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S.F. union boss confirms feds attempted two immigration enforcement actions downtown
www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/immigration-sanctuary-city-enforcement-trump-20059386.php
By Chase DiFeliciantonio,
Reporter
Jan 28, 2025
An immigration press conference with city leaders including Mayor Daniel Lurie, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, City Attorney David Chiu and others, including union leaders from SEIU 87 and union chapter president Olga Miranda, attend an immigration press conference to decry reported immigration raids in San Francisco last Friday at City Hall in San Francisco on Tuesday, January 28, 2025. On Friday, January 24, ICE agents appeared at multiple buildings in Downtown San Francisco where SEIU Local 87 janitors were working. This alarming incident has sparked outrage and heightened concerns for the safety and dignity of immigrant workers in our city. The press conference will address these actions and reaffirm San Francisco's unwavering commitment as a sanctuary city to protecting immigrant communities and standing against unjust enforcement tactics.
An immigration press conference with city leaders including Mayor Daniel Lurie, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, City Attorney David Chiu and others, including union leaders from SEIU 87 and union chapter president Olga Miranda, attend an immigration press conference to decry reported immigration raids in San Francisco last Friday at City Hall in San Francisco on Tuesday, January 28, 2025. On Friday, January 24, ICE agents appeared at multiple buildings in Downtown San Francisco where SEIU Local 87 janitors were working. This alarming incident has sparked outrage and heightened concerns for the safety and dignity of immigrant workers in our city. The press conference will address these actions and reaffirm San Francisco's unwavering commitment as a sanctuary city to protecting immigrant communities and standing against unjust enforcement tactics.
San Francisco immigrant-rights activists and elected officials gathered at San Francisco City Hall Tuesday to rally around the city’s sanctuary policies for immigrants after reports emerged of an apparent immigration enforcement action in downtown San Francisco last week.
Olga Miranda, president of the SEIU Local 87 union, which represents thousands of janitors in the city, said immigration officials showed up at two buildings downtown on Friday.
Federal immigration officials did not confirm the raid when asked Monday.
Bay Area ICE ‘operation’: San Jose mayor confirms federal immigration activity
California prepares for battle with Trump on new front: Immigration raids in schools and hospitals
Miranda declined to say which buildings were targeted, but said hundreds of her members who clean downtown offices stayed away from work Friday evening.
Miranda said the agents showed up in plain clothes and presented badges to building security when asked, after initially being turned away. One set of agents showed up in the late afternoon carrying an arrest warrant for a specific person, but none of her members were arrested, Miranda said.
SEIU 87 union chapter president Olga Miranda delivers remarks during an immigration press conference with city leaders to decry reported immigration raids in San Francisco last Friday at City Hall in San Francisco on Tuesday, January 28, 2025. On Friday, January 24, ICE agents appeared at multiple buildings in Downtown San Francisco where SEIU Local 87 janitors were working. This alarming incident has sparked outrage and heightened concerns for the safety and dignity of immigrant workers in our city. The press conference will address these actions and reaffirm San Francisco's unwavering commitment as a sanctuary city to protecting immigrant communities and standing against unjust enforcement tactics.
SEIU 87 union chapter president Olga Miranda delivers remarks during an immigration press conference with city leaders to decry reported immigration raids in San Francisco last Friday at City Hall in San Francisco on Tuesday, January 28, 2025. On Friday, January 24, ICE agents appeared at multiple buildings in Downtown San Francisco where SEIU Local 87 janitors were working. This alarming incident has sparked outrage and heightened concerns for the safety and dignity of immigrant workers in our city. The press conference will address these actions and reaffirm San Francisco's unwavering commitment as a sanctuary city to protecting immigrant communities and standing against unjust enforcement tactics.
Yalonda M. James/The Chronicle
Officials including Mayor Daniel Lurie, City Attorney David Chiu, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, union leaders and the entire Board of Supervisors took turns reiterating their commitment to San Francisco’s sanctuary policy, which restricts the city’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The policy is intended to afford people the confidence to interact with city police and other public safety agencies without fear of their immigration status being called into question.
Lurie sought framed the city’s sanctuary policies as a part of his push for increased public safety citywide. “Public safety is my first priority,” Lurie said from a lectern on the steps of City Hall. “That means everyone in the city should feel safe” when dealing with law enforcement, he said.
Chiu reiterated that the city’s limited resources would not be used to assist with immigration enforcement actions, which are a federal responsibility.
“The purpose of sanctuary laws is to protect public safety” and to ensure witnesses and victims of crimes are willing to come forward without fear of their immigration status being called into question.
Sheriff Paul Miyamoto, who oversees operations at San Francisco’s jails, said his office would only alert immigrations officers about a person’s release date from custody “only under very specific circumstances,” but did not immediately elaborate on what those circumstances might be.
Miyamoto told CalMatters his office would “cooperate with federal immigration officials when dealing with serious or violent felons,” but only “in alignment with our city’s values.”
He told CalMatters that state law allows his office to share release dates of people in custody if they have convictions for serious violent crimes or sex crimes. He said his office does not coordinate with federal immigration officers, or delay release dates of suspects at the request of immigration authorities.
President Donald Trump has vowed to crack down on cities with sanctuary policies, even threatening to prosecute public officials for not cooperating with immigration enforcement.
On Monday San Jose Mayor matt Mahan confirmed immigration enforcement operations recently took place there as well.
The San Francisco Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs launched a online hub this week for immigrant services and resources. Activists on Tuesday encouraged community members to report immigration enforcement activity to the city’s rapid response line at (415) 200-1548.
Miranda, the janitors union president, said this was not the first time her union members had dealt with immigration raids, and that many janitors were swept up in immigration raids during the Obama administration more than a decade ago.
The San Francisco Police Department could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday. San Francisco police chief Bill Scott also spoke at the press conference and reaffirmed the city commitment to sanctuary policies.
Reach Chase DiFeliciantonio: chase.difeliciantonio@sfchronicle.com; X: @ChaseDiFelice
S.F. union boss confirms 2 immigration enforcement actions downtown
www.sfchronicle.com
San Francisco leaders rallied around the city’s sanctuary policy for immigrants following reports of multiple enforcement actions downtown.
