EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 12/13/23
PIPELINE NEWS
North Dakota Monitor: With Pipeline Growth Booming, The US Agency In Charge Of Safety Struggles To Keep Up
KSFY: Lake County Commission denies agenda item requests
News Channel Nebraska: TC Energy and Jefferson County agree on costs for road repair near Steele City
Natural Gas Intelligence: Natural Gas Shippers Jockeying for Limited Pipeline, Storage Capacity, Says Kinder Morgan’s Dang
World Pipelines: EIA: New pipelines to bring significant volumes of natural gas to new LNG export terminals
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Democrats work to align proposals on permitting, grid
The Hill: House Democrats Formally Unveil Vision For Energy Policy Reforms
E&E News: Interior: California’s Last Oil Platforms Must Be Removed
E&E News: Lobbying frenzy underway before release of hydrogen guidance
STATE UPDATES
Capital and Main: Carbon Causes Climate Change. Why Does a California County Want to Make More?
WINS: Dark, sticky tar balls that appeared on NY, NJ beaches linked to oil spill: U.S. Coast Guard
Los Angeles Times: Nonprofit plans to transform a former oil drilling site in South L.A. into affordable housing
EXTRACTION
New York Times: In a First, Nations at Climate Summit Agree to Move Away From Fossil Fuels
Guardian: 'Cop28 is the fossil fuel industry’s dream outcome because it looks like progress but it isn’t' - scientists disagree on significance of agreement
Reuters: COP28 proposed deal references transition away from all fossil fuels
Axios: Welcome to Big Oil's era of "both/and"
National Observer: The oily backroom campaign to sink the federal emissions cap
Pique: B.C. researcher looks to bury carbon pollution under Metro Vancouver
CLIMATE FINANCE
Reuters: Big Oil's bid to woo ESG investors fails to impress
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
GoNorthUmberland: Enbridge Gas Aids Township of Hamilton Fire Department in Enhancing Firefighter Training
Chatham Daily News: Enbridge donates record $45K to Goodfellows Christmas campaign
OPINION
Quad City Times: Letter: We all should oppose CO2 pipeline
The Atlantic: The Fossil-Fuel Industry Has a Rosy Idea of Its Future
PIPELINE NEWS
North Dakota Monitor: With Pipeline Growth Booming, The US Agency In Charge Of Safety Struggles To Keep Up
JACOB FISCHLER, 12/12/23
“The pipeline industry added thousands of miles of natural gas, crude oil and carbon dioxide pipelines to the national network in recent years — including projects in North Dakota, with several more under consideration. But the federal regulatory agency responsible for ensuring that vast system’s safety failed to grow at the same pace,” North Dakota Monitor reports. “Pipeline miles expand every year, and are expected to see even faster growth in the near future thanks to major federal laws. The 2021 infrastructure law provided $1 billion for grants for new natural gas distribution lines. And the climate, taxes and policy law Democrats passed along party lines and President Joe Biden signed last year included billions in tax incentives for carbon capture systems, including pipelines to underground storage sites in North Dakota, spurring a slew of new pipeline proposals in the Midwest. But neither bill added money for the pipeline safety program at the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, or PHMSA, a 600-employee agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation that is responsible for guaranteeing the safety of pipelines that cross state lines. Kenneth Clarkson, a spokesman for the Pipeline Safety Trust, an advocacy group, told the Monitor the agency has long lacked the funding it needs. “PHMSA has been historically underfunded, and unfortunately that is still the case,” Clarkson wrote in an email to States Newsroom. “The agency needs more resources to keep up with the safety of our nation’s millions of miles of pipelines, especially so as more pipelines are continually being added to that total.”
