Caribbean, East Atlantic may spawn tropical threats in coming days – Fox News

There is the potential for two tropical systems, one in the Atlantic and one in the Caribbean, to slowly develop and drift westward over the next week.

The next two names on the list of tropical storms in the Atlantic for 2017 are Franklin and Gert.

Residents and those planning vacations around the Caribbean should closely monitor the weather and forecasts.

Up to this point in the season, there have been extensive areas of dry air and Saharan dust as well as a large zone of strong westerly winds aloft. These three factors act as a strong deterrent toward tropical storm formation and can bring an early demise to well-developed tropical storms and hurricanes.

Conditions are gradually becoming more favorable for development in the tropical Atlantic with dry air, dust and strong winds aloft on the retreat. Waters are sufficiently warm over the region.

One system, dubbed 90L, was located close to South America over the south-central Caribbean and is the more immediate concern of the two.

"In the short-term, the close proximity to South America will be a significant inhibiting factor for development," according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Mike Doll.

"However, once this system moves away from South America, it will have a better chance for development sometime this weekend," Doll said.

Depending on the track and speed of strengthening of 90L, some of the islands and mainland areas may be affected by adverse conditions and perhaps localized flooding.

An immediate concern for torrential downpours, gusty thunderstorms and building seas will be in northwestern Venezuela, northern Colombia, Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao through Saturday.

As 90L grows in size, the risk of flooding downpours, gusty winds and rough seas may affect Jamaica late Saturday night and Sunday.

Westerly steering winds may bring 90L close over Nicaragua and Honduras later this weekend.

While this track would mark an end for strengthening, the two nations could be affected by damaging and dangerous conditions from flooding and gusty winds.

Should 90L take a more northwesterly track, toward the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, it would have more time for development and may then wander into the southwestern Gulf of Mexico next week.

The system farthest away from North America, dubbed 99L, has the potential to gradually develop into next week and beyond, according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Mike Doll.

"Nintey-nine L could become a tropical depression by the end of the weekend," Doll said.

Provided the system avoids strong winds aloft and dry air to the north, significant additional strengthening could occur.

If 99L develops and/or survives, then it is likely approach the Windward and Leeward islands during the middle to latter part of next week. Parts of these islands are likely to experience an uptick in showers and thunderstorms at very least during that time.

The exact track of 99L in relation to the proximity to the islands will depend on how quickly the system strengthens. A weak and poorly organized system is more likely to track to the west. A developed system is more likely to track north of west.

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Caribbean, East Atlantic may spawn tropical threats in coming days - Fox News

South Atlanta Caribbean Cultural Festival planned for Aug. 19 – News-Daily.com

JONESBORO The Caribbean Association of Georgia Inc. is hosting its 8th Annual South Atlanta Caribbean Cultural Festival on Aug. 19.

The festival, presented by Clayton County Board of Commission Chairman Jeff Turner, will be held at the Clayton County International Park, 2300 Ga. Highway 138, from 1 to 8 p.m. The event will celebrate Caribbean American heritage.

The CAG festival will feature a lineup of entertainers including dancers, singers, musicians, stilt performers and spoken word artists. Visitors will have the chance to taste authentic Caribbean food and children can play in the CAG Kids Zone. Free medical screenings will also be available.

The Atlanta Caribbean Cultural Festival provides a family friendly atmosphere that highlights the rich contributions of the Caribbean American community. Each year, the Caribbean Association of Georgia shares the spirit and economic power of Atlantas Caribbean American community. This years celebration in Clayton County will help support CAGs ongoing international humanitarian efforts and local social impact programs.

Vendor and sponsorship opportunities are available, but space is limited. For more information about the South Atlanta Caribbean Cultural Festival and the work of CAG visit http://www.caribbeangeorgia.org.

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South Atlanta Caribbean Cultural Festival planned for Aug. 19 - News-Daily.com

Airbnb will let you rent your own off-the-grid Caribbean island – Inhabitat

Why settle for a beachfront cabana when you can rent the whole island? For $595 per night, Bird Island off the coast of Belize in the Caribbean could be yours. The listing comes courtesy of Airbnb, which plies such unique retreats as a treehouse in a 150-year-old oak, a replica of Vincent Van Goghs Bedroom in Arles, and a floating house on Australias Great Barrier Reef.

Stay on your own in a truly private island on a beautiful atoll, with excellent swimming, snorkeling, kayaking and exploringwith all the comforts, Airbnb promises. It is a perfect setting for either a romantic get-away for a couple, a family gathering/reunion or for a small group of friends.

The spot, which is 20 minutes by boat from Placencia Village on the mainland, includes a private three-bedroom home that can accommodate up to six guests, a brand-new propane refrigerator and freezer, and a rainwater filtration system.

Although Bird Island is off the gridpower is generated through solar and windyou dont have to be cut off from the world if you dont want to. The locale boasts a phone for local numbers, plus good and reliable WiFi.

Related: Washington Hobbit Hole is the first of three in an off-grid Shire

Self-sufficiency is key, however. Youll have to supplyor fish foryour own food. Snorkling or angling equipment is also strictly BYO.

The central theme of Bird Island is a self-catering, Robinson Crusoe type of adventure, yet with all the comforts, where one could get to do their own thing in total privacy, Airbnb says. We offer Bird Island at an exceptional price for an experience best-suited for the adventurous who are totally self-sufficient.

+ Airbnb

Photos via Airbnb

Via Thrillist

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Airbnb will let you rent your own off-the-grid Caribbean island - Inhabitat

The time for Caribbean flair is now – ESPN

4:20 AM ET

Peter Della PennaCricket

What is the CPL?

The Caribbean Premier League is a six-team franchise T20 competition that's perhaps better than England's T20 Blast but not quite as big as the IPL. From a quality and entertainment perspective, it's about on par with Australia's Big Bash League.

More than anything, what makes the CPL unique from other T20 competitions is Caribbean flair. It's not just Dwayne Bravo who is dancing after each wicket. The league is filled with crowd-pleasing entertainers, and that infectious energy spreads into the stands where the support is reinforced by soca, reggae, calypso and other island beats.

Each of the six teams plays each other twice, five games each home and away (with the exception of the four neutral-venue games in Florida). The top four teams qualify for the playoffs in Trinidad & Tobago.

CPL Draft v IPL Auction

Unlike the IPL auction, where players go to the highest-bidding franchise, the CPL uses a player-draft system modelled on American sports franchises. Each draft slot has a fixed salary; players taken in the first round get US $160,000, fifth-round picks make $70,000, all the way down to $4000 for the final selections in the 15th round.

Squads have the choice to retain players from previous seasons or release them back into the draft pool. They also must pick an ICC Americas player from either USA or Canada, who are not considered overseas players, as well as an Under-19 West Indies player to round out their 17-man squads.

As teams are only allowed a maximum of four overseas players in the XI, most franchises carry no more than five overseas players in their squad. So, unlike in the IPL, where overseas stars can be picked at will to boost the bench, CPL franchises are much more judicious in their overseas draft picks. If you get a dud, it's far more difficult to swap them because there may only be one overseas player waiting on the bench and one who is not necessarily a like-for-like skillset swap.

Where do the teams stand?

Jamaica Tallawahs

The defending champions are relying more on brain than brawn, after a major revamp in the offseason. Chris Gayle and Chadwick Walton, their openers and two leading scorers, are gone, while Andre Russell, the player of the previous season, is still serving his one-year ban for a doping-code violation.

Lendl Simmons was tipped to fill part of the opening void after coming over from St Kitts & Nevis Patriots, while Kumar Sangakkara was retained to provide stability in the top order and behind the stumps. Coach Paul Nixon places high value on players with a winning mentality, and few fit that description more heading into this season than Imad Wasim, who was part of the victorious Pakistan side in the Champions Trophy earlier in the year.

Imad forms a three-man left-arm spin attack, along with Shakib Al Hasan and Garey Mathurin, as they focus on building pressure by choking the scoring rate. Kesrick Williams was taken in the 13th round in the 2016 draft for just $5,000, but after topping his team's bowling charts with 17 wickets, has earned a pay rise to $30,000. Another good season should attract the attention of other overseas leagues.

Guyana Amazon Warriors

Three times a bridesmaid, but never the bride. Guyana topped the table at the end of the league stage last year, but with Martin Guptill leaving for New Zealand duty, they were walloped in the final by Jamaica to fall short of the title for the third time in four years.

