EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 12/16/21
PIPELINE NEWS
Reuters: Enbridge removes Michigan's oil pipeline lawsuit to federal court
Reuters: About half of U.S. oil pipeline space is empty after boom time building spree
WGN: Black farmers fight pipeline plan in Pembroke Township
National Observer: Coastal GasLink has trashed up the environment and violated permits, inspectors note
Facebook: Appalachians Against Pipelines: In April, Tom and Molly were arrested after Tom stopped pipe from being delivered to a Mountain Valley Pipeline work site
Ames Tribune: Story County supervisors to condemn possible use of eminent domain for two pipelines
KICD: Pipeline Meeting in Clay County
E&E News: D.C. Circuit eminent domain battle may hit FERC gas projects
Facebook: Honor the Earth: ORAL ARGUMENTS BEGIN IN JURISDICTION DISPUTE BETWEEN WHITE EARTH NATION Vs. MINNESOTA DNR TO BE HEARD THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16
Wisconsin Citizens Media Co-Op: White Earth Attorney Frank Bibeau speaks about historic Rights of Manoomin case
Green Bay Press-Gazette: Why activists in Green Bay are calling for an environmental study of an oil pipeline project that will run through part of Wisconsin
Bushwick Daily: As New York City Plans to Ban Gas Hookups in Buildings, the Fight Against the North Brooklyn Pipeline Continues
Associated Press: Texas pipeline company charged in California oil spill
WASHINGTON UPDATES
NBC News: Democrats' hopes dim that Build Back Better will pass before New Year
E&E News: Senate reconciliation bill draft axes offshore drilling ban
Politico: METHANE IN THE MIX
Politico: GRANHOLM PUTS CRUDE EXPORT BAN TO REST
Build Back Fossil Free: SEC. GRANHOLM “BENDS TO THE WILL OF BIG OIL” WITH EXPORT REMARKS
Upstream Online: US representatives propose legislation that would exclude EOR from 45Q tax credits for CCS
E&E News: Big payout, more CO2: Greens split over Dems’ CCS plan
E&E News: Biden admin backs oil rail through roadless forest area
Politico: BUREAUCRATIC HURDLES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
InsideClimate News: Is There Something Amiss With the Way the EPA Tracks Methane Emissions from Landfills?
STATE UPDATES
KCAL: Coast Guard Locates Oil Slick Off Coast Of Huntington Beach
LAist: How Did The OC Oil Spill Impact Local Seafood?
Salt Lake Tribune: Surface Transportation Board approves proposed Uinta Basin oil railway
Grist: ‘It doesn’t have to be this way’: Lessons from the slow death of Louisiana’s oil industry
Sierra Club: Halting the Gas Export Boom
EXTRACTION
Associated Press: Vehicle emission declines decreased deaths, study finds
E&E News: Study: Fossil fuel burning linked to over 1M deaths per year
Reuters: Climate change imperils world's oil and gas reserves: research
Reuters: High rates of methane spewing from U.S. Permian oilfield operations - report
U.S. Government Accountability Office: Offshore Oil Spills: Additional Information is Needed to Better Understand the Environmental Tradeoffs of Using Chemical Dispersants
CBC: Some Northern residents vow to oppose federal regulations to release treated oilsands tailings water
McCarthy Tétrault LLP: Moving Forward: Alberta Releases RFP Guidelines for Carbon Sequestration Hubs
Al Jazeera: Mapping the world’s oil and gas pipelines
CLIMATE FINANCE
Bloomberg: Wall Street Is Close to Triggering a Climate Financial Crisis
Corporate Knights: Despite progress, Canada’s pension funds are still investing in climate failure
OPINION
Wall Street Journal: John Kerry’s Financial Crusade Against Oil and Gas
National Observer: If Jason Kenney wants a $32B subsidy for Big Oil, he should pay for it
Post Independent: Guest opinion: Strong rules for oil and gas essential in protecting our way of life
PIPELINE NEWS
Reuters: Enbridge removes Michigan's oil pipeline lawsuit to federal court
By Nia Williams, 12/15/21
“Enbridge Inc on Wednesday removed to U.S. federal court a lawsuit filed by Michigan's attorney general against its Line 5 oil pipeline, the latest in a long-running dispute between the Canadian company and the Midwestern state,” Reuters reports. “The lawsuit had originally been filed in state court in June 2019 by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. Nessel's office told Reuters Enbridge's move was an "outrageous maneuver" and questioned its validity, saying that federal law states the process to remove a lawsuit must be initiated within 30 days of its being served. "We will address this flagrant attempt to undermine that process in court and remain fervently committed to our belief that the fate of Michigan’s greatest natural resources should be determined in a Michigan court," spokesperson Lynsey Mukomel said in an email… "The removal of the Attorney General's case to federal court follows a November 16, 2021 ruling which held that the similar (and now dismissed) lawsuit brought by the Governor to force Line 5's shutdown raised important federal issues and should be heard in federal court," Enbridge said in a statement.
Reuters: About half of U.S. oil pipeline space is empty after boom time building spree
By Stephanie Kelly, 12/16/21
“About half of U.S. oil pipeline space is sitting unused, heating up competition for barrels in higher-output areas like the Permian Basin in Texas,” Reuters reports. “Overall U.S. pipeline capacity utilization is at around 50%, compared with a range of 60% to 70% headed into early 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic hit, according to consultancy Wood Mackenzie. Pipelines overall are now half-full, as production, which surged to 13 million barrels per day in early 2020 to make the United States the top oil producer, has averaged just 11 million bpd in 2021. Oil and gas shippers often find themselves building pipelines amid a production boom only to find there is too much capacity when downturns occur. Numerous pipelines were built in the Permian in Texas and New Mexico - the largest U.S. oilfield - to export locales while production surged between 2017 and 2020. Some pipeline operators in areas like the Permian Basin have responded by cutting pre-pandemic shipping rates, as the U.S. oil industry has been slow to recover from the coronavirus outbreak… “North Dakota's Bakken production is lagging pre-pandemic levels, and Energy Transfer LP's Dakota Access Pipeline, which can carry about 570,000 bpd out of the region, is at about 77% of utilization, compared with nearly full utilization before the pandemic, Saxton told Reuters.”
