EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 10/19/21
PIPELINE NEWS
Star Tribune: Minnesota Line 3 critics travel to Washington
Interlochen Public Radio: Great Lakes Tunnel decision delayed as oversight panel wants more transparency from Enbridge
KSDK: Spire warns of potential natural gas shortage after pipeline deemed unlawful
Associated Press: Court: Town must turn over emails to gas pipeline builder
WeAreIowa: Pipeline would take steps toward decarbonization in Iowa
Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Pipeline company seeks eminent domain over property-owner holdouts in Lincoln County
Los Angeles Times: Regulators badly underestimated the devastation of a possible oil spill off the O.C. coast
KXAN: Removed Robert E. Lee statue now stands at Texas golf course
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Transport Topics: US House Panel Approves Pipeline Bills After California Oil Spill
E&E News: What Willie Phillips’ past says about how he would change FERC
STATE UPDATES
Albuquerque Journal: State wants to require archaeological surveys
Carlsbad Current-Argus: Abandoned: New Mexico could risk $10 billion in failing to plug unused oil and gas wells
EXTRACTION
Reuters: Alberta referendum puts embattled premier in spotlight
Wall Street Journal: Who Are the World’s Biggest Climate Polluters? Satellites Sweep for Culprits
EnergyFuse: The Campaign To Limit Fossil Fuel Supplies
CLIMATE FINANCE
Press release: At Least Nine Arrests: Three Rabbis, Six Jewish Youth Arrested This Morning at BlackRock’s Manhattan Headquarters Following Fossil Fuel Protest
Reuters: McKnight Foundation joins 2050 net-zero emissions drive
OPINION
PBI Canada: Canada must stop the criminalization of land defenders for success at the COP26 summit
Calgary Herald: Smith: So your kid hates the energy sector? Here’s a fix for that
PIPELINE NEWS
Star Tribune: Minnesota Line 3 critics travel to Washington
By Hunter Woodall, 10/16/21
“Line 3 opponents took their case against the controversial newly built pipeline to Washington last week, focusing on Democratic President Joe Biden during his first year in office,” the Star Tribune reports. “A show of strength to demonstrate continued opposition to Line 3 came Tuesday near a popular area in the nation's capital, at an event that included music and speakers outside the headquarters for the Army Corps of Engineers. Some in the crowd held signs saying "STOP LINE 3" while another read "Biden Declare Climate Emergency." “...After the event, a news release said opponents of Line 3 had "delivered one million petitions asking the Biden Administration to stop the project pending a full environmental review." While Biden has taken climate-focused action in his first year as president, some want to see more from the president, especially when it comes to Line 3. "He campaigned on being the climate president," Ron Turney, a White Earth Nation member who is also part of the Indigenous Environmental Network, told the Tribune. "This is not the way to do it." “...Last week also saw protesters in Washington for People vs. Fossil Fuels, described by organizers as five days of civil disobedience.”
Interlochen Public Radio: Great Lakes Tunnel decision delayed as oversight panel wants more transparency from Enbridge
Patrick Shea, 10/14/21
“Construction won’t begin on the Great Lakes Tunnel this year, as Enbridge previously projected,” Interlochen Public Radio reports. “At a meeting Wednesday, the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority (MSCA) delayed the approval of a milestone for the tunnel project. The three-person panel met in St. Ignace to review a draft of Enbridge’s request for proposals (RFP.) If approved, this document would open up bidding for the tunnel’s construction. But the MSCA tabled its decision until January, 2022, as it awaits input from Michigan’s tribal governments. The panel also raised concerns about Enbridge’s transparency and accessibility of the RFP draft. The draft was only made available to an engineering consultant who presented a review to the MSCA. The document was not accessible by the panel itself, or the general public. “Documents that form the basis of decisions that we make have to be in our possession,” MSCA member Paul Novak told IPR. “More importantly, the public should have access to that underlying documentary record.”
KSDK: Spire warns of potential natural gas shortage after pipeline deemed unlawful
Holden Kurwicki, 10/18/21
“One of our region's main sources of natural gas may soon be shut off at the tap after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to issue a stay of the Spire STL Pipeline,” KSDK reports. “The U.S. Court of Appeals unanimously voted that the 2018 approval of the 65-mile pipeline was unlawful, but Spire attorney Sean Jamieson wants to make one thing clear to customers. “There is a real risk for gas outages without this pipeline,” Jamieson told KSDK. “Keeping this infrastructure in service for this winter, at least through December is an emergency.”
