EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 10/31/23
PIPELINE NEWS
CBC: Despite opposition and environmental violations, major B.C. pipeline project nearly complete
Business in Vancouver: Coastal GasLink makes final weld in completed pipeline
CBC: 2 plead guilty to criminal contempt for blocking Coastal GasLink pipeline
Bismarck Tribune: Public hearings on the Dakota Access Pipeline to be held in Bismarck
KFYR: Security provided for DAPL environmental impacts public meetings
WV Gazette Mail: Mountain Valley Pipeline project growing as variance requests pile up
Congressional Research Service: Siting Challenges for Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Pipelines
S&P Global Platts: Summit Carbon CEO undeterred by folding of fellow CO2 pipeline project
Akin Gump: Trailblazer Pipeline Company LLC One Step Closer to Transporting Carbon Dioxide Following FERC Order
Radio Iowa: Official in northeast Iowa county to seek new ordinance on pipeline placement
Watertown Public Opinion: County residents speak out against CO2 pipeline during county board meeting
Santa Barbara Independent: ExxonMobil Abandons Plans to Build New Pipeline Along Santa Barbara County’s Gaviota Coast
Press release: Canada Energy Regulator issues penalty to Minell Pipeline Ltd.
Wall Street Journal: Another Utility Sheds its Gas Pipelines
D Magazine: How Kelcy Warren’s Pipeline Dream Powered a Nation
Connect CRE: Houston’s TC Energy Center on Block, Owner Asking $285M
WASHINGTON UPDATES
U.S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources: Full Committee Hearing to Examine Opportunities and Challenges in Deploying CCUS and DAC Technologies on Federal and Non-Federal Lands
Washington Post: Outgoing Interior official reflects on debate over Willow project
STATE UPDATES
InsideClimate News: Is ConocoPhillips Looking to Expand its Controversial Arctic Oil Project?
Texas Climate News: As federal money flows to carbon capture, Texas bets on an undersea bonanza
Texas Tribune: Oil and gas companies spill millions of gallons of wastewater in Texas
Los Angeles Times: Stretch Of The Central California Coast Is About To Be Designated A Marine Sanctuary. What Does That Mean?
Colorado Sun: K.P. Kauffman faces big bond bill as Colorado regulators find $133 million is needed to properly close 1,089 wells
EXTRACTION
New York Times: Window for Meeting Key Climate Goal Is Even Narrower Than Thought
E&E News: Exxon, Chevron Profits Rise Amid Plans To Boost Oil And Gas
Wall Street Journal: An American Family Oil Dynasty Ends as Hess Sells
The Energy Mix: Alberta Regulator May Let Fossils Reduce Liability Before Old Oil Wells Are Cleaned Up
MIT News: Engineers develop an efficient process to make fuel from carbon dioxide
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Press release: Enbridge Gas teams up with Georgina Fire and Rescue Services for Safe Community Project Zero
Renfrew Today: New training material on the way for local firefighters thanks to grant from Enbridge Gas
OPINION
Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan: Letter: Pipeline Worries
Seattle Times: Clean energy, not expanding gas pipeline, is WA’s future
Bloomberg: Enough Meaningless Phrases on Fossil Fuels
PIPELINE NEWS
CBC: Despite opposition and environmental violations, major B.C. pipeline project nearly complete
10/30/23
“A controversial pipeline meant to transport natural gas across northern British Columbia has passed a major milestone. On Monday, TC Energy announced it has finished installing pipe on its Coastal GasLink pipeline project,” CBC reports. "That means that all 670 kilometres of pipe has been welded, coated, lowered into the trench, rigorously tested, and backfilled," the company said in a release. First planned more than a decade ago, the pipeline will carry natural gas from near Dawson Creek in the province's northeast to a massive LNG Canada processing facility in Kitimat on the West Coast, where it is to be liquefied and shipped to Asia, opening up new markets for Canadian producers. The company said mechanical completion of the pipeline, which involves final documentation, engineering analysis and testing, will be done before the end of the year. While the pipeline has buy-in from several elected First Nations bands along its route, it has faced high-profile opposition from a group of hereditary chiefs who assert that Wet'suwet'en territory has never been ceded to the federal government and that pre-colonial governance structures are still responsible for the land. In November 2021, 29 people were arrested over two days of police action in Wet'suwet'en territory as RCMP moved in on a resistance camp, known as Coyote camp, that had been occupying a key work site for Coastal GasLink, a number of whom are now facing charges of criminal contempt… “Human rights group Amnesty International is among those calling for the charges to be dropped, arguing the sovereignty of Wet'suwet'en leaders is being violated. Opponents are drawing attention to the high number of environmental violations TC Energy has wracked up during construction of the pipeline… “The LNG Canada facility, which will be the first liquefied natural gas export facility in Canada, is still under construction. But the company said in an update in July that the project is 85 per cent complete and is scheduled to begin exports by mid-decade. LNG Canada, a more than $40-billion project, represents the single largest private investment in Canadian history.”
Business in Vancouver: Coastal GasLink makes final weld in completed pipeline
Nelson Bennett, 10/30/23
“Coastal GasLink quietly marked a last spike moment earlier this month with a “golden weld” on Oct. 7 that marked the competition of the 670-kilometre long natural gas pipeline,” Business in Vancouver reports. “One hundred per cent of the pipe is in the ground now, TC Energy announced today. The pipeline has also been hydrotested – a process in which water or some other liquid is pushed through the pipeline under pressure to test for leaks. “The final weld, also known as the Golden Weld, was completed on October 7, 2023, at the base of Cable Crane Hill in Section 8 West,” TC Energy said in a construction update. “This important milestone is the culmination of over five years of construction, connecting the 670-kilometre pipeline from Dawson Creek to Kitimat, B.C.” The final stage of mechanical completion will now begin before the pipeline is commissioned and natural gas starts flowing through the pipeline from Dawson Creek to Kitimat, where it will supply both the LNG Canada and Cedar LNG with natural gas… “The CGL pipeline has faced several setbacks and the estimated cost of completing the project more than doubled, from $6.6 billion in 2020 to $11.2 in 2022 and to $14.5 billion earlier this year. The CGL pipeline faced blockades and protests from some members of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation and their supporters...”
