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Groton Daily Independent
Saturday, July 29, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 029 ~ 56 of 67
agreement, an 80 percent stake would have been sold to China.
Two local companies whose shares will be split between the Chinese enterprise and the Sri Lanka Ports
Authority will be set up to handle the port’s operations, security and services. The Chinese company will be responsible for commercial operations while the Sri Lanka Ports Authority will handle security. The lease period is 99 years.
The port, built with a Chinese loan during the administration of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, is seen as a white elephant because it has failed to become nancially viable since it began operations in 2011. Before they were elected in 2015, opposition parties had criticized the project, but the government later sought help from China to make the port viable because of its severe underperformance and the heavy
burden of loan repayment.
The port’s annual loan repayment commitment stands at $59 million, and by the end of 2016 the port
had suffered a loss of $304 million, according to the government.
The port is part of Beijing’s so-called string-of-pearls plan for a line of ports stretching from its waters
to the Persian Gulf. Rajapaksa relied heavily on China for infrastructure projects. During his administra- tion, China provided loans for an airport, sea port, highways and power plants, and became the largest investor in Sri Lanka.
China’s in uence in Sri Lanka makes neighboring India anxious because it considers the Indian Ocean region to be its strategic backyard. President Maithripala Sirisena has been trying to balance both Asian giants.
Sri Lankan of cials have repeatedly reiterated that the port’s security will be handled by Colombo in an attempt to allay the fears that the port could be used by Chinese as a military hub.
The agreement has ignited protests inside the country too and in January, hundreds of farmers and opposition supporters protested the plan to lease the port, saying the proposed partnership was akin to a sellout of the country.
Appeals court blocks California gas facility from reopening By BRIAN MELLEY, Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California appeals court judge temporarily blocked a Los Angeles natural gas storage facility Friday from reopening a year and a half after a major blowout spewed methane that drove thousands of families from their homes.
The order late in the day by Associate Justice Lamar Baker of the 2nd District Court of Appeal came after Los Angeles County lawyers unsuccessfully tried to get a lower court to stop Southern California Gas Co. from resuming operations at Aliso Canyon.
State regulators last week gave approval to allow the company to pump gas into underground storage wells after an overhaul and rigorous testing. The county said it feared operations would resume Saturday. The facility above the San Fernando Valley has been largely out of commission since an old well failed
in October 2015, unleashing methane for nearly four months and leading 8,000 families to evacuate. The utility said in response late Friday that it has met and sometimes exceeded the state’s safety re- quirements for the eld, and that “unnecessary delays will challenge our ability to meet” the inventory
requirements regulators are asking for to avoid an energy shortage.
The appeals court gave the parties until 6 p.m. Saturday to le arguments. The judge can then extend
the temporary stay, or lift it.
The blowout released the largest-known amount of climate-changing methane in U.S. history and led
to widespread complaints of nosebleeds, nausea, headaches and symptoms that persisted even after the leak was capped last year.
The county’s effort to keep the facility closed hinges on a claim that the state’s extensive safety review had not taken into account the risk of an earthquake from a fault that runs through the eld.
In rejecting the county’s petition earlier in the day, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Wiley said he didn’t have authority to overturn orders by the California Public Utilities Commission.