EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 11/12/21
PIPELINE NEWS
InsideClimate News: Confusion Over Line 5 Shutdown Highlights Biden’s Tightrope Walk on Climate and Environmental Justice
Fox News: Michigan gubernatorial candidate warns pipeline shutdown could endanger Michiganders heading into winter
Minnesota Reformer: Enbridge saves nearly $1 billion by leaving much of its old Line 3 pipeline in the ground
Politico: IS PIPELINE A DIRTY WORD?
FOX 2: Spire touts necessity of natural gas pipeline as critics question the utility’s tactics
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Spire denies ‘fearmongering,’ amid outcries over pipeline shutdown
E&E News: A pipeline shutdown? Midwest war heats up over FERC permit
Press release: “Choice of Evils” statute will guide defense of elders arrested in rocking chairs for blocking the street outside JP Morgan Chase credit card headquarters
Lebanon Democrat: Open house held to discuss potential new natural gas pipeline
Economist: Two environmentalists sabotaged an oil pipeline in America. Are they terrorists or heroes?
WASHINGTON UPDATES
CNN.com: Young people call for fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty as delegates spar over coal, oil and gas
E&E News: EPA plans ‘even more ambitious’ methane rule
STATE UPDATES
WDAM: Jones Co. family’s lawsuit against oil company moving forward
Guardian: Nalleli Cobo: the young activist who led her LA neighborhood against big oil
Pasadena Now: Stakeholders Face-Off Over Plan to Eliminate Use of Natural Gas in All Newly-Constructed Buildings
Carlsbad Current-Argus: New Mexico's oil and gas water research studies economics, toxicity
EXTRACTION
E&E News: International alliance forms to quit oil and gas
Oil Price International: With launch of ‘Beyond Oil & Gas Alliance’, countries and regions forge first diplomatic initiative to phase out fossil fuel extraction
St. Albert Gazette: Edmonton region boasts $100 billion in hydrogen opportunities: expert
CBC: Bill to make Alberta oil and gas companies pay outstanding taxes falls short, municipalities say
RESEARCH & SCIENCE
Phys.org: Global temperatures over last 24,000 years show today's warming 'unprecedented'
CLIMATE FINANCE
DeSmog: ‘Shame On You’: Indigenous Campaigners Demand JPMorgan End Fossil Fuel Finance
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Gizmodo: How the American Oil and Gas Industry Funds the Fulbright Program
OPINION
Dispatches from the Frontlines: We Shall Breathe In Memphis
The Hill: At COP26 (and everywhere) the pace of climate action is the problem
PIPELINE NEWS
InsideClimate News: Confusion Over Line 5 Shutdown Highlights Biden’s Tightrope Walk on Climate and Environmental Justice
Kristoffer Tigue, 11/12/21
“When Whitney Gravelle saw reports earlier this week that President Biden might be considering the shutdown of Michigan’s controversial Line 5 pipeline, she was elated,” InsideClimate News reports. “For years, she and other Native tribal members in the state had been fighting for the decommission of the 68-year-old fossil fuel pipeline, which they say has long violated their tribal rights and risks contaminating the Great Lakes and other lands that their communities depend on for their livelihoods and traditions. The news reports, denied by White House officials, received fierce criticism from Republicans, who said shutting down such a vital fuel line would only exacerbate the country’s already surging natural gas prices. While climate and Indigenous activists have applauded Biden’s decision to axe the Keystone XL Pipeline, he’s been widely criticized by the same groups for refusing to do the same with other major U.S.-Canada pipelines, such as Michigan’s Line 5 and Minnesota’s recently completed Line 3… “As Biden touted America’s reentrance to the world stage as a leader in the global fight against climate change at COP26 last week, all 12 federally recognized Native tribes in Michigan urged the president to demonstrate his commitment to climate action and to uplifting underrepresented voices by supporting the state’s efforts to shut down Line 5. “During your campaign, you promised that you would heed our concerns and act to protect our fundamental interests,” the tribes wrote in their Nov. 4 letter. “We view Line 5 as an existential threat to our treaty-protected rights, resources, and fundamental way of life as Anishinaabe people of the Great Lakes.”
Fox News: Michigan gubernatorial candidate warns pipeline shutdown could endanger Michiganders heading into winter
11/11/21
“Michigan gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon warned axing the Line 5 pipeline project could "endanger lives" as the Biden administration reportedly considers shutting down the project,” Fox News reports. “Dixon joined "The Faulkner Focus" on Tuesday to discuss the implications of what the potential shutdown could mean for Michiganders across the state, specifically in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. TUDOR DIXON: Michiganders right now are wondering, is Joe Biden going to bow to the radical progressives and endanger them this winter? Or will he fight against these extremists and their make-believe environmental issue? Because a lot of people aren't talking about what this really means for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. One in five homes is heated by propane. These are our working class Americans, our working class Michiganders in the UP. That propane- 100% of it comes from Line 5. This just-in-time energy has got to be there for our people who live in an area that is below freezing for months out of the year, and Harris, we're going into those months right now. That energy secretary you just spoke of, that's a former governor of Michigan, and here she is, laughing about the fact that this could put people in a situation that endangers their lives.”
