EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 11/23/21
PIPELINE NEWS
Bloomberg: Keystone Pipeline Developers Seek $15 Billion From U.S. for Cancellation
Bloomberg: Biggest-Ever Carbon Capture Project Facing Midwest Opposition
Edmonton Journal: Wet’suwet’en supporters, B.C. pipeline and RCMP protesters block Edmonton's High Level Bridge
Facebook: Gidimt'en Checkpoint: ARRESTED LAND DEFENDERS APPEAR IN COURT TODAY; GIDIMT’EN CONDEMNS UNREASONABLE AND PUNITIVE CONDITIONS OF RELEASE
Reuters: Two journalists released in Canada after arrest at indigenous protest
Toronto Star: Arrests of media covering Indigenous rights are part of a continued effort to silence land defenders, legal experts say
The Narwhal: RCMP tracked photojournalist Amber Bracken in active investigations database
Press release: Governor DeWine, Lt. Governor Husted Urge President Biden to Keep Enbridge Line 5 Open
Michigan Radio: Enbridge did not report "dangerous" Line 5 tampering incident to federal safety regulators
VICE: XTRA GUAC: Here’s Everything Enbridge Is Buying Cops to Fight Protesters
Pipeline Fighters Hub: Know Your Rights: Landowners & Interstate Carbon Pipelines
WASHINGTON UPDATES
USA TODAY: US to release 50M barrels from strategic oil reserve amid soaring gas prices
Politico: A SECOND SHIP IN THE SOCAL SPILL SAGA
Associated Press: Biden mulls reversing Trump rules on western grouse species
STATE UPDATES
Beverly Press: Beverly Hills shells out $40M to plug oil wells
EXTRACTION
Casper Star-Tribune: Carbon capture may not be coal’s savior. But it could spawn an industry all its own.
Construct Connect: Carbon capture funding flows to Alberta projects
CLIMATE FINANCE
National Review: Fifteen States Respond to ‘Woke Capitalism,’ Threaten to Cut Off Banks That Refuse to Service Coal, Oil Industries
OPINION
National Post: 'Pipelines will be blown up,' says David Suzuki, if leaders don't act on climate change
PIPELINE NEWS
Bloomberg: Keystone Pipeline Developers Seek $15 Billion From U.S. for Cancellation
By Jennifer A Dlouhy, 11/22/21
“Developers of Keystone XL are seeking to recoup more than $15 billion in damages connected to President Joe Biden’s decision to yank a permit for the border-crossing oil pipeline even after construction began,” Bloomberg reports. “With a request for arbitration filed Monday, Calgary-based TC Energy Corp. formally opened one of the largest trade appeals ever against the U.S. and asked to put its long-running dispute over Keystone XL in front of an international arbitration panel. The legal claim is being mounted under provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement that allow foreign companies to challenge U.S. policy decisions. “The U.S. decision to revoke the permit was unfair and inequitable,” TC Energy said in its filing, blaming the U.S. for putting Keystone XL on a 13-year “regulatory roller coaster.” “...TC Energy has no intention of reviving Keystone XL regardless of the outcome of the trade case, which is designed to recover the investment it lost pursuing the project under three U.S. presidents, said Richard Prior, the company’s senior vice president for liquids pipelines. “We’re not doing this for symbolic or political purposes. This is a business decision,” Prior told Bloomberg. “We had all the permits and requirements in place to start construction on the line, and did so, and we worked with federal and state regulators in both countries for a very long period of time. This is just about recovering that destroyed value of investment.” “...The tribunal cannot compel a country to change its laws over the matter nor force approval of the pipeline, but it could award damages for lost profits and costs incurred by the company. Such investor-state dispute settlement claims by corporations against the U.S. are relatively rare, and the U.S. has a good track record in winning them.”