KSFY: Lake County Commission denies agenda item requests
Beth Warden, 12/13/23
“While there are no current applications for CO2 pipelines in South Dakota, Summit Carbon Solutions representatives said the company plans to re-file. Knowing that another CO2 pipeline application could be coming, some landowners are requesting the topic be placed on their local county commission agenda,” KSFY reports. “...But a Lake County man says his local government is refusing to place CO2 pipelines on their agenda. Lifetime Lake County resident Charlie Johnson would like to discuss a topic at the county level: “Concern about the CO2 pipelines coming through, not only in my neighborhood but throughout South Dakota,” said Johnson. “And if it’s allowed to be put in, I’ll be farming on top of the CO2 pipeline.” “...He and others have requested CO2 pipelines be placed on the Lake County Commission agenda. ”But it comes down to one word: nothing,” Johnson told KSFY. “Could not have a community meeting. They have not had the item on the agenda for the county commission,” he told KSFY… “While some South Dakota counties are establishing larger setbacks for CO2 pipelines, Johnson believes the concerns of landowners are falling on deaf ears in Lake County. “The only setback that we have in Lake County is 50 feet,” Johnson told KSFY. A dispersion model, released by Navigator, using similar pressure and pipe diameters, showed an emergency response rupture of an eight-inch pipe affecting just under 3,000 feet. A worst-case scenario of a 20-inch pipe could affect 4,250 feet. “And I don’t think one life is worth a project. Regardless of what size or what scope it is,” Johnson told KSFY. Dakota News Now asked Summit Carbon Solutions for an update on their plans. A spokesperson told KSFY, “We look forward to submitting our application with the South Dakota PUC once we have a route through the state that is mutually agreeable to all parties.”
News Channel Nebraska: TC Energy and Jefferson County agree on costs for road repair near Steele City
Kyle Mathas, 12/12/23
“TC Energy and Jefferson County have made an agreement for the repair, improvement and replacement of a 1.25 mile stretch near the Kansas and Nebraska state line and Ida Avenue, near Steele City, Nebraska,” News Channel Nebraska reports. “ TC Energy has offered to provide repairs/replacement to ensure that the road in in a condition that would allow for regular and reoccurring vehicular traffic. Drivers on the road are met with several bumps, potholes and loose asphalt… “TC and Jefferson County agreed that the maximum cost of the necessary repairs of the road would be $3,344,802.”
Natural Gas Intelligence: Natural Gas Shippers Jockeying for Limited Pipeline, Storage Capacity, Says Kinder Morgan’s Dang
ANDREW BAKER, 12/12/23
“Demand is surging for natural gas pipeline and storage capacity in North America, and as a purveyor of both, that’s good news for Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI), CEO Kim Dang said Thursday,” Natural Gas Intelligence reports.
World Pipelines: EIA: New pipelines to bring significant volumes of natural gas to new LNG export terminals
Isabel Stagg, 12/13/23
“More than 20 billion ft3/d of natural gas pipeline capacity is under construction, partly completed, or approved to deliver natural gas to five US LNG export terminals that are currently under construction, according to our Natural Gas Pipeline Project Tracker,” World Pipelines reports. “Some of the new pipeline capacity is under the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and some is under the jurisdiction of the Railroad Commission of Texas. About 13.5 billion ft3/d of pipeline capacity is currently under construction, and each new LNG terminal – Plaquemines in Louisiana and Golden Pass, Port Arthur, Corpus Christi Stage III, and Rio Grande in Texas – has one or more pipelines being developed. Golden Pass Pipeline: Golden Pass Pipeline, LLC, is expanding the existing 69 mile pipeline that originates northeast of Starks, Louisiana, to enable deliveries of 2.5 billion ft3/d of natural gas to the Golden Pass LNG terminal in Jefferson County, Texas… “Louisiana Connector Project and Texas Connector Project: Port Arthur Pipeline Company plans to construct two pipelines, each with a capacity of 2 billion ft3/d, to deliver natural gas to the Port Arthur LNG export terminal in Jefferson County, Texas… “Gator Express Pipeline: Venture Global Gator Express is constructing two pipelines, each with approximately 2 billion ft3/d capacity, to deliver natural gas from pipeline interconnections to the Plaquemines LNG export terminal located about 20 miles south of New Orleans, Louisiana… “Evangeline Pass Expansion Project: Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company plans to construct this 13 mile pipeline with capacity of 1.1 billion ft3/d… “Venice Extension Project: Texas Eastern Transmission is constructing this 3 mile pipeline with 1.3 billion ft3/d capacity, which will replace an existing segment of its pipeline system, to accommodate natural gas deliveries to the Plaquemines LNG export terminal… “South Texas Projects: ADCC Pipeline: WhiteWater Midstream is constructing this 39 mile pipeline with capacity of 1.7 billion ft3/d… “Corpus Christi Stage III Pipeline: Cheniere Corpus Christi Pipeline is constructing this 21 mile pipeline with 1.5 billion ft3/d capacity… “Rio Bravo Pipeline: Rio Bravo Pipeline Company is constructing two 138 mile pipelines with a combined capacity of 4.5 billion ft3/d to deliver natural gas from the Agua Dulce supply area to the Rio Grande LNG terminal in Brownsville, Texas.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Democrats work to align proposals on permitting, grid
