EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 11/2/21
PIPELINE NEWS
Insider: Tribal nations are fighting a pipeline expansion putting livelihoods at risk. Why they say their voices were silenced
Mir Online: Enbridge’s Line 3 Pipeline: Mixing Oil and Sexual Violence
Michigan Advance: As Canada invokes 1977 Treaty, tribal citizens point to older treaties affected by Line 5
Reuters: Equitrans sees Mountain Valley natgas pipeline entering service next summer
Canadian Press: B.C. First Nation says it will protect land after arrests involving Coastal GasLink
Pen City Current: County could potentially see another pipeline
KXNE: Waste Not, Want Not: how a proposed natural gas pipeline could be a boon for industry
MassLive.com: Rep. Carlos Gonzalez looks to meet with Eversource, calling proposed Springfield gas pipeline a ‘potential hazard’
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: U.S. announces EPA methane rules at climate summit
E&E News: EPA climate order fuels calls for Supreme Court reform
Washington Post: After Trump, an agency key to Biden’s climate agenda tries to rebuild
STATE UPDATES
Carlsbad Current-Argus: U.S. Rep. Herrell hopes bill will protect oil and gas industry from species conservation
EXTRACTION
The Advocate: Massive Louisiana plastics plant faces 2+ year delay for tougher environmental review
NPR: Despite their climate pledges, the U.S. and others export huge amounts of fossil fuels
Canadian Press: As UN climate conference begins, Alberta has much on the line
Canadian Press: Oilpatch leaders fear ‘reckless’ move as Trudeau commits to emissions cap on sector
Financial Post: 'We’ve got all this cash': Analysts expect oil companies to keep buying their own shares in massive rally
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Chesterton Tribune: South Haven Fire receives grant for equipment
OPINION
Mining Journal: Enbridge vigilant, focused on safety
National Post: Jesse Kline: Trudeau declares war on Alberta oil
Calgary Herald: Braid: The high cost of regional bias in climate change action
Policy Note: Albertans have a right to be outraged…about the $3.5 million Allan Inquiry
Guardian: Our climate demands we change the world right now. The good news? We can
PIPELINE NEWS
Insider: Tribal nations are fighting a pipeline expansion putting livelihoods at risk. Why they say their voices were silenced
DeArbea Walker, 11/1/21
“Fasting, prayer, and rallies at water crossings is how Dawn Goodwin, a matriarch and member of the White Earth Nation recalls weathering through the first few days of demonstrations against the Line 3 pipeline expansion in Minnesota last November,” Insider reports. “Goodwin tells Insider it was very difficult to stand out there daily watching the drilling and digging take place. "I never liked the word 'raping' mother earth but there is no other word for it after going through everything we've been through." It's no secret that tribal nations across the country have a long affinity for protecting the earth and living off the land without disturbing it, activists say. And that's where the growing conflict between Indigenous communities and the building of corporate underground oil-pipelines threatening their way of life comes in. Jim Doyle, a Macalester College professor, calculated in his report "A Giant Step Backward," that the Line 3 pipeline, which transports oil from from Canada's oil sands region to Minnesota's western edge of Lake Superior, would be equivalent to firing up 50 new coal-fired power plants or 38 million vehicles… “Traditionally pipelines are built through minority communities, and spills are also more prone to happening in poor-marginalized communities. LaDuke tells Insider that's why the spill in California is so unique because the primary impacted communities do not fit the standard demographic. She says affluent people elect and hold power so now that they are impacted this could be the catalyst to push them to act. Either way, she says her tribe along with many others will continue to fight and hold demonstrations locally and in Washington to get to the pipeline shutdown because their livelihoods depend on it. "Affluence speaks to -- and elects -- power," LaDuke said. "The planet's been issued a CODE RED in the latest UN climate report. Is there anything more severe than a CODE RED?!"
