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USDA called on to end connections to net zero program P2DNZ
P2DNZ describes itself online as dedicated to “reducing dairy’s greenhouse gas…emissions over the next 30 years.”
By Tate Rosentreter | The Center Square contributor
Published: September 7, 2026 6:58pm
Two advocacy groups have brought the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s connections to a Biden-era net zero program to the department’s attention in a letter, while the groups also released a report detailing how the net zero program forces ESG policies onto farmers, which in turn raises prices for American consumers.
Executive director Sal Nuzzo of one of the groups in question, Consumers Defense, told The Center Square that the USDA withdrawing from Pathways to Dairy Net Zero would be “a win for American farmers and consumers.”
“The left cannot keep pushing costly climate mandates that raise the cost of producing food and then act like they’re not the ones to blame when grocery bills go up,” Nuzzo said. “Net zero has done nothing but make life less affordable for everyday Americans.
“President Trump and USDA should send a message to these climate activists by cutting off any association once and for all,” Nuzzo said.
Senior state government relations manager Samantha Fillmore of the other group in question, Heartland Impact, told The Center Square that Pathways to Dairy Net Zero (P2DNZ) “is the latest manifestation of globalists’ attempts to bankrupt small- and mid-sized American businesses and farmers, all in the name of ESG and net zero.
P2DNZ describes itself online as dedicated to “reducing dairy’s greenhouse gas…emissions over the next 30 years.”
Fillmore told The Center Square that “P2DNZ is presented as a voluntary, science-based initiative” but is in reality “the same ESG playbook we've seen used to squeeze entire industries into net-zero compliance without a single ballot cast.”
“And for what?” Fillmore said. “Even if every U.S. dairy farm eliminated its emissions entirely, the effect on global climate would be undetectable.
“Meanwhile, the compliance costs are very real, and they don't get absorbed by the big brands at the top,” Fillmore said. “They fall on the American family farms at the bottom. Further, P2DNZ threatens the American food supply chain, which makes our consumers and farmers vulnerable to foreign actors stepping in to fill the gaps.”
P2DNZ has not yet responded to The Center Square’s request for comment.
When reached, a USDA spokesman said: “President Trump will not stand idly by while large, consolidated milk processors and the protectionist anti-competition bodies like the EU attempt to force our hard-working producers to hand over sensitive personal farm data as a condition for selling their milk.
“Proponents of these burdens should be on notice: your ESG standards will no longer be applied to American farmers,” the spokesman said.
In their letter to the USDA, Heartland Impact and Consumers Defense recognized the “important steps” the Trump administration has taken to “remove political agendas from American agriculture.”
The letter brings attention to the USDA’s connections to P2DNZ and requests a withdrawal from it after detailing the negative effect such a relationship has on American farmers and families.
The report “The War on Dairy: Foreign Influence Subverting America’s Dairy Sector” released by Heartland Impact and Consumers Defense outlines the harm they say climate policy causes as well as the USDA’s relationship with P2DNZ.
Government relations director of think tank Heartland Institute Cameron Sholty told The Center Square: “As we see in this report, [ESG] continues to rear its head in nearly every facet - or at least key facets - of American life.”
“From energy to finance to the very food we produce and eat, environmental activism is continually emboldened by foreign interests that seek to undermine American exceptionalism and sovereignty,” Sholty said.
https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/usda-called-end-connections-net-zero-program-p2dnz
U.S. military sinks vessel in Pacific tied to Ecuadorian drug gang
U.S. Southern Command said crew was operating vessel for the Los Choneros narco-terrorist organization and its members will be turned over to Ecuadorian authorities.
By John Solomon
Published: September 7, 2026 8:57pm
Updated: September 7, 2026 8:58pm
The U.S. military said Monday it sank a floating refueling vessel in the Pacific Ocean and apprehended the crew members who were part of an Ecuadorian drug crime ring.
U.S. Southern Command said the crew was operating the vessel for the Los Choneros narco-terrorist organization and its members will be turned over to authorities in Ecuador.
A military task force “continues to conduct precise and professional operations to dismantle the logistical networks fueling narco-trafficking in the Western Hemisphere," SOUTHCOM wrote on X.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel's involvement with the Los Choneros violent narco-terrorist organization. Individuals removed from the vessel will be transferred to Ecuadorian authorities. After clearing the vessel and disembarking the crew, U.S. forces sank it,” the post added.
https://justthenews.com/government/security/us-military-sinks-vessel-pacific-tied-ecuadorian-drug-gang
Louisiana positioned as key gateway for Venezuelan crude
Trump administration is pushing to sharply increase Venezuelan oil production and direct more of it toward the United States.