Associated Press: Court: Town must turn over emails to gas pipeline builder
10/18/21
“A judge on Friday ordered the release of emails between officials in a Philadelphia suburb and the developer of a natural gas pipeline that was charged with environmental crimes related to construction of the multi-billion-dollar project,” the Associated Press reports. “Officials in Middletown Township have been refusing to produce the records for nearly a year, claiming they were exempt from disclosure under the state’s open records law. Energy Transfer, the owner of the Mariner East pipeline system, also opposed their release. A Delaware County judge ruled Friday that the records are public, and ordered the township to turn them over to the owners of a 124-unit apartment complex along the pipeline route. Energy Transfer subsidiary Sunoco Pipeline LP, which has been installing two new pipelines to take natural gas liquids from the Marcellus Shale gas field in western Pennsylvania to an export terminal near Philadelphia, seized private property at Glen Riddle Station Apartments for the pipeline project. Glen Riddle’s owners say pipeline construction has threatened the health and safety of the residents. The pipeline’s route splits the apartment complex in half.”
WeAreIowa: Pipeline would take steps toward decarbonization in Iowa
Dave Downey, 10/18/21
“Another carbon dioxide pipeline is coming to the Hawkeye state, this time being led by Navigator CO2 Ventures,” WeAreIowa reports. “The 1,300-mile pipeline plan brings about 80% of the proposed Heartland Greenway through Iowa. The pipeline will travel through five states before the CO2 is permanently sequestered underground in south-central Illinois. "The biofuels of today won't be the same as the biofuels of 10 years from now. But what I what we do anticipate is that liquid fuels are still going to be part of the transportation system for the foreseeable future, so we need to be doing as much as we can to begin to decarbonize even further," Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, Navigator's vice president of government of public affairs, told WeAreIowa. “The project is in its early stages, and won't be operational for at least three more years.”
Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Pipeline company seeks eminent domain over property-owner holdouts in Lincoln County
Jonathan Ellis, 10/15/21
“An Omaha-based natural gas company has negotiated easements with most landowners in its eastern South Dakota project area, including those it filed suit against in federal court,” the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports. “Northern Natural Gas Co. filed a condemnation suit against the owners of 19 tracts of land last month in Lincoln and Union counties, but since then, all but four have negotiated easements. The company's project includes abandoning 79 miles of pipeline and facilities that were installed in the 1940s and 1950s from South Sioux City to Sioux Falls. The old pipeline would be replaced with 82 miles of new pipeline as well as various above-ground facilities. But when some landowners didn't want to grant easements, the company filed condemnation suits, armed with the power of eminent domaine from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which certified the project… “Clint Sargent, a lawyer who represents Norman French, a Lincoln County landowner who has not agreed to grant an easement to Northern, told the Argus Leader he couldn't talk about the specifics of the case, because it involves ongoing litigation. French has two tracts of land on which Northern is seeking eminent domain. But generally, Sargent told the Leader, eminent domain cases involving projects with certification from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have more room for litigation. Unlike eminent domain under state laws that specify certain rights, FERC does not have the same specified laws, leaving more room to fight over the details. "What most eminent domain cases come down to, ultimately, is just compensation.”
Los Angeles Times: Regulators badly underestimated the devastation of a possible oil spill off the O.C. coast
BY ADAM ELMAHREK, ANITA CHABRIA, LAURA J. NELSON, 10/17/21
“Regulators scrutinizing plans for an oil pipeline off the Orange County coast in the 1970s examined the potential damage in the event of a ship anchor strike but downplayed the risks, concluding that a resulting spill would be minor, according to documents reviewed by Los Angeles Times. “Regulators predicted in 1978 that a leak would result in a spill of only 50 barrels of oil, records show. That’s less than a tenth of the minimum amount of oil that leaked in waters off the Orange County coast this month in an accident investigators believe was caused when a cargo ship waiting to enter the port dropped its anchor and hit the pipeline. Experts in oil pipeline construction now say the regulators badly underestimated the potential disaster from an anchor strike and missed an opportunity that might have prompted additional safeguards and prevented the major oil spill that fouled a long stretch of Orange County beaches. “Their presentations were fatally flawed…. In no scenario could you come up with 50 barrels,” Richard Kuprewicz, the president of Accufacts Inc., who specializes in gas and liquid pipeline investigations, told the Times. “If there was more frank discussion of what could possibly occur it probably would have initiated discussions on what actions to take, because the risks were severely understated.”