CBC: 2 plead guilty to criminal contempt for blocking Coastal GasLink pipeline
Jackie McKay, 10/30/23
“Two people pleaded guilty Monday to charges of criminal contempt for breaking a court order in November 2021 forbidding them from blocking access to work on a northern B.C. pipeline,” the CBC reports. “Logan Staats and Hannah Hall made the pleas at B.C. Supreme Court in Smithers, B.C… “Although the company signed benefit agreements with 20 elected band councils along the project's route in 2018, several Wet'suwet'en hereditary leaders say band councils do not have authority over traditional territories beyond reserve boundaries and the company does not have consent to cross their territory, about 780 kilometres northeast of Vancouver… “According to an agreed statement of facts read in court, Staats was part of a group at a blockade of Morice West Forest Service Road and was arrested along with about 13 other people on Nov. 18, 2021. The statement of facts said the blockade prevented Coastal GasLink from accessing camps where more than 500 people working on the pipeline were being housed… “Justice Michael Tammen will sentence Staats and Hall on Thursday. Last year, Tammen sentenced five people who pleaded guilty to contempt of court related to blockades of pipeline work. He fined three of the accused $500 and ordered 25 hours of community service for two others… “Sabina Dennis, also accused of criminal contempt for breaking the injunction on Nov. 18, 2021, has pleaded not guilty and her trial began Monday.”
Bismarck Tribune: Public hearings on the Dakota Access Pipeline to be held in Bismarck
JOEY HARRIS, 10/31/23
“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will hold hearings in Bismarck on Wednesday and Thursday to give the public an opportunity to weigh in on a recently released draft environmental assessment for the Dakota Access oil pipeline,” the Bismarck Tribune reports. “The comments will contribute to a final assessment in which the Corps will decide the future of the $3.8 billion, nearly 1,200-mile-long pipeline. A judge in March 2020 revoked a federal permit that gave pipeline owner Energy Transfer an easement to cross the Missouri River in southern North Dakota and ordered the environmental assessment… “The draft assessment, released in September, includes five options the Corps may take. Two entail discontinuing the use of the pipeline either through abandoning it or removing parts of it. Another two options would allow the pipeline to continue operating… “Numerous state officials have spoken out in favor of keeping the pipeline's route intact, arguing that moving the pipeline or shutting it down will require more Bakken oil to be transported by rail, which could raise oil prices and possibly lead to other environmental problems. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe pulled out of the environmental review process in 2022, citing a lack of transparency among other concerns. Tribal Chairwoman Janet Alkire has called for the Corps to shut down the pipeline and start the assessment over… “The hearings will take place from 6-9 p.m. each day at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Bismarck. Regulators will accept public comments on the environmental assessment until Nov. 13.”
KFYR: Security provided for DAPL environmental impacts public meetings
Bella Kraft, 10/30/23
“The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers is providing extra security for public meetings regarding an Environmental Impact State about the Dakota Access Pipeline,” KFYR reports. “That’s according to a spokesperson at the Bismarck Radisson Hotel, where the meetings will take place this Wednesday and Thursday evenings from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m… “The Corp released a draft of the impact statement last month. It included five alternative routes, which range from leaving things as they are to rerouting the pipeline or denying an easement altogether.”
WV Gazette Mail: Mountain Valley Pipeline project growing as variance requests pile up
Mike Tony, 10/30/23
“The Mountain Valley Pipeline has not developed according to plan,” the WV Gazette Mail reports. “First announced in 2014, the gas pipeline once targeted an in-service date of 2018. Five years past that target, the pipeline is still under construction, beset by legal challenges rooted in environmental issues that project opponents say are far from resolved. But even with the 303.5-mile pipeline’s legal path cleared by an act of Congress, the now $7.2 billion project is coming up with change after change in plans. Federal regulators have approved 15 variance requests for the pipeline since Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. lifted a lower court’s hold on key federal approvals for the project in late July. Most of the requests approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission were for project plan changes in West Virginia, where the pipeline route travels through 11 counties before crossing into Virginia. The approved deviations cover over 19 acres, including requests to increase right-of-way access, withdraw water from streams in seven West Virginia counties, and add work space for equipment storage and parking. Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC, the joint venture behind the 42-inch-diameter pipeline, filed three more variance requests on Monday alone. The requests come as pipeline opponents urge another federal agency, the Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, to host public hearings on an agreement the agency struck with the project’s lead developer requiring corrective measures amid longstanding pipe safety concerns… “Included among the letter’s signees were representatives of the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights Coalition, a coalition of Virginia and West Virginia groups fighting fossil fuel expansion; the Indian Creek Watershed Association; the West Virginia Rivers Coalition; and Preserve Monroe, a group of county landowners and businesses… “The National Association of Pipe Coating Applicators has recommended against aboveground storage of coated pipe for longer than six months without additional ultraviolet protection. But some of the pipe slated for use in constructing the Mountain Valley Pipeline has been lying uninstalled along the route for years. Pipeline Safety Trust Executive Director Bill Caram has noted prolonged ultraviolet exposure can cause a loss of pipe flexibility, and that a pipe could pass a coating test while lying in place but crack once lifted and placed in the ground.”
