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is extending its time to consider the FISH committee request for public participation and environmental analysis in developing federal licensing regulations for nascent wave energy generation projects.

In other words, FERC has to think about whether and how it would allow public participation and environmental analysis before issuing permits allowing PG&E and Chevron to place electrical generators and a grid in the Gray Whale Migration Route. More than 200 hydrokinetic projects have been proposed across the United States as a solution to environmental issues. Two wave energy projects are currently proposed for the coast off Mendocino County and one in Humboldt County, in one of the most flourishng marine areas on the West Coast. Seven are off the Oregon coast, including Lincoln County

Offshore from Mendocino County PG&E's proposal covers 68 square miles. Chevron's proposal is for a premilinary study. If implemented the proposals would require significant exclusion zones and would be located along the Gray Whale migration route. (See map above)

The City and County of San Francisco filed an initial statement in opposition to FERC even processing these applications because of lack of staff . In it's statement, the San Francisco argued:

While specifically not referring to this application, San Francisco believes the risk of sparking a 'gold rush' by ill prepared applicants with ill-conceived projects is too high and the drain on Commission resources in reviewing such applications would be too great.

But the process has moved on.

As in all such complex regulatory processes, before the potentially effected public could wrap its collective head around the meaning of the proposals, FERC established rules regarding the process which essentially precluded public involvement in the process. As one writer noted:

This pejorative May 21, 2008 FERC ruling rejects requests of FISH, Fort Bragg, Mendocino County and local stakeholders’ to rehear their right to participate in this wave energy development project. It is noted since onset of the Mendocino wave energy agenda, FERC and PG&E continue to swiftly move toward their goals while intentionally blocking all local, public participation. As wave energy development projects on the U.S. coasts progress, Americans are discovering that FERC’s convoluted wave energy licensing process is ill-defined, biased and discriminates against public participation.

As I noted in my article a year ago,

If you...want to get in on the action, you'd better hurry as FERC is likely to fast track these applications to approval before 2009 when a new President takes office.

What the County of Mendocino, the City of Fort Bragg, the Recreational Fishing Alliance, and Lincoln County, Oregon discovered is that FERC really didn't plan to hear from them. So they've joined the FISH Committee’s request for a rehearing of FERC's policies. According to a report by Recreational Fishing Alliance West Coast Region Director:

Potential negative impacts on marine life from wave buoys include electromagnetic pollution and interference with migratory finfish, whale entanglements and altering the bottom structure of the seabeds. Turbine devices submerged in rivers, bays and estuaries could entrain juvenile fish.

"We take this issue very seriously and, if necessary, intend to vigorously pursue our legal options," said John Innes, board member of the North Coast Fishing Association. "We are not opposed to renewable energy, we only want to make sure we know what the impacts will be to fish and other marine life before we sign off on these projects. Considering that wave energy is in its infancy, it is extremely important to have proper controls and regulations in place to prevent non-recoverable detrimental effects on our ocean environment."

If you are concerned, its better late then never to get involved.

Limited Time Only - Act now to own your piece of the Pacific Ocean off the Mendocino Coast

Yes, folks, act now! Your friends at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) will give you piece of the Pacific Ocean. All you have to do is file an application to reserve your piece of the ocean. Chevron and PG&E have filed applications creating potential rights that constitute a claim over the ocean surface, similar to staking a mining claim. If they "mine" these "claims," the necessary structures would occupy the surface to the exclusion of others, including whales.

The California Energy Commission web site has some information on wave energy leading one to believe that this State Commission might be involved. http://www.energy.ca.gov/development/oceanenergy/ But Bob Aldrich of the California Energy Commission's Media and Public Communications Office stated: "We do not have any “experts” to speak of on wave energy at the Commission. I wrote the page, which was created based on information from a number of places." He also reflected a naive view: "You may also need Coastal Commission approval for such a wave energy device.

In fact, the filings are with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the people who allowed California to be ripped off by energy companies a few years ago. Thus the claims are likely to be outside the regulatory scope of State of California agencies such as the Coastal Commission. Legal challenges would inevitably end up in the Bush Supreme Court which has already established its sympathies against state regulation.
PG&E is seeking to have two 40-megawatt wave farms up and running off the state's north coasts within a few years, according to documents it has filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC.

