EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 10/1/21
PIPELINE NEWS
Associated Press: Enbridge: Line 3 replacement complete; oil will flow Friday
Indigenous Environmental Network: Statement on Enbridge’s Line 3 Completion of Work
Mongabay: Oil pipeline on Native lands ramps up as Canada honors its Indigenous people
Healing MN: Another Enbridge promise bites the dust, to Minnesota regulators’ indifference
KBJR: Line 3 walk ends in Superior, plea to cancel Enbridge’s permits ahead of completion
Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative: Treaty People Complete Their 160 Mile Walk of Enbridge Line 3
VPM: COVID-19 patients are filling Southwest Virginia hospitals, but key pipeline permit meetings are only in person
WNAX: Farm Group Wants Nebraska PSC To Revoke TransCanada’s Permit
Nebraska Public Media: Eminent Domain Victory Could Be Short-Lived with More Nebraska Land Fights Ahead
Canadian Press: TC Energy: Two arrested as academics share concerns over Indigenous artifacts at B.C. site
Facebook: Unist'ot'en Camp: GIDIMT’EN CHECKPOINT CONDEMNS VIOLENT ARRESTS OF LAND DEFENDERS ON THE FIRST “NATIONAL DAY OF TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION”
Facebook: Gidimt'en Checkpoint [VIDEO]: On September 27th, a land defender blocking a fracked gas pipeline was tortured by police.
The Tyee: Unist’ot’en Land Defender Wins International Advocacy Award
NJ Spotlight: Fossil-fuel projects may face greater scrutiny after PennEast scraps pipeline
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Politico Morning Energy: ENVIROS WANT EX-IM NOM OUT
STATE UPDATES
Capital and Main: Rise in New Mexico Earthquakes Likely Triggered by Oil Industry
EXTRACTION
CleanTechnica: Carbon Capture’s Other Dirty Secret: Nowhere To Put It
CLIMATE FINANCE
American Prospect: The Oil Merchant in the Gray Flannel Suit
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Bismarck Tribune: Mandan park, library improvements progressing
OPINION
Vogue: A Letter From a Jailed Line 3 Water Protector
Teen Vogue: Big Banks Are Funding Fossil Fuel Projects — Let’s Hold Them Accountable
Globe and Mail: Alberta’s oil patch should focus on energy transition and waste no time on resentment
PIPELINE NEWS
Associated Press: Enbridge: Line 3 replacement complete; oil will flow Friday
Steve Karnowski, 9/30/21
“Enbridge announced Wednesday that construction on the upgrade of its Line 3 crude oil pipeline across Minnesota is “substantially complete” and that the company will start filling it with oil later this week, the Associated Press reports. “...Line 3 opponents promised to keep fighting, though their legal options going forward are fading. And they vowed to hold President Joe Biden and other politicians accountable for failing to stop the project. More than 900 people have been arrested or ticketed at protests along the route since construction began in December. A leading face of the opposition, Winona LaDuke, executive director of the Indigenous-based environmental group Honor the Earth, paid tribute to the many people from across the country who came to Minnesota to protest. “Your brave efforts about Enbridge’s Line 3 have reshaped the world’s views on the climate crisis we are in, the Treaty Rights of the Anishinaabe, and the escalating divestment in fossil fuels around the world and here at home,” LaDuke said in a statement. “You are the true heroes of this tragic saga.” At a news conference later, LaDuke called on Biden to stand by his promise to be a “climate president.” But she said they’re pinning their hopes on the federal courts, which she noted have made rulings against the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines, and on the White Earth Ojibwe tribal court in northern Minnesota.” “...A challenge is still pending in federal court to a permit granted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, but that case didn’t block construction. Opponents can still ask the state Supreme Court to review a clean water certification granted by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Also, a novel “rights of nature” lawsuit is pending in the White Earth tribal court. It names Manoomin — the Ojibwe word for wild rice — as one of the plaintiffs… “But LaDuke was vague when asked whether future protests and civil disobedience are planned. “We will see what our communities do,” she said. “We will see.”
