Buyers curious about making the switch to electric vehicles have made it clear in survey after survey after survey: Charging kind of freaks them out.
In many ways, drivers report, owning an EV is the same if not better than owning a gas-powered car. But fueling an electric vehicle is different, and can be inconvenient depending on where you live, and is therefore sometimes scary to even those interested in buying electric.
The good news is that automakers, governments, and other policy players realize the US has a charging problem. They want more people in electric cars. Automakers are scaling up EV production and want people to buy them, and legislators realize that nixing gas-powered cars in favor of zero-emissions electrics will be an important part of staving off the worst effects of climate change.
As a result of the early efforts to make the switch to EVs, the US currently has 188,600 public and private charging ports, and 67,900 charging stations, according to data collected by the US Department of Energy—figures that have more than doubled since 2020. Another 240 stations are currently planned. Compare that to today’s gas infrastructure: The country has about 145,000 gas fueling stations, according to the American Petroleum Institute.
At WIRED, the whole situation got us interested in a thought experiment: If we could magically snap our fingers and turn every auto electric, how many charging stations would the US need to add?
Number-crunchers at Coltura, an alternative fuel research and advocacy group, crunched the numbers:
The upshot? The nation needs to build lots and lots more chargers before it gets to full electrification, a point experts suggest should come in the 2040s. But the task may not be as insurmountable as it looks.
The number of public chargers will have to grow by a factor of six, as estimated by Matthew Metz, Coltura’s executive director, and Ron Barzilay, its data and policy associate. “We’re not necessarily off-track,” says Metz.
SALT LAKE CITY, May 7, 2024 (Newswire.com)
– Blyncsy, a Bentley Systems company, has released a public map of United States public roads rated at 35 miles per hour and faster, along with paint retroreflectivity scores for roads within all 50 state capitals. This new tool is available to support all state and local departments of transportation as they prepare to meet new Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) minimum levels of retroreflectivity for pavement markings, which goes into effect in 2026. Using its nationwide network of crowdsourced imagery and AI, Blyncsy was able to capture over 3,200 centerline miles of paint retroreflectivity detections in just four days.
In 2022, the FHWA released a final rule to update the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) that establishes minimum retroreflectivity levels for longitudinal pavement markings on all roads open to public travel with speed limits of 35 mph or greater. The final rule requires applicable agencies or officials to implement a method for maintaining pavement marking retroreflectivity at or above minimum levels. States and counties must adopt a method for maintaining pavement marking retroreflectivity by September 2026.
“Bentley has always focused on safety and efficiency across the globe from day one,” said Mike Schellhase, VP, Asset Analytics for Bentley Systems. “With this new technology from Blyncsy, we’re now able to support every state in building and maintaining a safer and more equitable road network. It’s exciting to be able to share this data with agencies looking for cost-effective and forward-thinking ways to meet the new federal minimum standards.”
Blyncsy leverages the power of artificial intelligence and crowdsourced visual imagery to provide automated roadway condition and asset inventory assessments. This technology collects street-level imagery from over 800,000 vehicles nationwide and assesses the condition of assets in the images in as little as 60 seconds of a vehicle passing. Blyncsy uses AI to detect and assess the condition of roadway features such as paint line visibility, allowing local and state governments to access the data needed for roadway striping operations and federal reporting requirements. This technology reduces the costs and burdens for paint line inspections by over 90% and supports safer driving for human and automated drivers.
“AI is enabling a revolution,” said Mark Pittman, Blyncsy CEO and Bentley’s Director of Transportation AI. “We’re making sure our public servants benefit from this revolution as well. With today’s launch we can ensure that our public works and maintenance crews across the nation can identify where and when to paint new lines on the roads, improve safety, reduce operational costs, and comply with the new FHWA requirements.”
About Blyncsy
Blyncsy is the industry leader in providing intelligent roadway insights, automated asset management and a near real-time status of road infrastructure to local governments and state departments of transportation. Blyncsy is the only company that utilizes crowdsourced imagery from over 800,000 vehicles already on the roads, machine learning and artificial intelligence to make roadways smarter, safer, more equitable and more efficient. Blyncsy provides organizations and Departments of Transportation with the data they need to make better decisions when it comes to traffic, safety, and health. Clients include Hawaii Department of Transportation, North Central Texas Council of Governments, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, City of Plano Texas, and many others. Blyncsy is part of Bentley Systems, Inc.
About Bentley Systems
Bentley Systems (Nasdaq: BSY) is the infrastructure engineering software company. We provide innovative software to advance the world’s infrastructure — sustaining both the global economy and environment. Our industry-leading software solutions are used by professionals, and organizations of every size, for the design, construction, and operations of roads and bridges, rail and transit, water and wastewater, public works and utilities, buildings and campuses, mining, and industrial facilities. Our offerings, powered by the iTwin Platform for infrastructure digital twins, include MicroStation and Bentley Open applications for modeling and simulation, Seequent’s software for geoprofessionals, and Bentley Infrastructure Cloud encompassing ProjectWise for project delivery, SYNCHRO for construction management, and AssetWise for asset operations. Bentley Systems’ 5,200 colleagues generate annual revenues of more than $1 billion in 194 countries. www.bentley.com
Indiana Toll Road to commence pavement improvements on both the east and west ends of the corridor
ELKHART, Ind., May 3, 2024 (Newswire.com)
– ITR Concession Co. LLC (ITRCC), the operator of the Indiana Toll Road (ITR), is releasing its schedule for the Spring 2024 Pavement Rehabilitation Mill and Fill Project at locations on the western (mile marker 10 – 20) and eastern (mile marker 123 – 157) segments of the ITR. These projects will deliver improved pavement conditions within the regions that were most impacted by the severe winter freeze/thaw cycle in early 2024.
The project is scheduled to commence in early May and is expected to be largely completed prior to the Memorial Day holiday. Where possible, construction will be performed during non-peak travel times (8 p.m. to 8 a.m. ET) to limit customer inconvenience and delays. Motorists are encouraged to exercise caution and obey construction signage and posted speed limit reduction.
“Whilst road construction is necessary to ensure that our pavement conditions meet customer expectations, we also look to execute the work in a manner that minimizes motorist disruption and delays,” said Rick Fedder, Chief Operating Officer of ITRCC.
Additional pavement and bridge rehabilitation projects are currently under design within these regions, with construction expected to be completed in late 2024 and 2025.
About the Indiana Toll Road
Established in 2006, ITR Concession Company LLC (ITRCC) responsibilities are detailed in the Concession and Lease Agreement with the Indiana Finance Authority, such as the construction, maintenance, repair, and operation of the 157-mile Indiana Toll Road. Headquartered in Elkhart, the Toll Road spans northern Indiana, linking Chicago with the Eastern Seaboard. Designated as part of Interstate 80/90, the Toll Road serves as a vital transportation link in the Midwest.
For current traffic and construction updates, visit www.indianatollroad.org or follow @IndianaTollRoad on Facebook or X (Twitter).
Familiar says Revel is less concerned about the material effects of the Tesla layoff than the “cultural impact, tacking onto pessimism around EVs recently.”
New York City officials seem confident someone will fill in the Tesla-sized charging gap. City programs ensure “that any provider doing business in NYC has a reliable, growing customer base, and one provider backing out of a lease is a great opportunity for another to snap it up, especially if that site is power-ready,” a spokesperson for the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission, Jason Kersten, said in a statement.
In Maspeth, Gordon says he’s already heard from several charging companies interested in leasing the land once intended for Superchargers.
Power Puzzler
In recent months, the Tesla Supercharger network has been cited as a bright spot in a company troubled by new competition from Chinese car companies and legacy automakers, questions around the slackening electric vehicle market, falling revenues, and most recently, a series of rolling layoffs. Tesla customers have said the company’s public charging stations are generally reliable and well maintained, and a huge selling point for Tesla-curious buyers. Last summer, the energy research organization BloombergNEF predicted that Tesla could bring in $7.4 billion in charging revenue by the end of the decade, constituting some $740 million in profit—not a shabby side hustle for an auto manufacturer.
At the time of the reported layoffs, Tesla’s charging team had just pulled off a decisive coup by convincing the entire US auto industry to use its plug. In return, Tesla dangled to other automakers—and their customers—a public charging network that’s remarkably reliable and well developed, especially when compared to the shoddier records of their closest charging rivals.
In financial filings submitted just last week, Tesla previewed its expansion plans for its charging network. As other automakers adopt the Tesla plug, “we must correspondingly expand our network in order to ensure adequate availability to meet customer demands,” the company wrote.
Tesla last fall officially handed over work on the plug standard to the Society of Automotive Engineers, a global standards organization. Jeff Laskowski, a spokesman for the group, said that work to finish that plug standard was “well underway” and expected to wrap up by the end of this year.
It is not unusual for companies given government grants to change direction or give them back, sources involved in government grantmaking told WIRED. In statements and interviews, those involved in building, selling, and developing electric vehicle charging said that Tesla’s sudden about-face on charging might affect the short-term future of public charging infrastructure, but not the long-term electric transition.
A spokesperson for the federal Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, the authority overseeing electric vehicle infrastructure in the US, said that, because each individual state runs a competitive process to choose who will build charging networks, “we don’t expect individual business decisions to impact EV charging projects funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” the 2021 federal legislation that earmarked money for the charging infrastructure.
Industry players said that while Tesla’s move was very unexpected, it could signal that the automaker believes other charging firms have caught up to it and are ready to take on the responsibility—and the capital costs—of building out the network that will make electric cars go.
Competitors said the abrupt shift might even be an opportunity. In a statement, Sara Rafalson, the executive vice president of policy and external affairs at the charging company EVgo, said her company would soon begin to build Tesla plugs onto its chargers. “We welcome the opportunity to serve more Tesla vehicles and remain steadfast in our commitment to serve all electric vehicle models,” she said.
UPDATE 5/1/2024 9:30 PM ET: This story has been updated to clarify the status of Revel’s lease talks in New York City.
Videos en redes sociales comparten el audio de una supuesta llamada al 911 de un sobreviviente del derrumbe del puente Francis Scott Key en Baltimore el 26 de marzo. Pero está llamada no es real.
“Llamada de emergencia, situación del accidente del barco,” dice el subtítulo de la publicación en Facebook del 27 de marzo. El video además de mostrar imágenes del puente Francis Scott Key y del barquero chocando contra la estructura, también muestra la imagen del supuesto sobreviviente hablando con la operadora del 911.
Pero el hombre de la imagen no está relacionado con el suceso. Él es Donald Sahota, un policía que murió al ser disparado por otro oficial que trataba de detener al sospechoso de un robo en Vancouver, Washington, en 2022.
La publicación fue marcada como parte del esfuerzo de Meta para combatir las noticias falsas y la desinformación en su plataforma. (Lea más sobre nuestra colaboración con Meta, propietaria de Facebook e Instagram).
