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Miami Herald
15 hours ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
General Atomics Demonstrates PFAS Destruction System for Minnesota Congresswoman, State and Local Officials
PERSES System Delivered to Lake Elmo Facility to Destroy PFAS Waste SAN DIEGO, CA / ACCESS Newswire / June 9, 2025 / General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced today that Minnesota Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN) and other members of state and local government attended a real-time demonstration of the complete destruction of per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) waste streams using GA-EMS' PERSES™ waste destruction system at a site located in Lake Elmo, MN on Friday, May 30. The PERSES system is on-site at the Lake Elmo facility for a four-week period to demonstrate the system's industrial-scale capabilities to destroy a wide variety of PFAS and PFAS contaminated waste. The PERSES system will be shipped to other suitable test sites for additional on-site PFAS destruction testing and demonstrations. "This is an exciting day as we learn how to break down the toxic chemical bond of PFAS. Through Department of Defense investment and private-sector innovation, General Atomics has achieved an extraordinary scientific breakthrough by completing a successful PFAS remediation in a controlled setting," said Congresswoman McCollum. "But there's still work to be done. Now, we must focus on scaling this technology so that it can be a solution for communities and military installations at large to eliminate the threat of PFAS pollution." GA-EMS is conducting the on-site demonstrations under a contract award by Bay West LLC, an environmental and remediation company leading a research program funded by the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) to deliver, install, and operate PERSES for multiple project demonstrations to destroy PFAS and PFAS contaminated waste. "We are extremely pleased to be working with Bay West and ERDC in welcoming Congresswoman McCollum, state, regional and local officials to witness the effectiveness of PERSES in the destruction of PFAS," said Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS. "On-site demonstrations such as this bring the power of PERSES directly into a community to demonstrate in person the system's capabilities to safely and efficiently eliminate PFAS from a broad range of waste media including landfill leachate, biosolid "sludge", soils and sediment, firefighting foam, and granular activated carbon and resin beads from filtration treatment systems. PERSES is the most effective tool in the waste remediation toolkit that can help bring an end to the forever cycle of PFAS contamination." PERSES utilizes GA-EMS' proven industrial Supercritical Water Oxidation (iSCWO) technology which has been in commercial use for more than a decade to effectively destroy PFAS and more than 200 hazardous and non-hazardous types of waste with 99.99% and greater efficiency. In a single process, PERSES destroys PFAS and PFAS waste with co-contaminants leaving behind only water, salts, and carbon dioxide which can be safely released into the environment with no post-treatment requirement. Bay West is a nationally recognized environmental consulting and remediation company headquartered in St. Paul, MN that provides solutions to government and commercial enterprises to navigate complex environmental concerns and ongoing remediation challenges. ERDC is an integral component of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and helps solve the nation's most challenging civil and military engineering, geospatial sciences, water resources, and environmental sciences for the Army, DoD, civilian agencies. SOURCE: General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems press release
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Yahoo
Growing Drone Threats Lead To Army Modular Shelter Kit Improvements
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) says it has developed upgrades for a family of modular, rapidly deployable protective structures to improve their ability to shield against drone attacks. The announcement follows Ukraine's unprecedented covert drone attacks that destroyed multiple Russian bombers and other aircraft at several bases across that country. The Ukrainian attacks had already underscored a heated debate about whether or not the U.S. military should be building more hardened aircraft shelters and other fortified infrastructure to improve its defenses against uncrewed aerial threats, as well as cruise and ballistic missiles, as you can read more about here. USACE's Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) quietly shared news about the anti-drone updates to the Modular Protective System-Overhead Cover (MPS-OHC) in a recent post on LinkedIn. MPS-OHC was originally developed during the Global War on Terror era in response to indirect fire threats like artillery shells, rockets, and mortar rounds that U.S. forces were facing in Afghanistan and Iraq. The modular structure system first began being employed operationally in the early 2010s. The full MPS family includes other modular structures designed to help provide force protection against other threats, including suicide bombers. 'The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) has improved the Modular Protective System-Overhead Cover (MPS-OHC) to better defend against drone attacks, which are increasingly targeting infrastructure, key assets, and critical resources in conflict areas,' ERDC's LinkedIn post reads. 