Minnesota Reformer: Enbridge saves nearly $1 billion by leaving much of its old Line 3 pipeline in the ground
COLLEEN CONNOLLY, 11/11/21
“There is a spot in Cloquet, Minnesota, where the old Line 3 pipeline almost meets the new one. This happens just a few yards from Highway 210, and a stone’s throw from Colleen Bernu’s driveway. For Bernu and others, the new, larger Line 3 pipeline, which began moving oil on October 1, isn’t the issue. They worry about the old pipeline, which for more than 50 years transported oil 1,097 miles from Alberta, Canada, to Superior, Wisconsin,” the Minnesota Reformer reports. “That line, under policies adopted by Canadian owner and operator Enbridge, will mostly remain in the ground, decommissioned, emptied of oil but with the potential for environmental damage in the future. Keeping most of the pipeline in the ground is a win for Enbridge, but environmentalists, activists and some concerned landowners like Bernu say the company has put them at risk for future contamination and only offered them the illusion of choice about the soon-to-be dormant pipeline… “Removing pipe is much more expensive than leaving it buried. Enbridge estimates the cost of removing the pipeline in Minnesota would be approximately $1.28 billion — or $855 per foot, according to the Environmental Impact Statement prepared by the state for the Line 3 replacement project. To pay property owners to keep it in the ground would cost about $10 per foot, or $85 million, plus an additional $100,000 a year in Minnesota for monitoring… “The subsequent Landowner Choice Program, created in 2018, has not resulted in many agreements for removal, however. Paul Blackburn, an attorney with Honor the Earth, said one reason is that there was no united opposition among landowners, which gave Enbridge greater authority and influence. “The Landowner Choice Program could have resulted in much more pipe being removed from the ground if anyone had bothered to organize landowners on this issue, but no one did,” Blackburn said in an email. “It’s not Honor the Earth’s mission to look after the financial interests of non-Indigenous people. In other states, pipeline fights have engaged many landowners, but the effort in Minnesota failed. As a result, Enbridge acted in its normal self-serving way and implemented the Landowner Choice Program without opposition.”
Politico: IS PIPELINE A DIRTY WORD?
Matthew Choi, 11/11/21
“A Duke Energy gas subsidiary is proposing to build a pipeline in South Carolina, but you wouldn’t know it from the press release,” Politico reports. “The company managed to use every word except “pipe” or “line” to describe the “infrastructure” and “reliability” project. Navigate your way to the Piedmont Natural Gas infrastructure projects page and you’ll finally see it described as natural gas “transmission,” but you’ll have to scroll down to the FAQ section to confirm that the project is, indeed, a pipeline. “Pipeline projects can include additional equipment and structures, such as regulator stations, etc.,” Duke spokesperson Jennifer Sharpe told Politico. “Using the term ‘infrastructure’ is a way to simply include everything.” Last year, Duke took a $1.6 billion hit after cancelling its Atlantic Coast Pipeline, developed alongside Dominion Energy, following lengthy delays due to legal challenges from landowners and environmental groups. Construction on the “Greenville Reliability Project” will take place along a 12-mile stretch north of Greenville, South Carolina, and land surveys will begin early next year, according to the company.”