El video en Facebook fue originalmente publicado en TikTok en inglés por el usuario @thedramatik, el video tiene más de 10 millones de vistas. Otrosvideossimilares también fueron publicados en TikTok con subtítulos en español.
Expertos nos dijeron que el audio en las publicaciones fue generado con inteligencia artificial.
En una parte del audio se escucha al hombre diciendo en inglés que su carro se está llenando de agua y que va a romper su ventana porque no puede salir. En ese momento se escuchan sonidos de agua supuestamente entrando al vehículo y de la ventana rompiéndose, pero estos sonidos son fabricados, dijo Valerie Wirtschafter, experta de Brookings Institution, una organización sin ánimo de lucro centrada en política pública.
“Para mi, es bastante claro que (el audio) fue generado”, porque la cadencia del habla parece fuera de lugar y hay poco sonido de fondo cuando se escucha al hombre supuestamente romper la ventana y el agua entrar, dijo Wirtschafter.
Hafiz Malik, un profesor en el departamento de ingeniería eléctrica y computación en la University of Michigan-Dearborn le dijo a PolitiFact que luego de examinar el audio de forma forense, él encontró que fue generado con inteligencia artificial. Específicamente dijo que este es conocido como audio sintético generado con algún algoritmo.
(Captura de pantalla de publicacion en Facebook).
Malik dijo que la voz de la mujer en la llamada suena muy perfecta para ser de una persona real y que el audio de fondo en la conversación suena muy limpio, ya que normalmente cuando hay una conversación telefónica de dos personas se puede escuchar más ruido de fondo. Él también explicó que aunque el audio fue generado con IA, este luego fue editado por un humano para agregar ruido de fondo y filtrar la frecuencia del audio para que sonara como una llamada telefónica.
Los profesores de la Universidad de Northwestern, Marco Postiglione y V.S. Subrahmanian, nos dijeron que según su análisis, el audio es un “deepfake”, un audio falso creado por computadora con inteligencia artificial.
Ellos explicaron que cuando el hombre en el audio dice “Hola, dios mío”, él no suena como si estuviera en pánico, ni tampoco se escucha su pánico en el resto del audio.
También notaron que pasaron pocos segundos entre cuando el sujeto supuestamente rompió la ventana, salió y habló de nuevo con la operadora del 911. Esta es una respuesta muy rápida dada las circunstancias, ya que no es probable que alguien que estaba tratando de sobrevivir en el agua pudiera hablar por tanto tiempo, dijeron los expertos.
Por último, dijeron que la voz de la operadora suena muy artificial y guionizada.
En el puente habían ocho trabajadores cuando el buque lo chocó.Solo dos personas sobrevivieron al ser rescatados del río. Uno de ellos es un mexicano de 35 años, Julio Cervantes. Pero PolitiFact no encontró reportes verídicos de medios de comunicación ni de oficiales sobre la supuesta llamada de un sobreviviente al 911.
Nuestro veredicto
Un video en Facebook alega presentar audio de una llamada de emergencia de un hombre que sobrevivió el derrumbe del puente Francis Scott Key en Baltimore.
Pero eso no es cierto. Expertos nos dijeron que el audio de la supuesta llamada al 911 fue generado con inteligencia artificial.
La imagen incluida en la publicación de la supuesta víctima en realidad es de un policía que murió en Vancouver, Washington, en 2022.
Por eso, calificamos la publicación como Ridícula y Falsa.
After a yearlong closure, a bridge over the Puyallup River reopened in 2019 with a sturdy new span and a brand new name. It even won a national award.But today, the Fishing Wars Memorial Bridge is closed again after federal officials raised concerns about a vintage section of the nearly century-old bridge that carried about 15,000 vehicles a day. It has no timetable to reopen because the city of Tacoma, Washington, first must raise millions of dollars to clean and inspect it.”It’s frustrating — and hard to comprehend how we got here,” said Ed Wallace, whose Harley-Davidson motorcycle store has lost customers since the nearby bridge was shuttered.Bridges fulfill a vital function that often goes overlooked until lives are lost or disrupted by a closure or collapse, like that of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore early Tuesday. That bridge crumpled when struck by a cargo ship, not because of poor maintenance. But thousands of others stand in worse shape. About 42,400 U.S. bridges are in poor condition, yet they carry about 167 million vehicles each day, according to the federal government. Four-fifths of them have problems with the legs holding them up or the arms supporting their load. And more than 15,800 of those bridges also were in poor shape a decade ago, according to an Associated Press analysis.One of those persistently poor bridges — carrying about 96,000 westbound vehicles daily on Interstate 195 over the Seekonk River in Rhode Island — was suddenly shut to traffic late last year, resulting in long delays as drivers diverted to new routes. In March, the governor announced that the bridge must be demolished and replaced. That could cost up to $300 million and take at least two years to complete.These closures illustrate a nationwide issue.”We have not maintained our infrastructure at the rate that we should for many, many years, and now we’re trying to play catch-up,” said Marsia Geldert-Murphey, president of the American Society of Civil Engineers.When an old bridge gets closed because of safety concerns, it disrupts daily commutes, business supply chains and emergency response times by police, firefighters and medical personnel. Yet many bridges still await replacement or repairs because the costs can reach millions or even billions of dollars. A massive infrastructure law signed by President Joe Biden in 2021 directed $40 billion to bridges over five years — the largest dedicated bridge investment since construction of the interstate highway system, which began nearly 70 years ago. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that law already is funding over 7,800 bridge projects. One of the most notable is a $3.6 billion project in Cincinnati to build a long-awaited new bridge carrying traffic on Interstates 71 and 75 over the Ohio River at the Kentucky border.But funding from the infrastructure law will make only a dent in an estimated $319 billion of needed bridge repairs nationwide, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association. “The bottom line is that America’s bridges need a lot of work,” Buttigieg told the AP after visiting the closed Rhode Island bridge. He added: “The sooner we can address those significant bridges, the less likely they will be abruptly taken out of service, or worse, experience the risk of a collapse.”Inspectors rate bridges using a 0-9 scale, with 7 or above considered “good.” A “poor” rating reflects a 4 or below. A mid-range rating is considered “fair.” The nation’s poor bridges are on average 70 years old.Even before the federal funding infusion, the number of bridges in poor condition declined 22% over the past decade as structures were repaired, replaced or permanently closed, according to the AP’s analysis. But in recent years, more bridges also slipped from good to fair condition. Though potholes on bridges can jar cars, many of the most concerning problems are below the surface. Chipping concrete and rusting steel can weaken the piers and beams that keep a bridge upright. When the condition of substructures or superstructures deteriorates too much, a bridge typically is closed out of public safety concerns.Though rare, bad bridges can eventually collapse. Design flaws contributed to the evening rush hour collapse of an Interstate 35 bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis in 2007. The collapse killed 13 people and injured 145 others. It also was costly financially. A state analysis estimated Minnesota’s economy lost $60 million in 2007-2008 due to increased travel time and operating costs for commuters and businesses.In January 2022, a bridge carrying a bus and several cars collapsed over Fern Hollow Creek in Pittsburgh, causing injuries but no deaths. Federal investigators determined the steel legs had corroded to the point of having visible holes, yet inspectors failed to calculate the severity of the problem and the city failed to follow repeated recommendations. “This bridge didn’t collapse just by an act of God. It collapsed because of a lack of maintenance and repair,” National Transportation Safety Board member Michael Graham said. Video below: Small businesses face shipping delays after bridge collapse Iowa has the most poor bridges, followed by Pennsylvania, Illinois and Missouri. The twin Burlington Street bridges in Iowa City, Iowa, exemplify the financial challenges facing old bridges. The state owns the southbound span carrying vehicles over the Iowa River while the city owns the northbound span of what’s also known as state Highway 1. The city’s part, constructed in 1915, was rated in poor condition in the 2023 and 2013 National Bridge Inventory. Inspection reports show numerous cracks and structural deficiencies in the concrete bridge. The state’s side, built in 1968, is in much better condition. Although the federal infrastructure law provided a grant to analyze the bridges, the split ownership has made it difficult to fund the more than $30 million estimated cost of a replacement.”It’s not something we can just fund in a year and say: ‘Here we go, let’s do it quick,’” said city engineer Jason Havel. “It takes years of planning, years of working through dedicated funding.” In Rhode Island, problems had been mounting for the I-195 Washington Bridge connecting Providence to East Providence. It closed after an engineer in December noticed the failure of multiple steel tie rods in concrete beams at two piers. A subsequent examination found widespread structural problems. Joseph McHugh, an engineer with 40 years of experience in bridge and road construction, reviewed a draft engineering report compiled after the bridge’s closure along with inspection reports from July 2022 and July 2023.”This failure didn’t occur overnight,” McHugh told the AP. “To me, it should have been caught by an inspection, not by a contractor or whomever was looking at what was going on.”The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating allegations that false payment claims for the bridge’s construction, inspection or repair were submitted to the federal government.Marco Pacheco, who owns a liquor store along a main road in a Portuguese neighborhood of East Providence, said he believes “mismanagement,” “negligence” and “incompetence” caused the closure. His business revenue is down 20% since the bridge closed. But he’s even more concerned about the long-term consequences. “That traffic doesn’t instantly come back. Folks have reshaped their patterns, their thought processes and so on,” Pacheco said.Business owners in Washington share similar concerns about the indefinite closure of the Fishing Wars Memorial Bridge, in an industrial area near the Port of Tacoma. Several years ago, the city spent $42 million to replace a span leading up to the river. But the bridge was abruptly closed again last October after the Federal Highway Administration raised concerns that debris had prevented the inspection of potentially corroded steel connection points. To clean and inspect the bridge, the city first must encapsulate it to protect debris from falling into the river. But the city lacks the more than $6 million needed for the project. It also has no means of paying for a potential $280 million replacement.A nearby Interstate 5 bridge provides a good alternative but that means many motorists zoom right past an exit ramp without thinking about the Harley-Davidson store or other nearby businesses. At least one shop already has closed.Wallace, the Harley-Davidson store owner, wishes the city could re-open the bridge, at least temporarily. “Is there a peril that exists?” Wallace asks rhetorically. “Yeah, absolutely, a very serious one for me as a business owner.”___ Associated Press data reporter Kavish Harjai contributed. Harjai is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
After a yearlong closure, a bridge over the Puyallup River reopened in 2019 with a sturdy new span and a brand new name. It even won a national award.
But today, the Fishing Wars Memorial Bridge is closed again after federal officials raised concerns about a vintage section of the nearly century-old bridge that carried about 15,000 vehicles a day. It has no timetable to reopen because the city of Tacoma, Washington, first must raise millions of dollars to clean and inspect it.
“It’s frustrating — and hard to comprehend how we got here,” said Ed Wallace, whose Harley-Davidson motorcycle store has lost customers since the nearby bridge was shuttered.
