EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 10/2/24

PIPELINE NEWS

• Pipeline Fighters Hub: Good for the Goose, Good for the Gander: Who Should Have Access to Plume Modeling for CO2 Pipeline Ruptures?

• KTRK: La Porte families facing a new 'mentally draining' normal after pipeline fire damages homes

• Inside Climate News: A Family of Beekeepers Could Lose Their Hives Because of a Massive Pipeline Expansion

• Bloomberg: Permian Gas Starts Flowing on Matterhorn Pipeline in Texas

• Bloomberg: FERC Defends Natural Gas Pipeline Fuel Rates as Fair to System

• Bloomberg: Ohio AG Denied Another Chance to Litigate Rover Pipeline Spill

• Press release: TC Energy completes spinoff of its Liquids Pipelines business, South Bow Corporation; TC Energy to issue third quarter results on Nov. 7

• DeSmog: Canadians Are Still Paying for Trudeau’s Trans Mountain Pipeline

WASHINGTON UPDATES

• Grist: A federal attempt to foster ‘high-integrity voluntary carbon markets’ falls short, experts say

• E&E News: Judge appears unlikely to revive youth EPA climate lawsuit

• Politico: Climate world still has no solution to Trump 2.0

• New York Times: Around the World, Diplomats Gird for a Trump Assault on Climate Action

STATE UPDATES

• Texas Tribune: The largest carbon capture project in the U.S. could be in West Texas. Do residents want it?

• Hart Energy: Enbridge Closes $3.1B Deal for Public Service Co. of North Carolina

• CBS News Sacramento: Stockton bans eating fish caught in Smith Canal after banned chemical found during oil cleanup

• E&E News: Fracking’s role in Pennsylvania isn’t what you think

• WHYY: Fracking in Pennsylvania hasn’t gone as well as some may think

• Bloomberg: TVA's Environmental Review of Gas-Fired Plant Upheld by Court

• Cal Matters: Newsom signs law delaying oil industry’s leak detection in communities

• Associated Press: Judge In Alaska Sets Aside Critical Habitat Designation For Threatened Bearded, Ringed Seals 

• New Jersey Monitor: Climate activists urge fines for fossil fuel producers

• Bridge Michigan: Michigan still pumps oil. Taxpayers often stuck with tab to cap orphan wells 

EXTRACTION

• Energy Intelligence Group: Chevron Faces Tenuous CCS Delivery Path

CLIMATE FINANCE

• Private Equity Climate Risks: Secretive private equity investments in fossil fuels emit more carbon emissions than entire aviation industry

OPINION

• San Antonio Express-News: Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe fights to preserve land in Rio Grande Valley

• Calgary Herald: A 'new beginning' for South Bow Corp. as demand for oil — and pipelines — keeps rising
  

PIPELINE NEWS

Pipeline Fighters Hub: Good for the Goose, Good for the Gander: Who Should Have Access to Plume Modeling for CO2 Pipeline Ruptures?
Paul Blackburn, 10/2/24

“...Unfortunately, neither PHMSA nor state and local governments expressly require plume modeling before a CO2 pipeline is routed, or make such modeling public,”  the Pipeline Fighters Hub reports. “...Worse, the CO2 pipeline industry is supporting new federal legislation that would make government and industry pipeline rupture modeling secret, based on an argument that its release would aid terrorists… “While some state agencies have required disclosure of plume modeling during administrative hearings, to date all of the models disclosed have been dispersion models, not CFD models. Moreover, some of these agencies have made the modeling confidential… “The potential for CO2 pipeline mass casualty events suggests that pipeline operators might voluntarily choose to use CFD modeling, even if it is expensive, as a means of reducing their potential liability. Along these lines, insurance companies may also require CFD modeling so that they can accurately assess the degree of financial risk they face in the event of a rupture near high population areas. This does not mean that pipeline companies will share their computer modeling results with the people put at risk by their pipelines. They prefer that you simply trust them to protect you, your family, and your animals. It’s cheaper and easier for CO2 pipeline operators if nobody except first responders knows the risks created by pipeline ruptures. But, in rural areas how long will it take for first responders to show up?... “For the following reasons, the CO2 pipeline industry’s claims that disclosure of plume modeling would facilitate terrorism are not well founded. First, any potential advantage to terrorists must be weighed against the benefits that disclosure to Americans would provide… “Second, as discussed above, estimates of danger zones can be determined for other types of hazardous pipelines based on a simple mathematical formula… “Third, terrorists are unlikely to need high-quality plume modeling to pick targets… “Fourth, an actual pipeline rupture may or may not create the plume predicted by a particular plume model run, because the shape and extent of the plume would depend entirely on the circumstances and weather at the time of a rupture… “Finally, there are no documented records of terrorist attacks on CO2 pipelines in the U.S. It is true that some protestors have turned oil pipeline valves and damaged oil pipelines during their construction, but withholding plume modeling would not prevent these types of actions. Moreover, it would seem extremely unlikely that terrorists would target CO2 pipelines in rural areas, because CO2 is not a strategic commodity and a rupture in a rural area would likely harm relatively few people, which is not what terrorists want.  Again, the best way to increase public safety is to prevent the unwise siting of CO2 pipelines near high-population areas through disclosure of plume modeling during routing decisions. We should not let hypothetical terrorist use of plume modeling prevent citizens from knowing the risks of proposed and existing CO2 pipelines. Ignorance does not increase public safety. An informed community is a safer community.” 

