EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 11/29/23
PIPELINE NEWS
E&E News: ‘Statutory rubber stamp’: FERC gas approvals face court battle
Radio Iowa: Ramaswamy calls on Iowa’s governor, GOP rivals to take a stand on carbon pipelines
Brownfield Ag News: SD Farm Bureau Takes Stance on Carbon Pipelines
Dickinson County News: Lawsuit expected as county tasks P&Z with CO2 pipeline ordinance
NOLA.com: Source of oil leak near Mississippi's mouth still unknown after 45 miles of pipeline inspected
City Limits: Environmentalists Urge Gov. Hochul to Stop Expansion of Multi-State Fracked Gas Pipeline
Canadian Press: Coastal GasLink pipeline project mechanically complete before year-end deadline
Reuters: Canadian pipeline operator TC Energy forecasts higher 2024 earnings
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Agency Power At Risk In Supreme Court Securities Fight
Reuters: US kicks off a spate of oil and gas auctions just as COP28 gets underway
STATE UPDATES
Wisconsin Public Radio: Studies find methods for removing carbon dioxide must develop faster to meet climate goals
Gasworld: Commonwealth LNG signs carbon capture deal with OnStream CO2
Loveland Reporter-Herald: East Loveland oil and gas application scheduled for state hearing
EXTRACTION
Wall Street Journal: What Is the Future for Carbon Capture Technology?
Oil Change International: Carbon Capture’s Publicly Funded Failure
CBC: Alberta announces new carbon capture grant program
Calgary Herald: Set to travel to Middle East, Smith to unleash plans to attract up to $35B in carbon capture projects
Carbon Herald: EU Unveils New Carbon Capture Plans At CCUS Forum
Canadian Press: Opposition NDP, First Nation chief demand public review of Alberta Energy Regulator
Reuters: OPEC head accuses IEA of vilifying fossil fuel industry
CLIMATE FINANCE
E&E News: Anti-ESG claim faces first legal test in New York
OPINION
Los Angeles Times: Editorial: On climate change, world leaders are saying one thing and doing another
The Messenger: COP28 Must Set the Stage for a Mandatory Methane Agreement
PIPELINE NEWS
E&E News: ‘Statutory rubber stamp’: FERC gas approvals face court battle
Niina H. Farah, 11/29/23
“Court fights over proposed Gulf Coast gas export facilities are exerting new pressure on federal energy regulators to reevaluate whether it is in the public’s best interest to ship fossil fuels to foreign countries as the world confronts climate change,” E&E News reports. “The permitting process for liquefied natural gas facilities is different from other types of gas projects because the federal government has to sign off not only on construction of the facility itself, but also on the fuel’s destination. The Department of Energy is responsible for greenlighting LNG exports, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approves siting and construction. Advocacy groups are making their argument in at least three pending court cases that the authorization process is in serious need of a revamp. “There’s a little bit of a buck-passing between the agencies,” Sierra Club attorney Nathan Matthews, who has challenged numerous LNG export terminals in court, told E&E. “We want to litigate the fundamental question,” he told E&E. “Is this in the nation’s interest?” A lack of analysis is enshrined in at least part of the LNG approval process. DOE is required by Congress under the Natural Gas Act to greenlight gas exports to free-trade-agreement countries. “It’s virtually a statutory rubber stamp,” Megan Gibson, chief counsel at the Niskanen Center, which has litigated on behalf of property owners in the path of LNG projects, told E&E… “In addition to climate risk, LNG development often leads to wetland loss and diminished coastal resilience to hurricanes, Matthews of the Sierra Club told E&E. And LNG facilities are most likely to be located near low-income communities of color that already face disproportionate exposure to pollution. “Looking at the whole life cycle, it is contrary to the public interest,” Matthews told E&E. “It’s locking us into fossil fuels for another 20 or 30 years when we need to be ramping down our use.” Critics of the current system for LNG export approvals say they do not see the federal government’s approach changing without intervention from the courts.”