WGN: Black farmers fight pipeline plan in Pembroke Township
Gaynor Hall, 12/15/21
“A group of Black farmers is fighting plans to build a natural gas pipeline in Pembroke Township in Kankakee County,” WGN reports. “Last week, the group traveled to the Thompson Center and joined activists from Chicago to send a message to Governor JB Pritzker. Frederick Carter and Dr. Jifunza Wright Carter run the Black Oaks Center where they work on sustainable farming and efforts to cultivate the next generation of Black farmers. The carters tell WGN their community, which is also home to a rare eco-system, is in jeopardy… “In a letter to the governor this month, asking him to stop the pipeline plan, the Pembroke Environmental Justice Coalition led by the Carters said locking them into natural gas will lock future generations into continued Thy said It’s divestment at a time when other communities are transitioning away from fossil fuels. “The energy companies are doing what they can to survive and they’re leveraging Pembroke Township from a disadvantaged perspective to monetize a project that they’re trying to do,” Carter told WGN. But Hopkins Park Mayor Mark Hodge told WGN most residents support the project and its long overdue. “We want natural gas, just like every community around us as so we can have jobs,” he told WGN. “The residents out here, no longer want to use wood, kerosene or propane. We have been using this for the last 40-50 years and beyond. … We have reached out to wind and solar investors. However, they said return on their money would not that be good in this area. So we have exhausted our resources in that area and we have to seek what’s best for us and that’s natural gas.” Last week, an administrative law judge issued a recommendation siding with Nicor… “We are very disappointed in the judge’s decision. Nicor is now one step closer to forcing its fossil fuel pipeline through a Black farming community that doesn’t want it there, threatening a world-renowned microbiome and hastening the dangers of climate change.”
National Observer: Coastal GasLink has trashed up the environment and violated permits, inspectors note
Matt Simmons, 12/16/21
“Jerry cans of gas in an overflowing pool of water. Oil barrels lying on the ground. A dumpster filled to the brim, its lid propped open and bags of garbage left out in bear country. Murky water flowing into wetlands, lakes, streams and rivers. These are scenes from the route of the Coastal GasLink pipeline, as documented by provincial inspectors,” the National Observer reports. “All of this, including impacts to watercourses, their beds and banks not properly restored after workers cleared the land in preparation for laying pipe, violates the terms of its project approval — adding to a growing list of 11 non-compliance orders issued by B.C.’s environmental assessment office since construction on the project began in 2019, including three new orders issued in November. Collectively, the enforcement orders reveal a pattern of Coastal GasLink failing to abide by the rules of the pipeline project’s environmental permits, despite the repeated written warnings and orders… “The inspectors recommended an administrative penalty, which could mean daily fines of up to $750,000 for every day infractions are not addressed, according to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. In the coming weeks, the ministry will determine whether a penalty is necessary — or if additional information is needed — and then give Coastal GasLink another chance to respond to its findings and any proposed penalty.”
Facebook: Appalachians Against Pipelines: In April, Tom and Molly were arrested after Tom stopped pipe from being delivered to a Mountain Valley Pipeline work site
12/14/21
“In April, Tom and Molly were arrested after Tom stopped pipe from being delivered to a Mountain Valley Pipeline work site by locking himself to a pipe truck for several hours. They were each charged with multiple felonies and jailed without bond before being ultimately granted an outrageous bail of $15,000 each. After having scary, bullshit charges, including felony abduction, hanging over their heads for months, they each accepted a plea offer that included being found guilty of a single misdemeanor. Here are some reflections from Molly: “Today I am thinking about how lucky I am to be in the position I am in. I am thinking about all the people currently awaiting trial that did not have a community-wide support system able to afford bail. I am thinking about all the people currently incarcerated, victims of a system that upholds racial violence and the criminalization of poverty. I am thinking about all the people that never had the chance to prove their innocence as the police they encountered chose to name themselves judge, jury, and executioner… “In April, Tom and Molly took a stand to stop the MVP while the courts and regulators failed to do so. They faced some of the most absurd charges against pipeline fighters in this campaign to date. Still, as Molly said, there are thousands of other people locked in cages, stuck in the so-called “criminal justice” system with no community support. Let’s work to support everyone inside prisons and jails with the same urgency as those who have put themselves in the path of the pipelines. As we continue to fight this pipeline, we are also fighting to end this system and #FreeThemAll!”
Ames Tribune: Story County supervisors to condemn possible use of eminent domain for two pipelines
Danielle Gehr, 12/14/21
“The Story County supervisors voted to file a comment condemning possible eminent domain use for two pipelines proposed to cut through Iowa,” the Ames Tribune reports. “The two multi-billion-dollar carbon sequestration pipelines are proposed to break ground in Iowa for the sake of lowering emissions… “During Story County's informational meeting on the project in September — one of the dozens of meetings required by the Iowa Utilities Board — Summit Carbon Solutions officials said their goal is not to use eminent domain but did not rule out the possibility. "I think there's a lot of question over whether eminent domain can be used for either of these projects," Story County Supervisor Linda Murken said at Tuesday's meeting. With Tuesday's vote, the supervisors would publicly oppose the use of eminent domain for these projects by filing comments with the Iowa Utilities Board, which has the power to grant eminent domain use to the companies. Murken said at Tuesday's meeting at least two other counties have submitted similar comments… “The Midwest Carbon Express will also impact the northwest corner of Boone County, whose informational meeting ended with a call for farmers to band together against the proposed pipeline.”