Mir Online: Enbridge’s Line 3 Pipeline: Mixing Oil and Sexual Violence
Jihan Dahanayaka, 11/1/21
“In the past year alone, 13 men, including several Enbridge Line 3 replacement project workers, were arrested in human and sex trafficking stings,” Mir Online reports. “What’s more, last month, the company was found to have reimbursed Minnesota police $2.4 million for arresting, surveilling, and blocking protestors of the pipeline, rewarding the suppression of groups opposing the pipeline. These cases could seem to be perhaps nothing more than common, though deeply unfortunate, examples of exploitation, sexual crime, and a company attempting to brush their faults under the rug — hardly a new phenomenon. Yet, they indicate a far deeper issue involving the oil industry and the Indigenous communities caught up in their projects. The arrests are only the tip of the iceberg for the Indigenous women and girls caught up in the sinister link between oil infrastructure expansion and sexual violence and trafficking. As for Enbridge, the company seems to maintain a largely blind eye towards the effects of their expansion projects on Native territory… “From its failures in environmental protection and proper maintenance of its pipelines to paying off police for arresting and surveilling protesters of the Line 3 project, Enbridge has shown contempt and negligence towards its effect on any and all communities crossed by Line 3... “While providing essential services such as escorting Native women in potential danger, grassroots organizations can do little to change a system that seems, at face value, designed to limit and control First Nations’ sovereignty and power to protect their people.”
Michigan Advance: As Canada invokes 1977 Treaty, tribal citizens point to older treaties affected by Line 5
LAINA G. STEBBINS, 11/2/21
“For nearly five months, the Canadian government has repeatedly submitted court filings and letters to a federal court in the hopes of halting proceedings in State of Michigan v Enbridge — the case which will determine which court will preside over the state’s all-important lawsuit to enforce Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Line 5 shutdown order,” Michigan Advance reports. “...But left out of that conversation are other treaties affected by Line 5, which are hundreds of years old and much broader, like the 1836 Treaty of Washington and others like it that guarantee treaty rights to tribes. “When Canada invoked the 1977 pipeline treaty, collectively every Indigenous person, every Indigenous ally and attorney was kind of like, ‘Oh, so now you want to talk treaties,’” Bay Mills Tribal Chairperson Whitney Gravelle told the Advance Thursday… “In return, the American government guaranteed hunting, fishing and gathering rights to the tribes in those ceded lands — “for as long as the grass grows, the winds blow and the rivers flow,” said Aaron Payment, tribal chair of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Those rights were defined and confirmed with two consent decrees, which are regularly renegotiated. “You can see that all of Michigan is Indian land. Every bit of Michigan is ceded territory,” Payment told the Advance. “… This treaty predates that treaty that the [Canadian] premier is relying on to try to invoke some kind of protection to allow Line 5 to continue.” All 12 federally recognized tribes in Michigan are publicly opposed to Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline and its proposed tunnel-enclosed replacement in the Straits. Indigenous water protectors in the state point to the Canadian oil pipeline as a direct threat to their treaty rights, not just in the Straits but along the entire pipeline route that snakes through ceded treaty land.”
Reuters: Equitrans sees Mountain Valley natgas pipeline entering service next summer
11/2/21
“U.S. pipeline company Equitrans Midstream Corp said on Tuesday the venture building the $6.2 billion Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline from West Virginia to Virginia still expects the project to enter service in the summer of 2022,” Reuters reports. “Mountain Valley is one of several U.S. pipelines delayed by regulatory and legal fights with environmental and local groups that found problems with federal permits issued during President Donald Trump's administration… “Equitrans said in its third-quarter earnings release that it expects environmental regulators in West Virginia and Virginia to complete their water quality reviews by Nov. 29 and Dec. 31, respectively, allowing the project to stick with its targeted summer 2022 start date. Those so called Section 401 water quality certifications cover about 300 water crossings. Based on Mountain Valleys' targeted in-service date, Equitrans said it expects to start construction of the 75-mile (121-km) Mountain Valley Southgate extension from Virginia to North Carolina in 2022, which will allow that project to enter service in the spring of 2023. Southgate will cost about $450 million to $500 million and is backed by a 0.3-bcfd commitment from Dominion Energy Inc's North Carolina unit.”