FOX 2: Spire touts necessity of natural gas pipeline as critics question the utility’s tactics
Becky Willeke, Mike Colombo, 11/11/21
“Spire Missouri’s president said he never wanted to ‘raise concern’ about the possibility of a gas outage this winter,” FOX 2 reports. “He said during an afternoon press conference the utility has a commitment to keep customers informed of what’s going on. Spire officials joined leaders from industry, labor, and community organizations to show a united effort to keep the pipeline open. Scott Carter, Spire Missouri’s president, said the only guarantee that the company’s hundreds of thousands of customers will have natural gas is through December 13. That is when the emergency certificate issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) will expire… “Carter said even if there is a 1% chance risk of an outage, the utility needs to get the word out to the public. Carter sent an email to Spire customers last week detailing its situation. Just after the Spire news conference concluded, a separate event, hosted by critics of the pipeline started. St. Louis County Councilwoman Lisa Clancy weighed in on the email Spire sent to customers. “I think this was largely under the radar for many of my constituents, but it was the email that came out on last Thursday that really made people scared and was much different than anything else that they had heard about this situation in the past,” said Clancy. During the meeting, St. Louis Alderwoman Christine Ingrassia also criticized the email. “Many people have mentioned to me what happened in Texas last year when homes were left for days and days in freezing temperatures and residents actually died,” said Ingrassia. “We are not in this situation in St. Louis or in our region and Spire needs to make sure they let their customers know.”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Spire denies ‘fearmongering,’ amid outcries over pipeline shutdown
Bryce Gray, 11/11/21
“The natural gas company Spire, faced with widespread criticism this week, held a rare news conference Thursday to again warn of looming risks to the region’s gas supply if its main pipeline is forced to cease operation just as winter arrives,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. “The closure of the Spire STL Pipeline, one of the company’s main sources of gas, could create severe shortages, and customers deserve to know, said Spire Missouri President Scott Carter… “But critics, including some who held a dueling news conference Thursday, said that Spire is resorting to scare tactics. The STL Pipeline will almost certainly be allowed to operate through the winter, they said. “Spire is leaning into fearmongering because it knows that facts are not on its side,” said Gillian Giannetti, an attorney focused on regulatory energy issues for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “No one is going to leave St Louis in the cold, and no one is asking for (regulators) to just shut down the pipeline without finding out a way to untangle this mess.” “... But critics note that a midwinter shutdown is not sought by any key parties in the case — including the Environmental Defense Fund, which launched the original legal complaint against Spire on behalf of local customers and landowners whose property was affected by the project’s construction. They say Spire’s words have fueled a recent wave of fear, confusion and even threats after leaving out key context and details to paint a misleading picture to the public. Some area elected officials said Thursday, for instance, that they’ve received an outpouring of concerns since the company’s Nov. 4 letter. “This is a manufactured crisis,” said St. Louis County Councilwoman Lisa Clancy. “Spire needs to take responsibility for their role in this and clarify what they’ve shared with their customers.”
E&E News: A pipeline shutdown? Midwest war heats up over FERC permit
By Miranda Willson, 11/12/21
“A fight over the future of a Midwest natural gas pipeline escalated yesterday, as the project’s developers warned it could shut down this winter while critics accused them of misleading the public about fuel shortages,” E&E News reports. “...The legal case has drawn national interest, since it may compel FERC, which has jurisdiction over interstate natural gas pipelines, to change how it broadly determines whether gas projects should be approved. FERC has approved more than 99 percent of proposed natural gas projects by some estimates, often relying on the existence of so-called precedent agreements between developers and one or more customers when deciding whether to authorize a project. “The case has made clear the need for FERC to reform its reviews going forward of pipeline infrastructure and make sure it does the rigorous assessment Congress entrusted it to do under the Natural Gas Act,” Natalie Karas, lead counsel and senior director at the Environmental Defense Fund’s energy program, said in a call with reporters yesterday… “Environmental groups have accused Spire of grossly exaggerating the potential for gas service disruptions, which they say would never have been a threat were it not for Spire’s own actions over the past two years. Jason Merrill, director of integrated corporate communications for Spire, told E&E it is his understanding that the pipeline is “likely” to continue operating throughout the winter. But there is still no guarantee until FERC takes action. “We were in a position where we had to be transparent with customers,” Merrill told E&E. “This is not a message you tell people on Dec. 13th if there’s no STL pipeline. At this point, you’re into November and there’s no guarantee that we know of.”
Press release: “Choice of Evils” statute will guide defense of elders arrested in rocking chairs for blocking the street outside JP Morgan Chase credit card headquarters
11/11/21
“November 12 marks the end of the global climate summit known as COP 26 in Glasgow, Scotland, and also the trial of the Rocking Chair Rebels in Wilmington, Delaware. Since our arrest in late June for partially blocking a street in front of JP Morgan Chase credit card headquarters in Wilmington, the climate crisis has only worsened. The COP has not delivered what is needed to stave off disaster. Expert testimony will be presented by physician Dr. Walter Tsou about the health effects of the climate crisis and by Carolyn McCoy about the successful campaign to convince PNC Bank to change its policies to better protect the climate. The pro se defendants will also be guided by expert opinion provided by climate scientist Dr. Tony Ingraffea, a professor at Cornell University, and Jason Disterhoft, who co-wrote a damning report on banks’ investments in fossil fuels, with JP Morgan Chase by far the worst offender. We will raise the Choice of Evils defense under Delaware law: that we took action (peacefully sitting in the street in our rocking chairs) to try to head off climate catastrophe.”