By Nolan Mckendry | The Center Square
Published: September 7, 2026 6:57pm
Louisiana could emerge as one of the biggest domestic beneficiaries of a U.S.-backed expansion of Venezuela's oil industry, with refineries designed to process the country's heavy crude and infrastructure capable of receiving massive oil tankers offshore.
The Trump administration is pushing to sharply increase Venezuelan oil production and direct more of it toward the United States. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Wednesday that new investments could more than double Venezuela's oil output over the next several years. Chevron separately announced plans to invest $7 billion in its Venezuelan operations and roughly double its production there to 600,000 barrels per day.
Where those additional barrels ultimately go will be determined in large part by refiners and oil markets. But Louisiana has an advantage: Much of Venezuela's crude is heavy and high in sulfur, requiring more sophisticated refining equipment than lighter varieties of oil.
“Louisiana has the refineries capable to process the kind of heavy crude coming from Venezuela, making our state a natural beneficiary of increased supply from the region,” Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association President Tommy Faucheux told The Center Square. “As energy security remains a top international concern, the rest of the country will again be looking to Louisiana for leadership.”
Federal data support that assessment.
Louisiana had 15 operating refineries at the beginning of 2026 with combined crude oil distillation capacity of roughly 3 million barrels per day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
U.S. refineries are not interchangeable. Facilities are built around particular mixes of crude, and the EIA notes that while domestic U.S. production is dominated by lighter oil, the country continues to import heavier and more sulfur-intensive crude to supply refineries designed to process it.
Venezuelan oil is already moving disproportionately toward the Gulf Coast.
In May, the United States imported an average of 471,000 barrels per day of Venezuelan crude. Of that, 457,000 barrels per day were processed in the Gulf Coast refining region, according to EIA data. U.S. imports have continued rising since then, with the four-week average exceeding 600,000 barrels per day at points in July.
Louisiana also has something most states do not: an offshore crude terminal specifically built to handle oil tankers too large to enter conventional ports.
The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, or LOOP, sits about 18 nautical miles offshore and can load and unload some of the world's largest tankers. Crude moves through pipelines from the offshore terminal to storage facilities at Clovelly and into a pipeline network serving refineries. The state-regulated facility also has more than 80 million barrels of storage capacity.
According to Louis Gurvich, Director of the Louisiana Offshore Terminal Authority, many of the oil tankers coming from Venezuela "couldn't get anywhere near the Mississippi River or New Orleans fully loaded" because the waters are too shallow.
"A tanker pulls up to it, connects to one of the buoys and begins transferring crude," Gurvich told The Center Square. "It can handle both imports and exports and different types of crude, including light and heavy crude."
No other state currently operates a similar offshore terminal, leaving LOOP as a premier destination for the incoming Venezuelan oil.
The potential economic effect would not necessarily stop at refineries.
https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/louisiana-positioned-key-gateway-venezuelan-crude
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Traditional oil-service ports including Port Fourchon, the Port of Iberia and the Port of Morgan City could benefit indirectly if expanded Venezuelan production creates additional offshore and marine work in the Caribbean.
Washington and Caracas are now moving toward a major rebuilding of the Venezuelan oil industry after years of sanctions and declining production. Venezuela produced more than 3 million barrels per day during the 1990s but has recently produced roughly 1.1 million to 1.2 million barrels per day. The Trump administration says agreements now being negotiated with U.S. and international companies could more than double that output.
Gurvich expects the supply of Venezuelan oil to increase sharply in the coming years, which could mean a drop in the price of oil, which would mean a drop in the price of things like gasoline or asphalt, all else being equal.
Under an oil arrangement announced by the Trump administration in August, Venezuela granted North American Blue Energy Partners, a private company backed by the U.S. government, 100-year concessions to develop 17 oil fields containing an estimated 65 billion barrels of reserves. The U.S. government will hold a 35% stake in the company's parent and has secured rights to buy a portion of its oil production at cost.