Canadian Press: B.C. First Nation says it will protect land after arrests involving Coastal GasLink
10/29/21
“RCMP say officers will be patrolling a forestry road in an area where two people were arrested among a group blockading a Coastal GasLink workers' camp near Houston, B.C.,” the Canadian Press reports. “Cpl. Madonna Saunderson says in a release that police received several complaints about alleged vandalism and theft by protesters who had set up a blockade outside the workers camp over several days. Saunderson says the arrests were made Wednesday when RCMP were called to help keep the peace as the pipeline workers “evacuated” the camp. She says one person was taken into custody for outstanding theft and mischief allegations before a court appearance, while the another was allegedly found in possession of stolen Coastal GasLink equipment and conditionally released before a future court date… “A news release from the Likhts'amisyu, one of five bands within the Wet'suwet'en nation, says hereditary Chief Dini ze' Dsta'hyl was released Thursday after being held overnight. “In observance of Wet'suwet'en trespass laws, Dini ze' Dsta'hyl decommissioned 10 pieces of heavy construction equipment,” it says. The Coastal GasLink pipeline was approved by both the province and all 20 elected First Nation councils along its path to transport natural gas from northeastern B.C. to a processing and export facility on the coast in Kitimat. However, the Likhts'amisyu say the First Nation was never meaningfully consulted and has never given consent to fossil fuel projects on their land.”
Pen City Current: County could potentially see another pipeline
CHUCK VANDENBERG, 11/1/21
“County officials heard Monday that yet another pipeline could be traversing the county in the next few years,” the Pen City Current reports. “County Engineer Ben Hull told Lee County Supervisors during the board’s regular meeting on Monday that a carbon capture pipeline is scheduled to go through Lee County, but no additional details were provided… “County Engineer Ben Hull was notified Monday morning that the informational meetings were being scheduled in Lee County. He told the Current a company called ISG, a pipeline inspection company is interested in coming to a future board meeting to offer inspection services for the county on both the Navigator and NuStar pipeline projects. The pipeline companies pay for the inspection services, who monitor the pipeline’s impact on county property and private residents’ property in the county. “Of course we’re not going to be footing the bill for this anyway, but we want to make sure we have the right person in place. The last go round we were very happy with them.” Hull told the Current this pipeline really seems to be moving forward. He said the political nature could be volatile as the Sierra Club is highly against the project and is speaking out against it. “That brings to mind some of the stuff that happened during the Dakota Access that could play in more again.”
KXNE: Waste Not, Want Not: how a proposed natural gas pipeline could be a boon for industry
Josh Meny, 11/1/21
“The North Dakota legislature is proposing to put a significant amount of ARPA dollars toward the construction of a large natural gas pipeline from the Bakken, across the northern tier to Grand Forks, and down to Fargo,” KXNE reports. “House and Senate Appropriations Committee met last week to recommend an initial $150 million contribution to be considered by the full legislature during the special session starting November 8th... “North Dakota Pipeline Authority Director Justin Kringstad told KXNE by 2023, North Dakota will produce more natural gas than it can move if there is no expansion of pipeline. An added obstacle: producers can no longer flare excess gas due to a stricter regulatory environment… “Kringstad says until there is pipeline expansion from east to west, companies are going to continue locating elsewhere… “WDEA panelists discussed how the proposed pipeline would not only draw in new industry and value-added Ag projects to central & eastern parts of the state, it would also bolster a myriad of natural gas projects in the west.”
