EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 11/17/21
PIPELINE NEWS
Reuters: Judge rules Enbridge pipeline case with Michigan be heard in U.S. federal court
CBC: Over 500 pipeline workers stranded behind Wet'suwet'en clan blockades, Coastal GasLink says
Bloomberg: Coastal GasLink pipeline is blockaded in new trouble for project
Bloomberg [VIDEO]: Investors need to know that Coastal GasLink's project will not be successful: Wet’suwet’en spokesperson
Press release: Minister's statement on Coastal GasLink project
Daily Memphian: Council approves pipeline ordinance that ‘covers the universe of potential routes’
Center for Constitutional Rights: An activist challenges her “Terrorism” sentence for civil disobedience in the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline
Missouri Independent: Environmental group demands Spire halt ‘false and defamatory’ messaging about pipeline
Summit-Tribune: Hancock County voices concerns to pipeline company officials on Nov. 15
CBS14: Landowners voice concerns over new proposed CO2 pipelines for Woodbury Co.
Richmond Times Dispatch: SCC hearing examiner recommends commissioners reject gas pipeline request
Oil & Water Don’t Mix: Secret Documents Show Enbridge Tunnel Would Threaten Great Lakes Another Decade
Reuters: Enbridge shuts part of natural gas pipeline due to British Columbia flooding
On the Edge: Edgewood Pipeline Protestors Chant ‘We can’t drink oil’
Lehigh Valley Live: With 1800s oil pipeline removed, Musconetcong River returning to more natural state
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Politico: AND THE GULF, TOO
KUNC: U.S. fossil fuel production will only increase in 2022, EIA forecasts
STATE UPDATES
Carlsbad Current-Argus: Risk of earthquakes caused by oil and gas operations in New Mexico rising
EXTRACTION
Financial Times: Birthplace of US oil boom a decade ago shows signs of decline
Canadian Press: Ottawa must consult provinces on emissions cap for oil, gas industry: Alberta premier
Bloomberg: European Carbon Permits Rise to Record After COP26
RESEARCH & SCIENCE
Phys.org: Market forces halved methane emissions from Uinta Basin oil and gas wells; but that's not the whole story
CLIMATE FINANCE
Politico: ROYAL ENGLISH SHELL
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Slate: How the Oil and Gas Industry Has Broken Climate Education
OPINION
Manitoulin Expositor: Letter: Writer happy Indigenous communities oppose Line 5
Politico: Op-Ed: The Cow-Shaped Hole In Biden’s Methane Plan
PIPELINE NEWS
Reuters: Judge rules Enbridge pipeline case with Michigan be heard in U.S. federal court
By Nia Williams, 11/16/21
“A legal battle between Canadian company Enbridge Inc and the state of Michigan over Enbridge's Line 5 oil pipeline will be heard in U.S. federal court, a judge ruled on Tuesday, dismissing Michigan's motion to have the case sent back to state court,” Reuters reports. “...Michigan had ordered the pipeline to shut down by last May over concerns an underwater section could leak into the Great Lakes, an order that Enbridge has ignored. Last month, the Canadian government, which intervened in the court case in support of Enbridge, invoked a 1977 pipeline treaty with the United States to trigger negotiations between Ottawa and Washington over the pipeline's fate… "Enbridge is pleased with the decision and agrees that this case belongs in federal court as we've asserted all along," Enbridge spokesman Ryan Duffy told Reuters. "This is both a federal and international law issue and the federal court will now handle the case."
