EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 10/20/21
PIPELINE NEWS
Wisconsin Citizens Media Collective: BREAKING: Michigan Water Protector Shuts Down Line 5
Mlive.com: Line 5 flow stopped after activists break into Enbridge pump station
Detroit Free Press: Protesters enter Enbridge property, force shutdown of Line 5 oil and gas pipeline
Engineering News-Record: Tribes Want Corps Consultant Drafting Dakota Access Pipeline EIS Fired As Biased
WCMC: Wisconsin Environmental Groups Ask DNR to Require Enbridge Energy to Provide More Details on Proposed Line 5 Construction Plans
Facebook: Sovereign Likhts'amisyu [VIDEO]: Chief Dsta'hyl Deactivates Coastal Gaslink Excavator
DeSmog: Over 650 People Arrested in D.C. During Week of Indigenous-led Climate Action Calling on Biden to be the Climate Leader he Promised to be
DTN Progressive Farmer: Ethanol Producers See Carbon Pipeline as Boon, While Some Landowners Fear Farmland Damage, Yield Losses
Roanoke Times: Online public hearing scheduled for Mountain Valley Pipeline's waterbody crossings
The Mechanicsville Local: County seeks more information on proposed pipeline project
WBNS: 'All of this is going to be gone': Residents worried about pipeline approved for Delaware, Union counties
WLUC: Enbridge holds open house, protestors gather outside NMU’s Northern Center
Stand.earth: New poll shows 59% of Canadians do not support any more spending on Trans Mountain pipeline construction
Politico Morning Energy: PIPELINE POLITICS
Lehigh Valley Live: Carbon County group hosting party to celebrate end of PennEast pipeline project
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Manchin has raked in $400K in fossil fuel donations
STATE UPDATES
Los Angeles Times: Crowd turns out in Laguna Beach to endorse ban on offshore oil drilling
Star Tribune: Railroad venture boosts number of oil trains in Minnesota
Bismarck Tribune: North Dakota on brink of more radioactive oil waste disposal options
Orange County Register: Oil wells in Bolsa Chica reserve could jeopardize wetlands
EXTRACTION
Reuters: Pandemic brings forward predictions for peak oil demand
Fox Business: ‘Crazy’ bets on $200 oil invade the options market
Financial Post: Canada's road to net zero will cost $2 trillion — as much as a year's GDP
National Observer: Reducing oil and gas production is Canada’s ‘only possible lever’ to hit 2030 climate goals
RESEARCH & SCIENCE
Pulitzer Center: ‘No Teeth and No Funding’: How Regulators Failed To Police the Oil Industry
Oil Change International: Permian fracking boom will bust the climate and intensify environmental injustice
Huffington Post: Money For Green Energy Creates More Jobs Than Fossil Fuel Investment, New Study Finds
CLIMATE FINANCE
The Age: NAB targeted by Indigenous group over stake in Canadian pipeline
OPINION
Pipeline Fighters Hub: Kenny Bruno: Reflections on an Epic Pipeline Campaign
The Revelator: Could Property Law Help Achieve ‘Rights of Nature’ for Wild Animals?
Calgary Sun: Bad government policies create energy crisis
Globe and Mail: Canada’s banks join Mark Carney, signaling a shift from the West’s fossil fuel dependency and delighting OPEC
PIPELINE NEWS
Wisconsin Citizens Media Collective: BREAKING: Michigan Water Protector Shuts Down Line 5
10/19/21
“This morning, in accordance with Governor Whitmer’s order to shut down Enbridge’s Line 5, a Michigan water protector has taken direct action to shut down the tar sands oil pipeline,” Wisconsin Citizens Media Collective reports. “Whitmer herself has stated, “Enbridge has imposed on the people of Michigan an unacceptable risk of a catastrophic oil spill in the Great Lakes that could devastate our economy and way of life.” The unidentified Michigan water protector echoed this urgency, stating, “Enbridge has no legal right to operate this pipeline and the continued operation of Line 5 is an imminent threat to my life, and the lives of an untold number of other people and living beings. All other routes have been exhausted, Enbridge has been operating the pipeline illegally since May 12th and direct action must be taken to enforce the governor’s order and begin healing Mother Earth”. Tuesday morning outside of Vasser, Michigan along the 645-mile route of Line 5, the water protector first called Enbridge and asked them to turn off the pipeline safely. Then, clad in safety gear, the water protector approached the line and safely and non-violently halted operation of the pipeline. Valve turners have previously shut down Line 3 and Line 4 in 2019. In 2016, five valve turners across the country shut down 15% of the United States daily oil consumption. Similar to these incidents, the Michigan water protectors argue that they took this urgent action out of necessity to prevent on-going climate catastrophe. “I know my life is in danger because of the risk of a spill and because of the contributions of Enbridge to climate change. In Detroit, we saw record flooding leave cars strewn across the city and upend lives; elsewhere people have died in wildfires and hurricanes, or from starvation as unpredictable weather patterns destroy food production.”