Congressional Research Service: Siting Challenges for Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Pipelines
Paul W. Parfomak, 10/27/23
“Carbon dioxide (CO2) pipelines are an essential part of carbon capture and storage (CCS) systems, promoted by the Biden Administration and some in Congress to reduce emissions of CO2—a greenhouse gas—from power plants and other industrial facilities,” according to the Congressional Research Service. “Approximately 5,000 miles of CO2 pipeline already operate in the United States, primarily linking natural CO2 sources to oil fields for enhanced oil recovery. However, a much larger pipeline network would be needed for CCS to meet national goals for greenhouse gas reduction. Several large CO2 pipeline projects recently have been proposed in the Midwest, but these projects have encountered public opposition and regulatory challenges, including denial of state siting permits. One project has already been cancelled. These development challenges raise questions about the future availability of CO2 pipelines for CCS and the federal role in CO2 pipeline expansion… “In states where CO2 pipeline projects are proposed, some local stakeholders favor their development, citing job creation, support of ethanol producers, and other economic factors. However, other local groups have opposed CO2 pipeline projects… “Other groups object to CO2 pipelines because they believe CCS perpetuates the use of fossil fuels, which they oppose, or because they believe federal funding for CCS would be better spent on other technologies, such as renewable energy. CO2 pipeline safety is a particular concern… “The agency plans to publish a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in June 2024, but has not set a date for a final rule. On October 3, 2023, 13 Members of Congress wrote to President Biden asking for “a moratorium on any federal permitting of new carbon pipelines and related infrastructure until PHMSA’s safety regulations are finalized.” Cancellation of the [Navigator] project has heightened concerns among some stakeholders about CO2 pipeline development, particularly considering the Biden Administration’s recent announcements of financial support for regional hydrogen hubs and direct-air capture hubs, both of which may require CO2 pipelines… “Some analysts assert that the current siting regime for CO2 pipelines “will be a significant problem if more interstate CO2 pipelines are built.” Given the siting challenges in the states, certain proposals would federalize interstate CO2 pipeline siting… “Transporting CO2 by other modes, such as tanker ship or rail, may also be an alternative.”
S&P Global Platts: Summit Carbon CEO undeterred by folding of fellow CO2 pipeline project
Siri Hedreen, 10/30/23
“Summit Carbon Solutions LLC is not giving up on obtaining the permits for a five-state, 2,000-mile CO2 pipeline on which it has sunk hundreds of millions of dollars for easement agreements, despite a competitor's decision to quit over the permitting uncertainty,” S&P Global Platts reports. “The possibility that Summit will run up against the same issues as Navigator CO2 Ventures LLC is a "fair question," CEO Lee Blank told Platts in an interview. However, "I think the project has enough relevance and importance that I don't believe that will happen." “...Summit has also had permit applications rejected by North Dakota and South Dakota regulators and is nearing the end of evidentiary hearings on its Iowa permit request. As had Heartland Greenway, the Summit project has run into opposition from landowners and advocacy groups over concerns that included the use of eminent domain to obtain rights-of-way and potential safety and environmental impacts of the pipeline project. Earlier in October, Summit postponed its expected startup date from 2024 to 2026. Unlike Navigator, Summit has secured voluntary easement agreements along 75% of its pipeline route and is continuing negotiations, Blank told Platts, adding that a portion of the remaining landowners have said they will grant right-of-way once the project is permitted. According to Blank, Navigator had offered to pay landowners incrementally as their project reached certain milestones. Summit, meanwhile, has been paying landowners 100% upfront and has no way to recover those funds if the company does not exercise the easement… "We have spent a lot more capital than Navigator has spent," Blank told Platts. "But we've also acquired a great deal more right-of-way because our model was just different, and more effective, in my opinion… Ultimately there will be some holdouts that are just simply against the project. But again, we would anticipate something in the very small single digits of those that just simply refuse to talk with us about an arrangement." "...Without our project, there is no SAF," Blank told Platts. "That's a pretty grand statement, but it's real." “...Blank did not rule out signing partnerships with some of the ethanol producers that had tapped Navigator to offtake their CO2 emissions.”
Akin Gump: Trailblazer Pipeline Company LLC One Step Closer to Transporting Carbon Dioxide Following FERC Order
Emily P. Mallen, Stephen J. Hug, Ben N. Reiter, Shariff N. Barakat, Sam B. Guthrie, 10/30/23
“On October 23, 2023, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an order that will permit Trailblazer Pipeline Company LLC (Trailblazer) to convert its approximately 400-mile-long natural gas pipeline system to carbon dioxide (CO2) transportation,” according to Akin Gump. “Trailblazer intends to use the pipeline, which originally entered service in the 1980s to bring natural gas from constrained Rocky Mountain supply basins in Wyoming across Colorado and into Nebraska, to transport CO2 from ethanol plants and other emissions sources in Nebraska and Colorado to Wyoming for permanent sequestration in geologic formations (the Trailblazer Conversion Project). FERC has no jurisdiction over the siting, construction, or operation of CO2pipelines. However, Trailblazer required FERC’s authorization under section 7(b) of the Natural Gas Act (NGA) before it could “abandon” natural gas service on its pipeline facilities… “FERC conducted an environmental review of the Trailblazer Conversion Project under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that was limited to removing the pipeline from natural gas transportation service, and to contracting for new natural gas transportation service on Rockies Express, as well as limited construction on the REX system. It did not evaluate the environmental impacts or benefits of transporting CO2on grounds that this future use is nonjurisdictional. FERC also noted the lack of pipeline safety regulations over the transportation of CO2in a gaseous, as opposed to supercritical fluid state… “With advances in carbon capture and sequestration technology and decarbonization incentives created by markets and legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act, the need for a larger CO2pipeline network is apparent. However, because there is no federal permitting authority for CO2pipelines akin to FERC’s NGA authority over natural gas pipelines, the authorizations to site, construct and operate new projects must occur on a state-by-state level… “The Trailblazer Conversion Project also benefits commercially from having a terminus in Wyoming. Wyoming is one of only two states to have received regulatory primacy for Class VI wells under the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Safe Drinking Water Act Underground Injection Control Program… “Depending upon its ultimate success, the Trailblazer Conversion Project may become a model for other CO2pipeline conversion projects.”