Bloomberg: Biggest-Ever Carbon Capture Project Facing Midwest Opposition
11/22/21
“What’s touted as the world’s largest carbon capture and sequestration project is facing headwinds from farmers and environmentalists even as John Deere & Co. and New York financiers are investing in the $4.5 billion endeavor,” Bloomberg reports. “...Such projects are necessary because the U.S. can’t immediately shut down all carbon-emitting facilities, including coal-fired power plants, and because there aren’t enough renewable energy sources are available to replace them, proponents tell Bloomberg… “Opponents contend coal-fired power plants, regardless of sequestration’s potential, should be shut down because their emissions harm the environment. They also say it could fail to achieve the level of reductions claimed by project advocates and boost fossil-fuel use by using carbon dioxide to enhance the extraction process. “We will fight these pipelines they same way we fought [the controversial Keystone XL] pipeline: using all-of-the-above organizing, including litigation,” Jane Kleeb, a spokeswoman for project opponent Bold Nebraska, told Bloomberg… “Project opponents assert the Summit and Heartland Greenway projects will ruin valuable farmland and compel farmers to grow as much corn as they can to produce ethanol instead of adopting more sustainable practices. They also cite the potential risk to polluting waterways and farmland if pipelines rupture and escaping emissions produce carbonic acid. Further, carbon tax credits and trading markets aren’t climate solutions but ways to shift polluting emissions among entities to enrich private interests, the opponents assert. And companies capturing carbon could always use those emissions for industrial purposes, including boosting oil extraction from the ground—meaning more fossil fuel use. Project opponents said challenging state and federal permit approvals could be part of a strategy to stop the pipeline. “We have to fight through the regulatory process, we have to fight the use of public money, we need to get as many landowners against it as we can, we have to make the case that it’s not a public necessity,” Jessica Mazour, Sierra Club conservation program coordinator, told Bloomberg… “The projects could rely on states’ use of eminent domain to site the pipeline if landowners refuse to grant access to their land voluntarily, some landowners worry. “If this comes down to eminent domain there will be some big fights, I believe that firmly,” Beulah, North Dakota landowner and resident Kurt Swenson told Bloomberg.
Edmonton Journal: Wet’suwet’en supporters, B.C. pipeline and RCMP protesters block Edmonton's High Level Bridge
Lauren Boothby, 11/22/21
“Reverberations of the Wet’suwet’en and TC Energy pipeline dispute near Houston, B.C., were felt in Edmonton Monday night as a crowd marched through downtown and temporarily blocked the High Level Bridge,” the Edmonton Journal reports. “About 200 people rallied to support the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs’ stand against the Coastal GasLink pipeline. Protestors condemn both the construction of the Coastal GasLink LNG pipeline and the arrests of 15 people, including two journalists, present when the B.C. RCMP moved in to enforce an injunction last week. Carter Gorzit, a spokesperson for Climate Justice Edmonton, told the Journal the protest is meant as a show of solidarity and also to send a message. “Unceded Indigenous territories and First Nations are sovereign spaces, and (the RCMP) don’t have jurisdiction now and can’t be arresting people or invading or forcing through the CGL pipeline,” he told the Journal. “It’s particularly (messed) up when they’re doing it with ongoing climate crisis occurring in British Columbia.”