'In April, the MPS-OHC underwent validation testing to its improvements for use in the Indo-Pacific region. These upgrades – including stronger armor, a new armor arrangement and easier setup on shipping containers – demonstrated a near perfect success rate in protecting against explosive threats.' In addition, 'the updated design can withstand direct hits and is quick to assemble without the need for a concrete foundation, making it ideal for rapidly changing situations. The system is scalable to protect a variety of assets and is already in use now with contracts awarded to send these systems to forward deployed soldiers,' the post added. 'ERDC researchers are creating guides on how to employ the system depending on the drone threat level and working to make upgrade kits widely available.' TWZ has reached out to ERDC for more information about the upgrades to the MPS-OHC. MPS-OHC does already offer a relatively simple and low-cost way to add additional layers of top-down defense against indirect fire threats already mentioned. The structures come in kits packed in standard shipping containers, the primary components of which are armored 'roof' elements covering areas up to 52.5 feet by 15 feet. Kits, some of which also come with their own wall units, can also be combined to create larger structures. As seen in the chart below, the costs per kit range from $57,000 to $359,000, depending on their exact configuration. 'The roof panels are composed of an inexpensive concrete core material combined with a tough elastic outer layer,' according to ERDCWERX, a non-profit 'innovation hub' that is partnered with ERDC. 'This panel eliminates penetration of fragments and debris from natural disasters, explosions, and even munitions.' The modular roof panel design also allows for at least some degree of tailorability to expected threats, according to a separate ERDC fact sheet. As such, the modular structures can be used to protect critical assets and equipment, non-hardened structures/containers, unprotected weapon systems, etc,' according to the fact sheet. 'The MPS-OHC can be assembled with no equipment and requires no special tools for up to a 30-ft span. Only a standard military 10k forklift is required for 30-ft to 52.5-ft spans.' Specialized engineering units are not required to erect the structures, either, the fact sheet adds. At the same time, uncrewed aerial threats are not limited to top-down attacks. The kinds of first-person-view (FPV) kamikaze drones Ukraine used in recent covert attacks on Russian airbases have a demonstrated ability to get inside buildings through any sufficiently sized openings. Many larger kamikaze drones also dive onto their targets at lower angles, rather than attack straight down. As seen earlier in this story, at least in their original configurations, the MPS-OHC kits present wide open fronts and backs, as well as significant gaps on the sides. Ukrainian drone operators located a concentration of Russian hardware inside a large warehouse somewhere in the south of Ukraine, preparing for an very skilled drone operators sent in several drones and eliminated several MBTs, IFVs, trucks and more. In the end, the… — (((Tendar))) (@Tendar) February 20, 2024 Russian correspondent hides from a Ukranian drone … it looks for him like in a scary movie. — Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) September 11, 2024 How the 'stronger armor' and 'new armor arrangement' for the MPS-OHC may address these and other issues is unclear. It is interesting to point out here that U.S. Air Force officials at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia have at least been looking into the possibility of adding retractable netting to open sunshade-style aircraft shelters at that base to address lower-end drone threats. Leadership at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina has also expressed interest in using an unspecified type of 'passive barrier' to provide additional counter-drone protection. Notably, both sides of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine have been making extensive use of nets and other kinds of add-on physical defenses to help shield armored vehicles, forward positions, and static structures against drone attack. Though Ukraine's recent attacks on Russian air bases offer a particularly glaring example, the threats posed by even weaponized commercial drones to critical assets and infrastructure, and well away from established battlegrounds, are not new, as TWZ regularly points out. Even lower-end uncrewed aerial systems are set to grow ever more capable of navigating to designated areas and finding targets on their own with limited, if any human intervention, thanks heavily to advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning. This, in turn, will only present additional challenges for defenders, as you can read more about in this past feature. What Ukrainian forces recently demonstrated in Russia with the use of weaponized commercial-type drones to conduct mass attacks on fragile aircraft exposed in the open on flightlines is a nightmare scenario that TWZ has been specifically highlighting the threat of for years now, as well. СБУ оприлюднила нове відео зі спецоперації «Павутина»: кадри показують шлях одного з FPV-дронів від вильоту з даху модульного будинку до ураження літака — СБ України (@ServiceSsu) June 7, 2025 More recently, a