EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 10/8/21
PIPELINE NEWS
Reuters: Explainer: Canada invokes 1977 treaty to keep crude pipeline running
Bloomberg: Canadian oil exports to U.S. jump after Line 3 starts up following years of delays
VICE: Oil Pipeline Protesters Are Building Trauma Support Centers
Bismarck Tribune: Proposed Williams County pipeline to connect to Dakota Access
Brennan Center: How an Oil Company Pays Police to Target Pipeline Protesters
Woodstock Sentinel Review: St. Clair Twp. council throws support behind Enbridge project
Pipeline Fighters Hub [VIDEO]: Recent Pipeline Fight Victories & “Unfinished Business”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Press release: Hundreds of Scientists Tell Biden: Halt Fossil Fuel Development Now
Associated Press: Navajo leaders seek hearing on oil and gas drilling dispute
Politico Morning Energy: OFFSHORE DRILLING BAN FOR RECONCILIATION
STATE UPDATES
Politico Morning Energy: FROM THE STATES
Southerly: The oil and gas industry is using Louisiana’s climate task force to push carbon capture
Carlsbad Current-Argus: New Mexico oil and gas lease sale moves forward in Permian Basin amid calls to cancel
EXTRACTION
Houston Public Media: Oil spill contained at Marathon Petroleum Refinery in Texas City
Reuters: Oil companies ask Canada to pay for 75% of carbon capture facilities
Press release: Nikola and TC Energy Sign Joint Development Agreement for Co-Development of Large-Scale Clean Hydrogen Hubs
Reuters: Record gas prices slow LNG investment in Asia; N.America scrambles on exports
RESEARCH & SCIENCE
Physicians, Scientists, and Engineers for Healthy Energy: Methane and Health-Damaging Air Pollutants from the Oil and Gas Sector: Bridging 10 Years of Scientific Understanding
CLIMATE FINANCE
Guardian: Fossil fuel industry gets subsidies of $11m a minute, IMF finds
DeSmog: Investigation: Majority of Directors of World’s Top Insurance Companies Tied to Polluting Industries
Canadian Press: Environment lobby calls out Carney’s climate finance credibility
OPINION
Washington Post: Opinion: The California oil spill is a disaster for birds — and a warning about fossil fuels’ threat to the planet
Traverse City Record-Eagle: Editorial: Clock keeps ticking on Line 5 pipeline
Forbes: Is The Enbridge Pipeline Really That Dangerous? Compared To What?
Medium: Calling out the Banks that Back Big Oil: Discussing divestment with Indigenous Organizer, Jackie Fielder
PIPELINE NEWS
Reuters: Explainer: Canada invokes 1977 treaty to keep crude pipeline running
By Nia Williams, 10/7/21
“Canada has invoked a 44-year-old treaty to trigger negotiations with U.S. President Joe Biden's administration over a pipeline that the state of Michigan is trying to shut down because of concerns it could leak into the Great Lakes,” Reuters reports. “...Legal experts who have studied the treaty told Reuters that Ottawa has a strong case… “By invoking the treaty, Canada triggers an arbitration process, essentially forcing the Biden administration to negotiate. The treaty guarantees uninterrupted flow of petroleum products between the United States and Canada. It states that any disputes should be settled by negotiation as far as possible, and if that fails either the United States or Canada can request arbitration. The first step would be to appoint three arbitrators, according to the terms of the treaty. Kristen van de Biezenbos, a law professor at the University of Calgary, told Reuters the whole process could easily take months… “The federal judge is likely stay the case until there is a resolution, Biezenbos told Reuters. Washington might step in and urge Michigan's governor Whitmer, a Biden ally, to allow Line 5 to continue operating. Lawrence Herman, legal counsel at Herman & Associates in Toronto, and senior fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute think-tank, told Reuters Canada has the stronger case because the treaty is intended to keep pipelines flowing. "It's highly probable that Canada would win under the arbitration process.”