2/20 Panel Lessons from the US Labor Party for Working-Class Politics Today
x.com/SteveMaher18/status/1884012706036080849/photo/1
Thursday, February 20
Lessons from the US Labor Party for Working-Class Politics Today
In the 1990s, union members built a new political party of and for working-class people. What can we learn from their experiences?
By US Labor Party History
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Date and time
Thursday, February 20 · 5 – 7pm PST
Following the Democratic Party's 2024 loss — made possible by the Democrats' longer-term abandonment of their working-class base in favor of “moderate” wealthy suburbanites and Wall Street financiers — it’s worth returning to the experience of the US Labor Party in the 1990s.
The limits of that effort are well know; most obviously, there's no Labor Party today. But it is equally clear that failing to develop a working-class alternative to the Democratic Party will only result in workers continuing to drift into the arms of an ascendent right-wing MAGA politics. A new approach to labor left politics is desperately needed.
That's what this event tries to begin to think through by asking: What lessons can be learned from an earlier effort to organize an independent labor party? What did it take to launch the US Labor Party in 1996? How can that effort inform current work to build a serious, working-class alternative to the two corporate parties?
Panelists
Carl Rosen, General President, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. Former participant in the Labor Party organizing efforts.
Katherine Isaac, coordinator Campaign for Postal Banking at the American Postal Workers Union. Former Secretary-Treasurer of the Labor Party.
Howard Botwinick, Associate Professor of Economics at SUNY Cortland, former Vice Chair of the New York Labor Party.
Mark Dudzic, longtime union activist and former national organizer of the Labor Party, and current chair of the Labor Campaign for Single Payer Healthcare.
Sponsors (list in formation)
DSA National Labor Commission
Socialist Register
Rank & File Project
UAW Region 9A
United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America
More to come!
Date and link
Thursday, February 20, 8-10 p.m. ET / 7-9 CT / 5-7 PT
Zoom link will be sent to you after registration.
Lessons from the US Labor Party for Working-Class Politics Today
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US Gov Did Damage Control For Norfolk Southern E. Palestine Derailment
whistleblower.org/press/whistleblower-disclosures-disregarded-in-dojs-assessment-of-norfolk-south…
January 28, 2025
Whistleblower Disclosures Disregarded in DOJ’s Assessment of Norfolk Southern Consent Decree
WASHINGTON – Today, Government Accountability Project issued a comprehensive critique of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) assessment of the proposed $310 million federal consent decree with Norfolk Southern regarding the February 2023 East Palestine train derailment, citing a disregard of multiple whistleblower exposures of scientific inaccuracies and dereliction of duty by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The analysis reveals that DOJ’s determination that the settlement is “fair, reasonable and consistent with public interest” relies heavily on compromised EPA data and declarations while dismissing substantial evidence from whistleblower clients, which include ongoing contamination and health impacts.
Key findings from the critique are rooted in statements provided by Government Accountability Project whistleblowers, including:
New evidence of EPA data manipulation, including artificially increased reporting limits to hide chemical detections;
EPA official’s recorded admissions that corporate contractors are “biased” in their reporting to limit Norfolk Southern’s liability, the evacuation was lifted despite the presence of low levels of chemicals that might be harmful to some residents, and EPA does not know how to assess the dangers of multiple chemical exposures;
EPA evacuated residents and later tested soil for dioxins in the wrong locations, ignoring wind patterns that shifted during the train derailment vent and burn;
Evidence that EPA’s cleanup assessment ignored contaminated creek sidewalls and used improper remediation techniques that further exposed residents to toxins;
Documented cases of EPA dismissing whistleblower testing results while relying on questionable data from Norfolk Southern’s contractors;
Blaming weather conditions and travel advisories that did not exist, EPA failed to collect critical air quality data with its Airborne Spectral Photometric Environmental Collection Technology (ASPECT) aircraft for five days after the derailment. They missed the chemical plumes from the unnecessary February 6, 2023, detonation of five vinyl chloride train cars and shut off chemical sensors over contaminated creeks when it finally flew on February 7. This whistleblower disclosure is still under investigation by EPA Office of Inspector General;
DOJ has a responsibility to hold EPA accountable for their failure to protect public health during the disaster, as well as potentially imposing criminal charges against Norfolk Southern’s withholding of critical information.
Government Accountability Project calls on DOJ to give more weight to the truth of the impacts of this unprecedented environmental disaster exposed by whistleblowers and validated by unbiased scientists, reconsider its assessment, and provide a more just settlement that truly addresses the unprecedented scope of this environmental disaster and its ongoing impact on public health exposed by whistleblowers and validated by unbiased scientists.
Government Accountability Project’s Senior Environmental Officer, Lesley Pacey, commented,
“The DOJ’s analysis fundamentally fails the residents of East Palestine and surrounding communities by accepting EPA’s flawed narrative without proper scrutiny. Our investigation and whistleblower clients have uncovered multiple instances of data manipulation, contractor bias, and EPA mismanagement that DOJ completely overlooked in its assessment. DOJ’s recommendation to approve this consent decree is premature and inadequate.”
Contact: press@whistleblower.org
Government Accountability Project
Government Accountability Project is the nation’s leading whistleblower protection organization. Through litigating whistleblower cases, publicizing concerns and developing legal reforms, Government Accountability Project’s mission is to protect the public interest by promoting government and corporate accountability. Founded in 1977, Government Accountability Project is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.
whistleblower.org
January 28, 2025 Whistleblower Disclosures Disregarded in DOJ’s Assessment of Norfolk Southern Consent Decree WASHINGTON – Today, Government Accountability Project issued a comprehensive critique of…
NY Times. Trump Stocks E.P.A. With Oil, Gas and Chemical Lobbyists. Jan 25
2025.
