EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 11/11/21
PIPELINE NEWS
Bloomberg: Why a Decades-Old Pipeline Has Canada and Michigan at Odds
The Detroit News: Group sues state for access to Enbridge tunnel construction docs, state says docs ready
St. Louis Post Dispatch: St. Louis County Council plans hearing over Spire’s pipeline warning
Bismarck Tribune: Lawmakers hear $150 million pitch for east-west natural gas pipeline; propane industry opposes plan
KVRR: Grand Forks mayor asks lawmakers to expedite pipeline project
NorthJersey.com: Passaic County commissioners delay vote on controversial gas pipeline proposal
MassLive.com: ‘Residents would not reap the benefit’: Longmeadow Select Board chair critiques the Eversource gas pipeline proposal
Fox Carolina: Piedmont Natural Gas picks path for new pipeline
Press release: Hyzon Motors and TC Energy announce modular hydrogen production hub development agreement
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Left grows impatient with Biden's regulatory plans
Bloomberg: Biden Faces Pleas for Oil Export Ban That Would Upend Markets
Washington Post: Why has it been so hard to get fossil fuels mentioned in U.N. climate deals?
Press release: 250+ Organizations Plea With President Biden to Cancel Unprecedented Oil and Gas Megasale in Gulf of Mexico
EXTRACTION
CTV: COP26: Are Canada's targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions achievable?
Toronto Star: Canada’s pledge to stop financing fossil fuel development doesn’t go far enough, environmentalists say
The Energy Mix: Fact Checker: Canadian Fossils Lean on Energy Poverty in Africa to Tout Continuing Oil and Gas Exports
National Observer: Two Suncor oilsands lobbyists made the COP26 guest list
Medicine Hat News: Project aims to re-use abandoned well sites
Oil Change International: Oil production in the Permian Basin expected to increase 50% over the next decade
The Energy Mix: Gas is ‘the New Coal’, with No Role on Path to 1.5°C, Study Says
Sierra Magazine: Plastic Is the New Coal, Says New Report
CLIMATE FINANCE
Press release: Frontline Communities Confront JP Morgan in Glasgow on Violating Indigenous Rights and Financing the Climate Crisis
E&E News: Group launches fact-check for finance firms' net-zero pledges
OPINION
New York Times: How to Limit Temperature Increases in the Very Near Term
iNews.co.uk: As an oil engineer I know the fossil fuel industry should be nowhere near COP26 negotiations
Washington Post: ‘Peak oil’ somehow never arrives, but COP26 may have achieved peak climate hysteria
Greenville Journal: Letter to the Editor: PNG pipeline threatens Greenville County’s economy and environment
Financial Post: Terence Corcoran: Inside the insurance anti-oil cartel
Philadelphia Inquirer: It’s time for Pennsylvania to stop subsidizing fossil fuels and climate change | Opinion
PIPELINE NEWS
Bloomberg: Why a Decades-Old Pipeline Has Canada and Michigan at Odds
By Robert Tuttle, 11/10/21
“For 70 years, the Line 5 pipeline has supplied light oil and propane to refineries and homeowners in the U.S. Midwest and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec without much controversy,” Bloomberg reports. “Recently, that’s changed. The line’s crossing under a key waterway linking Lake Michigan and Lake Huron has stirred a standoff between Calgary-based Enbridge Inc., the line’s operator, and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who wants it shut. The controversy is sparking a political conflagration in the U.S., drawing in the Biden administration and straining relations with longtime ally Canada… “Whitmer, Michigan’s Democratic governor, says Line 5 is a threat to the Great Lakes and has ordered Enbridge to shut it down… “The company says Line 5 has operated safely for decades and its plan to build a tunnel under the waterway to house the pipeline will make the threat of spills virtually zero. The tunnel plan is currently under review by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Meanwhile, Enbridge argues that shutting the pipeline would require tens of thousands of trucks and hundreds of rail cars to transport oil and fuel by road and raise propane prices for Michigan homeowners that rely on the fuel to heat their homes.”
The Detroit News: Group sues state for access to Enbridge tunnel construction docs, state says docs ready
Beth LeBlanc, 11/10/21
“The National Wildlife Federation is suing the state of Michigan for allowing Enbridge to shield the details of its bidding process for the construction of a tunnel to house Line 5 beneath the Straits of Mackinac,” The Detroit News reports. “The group's Wednesday lawsuit in the state Court of Claims came after the Michigan Department of Transportation denied the federation's public records request that sought access to a draft request for proposals that Enbridge Energy had developed and provided to the state. The federation was told in October that the agency did not yet have the documents, but MDOT has since obtained Enbridge's request for proposals and is working to make them accessible to the public, MDOT spokesman Jeff Cranson told the News… “The Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority is tasked with approving Enbridge's request for proposals — which includes details and timelines associated with tunnel construction — but can only access the document on a private server owned by Enbridge… “The federation argued that the Department of Transportation could not evade public record laws by "doing nothing to obtain the document and make it available for a records request."