Bloomberg: Canadian oil exports to U.S. jump after Line 3 starts up following years of delays
Sheela Tobben, 10/7/21
“Canadian oil shipments to the U.S. jumped to the highest volume since the start of the year thanks in part to the startup of a long-delayed Canadian pipeline,” Bloomberg reports. “Weekly oil deliveries from America’s northern neighbour reached 4.04 million barrels day, the most since January, according to the Energy Information Administration. It’s only the third time the U.S. has imported more than 4 million barrels a day of Canadian crude since the agency began compiling weekly data in 2010. It’s likely these increased flows will be the new norm mainly because of the expanded Line 3, Elisabeth Murphy, ESAI Energy LLC upstream analyst for North America, told Bloomberg… “The additional barrels from Canada come as a relief to U.S. refiners struggling with less supply from OPEC+, shrinking imports from Latin America, and more recently, the loss of about 30 million barrels of Gulf of Mexico production after Hurricane Ida.”
VICE: Oil Pipeline Protesters Are Building Trauma Support Centers
Ella Fassler, 10/7/21
“After the media spotlight faded and police forced oil pipeline protesters to pack up and leave in 2016, the struggle that began at the Standing Rock encampment in Sioux County, North Dakota was far from over. More than 800 Water Protectors had been arrested at the Oceti Sakowin resistance camp, where indigenous people and their supporters gathered to oppose the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline,” VICE reports. “While the resistance has led to a temporary shutdown of the pipeline and triggered an environmental review, many of those who came to Standing Rock left traumatized, facing large medical bills and lengthy court battles… “The fight isn’t over, however, and supporters like Cominghay and are now building long-term support for pipeline resistors experiencing trauma at the Welcome Water Protectors Center, a Anishinaabe Akiing space resting on 1855 treaty territory on the Mississippi River that is run by Winona Laduke and other Water Protectors along with Honor the Earth. Over the past year or so, it has served as a publicly-facing Anishinaabe Akiing cultural and community center that helps guide new pipeline resistors in the struggle against Line 3. Now, the Center is reorganizing to provide the Water Protectors with peer-to-peer counseling, community, and a space for healing, Cominghay told VICE.
Bismarck Tribune: Proposed Williams County pipeline to connect to Dakota Access
AMY R. SISK, 10/6/21
“Kinder Morgan is planning a short pipeline in Williams County to connect to the Dakota Access Pipeline,” the Bismarck Tribune reports. “A subsidiary of the company, Hiland Crude, is proposing a 2.9-mile pipeline beginning at its Epping Station to transport oil "to existing pipeline infrastructure where the product can be delivered to various mid-continent markets," according to an application the company filed with the North Dakota Public Service Commission. Kinder Morgan told the Tribune the pipeline will connect to Dakota Access, which runs from the Bakken oil fields of western North Dakota to Illinois. Dakota Access ends at an oil hub, and from there oil can be transported via other pipelines to places such as the Gulf Coast… “The PSC has scheduled a hearing on the project for Nov. 22 at 9 a.m. at Williston City Hall, 22 E. Broadway in Williston.”
Brennan Center: How an Oil Company Pays Police to Target Pipeline Protesters
Kaylana Mueller-Hsia, 10/7/21
“A Canadian fossil fuel company is funneling millions of dollars to local Minnesota police to protect its interests and undermine the rights of protesters, many of them from Native American tribes and environmental groups,” according to the Brennan Center. “So far, the practice of companies paying police to do their bidding has faced little public scrutiny. In this case, that’s perhaps unsurprising in light of the scarce attention often given to Native Americans’ rights… “Over the last year, Enbridge has paid over $2 million to Minnesota police to enforce laws targeting protesters against the pipeline… “Instead, private reimbursements for pipeline-related police activity, with no specified upper limit, incentivizes law enforcement to minimize oversight. Minnesota police can essentially get funded twice — by taxpayers and by Enbridge — when they use their resources to serve the latter. Under the current arrangement, the public must depend on news outlets to report on what activities are reimbursed. And in another barrier to public oversight, intelligence data collected by the Department of Homeland Security-supported Minnesota Fusion Center related to Line 3 has also been classified as secret “security information,” making it unretrievable via public records request.”
Woodstock Sentinel Review: St. Clair Twp. council throws support behind Enbridge project
Carl Hnatyshyn, 10/8/21
“Members of St. Clair Township council are throwing their support behind Enbridge’s proposed Dawn Corunna project with an endorsement to the Ontario Energy Board,” the Woodstock Sentinel Review reports. “Following a presentation by Enbridge director of gas storage and pipeline operations Wes Armstrong and senior advisor/member of Enbridge’s municipal and stakeholder team Brian Lennie, council on Oct. 4 agreed to support the proposal, which would see the decommissioning of seven of the 11 gas compressors located at Enbridge’s Corunna compressor station and also construction of a new natural gas transmission line between the compression station and the Dawn operation centre… “The proposed pipeline will be installed largely in private easements, Lennie told council, within an existing natural gas corridor that connects the two stations, which are 19.3 kilometres apart.”
