EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 10/7/21
PIPELINE NEWS
Politico Morning Energy: THE OIL IS STOPPED BUT THE QUESTIONS ARE FLOWING
Reuters: Regulator says 2019 inspection found anomalies in Amplify's California pipeline
9and10News: Enbridge Releases Statement On Line 5 Treaty Issue
Facebook: Dakota Rural Action: KXL water permits have been cancelled. UPDATE FROM STATE WATER MANAGEMENT BOARD HEARINGS IN PIERRE
SDPB Radio: Keystone XL permits cancelled
Facebook: West Whiteland Residents for Pipeline Safety: State legislators are calling for a complete halt to Mariner East
Daily Memphian: New pipeline restrictions modeled on city process for telecom access
Our Quad Cities: Meetings underway on proposed carbon capture pipeline in Iowa
WDRB: Judge rules against Bullitt County landowners who sought review of LG&E pipeline decision
Associated Press: 2 men told to pay $1 million-plus for oil pipeline shooting
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Press release: Legal Petition Demands Biden Administration Stop Unlawful Fossil Fuel Projects
Press release: Carrizo Comecrudo Tribal Nation leads large delegation of native original peoples and Texas delegation to DC to ask President Biden to Build Back Fossil Free
Reuters: White House moves to restore key environmental review rules
E&E News: Dems fear chopping block for EJ, lead pipes, climate corps
EXTRACTION
Safety Mag: More than 5,400 Alberta oilsands workers infected in COVID outbreaks
Reuters: Lawyers warn EU against labelling gas as a 'green' investment
E&E News: 75% Methane Cut By 2030? Here's A Blueprint
Reuters: Explainer: Why is it so hard to clean up an offshore oil spill?
Los Angeles Times: Federal regulation of oil platforms dogged by problems long before O.C. spill
Press release: Environmental Justice and Human Rights Organizations Address Global Leaders Ahead of COP26: Carbon Offsets Don't Stop Climate Change
Associated Press: Shipping industry group aims for net-zero emissions by 2050
StateImpact NPR: Proposed natural gas power plant in Washington County asks state to withdraw permits
Rigzone: BP in $Multimillion Cherry Point Refinery Investment
CBC: Energy sector tries to show next generation it's more than pumpjacks
Alberta Politics: DISMISSED BY CBC OMBUDSMAN, COMMISSIONER’S COMPLAINT ABOUT STORY SHOWS ‘ALBERTA INQUIRY’ ALL BUT DOWN FOR THE COUNT
CLIMATE FINANCE
Press release: California State University Will Not Make Future Fossil Fuel Investments in University Investment Portfolios and Funds
Bloomberg: Al Gore’s $36 Billion Fund Sees New Urgency to Cut Off Oil Money
Bloomberg: How the Finance World Started Turning Against Fossil Fuels
OPINION
The Hill: Oil spill: California has flirted with this kind of large-scale disaster for decades
PIPELINE NEWS
Politico Morning Energy: THE OIL IS STOPPED BUT THE QUESTIONS ARE FLOWING
Matthew Choi, 10/6/21
“Beta Offshore, the Amplify Energy subsidiary that operates the pipeline at the center of last weekend’s California oil spill, didn’t report the leak to the feds for hours, even though EPA rules require an immediate disclosure,” Politico Morning Energy reports. “The delay is raising questions, especially since the pipeline should have been equipped with highly sensitive technology that would have instantly detected the leak — especially if the pipe had been struck by a ship’s anchor as Beta Offshore posits. The Transportation Department’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is ordering the pipeline to stay shut down while it undergoes a review on its inspection results, Pro’s Ben Lefebvre reports. It’s the strongest action yet from the federal government to the oil spill, which dumped about 144,000 gallons of crude into the waters off the coast of Orange County… “It’s alarming that even with so-called best leak detection technology a disaster of this magnitude can devastate the local economy and environment,” Diane Hoskins, campaign director at Oceana, an environmental group that advocates for ocean conservation, told Politico. “When the oil and gas industry describes their technology, they are selling a sense of safety they cannot back up. Anywhere else, if you called this your best, you’d be fired.” The spill has sparked anger on Capitol Hill, where Democrats are pushing to eliminate offshore oil and gas drilling in federal waters in the Pacific, and among the state’s lawmakers.”
