Latest news with #Yager
Global News
20 hours ago
- Business
- Global News
Environmental group seeks ethics investigation into adviser for Alberta Premier
Environmental lawyers are asking Alberta's ethics commissioner to investigate an energy regulator board member and adviser to Premier Danielle Smith for conflicts of interest. Susanne Calabrese, a lawyer for Ecojustice, says David Yager's appointments combined with his history of consulting for oil and gas companies put him at odds when he was hired to craft a government strategy for managing inactive oil wells. The strategy was published in April and put forward nearly two dozen recommendations, including having legislation create companies that would take over inactive wells and use profits for cleanup efforts. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Critics like Calabrese say the strategy and its recommendations are more focused on sustaining and supporting oil companies than accelerating cleanup of the nearly 80,000 inactive wells across the province. Calabrese and an affected landowner have asked the ethics commissioner to determine if Yager's recommendations directly benefit companies he consulted for and if they go against his responsibility as a board member for the Alberta Energy Regulator. Story continues below advertisement 2:01 University of Calgary study looks at abandoned oil well burden in Alberta Energy Minister Brian Jean's office says the province contracted Yager for his valuable experience in the oil sector and his perspective on industry issues. Yager did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
National Observer
a day ago
- Business
- National Observer
Alberta landowner files conflict-of-interest complaint against Danielle Smith appointee
An Alberta landowner dealing with an orphan gas well on his property wants an investigation into an oil industry insider and advisor to Premier Danielle Smith. David Yager led the creation of a controversial strategy that would shift the burdens of oil and gas well clean up from industry to the public, while also working as an industry consultant. Yager is a long-time oil and gas industry insider who has worked as an executive for a handful of oilfield companies, including Tesco Corporation, which he founded. Yager's business website offers consulting services for the oil and gas service industry. At the same time, he is sitting on the board of the Alberta Energy Regulator and acting as a 'special advisor' to Premier Danielle Smith. The complaint, filed to the Ethics Commissioner by Ecojustice on July 22, alleges Yager's role in the creation of the controversial Mature Asset Strategy violated the Conflict of Interest Act. 'He can't have all those roles at the same time,' Susanne Calabrese, staff lawyer at Ecojustice, said in a phone interview with Canada's National Observer. 'In our opinion, it's impossible to represent the interests of a part of the government, an independent regulator, private companies and then the public, all at the same time.' Reached by phone, Yager declined to comment on the complaint. Canada's National Observer received an unattributed, emailed statement from the Office of the Minister of Energy and Minerals defending Yager's appointment. David Yager, a long-time oil and gas industry insider and advisor to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, is the focus of a new complaint that alleges his role in the creation of the controversial Mature Asset Strategy is a conflict of interest. 'Mr. Yager has been contracted to work with the Government of Alberta based on the unique skills and experience he brings from a long career in the oil and gas sector, as well as the valuable perspective he brings to significant issues relating to the energy sector,' the statement read. It referenced his over 50 years of experience in upstream oil and gas and time as founder, executive officer and director of three publicly traded oilfield service companies 'specializing in wellbore construction, completion, remediation, abandonment, production optimization, regulatory compliance and the physical protection of workers, assets and the community.' The statement did not directly address the complaint, which at the time of correspondence had not yet been filed to the Ethics Commissioner. Ecojustice said the complaint is expected to be filed on Tuesday. 'We didn't know if it's leaking' Dwight Popowich has been fighting for nearly eight years to clean up an inactive, orphaned gas well on his property, about a quarter mile from his house. A few months ago he managed to get the well designated as an orphan well through the industry-funded Orphan Well Association, which is supposed to trigger a clean up process, but was told it will be 10 to 12 years before it is reclaimed. He filed the complaint almost four months after the strategy to deal with aging oil and gas infrastructure was released and widely criticized by landowner associations, environmental groups and the Rural Municipalities of Alberta. 