www.nytimes.com/2025/01/25/climate/epa-staff-oil-gas-chemical-indust
ry-lobbyists.html
President Trump is stocking the Environmental Protection Agency with
officials who have served as lawyers and lobbyists for the oil and chemical
industries, many of whom worked in his first administration to weaken
climate and pollution protections. Lee Zeldin, Mr. Trump's choice to lead
the E.P.A., has little experience with environmental policy. He will be
expected to hit the ground running, though, to fulfill Mr. Trump's fire hose
of orders directing the agency to cut regulations… Top appointees include
David Fotouhi, Mr. Zeldin's second-in-command, a lawyer who recently
challenged a ban on asbestos; Alex Dominguez, a former oil lobbyist who will
work on automobile emissions; and Aaron Szabo, a lobbyist for both the oil
and chemical industries who is expected to be the top air pollution
regulator. The division of E.P.A. that evaluates the safety of new chemicals
now includes Nancy Beck, a longtime chemical-industry lobbyist, and Lynn Ann
Dekleva, who has been working for the American Chemistry Council, a trade
group… Mr. Zeldin's deputy, the Harvard-educated lawyer David Fotouhi,
left corporate practice in 2017 to join the E.P.A. during the first Trump
administration. He rose to acting general counsel and became a central
figure in Mr. Trump's efforts to weaken or delete dozens of regulations that
were designed to protect air and water from pollution. Mr. Fotouhi has a
long record of representing polluters against the E.P.A. and other
regulatory agencies. Last year, he challenged the E.P.A.'s ban of asbestos,
arguing on behalf of automakers that the E.P.A. had failed to demonstrate
that asbestos presented an unreasonable risk of injury… Mr. Fotouhi has
defended industrial plants accused by the E.P.A. of violating the Clean Air
Act and toxic-chemicals rules, and helped corporations repel proposed
regulations. He represented a major operator of coal-burning power plants
challenging rules to prevent toxic coal ash from contaminating groundwater.
And in 2021, he represented a paper-mill company in a lawsuit brought by
Maine landowners whose land was contaminated with "forever chemicals," also
known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS, linked to cancer and
other diseases. "It was the typical corporate defense," said Elizabeth
Bailey, an environmental attorney who represented the plaintiffs. "Which is:
You can't prove that it's us."
Trump Shutting Down NLRB
Trump fires senior labor board official in ‘unprecedented and illegal’ move
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/28/gwynne-wilcox-trump-labor-board
Gwynne Wilcox pledges to challenge decision after dismissal in effect paralyzes National Labor Relations Board
Trump fires senior labor board official in ‘unprecedented and illegal’ moveGwynne Wilcox pledges to challenge decision after dismissal in effect paralyzes National Labor Relations BoardUS politics live – latest updatesMichael SainatoTue 28 Jan 2025 17.07 CETShareDonald Trump has fired a senior official at the top US labor watchdog in effect paralyzing the body until a replacement is confirmed.Gwynne Wilcox a member and former chair of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) described her dismissal as “unprecedented and illegal” and pledged to challenge the move.Her removal leaves the board with only two members and leaves it without a quorum of three members required to issue decisions per a 2010 supreme court ruling.Wilcox was confirmed by the Senate and her term was due to continue until August 2028. She had been appointed chair of the NLRB by Biden last month before Trump appointed Marvin Kaplan a Republican-appointed member as chair last week.symbol00:1703:36Read More“It’s been an honor to serve as a Board Member and Chair of the National Labor Relations Board” Wilcox said in a statement. “As the first Black woman Board Member I brought a unique perspective that I believe will be lost upon my unprecedented and illegal removal. Throughout my time at the NLRB I’ve worked well with my colleagues and the dedicated career staff who uphold the mission of the Agency. I will be pursuing all legal avenues to challenge my removal which violates long-standing Supreme Court precedent.”The NLRB’s general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo was also fired. The deputy general counsel Jessica Rutter is now serving as acting general counsel.On Abruzzo’s watch several corporations – including Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Amazon – have challenged the constitutionality of the NLRB based on limitations of the president’s ability to remove members of the board.The National Labor Relations Act authorizes the president to remove members of the board only under narrow circumstances of negligence of duty or malfeasance which has typically left board members to serve out their terms during presidential administration changes.The NLRB “accomplished so much through our robust education protection and enforcement efforts” Abruzzo said in a statement. “There’s no putting that genie back in the bottle.“So if the Agency does not fully effectuate its Congressional mandate in the future as we did during my tenure I expect that workers with assistance from their advocates will take matters into their own hands in order to get well-deserved dignity and respect in the workplace as well as a fair share of the significant value they add to their employer’s operations.”
Trump fires senior labor board official in ‘unprecedented and illegal’ move
www.theguardian.com
Gwynne Wilcox pledges to challenge decision after dismissal in effect paralyzes National Labor Relations Board
Trump Administration Puts Dozens of U.S.A.I.D. Officials on Paid Leave
www.nytimes.com/2025/01/27/us/politics/trump-usaid-officials.html
An email to the aid agency’s employees cited actions “that appear to be designed to circumvent” an executive order by President Trump.
Aid workers standing in front of a wall with a sign with “USAID” and the agency’s logo above words in Spanish.
President Trump signed an executive order last week suspending nearly all U.S. foreign aid funded by USAID and the State Department.Credit…Marco Bello/Reuters
Michael Crowley.pngEdward Wong.png
By Michael Crowley and Edward Wong
Reporting from Washington
Jan. 27, 2025
Updated 9:47 p.m. ET
The Trump administration placed several dozen senior officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development on administrative leave in response to what an official characterized as resistance to President Trump’s policy.
An email on Monday to U.S.A.I.D. staff from the agency’s acting administrator, Jason Gray, said that Trump officials “have identified several actions within U.S.A.I.D. that appear to be designed to circumvent” an executive order.
Mr. Gray did not provide further details on those actions, but added that as a result “a number of USAID employees” had been placed on leave “with full pay until further notice.”
One person briefed on the new order said that it covered about 60 senior officials at the agency. Another person said the officials placed on leave included the leaders overseeing global health aid, one of the largest parts of U.S.A.I.D.
U.S.A.I.D. officials did not immediately return a request for comment.
With a budget of $22.6 billion, U.S.A.I.D.’s global work also includes disaster relief, aid for refugees and anti-poverty programs.
The agency’s supporters say that its efforts earn the United States enormous good will internationally and also promote political stability that serves the country’s security interests — all for about 0.2 percent of the federal budget. But many conservatives have long questioned foreign aid programs, and Mr. Trump and his allies are determined to slash federal spending wherever possible.
Mr. Gray’s email appears to reflect Trump officials’ determination to ensure that federal workers carry out even his most dramatic orders — and to move them out of the way if they will not. In this case, the directive in question is almost certainly an executive order Mr. Trump signed last week to freeze nearly all U.S. foreign aid funded by U.S.A.I.D. and the State Department.