Radio Iowa: Ramaswamy calls on Iowa’s governor, GOP rivals to take a stand on carbon pipelines
O. Kay Henderson, 11/28/23
“Republican presidential candidate Vivek (vih-VAKE) Ramaswamy says the government should not grant carbon pipeline developers authority to seize land from Iowans who do not want the pipeline on their property,” Radio Iowa reports. “You have a lot of other Republicans that have been trained to behave like circus monkeys on this issue. You’re supposed to dance to the tune of certain puppet masters. I refuse to do that,” Ramaswamy told reporters in Iowa this evening. “Eminent domain should not be an option for anything to do with a carbon dioxide pipeline because it is not necessary.” On Friday in Des Moines, Ramaswamy will appear at an event with a group of carbon pipeline opponents called the Free Soil Coalition. “Eminent domain is legally inappropriate,” Ramaswamy said tonight. “I believe it is illegal and unconstitutional and I would like for at least Republicans to have the spine to stand up and at least speak that obvious truth.” Ramaswamy is calling on his competitors for the GOP’s presidential nomination should clearly state their views on the issue. He’s also challenging Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, who has endorsed rival Ron DeSantis, to say whether she’s on the side of eminent domain or not. “Anybody who is implicitly or explicitly supporting the use of eminent domain for this carbon dioxide capture pipeline is on the wrong side of this issue,” Ramaswamy said. “I don’t care if they have an R after their name. I don’t care if they’re a governor you’re supposed to otherwise bow down to in the state of Iowa.” “...Ramaswamy also revealed he’s met with influential Republican donor Bruce Rastetter, who owns Summit Carbon Solutions… “Ramaswamy said pipeline backers are welcome to show up at Friday’s event to have “a civil, open debate” about the Summit and Wolf pipelines. Ramaswamy told reporters this evening the projects make no sense and the risks of running liquid carbon through an underground pipeline “do not match the purported benefits.”
Brownfield Ag News: SD Farm Bureau Takes Stance on Carbon Pipelines
Carah Hart, 11/28/23
“South Dakota Farm Bureau has new policy clarifying their stance on carbon pipelines and private property rights,” Brownfield Ag News reports. “At the annual convention in mid-November, President Scott VanderWal says member delegates decided “if a pipeline or proposed pipeline has two-thirds of landowners along the line who have voluntarily signed easements, the company should be able to use eminent domain on the rest.” VanderWal says in the last year, Farm Bureau members decided land for carbon pipeline projects was too easy to attain via eminent domain and the new policy should address the concern… “He says a second policy was adopted to strengthen private property rights. South Farm Bureau wants more clarity on landowner compensation and better communication from companies pursuing any future value-added ag projects.”
Dickinson County News: Lawsuit expected as county tasks P&Z with CO2 pipeline ordinance
11/28/23
“County officials anticipate that adopting an ordinance to regulate hazardous liquid pipelines in Dickinson County will result in a lawsuit, but the Dickinson County Board of Supervisors chose to move in that direction,” the Dickinson County News reports. “The board voted unanimously on Tuesday, directing the county's planning and zoning commission to design such an ordinance. The expected ordinance would need to return to the supervisors for final approval.”
NOLA.com: Source of oil leak near Mississippi's mouth still unknown after 45 miles of pipeline inspected
MARK SCHLEIFSTEIN, 11/28/23
“The search for the cause of a Nov. 16 spill of up to 1.1 million gallons of crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico off South Pass has been expanded to include other pipelines near a Main Pass Oil Gathering line that was shut down on the day the spill was discovered, according to the U.S. Coast Guard,” NOLA.com reports. “A team of divers and operators of an underwater remotely operated vehicle have inspected more than 39.5 miles of the MPOG pipeline, with "no damages or indications of a leak identified," the Coast Guard news said in a news release Tuesday. "ROVs have also inspected more than 6 miles of surrounding pipelines, also with no damages or indications of a leak identified," the release said… “The Coast Guard did not immediately release information on the owner of the other pipelines being investigated for leaks, and did not say whether Main Pass has restored service in its main pipeline… “That 67-mile pipeline is used to funnel crude oil to shore from seven offshore well operators in the Gulf, all of which were shut in when the spill was identified, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.”
