EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 1/20/22
PIPELINE NEWS
E&E News: Court may back Mountain Valley pipeline, despite NEPA fight
Mlive.com: Tribal testimony partially tossed from Line 5 tunnel case review
E&E News: How FERC, courts may change pipeline industry in 2022
Texas Tribune: With winter weather approaching, pipeline company threatens to cut off gas supply to Texas’ biggest power generator
Daily Reporter: Enbridge picks Michels affiliate for reroute of Line 5 pipeline
Billings Gazette: State grants access to Yellowstone River for power plant pipeline
Energy Information Administration: In 2021, 14 petroleum liquids pipeline projects were completed in the United States
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Biden supports removing climate provisions from stalled BBB
Politico: IN COMMITTEE
High Country News: Interior devotes billions to plugging old oil wells. Is it enough?
STATE UPDATES
Capital and Main: New Data Shows Massive Climate-Warming Leaks by New Mexico Oil and Gas Operators
Colorado Sun: Colorado must decide “without delay” if it will renew long-delayed Suncor permits, judge rules
EXTRACTION
Bloomberg: Methane Cloud Spotted Near Oklahoma Natural Gas Pipelines
Grist: Exxon pledges to cut emissions — but not from its oil
Press release: Imperial sets 2030 oil sands emission intensity reduction goal; expects to meet 2023 objective
Reuters: Chesapeake Energy nears $2.4 bln deal to buy Chief Oil & Gas -sources
Reuters: Less than half of projected U.S. renewable diesel output likely by 2025- study
Gizmodo: Chemical Production Has Exceeded the ‘Safe Operating Space for Humanity'
The New Yorker: Making Love in the Land of Oil Rigs
CLIMATE FINANCE
Press release: Enbridge Announces Closing of $750 Million Subordinated Notes Offering
Sierra Club: Citigroup Surpasses Peers With Absolute Emissions Reduction Target for Energy Finance, Still Fails to Rule Out Support for Fossil Fuel Expansion
Reuters: Citigroup sets rare hard target to reduce energy-sector emissions
Gizmodo: West Virginia Starts New Fake Culture War Against Blackrock
OPINION
FOX Business: Oil nears $87 after Keystone Pipeline canceled one year ago
InsideSources: Biden’s Keystone ‘Blunder’ Still Being Felt A Year Later, Critics Say
RealClearEnergy: Revisiting the Keystone XL Pipeline and Joe Biden's False Promise of 'Green Jobs'
Financial Post: We're witnessing the birth of an industry amid race for Alberta carbon capture developments
PIPELINE NEWS
E&E News: Court may back Mountain Valley pipeline, despite NEPA fight
By Niina H. Farah, 1/20/22
“A federal appeals court yesterday appeared ready to uphold an approval to extend the controversial Mountain Valley pipeline,” E&E News reports. “During virtual arguments yesterday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit appeared skeptical of green groups’ claims that energy regulators had failed to take a hard look at the environmental impact of building the Southgate extension connecting the natural gas pipeline to North Carolina. Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan said it wasn’t enough for the groups opposing the project’s Federal Energy Regulatory Commission certificate to argue that they disagreed with the agency’s reasoning… “The lawsuit, which raises claims under the National Environmental Policy Act, is the latest in a series of legal challenges to FERC approvals of natural gas pipelines. While the D.C. Circuit has recently struck down FERC certificates for projects like the Spire STL pipeline in Missouri and the Jordan Cove gas export terminal in Oregon, the court appeared to have few qualms about the agency’s decision to greenlight the 75-mile Southgate extension… ”The short hearing didn’t appear to bode well for Sierra Club and other environmental challengers, wrote ClearView Energy Partners LLC analysts in a note to clients yesterday. "While we would note that questioning by a single judge on a three-judge panel isn’t dispositive of the views of the other two," ClearView wrote, "the brevity of the oral argument and the lack of substantive probing on FERC’s position suggests to us that the Commission’s order may survive judicial review."