“He is initiating a review of all foreign assistance programs to ensure they are efficient and consistent with U.S. foreign policy under the America First agenda,” the State Department spokeswoman, Tammy Bruce, said in a statement on Friday.
The order does not apply to weapons support to Israel and Egypt, or to emergency food assistance, according to a memo issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday.
Editors’ Picks
Citing a 90-day reassessment period, the State Department memo requires employees to refrain from designating new foreign aid funding or accepting funding applications, and to issue “stop-work” orders to grantees.
Many contractors who perform infrastructure support for U.S.A.I.D. were placed on furlough as well.
Trump Administration Puts Dozens of U.S.A.I.D. Officials on Paid Leave
www.nytimes.com
An email to the aid agency’s employees cited actions “that appear to be designed to circumvent” an executive order by President Trump.
Moss Landing battery fire: Unusually high concentrations of toxic metals found in wetlands near plant
www.mercurynews.com/2025/01/27/moss-landing-battery-fire-unusually-high-concentrations-of-toxic-m…
Nickel, cobalt and manganese, found in lithium-ion batteries, increased dramatically at Elkhorn Slough after the fire
A bystander watches the smoke and flames from Castroville as a fire at the Vistra battery storage plant burns in Moss Landing, Calif., on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
A bystander watches the smoke and flames from Castroville as a fire at the Vistra battery storage plant burns in Moss Landing, Calif., on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
Paul Rogers, environmental writer, San Jose Mercury News, for his WordPress profile. (Michael Malone_Bay Area News Group).webp
By PAUL ROGERS | progers@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
UPDATED: January 27, 2025 at 6:47 PM PST
Less than two weeks after a huge fire in Moss Landing at one of the world’s largest battery storage plants, scientists affiliated with San Jose State University have discovered unusually high levels of toxic metals in soils at Elkhorn Slough, roughly a mile away.
Researchers at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories have detected microscopic particles of nickel, cobalt and manganese — which are found in the thousands of lithium-ion batteries that burned at the Vistra Energy battery storage plant — in the mudflats and tidal marshes at Elkhorn Slough at levels roughly 100 to 1,000 times higher than normal.
“Those three metals are toxic,” said Ivano Aiello, a marine geology professor at Moss Landing Marine Labs, who led the soils testing. “They are hazardous to aquatic life. We want to understand how they will move and interact with the environment, whether they will make it through the food web and at what level — from microbes to sea otters.”
The dramatic fire at the 750-megawatt battery plant began on Jan. 16 and burned for two days. It caused the evacuation of 1,200 local residents and the closure of Highway 1 for three days. The flames quickly overwhelmed the fire sprinkler system at the plant, which is run by Vistra Energy, a Dallas-based company, and located on the former site of a PG&E power plant that was build in the 1950s.
Lithium battery fires burn at high temperatures and are difficult to put out. As a result, fire fighters did not battle the blaze and allowed it to burn out. The fire spread a large cloud of toxic smoke across the area near the border of Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, and has raised questions about safety in other communities where battery storage plants are planned. The plants are key to storing electricity from solar and wind power to use at night, allowing California to continue to move from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
The discovery of battery toxins in the soils at Elkhorn Slough, a protected network of wetlands, creeks, and wildlife habitat popular with birders and kayakers, turned up attention on the impact on humans who live in communities near the plant.
Monterey County officials said Monday that the Monterey County Environmental Health Department is continuing to work with officials from the California EPA to test soils in properties along the path of the smoke plume. They expect to release the first results by the end of this week, said Nick Pasculli, a Monterey County spokesman.
“We are totally dedicated to people’s safety and their health,” Pasculli said. “That’s our number one priority, and protecting our environment. We are very interested in getting the data from the Elkhorn Slough samples so we can analyze the findings and consult with state and federal agencies that have oversight to determine the best path forward.”
Aiello said he took samples from roughly 100 sites. He has studied the area for more than 10 years. Analyzing the soils with an electron microscope at Moss Landing labs, he said the spiked levels of battery metals were found in the top few millimeters of soil, not lower levels. He said he took measurements on Jan. 21, 23 and 24 and compared them to soil samples taken at the same locations before the battery plant fire.
“The concentrations went from tens of parts per million to thousands of parts per million — 2 to 3 orders of magnitude,” he said. “It’s a lot.”
Aiello said it is important that testing continue for weeks, months and years on the site to track how the metals change and move. It rained this past weekend, he noted, and he planned additional testing to see the impacts.
Aiello is not a medical doctor, but said it is important that state and local officials test soils in communities around the plant to see how they have changed, and how they compare to Elkhorn Slough.
High levels of heavy metals such as nickel, cobalt, and manganese “bioaccumulate,” or move up the food chain from plants and microbes into fish, and larger animals that eat the fish. At high levels they can cause neurological harm, reproductive damage and other problems. It isn’t clear yet, Aiello said, whether the levels have impacted the health of any fish or wildlife.
“We know these particles are toxic,” he said. “They are heavy metals. Whether they are posing a hazard right now, we don’t know. But we need to know. I live here. I work here. Let’s figure it out.”
“The future is going to be more battery storage facilities all over the world,” Aiello added. “We are moving away from fossil fuels. Is this the solution? Is this the right technology?”
Officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency set up air monitors on the night of the fire. They and officials from the Monterey Bay Air Resources District said in the days after the fire that their monitors did not detect levels of soot or hydrogen fluoride, a toxic gas from burning batteries, in unhealthy levels.
But at several public meetings dozens of local residents raised concerns about the impact of the smoke plume not only on air, but water and soils in the surrounding communities. Some people complained of a metallic taste, impacts to their asthma, and other health changes.
Pasculli said Vistra officials placed straw rolls around the plant for erosion control. Vistra has been meeting with state, local and federal officials to plan the cleanup of the plant, which remains offline, he added. Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom called for an independent investigation by the California Public Utilities Commission.