Mlive.com: Line 5 flow stopped after activists break into Enbridge pump station
Sheri McWhirter, 10/19/21
“A group of activists used a pipe wrench in an attempt to shut down Line 5, a scene that played out set to a punk rock soundtrack,” Mlive.com reports. “A number of masked protesters gathered Tuesday at a pump station outside of Vassar in Tuscola County along the petrochemical pipeline route. The group called Enbridge, the pipeline owner, to announce their plans, and then a single activist crawled beneath a security fence and used a pipe wrench to crank closed a valve along the controversial line. Participants said continued dependence on fossil fuels – including infrastructure such as Line 5 – serves as an imminent threat to their lives because of potential oil spills, as well as climate change and its cascading worldwide effects. They livestreamed the event on social media. “We felt our lives are in immediate peril from an oil spill,” said Lillian Ellis, a nonbinary transgender person who goes by peatmoss. “It feels like we are on the edge of global climate collapse, and we needed to take action to stop it. “Out of fear for our lives we shut down Line 5.” The activists said in the online video they acted to enforce Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s order to shut down Line 5 by May 12, as well as Attorney General Dana Nessel’s efforts to force Enbridge to comply. The company has ignored the state’s demands as the issue plays out in court. “So it’s up to the people to enforce the law and protect the sacred,” said an unidentified man in the video as he cranked the valve closed… “Enbridge officials confirmed they opted to shut down Line 5 out of an abundance of caution for communities, first responders and the protestors themselves. A spokesman said the incident was not just criminal trespassing, but that tampering with the energy infrastructure was also “reckless and dangerous.”
Detroit Free Press: Protesters enter Enbridge property, force shutdown of Line 5 oil and gas pipeline
Keith Matheny, 10/19/21
“A group protesting the continued operation of Canadian oil transportation giant Enbridge's Line 5 pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac released videos on social media Tuesday showing its members entering Enbridge property and closing an emergency shutoff valve to temporarily stop the controversial pipelines' oil and natural gas liquids flows,” the Detroit Free Press reports. “Enbridge spokesman Ryan Duffy decried the action, stating it was illegal and put the protesters and others in danger. Members of the protester group contacted Enbridge to inform the company of what they were about to do Tuesday, and Duffy said Enbridge personnel shut down the pipeline's flows from its control center, "out of an abundance of caution to protect communities, first responders, and the protesters." “...The protesters seemed to know they'd have time to commit the act. A Facebook Live broadcast of the action lasted an hour, with a small crowd holding signs and cheering the shutdown as the rock band Only Lucky Once performed just outside the fence on an electric guitar and amplifier… “No Enbridge employees or security are seen throughout the video, which was also posted to the Resist Line 3 group's Instagram account. The incident raises questions about the monitoring of the pipeline and its reported safety system with built-in redundancies and constant monitoring, as there was no visible response to the act witnessed during the hour-long incident. Enbridge does not anticipate any impact on oil and gas deliveries to customers from Line 5's temporary shutdown, and the pipeline is again operational, Duffy told the Press.
Engineering News-Record: Tribes Want Corps Consultant Drafting Dakota Access Pipeline EIS Fired As Biased
Mary B. Powers, 10/19/21
“The Oglala Sioux tribe has withdrawn as a “cooperating agency” with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in developing a stricter court-ordered environmental impact statement for an easement to allow the $3.8-billion Dakota Access oil pipeline to cross water bodies near tribal lands,” Engineering News-Record reports. “Three tribal chiefs called the recently released EIS draft “fatally flawed and irredeemable” in a letter to Acting Assistant Army Secretary Jaime Pinkham. The chiefs want the Corps to terminate consultant ERM North America, which was hired to write the EIS, citing an alleged conflict of interest based on previous firm statements and court filings against the tribes’ position… “Specifically, the leaders cited ERM membership in the American Petroleum Institute in 2017 when the trsde group filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of operator Energy Transfer Ltd. in the litigation opposing the easement… “The tribes called the draft EIS by ERM an “advocacy document” prepared to justify that the pipeline remain at its current easement location on treaty lands upriver of Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux reservations and near the Oglala Sioux water intake. “In example after example, the document entirely ignores critical technical and cultural information that we have presented to the Corps,” the letter says, also claiming the agency is withholding key technical analysis from the tribes and that the draft EIS has “substantive flaws.” The tribes want the U.S. Interior Dept. brought in as a co-equal cooperating agency to assist the Corps on the EIS, claiming the current draft “is based on a secretive record of correspondence and one-sided technical data prepared by [Dakota Access] and unavailable for review and comment by us.”
WCMC: Wisconsin Environmental Groups Ask DNR to Require Enbridge Energy to Provide More Details on Proposed Line 5 Construction Plans
October 16, 2021
“On October 8, 2021, Midwest Environmental Advocates (MEA) submitted a formal request to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) asking the agency to require Enbridge Energy to provide more detailed information about how its controversial plan to construct a new segment of Line 5 in Northern Wisconsin will impact the region’s wetlands and waterways,” WCMC reports. “MEA submitted the request jointly with League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Chapter of the Sierra Club, and 350 Madison… “Given the scale of the project and the significant harm it could cause to the many waterways and wetlands along the proposed route, the groups are asking the DNR to require Enbridge to obtain an individual storm water permit instead. Requiring Enbridge to apply for an individual permit would hold the Line 5 construction proposal to a higher level of scrutiny by requiring the company to submit more detailed information about its plans. It would also give members of the public a chance to weigh in during a public hearing or comment period, opportunities which are not part of the general permitting process.”