KTRK: La Porte families facing a new 'mentally draining' normal after pipeline fire damages homes
Daniela Hurtado, 10/1/24

“It's now been two weeks since a pipeline fire in La Porte changed the lives of dozens of people,” KTRK reports. “...Two weeks later, the people of East Meadow Drive are still dealing with the aftermath of the grueling heat brought from a flame hundreds of feet in the air and out of a pipeline. "Coming from a home to being homeless, I mean, that's ridiculous for something we didn't ask for," pipeline fire victim Marian Rodriguez told KTRK. Rodriguez is one of several neighbors whose homes were damaged from the heat radiating off the ground and the water coming from firefighters trying to protect them… “Homes suffered water damage, roofs need replacement, windows are boarded up, and families are hurting… “On the outside, cracks can be seen on the bricks of Rodriguez's home. "When the pipe blew up, the house went like this, and some of the bricks throughout the whole house expanded," Rodriguez told KTRK. "(It's) mentally draining for people," Blair told KTRK… "At this point, I'm going to submit everything through my insurance company and let them fight for us. I'm not willing to fight with a company that's not willing to help me out with anything. I don't have the energy for that anymore," Rodriguez told KTRK. Rodriguez told KTRK she feels defeated and unhelped by the owners of the Energy Transfer pipeline. Other neighbors told ABC13 that Energy Transfer has asked for receipts to reimburse the families for the damage. Eyewitness News has consistently contacted Energy Transfer for comment since the original incident, including Tuesday, but it has not replied.”

Inside Climate News: A Family of Beekeepers Could Lose Their Hives Because of a Massive Pipeline Expansion
Lisa Sorg, 10/2/24

“...Lisa Schehr and Dawn Overmyer are beekeepers on a 12-acre family farm near Midway in northern Davidson County,” Inside Climate News reports. “...Beneath the farm, a Transco pipeline is sending millions of cubic feet of natural gas along a 10,000-mile route from the Gulf of Mexico through the Southeast and on to New York… “Transco is asking federal regulators to install another pipeline alongside the existing ones, as part of its Southeast Supply Enhancement Project that includes portions of five states. It is one of the largest pipeline capacity expansions in the Southeast in decades, and necessary, Transco says, to meet regional demand for natural gas… “Schehr and Overmyer are among hundreds of aggrieved homeowners, farmers and clean energy and environmental advocates who are banding together to defeat the build-out. They’re also concerned about public health, safety, water and air quality, as well as what they say is inadequate federal and state oversight of the natural gas industry. “It has always been the case that gas has not received the same level of scrutiny as the electricity supply industry. The gas industry knows this,” Shelley Robbins, senior decarbonization manager at the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, told ICN. “And since the pipelines are mostly underground, people don’t see them unless it affects them directly.” If expanded, Transco’s pipeline would supply gas to Duke Energy’s four proposed new plants in Person and Catawba counties. It would intersect with two other proposed pipelines: Enbridge’s T15 Reliability Project, which runs 45 miles between Person County and Rockingham County, near Eden, and the MVP Southgate, also near Eden. It is a proposed extension of the main Mountain Valley Pipeline that runs for 300 miles through West Virginia and Virginia. It’s owned by a consortium of energy companies. If the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approves the Transco pipeline, the company could begin construction in the fall of 2026. But surveying is starting now, and Transco is prepared to take more private land—by legal force if necessary—along a 28-mile stretch in North Carolina… “The pipeline folks will make you feel like you’re alone, that you have no choice,” Aidan Loretz, a 7 Directions of Service intern, told ICN. “But you’re not alone. You’re not disempowered.”