Lebanon Democrat: Open house held to discuss potential new natural gas pipeline
By Chris Gregory, 11/11/21
“Over 50 landowners in Trousdale and Smith counties attended an open house meeting last week to learn more about a proposed expansion of a natural gas pipeline,” the Lebanon Democrat reports. “Enbridge, which has operated a natural gas pipeline through Trousdale County since 1949, held the event to provide information on a its proposed Ridgeline Expansion Project, which would expand capacity and potentially service a new Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) plant… “Ideally, a new line would fall within the easement of the current line and would not require the purchase of new land. Enbridge would need to obtain permission to use around a 150-foot wide stretch of property along the route for construction and would have to pay landowners for that access… “At the open house, which was held at Hartsville’s Community Center, property owners were able to see maps showing where a proposed line would cross their land and receive information about environmental concerns and other issues pertaining to a new pipeline. “We’ve already been meeting with elected officials, economic developers already. We’re sending out survey permission to landowners because we need to survey the existing corridor,” Haskins told the Democrat. “This meeting is an invite to all landowners to learn more about the project.” Further public meetings will be held as part of the proposed timeline for the project. Under that timeline, community open houses would be held in the spring and summer of 2022, with a required public comment period to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission starting in the fall of 2022. Construction would not begin until fall of 2025 with completion expected by fall 2026.”
Economist: Two environmentalists sabotaged an oil pipeline in America. Are they terrorists or heroes?
BY ELIZABETH FLOCK, 11/11/21
“When Jessica Reznicek walked into a courtroom in Des Moines, Iowa, last June, her sun-weathered face was the only clue that she’d lived rough: that she’d camped at the edge of an oil-pipeline construction site for months; that she’d camped night after night all over the country when she and Ruby Montoya, her co-defendant, were on the run; that she’d camped simply because, as far back as she could remember, she loved being in nature,” the Economist reports. “Reznicek, dressed in a black trouser suit and white blouse with her blonde hair hanging neatly, hoped that the federal judge deciding her sentence might show her some sympathy (Montoya was due to be sentenced later in the summer). So much had happened since the two women had started sneaking onto construction sites in the autumn of 2016, setting excavators on fire and blow-torching dime-sized holes in the Dakota Access Pipeline, which was being built to carry crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois… “Inside the baronial courtroom, barrel-chested marshals in bulletproof vests and earpieces ringed the perimeter. Reznicek’s supporters packed the pews: a Zen Buddhist, several Vietnam vets reeking of cigarettes, a few members of “100 Grannies Uniting for a Livable Future” and a contingent of eco-activists who had traded their grunge-wear for dresses and suits… “Peter Kalmus is a leading American climate scientist who has never met Reznicek or Montoya but followed their case closely. “The demise of human civilisation is certain unless we change course,” he told me after Reznicek was sentenced. He was struggling to absorb the court’s verdict against Reznicek. “They were taking strong action to save lives. They were acting from love, not from hate.” He started to cry. “Sorry, it’s too much for me. They couldn’t be further from terrorists in my opinion. It just couldn’t be further from the truth.” In an appeal filed in early November, Reznicek’s lawyer argued that the terrorism enhancement had been wrongly applied. Reznicek told me that she isn’t counting on the courts to rule in her favour. Instead, she’s trying to “set up a life” for herself at Waseca.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
CNN.com: Young people call for fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty as delegates spar over coal, oil and gas
By Ivana Kottasová and Amy Cassidy, 11/11/21
“A group of young climate activists delivered a sharp rebuke to delegates at the COP26 climate summit Thursday, demanding that a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty be put in place and calling out global leaders for their continued closeness to the coal, oil and gas industries, CNN.com reports. “The activists did not mince their words when they took over the stage at the Glasgow conference, pointing out the absurdity of the fact that the very mentioning of "fossil fuels" in the meeting's agreement has become a sticking point. No COP agreement has ever mentioned fossil fuels as the main driver of the climate crisis… “The youth and the leaders of the Fridays for Future group have joined the already established Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, a network of civil society organizations pushing for a speedy and just phaseout of fossil fuels. Earlier this year, the group organized a letter urging world leaders to keep fossil fuels in the ground which was signed by the Dalai Lama and 100 other Nobel Prize winners. In an open letter addressed to the world leaders, the youth said fossil fuels were "our generation's weapons of mass destruction." They asked for the end of expansion of any new oil, gas, and coal production and the phaseout of all existing production.”