Guyana were dealt a major blow on the eve of the tournament when their leading scorer of 2016, Chris Lynn, was ruled out of the season due to upcoming shoulder surgery. He has been replaced by the up-and-coming Pakistan batsman Babar Azam, while the batting order has been injected with fresh blood in the form of Chadwick Walton and USA captain Steven Taylor, who is expected to take on a bigger role after limited opportunities in his two years with Barbados Tridents.

The Australian Adam Zampa, last season's leading spinner, is no longer with the side. In most cases, any replacement would be considered a downgrade, but the arrival of Afghanistan legspinner Rashid Khan may be what this side needs to clear the final hurdle and claim their first title.

St Lucia Stars

Formerly called the Zouks, the Stars received a double-blow ahead of their first match when their top two picks, David Miller and Lasith Malinga, withdrew. In their places is a pair of New Zealanders, Mitchell McClenaghan and Jesse Ryder.

In the past, Ryder was as capable of imploding as he was of exploding on the opposition. If he can rediscover his peak form, it will go a long way toward ensuring the Stars return to the playoffs for the second year in a row. Johnson Charles and Andre Fletcher formed the most consistently destructive opening combination of CPL 2016, but with the exception of Shane Watson, struggled to find support down the order. That will need to change for sustained success.

Trinbago Knight Riders

The 2015 champions are the most settled of the six squads, with the tournament's leading wicket-taker, Dwayne Bravo, supported by fellow returnees Kevon Cooper and Sunil Narine. Outside of Rashid, Knight Riders may have plucked the best acquisition of the offseason by drafting Pakistan legspinner Shadab Khan in the eighth round for $30,000.

On the batting front, Knight Riders will have to endure the early-season absence of Hashim Amla, their leading scorer from 2016, while South Africa's Test series continues in England. Brendon McCullum will have to pick up the slack in Amla's absence and will be keen to bounce back after a subpar 2016 season.

Barbados Tridents

After winning the title in 2014 and losing in the final in 2015, Tridents missed the playoffs for the first time in 2016. AB de Villiers finished as their second-highest scorer despite playing just six games, and they have addressed the top-order deficiency by revamping the batting.

Dwayne Smith was brought over from Amazon Warriors, while the CPL's most high-profile batting newcomer, Kane Williamson, was snapped up in the second round for $130,000. Twin legspinners Imran Khan and Damion Jacobs provide captain Kieron Pollard with attacking options in the field.

St Kitts & Nevis Patriots

This side has undergone the biggest facelift during the offseason in a bid to change their fortunes, having finished with at least a share of the last place in every season. Gayle was the most high-profile acquisition, and despite a poor IPL, he still possesses the intimidation factor that Patriots lacked in the past. If he clicks, Gayle and Evin Lewis may give Patriots a lethal opening combination.

The bigger changes, though, were made in the bowling, which was the weakest of any side last year despite having one of the top T20 bowlers in the world in Samuel Badree. Hasan Ali, the Man of the Tournament in the Champions Trophy, and Afghanistan allrounder Mohammad Nabi are new additions, while the $130,000 big ticket item Chris Morris will enhance the bowling further when he arrives after the end of South Africa's tour of England.

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The time for Caribbean flair is now - ESPN

Sunday Supper: Caribbean Salmon – Minneapolis Star Tribune

Caribbean Salmon

MIKE GARTEN

August 04, 2017 - 7:30 AM

Caribbean Salmon

Serves 4.

Note: From "Skillet Suppers," by the editors of Good Housekeeping.

1 14-oz. can coconut milk, shaken

2 garlic cloves, crushed with press

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1 lb. salmon fillet, skin removed and cut into 1/4-inch cubes

1/2 tsp. salt

3 c. cooked basmati or jasmine rice

1 medium mango, peeled and finely chopped

3 c. baby arugula

1/4 c. loosely packed fresh dill, chopped

Directions

In a 10-inch skillet, combine coconut milk, garlic and pepper and bring to a simmer over medium heat.

Sprinkle salmon with salt. Add salmon to skillet. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until just salmon is just opaque throughout. Remove from salmon from heat.

Using a slotted spoon, remove salmon from coconut milk and transfer to a large bowl. Add rice, mango, arugula and dill. Carefully toss, and serve.

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Sunday Supper: Caribbean Salmon - Minneapolis Star Tribune

ECLAC: Latin America And The Caribbean To Grow By 1.1% In 2017 – Markets Insider

(RTTNews) - Latin America and the Caribbean economies will jointly grow by 1.1% in 2017, after two consecutive years of contraction, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). The forecast is identical to a previous estimate released in April.

The growth should occur in spite of geopolitical risks, as the global economic background seems supportive, and because of an improvement in raw materials prices.

The report foresees that, in contrast to last year, all the countries in the region will experience positive growth rates in 2017, except for Venezuela, which should see its economy drop by 7.2%, and two countries in the Caribbean (Saint Lucia and Suriname).

ECLAC kept unchanged the growth forecast for South America's 2017 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at 0.6% and raised the growth forecast for Central America and Mexico from 2.3% to 2.5%.

In fiscal terms, the average deficit in Latin America will remain stable in 2017, at around -3.1% of GDP. Meanwhile, average inflation in the region's economies has declined since the second half of 2016, despite the fact that three countries maintain rates above 20% per year.

On Argentina, ECLAC indicated that by 2017 it expects GDP growth of 2.0%, as a result of the sustained public investment momentum and the moderate expansion in private investment and exports.

Regarding Brazil, ECLAC said that the results of the Brazilian economy indicate that there are still hurdles before the return to a growth path. The economic challenges are still centered at the investment rebound and household consumption said the report.

On Chile, ECLAC expects that the deceleration scenario will remain in 2017, although at a slower pace than in 2016, and that GDP growth rate will be around 1.4%.

Meanwhile, economic activity in Colombia has shown strength and resilience in a context of adjustment in the face of slowing external demand, declining revenues due to the falling oil prices, and temporary shocks to domestic supply, the report said. The ECLAC forecast for Colombia's GDP is 2.1% growth in 2017.

Regarding Mexico, ECLAC estimates that the country's economy will grow 2.2%, but under pressure of higher interest rates and uncertainty in foreign investment and international trade due to possible protectionist measures by the United States.

On Peru, ECLAC projects that GDP will increase 2.5% in 2017, driven by the increase in mining production in a context of deceleration of both private and public domestic demand.

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ECLAC: Latin America And The Caribbean To Grow By 1.1% In 2017 - Markets Insider

Lions Embark on Bahamas Trip – GoPSUsports.com

Aug. 4, 2017

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -

The Penn State men's basketball team departs for the Bahamas today where it will meet three locally based teams in competition during its foreign tour trip August 4-11. All games will be played in Sir Kendal Isaac's National Gymnasium, Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre in Nassau.

NCAA basketball teams are permitted to take an international tour to play exhibition games once every four years with the Lions' last trip, to Belgium, France and England, taking place in 2013. During this 2017 tour, the games will be governed by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and follow those contest rules.

On Sunday, Aug. 6 at 2 p.m. ET, Penn State will play the New Providence Basketball Association (NPBA) All-Stars. Back-to-back games will take place on Tuesday, Aug. 8 at 6 p.m. ET against the Providence Storm and following evening, Wednesday, Aug. 9 at 7 p.m. when the Bahamas All-Starshost the Nittany Lions.

In addition to playing in the exhibition games and participating in shootaround sessions, several team members are scheduled to conduct a clinic for children in Governor's Harbour, the capital of Eleuthera, on Saturday. Sightseeing and touring opportunities will also be available at and around the resort.

Visit GoPSUSports.com for exhibition game recaps and follow the Penn State men's basketball team on Twitter at @PennStateMBB, on Facebook and Instagram at @PennStateMBB for frequent updates of the Nittany Lions' travels and activities in the Bahamas.

The Bahamas will also host other American collegiate basketball teams this upcoming week, including Boston College, Colorado State, Rhode Island, Nicholls State, Providence, Southern Mississippi and Southern University.

Deposits for new 2017-18 Penn State Men's Basketball season tickets can be made by calling 1-800-NITTANY (weekdays, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Eastern time) or by visiting gopsusports.com/tickets/m-baskbl-tickets.html.