Bridges fulfill a vital function that often goes overlooked until lives are lost or disrupted by a closure or collapse, like that of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore early Tuesday. That bridge crumpled when struck by a cargo ship, not because of poor maintenance. But thousands of others stand in worse shape.
About 42,400 U.S. bridges are in poor condition, yet they carry about 167 million vehicles each day, according to the federal government. Four-fifths of them have problems with the legs holding them up or the arms supporting their load. And more than 15,800 of those bridges also were in poor shape a decade ago, according to an Associated Press analysis.
One of those persistently poor bridges — carrying about 96,000 westbound vehicles daily on Interstate 195 over the Seekonk River in Rhode Island — was suddenly shut to traffic late last year, resulting in long delays as drivers diverted to new routes. In March, the governor announced that the bridge must be demolished and replaced. That could cost up to $300 million and take at least two years to complete.
These closures illustrate a nationwide issue.
“We have not maintained our infrastructure at the rate that we should for many, many years, and now we’re trying to play catch-up,” said Marsia Geldert-Murphey, president of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
When an old bridge gets closed because of safety concerns, it disrupts daily commutes, business supply chains and emergency response times by police, firefighters and medical personnel. Yet many bridges still await replacement or repairs because the costs can reach millions or even billions of dollars.
A massive infrastructure law signed by President Joe Biden in 2021 directed $40 billion to bridges over five years — the largest dedicated bridge investment since construction of the interstate highway system, which began nearly 70 years ago.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that law already is funding over 7,800 bridge projects. One of the most notable is a $3.6 billion project in Cincinnati to build a long-awaited new bridge carrying traffic on Interstates 71 and 75 over the Ohio River at the Kentucky border.
But funding from the infrastructure law will make only a dent in an estimated $319 billion of needed bridge repairs nationwide, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association.
“The bottom line is that America’s bridges need a lot of work,” Buttigieg told the AP after visiting the closed Rhode Island bridge. He added: “The sooner we can address those significant bridges, the less likely they will be abruptly taken out of service, or worse, experience the risk of a collapse.”
Inspectors rate bridges using a 0-9 scale, with 7 or above considered “good.” A “poor” rating reflects a 4 or below. A mid-range rating is considered “fair.” The nation’s poor bridges are on average 70 years old.
Even before the federal funding infusion, the number of bridges in poor condition declined 22% over the past decade as structures were repaired, replaced or permanently closed, according to the AP’s analysis. But in recent years, more bridges also slipped from good to fair condition.
Though potholes on bridges can jar cars, many of the most concerning problems are below the surface. Chipping concrete and rusting steel can weaken the piers and beams that keep a bridge upright. When the condition of substructures or superstructures deteriorates too much, a bridge typically is closed out of public safety concerns.
Though rare, bad bridges can eventually collapse.
Design flaws contributed to the evening rush hour collapse of an Interstate 35 bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis in 2007. The collapse killed 13 people and injured 145 others. It also was costly financially. A state analysis estimated Minnesota’s economy lost $60 million in 2007-2008 due to increased travel time and operating costs for commuters and businesses.
In January 2022, a bridge carrying a bus and several cars collapsed over Fern Hollow Creek in Pittsburgh, causing injuries but no deaths. Federal investigators determined the steel legs had corroded to the point of having visible holes, yet inspectors failed to calculate the severity of the problem and the city failed to follow repeated recommendations.
“This bridge didn’t collapse just by an act of God. It collapsed because of a lack of maintenance and repair,” National Transportation Safety Board member Michael Graham said.
Video below: Small businesses face shipping delays after bridge collapse
Iowa has the most poor bridges, followed by Pennsylvania, Illinois and Missouri. The twin Burlington Street bridges in Iowa City, Iowa, exemplify the financial challenges facing old bridges. The state owns the southbound span carrying vehicles over the Iowa River while the city owns the northbound span of what’s also known as state Highway 1.
The city’s part, constructed in 1915, was rated in poor condition in the 2023 and 2013 National Bridge Inventory. Inspection reports show numerous cracks and structural deficiencies in the concrete bridge. The state’s side, built in 1968, is in much better condition.
Although the federal infrastructure law provided a grant to analyze the bridges, the split ownership has made it difficult to fund the more than $30 million estimated cost of a replacement.
“It’s not something we can just fund in a year and say: ‘Here we go, let’s do it quick,’” said city engineer Jason Havel. “It takes years of planning, years of working through dedicated funding.”
In Rhode Island, problems had been mounting for the I-195 Washington Bridge connecting Providence to East Providence. It closed after an engineer in December noticed the failure of multiple steel tie rods in concrete beams at two piers. A subsequent examination found widespread structural problems.
Joseph McHugh, an engineer with 40 years of experience in bridge and road construction, reviewed a draft engineering report compiled after the bridge’s closure along with inspection reports from July 2022 and July 2023.
“This failure didn’t occur overnight,” McHugh told the AP. “To me, it should have been caught by an inspection, not by a contractor or whomever was looking at what was going on.”
The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating allegations that false payment claims for the bridge’s construction, inspection or repair were submitted to the federal government.
Marco Pacheco, who owns a liquor store along a main road in a Portuguese neighborhood of East Providence, said he believes “mismanagement,” “negligence” and “incompetence” caused the closure. His business revenue is down 20% since the bridge closed. But he’s even more concerned about the long-term consequences.
“That traffic doesn’t instantly come back. Folks have reshaped their patterns, their thought processes and so on,” Pacheco said.
Business owners in Washington share similar concerns about the indefinite closure of the Fishing Wars Memorial Bridge, in an industrial area near the Port of Tacoma. Several years ago, the city spent $42 million to replace a span leading up to the river. But the bridge was abruptly closed again last October after the Federal Highway Administration raised concerns that debris had prevented the inspection of potentially corroded steel connection points.
To clean and inspect the bridge, the city first must encapsulate it to protect debris from falling into the river. But the city lacks the more than $6 million needed for the project. It also has no means of paying for a potential $280 million replacement.
A nearby Interstate 5 bridge provides a good alternative but that means many motorists zoom right past an exit ramp without thinking about the Harley-Davidson store or other nearby businesses. At least one shop already has closed.
Wallace, the Harley-Davidson store owner, wishes the city could re-open the bridge, at least temporarily.
“Is there a peril that exists?” Wallace asks rhetorically. “Yeah, absolutely, a very serious one for me as a business owner.”
___
Associated Press data reporter Kavish Harjai contributed. Harjai is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
The ballistic missile hit the Rubymar on the evening of February 18. For months, the cargo ship had been shuttling around the Arabian Sea, uneventfully calling at local ports. But now, taking on water in the bottleneck of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, its two dozen crew issued an urgent call for help and prepared to abandon ship.
Over the next two weeks—while the crew were ashore—the “ghost ship” took on a life of its own. Carried by currents and pushed along by the wind, the 17-meter-long, 27-meter-wide Rubymar drifted approximately 30 nautical miles north, where it finally sank—becoming the most high-profile wreckage during a months-long barrage of missiles and drones launched by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. The attacks have upended global shipping.
But the Rubymar wasn’t the only casualty. During its final journey, three internet cables laid on the seafloor in the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait were damaged. The drop in connectivity impacted millions of people, from nearby East Africa to thousands of miles away in Vietnam. It’s believed the ship’s trailing anchor may have broken the cables while it drifted. The Rubymar also took 21,000 metric tons of fertilizer to its watery grave—a potential environmental disaster in waiting.
An analysis from WIRED—based on satellite imagery, interviews with maritime experts, and new internet connectivity data showing the cables went offline within minutes of each other—tracks the last movements of the doomed ship. While our analysis cannot definitively show that the anchor caused the damage to the crucial internet cables—that can only be determined by an upcoming repair mission—multiple experts conclude it is the most likely scenario.
The damage to the internet cables comes when the security of subsea infrastructure—including internet cables and energy pipelines—has catapulted up countries’ priorities. Politicians have become increasingly concerned about the critical infrastructure since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2022 and a subsequent string ofpotential sabotage, including the Nord Stream pipeline explosions. As Houthi weapons keep hitting ships in the Red Sea region, there are worries the Rubymar may not be the last shipwreck.
The Rubymar’s official trail goes cold on February 18. At 8 pm local time, reports emerged that a ship in the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, which is also known as the Gate of Tears or the Gate of Grief, had been attacked. Two anti-ship ballistic missiles were fired from “Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist-controlled areas of Yemen,” US Central Command said. Ninety minutes after the warnings arrived, at around 9:30 pm, the Rubymar broadcast its final location using the automatic identification system (AIS), a GPS-like positioning system used to track ships.
As water started pouring into the hull, engine room, and machinery room, the crew’s distress call was answered by the Lobivia—a nearby container ship—and a US-led coalition warship. By 1:57 am on February 19, the crew was reported safe. That afternoon, the 11 Syrians, six Egyptians, three Indians, and four Filipinos who were on board arrived at the Port of Djibouti. “We do not know the coordinates of Rubymar,” Djibouti’s port authority posted on X.
Satellite images picked up the Rubymar, its path illuminated by an oil slick, two days later, on February 20. Although the crew dropped the ship’s anchor during the rescue, the ship drifted north, further up the strait in the direction of the Red Sea.
After a yearlong closure, a bridge over the Puyallup River reopened in 2019 with a sturdy new span and a brand new name. It even won a national award.
What You Need To Know
Thousands of old bridges across the U.S. are awaiting replacement or repairs after inspectors found them in poor condition
About 167 million vehicles travel daily over about 42,000 bridges that are categorized as poor
An Associated Press analysis determined that four-fifths of those have problems with the substructures that hold them up or the superstructures that support their load
And more than 15,800 of those bridges also were in poor shape a decade ago
But today, the Fishing Wars Memorial Bridge is closed again after federal officials raised concerns about a vintage section of the nearly century-old bridge that carried about 15,000 vehicles a day. It has no timetable to reopen because the city of Tacoma, Washington, first must raise millions of dollars to clean and inspect it.
“It’s frustrating — and hard to comprehend how we got here,” said Ed Wallace, whose Harley-Davidson motorcycle store has lost customers since the nearby bridge was shuttered.
Bridges fulfill a vital function that often goes overlooked until lives are lost or disrupted by a closure or collapse, like that of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore early Tuesday. That bridge crumpled when struck by a cargo ship, not because of poor maintenance. But thousands of others stand in worse shape.
About 42,400 U.S. bridges are in poor condition, yet they carry about 167 million vehicles each day, according to the federal government. Four-fifths of them have problems with the legs holding them up or the arms supporting their load. And more than 15,800 of those bridges also were in poor shape a decade ago, according to an Associated Press analysis.
One of those persistently poor bridges — carrying about 96,000 westbound vehicles daily on Interstate 195 over the Seekonk River in Rhode Island — was suddenly shut to traffic late last year, resulting in long delays as drivers diverted to new routes. In March, the governor announced that the bridge must be demolished and replaced. That could cost up to $300 million and take at least two years to complete.