MassLive.com: Rep. Carlos Gonzalez looks to meet with Eversource, calling proposed Springfield gas pipeline a ‘potential hazard’
Douglas Hook, 11/1/21
“Massachusetts Rep. Carlos Gonzalez has requested a meeting with Eversource to speak on the proposed multi-million-dollar pipeline Eversource gas has proposed for Springfield and the potential hazards it could cause,” MassLive.com reports. “I am concerned for the potential hazard the proposal may have on the residents of Springfield. My priority should be moving to a less hazardous and greener production of energy,” Rep. Gonzalez told MassLive… “Eversource is asking for roughly $33 million to install a secondary natural gas pipeline in Springfield and Longmeadow that will be funded, if approved, by ratepayers… “A spokesperson told MassLive that Gonzalez is not only interested in discussing the proposed pipeline with Eversource, but also the disruptions that have occurred throughout the city of Springfield and across the state. There has been growing opposition to the pipeline from residents in Springfield and Longmeadow stating health and safety concerns in addition to questions regarding who will pay the project’s multi-million dollar price tag.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: U.S. announces EPA methane rules at climate summit
By Jean Chemnick, 11/2/21
“EPA’s long-awaited rules cracking down on oil and gas methane will debut today in Glasgow, Scotland, forming the centerpiece of a U.S. offensive against the second-most important greenhouse gas,” E&E News reports. “The proposed rules will cover new and existing infrastructure across the petroleum supply chain — including production, processing, storage and transmission… “The Obama EPA promulgated a rule in 2016 that covered methane emissions from new sources across the oil and gas supply chain. But today’s package for the first time covers oil and gas infrastructure that predates 2015. Those sources contribute the overwhelming majority of the sector’s methane emissions. The two-rule package goes much further than a Trump-era replacement standard for new production and processing operations only, and which was thrown out in court and removed via a rarely used congressional veto. The administration official said it would cut the sector’s methane output by about 75 percent. The administration will also announce today that the Interior Department will introduce a new rule limiting venting and flaring during natural gas production on federal lands. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration will propose a series of rules that “will significantly cover their 3 million miles of pipelines,” the administration official told E&E… “EPA said last night that it will include a comprehensive monitoring program for new and existing well sites and compressor stations, a requirement for zero-emissions pneumatic controllers, and a crackdown on venting of gas in oil production.”
E&E News: EPA climate order fuels calls for Supreme Court reform
By Pamela King, 11/1/21
“The Supreme Court’s extraordinary move last week to weigh in on EPA’s climate authority stoked new furor among judicial reform advocates,” E&E News reports. “Legal experts say the Friday order is a clear example of the influence of the Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority — an impact that some groups have urged the Biden administration to address through court expansion and other strategies. “If you are a climate change hawk and don’t yet support Court reform, now would be the time,” tweeted Brian Fallon, executive director of the progressive advocacy group Demand Justice, on Friday. In a short order issued Friday, the Supreme Court announced that it would hear a consolidated case from red states and coal companies challenging a federal appeals court ruling this year that struck down a Trump-era rule that gutted the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan. The decision was a stunning departure from the justices’ typical approach. They picked up the case — one of only about 80 that the court takes each year — even though the Biden administration is in the process of drafting brand-new regulations to address carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants. The Supreme Court’s ruling, which is expected by next summer, could hamper the Biden administration’s efforts. Biden’s EPA had urged the Supreme Court not to grant the case. Such requests from the federal government traditionally receive special consideration from the justices… “The fact that it took three conferences to reach a decision tells me there was vigorous debate, and Trump justices made the difference,” Vermont Law School professor Pat Parenteau told E&E.
E&E News: More oil vs. climate: Can Biden have it both ways?