City Limits: Environmentalists Urge Gov. Hochul to Stop Expansion of Multi-State Fracked Gas Pipeline
Mariana Simões, 11/28/23
“Over 90 environmental groups sent a letter Tuesday to Gov. Kathy Hochul and elected officials across New England, urging them to take a stand against the expansion of the more than 1,000 mile-long Algonquin fracked-gas pipeline, which runs from New Jersey to Massachusetts,” City Limits reports. “Dubbed “Project Maple” by Enbridge, the Canadian fossil fuel company that owns the pipeline, the proposed expansion is still in the early stages of development and would tentatively replace existing pipes for bigger ones so that more gas could flow through. Environmental groups see the expansion project as a step backward in honoring the state’s landmark 2019 climate law, which seeks to move away from fossil fuels and guarantee that 70 percent of New York’s electricity comes from renewable energy sources by 2030. “We cannot achieve the goals of our climate law if we continue to expand fossil fuel infrastructure. And we really need Gov. Hochul to take that law seriously,” Santosh Nandabalan, a senior organizer at Food & Water Watch, one of the organizations that issued the letter, told City Limits… “Enbridge recently took one of the first steps in building out its proposal by holding an open call—that kicked off on Sept. 12 and ended on Nov. 17—for corporations to sign up and show interest in consuming the new gas service the expansion would bring… “Algonquin’s pipeline infrastructure, which includes three pipes of varying sizes, runs underneath the shuttered Indian Point nuclear plant in Peekskill, about 50 miles north of New York City.* The defunct facility still houses over 2,000 tons of irradiated fuel rods in addition to other radioactive waste, according to Food & Water Watch.”
Canadian Press: Coastal GasLink pipeline project mechanically complete before year-end deadline
11/28/23
“The Coastal GasLink pipeline that stretches across northern B.C. is mechanically complete ahead of the company’s year-end deadline,” the Canadian Press reports. “...The company announced in October that the installation of the pipe was finished, while mechanical completion means the end of construction, successful hydrotesting of the full 670-kilometre line and engineering reviews. The statement says Coastal GasLink’s team is in the field getting ready to deliver gas to the LNG Canada processing and export facility in Kitimat, on B.C.’s northern coast. Planning for the pipeline began a decade ago and the project has been delayed by protests, including train blockades by First Nations across the country. The pipeline was originally estimated to cost $6.2 billion, but that climbed to $14.5 billion in the most recent price tag released by TC Energy earlier this year.”
Reuters: Canadian pipeline operator TC Energy forecasts higher 2024 earnings
Seher Dareen and Rod Nickel, 11/28/23
“Canadian oil and gas pipeline company TC Energy (TRP.TO) said on Tuesday it expects adjusted core earnings for 2024 to be 5% to 7% higher than in 2023, in a year when a competitor completes a major oil pipeline expansion,” Reuters reports. “While global natural gas prices have slumped compared to last year, prices are still high enough for companies to produce profitably, boosting pipeline demand. TC's Keystone oil pipeline, which moves crude from Alberta to U.S. Midwest refineries and the Cushing, Oklahoma storage hub, faces stiffer competition starting in the first quarter when the Canadian government-owned Trans Mountain pipeline (TMC.UL) is scheduled to complete an expansion. TC has contracts with shippers for 94% of Keystone's capacity, but the remaining 6% capacity for spot shipments faces "headwinds" as Trans Mountain expands, Bevin Wirzba, intended CEO of South Bow, the name of TC's planned oil business spin-off, told Reuters… “The company, best known for its Keystone oil pipeline, is undergoing an overhaul. In July, it said it would spin off its liquids business in the second half next year to focus on transporting natural gas.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Agency Power At Risk In Supreme Court Securities Fight
Pamela King, 11/27/23
“The Supreme Court’s decision in a battle over the power of agencies to punish investment fraud has the potential to upend federal enforcement against polluters and pipeline builders,” E&E News reports. “During oral arguments Nov. 29, the Supreme Court will consider the Biden administration’s arguments that the Securities and Exchange Commission has the constitutional authority to enforce its own rules against hedge fund manager and conservative talk radio host George Jarkesy, who stands accused of lying about audits, misrepresenting investments and overvaluing holdings. In SEC v. Jarkesy, the justices could decide that the enforcement case should instead go to federal court, an outcome that would transform how agencies like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, EPA and the Interior Department handle legal issues internally — and potentially handcuff Congress from delegating power to the executive branch. ‘While this case arises out of an SEC enforcement action, there is nothing SEC-specific about the multiple, grave, constitutional violations that occurred here,’ energy industry lawyers wrote in an amicus brief. In 2017, the latest year for which data is available, the federal government employed about 2,000 administrative law judges, according to the Office of Personnel Management. More than half of those in-house judges worked for the Social Security Administration. Nine worked for Interior. Three worked for EPA.”