Mlive.com: Tribal testimony partially tossed from Line 5 tunnel case review
Sheri McWhirter, 1/19/22
“Portions of testimony from two of Michigan’s tribal leaders won’t be considered as a state agency considers whether to allow Enbridge to relocate a segment of its Line 5 pipeline into an underground tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac,” Mlive.com reports. “Administrative Law Judge Dennis Mack ruled to exclude portions of witness testimony by Whitney Gravelle and Jacques Leblanc, Bay Mills Indian Community’s president and vice-president, respectively. Enbridge sought to strike much of their testimony as irrelevant and outside the scope of the permit review by the Michigan Public Service Commission. Gravelle and Leblanc testified about the risks they believe a pipeline tunnel poses to public safety, tribal sovereignty and accelerated climate change. The tribe intervened in the case to argue the tunnel would be a risk to Indigenous food and water supplies, medicinal plants, economic livelihood, and their preserved treaty rights. “The Straits of Mackinac is a place of deep spiritual and cultural meaning to my people, where there are important cultural and historic resources still being learned of, and where Bay Mills and other Tribal Nations have Treaty rights,” Gravelle offered in her written testimony… “The testimony that was stricken explains the impact, the potential impacts of this project on treaty-protected rights,” Debbie Chizewer, Earthjustice Midwest office managing attorney, told Mlive. She told Mlive despite the loss of those Indigenous voices in the case review, they are glad the judge decided to include testimony from a longtime industry expert who said a tunnel explosion is possible if Line 5 were moved into a tunnel through the bedrock below Great Lakes waters.”
E&E News: How FERC, courts may change pipeline industry in 2022
By Niina H. Farah, Miranda Willson, Carlos Anchondo, 1/20/22
“The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, courts and states are poised to set policies in 2022 that could make long-term changes to the natural gas pipeline industry, following a year that saw cancellations of major projects,” E&E News reports. “FERC is under heightened pressure this year to reform the way it greenlights new pipelines, following recent court rulings and criticism that it has not done enough to analyze the environmental effects of natural gas infrastructure. But rising natural gas prices, constraints in the pipeline system and growing threats to electric reliability have also led some regulators and state leaders to call for more gas infrastructure to be built. The potential for changes to FERC’s reviews of projects and opposition in some states could mean a harder road for new pipelines to clear regulatory hurdles, particularly as the Biden administration is aiming to slash the country’s carbon footprint, observers say. The past two years have seen high-profile pipeline cancellations following state, property owner and environmentalist opposition, starting with the Constitution and Atlantic Coast pipelines in 2020, and the PennEast pipeline and the Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas project in 2021… “In addition to establishing a method for determining the significance and cost of projects’ climate change impacts, Glick is aiming to reform the commission’s so-called certificate policy statement, which guides how the agency reviews and approves new natural gas projects. Instead of largely signing off on projects based on whether they’ve secured contracts with shippers, FERC could begin considering a broader range of factors, such as environmental justice impacts and states’ climate goals, according to a notice issued last year.”
Texas Tribune: With winter weather approaching, pipeline company threatens to cut off gas supply to Texas’ biggest power generator
MITCHELL FERMAN, 1/19/22
“With freezing weather sweeping into Texas late this week, subsidiaries for a major pipeline company are threatening to cut off natural gas to the state’s largest power generator — which could impact the electricity supply for hundreds of thousands of customers — over a financial dispute stemming from last February’s deadly winter storm,” the Texas Tribune reports. “Vistra Corp. subsidiary Luminant on Wednesday asked the Railroad Commission of Texas, which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry, to prevent Energy Transfer LP from cutting off fuel to five Vistra power plants, which produce enough electricity to power 400,000 Texas homes, businesses and critical infrastructure such as hospitals and schools. The companies under Energy Transfer, the pipeline company, have told Vistra that gas will stop flowing to five Vistra power plants on Monday unless Vistra pays Energy Transfer $21.6 million, according to the filing. The “threat to terminate service in the middle of winter is illegal and grossly irresponsible and should be prohibited by this Commission,” Vistra said in the complaint to the Railroad Commission. Vistra called the move by Energy Transfer, run by billionaire Kelcy Warren, “a form of commercial extortion.”
Daily Reporter: Enbridge picks Michels affiliate for reroute of Line 5 pipeline
Nate Beck, 1/19/22
“Enbridge has signed a letter of intent to pick a division of Michels Corp. to oversee a 40-mile relocation of the company's Line 5 oil-and-gas pipeline in northern Wisconsin,” according to the Daily Reporter.