These closures illustrate a nationwide issue.
“We have not maintained our infrastructure at the rate that we should for many, many years, and now we’re trying to play catch-up,” said Marsia Geldert-Murphey, president of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
When an old bridge gets closed because of safety concerns, it disrupts daily commutes, business supply chains and emergency response times by police, firefighters and medical personnel. Yet many bridges still await replacement or repairs because the costs can reach millions or even billions of dollars.
A Funding Infusion
A massive infrastructure law signed by President Joe Biden in 2021 directed $40 billion to bridges over five years — the largest dedicated bridge investment since construction of the interstate highway system, which began nearly 70 years ago.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that law already is funding more than 7,800 bridge projects. One of the most notable is a $3.6 billion project in Cincinnati to build a long-awaited new bridge carrying traffic on Interstates 71 and 75 over the Ohio River at the Kentucky border.
But funding from the infrastructure law will make only a dent in an estimated $319 billion of needed bridge repairs nationwide, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association.
“The bottom line is that America’s bridges need a lot of work,” Buttigieg told the AP after visiting the closed Rhode Island bridge. He added: “The sooner we can address those significant bridges, the less likely they will be abruptly taken out of service, or worse, experience the risk of a collapse.”
Inspectors rate bridges using a 0-9 scale, with 7 or above considered “good.” A “poor” rating reflects a 4 or below. A mid-range rating is considered “fair.” The nation’s poor bridges are on average 70 years old.
Even before the federal funding infusion, the number of bridges in poor condition declined 22% over the past decade as structures were repaired, replaced or permanently closed, according to the AP’s analysis. But in recent years, more bridges also slipped from good to fair condition.
Collapsing Bridges
Though potholes on bridges can jar cars, many of the most concerning problems are below the surface. Chipping concrete and rusting steel can weaken the piers and beams that keep a bridge upright. When the condition of substructures or superstructures deteriorates too much, a bridge typically is closed out of public safety concerns.
Though rare, bad bridges can eventually collapse.
Design flaws contributed to the evening rush hour collapse of an Interstate 35 bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis in 2007. The collapse killed 13 people and injured 145 others. It also was costly financially. A state analysis estimated Minnesota’s economy lost $60 million in 2007-2008 due to increased travel time and operating costs for commuters and businesses.
In January 2022, a bridge carrying a bus and several cars collapsed over Fern Hollow Creek in Pittsburgh, causing injuries but no deaths. Federal investigators determined the steel legs had corroded to the point of having visible holes, yet inspectors failed to calculate the severity of the problem and the city failed to follow repeated recommendations.
“This bridge didn’t collapse just by an act of God. It collapsed because of a lack of maintenance and repair,” National Transportation Safety Board member Michael Graham said.
Financial Challenges
Iowa has the most poor bridges, followed by Pennsylvania, Illinois and Missouri. The twin Burlington Street bridges in Iowa City, Iowa, exemplify the financial challenges facing old bridges. The state owns the southbound span carrying vehicles over the Iowa River while the city owns the northbound span of what’s also known as state Highway 1.
The city’s part, constructed in 1915, was rated in poor condition in the 2023 and 2013 National Bridge Inventory. Inspection reports show numerous cracks and structural deficiencies in the concrete bridge. The state’s side, built in 1968, is in much better condition.
Although the federal infrastructure law provided a grant to analyze the bridges, the split ownership has made it difficult to fund the more than $30 million estimated cost of a replacement.
“It’s not something we can just fund in a year and say: ‘Here we go, let’s do it quick,’” said city engineer Jason Havel. “It takes years of planning, years of working through dedicated funding.”
Economic Effects
In Rhode Island, problems had been mounting for the I-195 Washington Bridge connecting Providence to East Providence. It closed after an engineer in December noticed the failure of multiple steel tie rods in concrete beams at two piers. A subsequent examination found widespread structural problems.
Joseph McHugh, an engineer with 40 years of experience in bridge and road construction, reviewed a draft engineering report compiled after the bridge’s closure along with inspection reports from July 2022 and July 2023.
“This failure didn’t occur overnight,” McHugh told the AP. “To me, it should have been caught by an inspection, not by a contractor or whomever was looking at what was going on.”
The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating allegations that false payment claims for the bridge’s construction, inspection or repair were submitted to the federal government.
Marco Pacheco, who owns a liquor store in East Providence, said he believes “mismanagement,” “negligence” and “incompetence” caused the closure. His business revenue is down 20% since the bridge closed. But he’s even more concerned about the long-term consequences.
“That traffic doesn’t instantly come back. Folks have reshaped their patterns, their thought processes and so on,” Pacheco said.
Business owners in Washington share similar concerns about the indefinite closure of the Fishing Wars Memorial Bridge, in an industrial area near the Port of Tacoma. Several years ago, the city spent $42 million to replace a span leading up to the river. But the bridge was abruptly closed again last October after the Federal Highway Administration raised concerns that debris had prevented the inspection of potentially corroded steel connection points.
To clean and inspect the bridge, the city first must encapsulate it to protect debris from falling into the river. But the city lacks the more than $6 million needed for the project. It also has no means of paying for a potential $280 million replacement.
A nearby Interstate 5 bridge provides a good alternative but that means many motorists zoom right past an exit ramp without thinking about the Harley-Davidson store or other nearby businesses. At least one shop already has closed.
Wallace, the Harley-Davidson store owner, wishes the city could reopen the bridge, at least temporarily.
“Is there a peril that exists?” Wallace asks rhetorically. “Yeah, absolutely, a very serious one for me as a business owner.”
After a yearlong closure, a bridge over the Puyallup River reopened in 2019 with a sturdy new span and a brand new name. It even won a national award.
What You Need To Know
Thousands of old bridges across the U.S. are awaiting replacement or repairs after inspectors found them in poor condition
About 167 million vehicles travel daily over about 42,000 bridges that are categorized as poor
An Associated Press analysis determined that four-fifths of those have problems with the substructures that hold them up or the superstructures that support their load
And more than 15,800 of those bridges also were in poor shape a decade ago
But today, the Fishing Wars Memorial Bridge is closed again after federal officials raised concerns about a vintage section of the nearly century-old bridge that carried about 15,000 vehicles a day. It has no timetable to reopen because the city of Tacoma, Washington, first must raise millions of dollars to clean and inspect it.
“It’s frustrating — and hard to comprehend how we got here,” said Ed Wallace, whose Harley-Davidson motorcycle store has lost customers since the nearby bridge was shuttered.
Bridges fulfill a vital function that often goes overlooked until lives are lost or disrupted by a closure or collapse, like that of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore early Tuesday. That bridge crumpled when struck by a cargo ship, not because of poor maintenance. But thousands of others stand in worse shape.
About 42,400 U.S. bridges are in poor condition, yet they carry about 167 million vehicles each day, according to the federal government. Four-fifths of them have problems with the legs holding them up or the arms supporting their load. And more than 15,800 of those bridges also were in poor shape a decade ago, according to an Associated Press analysis.
One of those persistently poor bridges — carrying about 96,000 westbound vehicles daily on Interstate 195 over the Seekonk River in Rhode Island — was suddenly shut to traffic late last year, resulting in long delays as drivers diverted to new routes. In March, the governor announced that the bridge must be demolished and replaced. That could cost up to $300 million and take at least two years to complete.
These closures illustrate a nationwide issue.
“We have not maintained our infrastructure at the rate that we should for many, many years, and now we’re trying to play catch-up,” said Marsia Geldert-Murphey, president of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
When an old bridge gets closed because of safety concerns, it disrupts daily commutes, business supply chains and emergency response times by police, firefighters and medical personnel. Yet many bridges still await replacement or repairs because the costs can reach millions or even billions of dollars.
A Funding Infusion
A massive infrastructure law signed by President Joe Biden in 2021 directed $40 billion to bridges over five years — the largest dedicated bridge investment since construction of the interstate highway system, which began nearly 70 years ago.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that law already is funding more than 7,800 bridge projects. One of the most notable is a $3.6 billion project in Cincinnati to build a long-awaited new bridge carrying traffic on Interstates 71 and 75 over the Ohio River at the Kentucky border.
But funding from the infrastructure law will make only a dent in an estimated $319 billion of needed bridge repairs nationwide, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association.
“The bottom line is that America’s bridges need a lot of work,” Buttigieg told the AP after visiting the closed Rhode Island bridge. He added: “The sooner we can address those significant bridges, the less likely they will be abruptly taken out of service, or worse, experience the risk of a collapse.”
Inspectors rate bridges using a 0-9 scale, with 7 or above considered “good.” A “poor” rating reflects a 4 or below. A mid-range rating is considered “fair.” The nation’s poor bridges are on average 70 years old.
Even before the federal funding infusion, the number of bridges in poor condition declined 22% over the past decade as structures were repaired, replaced or permanently closed, according to the AP’s analysis. But in recent years, more bridges also slipped from good to fair condition.
Collapsing Bridges
Though potholes on bridges can jar cars, many of the most concerning problems are below the surface. Chipping concrete and rusting steel can weaken the piers and beams that keep a bridge upright. When the condition of substructures or superstructures deteriorates too much, a bridge typically is closed out of public safety concerns.
Though rare, bad bridges can eventually collapse.
Design flaws contributed to the evening rush hour collapse of an Interstate 35 bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis in 2007. The collapse killed 13 people and injured 145 others. It also was costly financially. A state analysis estimated Minnesota’s economy lost $60 million in 2007-2008 due to increased travel time and operating costs for commuters and businesses.
In January 2022, a bridge carrying a bus and several cars collapsed over Fern Hollow Creek in Pittsburgh, causing injuries but no deaths. Federal investigators determined the steel legs had corroded to the point of having visible holes, yet inspectors failed to calculate the severity of the problem and the city failed to follow repeated recommendations.
“This bridge didn’t collapse just by an act of God. It collapsed because of a lack of maintenance and repair,” National Transportation Safety Board member Michael Graham said.
Financial Challenges
Iowa has the most poor bridges, followed by Pennsylvania, Illinois and Missouri. The twin Burlington Street bridges in Iowa City, Iowa, exemplify the financial challenges facing old bridges. The state owns the southbound span carrying vehicles over the Iowa River while the city owns the northbound span of what’s also known as state Highway 1.
The city’s part, constructed in 1915, was rated in poor condition in the 2023 and 2013 National Bridge Inventory. Inspection reports show numerous cracks and structural deficiencies in the concrete bridge. The state’s side, built in 1968, is in much better condition.
Although the federal infrastructure law provided a grant to analyze the bridges, the split ownership has made it difficult to fund the more than $30 million estimated cost of a replacement.
“It’s not something we can just fund in a year and say: ‘Here we go, let’s do it quick,’” said city engineer Jason Havel. “It takes years of planning, years of working through dedicated funding.”