Facebook: Gidimt'en Checkpoint: ARRESTED LAND DEFENDERS APPEAR IN COURT TODAY; GIDIMT’EN CONDEMNS UNREASONABLE AND PUNITIVE CONDITIONS OF RELEASE
11/22/21
“Twenty people who were arrested in a two-day violent raid on Wet’suwet’en territory are appearing at BC Supreme Court in Prince George today at 11 am. Those arrested include Gidimt’en Checkpoint spokesperson Sleydo’ and Dinï ze’ Woos’s daughter Jocelyn Alec, as well as two journalists. Those arrested are all facing charges of civil contempt for breaching the terms of a BC Supreme Court injunction granted to Coastal GasLink (CGL). CGL is seeking a number of conditions of release, including denying many arrestees access to a vast area of Wet’suwet’en territories. The proposed ‘exclusion zone’ is the whole Morice West Forest Service Road or any other areas accessed by the Morice Forest Service Road. Wet'suwet'en people (as determined by CGL) may be exempt from the exclusion zone for "cultural activities" (as defined by the RCMP), while being subjected to 'culture-free zones' around CGL work sites. CGL is also asking Sleydo’ to provide documentation to “prove” she is Wet’suwet’en, and is seeking conditions that would bar her from returning to her home on Wet’suwet’en Yintah where her, her husband Cody Merriman (Haida nation, who was also arrested), and her three children live. CGL is also challenging Chief Woos’s daughter Jocelyn Alec’s status as a Wet’suwet’en person because she has Indian Act status with her mother’s First Nation. The Indian Act is patriarchal and does not determine identity or belonging to a community…”
Reuters: Two journalists released in Canada after arrest at indigenous protest
By Kanishka Singh, 11/22/21
“Two journalists whose arrests last week at an indigenous protest against a pipeline in Canada drew widespread condemnation were released on bail on Monday,” Reuters reports. “Amber Bracken, an award-winning photojournalist who has previously worked with the Guardian newspaper, and Michael Toledano, a documentary film-maker, were arrested on Friday by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which was enforcing a court-ordered injunction in British Columbia. Over a dozen demonstrators were also arrested at the protest against TC Energy Corp’s Coastal GasLink pipeline. "The two journalists were released after signing conditions to abide by the injunction, to keep the peace and to attend court at a future date. Hearings continue for other contemnors," the police said in a statement on Monday… “Police said on Monday their relationship with the media was “based on mutual respect and professionalism”. The two journalists were not arrested for performing their job but for violating the injunction, they said. Toledano said he was arrested at gunpoint. "My arrest and incarceration were punitive and a blatant attempt to repress images of police violence against Indigenous people in Canada," he said on Twitter late on Monday. The Canadian Association of Journalists had condemned the arrests and urged the immediate release of the two journalists. Both are required to return to court on Feb. 14 for a hearing related to allegations of civil contempt of court.”
Toronto Star: Arrests of media covering Indigenous rights are part of a continued effort to silence land defenders, legal experts say
Olivia Bowden, 11/21/21
“Following the arrest and detainment of two reporters and 13 others by the RCMP in British Columbia Friday night, legal experts and reporters say the continued restriction of press freedoms while covering Indigenous rights is an attempt to silence the voices of land defenders, while simultaneously curbing reporting on the issue,” the Toronto Star reports. “And it’s something that has happened before, particularly when there is a need to document police action and violence against Indigenous people, they say. “It’s appalling that this is happening ... but also not surprising because this is what Indigenous peoples and Indigenous nations deal with day in and day out,” Brandi Morin, a journalist from Treaty 6 in Alberta who identifies as Cree, Iroquois and French, told the Star. Photojournalist Amber Bracken, who was reporting for The Narwhal, and freelance filmmaker Michael Toledano were arrested while they were reporting from Wet’suwet’en territory and they remain in RCMP custody. Both were covering land defenders who were blocking an access road used by Coastal GasLink pipeline workers. The blockade was created by members of the Gidimt’en clan, one of five in the Wet’suwet’en Nation, who have long protested the creation of the Costal GasLink pipeline that will cross their unceded territory. The RCMP said in a press release they arrested the 15 people, including the two journalists, to enforce an injunction. Those arrested were told to leave or be detained, they said, adding the reporters did identify themselves as media. Indigenous elders were among those arrested.”