Reuters: US kicks off a spate of oil and gas auctions just as COP28 gets underway
11/28/23
“The Biden administration on Tuesday said it raised $3.4 million from a sale of oil and gas drilling rights in Wyoming, the first in a series of such sales that will coincide with a United Nations' conference aimed at combating fossil fuel-driven climate change in Dubai,” Reuters reports. “The Interior Department's U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) offered 37 parcels on 35,000 acres (14,164 hectares) in Wyoming, with just 18 tracts on 21,500 acres receiving bids, the agency said in a statement. The sale was the largest of a BLM plan to offer 63 drilling parcels on nearly 44,000 acres (17,806 hectares) in six Western states over the next two weeks… “BLM will also offer acreage in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Nevada, North Dakota and Utah on Nov. 30, Dec. 5 and Dec. 12… “Environmental groups were critical of the sales. "Instead of doing the necessary work to fight climate change, Biden continues to support the expansion of fossil fuels here in the U.S.," Nicole Ghio, senior fossil fuels program manager for Friends of the Earth, told Reuters.
STATE UPDATES
Wisconsin Public Radio: Studies find methods for removing carbon dioxide must develop faster to meet climate goals
Danielle Kaeding, 11/28/23
“Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison say new technologies for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere must be developed faster to meet goals to reduce global warming,” Wisconsin Public Radio reports. “...Scientists and nations say those technologies are part of the solution to cut carbon emissions, but critics of the fossil fuel industry say oil and gas companies rely too heavily on such options to continue business as usual… “Greg Nemet, a professor in the university’s La Follette School of Public Affairs, told WPR new technologies only account for a tiny fraction of what’s currently removed at about 2 million tons. "We're at one-one thousandth of the scale of what we're already doing with trees and about one-one thousandth of the scale of where we need to get to in the next 30 years," Nemet told WPR. "So, there's a lot of concern." Even so, some scientists have feared relying on technologies that remove carbon dioxide will only prolong the use of fossil fuels as the oil and gas industry have supported such measures… “Nemet told WPR that means carbon dioxide removal technologies would have to grow at a rate of about 40 percent per year… “As technologies are developed, Greene told WPR researchers determined the number of direct air capture plants that remove carbon dioxide would have to grow from 18 small facilities to around 90 large-scale plants by 2040.”
Gasworld: Commonwealth LNG signs carbon capture deal with OnStream CO2
Molly Burgess, 11/29/23
“Houston-based Commonwealth LNG has signed a deal to implement carbon dioxide (CO2) capture equipment near its 9.3 million tonnes per annum liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility under development in Cameron, Louisiana,” Gasworld reports. “The LNG specialist has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Onstream CO2, a joint venture between Carbonvert and Castex Carbon Solutions, for the effort that will reduce the site’s CO2 emissions. Under terms of the deal, OnStream CO2 will design, construct, own, and operate carbon dioxide (CO2) capture equipment near the Commonwealth LNG site. The captured CO2 will be permanently sequestered at the Cameron Parish CO2 Hub… “Commonwealth LNG anticipates a final investment decision on its LNG project in the first half of 2024, with first cargo deliveries expected in 2027.”