Kelsey Brugger, 12/12/23
“As hopes fade for a near-term deal on permitting reform, numerous Democrats are staking out ground for a future agreement with a host of proposals aimed at powering the nation’s grid with clean energy,” E&E News reports. “...That hope rests in large part on Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and ranking member John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), both of whom would likely need to be on board with any kind of permitting reform. “Maybe Sen. Manchin will see this as one of his legacy items before he leaves,” Levin told E&E. “Maybe not.” Manchin announced last month that he would not run for reelection in 2024. And while he reiterated recently that he still wants a deal, Manchin has also acknowledged how difficult it would be to get something done in an election year. Even still, Manchin last week characterized his progress with Barrasso as “pretty much down the path 60 to 70 percent.” He argued that the bill is important enough that it wouldn’t have a problem finding a legislative vehicle or even riding on its own. “It’s a high priority,” Manchin told E&E. Barrasso seemed a bit less optimistic. Though he told E&E permitting for all energy sources is important, he quickly added: “The administration’s focus is only renewable, and that is a no-starter for us.” “...For any bipartisan package to move it would likely need to include Republican demands to amend landmark environmental laws — like the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act — to build pipelines and other energy infrastructure faster. Many Democrats consider those Republican asks too steep… “The fact lawmakers can’t agree on a modest permitting change for CHIPS projects does not bode well for a larger package… “Hope springs eternal,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) told E&E of a larger package. “But I think we have a long way to go.” He added: “If someone is capable of getting a bipartisan agreement, it’s Joe [Manchin].”
The Hill: House Democrats Formally Unveil Vision For Energy Policy Reforms
Saul Elbein, Rachel Frazin, 12/13/23
“House Democrats formally outlined what they want the nation’s energy system to look like in a bill filed early Wednesday morning,” The Hill reports. “We as Democrats have been too silent on what is Democratic energy policy,” Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) told The Hill. Casten framed the bill as his party’s answer to H.R.1, the Republican-authored energy plan that sought to repeal tax credits for renewables and make it easier to drill for and export fossil fuels — fuels that America’s domestic grid is slowly moving away from. “We know what the Republican energy policy is — it’s a policy that puts the interests of energy producers and energy exporters first,” Casten told The Hill. “There needs to be an energy policy that puts the consumer’s interests first.” The bill authored by Reps. Casten and Mike Levin (D-Calif.) — and signed on to by 74 additional House Democrats — would create pre-approved routes for major transmission lines on federal lands, provide a 30 percent tax credit for new transmission lines, give federal energy regulators the exclusive authority to approve major interstate power lines and involve communities in permitting questions at the outset.”
E&E News: Interior: California’s Last Oil Platforms Must Be Removed
Heather Richards, 12/12/23
“The Biden administration ruled Tuesday that California’s remaining offshore oil and gas platforms will be completely removed upon their retirement, scrapping an earlier option to abandon some of the steel pipelines and hulking infrastructure in the Pacific Ocean,” E&E News reports. “The decision by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement represents a shift for offshore drillers, which have been allowed to leave thousands of miles of disused pipelines in place and convert old rigs to artificial reefs in places like the Gulf of Mexico. A road map for future decommissioning, rather than a specific mandate for shutdown, the decision Tuesday foreshadows the end of California’s offshore industry, once a hub for the nation’s crude production. BSEE Director Kevin Sligh said the agency came to its decision after considering a host of factors and hearing input from California, tribes and other users of the Pacific Ocean.”
E&E News: Lobbying frenzy underway before release of hydrogen guidance
NICO PORTUONDO, KELSEY BRUGGER, 12/12/23
“Lawmakers are continuing to lobby the administration ahead of the long-awaited guidance on how hydrogen producers can qualify for lucrative tax breaks from the Inflation Reduction Act,” E&E News reports. “The struggle is between lawmakers who want a broad interpretation of the incentives and those who want to only reward hydrogen made with renewable energy. And different factions have been pushing to get their way. Several dozen House Democrats, led by Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Don Beyer of Virginia, joined the fray Monday on the side of "green" hydrogen. “As policymakers, we must be attentive to the negative consequences of weak 45V rules for hydrogen production, which would imperil our climate goals and lead to significant U.S. emissions increases," said their letter. Democratic Senate climate hawks like Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Jeff Merkley of Oregon have similarly called for stringent guidelines. “I’ve encouraged the administration to stress the importance of green hydrogen," Merkley said in recent days. “And to emphasize that hydrogen made from fossil gas is actually a threat to the environment."