Reuters: Regulator says 2019 inspection found anomalies in Amplify's California pipeline
10/6/21
“The U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement released an April 2020 report on Wednesday showing Amplify Energy's (AMPY.N) California pipeline had eight anomalies detected in 2019,” Reuters reports. “The two largest anomalies were reported as repaired, according to memorandum detailing a 2019 inspection of the pipeline, which is the source of an oil spill off of California's coast.”
9and10News: Enbridge Releases Statement On Line 5 Treaty Issue
10/6/21
“Enbridge has released a statement following tribal leaders’ response to the Canadian government’s attempted use of a 1977 pipeline treaty to keep Line 5 open,” 9and10News reports. “According to Ryan Duffy, a spokesperson from Enbridge, “We greatly appreciate the efforts of ‘Team Canada’ – (from the Government of Canada to the Provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and Saskatchewan) … for their commitments and efforts to keep Line 5 open (which is a critical source of energy for the Great Lakes region on both sides of the Canadian-U.S. border). We also greatly appreciate their desire to advance the timely construction of the Great Lakes Tunnel Project. We have spoken with government officials on both sides of the border as the State of Michigan has let parties know it is not committed to further mediation. Enbridge has continued to participate in the mediation process in good faith and still is hopeful that a negotiated resolution will continue to provide consumers and industry in the region with safe, reliable energy and advance the quick construction of the tunnel at the Straits of Mackinac.” Duffy continued, “Pipelines continue to be a safer, more reliable way to transport fuel than truck, train or barge. These other modes burn far more fuel in order to move it releasing more greenhouse gases into the environment and would increase safety risk along each of those transportation modes. Line 5 has operated safely for more than 68 years at the Straits of Mackinac providing the Midwest and the Great Lakes Region with a much needed source of energy to have that threatened by a single governmental entity creates concerns about energy security as winter approaches and the economy as the region looks to re-emerge from the pandemic.”
Facebook: Dakota Rural Action: KXL water permits have been cancelled. UPDATE FROM STATE WATER MANAGEMENT BOARD HEARINGS IN PIERRE
10/6/21
“THEY'RE CANCELLED! #NOKXL #WaterProtectors KXL water permits have been cancelled. Those appropriated water from the Cheyenne, Bad and White Rivers...UPDATE FROM STATE WATER MANAGEMENT BOARD HEARINGS IN PIERRE: TC Energy's attorney is here at the Water Management Board (WMB). We are hearing TC Energy will ask for cancellation of their water permits that we fought so long and hard against during today's WMB meeting.”
SDPB Radio: Keystone XL permits cancelled
By Arielle Zionts, 10/6/21
“...The South Dakota Water Management Board also unanimously voted to cancel TC Energy's water permits for the defunct Keystone XL Pipeline project,” SDPB Radio reports. “TC Energy asked the board to cancel its permits for water from the Cheyenne, Bad and White rivers. Some audience members cheered after the vote, according to Rebecca Terk, who lobbies for Dakota Rural Action, which opposed the pipeline. The vote is the latest step TC Energy has taken to pull its permits, land and infrastructure out of the state.”
Facebook: West Whiteland Residents for Pipeline Safety: State legislators are calling for a complete halt to Mariner East
10/6/21
“On the heels of Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s announcement of 48 criminal charges against Energy Transfer, state legislators are calling for a complete halt to Mariner East and a revocation of the permits. Thank you to our Senator Carolyn Comitta for joining her colleagues in calling on Governor Tom Wolf and heads of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to halt Mariner now!”
Daily Memphian: New pipeline restrictions modeled on city process for telecom access
Bill Dries, 10/5/21
“The City Council approved the pipeline right-of-way ordinance on the first of three votes Tuesday, Oct. 5. It covers the entire city, requiring a permitting process for any work done beneath or across city streets,” the Daily Memphian reports.