'How is this protecting my rights? It's like my rights are totally ignored as a landowner, as a taxpayer,' he told Canada's National Observer in a phone interview. 'When you sit on the Alberta Energy Regulator board you're supposed to be independent from government. Well, how is he independent from government and he's a special advisor to the premier at the same time?' Popowich said. Popowich said the well has thrown a wrench in his plans to sell the property because no one wants to buy a liability. And if the gas well on his property is leaking he would never be the wiser because it would be colourless and odorless and require someone with special equipment to detect. 'These are industrial sites. They have dangerous vapors coming off of them. Some of them are explosive, some of them are poisonous, some of them are both,' Popowich said. 'We didn't know if it's leaking, if it's safe.' Billions in liabilities Alberta is littered with defunct oil and gas wells. The Mature Asset Strategy estimated there are 274,215 well sites that have not been reclaimed. Of those, about 101,000 are classified as 'marginal,' meaning they currently produce very little oil or gas and are on the way out. Some are 'abandoned' and sealed off with concrete, while others are left unplugged and called 'orphaned' wells because no company is legally responsible for cleaning them up. Though estimates vary, the cost to deal with all these wells is astronomical. The Alberta Energy Regulator has clean-up billed at about $36 billion while a 2023 research paper from the School of Public Policy estimates current liabilities are at least $60 billion. To deal with the problem, Alberta commissioned the creation of the Mature Asset Strategy, led by Yager, which was developed through months of closed-door discussions with oil and gas companies and other stakeholders. Of the 98 participants consulted on the strategy, at least 50 participants were from the oil and gas industry, with another 10 participants referred to as technical and engineering. No participants from environmental groups or landowner or citizen groups are listed. Three were listed as Indigenous 'Ministries/Organizations/Representatives' The Rural Municipalities of Alberta, which participated in the process, criticized the report as focusing too much on recommendations that benefit industry, with little regard for impacts on municipalities, landowners, the environment and the broader public interest. The recommendations are vague but there is a common 'narrative of lessening environmental standards,' Calabrese said. For example, one of the recommendations in the strategy suggested existing defunct oil and gas well sites could be outfitted with solar panels instead of undergoing full reclamation, saying this arrangement would deliver 'both environmental and economic benefits.' 'When we look at the whole process, we realize that the whole thing probably had a predetermined outcome before it was even started,' Popowich said. 'A flawed process, potentially tainted by conflicts of interest, leads to a flawed product,' Calabrese said. 'We're really concerned that the public did not get what they paid for with a Mature Asset Strategy because of all these conflicts of interest, and that's why we want the ethics commissioner to look into this matter.' 'This is their circus; this is their monkeys' All of this runs counter to the polluter pays principle, which states companies should bear the cost of cleaning up their messes, not taxpayers, Popowich said. Oil and gas companies are notorious for not paying taxes to municipalities and this is another key issue critics say was not adequately addressed in the strategy. Landowners like Popowich are supposed to be paid a land lease by the company operating on their land, but if a company goes bankrupt the payments stop and landowners have to apply to the government to receive the money. The result? Alberta taxpayers pay millions of dollars in these failed land lease payments, Calabrese said. 'This was created by the industry. This is their circus; this is their monkeys. We should have nothing to do with this,' Popowich said. Yager was hired to do this work, and previous work, through a series of four sole source contracts with the government of Alberta and the complaint asks the ethics commissioner to investigate this for possible violations of Alberta's procurement and sole course contract policy. Yager's website says he encouraged Smith to run for leadership of the Wildrose Party in 2009 and boasts he was the top fundraiser for her leadership bid that year. 'It's very interesting that after she was sworn into office only a few months later he's then had four back-to-back sole source contracts awarded,' Calabrese said. Yager's first contract in 2023 was $60,000 for 'Advisory Council on Alberta's Energy Future'; the report was never made public. Later that year he was awarded a $70,000 contract to complete a review of the AER. In 2024, he received $136,000 for 'Professional Services' and this year saw him awarded $156,000 for 'Advisory Services' thought to be related to the Mature Asset Strategy, according to the Ecojustice complaint. If the ethics commissioner decides to investigate Popowich's complaint it will eventually submit a report with its findings to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly with recommendations on what should happen next, Calabrese explained.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Tennessee law criminalizes AI technology for child pornography creation