Penn State Men's Basketball Bahamas Exhibition Games

Sunday, August 6 vs. NPBA All-StarsSir Kendall G.L. Isaacs National Gymnasium, Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre 2 p.m. ET

Tuesday, August 8 vs. Providence Storm Sir Kendall G.L. Isaacs National Gymnasium, Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre 8 p.m. ET

Wednesday, August 9 vs. Bahamas All-StarsSir Kendall G.L. Isaacs National Gymnasium, Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre 7 p.m. ET

2017-18 Penn State Nonconference Schedule | 2017-18 Roster |

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Lions Embark on Bahamas Trip - GoPSUsports.com

‘Bahamas Needs Us, Not China’ – Bahamas Tribune

Doug Manchester, ambassadorial nominee for The Bahamas.

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Deputy Chief Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

THE $2.1bn Chinese fishing proposal for Andros, which placed the former Progressive Liberal Party government in the line of fierce criticism, took centre stage during the United States ambassador to the Bahamas confirmation hearing with nominee for the post Doug Manchester saying more US investment is needed in this country.

During the United States Committee on Foreign Relations hearing, Chairman Marco Rubio, Republican Florida senator, pointed to the issue as without doubt concerning because of Floridas proximity to The Bahamas.

Mr Rubio said if The Bahamas ever leased its waters to the Chinese it would negatively impact US-Bahamas relations.

He asked whether Mr Manchester had given any thought to how he would approach this situation should it arise if he is successful in securing the diplomatic post.

Mr Manchester said: I really do believe that the presence of Homeland Security and our Coast Guard off the shore and all of what were doing to protect The Bahamas really needs to be continually emphasised to the Bahamian government, even though China has in fact made a significant economic contribution to the Commonwealth of The Bahamas in the form of hotels (and) resorts.

We just need to encourage more business from America to be there.

He also said: I already had talks with people in regards to the University of The Bahama(s) and I think there is no reason why we cant have a medical school there.

I believe with a medical school down there we could in fact encourage some medical instrumentation to be manufactured there and to do everything we possibly can to allow for Americas interests to be appreciated and as a result of being appreciated, certainly protecting our rights with regards to fishing and other security issues.

Last November, the PLP was heavily criticised after reports the former Christie administration gave the green light to its embassy in Beijing to pursue talks of a fishing and agriculture partnership with China.

In response, then Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries V Alfred Gray at the time said there was no way, under any circumstance, that the government would give foreigners, no matter who they are, a licence to fish in The Bahamas. However he also admitted to giving The Bahamas ambassador to China permission to have the discussions.

The controversial proposal reportedly projected a $2.1bn injection into the local economy over ten years through an equal partnership between The Bahamas and the Peoples Republic of China.

According to earlier reports, the proposed partnership further entailed the incorporation of 100 companies, with the agricultural products and seafood to be used for local consumption, and exported to China and the United States for sale. The proposal also reportedly included the option to lease 10,000 acres of Crown land in Andros.

During the height of the controversy, Mr Gray said he never spoke with any Chinese and simply gave the Bahamian Ambassador to China Paul Andy Gomez permission to discuss investments.

Despite the denials from the government, the report prompted Free National Movement Leader Dr Hubert Minnis, who was then in opposition, to criticise then Prime Minister Perry Christie for his deafening silence on the matter.

It was not the first time he raised concern on this issue. Last July, while speaking at a rally at Christie Park, Dr Minnis said the government was negotiating with the Chinese for 10,500 acres of land in Andros.

Dr Minnis also alleged the proposal was part of the secret deal Mr Christie negotiated with the Chinese to remobilise the Baha Mar resort.

In November 2016, Mr Christie criticised Dr Minnis for emotionally exploiting Bahamians anxiety over Chinese investment.

In Parliament, Mr Christie revealed that the previous FNM administration held talks with the Peoples Republic of China and private Chinese companies through the Bahamas State Investment Administration Bureau for projects and co-operatives, which included Crown land acquisition.

However, he stopped short of tabling the documents to support this, and instead invited Dr Minnis to review the files so that he could be informed without having to make it into some ridicule of a nation.

As for the $2.1bn Chinese proposal, Mr Christie also said last November that if such a proposal had ever come before his Cabinet, it would have been rejected outright.

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'Bahamas Needs Us, Not China' - Bahamas Tribune

Ambassador Pick Says Future Is Bright For The Bahamas – Bahamas Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Deputy Chief Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

THE Trump administrations pick for United States ambassador to The Bahamas, Doug Manchester, seemed to speak favourably of the newly elected Minnis administration yesterday, telling the panel at his Senate hearing it really looks bright in The Bahamas.

He said officials stationed at the US Embassy in Nassau, including Charg dAffaires Lisa Johnson, have said this much in his discussions with them.

This was part of his response to a question from Republican Florida Senator Marco Rubio who asked Mr Manchester for his position should The Bahamas support waiver regarding its vote at the Organisation of American States (OAS) for democracy in Venezuela.

He said The Bahamas has consistently voted with the US for this cause.

Its a new government down there with a new beginning, Mr Manchester said. I salute their democracy. They have recently had a great election. New people are coming into power according to all of the people that I have talked to, including our charg (daffaires) and our existing embassy staff down there, that it really looks bright and as I said, the greater America becomes the greater benefit itll be for The Bahamas.

During the hearing before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Mr Manchester also insisted he was not anti-gay, as he expressed support for the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender community. Senator Bob Menendez had pointed to Mr Manchesters previous position regarding this issue, prompting him to state for the record that he was certainly in support (of) gay and lesbian marriage.

In 2008, Mr Manchester donated $125,000 to support a ballot initiative, known as Proposition 8, blocking same-sex marriage in California, according to The New York Times.

The newspaper reported the hotelier donated the money to support the collection of signatures to qualify the initiative, which would amend the states constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage for a vote later in 2008.

Earlier this year, ahead of the May 10 general election, several local pastors petitioned US President Donald Trump to revoke any US executive orders and policies that enable the promotion of same-sex marriages in the Caribbean region as part of its foreign policy.

The clergymen, including Grace Community Church Pastor Lyall Bethell and Pastor Allen R Lee, president of Teleios Theological Training Institute, in a letter to President Trump claimed that in recent years the policies of the US State Department and other government agencies involved in foreign policy have attempted to coerce countries in the Caribbean region into accepting a mistaken version of marriage.

Pointing to former US President Barack Obamas threat last year to pull federal funding from American states over entry to bathroom and locker room access based on gender identity, the pastors claimed this same kind of coercion was being used against Caribbean countries to fall in line with the same-sex marriage agenda.

Pastors Bethel, Lee and other Bahamian clergymen were signatories to a petition dated January 31, 2017, which also bore the names of 289 clergymen from around the region, including those from Trinidad and Tobago.

In response, local, lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) activist Alexus DMarco said it was with horror and disgust that the LGBTI community learned of the actions of these Christian ministers.

The basis of pastors arguments for the criminalisation of homosexuality and opposition to gay marriage has been dispelled and put to rest by the courts in the United States, she said.

Same-sex marriage is now legal in the United States.

The post of US ambassador to The Bahamas has been vacant since 2011, with the previous nominee Cassandra Q Butts having died as she waited more than two years to be confirmed to the post under the former Obama administration.

Ms Butts, 50, died in May last year, but was nominated for the ambassador post in 2014 by former US President Barack Obama. The confirmation was held up by Republicans in the US Senate.

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Ambassador Pick Says Future Is Bright For The Bahamas - Bahamas Tribune

Ambassador nominee: Bahamas a US protectorate ‘for all intents … – The Hill

President Trump's nominee to become U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas said in a Senate hearingWednesdaythat the British Commonwealth realm is "for all intents and purposes" a protectorate of the United States.

As a British Commonwealth realm, the Bahamas is a sovereign state that shares a head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, with the United Kingdom and 14 other nations.

Sen. Bob MenendezRobert MenendezTrump admin not opposed to new war authorization Bipartisan group, Netflix actress back bill for American Latino Museum The Mideast-focused Senate letter we need to see MORE (D-N.J.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, questioned Doug Manchester, Trump's nominee for the position, on his views about the archipelago's territorial status.

"Well certainly, for all intents and purposes, we believe that it is a protectorate," replied Manchester, who was a major fundraiser for Trump's campaign.

Manchester then explained that he based his view off of the presence of Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security officers in the island nation.

"We are obviously working with the Royal Bahamian Police Force, which we want to continue to support, who are doing a great job in the interdiction of human trafficking and drugs and also gunrunning," Manchester added.

The Royal Bahamas Police Force is the national law enforcement agency of the Bahamas.

Manchester, a well-known San Diego businessman, was an early supporter of Trump, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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Mental Health Of The Nation: Domestic Violence In The Bahamas – Bahamas Tribune

By DR MIKE NEVILLE

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will make me go in a corner and cry by myself for hours.