Our Quad Cities: Meetings underway on proposed carbon capture pipeline in Iowa
Roger Riley, 10/6/21
“A series of public meetings is underway this fall to give Iowans a look at a carbon capture pipeline proposed to go underground in northern and western Iowa,” Our Quad Cities reports. “Summit Carbon Solutions of Ames has plans for the pipeline to capture carbon dioxide from ethanol in Iowa. “That’s a significant value added to ethanol on a 35 million gallon facility that would be approximately $4.5 million to $5 million of additional revenue,” Delayne Johnson, the CEO of Quad County Corn Processors in nearby Galva, Iowa, told OQC. Johnson said his facility signed on as one of the 12 Iowa plants sending carbon away via the pipeline. He said it would be good for Iowa farmers and good for ethanol producers. However, there were concerns raised by the public about the safety of the pipeline if kids are playing nearby or if someone would break the line causing a spill. “With [carbon dioxide] you get a sudden release of the product. If it’s near livestock or human beings, it could definitely be dangerous to your health,” said Jimmy Powell, CEO of Summit Carbon Solutions. “The good news is it won’t explode.” “...The Iowa Utilities Board is in the first round of regulatory hearings in counties where the pipeline goes through. The final decision would be made by the Utilities Board sometime after public meetings conclude.”
WDRB: Judge rules against Bullitt County landowners who sought review of LG&E pipeline decision
Marcus Green, 10/6/21
“A judge quashed an effort by Bullitt County property owners who wanted a fresh look at a decision that let Louisville Gas & Electric Co. condemn land for a proposed natural gas pipeline,” WDRB reports. “The group, whose land lies along the pipeline route, had argued that Bullitt Circuit Judge Rodney Burress had not considered whether the line will “primarily benefit” bourbon maker Jim Beam, which operates a plant in Clermont. But that’s not what Kentucky law requires, Burress wrote in rulings filed in late September. Instead, he noted, the law simply requires a utility to show that there is a public use. Buress concluded that the project “would undoubtedly serve a broader public purpose in addition to greatly benefitting Jim Beam.” The judge also wrote that the property owners “have yet to provide any evidence to counter the fact that 9,500 customers need reliable gas service and an additional 451 have been denied service.”
Associated Press: 2 men told to pay $1 million-plus for oil pipeline shooting
10/7/21
“Two Minnesota men were sentenced Wednesday to probation and ordered to pay back more than $1.1 million for damage they caused by shooting holes in an oil pipeline,” the Associated Press reports. “Tanner Sik, 21, of Ivanhoe, and Eric Weckworth-Pineda, 25, of Cottonwood, pleaded guilty in March to a federal charge of negligent discharge of a pollutant. Authorities say the April 2019 leak caused nearly 4,000 gallons of spill into the Yellow Medicine River. Court documents show that Sik used a semi-automatic rifle to fire several shots into the Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. diesel fuel pipeline on the northwest side of Cottonwood Lake in Lyon County. Weckworth-Pineda used the scope on his rifle to spot Sik’s shots, documents state. The two men returned to the area later in the day and saw that the pipeline was leaking, at which time they reported the spill to authorities. The restitution was the result of operations to clean up the spill and repair the pipeline, prosecutors said.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Press release: Legal Petition Demands Biden Administration Stop Unlawful Fossil Fuel Projects
10/6/21
“More than 380 environmental, public health, Indigenous, faith-based and community groups sent a legal petition today demanding that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers stop issuing permits, and revoke illegally and inappropriately issued permits, for fossil fuel infrastructure projects. Coming in the wake of a massive oil pipeline leak off the Southern California coast, the petition calls on the Army Corps to immediately halt new permits for fossil fuel infrastructure and develop a rule that permanently ends their approval. “This petition gives Biden the roadmap to keep his promises to address the climate emergency and advance environmental justice,” said Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. The petition outlines the Army Corps’ legal authority and responsibility to deny permits for fossil fuel infrastructure such as pipelines, import and export terminals, refineries and petrochemical plants. The Clean Water Act and Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 say the Army Corps may not issue any permit if it would be “contrary to the public interest.” All fossil fuel projects meet that threshold for denial, the petition asserts, because of the reality of climate change and the projects’ harms to Indigenous rights and environmental justice. It points to science-based assessments that any new fossil fuel development will push the planet past a dangerous warming threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius… “The petition also calls for permits already issued to be revoked. For example, the Army Corps approved the controversial Enbridge Line 3 oil-pipeline replacement project, which just went into operation despite protests from Indigenous leaders and allies. The petition also demands that the Army Corps revoke Nationwide Permit 12, which is used by fossil fuel developers to avoid obtaining individual project permits. It’s been used for destructive pipelines, including the now-cancelled Keystone XL and the Dakota Access Pipeline. The petition delivery comes days before a planned week of action at the White House by Indigenous, climate and climate justice groups, demanding that Biden choose sides: People vs. Fossil Fuels. The Oct. 11-15 mobilization calls on Biden to immediately stop fossil fuel project approvals and declare a national climate emergency.”