Loveland Reporter-Herald: East Loveland oil and gas application scheduled for state hearing
JOCELYN ROWLEY, 11/27/23
“An application for an oil and gas development in east Loveland has cleared one of its final hurdles at the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) and now faces a public hearing on Wednesday, according to a recent email from City Manager Steve Adams to City Council members,” according to the Loveland Reporter-Herald. “Last week, the director of the ECMC, an agency formerly known as the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, issued a recommendation for conditional approval of the East (CE) well pad site, a project proposed by McWhinney subsidiary MRG LLC… “The city issued a conditional approval of the application in August, along with a list of issues to fix before a permit is issued. Among other items, MRG will be required to use pipelines to transport oil and gas during production rather than trucks, use electric drill rigs to complete drilling, perform baseline air quality monitoring on a weekly basis and submit weekly reports to the city about spills, accidents or complaints… “ It also received dozens of public comments, mostly from east Loveland residents opposed to the project due to strong concerns about the potential health and environmental impacts of fracking.”
EXTRACTION
Wall Street Journal: What Is the Future for Carbon Capture Technology?
Bart Ziegler, 11/28/23
“...A key goal is to move away from using oil, natural gas and coal in power generation and other industrial processes that release carbon dioxide as a byproduct. But another strategy, still in its early days, is to capture the carbon dioxide from fossil fuels before it enters the atmosphere and store it deep underground,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “So far this technology, which involves using chemicals to absorb the carbon found in exhaust fumes, is expensive and energy-consuming. Also, approved storage sites are scarce… “Others say that carbon capture is a wasteful distraction from transitioning much faster to green energy that doesn’t create the pollutant in the first place. The Wall Street Journal gathered three experts to discuss carbon capture and storage, or CCS: Charles Harvey, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Benjamin Longstreth, global director of carbon capture for the Boston-based environmental group Clean Air Task Force; and Naomi Oreskes, professor of the history of science and affiliated professor of earth and planetary sciences at Harvard University… “NAOMI ORESKES: What is happening is the U.S. government has created a massive new subsidy for the already heavily subsidized fossil-fuel industry, in the form of the 45Q tax credit for CCS. The credits are mostly going to fossil-fuel companies whose stated goal is to continue to use fossil fuels. They are helping to prop up an industry that needs to see the sun set… “CHARLES HARVEY: Over the past 15 years, billions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted on CCS projects that failed to inject any carbon into the ground. The small amount that has been sequestered is almost all for enhanced oil recovery, a process in which carbon dioxide is injected into oil fields to force out more petroleum… “LONGSTRETH: There have been no documented cases of CO2 leaking into underground sources of drinking water. ORESKES: Charlie and I are both geologists, and I think we can say with confidence that there is no such thing as a “leakproof” place to keep gas forever… “Ben says there have been “no documented cases of CO2 leakage into underground sources of drinking water.” But it isn’t at all clear that existing monitoring is adequate to detect leakage… “ORESKES: I don’t share Ben’s optimistic view. Public resistance to pipelines is dramatically increasing for a variety of reasons, including the gross infringements we have witnessed in recent years on tribal authority, on local governance and on private property rights… “ORESKES: The only way to slow and eventually stop disruptive climate change is to stop putting more carbon pollution into the atmosphere.”