Indigenous Environmental Network: Statement on Enbridge’s Line 3 Completion of Work
9/29/21
“It’s with a heavy heart we receive the news that the U.S. has tragically failed once again to honor our treaties and protect the water that sustains all life on Mother Earth. The Line 3 fight is far from over, it has just shifted gears. Do not think we are going quietly into the night, we will continue to stand on the frontlines until every last tar sands pipeline is shut down and Indigenous communities are no longer targeted but our right to consent or denial is respected. Although Enbridge is pushing the message that the Line 3 is a done deal and that they have followed all the rules and regulations- we see even at this late date the continuing harm to our lands and waters. There have been spills, frac outs and pierced aquifers even to this day. They are spilling millions of gallons of polluted water directly into our forests and waterways. This is far from over. We promise to continue to show up each time even stronger with new voices and hearts ready to lead. From the belly of the beast north of the medicine line to rice beds that sustain the lifeways of the Anishinaabe all the way down to our relatives impacted in the Bayous– we will continue to fight for the natural and spiritual knowledge of the Earth. We will continue to fight and take care of one another and our Mother because she has always taken care of us. Respect us, or expect us.”
Mongabay: Oil pipeline on Native lands ramps up as Canada honors its Indigenous people
Latoya Abulu, 9/30/21
“Construction of the Line 3 pipeline by Canadian oil giant Enbridge is in its final stages of completion, and is set to carry tar sands crude from Alberta to Wisconsin via lands that Indigenous Anishinaabe people use for hunting and harvesting,” Mongabay reports. “There are concerns the pipeline will contribute to further spills in the distinctive wetlands and wild rice fields of the region, as the company has a long track record of “hazardous liquid incidents,” including the largest inland oil spill in U.S. history, and failing to follow environmental laws during construction. Some Indigenous rights and tribal leaders view Canada’s approval and the subsequent construction of Line 3 as part of the continuing legacy of colonialism and cultural erasure, which the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, on September 30, seeks to address.These fears stem from Enbridge’s long track record of environmental damages and impact on biodiversity. In 2010, a spill from the company’s Line 6B released 20,000 barrels (3.8 million liters, or 840,000 gallons) of diluted bitumen oil from Alberta into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan. The cleanup process was difficult, as the thick oil eventually sank in the water and required dredging to remove. Enbridge is also responsible for 307 reported “hazardous liquid incidents” from 2002 to 2018, amounting to a total of 66,059 barrels (12.7 million liters, or 2.8 million gallons). Currently, Enbridge is being sued for $3.32 million by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for failure to follow environmental laws during construction of Line 3, and faces investigations of spilling 364 liters (80 gallons) of drilling fluid in the Willow River.”
Healing MN: Another Enbridge promise bites the dust, to Minnesota regulators’ indifference
9/28/21
“Enbridge promised the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) that the Line 3 Decommissioning Trust Fund would be in place before it started Line 3 operations. It turns out to be an empty promise, because it’s not enforceable. Enbridge will start Line 3 operations in the coming weeks, and the PUC has yet to open proceedings on the Decommissioning Trust Fund,” according to Healing MN. “It’s one more act in the Kabuki theater that’s Minnesota’s regulatory oversight of Enbridge Line 3: All image, no substance. In a further slap to the face, Enbridge will start operating Line 3 even though the public just learned that the company willfully violated construction plans, damaging a sensitive wetland. Enbridge kept the problem from the state for months, a violation of trust. The state’s failure to take this violation more seriously sends the wrong message to Enbridge. It raises questions about whether similar problems exist along the construction route that were kept hidden. The PUC required Enbridge to have a Line 3 “Decommissioning Trust Fund” in place as a permit condition. The Fund would “cover the costs of decommissioning and removing the new Line 3 at the end of the pipeline’s operation,” estimated at 50 years. According to a July 16, 2018 compliance filing with the PUC, Enbridge wrote that it was “committed to having the Decommissioning Trust established before L3R [Line 3] is in-service.” Enbridge reiterated that commitment in a July 30, 2018 letter from Enbridge attorney Christine Brusven to then-PUC Executive Secretary Daniel Wolf. “Enbridge unequivocally stated that it ‘is committed to having the Decommissioning Trust established before L3R is in-service.’ That remains the case.” That letter was written three years ago and there doesn’t appear to be any movement on negotiations.”