By Lesley Clark, Mike Lee, Ester Wells, 11/2/21
“Persistent high gasoline prices are putting President Biden in an awkward spot as he pushes for a boost in overseas oil production, even as he attends a global climate conference,” E&E News reports. “Biden yesterday called the spike in prices an opportunity to push for change, and over the weekend he brushed off suggestions that it poses a conflict for his administration to ask foreign producers to increase oil supply at the same time it is calling for the world to slash emissions and move beyond fossil fuels. “As we see current volatility in energy prices, rather than cast it as a reason to back off our clean energy goals, we must view it as a call to action,” Biden said yesterday at the global COP 26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. But Biden’s approach is drawing criticism from his left flank and environmentalists who say he hasn’t gone far enough to disavow fossil fuels. “All the negotiation in the world is ultimately hollow unless Biden acts boldly to end the fossil fuel era at home,” Jean Su, energy justice director at the Center for Biological Diversity, told E&E. Su argued that Biden could stop oil and gas leasing on public lands and end fossil fuel exports through executive action, “but he refuses to do it. Biden contradicts his own moral imperative by leaving on the shelf his own tools to literally save lives and our planet from climate catastrophe.”
Washington Post: After Trump, an agency key to Biden’s climate agenda tries to rebuild
Joshua Partlow, 10/29/21
“Air-quality specialist Theresa Alexander had spent nearly three decades working for the federal government in the nation’s capital when Trump appointees in the Bureau of Land Management forced her to choose: Move your life to Colorado or lose your job,” the Washington Post reports. “...Among the 287 BLM headquarters employees who quit or retired — nearly 90 percent of those ordered to move out West — were wildlife biologists, foresters, fisheries experts and other scientists and specialists who would have played key roles in President Biden’s ambitious agenda to fight climate change and conserve 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030… “Several members of her team quit, along with others who protected endangered species and wildlife habitat or set long-term policy. “We were pawns in a political game,” she told the Post. Two years after President Donald Trump decided to move the bureau’s headquarters to Grand Junction, a small city in the mountains of Colorado with no direct flight links with D.C., Biden plans to bring it back. But the agency remains severely depleted, according to interviews with more than 20 current and former Interior Department employees, hobbling the Biden administration’s work.”
STATE UPDATES
Carlsbad Current-Argus: U.S. Rep. Herrell hopes bill will protect oil and gas industry from species conservation
Adrian Hedden, 10/29/21
“Republican U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell of New Mexico sought to protect industries like oil and gas via a recent bill from what she said were threats posed by federal protections for plant and animal species nearing extinction,” the Carlsbad Current-Argus reports. “Herrell worried critical habitat designations could impose undue burden on industry and thus threaten local and state economies. Critical habitat designations are designed to protect areas where threatened or endangered species either live or could inhabit, restricting development in including use for oil and gas operations… “Efforts to protect these animals should not sacrifice necessary local industry, Herrell said, and she hoped to codify into law a rule enacted by the administration of former-President Donald Trump allowing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to exclude areas from habitat designations based on their potential economic impact… “Environmental groups argued this rule would stymie population growth and range expansions by not allowing protection for areas a species could migrate to as it recovers.”
EXTRACTION
The Advocate: Massive Louisiana plastics plant faces 2+ year delay for tougher environmental review
DAVID J. MITCHELL, 11/1/21
“A new, more stringent review of the environmental impacts of a massive proposed plastics plant along the Mississippi River in St. James Parish will likely take more than two years,” The Advocate reports. “Environmental groups are cheering that scrutiny, arguing it could provide a more realistic assessment of the environmental damage the plant would do to an area they say already bears a heavy burden of pollution. But some local government and business leaders are trying to rally support for a project that could create about 1,200 permanent jobs and pour millions of dollars into the local economy.The Corps had already approved permits for the Sunshine Project, a $9.4 billion plastics plant that Formosa has been trying to build for three years, but it rescinded them a year ago. Environmental groups filed a lawsuit claiming the environmental study was inadequate, and the Corps acknowledged errors. Now the Corps is a conducting a more thorough review called an "environmental impact statement." It's only the fourth such review the New Orleans district of the Corps has conducted since 2008… “The review means construction on the project won't be starting anytime soon. The clock on that two-year estimate isn't likely to start until the spring when a public notice is expected to be published.”