Smoke and flames are seen from Castroville as a fire at the Vistra battery storage plant burns in Moss Landing, Calif., on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. Less than two weeks after the fire, scientists affiliated with San Jose State University discovered levels of toxic metals at more than 100 times the normal background levels in soils at Elkhorn Slough, roughly two miles away. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
Smoke and flames are seen from Castroville as a fire at the Vistra battery storage plant burns in Moss Landing, Calif., on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. Less than two weeks after the fire, scientists affiliated with San Jose State University discovered levels of toxic metals at more than 100 times the normal background levels in soils at Elkhorn Slough, roughly two miles away. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
www.mercurynews.com
Nickel, cobalt and manganese, found in lithium-ion batteries, increased dramatically at Elkhorn Slough after the fire
Davos 2025: Trump v Von der Leyen
thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2025/01/24/davos-2025-trump-v-von-der-leyen/
Every January, the World Economic Forum (WEF) convenes in the luxury ski resort of Davos, Switzerland. This year, as usual, some 3000 people attended from over 130 countries to discuss the problems, challenges and future of capitalism. Around 350 governmental leaders, including 60 heads of states and government, from all key regions (except Russia, China and India) were there, along with many chief executives and oligarchs of the multi-nationals, most arriving in their private jets.
This year, the usual topics of global warming and poverty hardly got a look in. What dominated the thought of the ‘great and good’ in the world economy was AI. The theme of the WEF 2025 was ‘Collaboration for the Intelligent Age’. AI is the buzz thing for the leaders of capitalism; the technology that is going transform economies with faster real GDP growth and productivity and this will bring prosperity for all – or so the hope is. The WEF launched a report, AI in Action: Beyond Experimentation to Transform Industry, arguing just that, with various caveats. The representatives of the AI leaders gushed. “The technology is moving at an incredible rate,” says Matt Garman, Chief Executive Officer of Amazon Web Services.
In previous posts, I have discussed the prospect of AI transforming economies over the next decade or so. Suffice it to say now that there is massive expenditure on AI development and the infrastructure involved being made by US and other AI companies to deliver. Companies will need hundreds of billions in new incremental AI revenues to maintain their current margins due to these new outlays. Projections from Lawrence Berkeley Labs show data center power demand doubling from its current 4.4% of US electricity generation, and Independent System Operators like PJM and MISO are scrambling to add new generation capacity based on what they’re seeing. But that could lead to a revenue gap that reduces profitability sharply – according to a study by JP Morgan.
AI investment is also hiking energy demand. By 2026, the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts electricity consumption for data centres alone could reach 1,000 TWh – roughly the equivalent to the energy consumption of Japan. So ‘powering the Intelligent Age’ will be a huge task and will have a profound impact on global electricity demand and supply. It comes with wider implications for industries and their decarbonization and net zero goals, with rapidly advancing technologies devouring energy at rates far higher than those seen today. And then as discussed before, there are huge implication for jobs and labour incomes. AI investment could expand 160% over the next two years. As a result, datacenters’ use of water and land could have a serious impact on the environment.
Newly inaugurated President Donald Trump addressed the WEF by satellite and wasted no time in telling his audience that the US was going to enter a ‘golden age’ propelled by energy production, AI, deregulation and lower taxes – and countries that might seek to stand in its way better look out.
Trump said the US would need to double its energy production, partly to fuel AI. So he will fast-track the approvals for new power plants, which companies can site next to their plants – something not currently possible under regulations. Companies will be able to fuel it with anything they want, including coal as a backup, “good, clean coal”,because “nothing can destroy coal, not the weather, not a bomb”.
Trump wants to get the oil price down so that energy prices for investment (not so much for households) are lowered. To do this, he wants the US and the world to “drill baby, drill.” Unfortunately for him, that may not happen. Oil pipeline, gas pipeline and transmission line projects in the US have practically ground to a halt as the great shale and fracking revolution in US oil production has started to peter out. According to Goehring & Rozencwajg LLC, a research firm specializing in contrarian natural resource investments, US shale output is ‘in the early innings’ of a protracted decline, with depletion, not market dynamics or regulatory overreach, the chief culprit. They predicted that the explosive production growth triggered by the shale revolution would flatline in early 2025. However, the reality could be worse. According to data by the EIA, shale crude oil production peaked in November 2023 and has declined about 2% since then while shale dry gas production peaked that same month and has since slipped by 1% or 1 billion cubic feet per day.
What might save Trump’s demand for lower oil prices despite supply growth fading is that global demand growth for oil products is also dropping. Demand growth was hacked nearly in half in 2024 compared to 2023.
Lower energy prices could be important for Trump’s policies if it meant that inflation keeps falling and stays low. The problem is that, right now, the opposite trend is the case. The US headline inflation rate was rising in the last part of 2024, driven by a turn in energy and food prices and some underlying ‘sticky’ components like car and health insurance, rents and hospitality costs. The Federal Reserve is not winning the war against inflation.
Jack Rasmus has pointed out that the official US estimate of the rise in the price level for American households since 2020 is around 24%. But that number does not properly account the rise in prices for many basic food staples like bread, milk, eggs, chicken, etc. that have risen 30-40% since 2020. The true cost of shelter (home prices, rents) has risen even more. The prices for homes nation-wide are up 39% according to the Shiller home price index. But households’ mortgage costs—i.e. what households actually pay out of their monthly budgets— are up 113%! US official price indexes like the CPI do not include mortgage interest rates. Mortgage inflation due to rising interest costs has thus risen far faster and higher at 113% than the 39% for the price of buying a house. The inflation for shelter (houses and rents & related costs) is even higher if home insurance costs, home repairs, and other fees that define ‘shelter’ in government statistics are included. Interest rates on credit cards rose from 16% to 24%, bank auto loans roughly doubled to 9% on average for car purchases, while student loans surged to 6.8% and more. “When interest inflation is properly accounted for—along with increases in local government property and other taxes, fees, and other charges not considered by the government’s Consumer Price Index—the true inflation experienced by US households since January 2021 is easily 35%-40% and therefore much higher than the official CPI number of 24%.”
And then there are Trump’s plans to hike tariffs on imports, not just on producer goods from other countries, but also in key consumer sectors. That is very likely to put upward pressure on prices for households, unless the US dollar keeps rising in exchange value compared to other currencies. But that may not continue. Trump is demanding that the Federal Reserve cuts rates in 2025. If the Fed concedes, the dollar may fall as inflation rises – a conflict of outcomes for Trump. However, there are increasing indications that the Fed, still hoping to win the war on inflation, will hold interest rates where they are, despite Trump’s pressure, especially as Trump’s planned tariff hikes and deportations of undocumented migrant workers would push up prices and labour costs for US industry.