KICD: Pipeline Meeting in Clay County
Kevin Tlam, 12/14/21
“The second company hoping to construct a carbon pipeline across the KICD Broadcast area held a public hearing in Clay County yesterday. Both companies must hold a session in each affected county according to rules set down by the Iowa Public Utilities board,” KICD reports. “...There were a few germane questions about liability and damage. Company President and CEO David Giles says they would be responsible for anyone hurt and killed by a pipeline accident, unless another party damaged it by negligence. And spokesperson Elizabeth Burns-Thompson said they would also be responsible for long-term damage to drainage systems – IF that’s written into the lease. Other comments were philosophical about tax dollars used for carbon credits, whether they should exist at all, or be directed to farmers instead of ethanol companies. But Royal farmer Jim Christensen wanted to know why two, nearly side-by-side pipelines running different directions is even being considered by the state of Iowa.”
E&E News: D.C. Circuit eminent domain battle may hit FERC gas projects
By Niina H. Farah, 12/16/21
“Federal judges yesterday considered the path for landowners to pursue an unusual, sweeping challenge to takings for natural gas pipelines,” E&E News reports. “Homeowners located along the route of the Mountain Valley pipeline appeared before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit after filing a legal challenge alleging that it is unconstitutional for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to delegate its eminent domain authority to pipeline developers. Yesterday’s D.C. Circuit arguments turned on a narrow procedural question, but a lawyer for the landowners said a broad ruling in favor of her clients could potentially void FERC certificates for natural gas projects across the country. "If enabling legislation is unconstitutional, then all decisions are set aside," said Mia Yugo, a lawyer at the firm Hafemann Magee Thomas. She argued that a judge of a lower court had wrongfully dismissed her clients’ challenge… “FERC has in recent years issued a spate of certificates to natural gas pipelines like Mountain Valley. Opponents of those projects have argued that building a large network of gas pipelines is neither necessary nor in the public’s interest… “Judge Cornelia Pillard said yesterday that the D.C. Circuit also has the power to address constitutional questions… “Yugo replied that her clients want the courts to invalidate the "entire scheme" of pipeline condemnations under the nondelegation doctrine, which says Congress cannot hand off its legislative powers to federal agencies… “Yugo said her clients’ constitutional challenge is a "pure question of law" rather than a "fact-intensive" case in which FERC could potentially order Mountain Valley to shift the route of its project. "In our instance, there is nothing [FERC] can do to fix the problem," Yugo said.”
Facebook: Honor the Earth: ORAL ARGUMENTS BEGIN IN JURISDICTION DISPUTE BETWEEN WHITE EARTH NATION Vs. MINNESOTA DNR TO BE HEARD THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16
12/15/21
“Oral arguments in Case 21-3050 will begin tomorrow, December 16, 2021, by the 8th Circuit Court in St. Paul in a dispute about whether White Earth Nation tribal jurisdiction in northern Minnesota binds the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to fight a novel Rights of Manoomin lawsuit in state or tribal court. White Earth Tribal Judge DeGroat and Red Lake tribal attorney, Joe Plumer, will present the tribe’s arguments on behalf of White Earth. At issue ultimately is whether the DNR can be sued by the White Earth Nation in tribal court over the Rights of Manoomin (wild rice) – often identified as Rights of Nature, challenging the Line 3 DNR water/dewatering permits that allocated 5 billion gallons of water during pipeline construction in an historic, severe drought last summer.
The DNR has challenged whether tribal courts have the authority to hear such a case. The media and public can access the live audio stream provided on the court’s website at www.ca8.uscourts.gov. The court also provides digital audio recordings of all arguments under the “Oral Arguments” tab on its website. These recordings are posted shortly after completion of the day’s argument sessions.”
Wisconsin Citizens Media Co-Op: White Earth Attorney Frank Bibeau speaks about historic Rights of Manoomin case
Barbara With, 12/14/21
“On December 16, 2021, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe will take the next step in their historic court case against the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources,” Wisconsin Citizens Media Co-Op reports. “On August 4, an action was filed in the Tribal Court of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota, by Manoomin (wild rice), the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, and several tribal members, to stop the State of Minnesota from allowing the Enbridge corporation to use five billion gallons of water for the construction of the oil pipeline Enbridge Line 3. This is the first case brought in a tribal court to enforce the rights of nature, and the first rights of nature case brought to enforce Treaty guarantees. According to Frank Bibeau, Tribal Attorney representing wild rice and the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, this case is historical, and has the ability to influence change in how environmental law is focused in the U.S. In a presentation to the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights, Bibeau answered questions about the case, and why it could have such impact across the country… “So when I look at what’s going on with manoomin, I think we’re not only going to have to continue with our litigation in tribal court, but we’re also going to look at adding another party—maybe the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, because they also have a role in this. They have supposedly identified 28 frac outs, but they don’t want to identify the locations of those places.”
Green Bay Press-Gazette: Why activists in Green Bay are calling for an environmental study of an oil pipeline project that will run through part of Wisconsin
Frank Vaisvilas, 12/16/21
“Environmental activists gathered outside an office of the Army Corps of Engineers in Green Bay Tuesday calling for the the agency to closely study the environmental impact of an oil pipeline project in Minnesota,” the Green Bay Press-Gazette reports. “...The project affects about 14 miles of existing pipeline in Wisconsin and new pipeline in Minnesota runs through Ojibwe treaty land, a culture of people with reservations in both states. “It’s only a matter of time before it leaks because that’s what pipelines do,” Grace Quinn of Sunrise Fox Valley told the Gazette. “Fossil fuels are not the way to go. … Climate change impacts all of us.” Quinn told the Gazette she was among hundreds arrested this summer during pipeline protests near the Mississippi River in Minnesota at the site of the Line 3 oil pipeline project proposed by Canadian company Enbridge. Environmentalist Justice Peche, an Oneida Nation citizen, told the Gazette protesters are requesting the Army Corps of Engineers order an environmental impact statement as a transparent method to determine the impact of the pipeline project… “This fall, environmentalists failed to convince the Green Bay City Council to approve a resolution to oppose the pipeline project and support Indigenous treaty rights with the government. A similar resolution had been passed in Madison. Environmentalists said they will continue to work to get the attention of local officials. On Tuesday, they sang songs that included the lyrics: “What do you do when your water’s under attack? Stand up, fight back!”