Billings Gazette: State grants access to Yellowstone River for power plant pipeline
Tom Lutey, 1/19/22
“Montana’s top state office holders have approved a new route for a natural gas pipeline beneath the Yellowstone River over the protests of Laurel landowners,” the Billings Gazette reports. “Gov. Greg Gianforte, Auditor Troy Downing, Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen and Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen, voted this week to approve the new route beneath the river. Land beneath riverbeds in Montana is state property and easements require approval of the State Land Board, comprised of the top five state government officeholders. The fifth member, Attorney General Austin Knudsen didn’t attend. All of Montana’s statewide elected officials are Republican. The pipeline is crucial to the supply of a proposed 175-megawatt gas-fired power plant proposed by NorthWestern Energy, which has run into several permitting problems for the power plant and gas line, and resistance from some Laurel neighbors who traveled to Helena to voice concerns about the pipeline, which is to be located about a half-mile downstream from CHS refinery… “The governor said the details of the project weren’t relevant to the pipeline and easement, which was all the Land Board was doing… ““The only comments that are germane to this discussion today though, are related to the easement in addition to the testimony that was heard today, both for and against,” Gianforte said Tuesday.
Energy Information Administration: In 2021, 14 petroleum liquids pipeline projects were completed in the United States
1/19/22
“In 2021, pipeline companies completed 14 petroleum liquids pipelines projects in the United States, according to our recently updated Liquids Pipeline Projects Database. This total includes seven crude oil pipeline projects and seven hydrocarbon gas liquids pipeline projects; no petroleum product pipeline projects were completed last year,” the Energy Information Administration reports. “Of the 14 completed projects: Six projects were new pipelines. Five projects were expansions of existing systems. Two projects reversed the direction that the commodity flowed on the pipeline. One project was a change in the commodity carried by the pipeline… “During 2021, 11 projects were announced and 2 projects were listed as under construction. An additional 10 projects were permanently canceled, and 5 projects were put on temporary hold as of the end of 2021. Notable completions in 2021: Enbridge—Line 3 and Line 61 are two expansion projects that transport crude oil from Alberta, Canada, to Illinois. Line 3 goes from Alberta, Canada, to Superior, Wisconsin. Line 61 goes from Superior, Wisconsin, to Pontiac, Illinois. Marathon Pipe Line—Capline Reversal project reversed the direction of the pipeline to a south-flowing pipeline that originates in Patoka, Illinois and flows down to various terminals in St. James, Louisiana.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Biden supports removing climate provisions from stalled BBB
By Scott Waldman, 1/20/22
“President Biden said yesterday that he’s willing to split up his "Build Back Better" bill to give the stalled measure a chance of passage. And he signaled there was strong support on Capitol Hill for its climate-related provisions,” E&E News reports. “We’re going to have to probably break it up,” Biden said during a White House press conference. “I’ve been talking to my colleagues on the Hill; it’s clear that we would be able to get support for the 500-plus billion dollars for energy and the environment.” “...Biden’s climate ambitions have collided with the political realities of Washington politics during his first year in office. Many of his plans to address climate change were inserted into the "Build Back Better" measure, which has been stuck for months in legislative limbo… “Some House Democrats have called for breaking out pieces of "Build Back Better" as a way to notch some legislative victories before the November midterm elections. Republicans are widely expected to take back the House and possibly the Senate, which means that a number of lawmakers feel they are racing against the clock to pass something. Still, in the Senate, some lawmakers are determined to pass a more comprehensive plan that widens the social safety net and increases educational opportunities.”
Politico: IN COMMITTEE
Matthew Choi, 1/19/22
“The House will be taking a look at several energy and environmental bills of note today, including Rep. Bobby Rush’s (D-Ill.) pipeline security bill, H.R. 6084 (117),” Politico reports. “The bill up for discussion at the Energy and Commerce Energy Subcommittee seeks to create stronger national standards for pipeline reliability through a FERC-led process. Gas pipelines, unlike the bulk power grid, have few enforceable reliability and cybersecurity standards, and instead rely largely on voluntary measures That disparity is garnering a greater focus from lawmakers and regulators following recent lapses in the reliability and cybersecurity of the gas system, including the breakdown of the Texas power grid — which has become heavily reliant on natural gas in recent years — and the ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline. FERC Chair Richard Glick, who is testifying today alongside DOE Deputy Secretary David Turk, has long called for stricter regulations for the pipeline sector to prevent breakdowns.”