CBC: Over 500 pipeline workers stranded behind Wet'suwet'en clan blockades, Coastal GasLink says
Betsy Trumpener, 11/6/21
“Coastal GasLink says more than 500 pipeline workers are stranded after a Wet'suwet'en Nation clan set up three blockades along the only access road to two work camps in a remote part of northern B.C.,” the CBC reports. “The company tells CBC supplies at the camps will run out in the coming days, water is begin conserved, and workers won't be able to reach medical care in an emergency because of the "illegal blockades." "Unlawful actions ... have put our people in danger," Coastal GasLink said in a statement. On Sunday, the Gidimt'en Clan of the Wet'suwet'en Nation told Coastal GasLink it would enforce the eviction of pipeline workers from its traditional territories near Houston, B.C., about 1,000 kilometres northwest of Vancouver. According to the Gidim'ten Clan, an enforcement notice, issued at 5 a.m. PT Sunday, provided an eight-hour window for CGL workers to leave before the access road was blocked… “The blockades set up this week are on the same disputed land that made international headlines in early 2020. That's when several Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs and their supporters blocked access to Coastal GasLink pipeline worksites, sparking a nationwide discussion about who gets a say in resource development on land claimed as traditional territory. The high-profile standoff led to RCMP raids to dismantle the blockade, which in turn sparked rail blockades across the country in support of the hereditary chiefs' cause.”
Bloomberg: Coastal GasLink pipeline is blockaded in new trouble for project
Robert Tuttle, 11/16/21
“Protesters erected blockades to prevent construction crews from reaching TC Energy Corp.’s natural gas pipeline project in the latest setback for the British Columbian project,” Bloomberg reports. “Three blockades on a forest road have isolated accommodations for 500 workers building the Coastal GasLink conduit intended to haul gas to a planned coastal export terminal, according to a TC Energy statement. The protest began Sunday when members of the indigenous Wet’suwet’en community demanded that work crews vacate the group’s territory, according to a separate press release. “Work on Coastal GasLink continues along the 670 km project corridor,” TC Energy said in an emailed statement… “The latest action by members of the Gidimt’en Clan of the Wet’suwet’en comes almost two years after a similar blockade sparked nationwide protests that put rail shipments of grain, propane, lumber and consumer goods in jeopardy and slowed the economy. There is no room for compromise with TC Energy on this project, Gidimt’en spokeswoman Sleydo’ said in a BNN Bloomberg TV interview. “This project does not have consent to go through our territory and it will not proceed,” she told Bloomberg. “People must realize that they cannot walk over indigenous people anymore.”
Bloomberg [VIDEO]: Investors need to know that Coastal GasLink's project will not be successful: Wet’suwet’en spokesperson
11/16/21
“Sleydo’, Wet’suwet’en spokesperson for Gidimt’en Checkpoint, discusses safety concerns from British Columbia's Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General, Mike Farnworth, on the Coastal GasLink blockades,” Bloomberg reports. “Sleydo’ says resolution to this conflict will come when Coastal GasLink's pipeline production team exits Wet’suwet’en territory and ceases construction. Sleydo' notes that ample time was given for employees to exit the territory after they passed on an eviction notice, but the company did not tell their employees to leave.”
Press release: Minister's statement on Coastal GasLink project
11/15/21
“Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, has released the following statement in relation to current events around the Coastal GasLink project: “Yesterday’s blockades of the Morice River Forest Service Road have put at risk emergency access and the delivery of critical services to more than 500 Coastal GasLink workers, and the good faith commitments made between the Office of the Wet’suwet’en and the Province of B.C. to develop a new relationship based on respect. “The B.C. government is calling on all those involved to de-escalate the current confrontation and move quickly to eliminate the blockades through peaceful means… “Blockades have now been established by project opponents in violation of the current court injunction. Obstructions on the roads have effectively cut off safe access, support and security for more than 500 workers. “Our government is concerned about the health, safety and well-being of those workers as the obstructions on the roads prevent access in and out of the worksites. The right to protest does not extend to criminal actions… “The Coastal GasLink project has all the permits necessary for the work currently underway and the project is now over 50% complete. More than $1.25 billion has been invested in British Columbia to date, which includes more than $1 billion being awarded to Indigenous-owned businesses or joint venture partnerships. Coastal GasLink has project agreements with all 20 elected chiefs and councils of the First Nations along the pipeline route. The Province has also secured agreements with the vast majority of First Nations along the route.”