According to Vice President Vance, the Trump Administration plans to deport roughly 1 million undocumented workers per year. The current number of undocumented workers in the US is estimated at 11.7 million, but the rate of increase is falling.
The Immigration Council estimates that a deportation program could cost $88 billion per year if implemented. And as I have pointed out before, net immigration has been crucial to US economic growth in recent years. Cutting that back, the PIIE estimates, would lead to a real GDP decline of 1.2%-7.4% by 2028, with similar declines in employment as a result. Probably, however, deportations will not reach that level and ‘legal’ immigration of skilled workers will continue at some pace under Trump.
Trump’s domestic policies are much clearer to follow. He wants to make significant further cuts in income tax and corporate profits tax, while at the same time cutting back government spending, particularly at the federal level – classic neoliberal ‘trickle down’ economics.
Cutting government spending won’t be so easy as legions of neo-liberal governments have found. US government ‘discretionary’ spending is already slashed to ribbons. Welfare, medicare etc are ‘entitlement’ spends, much more difficult to reduce. Trump’s new cutting Tsar, Elon Musk, will find that the only areas he can cut are in defense spending! Federal employment of 3m people is at its lowest level as a share of US employment in 85 years (~2%). Within Federal workers, the largest employer is the Dept of Defense (excluding active military) followed by the Postal Service and Veterans Affairs. Musk’s most likely targets, the Environmental Protection Agency, Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Labor combined account for less than 1% of federal workers, while the Department of Education accounts for just 0.14%.
Talking of ‘defence spending’, in his Davos speech, Trump came back to his regular demand that European governments start paying for their own defence and to support Ukraine. He said he would demand that NATO members pay 5% of their GDPs in defence, more than doubling the current average. Such a shift in spending towards the military would be crippling for Europe’s public finances, when national governments in the EU are supposed to invest more on climate control and AI digitisation, while at the same time achieving primary fiscal surpluses over the medium run to meet EU fiscal rules.
Nevertheless, Trump ranted on about how Europe’s “regulatory regime” treated America “very badly” and “very, very unfairly with the VAT taxes and all of the other taxes they impose”. Europe’s regulation of US tech firms takes billions from Apple, Google and Facebook, he said. Europe doesn’t buy US farm products or US cars, but instead sends cars to the US by the millions. This results in “hundreds of billions of dollars of deficits” with the EU, so “We’re going to do something about it.”
All this made the Davos speech by EU Commission President Von der Leyen particularly feeble. She recognised that Europe was falling behind the US in new technologies investment.
“To sustain our growth in the next quarter of the century, Europe must shift gears.” She announced that the European Commission is about to present a roadmap to growth, called the Competitiveness Compass. What will this roadmap advocate for the ‘existential challenge facing Europe (Mario Draghi) and given Trump’s plans to trash Europe’s economies? It’s not more public investment, but instead a reliance on EU-wide private capital finance.
“Europe needs a deep and liquid capital market.” You see, European companies cannot raise the funding they need, “because our domestic capital market is fragmented” ie too small. What’s the answer? The Commission wants to create a European Savings and Investments Union – “with new European saving and investment products, new incentives for risk capital and a new push to ensure the seamless flow of investment across our union.” So it’s more money for financial capital and more profits for investors.
The second policy move is to deregulate European industry: “too many firms are holding back investment in Europe because of unnecessary red tape.” The European single market still has too many national barriers, so Europe needs one single set of rules.
The third policy is to lower energy costs. You see, Russia cut off Europe’s energy supplies (!) and so costs have risen. And now the US provides over 50% of our LNG supply. Der Leyen admitted that “households and businesses saw sky-high energy costs and bills for many are yet to come down. Now, our competitiveness depends on getting back to low and stable energy prices.”
How is this to be done? With more ‘clean energy’ from renewables and new technologies, like fusion, enhanced geothermal and solid-state batteries; but not by more public investment but by mobilising “more private capital to modernize our electricity grids and storage infrastructure.”
So Europe’s answer to Trump is to rely yet more on US energy imports; to hope that the private sector will invest in new technologies because Europe will ‘deregulate’; and the financial sector will lend more for investment rather than speculate in financial assets. I leave you to judge how likely it is that this strategy will succeed.
The future, as painted in Davos by Trump and Von der Leyen, is one of more barriers to trade between countries; and more deregulation so that bankers and industrialists can do what they want, whatever the damage to consumers safety and rights and whatever the impact on the environment and the climate. Von der Leyen said that the Paris Agreement on climate targets was vital to maintain (even though its target limit was passed in 2024), while Trump has taken the US out of the agreement (again). More to the point, relying on the private sector to deliver on increased investment in technology and climate control to turn the world economy around will prove, yet again, to fail.
Meanwhile, inequality of wealth and incomes around the world continues. Every year at Davos, Oxfam presents a damning report of inequality and every year the attendees at Davos generally ignore it. This year Oxfam economists found that “billionaire wealth has risen three times faster in 2024 than 2023. Five trillionaires are now expected within a decade. Meanwhile, crises of economy, climate and conflict mean the number of people living in poverty has barely changed since 1990.” The report pointed out that most billionaire wealth is taken, not earned – “60% comes from either inheritance, cronyism and corruption or monopoly power.” The wealth of each of the richest 10 men has grown by almost US$100 million a day in 2024 on average. “Even if you saved US$1,000 daily since the first humans, 315,000 years ago, you still would not have as much money as one of the richest ten billionaires. If any of the richest 10 billionaires lost 99% of their wealth, they’d still be a billionaire.”
UK finance minister Rachel Reeves also rolled up to Davos. At a breakfast event on the second day, someone asked Britain’s chancellor how she felt about “wealth creation” – was she relaxed, in a Blairite sense? “Absolutely,” Reeves replied. “Absolutely relaxed.” Apparently, the grotesque level of wealth in the Oxfam report and openly shown by the oligarchs attending Davos did not worry her. She reminded me of a previous Labour minister in Tony Blair’s government, Peter Mandelson (now ironically UK ambassador to Trump’s US), who once infamously said that he was “intensely relaxed about people becoming filthy rich”… “if they paid their taxes” (which, of course, they hardly do).
IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva was also at Davos, of course. She reminded a select group of global political, business, and civil society leaders of Keynes’ words from a 1930 essay, written against the backdrop of the Great Depression, the rise of communism and fascism, and national and international despair. She loves quoting Keynes. This time she quoted: “I predict that both of the two opposed errors of pessimism which now make so much noise in the world will be proved wrong over time: the pessimism of the revolutionaries who think that things are so bad that nothing can save us but violent change, and the pessimism of the reactionaries who consider the balance of our economic and social life so precarious that we must risk no experiments.” Apparently, there is a middle way of optimism that does not require revolution, but does require change.
Keynes wrote this after a speech to his students at Cambridge urging them not to accept Marxist critiques and remain optimistic that capitalism would take humanity forward. What followed after 1930 was a deep depression in the major economies, the rise of fascist and nazi forces, WW2 and the holocaust. Let’s hope that Georgieva’s reference to Keynes does not herald a repeat of that in the 2030s.
Davos 2025: Trump v Von der Leyen
thenextrecession.wordpress.com
Every January, the World Economic Forum (WEF) convenes in the luxury ski resort of Davos, Switzerland. This year, as usual, some 3000 people attended from over 130 countries to discuss the problems…
Residents ordered to pay $850,000 bond to appeal Ohio derailment settlement vow not to give up
apnews.com/article/ohio-train-derailment-norfolk-southern-settlement-8e984323f9a3eec9c3a6077411fc…
BY JOSH FUNK
Updated 12:15 PM PST, January 23, 2025
Residents challenging Norfolk Southern’s $600 million settlement for the disastrous East Palestinetrain crash have asked a court to reject a judge’s order requiring them to put up an $850,000 bond to continue their appeal for higher compensation and more information about the contamination.
Nearly $300 million of the settlement has been on hold because of the appeal even though a judge approved the deal in September. The holdout residents are urging the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to stop them from having to put up the huge sum to continue with their claims stemming from the February 2023 derailment and fire.
Class-action attorneys who negotiated with Norfolk Southern have said the appeal will add significant administrative costs for the firm disbursing person injury payments to people who lived or worked within 20 miles (32 kilometers) of the derailment site even though $18 million has already been set aside to cover expenses.
The freight train derailment in the Ohio village near the Pennsylvania state line included 11 cars transporting hazardous materials. Area residents evacuated and, days later, officials fearing a possible uncontrolled blast intentionally released and burned toxic vinyl chloride from five rail cars, sending flames and black smoke into the sky.
Attorney David Graham said his clients are pressing ahead with the appeal in the belief that the settlement does not do enough to compensate them for possible future health effects. They worry the contaminants could lead to cancers and other serious ailments in the future, and they want to know what the lawyers uncovered during their investigation so they can better judge the risks.
“We’re not intimidated and we’re not going anywhere,” Graham said.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency has said toxic levels of chemicals haven’t been detected in the community since shortly after the derailment, but residents and some of the doctors conducting research on the health effects of the train derailment say they are concerned about the health impacts of prolonged exposure to low levels of chemicals.
Separately, the class action attorneys have refused to disclose what their own testing expert discovered when he visited the community because they agreed to keep that information confidential as part of the settlement.
Even while the appeal continues, the company handling the settlement has begun to distribute $120 million for personal injury claims. Many residents have been waiting months to receive official letters advising the amounts they would receive.
The class-action lawyers, who received $162 million in fees for their work on the case, promised residents last summer that they would get up to $25,000 per person for personal injuries if they lived within two miles (3 kilometers) of the site. But accepting that money meant that residents were giving up the right to sue later if they do develop health problems.
At the time, dozens of railcars careened off the tracks, spilling their toxic contents and catching fire. The disaster was made worse three days later when officials decided to blow open five tank cars of vinyl chloride and burn their contents, a step investigatorslater determined was unnecessary.
The main payments of up to $75,000 per household for property damage have been on hold because of the appeal. The amounts people are to receive from the settlement gradually decrease the further they are from the derailment site — down to just a few hundred dollars at the outer edges.
Some residents who have received determination letters about the payments have posted online that they are sometimes thousands less than promised last summer. Others posted that the amounts are exactly as advised.
The class-action attorneys always emphasized the largest possible payments in their meetings in the community, but the official formula dictating how much each person would receive was not available until after the settlement was approved.
The official formula posted online says says that people who lived or worked in town when the derailment happened and didn’t return until after the evacuation order was lifted on Feb. 8, 2023, will be eligible to receive a full payment. Their settlement will be reduced if they moved to town after the derailment happened. Several other factors will also help determine how much residents receive.
Representatives of the Kroll company that is administering the settlement payments didn’t respond Tuesday and a representative of the class-action attorneys said they didn’t have anyone available to answer questions before Wednesday.
The East Palestine derailment was the worst rail disaster in a decade and prompted calls for reform. A subsequent rail safety bill in Congress stalled and was never approved. The industry promised apnews.com/article/railroad-safety-derailment-east-palestine-norfolk-southern-bef9b47b5200f033d2f… changes like adding more trackside detectors to help spot defects before they can cause derailments, but those haven’t yet made a significant difference in railroads’ safety records.
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This story has been corrected to show the explanation of how the formula that determines how much people will receive from the settlement works. People who lived or worked in town when the derailment happened and didn’t return until after the evacuation order was lifted on Feb. 8, 2023, will be eligible to receive a full payment.
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JOSH FUNK
Funk is an Associated Press reporter who covers all the major freight railroads including Union Pacific, BNSF, Norfolk Southern, CSX, Canadian National and CPKC. Funk also covers Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and has been attending Buffett’s “Woodstock for Capitalists” annual meeting every spring in Omaha, Nebraska, for 19 years.
Residents ordered to pay $850,000 bond to appeal Ohio derailment settlement vow not to give up
apnews.com
The residents who question whether Norfolk Southern’s $600 million settlement offers enough compensation for the East Palestine train crash don’t plan to let a judge’s order requiring an $850,000 bond…
Could robotaxis be yet another reason for S.F.’s lack of new housing?
www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/robotaxis-charging-parking-housing-20025859.php
By J.K. Dineen,
Reporter
Jan 22, 2025
Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle
The proliferation of driverless vehicles buzzing up San Francisco’s hills and down its boulevards has prompted debate over traffic safety and the benefits and pitfalls of replacing human drivers with robots. But the question of where the city allows them to park and charge their batteries could be getting in the way of one of San Francisco’s most pressing needs: housing developments.