DOMESTIC violence. I am not sure if this is an oxymoron, domestic has a homely, pleasant even tame ring to it, certainly not a word that should sit with violence. It is however inevitable that the emphasis is always on the violence, ranging from nasty words to physical encounters that can even end up in death.

Over the past few decades, there has been an immense amount of work mainly by womens groups that has pushed the issue into the mainstream of concern and crime statistics. The violence, however, continues unabated and there is still a lack of concern from many societies and police forces who view it as a matter to be left to the combatants to sort out. There are many reasons for this, is it an arrestable offence, will the complainant show up in court, lots of paper work and of course it is just domestic.

There are no real statistics as to the level of domestic violence in The Bahamas; we are fed nonsense facts that crime is going down and murder is just bad men killing bad men. The statistics are controlled by the police and even if accurate, a large number of people have given up reporting crime for a variety of reasons.

We do know that three women are killed every day in the USA by a current or former partner. The problem is just as bad in the UK where the police recorded just over one million domestic abuse related cases in one year and the police are reporting that the children exposed to violence in the home are much more likely to be attracted to gang membership.

It gets worse, recent reports have shown the relationship between domestic terrorists and exposure to violence in the home. It makes sense children exposed to violence in the home grow up habituated to violence but terrified to show weakness. These boys with fragile identities are likely to join gangs or terrorist groups who then glorify abuse of women by rape and other violence and the girls become to accept it as the norm.

This is not meant to excuse boys who grow up to be abusers, psychologists regard it as a choice which can be changed. The mens group run by Dr Harry Ferere and the Catholic church has shown remarkable success in helping men who batter women to change their behaviour.

It does however demonstrate a systematic failure of our current efforts to deal with this scourge which is destroying so many lives; perhaps it is time to step back and look at the problem afresh.

The Bahamas is blessed with beautiful turquoise waters and amazing coral reefs. The reef is an ecosystem kept in balance by corals, sponges, seaweed and fish. They all live together in some sort of balance. It is believed that the reefs provide shelter and food for one quarter of all marine life; but they are under threat from global warming and overfishing.

There are so many parts of our lives that are all about balance, diet, exercise our very health needs to be kept in reasonable boundaries for our survival. It may be helpful to see domestic issues in the same way. How can we develop a human ecosystem that lets us co-exist in some sort of harmony?

All relationships have power issues that give a sense of control, it is natural to want to use our power to get what we need; not the same as what we want! This healthy instinct must always recognise the needs of others in the relationship, finding ways to teach about power and control in relationships from an early age should lead to mutual dependence in relationships.

The present societal acceptance of inappropriate male behaviour which glorifies violence, aggression and dominance; accompanied by the reality that they will get clean away with their disgusting behaviour is extremely worrisome for the future. There is also increasing power imbalances in relationships where women are getting a better education and doing better in the job market despite the country voting twice against equality between the sexes. The problems of childhood abuse have also left many adults with shame, low self-esteem, fear of rejection and a lack of assertiveness. This then leaves them open to abusive relationships.

There needs to be a cultural shift towards shared power, a move away from aggression and learnt passivity to relationships that respect assertiveness which always respects the needs of others in our quest to control our own lives.

Dr Mike Neville is a forensic psychiatrist who has practised for more than 40 years in The Bahamas, working at Sandilands, the prison and in private practice. Comments and responses to mneville@tribunemedia.net

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Mental Health Of The Nation: Domestic Violence In The Bahamas - Bahamas Tribune

Nebraska before the Bahamas: Davante Adams goes distance to work out – ESPN (blog)

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews and David Bakhtiari train during the offseason in Southern California, where there are beaches, golf courses and sunshine galore. Davante Adams is more a Nebraska kind of guy.

Lincoln, Nebraska, might not have the scenery and attractions that his Green Bay Packers teammates find out West, but to Adams, a Northern California native, spending days at a time in Middle America is worth it because it's home to -- in his opinion -- one of the best receivers coaches in the country.

Adams spent part of his summer vacation -- before he took an actual vacation to the Bahamas -- in Lincoln working with his longtime coach, Keith Williams, who is now on the University of Nebraska staff.

"He is definitely dedicated," said Williams, who was Adams' first collegiate receivers coach, at Fresno State. "He's a smart player, and he understands what makes him successful."

It paid off last year when Adams' breakout season included career highs in catches (75), yards (997) and touchdowns (12), and he wasn't about to stop there.

And Adams doesn't mind that he has to go Nebraska to do it. "I'm sure a lot of people would," he said. "But then they'll say people don't take their craft serious. It makes you focus on what you're doing.

"You've got to do what you've got to do to take that next step, and if I feel like that's where a really good wideout coach is and I'm going to be around a lot of guys that are focused, that's where I need to be."

Adams' Instagram account offered a glimpse of the workouts Williams put him through.

It's the kind of work they've been doing since Williams recruited Adams out of Palo Alto, California. Adams has followed Williams around the country, whether it was to New Orleans, when he coached at Tulane, or to Lincoln the past two years, to get in extra work on his craft in the offseason.

This is an important season for Adams to prove that last year -- and not his injury-filled, disappointing 2015 -- was the new normal. He's entering the final year of his contract, and another season like 2016 could make him one of the top receivers eligible for free agency next offseason -- if the Packers don't extend his contract before he gets there.

Even though Adams missed the 1,000-yard mark by nine feet, he became one of the focal points for quarterback Aaron Rodgers last season. So far in training camp, that hasn't changed. Rodgers and Adams have connected on several big plays, including one of the longest completions of camp, a 60-yard touchdown on the first day.

In addition to his workouts with Williams, Adams went to work on his body this offseason. He said he weighed in at 206 pounds at the start of training camp. That's about six pounds lighter than he played at last season and 14 pounds less than what he was 16 months ago at the start of the 2016 offseason program.

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"More than anything, I got leaner, and it's showed in more definition of my body," Adams said. "I feel amazing running routes."

Adams has made multiple trips to Nebraska, but he wanted one last session with Williams right after the Packers minicamp ended in mid-June.

Among those who also worked out with Adams and Williams was Packers rookie receiver Malachi Dupre, the seventh-round pick from LSU. Williams first met Dupre when he was trying to recruit him to Tulane. Williams also has worked with Baltimore Ravens receiver Mike Wallace and Kansas City Chiefs receiver De'Anthony Thomas, among others. He posted on Twitter about one workout with Adams, Dupre and Washington Redskins receiver Ryan Grant.

"Coach [Mike] Riley and everyone involved have opened their arms to all the guys," Williams said. "It's a real comfortable environment, and it's relaxing."

Almost like Southern California.

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Nebraska before the Bahamas: Davante Adams goes distance to work out - ESPN (blog)

‘You are worse than I am’: Trump told Turnbull he admired offshore detention – The Guardian

Donald Trump said allowing some refugees currently held on Manus island and Nauru would kill him politically. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Donald Trump told the Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, that a deal to admit to the US refugees currently held on Manus island and Nauru was stupid and would kill him politically, given his status as the worlds greatest person that does not want to let people into the country.

A White House transcript of the contentious 28 January phone call was published by the Washington Post on Thursday. The Post also published a transcript of a 27 January conversation with the Mexican president, Enrique Pea Nieto, in which Trump seems to dismiss his much-vaunted border wall as a political ploy and asks Pea Nieto not to state publicly that he will not pay for it.

The published transcript showed that in the Turnbull call, which was previously reported to have become angry in tone, Trump complained about the domestic political consequences of the Obama-era Nauru agreement.

Referring to the first iteration of his controversial travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries, Trump said: I just called for a total ban on Syria and from many different countries from where there is terror, and extreme vetting for everyone else and somebody told me yesterday that close to 2,000 people are coming [from Manus island and Nauru] who are really probably troublesome.

And I am saying, Boy, that will make us look awfully bad. Here I am calling for a ban where I am not letting anybody in and we take 2,000 people. Really, it looks like 2,000 people that Australia does not want, and I do not blame you, by the way, but the United States has become like a dumping ground.

Turnbull explained, repeatedly, that the US was only obligated to look at taking 1,250-2,000 basically economic refugees from Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, and that Australia had committed to actions in return.

I think we should respect deals, he said.

Why havent you let them out? Trump asked. Why have you not let them into your society?