NPR: Despite their climate pledges, the U.S. and others export huge amounts of fossil fuels
Jeff Brady, 10/31/21
“The U.S. may be on the verge of passing the most consequential climate change legislation ever. President Biden is expected to tout it at a big climate change meeting in Glasgow this week. But that won't change one of the country's major sources of greenhouse gas emissions: fossil fuel exports,” NPR reports. “The U.S. is among countries that plan to keep exporting oil, natural gas and coal for decades to come even as they work to zero out climate-warming fossil fuel emissions at home. In an increasingly controversial quirk, this is perfectly acceptable under the Paris climate agreement. Under that deal, countries set targets to reduce their climate-warming emissions. But fossil-fuel exporting countries, including the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Norway, do not have to count emissions produced by their exports. Instead, they are counted by the country that ultimately burns them. After the oil supply crisis in the 1970s, the U.S. banned crude oil exports for 40 years. A fracking-fueled boom ended production worries and the ban was lifted six years ago in a budget bill. The timing was ironic. "The ban was lifted in December 2015, actually while many of us were in Paris at the 2015 climate talks," Kassie Siegel, senior counsel at the Center for Biological Diversity, told NPR. If the U.S. stopped exporting fossil fuels now, Siegel tells NPR, they might never get drilled or mined in the first place. She wants President Biden to bring back the export ban. "The president can declare a national emergency under the National Emergencies Act and then reinstate the crude oil export ban on year-by-year basis.”
Canadian Press: As UN climate conference begins, Alberta has much on the line
Amanda Stephenson, 10/30/21
“As world leaders descend on Glasgow this week for the start of the 2021 UN Climate Conference, Alberta — the Canadian jurisdiction with perhaps the most on the line — will be watching,” the Canadian Press reports. “COP26, as it is known, will be the most significant global climate change summit since Paris in 2015. At that time, Canada committed to reducing the country's greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, with the aim of keeping global warming below 1.5 C. That target led directly to a number of actions taken by the Trudeau government, including the introduction of a federal price on carbon and a clean fuel standard that is on the way. The federal government has since raised the bar for its own emissions reductions ambitions, saying it now aims for a 40 to 45 per cent reduction by 2035. To help meet that target, the government has announced five-year emissions reductions targets for the oil and gas industry as well as regulations around methane. "It's important. It does have influence on policy and the development of the resources," Tristan Goodman, president of the Explorers and Producers Association of Canada, a lobby group that represents oil and gas companies, told CP. Goodman said while in the past, the oil and gas industry may have looked to the UN climate summits with a sense of trepidation, that's no longer the case. Since Paris, Goodman said, the industry has undergone a sea change in its understanding of the climate change issue, with many companies making net-zero commitments of their own and investing in everything from hydrogen to carbon capture and storage to wind power.”
Canadian Press: Oilpatch leaders fear ‘reckless’ move as Trudeau commits to emissions cap on sector
Amanda Stephenson, 11/1/21
“The federal government must work co-operatively with industry as it looks to draft an emissions cap for the oil and gas sector, Alberta business leaders said Monday, or risk far-reaching consequences for the Canadian economy,” the Canadian Press reports. “In an interview Monday, Grant Fagerheim, chief executive of Calgary-based oil company Whitecap Resources Inc., warned of the dangers posed by a federal government that he believes is setting ambitious climate targets that it doesn’t know how to achieve. “Setting out virtue-signaling commitments with no real firm targets is dangerous, and it’s reckless because at the end of the day, this is about the things that we can’t live without — food, heat, clothing and transportation.” At COP26, the UN climate conference in Scotland on Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally committed to a cap on greenhouse gas emissions produced by Canada’s oil and gas industry… “But Fagerheim said the oil and gas industry is fearful that politicians have “massively overestimated” the pace and scale at which the global economy can move away from fossil fuels. He said the government must sit down to talk with industry leaders about what is realistic.”