Pipeline Fighters Hub [VIDEO]: Recent Pipeline Fight Victories & “Unfinished Business”
Mark Hefflinger, 10/7/21
“The second Pipeline Fighters Hub Briefing — Recent Pipeline Fight Victories & “Unfinished Business” — was held on Wednesday, Sept. 29 at 6:00 p.m. Central Time. The discussion featured grassroots Pipeline Fighters who organized to defeat Big Oil and Gas projects in their communities, including Keystone XL, Atlantic Coast, Byhalia Connection, and Jordan Cove LNG. Hear about how they won their fights, and the work they’re still doing on the unfinished business that remains after a pipeline is cancelled — including the charges facing Water Protectors and Land Defenders who put their bodies on the line during acts of nonviolent civil disobedience; relinquishing easements and restoring landowners’ property; enacting stronger protections for water and property rights at the local, county, and state levels; and, what happens to all that pipe? PANELISTS: Joye Braun, Wanbli Wiyan Ka’win, National Pipelines Campaign Organizer, Indigenous Environmental Network; Art Tanderup, Farmer & Landowner on Keystone XL pipeline route in Nebraska; Justin J. Pearson, Community organizer in Memphis, TN against Byhalia Connection pipeline; Allie Rosenbluth, Campaigns Director, Rogue Climate, against the Jordan Cove LNG project in Oregon; Richard Averitt; Landowner and organizer against Atlantic Coast Pipeline route in Virginia; Annie Plotkin-Madrigal, Program Manager at the Equation Campaign; and Jane Kleeb, President of Bold Alliance and founder of Bold Nebraska.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Press release: Hundreds of Scientists Tell Biden: Halt Fossil Fuel Development Now
10/7/21
“More than 330 U.S. research scientists sent a letter to President Biden today urging him to use his executive authority to stop all new fossil fuel projects and declare a climate emergency — actions they say are necessary to avoid the worst damages of the climate crisis and deliver on environmental justice… “The letter directly supports the core demands of frontline communities to the president in the massive People vs. Fossil Fuels mobilization taking place at the White House next week. Scientists including Dr. Steingraber plan to participate in the action and risk arrest. “U.S. scientists are done speaking calmly in the face of inaction,” said Steingraber. “Terrified by our own data, we stand in solidarity with the People vs. Fossil Fuels mobilization and its demands. President Biden, listening to science means acting on science. It means stopping new fossil fuel projects, opposing industry delay tactics, and declaring a national climate emergency… “To end fossil fuel expansion, the letter calls on Biden to use his authority to end new fracking and drilling on public lands and waters, stop the approval of fossil fuel infrastructure projects, and end fossil fuel exports and subsidies. The scientists further urge the president to declare a climate emergency to advance a rapid, just buildout of clean renewable energy.”
Associated Press: Navajo leaders seek hearing on oil and gas drilling dispute
By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, 10/6/21
“Top officials with the largest Native American tribe in the United States are renewing a request for congressional leaders to hold a field hearing before deciding on federal legislation aimed at limiting oil and gas development around Chaco Culture National Historical Park,” the Associated Press reports. “The Navajo Nation has struggled for years with high poverty rates and joblessness, and the tribe’s legislative leaders say individual Navajo allottees stand to lose an important source of income if a 10-mile (16-kilometer) buffer is created around the park as proposed. They’re calling for a smaller area of federal land holdings to be made off limits to oil and gas development as a compromise to protect Navajo interests… “They said a field hearing would allow congressional leaders to “’hear directly from the Navajo people who face a real threat” under the current version of legislation. While the measure wouldn’t directly affect tribal or allottee land, allottees fear their parcels would be landlocked by a federal ban, making them undesirable for future development.” “...Other tribes, environmental groups and archaeologists have been pushing to stop drilling across an expansive area of northwestern New Mexico, saying sites beyond Chaco’s boundaries need protection and that the federal government’s leasing program needs an overhaul.”