tangential debate about whether or not the U.S. military should be investing more in hardened base infrastructure, particularly new reinforced aircraft shelters, has also emerged around a shift toward preparing for a potential high-end fight in the Pacific against China. That focus is underscored by ERDC having directly linked to the MPS-OHC upgrades to the Indo-Pacific region in the LinkedIn post. Large established air bases would be prime targets for Chinese forces, in general, in such a conflict. The U.S. military does have hardened aircraft shelters and other fortified infrastructure at a number of bases, including in South Korea and Japan, but has not made significant investments on this front since the end of the Cold War. In January, the Hudson Institute think tank in Washington, D.C., published a report assessing that any aircraft parked in the open and fuel storage facilities at key airbases like Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Japan, Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, or Langley Air Force Base in Virginia could be neutralized by 10 enemy missiles, each with a warhead capable of scattering cluster munitions across areas 450 feet in diameter. The graphic below offers a divisual depiction of the areas such attacks could cover. U.S. military officials, especially those from the Air Force, do not dispute that there will be a need to fight from bases under attack during any future major conflict, such as one with China. However, they have often pushed back against major investments in new hardened facilities, typically citing cost, and arguing in favor instead of more active defenses like surface-to-air missiles. Work now to establish a new and expansive air and missile defense architecture on Guam is a choice example of this 'active' defense focus. 'We've always known that hardening our bases is something that we need to do. And so we have that actually, in our budgets, to be able to get more resilient basing, and we have some hardening for the shelters, and we have some more survivable capabilities of our bases forward,' Gen. David Allvin, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, said at a conference put on by the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) think tank las tweek. 'Right now, I don't think it's where we need to be.' 'It's something that we haven't necessarily been ignoring, but it's been a matter of resource prioritization,' he continued, questioning whether it would be an optimal use of funding 'if all we're doing is playing defense and we can't shoot back.' 'So, we will have the need for bases, the main operating bases from which we operate,' Air Force Gen. Kevin Schneider, head of Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), also said at the Air & Space Forces Association's (AFA) 2025 Warfare Symposium in March. 'The challenge becomes, at some point, we will need to move to austere locations. We will need to disaggregate the force. We will need to operate out of other locations, again, one for survivability, and two, again, to provide response options.' In line with Allvin's comments, Schneider added that these were all things that 'cost money' and force the Air Force to 'make internal trades,' such as 'do we put that dollar towards, you know, fixing the infrastructure at Kadena [Air Base in Japan] or do we put that dollar towards restoring an airfield at Tinian.' Though certainly not a silver bullet solution, Army MPS-OHC kits with added features to provide additional defense against drone attacks might provide one option for readily improving physical defenses at air bases and other facilities at a lower cost than traditional hardened structures. The MPS-OHC kits that exist now are orders of magnitude less expensive than new hardened aircraft shelters, which can cost millions of dollars apiece, though they also do not provide anywhere near that level of protection, especially against more powerful direct hits. The baseline kit options that exist now are also not large enough to readily hold a tactical jet, but it is possible they could be adapted to act as an aircraft shelter, especially if combined together. Still, in general, as TWZ has noted in the past, even unhardened shelters could provide at least a modicum of protection against drones with smaller warheads, cluster submunitions, and shrapnel from other munitions. Fully enclosed shelters of any kind would also make it harder for enemy forces to know where exactly to strike, potentially prompting them to waste valuable resources against empty targets. In the meantime, the U.S. military general downplaying of physical hardening at its bases is increasingly at odds with global trends. In recent years, China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran, in particular, have been steadily constructing additional hardened and unhardened aircraft shelters, as well as even more robust facilities, some of which are built underneath mountains. Russia's construction spree began well before Ukraine's recent covert drone attacks, but had been largely focused on bases closer to the front lines, including on the occupied Crimean Peninsula. Protective shelters for warplanes are also being constructed by the Russians at the Saki Air Base in the — Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) (BlueSky too) (@Archer83Able) June 9, 2025 The U.S. military also continues to lag behind in the development and fielding of counter-drone capabilities intended for use by forces downrange and at home. Inside the borders of the United States, an array of often obtuse laws and other regulations present further challenges for expanding counter-drone defenses, as you can read more about here. Passive defenses like hardened shelters and MPS-OHC kits are notably not subject to these stipulations, increasing their potential attractiveness for domestic use, at least in the near term. The U.S. military has been pushing for new counter-drone authorities within the U.S. homeland, as well. The recently announced upgrades to the MPS-OHC kits are an example of a new U.S. counter-drone capability that is actually in the process of being fielded, at least on some level, and one aimed at addressing increasingly glaring gaps in terms of physical defenses. Contact the author: joe@