Oil Change International: Carbon Capture’s Publicly Funded Failure
11/29/23
“Carbon, Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCS or CCUS) has a 50-year history of failure,” according to Oil Change International. “CCS is often presented as a new technology to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by trapping CO2 from a smokestack or directly from the air and then injecting it into the ground for storage. In fact, CCS was first developed in the 1970s to enhance oil production, and increased oil production remains its primary use. Oil Change International research finds that 79% of operating carbon capture capacity globally sends captured CO2 to produce more oil (via Enhanced Oil Recovery). The story of CCS as a method to reduce CO2 emissions is one of overpromising and under-delivering. Analysis after analysis has concluded that CCS is not a climate solution. In September 2023, the International Energy Agency noted that: “The history of CCUS has largely been one of “underperformance” and “unmet expectations.” Yet Big Oil consistently tells us that CCS is central to the fight against climate change. Chevron, for example, says that CCS will make a “lower carbon future possible.” In the run-up to COP28 in the United Arab Emirates, the oil industry and many governments are ramping up their promotion of CCS as an integral part of the collective response to climate change… “Data from our project’s database and analysis from leading experts such as IEEFA and others show that the majority of carbon capture (CCS) projects exist only to enable oil and gas production and fail to reduce overall emissions. 79% of operating carbon capture capacity globally sends captured CO2 to produce more oil (via Enhanced Oil Recovery); 67% of operating carbon capture capacity globally captures emissions from processing CO2-rich gas.”
CBC: Alberta announces new carbon capture grant program
Michelle Bellefontaine, 11/28/23
“The Alberta government introduced a new program Tuesday to increase investment in carbon capture, utilization and storage facilities (CCUS) in the province,” CBC reports. “The Alberta Carbon Capture Incentive Program or ACCIP will grant up to 12 per cent of eligible capital costs to companies adding CCUS to their projects. The program will launch after the federal government passes the new CCUS investment tax credit announced in the fall economic update into law. More details on the provincial program are expected to come this spring. Premier Danielle Smith said the program is projected to add $35 billion in new investment over the next decade. She said government funding will be in the range of $3.5 to $5.3 billion, with some of it coming from the Technology Innovation Emissions Reduction (TIER) fund… "This technology is important because we're working to phase out emissions we're not phasing out energy production," Smith told CBC… “Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley didn't have an issue with the program to help fund emissions reductions. But she questioned Smith and her government making CCUS the only way it plans to reduce emissions. "The fact that this provincial government is putting all its eggs just into that basket is concerning to me because emissions reduction is not only an environmental necessity, it is also an economic opportunity," she told CBC.
Calgary Herald: Set to travel to Middle East, Smith to unleash plans to attract up to $35B in carbon capture projects
Chris Varcoe, 11/28/23
“Alberta Premier Danielle Smith will head to the COP28 conference in Dubai this week and then travel in the Middle East with a pivotal new climate policy in hand: a carbon capture incentive program that could attract up to $35 billion in investment,” the Calgary Herald reports. “...Provincial grants will be paid out over three years, but only once a project is operating. The program is expected to cost between $3.2 billion to $5.3 billion by 2035, depending on the number of projects. In turn, the government estimates such developments will generate about $35 billion in capital investment across the province during that period, creating up to 21,000 jobs. “We are going to make some real headway in helping people to understand how committed we are to reaching a 2050 carbon neutral target and doing it with the help of the industry and technology,” Smith told the Herald. “But while we’re in the region, we want to try to touch base with representatives from Abu Dhabi and Doha and Riyadh … I want to start exploring the ways in which they might want to invest in Alberta.” “...Part of the funding for the new program is expected to come from the province’s Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) program. Further program details are anticipated to be released next spring. “Alberta is not (in) for a penny until the investment is made … If nothing is spent by these companies or by the federal government, then nothing is spent by the people of Alberta,” Alberta Energy Minister Brian Jean told the Herald. “The world is looking for opportunities like this to store their carbon and we’re able to do it right underneath in our basement.” “...The idea of providing incentives to the oil and gas industry will face some opposition, with environmental groups noting recently the sector has recently recorded large profits.”