E&E News: EPA plans ‘even more ambitious’ methane rule
Jean Chemnick, 11/11/21
“A top EPA official said today that the agency early next year will strengthen its proposal for regulating emissions of methane from oil and gas infrastructure,” E&E News reports. “Speaking at a roundtable here hosted by environmental groups focused on methane, EPA acting air chief Joe Goffman said the agency will issue a "supplemental proposal" for the potent greenhouse gas that would “extend the already ambitious proposal last week into an even more ambitious one.” EPA released its twin methane proposals for new and existing oil and gas infrastructure last week at the Conference of the Parties, or COP 26, during a methane-themed day. But the drafts included numerous requests for more information on key issues, like how small oil and gas operations would be regulated and whether producers would be allowed to use routine flaring to burn off gas produced during oil drilling… “EPA’s proposals also floated a new idea of giving front-line communities that have frequently been subject to health impacts from local emissions sources a bigger role in forcing cleanup. “What we’ve introduced in this proposal is a path by which communities can undertake their own monitoring of facilities, report data — and again, this is still conceptual — create an obligation on the part of operators who are associated with that data to undertake additional repairs or replacement of their equipment,” said Goffman in an interview with Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp… “Goffman said today that one of the things the supplement would look at — with input gathered during this public comment period — would be how to continually ensure that the rules respond to improvements in data.”
STATE UPDATES
WDAM: Jones Co. family’s lawsuit against oil company moving forward
11/11/21
“New developments involving lawsuits claiming environmental contamination from an oil disposal well in Laurel, Miss. Both sides are waiting on decisions that could come down this week that may determine what happens next,” WDAM reports. “Deidra Baucum first filed a lawsuit against the owner of the disposal well back in 2014. That owner is Petro Harvester Operating Company. Baucum and her family allege in court documents that unsafe practices of the Petro Harvester disposal well site contaminated their property and made Deidra sick. The Baucums live on Wansley Road in Laurel, and the well site is less than 1/4 mile from their home. The 2014 lawsuit filed in Jones County claims property damage, specifically that “Petro Harvester had for several decades...engaged in systematic and illegal dumping and disposal of oil field petroleum waste” on the company’s own property and the family’s adjacent property. In 2016, Deidra Baucum filed a second complaint in Jones County Circuit Court involving her cancer diagnosis. Doctors diagnosed her with esophageal cancer. Most of her esophagus and part of her stomach have been removed. In court filings from September, Petro Harvester states, “the well is an extremely safe disposal well” and that " the well has mechanical integrity and poses no risk whatsoever to the environment.” The legal battle between the Baucum family and the companies listed in the lawsuits has been in and out of court over the last seven years.”
Guardian: Nalleli Cobo: the young activist who led her LA neighborhood against big oil
Nina Lakhani, 11/10/21
“At the age of nine, Nalleli Cobo started getting nosebleeds so severe that she had to sleep sitting up so as not to choke on the blood. Then there were the stomach cramps, nausea, headaches and body spasms, which made walking difficult. For a time she wore a heart monitor as doctors struggled to understand what was wrong,” the Guardian reports. “But it wasn’t just Cobo. The nine-year-old was growing up in University Park, a low-income, majority-Latino neighborhood in Los Angeles, the smoggiest city in the US, which ranks highest in the country for deaths linked to air pollution… “It turned out the stench was caused by the oilwell located 30ft (9 metres) from the family home. “That’s when we started connecting the dots between the oilwell, the smell and sick kids,” says Cobo… “Cobo and her mother started knocking on doors and co-founded People Not Pozos (People Not Wells) – a grassroots community group, which filed complaints to regulators, shared stories at town hall meetings and testified at city hall and other government hearings… “Amid pressure from the community, as well as growing media and celebrity attention, the city of Los Angeles filed multiple lawsuits against Allenco. In 2020, the state oil and gas regulators ordered the site to be permanently closed and secured.”
Pasadena Now: Stakeholders Face-Off Over Plan to Eliminate Use of Natural Gas in All Newly-Constructed Buildings
BY KEITH CALAYAG, 11/10/21
“Civic groups and those representing business interests aired views during a Municipal Services Committee hearing Tuesday on the pros and cons of a new city department proposal to require all new buildings built in Pasadena to be all-electric, with no use of natural gas allowed,” Pasadena Now reports. “Praising the Pasadena Planning and Community Development Department proposal, League of Women’s Voters of Pasadena representative Kathy Kunysz said the electrification ordinance being proposed by the department would be a “courageous step” and an effective action to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in the city… “Opposing the proposal, Los Angeles County Business Federation, (BizFed) a group composed of over 200 business organizations representing 400,000 employers in the County, said it supports a diversified energy portfolio to keep costs low and to lessen the strain on the “already overwhelmed energy grid.” “Clean natural gas is an important part of that portfolio, and necessary to reach our clean air goals without disruptions.” Diana Coronado, Vice President of the Building Industry Association of Southern California asked the city to consider exempting from the ordinance all residential projects.”