Daily Memphian: Council approves pipeline ordinance that ‘covers the universe of potential routes’
By Bill Dries, 11/17/21
“Memphis City Council members gave final approval Tuesday, Nov. 16, to an ordinance that requires pipelines and similar private infrastructure to get permits to use city rights of ways and streets,” the Daily Memphian reports. “But the council voted down on third and final reading a long-delayed joint ordinance with the county that would have barred oil pipelines from locating within 1,500 feet of schools, churches, parks and family recreation areas. The measures are the last two in a series of measures proposed as the Byhalia Connection crude oil pipeline was poised to run through southwest Memphis… “The rights of way ordinance drafted and amended by council attorney Allan Wade was approved on a unanimous 13-0 vote of the council with the pipeline opposition groups applauding the passage as they pushed for the passage of the setback ordinance as well… “Wade said he didn’t think it would be defensible in the event of a legal challenge and that the rights of way ordinance is modeled on the city’s regulation of telecoms using the same rights of way, which has been tested with court challenges and has withstood those challenges.”
Center for Constitutional Rights: An activist challenges her “Terrorism” sentence for civil disobedience in the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline
Elsa Maria Mota, 11/15/21
“In July 2017, Jessica Reznicek and Ruby Montoya, two activists from the Catholic Worker Movement, held a press conference to announce that they were responsible for acts of vandalism against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Their acts of civil disobedience caused no physical injury,” the Center for Constitutional Rights reports. “...In June 2021, Ms. Reznicek was sentenced to eight years in federal prison and ordered to pay $3,198,512.70 restitution. The judge granted the prosecution’s request to impose a terrorism enhancement, which increased her sentence by 50-59 months, even though Ms. Reznicek had not even been charged with terrorism. Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger said such a sentence was needed to deter others from engaging in similar acts. Now Ms. Reznicek is appealing her sentence. The Center for Constitutional Rights has teamed up with Dean Sudha Setty of Western New England University School of Law, an expert in national security and the rule of law, to submit an amicus brief supporting the appeal. The brief is part of the Center for Constitutional Rights’ long-standing effort to support victims of human rights abuses committed by the U.S. government in the name of fighting terrorism. It also dovetails with the organization’s support for activists as they oppose hazardous pipelines in the face of “lawfare” waged by the oil and gas industry and corporate power more broadly through groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and so-called critical infrastructure laws that, like terrorism enhancements, apply steep penalties to acts of civil disobedience.”
Missouri Independent: Environmental group demands Spire halt ‘false and defamatory’ messaging about pipeline
ALLISON KITE, 11/15/21
“An environmental organization is demanding Spire Missouri cease and desist its campaign warning customers of dire consequences this winter if the Spire STL pipeline is shut down,” the Missouri Independent reports. “The Environmental Defense Fund, which challenged the pipeline’s permit to operate, wrote to Spire on Friday saying the company’s “false and defamatory” comments had inspired area residents to send profanity-laced threats to the nonprofit. The 65-mile Spire STL pipeline has been operational since 2019, transporting natural gas from Illinois into Missouri. But its certificate to operate was revoked by a federal appeals court that said regulators ignored evidence Spire was self-dealing following a challenge from the Environmental Defense Fund. It’s currently operating on a temporary certificate that expires Dec. 13. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is poised, EDF said, to give Spire STL an extension to avoid outages this winter. But Spire Missouri warned its St. Louis area customers in an email earlier this month that the pipeline was in jeopardy and forecast dire circumstances this winter, blaming a “New York-based environmental group.” EDF has members who own land the pipeline travels across. That messaging, according to a letter EDF sent Spire on Friday, has “mislead and inspired individuals to direct menacing and threatening messages to individuals as EDF.”