National Post
21-05-2025
- Business
- National Post
Hecla Releases 2024 Sustainability Report
Article content COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — Hecla Mining Company ( NYSE:HL) has released its 2024 Sustainability Report, highlighting the Company's environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. Article content Article content 'Throughout Hecla's storied history, we have distinguished ourselves not only as a preeminent silver producer but as a pioneer in sustainable mining practices,' said Rob Krcmarov, President and CEO of Hecla Mining Company. 'In 2024, we demonstrated that responsible mining goes hand-in-hand with financial and operational success, achieving our second-highest silver production while maintaining high environmental standards. Our sustainability work, from wildlife protection and environmental monitoring to supporting local communities, is essential to producing the silver that the world needs to power our future. With unwavering commitment to excellence and guided by our values, we continue to create long-term value for all our stakeholders.' Article content HIGHLIGHTS OF 2024 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT Article content Over $1 billion direct economic impact to local communities Over 40 thousand hours of safety & health training hours Women comprise 38% of our Board of Directors 38% reduction in Scope 1 & 2 GHG emissions from our 2019 baseline Hecla's subsidiary, Elsa Reclamation and Development Company Ltd. (ERDC), will conduct its largest Yukon reclamation project in 2025, restoring historically mined areas for community benefit. Article content Hecla prepared the Sustainability Report with reference to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards and benchmarked its performance against the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Metals and Mining standards and against relevant aspects of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). Hecla also reported against the Mining Association of Canada's Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) framework for its Casa Berardi mine in Quebec, Canada. Article content The full 2024 Sustainability Report, along with the ESG data tables and GRI, SASB, TCFD, and TSM content indices, can be accessed on Hecla's website here. Article content ABOUT HECLA Article content Founded in 1891, Hecla Mining Company (NYSE: HL) is the largest silver producer in the United States and Canada. In addition to operating mines in Alaska, Idaho, and Quebec, Canada, the Company is developing a mine in the Yukon, Canada, and owns a number of exploration and pre-development projects in world-class silver and gold mining districts throughout North America. Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content Contacts Article content For further information, please contact: Article content Mike Parkin Vice President – Strategy and Investor Relations Article content Cheryl Turner Communications Coordinator Article content Article content
Miami Herald
16-04-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
General Atomics PERSES Waste Destruction System Scheduled to Destroy PFAS at Lake Elmo, Minnesota Site
On-Site, Industrial Scale PFAS and Other Organic Waste Destruction to Commence SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA / ACCESS Newswire / April 16, 2025 / General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced today that its commercial PERSES™ waste destruction system will be delivered to a Lake Elmo, Minnesota waste management facility to demonstrate the system's industrial-scale capabilities to destroy a variety of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) waste streams. GA-EMS was awarded a contract by Bay West LLC, an environmental and remediation company leading the research program funded by the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) to deliver, install, and operate PERSES for multiple project demonstrations to destroy PFAS and PFAS contaminated waste media. The system will be at the Lake Elmo site for about 4 weeks and then removed to other sites for additional tests under different contracts. "Minnesota's government leadership, as well as states across the nation are actively implementing strategies to eliminate PFAS from the environment and mitigate the adverse effects these "forever chemicals" have on public health and safety," said Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS. "We are excited to bring the destruction power of PERSES to Lake Elmo as local, state, and federal government agencies continue to evaluate PERSES' capabilities to eliminate PFAS from a myriad of waste streams. We appreciate the efforts the Lake Elmo city council and