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Beginning on July 1, 2025, it will be a crime in Tennessee to create or share technology specifically designed to create or facilitate the creation of AI-generated child pornography. The legislation, sponsored by Senator Ken Yager (R-Kingston), was signed into law by Governor Bill Lee on April 24, and it will take effect on July 1. The law makes it a felony to 'knowingly possess, distribute, or produce any software or technology specifically designed to create or facilitate the creation of AI-generated child sexual abuse material.' Possession will be a Class E felony, distribution will be a Class C felony and production will be a Class B felony. Locals, tourists recall major Gatlinburg crash that injured seven 'When in the wrong hands, artificial intelligence has the ability to make exploitive crimes even worse,' said Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch. 'I applaud the General Assembly and Governor Lee for seeing the value in strengthening our state's laws to better protect Tennesseans, and I'm proud our state is leading the way on common sense measures to ensure this emerging technology doesn't become a dangerous tool for bad actors.' Yager said the goal of the bill was to combat the rise of AI-generated child pornography while preserving legitimate AI applications. A release from his office explained that the legislation does not broadly ban AI, but targets tools with the intent to generate child pornography. The senator worked with the TBI to create the legislation. 'This law is about keeping pace with rapidly evolving technology to protect our children from unthinkable exploitation,' said Yager. 'Bad actors are using AI to create disturbing and abusive content, and Tennessee is taking a strong stand to stop it. By criminalizing the tools used to generate AI child pornography, we're giving law enforcement what they need to pursue offenders and protect victims.' What state laws protect kids against AI-generated deepfakes? This is not the first law in Tennessee targeting AI and child pornography. In 2024, the state added AI-generated images to the state's anti-child pornography laws. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Yahoo
Man Who Strangled Mom With Bungee Cord for "Sleeping Around" Learns Fate
Neil Howard, 46, will serve 30 years in prison after being convicted of murdering his mother, 60-year-old Norma Caraker Caraker was strangled to death with a bungee cord in Sept. 2023 after returning home from a date, according to detectives with the Troy Police Department Howard had been growing 'angrier and angrier and angrier" about his mother allegedly "sleeping around," said Assistant State's Attorney Luke Yager in his closing statement An Illinois man has learned his fate after a jury convicted him of strangling his mother to death with a bungee cord. Neil Howard, 46, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for strangling his mother Norma Caraker, 60, after she returned home from a date, according to a news release from the Madison County State's Attorney's Office. Assistant State's Attorney Luke Yager spoke about Howard's alleged motive for committing the crime during his closing statement at trial, saying: "This defendant had had enough of his mother. He'd had enough of her sleeping around. He'd had enough of her not giving him money.' His mother's dating was making Howard 'angrier and angrier and angrier, until he got drunk enough that he couldn't take it anymore," Yager told jurors. That is when Howard "wrapped that cord around her neck and he pulled, until she stopped breathing," Yager said. At the time of his mother's murder, Howard lived in the basement of her home in Troy, a city located close to the state's Missouri border and approximately 25 miles northeast of St. Louis. Police responded to the home at 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 13, 2023 after Howard called 911 and said that he was nervous because his mother was unresponsive, according to the release from the MCSA. The release said that officers arrived on the scene to find Caraker's lifeless body in her bed with a bungee cord fastened around her investigation into Caraker's death determined that she was likely murdered in her bedroom shortly after returning from a date, said a news release from the Troy Police Department. Howard was convicted of murder following a trial that lasted two weeks earlier this year, with jurors deliberating for three hours before returning with their verdict. Yager asked the judge to send Howard to prison for 45 years at his sentencing hearing, saying that the convicted murderer had previously been arrested for incidents involving other family members and at least one order of protection, a copy of which was obtained by PEOPLE. "It is clear that the defendant is a violent individual, and he's especially violent toward women," Yager said in court. In the end, Circuit Judge Amy Maher sentenced Howard to 30 years in prison. She also said in her order that Howard cannot be released until he serves that sentence in full, eliminating any possibility of early release. If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Summit Products Group Launches to Transform Surgical and Regenerative Healthcare