Economic Effects
In Rhode Island, problems had been mounting for the I-195 Washington Bridge connecting Providence to East Providence. It closed after an engineer in December noticed the failure of multiple steel tie rods in concrete beams at two piers. A subsequent examination found widespread structural problems.
Joseph McHugh, an engineer with 40 years of experience in bridge and road construction, reviewed a draft engineering report compiled after the bridge’s closure along with inspection reports from July 2022 and July 2023.
“This failure didn’t occur overnight,” McHugh told the AP. “To me, it should have been caught by an inspection, not by a contractor or whomever was looking at what was going on.”
The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating allegations that false payment claims for the bridge’s construction, inspection or repair were submitted to the federal government.
Marco Pacheco, who owns a liquor store in East Providence, said he believes “mismanagement,” “negligence” and “incompetence” caused the closure. His business revenue is down 20% since the bridge closed. But he’s even more concerned about the long-term consequences.
“That traffic doesn’t instantly come back. Folks have reshaped their patterns, their thought processes and so on,” Pacheco said.
Business owners in Washington share similar concerns about the indefinite closure of the Fishing Wars Memorial Bridge, in an industrial area near the Port of Tacoma. Several years ago, the city spent $42 million to replace a span leading up to the river. But the bridge was abruptly closed again last October after the Federal Highway Administration raised concerns that debris had prevented the inspection of potentially corroded steel connection points.
To clean and inspect the bridge, the city first must encapsulate it to protect debris from falling into the river. But the city lacks the more than $6 million needed for the project. It also has no means of paying for a potential $280 million replacement.
A nearby Interstate 5 bridge provides a good alternative but that means many motorists zoom right past an exit ramp without thinking about the Harley-Davidson store or other nearby businesses. At least one shop already has closed.
Wallace, the Harley-Davidson store owner, wishes the city could reopen the bridge, at least temporarily.
“Is there a peril that exists?” Wallace asks rhetorically. “Yeah, absolutely, a very serious one for me as a business owner.”
“One of the grants helps us ensure that our wastewater treatment plants can operate safely during a storm,” said St. Pete’s Public Works Administrator Claude Tankersley. “Our plants are older. They were built back in the 50s, and some of the buildings and equipment are too low in the floodplain. That would put them at risk if we were to get a storm surge.”
The grant would allow the buildings to be rebuilt above the flood zone. Three other grants focus on improving flood-prone neighborhoods. Tankersley said this is just the beginning of flood mitigation efforts. He told Spectrum News the city’s recently released stormwater master plan includes $760 million in projects all over the city.
“It’ll take time, but in addition to those projects that are in the stormwater master plan, we’re not just focusing on those. We’re also going to be focusing on the smaller projects scattered throughout the city to make sure that we’re not leaving anybody out,” Tankersley said.
One of the agreements approved is meant to help people who live in flood-prone Shore Acres. Gary Rosseter has lived in his Arkansas Avenue home in the neighborhood for 24 years and said while flood waters have gotten close, they’ve never come inside until Hurricane Idalia hit last August.
“When I opened up the front door to load the dogs, the water came gushing into the house — a mess,” said Rosseter.
His next-door neighbor, Tim Swartz, said he moved into his home four years ago but has lived throughout Shore Acres for more than two decades. Swartz said flooding inside the house was a new experience for him, as well.
“I stayed, and I kept towels and tape and things over the door,” said Swartz. “I’ve been here for 22 years. I’ve gotten kind of used to it, but I will say, this is the first time that I’ve ever had it come in the house.”
Rosseter and Swartz said their corner of the neighborhood isn’t where the worst of the flooding is seen. They said that’s further down Connecticut Avenue, which is the focus of the Shore Acres Resiliency Infrastructure Project.
“That’s really one of the lowest parts of the neighborhood, and that leads toward our strategic approach of really first installing the backflow preventers from a previous capital project we recently got approved by council that we’re also moving forward on,” said St. Petersburg Director of Engineering and Capital Improvements Brejesh Prayman.
Tankersley said storm drains and pump stations are also planned as part of the project. The $7.8 million DEP grant will pay for half the cost of the project, with utility fees covering the rest.
“We’ll see how it goes, but we are very low. We’re one of the lowest areas in St. Petersburg,” said Swartz. “So, once you get the wind going and the tide, it’s going to be hard to get that water out of here quickly enough to keep it from flooding.”
Prayman said people who live along the ten-mile stretch of the project should see benefits. He noted it’s hard to say when work could begin on the project because there are a few more steps before that can happen. Next up, he said the city will look for firms to work on design and construction.
Fighting off rising seas without reducing humanity’s carbon emissions is like trying to drain a bathtub without turning off the tap. But increasingly, scientists are sounding the alarm on yet another problem compounding the crisis for coastal cities: Their land is also sinking, a phenomenon known as subsidence. The metaphorical tap is still on—as rapid warming turns more and morepolar ice into ocean water—and at the same time the tub is sinking into the floor.
An alarming new study in the journal Nature shows how bad the problem could get in 32 coastal cities in the United States. Previous projections have studied geocentric sea-level rise, or how much the ocean is coming up along a given coastline. This new research considers relative sea-level rise, which also includes the vertical motion of the land. That’s possible thanks to new data from satellites that can measure elevation changes on very fine scales along coastlines.
With that subsidence in mind, the study finds that those coastal areas in the US could see 500 to 700 square miles of additional land flooded by 2050, impacting an additional 176,000 to 518,000 people and causing up to $100 billion of further property damage. That’s on top of baseline estimates of the damage so far up to 2020, which has affected 530 to 790 square miles and 525,000 to 634,000 people, and cost between $100 billion and $123 billion.
Overall, the study finds that 24 of the 32 coastal cities studied are subsiding by more than 2 millimeters a year. (One millimeter equals 0.04 inches.) “The combination of both the land sinking and the sea rising leads to this compounding effect of exposure for people,” says the study’s lead author, Leonard Ohenhen, an environmental security expert at Virginia Tech. “When you combine both, you have an even greater hazard.”
The issue is that cities have been preparing for projections of geocentric sea-level rise, for instance with sea walls. Through no fault of their own—given the infancy of satellite subsidence monitoring—they’ve been missing half the problem. “All the adaptation strategies at the moment that we have in place are based on rising sea levels,” says Manoochehr Shirzaei, an environmental security expert at Virginia Tech and a coauthor of the paper. “It means that the majority—if not all—of those adaptation strategies are overestimating the time that we have for those extreme consequences of sea-level rise. Instead of having 40 years to prepare, in some cases we have only 10.”
Subsidence can happen naturally, for instance when loose sediments settle over time, or because of human activity, such as when cities extract too much groundwater and their aquifers collapse like empty water bottles. In extreme cases, this can result in dozens of feet of subsidence. The sheer weight of coastal cities like New York is also pushing down on the ground, leading to further sinking.
On the anniversary of Putin’s aggression, however, uncertainty and irritation were undisguised in Kyiv. Ukrainians wanted to know why Western sanctions on Russia are not working, and why Moscow keeps getting components for its missiles from Western companies. Why Ukrainians have to keep asking for weapons; and why the U.S. is not pushing through the crucial new aid package for Ukraine.
“We are very grateful for the support of the United States, but unfortunately, when I turn to the Democrats for support, they tell me to go to the Republicans. And the Republicans say to go to the Democrats,” Ukrainian MP Oleksandra Ustinova said at a separate Kyiv conference on Saturday. “We are grateful for the European support, but we cannot win without the USA. We need the supply of anti-aircraft defenses and continued assistance.”
“Why don’t you give us what we ask for? Our priorities are air defense and missiles. We need long-range missiles,” Ustinova added.
U.S. Congressman Jim Costa explained to the conference that Americans, and even members of Congress, still need to be educated on how the war in Ukraine affects them and why a Ukrainian victory is in America’s best interests.
“I believe that we must, and that is why we will decide on an additional aid package for Ukraine. It is difficult and unattractive. But I believe that over the next few weeks, the US response will be a beacon to protect our security and democratic values,” Costa said.
The West is afraid of Russia, Oleksiy Danilov, Ukraine’s security and defense council secretary, told the Saturday conference.
“The West does not know what to do with Russia and therefore it does not allow us to win. Russians constantly blackmail and intimidate the West. However, if you are afraid of a dog, it will bite you,” he said.
“And now you are losing not only to autocratic Russia but also to the rest of the autocracies in the world,” Danilov added.
Officials from the Colorado Rockies and a federal cybersecurity agency are planning a “full-scale” active shooter and bombing simulation at Coors Field to practice responding to an attack during a regular season baseball game.
The May 22 event will bring together stadium and team officials, local first responders and state and federal agencies “to perform response actions that would be taken during an attack at Coors Field,” organizers wrote in an email sent to a Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management mailing list on Friday.
Organizers are looking for volunteer actors to participate in the simulation, which will take place when the Rockies are scheduled to play in Oakland, according to the email.
“The scenario involves a simulated explosion followed by an active shooter during a regular season weekend Colorado Rockies game at Coors Field,” organizers with the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency wrote on an intake form for volunteer actors.
Two 60-minute scenarios will be held during the 6-hour training and will include being “exposed to loud noises, including simulated gunshot and explosive sounds,” organizers wrote.
Volunteers are required to be 18 years or older and must answer if they are willing to have simulated injuries painted on or applied, including fake bruises, scratches, burns, gunshot wounds and blood, according to the intake form.
Getting fake injuries applied, which is known as moulage, is not mandatory for participation.
The Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management referred questions about the event to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Representatives for the agency and Colorado Rockies could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday.
(Bloomberg) — Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang said countries around the world aiming to build and run their own artificial intelligence infrastructure at home will drive up demand for his company’s products.
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Nations including India, Japan, France and Canada are talking about the importance of investing in “sovereign AI capabilities,” Huang said in an interview Thursday with Bloomberg Television. “Their natural resource – data – should be refined and produced for their country. The recognition of sovereign AI capabilities is global.”
At the time of the interview, Huang was in Canada, which itself is home to a number of academic institutions that have significantly contributed to breakthroughs in the type of generative AI systems that power tools such as OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT. The country now finds itself with a growing need for the supercomputers necessary to capitalize on the work of its academics, he said.
Huang, who co-founded the chip designer Nvidia, has been talking for months about the need for countries and their companies to keep precious data and the intelligence that can be extracted from it local. Such a national approach to the AI boom stands to drive an expansion of data centers that would need Nvidia’s know-how and hardware.
The world’s most valuable chipmaker is estimated to have doubled its sales in the fiscal year, driven by the AI spending of its biggest customers such as Microsoft Corp. Meta Platforms Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc. Huang now wants to expand his customer base by persuading corporations and government agencies to build their own infrastructure.
“The vast majority of the computing market has been in the US, and to a much smaller degree, China,” he said. “For the very first time, because of generative AI computer technology, it’s going to impact literally every single country. So some of the markets will be quite large and global.”