The Narwhal: RCMP tracked photojournalist Amber Bracken in active investigations database
Mike De Souza, 11/22/21
“Police in Canada have been collecting information about their interactions with at least two journalists in a national database that tracks law enforcement investigations, an RCMP officer revealed in affidavits released in court on Monday,” The Narwhal reports. “The revelation adds a new twist to a case that has triggered widespread criticism, including in a scathing letter signed by more than 40 news organizations on Monday that urged the federal public safety minister, Marco Mendicino, to intervene. The RCMP submitted the affidavits in support of its actions over the previous week on unceded Wet’suwet’en territory, where officers arrested more than two dozen people, including journalists, in response to requests from a Canadian oil and gas company to enforce a court injunction so that it can build the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline project… “On November 19, 2021, PRIME database queries were conducted on Bracken who has several police interactions in the… area since 2020,” Cst. Benjamin Laurie wrote in one of the affidavits, dated Nov. 20… “In a separate affidavit, Laurie wrote he had conducted a similar search on PRIME for Toledano, noting the documentary filmmaker had “extensive police interactions” in the region as well as a “police history in Toronto.” The affidavit didn’t specify what “history” Laurie was referring to, but he noted that neither Bracken nor Toledano have a criminal record… “The arrests were made with the use of canine units and snipers. RCMP broke down the door to a tiny home with an axe to remove land defenders and the journalists, while officers used a chainsaw to extract one of the land defenders from a cabin on the drill site. The RCMP did not respond to a request for comment on Monday and it is not clear why police were tracking the two journalists who have received widespread praise and recognition for their work. “We are very concerned to learn that the RCMP was tracking Amber’s activity in an active investigations database,” said Emma Gilchrist, editor-in-chief of The Narwhal. “Amber has always conducted herself as a professional journalist and there is no excuse for the RCMP to track the activities of journalists.”
Press release: Governor DeWine, Lt. Governor Husted Urge President Biden to Keep Enbridge Line 5 Open
11/22/21
“Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Lt. Governor Jon Husted have sent a letter to President Biden urging him to help keep open the Enbridge Line 5, which supplies energy and fuel to the people and businesses of Northwest Ohio. The Governor and Lt Governor write that, "..any disruption in Line 5 operations would have a devastating impact on the economy of Northwest Ohio, further harming industry supply chains, eliminating thousands of good-paying jobs, and increasing the cost of fuel for transportation, heat for homes, and products Americans use every day." A report by the Consumer Energy Alliance states that the closure of the Enbridge Line 5 would also have widespread implications for the economies of Michigan, Indiana, and Pennsylvania including: 20.8 billion loss in economic activity; 8.3 billion reduction in combined Gross State Product; 2.36 billion in foregone labor earnings in salary, wages, and benefits; 33,755 lost jobs; and 265.7 million lower annual state tax revenues.”
Michigan Radio: Enbridge did not report "dangerous" Line 5 tampering incident to federal safety regulators
Brett Dahlberg, 11/22/21
“Despite describing an incursion on its Line 5 oil pipeline last month as “dangerous” and “criminal,” the pipeline operator Enbridge Energy did not file a report to the federal agency that tracks pipeline safety problems,” Michigan Radio reports. “Protesters gathered at an exposed section of the pipeline on October 19, and one of them took a wrench to a manual shutoff valve. Enbridge spokesperson Ryan Duffy said the company’s control center shut down the flow of oil before the protester actually started cranking on the valve. Now, the FBI is investigating, but federal pipeline safety regulators remain in the dark about exactly what happened. That’s because federal regulations only require certain safety problems to be reported if they last more than five days. Duffy said the problems caused by the demonstrators “did not meet the criteria for a report.” Bill Caram, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, called the five-day rule “a loophole that drives us crazy.” He told Michigan Radio the trust has been urging legislators and regulators for close to a decade to require reporting of all safety problems regardless of how long they last.”