High Country News: Interior devotes billions to plugging old oil wells. Is it enough?
Nick Bowlin, 1/19/22
“In January, the Department of the Interior stated what many have suspected: there are far more orphaned oil and gas wells in the U.S. than previously estimated,” High Country News reports. “In a memo, the agency wrote that more than 130,000 documented wells exist across the country that lack a responsible company on the hook to pay for cleanup – the remnant of more than 150 years of extracting oil and natural gas. This figure, based on data provided by the states, is two-and-a-half times the agency’s 2019 estimate, which put the figure at 56,000. This ballooning estimate comes in response to Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that President Biden signed in November, which includes $4.7 billion to plug and reclaim abandoned and orphaned wells. This is a historically large figure, but the injection of cash pales in comparison to the full cleanup cost for the new abandoned well figure. Plugging wells is a time-consuming and expensive process. Using estimates from a 2021 Government Accountability Office report, the cost of plugging all 130,000 abandoned wells could range from $2.6 billion to more nearly $19 billion. According to industry experts and the plugging cost estimates used by oil state regulators, the expected cost is very likely to fall on the upper end of that spectrum. And it’s likely that this larger figure represents only a fraction of the problem: The Environmental Protection Agency stated in an April 2021 report that there could be as many as 3.4 million abandoned wells nationally.”
STATE UPDATES
Capital and Main: New Data Shows Massive Climate-Warming Leaks by New Mexico Oil and Gas Operators
Jerry Redfern, 1/18/22
“In New Mexico, new state rules sparked a dramatic increase in reported incidents of vented and flared natural gas in 2021 — and reveal that the oil and gas industry has been losing vastly more of the climate-change-driving fossil fuel than previously reported,” Capital and Main reports. “...A review of year-end data from the state’s Oil Conservation Division (OCD) shows that producers vented or flared enough natural gas to power nearly 39,000 homes for a year — roughly the number of households in Las Cruces, the state’s second-largest city. The actual total for the year is likely much higher as the new reporting only began in May. Not only that, but the new reporting system also reveals that the state’s largest natural gas producer, Hilcorp Energy of Houston, reported surprisingly low numbers of incidents — about a hundred times lower than either similarly sized competitors or the size of its operations would suggest. “Unsurprisingly, I’m unsurprised,” rancher Don Schreiber told Capital and Main.
Colorado Sun: Colorado must decide “without delay” if it will renew long-delayed Suncor permits, judge rules
Michael Booth, 1/18/22
“State air pollution officials must decide on long-stalled emissions permit renewals for the Suncor Refinery in Commerce City “without delay,” a state District Court judge ruled, the Colorado Sun reports. “One of Suncor’s two key permits was supposed to be renewed by the state Department of Public Health and Environment after expiring in 2012, the other in 2018. A 17th Judicial District judge agreed with WildEarth Guardians, which brought the lawsuit, that Colorado law requires the state to act on permits within 18 months of receiving renewal applications from companies like Suncor. Environmental groups lauded the ruling, saying it may force the state to reckon with one of Colorado’s largest emitters of air pollution and greenhouse gases. Suncor has been cited repeatedly by regulators for toxic emissions into air and water, and in 2020 agreed to a $9 million settlement with the state for some violations. “This ruling is a critical rebuke to the Polis administration’s practice of putting polluters over people,” Jeremy Nichols, climate and energy program director for WildEarth Guardians, told the Sun. “It means we can finally be certain that Suncor will be held accountable to meeting up-to-date clean air safeguards, operating in compliance with all laws and regulations, and protecting neighboring communities.” “...The refinery, where gasoline, jet fuel and other petroleum products are made, has also become an important ongoing battleground in efforts by neighbors and environmental justice advocates to force out industries or public works projects they say have been historically dumped on lower income neighborhoods with large minority populations.“
EXTRACTION
Bloomberg: Methane Cloud Spotted Near Oklahoma Natural Gas Pipelines
Josh Saul, 1/19/22
“A powerful cloud of planet-warming methane was spotted earlier this month in Oklahoma near multiple pipelines and oil and gas wells,” Bloomberg reports. “State and federal regulators said they couldn’t identify the source of the methane, which is the primary component of natural gas and traps more than 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide during its first two decades in the atmosphere. The plume had an estimated emissions rate of 20 tons of methane an hour, according to geoanalytics company Kayrros SAS, which analyzed European Space Agency satellite data. If the release lasted an hour at that rate, it would have had the same short-term climate impact as the annual emissions from about 365 U.S. cars. Kayrros estimated the source of the plume was within 3.1 miles (5 kilometers) of pipelines owned by TC Energy Corp., ONE Gas Inc and Energy Transfer. TC Energy declined to comment on the plume, a ONE Gas representative said the release didn’t come from its lines, and Energy Transfer didn’t respond to multiple messages and emails seeking comment. The area is also an active oil and gas basin with a high concentration of producers.”