Radio Iowa: Official in northeast Iowa county to seek new ordinance on pipeline placement
10/30/23
“A county official in northeast Iowa says the announcement that the proposed Navigator pipeline project has been cancelled is great news, but Delaware County Supervisor Shirley Helmrichs says she’s talking with other board members about updating the county’s ordinance regulating how close for-profit pipelines may be built to homes and buildings,” Radio Iowa reports. “I’m going to pull out all the ordinances I have from other counties and go through setbacks and we’re going to make them large enough setbacks. It’s not going to be like a 50 foot setback,” Helmrich says. “…We’re going to look at putting things in place rather quickly.” “...Helmrich told Radio Iowa the cancellation has relieved a lot of stress among affected landowners… “Helmrichs told Radio Iowa she intends to have “serious conversations” with local legislators and urge them to forbid private, for-profit companies from using eminent domain to acquire land from unwilling property owners.”
Watertown Public Opinion: County residents speak out against CO2 pipeline during county board meeting
J.T. Fey, 10/27/23
“Opposition to any underground pipeline carrying liquified carbon dioxide through Codington County has not diminished despite the decision by Navigator CO2 Ventures to cancel its efforts,” the Watertown Public Opinion reports. “Rita Brownlee and Stacy Sinner of Watertown spoke Tuesday morning during the open session of the Codington County Board of Commissioners meeting. They said they represent concerned homeowners against eminent domain condemnation and pipelines carrying liquified CO2. The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission denied the permits of both Navigator and Summit Carbon Solutions (SCS) earlier this fall. Although Navigator won’t make another attempt, SCS has scrapped its original plans and will abide by state and county regulations before seeking approval again. Brownlee and Sinner urged the commissioners to strengthen county regulations determining the setback distance between any future CO2 pipeline and residences. They also provided reports on some of SCS’s recent activities. “It’s really important to discuss those setback ordinances now so they can be in place when the time comes,” Brownlee said to the board. The commissioners thanked the women but had no other comment.”
Santa Barbara Independent: ExxonMobil Abandons Plans to Build New Pipeline Along Santa Barbara County’s Gaviota Coast
Nick Welsh, 10/30/23
“ExxonMobil’s protracted game of chess with Santa Barbara County’s Board of Supervisors grew trickier last week when the global oil giant announced it was abandoning its efforts to build a brand-new 112-mile pipeline — in the wake of 2015’s pipeline rupture and 450,000-gallon Refugio Oil Spill along the Gaviota Coast,” the Santa Barbara Independent reports. “Instead, the company announced, it would instead seek permits to repair the existing pipeline, long beset by serious corrosion issues. But even assuming the California Fire Marshal were to approve such plans, it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which Exxon does not find itself checkmated by the county supervisors given the board’s current tilt on oil matters. Only a few months ago, the supervisors rejected Exxon’s application to install the very safety equipment required by state legislation passed in the wake of the Refugio Oil Spill to reduce the environmental damage inflicted by future pipeline ruptures. It was County Supervisor Das Williams — then acting as a member of the state Assembly — who authored that bill, and Williams would be one of the supervisors to vote against Exxon’s application to install what’s known as automatic shut-off valves. Activists with Environmental Defense Center (EDC), the Sierra Club, and the Center for Biological Diversity hailed the news and declared victory while denouncing Exxon’s intent to repair and reactivate the stretch of pipeline that gave rise to the spill.“
Press release: Canada Energy Regulator issues penalty to Minell Pipeline Ltd.
10/30/23
“The Canada Energy Regulator (CER) has released full details of an Administrative Monetary Penalty (AMP) issued to Minell Pipeline Ltd. The amount of the penalty is $52,000. The penalty stems from an investigation into a pipeline rupture on October 5, 2021, near McAuley, Manitoba. A farmer ruptured a natural gas pipeline while operating a tractor to conduct activities in an agricultural field. The pipeline did not have adequate soil coverage, creating a serious safety hazard. The investigation revealed that Minell Pipeline Ltd. failed to do the following, including on the day of the pipeline rupture: identify locations where the operation of vehicles or mobile equipment across the Minell Pipeline for agricultural purposes could impair the pipeline's safety or security (section 7 of the Canadian Energy Regulator Damage Prevention Regulations, Obligations of Pipeline Companies (DPR-O); and notify landowners of these specific locations (section 7 of the Canadian Energy Regulator Damage Prevention Regulations, Obligations of Pipeline Companies (DPR-O)... “This order required the company to immediately conduct a depth of cover survey along the entire pipeline right-of-way. They were also required to notify any landowners or other affected parties of either adequate or inadequate depth of cover after the survey was completed.”
Wall Street Journal: Another Utility Sheds its Gas Pipelines
Ryan Dezember, 10/30/23
“Entergy shares are getting a jolt after the utility said it has agreed to sell its natural-gas distribution business serving New Orleans and Baton Rouge, La. to investment firm Bernhard Capital Partners for $484 million,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “It's the latest utility to part with its gas pipeline networks amid mounting efforts to phase out in-home use of the fossil fuel and fears that gas infrastructure could become stranded assets. Dominion Energy said last month that it would sell $9.4 billion of natural-gas assets in Ohio, North Carolina and several Western states to Canada's Enbridge in order to focus on renewable energy and improving its electrical grid. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that National Grid was also exploring a sale of its gas assets in the Northeast.”