Facebook: Sovereign Likhts'amisyu [VIDEO]: Chief Dsta'hyl Deactivates Coastal Gaslink Excavator
10/18/21
“On October 17, Lihkt'samisyu chiefs Dsta'hyl and Tse'besa took action, as Coastal Gaslink workers continue to trespass on Wet'suwet'en territory in violation of Wet'suwet'en laws. Coastal Gaslink was instructed to remove all equipment from Lihkts'amisyu territory immediately, or it will be decommissioned and seized by the Likht'samisyu clan in accordance with our laws. Coastal Gaslink has been damaging wetlands that flow to Parrot Lake, where we have reclaimed a traditional village site and established a community. We will not stand by while our territories are destroyed. Wet'suwet'en laws protect our lands and our people, to the benefit of all. Our clan, and our government, is the highest authority on our sovereign lands. For more info, and ways to support, visit: http://www.likhtsamisyu.com”
DeSmog: Over 650 People Arrested in D.C. During Week of Indigenous-led Climate Action Calling on Biden to be the Climate Leader he Promised to be
Julie Dermansky, 10/18/21
“As environmental advocates from across the United States converged in Washington, D.C. last week to take part in the five day “People vs. Fossil Fuels” action, President Biden’s infrastructure package remained stalled, in part, by West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin’s push to cut its largest climate measure,” DeSmog reports. “The series of fossil fuel protests were organized by a coalition of over 25 environmental groups known as Build Back Fossil Free, a poke at Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda. Indigenous leadership in the fight against fossil fuels was forefront at the rallies. The week of protest included acts of civil disobedience leading to over 650 arrests. Most of the arrests took place in front of the White House, where sit-ins were held for four consecutive days. Others were arrested at the Department of Interior building, home to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), after holding a sit in inside on October 14… “At all of the actions last week, activists expressed their rage that Biden has not delivered on climate-related campaign promises, adding that the administration’s plans do not go far enough to protect the planet from the rapidly intensifying climate crisis.”
DTN Progressive Farmer: Ethanol Producers See Carbon Pipeline as Boon, While Some Landowners Fear Farmland Damage, Yield Losses
Chris Clayton, 10/19/21
“Iowa farmer Keith Puntenney unsuccessfully battled the Dakota Access Pipeline, which sliced across Iowa diagonally to transport North Dakota oil to Illinois. Now, Puntenney and other landowners find themselves caught up in another pipeline battle with multiple proposals to run carbon pipelines across Iowa,” DTN Progressive Farmer reports. “The Iowa Utilities Board this week is wrapping up more than 30 public meetings in counties across Iowa for the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline proposal, dubbed the Midwest Carbon Express… “When asked about eminent domain potential, Summit representatives repeat they want to work with landowners… “In South Dakota, public hearings will be scheduled roughly 50 days after Summit files its permit request… “In Nebraska, such pipelines are overseen by the state's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy. It's unclear what public hearings may be held for the pipelines in that state. That was among the issues for landowners who fought against the Keystone XL oil pipeline for more than a decade. "We're in the same situation we were with Keystone XL," Jane Kleeb, founder of Bold Nebraska, told the Omaha World-Herald. "There's no agency giving a permit, no agency reviewing the health risks and the safety risks." Criticisms have come up at nearly every public hearing. At multiple meetings, people asked why Summit wouldn't share actual profits with farmers. Puntenney said Iowa will allow the liquid carbon to move through more than 30 counties where landowners don't see any of the profits, but outside investors will profit. The state also won't be collecting any carbon tax or other feeds on the carbon moving through the state. Iowa must also prepare all local first responders with training and specialized equipment to deal with leaking liquid carbon dioxide, an asphyxiant, if these C02 pipelines are approved.”
Roanoke Times: Online public hearing scheduled for Mountain Valley Pipeline's waterbody crossings
Laurence Hammack, 10/16/21
“Three groups opposed to the Mountain Valley Pipeline will hold a virtual public hearing, citing concerns that some views may have been silenced by the pandemic,” the Roanoke Times reports. “The Department of Environmental Quality recently held two public hearings, in Rocky Mount and Radford, to take comments on a state permit the company needs before it can complete the natural gas pipeline’s crossings of streams and wetlands in Southwest Virginia. Worried that some people might have stayed home due to fears of catching COVID-19, the groups are planning an online public hearing that will start at 6 p.m. Oct. 25. Comments made at the hearing will be recorded and forwarded to DEQ, which is accepting written public statements through Oct. 27. “It is a shame that state government officials could not or would not step up to meet the public’s need to exercise their rights as Virginians and protect themselves and their resources, while avoiding unnecessary health risks” David Sligh, conservation director for Wild Virginia, told the Times. The virtual hearing is being sponsored by Wild Virginia, Appalachian Voices and the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights Coalition. The groups are frequent critics of Mountain Valley and have participated in various legal challenges of the permits granted for the 303-mile pipeline. Sligh said that before the in-person public hearings Sept. 27 and 28, a request for a virtual hearing got no response from DEQ.”
The Mechanicsville Local: County seeks more information on proposed pipeline project
Jim Ridolphi, 10/19/21
“Some residents in Hanover and neighboring counties continue to receive inquires regarding a proposed natural gas pipeline that could be potentially located in this region. Last week, a number of those residents attended the regularly scheduled Board of Supervisors meeting to voice their concerns regarding the project,” The Mechanicsville Local reports. “...A group of citizens opposed to the project has formed a group called Citizens Against Chickahominy Pipeline (CACP) and several of them attended last week’s board meeting to voice their concerns. “I know we have a number of concerned residents who are here with us today,” Budesky said. “We’ve had concerns about the approach of Chickahominy Pipeline LLC and/or lack of their approach in meeting our residents’ and engaging this administration or board.” “...A number of people who spoke in opposition to the project during a public comment period had high praise for the county’s response to their inquiries and their willingness to challenge the project but expressed grave concerns regarding the project. Alexia Miles owns a farm that is in the direct path of the proposed pipeline. She referenced the extensive impact on Hanover properties identified in the map, and said the proposed route would bisect her property. “It would cut through the entire length,” she said. “It would take out a gorgeous spring, cut down our wood and destroy our pasture where we raise sheep.” Miles said her story is just one of the many that will be affected by the project. “Each one of those parcels has a story and each one’s story is as bad as mine, if not worse.”