For Louisiana, the state already has the refineries, storage, pipelines and offshore terminal needed to turn unusually heavy crude into usable fuels — infrastructure that could become more valuable as Venezuelan production returns to the world market.
https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/louisiana-positioned-key-gateway-venezuelan-crude
Catholic cardinal, nuns challenge assisted suicide law in Illinois
The Catholic archbishop of Chicago, two orders of nuns and a rural pharmacist filed a lawsuit against Illinois on Thursday over the state’s End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act. Cardinal Blase Cupich, the Carmelite Sisters for the
By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
Published: September 7, 2026 6:56pm
The Catholic archbishop of Chicago, two orders of nuns and a rural pharmacist filed a lawsuit against Illinois on Thursday over the state’s End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act.
Cardinal Blase Cupich, the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, the Little Sisters of the Poor and Morrison, Illinois pharmacist Luke Vander Bleek filed the complaint in federal court against Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs Director Terry Prince, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Sameer Vohra and Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation Secretary Mario Treto, Jr.
The plaintiffs argue the law violates their religious beliefs by forcing them to help terminally ill patients kill themselves.
“The elderly people who come to our homes are looking for a place where they will be cherished and cared for until natural death. They should be free to choose that kind of care without having assisted suicide inserted into it by the state,” Mother Julie Marie, mother provincial of the Chicago Province of the Little Sisters of the Poor said.
On behalf of the plaintiffs, Becket asked the court to block the law before it takes effect Sept. 12, when health care providers who refuse to take part in assisted suicide face significant fines and penalties.
The case follows a similar suit filed last month by Diocese of Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki, the Lutheran Care Center of Altamont, Illinois and four Christian medical professionals.
About 10 days later, on Aug. 21, U.S. District Judge Franklin U. Valderrama issued a temporary restraining order after state officials agreed to not force the parties involved to refer patients for medically-assisted suicide until the courts rule on the pending challenge to the law.
Plaintiffs in the new case filed Thursday said Illinois also threatens religious caregivers for speaking a life-affirming message against suicide by imposing a gag order on their care.
Senate Bill 1950 was initially filed to amend the Sanitary Food Preparation Act, but the bill text was gutted and replaced just before lawmakers passed the measure at the end of the 2025 fall veto session ended.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed SB 1950 last Dec. 12 on the Catholic feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Later that month, Pope Leo XIV said he was very disappointed and that he spoke explicitly with Pritzker about the legislation when the governor visited Rome in November.
https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/cardinal-nuns-challenge-assisted-suicide-law
9/11 victims urged to sign up for compensation fund
More than 6,000 people have now died from illnesses attributed to the aftermath of the attacks.
By Chris Wade | The Center Square contributor
Published: September 7, 2026 6:55pm
A federal official in charge of a fund for victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks urges first responders and others who may have suffered illnesses from New York City's Ground Zero to sign up for compensation.
In remarks in New York City, Special Master Allison Turkel said on Wednesday that people who were sickened or died in the aftermath of the terror attacks and their relatives continue to come forward to claim compensation, but said her office is ramping up public outreach to make others aware of the fund.
More than 6,000 people have now died from illnesses attributed to the aftermath of the attacks, more than double the number killed in the attacks themselves, Turkel told reporters in a Wednesday briefing.
The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, which was authorized by Congress, provides compensation to individuals, or a "personal representative" of a deceased individual, who were present at one of the three plane crash sites during the attacks, and who have since been diagnosed with a 9/11-related physical illness.
Those eligible for compensation include anyone who was in the New York City Exposure Zone, which spans the entirety of Lower Manhattan below Canal St., between Sept. 11, 2001, and May 30, 2002; the Pentagon crash site between Sept. 11, 2001, and Nov. 19, 2001; or the Shanksville, Pennsylvania crash site between Sept. 11, 2001, and Oct. 3, 2001.
Turkel pointed out that the fund is not limited to first responders and compensation is available to others who worked at the sites, including journalists, camera operators "those that worked or volunteered in construction, clean-up, and debris removal; power lines and telephone work for example as well as people who lived, worked, visited, or went to school in the NYC Exposure Zone.
"People do not have to be sick to register with the VCF," she said in her remarks. "Registration preserves their right to file a claim in the event that they — and we hope not — do get sick with a 9/11 related illness."
President Donald Trump signed a bill in 2019 during his first term in the White House, that fully funded the VCF to pay all eligible claims and extended the filing deadline to Oct. 1, 2090 to give potential claimants time to request compensation.
"Twenty-five years since the events of September 11th, 2001, we know it has become increasingly challenging for claimants to find documents needed to prove their presence at an eligible location, which is one of the key requirements to be eligible for compensation," she said in her remarks.