VICE: XTRA GUAC: Here’s Everything Enbridge Is Buying Cops to Fight Protesters
Audrey Carleton, 11/22/21
“On July 29 at around 8 p.m., the Wright County Sheriff’s Office in Northern Minnesota deployed a group of officers to assist a neighboring county’s police force to quell protests along a stretch of oil pipeline,” VICE reports. “...In the days that followed, as protestors sat in jail and Wright County officers continued surveilling the pipeline, at least one made a pit stop at Subway, where they ordered two 12-inch Spicy Italian Subs and one 6-inch Turkey sandwich... “A few days later, the Wright County Sheriff’s Office expensed these meals to Enbridge, the Canadian pipeline company that owned the stretch of pipe the officers had been deployed to police. The expenses were paid out a little over a week later… “But new documents obtained via Freedom of Information request show that by October 6, a little over a month later, this total had climbed to more $3 million as the pipeline neared completion. The documents, which include hundreds of invoices, overtime sheets, receipts, and emails, paint a vivid picture of how this money has been used over the last year to incentivize policing to protect a polluting pipeline… “Some approved invoices for wages and overtime covered “proactive patrols”: surveillance of the pipeline without evidence of the existence of protestors or conflict. Scott Russell, volunteer with the North Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, sees this as evidence that the pipeline company is using local law enforcement as its own “private security.” On a few occasions, sheriffs’ departments attempted to receive compensation for non-protest–related expenses like attorneys’ fees, office supplies, live-scan fingerprint equipment, and a cargo trailer, but were denied, according to emails obtained via FOIA request. Rick Hart, manager of the escrow account for the MPUC, denied these requests in one instance because they did not meet the criteria needed to qualify for the account, including being specifically related to the pipeline and being provided for public safety. But other non-protest–related expenses, like shirts and pants, were approved, as were expenses backdated as far as 2016, four years before the creation of the account.”
Pipeline Fighters Hub: Know Your Rights: Landowners & Interstate Carbon Pipelines
11/22/21
“Many landowners in Nebraska are just now finally able to celebrate — after over 10 years of fighting — the complete return of their land sought via eminent domain by TransCanada for the cancelled Keystone XL pipeline. But another threat is now bearing down on these same battle-weary farmers’ and ranchers’ land and livelihoods, and in fact their very lives — from risky carbon pipeline project proposals,” Pipeline Fighters Hub reports. “These potentially explosive and deadly pipelines are also seeking to use eminent domain and take landowners’ property, this time for a massive network of new pipelines that are part of a scheme to use taxpayer money to clean up Big Oil’s decades of pollution. Impacted landowners on the proposed Summit or Navigator “carbon / CO2” pipeline routes and their neighbors in Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Kansas, and Illinois participated in an online forum on Nov. 18 to learn how they can protect their property rights, and stop these risky carbon pipelines threatening the Midwest. Attendees heard from attorney Brian Jorde of Domina Law Group, which successfully represented a co-op of Keystone XL landowners against eminent domain in court, and landowner groups in Nebraska, Iowa, and other states impacted by proposed carbon pipeline projects from Summit Carbon Solutions and Navigator CO2 Ventures, among others. Carroll Muffett of the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) also presented an overview of the risks of carbon pipelines, and how Big Oil and Gas are marketing this scheme as a false solution to our climate crisis that makes taxpayers pay to clean up these billion-dollar corporations’ generations of pollution in our communities. Several impacted landowners who have already been contacted by Summit or Navigator shared their experiences and concerns, and local groups organizing landowners opposed to the pipeline in Nebraska and Iowa right now discussed opportunities for joining forces to fight eminent domain.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
USA TODAY: US to release 50M barrels from strategic oil reserve amid soaring gas prices
Michael Collins, 11/23/21
“President Joe Biden is releasing 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to lower prices amid a recent spike in gas prices and soaring inflation, the White House announced Tuesday,” USA TODAY reports. “Thirty-two million barrels released by the Department of Energy will be an exchange over the next several months, oil that will eventually return to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the years ahead. Another 18 million barrels will be released incoming months, accelerating a sale of oil that Congress had previously authorized. "American consumers are feeling the impact of elevated gas prices at the pump and in their home heating bills, and American businesses are, too, because oil supply has not kept up with demand as the global economy emerges from the pandemic," the White House said in a statement early Tuesday. "That’s why President Biden is using every tool available to him to work to lower prices and address the lack of supply." The release of oil from the nation's stockpile will be taken in parallel with other countries, including China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom.”
Politico: A SECOND SHIP IN THE SOCAL SPILL SAGA
Matthew Choi, 11/22/21
“The Coast Guard named another ship as a party of interest as it investigates last month’s oil spill off the Southern California coast, with investigators boarding the Greek-operated, Liberian-owned ship on Thursday,” Politico reports. “The ship was involved in a January anchor-dragging incident near the pipeline at the center of the October spill, the Coast Guard determined. The Coast Guard is just one of several state, local and federal agencies investigating the disaster; Amplify Energy, the company that owns the pipeliine, disclosed last week that it was the subject of probe by the Justice Department.”