Summit-Tribune: Hancock County voices concerns to pipeline company officials on Nov. 15
Rob Hillesland, 11/16/21
“Hancock County supervisors and some of about two dozen members of the public on Nov. 15 directed drainage districts comments and questions to Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed Carbon Express pipeline representatives Grant Terry and Walter Siegford in Garner,” the Summit-Tribune reports. “...Drainage is a very vital part of our farming community,” chair Gary Rayhons said. “Without drainage, we’re up a creek. There are a lot of people that have invested a lot of money in this and don’t want to see it messed up.” Supervisor Sis Greiman, after comments about how pipeline companies are notorious for creating post-construction problems, suggested that areas further south do not have as many intricate drainage districts as Hancock County. She noted how any number of indirect issues can arise when district facilities are altered, as did several landowners. “I’m curious to know how we can know the problems that are going to be there after your construction,” Greiman said. An unidentified landowner cited a gully where excess water from his fields flows to after heavy rains. He said if the pipeline comes across his farm and creates another ditch, it won’t all go to the gully anymore, and his equipment could later be broken because of SCS’s hole… “Several members of the public, and supervisor Greiman, said they do not see how a pipeline that is classified as hazardous liquid, which is not a traditional oil or gas line and is being proposed by a private company could be in the public interest. They also said disturbance of drainage district facilities, farmland and farm tiles is an anticipated consequence. One commenter recommended hauling the captured carbon from ethanol plants via trucking instead of proceeding with the proposed line.”
CBS14: Landowners voice concerns over new proposed CO2 pipelines for Woodbury Co.
by Katie Copple, 11/16/21
“Two carbon-capture pipelines have been proposed for Siouxland and many Woodbury County residents are trying to stop them,” CBS14 reports. “During Tuesday's Woodbury Co. Board of Supervisors meeting, several local residents whose property the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline will go through spoke out on why they don't want that CO2 pipeline to come through their farmland or Siouxland. "What we encourage people to do is enter their comments on the IUB's docket concerning the pipeline," said Deb Main, whose property the pipeline is slated to be constructed through. "There's a lot of people out there that don't realize what it is going to cost, what it is going to cost them or their rights."
Richmond Times Dispatch: SCC hearing examiner recommends commissioners reject gas pipeline request
Patrick Wilson, 11/15/21
“A State Corporation Commission hearing examiner issued a report Monday recommending the commission’s three judges reject a request by a company to build a natural gas pipeline across five central Virginia counties without the regulatory oversight given to a utility,” the Richmond Times Dispatch reports. “The developer of the proposed Chickahominy Pipeline asked the commission in September for permission to build the gas line without approval from the commission… “Environmental groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center say the plant and pipeline aren’t necessary for Virginia’s electricity needs, and opposition to the pipeline has grown among property owners concerned about negative environmental effects… “Hearing examiner D. Mathias Roussy Jr. said in his Monday report: “In my opinion, Chickahominy’s planned pipeline would be subject to the Commission’s jurisdiction under the Utility Facilities Act because Chickahominy would be a ‘public utility’ under the plain language of the Utility Facilities Act.”
Oil & Water Don’t Mix: Secret Documents Show Enbridge Tunnel Would Threaten Great Lakes Another Decade
11/15/21
“Citizens groups today urged Canada and the courts to expedite the shutdown of a nearly 70-year-old, damaged, and dangerous pipeline in the Mackinac Straits in the wake of documents released Friday showing Enbridge won’t begin construction on a proposed Line 5 replacement in a tunnel until 2024. "The Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority has been stonewalling the public since May, allowing Enbridge to keep their true Line 5 replacement tunnel plans hidden from state taxpayers,” said Sean McBrearty, coordinator of Oil & Water Don't Mix. "What they were hiding was a construction plan that revealed more delays while Enbridge plans to keep this dangerous pipeline operating indefinitely.” “...Corridor authority members must review the draft construction plans, which contain timelines and details of the proposed project. The documents show Enbridge would not begin tunnel construction until 2024, assuming it has secured federal and state permits. Enbridge projects a subsequent four-year construction timeline. The 2028 timeline for tunnel completion allows for no construction or permitting delays, which are likely.”