STATE UPDATES
Capital and Main: Carbon Causes Climate Change. Why Does a California County Want to Make More?
Aaron Cantú, 12/12/23
“Officials in California’s top oil-producing county have a plan for a massive industrial park to produce renewable energy. Kern County says the park will protect jobs and tax revenue threatened by the shrinking oil and gas industry. A county website says it is part of Kern’s plans for a “clean energy future,” Capital and Main reports. “...But its chief purpose would be to produce carbon dioxide — the most abundant greenhouse gas. County officials want to collect the carbon, which would then be buried in the ground, a process called carbon sequestration. They are hopeful producing carbon could ensure the region’s economic survival as oil production falls… “But critics say Kern County’s plans show how the tax credits for carbon sequestration can create an unintended consequence. To get that money, the county wants to build new plants that would intentionally generate more carbon. Others, primarily oil companies, would then be paid to sequester it. Projects like the proposed Kern County park would produce clean electricity, but that electricity would be used to produce and sequester carbon. Critics of the project say it makes more sense to simply send that clean electricity directly to consumers. Carbon sequestration plans like the one in Kern County provide lifelines to fossil fuel producers, according to climate scientists and policy experts… “To recover the large investments necessary for carbon capture, oil producers will need “a significant source of [carbon] — on the scale of millions of metric tons annually — available for injection,” according to a county report for companies and potential investors… “Two oil companies, California Resources Corporation (CRC) and Aera Energy, have applied for federal permits to bury more than a million tons of carbon a year each in the deep underground reservoirs of Kern County. These efforts alone could yield the companies more than $1 billion in tax credits, if federal incentives are renewed in the 2030s. Both support the carbon park idea while planning to continue producing oil and gas… “Emma De La Rosa, a policy manager for the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, an environmental justice group that opposes the carbon park, called the plan “ludicrous.” “They’re trying to actually produce more carbon so they can store it,” De La Rosa told Capital and Main.
WINS: Dark, sticky tar balls that appeared on NY, NJ beaches linked to oil spill: U.S. Coast Guard
12/11/23
“Tar balls along the New Jersey coast, pollution on the shoreline north of Brooklyn's Gravesend Bay area, and at beaches on Staten Island have been linked to an oil spill, officials announced last week,” WINS reports. “Laboratory results from the Coast Guard Marine Safety Laboratory confirmed the connection between the oil spill incidents in both states which was traced back to a spill during a transfer at an oil facility in Bayonne, New Jersey, on Nov. 22. The responsible company was identified as Brothers Company, represented by Gallagher Marine Systems. The Coast Guard, alongside Vane Brothers, actively monitored and managed the cleanup of this spill, which remains under investigation, officials said. Following the spill, discoveries of tar balls along the New Jersey coast from Sea Bright to Asbury Park, and pollution on the shoreline north of Coney Island Creek in Brooklyn's Gravesend Bay area, as well as tar balls at Fort Wadsworth beach on Staten Island were discovered. Coast Guard Marine Safety Laboratory linked these to the Bayonne oil spill through sample analysis.”
Los Angeles Times: Nonprofit plans to transform a former oil drilling site in South L.A. into affordable housing
DORANY PINEDA, 12/11/23
“After a years-long neighborhood battle against an oil drilling site in South Los Angeles, a local nonprofit has purchased the now-demolished facility and plans to transform it into a park, community center and affordable housing,” the Los Angeles Times reports. “The Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust recently bought the 1.86-acre dirt lot on Jefferson Boulevard for nearly $10 million from Sentinel Peak Resources. The nonprofit and its partners are now seeking grants and other funding sources to pay for planning, remediation and project execution. “It’s what we hoped for,” Richard Parks, president of the South L.A. nonprofit Redeemer Community Partnership, told the Times of the purchase. “It’s just so amazing to see our community receiving beauty for ashes. It’s overwhelming and feels like such a blessing.” The sale marks a new chapter in a persistent and community-led fight against the oil drilling site, which residents argued for years was noisy and spewed foul odors. It also comes at a time of growing concerns about the risks and inequities of urban drilling in neighborhoods. L.A. City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky recently introduced legislation aiming to address public health and environmental threats posed by a drill site near the Pico-Robertson area… “Community leaders hope the purchase serves as a model for how to repurpose shuttered fossil fuel facilities as the city phases out existing oil and gas wells, a historic move approved last year by the L.A. City Council that also bans new oil and gas extraction. Tori Kjer, executive director of the L.A. Neighborhood Land Trust, believes it is critical that these sites are transformed into uses that benefit communities historically affected by oil drilling. “It’s an environmental justice issue,” she told the Times.