Associated Press: Biden mulls reversing Trump rules on western grouse species
By MATTHEW BROWN, 11/19/21
“The Biden administration on Friday said it will consider new measures to protect greater sage grouse, a bird species once found across much of the U.S. West that has suffered drastic declines in recent decades due to oil and gas drilling, grazing, wildfires and other pressures,” the Associated Press reports. “The announcement of a range-wide evaluation of habitat plans for greater sage grouse came after the Trump administration tried to scale back conservation efforts adopted when Biden was vice president in 2015. A federal court blocked Trump’s changes. But Biden administration officials said the attempt set back conservation efforts — even as the chicken-sized bird’s habitat was further ravaged by wildfires, invasive plants and continued development. Disagreement over the region’s sage grouse is longstanding and often bitter, and any new restrictions the administration adopts against energy or agriculture is sure to further inflame tensions. Republican-run states and industries that profit off public lands have clashed with wildlife advocates over how much space the birds need to survive. Many environmentalists insisted that the 2015 conservation plans didn’t go far enough because of loopholes that allowed grazing and drilling on land that sage grouse need. Opponents said they hobbled economic progress. Biologists say wide buffers from drilling and other activities are needed to protect sage grouse breeding areas where birds engage in elaborate annual mating rituals.”
STATE UPDATES
Beverly Press: Beverly Hills shells out $40M to plug oil wells
“Just in time for Thanksgiving, the city of Beverly Hills will finally complete its project management responsibilities to monitor and plug oil wells on the Beverly Hills High School campus,” the Beverly Press reports. “The final oil well of 19 total on Beverly Hills Unified School District property was secured and capped last month as part of a $40 million project. “We’ve done all the major plugging and now we’re just doing quality control touch-ups,” Shana Epstein, director of public works for the city of Beverly Hills, told the Press. Epstein told the Press she anticipated that the project would be complete by Nov. 24, with just a few “punch list” items outstanding. The school district was left in the position of having to clean up decades of oil extraction after energy company Venoco Inc., which siphoned its last barrel of oil from BHUSD land on Dec. 31, 2016, filed for bankruptcy in April 2017. As part of Venoco’s $1.1 million annual lease with the city and BHUSD, through which it extracted roughly 300 barrels of crude oil a day, the energy company was obliged to have the site cleaned up by Mar. 31, 2017. However, a bankruptcy judge ruled that Venoco had no further responsibility to monitor the site, making it the responsibility of the school district to monitor and plug the wells.”
EXTRACTION
Casper Star-Tribune: Carbon capture may not be coal’s savior. But it could spawn an industry all its own.
Nicole Pollack, 11/21/21
“Eleven years ago, Wyoming was worried about its coal plants. Not because of waning demand — coal production had just peaked — but because the Obama administration wanted to see carbon capture commercialized by 2020,” the Casper Star-Tribune reports. “The former president’s contentious Clean Power Plan wouldn’t be unveiled for another five years. Already, though, his administration was contemplating requiring that new coal-fired power plants capture and store their carbon emissions… “The Clean Power Plan didn’t last. Decarbonization did. And carbon capture is nearing market readiness at last… “As carbon capture technology advances, that infrastructure represents a head start for a state looking to boost its economic prospects… “Wyoming and North Dakota are the only two states authorized by the Environmental Protection Agency to permit their own carbon injection wells, simplifying the still-rigorous process… “Once carbon is captured, no matter the mechanism, it has to go somewhere. Researchers are making headway on a range of utilization technologies, from using it to grow algae to converting it into fuels, chemicals, plastics and cement… “Growth of enhanced oil recovery has been suppressed by volatile oil prices, the limited CO2 supply and the high costs of linking the existing pipeline to new parts of the state, including attractive but hard-to-reach oil reserves in the Bighorn Basin, Whitman told the Tribune. But if carbon capture can be installed at some of the state’s power plants, he told the Tribune, extending the pipeline to those facilities would solve the supply issue. More enhanced oil recovery projects might be incentivized to take advantage of the added supply, leading to expansion of the pipeline. Or, depending on the economics, the pipeline could be connected directly to storage sites.”