Grist: Exxon pledges to cut emissions — but not from its oil
Zoya Teirstein, 1/19/22
“On Tuesday, oil giant Exxon Mobil announced that it aims to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050,” Grist reports. “...But experts say Exxon’s net-zero plan has a major blind spot: It only covers Scope 1 and 2 emissions — the emissions the company produces directly, while digging for oil, for example, and the emissions produced by the utilities it buys its power from. The plan doesn’t extend to cover Exxon’s largest contributions to climate change. They’re called Scope 3 emissions, the greenhouse gases produced by the companies clustered along Exxon’s supply chain and the emissions produced by customers who buy and burn the company’s oil and gas. “It’s not the best plan because it’s only targeting a small slice of the company’s overall emissions,” Paasha Mahdavi, an assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, told Grist. What’s more, the plan doesn’t stack up to similar net-zero plans from Exxon’s competitors because Exxon hasn’t promised new investments in non-oil activities. Mahdavi, who worked on an analysis of the top 10 major oil and gas companies’ decarbonization plans, told Grist even Chevron, which has a plan that looks very similar to Exxon’s, has promised some investments in renewable energy and other non-oil projects. Exxon’s plan mainly revolves around making their existing oil and gas operations marginally greener.”
Press release: Imperial sets 2030 oil sands emission intensity reduction goal; expects to meet 2023 objective
1/19/22
“-Imperial Oil Limited (TSE: IMO, NYSE American: IMO) said today it plans further reductions in greenhouse gas emissions intensity over the next decade to help support Canada’s net zero goals. By the end of 2030, Imperial anticipates reduced Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions intensity of its operated oil sands facilities by 30 percent, compared with 2016 levels. The company plans to achieve this through implementation of lower greenhouse gas next generation technologies at its Cold Lake operation, efficiency improvements at its facilities, and the use of carbon capture and storage. Imperial is also reaffirming its goal to achieve net zero Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions in the company’s oil sands operations by 2050 in support of Canada’s commitment to move towards net zero emissions… “Imperial is a founding member of the Oil Sands Pathways to Net Zero alliance (Pathways). The goal of this alliance is to work together with the federal and Alberta governments to achieve net zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions from oil sands operations by 2050 to help Canada meet its climate goals. The first phase of the Pathways initiative will focus on building out a carbon capture and storage network in the oil sands producing region of northern Alberta.”
Reuters: Chesapeake Energy nears $2.4 bln deal to buy Chief Oil & Gas -sources
By Shariq Khan and David French, 1/19/22
“Chesapeake Energy Corp (CHK.O) is in advanced talks to acquire privately owned natural gas producer Chief Oil & Gas for around $2.4 billion, including debt, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday,” Reuters reports. “A deal for Chief Oil & Gas, founded and controlled by Texan 'wildcatter' Trevor Rees-Jones, could be announced as soon as this week, the sources said. In wildcat drilling, exploration wells are dug in areas not known to be natural resource fields. The acquisition by Chesapeake, a U.S. shale gas and oil producer that only emerged from bankruptcy just last year, underscores the recovery of parts of the energy industry as natural resource prices surge to multi-year highs.”