OK, said Turnbull, I will explain why. It is not because they are bad people. It is because in order to stop people smugglers, we had to deprive them of the product. So we said if you try to come to Australia by boat, even if we think you are the best person in the world, even if you are a Noble [sic] Prize-winning genius, we will not let you in. Because the problem with the people

Trump interjected, to say: That is a good idea. We should do that too. You are worse than I am.

OK, this shows me to be a dope. I am not like this but if I have to do it I will do it but I do not like this at all

The US president continued however to complain and to misstate the terms of the deal as stated by Turnbull, saying: This is going to kill me. I am the worlds greatest person that does not want to let people into the country. And now I am agreeing to take 2,000 people and I agree I can vet them, but that puts me in a bad position. It makes me look so bad and I have only been here a week.

The president even linked the agreement to his election win, saying: Look, I do not know how you got them to sign a deal like this, but that is how they lost the election. They said I had no way to 270 [electoral college votes] and I got 306.

Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by more than 2.5m ballots.

That is why [the Democrats] lost the election, Trump repeated, because of stupid deals like this. You have brokered many a stupid deal in business and I respect you, but I guarantee that you broke many a stupid deal. This is a stupid deal. This deal will make me look terrible.

Turnbull insisted on the importance of the US honoring its commitments and said the deal was consistent with the principles set out in the Trump travel ban.

The president yielded, if grudgingly. OK, he said, this shows me to be a dope. I am not like this but if I have to do it I will do it but I do not like this at all.

Trump then complained again and asked Turnbull for a guarantee that anyone admitted would not become the Boston bomber in five years.

Before ending the call, he said: I have had it. I have been making these calls all day and this is the most unpleasant call all day. [Russian president Vladimir] Putin was a pleasant call. This is ridiculous.

The conversation had begun pleasantly enough, with small talk about the Australian golfer Greg Norman, a mutual friend who had given Trumps number to Turnbull.

In subsequent days, Trump returned to the subject. On 2 February, for example, he tweeted: Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!

The US commitment to take the refugees remains unclear.

At the end of the call, Turnbull asked Trump: Do you want to talk about Syria and [North Korea]?

Trump answered with a remark transcribed as inaudible and said: This is crazy.

Thank you for your commitment, said Turnbull. It is very important to us.

It is important to you and it is embarrassing to me, Trump said. It is an embarrassment to me, but at least I got you off the hook. So you put me back on the hook.

You can count on me, said Turnbull. I will be there again and again.

In February Trump tweeted that reports that the conversation had been anything but civil were fake news.

He repeated the claim when Turnbull went to New York in May. In a joint media appearance, Turnbull agreed after Trump said: We had a good call. You guys exaggerated that call, that was a big exaggeration. We had a great call. I mean, were not babies, but we had a great call. That was a bit of fake news.

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'You are worse than I am': Trump told Turnbull he admired offshore detention - The Guardian

Are there over $4 trillion of untaxed corporate earnings offshore, as Donald Trump said? – PolitiFact

Are there over $4 trillion of untaxed corporate earnings offshore, as Donald Trump said?

President Donald Trump said U.S. companies have anywhere from $4 trillion to $5 trillion in offshore accounts a substantial increase from just last year.

Trump blamed the large sum of money on what he (inaccurately) considers the highest tax rate in the world in a July 25 Wall Street Journal interview obtained by Politico.

"Were the highest-taxed nation in the world, essentially, you know, of the size," Trump said. "But were the highest-taxed nation in the world. We have nobody knows what the number is. I mean, it used to be, when we talked during the debate, $2.5 trillion I guess its $5 trillion now. Whatever it is, its a lot more. So we have anywhere from 4 (trillion) to 5 or even more trillions of dollars sitting offshore."

Weve already rated Trumps previous claims that were the highest-taxed nation in the world False.

This time we took a look at the amount of U.S. money sitting in offshore accounts. How much untaxed foreign revenue is out there, and could the figure have doubled since Trump cited the $2.5 trillion figure during the 2016 campaign?

The White House did not provide information for this fact-check.

Well start off by saying there is no public estimate on untaxed earnings overseas, as there is no law requiring they be reported.

Researchers can instead look at the indefinitely reinvested earnings on financial statements of publicly traded companies.

Indefinitely invested earnings arent making their way back to the United States anytime soon, which lets them off the hook for taxes and thus fatten after-tax profits. They might go to overseas factories, prospective acquisitions or other investments. Other companies may instead take on a deferred liability, which entails a future tax bill -- but while currently untaxed, most go undisclosed, so they arent counted in the researchers figures.

The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation can provide a fuller picture, because the committee has access to total untaxed foreign earnings. However, that information is only turned over to members of Congress.

The last time the committee made its findings public was in an August 2016 memo to two congressmen. In 2012, the committee said, $2.3 trillion of foreign earnings went untaxed.

Using predictive models, they estimated the number at $2.6 trillion for 2015.

The committee cited Audit Analytics, a third-party research service, to corroborate these findings. Audit Analytics found $2.4 trillion in indefinitely reinvested earnings. There was a $200 billion difference between the JCTs estimate of untaxed foreign earnings and Audit Analytics calculation of indefinitely reinvested ones, which is what experts estimate the current discrepancy to be.

Audit Analytics ran its latest numbers for us. The company found $2.8 trillion of indefinitely reinvested earnings are sitting overseas, as of July 2017 far short of what Trump described.

"It is possible that analysts are still working on entering information from small companies, but it would not change the number from the rounded-off figure of 2.8 trillion," Audit Analytics research director Don Whalen said.

We also turned to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which found that Fortune 500 companies a slightly smaller pool report $2.6 trillion offshore.

ITEP included total untaxed earnings, not just indefinitely reinvested ones, in their studies of Apple and Pfizer, as these companies provide a disclosure allowing for a fuller estimate of their untaxed offshore income and generate a significant amount of earnings through this mechanism.

"There is no reason to believe that this figure is substantially higher than what companies report and certainly not double the reported amount as President Donald Trump has contended without citing any source," said Taxation and Economic Policy senior policy analyst Richard Phillips.

So what else could cause the discrepancy?

Edward Kleinbard, the Robert C. Packard Trustee Chair in Law at the USC's Gould School of Law, said that firms double down their offshore tax planning when they expect a tax holiday, which is when they get to bring back offshore earnings while paying little to no taxes on them.

"Its plausible that people have accelerated their gamesmanship in the anticipation that in tax reform there will be another tax holiday," Kleinbard said. "But its not plausible to think the number could be as high as the 2 trillion-dollar difference between the data and what the president said."

Another possibility is for Trump to have counted tax inversions, which is when a small foreign company in a lower taxed country acquires a larger U.S. company and thus reduces their taxes. But that would entail a change in the definition of untaxed revenue. And even if we were to make that calculation, Kleinbard said the number wouldnt expand by so much in such a short time span.

Our ruling

Trump described untaxed corporate earnings in overseas accounts as growing monumentally, from around $2.5 trillion to "anywhere from 4 (trillion) to 5 or even more trillions of dollars sitting offshore."

The highest reported number of offshore earnings is $2.8 trillion. That could be off by a couple hundred billion dollars due to undisclosed untaxed earnings. But experts agreed the discrepancy could not add up to Trumps $4 trillion or $5 trillion estimate.

Business optimism and altered definitions of untaxed revenue couldnt bridge that gap either.

We rate this statement False.

Share the Facts

2017-08-03 21:47:53 UTC

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False

Untaxed corporate earnings used to be "$2.5 trillion I guess its $5 trillion now. Whatever it is, its a lot more. So we have anywhere from 4 (trillion) to 5 or even more trillions of dollars sitting offshore."

Donald Trump

President of the United States

in an interview

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

2017-07-25

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Are there over $4 trillion of untaxed corporate earnings offshore, as Donald Trump said? - PolitiFact

$50 oil "magic" boosts offshore drillers’ hopes of competing with shale – WorldOil (subscription)

By David Wethe on 8/3/2017

HOUSTON (Bloomberg) -- The magic of $50 oil is now in the sights of deep-sea drillers as they try to lure customer spending from shale wells on land.

And after more than three years of pain, that prospect has some investors excited. Transocean Ltd. rose the most in more than eight months after the worlds biggest provider of offshore rigs predicted explorers could soon shift their spending from land to sea as crude futures inch closer to the key level. Shares of other deepwater service providers like Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. and Noble Corp Plc also surged on the heels of Transoceans rally.