Bushwick Daily: As New York City Plans to Ban Gas Hookups in Buildings, the Fight Against the North Brooklyn Pipeline Continues
ARIANA PEREZ-CASTELLS, 12/13/21
“This week, the New York City Council is expected to pass a bill that would ban gas hookups in new buildings, a big step towards the electrification of New York City,” the Bushwick Daily reports. “...All the while, the fight against the North Brooklyn Pipeline, which brings in natural gas through areas of Brooklyn, continues. It’s hard to parse how the city will arrive at its outlined plan to move towards greener energy sources when non-renewable energy infrastructure is still being built. For years, Bushwick residents and activists have opposed a natural gas pipeline National Grid has been building in the neighborhood. Colloquially known as the North Brooklyn Pipeline, its construction is in direct opposition to the strides the city is making to leave natural gas behind and transition to renewable energies.”
Associated Press: Texas pipeline company charged in California oil spill
By BRIAN MELLEY and MATTHEW BROWN, 12/16/21
“A Houston-based oil company and two subsidiaries were indicted Wednesday for a crude spill that fouled Southern California waters and beaches in October, an event prosecutors say was caused in part by failing to properly act when alarms repeatedly alerted workers to a pipeline rupture,” the Associated Press reports. “Amplify Energy Corp. and its companies that operate several oil rigs and a pipeline off Long Beach were charged by a federal grand jury with a single misdemeanor count of illegally discharging oil… “U.S. prosecutors said the companies were negligent six ways, including failing to respond to eight leak detection system alarms over a 13-hour period that should have alerted them to the spill and would have minimized the damage. Instead, the pipeline was shut down after each alarm and then restarted, spewing more oil into the ocean. Amplify blamed the unnamed shipping company for displacing the pipeline and said workers on and offshore responded to what they believed were false alarms because the system wasn’t functioning properly. It was signaling a potential leak at the platform where no leak was occurring, the company said. The leak, in fact, was from a section of undersea pipe 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) miles away, Amplify said. “Had the crew known there was an actual oil spill in the water, they would have shut down the pipeline immediately,” the company said… “Pipeline safety advocate Bill Caram told Reuters the indictment paints a picture of a reckless company. “I understand there are false positives on leak detection systems but this is our treasured coastline,” Caram, director of the Bellingham, Washington-based Pipeline Safety Trust, told Reuters. “The fact that they kept hitting the snooze button and ignoring alarms, stopping and starting this pipeline and all the while leaking oil in the Pacific Ocean is reckless and egregious.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
NBC News: Democrats' hopes dim that Build Back Better will pass before New Year
Leigh Ann Caldwell and Julie Tsirkin, 12/15/21
“Democrats in the Senate are preparing to miss their self-imposed deadline to pass President Joe Biden’s $1.7 trillion social safety net bill before the end of the year, according to four sources familiar with planning by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office,” NBC News reports. “The decision to try again next year is based on simple math — Schumer doesn’t have the 50 votes needed to pass the legislation thanks to Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who remains a hold out. Talks between Manchin and Biden are going "very poorly," a source familiar with the talks tells NBC. The decision to delay is also in part because Senate Democrats haven’t finished negotiating the bill. Provisions on state and local taxes and the methane rule remain undecided. Senate Democrats also haven’t finished clearing all the procedural hurdles necessary to hold a vote. Two congressional sources tell NBC a vote could be delayed until March.”
E&E News: Senate reconciliation bill draft axes offshore drilling ban
By Emma Dumain, Jeremy Dillon, Nick Sobczyk, 12/16/21
“The Senate version of congressional Democrats’ massive climate and social spending package would allow offshore oil and gas drilling off the Atlantic, Pacific and the eastern Gulf of Mexico in the party’s massive climate and social spending package,” E&E News reports. “The draft text comes as the Senate appears increasingly unlikely to take action on the bill before year’s end. The loss of the offshore drilling ban, a major provision in the House’s reconciliation bill, would be a potential blow to green advocates and vulnerable House Democrats who saw both environmental and political advantages to keeping the provision intact… “In the 91-page draft of the Energy Committee’s legislative language, the offshore drilling provision was conspicuously absent… “Supporters of including the ban in the reconciliation measure, however, argued it was crucial to enshrine the moratorium in law rather than rely on the whims of an executive action. In addition, they said protections were needed to preserve the Pacific coast. Meanwhile, House Democratic incumbents facing tough reelections in 2022 were planning to campaign on securing a priority that often transcends party affiliation in many coastal districts… “It wasn’t immediately clear whether the drilling text was stripped out due to Manchin’s opposition or thanks to a parliamentary challenge from the committee’s top Republican, Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming.”
Politico: METHANE IN THE MIX
Matthew Choi, Josh Siegel, 12/15/21
“Senate Democrats have made more concessions on their methane fee to accommodate concerns of Energy Committee Chair Joe Manchin , leaving proponents of the policy optimistic that they are near to a deal with the centrist swing vote from West Virginia,” Politico reports. “We have made progress over the last week,” Environment Committee Chair Tom Carper told reporters Tuesday… “The methane fee is one of the remaining sticking points in negotiations, along with electric vehicle tax credits, carbon capture subsidies, and federal oil and gas leasing reforms. Manchin has helped kill other provisions that would have penalized fossil fuels, magnifying the importance Democrats are placing on the methane fee as a policy that could reduce greenhouse gas emission rather than promoting clean energy.”