St. Louis Post Dispatch: St. Louis County Council plans hearing over Spire’s pipeline warning
Nassim Benchaabane, 11/10/21
“The St. Louis County Council on Tuesday grilled a Spire Missouri official over an email sent to residents last week warning of potential natural gas outages this winter, with the council later pledging to hold a hearing to get to the bottom of the issue,” the St. Louis Post Dispatch reports. “Spire on Nov. 5 sent an email to its more than 600,000 customers warning of a potential gas shutoff: “While the STL Pipeline continues to operate today, it is now in jeopardy.” The email was sent after the U.S. Supreme Court last month rejected the company’s emergency request to keep operating a 2-year-old bistate pipeline… “The Environmental Defense Fund, the group that sued over the pipeline, has said Spire’s email warning to customers was overblown because FERC is likely to allow the pipeline to continue to operate through the winter. Under council questioning on Tuesday, David Yonce, a Spire planning manager, said that about 400,000 homes in the region could lose gas supply eventually… Tim Fitch, R-3rd District, asked whether the email was “about putting pressure on FERC.” “What is the purpose of sounding the alarm?” Fitch said. Clancy criticized the decision to send the email, saying it “caused a lot of fear in the community.” A Spire associate had assured her that FERC was likely to approve the bill’s operation through the winter, she said. “This feels a little bit like a manufactured catastrophe,” said Clancy, who also raised environmental concerns about the pipeline. Council Chair Rita Heard Days, D-1st District, joined her, saying she would schedule a hearing with Spire and others. “When we’re dealing with these pipelines, regardless of how state of the art they are, there have been major issues,” she said. “Environmentally this is probably not the best way to go, but we are here and we do have this and we need to make it right.”
Bismarck Tribune: Lawmakers hear $150 million pitch for east-west natural gas pipeline; propane industry opposes plan
AMY R. SISK, 11/9/21
“The mayor of Grand Forks told state lawmakers Tuesday that access to natural gas is key to attracting industrial facilities to North Dakota, while a utility company asked for tweaks to a proposal that would make $150 million in grant money available for another cross-state pipeline,” the Bismarck Tribune reports. “North Dakota’s propane industry, meanwhile, opposes the plan. Several of its representatives told the Senate Appropriations Committee that the proposal would create an unfair playing field by propping up one energy industry over another. Legislators will weigh Tuesday’s comments this week as they sort out how to spend $1 billion in federal stimulus money from the American Rescue Plan Act. The proposal before legislators contained within Senate Bill 2345 would put $150 million toward bringing more gas to the eastern part of the state, where many communities lack access to gas or would like more of it. The bulk is expected to go toward a pipeline that would transport gas from the Bakken oil fields, a project estimated to cost $1 billion.”
KVRR: Grand Forks mayor asks lawmakers to expedite pipeline project
Jim Monk, 11/9/21
“Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski is asking North Dakota lawmakers to shorten the timeline for constructing a pipeline that would bring Bakken natural gas to the Red River Valley,” KVRR reports. “The legislature is considering a proposal to spend $150 million from the latest federal COVID-19 money for the pipeline, to be built along the U.S. Highway 2 corridor. Money from the state is needed to get the project going. The pipeline is estimated to take about four years to complete, but Bochenski is asking that the timeline be shortened if possible. Bochenski told KVRR the announcement by the Fufeng Group to build its first U.S. facility in Grand Forks was based, in part, on natural gas. Fufeng plans to be located in Grand Forks’ agri-business park. The facility is expected to initially require 25 million bushels of corn annually. “We could lose that project. We could lose it to Iowa if we can’t get this done” Bochenski told KVRR.
NorthJersey.com: Passaic County commissioners delay vote on controversial gas pipeline proposal
David M. Zimmer, 11/10/21
“Passaic County commissioners will wait at least two more weeks before taking a stance on a controversial proposal to pump more natural gas through a North Jersey pipeline,” NorthJersey.com reports. “Commissioners plan to revisit the issue during their Nov. 23 meeting after spending two hours Tuesday night hearing from project representatives and public opponents regarding Tennessee Gas Pipeline's East 300 Upgrade Project. The project would construct a new electric-driven compressor turbine in West Milford. It would also upgrade two existing gas-fired compressor stations. One is in the Sussex County town of Wantage. The other is in Pennsylvania. Project opponents have sent hundreds of emails to county commissioners detailing their short- and long-term safety and environmental concerns… “Commissioners expressed a desire to gather more information and receive more responses from company officials in deciding to delay voting on a proposed resolution opposing the project on Tuesday. Still, Commissioner Terry Duffy said he remains wary of the company, which was fined for not properly managing environmental impacts during the installation of a pipeline segment through the region a decade ago. "We're dealing with a company that didn't do the right thing," Duffy said. "One mishap and everything is for naught. We're talking about drinking water. We're talking about the environment." Local officials in Bloomfield, Ringwood, Wantage and other communities have adopted resolutions opposing the project.”