WBNS: 'All of this is going to be gone': Residents worried about pipeline approved for Delaware, Union counties
Lindsey Mills, 10/19/21
“Andrea Yagoda starts every day the same way. She walks the trail her husband built on their 28-acre property behind their home in Delaware. The property straddles both Delaware and Union Counties – two counties that will eventually have a new natural gas pipeline,” WBNS reports. "All of this is going to be gone,” she told WBNS while pointing to a tree line along that trail behind her home. She said in June of 2020 she got a notice about a proposed 16-mile pipeline, called the Columbia Gas Northern Loop Project. Yagoda explained the project will wipe out many of the trees on her property. Earlier this month, Ohio's Power Siting Board approved the plan… “Yagoda said she is concerned about what this project will mean for the value of her property. And also this: "My question was directly to the radius of harm if there was a problem with the pipeline and I think everyone has a right to know that because that's placing us in danger," she said. "I asked four times they would not answer that question." “...We also found more property owners who sued Columbia Gas of Ohio, asking the company not to build the pipeline citing a “violation of property rights” and a "significant environmental risk."
WLUC: Enbridge holds open house, protestors gather outside NMU’s Northern Center
Jerry Tudor, 10/19/21
“In Marquette, a group of protestors gathered at an open house held by Enbridge at Northern Michigan University Tuesday night. The group had signs saying “Our Climate Over Their Profits” and “Shut Down Line 5″, WLUC reports. “Inside representatives from Enbridge were set up in stations providing information on their operations. Specifically there was information on the Rapid River Station, which provides propane to many Upper Peninsula residents and the proposed Line 5 Tunnel. “I understand it can be very complex, very technical information at times, so it can be difficult for people who don’t do what we do to really understand the safety measures, the protocols, the precautions that we have in place to keep that oil and that natural gas and that propane inside of the pipeline and not have an incident,” Paul Meneghini, Enbridge Manager of Community Engagement, told WLUC.
Stand.earth: New poll shows 59% of Canadians do not support any more spending on Trans Mountain pipeline construction
10/18/21
“A new poll from Abacus Data shows that 45 per cent of Canadians do not think the federal government should spend any more money on the Trans Mountain pipeline, and a further 14 per cent think they should not spend more than the current $12.6 billion in projected construction costs,” according to Stand.earth. "Every dollar that Canada spends on TMX is a bet against a safe,secure, and environmentally healthy planet for future generations,” said Grand Chief Stewart Philip, President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs. “It is absolutely shameful that the federal government continues pushing this project through without the consent of the Nations whose territory it passes through and without appropriate social license from the Canadian public." The projected cost of building the Trans Mountain Expansion has steadily increased since 2014, when Kinder Morgan first unveiled the project with an estimated cost of $5.4 billion... “We found evidence of delays in every segment of the pipeline ranging from two to 23 months. When cross-referenced with sworn affidavit statements from Trans Mountain executives about the cost of delays, the TMX cost has likely ballooned to $20 billion,” Eugene Kung, staff lawyer with West Coast Environmental Law, told Stand. “However, the lack of transparency and culture of secrecy at Trans Mountain makes this hard to confirm. The Canadian public, who now own this project, deserve to know the full cost while there is still time to save billions.”
Politico Morning Energy: PIPELINE POLITICS
Matthew Choi, 10/19/21
“House Democrats on the Natural Resource Committee used a Monday hearing on the recent California pipeline oil spill to make the case for climate provisions in the reconciliation bill still languishing in Congress,” Politico Morning Energy reports. “Rep. Alan Lowenthal , chair of the subcommittee on energy and mineral resources, linked the latest accident to previous ones and pressed for measures in the reconciliation bill that would ban offshore drilling in U.S. coastal waters in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The spills occurred “because we have not broken our dependence on fossil fuels and we can continue drilling off our shores,” Lowenthal said at the hearing. “Preventing new offshore drilling is a crucial first step and one that we're actively working to ensure remains in the Build Back Better Act working its way through Congress.” Rep. Katie Porter also estimated that the oil producer and pipeline owner Beta Offshore had received $31 million in federal subsidies over the past five years. “With that money, Beta tried to extract more oil,” Porter said. “Then it leaked, devastating Southern California businesses. The Build Back Better budget will end the royalty cuts program, which is the subsidy that Beta got, and that's just one more reason that we should all support it.” House Natural Resources Ranking Member Bruce Westerman decried the hearing as a partisan show, saying in a statement that current supply chain woes were responsible for overcrowding the waters near the pipeline.”
Lehigh Valley Live: Carbon County group hosting party to celebrate end of PennEast pipeline project
Connor Lagore, 10/19/21
“Last month, when PennEast declared their development of a pipeline running through Pennsylvania and New Jersey had “ceased,” a number of people considered it a victory, particularly the organized group Save Carbon County,” Lehigh Valley Live reports. “And when there’s a victory, there’s often a celebration. Save Carbon County, which formed seven years ago to fight PennEast’s plans to build the multi-state pipeline, is throwing what is surely the first Pipeline Blowout Celebration from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sunday. The group plans to celebrate “the very big victory over this unneeded and environmentally damaging pipe” at Big Creek Grange in Lehighton… “Save Carbon County is far from the only group overjoyed at PennEast’s decision to stop development the pipeline. When the decision was announced, political figures and activist groups in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania expressed their approval.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Manchin has raked in $400K in fossil fuel donations
Timothy Cama, 10/20/21
“Sen. Joe Manchin took in more than $400,000 from fossil fuel interests in recent months as he fought his colleagues’ plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the electricity sector,” E&E News reports. “Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat who is up for reelection in 2024, raised $1.6 million in campaign contributions between July and October, according to his election campaign’s filings with the Federal Election Commission. Those contributions included funding from executives and political action committees of ConocoPhillips, Pioneer Natural Resources Co. and EQT Corp. Company PACs tied to Energy Transfer Partners, HollyFrontier Corp., Williams Cos. Inc., Plains All American GP LLC and Enterprise Products Partners LP all gave Manchin $5,000, the maximum allowed under federal law. A number of fossil fuel executives also gave Manchin at least $5,000 each, including ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance and his wife Lisa, Energy Transfer Chairman Kelcy Warren and his wife Amy, Continental Resources Inc. Chairman Harold Hamm, Enterprise Products Partners co-CEO A.J. Teague and his wife Rungnapa, and Hilcorp Energy Co. Chairman Jeffery Hildebrand… “The Sunrise Movement castigated Manchin for accepting the fossil fuel money, saying it shows that he should not be involved in writing climate legislation. “It’s unfathomable that Joe Manchin, who is continuously profiting from the fossil fuel industry — raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars for his campaign and earning millions from his son’s fossil fuel energy firm — is responsible for writing our nation’s climate and energy policy as chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee,” Lauren Maunus, Sunrise’s advocacy director, told E&E.