Politico: GRANHOLM PUTS CRUDE EXPORT BAN TO REST:
Matthew Choi, Josh Siegel, 12/15/21
“Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm assured the U.S. oil sector that the administration had no plans to block oil exports, telling the executives gathered for the National Petroleum Council meeting Tuesday: “I’ve heard you loud and clear, and so has the White House, and we wanted to put that rumor to rest,” Politico reports. “Banning crude exports was a proposal backed by some climate hawks in Congress to address rising fuel costs, but the industry and fossil fuel-state lawmakers railed against the idea. Granholm also rebutted criticisms from Republicans and some in the oil and gas industry who pinned blame for rising fuel prices on administration policies they said were hostile toward American energy. “You may disagree with some of our policies,” Granholm said, “but it does not mean that the Biden administration is standing in the way of your efforts in meeting current demand."
Build Back Fossil Free: SEC. GRANHOLM “BENDS TO THE WILL OF BIG OIL” WITH EXPORT REMARKS
12/14/21
“Secretary Granholm’s pledge to oil companies on Tuesday that the Biden Administration won’t reinstate the crude export ban are a betrayal of frontline communities and the administration’s commitment to treat the climate crisis as a code red emergency, according to Build Back Fossil Free, a coalition of over 300 groups working to pressure President Biden to do more on fossil fuels. According to an article by Bloomberg News, Sec Granholm told Big Oil representatives that she wanted to “put to rest” any rumors about reinstating the crude export ban, adding that the administration was “not a bogeyman” and that she did “not want to fight with any of you.” John Beard, the director of the Port Arthur Community Action Network and a Build Back Fossil Free steering committee member issued the following response: “The story of this administration is ‘promises made and promises unkept.’ Despite claims to being the environmental president, Biden hasn’t made good on his word to the millions of Americans demanding climate action. The Biden Administration continues to bend to the will of Big Oil and is bamboozled by its false solutions and misrepresentation of facts. Exports and more drilling do little to affect domestic prices nor do they reduce dependence of foreign crude. This is nothing more than feeding the beast in pursuit of profit, while Gulf Coastal communities of color continue to suffer the effects of pollution and social and environmental injustice. But justice is coming and it’s coming soon. Our movement will force this Administration to make a choice: the people or fossil fuels.” Build Back Fossil Free and their allies are also continuing to push back on the administration’s recent decision to host the largest offshore oil and gas lease sale in US history, part of a disturbing trend of President Biden continuing to put Big Oil ahead of tackling the climate crisis.”
Upstream Online: US representatives propose legislation that would exclude EOR from 45Q tax credits for CCS
Naomi Klinge, 12/15/21
“US representatives from California, Arizona, and Illinois have introduced legislation that would prevent carbon capture tax credits being used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR),” Upstream Online reports. “Ro Khanna, Chair of the House Oversight Subcommittee on the Environment, Raul Grijalva, Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee and Mike Quigley, member of the House Committee on Appropriations, together introduced the End Polluter Welfare for Enhanced Oil Recovery Act on Monday. The proposed legislation was a response to an ongoing debate about a proposed increase in the 45Q tax credit from the current $50 per tonne of carbon dioxide captured to $85 per tonne. The politicians hope to prevent the captured CO2 from being used to actually increase oil production. But oil and gas leaders who would use CO2 for EOR believe there needs to be more incentives for the technology. Bronwyn Eyre, Minister of Energy for Saskatchewan, told Upstream Canada is working on its own version of the US’s 45Q, but stressed it would need to support carbon capture for use in EOR. In the US, about 95% of all carbon captured is used for EOR, which is said to reduce the CO2 emissions for oil production and can permanently store CO2 underground. The representatives supporting this proposal, however, are concerned the tax credits will be used to continue to boost oil production, rather than decrease the role of fossil fuels in our energy mix.”
E&E News: Big payout, more CO2: Greens split over Dems’ CCS plan
By Benjamin Storrow, 12/16/21
“Carbon capture has long divided environmentalists. Now, that fissure is spilling into the debate over the $1.7 trillion reconciliation bill before Congress,” E&E News reports. “It concerns a provision governing 45Q, the tax incentive available to carbon capture and storage projects. In the House version of the bill, also known as the "Build Back Better Act," a power plant equipped with carbon capture technology would need to catch 75 percent of emissions in order to qualify for the credit, which the bill would increase from a maximum of $50 per ton to $85. Groups like the Clean Air Task Force and the Great Plains Institute, which support carbon capture, say the requirement for catching such a large amount of emissions could hamper deployment of the technology and undermine President Biden’s climate goals. Opponents of carbon capture, like the Sierra Club, say the bolstered tax credit could offer a lifeline to coal plants… “The Clean Air Task Force joined a group of unions, utilities and coal interests on a letter to Manchin asking the Senate to eliminate the 75 percent carbon capture requirement included in the House bill.”
E&E News: Biden admin backs oil rail through roadless forest area
By Marc Heller, 12/15/21
“A proposed oil-carrying rail line through roadless areas of a national forest in Utah doesn’t conflict with the Biden administration’s sustainability goals, the Forest Service told opponents of the project,” E&E News reports. “In a letter to the Center for Biological Diversity, Forest Service Chief Randy Moore said the Uinta Basin Railway would help the local economy and support President Biden’s policies to "rebuild our infrastructure for a sustainable economy." At issue is an 88-mile-long rail line that would transport mainly crude oil and sand for fracking, providing a route for expanded oil production in the Uinta Basin. A 12-mile portion would pass through the Ashley National Forest, including roadless areas prohibited from certain types of development. Moore’s letter underscored the Forest Service’s view that allowing trains to run through the forest wouldn’t pose a significant environmental harm and wouldn’t violate the roadless-area protections, as rail lines aren’t considered roads under the Roadless Area Conservation Rule… “The CBD told E&E it was disappointed in Moore’s response, which didn’t address specific objections related to climate change, for instance. The group wrote to him in early September, saying the rail line would encourage fossil fuel production and run counter to the administration’s goal of reducing carbon emissions. "It’s like it came from someone living in an alternate reality — because there is nothing ‘sustainable’ or ‘safer’ about this project," Deeda Seed, public lands senior campaigner for the organization, told E&E.