Press release: Carrizo Comecrudo Tribal Nation leads large delegation of native original peoples and Texas delegation to DC to ask President Biden to Build Back Fossil Free
10/6/21
“The Carrizo Comecrudo Tribal Nation is preparing to lead a large delegation of its tribal members along with other frontline community leaders and supporters to Washington DC for five days of indigenous-led story sharing and non-violent civil disobedience in the traditions of the Standing Rock Water Protectors and Martin Luther King, Jr. People Vs. Fossil Fuels is asking President Biden to build back fossil-free and be the climate president he wants to be before the Global Climate Summit (COP26) at the start of November. “We have everything to lose and no time to wait,” said Juan Mancias, Chairman of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribal nation. “President Biden promised to address the climate emergency and a history of environmental injustice, but so far, his administration continues to allow the fossil fuel industry to poison our communities and desolate our Mother Earth.” Chairman Mancias and Carrizo Comecrudo tribal members witness and oppose destruction of their ancestral sites and monitor other sites where existing fossil fuels infrastructure and a massive proposed fossil fuels and plastics build out threaten communities and the environment: the border wall, fracking pollution in the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale, abandoned wells, dangerous oil and gas pipelines criss-crossing the state, transfer stations and storage tanks, oil and gas export terminals and plastics plants.”
Reuters: White House moves to restore key environmental review rules
By Valerie Volcovici, 10/6/21
“The White House on Wednesday took the first step to restore federal regulations guiding environmental reviews of major infrastructure projects like highways and pipelines that were scaled back by the Trump administration that sought to fast-track them,” Reuters reports. “The White House Council for Environmental Quality said it will restore key provisions of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations that had been in place before the Trump administration overhauled the rules last year, the first time in decades. The new rule proposed by the White House council would direct the agency to account for climate change and other indirect environmental impacts of a project; empower federal agencies to consider alternative designs or approaches for a company’s proposed projects and let agencies adopt reviews that go beyond council’s regulations. “The basic community safeguards we are proposing to restore would help ensure that American infrastructure gets built right the first time,” council Chair Brenda Mallory told Reuters, who added that the changes can “reduce conflict and litigation” involved in the environmental review process. Former President Donald Trump in 2020 revamped NEPA in an effort to fast track major projects like the now cancelled Keystone XL oil pipeline that he said got caught up in red tape and interfered with his focus on U.S. “energy dominance.” His NEPA overhaul allowed federal agencies to exclude the climate impact of a project, making it easier for major fossil fuel projects to sail through the approval process and avoid legal challenges. Over the last few years, federal courts had ruled that NEPA required the federal government to consider a project’s carbon footprint in decisions related to leasing public lands for drilling or building pipelines.”
E&E News: Dems fear chopping block for EJ, lead pipes, climate corps
By Geof Koss, Nick Sobczyk, Emma Dumain, 10/6/21
“When congressional Democrats and the Biden administration launched their multitrillion-dollar infrastructure push earlier this year, support grew quickly on Capitol Hill for the creation of a new Civilian Climate Corps,” E&E News reports. “...But despite its popularity, funding for the CCC and other programs remains an open question in the delicate reconciliation push… “The reality of a smaller bill is prompting new scrutiny for the suite of policies under consideration for reconciliation. The CCC, environmental justice provisions and lead pipe mediation, among other proposals, could fall victim to Democratic priorities on climate deemed most essential — specifically, those that target emissions cuts… “Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), another member of EPW, told E&E she’s concerned about the fate of the tens of billions of dollars for environmental justice programs in the House bill and investments in lead service line replacement… “Duckworth, a co-founder of the Senate Environmental Justice Caucus, told E&E she would make a straightforward argument for environmental justice programs. "These are the most vulnerable people, and this is long overdue,” she said. Neglecting those priories, O’Mara said, could also jeopardize Biden’s other commitment: the Justice40 Initiative, a promise to deliver at least 40 percent of the overall benefits from federal investments in climate and clean energy to disadvantaged communities. Cuts to the reconciliation package’s topline, O’Mara told E&E, “cannot come at the expense of front-line communities and people’s health.”