KXAN: Removed Robert E. Lee statue now stands at Texas golf course
10/18/21
“A statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that the city of Dallas removed from a park and later sold during an online auction is now on display at a golf resort in West Texas,” KXAN reports. “The Houston Chronicle reported that it’s now at the Lajitas Golf Resort in Terlingua, Texas. It was among several Lee monuments around the U.S. removed amid the fallout over racial violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. The 27,000-acre property is owned by billionaire oil mogul Kelcy Warren, who is the CEO of pipeline company Energy Transfer Partners. Scott Beasley, who manages the golf resort, told KXAN the resort is just preserving a piece of art. But Black Lives Matter Houston activist Brandon Mack wonders whether the same defense would be used for other offensive symbols from throughout history. Warren has been the focus of protesters in the past for his company’s Dakota Access project, a four-state oil pipeline that prompted fears of environmental damage and damage to Native American lands. Footage of the 2016 demonstrations over the Dakota Access Pipeline near the Standing Rock Reservation, which straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border, showed Native Americans being sprayed with water cannons in freezing weather and were viewed by hundreds of thousands after appearing online and in the news.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Transport Topics: US House Panel Approves Pipeline Bills After California Oil Spill
10/18/21
“Legislation designed to enhance the safety of offshore pipelines recently was approved by a committee in the U.S. House of Representatives,” Transport Topics reports. “...The House Natural Resources Committee this month advanced legislation that would require oil and gas facility operators to alert regulators of equipment failures across critical systems. The notification would need to be provided within 30 days. The bill, the Offshore Accountability Act, is meant to update industry reporting standards as a way of augmenting transparency of critical pipeline systems, according to its sponsor, Rep. A. Donald McEachin (D-Va.)... “In related news, the committee advanced the Offshore Pipeline Safety Act, sponsored by Rep. Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), that would require additional inspections of owners of oil and gas pipelines. The bill would specifically call for third-party inspections every two years. The measure also would press for modernizing leak detection systems, and it would impose certain annual fees on oil and gas pipeline operators… “The measure is based on a Government Accountability Office report, which recommended regulators “take actions to further develop, finalize and implement updated pipeline regulations to address long-standing limitations regarding its ability to ensure active pipeline integrity and address safety and environmental risks associated with pipeline decommissioning.”
E&E News: What Willie Phillips’ past says about how he would change FERC
By Miranda Willson, 10/19/21
“Willie Phillips, President Biden’s nominee to serve as the next member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, has been an established figure in Washington for more than a decade,” E&E News reports. “...Today, Phillips will have another opportunity to discuss his background and credentials as an energy regulator, this time before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee regarding his nomination to FERC... “Yesterday the Senate committee’s chair, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), released a statement saying, "Willie Phillips is supremely qualified and he will be a tremendous addition to the commission." “...His critics, however — including many local environmental groups in Washington — say he hasn’t shown a strong commitment to addressing climate change throughout his time at the PSC, a pattern they hope won’t continue if he’s confirmed to FERC. While Phillips has spoken with pride about the district’s aggressive clean energy goals, including the target of 100 percent clean electricity by 2032, critics say he has taken few steps to push the local electric utility toward achieving that goal. Advocates have also been frustrated with his oversight of the district’s natural gas provider.”
STATE UPDATES
Albuquerque Journal: State wants to require archaeolgical surveys
BY THERESA DAVIS, 10/15/21
“The New Mexico State Land Office is proposing a rule that would require state trust land lessees to submit an archaeological survey before starting projects like building pipelines or roads or drilling for oil and natural gas,” the Albuquerque Journal reports. “State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard told the Journal the rule would codify protections for sensitive cultural resources, compared to a policy or practice that could be undone by future administrations. “We live on land that’s been resided on for tens of thousands of years,” she said. “There are many very vulnerable, significant cultural sites, properties and landscapes throughout our state.” Garcia Richard said many state land trust lessees already submit surveys, but this would make it a requirement… “Under the proposed rule, the surveys could include consultations with tribal historic preservation officers.”
Carlsbad Current-Argus: Abandoned: New Mexico could risk $10 billion in failing to plug unused oil and gas wells
Adrian Hedden, 10/15/21
“Abandoned oil and gas wells in New Mexico could mean billions in financial liability for the state’s taxpayers, per a recent study,” the Carlsbad Current-Argus reports. “Published by New York-based Carbon Tracker Initiative, the study analyzed unproductive but unplugged wells in New Mexico, determining the amount of financial liability the issue posed to the state. Thirteen oil-producing states were included in the study which showed New Mexico had about $10.6 billion in financial risk stemming from 73,750 unplugged wells. That ranked New Mexico fifth among the states studied in financial risk, behind $12.2 billion in Pennsylvania, $12.5 billion in Ohio, $31.4 billion in Oklahoma and $96.6 billion in Texas. The study showed 23 percent of New Mexico’s unplugged wells were producing as the data was published on Thursday, tying for fourth with Colorado and behind Wyoming at 32 percent and North Dakota and Alaska with tied for first with 47 percent of wells producing. The higher the percentage of producing unplugged wells, the lower the risk a state’s taxpayers have in footing the bill for cleanup, Rob Schuwerk, executive director at Carbon Tracker, told the Argus. “That is a substantial risk for the people of New Mexico,” Schuwerk said. “If companies don’t pony up that money, the wells are going to sit there and contaminate the land, or the state of New Mexico’s taxpayers are going to pay it. These are obligations that sit with the companies that operate those wells.”