KBJR: Line 3 walk ends in Superior, plea to cancel Enbridge’s permits ahead of completion
Abigael Smith, 9/30/21
“A group called The Treaty People, ended their 160-mile walk at Wisconsin Point in Superior Thursday. Wisconsin Point is the end of Line 3, completed after an eight-year battle between communities. The group is calling on Biden to cancel Enbridge's permits before the oil is pumped through the line Friday, marking its completion,” KBJR reports. “The pipes are still leaking and if you turn on that oil what's going to happen to that oil? Is it going to make its journey? Or is it going to leak and infect our drinking water, I think that's going to happen," Line 3 opponent, Beatrice Menase Kwe Jackson, told KBJR. "Give our Anishinabe, our indigenous people a chance to have clean water on our reservations," Jackson said. "Things are getting very very dangerous for our people". Line 3 opponent, Alexis Streeter agrees and said Biden needs to understand what's at stake. "I really encourage President Biden to listen. To listen with an open heart, and an open mind, and really hear what we're trying to say because as it's been said before, this isn't just an Indigenous problem - this is a people problem," Streeter told KBJR.
Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative: Treaty People Complete Their 160 Mile Walk of Enbridge Line 3
Barbara With, 9/30/21
“On September 30, 2021, Treaty People Walk Line 3 brought their prayerful walk to Superior, Wisconsin. The Indigenous walkers and their non-native allies are urging President Biden to follow Article VI of the Constitution and take immediate action to direct the Army Corps of Engineers to cancel Enbridge’s permits,” the Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative reports. “In light of the evidence that Enbridge, its contractors, consultants and “independent” inspectors have been repeatedly violating water withdrawal permits, Treaty People Walk Line 3 brings an urgent message to the world: stop Enbridge Line 3 from pushing any tar sands through the already damaged and damaging pipeline. The 160-mile walk along the route of Enbridge Line 3 started on September 12 in Backus, Minnesota and ended at Wisconsin Point in Superior, the Line 3 endpoint on the Enbridge terminal on Lake Superior. This came after Treaty People walked over 250 miles from the Mississippi headwaters to the Minnesota State Capitol in August, and the day before Enbridge claims it will will start pumping tar sands oil through the line, despite their gross violations of water protection rules.
VPM: COVID-19 patients are filling Southwest Virginia hospitals, but key pipeline permit meetings are only in person
9/30/21
“The state Water Control Board heard in-person public comments on a key Mountain Valley Pipeline water-crossings permit at two meetings this week,” VPM reports. “The meetings were held in Rocky Mount and Radford in Southwest Virginia, the region the pipeline runs through. But activists say the board and it’s parent agency, the Department of Environmental Quality, aren’t doing enough to engage with local residents as COVID-19 cases in the region put a major strain on local hospitals. In an open letter to Gov. Ralph Northam and DEQ last week, dozens of organizations and over a hundred citizens called for a virtually accessible meeting. So far it has not gotten a response. Grace Tuttle of the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights Coalition says, “there’s a huge difference between staff preparing summaries of written comments and board members hearing directly, face-to-face, the personal and distressing stories from landowners and advocates.” POWHR polled member organizations and activists likely to speak to the board this week. “We found in the results of our survey that many of those people were hesitant to attend due to COVID-19 risk,” Tuttle told VPM. DEQ has run up against complaints about a lack of virtual options in past meetings as well — activists point to West Virginia as an example of what could be. That state’s version of the permit was publicly considered over Zoom.”