Reuters: Enbridge shuts part of natural gas pipeline due to British Columbia flooding
By Nia Williams, 11/16/21
“Enbridge Inc has shut a segment of one of the two pipelines that make up its Westcoast natural gas pipeline in British Columbia as a precautionary measure due to heavy flooding in the province, a company spokesman said on Tuesday,” Reuters reports. “...Enbridge's Westcoast pipeline consists of a 30-inch diameter line and 36-inch line, delivering 1.5 billion to 1.8 billion cubic feet of gas per day (bcf/d) to the lower mainland of British Columbia and the U.S. Pacific Northwest. An Enbridge spokesman told Reuters the company shut down a segment of the 30-inch pipeline in the Coquihalla river valley on Tuesday morning as a precautionary measure. The 36-inch pipeline remains in operation. With part of the pipeline shut down, Enbridge expects to be able to deliver 1.4 bcf/d to customers.”
On the Edge: Edgewood Pipeline Protestors Chant ‘We can’t drink oil’
Rebecca Dickman, 11/16/21
“About 45 students, faculty, and staff rallied on Oct. 28 at the corner of Monroe Street and Edgewood College Drive to protest Line 3, a proposed oil pipeline expansion,” On the Edge reports. “This student-organized protest was held in solidarity with the Bloomington Antiracist Coalition, an activist group in Minnesota. Edgewood’s representatives joined a national effort that called for student walkouts at 1 p.m. in protest of Line 3. Led by Edgewood students Abbey Brooks and Sam Guiere, walk-out coordinators, protesters held signs and chanted call-and-response demands for an end to Line 3. Edgewood students, faculty, and staff were present as well as students from the University of Wisconsin—Madison (UW). Attendee Ashley Cheung, a UW student, said that protests like this are good ways to build community among college campuses in Madison. “Showing up at these protests is a good opportunity to build solidarity with the different communities against Line 3,” Cheung told OTE.
Lehigh Valley Live: With 1800s oil pipeline removed, Musconetcong River returning to more natural state
Steve Novak, 11/16/21
“Soon, there may not be anything too remarkable on this part of the Musconetcong River. And that’s the point,” Lehigh Valley Live reports. “Until last month, there were oil pipes from the late 1800s crossing the river between Washington Township in Warren County and Lebanon Township in Hunterdon County. “In their time, (the pipes) were marvel technology that provided a transformative boost to this area’s local economy, but in the present day had become obsolete and a safety hazard to kayakers and canoers,” Cindy Joerger, executive director of the Musconetcong Watershed Association, told LVL. Representatives from the National Park Service and energy company Chevron celebrated the project’s completion on Tuesday with river advocates and local officials at the worksite, now dotted with freshly planted trees. “We’re happy we can be the change agent … to return this river to a more natural state, to remove the obstructions that were there and to have it available for recreational use and for beauty for generations to come,” Henry Stremlau, an operations manager for Chevron Environmental Management Co., which is handling the property remediation, told LVL.
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Politico: AND THE GULF, TOO
Matthew Choi, 11/16/21
“While environmentalists heralded DOI’s Chaco Canyon move, more than 60 groups and advocates wrote to Biden on Monday urging him to stop the sale of new leases on over 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas drilling,” Politico reports. “The auction scheduled for Wednesday is for leases that are projected to produce over 1 billion barrels of oil and 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas over the next 50 years. “We are asking you to deliver on the climate promises you made on the campaign trail — to take immediate, concrete steps to overhaul the federal fossil fuel program and end new fossil fuel leasing,” the groups wrote in their letter. But the White House tells Politico it has no choice but to comply with a June court order that found the administration’s earlier pause on new oil and gas leases unlawful.”
KUNC: U.S. fossil fuel production will only increase in 2022, EIA forecasts
Nate Hegyi, 11/12/21
“Despite the Biden administration’s promise to reduce carbon emissions, a new federal report shows oil, gas and coal production in the U.S. is increasing,” KUNC reports. “The U.S. Energy Information Administration says the rise is expected to last for at least another year and it’s fueled, in part, by high energy prices and extreme temperatures. Unusually cold weather across the U.S. last February prompted more people to heat their homes and drained the nation’s natural gas reserves. That drove up prices and spurred increased production to get ready for this winter… “The EIA’s short-term forecast says natural gas production will continue to rise into next year. In the meantime, those high prices are driving more energy providers to rely on cheaper coal for power instead. Coal production is expected to rise by about 5% next year. Meanwhile, high gasoline prices are helping spur more oil production. EIA analysts expect a 7% jump in crude oil production in 2022… “The EIA estimates that carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. from fossil fuels will rise through 2022.”