Reuters: Less than half of projected U.S. renewable diesel output likely by 2025- study
By Laura Sanicola, 1/18/22
“U.S. refiners and biofuel companies are likely to reach less than half the renewable diesel production projected by the U.S. government for 2025 due to policy and feedstock constraints, according to a study released Tuesday from consultancy Cerulogy,” Reuters reports. “Numerous petroleum refiners across North America are planning to convert facilities to process waste and vegetable oils into renewable fuels, a small but growing market backed by government incentives. The Energy Information Administration estimates renewable diesel production capacity in the United States could increase fivefold by 2024 from 1 billion gallons currently to more than 5 billion gallons per year. But Cerulogy estimated the projects are more likely to yield approximately 2 billion gallons of total renewable diesel production capacity in 2025, meaning at least 2 billion gallons of already announced capacity additions are likely be delayed, canceled or downsized.”
Gizmodo: Chemical Production Has Exceeded the ‘Safe Operating Space for Humanity'
Molly Taft, 1/19/22
“Humans have produced so many chemicals and environmental pollutants that we’re currently exceeding the limits of a “safe operating space for humanity,” a new study finds. That could mean that the planet, as well as our health and wellbeing, is in serious jeopardy,” Gizmodo reports. “The study, published Tuesday in Science and Technology, illustrates just how much manmade stuff we’re dumping into the environment. Chemical production, the study found, has increased worldwide by 50 times since 1950; if current trends continue, production will increase another 50% by 2050. Plastic production alone has shot up by a whopping 79% between 2000 and 2015. “We are harming the entire planet, including ourselves, and challenging the stability of the Earth in such a way that it could threaten our own ability to thrive,” Bethanie Carney Almroth, a professor of biological and environmental sciences at the University of Gothenburg and one of a team of 14 international researchers who contributed to the study, told Gizmodo.. The study is based on the idea of “planetary boundaries,” a framework first proposed by researchers in 2009, that divides the stability of Earth’s existence for the past 10,000 years into nine categories, including climate change, ocean acidification, and the ozone layer. Crossing specific thresholds in each of these areas, this framework posits, threatens the stability of the planet. This study set out to calculate the boundaries for what are known as “novel entities,” or the more than 350,000 manmade chemicals registered on the global market, ranging from plastics to antibiotics to pesticides.”
The New Yorker: Making Love in the Land of Oil Rigs
Amber Medland, 1/19/22
“In 2015, Tabitha Lasley, a former freelance magazine journalist, arrived in Aberdeen, Scotland, the United Kingdom’s oil capital, having spent four years on a novel about rig workers with nothing to show for it,” The New Yorker reports. “...Rigs are insulated ecosystems—situated miles into the ocean, and populated mostly by men, who are stationed on board for several weeks at a time. For decades, they have been one of the few sources of well-paying blue-collar employment on the eastern shore of the U.K. My uncle worked on such rigs in the eighties. Like Lasley’s subjects, he flew by helicopter from Aberdeen, and chose the work because his options were it or the dole. At the time, the only compulsory safety training was a video that told you how to get into crash position and that, if the helicopter went down, you would die of hypothermia in under seven minutes. Often, he said, fog would force choppers to land by radar. Birds flew into the flames burning off the gases from the rig, leaving crisp carcasses strewn on the top deck. Today, men who live in areas that were once home to chemical plants or mines are still the greatest share of the offshore workforce. Though the work pays well, it is not without its dangers. One worker Lasley interviews describes his rig as a “floating bomb.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
Press release: Enbridge Announces Closing of $750 Million Subordinated Notes Offering
1/19/22
“Enbridge Inc. announced today that it has closed its previously announced offering of $750 million aggregate principal amount of 5.00% Fixed-to-Fixed Rate Subordinated Notes Series 2022-A due January 19, 2082. Enbridge intends to use the net proceeds of the Offering to redeem its issued and outstanding Cumulative Redeemable Minimum Rate Reset Preference Shares, Series 17 in accordance with their terms and, pending such redemption, to repay short-term indebtedness, as well as for general corporate purposes. The Notes were offered in Canada through a syndicate of underwriters, co-led by RBC Capital Markets, BMO Capital Markets, and CIBC Capital Markets, on a private placement basis in reliance upon exemptions from the prospectus requirements under applicable securities legislation.”