WNAX: Farm Group Wants Nebraska PSC To Revoke TransCanada’s Permit
10/1/21
“T.C. Energy, formerly TransCanada earlier stopped its project to run a tar sands pipeline across the U.S. crossing a large area in Nebraska. That was after their federal permit was revoked. Nebraska Farmers Union leaders says there are many unanswered questions about the Canadian company’s use of eminent domain and what effect that has on several landowners,” WNAX reports. “Farmers Union President John Hansen wants to know why Nebraska’s Public Service Commission hasn’t revoked Trans Canada’s permit. He told WNAX his group sent a letter to the State PSC asking them why the permit hasn’t been pulled. Hansen told WNAX when TransCanada comes out and says their project is defunct, why should those easements be in place for a defunct project. He says that puts many landowners on edge and makes them nervous about what happens next. Hansen told WNAX the Governor has turned a blind eye to the abuse of private property rights of Nebraska landowners who have been subjected to eminent domain proceedings in Nebraska put forward by Trans Canada, now T.C. Energy.”
Nebraska Public Media: Eminent Domain Victory Could Be Short-Lived with More Nebraska Land Fights Ahead
Jack Williams, 9/30/21
“Earlier this week, supporters of property rights in Nebraska celebrated what they called a victory after a major energy company gave up attempts to condemn private property along a proposed pipeline route,” Nebraska Public Media reports. “But property rights advocates say there are more fights ahead. On Monday in Madison County District Court, a Canadian company, TC Energy, that used to be known as TransCanada, gave up its attempts to condemn private land along the proposed route of the Keystone XL Pipeline, a project that was scrapped in June. Jane Kleeb is the founder of Bold Nebraska, a group that supports private landowner rights and opposes the use of eminent domain unless it’s part of a public project. She told NPM the next challenge is saving land that was already turned over to TC Energy from being used for other pipeline projects. “That’s exactly what some landowners in the path of Keystone XL who either got bullied and sold their land or sold their land willingly, are now facing, is TransCanada has the ability to transfer that land easement to another pipeline company, like these carbon pipelines that are now threatening Nebraska,” Kleeb told NPM. She told NPM Nebraska lawmakers have been reluctant to step in over the years because of what she called the influence of big oil companies. She suggested one easy fix that would protect private landowners when projects like Keystone XL are scrapped. “One of the things that the Public Service Commission could do right now is create a rule that says anytime a pipeline gets cancelled, rejected or is decommissioned, meaning its past its lifespan, that the land easements revert immediately back to the landowner,” Kleeb told NPM.
Canadian Press: TC Energy: Two arrested as academics share concerns over Indigenous artifacts at B.C. site
9/30/21
“RCMP say they are negotiating with demonstrators who have taken control of a Coastal GasLink construction site in northern B.C. as tensions surrounding the natural gas project rise again,” the Canadian Press reports. “Protests last year against the pipeline on Wet'suwet'en First Nation territory set off rail blockades across the country and protesters in the latest dispute issued a news release accusing police of using excessive force during arrests. Dawn Roberts, an RCMP spokeswoman, told CP two people have been arrested in the past week at the site near Houston, B.C., and Coastal GasLink staff have been unable to work there since Sept. 20. An open letter from more than two dozen archeologists addressed to the B.C. Archeology Branch criticized the Coastal GasLink work, saying the company and the B.C. government failed to properly consult the Wet'suwet'en and could lead to the destruction of Indigenous artifacts. TC Energy, which owns the project, disputed the accusations in a statement, saying it had engaged with the Office of the Wet’suwet’en and had unearthed and saved artifacts under the supervision of a trained archeologist… It said 21 artifacts were discovered on the site from 2015 to 2020. “...The open letter signed by 25 archeology professionals and academics from Canada and the U.S. says the work and alleged damage at the Lamprey Creek site could have a large effect on future studies and consultation with the Indigenous groups would have shown that.”