STATE UPDATES
Carlsbad Current-Argus: Risk of earthquakes caused by oil and gas operations in New Mexico rising
Adrian Hedden, 11/15/21
“Multiple magnitude (M) 4 or 5 quakes were felt in the Midland area, leading the Texas Railroad Commission to declare a seismic response area (SRA) earlier this fall in the Gardendale region, calling for reductions in water disposal injection volumes,” the Carlsbad Current-Argus reports. “Earthquakes at M 4 are generally felt but are known to cause minor damage. When recorded at M 5 or above, they may cause increasingly severe damage to structures and risk public safety… “Injections rates for existing disposal wells - where water created as a byproduct of oil and gas drilling is disposed of by pumping it underground - were reduced to 10,000 barrels per day, while operators were required to report daily injection volumes and pressures to the Commission each month… “Then, in October the Railroad Commission announced it was creating a second seismic response area in northern Culberson and Reeves counties, just along the border with southeast New Mexico… “That could mean sending more water over the border to New Mexico to avoid Texas’ increased regulatory action and continue pumping water underground… “While New Mexico has yet to see the seismic activity observed and acted upon in Texas, Adrienne Sandoval, director of New Mexico’s Oil Conservation Division, told the Argus the State is closely watching what’s happening over the border, collecting data, and hoping to be proactive to prevent the problem from forcing its regulatory hand. “We have seen some induced seismicity on the New Mexico side. It’s sort of along the Texas line and along the Lea and Eddy county line. We’re working with operators to gather data. We want to ensure we’re being protective and managing things in proactive way so we can minimize seismic activity as much as we can.”
EXTRACTION
Financial Times: Birthplace of US oil boom a decade ago shows signs of decline
Justin Jacobs, 11/15/21
“The Bakken oilfield in North Dakota, the birthplace of America’s oil boom a decade ago, is struggling to recover from last year’s market crash even as crude prices have surged back to $80 a barrel,” the Financial Times reports. “It reflects a broader slowdown in growth from America’s oil patch as companies keep spending low in a bid to redirect the windfall of cash from higher prices back to shareholders. But analysts say the Bakken faces a bleak future after years of intensive drilling. Oil producers in the Bakken are now running into the “geological reality” that after a decade of rapid development “most of the best wells have been drilled”, Clark Williams-Derry, an analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, told FT. “It helps to explain why the industry in the Bakken is sort of flatlined.” The dwindling number of high quality wells left to drill — those that can produce high volumes of oil for relatively low cost — will make it difficult for Bakken producers to get output back to pre-pandemic levels, Williams-Derry told FT. Wells that compare favourably to today’s best drilling sites could start to run low within just two years and “things start to really fall off the cliff” in the middle of this decade, he added...“Nobody’s viewing the Bakken as a growth engine any more,” Steve Diederichs, a vice-president at Enverus, a consultancy, told FT. In addition to the dwindling high-quality well prospects, persistently high level of flaring — when unmarketable natural gas is burnt off at well sites — has also led some operators to turn away from the basin. “The easiest way to clean up your emissions profile is to divest your dirtiest assets,” Diederichs told FT, pointing as an example to Norway’s oil major Equinor, which sold its Bakken business earlier this year.”