MassLive.com: ‘Residents would not reap the benefit’: Longmeadow Select Board chair critiques the Eversource gas pipeline proposal
Douglas Hook, 11/10/21
“The chair of the Longmeadow Select Board, Marc A. Strange, issued a statement that was read out during the Eversource Gas open house that was critical of the proposed pipeline and referred to it as “redundant,” MassLive.com reports. “Are we talking about a natural gas disaster, like the once in a lifetime 2010 tornado? Are we talking about an earthquake, an act of terrorism? Any of these hypothetical events seem highly unlikely to occur. So again, without a risk assessment, we’re left with speculation that some event may occur that results in a total loss of the Memorial bridge pipe and necessitate a new pipeline,” said Strange in the statement provided. “The truth is that nothing is broken here that needs to be fixed.” “...Strange also stated that the proposal for the POD in Longmeadow offers little benefit to residents in the town and raised safety concerns for a school approximately 500 meters from the proposed POD location. “In addition to the public health and safety risks and the financial burden long-term, residents would not reap the benefit of the expansion line,” Strange went on to say. Massachusetts Rep. Carlos Gonzalez has also weighed into the discussions and will be meeting with Eversource representatives on Friday to discuss the potential “hazards” a secondary pipeline could cause to the public. “We should be moving to a less hazardous, greener production of energy. Any cost to improve energy production must not only be equitable but also be at no higher risk to lower-income communities,” Gonzalez said.
Fox Carolina: Piedmont Natural Gas picks path for new pipeline
GRACE RUNKEL, 11/10/21
“Piedmont Natural Gas officials say they've settled on a route for a new pipeline needed to serve the growing population,” Fox Carolina reports. “The pipeline, which is part of the company's Greenville County Reliability Project, has drawn criticism in the past from elected officials, landowners and environmentalists. Piedmont has hosted several events with the community to discuss the project and to get input on the proposed routes. “Working directly with this community and the impacted landowners has not only given us a clear path forward for this project, it also has allowed Piedmont to hear firsthand what’s important to the people of this community," Piedmont Natural Gas community relations manager Hank McCullough told Fox… “The total route will be about 12 miles long. Land surveys begin next year, with construction starting in 2023 and the wrapping up in 2024.”
Press release: Hyzon Motors and TC Energy announce modular hydrogen production hub development agreement
11/10/21
“Hyzon Motors Inc., a leading supplier of hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicles, and TC Energy Corporation today announced an agreement to collaborate on development, construction, operation, and ownership of hydrogen production facilities (hubs) across North America. The hydrogen production facilities will be used to meet hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle demand by focusing on low-to-negative carbon intensity hydrogen from renewable natural gas, biogas and other sustainable sources. The facilities will be located close to demand, supporting Hyzon back-to-base vehicle deployments."Through this agreement we are marrying the expertise of TC Energy in natural gas and renewables with that of Hyzon, which has its technology in fuel cell electric vehicles being delivered around the world today," said Corey Hessen, TC Energy's Senior Vice President and President, Power and Storage. "TC Energy is committed to exploring and developing energy solutions in North America for our own assets as well as those of customers to meet their energy transition needs. We believe we are well positioned to execute on the development of hydrogen and CO2 pipelines."
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Left grows impatient with Biden's regulatory plans
Kelsey Brugger, 11/10/21
“Eight years ago, then-President Obama declared that if lawmakers did not pursue action against climate change, he would. But those ambitious executive actions never materialized to the degree progressives had hoped,” E&E News reports. “Now, a year after Obama's vice president won the White House, progressives are starting to fear the Biden administration has squandered its first year on the regulatory front, missing low-hanging fruit, even after issuing a flurry of early executive orders. “What we’re seeing is really routine, lackluster — and the clock is ticking,” Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, told E&E. “The underwhelming results from the [Glasgow climate summit] in our minds really reemphasizes the need to be more aggressive from a regulatory perspective.” Specifically, Hartl and other progressives criticized the administration for dillydallying on too many rules — from actions on the Clean Water Act to endangered species. They say plans to address chemical contamination or methane emissions indicate a lack of urgency… “It is partly personnel and it is also vision and overall political strategy,” Hartl told E&E. “When [former Trump Interior Secretary David] Bernhardt came in, he knew exactly what he wanted from Day 1 and he made it happen. And there’s not the equivalent person in the Biden administration.” The burden of pestering the administration tends to fall to smaller, scrappier groups, with the big establishment organizations more reluctant to attack their allies inside the halls of power. Dozens of Biden political appointees came from groups like the Center for American Progress. And Gina McCarthy, the White House climate czar, hails from the Natural Resources Defense Council. Some observers and advocates think many EPA and Interior actions go through McCarthy. And although she has the expertise — from running the EPA under Obama and leading a big NGO — her background is more establishment than activist, critics say… If action at agencies doesn't ramp up, progressive and environmental groups will likely become more aggressive in forcing the administration's hand — including through litigation.”
