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A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 18 august 2023
Oil worker health care fund is sought by New Mexico

congressman in swing district

By MORGAN LEE bor and workplace safety fuels and ease permitting
Associated Press guidelines. restrictions that delay pipe-
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — U.S. Vasquez said the proposal lines, refineries and other
oil field workers and their is an outgrowth of con- projects.
immediate relatives would cerns he has heard from oil The initiative still marks a
be compensated for unin- field workers in southeast- shift in focus from an un-
sured medical costs related ern New Mexico — and his fettered support of the oil
to air pollution and heat- observations about exten- industry under Vasquez's
related illness, under a bill sive profits and executive Republican predecessor,
introduced by a first-term compensation among ma- Yvette Herrell, and her criti-
Democratic congressman jor petroleum companies. cism of energy policies un-
from New Mexico. New Mexico is the nation's der the Biden administra-
U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez second-largest oil produc- tion that she said hindered
said Wednesday his bill er behind Texas. production of oil and other
would require oil and natu- "If you're an energy worker fossil fuels. The bill from
ral gas companies to pay in Hobbs or Carlsbad who Vasquez includes com-
into a trust that provides has a child who has asth- pensation for heat-related
reimbursement to work- ma, you would benefit from illness in the workplace —
ers for health costs associ- this legislation," Vasquez an area of increasing con-
ated with ailments linked said. cern as the energy sector
to methane and smog, Annual contributions to and other industries con-
including respiratory prob- a health care trust for oil tend with record-breaking
lems such as asthma. workers would be required temperatures this summer.
Workers would be eligible of energy companies with Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., speaks during a news conference President Joe Biden in July
to seek reimbursement for annual revenues over $50 to announce the bipartisan Southwest Caucus, Thursday, June announced new steps
15, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
costs not covered by pri- million. Those companies Associated Press aimed to protect workers,
vate insurance, Medicare would have to pay into the including hazard alerts for
or Medicaid, he said. Eligi- fund the same amount of ferred compensation. Republicans this year ap- extreme heat, improved
bility for specific medical money as they pay their 10 The bill has little chance proved a package that forecasting and better ac-
conditions would be de- highest-paid employees, of passing in the GOP- would sharply increase do- cess to drinking water on
termined under federal la- including bonuses and de- controlled House, where mestic production of fossil the job. q

Canadian woman sentenced to nearly 22 years for 2020 ricin letter

sent to Trump in White House

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Pascale Ferrier, 56, had that and is an “inordinately Buffalo, New York, carrying with prosecutors, which
Associated Press pleaded guilty to violat- intelligent” French immi- a gun, a knife and hundreds also would expel Ferrier
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Ca- ing biological weapons grant who had earned a of rounds of ammunition, from the country once she
nadian woman was sen- prohibitions in letters sent master’s degree in engi- authorities said. Investiga- is released and require her
tenced to nearly 22 years to Trump and to police of- neering and raised two tors also found eight similar to be under supervised re-
in prison in Washington ficials in Texas, where she children as a single parent. letters to law enforcement lease for life if she ever re-
Thursday in the mailing of a had been jailed for several But in September 2020, officials in charge of a Tex- turns. The judge noted a
threatening letter contain- weeks in 2019. prosecutors said Ferrier as jail where she was held “real disconnect” between
ing the poison ricin to then- Her defense attorney Eu- made the ricin at home in after she refused to leave a the Canadian grandmoth-
President Donald Trump at gene Ohm said Ferrier has Quebec and mailed the park area as it closed. er who has worked toward
the White House. no criminal record prior to potentially deadly poison In a winding speech, Fer- another degree while be-
derived from processing rier told the judge that she hind bars and the crimes
castor beans to Trump with considers herself a “peace- Ferrier pleaded guilty to.
a letter that referred to him ful and genuinely kind per- She pushed back on Fer-
as “The Ugly Tyrant Clown” son,” but gets angry about rier’s framing of her actions.
and read in part: “If it problems like unfairness, “That isn’t really activism,”
doesn’t work, I’ll find better abuses of power and “stu- she said. “I hope you have
recipe for another poison, pid rules.” She spoke about no desire to continue on
or I might use my gun when feeling like she had done this path.”
I’ll be able to come. Enjoy! little to support her values Prosecutor Michael Fried-
FREE REBEL SPIRIT.” while her children were man said the sentence was
The letter from Pascale Fer- young, and considered an “appropriately harsh
rier, which also told Trump herself to be an “activist” punishment” that sends a
“give up and remove your rather than a “terrorist.” She clear message.
application for this elec- expressed little remorse but “There is absolutely no
tion,” was intercepted at said, “I want to find peace- place for politically moti-
a mail sorting facility in ful means to achieve my vated violence in the Unit-
September 2020, before goals,” she said. ed States of America,” he
it could reach the White U.S. District Judge Dabney said. “There is no excuse
In this file photo provided by the Hidalgo County (Texas) Sheriff’s House. Friedrich handed down the for threatening public offi-
Office, showing Pascale Ferrier. She was arrested trying to 262-month sentence out- cials or targeting our public
Associated Press enter a border crossing in lined in a plea agreement servants.”q