From Jackson Square to the Mission to SoMa, some San Francisco property owners are trading in risky, but potentially lucrative, housing developments, at a time of high interest rates and construction costs, for the relatively easy money offered by the autonomous vehicle industry’s growing need for fleet charging lots.
‘A perfect storm’: California’s housing crisis could worsen as construction slows
For instance, a fleet of Waymos can be found charging at 350 Pacific Ave., where a developer had previously proposed a 78-unit condo project. The owner of the old Caesar’s Restaurant at 2293 Powell St. — long a blighted property that had been under review for a 24-unit development — recently won permission to establish 19 superchargers for an AV fleet.
As the most prominent autonomous vehicle fleet in the city, the Alphabet-backed Waymo is proven to adapt quickly as it matures. It has its biggest fleet charging station at Toland Street in the Bayview, a former Uber lot. For a few weeks last summer Waymo was parking robotaxis at 350 Second St., a parking lot that is slated to become a hotel. But the Waymos were pulled out after nearby condo owners complained that a technical glitch was causing the robot cars to honk at one another — though Waymo said it was planning to leave the site before that incident.
And those who follow the autonomous vehicle fleets have tracked Waymo’s use of several other big SoMa development sites, including various parcels that are part of BPX’s Fourth and Harrison property, which is entitled for nearly 1 million square feet of office space as well as an eight-story low-income housing project with 144 units.
“I could definitely see why developers are inclined to put in AV charging stations given the cost and difficulty of building housing in San Francisco,” said Michael Montilla, a UC Berkeley Ph.D candidate who studies the autonomous vehicle industry. “It’s a balancing act, but in some cases AV might be the easier revenue-generating option.”
Stalled development sites used for AV parking
Several sites that San Francisco has earmarked for development have yet to break ground. In the meantime, they’re being used as charging points or for parking robotaxis.
Map of Eastern San Francisco showing autonomous vehicle sites with alternative uses.
While San Francisco is a famously difficult and costly place to put up housing, it’s not as if building “Level 3” supercharging stations is free or easy, according to electrical contractors who build out lots. One supercharging station can cost as much as $400,000, with about half of that money going to PG&E, which has a backlog of nine months or more for new projects.
At 1201 Eighth St., which was previously slated for 15 housing units, the 23 superchargers could cost more than $8 million. For developers looking to make long-term income from AV fleet charging, that level of investment could be worthwhile. But it’s probably not attractive as a temporary use while a builder is waiting for interest rates and construction costs to come down to the level where housing works.
In addition, legislation sponsored by Supervisor Connie Chan and former Supervisor Aaron Peskin in 2023 imposed an extra layer of political process to groups looking to build fleet charging stations, a conditional use permit that automatically requires a Planning Commission hearing. A property owner at 330 Eighth St., for example, has been in the process of winning permission to build an AV fleet charging facility since late 2022 and is still awaiting approval.
The idea that development sites slated to provide housing, hotels or lab space might instead be used for autonomous vehicle charging has become a crusade for the Teamsters, who are battling the growing likelihood that massive tech companies like Amazon and Alphabet are gunning to replace its members with self-driving delivery trucks.
The robotaxi industry is regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission, which has been supportive of the industry, which means that local groups hoping to exert pressure on companies like Waymo have to do so through land-use restrictions.
“Pretty clearly in San Francisco we have a housing crisis, and it’s outright bad public policy to build charging stations and store robot taxis on land that could be used to build housing for middle-class working people struggling to live in our city,” said Peter Finn, president of Teamsters Joint Council 7.
Professional drivers make up the most common job category in California and 29 other states, said Finn.
Autonomous vehicles “cause congestion, they undermine public transportation, they eliminate driving jobs,” Finn said. “We want to be careful and thoughtful on how we make these decisions. These robot taxis are not just funny little weird things rolling around.”
Currently, the Teamsters are focused on fighting a proposed 138-vehicle fleet charging station proposed for 1111 Pennsylvania Ave. in Potrero Hill. The property owner had previously entitled the site for a five-story, 150,000-square-foot laboratory building with retail on the corner of Pennsylvania and 25th Street, currently a self-storage facility.
The planning commission had been scheduled to vote on the project in early January, but the item was postponed until February. The charging station is an allowable use under the current zoning but requires a conditional-use authorization, according to Planning Department Chief of Staff Dan Sider.
Sider said the willingness of companies like Waymo to pay high rent for supercharger facilities in neighborhoods the company serves “makes the calculus more challenging” for residential developers who have struggled since the pandemic to raise capital for housing.
“My hunch is that at the end of the day a parking lot, even one with that level of infrastructure, is not going to generate as much income as a 500,000-square-foot new building,” he said.
Planning director Rich Hill said the department would rather have the AV fleets in industrial areas, instead of residential.
The planning application for 1111 Pennsylvania states that the end user for the project has not been identified. A Waymo spokesperson said the company is not involved in the project, although the Teamsters are opposing it as a facility that will likely eventually be used by robotaxis.
The need for AV fleet charging is a small piece of the larger demand for electric vehicle charging infrastructure. San Francisco has 3,000 light-duty vehicles that need to plug in, and Muni is planning for 1,000 electric buses. In 2023 EVs and plug-in hybrids make up 37% of new vehicle sales in San Francisco.
For several years South Park resident John Berry, a software engineer who works in the data and software platforms, has been tracking Waymo’s technical progress and poring over the company’s quarterly reports to state regulators.
He said, ultimately, where Waymo stores and charges their robot vehicles means a lot more to the property owner than the tech behemoth.
“When you are losing $3 billion a year, paying rent on a dozen or 20 parking lots is not that big a deal — these guys have massive data centers consuming hundreds of millions of dollars in electricity,” he said. “Steady cash flow from somebody with some of the deepest pockets in the world, that is a nice thing to have in your real estate portfolio. They can afford to pay as much as they want.”
Reach J.K. Dineen: jdineen@sfchronicle.com
Could robotaxis be yet another reason for S.F.’s lack of new housing?
www.sfchronicle.com
As more robotaxis hit San Francisco roads, their need for charging stations could be contributing to the city’s lack of new housing.