Bloomberg: Biden Faces Pleas for Oil Export Ban That Would Upend Markets
Ari Natter and Julia Fanzeres, 11/10/21
“President Joe Biden faces growing pressure even from fellow Democrats to address rising gasoline prices with measures such as a ban on oil exports, a move that could upend global markets, discourage shale drilling and end up not helping American drivers that much,” Bloomberg reports. “It was only six years ago that Congress lifted a 40-year-old ban on U.S. oil exports, reshaping global crude flows, shifting geopolitical power and disrupting entire economies. The U.S. has emerged as the world’s largest oil producer and its crude has reached more than 50 countries, with shipments often surpassing those of any OPEC nation aside from Saudi Arabia. Backtracking now would almost certainly make the country’s flagship West Texas Intermediate crude cheaper, but it would also hurt shale drillers as they recover from last year’s unprecedented market crash. Meanwhile, refiners on the U.S. Gulf Coast that depend on imported oil might end up paying more for those foreign barrels in a global market deprived from U.S. supplies. “If you block crude and cause an artificial drop in the WTI price, you probably hurt the driller more than you help the driver,” Kevin Book, managing director of research firm ClearView Energy Partners, told Bloomberg. “There is more for the U.S. economy to gain from investment in the oil patch than savings in the service aisle.”
Washington Post: Why has it been so hard to get fossil fuels mentioned in U.N. climate deals?
Sammy Westfall, 11/10/21
“The preliminary draft COP26 agreement on how nations will collaborate to curb climate change, released Wednesday, explicitly mentions reducing fossil fuel consumption — unlike previous global climate accords. Whether that language stays in the final document remains to be seen,” the Washington Post reports. “The change might seem unremarkable: The consumption of nonrenewable resources is central to the discussion about how to respond to climate change, after all. But in the context of consensus-seeking climate diplomacy, the new language is groundbreaking. Over two decades of climate talk, collective calls to phase out fossil fuels have been rare… “For reasons that include worries about energy prices and broader economic impacts, many national policymakers are on board with limiting fossil fuel production, but that view remains limited among top producers. Fossil fuel producers retain enormous influence. The industry as a whole sent more representatives to the ongoing COP26 summit than any one country, according to advocacy group Global Witness… “Still, major fossil fuel producers are likely to push to change the provisional language. Outside plenary sessions Wednesday, demonstrators chanted: “ ‘Fossil fuels’ on paper now,” and “Keep it in the text. Let’s keep it in the text.”
Press release: 250+ Organizations Plea With President Biden to Cancel Unprecedented Oil and Gas Megasale in Gulf of Mexico
11/10/21
“As international climate talks continue, a coalition of 267 organizations – including 36 representing Gulf of Mexico communities – delivered a letter today to President Biden requesting that his Interior Department immediately cancel next week’s Lease Sale 257 in the Gulf of Mexico. Despite assurance of strong climate action, Biden’s Department of Interior will place more than 80 million acres of the Gulf on the auction block for oil and gas development just days after COP26 in Glasgow. Aside from breaking a campaign promise to ban new oil and gas leasing on public lands and waters, the Biden administration also violated federal law in deciding to open more of the Gulf to offshore drilling. The megasale is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit brought by Earthjustice on behalf of Friends of the Earth, Healthy Gulf, Center for Biological Diversity, and Sierra Club over outdated and insufficient environmental analysis. The groups challenge the administration’s outrageous conclusion that the sale would not contribute to climate change and note its failure to address impacts of drilling activity on frontline communities and protected species. In fact, as stated in the letter, the administration “has existing authority to defer” the megasale, which “will result in the production of up to 1.12 billion barrels and 4.4 trillion cubic feet of fossil fuels over the next 50 years.”
EXTRACTION
CTV: COP26: Are Canada's targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions achievable?
Jennifer Ferreira, 11/10/21
“As the United Nations COP26 climate conference comes to a close, the race to reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions is on. One of the most ambitious of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s list of pledges and promises for climate action is a cap on emissions produced by Canada’s oil and gas sector,” CTV reports. “In July, Canada formally committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. The government eventually plans to hit net-zero emissions by 2050. But the question remains: are these goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions actually achievable? Simon Dyer is deputy executive director of the Pembina Institute, a non-profit think-tank campaigning for Canada’s transition to clean energy. While he recognizes the government’s eagerness to reduce emissions, he tells CTV that no concrete policies are yet in place to achieve this. “We don't have a cap or a limit or the regulations that will actually determine how much these companies would be allowed to emit,” he told CTVNews.ca in a video interview Nov. 3. “There's nothing like strong policy to actually drive innovation and investments in emissions reductions. That's the missing piece at this point.”