EXTRACTION
Safety Mag: More than 5,400 Alberta oilsands workers infected in COVID outbreaks
Jim Wilson, 10/6/21
“A total of 5,432 workers in Alberta oilsands were infected by the COVID-19 coronavirus in 20 workplace outbreaks during the third and fourth waves of the pandemic, according to Alberta Health,” Safety Mag reports. “Among them, 431 were commuters from outside Alberta. Eleven of all the workers inspected during the period lost their lives. The Workers’ Compensation Board accepted 916 claims related to COVID-19 from oil and gas workers between the start of January and the end of August this year, according to a report from Fort Mcmurray Today. But the number of oilsands workers who contracted COVID-19 during the period may be even higher, as Alberta Health’s data, released on September 20, did not include those who were infected and died outside of an outbreak. CNRL had the worst outbreaks in the oilsands this past spring, with at least 2,112 workers having had COVID-19 at the company’s Albian, Horizon and Jackfish locations as of Sept. 20. It also had 64 active cases, and six workers died from the virus, according to Fort Mcmurray Today’s report. Last month, Alberta recommended that employers pause plans for in-person return to work and revert to work-from-home where possible. If employees are working on location, employees must mask for all indoor settings, except in work stations, it said.”
Reuters: Lawyers warn EU against labelling gas as a 'green' investment
By Kate Abnett and Simon Jessop, 10/7/21
“The environmental law firm ClientEarth has warned the European Union that it would be breaching its own laws if it labels investments in gas-fuelled energy as "green" in upcoming finance regulations,” Reuters reports. “In a Wednesday letter to the bloc's executive seen by Reuters, ClientEarth said categorising gas as environmentally friendly would violate other laws, including the EU's legally binding target to reduce its net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 from 1990 levels, and bring them to zero by 2050. The EU is close to finishing the climate portion of its sustainable finance taxonomy, a first-of-its-kind regulation that aims to steer private capital out of polluting economic activities and into those the EU deems environmentally friendly. The European Commission is expected to make a decision in the coming months on whether the climate taxonomy, the bulk of which it proposed rules for earlier this year, will label natural gas and nuclear energy as green investments. "If it were adopted, this is likely to increase investments in activities utilising natural gas and would be in total contradiction with the commitments undertaken by the European Commission both at international and EU level," ClientEarth said in the letter.
E&E News: 75% Methane Cut By 2030? Here's A Blueprint
10/6/21
“The world is not on track to deliver the deep cuts in methane emissions from fossil fuels needed to achieve net-zero climate targets, according to a report today from the International Energy Agency,” E&E News reports. “ Such emissions must drop by roughly 75 percent by the end of the decade to reach net zero by 2050, the agency said. While an increasing number of governments and energy companies have made commitments to curb methane emissions, IEA said that a concerted effort is ‘essential,’ as eventual declines in fossil fuel demand are insufficient to achieve rapid enough reductions to meet climate targets. ‘At a time when we are constantly being reminded of the damaging effects of climate change, it is inexcusable that massive amounts of methane continue to be allowed to just seep into the air from fossil fuel operations,’’ IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol told E&E. ‘These emissions are avoidable, the solutions are proven and even profitable in many cases,’ Birol continued. The report estimated that more than 70 percent of methane emissions from oil and gas operations can be avoided using existing technology, and around 45 percent could be prevented at no net cost — as the value of the captured gas is higher than the cost of the abatement measure.”
Reuters: Explainer: Why is it so hard to clean up an offshore oil spill?
By Jessica Resnick-ault, 10/5/21
“Oil spills into ocean waters, subject to winds and tides and spreading swiftly over wide areas, are difficult to clean up,” according to Reuters. “The 3,000-barrel weekend spill off the coast of southern California is nowhere near as disastrous as mega-spills like the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion that sent millions of barrels of oil into U.S. waters of the Gulf of Mexico. But swift movement of the liquids can kill wildlife and foul beaches before cleanup teams are deployed. U.S. federal and state responders begin fighting oil spills by deploying diving teams, and they use tools like containment booms: floating barriers that help contain the spread of spills far offshore, keeping much of the oil from reaching the coastline. Still, this weekend's spill had spread over a number of miles in the Pacific Ocean. "As the oil continues to move, the (cleanup) area expands, and it's going to be a sustained effort," said U.S. Coast Guard Public Affairs Officer Jeannine Shaye, at a Monday press conference. "We have 14 vessels on the water hired by oil spill response organizations."