STATE UPDATES
Los Angeles Times: Crowd turns out in Laguna Beach to endorse ban on offshore oil drilling
BY ANDREW TURNER, 10/18/21
“Orange County beaches have reopened, but local officials and environmentalists are endeavoring to make sure the recent oil spill and its impacts are not soon forgotten,” the Los Angeles Times reports. “A crowd of hundreds showed up to support speakers at a news conference calling for an end to offshore oil drilling on Monday at Main Beach Park in Laguna Beach. “Here in Laguna Beach, we have taken for granted our pristine coast, but sadly our bubble has burst by this horrific and inevitable oil spill,” Judie Mancuso, founder and president of Social Compassion in Legislation, said. “There is so much at stake already for our threatened marine wildlife.” “...The event was headlined by actress and environmental activist Jane Fonda, who was showered with cheers by the attendees as she spoke about the need to protect the ocean. She said that a commitment to ending offshore oil drilling must be made not just locally but at the state and federal level too. Fonda added that new jobs must be made available to those who have worked in fossil fuel industries. “They work in an industry that helped build this country,” Fonda said. “We must not blame them. The oil and gas and coal that exists that is not being used is called stranded assets. The workers must never be stranded assets.”
Star Tribune: Railroad venture boosts number of oil trains in Minnesota
Mike Hughlett, 10/17/21
“A new Canadian railroad venture is sparking a significant increase of 15 to 20 oil trains that run through Minnesota each month,” the Star Tribune reports. “Canadian Pacific Railway's specialized new Canadian crude cargoes run on its main line, which bisects the Twin Cities. And the Canadian rail giant's recent deal to purchase a major U.S. railroad will likely make its new oil service even more appealing to shippers. Oil-by-rail has stoked safety concerns in Minnesota and elsewhere since 2013 when an oil train in Quebec caught fire and exploded, killing 47 people.Since then, several more oil trains in North America have derailed and spilled, some catching fire… “Canadian Pacific and the company behind the new Alberta, Canada, rail venture, USD Partners, say they're using a new technology that makes shipping oil safe enough it need not be categorized as a flammable hazardous cargo… “USD Partners said testing of its proprietary oil blend indicates that if it's spilled into water during a derailment, it will float. Unlike lighter oil, heavy Canadian crude can eventually sink and diffuse, making cleanup efforts more difficult. But the venture and USD's claims have some skeptics. "There are a lot of problems with this proposal and the complete lack of transparency around it," Frank Hornstein, the Minneapolis DFLer who heads the Minnesota House's Transportation Finance and Policy Committee, told the Tribune. "We don't know the characteristics of this material being transported," he said. "We have to depend on the company making a profit off of it to guarantee its safety."
Bismarck Tribune: North Dakota on brink of more radioactive oil waste disposal options
AMY R. SISK, 10/18/21
“North Dakota's oil industry could soon have a second option for disposing of radioactive waste within the state, and a regulator sees potential for more facilities,” the Bismarck Tribune reports. “The North Dakota Industrial Commission recently permitted a second well slated for McKenzie County in which oil field waste would be mixed with saltwater into a slurry and injected deep underground. State Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms anticipates the other three core Bakken counties -- Williams, Mountrail and Dunn -- could each have a well down the road… “About 100,000 tons of radioactive oil field waste is produced in the state each year. Until the first slurry well started operating near Watford City in April, it was all trucked to other states for disposal in landfills or, more rarely, dumped illegally. North Dakota did not have any options for disposal within the state… “The well would be located on land owned by the company Anytime Hydroexcavation off U.S. Highway 85. It’s not far from a housing subdivision, and the area already has a lot of truck traffic due to an industrial park in the vicinity, Lindvig told the Tribune. Woolsey told the Tribune the site surrounding the well can accommodate up to 20 trucks at a time, which should keep vehicles from queuing up on the road. He added that the company would halt trucks from coming in and out when school buses were in the area.”
Orange County Register: Oil wells in Bolsa Chica reserve could jeopardize wetlands
MARTIN WISCKOL, 10/15/21
“A steward of the Bolsa Chica wetlands, Kim Kolpin describes her panic earlier this month when she heard that oil was spilling offshore of the habitat-rich park she has worked at since 1996,” the Orange County Register reports. “The 1,400-acre Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach is home to 23 species that are endangered, threatened or of special concern. It’s treasured by birdwatchers for the nearly 300 feathered resident and migratory species, many of which lay their eggs there. All told, there are an estimated 900 species of critters, including turtles, rays and octopuses. In the end, the spill made landfall mostly south of the wetlands. And a quickly installed boom at the reserve’s tidal inlet has, so far, helped prevent any sign of oil entering the ecosystem. But while that’s been a huge relief to Kolpin and others, the biggest ongoing oil threat to the wetlands might come from within the preserve itself. A huge portion of the ecological reserve is dedicated to oil production, with a 350-acre oil field home to some 40 aging pumping stations that serve 102 operational wells. “If this spill had happened in Bolsa Chica, it would have been a massive environmental disaster,” Kolpin, executive director of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, told the Register. “It would be tragic. We know how difficult it would be to clean up that oil and the wildlife it would damage.”