Politico: BUREAUCRATIC HURDLES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE:
Matthew Choi, Josh Siegel, 12/15/21
“The Biden administration wants to use hundreds of billions of dollars from the bipartisan infrastructure package and other new funding sources to right the environmental wrongs inflicted on marginalized communities, but the federal bureaucracy is still a major roadblock,” Politico reports. “Many of the communities most in need of federal assistance don’t have the personnel to navigate the complex web of applications and approvals, and environmental justice advocates fear they aren’t getting enough communication from the administration on how the benefits should be allocated. “There's a lot of money out there. How do we actually get the infrastructure in place to go after it?” Colin Wellenkamp, executive director of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, told Politico. “It's overwhelm[ing] in a good way. It's a good problem to have. It's a lot better than the problem of ‘we have no resources at all.’” “...The Biden administration will "use the technical assistance and capacity building tools available to agencies to support and empower communities across the country and is interested in partnering with external organizations to help catalyze these funds," a White House spokesperson told Politico.
InsideClimate News: Is There Something Amiss With the Way the EPA Tracks Methane Emissions from Landfills?
James Bruggers, 12/15/21
“Three environmental groups are making a move to hold the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency accountable for accurately tracking heat-trapping gases emitted from the nation’s landfills,” InsideClimate News reports. “The Environmental Integrity Project, Chesapeake Climate Action Network and the Sierra Club have filed a notice of intent to sue the EPA, the first step in a legal process under the Clean Air Act. The groups claim the agency allows landfills to use methods that are more than two decades old, which are underestimating methane emissions by at least 25 percent. The EPA under the law must review and, if necessary, revise its landfill gas emissions calculation methods every three years, and agency officials have known those emissions factors have been off since at least 2008, according to the 10-page legal notice, which was sent to Michael Regan, the EPA administrator, last week. “When it comes to pollution, it’s very difficult to manage what you can’t measure,” said Ryan Maher, attorney for the Environmental Integrity Project, in a press release. “EPA needs to fix how it estimates emissions from this massive source of methane and other air pollutants, not only to help us understand the full extent of the landfill problem, but also to make sure that we’re holding polluters accountable and regulating these facilities properly.”
STATE UPDATES
KCAL: Coast Guard Locates Oil Slick Off Coast Of Huntington Beach
12/16/21
“The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating an oil sheen that was discovered Wednesday nearly a half-mile offshore of Bolsa Chica State Beach in the Pacific Ocean,” KCAL reports. “According to a Huntington Beach police spokesperson, at about 7 p.m. Wednesday, police received reports from residents of an odor of oil, followed by reports of an oil sheen in the water. A little before 7:30 p.m., the Coast Guard confirmed there was an oil sheen about a half-mile offshore of Bosla Chica State Beach, but did not know its source. Police also put a helicopter in the air, but because of the weather and darkness, it was unable to find the sheen… “The U.S. Coast Guard was deploying booms and berms near the Bolsa Chica and Huntington Beach wetlands and inlet channels as preventative measures to keep the oil out of environmental spaces, police told KCAL. This all comes on the same day that three companies were federally charged in connection with the early October oil spill which sent about 25,000 gallons of crude oil into the ocean waters about five miles off the coast of Huntington Beach.”
LAist: How Did The OC Oil Spill Impact Local Seafood?
Stefan A. Slater, 12/15/21
“Scott Breneman, who sells his locally caught black cod and red snapper at the Dory Fishing Fleet and Market in Newport Beach, recalls the moment, when he first noticed the sharp stink of crude oil wafting through the air. He was on his boat and the stench was so strong, his instinct was to check his engine for a leak,” LAist reports. “...Breneman didn't know it at the time but an undersea oil pipeline, running from Long Beach to an offshore oil platform near Huntington Beach, had ruptured, causing oil to spill into the Pacific Ocean… “Immediately after the spill, local authorities also enacted a fisheries closure, prohibiting the acquisition of fish and shellfish from 650 square miles of marine waters and 45 miles of shoreline, with closure boundaries that included all bays and harbors from Seal Beach to San Onofre State Beach. The fishing closure was finally lifted November 30. Still, many people remain wary of eating local seafood… “Local fishermen like Steve Escobar who sells his crab and lobster at the Dory Fleet tell LAist that business at the Dory Fleet market, which has been selling seafood since 1891, slowed down when news of the spill and the subsequent fisheries closure broke. He thinks that customers assumed that because of the closure, Dory Fleet didn't have any seafood to sell. That wasn't the case. Fishers with the Dory Fleet followed the rules and, when they were able to, they began fishing further offshore, well outside of the closure area. "We would never catch something in a closed area and sell it. I'd never do it, nor would any fisherman I know because the risks are too high of losing your permit, and they're hard to come by nowadays," Escobar tells LAist.
Salt Lake Tribune: Surface Transportation Board approves proposed Uinta Basin oil railway
Jordan Miller, 12/15/21
“The Surface Transportation Board granted final approval for the construction of an 85-mile rail line across the Uinta Basin on Wednesday,” the Salt Lake Tribune reports. “Approval for the railway was first sought by the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition in May 2020, according to a news release. The coalition, made up of seven eastern Utah counties, proposed the rail line to connect the state’s oil to the national rail network. The line is expected to cost $1.4 billion and it will be financed and operated by private firms. Rio Grande Pacific Corp. will operate the line and the Ute Indian Tribe is expected to become an equity partner, according to an Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS, released in November. The railway will degrade up to 10,000 acres of wildlife habitat in northeastern Utah, potentially disrupting migration corridors and ruining wetlands, according to that draft EIS.”