Los Angeles Times: Federal regulation of oil platforms dogged by problems long before O.C. spill
BY CONNOR SHEETS, ADAM ELMAHREK, ROBERT J. LOPEZ, ROSANNA XIA, 10/5/21
“Government regulators have long failed to effectively oversee energy companies that rely on pipelines to transport large volumes of oil from offshore rigs, according to experts, environmental advocates and even reports by a federal watchdog agency,” the Los Angeles Times reports. “Regulators admitted that inspection requirements for pipelines like the one that ruptured off the coast of Orange County in recent days are inadequate, records show, and environmentalists complain that federal authorities rely too heavily on oil companies to conduct their own checks of their infrastructure. Federal overseers are short-staffed and have failed to update regulations that are in some cases decades old, falling behind technological advances in the industry, environmentalists and industry experts said… “But whatever the cause turns out to be, several environmentalists and former industry officials said investigators should scrutinize whether the two federal oversight agencies were providing adequate oversight of the pipeline. Those are the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement — an agency that was created in the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, in which 11 workers were killed and 4 million barrels of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico.”
Press release: Environmental Justice and Human Rights Organizations Address Global Leaders Ahead of COP26: Carbon Offsets Don't Stop Climate Change
10/6/21
“Today, a broad coalition of over 170 NGOs, advocacy groups, and grassroots organizations spanning the globe released a statement opposing the usage of carbon offset programs, declaring that carbon offset programs are false solutions that will not solve the climate crisis. Carbon offset programs are increasingly prevalent in corporate and governmental climate change plans. United States Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and John Barrasso (R-WY) proposed legislation last week to establish a nationwide reforestation effort that would involve the sale of carbon offset credits, while tech company Amazon recently announced its own offset program in the Amazon rainforest. Carbon offsets are expected to be a major point of discussion at the upcoming COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, and countries and firms are releasing "net zero emissions" commitments in the interim which forgo necessary emissions reductions in favor of offsets. Policymakers and businesses alike must reject carbon offsets if they are committed to climate justice. Environmental and human rights groups across the world are opposed to carbon offset programs because: Offsets cannot truly "offset" fossil fuel production: the latest science indicates that offsets cannot keep pace with large-scale carbon emissions. Offsets perpetuate environmental injustice, allowing polluters to continue poisoning BIPOC and working-class communities. Offsets are likely to increase greenhouse gas emissions by allowing polluters to pollute while sequestering carbon in volatile, impermanent reservoirs. Offsets often result in violations of the rights of Indigenous and tribal peoples, as Indigenous lands are increasingly targeted by forest offset project developers. Offsets undermine sustainable farming and increase consolidation in agriculture, further entrenching factory farms and monoculture at the expense of small farmers, including Black and Indigenous farmers and Tribal Nations. Offsets markets create conditions for fraud and gambling, prioritizing profit-seeking traders and speculators over economic and climate justice.”
Associated Press: Shipping industry group aims for net-zero emissions by 2050
10/5/21
“A major shipping industry group said Tuesday that its members will aim for “net-zero” carbon emissions by 2050, following a commitment to the same goal by the world’s airline industry a day earlier,” the Associated Press reports. “The current target set by the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations body, is to reduce emissions from international shipping by 50% by 2050. The International Chamber of Shipping said it has submitted a proposal to the U.N. for the industry to stop adding CO2 to the atmosphere by mid-century… “Environmental activists gave Tuesday’s announcement a cautious welcome but noted that the proposal only covers carbon dioxide, not other greenhouse gas emissions. Like the airline industry, which this week declared a target of net-zero carbon emissions in 30 years, shipping companies are counting heavily on the idea that any carbon emissions remaining by 2050 could be “offset” with natural or artificial means of removing CO2 from the atmosphere.”
StateImpact NPR: Proposed natural gas power plant in Washington County asks state to withdraw permits
Reid Frazier, 10/1/21
“A company that proposed natural gas-fired power plant in southwest Pennsylvania is canceling the project’s state permit. The announcement was a victory for environmental groups who opposed the plant,” StateImpact NPR reports. “The so-called “Beech Hollow” project would have produced 1,000 MW of electricity. Robinson Power, LLC, the Burgettstown, Pa.-based company behind the project, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The DEP granted an air permit for the plant to the company in 2017. This year, the company modified its design and was granted a modified permit by DEP. But environmental groups opposed the project, charging that the plant’s emissions would have hurt air quality in the region… “In a statement, Lisa Hallowell, senior attorney with the Environmental Integrity Project, which represented the Clean Air Council, told NPR: “We are thrilled to have stopped the construction of a dirty power plant in Robinson Township, where residents are already overburdened by air pollution from a plethora of oil and gas facilities.”