D Magazine: How Kelcy Warren’s Pipeline Dream Powered a Nation
Jennifer Warren, 10/30/23
“When the Shale gas boom in North Texas’ Barnett Shale began losing steam in the wake of the 2008-–09 downturn, Kelcy Warren was worried. After all, his Energy Transfer Partners was heavily dependent on natural gas as the country’s largest transporter of the fuel,” D Magazine reports. “...These days, Energy Transfer operates nearly 125,000 miles of pipeline that transports roughly one-third of the country’s natural gas and crude oil—almost 5 percent of global oil supply… “We’ve done a good job of always asking, ‘What is the best purpose of that pipe?’ versus moving resources in other modes of transportation,” he told D… “In 2014, when the Permian’s oil boom finally hit mainstream media, Warren spoke about the directional change of hydrocarbon flows from imports in the U.S. South to the North, feeding energy to households, business, and industry. Pipelines would need to be redirected, re-flowed from the North’s Appalachian gas of the Marcellus to the Gulf Coast. “That’s a pipeliner’s dream,” he told D. “...Look at the Dakota Access pipeline—it was moving natural gas from the Gulf Coast north to Chicago.” Energy Transfer converted it to move crude south from the Bakken. Many barrels were taken off the highways and railways. Consolidation and change are ever-present, “looking at how a pipeline may have a better use,” Warren told D. “You name a product in the energy sector, and we move it; we pipeline it—we don’t rail it.” “...Energy Transfer’s revenue has grown from $1 billion in late August 2003, to $17 billion in 2012, to a peak of nearly $90 billion at year-end 2022… “He told D of Energy Transfer’s entrepreneurial growth culture, “We’ll keep growing until we die.”
Connect CRE: Houston’s TC Energy Center on Block, Owner Asking $285M
Mike Boyd, 10/30/23
“It’s hard to miss. One of Houston’s most recognizable downtown skyscrapers, the 56-story, uniquely designed TC Energy Center, has been put up for sale for $285 million,” Connect CRE reports. “The 1.3 million-square-foot office tower is known for its red granite façade and unique stair-step gothic architecture. It’s also been known lately as a building whose owner is not up on payments to the lender. The Houston Business Journal reports, in March, S&P Global reported that the tower had the largest delinquent loan in the country at the time. The financial firm said the building had a delinquent balance of $96 million.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
U.S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources: Full Committee Hearing to Examine Opportunities and Challenges in Deploying CCUS and DAC Technologies on Federal and Non-Federal Lands
10/30/23
“The purpose of this hearing is to examine the opportunities and challenges in deploying carbon capture utilization and sequestration and direct air capture technologies on federal and non-federal lands. The hearing will be held on Thursday, November 2, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. in Room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC. The hearing will be webcast live on the Committee’s website, and an archived video will be available shortly after the hearing concludes. Witness testimony will be available on the website at the start of the hearing. Opening Remarks: Sen. Joe Manchin, Chairman, Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources; Sen. John Barrasso, Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Witness Panel 1: The Honorable Brad J. Crabtree, Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, U.S. Department of Energy; Mr. Bruno Pigott, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Water, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Ms. Erin Burns, Executive Director, Carbon180; Ms. Lily R. Barkau, P.G., Groundwater Section Manager, Water Quality Division, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality.”
Washington Post: Outgoing Interior official reflects on debate over Willow project
Maxine Joselow, 10/31/23
“...The Climate 202 spoke with Beaudreau about his approach to oil and gas leasing, the “symbolic value” of the Willow project, and the financial difficulties facing the offshore wind sector,” the Washington Post reports. “Interior has sought to limit oil and gas leasing without stopping it outright. How would you grade the administration so far on the balance it’s struck, and what would you say to people who say there should be no new leasing? Beaudreau: The climate crisis is the fundamental organizing principle that we’ve carried into this administration, and it carries through all the work of the Interior Department. And that includes how public lands are involved in energy development, including fossil fuels and renewable energy. The fact of the matter is the United States, through decades and decades of its history, has become intertwined with fossil fuels. And that is not something that can be reversed and transitioned out of overnight. There’s also a legal framework grounded in contracts and valid existing [oil and gas] rights. At the same time, I completely appreciate and share the urgency and impatience that many climate activists are expressing. I’m the father of a 20-year-old and an 18-year-old. And they ask me very pointed questions about what their future is going to be like and whether they’re going to have a habitable planet for themselves and for their children. Climate 202: How would you respond to climate activists’ criticism of the Willow project approval, and were you surprised by their concerns? Beaudreau: I’m not surprised by the concern about fossil fuel use in our economy and the global economy. The Willow project took on significant symbolic value, in no small part because of its location. It’s located in the Alaskan Arctic, which is enduring the effects of climate change more rapidly than any other part of the world. So I totally appreciate where the passion and concern with respect to the Willow project come from… “And I’ve tried to navigate these issues in a way that is legally defensible and durable over time.”
STATE UPDATES
InsideClimate News: Is ConocoPhillips Looking to Expand its Controversial Arctic Oil Project?