Toronto Star: Canada’s pledge to stop financing fossil fuel development doesn’t go far enough, environmentalists say
Alex Ballingall, 11//9/21
“Canada’s pledge to stop financing fossil fuel projects abroad doesn’t go far enough because it could still allow the government to support oil and gas production in other countries, environmentalists say,” the Toronto Star reports. “Canada is one of 24 countries that has so far signed a joint commitment at the ongoing climate summit in Scotland to end “new direct” support for the fossil fuel sector outside its borders by the end of 2022. The pledge was applauded by climate activists who have pushed governments to stop using public dollars to support the production of emissions-heavy oil, gas and coal — energy sources that have fuelled the climate crisis that is now gripping the world. But some environmentalists say the declaration has shortcomings, including that it only commits signatories to cut support for “unabated” fossil fuel production. That word represents a “loophole” that could allow public dollars to keep flowing to projects that offset emissions through carbon capture and storage technology, Julia Levin, senior program manager of climate and energy for the organization Environmental Defence, told the Star. Many environmentalists are wary of carbon capture for oil and gas production because they argue it would allow for the continued extraction of emissions-heavy energy sources, even as leading scientists warn deep and rapid reductions in annual emissions are needed to restrain global warming to less damaging levels. “We don’t want this to be a loophole for huge amounts of money to go towards carbon capture projects that we know are false solutions that will just keep us dependent on oil and gas,” Levin told the Star.
The Energy Mix: Fact Checker: Canadian Fossils Lean on Energy Poverty in Africa to Tout Continuing Oil and Gas Exports
Mitchell Beer, 11/9/21
“Canada’s fossil lobby leaned heavily on energy poverty in Africa as a pretext to promote continuing oil and gas extraction and exports, during a COP 26 news conference Tuesday that asserted the industry’s commitment to “meet GHG emissions reduction goals consistent with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement,” according to The Energy Mix. “Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) President and CEO Tim McMillan said the organization had gone beyond its usual preparations for the annual UN climate summit, reaching out to fossil industry associations from producing and consuming countries to “put forward some common positions about the important role that gas and oil and energy play in peoples’ lives”. CAPP circulated a three-page discussion paper [pdf] alongside fossil associations from Africa, Australia, Mexico, Croatia, and Thailand, as well as the Indian Resource Council of Canada. It calls for “cost-effective policies and direct regulation” to reduce methane emissions, “responsibly produced natural gas and oil” to help countries meet their emissions targets under the Paris Agreement, international financing for new fossil infrastructure, and an approach to “technology and innovation” that emphasizes “blue” hydrogen and industrial carbon capture and storage (CCUS)... “However,” the CAPP paper continues, “reliable access to financing and investment and policy certainty are required to drive this innovation and the at-scale deployment of new technologies.” That call for financing may have echoed recent demands by Cenovus Energy CEO Alex Pourbaix and other fossil executives for up to C$52.5 billion in taxpayer subsidies to help their industry decarbonize their operations through 2050.”
National Observer: Two Suncor oilsands lobbyists made the COP26 guest list
By Adrienne Tanner, 11/10/21
“Oil and gas company lobbyists have no place at COP26, said a climate activist disappointed with the lack of mention of an oil and gas phaseout in Wednesday’s draft agreement between nations at the Glasgow climate talks,” the National Observer reports. “Yet hundreds of fossil fuel lobbyists, including two people from Canada’s Suncor, were admitted as conference attendees, Pascoe Sabido, a researcher with Corporate Europe Observatory, a group dedicated to exposing fossil fuel lobbying, told the Observer. Lobbyists who came were free to work the rooms at the Scottish Event Campus where world leaders are negotiating a plan to limit global warming to 1.5 C. They were admitted even though the companies they represent are largely responsible for the climate crisis... “One of them is Suncor’s chief sustainability officer and former MP, Martha Hall Findlay. The other is Jacqueline Moore, vice-president, external relations. Also on the list from Canada were two members of gas company FortisBC: Jordan Bell, manager of government relations and public relations; and Karen McCarthy, vice-president of communications and corporate affairs.” “...Sabido told the Observer the oil and gas companies “threw coal under the bus” years ago, but are lobbying hard to keep their companies out of any official carbon reduction agreement. So far, it appears to be working.”
Medicine Hat News: Project aims to re-use abandoned well sites
ALEJANDRA PULIDO-GUZMAN, 11/10/21
“The Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs hosted Keith Hirsche presenting on ‘The RenuWell Project: Turning Liabilities into Assets’ which proposes the possibility of re-using abandoned oil and gas well sites for solar power generation,” Medicine Hat News reports. “Hirsche, originator of the RenuWell Project, began his presentation by stating that we are facing a lot of challenges today in the energy business and it has certainly impacted Alberta for the past decade… “He explained in his presentation that an average of 750 kilowatts of solar energy can be installed on abandoned oil well sites by converting those without further impact on the farmland, thus creating a long-term source of revenue in the form of taxation to municipalities and lease payments to landowners. Hirsche explained that more than 450,000 wells have been drilled in Alberta with 178,000 of them drilled between 2000 and 2019. Which accounts for approximately 40 per cent of all wells drilled in the history of the province… “What RenuWell Project is looking at (is) the opportunity of taking some of the abandoned oil and gas well sites which already have service routes and power connections, on land that has already been prepared for power generation and be able to re-use the sites for solar, rather than starting with a greenfield project,” said Hirsche.