The Mendocino County wave farm will be located off Fort Bragg in open ocean a half mile to 4.5 miles offshore. A 68-square-mile area will be assessed. PG&E essentially will turn the zone into a wave-energy testing ground, spending up to $3 million to try out various technologies from up to four manufacturers. "A number of different device concepts are being pursued by independent device manufacturers, and there is no industry consensus at this time on the optimal energy conversion technology," PG&E execs wrote in an application for a preliminary permit for the project. "The initial ... devices to be used will be selected from device manufacturers who have sufficiently mature technologies available for deployment."

On July 2, Chevron California Renewable Energy, Inc. filed a preliminary permit application with the FERC. The Town of Mendocino would be dead center in the claim area, although wave energy plants are not normally visible from shore. It would avoid the Van Damme State Marine Area. The large study area is framed in order to locate a smaller project area. That larger area is a rectangle that runs from three miles offshore to less than a mile from shore, from Point Cabrillo to a spot halfway between the mouth of Little River and Albion.

Like PG&E, Chevron plans to evaluate alternative designs and locations of wave energy conversion devices.

"These devices would be combined in arrays for demonstration scale or commercial scale power production," Chevron said in a July 5 letter to local government agencies.

Wave energy technology is moving from the idea stage to the practical at breakneck speed.

Chevron's proposal is nearly identical to PG&E's, including a competition among manufacturers and technologies, which could make the Mendocino Coast the world's leading spot for wave energy research, at least as the world stands now. Wave energy plants proposed all over the world generally come with a single technology.

PG&E is in preliminary discussions with Ocean Power Technologies of New Jersey, the U.K's Ocean Power Delivery and Ireland's Finavera Renewables. While wave energy technologies vary, they essentially involve a device that floats on the ocean's surface and that harnesses the power produced by the surf to drive a turbine that generates greenhouse gas-free electricity. PG&E will deploy multiple wave-energy devices in an array moored to the ocean's floor and connected to the shore by a transmission cable.

Chevron, however, has picked a company and a technology to start with The Pelamis which resembles a chain of bobbing giant redwood trees or wriggling giant sea serpents. Waves jostle the links between Pelamis sections, pushing hydraulic rams to provide the energy. http://www.oceanpd.com/Anims/pelamis_V4.html

Chevron estimates the power range from a tiny 2 megawatts to 60 megawatts, about twice as much as needed to power the entire coast. The PG&E plan hopes for 40 megawatts.

Chevron is making substantial investments in alternative energy. Although the Chevron company has California in its name, all the mailing addresses are in Houston, Texas.

Chevron would connect the power via undersea cable to an unnamed PG&E substation. Chevron promises public meetings and "extensive public process."

On August 14, 2006, Roger Bedard, Ocean Energy Leader, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), gave a presentation to the Fort Bragg City Council about the benefits of wave energy which, according to minutes of the meeting, included the following points:

• Wave energy is clean with no pollution or emission of greenhouse gases.
• It is a sustainable and renewable source with high power density and creates working class jobs.
• This new technology, with proper maintenance, will be one of the most benign energy-producing
technologies around.
• He described three of the dozens of different types wave energy devices made today.
• Fort Bragg is considered a possible site for wave energy because it has the infrastructure: an
outflow pipe from the former mill site with an easement; a PG&E substation nearby on Walnut
Street; and a harbor with machine shops and docks that could possibly provide device deployment.
• Other fishing communities have formed a port liaison project where engineers and scientists get
together with fishermen and crabbers and come up with a solution for the greater good.
• National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reimburses fishermen for their time spent
on the project.
• Hal LaFlash, Director Renewable Energy Policy & Planning, PG&E, stated that PG&E is working
toward 20% renewable energy by 2010.