EXTRACTION
Reuters: Alberta referendum puts embattled premier in spotlight
By Nia Williams, 10/18/21
“Alberta held a referendum on Monday asking whether Canada should remove a commitment to redistribute wealth among provinces from its constitution, but the vote envisioned by Premier Jason Kenney as a tool to gain leverage with Ottawa could backfire against the deeply unpopular leader,” Reuters reports. “The nonbinding referendum on equalization payments fulfills Kenney's 2019 election promise to stand up for Canada's main oil-producing province. But it comes as Alberta relies on help from other jurisdictions to tackle a deadly fourth wave of COVID-19 and Kenney faces calls to resign for his handling of the pandemic. The vote taps into a refrain among core supporters of Kenney's United Conservative Party (UCP) - that Alberta, whose oil sands make Canada the world's fourth-largest crude producer, is unfairly treated by other provinces despite helping power the Canadian economy. Equalization payments are enshrined in the Canadian constitution as a way of addressing fiscal disparities among the 10 provinces. They are a long-standing grievance in Alberta, and opposition has grown in recent years as volatile oil prices rocked the provincial economy. Critics say it is unfair that Alberta contributes billions to dollars to equalization every year, while some provincial governments benefiting from the system oppose the development of crude export pipelines that boost Alberta government revenues.”
Wall Street Journal: Who Are the World’s Biggest Climate Polluters? Satellites Sweep for Culprits
By Timothy Puko, 10/19/21
“Satellites are emerging as a tool to fight climate change, exposing hidden sources of greenhouse gas emissions and allowing governments to monitor compliance with international pacts,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Over the past three years, satellite images have been used to spotlight previously unreported leaks of methane—or to bump up estimates of known emissions—in Russia, Turkmenistan, Texas’ Permian Basin and elsewhere, in some cases triggering international scuffles. The disclosures have come from private companies, environmental watchdogs and others, some working with data from multipurpose, space-agency-owned satellites. Governments, private companies and environmental groups are also launching dozens of specialized satellites focused solely on scouring the planet for greenhouse gases… “A key focus for climate-monitoring satellites is methane, a potent greenhouse gas that leaks erratically from wellheads, pipelines and storage tanks, making it tougher to detect—especially in remote locations and authoritarian countries that don’t allow field inspections or aircraft overflights. “It’s going to provide leakers with very few places to hide,” Tim Gould, chief energy economist at the Paris-based International Energy Agency, told the Journal, of satellite monitoring.
EnergyFuse: The Campaign To Limit Fossil Fuel Supplies
by Nick Cunningham, 10/18/21
“With international climate negotiations (COP26) set to get underway in roughly two weeks, there is growing momentum to speed up the energy transition,” EnergyFuse reports. “One new front in the global campaign to slash greenhouse gas emissions is to place new restraints on fossil fuel supply. While there likely won’t be any concrete agreement in Glasgow, momentum is building for harder limits on production that could ease the path for a managed wind down of oil, gas and coal production… “One oft-neglected piece of the puzzle is the growth of supply, which, to be sure, was severely interrupted as a result of the pandemic. All too often governments announce emissions targets they plan on hitting within a decade or two, but say nothing about the relentless growth in drilling and mining of new supplies. Once online, new oil fields, gas export facilities, and mines lock in future production – and emissions – which complicate the effort to meet climate targets. The U.S., for example, now has a stated target of cutting emissions in half by 2030, but has virtually no restraint on production growth. While oil lobbyists have cried foul about the Biden administration’s attempt to freeze oil and gas leasing on public lands, that Biden executive order only targeted new leases (not drilling permits), and only on public lands. Most drilling occurs on private land. In any event, a federal court overturned that executive order. So, even with an announced climate target, there is very little standing in the way of the industry continuing to grow production. The same can be true of other major oil and gas producing countries.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
Press release: At Least Nine Arrests: Three Rabbis, Six Jewish Youth Arrested This Morning at BlackRock’s Manhattan Headquarters Following Fossil Fuel Protest
10/18/21
“This morning, police arrested at least nine people — including three rabbis — who were demonstrating as part of a protest against BlackRock. The demonstrators who were arrested include Rabbi Rachel Timoner, Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster, and Rabbi Stephanie Kolin. The Jewish Youth Climate Movement, with support from the interfaith organization GreenFaith, led the action outside of BlackRock’s New York headquarters to demand the global asset management firm stop funding the fossil fuel industry. Jewish youth were joined by intergenerational and interfaith allies at the action, including rabbis and clergy members. The activists specifically called on BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink to stand by his Jewish values and end BlackRock’s funding of the fossil fuel industry and end human rights violations. The Jewish youth-led BlackRock demonstration was part of the larger, multi-faith “Faiths 4 Climate Justice” uprising organized by GreenFaith, consisting of more than 500 actions in 41 countries. The campaign is timed to occur two weeks prior to global climate negotiations at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26).”