Oil Change International: Oil production in the Permian Basin expected to increase 50% over the next decade
11/9/21
“Oil Change International, Earthworks, and the Center for International Environmental Law today released the second chapter of the The Permian Basin Climate Bomb report series, centering on the Permian’s climate impact. The latest installment exposes the stark contradiction between the Biden administration’s climate goals and the expected trajectory of oil and gas production in the Permian Basin. While climate goals require a 40% decline in oil and gas consumption globally over the course of the next decade, oil production in the Permian Basin is expected to grow 50%. The report additionally reveals that burning the oil and gas projected to be produced in the Permian Basin by 2050 will release nearly 40 billion tons of CO2, almost 10% of the remaining global carbon budget for staying under 1.5°C. 80% of these emissions, over 30.6 billion tons of CO2, would come from burning the liquids and gas produced from new wells that were not in production at the end of 2020, signaling an urgent need — but an opportunity — for President Biden to immediately deny new oil and gas infrastructure permits.”
The Energy Mix: Gas is ‘the New Coal’, with No Role on Path to 1.5°C, Study Says
11/9/21
“A new study quantifies for the first time some of the key implications of trying to use natural gas while pursuing the Paris 1.5°C target, arguing that it should not be a “bridging fuel” but should instead be quickly phased out,” The Energy Mix reports. “While further scientific analysis of the length of a ‘bridging’ role for natural gas in specific sectors, including the power sector, is required, existing data is sufficient to disqualify natural gas as a viable bridge,” writes Climate Analytics, on the landing page for a report that brands gas as the “new coal”. Political leaders and climate advocates now widely acknowledge that the world must quickly move away from coal if there is to be any chance of reaching global emissions targets. But natural gas proponents still maintain that gas-fired power generation can be an effective “bridge” while working towards a longer-term, lower-carbon energy system. Global demand for gas continues to grow rapidly while policy-makers grapple with this claim. In fact, natural gas accounted for the largest recent growth of global CO2 emissions in the last decade and was the source of 60% of global methane emissions linked to fossil fuels in 2020… “The central point of the study, however, is to show that there is no special role for natural gas in any pathway that keeps the global temperature rise below 1.5°C. On the contrary, natural gas should already have peaked under a Paris agreement-compatible transition, the report says. “It is important for the world to recognize that gas is as important a fossil fuel to phase out as coal,” the analysts say. “Gas, in other words, is the ‘new coal’.”
Sierra Magazine: Plastic Is the New Coal, Says New Report
Abe Musselman, 11/7/21
“Your plastic water bottle will likely spend its golden years floating around the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, but its life began thousands of feet underground. How it got from there to you—and why it was made in the first place—has big implications for global climate goals,” Sierra Magazine reports. “To make that plastic bottle, raw natural gas had to be pumped from beneath shale rock deposits. After it was refined to make ethane, it was piped to a facility called an ethane cracker, where steam heated the gas to about 850°C and broke apart its chemical bonds, turning ethane into ethylene. A final step braided together long chains of ethylene and chopped it into small plastic pellets called “nurdles,” which were shipped around the world to make products like grocery bags, bubble wrap, and action figures. It’s a long journey, and every step of the way, plastic is heating the planet. “Plastic is very much a climate change issue,” says Judith Enck, a former staffer at the EPA and visiting faculty at Bennington College. Enck’s campaign Beyond Plastics recently released a report that tallied up the greenhouse gas emissions from each step in the plastic production process, a total amount equal to 232 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. The industry is expanding, and it’s on track to release more climate-warming gases by 2030 than coal-fired power plants in the US.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
Press release: Frontline Communities Confront JP Morgan in Glasgow on Violating Indigenous Rights and Financing the Climate Crisis
11/10/21
“Indigenous land defenders gathered outside the JP Morgan Chase offices in Glasgow’s financial district today to demand the bank stop financing fossil fuel extraction. Since the signing of the Paris Accords in 2015, the world’s largest 60 banks have provided $3.8 trillion globally for fossil fuel extraction and related infrastructure, like pipelines. Of these financers, JP Morgan Chase is the worst with $316 billion in fossil fuel funding over the same time period. “The time to divest from fossil fuels is long overdue.” says Eriel Deranger, Executive Director with Indigenous Climate Action. “This extractive economy is killing our communities and killing the planet. We can not have false solutions that allow fossil fuel extraction to continue. We must say NO to Net-Zero and demand that fossil fuels stay in the ground.” Last month, JPMorgan Chase joined the Net-Zero Banking alliance, a component of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ). As part of its “net zero” commitments, JPMorgan Chase has pledged to reduce operational carbon intensity by 35% by 2030, and to reduce end-use carbon intensity by 15%. Despite these commitments, Chase’s investments include some of the most destructive and polluting types of extraction such as tar sands, Arctic oil and gas, Amazon oil and gas, fracking, and coal mining. Much of the infrastructure funded by the bank, like Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline and the Coastal Gaslink pipeline, is having direct impacts on the land and lives of Indigenous nations, and is being actively resisted by Indigenous peoples and impacted communities.”