Nvidia, which has become Wall Street’s favorite bet on AI, has managed to exceed analysts’ expectations for the past few quarters of earnings, and it may need to find new markets to maintain that streak. Other tech companies that have been associated with the AI boom over the past year, such as chip-making rival Advanced Micro Device Inc., have posted earnings and outlooks this quarter that disappointed investors.
Nvidia may prove the exception. It’s arguably the only tech company that has demonstrated significant revenue growth from AI that has already transformed the chip supplier from a niche player to the biggest beneficiary of the AI boom. Analysts are projecting that the surge in demand for Nvidia’s products will turn it into the biggest company by revenue in the chip industry as early as 2025.
KYIV — A documentary made by three of the last journalists to escape Mariupol as Russian forces destroyed the city in spring 2022 has been nominated for an Academy Award.
The documentary “20 Days In Mariupol,” made by Mstyslav Chernov, Evgeniy Maloletka and Vasilisa Stepanenko and co-produced by Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath of the Associated Press, was nominated in the Best Documentary Feature Film category at this year’s upcoming Oscars.
The documentary tells the story of the first days of the Russian invasion of Mariupol, which is now fully controlled by Kremlin forces after a merciless assault that left tens of thousands of people dead.
While Russia has blamed Ukraine for the city’s destruction, “20 Days In Mariupol” is a unique chronicle of what actually happened in the early days of Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Ukrainian citizens survived in basements, their food and water supplies cut off, while Kremlin troops bombed hospitals, theaters, and other civilian infrastructure.
The 96th Academy Awards ceremony will be held on March 10 in Los Angeles. Last year, a film about imprisoned Russian dissident Alexei Navalny won in the documentary category.
In an era where technology plays a pivotal role in education, the expiration of the E-rate program’s Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) funding poses a significant threat to underserved schools and libraries. This funding, which was crucial in bridging the digital divide, now stands at a crossroads, potentially leaving many educational institutions grappling with outdated technology and hindering access to the digital resources necessary for effective learning.
While the stakes are high and a potential crisis may be looming, there are several solutions to mitigate the impact on underserved areas as we transition to a post-ECF era.
The role of ECF funding in schools and libraries
For context, the E-rate program, established in 1996 as part of the Telecommunications Act, aimed to ensure affordable access to modern telecommunications and information services for schools and libraries. Over the years, the ECF component of E-rate emerged as a lifeline for schools and libraries, particularly in economically disadvantaged communities. This fund addressed the digital divide by providing financial support for broadband connectivity, Wi-Fi hotspots, and connected devices such as laptops and tablets.
ECF funding has played a pivotal role in transforming underserved schools and libraries into tech-savvy hubs of learning. It enabled these institutions to acquire up-to-date technology, offering students and community members access to a wealth of information and educational resources. This funding helped level the playing field, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring that students from all backgrounds had equal opportunities to excel when digital education was the only option to continue learning.
The expiration threat
Now, with the expiration of ECF funding, it brings with it myriad challenges, primarily centered around the potential exacerbation of the digital divide. Without continued financial support, schools and libraries may struggle to maintain or upgrade their technological infrastructure. This could result in a regression to outdated systems, hindering the ability of students and community members to engage in new and evolving educational needs.
Concern also has been raised about the potential lack of access to technology becoming a far-reaching consequence for underserved communities. If educational opportunities become limited, students’ ability to develop essential digital skills necessary for success in the workforce may be hindered. Moreover, the potential digital divide is likely to extend beyond the classroom, affecting adults who rely on these institutions for access to online job searches, healthcare information, and government services. The long-lasting effects could perpetuate a cycle of poverty and limit the socio-economic growth of these communities.
Solutions to bridge the gap
To address the impending digital crisis, several solutions can be explored. Advocacy for the extension or renewal of ECF funding is a critical step. Policymakers must recognize the fundamental role that technology plays in education and prioritize continued support for underserved areas. Additionally, partnerships between private and public sectors can contribute to sustainable funding models that ensure ongoing access to technology for these institutions.
Another innovative approach involves the recycling and upcycling of technology. Instead of disposing of outdated devices, schools and libraries can explore programs that refurbish and repurpose technology. Technology trade-in partners can be a valuable resource and help schools put funds back into budgets to cover the cost of new technology purchases. They are able to conduct a comprehensive assessment of a school’s device inventory, taking into account the age, condition, and compatibility with the latest software to give a clear understanding of the potential value if upcycled. That means devices that still have useful life are refurbished and put into the hands of individuals and organizations who might not otherwise be able to afford the technology.
Sustainability also is an important consideration and technology trade-in partners can develop sustainable technology plans for schools and libraires. These plans help organizations determine the right devices to purchase, when to sell them at the optimal point in their useful life, and how to reinvest those funds into new technology. The right decisions at each step in the process can put significant money back into budgets and keep the best technology in the hands of schools and libraires. Ensuring that the digital divide is closed, and students continue to elevate their education.
Additionally, these initiatives also can be designed to engage students, teaching them about the importance of sustainability while providing hands-on experience in refurbishing electronic devices.
The expiration of ECF funding poses a substantial threat to the strides made in narrowing the digital divide in underserved schools and libraries. It is imperative that stakeholders recognize the vital role technology plays in education and community development. Advocacy for continued funding and utilizing technology trade-in partners are essential components of a comprehensive strategy to ensure that these institutions continue to thrive in the digital age. By addressing these potential challenges head-on, we can work toward a future where all students, regardless of their economic background, have equal access to technology and educational opportunities.
Diamond McKenna, Co-Founder, Diamond Assets
Diamond McKenna is a visionary entrepreneur, thought leader, and co-founder of Diamond Assets, a leading Apple tech buyback company that specializes in helping organizations maximize the value of their Apple devices. With a strong commitment to sustainability, innovation, and excellence, Diamond has played a pivotal role in transforming the way businesses and educational institutions manage their Apple device assets and serve communities.
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Malvern, Pa. (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —Frontline Education, a leading provider of administration software purpose-built for educators in K-12, today announced that Chris Tonas has joined the company’s executive team as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Chris brings with him over three decades of invaluable experience in software engineering and development, having held leadership roles at Pluralsight and Oracle.
As CTO, Chris is responsible for leading the technological aspects of the company including engineering and development and managing cloud infrastructure and security.
Mark Gruzin, CEO of Frontline Education, expressed his excitement about Chris joining the team: “As we continue to grow and innovate, we are pleased to welcome Chris as our new CTO. We will gain the benefits of Chris’ extensive experience in software engineering, a track record of strategic leadership, and his commitment to engineering advancements. Chris’ passion for innovation and collaborative spirit align seamlessly with Frontline’s goals.”
Chris has a distinguished career marked by his involvement in major technology advancements. As CTO at Pluralsight, he was responsible for engineering, drove standardization and modernization initiatives, and led the company’s global expansion of the product and technology organizations. At Oracle, he developed and operated the frameworks and platforms powering Oracle Cloud Applications, including Human Capital Management and Enterprise Resource Planning. His leadership extended to a global team of engineers, spanning the U.S., India, Czech Republic and Mexico.
“I am thrilled to join Frontline, a company dedicated to supporting K-12 leaders across the country,” said Tonas. “My focus will be on continuing to drive clarity in technology initiatives, aligning them with business objectives, and ensuring that we are consistently creating meaningful impact for the users of our products. I am also committed to fostering a culture of excellence within our engineering teams.”
Chris’ position as CTO is effective immediately. He will be based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
About Frontline
Frontline Education is a leading provider of school administration software, connecting solutions for student and special programs, business operations and human capital management with powerful analytics to empower educators. Frontline partners with school systems to deliver tools, data and insights that support greater efficiency and productivity, enabling school leaders to spend more time and resources executing strategies that drive educator effectiveness, student success and district excellence.
Frontline’s broad portfolio includes solutions for proactive recruiting and hiring, absence and time management, professional growth, student information systems, special education, special programs, Medicaid reimbursement, school health management, inventory control and asset management, payroll, benefits and financial management, and analytics solutions that help district leaders tap into their data to make more informed decisions for the benefit of their students and communities. Over 10,000 clients representing millions of educators, administrators and support personnel have partnered with Frontline Education in their efforts to develop the next generation of learners.
eSchool Media staff cover education technology in all its aspects–from legislation and litigation, to best practices, to lessons learned and new products. First published in March of 1998 as a monthly print and digital newspaper, eSchool Media provides the news and information necessary to help K-20 decision-makers successfully use technology and innovation to transform schools and colleges and achieve their educational goals.
COSTA MESA, Calif. —BenQ, an internationally renowned provider of visual display and collaboration solutions, today announced that Paso Robles Joint Unified School District in California has selected and installed BenQ Boards in more than 200 classrooms across the district. The BenQ Boards allowed Paso Robles to bypass an expensive cabling infrastructure update many of its schools needed while introducing an affordable yet innovative classroom solution for fostering engagement and collaboration and nurturing future-ready students.
“We were at a fork in the road on how to move our classrooms into the future affordably,” said Scott Buller, MBA, director of information technology at Paso Robles Joint Unified School District. “Instead of rewiring our classrooms and using all available money toward replacing our legacy projectors, we were able to invest in BenQ Boards and propel our school district into the future of learning. We saved money, and increased engagement, accessibility, inclusion, collaboration, and tech skills — all while meeting the needs of our teachers and IT staff. The BenQ Boards’ features and tools have transformed our learning possibilities.”
BenQ Boards Increase Engagement and Interactivity BenQ Boards immediately introduce a new, hands-on way of learning in the classroom. From the display’s antimicrobial screen, students can participate in lessons with enhanced interactivity. To boost engagement without expensive subscription costs, BenQ Boards include the license-free EZWrite 6 annotation and collaboration software. This gives teachers and students the freedom to annotate and work directly from the interactive display or a wirelessly connected device. Rather than sit-and-get lectures, EZWrite encourages students to manipulate content, explore concepts, and solve problems, fostering critical thinking and problem-solving skills. With EZWrite’s Floating Tool, users can add text to any app, video, website, document, or image. They can also choose the pen color, erase, open files, or take screenshots.
BenQ Boards Increase Personalized Learning BenQ Boards open the door to more easily fostering personalized learning experiences with an abundance of free tools. For example, the EZWrite software’s translation tool can benefit teachers working with ELL students, quickly translating content. The board also comes with built-in InstaShare wireless screen sharing software, which breaks down barriers to collaboration. Students are empowered to present their ideas in class, with up to nine screens being shared simultaneously. When remote students or guests are joining, the display is compatible with all leading videoconferencing software such as Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, with an optional Intel-powered slot-in PC, which expands the utility of the screen even further. BenQ has also made it possible for two apps to be opened on screen side by side, making lessons more efficient. For example, teachers can explain in detail with a whiteboard on one side and support content on the other or, utilizing InstaShare’s Floating Window mode, share a connected screen alongside another app in use.