The minutes of that meeting show some signs of discussion:

The following was noted in response to question from the public:
• The effect of tsunamis is very small as the devices are located about three miles offshore.
• The Coast Guard, which must approve installation of the plant, has rules about beacons,
transponders and lights. Wave machines are also indicated on their charts.
• Wave energy devices are modular and installed in small increments. If there are no unforeseen
effects, another modular can be installed.
• Typically waves that reach the shore are reduced by 10%.
• Ocean Beach was not a viable site because it would have been very costly to upgrade power from
the west side of San Francisco to the east.
• Three California communities – Morro Bay, Eureka, and Fort Bragg will be considered as potential
sites September 20, by PG&E, the California Energy Commission, and the Public Energy
Commission.
• It costs $100 million to $150 million to build a plant which employs about 30 people full time.
Independent developers invest in wave energy plants.
• Government subsidizes the first plants to get the market going. Production tax credits are offered.
• There is no history on how long units last because the technology is so new; however, they are
designed to last 20 years.
• The mooring is similar to mooring a ship with anchors, clump weights, and cables.
• LaFlash added that PG&E has an open solicitation for renewable energy.
• The on-shore facility might be at PG&E’s Walnut Street site depending on voltage.

The following was noted by Council during discussion of this item:
• Councilmember Melo suggested that research be done on the Fort Bragg Local Coastal Plan, in
particular Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area restrictions. The easement for the wastewater
treatment plant goes out 600’. He believes that outfall was blasted into the bedrock, not buried in
sediments. He stated that he supports finding out more about this.
• Councilmember Hammerstrom said that he appreciates the depths of answers from Bedard and the
fact that he also admits when he does not know the answer. He asked if the site could be relocated
from time to time to distribute its effects. Bedard replied that it could be done, but there would be
cost impacts. It would have to be a really good reason to move it.

The President and CEO EPRI is Steven R. Specker, a PhD in nuclear engineering, whose primary work background was with General Electric's nuclear power division. The company's Strategic Vision is described on its web site as follows:

The Electricity Technology Roadmap initiative began in 1997. Although spearheaded by EPRI, over 200 organizations contributed to the framing of this vision and the development of an initial report in 1999. It was organized around five Destinations that are critical milestones on the path toward achieving a sustainable global energy economy by 2050. The five Destinations are:
(1) Strengthening the Power Delivery Infrastructure
(2) Enabling the Digital Society
(3) Boosting Economic Productivity and Prosperity
(4) Resolving the Energy/Environment Conflict
(5) Managing the Global Sustainability Challenge

One of its related reports is entitled Limiting Challenges Report #12: Ecological Asset Management which in its Preface contains the following paragraphs:

Eco-asset management harnesses market forces to preserve, enhance, restore, and create the natural capital life itself depends upon. In this report, eco-asset management is described within the context of the societal objectives defined by the Electricity Technology Roadmap, a collaborative exploration of the future of the global electricity enterprise. Eco-asset management is characterized as a market-based approach with promise for maximizing the productivity of natural resources to promote economic vitality, protect environmental and public health, improve the human condition, and accelerate global progress toward a sustainable future.

For companies in the energy, agriculture, mining, timber, real estate, land management, and other resource-based sectors, eco-asset management oilers significant opportunities for increasing revenues, reducing compliance costs, eliminating liabilities, and managing risks. Improving environmental quality, protecting public health, and demonstrating corporate citizenship represent additional—and substantial—benefits. For government agencies and other stakeholders, market-based approaches promise solutions for achieving environmental goals more efficiently and at lower cost, as well as for addressing complex challenges such as climate change, water shortages, and biodiversity loss.

The Institution of Engineering and Technology, a British research organization, noted the following about wave energy in a "fact file" publication entitled Environmental Effects of Electricity Generation: Renewable Sources:

Wave Energy

There are, basically, two types of wave energy device. The first utilises the essentially up and down movement of the sea’s surface and is usually located well away from a shore-line where the average power of some 50kW per metre of wave front. The other type utilises the action of the waves on the sea-shore. Clearly, which of these devices is used has a considerable effect on the type of environmental impact of wave technology.

Off-shore devices have received the most attention in the UK and will therefore be considered first. As wave energy devices extract energy from motion, the water surface behind the device is essentially calm. There is, therefore, a reduction in the sea’s action on the seashore, and hence an effect on its ecology. How effective this change is depends on how far offshore the device is moored and how long it is. The devices themselves could be a navigation hazard, particularly if they broke their anchors. Seals and predatory sea birds may also be attracted to the devices. Although the actual method of energy extraction, the conversion of this energy into electricity, and its subsequent transmission to population centres have not been agreed, it is already clear that the cabling ashore and the siting of transmission facilities, in what would generally be areas of high scenic value, would cause the greatest environmental concern about potential wave energy exploitation. The impact of transmission facilities is, in fact, common to many types of renewable energy sources.