Nicholas Kusnetz, 10/27/23
“Earlier this month, environmental advocates in Alaska noticed that a new document had been quietly posted on the website of the federal agency that manages a huge swath of Arctic lands,” InsideClimate News reports. “ConocoPhillips, the company behind the controversial Willow oil project that was approved for the area in March, was now seeking approval for a seismic survey that would examine oil and gas reservoirs beneath the surface. Alarmingly, the area the company wanted to test extended beyond Willow’s boundaries, stretching farther into the undeveloped wilderness to the north and west. “Now that Willow has won approval,” warned an update sent to journalists by Earthjustice, an environmental law group that has filed a lawsuit to block the drilling project, “ConocoPhillips appears to be taking steps toward expanding its operations.” In the proposal, ConocoPhillips said the survey would help the company not only drill more efficient wells for Willow, but also “identify potential future development areas” on lands for which it held leases. Advocates who have been tracking the project, some of whom would only speak on background, struggled to understand what the filing meant. Many had felt betrayed by the Biden administration’s approval of the Willow project, which would pump nearly 600 million barrels of oil and gas over 30 years from a fragile ecosystem that is warming faster than the global average. Now they wondered whether regulators might approve an initial step towards further oil expansion. And then on Thursday, without any announcement, the document was replaced with a new version. The sentence that said the seismic tests would identify new areas was gone. The footprint of the proposed work had shrunk. The changes only deepened the questions of what exactly ConocoPhillips is planning, and what the Biden administration might allow.”
Texas Climate News: As federal money flows to carbon capture, Texas bets on an undersea bonanza
AMAL AHMED, 10/30/23
“Over the last century, the state of Texas has reaped billions of dollars by allowing companies to burrow into the floor of the Gulf of Mexico to extract oil and gas. Now, the General Land Office – the state agency tasked with protecting the vulnerable Texas shoreline and other natural resources – is eyeing carbon sequestration as the next industry to develop in the Gulf,” Texas Climate News reports. “Angling for a share of $12 billion in federal funding for such projects under the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, companies are competing to build carbon capture plants next to onshore oil wells, gas wells and other polluting facilities along the coast. At the same time, they are applying for offshore leases that will allow them to store that heat-trapping carbon dioxide deep beneath the seafloor… “In September 2021, Texas’s General Land Office, or GLO, awarded its first lease for carbon sequestration on 40,000 acres of state-owned land near Port Arthur to Talos Energy, a Houston-based oil and gas company. The oil giant Chevron has a 50 percent stake in the project, known as Bayou Bend, which if completed could be the nation’s first offshore carbon storage site. In August the GLO announced that it had awarded six more leases for offshore carbon storage that would generate $130 million in bonus payments for the state’s school fund… “But environmentalists and scientists argue that CCS does not live up to those claims. So far, the technology has yet to be widely deployed and the results have been mixed, meaning that emissions continue to increase even as billion-dollar plants for carbon capture and sequestration are built out… “Leakage is a major concern… “Scientists, environmentalists and frontline communities also worry that the pipelines that transport pressurized carbon dioxide to storage wells could explode, putting nearby communities at risk… “Globally, there are no uniform guidelines for how long CCS wells need to be monitored, even though their reliability remains uncertain, Wamsted told TCN… “Inevitably, the CCS projects announced to date raise questions about whether they will prop up the oil and gas industry for years to come rather than speed the effort to phase out fossil fuel production and consumption… “What we are witnessing is a tremendous industry-led push to promote carbon capture and storage as its lifeline,” Nikki Reisch, the director of the climate and energy program at the Center for International Environmental Law, told TCN. “It is their get out of jail free card—it mainstreams the notion that we can continue using fossil fuels into the future.”
Texas Tribune: Oil and gas companies spill millions of gallons of wastewater in Texas
MARTHA PSKOWSKI, 10/31/23
“The prolific oil and gas wells of Texas also generate billions of gallons of salty liquid known as produced water. A lot of this toxic water, just like crude oil, tends to get spilled,” the Texas Tribune reports. “Not just occasionally, but hundreds of times a year. From a large spill of 756,000 gallons into the Delaware River in West Texas that sent chloride levels soaring, to hundreds of small spills in one Permian Basin county, there’s hardly a corner of Texas not impacted. But messy record-keeping and ambiguous rules at the Railroad Commission of Texas, which regulates oil and gas drilling, have long obscured the scope and severity of these spills from the public. The Railroad Commission has never formally adopted 2009 draft guidelines for reporting and cleaning up produced water spills. The agency delegated the authority to set different reporting thresholds to district offices, in a system that relies on self-reporting by offenders and includes little enforcement to assure accuracy and compliance. A commission spokesperson told the Tribune that produced water spills must be reported and that the agency fully investigates and mitigates all spills. But the agency has never adopted official produced water spill guidelines and numerous companies are under the impression they are not required to report spills at all. Inside Climate News has conducted the first-ever public analysis of produced water spills in Texas, working from data provided in response to open records requests to the Railroad Commission. Over the decade from 2013 to 2022, the analysis found that oil and gas companies reported more than 10,000 individual spills totaling more than 148 million gallons of produced water. Where possible, companies use vacuum trucks to suck up as much spilled water as they can. But only about 40% of the water reported spilled from 2013 to 2022 was recovered. The spills ranged from small leaks of less than 10 gallons to massive incidents — 19 of the reported spills exceeded 500,000 gallons. Although they represented a tiny minority of spills, with about 350 reported in the data, some of the most damaging incidents took place when produced water was spilled directly into streams, rivers, or lakes.”
Los Angeles Times: Stretch Of The Central California Coast Is About To Be Designated A Marine Sanctuary. What Does That Mean?
Summer Lin, 10/30/23
“A stretch of land that is expected to be designated as a national marine sanctuary by next year would preserve more than 5,000 square miles of ocean off California’s Central Coast,” the Los Angeles Times reports. “It was the dream of a Native American tribal leader who died before he could see it come to fruition. The proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary is not yet finalized, and the public can submit comments on the draft proposal through Wednesday. The sanctuary would span 134 miles along the coast from Hazard Canyon Reef, south of Morro Bay, to just south of Dos Pueblos Canyon, which is home to one of the largest historical Chumash villages. The designation would protect a 5,617-square-mile area. The designation would prohibit dumping matter into the sanctuary, disturbing cultural resources, drilling or producing oil, gas or minerals, and disturbing the seabed, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.”