BenQ Boards Increase Multimodal Learning BenQ Boards feature audio, visual, and touch tools that help teachers enhance lessons that include all learning modalities. With its multiple touch points, EZWrite lets several students work together simultaneously for hands-on, collaborative learning. Students can do more than write. They can use photos and screenshots as well as built-in templates for more context-rich classes. Team Post on EZWrite splits the board into side-by-side workspaces, allowing teams to compete in real-time quizzes and activities. With a built-in six microphone array, it’s easy for educators to capture audio along with screen annotations. These can be saved for review later with crisp audio everyone can hear, thanks to its two 16W speakers.
BenQ Boards Increase Teacher Tech Skills and Comfort BenQ Boards are also purpose-built for teachers so that they can provide exciting learning opportunities, starting from the moment they sign on. Encouraging active participation in class while protecting student and teacher health, the germ-resistant BenQ Boards boast BenQ’s Tap ‘N Teach technology, which features one-tap NFC log-in to load lesson materials and interactive teaching apps, cloud storage, settings, and tools instantly and securely.
BenQ Board smart displays are cloud-friendly, making them the epicenter for classroom management. They eliminate the complexities of using interactive display technology that steals valuable class time or having to depend on connected devices to access and manage files and content. Once teachers are logged in, their personal settings are instantly recalled and they can securely access and save lesson materials on Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, or the network.
BenQ Boards Increase IT and Tech Staff’s Insight As a central hub for each and every classroom, it’s important IT and admin staff have the tools they need to manage and update the BenQ Boards. IT managers have access to at-a-glance device analytics for any BenQ display using the included AMS software. They can easily monitor and analyze the status of all the BenQ devices on a single dashboard, including managing displays, apps, and OTA updates remotely for maximum convenience. BenQ Boards integrate with schools’ most favorite apps, including Google, Kahoot!, ClassLink, and more. BenQ Boards also benefit from BenQ’s X-Sign Broadcast software, which turns any BenQ smart board in the school into broadcast signage and allows schools to keep everyone informed and up to date on events, safety protocols, and emergencies.
“Paso Robles Joint Unified School District is a great example of how schools can increase positive outcomes and support future-ready students without a tremendous infrastructure overhaul, training, or IT resources,” said Bob Wudeck, senior director of business development at BenQ Education. “BenQ Boards are designed to eliminate many of the barriers to 21st-century learning while at the same time meeting teachers where they’re at so they can instruct students with confidence and ease.”
About BenQ Education BenQ Education is helping teachers shape the future of learning with interactive display solutions that maximize engagement in and out of the classroom while improving student performance. For over 10 years, BenQ has been the No.1-selling TI DLP projector brand worldwide, according to Futuresource, and is one of the leading interactive display vendors in North America. The award-winning BenQ Board is the first and only interactive display to feature TÜV- and SIAA-certified germ-resistant screens, interfaces, and pens as part of its purpose-built ClassroomCare technologies designed for healthier classrooms. The BenQ Board RP03 Series has been recognized as the first smart board to achieve Eyesafe® Certification, the advanced blue light mitigation technology developed in concert with optometrists and ophthalmologists. Industry-recognized, BenQ’s Tap ‘N Teach technology for fast sign-on, EZWrite license-free annotation and whiteboard software, InstaShare wireless screen presentation system, and IT-friendly monitoring and management tools create exciting and intuitive active learning experiences. EZWrite 6 is also AWS Qualified, having passed Amazon Web Services (AWS) Foundational Technical Review (FTR), providing schools with assurance in security, reliability, and operational excellence. Educators can focus on giving lessons that leave an impact and give the leaders of tomorrow the tools they need to reach their maximum potential. The company’s products are available across North America through leading value-added distributors, resellers, and retailers. More information is available at www.BenQBoard.com.
All trademarks and registered trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.
eSchool Media staff cover education technology in all its aspects–from legislation and litigation, to best practices, to lessons learned and new products. First published in March of 1998 as a monthly print and digital newspaper, eSchool Media provides the news and information necessary to help K-20 decision-makers successfully use technology and innovation to transform schools and colleges and achieve their educational goals.
BERLIN — At its summit this week, the European Union is threatening to name and shame more than a dozen Chinese companies that, it claims, are supplying critical technology to equip Russia’s war machine.
But what about the Western companies that make dual-use and other advanced gear that is subject to sanctions and yet, according to an analysis of wreckage found on the Ukrainian battlefield, is used in Russian Kalibr missiles, Orlan drones and Ka-52 “Alligator” helicopters?
Radio silence.
So here’s a trivia question for you: Which company is the leading maker of the so-called “high-priority battlefield items” trafficked to Russia that the Western coalition wants to interdict?
If you said Intel, then go to the top of the class: According to the sanctions team at the Kyiv School of Economics, the U.S. semiconductor giant again leads the pack this year. It’s followed by Huawei of China. Then come Analog Devices, AMD, Texas Instruments and IBM — all of which are American.
Russian imports of microelectronics, wireless and satellite navigation systems and other critical parts subject to sanctions have recovered to near pre-war levels with a monthly run rate of $900 million in the first nine months of this year, according to a forthcoming report from the Kyiv School’s analytical center, the KSE Institute.
All of this indicates that, while Western sanctions imposed over Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, had a temporary impact, Moscow and its helpers have largely succeeded in reconfiguring supply chains — with the help of China, Hong Kong and countries in Russia’s backyard like Kazakhstan and NATO member Turkey.
That in turn begs the question as to whether, as the EU strives to deliver a 12th package of sanctions against Russia in time for a leaders’ summit on Thursday, the bloc is serving up yet another case study for the definition of insanity often attributed to Albert Einstein: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
For Elina Ribakova, director of the international program at the KSE Institute, the Western private sector must also be held to account. It should, she argues, be required to track its products along the entire value chain to their final destination — just as banks were forced to tighten anti-money laundering controls and customer checks after the 2008 crash.
“We have a policy in a void. We have put it on paper but we don’t have any infrastructure for the private sector to comply — or for us to check,” Ribakova told POLITICO. “We need to have the private sector enforce and implement this.”
Intel, responding to a request for comment, said it had suspended all shipments to Russia and Belarus, its ally, and that it was compliant with sanctions and export controls against both countries issued by the U.S. and its allies.
“While we do not always know nor can we control what products our customers create or the applications end-users may develop, Intel does not support or tolerate our products being used to violate human rights,” the company said in a statement. “Where we become aware of a concern that Intel products are being used by a business partner in connection with abuses of human rights, we will restrict or cease business with the third party until and unless we have high confidence that Intel’s products are not being used to violate human rights.”
As for Europe, while its companies may not feature among the top makers of critical technology sold to Russia, its industrial businesses are facing growing scrutiny over the supply of machinery and spare parts — often via third countries like Kazakhstan that have seen suspicious surges in imports.
It’s here, also, that Europe has fallen down.
In imposing sanctions, it’s a case of “all for one” — the bloc has jointly agreed on and implemented measures affecting everything from energy to banking.
But enforcement is a matter for individual member countries. Some are on board with the program. Others, like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, overtly sympathize with Russia. And others, still, are conflicted — as when it emerged that the husband of hawkish Estonian premier Kaja Kallas owned a stake in a freight firm that still did business in Russia.
Then there are countries like neutral Austria, with historical ties to the Soviet military-industrial complex that have left politicians and law enforcement with a huge blind spot.
That’s important because, as independent researcher Kamil Galeev put it to POLITICO, Russia today still upholds an organizing principle dating back to the early Soviet era that civilian industry should “be able to switch 100 percent to military production should the need arise.”
Justice delayed
Despite evidence of widespread breaches, only a handful of sanctions cases are being pursued by European law enforcement. Among them, German prosecutors have secured the arrest of a businessman suspected of supplying precision lathes to two Russian companies that make sniper rifles.
But the wheels of justice turn slowly: The arrest in August of Ulli S. — prosecutors, following German tradition, have not published his full name — relates to the initial imposition of Western sanctions over Russia’s occupation of Crimea and eastern Ukraine in 2014.
The press had already cracked the case by the time the suspect appeared in court, naming DMG Mori — a Japanese-German joint venture — as the supplier. One customer was Kalashnikov, maker of the famed AK-47 rifle. The other was Promtekhnologia, which has been sanctioned by the U.S. and featured in POLITICO’s sniper bullets investigation. Promtekhnologia makes the Orsis sniper rifle promoted by action movie actor Steven Seagal — now a Russian citizen — and used by President Vladimir Putin’s men in Ukraine.
DMG Mori, formerly called Gildemeister, suspended sales to Russia after the full-scale invasion. But, because it has closed down its operations in the country, it says it is no longer able to keep control over its machines made there (although an internal probe did find that they were being used for civilian purposes). The German Federal Prosecutor did not respond to a request for comment.
The real bad actors
It’s not just in stopping imports to Russia that sanctions are falling short of their stated intention.
Vladimir Putin’s former wife, Lyudmila (left), and her new partner have splashed the cash on luxury property investments in Spain, Switzerland and France a POLITICO investigation found | Yuri Kochetkov/EPA
Russians with close ties to Putin — and their money — continue to be more than welcome in Europe despite the death and destruction his regime has unleashed. His former wife, Lyudmila, and her new partner have splashed the cash on luxury property investments in Spain, Switzerland and France, as a POLITICO investigation found at the start of the year.
And when the European Council — the intergovernmental branch of the EU — does sanction Russian business leaders suspected of aiding and abetting the Putin regime, it has often relied on slipshod evidence that makes the decisions easy to challenge in court, POLITICO has also found.
Nearly 1,600 Western multinationals continue, meanwhile, to do business in Russia. Many that announced they would pull out have struggled to do so, as POLITICO discovered when it investigated Western liquor companies that said they had quit Russia — only to find that their booze was still freely available. And some companies that did stay, like Danone and Carlsberg, have been shaken down by Putin and his cronies — a case of Russian roulette, if ever there was one.
With the EU apparently lacking the means, or the political will, to do more to economically isolate Russia, the bloc is sending its sanctions envoy, David O’Sullivan, on a mission to apply moral suasion to countries that are, as he diplomatically puts it, “not aligned” on sanctions.
On the high-priority battlefield technology, Sullivan told POLITICO’s EU Confidential podcast last month that the EU has had “a limited success — but in an area which is absolutely critical to the defense of Ukraine.”
More broadly, he said: “The sanctions are a sort of slow puncture of the Russian economy. Perhaps not the blowout that some people initially predicted, but … the air is escaping from the tire and sooner or later the vehicle is going to become impossible to drive.”
To be fair, O’Sullivan isn’t overselling the efficacy of sanctions. And he may ultimately be proven right.
But he only will be vindicated if Western governments do a better job of holding their own businesses to account in stemming the flows of technology, equipment and spare parts that sustain Putin and his war of aggression.
That will come down to whether they have the will to enforce their decisions. And the evidence so far is that they don’t.