EXTRACTION
Reuters: Pandemic brings forward predictions for peak oil demand
10/18/21
“The COVID-19 pandemic this year has dented oil consumption and brought forward forecasts by energy majors, producers and analysts for when the world's demand for oil may peak,” Reuters reports. “Demand was about 100 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2019 and has yet to recover to that level because of the pandemic. The rise of electric vehicles and a shift to renewable energy has also led to revisions in forecasts. There is no consensus on when oil demand could peak, but the predictions could affect oil exploration and development plans. BP provides three scenarios, all showing the pandemic reduced demand growth. In one scenario, the British energy producer says demand may have peaked in 2019, while another of its scenarios sees a peak in 2035. The Norwegian oil and gas producer Equinor expects oil demand to peak from 2027 to 2028, two to three years sooner than it previously forecast. In its main scenario, Equinor sees oil demand at 99.5 million bpd in 2030 and 84 million bpd in 2050… “Consultancy Rystad Energy sees demand peaking at 101.6 million bpd in 2026, revised down from its November forecast for a peak in 2028 of 102.2 million bpd… “The French oil major Total, which previously forecast a peak around 2030, now says demand is expected to peak before 2030 and would drop to 40 million to 64 million bpd by 2050… “The rise in electric cars, renewable energy and plastics recycling will sap oil demand but growth in developing countries will push a peak in demand beyond 2030, Goldman Sachs said.
Fox Business: ‘Crazy’ bets on $200 oil invade the options market
10/19/21
“A roaring trade in bullish crude-oil options says the 2021 energy rally is far from over,” Fox Business reports. “Traders once again are betting that the U.S. oil benchmark will surge above $100 a barrel, from a recent $82, as early as December. U.S. crude, known as West Texas Intermediate or WTI, is up 10% this month, and 70% this year, but it hasn’t hit $100 since the oil crash of 2014. Wagers across the Atlantic are even more aggressive. Some traders are betting Brent crude, the global benchmark, will hit a record high of $200 a barrel by December 2022, according to data from provider QuikStrike. Options give investors the right to buy or sell at a stated price by a certain date. Traders typically use options to make directional bets or to hedge their portfolios. The bullish trading amounts to a gamble that supply-chain disruptions and regional shortages will keep pushing energy markets higher, despite a slowing global economic expansion and concerns that higher oil and natural-gas prices will crimp consumer spending. The wagers also show that investors drawn by the small upfront investments and potentially quick payoffs of options trades are piling into energy markets, echoing trades in the stock market this year.”
Financial Post: Canada's road to net zero will cost $2 trillion — as much as a year's GDP
Geoffrey Morgan, 10/20/21
“The cost of transitioning Canada’s economy to net-zero emissions is pegged at $2 trillion over the next 30 years, but funds are available to finance the transition, according to the country’s largest financial institution,” the Financial Post reports. “...RBC released a report called “The $2 Trillion Transition: Planning for Canada’s place in a Net Zero world,” which plots out a possible course for the country to reduce its emissions in line with a net-zero emissions target by 2050 and budgets the cost of the shift. That’s roughly equivalent to Canada’s annual GDP last year, which stood at just under $2 trillion last year, according to Statistics Canada. All told, the Toronto-based bank believes the government and the private sector needs to spend $56.4 billion annually in six different sectors to meet its net zero targets. Broken down, the report pegs the price tag at $25 billion per year for building out electric vehicle infrastructure in the transportation sector, $13.7 billion on emissions reductions in the oil and gas sector, $5.4 billion retrofitting old buildings, $5.4 billion in the electricity sector, $4.4 billion in the heavy industries and $2.5 billion in the agricultural sector annually.”
National Observer: Reducing oil and gas production is Canada’s ‘only possible lever’ to hit 2030 climate goals
John Woodside, 10/19/21
“Two reports released Wednesday reveal Canada is lagging far behind its climate goals, with both studies making clear the only option left is reducing the production of fossil fuels,” the National Observer reports. “The first is the United Nations Production Gap Report, launched in 2019, that compares governments’ planned fossil fuel production with the amount of production possible with holding global warming to the Paris Agreement target of as close to 1.5 C as possible. The study calls the gulf between planned production and what is compatible with 1.5 C warming the “production gap.” It found global coal, oil, and gas production should fall 11 per cent, four per cent, and three per cent annually from 2020 to 2030 to limit warming to 1.5 C, but instead, governments are collectively planning to increase production in oil and gas, with only “modest” reductions in coal. By 2030, the report projects 240 per cent more coal, 57 per cent more oil, and 71 per cent more gas than is compatible with 1.5 C warming… “The report ranks Canada fourth, fifth, and 11th for global gas, oil, and coal production respectively, where it was responsible for four per cent, five per cent, and one per cent of production. It also found Canada has 0.4 coal miners for every 1,000 workers, and that one per cent of Ottawa’s revenue comes from oil and gas production. Canada is planning to increase oil and gas production, 18 per cent and 17 per cent respectively, from 2019 to 2040 under the Canada Energy Regulator’s latest scenario, the report finds.”