"Break-even costs in multiple deep-water basins around the world are consistently coming in below $50 and are now often around, if not below, $40," CEO Jeremy Thigpen told analysts and investors Thursday on a conference call. "Deepwater break-evens are starting to compare favorably with onshore, which by the way is now experiencing some fairly significant price inflation across most products and services."

The global oil downturn hit offshore drillers with the double whammy of a drop in customer demand for their services and a glut of new rigs rolling out of shipyards. More than three quarters of Transoceans sales have been carved away since hitting a peak of $3.3 billion at the end of 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

A little more than half of the oil industrys 817 offshore rigs were working in the second quarter, down from the 92% utilization rate for global rigs in 2008, Jud Bailey, an analyst at Wells Fargo, wrote last month in a note to investors.

New contracts

The Vernier, Switzerland-based owner of deepwater rigs said its signed a dozen new drilling contracts or extensions to pacts so far this year, adding $221 million in future work. The entire offshore industry has announced almost as much new work this year as it had in the past two years combined, Terry Bonno, the companys senior vice president of industry and community relations, said on the call.

"It is beginning to feel a lot like we are moving off bottom," she said. Explorers are expected to sanction more deepwater projects next year if oil holds above "the magic $50-level," Bonno said. But if oil falls below that mark, those projects could be re-evaluated and delayed.

Transocean rose 7.7% to $9.30 at 1:38 p.m. in New York, after earlier climbing as much as 11% for the biggest intraday rise since Nov. 30. Transoceans comments were enough to boost shares for its six closest offshore peers, which all climbed at least 5% on Thursday.

While the development costs for deepwater projects have fallen below $50 in many cases, the time to bring offshore projects to production is still several years, compared to a matter of months for shale work, J. David Anderson, an analyst at Barclays, said Thursday in a phone interview.

"Shale wins in every race," Anderson said. "As oil starts to move up above $50, shale will come on much faster."

Longer-term

But shale wells can fade in a matter of months, too, while offshore wells can gush oil for decades after theyve been developed. Average hydraulic fracturing prices for onshore work are up 50% to 100% from the lowest point in the downturn, Brad Handler, an analyst at Jefferies, wrote last month in a note to investors.

About an hour after Transoceans comments on the $50 oil outlook for offshore, land-rigs provider Nabors Industries Ltd. said prices in the high-$40s mark works for many explorers in the U.S. The worlds biggest land driller forecast that the industry would add another 30 to 40 rigs by now and the end of the year in the lower-48 U.S. states.

To be sure, Thigpen conceded hes not ready to declare victory yet.

"Were not saying this is a start of a great upturn thats going to last three to four years," he said. "What were saying is today looks better than yesterday."

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$50 oil "magic" boosts offshore drillers' hopes of competing with shale - WorldOil (subscription)

To Slash Offshore Wind Costs, Developers Need to Think Carefully About Transmission Technology – Greentech Media

If the U.S. is serious about offshore wind, regulators should think seriously about how the energy gets back to shore.

Theres a strong case to be made for taking the transmission portion [of projects] and treating it as a separate entity, said Neil Kirby, HVDC business development manager at GE Energy Connections.

If every project developer takes responsibility for their own grid interconnection, then some may end up choosing a technology that is less than optimal for their projects, thereby increasing costs.

Offshore wind farms can use either alternating current (AC) or high-voltage direct current (HVDC) links to export current to shore. Selecting the right technology for a given location can make a measurable difference to capital costs and production losses.

In a nutshell, HVDC has higher capital costs but is much better than AC for transporting large amounts of energy over long distances.

A single wind farm might almost always find it cheaper to go for an AC link. But if several projects share an HVDC connection, they could incur fewer transmission losses and deliver energy at lower cost.

The critical point at which it makes sense to invest in HVDC rather than AC is when the export volume reaches roughly a gigawatt, Kirby said.

And thats the problem: If the interconnection is the developers responsibility, then they are unlikely ever to install an HVDC line unless they win a gigawatts worth of projects in the same area, which is an unlikely prospect.

Across Europe, which had more than 12 gigawatts of capacity installed at the end of 2016, this problem has led to a proliferation of AC interconnections even in places where HVDC would be preferable.

In the U.K., for example, They have been stretching the capabilities of the cable and the compensation needed, Kirby said.

GE, which is keen to push HVDC for renewable energy transmission elsewhere, last month installed its first-ever HVDC converter platform for offshore wind.

The DolWin3 offshore converter station in the southwestern German North Sea, approximately 80 kilometers from land, was awarded by the transmission system operator TenneT and will connect two wind farms.

The technology represents a crucial turning point for offshore wind...and how we are able to move that energy efficiently, said Patrick Plas, general manager of HVDC and grid solutions at GE Energy Connections, in a press note.

Plans to set the U.S. offshore wind industry up with an East Coast HVDC network got off to a good start in 2010, when Google said it would invest $5 billion in a 350-mile transmission system called the Atlantic Wind Connection, with up to 6 gigawatts of capacity.

The focus of the project was New Jersey, which at the time had just signed an Offshore Wind Economic Development Act with the intention of supporting over a gigawatt of capacity.

New Jerseys offshore wind ambitions failed to take off, however, and the Atlantic Wind Connection website stopped giving updates on the project in 2013.

Given the sluggish pace of progress for the U.S. offshore wind industry, it remains to be seen whether the Atlantic Wind Connection, or another plan like it, will materialize.

Deepwater Wind, developer of Americas sole operating commercial offshore wind farm, had to build its own interconnection link to get power from the Block Island project in Rhode Island.

At 30 megawatts and 3 miles away from the shore, the Block Island project is relatively small. It made sense for the transmission system to be based on AC.

And with analysts predictingthat U.S. offshore wind installations won't reach HVDC-worthy levels until at least the middle of the next decade, it looks as though most upcoming projects will find it cheaper to stick with AC if developers have to build their own grid links.

For the sake of a more efficient, cost-effective industry, it would be better if another party took on the decision-making process for them, Kirby argued.

Separating wind farm projects from interconnection infrastructure would be a big step forward, he said, since a move to adopt HVDC technology is never going to happen based on pure economics.

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To Slash Offshore Wind Costs, Developers Need to Think Carefully About Transmission Technology - Greentech Media

Senators introduce offshore wind credits in bipartisan bill – Utility Dive

Dive Brief:

In theory, there is enough offshore wind potential on the East Coast to meet electricity needs from Florida to Maine, but the costs are still high, especially compared with the cheaper onshore wind and solar energy. The University of Delaware Special Initiative on Offshore Wind has estimated that the Atlantic coast holds 330 GW of offshore wind power, which would be sufficient to power the entire East Coast.

Yet the industry's growth is starting to gain momentum in the United States after wind developer DeepwaterWind completed the nation's first successful offshore wind farm and two Northeastern states set offshore wind targets.But with the federal wind production tax credit set to phase out in 2019, a bipartisan pair of Senators are pushing to create an offshore-specific credit.

By giving private sector companies the certainty they need, our legislation will help accelerate the development of this promising industry in America and create a new, sustainable source of domestic power," said Collins in a statement.

Ten other Senators have signed onto the bill; all of them are Democrats or Independent, most representing coastal states.

Democratic Senators supporting the bill include: Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Ben Cardin (Maryland), Chris Coons (Delaware), Robert Menendez (New Jersey), Edward Markey (Massachusetts), Jack Reed (Rhode Island), Brian Schatz (Hawaii), Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts) and Sheldon Whitehouse (Rhode Island). Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent, is also supporting the bill.

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Senators introduce offshore wind credits in bipartisan bill - Utility Dive

Lifting platform joins growing ranks of offshore access offerings – OSJ Magazine

The OPTS is based on a lifting platform rather than a motion compensated gangway and uses a platform basket that is fully compensated

Despite the downturn in the oil and gas sector, the market for offshore access systems or walk-to-work motion compensated gangways shows no signs of slowing down, with new technology and new concepts being brought to market

Rarely a month has gone by in the last couple of years without a manufacturer unveiling a new offshore access system or bringing an enhanced version of existing equipment to the offshore oil and gas and offshore wind markets.

That trend continued into Q3 2017, when a newly formed Dutch company, Lift2Work, confirmed that is building the first six examples of a new type of unit, the offshore personnel transfer system or OPTS, and Barge Master and Bosch Rexroth installed another new walk-to-work system on Vroon Offshores vessel VOS Start. Another well known manufacturer, Uptime in Norway, unveiled a new, larger motion compensated gangway not long after Ampelmann mobilised its first N-type Icemann access system.