Carbon Herald: EU Unveils New Carbon Capture Plans At CCUS Forum
Violet George, 11/28/23
“This year’s edition of the CCUS Forum, organized by the European Commission, has a strong emphasis on CCS network projects,” the Carbon Herald reports. “The annual event is taking place in Aalborg, Denmark, where five ministers have just signed the EU CCUS Aalborg declaration, which is a particularly strong indicator of the recognition of carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a key component to achieving climate goals. As per the document, work will commence on enabling cross-border CCS initiatives in Denmark, Sweden, France, the Netherlands ánd Germany… “Furthermore, the EC shared its plans to begin work on CO2 standardization and the creation of an industrial carbon management knowledge sharing network. The European Commission Science, Research & Innovation organization also offered a glimpse of its preliminary study on CO2 transport networks, where it is estimated to span more than 19,000 kilometers (~11,806 miles) by 2050… “The network will involve 20 countries, from which emissions will be captured and 13, in which they will be transported to for permanent storage, across a total of 31 cross-border points.”
Canadian Press: Opposition NDP, First Nation chief demand public review of Alberta Energy Regulator
Bob Weber, 11/28/23
“Alberta's New Democrat Opposition and a prominent First Nations leader are calling for a review of the province's energy regulator to be held in public, with public input,” the Canadian Press reports. “Opposition environment critic Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse says the current process, led by a longtime supporter of conservative parties in Alberta, is too secretive. "Albertans deserve unbiased public oversight," she told CP. "This should be a public review, not a secretive review that the United Conservatives had their paid friend to conduct behind closed doors." A recently released document shows David Yager, a longtime oilpatch executive, journalist and conservative activist and fundraiser, is being paid $70,000 to review the Alberta Energy Regulator. The disclosure reveals little about what Yager has been asked to review. It refers to a “review” of the regulator and gives an end date of February. Alberta’s energy ministry did not immediately provide a response. Nor did it expand on Yager's terms of reference, who he will be asked to consult with or what the opportunities will be for public input in the review of an agency that oversees everything from well cleanup to oilsands tailings management to coal mining in the Rockies… “Allan Adam, chief of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation downstream from those releases, told CP his people have lost faith in the regulator. "At every opportunity, the (regulator) has dismissed our concerns," he told CP… "I would like the (regulator) to immediately cease what they're doing," he told CP "They're not credible enough to do anything.”
Reuters: OPEC head accuses IEA of vilifying fossil fuel industry
Maha El Dahan, 11/27’23
“OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais on Monday accused the International Energy Agency (IEA) of vilifying the oil and gas industry, in the latest clash between the groups over climate policy,” Reuters reports. “Al Ghais was referring to a note published by the West's energy watchdog on Thursday that said the fossil fuel industry was facing a "moment of truth" where producers had to choose between deepening the climate crisis or shifting to clean energy. "This presents an extremely narrow framing of challenges before us, and perhaps expediently plays down such issues as energy security, energy access and energy affordability," Al Ghais said in a statement. "It also unjustly vilifies the industry as being behind the climate crisis." The Organization of the Petroleum-Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the Paris-based IEA have repeatedly clashed in recent years over issues such as long-term oil demand prospects and investment in new hydrocarbon supplies.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
E&E News: Anti-ESG claim faces first legal test in New York
Lesley Clark, 11/29/23
“A New York court may be the first to consider a legal claim leveled by critics of investment managers who account for climate risk,” E&E News reports. “In their lawsuit before the New York Supreme Court, four New York City employees and the conservative nonprofit Americans for Fair Treatment contend that a decision by former Mayor Bill de Blasio to rid public pension funds of billions of dollars in fossil fuel investments put their retirement at risk. The case — and the theory that asset managers breached their fiduciary duties by including climate-related risks when assessing the financial liability of energy companies — “could open up a floodgate of litigation,” Robert Skinner, a partner at Ropes & Gray, told E&E. “Energy companies themselves freely admit that technological and regulatory changes to address climate change may hurt their share price in the long run,” Skinner, who is not involved in the New York lawsuit, told E&E. “Asset managers can hardly ignore those facts.” Republicans across the United States have cited environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing as a threat to the energy industry. A federal lawsuit against a Labor Department rule that allowed investment managers to consider ESG factors in decisions regarding retirement funds failed earlier this year. But the New York lawsuit — if successful — could unlock a new legal claim for critics of ESG investing… “The lawsuit argues that the three public pension funds that pulled money out of the oil and gas industry in 2021 “breached their fiduciary duties and abused their control” by divesting holdings in what the complaint calls a “misguided and ineffectual gesture to address climate change.”