Sierra Club: Citigroup Surpasses Peers With Absolute Emissions Reduction Target for Energy Finance, Still Fails to Rule Out Support for Fossil Fuel Expansion
1/19/22
“Today, Citigroup announced new 2030 interim targets to reach its commitment to net-zero financed emissions by 2050. The plan includes a commitment to reduce absolute financed emissions from the energy sector by 29% and financed emissions intensity from the power sector by 63%. By contrast, other major US banks — including JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs — have announced 2030 emissions targets in recent months for their energy, power, and auto manufacturing portfolios, though all have been emissions “intensity” targets rather than commitments to absolute emissions reductions. In terms of energy production, emissions intensity reductions are compatible with increases in absolute emissions. The bank also announced plans for a two-year period to assess and engage with its clients to determine whether they’re on a credible path to alignment with these targets, and whether they can get into alignment — ideally by stopping fossil fuel expansion and retiring carbon-intensive assets — or if it might be necessary for the bank to drop them as clients “as a last resort.” “With these new commitments, Citigroup has surpassed the low bar set so far by its peers and taken an important first step toward aligning its lending practices with a climate-stable future,” said Sierra Club Fossil-Free Finance Campaign Manager Ben Cushing. “The targets Citi has laid out aren’t achievable if it continues to fund the expansion of fossil fuel development, and we are hopeful that this assessment period over the next two years will lead to cutting ties with polluters that are failing to change their practices accordingly.”
Reuters: Citigroup sets rare hard target to reduce energy-sector emissions
By Ross Kerber, 1/19/22
“Citigroup Inc (C.N) on Wednesday laid out goals for corporate borrowers to cut emissions that included a rare "absolute reduction" target for companies in the energy sector by the end of the decade,” Reuters reports. “Citi said in a report that it aims for emissions from companies across its energy loan portfolio to drop 29% by 2030 from 2020. Other banks have focused on cutting clients' "emissions intensity," a measure of emissions relative to output that climate activists have said does not go far enough. Citi did target a 63% reduction in emissions intensity for borrowers across the power sector. A Citi representative told Reuters while global absolute emissions must decrease soon, it chose an intensity target for power "because many aspects of the global economy will need to be electrified, so we’ll need to increase power generation while also decarbonizing it." “...The bank should require companies to end expansion of fossil fuels as an explicit criterion in its client assessment," Jason Opeña Disterhoft, a representative of the Rainforest Action Network, told Reuters.
Gizmodo: West Virginia Starts New Fake Culture War Against Blackrock
Molly Taft, 1/18/22
“West Virginia won’t use BlackRock’s investment funds any longer as part of its banking transactions, positioning itself as defending poor, defenseless American fossil fuel companies,” Gizmodo reports. “The boycott is based on BlackRock’s recent public statements on climate—but ignores the realities of where the financial giant is actually putting its money. In a press release published Monday, West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore huffed and puffed about BlackRock’s recent sustainability initiatives, including encouraging net zero policies, as well as the bank’s investments in certain Chinese companies. Conservative media have targeted the bank in recent months, accusing it of pursuing “woke” climate policies while pouring money into Chinese investments that they say threaten the U.S. “BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has been outspoken in pressuring corporate leaders to commit to investment goals that will undermine reliable energy sources like coal, natural gas, and oil under the guise of helping the planet, but at the same time he’s pouring billions in new capital into China, turning a blind eye to abhorrent human rights violations, genocide, and that country’s role in creating the covid-19 global pandemic,” Moore said in the release.