Financial Post: 'We’ve got all this cash': Analysts expect oil companies to keep buying their own shares in massive rally
Geoffrey Morgan, 10/27/21
“Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. is now trading at all-time highs and analysts and investors expect the company to continue buying up swathes of its own shares as the country’s largest oil and gas producer, like its smaller competitors, enjoys a boost from rising commodity prices,” the Financial Post reports. “CNRL signalled in March it would aggressively buy up to five per cent, or 59 million of its own shares this year, and the stock has climbed 69 per cent year to date. In fact, shares in Canada’s biggest oil and gas producer are rising so sharply they have eclipsed a high set Jan. 2014 of $52.31 per share and reached $53.44 each in Toronto Stock Exchange trading on Oct. 18. The Calgary-based producer’s outperformance raises questions about whether it should continue buying shares at elevated prices or instead spend its windfall of cash from crude oil and natural gas prices on additional dividends or to speed up an aggressive debt repayment plan. Across the Calgary oilpatch, companies’ boards are wrestling with the same question as they begin reporting third-quarter earnings results this week buoyed by oil and natural gas prices that have doubled this year.”
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Chesterton Tribune: South Haven Fire receives grant for equipment
11/2/21
“The South Haven Fire Department recently received a $5,000 Safe Community First Responder Grant from Enbridge,” the Chesterton Tribune reports. “The grant will be used to purchase 800 megahertz pagers for volunteer firefighters, said SHFD Division Chief Carter Garcia. The new pagers will alert firefighters and allow them to monitor the dispatch channel live in order to more efficiently and effectively respond to calls within their jurisdiction and for mutual aid response.”
OPINION
Mining Journal: Enbridge vigilant, focused on safety
MIKE MOELLER, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, Enbridge - Great Lakes Region, 11/2/21
“We respect the recent editorial from the Detroit News for highlighting the importance of energy security related to our infrastructure,” Mike Moeller writes for Mining Journal. “To be clear, Enbridge’s response to the recent criminal attack on a Line 5 valve site was immediate and appropriate with operators safely securing the pipeline before trespassers could do damage or put at risk those involved in the attack, the community or the environment. While Enbridge responded swiftly and as trained, any situation provides opportunity to learn. We will continue to evaluate security and safety across our system. Going forward we will redouble our work with local first response and law enforcement agencies to prevent dangerous destruction of our infrastructure. Enbridge has served Michigan for more than 65 years and is committed to providing a safe, secure and reliable energy future for the State and the region.”
National Post: Jesse Kline: Trudeau declares war on Alberta oil
Jesse Kline, 11/1/21
“If there was any doubt that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will pursue his climate goals at the expense of the Canadian economy, it was put to rest by his remarks at the COP26 conference in Glasgow on Monday, when he used the international forum to openly declare war on Alberta’s oil and gas industry,” Jesse Kline writes for the National Post. “...That these objectives would be pursued at a time when the economy is still reeling from the pandemic shows even more hubris and lack of judgment. A major theme of Trudeau’s speech in Glasgow was that Canada is leading by example… “All we can do is virtue signal and hope other oil-producing states — like Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Russia — institute similar emissions targets, and that energy-consuming states — like China and India — drastically reduce their reliance on fossil fuels. Neither scenario is likely to play out the way Trudeau hopes… “Capping emissions and ensuring the limit decreases over time will box the industry into a corner: it will mean that the sector will not only have to cut emissions to maintain production at current levels, but will need to take drastic measures if it hopes to have any ability to expand… “Trudeau the younger has once again created an adversarial relationship between the province that relies on natural resources to put food on the table, and a federal government that wants to use those resources to further its own political ends.”