OPINION
Los Angeles Times: Editorial: On climate change, world leaders are saying one thing and doing another
BY THE TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD, 11//27/23
“World leaders will gather for the COP28 United Nations climate summit in Dubai starting Thursday. And already, there are troubling signs that we’ll see another year of powerful countries spouting a lot of hot air but ultimately shirking their obligations to protect humanity from grievous and irreversible harm caused by the burning of fossil fuels,” the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board writes. “When will leaders get serious and understand that they can’t have it both ways? Humanity can’t zero out greenhouse gas emissions without slashing the production and consumption of fossil fuels. For two years running, world leaders at these annual climate change conferences have gone no further than a pathetic call for a “phasedown of unabated coal power.” It says a lot that after decades of scientific understanding of the dangers and causes of climate change, an explicit reference to fossil fuels didn’t appear in the final text of a COP decision until 2021. As a result of this failure, humanity is on track to blow past the critical threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit… “That’s a dangerous approach oil and gas interests have been pushing aggressively, and it’s not hard to see why. It leaves them free to continue extracting and burning fossil fuels, while promising to somehow offset the effects with largely unproven projects to capture and store carbon underground or suck it out of the air. This reckless fantasy only serves to prolong the life of these planet-endangering industries. The U.N.’s recent report makes clear that uncertain technologies should not be considered escape valves because of the “potential failure of these measures to become sufficiently viable at scale.” The only safe path forward is for the world’s nations to commit to ending the extraction and burning of coal, oil and gas. We simply cannot keep putting this off, year after year, and expect anything but a dark and painful future. Change has to start with the United States, which is both the world’s richest nation and the most responsible for climate change, having spewed more planet-warming pollution into the atmosphere than any other country in history. If we don’t act now, everyone’s future will be in peril.”
The Messenger: COP28 Must Set the Stage for a Mandatory Methane Agreement
Durwood Zaelke is president of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD) in Washington, D.C. and Paris; Maxime Beaugrand is the director of IGSD’s Paris office, focusing on international and EU climate policy and near-term climate mitigation, 11/26/23
“If there was just one strategy that could turn down the heat that is pushing the planet from global warming to global boiling, you would think global leaders would be pursuing it flat out. Regrettably, they are not,” Durwood Zaelke and Maxime Beaugrand write for The Messenger. “...The single strategy for slowing immediate warming enough to avoid such a catastrophe is to turn off methane — a blowtorch that is boiling the planet in the short term because methane traps more heat than carbon dioxide, making methane 80 times more harmful for 20 years after it is released into the atmosphere. Of course, we also must phase out fossil fuels as rapidly as possible, while recognizing that, in the near-term, cutting their carbon dioxide emissions only avoids a modest 0.1 degree Celsius of warming by 2050. Attacking methane can do three times as much, and sooner — by the 2040s. The U.S. and Europe started to address methane two years ago with a voluntary Global Methane Pledge, helping the 150 signatory nations to understand that cutting methane can reduce warming faster than anything else, and that technologies to do this are available and affordable… “For COP28, and its methane summit, to succeed in preventing climate chaos, it must put the previous pledge on a path to a global methane agreement that moves from voluntary to mandatory measures, with specific numerical targets, tight timelines and a dedicated funding stream — perhaps an “Agreement to Reduce Methane, Avoid Climate Tipping Points, and Eliminate Waste of Fossil Gas.” “...It is time to build a similar mandatory treaty to cut methane, starting with the oil and gas sector, even as we also pursue the fast phase-down of fossil fuels. The Montreal Protocol should be the inspiration and blueprint for a fast sectoral agreement on methane, separate from but supporting the 2015 Paris Agreement. Setting the stage for such an agreement must be a key outcome of COP28.”