Bloomberg: Permian Gas Starts Flowing on Matterhorn Pipeline in Texas
Elizabeth Elkin and Ruth Liao, 10/1/24

“Matterhorn Express Pipeline has begun transporting natural gas into Williams Cos.’s Transco pipeline, a long-awaited addition to midstream infrastructure serving the Permian Basin,” Bloomberg reports. “Matterhorn is moving about 0.3 billion cubic feet per day into Transco, an established pipeline that connects near Katy, Texas, traders said Tuesday. US natural gas futures settled down 0.9% in New York. Matterhorn has a design capacity of 2.5 billion cubic feet per day. It stretches about 580 miles (933 kilometers) to take gas from the Waha hub in West Texas to the Houston area, connecting Transco and other pipelines, ultimately serving domestic consumers including liquefied natural gas export plants on the Gulf Coast. The Permian is the most prolific US oil patch and natural gas output is a plentiful — and growing — byproduct of fracking there. But until now, a lack of pipeline capacity connecting it with the Gulf Coast and Southern California has meant prices at Waha have at times gone negative — in others words, producers have effectively been paying to get rid of the fuel. The spread, or difference, between the Waha cash hub and Henry Hub tightened Tuesday, traders with knowledge of the pricing data, which is not public, told Bloomberg, as the added pipeline capacity eases pent up supply.”

Bloomberg: FERC Defends Natural Gas Pipeline Fuel Rates as Fair to System
Shayna Greene, 10/1/24

“The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission justified its decision to approve a tariff that allows a natural gas producer to pay more for pipeline transportation services than others using the same system,” Bloomberg reports. “The approved fuel rates comply with cost causation principles by making sure that other energy companies don’t suffer the costs of a pipeline expansion that occurred because of one company’s needs, FERC told the US Court Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Monday.”

Bloomberg: Ohio AG Denied Another Chance to Litigate Rover Pipeline Spill
Eric Heisig, 10/1/24

“Ohio’s attorney general was deprived Tuesday of another chance to prove it can hold the builders of an interstate natural gas pipeline responsible for discharging millions of gallons of diesel fuel-laced drilling fluids into wetlands,” Bloomberg reports. “The state’s claims against the companies behind the Rover Pipeline, depending on the arguments the office of Attorney General Dave Yost (R) made, are based on state statutes that are preempted by federal law, the Ohio Court of Appeals, Fifth District ruled in upholding a trial judge’s decision.”

Press release: TC Energy completes spinoff of its Liquids Pipelines business, South Bow Corporation; TC Energy to issue third quarter results on Nov. 7
10/1/24

“TC Energy Corporation  today announced that it has completed the spinoff of its Liquids Pipelines business into South Bow Corporation (South Bow)... “We are uniquely positioned as a highly focused natural gas infrastructure and power and energy solutions company. We will continue to deliver enduring shareholder value, while playing a critical role in meeting growing industry and consumer demand for more secure, affordable and sustainable energy across North America and globally,” said François Poirier, TC Energy’s President and Chief Executive Officer. As a standalone entity, TC Energy is positioned to achieve greater success by executing a tailored strategy to fully capture the incremental value of its unique opportunity set. Focused on long-term energy fundamentals and capital discipline, the Company will maintain its regulated, low-risk and utility-like portfolio. “On behalf of TC Energy, I wish the team at South Bow all the best, and I am excited for the unique opportunities that lie ahead for them,” said Poirier. “Growing energy demand requires all forms of energy, and South Bow is well-placed to deliver resilient supply to the strongest demand markets in North America.”

DeSmog: Canadians Are Still Paying for Trudeau’s Trans Mountain Pipeline
Mitch Anderson, 10/1/24

“Would you rent out a property for less than half of what you need to pay off your mortgage? The federal government is the owner of the $34 billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion (TMX), yet charges oil companies less than half of the tolls required to recover the eye-watering capital costs owed to the Canadian taxpayer,” DeSmog reports. “According to a new report from the International Institute of Sustainable Development (IISD), this amounts to a subsidy to the fossil fuel sector of up to $18.8 billion, or $1,248 per Canadian household. If externalized costs are included – such as unused capacity on other pipelines from Alberta, the impacts of carbon emissions and potential oil spills in Canada’s busiest port – those public giveaways rise to as much as $30.5 billion. Low-balled pipeline tolls might be a windfall for the oil patch but it means the eventual sale price of the pipeline will also be reduced. This would lock in those subsidies even after the pipeline is sold, ensuring Canadians are on the hook for billions in unrecovered capital costs. The oil industry is currently demonstrating their gratitude to the Canadian public by instead appealing to the National Energy Regulator to further reduce the already inadequate tolls they are paying… “Bullied by a loud public campaign from the oil industry, the Trudeau government stepped in to buy the risky pipeline in 2019 but failed to protect Canadians by either updating the 2013 cost estimates used to calculate the pipeline tolls, or by renegotiating new contracts with pipeline users. Every pipeline in the western world charges toll rates equal or exceeding the capital cost plus a 12-15 percent return on investment – except TMX. “The oil industry is the one that’s allegedly benefiting from the pipeline,” Simon Fraser University professor Tom Gunton, author of the IISD report, told DeSmog. “The bottom line is the oil industry should be paying for the full capital cost, not the taxpayer.”