E&E News: Group launches fact-check for finance firms' net-zero pledges
Avery Ellfeldt, 11/10/21
“Hundreds of banks, investors and finance firms vowed in recent months to zero-out their carbon emissions by 2050 — a lofty pledge that observers say warrants government oversight to ensure rigor and credibility,” E&E News reports. “But that level of scrutiny could take a while. Especially in the United States, where financial regulators have lagged in addressing climate-related financial risk. A new effort backed by environmental organizations is looking to fill the gap. The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) — which is known for verifying companies’ short-term climate targets — is turning its attention to the decadeslong pledges that banks, insurers and money managers unveiled in the months preceding international climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland… “There’s so many [firms] that have been making those net-zero commitments. But we don’t have a lot of clarity on how they plan to meet them. So this starts to lay out what a credible framework would be,” Cynthia Cummis, who co-founded SBTi and leads private-sector climate mitigation at the World Resources Institute, or WRI, told E&E… “To be sure, SBTi isn’t the only game in town. There are several efforts spearheaded by other groups, often in partnership with leading finance firms, that aim to tackle thorny questions such as how to accurately measure and then stymie the banking sector’s contributions to rising temperatures.”
OPINION
New York Times: How to Limit Temperature Increases in the Very Near Term
Paul Bledsoe is a strategic adviser at the Progressive Policy Institute. Durwood Zaelke is a co-author of the book “Cut Super Climate Pollutants Now” and the president of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development, where Dr. Gabrielle Dreyfus is the chief scientist, 11/8/21
“If the years of devastating droughts, floods, heat waves and wildfires since the Paris climate agreement was adopted have taught us anything, it’s that we have underestimated the pace of extreme, destabilizing climate change,” Paul Bledsoe, Durwood Zaelke and Dr. Gabrielle Dreyfus write for the New York Times. “The world has warmed by about 1.1 degrees Celsius from preindustrial levels, much of it occurring since 1950, and the pace continues. That’s why it was so important that more than 100 countries joined a coalition led by the United States and the European Union last week to cut global emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane by at least 30 percent by 2030. But delegates meeting at a world climate conference in Glasgow have more to do: For the security of the planet, they need to act further and faster to limit near-term temperature increases. For starters, more nations must join the methane pact, including China, Russia and India, the top three methane emitters in the world, and Iran, the ninth largest. (The United States, which unveiled its own aggressive plan against methane last week, is fourth, followed by Brazil, which has signed onto the agreement.) That, of course, sums up the climate change challenge: Borders can’t protect against planetary warming, so every country must join the fight, especially the big polluters… “In short, we need a combined global strategy of deep cuts in carbon dioxide emissions while reducing emissions of methane and these other superpollutants. Otherwise, we’ll fail to limit near-term temperature increases and the potential for runaway warming. This should be an all-out effort by all countries.”
iNews.co.uk: As an oil engineer I know the fossil fuel industry should be nowhere near COP26 negotiations
Erik Dalhuijsen is a petroleum and sustainability engineer, 11/10/21
“For 30 years I’ve been working as a petroleum and sustainability engineer in the oil industry. My experience has shown me how powerful the fossil fuel industry can be, which is why I find it terrifying that there are over 500 delegates at COP26 associated with it, more than from any single country,” Erik Dalhuijsen writes for iNews.co.uk. “It was in 2012 when I was working on Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) – the process of capturing, transporting and storing greenhouse gas emissions and injecting them back into the ground – that my eyes were opened to the urgency of the climate change problem. While I was working on trying to make the oil industry greener, there was a complete absence of a timeline and no hope of it making a significant difference in achieving net zero. From then on, in parallel with my oil work, I became a climate activist to raise awareness and learn what real practical solutions look like… “Blue hydrogen” – made from fossil gas and touted as a low-carbon alternative – emits more greenhouse gases than natural gas, and CCS – the magic trick to lower these emissions – does not exist in any form that could realistically achieve net-zero… “Due to the varied nature of the oil industry, many workers have great adaptability and, of course, general skills like project management, model analysis, and all the supporting roles are directly transferable to renewable energy… “Meanwhile, however, it should have no influence at all over the quickest possible path to net-zero: that is up to those with skills for the future, not the past.”