EXTRACTION
New York Times: In a First, Nations at Climate Summit Agree to Move Away From Fossil Fuels
Brad Plumer and Max Bearak, 12/13/23
“For the first time since nations began meeting three decades ago to confront climate change, diplomats from nearly 200 countries approved a global pact that explicitly calls for “transitioning away from fossil fuels” like oil, gas and coal that are dangerously heating the planet,” the New York Times reports. “The sweeping agreement, which comes during the hottest year in recorded history, was reached on Wednesday after two weeks of furious debate at the United Nations climate summit in Dubai. European leaders and many of the nations most vulnerable to climate-fueled disasters were urging language that called for a complete “phaseout” of fossil fuels. But that proposal faced intense pushback from major oil exporters like Saudi Arabia and Iraq, as well as fast-growing countries like India and Nigeria. In the end, negotiators struck a compromise: The new deal calls on countries to accelerate a global shift away from fossil fuels this decade in a “just, orderly and equitable manner,” and to quit adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere entirely by midcentury. It also calls on nations to triple the amount of renewable energy, like wind and solar power, installed around the world by 2030 and to slash emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas that is more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term. While past U.N. climate deals have urged countries to reduce emissions, they have shied away from explicitly mentioning the words “fossil fuels,” even though the burning of oil, gas and coal is the primary cause of global warming. “Humanity has finally done what is long, long, long overdue,” Wopke Hoekstra, the European commissioner for climate action, told the Times. “Thirty years — 30 years! — we spent to arrive at the beginning of the end of fossil fuels.” The new deal is not legally binding and can’t, on its own, force any country to act… “Representatives from small islands, whose coasts are disappearing under rising seas and whose wells are filling with saltwater, told the Times that the new climate agreement had a “litany of loopholes” and was not enough to avert catastrophe… “An earlier draft of the agreement had urged nations to stop issuing permits for new coal-fired power plants unless they could capture and bury their carbon dioxide emissions. But countries like China and India, which are still building large new coal plants to satisfy growing energy demand, opposed overly tight restrictions. The language on new coal plants was removed from the final version.”
Guardian: 'Cop28 is the fossil fuel industry’s dream outcome because it looks like progress but it isn’t' - scientists disagree on significance of agreement
Damian Carrington, 12/13/23
“...Here’s what scientists are saying about the 198-nation deal brokered by Al Jaber, which calls for a “transition away” from fossil fuels,” the Guardian reports. “Prof Johan Rockström, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany: “No, the Cop28 agreement will not enable the world to hold the 1.5C limit, but yes, the result is a pivotal land-mark… “Yet the fossil-fuel statement remains too vague, with no hard and accountable boundaries for 2030, 2040 and 2050.” Prof Mike Berners-Lee, Lancaster University: “Cop28 is the fossil fuel industry’s dream outcome, because it looks like progress, but it isn’t.” “...Prof Martin Siegert, University of Exeter, UK: “The science is perfectly clear. Cop28, by not making a clear declaration to STOP fossil fuel burning is a tragedy for the planet and our future. The world is heating faster and more powerfully than the COP response to deal with it.” “...Prof Daniela Schmidt, University of Bristol: “The time for talking is over. Delaying change further is indefensible. Pretending that reducing emissions by 2050 is enough ignores the dangerous, life-threatening consequences of our anthropogenic heating of the planet. There are still trillions in subsidies given every year to fossil fuel industries who make money for their shareholders ignoring the consequences. Why is that money not redirected to help communities adapt and change the way we live?” Prof Gulcin Ozkan, King’s College London,UK: “The final declaration falls short on many levels. First, it is vague with no timeframe, hence the process can potentially take a very long time. Second, there is no clear commitment regarding financial support to the less developed countries in their transition. Finally, and surprisingly, there is no mention of a net zero target for methane emissions.” “...A delegate from the Children and Youth observers said the agreement had “written her obituary at the age of 16”. In a fiery joint speech, the two delegates criticised leaders for applauding the Global Stocktake despite its flaws. They also criticised the countries in the room for funding war while failing to spend enough on stopping climate change. “Not in our name. For shame.”