What hasn't been discussed is that the Mendocino County proposals would place electrical generation and transmission facilities electromagnetic fields in or near the Pacific Coast whale migration routes. It would likely take a decade after full installation to know the real effects.

Are we really ready to do this? If you are and want to get in on the action, you'd better hurry as FERC is likely to fast track these applications to approval before 2009 when a new President takes office.

Originally published July 27, 2007 and republished August 1, 2007.

Posts Listed by Topic

                                                                                                                      

What the United States is - a Union.
It is not - a nation, country, or state!

1. Introduction
    
2. Time" as an emblem for inextricable cultural differences
    
3. The Old Nation-Building Myths of America
    
   • America's white European "Melting Pot"
      
   • The myth of the Gilded Age - the Horatio Alger story
      
4. A More Perfect Union, Not Country, Nation, Or State
    
   • A More Perfect Union
      
   • It's not a country - here's why
      
   • It's not a nation - here's why
      
   • It is not a state but rather a union - here's why
      
5. A More Perfect Union as a 21st Century Kaleidoscope
    
   • After the 21st Century Gilded Age economy collapses
      
   • A Kaleidoscope of Individuality and Achievement
      
6. A Second Civil War Between Groups
   • We can divide people into tribes, ethnicities, and races. So we do.
   • We can group people into cultures and religions. So we do.
   • We can divide people into geographic groups such as Mississippians and Californians. So we do
   • We can consider any person "not of our group" as "the other." So we do.
   • And when we fail as individuals to achieve happiness, we can blame "the other." And so we do.

                                                                                                                      

  California's Distinct History, Divergent Culture,
and Diverse Economy

1. #Calexit. Perhaps 170 years of invidious doubtful scorn is enough
   1. A New California Republic?
   2. Introduction to a Necessary Political Revolt
   3. The Roles of Migration and Spain, not England, in California History
      • BEFORE THE 16TH CENTURY
      • FROM 1492 TO 1869
      • MIGRATION SINCE 1870
   4. The essential Pacific-centric world view of California's economy and culture
   5. Born Golden, Born a Californian, but not in these "dis-United" States
       
2. The Counter-Ascendancy of California Empirical Egalitarian Progressivism
    
3. Old California Progressives sense déjà vu when looking at the Newsom Era despite the need to secure states' rights because of Trump's America
    
4. 21st Century California vulnerabilities to active Neoliberal political opportunists
    
5. To A God Unknown: Steinbeck, Stine, and Medieval California
    
6. Overcoming Words That Blind and Bind (6 Post Series)
    
   • In California we are overcoming words that blind and bind since we want our descendants to survive
      
   • In California we are overcoming words that blind and bind - such as the words global and climate
      
   • In California we are overcoming words that blind and bind by discussing biosphere science
      
   • In California we are overcoming words that blind and bind: about lie, error, digital and information
      
   • In California we are overcoming words that blind and bind: avoiding the ideology of Neoliberalism
      
   • In California we are overcoming words that blind and bind: the trap of the technology promise
      
7. As a California Democrat, you must praise the $15 minimum wage and ignore the evil of Apple - it's all very confusing and very wrong
    
8. Brexit: "Ignorance is bliss" is the core theme of an initiative/referendum democracy like California's
    
9. California and Kentucky - A tale of two states: From Sen. Henry Clay's Compromise of 1850 to Obama's Affordable Care Act
    
10. The 21st Century Disruption Way-of-Life (2 Post Series)
     
    • The California tradition of discontinuity and displacement needs to be mitigated
       
    • Emperical Egalitarian Progressives act to rebuild California infrastructure and jobs
       
11. Climate Change: The shiny old object catching the eye of some lesser wrong-headed politicians
     

                                                                                                                      

  Climate Change & Environmental Issues

1. Climate Change Black Death surrounds us (3 Part Series)
   • The coming Climate Change Black Death. If only humanity knew in advance what was coming and that something could be done about it! Oh, wait....
      