Rigzone: BP in $Multimillion Cherry Point Refinery Investment
Andreas Exarheas, 10/6/21
“BP plc (NYSE: BP) has announced plans for a $269 million investment in three projects at its Cherry Point Refinery in Washington state,” Rigzone reports. “The projects - which aim to improve the refinery’s efficiency, reduce its carbon dioxide emissions and increase its renewable diesel production capability - are expected to create more than 300 local jobs over the next three years. This includes more than 200 construction jobs, 25 engineering jobs and approximately 40 support roles, BP highlighted. BP’s three projects at Cherry Point comprise a $169m Hydrocracker Improvement Project (HIP), a $55m Cooling Water Infrastructure Project (CWI) and a $45 million Renewable Diesel Optimization (RDO) project. BP said the investment is aligned with its aims to be net zero across its operations by 2050 or sooner and to reduce the carbon intensity of the products it sells by 50 percent by 2050 or sooner.”
CBC: Energy sector tries to show next generation it's more than pumpjacks
Kyle Bakx, 10/7/21
“There are a lot of conversations happening in Alberta these days about climate change and the future of energy. Some of them are happening around the kitchen table. Dagmar Knutsen was taken aback when her Grade 9 son came home from school and declared Alberta was the worst in the world,” the CBC reports. “"What?" she asked. "Our oilsands, they are the worst in the world," he responded. "I know our emissions always haven't been the greatest but do you know that they've come down?" she asked. He hadn't heard that, nor had he heard of how the sector aims to use carbon capture to further reduce emissions. "But our teachers say that our textbooks are at least five years out of date," he told his mom, who works as an accountant for an oilpatch equipment company in Red Deer. Knutsen is using this exchange with her son two years ago as a launch point to help the next generation learn about the future of the energy sector, from geothermal energy to utility-scale batteries to plastics recycling, as it confronts climate change. Later this month, she's organizing the 10 Peaks Innovation Xchange, a student conference about the energy transition with more than 30 speakers including oilpatch executives, academics, renewable energy officials and environmental advocates, among others. More than 1,000 students have already signed up.”
Alberta Politics: DISMISSED BY CBC OMBUDSMAN, COMMISSIONER’S COMPLAINT ABOUT STORY SHOWS ‘ALBERTA INQUIRY’ ALL BUT DOWN FOR THE COUNT
DAVID CLIMENHAGA, 10/7/21
“One Alberta story that didn’t get nearly enough attention in the past few days, and none at all from mainstream media, was Alberta Inquiry Commissioner Steve Allan’s risible complaint to the CBC Ombudsman that the broadcaster’s journalists hadn’t treated him fairly,” Alberta Politics reports. “Commissioner Allan’s gripe with two CBC investigative reporters, which the broadcaster’s Ombudsman examined in detail and politely dismissed, was that their accurate Jan. 14 account of how his so-called Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns purchased three reports peddling discredited conspiracy theories about climate science didn’t include a disclaimer that he took no position on the papers’ claims. Now, remember, the reports in question were not only commissioned by the Inquiry, with their authors arguably considerably overpaid for their questionable efforts, but they were the only reports paid for by the Kenney Government’s $3.5-million effort to prove a vast conspiracy theory by U.S.-based charities was funding Canadian environmental opposition to oilsands development… “The bluntly worded story by CBC investigative reporters Jennie Russell and Charles Rusnell thereupon skewered the reports as “junk climate-denial science, bizarre conspiracy theories and oil-industry propaganda” that were part of “a politically motivated witch hunt.” “...Ergo, the Ombudsman concluded: “There was no violation of journalistic standards in either the article, or the radio interview.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
Press release: California State University Will Not Make Future Fossil Fuel Investments in University Investment Portfolios and Funds
10/6/21
“California State University (CSU) Chancellor Joseph I. Castro announced today that the university will not pursue any future investments in fossil fuels in the university's three investment portfolios: Systemwide Investment Fund Trust (SWIFT), Intermediate Duration Portfolio (IDP) and Total Return Portfolio (TRP). “Consistent with our values, it is an appropriate time to start to transition away from these types of investments, both to further demonstrate our commitment to a sustainable CSU but also to ensure strong future returns on the funds invested by the university," said Castro. The CSU has a long-standing commitment to sustainability, which includes the CSU trustees' adoption of a university-wide sustainability policy in 2014, its pledge to honor the Paris Agreement after the Trump administration's withdrawal in 2017, and codifying sustainability considerations in its master investment policy later that same year.”