Announces Strategic Alliance with Medtech Pioneer NovaBone DALLAS, May 15, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Providers now have access to new surgical options designed to support precision and regeneration in the operating room, thanks to Summit Products Group, an emerging healthcare solutions provider that aims to 'transform surgical and regenerative innovation.' The company is announcing its formal launch and a strategic partnership with NovaBone Products, a leading developer of regenerative medicine biomaterials. 'Our growing portfolio is specifically engineered for surgical applications, which is ideal for OR and procedural settings,' said Greg Yager, chief commercialization officer of Summit Products Group. 'We're purpose-built for surgical precision and are building a platform that not only brings novel technologies to life—but also ensures they reach the hands of the providers who need them most.' With a focus on identifying product breakthroughs and supporting their path to market, Summit Products Group is committed to bridging the gap between innovation and real-world application. From FDA navigation and integrated logistics to field execution and provider enablement, Summit Products Group delivers end-to-end solutions that streamline access to advanced technologies for surgical and wound care professionals. 'In conjunction with the official launch, we're excited to announce our partnership with NovaBone Products, one of our industry's leading innovators,' noted Yager. 'This collaboration reflects our shared commitment to advancing surgical and regenerative wound care technologies and is one of many to come.' Yager added that the NovaBone partnership is the first of several strategic alliances with leading healthcare technology companies, designed to increase clinician access to advanced healthcare technology systems. 'NovaBone developed the first bioactive synthetic bone graft offered to the orthopedic community and has long been at the forefront of bioactive glass bone graft devices,' added Yager. Under the agreement, Summit Products Group will serve as an exclusive distributor of NovaForm® Wound Matrix, NovaBone's proprietary bioglass and collagen-based wound dressing, which recently received 510(k) clearance from the FDA. It is intended for use in the management of partial and full-thickness wounds, such as pressure ulcers, venous ulcers, diabetic ulcers and surgical wounds. The highly conformable, bioengineered matrix is designed to protect the wound, while maintaining a moist environment that supports the body's natural healing process. 'Partnering with Summit Products Group allows us to accelerate the growth of NovaForm® in the acute wound space,' said Scott Day, senior director of business development at NovaBone Products. 'Summit's already expansive distribution network, coupled with their expertise in the space, make them an ideal partner as we work to bring innovative and regenerative solutions to more patients and providers.' A Halma company, NovaBone is a privately held medical technology company based in Florida since 2002. NovaBone has developed numerous formulations and delivery systems of its patented, bioactive technology platform, resulting in accelerated bone growth. Its exclusively formulated bone graft substitute has been used for the repair of osseous defects throughout the skeletal system for more than a decade and has been used in more than a million clinical applications, with unparalleled success, validating the safety and efficacy of NovaBone's technology. On the web: Headquartered in Dallas, Summit Products Group is a specialized healthcare company dedicated to advancing surgical and regenerative solutions. With a mission to innovate, cultivate and elevate market-leading solutions, Summit Products Group identifies breakthrough products, guides them through regulatory pathways and delivers them to providers who demand clinical excellence. Through strategic partnerships, integrated logistics, and a deep understanding of FDA compliance, Summit Products Group brings clarity and confidence to the commercialization of novel technologies. On the web: Media Contact: Krista SimmonsBluebonnet Public Relations682-225-9135krista@ This press release was published by a CLEAR® Verified in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