Politico Morning Energy: OFFSHORE DRILLING BAN FOR RECONCILIATION
Matthew Choi, 10/6/21
“Western senators are now explicitly calling for a ban on offshore drilling off the West Coast to be part of reconciliation,” Politico Morning Energy reports. “In a letter to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Manchin on Wednesday, the lawmakers write that as “clean energy becomes a larger share of the West Coast power supply, the trade-offs associated with offshore oil drilling are only becoming increasingly unnecessary and destructive.” They are calling for the bill to include the West Coast Ocean Protection Act, S. 58 (117), which has been introduced every Congress since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) all signed on.”
STATE UPDATES
Politico Morning Energy: FROM THE STATES
Matthew Choi, 10/6/21
“Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, whose state has a heavy concentration of manufacturing, told reporters on Wednesday that he'd like to see the 45Q tax credit for carbon capture projects raised to $85 per metric ton — a figure in line with what has reportedly been backed by top Democrats and the White House in recent days as part of the reconciliation package,” Politico Morning Energy reports. "I engage quite often with CEOs of companies who are really involved in carbon capture and sequestration and the 45Q tax credit is incredibly important in order to make this happen," the governor told Politico. "The $50 a ton is obviously helpful. There is a prevailing sentiment that it needs to be closer to $85 per ton in order for it to be meaningful and generous enough to really make a difference."
Southerly: The oil and gas industry is using Louisiana’s climate task force to push carbon capture
By Sara Sneath, October 7, 2021
“The state’s unwavering support of the oil, gas, and chemical industries has made it difficult to reduce emissions, fund coastal restoration, or address extreme weather,” Southerly reports. “A 23-member task force assembled by the Democratic governor last summer is meant to chart a path to reduce Louisiana’s contributions to climate change. But the oil, gas, and chemicals industries are using the group to push for policies to extend the state’s dependence on fossil fuels—particularly through carbon capture, use, and sequestration. The technology involves capturing carbon dioxide, or CO2, from industrial facilities before it enters the atmosphere and piping it deep underground to be stored or used to increase production of oil and gas wells. The state’s unwavering support of the oil, gas, and chemical industries has made it difficult to reduce emissions, fund coastal restoration, or address extreme weather. The energy sector has immense power in the Republican-controlled legislature, which would need to approve any plan put forth by the task force. At least four industry appointees serve on the task force, including a corporate lobbyist, two trade group representatives and a power company executive. The Speaker of the House designated the lobbyist, who works for oil and gas company BHP Group. An administrative team supporting the task force expected leaders of the House and Senate to designate other lawmakers to represent them, according to internal emails obtained by Southerly and WWNO.”
Carlsbad Current-Argus: New Mexico oil and gas lease sale moves forward in Permian Basin amid calls to cancel
Adrian Hedden, 10/6/21
“The first lease of federal land in New Mexico for oil and gas development during the administration of the President Joe Biden could be sold next year,” the Carlsbad Current-Argus reports. “The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) moved forward with a sale, concluding a public comment period Oct. 1 as its parent agency the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) conducted a review of its fossil fuel program… “Environmental and conservation groups in New Mexico argued against the resumption of leasing ahead of the DOI’s completion of its review, worried the federal government had not adequately addressed pollution concerns stemming from oil and gas development. They were particularly concerned about new oil and gas developments going into the southeast Permian Basin region of the state where state officials found elevated levels of ground-level ozone deemed the result of heightened fossil fuel extraction.”
EXTRACTION
Houston Public Media: Oil spill contained at Marathon Petroleum Refinery in Texas City
LUCIO VASQUEZ, 10/6/21
“Cleanup is underway after crude oil was released from a storage tank at Marathon Petroleum’s Galveston Bay Refinery on Wednesday, according to a statement from the company,” Houston Public Media reports. “The oil, which caused the closure of nearby road, was contained on-site. There have been no reported injuries, Jamal Kheiry, a Marathon Petroleum spokesperson, told HPM. “The refinery has deployed air monitoring in the community as a precaution, and there is no indication of risk to the community,” Kheiry wrote. “Cleanup is under way, and regulatory notifications have been made.”
Reuters: Oil companies ask Canada to pay for 75% of carbon capture facilities
By Rod Nickel, 10/7/21
“Oil and gas companies have asked the Canadian government to design a tax credit to pay for 75% of the cost to build carbon capture facilities that will curb greenhouse gas emissions, the country's main energy industry group said on Thursday,” Reuters reports. “The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) made the request in August to the Department of Finance just before the federal election campaign, setting the tax credit at a level high enough to provide an economic return, Ben Brunnen, CAPP's Vice-President of Oil Sands, told Reuters… “Many environmental groups oppose reliance on carbon capture to address global warming, calling it expensive and a means of prolonging fossil fuels production. "We're talking about an industry that created this problem, that also made billions of dollars over the last 40 years knowing that climate change is a problem," Cam Fenton, Canada team leader for 350.org, told Reuters.