Rotterdam-based Lift2Work will build, service, sell and rent the OPTS, which it describes as an innovative way to transfer people and/or tools and equipment offshore.

Unlike the other walk-to-work systems highlighted above, the OPTS is not a gangway but is fully motion compensated. It was designed to provide access to offshore oil and gas platforms, offshore wind structures and other vessels and structures. It has the ability to move freely through 360 degrees and has a reach of 24 m horizontally and more than 20 m vertically above deck level. It can also drop to 6 m below the level of the deck, for example, for rescue purposes.

Originally developed by Offshore Cooperation (OFFCO) in the Netherlands, it is based on a lifting platform rather than a conventional walk-to-work motion compensated gangway. It uses a platform basket that is fully compensated and controlled by an operator.

With an arm length of 10 m and a basic footprint of 2,440 mm x 2,440 mm, it was also designed to be easy to integrate onto a deck. Installation is very easy, said the company. The OPTS weighs approximately 15 tonnes and is easy to transport in an ISO container. It is easy to operate after introductory training and provides accurate and stable lifting of loads. The company says it can transfer up to six people at an outreach of 18 m or four people at a 24 m outreach.

As highlighted above, another new motion compensated gangway has been developed by Barge Master and Bosch Rexroth. It has been installed on Vroons offshore support vesselVOS Startand will be used to transport personnel and cargo to offshore windfarms but is equally suited to applications in the offshore oil and gas sector.

The Netherlands-based companies worked closely to create the motion compensated gangway. Launching the gangway on 21 June at Boxtel, the Netherlands, Barge Master chief executive Martijn Koppert explained that the gangway will be mounted on a pedestal that holds an integrated elevator, used to transport both people and pallet trolleys from ship deck and levels below to the level of the gangway. It can be literally any height, he said.

Bosch Rexroth sales manager offshore projects Boy Biermans described the gangways telescopic sections, which allow its length to be adjusted to the situation offshore by an electric winch system. This next-generation gangway is equipped with extremely fast sensors and control technology, he said. Because of this, the system is able to compensate for wave heights of up to 3 m, resulting in an operating window that can be up to four times higher than other available systems in the market, making it truly unique.

Uptimes new, larger offshore access system, the Uptime 30 m active motion compensated gangway, has what the company says is a totally new design that the company believes will be a game changer in the offshore oil and gasandoffshore wind industries.

The walk-to-work system is being offered with several different setups: on a fixed pedestal, on an adjustable pedestal, with elevator tower amidships or in the centre of the vessel, as an add-on system on existing elevator towers and on a skid. This gives optimal, customised workability for different projects,said Uptime.The gangway will be operated from the wheelhouse wing or from the gangway itself. Our Uptime 23.4 m will still be offered and may of course still be the best option for some projects and setups,the company concluded.

Ampelmann and Uptime International have both recently won contracts for their walk-to-work solutions in the offshore oil and gas and renewables markets. Ampelmann secured a contract in Venezuela that will spread the use of its gangway technology into the Caribbean. The Cardon IV group ordered an A-type system for its operations on the Perla fieldoff Venezuela. The walk-to-work system was deployed on Bumi Armadas 2010-built offshore support vesselArmada Tuah 85to provide access for the workforce to the Perla platform.

The A-type system is a full active motion compensated access gangway, designed to transfer personnel safely and efficiently to offshore structures. Cardon IV has chosen Ampelmann as its partner in this long-term project for the next two years, said Ampelmann business development manager for Latin America Andres Garcia.

Uptime International has won a contract from Cemre Marin to deliver one of its walk-to-work systems to a service operation vessel that is being built at the Cemre Shipyard in Turkey. The vessel is being built for French vessel owner Louis Dreyfus Armateurs for delivery in 2018. The vessel will provide service support for four offshore windfarms off the German coast. These are the Borkum Riffgrund 1 and 2 and Gode Wind 1 and 2 windfarms operated by Dong Energy.

The Uptime system will be an active motion compensated gangway and an adjustable pedestal integrated with an elevator tower. The vessel was designed by Salt Ship Design for personnel and cargo transfer to these offshore windfarms

Van Oords installation vesselAeolushas been fitted with a telescopic access bridge (TAB) by the Netherlands-based SMST. The TAB-M includes a flat rack and pedestal elevator system and will be used for work at the Walney Extension offshore windfarm in the UK.

After training by SMST,the Aeoluscrew completed the first connection on 24 June in significant wave heights of 1 m and wind speeds of 20 m/s. The Walney Extension project requires the transition pieces to be installed in DP2 mode so needs a compensated gangway. The telescopic pedestal will assist with the high tide differences, enabling height compensation of up to 6 m.

Walk-to-work offering owners better rates than subsea market

The subsea vessel market is showing signs of recovery, but a number of owners have long been securing work for subsea vessels above water, rather than below, by fitting them with walk-to-work systems.

Broker Fearnley Offshore Supply AS (FOSAS) said there has been significant subsea vessel activity above the surface and noted that active heave compensated gangways have had an important impact on the subsea vessel market as a whole.

In a July 2017 report, FOSAS said high-end subsea vessels such as Boa Sub C, Polar Queen, Normand Jarl, Normand Jarstein, Acergy Viking, Edda Fauna and Stril Server have been supporting topside work, either in the offshore wind market or in the offshore oil and gas segment.

The trend is almost, if quite without exception, that most operators are securing modern vessels, in part due to Special Purpose Ship regulations and requirements but also because vessel owners are attracted to walk-to-work campaigns because they typically offer longer charter periods and slightly better margins than the current subsea market, said FOSAS.

This trend has a positive impact on the supply overhang for this segment albeit a moderate one that, at best, is only part of a solution. For short-term and spot subsea scopes, however, the competition is fiercer and the income potential is lower while the vessel options are numerous. Rates reflect this.

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Lifting platform joins growing ranks of offshore access offerings - OSJ Magazine

Tesla Joins Effort to Pair Batteries With Offshore Wind – Climate Central

Tesla and wind farm developer Deepwater Wind are planning to team up to create the largest project in the world that combines an offshore wind farm with large-scale electricity storage, the companies announced Tuesday.

The project, called the Revolution Wind Farm, would generate electricity about 12 miles off the shore of Marthas Vineyard, Mass., and store some of it in large batteries built by Tesla. The project would have the capacity to generate 144 megawatts of wind power, or enough electricity to power 80,000 homes, according to Deepwater Wind.

The Block Island Wind Farm, America's first offshore wind farm, was built by Deepwater Wind and began operating in 2016. Credit: NREL/flickr

If approved by the state, the wind farm would begin operating in 2023. It is expected to be built next to another wind farm proposed by Deepwater Wind called the South Fork Wind Project. That project would serve Long Island, N.Y.

The companies proposed Revolution Wind as part of a call in Massachusetts for new sources of renewable energy across the state. The state hopes to generate more clean energy to meet its climate goals by cutting the states greenhouse gas emissions. Electric power plants running on coal and natural gas have historically been Americas largest source of carbon pollution contributing to climate change.

Revolution Wind brings together two new industries in the U.S. offshore wind and electricity storage. The expansion and scalability of renewables depends in part on new ways to store wind and solar power, which today can only be used when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining. Big batteries are seen as a solution to that problem because they allow renewable energy to be used whenever its needed.

So far, batteries are most often used to store solar power. Tesla has teamed up with electric companies in California to build batteries to help them use more solar, but it has not used the batteries for offshore wind power anywhere in the U.S.

Tesla has not said what kind of batteries it plans to use for Revolution Wind, but the large batteries it currently builds, including the Tesla PowerPack, are composed of 16 pods that together weigh more than 3 tons and are 7 feet tall. The pods are daisy-chained together and provide hundreds of kilowatts of power. Tesla declined to comment.

If approved, the Revolution Wind Farm will be built by Deepwater Wind, which switched on Americas first offshore wind farm in Rhode Island last year. That farm lead to the shutdown of a diesel-fired power plant on Block Island.

In a statement, Deepwater Wind said the offshore wind-battery storage pairing will provide clean energy during the times of highest electricity demand. The project will prevent the need for new power plants that operate only when power demand is at its daily peak.

A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources said he had not seen the proposal and was unable to comment.

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Opposition grows to seismic testing for offshore oil amid concerns about impacts on marine life – MarylandReporter.com

ByWilliam H. Funk

Bay Journal

Scientists are worried that anexecutive orderissued by President Trump earlier this year that seeks to open large portions of the mid-Atlantic and other coastal areas to oil and gas exploration would harm the endangered North Atlantic right whale and other species that occasionally visit the Chesapeake Bay.