WASHINGTON UPDATES

Grist: A federal attempt to foster ‘high-integrity voluntary carbon markets’ falls short, experts say
Joseph Winters, 9/30/24

“After two years of meetings and consultation with the public, a little-known federal regulator this month issued its final guidance on the trading of derivatives based on carbon credits, the certificates companies buy and sell on a voluntary basis to say they’ve offset their greenhouse gas emissions,” Grist reports. “Experts had hoped that the guidance from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, would address widespread concerns about carbon credit-related fraud — essentially, the fear that credits are not delivering their promised emissions reductions. Scientific articles and media investigations over the past several years have revealed that many credits are based on forest conservation projects in areas that were never in danger of being chopped down, or that they sequester carbon in ways that are unlikely to last more than a few years. In a statement, CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam called the guidance “a critical step in support of the development of high-integrity voluntary carbon markets.”​​ But experts and environmental groups aren’t so enthused. Some don’t think it’ll make much of a difference, due to its limited reach, while others worry the guidance will lend undue legitimacy to the idea of carbon credits — the majority of which they believe shouldn’t be traded in the first place. “It’s giving this imprimatur to a system that doesn’t have credibility to begin with,” Clara Vondrich, senior policy counsel for the nonprofit Public Citizen, told Grist.

E&E News: Judge appears unlikely to revive youth EPA climate lawsuit
Lesley Clark, 10/1/24

“Attorneys for a group of young California climate activists on Monday urged a skeptical federal judge to revive their lawsuit against EPA, arguing that the agency is discriminating against youth,” E&E News reports. “Oral arguments before Judge Michael Fitzgerald of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California followed his May decision that scrapped the young activists' lawsuit — but gave them one more opportunity to revise their complaint. Fitzgerald, who said in May that the California youth lacked standing to bring their lawsuit because their complaints could not be fixed by a court, opened Monday's hearing by saying he had “yet to be convinced” that the judicial system could help the challengers. “It really is a very, very, very uphill problem that you have,” Fitzgerald, an Obama appointee, told attorneys with Our Children’s Trust, the Oregon-based law firm which represents the young activists. Their case, Genesis v. EPA, was filed last December in California, claiming that EPA had “forged an unlawful path” by failing to keep climate pollution at a level that protects children, who are more vulnerable than adults to rising temperatures, raging wildfires and other effects of a warming planet.”

Politico: Climate world still has no solution to Trump 2.0
ZACK COLMAN and SARA SCHONHARDT, 9/29/24

“Pro-climate government officials and environmental activists have had months to think about a strategy for preventing a second Donald Trump presidency from disrupting their efforts to save the world,” Politico reports. “They’ve come up with one main idea: Hope Vice President Kamala Harris wins. “Winning the election is probably the most important thing for the Democrats,” Catherine McKenna, who served as Canada’s environment and climate minister during the ex-president’s first term, told Politico, “having seen what it was like to live under a Trump administration.” Diplomats, ministers, green advocates and businesses alike avoided engaging publicly with the prospects of a Trump win during nearly a week of events at the United Nations General Assembly and Climate Week, both held in New York as a catastrophic hurricane was bearing down on Florida and the Southeast. But the lack of a concrete, unified counter-Trump strategy — during dozens of conversations and interviews — illustrates the difficulties that would confront the global climate movement if it had to face another hostile administration in Washington. Many leaders told Politico it wasn’t their place to comment on U.S. electoral outcomes — even as they acknowledged their deep investment in it given they’ll have to deal with the consequences… “Entertaining a Trump victory would invite wrestling with the inevitable: Once he’s in the White House, there’s nothing other nations can do to keep him and the U.S. government at the table. That would present an almost insurmountable obstacle, given the United States’ role as the world’s largest economy, biggest oil and natural gas producer and biggest historical producer of greenhouse gas pollution — whose active leadership was essential to crafting the Paris Agreement in 2015.”

New York Times: Around the World, Diplomats Gird for a Trump Assault on Climate Action
Lisa Friedman, 9/30/24

“Climate negotiators from Europe, Latin America and some island nations are bracing for the potential return to the world stage of Donald J. Trump, who withdrew the United States from the fight against global warming during his first term,” the New York Times reports. “Nations will press forward without the United States if they must, according to climate negotiators who gathered in New York last week during the United Nations General Assembly. But the first Trump presidency was a setback in the climate fight, and a repeat would slow things down at a critical point when scientists say efforts need to speed up. “I don’t want this to happen, of course,” Laurence Tubiana, who served as France’s climate ambassador during the creation of the 2015 Paris agreement, told the Times, referring to a potential Trump victory. “But I think there will be a sentiment that we have to double down on the Paris agreement framework. I think everybody’s preparing for that.”