Press release: Nikola and TC Energy Sign Joint Development Agreement for Co-Development of Large-Scale Clean Hydrogen Hubs
10/7/21
“Nikola Corporation (Nasdaq: NKLA), (Nikola), a global leader in zero-emissions transportation and energy infrastructure solutions, and TC Energy Corporation (TSX, NYSE: TRP), (TC Energy), a leading North American energy infrastructure company, have agreed to collaborate on co-developing, constructing, operating and owning large-scale hydrogen production facilities (hubs) in the United States and Canada… “Furthermore, Nikola and TC Energy desire to accelerate the adoption of heavy-duty zero-emission fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and hydrogen across industrial sectors by establishing hubs in key geographic locations. A key objective of the collaboration is to establish hubs producing 150 tonnes or more of hydrogen per day near highly traveled truck corridors to serve Nikola’s planned need for hydrogen to fuel its Class 8 FCEVs within the next five years. TC Energy has significant pipeline, storage and power assets that potentially can be leveraged to lower the cost and increase the speed of delivery of these hydrogen production hubs. This may include exploring the integration of midstream assets to enable hydrogen distribution and storage via pipeline and/or to deliver CO2 to permanent sequestration sites to decarbonize the hydrogen production process.”
Reuters: Record gas prices slow LNG investment in Asia; N.America scrambles on exports
By Jessica Jaganathan and Scott Disavino, Brijesh Patel, 10/7/21
“Some of the world's biggest importers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are reducing orders in the face of a 500% price surge within a year, raising concerns among major producers about potential long-term destruction of demand,” Reuters reports. “...But South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh - which together account for 20% of Asia's imports - have a much higher exposure to spot LNG prices, which are currently at a record high of over $50 per million British thermal units (mmBtu). That's raised alarm among developers in Southeast Asia, as analysts say plans for new LNG regasification terminals may now be delayed given the high LNG prices and after government budgets were stretched by costly COVID-19 outbreaks, a source familiar with contract negotiations told Reuters. "New buyers are under a lot of pressure to justify signing contracts at these prices, so they have been slow to progress discussions," the source, who has noted a sharp fall in enthusiasm among potential buyers to even discuss LNG projects compared to a year ago, told Reuters. He declined to provide more details or be named due to the sensitive nature of the deals. For big U.S. export terminal operators, rising prices were initially welcome. However, the volatility in costs makes it harder to sign additional long-term contracts and is a source of frustration, as they know that they will only be able to add incremental export capacity in the next year.”
RESEARCH & SCIENCE
Physicians, Scientists, and Engineers for Healthy Energy: Methane and Health-Damaging Air Pollutants from the Oil and Gas Sector: Bridging 10 Years of Scientific Understanding
DREW MICHANOWICZ, 10/6/21
“In the US, the oil and gas industry is the leading source of anthropogenic methane–a powerful greenhouse gas–and of numerous health-damaging air pollutants. Over the past decade, research on oil and gas emissions has rapidly accelerated, substantially increasing our understanding of what, where, when, and how these emissions occur across the entire oil and gas supply chain… “Methane and Health-Damaging Air Pollutants from the Oil and Gas Sector: Bridging 10 Years of Scientific Understanding provides insights on the climate and public health dimensions of emissions from the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry—from wellhead to homes. Researchers identify characteristics of sources of both types of emissions, highlight high-impact approaches to emission control, and provide guidance on how to prioritize emission control based on climate and public health.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
Guardian: Fossil fuel industry gets subsidies of $11m a minute, IMF finds
Damian Carrington, 10/6/21
“The fossil fuel industry benefits from subsidies of $11m every minute, according to analysis by the International Monetary Fund,” the Guardian reports. “The IMF found the production and burning of coal, oil and gas was subsidised by $5.9tn in 2020, with not a single country pricing all its fuels sufficiently to reflect their full supply and environmental costs. Experts said the subsidies were “adding fuel to the fire” of the climate crisis, at a time when rapid reductions in carbon emissions were urgently needed. Explicit subsidies that cut fuel prices accounted for 8% of the total and tax breaks another 6%. The biggest factors were failing to make polluters pay for the deaths and poor health caused by air pollution (42%) and for the heatwaves and other impacts of global heating (29%). Setting fossil fuel prices that reflect their true cost would cut global CO2 emissions by over a third, the IMF analysts said. This would be a big step towards meeting the internationally agreed 1.5C target. Keeping this target within reach is a key goal of the UN Cop26 climate summit in November.”