local community have made to support this project and look forward to a successful demonstration program." In 2024, Bay West conducted testing at the GA-EMS full-scale testing facility in San Diego and provided ERDC results analysis to verify PERSES 99.99% and greater PFAS destruction efficiency in a variety of waste media from both government and commercial supplied sources. The delivery of PERSES to the Lake Elmo facility is the next step in the project to commence on-site, industrial-scale destruction of PFAS and other organic waste in media including Aqueous Film-Forming Foam (AFFF), landfill leachate, biosolid "sludge", soils and sediment, and granular activated carbon (GAC) and resin beads from filtration treatment systems. Bay West, LLC, a nationally recognized environmental consulting and remediation company headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, provides solutions to government and commercial enterprises to navigate complex environmental concerns and ongoing remediation challenges. ERDC is an integral component of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and helps solve the nation's most challenging civil and military engineering, geospatial sciences, water resources, and environmental sciences for the Army, DoD, civilian agencies and for the nation's public good. Contact Information General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems Media Relations ems-mediarelations@ SOURCE: General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems press release
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Parents, child care providers march at Oregon State Capitol for accessible child care
About 100 people marched Tuesday from Amiguitos & Family Child Care Center in Salem to rally at the Oregon State Capitol before lobbying legislators to support bills that would improve access to affordable child care. Marchers chanted "Care Can't Wait" and "Si se puede," meaning "We can do it," banged on drums and carried signs with slogans like "Every family deserves quality child care." The march was organized by Family Forward Oregon, which describes itself as a "feminist organization committed to racial, gender, and economic justice," as well as the Child Care for Oregon Coalition and the Oregon Working Families Party. According to Family Forward, the waitlist for Oregon's Employment Related Day Care includes more than 10,000 families. The subsidy program helps working families afford child care. Advocates said the program is currently only funded to support about 12% of eligible families and ERDC needs an additional $500 million to meet Oregon's needs. Marchel Marcos, 32, of Hillsboro, said as a single mom raising two children she was never able to find child care she could afford. Marcos, the political director of Family Forward, said she was consistently denied access to care for her sons, now 13 and 9, because her sons' father was viewed as an available parent even though she said he was a domestic abuser. "They still saw the parent at home, who was my abuser, as an available child care provider, which kept me in that relationship until my kids were elementary age," Marcos said. Her sons, Royce and Kenji, joined her at Tuesday's march, leading the way with drums. Iyania McClendon, 24, said she had her son, now 3, a year after moving to Portland from Louisiana. McClendon said she couldn't find anyone to watch her son and her six-month old daughter until her mother moved from Louisiana to watch them. McClendon is a poet who goes by Soulful Sista Solflower. She does freelance and short-term work as a performer and coach, and said she had difficulty finding a full-time job where she could work while watching her children. "It sucks to know that I'm not alone in this, but it's also good to know that I'm not alone in wanting to fight against it," McClendon said. Maria Ceci Hinojos Pressey, the deputy director of PCUN, Oregon's farmworker union, spoke at the march. She said the inaccessibility of child care prevents people from getting raises and promotions because they have to stay home and take care of their children. "The people that make sure we have food on our table face a child care desert every single day," Pressey said. "Many people have to pull out of the workforce because they can't find child care." Parents and care providers lobbied lawmakers to support several bills to improve access and affordability for child care, in addition to asking for a budgetary increase for ERDC. Those bills include: House Bill 2593 would require the Department of Early Learning and Care to report enrollment in ERDC and identify strategies to increase enrollment. It's scheduled for a possible work session April 3. House Bill 2452 would strengthen the referral system that helps connect families with child care resources and providers. It's scheduled for a possible work session April 1. House Bill 2450 would require the DELC to prepare a child care impact statement when legislation is being considered that could impact the workforce and increase child care needs. No hearings or work sessions have been scheduled. House Bill 3008 would provide funding for the recruitment and retention of child care providers in Oregon. It's scheduled for a work session April 8. Isabel Funk covers breaking news and public safety for the Statesman Journal. Funk can be reached at ifunk@ or on X at @isabeldfunk This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Parents, caregivers lobby lawmakers to fund Oregon child care