Facebook: Unist'ot'en Camp: GIDIMT’EN CHECKPOINT CONDEMNS VIOLENT ARRESTS OF LAND DEFENDERS ON THE FIRST “NATIONAL DAY OF TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION”
9/30/21
“As Wet'suwet'en members of Cas Yikh and their supporters maintain control of a Coastal GasLink drill site that threatens their unceded territories, the RCMP has utilized excessive use of force and torturous pain compliance for an hour on a land defender. This is happening as the “National Day of Truth and Reconciliation” takes place across Canada today, putting on full display the ongoing colonialism that Indigenous peoples are facing. These actions follow an earlier arrest on the morning on September 25, a supporter was tasered and arrested on the road to the drill pad site where CGL plans to drill under Wedzin Kwa river. In a video, the supporter’s screams for help are audible during the violent arrest. In addition, Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chiefs were denied access to their own lands and threatened with arrest, but they held their ground. Cas Yikh members of the Wet'suwet'en nation and their supporters are still holding strong in opposition to this destruction and violence. Sleydo’, Gidimt’en Checkpoint Spokesperson, states “On the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, reconciliation is dead. The government, industry, and police are still invading our yintah. The authority of the Wet'suwet'en hereditary house and clan system was verified in the historic Delgamuukw and Red Top court decisions, but our hereditary system continues to be disrespected by BC and Canada." Under ‘Anuc niwh’it’en (Wet’suwet’en law) all Hereditary Chiefs of the five clans of the Wet’suwet’en have unanimously opposed all pipeline proposals and have not provided free, prior, and informed consent to Coastal Gaslink to drill on Wet’suwet’en lands. Sleydo’ further states, “Coastal GasLink (CGL) is the one trespassing on our yintah with their plans for a 670-kilometer fracked gas pipeline. They are trying to drill under the Wedzin Kwa river, the sacred headwaters that feeds all of Wet’suwet’en territory and gives life to our nation. Days ago, CGL destroyed our ancient village and cultural heritage site, Ts’elkay Kwe. We refuse to allow this destruction to continue and are now blockading CGL. Our Chiefs – not CGL or Canada – have full jurisdiction on our yintah.” For further information please go to: yintahaccess.com.”
Facebook: Gidimt'en Checkpoint [VIDEO]: On September 27th, a land defender blocking a fracked gas pipeline was tortured by police.
9/29/21
“This is the second arrest at the drill pad site access road, where Coastal Gaslink (CGL) plans to drill under Wedzin Kwa (Morice River), the sacred headwaters on Wet’suwet’en yintah. The arrest was brutal. The RCMP officers used “pain compliance” for an hour on the person locked under the bus in a hard lock, insisting the person just let go, which very clearly they were not able to do. The RCMP then had CGL contractors, instead of an extraction team, come in to extract the person. The injunction very clearly states that RCMP are the only ones to enforce the injunction. This is in violation of that. This comes on the heels of the RCMP being at fault for the injunction renewal denial for the Fairy Creek defence based on their tactics against peaceful people.”
The Tyee: Unist’ot’en Land Defender Wins International Advocacy Award
Amanda Follett Hosgood, 9/29/21
“A Wet’suwet’en land defender whose peaceful occupation of her traditional territory led to protests that shut down major transportation routes across Canada last year is being recognized with an international award for grassroots activism,” The Tyee reports. “Freda Huson, Chief Howihkat, is one of four recipients of the 2021 Right Livelihood Award announced today in Stockholm, Sweden. The laureates, who are also from Russia, India and Cameroon, are being honoured for “advancing the rights of women and girls, environmental protection and reclaiming Indigenous rights through mobilizing communities and empowering grassroots initiatives,” the organization said in a news release… “Huson, who is from the Unist’ot’en house group of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, is being honoured for “fearless dedication to reclaiming her people’s culture and defending their land against disastrous pipeline projects,” the organization said. Huson established the Unist’ot’en Healing Centre on her traditional territory in 2010. It has served the dual purpose of providing a destination where Indigenous people healing from trauma can connect to the land and their culture, while also blocking access to companies looking to develop pipelines in the area… “Police actions have taken place on the remote Morice forestry road leading to the healing centre twice in recent years. In January 2019, 14 people were arrested at Gidimt’en camp when the court issued a temporary injunction to give workers on the Coastal GasLink pipeline access to the project route. The 670-kilometre natural gas pipeline is being built between northeast B.C. and a LNG processing facility on the coast in Kitimat. Although proponent TC Energy says it has support from 20 First Nations along the pipeline route, Wet’suwet’en hereditary Chiefs say they have not consented to the project.”