Reuters: COP28 proposed deal references transition away from all fossil fuels
12/13/23
“The U.N.'s climate body on Wednesday published the proposed text of the deal countries hope to reach at the COP28 summit in Dubai, which included a reference to transitioning away from all fossil fuels beginning in this decade,” Reuters reports. “The document recognised "the need for deep, rapid and sustained reductions in GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions in line with 1.5C pathways" and called upon nations to take actions including: "(a) Tripling renewable energy capacity globally and doubling the global average annual rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030; (b) Rapidly phasing down unabated coal and limiting the permitting of new and unabated coal power generation; (c) Accelerating efforts globally towards net zero emissions energy systems, utilizing zero and low carbon fuels well before or by around mid-century; (d) Transitioning away from fossil fuels in our energy systems, beginning in this decade, in a just, orderly and equitable manner so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science; (e) Accelerating zero and low emissions technologies, including, inter alia, renewables, nuclear, abatement and removal technologies, such as carbon capture and utilization and storage particularly in hard to abate sectors, and low carbon hydrogen production, so as to enhance efforts towards substitution of unabated fossil fuels in energy systems. (f) Accelerating and substantially reducing non-CO2 emissions, including, in particular, methane emissions globally by 2030; (g) Accelerating emissions reductions from road transport through a range of pathways, including development of infrastructure and rapid deployment of zero emission vehicles; (h) Phasing out of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that do not address energy poverty or just transitions, as soon as possible."
Axios: Welcome to Big Oil's era of "both/and"
Ben Geman, 12/13/23
“The latest oil patch merger highlights how petro-giants are taking a "both/and" approach to fossil fuels and low-carbon technology,” Axios reports. “...It's been a while since we covered Occidental's oil plans — instead the action has been centered around their carbon dioxide removal business. And that gets to a wider trend, with several giants looking to bolster their oil and "clean" business lines simultaneously… “Occidental is a "model for a new oil and gas producer" Enverus Intelligence Research analyst Andrew Dittmar said in a note. He points out the company, as it "doubles down" on Permian production, is building the world's largest direct air capture plant in Texas… “Exxon's climate-related lines, meanwhile, are a small share of their budget, but those resources are expanding. Last week, it bumped its 2022-2027 budget for low-carbon businesses — Co2 capture, hydrogen and more — and emissions cutting by $3 billion to reach $20 billion… “One reason for breakneck consolidation in the shale patch is that prime geology, even in the vast Permian, isn't limitless. High valuations in recent deals shows "an urgency by large companies to secure the remaining high-quality U.S. shale inventory," Enverus' Dittmar wrote in his note.”
National Observer: The oily backroom campaign to sink the federal emissions cap
Natasha Bulowski & John Woodside,12/13/23
“The federal government faced fierce external pressure to abandon or weaken its plan to cap oil and gas sector emissions from provincial governments and industry lobby groups in the lead-up to its announcement last week,” the National Observer reports.”Oil industry players averaged more than two lobbying meetings per workday over the past year. Collectively, Pathways Alliance, the Canadian Association for Petroleum Producers and Canada’s six largest oilsands companies recorded 499 meetings from January through October, Canada’s National Observer found by searching the federal lobbyists registry. The onslaught of lobbying catalogued exceeds 1,000 meetings when the search is expanded to include 30 companies and industry groups, Environmental Defence, a climate advocacy group, found in a recent analysis… “NDP environment and climate change critic Laurel Collins called the Liberals’ framework to cap emissions from oil and gas production “unbelievably disappointing.” “It's so disheartening. They have clearly listened to oil and gas executives and lobbyists who have been pushing for loopholes and the watering down of what could be an incredibly important policy to meet our climate commitments,” said Collins in an interview with Canada’s National Observer… “Green Party Leader Elizabeth May called the framework “a major victory for Canada's oil and gas lobbyists….This cap, which was clearly designed not to hinder the growth of Canadian fossil fuel production and will only come into effect in 2026, is a violation of our Paris commitment and a theft of our children's future," she said in a statement… “The Pathways Alliance, a lobby group representing the six-largest oilsands producers (Suncor, Imperial Oil, Cenovus Energy, MEG Energy, Canadian Natural Resources and ConocoPhillips Canada), did not immediately reject the emissions cap framework, but said it is unnecessary and unhelpful… “The framework is “literally a licence to pollute until it is too late,” Pauzé said in question period last week. “Who drafted this plan, the oil companies?"