Grist: ‘It doesn’t have to be this way’: Lessons from the slow death of Louisiana’s oil industry
Adam Mahoney, 12/16/21
“David Dismukes studies the energy industry for a living. As the executive director of the Center for Energy Studies at Louisiana State University, he has spent the last 30 years pinpointing the industry’s challenges and theorizing around it’s rapidly changing future. This is what he wants you to know: The energy transition from fossil fuels to solar and wind sources is real. “It’s happening and it’s gonna continue to happen,” Grist reports. “At this point, It doesn’t matter if you’re right, wrong, for, or against,” said Dismukes. “People and industries are making, not just hundreds of millions, but billion-dollar decisions based on the belief that this transition is here.” It’s creating – and taking away – jobs, swaying the economy, and transforming how we commute. The transition is also killing refineries, to the sounds of praise from environmental groups and uncertainty from the thousands of oil industry workers… “In the next two years, Wood Mackenzie, an energy consulting group, forecasts that 20 refineries across the globe, including roughly a dozen in the U.S., will cease operations. No other place in the country will feel this more than the Gulf Coast, where roughly 55 percent of the country’s oil production lies… “Even if fossil fuels weren’t killing the planet, Louisiana’s oil industry is showing us it’s time to move,” Anne Rolfes, director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, a Louisiana-based environmental justice organization, told Grist. “The infrastructure itself can’t be maintained and is both vulnerable to climate change and exacerbating it, which makes our storms worse.”
Sierra Club: Halting the Gas Export Boom
Antonia Juhasz, 12/13/21
“LAKE CHARLES IS A SMALL CITY of some 80,000 people located in the southwest corner of Louisiana, not far from the Texas border. On the surface, it might seem tailor-made for a massive new build-out of industrial facilities designed to export gas. There's plenty of gas produced in the region, there's a well-developed network of pipelines to deliver the fuel from fracking fields farther away, and the Gulf of Mexico is just 35 miles due south, offering a portal to overseas markets. Lake Charles is also situated in the heart of Trump country, and local and state governments have long been committed to the fossil fuel industry. Incidents of local resistance to fossil fuel and chemical corporations have been few and far between, and resolutely squashed. Today, no national environmental groups have a presence in Lake Charles, where nearly half the residents are Black. In announcing plans for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) "center of excellence" in Lake Charles last March, Mayor Nic Hunter, a Republican, said, "The growth of Southwest Louisiana's LNG industrial complex has put our region on the map and gained us a seat at the global table in recent years." George Swift, president and CEO of the Southwest Louisiana Economic Development Alliance, the leading business network in the Lake Charles area, predicts that "Louisiana could be the LNG export capital of the world." So it must have come as quite an unwelcome shock to a who's who of large energy companies when local resident Roishetta Ozane started showing up to put a kink in their plans—virtually a lone voice against the LNG build-out. "My mission is to ensure that Southwest Louisiana, specifically Lake Charles and the surrounding areas, aren't made into a climate sacrifice zone," Ozane says.”
EXTRACTION
Associated Press: Vehicle emission declines decreased deaths, study finds
DREW COSTLEY, 12/13/21
“Researchers say that thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars have been saved in the United States by recent reductions in emissions from vehicles,” the Associated Press reports. “Harvard University researchers who study the environment and public health examined the impact of declines in emissions from vehicles over a decade. They found deaths dropped from 27,700 in 2008 to 19,800 in 2017 and that the economic benefits of the reduction in emissions totaled $270 billion. In a study published Wednesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers also concluded that if vehicles continued to emit air pollution at 2008 levels throughout the time period, the death total in 2017 would have been 2.4 times higher. Light-duty vehicles such as cars, pickup trucks and SUVs made up a major portion of the health burden reduced by tougher regulations on fossil fuel companies and vehicle manufacturers, according to the study. But the researchers found that these benefits were limited by an increasing and aging population and by drivers buying larger cars and driving more… “The study also looked at the climate benefits that resulted from curbing air pollution from vehicles, but found that those benefits only made up 3% to 19% of the overall economic gains. That’s because most approaches for reducing transportation emissions in the U.S. have been aimed at curbing air pollution, not climate change, Susan Anenberg, associate professor of environmental and occupational health and global health at George Washington University, told AP. “Catalytic converters, diesel particulate filters, those are taking pollutants out of the (environment), but those aren’t doing anything for (carbon dioxide),” she told AP.
E&E News: Study: Fossil fuel burning linked to over 1M deaths per year
By Sean Reilly, 12/15/21
“A worldwide halt to the burning of coal and other fossil fuels would help save more than 1 million lives annually by cutting concentrations of dangerous airborne soot, researchers conclude in a new study,” E&E News reports. “The study, released today by the Boston-based Health Effects Institute, found that coal combustion accounted for about half of those premature deaths, with the burning of oil and natural gas deemed responsible for the rest. While public attention nowadays is often focused on fossil fuels’ role in driving up global temperatures, the findings add “to the growing evidence of the public health benefits from decarbonization strategies,” the authors write. More broadly, the paper provides what are described as the first comprehensive estimates of soot sources and their proportionate health effects, broken down both regionally and nationally. Besides fossil fuel combustion, those direct and indirect sources include wood and other biofuels used for cooking and heating; windblown dust; and farm-related emissions of ammonia. Overall, almost 4 million premature deaths globally are tied to outdoor soot exposure, according to an earlier institute report, meaning that fossil fuel combustion accounted for slightly more than one-quarter of the total, based on data from recent years.”
Reuters: Climate change imperils world's oil and gas reserves: research
By Noah Browning, 12/16/21
“Much of the world's reserves of oil and gas is under threat from rising tides, storms, floods and extreme temperatures caused by climate change, risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft said on Thursday,” Reuters reports. “Access to the equivalent of 600 billion barrels or 40% of the world's recoverable oil and gas reserves could be affected by the wild weather, with major producers Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Nigeria among the most vulnerable, the UK-based firm wrote in a research note. Climate change confronted the industry this year when extreme cold weather pummelled the main U.S. oil, gas and refining hub on the Gulf Coast, leading to long outages and reduced output. read more "These types of events are going to become more frequent and more extreme, creating even greater shocks within the industry," Rory Clisby, environmental analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, told Reuters. Just over 10% of the world's commercially recoverable reserves are in areas rated by the consultancy as extreme risk, while nearly a third were deemed high risk.”