NJ Spotlight: Fossil-fuel projects may face greater scrutiny after PennEast scraps pipeline
JON HURDLE, 9/29/21
“Fossil-fuel projects may now have a tougher time being approved in New Jersey after the PennEast Pipeline Co. formally ended its long campaign to build a natural-gas pipeline from northeast Pennsylvania to Mercer County, saying it has not received New Jersey state permits, and so will cease “all further development,” NJ Spotlight reports. The company’s statement early Monday was greeted with jubilation by environmentalists and landowners who have fought the project since it was announced in 2014. The announcement is being viewed as a sign that regulators will now take a harder look at pipelines and other fossil-fuel proposals amid rising public demand for urgent action to curb climate change. “There is an atmosphere, and an environment, in the state and in the nation where people are putting roadblocks into natural gas projects, and that, in and of itself, makes it more challenging and more costly and less predictable,” Ray Cantor, vice president of government affairs at the New Jersey Business & Industry Association, told Spotlight. “That could very well have an impact on future projects.” “...The most hotly contested of the state’s pending fossil-fuel projects is a proposed shipping terminal on the Delaware River at Gibbstown in Gloucester County that would export liquefied natural gas transported by truck or train from northern Pennsylvania… “Environmentalists fiercely oppose the LNG project, saying it would increase demand for fracked natural gas, risk public safety by transporting the highly explosive fuel through densely populated areas and subject the people of Gibbstown to a round-the-clock procession of trucks or trains… “Pending projects also include the Northeast Supply Enhancement Project, which would pump more natural gas to some areas of New York City by building a new pipeline below Raritan Bay, constructing new pipeline loops in Somerset and Middlesex counties and adding a compressor station in Franklin Township.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Politico Morning Energy: ENVIROS WANT EX-IM NOM OUT
Matthew Choi, 9/30/21
“Environmental campaigners raised concerns about the climate track record of Judith Pryor, Biden’s pick for the No. 2 slot at the Export-Import Bank who today has a confirmation hearing in the Senate Banking Committee,” Politico Morning Energy reports. “They contend her record as an Ex-Im director from 2019 through July 2021 is out of step with the Biden administration’s pledges to increase green financing. The groups, which include Friends of the Earth, claim a review shows Pryor voted in favor of every fossil fuel project during her time as director, totaling $5.4 billion of loans and guarantees that comprised 63 percent of the total value of all board-approved projects. Ex-Im exposure to oil and gas projects rose from 15 percent in 2018 to 26 percent in 2020, they said.”
STATE UPDATES
Capital and Main: Rise in New Mexico Earthquakes Likely Triggered by Oil Industry
Jerry Redfern, 9/29/21
“New Mexico’s oil and gas regulators and scientists are on alert after a dramatic increase in earthquake activity in southern New Mexico — an increase likely triggered by oil and gas industry injection wells in the Permian Basin,” Capital and Main reports. “Since 2018 the number of small quakes of magnitude 1 or greater in the basin has risen from about 40 to nearly 500 in 2020, and over that period quakes of magnitude of 2 or greater rose from none to 158, according to data from the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources. “...Between 2011 and the end of 2020, the amount of briney water injected underground in southeast New Mexico rose nearly 40% from 656 million barrels to 916 million barrels a year. That’s more water than is currently in Elephant Butte Reservoir, the state’s largest reservoir, on the Rio Grande. Granted, the reservoir is only filled to 5.6% of capacity, but that’s because of increasing aridification across New Mexico, fueled by climate change. Forcing that produced water into lower layers can induce quakes when the high-pressure brine pushes on underground faults, causing them to slip and slide past each other to release increasing pressure. And that slipping and sliding translates into earthquakes. “That’s definitely the most likely cause,” Litherland says of the recent seismicity. She tells Capital and Main that a lot of forces are at play in creating an induced earthquake — the amount of brine, the rate it’s injected, the depth of injection and the rock formation where it all takes place. But, “when there starts to be a lot of fluid injection … and the seismicity increases year over year, it’s pretty undeniable that that seismicity is induced.”