STATE UPDATES

Texas Tribune: The largest carbon capture project in the U.S. could be in West Texas. Do residents want it?
Carlos Nogueras Ramos, 10/2/24

“West Texans will have their say this week regarding a proposed carbon dioxide injection site when the Enviornmental Protection Agency holds a series of public meetings in Ector County,” the Texas Tribune reports. “The proposed project — which has been under review for the last two years — would be the largest of its kind in the United States. Occidental Petroleum Corporation, or Oxy, an oil and gas company based in Houston, wants federal approval to capture and store an estimated 722,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide in three injection wells 4,400 feet underground… “If approved, Oxy would receive what’s known as Class VI permits, the first of their kind in Texas and the surrounding region that includes New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and 66 Tribal Nations… “Climate advocates argue that the evidence about the advantages of decarbonization is insufficient and that it falls short of offsetting the greenhouse gases emitted by removing them from the atmosphere. Companies are pursuing projects anyway… “The benefits of carbon capture and storage have been fiercely debated for as long as the technology has existed. Climate advocates and scientists have been skeptical. They say no project has worked fast enough to offset the greenhouse gas emissions from major emitters… “Commission Shift, a Texas-based watchdog group, told the Tribune carbon capture and storage threaten groundwater sources. In a statement, the organization said the EPA should refrain from approving the project until the state resolves other lingering issues with saltwater injections, another underground disposal technique contributing to earthquakes in West Texas. “Outside of the ineffectiveness and inefficiency of (carbon caputure) as a climate mitigation solution, the injection and sequestration of carbon dioxide is dangerous to the land, water, communities, and ecosystems nearby,” Paige Powell, senior policy manager for Commission Shift, told the Tribune. Ramanan Krishnamoorti, senior vice president of energy at The University of Houston, told the Tribune neither the public nor the industry should consider carbon capture a permanent solution.”

Hart Energy: Enbridge Closes $3.1B Deal for Public Service Co. of North Carolina
10/1/24

“North American midstream company Enbridge (ENB) became the U.S.’ largest natural gas utility on Oct. 1 post closing the $3.1 billion acquisition of gas provider Public Service Co. of North Carolina (PSNC),” Hart Energy reports. “With the deal’s closing, Enbridge is, by volume, the largest gas utility in North America, delivering 9 Bcf/d of natural gas to a base of about 7 million customers, according to Enbridge’s website. PSNC, formerly owned by Dominion Energy, serves more than 600,000 customers in the central and western regions of North Carolina, including cities Raleigh, Durham, Gastonia and Asheville.”

CBS News Sacramento: Stockton bans eating fish caught in Smith Canal after banned chemical found during oil cleanup
Esteban Reynoso, 9/30/24

“American Legion Park is an area open to fishing, but Stockton city officials have now banned eating what you catch there after a dangerous chemical was found in the water,” CBS News Sacramento reports. “Nearly 400 gallons of oil were illegally dumped into the Smith Canal in central Stockton. "Crews were able to get out here pretty quickly and get down an absorbent boom which is the white boom that you can see, but it was critical because we didn't have a lot of time," Kristina Werner, a spokesperson for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's Office of Spill Prevention, told CBS. Werner told CBS that crews put absorbers into the water that collect the oil, but for a mile and a half stretch of the canal, the harm was already done. "Especially for spills like this, it would be the contact with the material," CDFW Scientist Andy Taylor told CBS of the harms the spill could cause. "It could be chemical burns, and with fish, it could take oxygen out of the water and suffocate the fish." “...Stocktonians told CBS off camera that its been known for years to not eat the fish from the canal.”

E&E News: Fracking’s role in Pennsylvania isn’t what you think
Mike Soraghan, 10/2/24