Calgary Herald: Braid: The high cost of regional bias in climate change action
Don Braid, 11/1/21
“It can make people angry, even when they agree with what’s being done,” Don Braid writes for the Calgary Herald. “Alberta’s energy industry, for instance, was expecting a hard cap on oil and gas industry emissions and is already working toward that future… “Oil and gas production emits a lot of greenhouse gas; nearly 200 megatonnes a year — more than any other industry. Virtually everybody agrees that these emissions must be sharply reduced. But transportation, the next heaviest emitter, isn’t so far behind at about 190 megatonnes. Will there be a federal cap on that sector? No, says Steven Guilbeault, former rooftop stuntman and new federal environment minister.. “But you’d think there would be some bow to limits elsewhere, when one industry is forced to absorb the only hard cap in the entire country (and the world, for that matter). The federal strategy is simple. Rather than limit the fuel burners, you gradually shut down the fuel producers. Psychologically, not to mention politically, that makes Liberal climate change action easy for other Canadians to live with and vote for. Now, imagine what would happen if the oilsands and oil wells were in Ontario or Quebec, and western Canada were the hub for automotive, aviation, hydro power, etc. Right. There might be some kind of limits on oil and gas, but the other sectors would get their own versions, too. Any measures necessary in Ontario and Quebec would be diluted and spread around the country. This constant, casual unfairness hurts the whole climate agenda. It’s why Albertans who care about action can be pleased by what’s being done, but furious that it’s only done to us.”
Policy Note: Albertans have a right to be outraged…about the $3.5 million Allan Inquiry
J David Hughes, 11/1/21
“Last week Albertans received the fruits of the Kenney Government’s inquiry into foreign-funded “anti-Alberta” activities targeting the oil and gas industry. The $3.5 million report, a year late and a million dollars over budget, found no evidence of illegal activities or wrongdoing on the part of any individual or organization targeted by the Inquiry,” J David Hughes writes for Policy Note. “...The inquiry has been plagued with controversy and criticized for its failure to reveal any new information not already in the public domain. Premier Kenney was notably absent when the inquiry’s final report was released… “Although spending $3.5 million on this inquiry and $30 million per year on the war room may seem like an excessive waste of money, it is dwarfed by the $1.3 billion of taxpayers’ money the Kenney Government lost supporting the Keystone XL pipeline which was cancelled by President Biden. Those jobs are not coming back. The upcoming COP26 conference in Scotland will address the crisis of global warming. There is no easy fix, but it is certain that winding down production and use of fossil fuels as quickly as possible will be a crucial part of any solution. The Alberta government, along with many others, will have some very difficult choices to make to have any hope of limiting climate change. Given these urgent issues, it is hard to imagine a more useless waste of time and money than the Kenney Government’s search for boogie men to blame for Alberta’s fiscal problems represented by the Allan inquiry. Albertans deserve much better.”
Guardian: Our climate demands we change the world right now. The good news? We can
Rebecca Solnit, 10/30/21
“Nothing and everything and not nearly enough has changed in the six years since the Paris climate summit and agreement,” Rebecca Solnit writes for the Guardian. “The four players in our climate future – climate chaos, climate activism, climate solutions and climate finance – are still on a playing field filled with floods, flames and false solutions. Two of them are racing away from catastrophe, one is rushing toward it, and the fourth is undecided. Runaway climate change itself has gotten far worse: we’re seeing chaos and destruction, ice melt and early signs of systemic collapse of ocean currents, ice sheets and much else. Both the climate movement and the practical solutions have gotten far stronger, more ambitious, more capable, more diverse. Climate finance has run in both directions: far too much money is still pumped into the fossil fuel industry, but there have been significant successes getting governments, development banks, and private investors to cut financing and reframe the industry as fundamentally criminal… “Glasgow has to be a turning point, a point at which nations shift into high gear (a metaphor that still works with electric vehicles). The call is to change the world, and the job is entirely possible. But the longer we wait, the harder it becomes, the more doors slam shut, the more devastation overtakes us, the more it becomes too late for some places, species, systems. Looking back at 2015, it’s dismaying to see that we’re still so close to the starting line of the race.”