EXTRACTION
CleanTechnica: Carbon Capture’s Other Dirty Secret: Nowhere To Put It
Michael Barnard, 9/30/21
“The combination of failures to address the CO2 sequestration problems of magnitude of emissions, the physics of underground storage at scale, and the resultant costs is truly a policy failure of staggering proportions. It is willful blindness,” Michael Barnard writes for CleanTechnica. “...If we actually did start using carbon capture at anything approaching the scale of the problem, where would we put the resultant CO2? At present about 90 million tons of CO2 are used annually for enhanced oil recovery, where CO2 is pumped underground into tapped out oil wells to liquefy and pressurize them, allowing more of the remaining crude to be pumped out elsewhere. There are only a couple of moderate scale installations that aren’t doing this, and they have other problems. The Equinor Sleipner facility in the North Sea pumps “natural” gas up with too high a percentage of CO2, so they pull off enough CO2 to make it saleable, then pump the excess CO2 back under sea and ground for very large tax breaks, rather than just venting it to the atmosphere. Personally, I think that paying people for cleaning up the trash that they would otherwise leave behind isn’t actually a solution, and it certainly isn’t a solution at scale. The other one is the Shell Quest facility in Alberta, which is actually not doing enhanced oil recovery, oddly enough, but is sequestering emissions from hydrogen manufacturing, and is only sequestering the pittance of a million tons of CO2 annually. Yes, a million tons isn’t a pittance in and of itself, but it is when you look at the scale of the problem. The annual emissions globally are around 40,000 times as large as the Shell facility, and the historical emissions are over a million times as large and growing.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
American Prospect: The Oil Merchant in the Gray Flannel Suit
ALEXANDER SAMMON, 9/29/21
“On paper, Kevin McComber was not what you would call a typical insurance man. He had hard-science chops, holding physics and materials science and engineering degrees at the bachelor’s and doctorate level, all earned at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as technical private-sector experience,” the American Prospect reports. “...But by loading up on stocks of oil and gas companies and energy utilities, purchasing corporate debt of coal and other fossil fuel firms, and underwriting the development of new infrastructure like pipelines and plants, much of which is being done at record rates, the insurance industry is currently propping up the industry that is expediting its own demise. Insurance companies are financially vulnerable to the ravages of climate change, but they also happen to be profiting off of its acceleration.”
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Bismarck Tribune: Mandan park, library improvements progressing
10/1/21
“Improvements to Mandan's Dykshoorn Park are nearing completion, and a project to upgrade the adjoining Morton Mandan Public Library is moving into its second phase,” the Bismarck Tribune reports. “The park and library project is being funded with a $3 million donation from Dakota Access Pipeline developer Energy Transfer, $2.2 million from the Mandan Visitor’s Fund and $600,000 from the Mandan Supplemental Environmental Projects Trust.”