RESEARCH & SCIENCE
Pulitzer Center: ‘No Teeth and No Funding’: How Regulators Failed To Police the Oil Industry
Naveena Sadasivam, 10/19/21
“The fracking boom in the Permian Basin — which straddles West Texas and southeastern New Mexico — largely coincided with Republican control of much of New Mexico’s state government,” the Pulitzer Center reports. “Many of those elected to office in the early years of the shale rush promptly began dismantling barriers to extracting the most oil and gas at the cheapest price: Soon after winning the governorship in 2010, Republican Susana Martinez shuffled key employees in the environment department into positions where they had little expertise. During her eight-year tenure, the state legislature slashed the budget for the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division, or OCD, which oversees the oil and gas industry, by 25 percent. By 2018, half of all inspection and compliance positions were vacant. “Their budget was gutted,” Stephanie Garcia Richard, a Democrat and the current land commissioner in charge of overseeing drilling on state lands, told the Center. “They were casting about every which way [for money]. They were a regulatory body that had no teeth and had no funding.” “...Across the border in Texas, there are 405,000 more oil and gas wells, but enforcement — which is conducted by the misleadingly-named Railroad Commission — is similarly sparse… the Texas Railroad Commission’s funds and staff are also stretched thin: The agency has about 300 inspectors statewide. Of them, 31 are employed in the Midland office, which oversees the Permian Basin and is responsible for inspecting more than 103,000 wells. That breaks down to about 3,322 wells per inspector. The Railroad Commission’s low and infrequent fines have been a running joke among its field staff, according to one former inspector who oversaw the Commission’s abandoned well cleanups in the Permian Basin for almost three decades beginning in the 1980s. He requested anonymity for fear of retaliation from oil and gas companies that he currently works with. “The Commission was a big old bulldog, but we called it a bulldog with rubber teeth,” he told the Center. “We could snap and bark, but we couldn’t enforce it. And that’s what it came down to.”
Oil Change International: Permian fracking boom will bust the climate and intensify environmental injustice
10/19/21
“Oil Change International, Earthworks, and the Center for International Environmental Law are releasing a new multi-media report series entitled The Permian Basin Climate Bomb. The six-part series analyzes the climate, public health, economic, and social impacts of the Permian fracking boom. It follows the flow of Permian hydrocarbons from extraction to export, illustrating the community consequences of the associated infrastructure buildout by spotlighting individuals confronting the fossil fuel industry. In doing so, this series links the Permian Basin to environmental injustice and petrochemical expansion on the Gulf Coast. Part 1 of this new series reveals that oil production in the Permian Basin has grown more than 5x in the past decade, and despite the climate crisis, is still expected to grow aggressively in the coming decade. At a time when the world’s leading scientists agree that “rapid, transformative, and sustained action is needed to ensure that global warming does not exceed 1.5°C temperature levels,” continued oil and gas production growth in the Permian Basin poses a substantial threat to President Biden’s climate agenda. Additionally, the Permian Basin is responsible for fueling an explosion in plastic processing and manufacturing along the Gulf Coast. Communities already burdened with toxic chemical plants are witnessing expansions of new and existing plants, raising their cumulative toxic burden higher than ever before. This plastics production boom ignores the outcry of communities and governments worldwide over the plastic pollution crisis, threatening the survival of countless species, and causing immeasurable harm to public health and ecosystems worldwide.”
Huffington Post: Money For Green Energy Creates More Jobs Than Fossil Fuel Investment, New Study Finds
Alexander C. Kaufman, 10/18/21
“As Congress debates whether to pare down the Biden administration’s signature climate proposals or allow the fossil fuel industry to benefit more from new government programs, new research suggests doing so would create far fewer jobs,” the Huffington Post reports. “For every million dollars the United States government invests, solar produces over 2.7 times more jobs than fossil fuels, according to an analysis from two environmental think tanks and a labor union. Wind energy spurs over 2.8 times more jobs than investments in oil, gas and coal. And retrofitting buildings to be more energy efficient creates demand for nearly three times as many jobs. The findings appear to hold true across the world… “Dollar for dollar, solar energy creates a global average of 1.5 times as many jobs as investing the same money into fossil fuels.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
The Age: NAB targeted by Indigenous group over stake in Canadian pipeline
Charlotte Grieve, 10/20/21
“National Australia Bank has been targeted by Indigenous activists over its stake in a controversial Canadian gas pipeline, ahead of the release of the major bank’s revamped policy on oil and gas investing and increased scrutiny on traditional owner land rights in Australia,” The Age reports. “The coalition of more than 100 activist groups, including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Market Forces and BankTrack, have signed a letter to NAB and other global investors of Coastal GasLink – a 670-kilometre gas pipeline project with approval from the Canadian government… “The letter has been organised by leaders of Canada’s Wet’suwet’en nation, an Indigenous group who have fiercely opposed the pipeline for years. The group made global headlines last year for instigating a number of blockades against construction, which triggered protests around Canada. Now, the activist group is calling on NAB and other investors to divest all holdings in the project, claiming it violates the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People that states, “Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or territories”. “We are responsible for decisions regarding our land, and the decision of TC Energy [parent company] to construct the Coastal GasLink pipeline without our consent is an infringement of our title and rights,” the letter states.