   • No, The Green New Deal is not new. But two generations of Democrats - Ocasio-Cortez and Pelosi - begin the push toward implementation
      
   • The personally disturbing population collapse of Monarch Butterflies and nearly all other insects
      
2. The California Green and Gold Deal (2 Posts)
   • The California Green and Gold Deal: What a plan for climate change looks like as it's implemented.
      
   • The Deplorables to advance Climate Change Black Death by trading The California Green and Gold Deal for "more affordable" new cars for older voters
      
3. Has Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez cost us decades of progress on the Green New Deal?
    
4. As the midterm election approaches we should be in great fear of Climate Change. Why aren't we?
    
5. In California we are overcoming words that blind and bind (6 part series)
    
   • In California we are overcoming words that blind and bind since we want our descendants to survive
      
   • In California we are overcoming words that blind and bind - such as the words global and climate
      
   • In California we are overcoming words that blind and bind by discussing biosphere science
      
   • In California we are overcoming words that blind and bind: about lie, error, digital and information
      
   • In California we are overcoming words that blind and bind: avoiding the ideology of Neoliberalism
      
   • In California we are overcoming words that blind and bind: the trap of the technology promise
      
6. Gray Whales versus Offshore Power (5 posts)
    
   • Limited Time Only - Act now to own your piece of the Pacific Ocean off the Mendocino Coast
      
   • FERC Ponders Allowing Public Input, Environmental Review of Proposal for Electrical Generators in Whale Route
      
   • Obama's Administration & the wave energy technocrats: What whales?
      
   • The Cloud versus the Gray Whale
      
   • Gray Whales threatened, again!  Wind and wave electrical generation structures planned for Pacific Gray Whale migration route
      
7. Climate Change and California Wildfires (4 posts)
    
   • California's devastating wildfires are a slow moving yearly rehearsal for our future with Climate Change
      
   • Foolish planning and the inevitable wildfires: What could have been learned from John Steinbeck about California's true climate
      
   • Northern California is on fire
      
   • What was wrong with managed timber harvesting??? When your air is clogged with congestive climate change, who should be blamed?
      
8. The lack of comprehensive political economy goals will create concurrent pecuniary and environmental disasters for the U.S. Gen X and later generations
    
9. While The Deplorables roll back environmental regulation: Tropical cyclones (aka hurricanes and typhoons) wreak havoc on Atlantic and Pacific coastlines
    
10. The Anthropocene is not real: How arrogance of human-importance has allowed climate scientists to trample chronostratigraphic science creating fake news for political purposes
     
11. "Clear waters and green mountains are mountains of gold and silver." Seeking a Beautiful China and California together in harmony for our grandchildren
     
12. Xi Jinping's 21st Century Silk Economic Belt and Road: About California's future if China becomes the world's 21st Century economic center
     
13. Slowing the 21st Century Disruption Way-of-Life: Emperical Egalitarian Progressives act to rebuild California infrastructure and jobs
     
14. Privatizing the federal government's purpose: Let's run government like a business - ensconce research results, obscure future plans, secrete executive activities, avert unwanted publicity
     
15. For 3rd Graders and Donald Trump: Where the water in a river comes from
     
16. For the sake of our children we must not suffer fools gladly: What exactly does it mean to advocate "tolerance"
     
17. This week Bannon promises a dystopian future: California opens environmental defensive front in Trumpism's anti-California War
     
18. Climate Change: The shiny old object catching the eye of some lesser wrong-headed politicians
     
19. #Calexit. Perhaps 170 years of invidious doubtful scorn is enough
     
20. Who will represent the trees?
     
21. Donald Trump: just kill a 3-inch fish and thousands of family businesses so I can win California in November
     
22. To A God Unknown: Steinbeck, Stine, and Medieval California
     

                                                                                                                      

  Egalitarian Progressivism

1. The Counter-Ascendancy of California Empirical Egalitarian Progressivism
    
2. Old California Progressives sense déjà vu when looking at the Newsom Era despite the need to secure states' rights because of Trump's America
    