Carlsbad Current-Argus: New Mexico's oil and gas water research studies economics, toxicity
Adrian Hedden, 11/10/21
“A byproduct produced during oil and gas drilling could be treated and reused in other industries if the State of New Mexico achieves its goal of developing new technologies to repurpose the water,” the Carlsbad Current-Argus reports. The State of New Mexico created its Produced Water Research Consortium 2019 to study expanded applications of the water and its ability to address water scarcity through a partnership with New Mexico State University… “Records show New Mexico operators generated about 160 million gallons per day of produced water last year, a source so far underutilized in the arid state, Hightower told the Argus, when it is disposed of. “That’s a lot of water. When it’s reinjected it’s no longer available for reuse,” Hightower told the Argus. “There’s potentially a lot of water that could be used. That’s a lot of economic development for the state of New Mexico. That’s an opportunity for us.” “...New Mexico hoped to go a step further, removing enough chemicals and contaminants to allow the water to be reused in industries like agriculture or for municipal purposes like watering city parks… “Stephen Hightower, a physician who worked with the consortium told the Argus the toxicity of produced water was being evaluated by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, which partnered with the consortium, exposing the water to zebra fish, human cells and plants in greenhouses to study the impact on living organisms… “Treating produced water to a quality for drinking water, Tidwell told the Argus, could return only about 30 percent of the water under one scenario, while treating to a brine water – high in salt – could return as much as 90 percent.”
EXTRACTION
E&E News: International alliance forms to quit oil and gas
By Heather Richards, 11/11/21
“The governments of Denmark and Costa Rica today launched the first international government coalition aimed at ending oil and gas production,” E&E News reports. “Members of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA), which presented their group at the COP 26 climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, argue that more oil and gas must stay in the ground if the world is to keep within the 1.5 degree Celsius warming benchmark, beyond which experts warn of drastic climate impacts around the globe. “Continued investment in increasing the production of oil and natural gas encourages the building of infrastructure for supply and consumption, locking-in a high carbon pathway beyond 2050 and thus contributing to dangerous climate change, while at the same time increasing the risk of stranded assets,” the group wrote in its call to action. Major oil-producing countries, including the U.S., have not joined the oil-retirement effort. A spokesman for the United Kingdom, a top European oil-producing nation, told POLITICO earlier this week that a hard stop to fossil fuel production would have its own severe consequences. “What we cannot have is a cliff-edge where oil and gas are abandoned overnight. If we stopped producing gas, this would put energy security, British jobs and industries at risk, and we would be even more dependent on foreign imports,” a spokesperson for the U.K. business and energy department told E&E. The countries to join the alliance this week are France, Greenland, Ireland, Sweden and Wales, as well as Quebec, the Canadian province. They have committed full support. California has signed on as an associate member. While the group doesn’t call for hard bans on new drilling permits, its “core members” commit to no new leasing for production or exploration for oil and gas. They also are obliged to set a sunset target for oil and gas production. Lower-tier supporters, like California, commit to making “concrete steps” to reduce oil and gas production.”
Oil Price International: With launch of ‘Beyond Oil & Gas Alliance’, countries and regions forge first diplomatic initiative to phase out fossil fuel extraction
11/11/21
“Today at UN climate talks (COP26) in Glasgow, Costa Rica and Denmark will officially launch the world’s first diplomatic initiative focused on keeping fossil fuels in the ground. Called the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, or BOGA, the effort brings together countries and subnational jurisdictions that have committed to ending new licensing rounds for oil and gas exploration and production, or have taken steps towards that goal, and recognize that phasing out fossil fuel extraction is an urgent and crucial component of tackling the climate crisis. At today’s launch event, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, Greenland, Ireland, Québec, Sweden and Wales will join this alliance as full members. California and New Zealand will also join the alliance as associate members. This announcement marks a major shift after decades of the UN climate process ignoring the crucial question of how the world will phase out the production of the fossil fuels that are driving the climate crisis. It comes after the International Energy Agency and the UN Environment Programme have made it clear that continuing the expansion of global fossil fuel production is incompatible with keeping warming under 1.5°C, a key objective under the Paris Agreement. The commitment made by these first movers is an essential first step towards a just transition away from fossil fuel production but is in itself insufficient to meet the challenge ahead. All countries, including BOGA members, must now commit to ending all new oil and gas projects, including in already licensed areas, and Global North producing countries must start reducing production immediately and at an accelerated pace as part of an equitable phase out of global fossil fuel production.’