OPINION
FOX Business: Oil nears $87 after Keystone Pipeline canceled one year ago
Phil Flynn is senior energy analyst at The PRICE Futures Group and a Fox Business Network contributor, 1/20/22
“Joe Biden was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2021, and within hours the new president could not wait to sign a slew of executive orders. Yet the one that has set the tone for his presidency and perhaps laid the groundwork for his plunging popularity and surging inflation was canceling the permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline,” Phil Flynn writes for FOX Business. “The Biden administration thought the cancellation was a way to get back at the previous administration that approved it after the Obama administration killed it and was a signal about its commitment to the environment. Yet it was read by the industry and those that invest in the sector as a knock on America’s oil and gas industry. It also created a domino effect across the fossil fuel space that helped a massive surge in the price of oil and gasoline we are seeing today. The energy industry saw this as a political attack on fossil fuels, and it feared that this arbitrary and political decision was only the beginning because studies found the pipeline would not add to greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, it can be argued that the cancellation may actually add to emissions. The oil that would have been moved through the pipeline from Canada will now be transported instead by rail and truck and other means that are not as safe as pipeline transportation… “Not only did the cancellation of the Keystone Pipeline set the stage for higher energy prices. It also helped raise fears of inflation that are plaguing the U.S. and global economy.”
InsideSources: Biden’s Keystone ‘Blunder’ Still Being Felt A Year Later, Critics Say
Chris Woodward, 1/19/22
“Joe Biden kicked off his presidency on January 20, 2021, by killing the Keystone XL pipeline. For the newly-elected Democrat, it was a message affirming his commitment to green energy policies,” Chris Woodward writes for InsideSources. “For the energy industry, America’s allies abroad, and skilled workers at home, however, the impacts of Biden’s actions were far more concrete… “That was a year ago. How does the decision to end the Keystone pipeline look today? First, there are the immediate economic impacts. Six months after Biden’s decision, TC Energy pulled the plug on the pipeline, which would have shipped 500,000 barrels a day from Western Canada into the U.S. refining system… “And, some energy experts say, it is not just that Biden blocked a pipeline. He blocked Keystone, a project that went over and above to address issues like carbon emissions, safety standards, and cooperation with indigenous people impacted by the pipeline.“When Biden shut down Keystone, which really was bending over backward to do everything right from the Democrats’ perspective — and Biden still killed it — that sent a message to the entire industry that it didn’t matter what you did, this administration wanted to shut you down,” Dan K. Eberhart, CEO of Canary, one of the largest oilfield service companies in the country, told InsideSources.
RealClearEnergy: Revisiting the Keystone XL Pipeline and Joe Biden's False Promise of 'Green Jobs'
By Kevin Mooney, 1/19/22
“Joe Biden began his train wreck of a presidency a year ago by putting America last and never looked back,” Kevin Mooney writes for RealClearEnergy. “On his first day in office, he canceled the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have supported thousands of well-paying jobs while lowering energy prices. If constructed, the 1,200 mile pipeline would have carried 830,000 barrels per day of oil from Alberta, Canada and North Dakota to Nebraska and from there converge with a completed portion of the pipeline that carries oil to the Gulf of Mexico. Biden incessantly points to climate change as a rationale for canceling domestic energy initiatives that benefit average Americans. But his arguments don’t hold up under scrutiny. The Institute for Energy Research, a nonprofit group that supports free market polices, cites figures that show the greenhouse gas emissions that would have resulted from transporting 830,000 barrels per day of Canadian oil would amount to 150 million metric tons per year, which is the equivalent of about 0.3% of the world total. That’s what you call tiny… “So far, Biden’s decision to cancel Keystone made just one year ago has been a loser for the American people both economically and environmentally.”
Financial Post: We're witnessing the birth of an industry amid race for Alberta carbon capture developments
Chris Varcoe, 1/20/22
“A marathon is about to begin to develop new carbon capture projects and storage hubs across Alberta, with companies at the starting line — and key decisions set to be made in the coming months that will reverberate for years,” Chris Varcoe writes for the Financial Post. “Today, six of Canada’s largest oilsands producers are making progress on engineering and regulatory work for a plan to build a carbon capture network connected to at least eight facilities, part of a broader initiative to reach net-zero emissions by 2050… “The push to build carbon capture and storage projects, along with necessary infrastructure, has been gaining momentum as Canada commits to reach net-zero emissions by 2050… “There is a real opportunity here, between Canada and Alberta, to truly be a world leader,” Capital Power CEO Brian Vaasjo told the Post. Some environmental critics contend CCUS will simply extend the life of fossil fuels and question the technology’s cost and performance record… “CCUS definitely has a role, in terms of meeting net-zero in Canada,” Chris Severson-Baker of the Pembina Institute told the Post. “It is certainly not a technological panacea by any means.”