Colorado Sun: K.P. Kauffman faces big bond bill as Colorado regulators find $133 million is needed to properly close 1,089 wells
Mark Jaffe, 10/28/23
“K.P. Kauffman, the embattled oil and gas operator plagued by violations and threatened with a shutdown, must come up with $133 million to assure 1,089 of its wells will be properly plugged and abandoned, the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission ruled Thursday,” the Colorado Sun reports. “The ECMC, formerly the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, rejected the company’s estimates for plugging and remediation as inadequate. “I am not sure the operator submitted an application in the spirit that we adopted the financial assurance rules,” Commissioner Karin McGowan said… “KPK’s attorney John Jacus said the company is a “cash-flow business” operating on narrow margins. It has already said it cannot afford to pay a $2 million fine levied by the ECMC, which regulates oil and gas operations… “We don’t have the liquidity to write a check for financial assurance in whatever your amount,” Jacus said. If the company fails to post the required amount it will be referred for an enforcement action, ECMC spokeswoman Megan Castle said.”
EXTRACTION
New York Times: Window for Meeting Key Climate Goal Is Even Narrower Than Thought
Raymond Zhong, 10/30/23
“Five years and change. That’s how long humans can keep pumping carbon into the atmosphere at our current rate before we’re likely to push global warming past the most ambitious limit set by the Paris Agreement, according to new estimates released Monday by a team of climate scientists,” the New York Times reports. “The calculations add weight to a dismal conclusion that many researchers already take as foregone: that we are cutting emissions far too slowly to have much hope of keeping warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 Fahrenheit. Already, human activity has raised average global temperatures by about 1.2 degrees Celsius relative to preindustrial conditions. The most promising paths for avoiding 1.5 degrees are clearly gone, Joeri Rogelj, a climate scientist at Imperial College London who worked on the new projections, said at a news briefing. “And they have been gone for a while, to be honest,” he added. Even so, having an up-to-date picture of emissions and warming can still help governments figure out how to meet less ambitious climate goals, including the Paris pact’s second-best limit of 2 degrees Celsius. Every extra increment of warming increases the risk of dangerous heat waves, floods, crop failures, species extinctions and wildfires.”
E&E News: Exxon, Chevron Profits Rise Amid Plans To Boost Oil And Gas
Shelby Webb, 10/30/23
“The profits of Exxon Mobil and Chevron rose in the third quarter of this year, but still fell short of Wall Street expectations,” E&E News reports. “ Exxon reported $9.1 billion in profits, compared to $7.9 billion in the second quarter, while Chevron announced $6.5 billion in third-quarter profits, compared to $6 billion in the second quarter. For both oil majors, those quarterly profits are about half what they were one year ago, when earnings were supercharged thanks to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the sky-high energy prices that followed. In their earnings calls Friday, Exxon and Chevron officials doubled down on their commitments to use oil and gas production to drive profits and shareholder dividends. Kathryn Mikells, Exxon’s chief financial officer, said the rise in profits reflected ‘a greater degree of confidence in our business.’ ‘It also reflects an overall confidence we have in our business and overall improvement in earnings power we have seen over the past few years,’ she said. The profits sparked renewed criticism from some Democrats and environmental groups that the companies are shirking their responsibility to cut planet-warming emissions and profiteering off high oil prices.”
Wall Street Journal: An American Family Oil Dynasty Ends as Hess Sells
Benoît Morenne, 10/28/23
“One of the first things you notice when entering the Hess Tower in downtown Houston is the original forest-green truck that Leon Hess drove around New Jersey nearly a century ago to deliver fuel,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Now, the Hess name is set to disappear from the ranks of the world’s prominent oil companies. Chevron on Monday said it would acquire the family company for $53 billion, concluding a 90-year saga bookended by the gruff founding father and his gregarious son, current Chief Executive John Hess.”
The Energy Mix: Alberta Regulator May Let Fossils Reduce Liability Before Old Oil Wells Are Cleaned Up
10/30/23
“The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) is considering allowing oil and gas companies to reduce their environmental liabilities on old well sites before the cleanup is certified complete,” according to The Energy Mix. “The regulator says the move would reward companies that remediate their old sites promptly, cutting the amount of environmental red ink on their books and making it easier for them to sell or buy old wells, The Canadian Press reports. It comes as Alberta tries to figure out what do with the tens of thousands of old wells that pock the provincial landscape. But critics say the proposal weakens the ability of landowners to hold bad actors to account and depends on an audit system that many already question. “They don’t audit,” said Daryl Bennett, a landowner with Action Surface Rights, which represents more than 1,000 landowners across the province. “If they reduce these liabilities, they will reduce the flags for the (regulator).” “...But under the proposed reclamation liability reduction program, the regulator would immediately reduce that liability if the company says cleanup is complete, whether plants are healthy or not.”
MIT News: Engineers develop an efficient process to make fuel from carbon dioxide
David L. Chandler, 10/30/23
“The search is on worldwide to find ways to extract carbon dioxide from the air or from power plant exhaust and then make it into something useful. One of the more promising ideas is to make it into a stable fuel that can replace fossil fuels in some applications,” MIT News reports. “But most such conversion processes have had problems with low carbon efficiency, or they produce fuels that can be hard to handle, toxic, or flammable. Now, researchers at MIT and Harvard University have developed an efficient process that can convert carbon dioxide into formate, a liquid or solid material that can be used like hydrogen or methanol to power a fuel cell and generate electricity. Potassium or sodium formate, already produced at industrial scales and commonly used as a de-icer for roads and sidewalks, is nontoxic, nonflammable, easy to store and transport, and can remain stable in ordinary steel tanks to be used months, or even years, after its production… “The whole process — including capture and electrochemical conversion of the gas to a solid formate powder, which is then used in a fuel cell to produce electricity — was demonstrated at a small, laboratory scale. However, the researchers expect it to be scalable so that it could provide emissions-free heat and power to individual homes and even be used in industrial or grid-scale applications.”