Canadian Press: Ottawa must consult provinces on emissions cap for oil, gas industry: Alberta premier
11/16/21
“Alberta Premier Jason Kenney warned the federal government on Monday that it must consult with the provinces as Ottawa moves on plans to implement a cap on emissions from the oil and gas sector,” the Canadian Press reports. “...Yet Trudeau and Kenney struck distinctly strident tones when asked by reporters about the prime minister’s announcement at the UN climate change talks in Scotland two weeks ago that Canada would start working on the long-promised emissions cap. After Trudeau promised federal officials would consult industry, experts and scientists as it develops the cap, Kenney took issue with the prime minister’s failure to include provinces in the list of interested stakeholders. “The provinces own the resource, and under the Constitution, the provinces regulate the development of those resources,” Kenney said in response to a reporter’s question as Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland looked on. “So I will underscore the importance of collaboration. When it comes to finding a balance between jobs and growth and reducing emissions, I think we can find a suitable approach.” Trudeau did not specifically respond to Kenney’s comments, but did insist all parts of the economy will need to do their part if Canada is to reach its emissions-reduction targets by 2030 while encouraging economic growth in clean energy and other sectors… “Kenney, however, held up carbon capture, hydrogen energy and liquefied natural gas as ways to reduce emissions, adding: “We are willing to be partners as long as there is a future for the largest sector of the Canadian economy. That is our energy sector.”
Bloomberg: European Carbon Permits Rise to Record After COP26
By Rachel Morison and Will Mathis, 11/15/21
“European carbon futures climbed to a record, following an agreement at the COP26 summit that seeks to reduce the use of fossil fuels and boost nations’ climate targets,” Bloomberg reports. “Benchmark prices rose as much as 5.9% to a record 66.97 euros ($76.25) a metric ton on ICE Endex on the first day of trading after the summit in Glasgow, Scotland. Making polluters pay for carbon permits is seen as a key way to cut emissions in Europe, and the European Union plans to extend the bloc’s trading scheme to more sectors. In the short term, a 6% jump in natural gas prices on Monday -- the third consecutive increase -- has improved the profitability of burning coal, creating more demand for carbon permits. While gas prices have fallen from record levels last month, they still remain historically high, even before the start of the winter heating season.”
RESEARCH & SCIENCE
Phys.org: Market forces halved methane emissions from Uinta Basin oil and gas wells; but that's not the whole story
University of Utah, 11/15/21
“As important as emissions of the greenhouse gas methane are in the climate conversation, recently factoring prominently in the recent COP26 conference in Glasgow, researchers have painfully little long-term data on emissions from wells and other oil and gas infrastructure. That makes answering questions about the sources and magnitudes of emissions, as well as year-to-year trends across an entire production region, difficult,” according to Phys.org. “Answers are starting to come from Utah's Uinta Basin, home to possibly the longest continuous methane monitoring site in an oil and gas-producing region. Since 2015, researchers have been tracking emissions from oil and gas wells and report that, over that time, emissions from the region have fallen by half. But more analysis of leak rates shows that the oil and gas industry has a ways to go in stopping methane leaks, which impact the climate and human health and can impose costs on Utah's economy… “Between 2015 and 2020, the researchers observed, methane emissions in the Uinta Basin approximately halved. Natural gas production also fell to around half of its peak, as fossil fuel prices collapsed after 2014. This initial result is good news—less methane in the air is good for the climate and for human health. But the researchers also noted that the amount of methane still leaking from the remaining wells in 2020 was about six to eight percent of the produced natural gas, about the same as it was in 2015. "This means that the leak rate has stayed at a constant—albeit high—rate, even with decreases in natural gas production," Lin told Phys.org. This result was surprising because previous research had suggested that lower-production wells would leak a higher proportion of methane. "This may account for the high leak rate in general in the Uinta Basin since the average Uinta well produces less gas compared to many other counterparts around the U.S. However, it was nonetheless surprising that the leak rate did not increase as the Uinta wells decreased in production."
CLIMATE FINANCE
Politico: ROYAL ENGLISH SHELL
Matthew Choi, 11/16/21
“The Anglo-Dutch oil major is planning on moving its tax residency to the U.K. from the Netherlands to the chagrin and “unwelcome surprise” of the Dutch government,” Politico reports. “Shell said in a statement that the move would “strengthen Shell’s competitiveness and accelerate both shareholder distributions and the delivery of its strategy to become a net zero emissions business.” “...Dutch pension fund ABP announced last month its plans to divest from fossil fuel companies, including Shell, and the oil major currently faces a Dutch court order mandating it accelerate its emission reductions, reports The Financial Times.”