OPINION
Pipeline Fighters Hub: Kenny Bruno: Reflections on an Epic Pipeline Campaign
Kenny Bruno is senior advisor to the Cloud Mountain Foundation, 10/19/21
“Someday, no oil will flow through the Enbridge Line 3 tar sands pipeline,” Kenny Bruno writes for the Pipeline Fighters Hub. “Meanwhile, let’s not sugarcoat it: this is a solemn and frustrating moment for the grassroots climate movement, for water protectors, and for tribal leaders and tribal nations especially in Minnesota. Despite their heroic efforts, Enbridge Line 3 tar sands pipeline has started operations. It is maddening that the exact logic that led President Biden to cancel Keystone XL tar sands pipeline on the first day of his presidency applies to Line 3, yet the President, the Army Corps of Engineers (headed by a Native American) and all the climate hawks in the Administration did not see fit to apply that logic. With Keystone, the president recognized the leadership of protestors and protectors. He recognized treaty rights for tribal nations and the obvious flaws in the permitting process. With Line 3, he ignored all that. He ignored the Indigenous women who stood in front of bulldozers. He ignored over 800 people who got arrested. He ignored the eloquent plea of four tribal elected tribal leaders to “respect science, Indigenous communities, property rights and the climate crisis, and follow standards to make sure that new fossil fuel infrastructure has to pass a climate test.” In the disappointment of the moment, it is hard to remember what has been achieved. Let’s remember: The campaign against Line 3 has been part of a larger movement that has accomplished more than meets the eye… “The Line 3 campaign delayed the project by four years. During this delay, the global crude oil market became much less favorable to the tar sands industry. This is partly due to the pandemic and economic factors. And it is partly due to the simple fact that when the world takes even modest climate action, the logic of extracting expensive and risky high-carbon tar sands oil will evaporate. Winona LaDuke, the inspiring leader of Honor the Earth and a member of the White Earth Nation, says that this campaign helped launch the Water Protector movement, and is not going away. Because of that movement, for years, oil did not flow through Line 3. Today, oil will flow. Someday, no oil will flow through Line 3. The work now is to hasten that day.”
The Revelator: Could Property Law Help Achieve ‘Rights of Nature’ for Wild Animals?
Claire Hamlett, 10/18/21
“Humans share the Earth with billions of other species. We all need somewhere to live, yet only humans own their homes. What if other species could own theirs as well?” Claire Hamlett writes for The Revelator. “That’s what Karen Bradshaw, Arizona State University law professor, proposes in her recent book, Wildlife as Property Owners. Drawing on Indigenous legal systems and the ideas of philosophers and property law theorists before her, Bradshaw argues that wild animals should be integrated into our system of property law to prevent further habitat destruction — the leading cause of species extinction. Under what Bradshaw calls an “interspecies system of property,” animals and people would co-own land through a legal trust. This would give animals, through their human representatives, standing in court, like other property owners. The proposal may seem radical, but it fits into the more well-known concept of “rights of nature.” These Indigenous-led efforts to establish legal personhood for natural entities have seen expansive rights granted to ecosystems such as the Klamath River in Oregon and Te Uruwera rainforest in New Zealand. In the latest development within the rights-of-nature movement, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe tribe in northwestern Minnesota filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against the state on behalf of wild rice, called manoomin in their language. The tribe argued that allowing fossil fuel company Enbridge to divert billions of gallons of groundwater for the construction of the Line 3 oil pipeline violates manoomin’s rights, which tribal law recognized in 2018.”
Calgary Sun: Bad government policies create energy crisis
Robert P. Murphy is a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute, 10/20/21
“With skyrocketing prices in Europe and to a lesser extent North America, commentators are openly talking of a looming energy crisis,” Robert P. Murphy writes for the Calgary Sun. “Yet unlike an earthquake or asteroid strike, in modern times energy crises are the result of misguided government policy. Especially as delegates head to Glasgow for the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (in its 26th year), it’s critical for the public to recognize that even more onerous restrictions on carbon-based fuels will only make the situation worse… “The most obvious example is the carbon tax, currently at $40 per tonne with scheduled hikes until it caps out at $170/tonne in 2030. The textbook rationale of a carbon tax is to make fossil fuels more expensive, incentivizing households and businesses to cut back on consumption and seek alternative sources. To reiterate, when it comes to a carbon tax, higher energy prices aren’t a bug, they are a feature. The whole point is to make carbon-based fuels more expensive so Canadians use less of them. But other climate change policies have the same effect. Legal and regulatory obstacles put in the way of the development (or transportation) of oilsands will effectively reduce the supply brought to market and raise the price of oil. The same is true for mandates on how much electricity must be produced from renewable sources — by stacking the deck against cheaper (and more reliable) natural gas and coal-fired power plants, such mandates make electricity artificially more expensive than it otherwise would be.”
Globe and Mail: Canada’s banks join Mark Carney, signaling a shift from the West’s fossil fuel dependency and delighting OPEC
Konrad Yakabuski, 10/20/21
“Canada’s six largest banks last week became the latest global financial institutions to join former central bank governor Mark Carney’s efforts to steer lending away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy investments,” Konrad Yakabuski writes for the Globe and Mail. “By joining the United Nations-convened Net-Zero Banking Alliance, led by Mr. Carney, the UN special envoy on climate action and finance, the big six banks formally committed to shifting their lending away from projects and activities that generate greenhouse gas emissions “to align with pathways to net zero by mid-century, or sooner.” While RBC, TD, CIBC, BMO, Scotiabank and National Bank did not explicitly commit to divesting from the oil and gas sector, their move to join the NZBA ahead of next month’s COP26 climate conference in Glasgow puts them in step with their peers in the developed world in pledging reduced investment in fossil fuels in the face of pressure from shareholders and environmental activists. Indeed, since the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned in May that new fossil fuel developments must cease in order to reach global net zero by 2050, the list of banks and pension funds reducing or eliminating oil investments has grown rapidly. It now includes Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, which last month announced plans to sell off its shares of oil sands leader Suncor Energy Inc. and a handful of foreign oil companies. Depending on your perspective, the oil and gas divestment trend in the West is either an urgent necessity, as the race to limit global warming to 1.5 C by 2050 enters its make-or-break phase, or a misguided attempt at virtue signalling that will empower a small number of undemocratic petrostates just as energy demand soars in the developing world in the coming decades.”