Reuters: McKnight Foundation joins 2050 net-zero emissions drive
By Ross Kerber, 10/18/21
“The McKnight Foundation on Monday said holdings in its $3 billion portfolio would produce net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, becoming the largest private U.S. foundation to lay out such a goal,” Reuters reports. “Officials of the Minnesota-based foundation said it would continue cutting heavy emitters from its portfolio while making new investments in fields like electric vehicles or solar power, although the foundation is avoiding the stricter divestment path other institutions recently set for their fossil fuel holdings… “The move puts the foundation in line with similar declarations from bigger U.S. investors including BlackRock Inc (BLK.N) and Vanguard Group Inc that have made pledges to achieve net-zero portfolio holdings by 2050… “The foundation would still consider owning fossil fuel companies involved in energy-transition projects, she said, although it is likely they would eventually drop out of the portfolio.”
OPINION
PBI Canada: Canada must stop the criminalization of land defenders for success at the COP26 summit
Brent Patterson, 10/17/21
“If the Canadian government continues to enable the criminalization of Indigenous land defenders opposed to fossil fuel megaprojects, it will continue to miss the carbon emission reduction targets it has pledged at United Nations climate summits,” Brent Patterson writes for PBI Canada. “...As carbon emissions increase, Indigenous land defenders opposed to fossil fuel megaprojects have continued to be criminalized despite the commitments made at the COP21 summit in Paris in December 2015. The Line 3 and Trans Mountain tar sands pipelines and the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline could generate 430 megatonnes of carbon pollution annually. The Trudeau government approved the Line 3 export pipeline in November 2016, less than a year after COP21. More than 800 water protectors were arrested in Minnesota this past year resisting this pipeline. They were arrested by police funded by Calgary-based Enbridge, the company building the pipeline. Secwepemc land defender Kanahus Manuel and others have been arrested on their territory opposing the ongoing construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline bought by the Trudeau government in May 2018. And two highly militarized raids on Wet’suwet’en territory resulted in the arrest of 36 land defenders (14 in 2019, 22 in 2020) opposed to the Coastal GasLink pipeline. Another RCMP raid is expected within weeks. Criminalized Indigenous resistance to extractive megaprojects has been crucial in upholding the promise of the Paris Agreement. The Indigenous Environmental Network and Oil Change International recently calculated that: “Indigenous resistance has stopped or delayed greenhouse gas pollution equivalent to at least one-quarter of annual U.S. and Canadian emissions.”
Calgary Herald: Smith: So your kid hates the energy sector? Here’s a fix for that
Danielle Smith is the president of Alberta Enterprise Group, 10/15/21
“Over the years I’ve had many parents, particularly those who work in oil and gas, write in with frustrations about how their children are being taught about energy,” Danielle Smith writes for the Calgary Herald. “Parents put their trust in teachers and the education system to give a balanced perspective. They don’t expect their kids to come home as indoctrinated social justice warriors. Extinction Rebellion encourages people to block traffic and glue themselves to the street. Is this really the only thing children can do to save the planet? Dagmar Knutson decided there had to be a better way when her teenage son came home one day and declared that Canadian oil was the worst in the world. So, she got to work and created 10 Peaks, after the beloved mountain ranges where she spends her time hiking in the summer. She wanted to put together a program to try to bring 20,000 students together in the Saddledome for a full-day conference to learn all about energy and the environment… “There are five tracks running simultaneously throughout the day in little chunks of 30 minutes each to allow time for discussion. Dagmar has lined up more than 36 speakers; she just added Natural Gas Minister Dale Nally as the keynote lunch speaker. Under the carbon and climate track, students will learn about carbon capture, storage and utilization, and what comes next after phasing out coal.”