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Slate: How the Oil and Gas Industry Has Broken Climate Education
KATIE WORTH, 11/15/21
“One early spring day I was sitting in the science department of an Arkansas middle school when a representative of the state’s oil and gas industry walked in. She was there to talk to the seventh graders,” Slate reports. “Her name was Paige Miller, a petite blond with a short shag cut and big silver jewelry. She told me she ran Arkansas Energy Rocks!, an initiative of the Arkansas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners, which describes itself as “the voice of Arkansas’s oil and natural gas community.” Twenty attentive tween faces watched as she cued up a PowerPoint presentation… “Fossil fuels have been very important to mankind,” she said, and launched into a list of ways that that is true. She showed the students a pie chart of the nation’s energy sources. Fossil fuels made up the majority of the pie. Each renewable energy source constituted a slim slice. But using fossil fuels comes at a cost, she told the students. “The problem with fossil fuels is carbon emissions,” she said, without elaborating on the nature of that problem. “But somebody’s going to have a problem with all of these energy sources,” she said. “Geothermal power works well but it’s expensive. Wind power a lot of people don’t like because they say it kills birds. A lot of people don’t like hydropower because they say we shouldn’t be damming up bodies of water. With solar, if there’s a tornado, what happens to the solar fuel?” “...The phenomenon of fossil fuel companies plying schoolchildren with their messages is decades old. The American Petroleum Institute was making the case for marketing to children as early as the 1940s, according to archives reviewed by the Center for Public Integrity… “In 1972, General Motors published a booklet to counteract what its pollsters said were children’s “negative” attitudes toward auto companies. The booklet featured cartoon characters “Charlie Carbon Monoxide” and “Harry Hydrocarbon” (a “harmless demon”) who helped dispel fears that air pollution could lead to serious health hazards. By the next June, the company had distributed 2.1 million copies of the booklet, including to 62,000 elementary-school principals.”
OPINION
Manitoulin Expositor: Letter: Writer happy Indigenous communities oppose Line 5
DS McPhail, Mindemoya, 11/17/21
“I am pleased to hear both the American and Canadian tribes in the Three Fires Confederacy around the Great Lakes have stepped up to lobby the various governments to shut down the 68 year old Enbridge dual pipeline that crosses the Straits of Mackinac,” DS McPhail writes for the Manitoulin Expositor. “Of course, Enbridge Inc., the host of fossil fuel refineries and groups with related economic conflicts of interest are screaming blue murder about the loss of jobs, forget the climate change issues for the short term. The real issue is that all of their arguments are moot once the Alberta tar sands shut down. Only the Canadian federal government is still propping up this economic and environmental embarrassment with billions of dollars of yearly subsidies, while the American, Chinese, Japanese and Korean investors have pulled out. Alberta premier and United Conservative Party (UCP) leader Jason Kenney continues to espouse a delusional view persistent in Alberta politics, that the province can once again make a fortune in the oil industry that will sustain the importance of the Line 5 pipeline.”
Politico: Op-Ed: The Cow-Shaped Hole In Biden’s Methane Plan
Viveca Morris, 11/16/21
“President Joe Biden made a bid for global leadership on climate change action by launching the first international agreement to reduce planet-warming methane pollution at this month’s U.N. climate conference in Glasgow,” Viveca Morris writes for Politico. “Days later, the White House unveiled the details of its plan to reduce U.S. methane emissions, calling it a ‘whole-of-government initiative that uses all available tools,’ including ‘commonsense regulations,’ to reduce methane emissions ‘from all major sources.’ That would be great if it were true, but it’s not. While the Biden action plan includes serious and essential new regulations on methane emitted by oil and natural gas operations, the plan includes no serious actions — none — to regulate our nation’s largest industrial source of methane emissions: animal agriculture. In fact, the Biden administration’s action plan misrepresents and minimizes the livestock sector’s contribution to the methane emergency. According to the action plan, the oil and gas sector is the ‘largest industrial source’ of methane emissions in the U.S. Landfills are ‘the second largest industrial source.’ But the cited Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data does not support this.”