St. Albert Gazette: Edmonton region boasts $100 billion in hydrogen opportunities: expert
Jennifer Henderson, 11/11/21
“The Edmonton region is a future hotspot for the hydrogen economy thanks to expertise, motivated companies, and experience with similar technology, says a local expert,” the St. Albert Gazette reports. “The region is positioned well to benefit from the shift to hydrogen Mark Lea-Wilson, hydrogen hub lead from The Transition Accelerator, said during a webinar on Oct. 28, hosted by Edmonton Global on hydrogen in the region. The Transition Accelerator is a Canadian charity that works to solve business and social challenges, including the transition to green energy. “The Edmonton region has a real structural competitive advantage for producing the lowest-cost, lowest-carbon hydrogen in the world,” Lea-Wilson told the Gazette... “The geology that sits beneath the ground here in Alberta, and particularly in Alberta's industrial heartland, is conducive for significant quantities of carbon-capture storage,” Plamondon told the Gazette… There are around $100 billion in regional opportunities in the hydrogen industry, Malcolm Bruce, CEO of Edmonton Global, told the Gazette. Part of the advantage the region has is that many pipelines meet in Edmonton, Bruce said.
CBC: Bill to make Alberta oil and gas companies pay outstanding taxes falls short, municipalities say
Jamie Malbeuf, 11/11/21
“Proposed legislation would allow Alberta municipalities to strong-arm oil and gas companies into paying outstanding property taxes, but some municipal leaders say the efforts are coming too late and won't go far enough,” the CBC reports. “Oil and gas companies currently owe Alberta rural municipalities about $245 million in unpaid taxes. Bill 77, the Municipal Government (Restoring Tax Accountability) Amendment Act, would allow municipalities to put a special lien on owners and operators of oil and gas companies that owe taxes. The company would have 120 days to pay up or strike a payment plan before the municipality could seize property within its borders. The special lien would bump a municipality higher up on the list of creditors to be paid should the company go bankrupt. John Burrows, mayor of Woodlands County in northern Alberta, told the CBC the tools would help municipalities, but that he is "not certain this is exactly the toolkit we need." Burrows said the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER), as the licensing entity, would be better suited to ensuring companies are paying taxes by suspending licences or restricting operations. He said he's seen companies not pay taxes in three years and then be approved to buy bankrupt oil and gas assets… “Some municipalities have taken different steps to try and recoup unpaid taxes. In the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, the municipality is suing Sunshine Oilsands Ltd. for almost $16 million. The lawsuit was filed in June 2020 and Sunshine Oilsands has not filed a statement of defence.”
RESEARCH & SCIENCE
Phys.org: Global temperatures over last 24,000 years show today's warming 'unprecedented'
11/10/21
“A University of Arizona-led effort to reconstruct Earth's climate since the last ice age, about 24,000 years ago, highlights the main drivers of climate change and how far out of bounds human activity has pushed the climate system,” according to Phys.org. “The study, published this week in Nature, had three main findings: It verified that the main drivers of climate change since the last ice age are rising greenhouse gas concentrations and the retreat of the ice sheets. It suggests a general warming trend over the last 10,000 years, settling a decade-long debate about whether this period trended warmer or cooler in the paleoclimatology community. The magnitude and rate warming over the last 150 years far surpasses the magnitude and rate of changes over the last 24,000 years. "This reconstruction suggests that current temperatures are unprecedented in 24,000 years, and also suggests that the speed of human-caused global warming is faster than anything we've seen in that same time," Jessica Tierney, a UArizona geosciences associate professor and co-author of the study, told Phys.org.
CLIMATE FINANCE
DeSmog: ‘Shame On You’: Indigenous Campaigners Demand JPMorgan End Fossil Fuel Finance
Phoebe Cooke, 11/11/21
“Indigenous activists on Wednesday staged a protest outside JPMorgan Chase headquarters in central Glasgow as pressure on banks to halt oil and gas extraction grows,” DeSmog reports. “A crowd of over a hundred chanted “enough is enough” and “shame on you” outside the American multinational bank’s office building, just over a mile from where crucial talks at the COP26 climate conference are currently taking place. JPMorgan Chase is the world’s biggest financier of fossil fuels, according to environmental organisations. In 2020 the bank pledged to end fossil fuel loans for Arctic oil drilling and phase out loans for coal mining. However, a recent report shows the bank provided £230 billion in support for fossil fuels between 2016-2020. A DeSmog investigation also found that every one of Chase’s board of directors had connections to polluting industries. This includes the Coastal Gaslink pipeline being constructed in British Columbia, Canada, which is set to cross through Indigenous lands and is threatening vital ecosystems. Speakers also criticised Line 3, a proposed pipeline expansion to bring nearly a million barrels of tar sands oil per day from Alberta in Canada to Wisconsin, part-funded by JPMorgan. “Banks need to stop financing fossil fuels, because they are killing our people and they are killing our territory,” Nemo Andy Guiquita, director of women and health for the confederation of Indigenous nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (CONFENIAE), told the crowd.