Last year, the fund awarded more than $1.8 billion to nearly 10,000 claimants, according to Turkel. Since the fund was reauthorized in 2011 and it has awarded more than 18 billion to more than 77,000 claimants, she said, A previous 9/11 compensation fund doled out $7 billion to nearly 7,000 victims and their families before it was shut down in 2004.
Turkel estimated as many as 400,000 people — those who lived, worked, went to school, or visited the area within the VCF’s New York City Exposure Zone — may have been exposed to toxins from the site. She vowed that her office would push to ensure that "processes and policies are fair and equitable for our claimants."
"We’ve made tremendous progress in forging relationships with strategic partners who are working to amplify our message to their audiences across the country," she said.
She told reporters that her office is fielding about 750 requests a month — an average of 25 per day — but wants to ensure other eligible individuals are aware that compensation is available to them.
"We ask everyone to think about the people you may know who might have been present in the New York City Exposure Zone, the Pentagon site, or the Shanksville, PA site during the eligible time periods," she said. "We ask that they share VCF information with their friends, family, community members or platforms, and visit our website at www.vcf.gov for information they can share."
https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/911-victims-urged-sign-compensation-fund
MAGA lawmaker Anna Paulina Luna claims Congress has seen proof of ‘interdimensional beings’
‘Based on the photos that I’ve seen, I’m very confident that there’s things out there that have not been created by mankind,’ Florida congresswoman says
Gustaf Kilander in Washington, D.C.
Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna has told podcaster Joe Rogan that Congress has seen proof of “interdimensional beings.”
“I think that they can actually operate through the time spaces that we currently have,” Luna said on Wednesday’s episode of the Joe Rogan Experience.
“And that’s not something that I came up with on my own. That’s based on stuff that we’ve seen. That’s based on information that we’ve been told,” she claimed.
Luna, and Kentucky Republican Rep. James Comer, sent letters in February to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, asking for a briefing on all records connected to UAP – unidentified anomalous phenomena.
The congresswoman, a rising star of the MAGA movement who has been endorsed by President Donald Trump, claimed that via her investigations, she’s uncovered new information.
“Based on testimony that would be based on witnesses that have come forward. But what I can tell you is just we’re told that … they’ve seen things,” Luna told Rogan.
“And what I can tell you without getting into classified conversations is that there have been incidences that I believe were very credible people have reported that there have been movements outside of time and space,” she added. “Based on the photos that I’ve seen, I’m very confident that there’s things out there that have not been created by mankind.”
She went on to explain that while she has not seen a spaceship or a portal, she’s searching for information that could lead her to more evidence.
Luna leads a task force working on the declassification of federal secrets, organized by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. She told Rogan that during her time working as an airfield manager with the Portland International Guard, she met F-15 pilots who had likely encounters with UAPs.
She added that she has seen photographic and historical evidence, and that she has spoken to pilots in the Air Force who alleged that UAP sightings are being covered up.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/congress-alien-proof-anna-paulina-luna-b2807705.html
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“There’s definitely something that I can tell you with confidence, that we don’t know how to explain currently,” said Luna. The Florida lawmaker added that she thinks the U.S. has reverse-engineered technology to build crafts originally created by non-humans.
Luna criticized the intelligence community for allegedly withholding information on UAPs, and similar matters.
“When you have thousands upon thousands of people throughout time that have reported something, to say that those people are crazy, to say that the whole concept of just asking the question [may mean] that you are not psychologically sound, that in itself is a disinformation campaign to get people to shut up about it,” she said.
“We know the U.S. government has not exactly been clean in a lot of what they’ve done with the American people, specifically to the topic of UFOs,” she added.
The congresswoman argued that there is a “protective complex” from authorities who think that Americans might not be able to handle the realities of what has been found.
In the last few years, Congress has addressed the issue of UAPs. Lawmakers have been pushing for more transparency and a safe reporting system for those encountering such phenomena, with a number of congressional hearings and investigations held.
In November last year, subcommittees of the House Oversight Committee held a joint hearing entitled "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth."
That came after the Pentagon issued a report in March 2024 stating that they had found no evidence of extraterrestrial spacecraft.
In July 2023, a House Oversight subcommittee also held a hearing with three former military officials who said they think the government knows much more about UAPs than it’s letting on.
Hearings have also included testimony from former intelligence officials and experts.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/congress-alien-proof-anna-paulina-luna-b2807705.html