Construct Connect: Carbon capture funding flows to Alberta projects
11/22/21
“Up to $131 million in funding is being made available for projects that aim to implement carbon capture utilization and storage technology,” Construct Connect reports. “The money comes from Alberta’s Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) fund and is being invested into Alberta’s Industrial Energy Efficiency and Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (IEE CCUS) program, which helps industries save money and cut emissions through technology and equipment upgrades. “We are moving Alberta forward with climate policies that are creating jobs and actually reducing emissions,” said Premier Jason Kenney in a statement. “These investments will help create jobs, spur economic growth and continue the hard work that we are doing to protect our environment as a responsible and sustainable energy leader.” Seven projects will receive more than $100 million in IEE CCUS program funding, which will support an estimated 2,200 jobs and cut about 2.9 million tonnes of emissions by 2030. Up to $31 million in IEE CCUS funding will also be allocated to support more projects in the near future.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
National Review: Fifteen States Respond to ‘Woke Capitalism,’ Threaten to Cut Off Banks That Refuse to Service Coal, Oil Industries
By BRITTANY BERNSTEIN, 11/22/21
“A coalition of financial officers from 15 states sent a letter to the U.S. banking industry on Monday warning they plan to take “collective action” against banks that adopt corporate policies to cut off financing for the coal, oil, and natural gas industries,” the National Review reports. “The group threatens to scrutinize or potentially curtail future business with banks that adopt an “economic boycott” of those industries in a letter obtained exclusively by National Review. “Just as each state represented in this letter is unique in its governing laws and economy, our actions will take different forms,” writes the group, led by West Virginia treasurer Riley Moore. “However, the overarching objective of our actions will be the same — to protect our states’ economies, jobs, and energy independence from these unwarranted attacks on our critical industries.” The group of state treasurers, auditors and comptrollers from West Virginia, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, Alabama, Texas and Kentucky say they have a “compelling government interest” to eleven major financial institutions that “are not engaged in tactics to harm the very people whose money they are handling.” JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs were among the recipients. The letter puts the financial institutions that have “adopted policies aimed at diminishing a large portion of our states’ revenue” on notice, saying the banks have “a major conflict of interest against holding, maintaining, or managing those funds.”
OPINION
National Post: 'Pipelines will be blown up,' says David Suzuki, if leaders don't act on climate change
Tyler Dawson, 11/22/21
“David Suzuki, the godfather of the Canadian environmental movement, warned over the weekend that if politicians don’t act to reverse climate change, there could be attacks against oil and gas infrastructure,” the National Post reports. “We’re in deep, deep doo-doo,” said Suzuki Saturday, speaking at an Extinction Rebellion protest on Vancouver Island. “This is what we’re come to. The next stage after this, there are going to be pipelines blown up if our leaders don’t pay attention to what’s going on.” Suzuki, reached by the National Post on Monday, said violence within the environmental movement is already happening, although he identified police actions against anti-logging protesters and anti-gas pipeline protesters as the culprits. Asked whether or not he would support the bombing of pipelines, Suzuki said, “Of course not.” “The violence is coming from the authorities, from government, from the RCMP,” said Suzuki. “They’re declaring war against those that are protesting.” Still, Suzuki warned he feels that there are few remaining options for protesters who feel government isn’t moving rapidly enough to tackle climate change. What else is there but violence, he wondered. “I think it’s going to be threatened by groups that feel government isn’t going anything,” Suzuki said. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney called for Suzuki’s comments to be universally condemned. “This incitement to violence by David Suzuki is dangerous,” he wrote in a tweet on Monday. “In Canada we resolve our differences peacefully and democratically, not with threats of terrorism or acts of violence.”