OPINION
Vogue: A Letter From a Jailed Line 3 Water Protector
BY TARA HOUSKA, 9/30/21
“In December 2020, Canadian pipeline company Enbridge Energy began construction of its Line 3 tar sands pipeline expansion project through northern Minnesota, against the will of several tribal nations,” Tara Houska writes for Vogue. “...On July 29, I was arrested while trying to intervene in the drilling of the Red River and face charges of trespassing on critical public-service facilities and obstructing legal process by interfering with a police officer. I penned this in jail after my arrest. I’m sitting in Pennington County jail covered in bruises, waiting to be arraigned. Rubber-bullet welts spread purple down my arms and back, courtesy of Minnesota police, who have reportedly billed nearly $2 million in security-related costs to a fund set up by Canadian pipeline giant Enbridge. Enbridge is here to expand tar sands oil through my people’s territory. They seek to build a pipeline with the emissions equivalent of 50 new coal-fired plants, slamming another nail into the coffin of climate doom… “The echoes of screaming, coughing, choking are in the buzz of my jail cell’s large fluorescent light. When my eyes close, I see blood pouring down the face of a young woman hit in the head by a so-called less-lethal munition, tracks of chemically-induced tears on cheeks, and a giant drill out of a sci-fi movie boring through a river behind a line of police. The sound of the drill is in my teeth, in my skull. The sound of the drill fills the air. Fills the world. Today is the fourth day I am in this cell alone. A red-eyed camera fills the upper corner of this concrete room. Last night a tray of what appeared to be moldy Swedish meatballs was shoved through the door slot. I’ve asked repeatedly to no avail for something without meat in it, without animals that have undoubtedly endured horrors of factory farms. My body has taken in enough trauma... “Indigenous peoples around the globe hold 80% of all earth’s biodiversity, despite being just 5% of all human beings. We are fighting for what remains, everywhere. The earth is a relative, not a resource. My ancestors fought back, or I would not exist. I owe the next generation the same. We all do.”
Teen Vogue: Big Banks Are Funding Fossil Fuel Projects — Let’s Hold Them Accountable
BY KATIE EDER AND SHANNON CARLSON, 9/23/21
“The biggest banks are using your money to fund the climate crisis,” Katie Elder and Shannon Carlson write for Teen Vogue. “We have seen this story before. In 2008, the recklessness of megabanks sank the global economic system. Now, in 2021, the youth climate movement is saying that we’ve had enough. We’re not going to let the banks bring down the entire planet too… “That’s why on October 29 young people are calling on megabanks and other financial institutions — particularly JPMorgan Chase in the U.S., and Standard Chartered, Royal Bank of Canada, BlackRock, AIG, Lloyds of London, Barclays, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, and MUFG internationally — to immediately stop funding fossil fuel expansion. Our movement aims to create severe reputational, political, and economic costs to banks that continue to enable the fossil fuel industry… “By going after the banks that are financing fossil fuel extraction, we’re cutting off the money pipeline that is the fossil fuel industry’s only hope of survival in a world that is eager to transition to clean energy. We’ve seen the limitations of moral and pragmatic appeals: Fires burn down homes, hurricanes destroy coastal communities, heatwaves kill our grandparents, tsunamis take human life. And yet, the money from banks keeps flowing. That’s why on October 29, we need you to join us in bringing our demands to JPMorgan Chase and other financial institutions. The money that fuels the fossil fuel industry ends here. A Fossil-Free Future is possible and it starts now.”
Globe and Mail: Alberta’s oil patch should focus on energy transition and waste no time on resentment
JEFFREY JONES, 9/30/21
“Canadian oil producers, the big ones especially, are spending serious money to reduce emissions from operations, expand carbon capture and support new clean tech,” Jeffrey Jones writes for the Globe and Mail. “The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, a $390-billion force in Canadian investing, has raised the stakes in an already-big bet on the transition to a green economy. Some Albertans are downright mad about one aspect of how the pension plan is doing that – divesting all its shares in oil producers. The anger is understandable, but it’s misplaced. Rather than blast the Caisse for an investment decision it is making in a free-market economy, Alberta and its oil patch should examine why money is being redeployed elsewhere, and figure out how to stop it from happening… “The pension fund is keeping its oil and gas pipeline holdings, saying they are necessary infrastructure for the transition. It may also apply some of its new green fund to transition-related energy projects. But it will not hold investments that result in increasing the global oil supply. That’s the thorny part. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and the Alberta government did not use the announcement as an opportunity for introspection. CAPP President Tim McMillan called the move “irresponsible,” saying neither the Caisse’s beneficiaries nor the environment will ultimately benefit as demand for energy, including fossil fuels, increases… “Rather than resenting one investor’s decisions, it makes more sense to plow ahead with the tough moves required to reduce climate-related risks, and satisfy others that their investments will result in financial and environmental gains.”