3. Regarding "When We Rise" - How history repeats itself and why we must protect "San Francisco Values"
    
4. In California we are overcoming words that blind and bind: avoiding the ideology of Neoliberalism
    
5. In California we are overcoming words that blind and bind: the trap of the technology promise
    
6. Slowing the 21st Century Disruption Way-of-Life: Emperical Egalitarian Progressives act to rebuild California infrastructure and jobs
    
7. The critical civics lesson America & Trump needed: 21st Century Ideologies in America & the Government$ of the United States
    
8. Manifest Destiny versus "those babies" - The culture war threat to California's history, folklore, identity and people
    
9. The 115th U.S. Congress aims for budgetary chaos in California public services by 2020
    
10. The Second American Civil War begins in an assault on the most dynamic people in California's tech, farm and service sectors
     
11. 21st Century California vulnerabilities to active Neoliberal political opportunists
     
12. The Cruel Illusion of the California Dream Early in the 21st Century
     

                                                                                                                      

  China & The Pacific Rim

1. The essential Pacific-centric world view of California's economy and culture - #Calexit. Perhaps 170 years of invidious doubtful scorn is enough
    
2. Xi Jinping's 21st Century Silk Economic Belt and Road:  About California's future if China becomes the world's 21st Century economic center
    
3. Xi Jinping's strategy for a 21st Century China: With thoughtful characteristics a President tends his plan for 1.4 billion people for 2020, 2035, and 2049
    
4. "Clear waters and green mountains are mountains of gold and silver." Seeking a Beautiful China and California together in harmony for our grandchildren
    
5. The Art of the Pro-Communist Deal:  President Trump enlists the United States in Xi Jinping's 21st Century World Vision as U.S. Pacific allies reject him, and by necessity us
    
6. ^{(6 part series)}
    
   • What reporters and you cannot learn from Twitter about the three redwoods or China's plans for their children's economic well-being in 2035 and 2049
      
   • "Ignorance is bliss" was a warning to provide for the next generation, economic advice from a poem America has forgotten but China has embraced
      
   • The story of China's new leadership generation as evinced by the life and words of its President
      
   • American voter ignorance of the fire sector puts the U.S. real economy constantly at risk as China acts to provide for its next generation
      
   • Governing 1.4+ billion people is a challenge that has no historical parallels; what Americans need to know about 21st Century China's government
      
   • As the Chinese plan to make life better for their grandchildren, Trumpworlder's ardently struggle to make America second-rate again
      
7. Economic ideologies have declared war: Why Western Neoliberal capitalists fear socialist China's Xi and fear for capitalist Russia's Putin
    
8. No, it is a "tax" not a "war" How supposed anti-tax Trumpists confuse the ignorant by calling it "a trade war with China"
    
9. Tariffs: Trump's excise tax to be collected soon from his deplorably unknowing fans
    
10. "We’re modernizing our nuclear arsenal" to save the word of Jesus, Pence warns China and the world at the Koch funded Dr. Strangelove institute
     
11. Why you should fear Trumpism's Steve Bannon: War with China within 8 years and other reasons
     
12. The U.S. "China threat" disinformation industry. It's ramping up agitation for a war with China in East Asia which America cannot possibly win!
     
13. The lack of comprehensive political economy goals will create concurrent pecuniary and environmental disasters for the U.S. Gen X and later generations (5 part series)
     
    • Part 1 - Introduction
       
    • Part 2. About Assertive Political Economics
       
    • Part 3. About China's most recent 4000 years
       
    • Part 4. The 2018 Huawei Porche is the warning "canary" in the American political economy "mine"
       
    • Part 5. Whither the future of an America directed by technology semi-literate voters
       
14. The risky policies of "know nothing" political amateurs: Protecting the value of U.S. technology, including biotechnology, could be suicide
     
15. IMF: Far-reaching in your life but not on your list of chat acronyms
     
16. History Matters: The 2016 Bi-Partisan Attack on the Pacific States People, Beliefs, Economy, Defense
     
17. Sanders and Trump to destroy Pacific Rim states of California, Oregon, and Washington
     

                                                                                                                      
 
  5G Technology

1. 5G Technology: it may start a world war, it won't be available to all, you don't need it, it is important to corporate interests and government. Why is that?
    
2. The U.S. "China threat" disinformation industry. It's ramping up agitation for a war with China in East Asia which America cannot possibly win!