“If it’s true that support for a fracking ban is surefire way for a candidate to lose Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes, it’s not because oil and gas drilling is overwhelmingly popular or central to the economy of the state,” E&E News reports. “Polls show that support for a fracking ban in Pennsylvania sits north of 40 percent. Oil and gas and the rest of the mining sector rank 13th for their contribution to the state’s gross domestic product, behind both utilities and the sector encompassing entertainment, arts and food services. The drilling industry directly employs 0.002 percent of the Keystone state workforce… “But what it boils down to for presidential candidates is this: You don’t have to love fracking to win Pennsylvania. You just don’t want to be the one trying to ban it. “It’s one of those issues that’s asymmetrical,” Berwood Yost, pollster and director of the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, told E&E. “So opposing a fracking ban, if you’re a Democrat, is smart politics.” “...It’s worth noting that a president cannot ban fracking on private land, where most drilling takes place in Pennsylvania. Still, for voters, the “ban/not ban” debate does present a pretty good shorthand for the candidates’ energy positions… “But Larry Ceisler does have some thoughts about its significance to voters. The Philadelphia public affairs executive told E&E it’s overblown. “It is not the issue that the Trump people make it out to be,” Ceisler, a Democrat who has a gas lease and supports fracking, told E&E. “Fracking is just an easy talking point.” It plays into the economy, he told E&E, which is top of mind for a vast number of voters. But when it comes to fracking specifically, he thinks issues like abortion will move more voters.”

WHYY: Fracking in Pennsylvania hasn’t gone as well as some may think
Susan Phillips, 10/1/24

“With all the talk of fracking in Pennsylvania during this presidential race, it’s worth looking at what is at stake for workers, leaseholders and residents who live near oil and gas operations,” WHYY reports. “One quick but important reality check — a president cannot ban fracking in Pennsylvania. Only an act of Congress can prohibit fracking on a national level on private and state land, which is where fracking occurs in Pennsylvania… “Job creation is touted as the most significant benefit of the fracking boom, especially in the more rural parts of the state where good-paying jobs can be scarce. One of the first job creation reports painted a rosy picture. Published in 2010 by Penn State University and paid for by the industry, it predicted fracking the Marcellus Shale formation would support 200,000 jobs by 2020. Six years later, another Penn State study with different authors reported about 26,000 direct jobs in the industry, half of which were filled by out-of-state residents. Today, that number is even smaller. In March of 2024, the state reported 16,831 direct jobs in the industry, less than one half of 1% of all jobs… “The Marcellus Shale Coalition surveyed companies in 2022. Its report states that the 123,000 figure includes direct jobs, as well as those “generated through the supply chain and employee spending across different sectors of the economy.” But the methods used in the industry job study are very different from those used by academics and financial analysts, and as a result, cast a very wide net. The report’s job numbers are about 10 times the number of direct fracking jobs reported in the state for 2022. “Typically anything over [twice] the number of direct jobs is looked at as unreasonable by economists who do this type of economic impact analysis,” Tim Kelsey, a professor of agricultural economics at Penn State who also co-authored the 2016 job study, told WHYY… “There are of course going to be some indirect jobs, but to go from [16,800 direct] jobs to 123,000 total, that’s a stretch,” Kenneth Gillingham, professor of economics at the Yale School of the Environment, told WHYY. “Induced” jobs refer to spending by gas workers creating a lunch rush at a local pizza shop, for example, and potentially leading the owner to hire extra workers. It could also count increased spending by local residents who get royalties from a gas lease.

Bloomberg: TVA's Environmental Review of Gas-Fired Plant Upheld by Court
Shayna Greene, 10/1/24

“The Tennessee Valley Authority satisfied all the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act when analyzing the environmental effects of building a gas-fired power plant in Tennessee, a federal judge ruled,” Bloomberg reports. “The Sierra Club failed to show that TVA’s analysis of the indirect effects, including methane emissions, of the project was arbitrary or capricious, Judge William L. Campbell Jr. of the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee said Monday.In 2022, the environmental group challenged the electric utility’s decision to build the plant at an existing TVA facility in Johnsonville, Tenn.”

Cal Matters: Newsom signs law delaying oil industry’s leak detection in communities
9/30/24

“Gov. Gavin Newsom today signed a law that will give oil and gas companies several extra years before they begin detecting and fixing wells near homes and schools that leak into the air and water,” Cal Matters reports. “Companies won’t have to monitor their oil and gas wells within 3,200 feet of California’s residential areas for leaks until July 2030 — three and a half years later than the deadline that Newsom and the Legislature set in law two years ago. The slowdown in protecting communities near wells comes as Newsom lauds his administration’s agenda as getting tough on the oil industry and phasing out fossil fuels. The request for the delay didn’t come from oil companies — instead, it was requested by the Newsom administration. State air and water regulators said they needed more time to hire staff, test techniques for detecting leaks and develop specific policies. “The delay is extremely troubling and will force frontline communities to wait longer for much-needed pollution protections,” Hollin Kretzmann, an attorney at the group’s Climate Law Institute, told Cal Matters. “We’re celebrating the landmark achievements (that other) bills represent, but we won’t rest until all Californians get the future free from oil and gas pollution that they deserve.” 