Trumps order, issued April 28, reverses a 2016 policy from theObama administrationthat closed federal waters off portions of the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific coasts and the Gulf of Mexico to drilling as part of the administrations effort to boost domestic energy production. The order also instructed federal agencies to streamline the permitting process to speed approval of seismic testing to locate oil and gas reserves in those areas.

But the action is increasingly unpopular with many elected officials along the East Coast.

Hogan, Frosh opposed

In July, MarylandGov. Larry Hoganpublically stated his opposition to any further offshore exploration. And the attorneys general from nine East Coast jurisdictions including those from Maryland, Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia and Delaware submitted comments opposing additional surveys.

The proposed seismic tests are themselves disruptive and harmful, MarylandAttorney General Brian Froshsaid in a statement. Worse, they are the precursors to offshore drilling that would put the Chesapeake Bay at risk to drilling-related contamination. That contamination would have catastrophic impacts on fragile ecosystems and important economies. This is a foolish gamble with our precious natural resources.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginiais the lone Southeastern governor supporting marine oil exploration, saying he never had a problem with seismic testing. While 127 municipalities have passed resolutions against the tests, only five are in Virginia.

But coastal Virginians unease with seismic tests appears to be growing. In July, thecity council of Norfolkpassed a unanimous resolution opposing both offshore drilling and seismic testing, citing threats to marine life, local fisheries and wetlands that offer vital protection from rising seas. The previous month, the city council of Virginia Beach also voted to oppose offshore drilling.

24/7 airguns

The seismic testing has raised particular concern because of its potential impact on marine life. The tests are conducted by firing seismic airguns from ships every 10 seconds, 24 hours a day and seven days a week, at a noise level that would rupture a human eardrum, according to the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group which was among10 organizationsthat filed suit May 3 over the executive order. Among the plaintiffs contentions is that seismic blasts could deafen and even kill whales, dolphins and other animals.

Cetaceans whales and their relatives use specialized echolocation for almost all of their activities, including hunting, migration, courtship and communication, but they are extremely sensitive to underwater sound vibrations, scientists say. Right whales, whose population is thought to number only around 500, could be at particular risk, they say.

As far as the impact goes, the chances of an animal being outright killed by seismic air gun arrays are slim, said Doug Nowacek, with the Duke Marine Lab, according to Coastal Review Online. The effects that we worry about mostly are producing sound in their environment, and thats the sensory mode they use.

To locate new sources of undersea oil, companies employ airguns to blast powerful acoustic waves formed of compressed air down and through the seafloor. Each seismic test can affect an area of more than 2,500 square nautical miles, raising background noise levels to 260 decibels, approximately equaling the epicenter of a grenade blast.

This can go on continuously for weeks or even months, according to a2013 reportreleased by theinternational bodycarrying out the United Nations-sponsored Convention on Biodiversity.

Not just whales affected, plankton too

Scientists say potential harm is not limited to large marine mammals. Zooplankton, tiny microscopic invertebrates that constitute the core of the marine food chain for everything from shrimp to baleen whales, could also be impacted.

In aJune 2017 studypublished in the journal Nature, a team of marine ecologists found that, experimental airgun signal exposure decreased zooplankton abundance when compared with controls, as measured by sonar and net tows, and caused a twoto threefold increase in dead adult and larval zooplankton.

The studys conclusion says that, There is a significant and unacknowledged potential for ocean ecosystem function and productivity to be negatively impacted by present seismic technology.

In May, 133 environmental and civic organizations sent a joint letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke asking him not to proceed with the Trump administrations plan to expand offshore oil drilling and related seismic testing, stating that offshore drilling brings unacceptable risks to our oceans, coastal residents, communities, existing economies, and our climate.

But Zinke followed up on the presidents executive order with an order of his own on May 11, setting the seismic testing in motion. Seismic surveying helps a variety of federal and state partners better understand our nations offshore areas, including locating offshore hazards, siting of wind turbines, as well as offshore energy development, Zinke said in a statement. Allowing this scientific pursuit enables us to safely identify and evaluate resources that belong to the American people.

The National Marine Fisheries Service has also proposed authorizing more than 90,000 miles of active seismic blasting which, based on the results of the Nature report, would constitute approximately 135,000 square miles, according to the Natural Resource Defense Council.

How it works

Reflection seismology, as the geophysical exploratory process is called, uses concussive compressed air to send a sudden shock of sound beneath the ocean surface. Oil deposits can be detected by a geological interpretation of what the bounced sounds, called reflections, reveal what lies beneath.

Reflections are gathered and collated by floating hydrophones, also called towed arrays or streamers, which emit 10 to 15-hertz echoes that bounce off the seafloor. Where geologically suitable, up to 20 or 30 kilometers of the oceans floor can be penetrated through this technique.

Oil companies look for two seafloor features to indicate the presence of oil: salt domes and seeps. Salt domes were created over eons when oceanic regions were repeatedly drowned and parched, to atmospheric events such as glaciation. This periodic give and take of oceanic deposits squeezes buoyant sea salt to the top of the sedimentary layer, trapping oil and gas underneath, which leaves a unique shape and composition detectable to seismic exploration.

Seeps occur when oil and gas escape from the seabed and cloudily rise through the water column toward the ocean surface, making them verifiable through onsite seafloor analysis.

Deafening array of underwater sounds

Maria Morell is with the zoology department of the University of British Columbia, and specializes in marine mammal acoustics. When a mammal is exposed to an audible sound of high intensity and long duration, she said, the sensory cells of the inner ear can suffer mechanical and metabolical fatigue, followed by a cascade of alterations that can lead to temporary or permanent hearing loss.

Testing for oil, she said, adds another stressful seismic factor to a deafening environment that the Atlantics marine mammals must confront every day, including maritime transport, offshore oil and gas exploration and exploitation, industrial and military sonar, military and civilian engineering activities, supersonic aircraft noise, the construction and operation of sea-based wind farms, and acoustic deterrent and harassment devices.

Ingrid Biedron, a marine biologist with the conservation group Oceana, said that Trumps call for offshore drilling may be difficult to enact under federal law. Current proposals conflict with the Marine Mammal Protection Act, she said. They also conflict with the Endangered Species Act because several endangered whale species use the area proposed for seismic airgun blasting.

Citing a federal study, she said that, If seismic airgun surveys are approved in the Atlantic, by the governments own numbers, up to 138,000 whales and dolphins could be harmed and up to 13 million disturbed.

Potential harm to marine species from seismic testing isnt limited to cetaceans. Jessica Coakley, a fishery management specialist with the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, said that these impacts stretch from the recent stranding of giant squid off Spain in areas adjacent to seismic testing to sensitive habitats such as deep-sea corals.

Ocean noise roadmap

The recent National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationsOcean Noise Roadmaprecognizes that sound is a fundamental component of the physical and biological habitat that many aquatic animals and ecosystems have evolved to rely on over millions of years.

In addition, Coakley said, the University of Rhode Island, in partnership with NOAA, has created a website called sound in the sea, through which visitors can click to hear what seismic airguns actually sound like when heard several thousand kilometers away underwater.

The speed of sound underwater is five times faster than sounds traveling through air, so marine creatures perceive sound coming from much farther distances than their terrestrial counterparts.

For animals that rely on sound as much as we do on sight, its not difficult to imagine the grinding anxiety of being subjected to a constant bombardment of sensory deprivation caused by seismic activities, including oil exploration. Marine mammals already facing an uphill struggle for survival could face yet another industrial challenge.

Scientists are especially worried about the North Atlantic right whale, Beidron said, Increased noise from seismic blasting could be one of the factors that further tips this species toward extinction.

Last spring, 28 top marine mammal scientists specializing in right whales signed a statement declaring unequivocally that for this species, among the most endangered whales on the planet, and already facing a desperate level of endangerment, widespread seismic surveys may well represent a tipping point, contributing significantly to a decline towards extinction.

wfunk@bayjournal.com

Bay Journal is published byBay Journal Media, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, to inform the public about issues that affect the Chesapeake Bay. A print editionis published monthly and is distributed free of charge. News, features and commentary are available free online atbayjournal.com.MarylandReporter.comis partnering with the Bay Journal by publishing one of its articles every Friday.

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Opposition grows to seismic testing for offshore oil amid concerns about impacts on marine life - MarylandReporter.com