Bloomberg: Al Gore’s $36 Billion Fund Sees New Urgency to Cut Off Oil Money
Tasneem Hanfi Brogger, 10/6/21
“Five years. That’s roughly how much time the investment universe has left to stop feeding capital to greenhouse-gas emitters before it’s too late, according to the co-founder of Generation Investment Management LLP,” Bloomberg reports. “David Blood, a long-time top executive at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s asset-management unit before starting an investment fund with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore more than 15 years ago, told Bloomberg that efforts over the past two decades to fight climate change are “not going to be enough.” “The urgency of the challenge will require us to think differently around capital allocation,” Blood told Bloomberg. “And we don’t have 15 years or 18 years to get there. We have probably five years.” With that timeline in mind, the idea of providing capital to a whole range of so-called transition assets -- fossil-fuel businesses that pollute a lot now but say they won’t in the future -- is hard to defend, according to Blood. And not just from a climate perspective, but from a financial standpoint. They’re “poor investments,” he told Bloomberg. So Generation Investment Management has blacklisted hydrocarbon securities for more than a decade.”
Bloomberg: How the Finance World Started Turning Against Fossil Fuels
Kate Mackenzie, 10/1/21
“A quiet celebration took place in London last month. It marked the 10th anniversary of the “Carbon Bubble” report, published by the think tank Carbon Tracker Initiative, that’s become one of the most influential arguments against burning fossil fuels,” Bloomberg reports. “The report’s starting point was another pioneering piece of research. Malte Meinshausen and other scientists had published a paper in Nature a couple years earlier that estimated how much more heat-trapping carbon dioxide humans could release before the world warmed by 2 degrees Celsius from industrial levels. They found that to have a 75% chance of breaching the warming limit, no more than 1 trillion metric tons of carbon could be burned from 2000 to 2050. Put that against the amount of untapped fossil fuels estimated in 2011 and Carbon Tracker concluded that only a fifth of the 2.3 trillion tons of hydrocarbons could be extracted and used. The rest would have to be left in the ground. It was a completely counterintuitive proposal to the corporate world. All that coal, oil and gas contributed to the value of companies and assets that sat in portfolios from New York to Hong Kong. Even if the goal was only partly realized, those holdings would plummet… “Reading the Carbon Bubble report a decade later is bittersweet. A lot of what it warned of has already come to pass. Many of the companies listed as the most loaded up with too many carbon reserves have since embraced policies that they would’ve found absurd a decade ago. Others have failed.”
OPINION
The Hill: Oil spill: California has flirted with this kind of large-scale disaster for decades
Miyoko Sakashita is director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Oceans program, 10/6/21
“I’m not sure which came first when I heard about this weekend’s devastating oil spill off the coast of California’s Orange County: anger, disgust or sadness. But I can’t say I was surprised,” Miyoko Sakashita writes for The Hill. “California has been flirting with this kind of large-scale disaster for decades. We’ve known for a long time that oil pipelines are dangerous and routinely fail. The result this time was 144,000 gallons of crude spilling into the Pacific Ocean, coating our beaches and leaving wildlife to navigate through a deadly mess — again. The specific cause of this spill appears to be a rupture of one of the many aging oil pipelines snaking along the California coast. The oil platforms were built around 40 years ago — so they’re old, corroding and should have been decommissioned long ago. The pipelines that serve them aren’t much better. But there’s a larger culprit here too. Year after year, state and federal governments have ignored the well-documented dangers of offshore drilling, relying on a few fixes and crossing their fingers that catastrophe won’t strike… “President Biden should follow through on his promise to end all federal oil and gas leasing and phase out existing drilling. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) should stop giving permits to oil companies and get offshore platforms in state waters decommissioned. And Newsom must end neighborhood drilling, to protect the more than 2 million Californians who live within half a mile of an oil or gas well. The result wouldn’t just be an end to the toxic spills that kill wildlife and ruin our beaches. Winding down drilling offshore and on land is also necessary to address climate crisis, because 85 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions come from oil, gas and coal.”