Associated Press: Judge In Alaska Sets Aside Critical Habitat Designation For Threatened Bearded, Ringed Seals 
9/30/24

“A judge in Alaska has set aside a federal agency’s action designating an area the size of Texas as critical habitat for two species of threatened Arctic Alaska seals,” the Associated Press reports. “ U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason last week found the National Marine Fisheries Service did not explain why the entire 174-million-acre (70-million-hectare) area was ‘indispensable’ to the recovery of the ringed and bearded seal populations. Gleason said the agency ‘abused its discretion’ by not considering any protected areas to exclude or how other nations are conserving both seal populations, the Anchorage Daily News reported. She vacated the critical habitat designation, which included waters extending from St. Matthew Island in the Bering Sea to the edge of Canadian waters in the Arctic, and sent the matter back to the agency for further work. The decision came in a lawsuit brought by the state of Alaska, which claimed the 2022 designation was overly broad and could hamper oil and gas development in the Arctic and shipping to North Slope communities.”

New Jersey Monitor: Climate activists urge fines for fossil fuel producers
NIKITA BIRYUKOV, 9/30/24

“A coalition of climate groups rallied in Trenton Monday to urge the passage of a bill that would require companies that have produced fossil fuels since 1995 to pay for economic damages borne of climate change,” the New Jersey Monitor reports. “They said investment is needed to ensure the state reaches its ambitious climate goals of drawing 100% of its power from renewable sources by 2035 as storm systems grow more severe — and more economically damaging. “New Jersey has already seen worse effects than other places. By 2050, we could face sea levels a foot higher than today, and 240,000 New Jersey homes could either be underwater by then or battered by climate-driven storms,” Sen. Raj Mukherji (D-Hudson) told the roughly 50 rallygoers… “The New Jersey bill would require firms that mined fossil fuels or refined crude oil, or their corporate successors, to pay damages to the state if the Department of Environmental Protection finds they were responsible for more than 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions since 1995. The Treasury would determine the total amount of money to be recouped through damages by calculating the effect greenhouse gas emissions have had on residents’ health, the state’s natural resources, and flooding risks, among other factors… “Firms fined under the proposal would face strict liability, meaning the program would not consider the intent of a given polluter when determining fines, and would pay damages to the state proportional to their emission impact.”

Bridge Michigan: Michigan still pumps oil. Taxpayers often stuck with tab to cap orphan wells 
Donté Smith, 9/30/24

“Michigan’s oil industry may not be front and center, but it remains active with over 9,300 wells across the state,” Bridge Michigan reports. “The U.S. Energy Information Administration ranks Michigan 18th in the nation in crude oil production. In June 2024, Michigan wells produced 211,000 barrels of crude oil — around 8.8 million gallons, the agency said. Otsego County leads the state in production, followed closely by Jackson, Kalkaska and Manistee counties. However, there’s a growing environmental concern linked to the industry: Michigan has about 230 orphan wells abandoned by their original operators or owners without being properly plugged… Orphan wells pose significant environmental and safety hazards, experts say. Without proper plugging, they can contaminate surrounding water sources and leak harmful gasses like methane, potentially contributing to climate change. Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say that the concentration of methane in the atmosphere has more than doubled in the past 200 years, and they estimate that the increase is responsible for almost 30% of climate warming since the Industrial Revolution.” 

EXTRACTION

Energy Intelligence Group: Chevron Faces Tenuous CCS Delivery Path
Marc Roussot, 10/1/24

“Chevron’s 2030 target to achieve 25 million tons per year of equity carbon capture and storage (CCS) capacity looks out of reach based on its current project queue,” Energy Intelligence Group reports. “Its three most-advanced schemes all face unique challenges and combined comprise less than one-third of Chevron's capacity target — meaning offsets and potential inorganic growth would have to do the heavy lifting. Despite the regulatory and macroeconomic headwinds slowing its CCS push, the US major says it remains committed to carbon capture in the long term, with growing positions in Asia.”

CLIMATE FINANCE

Private Equity Climate Risks: Secretive private equity investments in fossil fuels emit more carbon emissions than entire aviation industry
10/1/24

“A little-examined part of the economy continues to invest vast sums of workers’ retirement savings in fossil fuels, causing more global warming pollution annually than all the airplanes in the world, according to a new scorecard out today. The 2024 Private Equity Climate Risks Scorecard studied 21 private equity firms that manage $6 trillion worth of companies, and found that two-thirds of the energy companies in their portfolios are invested in fossil fuels, using hundreds of millions of dollars from pension funds. The Scorecard finds that these fossil fuel assets are responsible for 1.17 billion metric tons CO2 equivalent of emissions a year in upstream oil and gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, and coal-fired power plants. That gigaton level of emissions is over three times as much as from the energy used to power all the homes in America. It exceeds the global aviation industry, and is on the scale of the Canadian wildfires of 2023. The Scorecard’s sponsoring organizations point to examples of private equity firms trying to “greenwash” or deny their involvement, and demand they meet five standards for climate action instead. Private equity firms are investment funds that pool money from institutional investors — a principal source of which are the pension funds of middle-class working retirees such as public employees like firefighters and teachers. They buy out companies, often strip them of safe worker staffing levels and valuable assets, even sell the land the company operates on, to hike up returns. They frequently proceed to sell the stripped-down version of these companies in a short period such as three to five years. Such private equity firms are largely unregulated, making it difficult for the public and investors to access clear and comparable data on their investments. Based on laborious research into data that the firms are not required to disclose, the new Scorecard offers a window into an opaque and largely unregulated industry and its already enormous fossil fuel footprint.”