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Press release: Enbridge Gas teams up with Georgina Fire and Rescue Services for Safe Community Project Zero
10/30/23
“Today, Enbridge Gas Inc. (Enbridge Gas) and Georgina Fire and Rescue Services announced they are working together to improve home safety and bring fire and carbon monoxide-related deaths down to zero. Georgina Fire and Rescue Services received 288 combination smoke and carbon monoxide alarms through Safe Community Project Zero–a public education campaign with the Fire Marshal’s Public Fire Safety Council that will provide more than 10,000 alarms to residents in 50 municipalities across Ontario. This year, Enbridge Gas invested $315,000 in Safe Community Project Zero, and over the past 15 years, the program has provided more than 86,000 alarms to Ontario fire departments.”
Renfrew Today: New training material on the way for local firefighters thanks to grant from Enbridge Gas
Kasey Egan, 10/30/23
“Renfrew’s Fire Department is keeping its educational material up-to-date thanks to a grant from Enbridge Gas,” Renfrew Today reports. “The fire department is one of 50 in Ontario receiving a $5,000 dollar grant from the Safe Community Project Assist program, which supplements existing firefighter training in communities where Enbridge Gas operates. Fire Chief Mike Guest told RT it’s a crucial boost for his entire team… “Regional Field Advisor for Enbridge Gas, Erin Arthur, adds that the grant allows the natural gas company to equip “the heroes of tomorrow to better protect the communities we live and work in.”
OPINION
Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan: Letter: Pipeline Worries
Orrin Geide, Hartford, 10/30/23
“Counties in South Dakota that have passed CO2 pipeline ordinances protecting citizens and responsible land use deserve a huge THANK YOU!,” writes Orrin Geide in the Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan. “As the S.D. Public Utilities Commission (PUC) aptly confirmed, this is not just another pipeline. Hazardous CO2 pipelines are very different. The Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), the federal agency in charge of CO2 pipelines, has made it crystal clear that only states have the authority to regulate the location of these pipelines. In SD, that authority falls to the counties. The two private companies that proposed to build CO2 pipelines in S.D. have used a combination of deliberate withholding of crucial information, misinformation and active intimidation, including lawsuits, to shut down attempts at establishing ordinances. The five counties that have passed ordinances have shown courage and a genuine vision for a long-range responsible future… “SCS representatives are currently making the rounds and meeting with S.D. counties. They say that they will follow the PUC recommendation and work with counties. At the same time, SCS continues to push for no or weak, watered down ordinances. They have yet to release their rupture modeling. It appears not much has really changed. Past behavior is an excellent predictor of the future. As a landowner who has experienced and fought the bullying of pipeline companies, the view of the bull looks different from inside the ring! Counties that have not yet passed CO2 pipeline ordinances need to do their job, protect their citizens and pass meaningful ordinances. We must put South Dakotans first. The safety of our residents must remain our paramount concern, and this project simply is not worth the potential threats it poses to our communities.”
Seattle Times: Clean energy, not expanding gas pipeline, is WA’s future
The Seattle Times Editorial Board, 10/30/23
“In the fight against climate change, Washington has led by example,” the Seattle Times Editorial Board writes. “State lawmakers have mandated phasing out fossil fuel emissions by 2045 and created one of the few carbon pricing systems in North America to rein in the biggest polluters… “The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s recent decision to allow expansion of a natural gas pipeline through Idaho, Washington and Oregon is antithetical to those efforts. An estimated 3.47 million metric tons of additional greenhouse gases could be released each year for the next three decades, according to the attorneys general of the three West Coast states… “Carbon pollution affects us all. Climate change respects neither state borders nor international boundaries.”
Bloomberg: Enough Meaningless Phrases on Fossil Fuels
Lara Williams, 10/30/23
“A sphinxlike term keeps popping up in discourse around phasing out fossil fuels: “unabated.” Easily overlooked, it’s an important modifier that changes an ambitious demand — stop burning fossil fuels — into phrases with more elusive meanings,” Lara Williams writes for Bloomberg. “The European Union has decided it will push for the phasing out of unabated fossil fuels at COP28 in Dubai. More than 130 businesses, collectively worth almost $1 trillion, signed a letter this week calling for governments to commit to the full discontinuance of unabated hydrocarbons. US climate envoy John Kerry has pressed for the end of new unabated coal-fired power plants. Sultan Al Jaber, president-designate of this year’s United Nations climate summit, has set an action plan for “an energy system free of unabated fossil fuels in the middle of this century.” “...This ambiguity leaves an enormous loophole for the continued expansion of fossil-fuel production under the vague promise that all will be abated in the future. Abatement was a popular term originally used in pollution regulation, mandating companies to stay within certain limits, Katrine Petersen, a senior policy adviser at think tank E3G, explained to me. Now it’s crept into how we discuss emissions, yet the specificity required for effective regulation remains ephemeral… “Captured carbon should be required to be stored permanently rather than used in enhanced oil recovery… “As my colleagues at Bloomberg News have pointed out, total CCS capacity is only about 45 million tons of CO2 a year although the basic process has been around since the 1970s. Putting that into context, that’s 4% of the carbon capture needed by 2030 to be on track for net-zero emissions by 2050, according to the International Energy Agency… “I expect we’ll see “unabated” in the final text of COP28’s agreement. But if there’s going to be a credible push for an unabated fossil-fuel phaseout, then countries must be open to negotiations on what that actually entails. Abatement standards could be a potent force to help us finally turn the tide. Without them, the commitments will ring hollow.”