BRUSSELS — In early August, Bulgarian officials spotted something they weren’t sure was legal.
Barrels of Russian oil were arriving in the country priced above a $60 limit allies had adopted to sap Moscow of critical revenue for its war in Ukraine.
Bulgaria was in an unusual position among its partners. It had been given an exemption to European Union sanctions barring most imports of Russian oil, ostensibly to ensure the country wouldn’t face acute energy shortages even though the EU’s broader policy aimed to crush Russia’s main cash artery following its full-scale assault on Kyiv.
But could Bulgaria still import Russian oil if it was above the price cap? Customs officials in Sofia wanted to know for sure, so they reached out to EU officials asking for “clarification,” according to a private email exchange dated August 4 and seen by POLITICO.
The answer: Let it in.
“Crude oil imported based on these derogations does not need to be at or below $60 per barrel,” came the EU’s reply.
Green light in hand, Bulgaria proceeded to import Russian crude exclusively above the price cap from August until October, according to confidential customs data seen by POLITICO. The shipments were worth an estimated €640 million, according to calculations by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) think tank. The cash went to Russian energy firms, which pay the taxes helping fill the Kremlin’s war chest.
The sanctions gap is emblematic of the broader flaws that have corroded the EU’s attempt to stymie the billions Russia earns from energy exports. Roughly a year after adopting the initial penalties, legal loopholes have combined with poor enforcement and a mushrooming parallel trade to keep Moscow’s fossil fuel revenues flowing, and feeding almost half of Vladimir Putin’s war-hungry budget.
Russian oil is likely winding up as fuel in Europe via new routes. Enforcement across the Continent is scattered and reliant on inconsistent data. And a whole new black market has sprung up to insure, ship and hide Russia’s fuel as it travels the world.
The sanctions, in other words, have come up short. Russia’s oil export earnings have dropped just 14 percent since the restrictions were imposed. And in October, Russia’s fossil fuel revenues hit an 18-month high.
It also appears the EU has run out of steam to do much about it. The latest EU sanctions package, set to be finalized at a leaders’ summit this week, is mostly focused on administrative tweaks that experts say will do little to curb widespread evasion. Absent are any efforts to drop the level of the oil price cap further.
“The whole sanction mechanism works only if you keep adopting on a regular basis decisions that close loopholes and impose new sanctions,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told POLITICO. “Every actor in the world has the capacity to adapt.”
The Bulgarian oversight
The reason behind Bulgaria’s price cap loophole is arguably a clerical oversight.
When the EU wrote the G7 nations’ price cap into law, officials expressly forbade EU shipping firms and insurance companies from trafficking Russian oil above the $60 threshold to non-EU countries. The aim was to squeeze the Kremlin’s revenues while keeping global oil flows steady.
But officials never thought to impose similar rules on shipments to EU countries, partly because Brussels had banned Russian seaborne crude oil imports that same day.
Except for Bulgaria.
The backdoor has meant millions in extra revenue for Moscow. According to CREA, Russian oil export earnings from Bulgarian sales between August to October — a third of which came from sales above the price cap — raised around €430 million in direct taxes for the Kremlin. All Russian-origin shipments delivered during this time — priced between $69 and $89 per barrel — relied on Western help, including from Greek ship operators and British and Norwegian insurers.
And it was all technically legal.
The situation “reveals that Bulgaria has aided Russia to exploit this glaring loophole to maximize the Kremlin’s budget revenues from these oil sales without any apparent benefits for Bulgarian consumers,” said Martin Vladimirov, a senior analyst at the Sofia-based Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) think tank, which has studied the issue.
More broadly, Bulgaria’s exemption from the Russian oil ban has been lining the pockets of both Russia’s largest private oil firm, Lukoil, which dominates Bulgaria’s fuel production with its sprawling Black Sea refinery, and the Kremlin itself.
More broadly, Lukoil’s crude oil imports to Bulgaria raked in over €2 billion in export revenues for Russia since the sanctions went into effect in February, according to a new CREA and CSD analysis. And the Kremlin has made €1 billion in direct taxes from the sales, POLITICO revealed last month.
There is now mounting pressure to mend these money-making fissures.
Bulgaria has vowed to cut short its opt-out from the Russian oil ban by six months, provisionally moving the deadline up to March.
And Kiril Petkov, the former prime minister who leads one of two parties controlling Bulgaria’s current governing coalition, told POLITICO the price cap workaround should “absolutely” be closed too. He vowed to pressure the government and ask the European Commission, the EU’s executive in Brussels, to do so, while insisting that Bulgaria is accelerating its efforts to shake off its Russian energy ties, unlike nearby countries like Slovakia.
Bulgaria proceeded to import Russian crude exclusively above the price cap from August until October, according to confidential customs data seen by POLITICO | Robert Ghement/EPA-EFE
“We do not like the $60 loophole that was created by the EU Commission derogation,” Petkov said. “We don’t want Putin to receive any euro that he doesn’t have to.”
The Bulgarian case “highlights one of the many loopholes that make sanctions less effective at lowering Russian export earnings used to finance the Kremlin’s war chest,” according to Isaac Levi, who leads CREA’s Russia-Europe team.
Bulgaria’s finance ministry and Lukoil didn’t respond to requests for comment.
‘Not all rainbows and unicorns’
A major challenge is poor monitoring and enforcement.
In October, a report commissioned by the European Parliament found EU sanctions enforcement is “scattered” across over 160 local authorities, while capitals have “dissimilar implementation systems” that include “wide discrepancies” in penalties for violations.
That assumes you can find a breach to begin with. Even those involved in shipping oil get only limited access to information on trades, according to Viktor Katona, chief crude analyst at the Kpler market intelligence firm.
Insurers, for example, rely on a single document from firms buying and selling oil cargoes pledging the sale is not above $60 per barrel, which amounts to a “declaration of faith,” he said.
The EU’s upcoming 12th package of sanctions is trying to crack down on this problem with new rules forcing traders to actually itemize specific costs. The goal is to prevent buyers from purchasing Russian oil above the limit and then hiding the extra costs as insurance or transport fees. But few in the industry have high hopes the added paperwork will stop the workaround.
Several EU countries with large shipping industries are also reluctant to tighten the price cap, making things even trickier. During the latest round of sanctions, Cyprus, Malta and Greece once again raised concerns over calls to strengthen the restrictions, according to two EU diplomats, who like others in the story were granted anonymity to speak freely.
A diplomat from a major maritime EU nation said stricter sanctions would only push Russia to use more non-Western operators to ship oil. Instead, the diplomat argued, the focus should be on broadening the countries adhering to the price cap. Currently, the G7, the EU and Australia are on board.
“It would be stupid to push for price caps, and then other shipping registers do not abide by it because they are not EU members,” the diplomat said, adding that “all that will be achieved is the total destruction of the shipping industry.”
Meanwhile, EU countries are still allowing Russian oil cargoes to cross their waters on their way elsewhere.
CREA research on behalf of POLITICO found that 822 ships transporting Moscow’s crude transferred their cargo to another ship in EU territorial waters — the majority in Greek, but also Maltese, Spanish, Romanian and Italian waters — since the oil sanctions kicked off last December. The volumes were equivalent to 400,000 barrels per day.
A Commission spokesperson defended the EU sanctions, noting Russia has been forced to spend “billions of dollars” to adapt to the new reality, including on new tankers, and its oil extraction and export infrastructure as Western demand shriveled.
That has caused “serious and ongoing economic and policy consequences,” the Commission spokesperson said. And CREA did find that the oil price limit has stripped the Kremlin of €34 billion in export revenues, equivalent to roughly two months of earnings this year.
Others point out that teething issues are normal — it’s the first time the EU has deployed sanctions at such a scale.
“Let’s be fair … all of the sanctions measures are unprecedented, so there’s an element of learning by doing it, as well,” said one of the EU diplomats. “We don’t live in a perfect world: it’s not all rainbows and unicorns.”
Deep dark waters
Instead of accepting the tough rules designed to drain its finances, Moscow has sparked a sanctions circumvention arms race, looking for loopholes as part of what one senior Ukrainian official has described as a “cockroach strategy.”
To ensure it can sell its fossil fuels at whatever price it can get, in violation of the oil price cap and other restrictions, Russia has presided over the creation of a parallel shipping market that, through a mixture of law-breaking and law-bending, is lining the pockets of its state energy firms and oligarchs.
A “shadow fleet” of aging tankers has emerged, mysteriously managed through a network of companies that obscure their ownership, frequently trading their cargo of fuel with other ships at sea. To help them escape the jurisdiction of Western sanctions while meeting basic maritime requirements, a cottage industry of murky insurance firms has sprung up in countries like India.
“When they were introduced, the sanctions seemed to be having an effect for a very short time. But now the state of play is most of the sanctions that have beeninplace have not really worked — or they’ve been very limited in terms of what they’ve been able to do,” said Byron McKinney, a director at trade and commodity firm S&P.
As Russian trades move increasingly away from Western operators and traders, that makes tracking them even more difficult, said Katona, the Kpler oil analyst.
“Every single” Russian type of oil now trades above the price cap, he said, while CREA estimates only 48 percent of Russian oil cargoes were carried on tankers owned or insured in G7 and EU countries in October.
“It’s like coming to a party and telling everyone not to drink alcohol, but not coming to the party yourself,” Katona said. “How do you make sure that no one’s drinking?”
At the same time, countries like India have increased their imports of cheap Russian crude by 134 percent, CREA found, processing it and then selling it everywhere. That means European consumers could unknowingly be filling up their cars with fuel produced from Russian crude, bankrolling Moscow’s armed forces at the same time.
The waning West?
The EU is well aware of the problem.
“Unless you have big players like India and China as part of it, effectiveness sooner or later fades away,” conceded one senior Commission official.
“It shows us the limits of what the tools of Western players can achieve at a global level,” the official added, noting it’s “a lesson in how much the [global] power balance has changed compared to 10 or 20 years ago.”
Expectations are low, however, that India or China — or Turkey, another critical shipping country — will come around to the price cap any time soon.
And back in Brussels, political leaders seem to be throwing up their hands. When EU leaders gather for their summit on Thursday, the sanctions package they’re expected to endorse will do little to stanch the flow of Russia’s energy cash, omitting any measures targeting Russian oil or lowering the price cap.
Until such steps are taken, Russia’s finances won’t truly wither, said Alexandra Prokopenko, an economist and nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center.
“The oil price is now the only real channel of transmission for external risk,” she said. “Russia will feel extremely bad if the average price on its oil is $40 or $50 per barrel — that would be painful for its budget and for Putin’s ability to finance expenditures.”
Getting to that point, however, was never going to be easy.
“The Russian economy was quite a big animal,” Prokopenko said, “that makes it hard to shoot it with a single shot.”
Victor Jack and Giovanna Coi reported from Brussels. Gabriel Gavin reported from Yerevan.
Claudia Chiappa contributed reporting from Brussels.