OPINION

San Antonio Express-News: Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe fights to preserve land in Rio Grande Valley
Juan Mancias, 10/2/24

“The Rio Grande Valley, which lies close to the U.S. border with Mexico, is among the remaining parts of the Texas coastline largely untouched by industry. It is home to lush wetlands, endangered species and the sacred lands of my ancestors, the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe,” Juan Mancias writes for the San Antonio Express-News. “It’s here where a battle for the future of South Texas is being fought. Instead of preserving this area, there are attempts to bring in liquified methane gas, or LNG, facilities and pipelines, which will result in the clearing of land, and the pollution of the air, water and natural environment. It also brings serious health implications for local communities. A new report seeks to pinpoint the banks financing the projects. We want to hold them accountable for the damage these projects cause. The Rio Bravo pipeline is showcased in the report. This pipeline would bring gas from the Permian Basin to the proposed Rio Grande LNG terminal before it is turned into liquid and shipped off to ports abroad. The pipeline is being planned by Enbridge, the Canadian company behind the biggest inland oil spills in U.S. history. One of Enbridge Inc.’s biggest financial champion is Citigroup Inc., which has pumped more than $9 billion into the company. Citi’s money allows Enbridge to build its pipelines and therefore enables the company’s attempts to ram the Rio Bravo pipeline through my ancestors' lands… “The pipeline and LNG plant would  also have devastating consequences on the cultural heritage of the area. Neither Citi, Enbridge nor the companies behind the LNG facilities have sought the consent of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe ahead of their plans… “We are fighting back and have succeeded in delaying the LNG facilities and the Rio Bravo pipeline through the licensing process. Some financial backers have recognized the risk to their investments and backed away, including SocGen in 2023 and insurer Chubb in August… “We call on banks to recognize the risk and the harm in investing in these projects. We have fought for 500 years to preserve our land, our culture and our presence in South Texas, and this battle is part of that fight.”

Calgary Herald: A 'new beginning' for South Bow Corp. as demand for oil — and pipelines — keeps rising
Chris Varcoe, 10/1/24

“A new multibillion-dollar pipeline company officially premiered on Tuesday, with South Bow Corp. spinning out of TC Energy Corp. and its shares starting to trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange,” Chris Varcoe writes for the Calgary Herald. “South Bow CEO Bevin Wirzba told the Herald the response to the company’s startup — including its ability to raise $7.9 billion in debt capital this summer — underscores its future and the long-term demand for western Canadian oil… “South Bow owns and operates 4,900 kilometres of liquids pipelines in Canada and the United States, and 7.6 million barrels of tank terminal storage capacity. Its assets include the Keystone pipeline, which began operating in 2010 and ships about 20 per cent of western Canadian oil to the U.S… “TC Energy, which has been selling off assets and deleveraging in recent years, announced in July 2023 it would spin out its liquids pipeline operations into a new stand-alone business. TC leaders have said the move would allow each business to focus on its own strategies… “Having the successful spin-out just proves that there’s an appetite for oil and gas infrastructure and an appetite for that type of investment in those assets,” analyst Nate Heywood of ATB Capital Markets told the Herald… “Canada has the third-largest proven oil reserves in the world and oilsands production continues to reach record heights. Major operators are planning to expand output. Pipeline capacity in the country has been constrained for much of the past decade, but the startup of the Trans Mountain expansion project this spring offered much-needed relief, while giving producers access to new global export markets. Oilsands output is expected to continue to ramp up and some experts believe Canadian pipelines could be running full again within a few years, perhaps as early as 2026, Kevin Birn, Canadian oil markets chief analyst for S&P Global Commodity Insights, told the Herald. “There’s a demand market for pipelines that exists, and a demand market for incremental expansion,” he told the Herald. “If you’re in the business of providing oil transport, you see security of demand, both from the established base but the growth that’s projected as well.” “...Wirzba sees growth ahead for domestic oil producers, the need for more egress out of the country and an important role for Canadian energy.”