Pique: B.C. researcher looks to bury carbon pollution under Metro Vancouver
Stefan Labbé, 12/12/23
“A B.C. researcher is investigating how to bury millions of tonnes of carbon pollution under Metro Vancouver using a technology that could help reduce the region’s industrial footprint,” Pique reports. “...Proponents of the technology say it offers a realistic path to wean Canada — and indeed the rest of the world — off fossil fuels without sinking the economy… “But critics say the expensive technology only captures 0.5 per cent of Canada’s emissions despite having received an estimated $9.1 billion public funds as of early 2023. Worse, say opponents, pursuing the technology funnels money away from investments in technologies like wind or solar energy, and is being used as a tool to ‘greenwash’ the oil and gas industry and let it carry on as usual. But according to Simon Fraser University geologist Shahin Dashtgard, the technology could fill a vital gap in drawing down emissions from hard-to-decarbonize industries… “Dashtgard received more than $900,000 from the B.C. and federal government to explore how B.C.’s largest urban area might reduce some of the 15 million tonnes of emissions emitted by Metro Vancouver every year… “Injecting the pollution under Metro Vancouver will likely require dissolving carbon into water “like a soft drink” and then sending it between one thousand and two thousand metres underground. At that depth, the high pressure will keep the carbon dioxide dissolved as a heavy brine solution that will sink through the rock. In what’s expected to be a four-year feasibility study, the researcher will examine about 900 kilometres of previously collected two-dimensional seismic data — basically, images of the rocks underneath our feet — starting in Metro Vancouver and Strait of Georgia, and then expanding to Vancouver Island in the next year or so, Dashtgard told Pique.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
Reuters: Big Oil's bid to woo ESG investors fails to impress
Simon Jessop and Tommy Wilkes, 12/12/23
“A COP28 pledge by energy majors to reduce their emissions is not enough to convince many sustainable fund managers to include the companies in their portfolios because it omits pollution from the use of oil and gas, six interviews with Reuters show. “...Those Scope 1 and 2 emissions from the companies' own operations account for about 15% of the total associated with the companies. The pledge does not address Scope 3 emissions caused by the use of the fuels the companies produce that account for 85%... “Asset manager Candriam told Reuters it would stick to excluding major oil and gas companies from its socially responsible funds because none was aligned with their preferred scenario for meeting the objectives of the Paris Agreement on climate change… "The transition to a low-carbon world does not mean producing the same volume of oil and gas in a more carbon efficient manner. It means shifting away from fossil fuels as the main energy source towards low-carbon energy," Alix Chosson, lead ESG analyst at Candriam, told Reuters… “Sustainability-minded investors have achieved little when trying to influence oil giants as stakeholders, U.S. billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer told Reuters in Dubai. "A bunch of people have bought into Exxon to try and change it, and Exxon's response was to spend [on buying a rival]," he told Reuters, referring to ExxonMobil's (XOM.N) $60 billion deal to acquire Pioneer Natural Resources. "It's very important to recognise how hard it is to change 100-year-old corporate cultures.” For some ESG investors, the case for investing in the energy giants has been weakened by the realisation "oil and gas companies are not going to become renewable energy companies", Global Head of Sustainability and Transition Strategy at U.S. bank Jefferies Aniket Shah told Reuters.
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
GoNorthUmberland: Enbridge Gas Aids Township of Hamilton Fire Department in Enhancing Firefighter Training
Noah Lorusso, 12/13/23
“Enbridge Gas is contributing to the Township of Hamilton’s Fire Department’s purchase of firefighting training materials through the Safe Community Project Assist program,” GoNorthUmberland reports. “This initiative, in collaboration with the Fire Marshal’s Public Fire Safety Council (FMPFSC), supplements existing training for Ontario volunteer and composite fire departments in areas where Enbridge Gas operates. Chris Doig, Eastern Region Supervisor Operations at Enbridge Gas, emphasizes the commitment to safety, stating, “At Enbridge Gas, safety is at the core of what we do. Providing support to Ontario firefighters with emergency response training, we’re equipping the heroes of tomorrow to better protect the communities we live and work in – keeping them healthy and vibrant.” “...Mike Robinson, Township of Hamilton Director of Emergency Services / Fire Chief, expresses gratitude, saying… The continued support of Enbridge Gas allows us to educate our firefighters, making life better in the Township of Hamilton.”