Washington Post: ‘Peak oil’ somehow never arrives, but COP26 may have achieved peak climate hysteria
George F. Will, 11/10/21
“Peak oil production has been postponed, again. Peak hysteria about climate change, however, might have been passed,” George Will writes for the Washington Post. “In 1914, the government said U.S. oil reserves would be exhausted by 1924. In 1939, it said the world’s reserves would last 13 years… “All this disappointed those who desire scarcity of everything but government, which they think can engineer comprehensive social change by becoming the allocator of scarce resources. Such people filled the Glasgow, Scotland, streets outside the climate summit chanting “System change not climate change.” The 33-year-old student who told the New York Times “We need a whole system change” was correct: The “system” — industrialism, enterprise, markets, economic development that expands the global middle class, economic growth that funds the social safety nets of developed nations with aging populations — is incompatible with “keep 1.5 alive.” Meaning the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). This limitation will not happen. This nonoccurrence will be tolerable.”
Greenville Journal: Letter to the Editor: PNG pipeline threatens Greenville County’s economy and environment
Andrea Cooper, executive director of Upstate Forever; Julie Turner, friends of Northern Greenville County; Frank Holleman, senior attorney, Southern Environmental Law Center, 11/10/21
“In a recent op-ed, the Upstate Alliance expressed its support for the proposed Piedmont natural gas pipeline. It is understandable that the Alliance would support a project of two of its most important members (Duke Energy, a member of its Chairman’s Circle, and Piedmont, a board member). While we appreciate the Upstate Alliance’s economic development mission, we part company with them on this project,” Andrea Cooper, Julie Turner, and Frank Holleman write for the Greenville Journal. “Piedmont, owned by Duke Energy, proposes to build a pipeline through the countryside of northern Greenville County. Piedmont admits that the pipeline would cost somewhere between $60 to $100 million, not counting the guaranteed profit that Piedmont and Duke would receive as state-created monopolies. Ratepayers will foot the bill, with a transfer of wealth from Greenville to Charlotte and then to Duke’s large investors on Wall Street… “Once again, it’s time to oppose another unnecessary and destructive project. Duke and Piedmont have a chance to show real leadership here. By withdrawing these plans, they can be partners in protecting Greenville County’s beauty, environment, and economy.”
Financial Post: Terence Corcoran: Inside the insurance anti-oil cartel
Terence Corcoran, 11/10/21
“The Trudeau government has proudly signed Canada on to a global agreement with 20 other nations pledging to stop government agency funding of oil and gas development in other countries. “The intention,” said Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, “is no ongoing financing related to exploration and production of fossil fuels,” Terence Corcoran writes for the Financial Post. “As for oil and gas investment in Canada, presumably Wilkinson and the Trudeau green team are counting on the global private financial conglomerates to block funding to the country’s energy corporations. In recent days, amid the clamour for action at COP26, the line-up of non-government financial institutions planning to kill investment in the Canadian and global fossil fuel industries has expanded. The highest profile private sector anti-carbon action plan came from Mark Carney’s Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), an agglomeration of 450 financial institutions that Carney claims have the global ability to strip trillions of dollars from the oil and gas industry in years to come. Most of the world’s big banks are members of the Net Zero Banking Alliance, including Canada’s chartered banks… “And so, based on the initiatives of NGOs and activists funded mostly as charities, the world is heading toward a financial system which aims to eliminate the use of fossil fuels. It’s an objective deemed impossible by all but the most extreme activists, but has been adopted by the financial cartels as the foundation for investment, lending and insurance.”
Philadelphia Inquirer: It’s time for Pennsylvania to stop subsidizing fossil fuels and climate change | Opinion
Joseph Otis Minott is the executive director and chief counsel of Clean Air Council in Philadelphia, 11/10/21
“Two billion dollars in subsidies — that’s billion with a B. That’s how much Pennsylvania doled out to the gas industry in fiscal year 2019 alone,” Joseph Otis Minott writes for the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Yet the industry and the lawmakers it supports are clamoring for still more favorable treatment. State lawmakers must stop using taxpayer money to subsidize this dying and dirty industry – or voters must elect new leaders who will start investing in a cleaner future for the commonwealth. Last month, the Pennsylvania General Assembly held a hearing titled “Consumer & Economic Impacts of Failing to Invest in PA’s Natural Gas Infrastructure.” Lawmakers brought on a series of speakers lamenting the state’s supposed “failure” to invest in fracking, pipelines, and other dirty industrial activities that have catapulted Pennsylvania into among the top climate polluters worldwide. Let’s be clear: This is an absurd premise for a public hearing. Pennsylvania lawmakers have treated the gas industry as their golden child, giving it generous heaps of subsidies at the expense of taxpayers, and carving out exemption after exemption from the laws and regulations by which other industries must comply… “Meanwhile, the industry has done little for Pennsylvanians. The big benefit of the fracking boom was supposed to be jobs. But job growth in the most fracked counties in Pennsylvania was less than half that of the national growth rate of 9.9%; five fracking counties either gained very few jobs or experienced a loss… “Pennsylvania’s finite reserves of fossil fuels, including fossil gas, are not a solution to the climate crisis. Indeed, continued extraction and burning of gas will produce catastrophic consequences for the health and safety of people statewide.