DeSmog: Investigation: Majority of Directors of World’s Top Insurance Companies Tied to Polluting Industries
Rachel Sherrington, 10/7/21
“Just over half of all directors at 30 of the world’s largest insurance companies have affiliations to polluting companies and organisations, reveals an investigation by DeSmog, including several individuals holding senior roles at some of the world’s largest energy companies. The findings raise concerns over a potential pervasive conflict of interest on the boards at a time when the international insurance sector is under pressure to halt its support for the fossil fuel industry… “The research reveals that 53 percent of these directors have a combined 499 past or current connections to industries that could be considered potentially climate-conflicted including polluting energy, mining, manufacturing, along with banks and investment vehicles known to support the fossil fuel industry. Just over one in ten directors across the insurers analysed worldwide had experience at companies operating in fossil fuels, including oil and gas companies, a major coal developer, and utility companies relying on fossil fuels for the power they produce. In the US this number jumped to one in five board members across the insurers analysed.” The links revealed by DeSmog’s analysis may show a “revolving door” between insurers and high-polluting industries that may explain why, despite the risks, the sector has been slow to act on climate change, Lucie Pinson, executive director at the environmental campaign group Reclaim Finance, told DeSmog, reacting to the findings. “When insurers underwrite fossil fuels, they actually are underwriting climate change.”
Canadian Press: Environment lobby calls out Carney’s climate finance credibility
MIA RABSON, 10/7/21
“Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney’s credibility as a global climate finance leader is under fire as environment lobby groups say he is allowing some of the world’s biggest banks to use him as cover to keep funding fossil fuels,” the Canadian Press reports. “...As part of that role he is also chairing the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), aiming to get the biggest financial institutions around the globe to both commit and lead the way to net-zero emissions by 2050. The alliance is to play a critical role at next month’s UN Council of the Parties climate talks, known colloquially as COP26, where a big focus will be on finding the finances to fund the climate promises to achieve needed reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. A coalition of more than 90 Canadian and international environment groups published full-page ads Thursday in the Toronto Star and Financial Times asking Carney to beef up the membership requirements in that alliance.“While we applaud your role in establishing frameworks to help green the financial system, too many signatory banks and other financial institutions are using GFANZ and ‘Net Zero’ promises as greenwash, empty promises without meaningful actions or clear accountability,” the ad says in a letter printed beside a giant photo of Carney superimposed on a background of flooding waters, smoke stacks and a sky tinted orange from wildfires.”
OPINION
Washington Post: Opinion: The California oil spill is a disaster for birds — and a warning about fossil fuels’ threat to the planet
Peter H. Gleick is a hydroclimatologist, a MacArthur fellow and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, 10/6/21
“There’s never a good time for an oil spill. But the most recent ones — in the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Ida last month, and then this past weekend, in the ocean off Huntington Beach, Calif. — have come right in the heart of the fall migration of hundreds of millions of birds,” Peter H. Gleick writes for the Washington Post. “...The Southern California spill is the worst sort of disruption. It tarred beaches and fouled a rare, fragile coastal wetland. And it happened at the peak of fall migration, in a spot especially important to the Pacific Flyway. Southern California’s beaches and remnant marshes offer sanctuary for thousands of migrating birds, including threatened and endangered species. Oil from the spill penetrated these marshes before adequate protective barriers could be put in place, raising the prospect of long-term damage. Birds are already dying… “We have no choice but to eliminate the burning of carbon-based fuels if we want to save ourselves from ever-worsening environmental and climate disruption… “We can’t shut down the fossil fuel industry instantly. But we can and must do far more, far faster, to accelerate the transition to non-carbon energy and to explicitly address the effects of more than a century of exploitation and abuse. The billions of dollars of government subsidies still offered to fossil fuel companies must be eliminated immediately. These subsidies have almost no impact on production; according to a Brookings Institution report, eliminating them will “not materially increase retail fuel prices, reduce employment, or weaken U.S. energy security.” But that money could be redirected to help accelerate the transition to new non-carbon energy sources.”