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Gizmodo: How the American Oil and Gas Industry Funds the Fulbright Program
Molly Taft, 11/9/21
“When Carina Spiro first decided to apply to the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Program in 2016 as a senior in college, a particular phrase caught her eye. “In the description of Malaysia, the program said applicants must have ‘a sense of adventure,’” she said. “I thought, that’s me, sign me up,” Gizmodo reports. “The renowned cultural exchange program operates out of an arm of the U.S. State Department to send groups of American young people and scholars abroad each year. Spiro applied to the English teaching component and was accepted to the 2018 Malaysia Fulbright year. She did not realize that her adventure in Malaysia would be connected with the oil and gas industry. Spiro was assigned to work at a rural school in Sabah, a state on the northern part of the island of Borneo. One day, she and her fellow English teaching assistants—ETAs, in Fulbright-speak—were invited to what she called a “corporate luncheon” in the capital of Kuala Lumpur. Their lunch date was held in an office in the city’s iconic Petronas Twin Towers, which are named after Malaysia’s national oil and gas company. There, over a meal with executives from ConocoPhillips, the ETAs learned that it wasn’t the U.S. or Malaysian governments that would be paying for their year abroad. Rather, ConocoPhillips was picking up the whole tab for ETAs in Sabah—and, the ETAs learned, the oil and gas company was making even more money available for extra learning camps, special programming, and other activities for students. “No one told us [about the ConocoPhillips funding] before we went to this corporate lunch meeting,” Spiro told Gizmodo. “I think a lot of people were really uncomfortable with that, myself included.”
OPINION
Dispatches from the Frontlines: We Shall Breathe In Memphis
by Justin J. Pearson of Memphis Community Against the Pipeline (MCAP), 11/11/21
“People power,” I said to myself on September 9, a Monday morning, as I watched the Shelby County Commission vote on the “1500-foot setback ordinance”, as it is known. “This is what happens when Power meets People-Power, in a community they thought was powerless,” Justin J. Pearson writes for Dispatches from the Frontlines. “Ten in favor, two abstentions, not a single “no” – not even from the more conservative person on the commission. The result: an ordinance stating that any crude oil pipeline in Memphis must be set back 1,500 feet from homes, schools, religious institutions, and parks. Together with similar laws passed in the City Council this means, in effect, that the Byhalia Crude Oil Pipeline is dead. The commissioners heard us. We won. The developers had already withdrawn their pipeline in July, claiming that there was less demand for crude oil due to COVID-19. The real reason, of course, was that they had come up against unexpected resistance. They had plotted their pipeline in a zig-zig way so that it avoided the wealthier parts of town and passed through the Black neighborhoods of southwest Memphis I come from – because, as a company representative put it, this was “the path of least resistance.” “...I’ve learned two important lessons from this struggle. The first is the importance of being proximate to the daily challenges our communities face in their environments. The world is on fire and we can’t deny that; however, it’s hard to build a movement around an existential crisis. Even post-Ida, post the fires in the West, it’s not so easy to think about how to fight that. It’s much clearer to think about how to fight a company or a project that’s going to contaminate your water or your air, or take your land away from you. By connecting issues to the everyday suffering of people, our anti-pollution battles serve as a sort of gateway to mobilizing a broader climate justice movement. The second lesson is about love. The struggle for justice is an act of love, and that is what is renewable in this whole fight, whether you win a particular battle, as we have, or lose it. It’s a love of history and of ancestors. It’s a love of community. It’s a love and appreciation of water and air, about what’s life-giving and life-sustaining about them. Our fight for “the environment” must be grounded with love, if we are to win. I believe that we will win.”
The Hill: At COP26 (and everywhere) the pace of climate action is the problem
Karen Florini is vice president for programs at Climate Central. She previously served as deputy special envoy for climate change at the State Department, 11/11/21
“Talking about how much to limit global heating without talking about how soon to do so is a dangerously incomplete way to frame climate action,” Karen Florini writes for The Hill. “It overlooks the dimension that does the most to make climate change deadly: speed. Too much of the discussion in and around the UN climate conference COP26 misses this point. Our planet is overheating, but worse, it’s overheating too fast for people, plants and animals to keep up… “The biggest step that can most quickly slow the pace of global heating is curtailing emissions of methane... “Cutting worldwide methane emissions 30 percent within the next ten years, as the U.S. and other signatories to the new Global Methane Pledge have promised, can slow our planet’s temperature rise and buy more time to prepare for survival on a hotter planet… “Beyond directly slowing the pace of global heating, initiatives like the Global Methane Pledge can also expand the climate solutions narrative to how soon we can take meaningful action, how much that action can slow down our soaring temperatures, and how much time we can buy to protect communities and economies around the world. Because the pace is the problem.”