Chatham Daily News: Enbridge donates record $45K to Goodfellows Christmas campaign
Ellwood Shreve, 12/12/23
“A record donation of $45,000 from Enbridge couldn’t have come at a better time for the Chatham Goodfellows as the volunteer organization faces rising costs,” Chatham Daily News reports. “Goodfellows member Tim Haskell said Enbridge initially donated $42,065 from employee and company contributions, then topped it up to $45,000 shortly after… “He added Enbridge also sends out a team to help pack toy hampers that will be delivered beginning Monday.”
OPINION
Quad City Times: Letter: We all should oppose CO2 pipeline
Larry Hodgden, Tipton, 12/13/23
“The Pipeline meeting in the Cedar County courthouse basement on Dec. 7 was an eye-opening experience. It was clear that the landowners, mostly farmers, were not interested in having a high-pressure CO2 pipeline on, or anywhere near their property. I totally agree with them, and I don’t have any property near the proposed pipeline,” Larry Hodgden writes for the Quad City Times. “What I find interesting is that these farmers, most of whom vote Republican, find themselves at odds with Gov. Reynolds, the Republican appointed Iowa Utilities Board and Republican appointed judges. While the GOP Iowa House passed a bill to bar, or at least limit eminent domain to protect landowner’s rights, the Republican Iowa Senate would not take it up and pass it. All you need to do is follow the money and you’ll find out what is driving the governor and her deep-pocket supporters to keep pushing for this pipeline. There are millions of dollars to be made by investors and construction companies, not to mention the billions at stake for the pipeline companies. Farmers, like the CO2 in the pipeline, are under high pressure to sign. DON’T. The Sierra Club, America’s premier conservation group, is united with farmers in opposition. In addition to the infringement on property rights, the damage to farmland and disruption of farming, there is a major health and safety concern with a high-pressure pipeline. We should all be united in opposition to this unnecessary pipeline and be looking for better methods to use and reduce CO2.”
The Atlantic: The Fossil-Fuel Industry Has a Rosy Idea of Its Future
Zoë Schlanger, 12/12/23
“Like the draft agreement that came out yesterday at COP28, in Dubai—which softened language about phasing out fossil fuels to “reducing” them and “efforts towards” substituting “unabated” fossil fuels—Canada is awkwardly trying to live with two contradictory ideas about climate change. The world has to stop using fossil fuels, and yet, for a petrostate, letting go isn’t easy,” Zoë Schlanger writes for The Atlantic. “...Canada has been taking steps to decrease fossil fuels; it also comes fourth in the world for the volume of oil it produces. Much of that oil is bitumen oil (also known as oil sands or “tar sands” crude), which is among the heaviest, stickiest, dirtiest form of crude oil, so viscous that it needs to be diluted in order to flow through pipelines. Producing this oil means that Canada has one of the highest rates of emissions per barrel in the world. This type of doublethink is at the foundation of this year’s COP. Any language to come out of the negotiations about decreasing fossil-fuel use would go further than the world ever has on this point; at the same time, the conference has essentially doubled as a trade show for the energy industry, with oil executives holding sessions on carbon capture and OPEC hosting a pavilion. It has been a strange portmanteau of visions for the future, but in the final days, the outcome has seemed to lurch to the side of oil interests. Some amount of change may still yet come out of COP, but for now it is still minimal and incremental enough that one Canadian oil-industry group executive, Mark Cameron, told me that “we’re not losing sleep” over any agreement that nudges the world to decrease its use only of “unabated” fossil fuel. Canada’s “party overflow” list included 28 employees of fossil-fuel companies, who would be allowed to observe some negotiations. Several more Canadian industry representatives got badges as part of the host country’s initiative to welcome more industry to the table. Cameron, the vice president of external relations for the Pathways Alliance, an industry group for Canada’s six major oil-sands producers that focuses on emissions reductions, was hanging around the sidelines of Guilbeault’s Friday press conference. He wanted to hear what the minister would say but would rather not be seen directly in the mix, he told me. He didn’t say why, but I noticed that members of the Canadian group Environmental Defence were also in the huddle, a group that recently called out the Pathways Alliance’s financial investment in emissions-cutting technology as “negligible.” “...I think if the language was ‘phase down’ or ‘phase out’ of fossil fuels, we’d be quite concerned,” Cameron said. “But phase down of ‘unabated’ fossil fuels?… That aligns with our strategy.” The Pathways Alliance members have said that they will strive for net-zero emissions from their drilling by 2050, largely through carbon capture and storage projects.