Traverse City Record-Eagle: Editorial: Clock keeps ticking on Line 5 pipeline
10/7/21
“Oil spills, in and of themselves, are bad news. They’re bad for the environment, as the petrochemicals foul waters, wildlife and human habitat. They’re bad for business, especially ones relying on a clean natural resources. But bad spills can still prompt good responses. Swift action. Effective clean-ups. Transparency on behalf of the responsible party. Unfortunately, this last pipeline rupture in California was not that,” the Traverse City Record-Eagle Editorial Board writes. “The 140,000 gallon spill came from a 17-mile long, 40-year-old pipeline owned by Amplify Energy Corp. An anchor strike from the influx in COVID-19-related cargo shipping traffic in Huntington Beach likely caused the 13-inch long gash in the pipe, according to preliminary reports… “Enbridge’s Line 5 in Michigan was built in 1953. It too has seen anchor strikes and gaps in its required protective coating. What to do with it — whether to shut it down outright or run it through a utility tunnel under the lakebed — has effectively left it in stasis, operating and aging… “No pipeline can operate indefinitely, no matter what some may posit about 68-year-old pipelines “built to last.” Even with supposed fail-safes, errors happen. But it’s the responses to these errors that eat away confidence in the ability to make good on a bad spill. Parties, now federal, state and private and nonprofit, need to quit stalling and resolve what to do with this aging infrastructure that puts 20 percent of the world’s fresh water supply at risk — before the spill. That would be good news.”
Forbes: Is The Enbridge Pipeline Really That Dangerous? Compared To What?
James Conca, 10/6/21
“On October 4th, the Canadian government asked a U.S. federal judge to stop Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's order to shut down the controversial 67-year-old Enbridge Line 5 oil and gas pipeline running along the lake bottom of the Straits of Mackinac, where the Great Lakes of Michigan and Huron connect,” James Conca writes for Forbes. “...The real problem is oil consumption is the fastest growing energy source in the world. Period. Full Stop. We have made no headway in reigning in oil use. Twenty internal combustion engines are produced for every electric vehicle, and that is unlikely to reverse much until well after 2040. So oil is going to keep moving around this country and the world, and will continue to increase in our continued energy boom, so the answer is not simply to stop it. The answer is to determine how to move it safely. While many have called for shutdown of pipelines like Enbridge, and a moratorium on new pipeline construction, the correct reaction may just be the opposite. We really should be replacing old pipelines and building new ones, reducing the stress on each line. It is particularly good to supersize them - build bigger pipelines over old ones… “It depends upon what your definition is for worse. Is it deaths and destruction? Is it amount of oil released? Is it land area or water volume contaminated? Is it habitat destroyed? Is it CO2 emitted?” “...It isn’t acceptable to just say we shouldn’t be moving oil, because we will for the rest of this century, no matter what happens. So, keeping in mind the difference between death/damage to humans and damage to the environment, which would you choose?”
Medium: Calling out the Banks that Back Big Oil: Discussing divestment with Indigenous Organizer, Jackie Fielder
Jenni Monet, 10/1/21
“It was a recent Tuesday when I hopped on a call with Jackie Fielder. The Indigenous organizer captured attention last year in her riveting run for California State Senate. She lost her race, but her campaigning for causes central to her candidacy has pressed on. Among them: fossil fuel divestment — the reason why she reached out. When not advancing one of her signature issues, to decolonize San Francisco’s housing market, Fielder helps manage public relations for Stop the Money Pipeline, an effort by some 160 organizations to hold banks and insurance companies accountable for the fossil fuel projects that they support. When we spoke, Climate Week NYC was just kicking off and among its primary sponsors was Bank of America. This frustrated Fielder. “They are one of the largest backers of fossil fuels,” she said. According to the latest Banking on Climate Chaos report from a global alliance of nonprofit organizations, Bank of America is among the top five investors of the world’s energy development agenda— this, despite recent commitments by the bank to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050. With hypocrisy abound, notwithstanding “climate president” Joe Biden’s inaction surrounding the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline, which started flowing oil Friday, a fed-up Fielder is working to convince consumers to take the next steps and divest from their oil-backing banks, a movement with roots pre-dating Standing Rock.”