Reuters: High rates of methane spewing from U.S. Permian oilfield operations - report
By Valerie Volcovici, 12/14/21
“Methane continues to escape at a high rate from oil and gas operations in the Permian Basin, according to an aerial survey released Tuesday that detected major methane plumes from 40% of 900 sites that were measured,” Reuters reports. “The latest research conducted by the Environmental Defense Fund via helicopter during the first two weeks of November found that 14% of those plumes were the result of malfunctioning flares. Researchers also found that at one-third of smaller wells significant emissions persisted for days. The aerial survey of the largest U.S. oilfield showed that leaks arose from different pieces of equipment at different times. This was the eighth aerial survey conducted by EDF's PermianMAP initiative, which monitors methane from the upstream, downstream and midstream operations in the oilfield. The survey comes weeks after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed the first regulations targeting methane from the country's existing oil and gas facilities… “This research makes clear that the agency (EPA) must tackle frequent, large emissions from smaller wells if we’re going to have a shot at achieving our climate goals and protecting communities from air pollution,” Jon Goldstein, senior director of regulatory and legislative affairs at the EDF, told Reuters.
U.S. Government Accountability Office: Offshore Oil Spills: Additional Information is Needed to Better Understand the Environmental Tradeoffs of Using Chemical Dispersants
12/15/21
“In 2010, an explosion on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico resulted in 11 deaths and the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Responders applied chemical dispersants to the surface oil slick—to break oil into smaller droplets. This can keep oil from reaching shoreline ecosystems, but may also increase toxic compound exposure for some sea life. Responders also used dispersants at the wellhead, over 1,500 meters deep, without much information on the risks or effectiveness of doing so,” the U.S. Government Accountability Office reports. “Subsurface dispersant use isn't well understood. We recommended that the Coast Guard and EPA find ways to improve understanding of using dispersants below the surface… “This report examines, among other things, what is known about the effectiveness of dispersants, what is known about the effects of chemically dispersed oil on the environment, and the extent to which federal agencies have taken action to help ensure decision makers have quality information to support decisions on dispersant use. GAO reviewed scientific studies, laws, regulations, and policies. GAO also interviewed agency officials and stakeholders from academia and industry. GAO is making four recommendations, including that the Coast Guard and EPA assess the potential environmental effects of the subsurface use of dispersants. The Department of Homeland Security agreed with the three recommendations GAO made to the Coast Guard, and EPA agreed with the one recommendation to the agency.”
CBC: Some Northern residents vow to oppose federal regulations to release treated oilsands tailings water
Avery Zingel, 12/15/21
“Northerners say the federal government's plan to regulate the release of treated oilsands tailings water will be met with opposition by communities downstream,” the CBC reports. “As the N.W.T. Environment minister gears up for a diplomatic approach with Alberta and Canada, Dene leaders like Smith's Landing First Nation Chief Gerry Cheezie are prepared to take legal action with Dene Nation, and to bring their opposition to the release of tailings water all the way to Ottawa. "It's unthinkable. It's a human rights issue … along with being environmental racism," Cheezie, who argues that releasing water from tailings, the byproduct of the extraction process used to remove the oil from the sand and clay, violates treaty rights to access lands and waters, told the CBC. "I can't believe the Government of Canada is willing to release this toxic sludge on our river and on our people. We're not going to sit back and allow this to happen." “...Cheezie told the CBC next year, Dene Nation will meet and mount an education campaign about the impact tailings water release would have on the North. "We're totally opposed to treatment and release of tailings ponds into the Athabasca because eventually it will flow into the Great Slave and eventually end up in the Mackenzie River and ultimately end up in the Arctic Ocean. Most of our communities are along this river system." Cheezie told CBC the N.W.T. government should "take a stand" and not "hide" behind the transboundary water agreement with Alberta, which requires the province to inform the N.W.T. about changes that will affect the territory's waters.
McCarthy Tétrault LLP: Moving Forward: Alberta Releases RFP Guidelines for Carbon Sequestration Hubs
12/15/21
“On December 2, 2021, Alberta Energy released a Request for Full Project Proposals for Carbon Sequestration Hubs (RFPP). Following significant interest in carbon capture and storage, the RFPP is intended to facilitate the issuance of rights to Alberta’s pore space to proponents to enable the development and operation of carbon storage hubs,” McCarthy Tétrault LLP reports. “...To help manage the growth in interest with respect to carbon capture and storage, Alberta is issuing sequestration rights through a competitive process and has opted to take a phased geographical approach… “Only subsurface formations deeper than 1,000 meters with no associated hydrocarbon recovery (i.e. injection into a saline aquifer) are eligible. However, Alberta Energy expressly states within the RFPP that it “will continue to engage with industry in exploring the potential for other forms of sequestration including the use of mature fields … . Current practices for enhanced oil recovery and injection of formation acid gas will remain in place”. The use of mature fields and other sequestration options could further broaden the technologies and projects available for future sequestration in Alberta… “Although a step forward, we anticipate industry remains anxious for additional certainty from both provincial and federal governments. McCarthy Tétrault will continue to monitor the developments related to carbon capture and storage, including the pending release of details regarding the Federal government’s proposed investment tax credit for capital invested in certain carbon, capture and storage projects.”
Al Jazeera: Mapping the world’s oil and gas pipelines
Mohammed Hussein, 12/16/21
“Over the past 50 years, the world’s annual energy consumption has nearly tripled – from 62,949 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 1969 to 173,340 TWh in 2019,” Al Jazeera reports. “For centuries, burning coal was the main source of the world’s energy. By the 1960s, rapid advancements in sourcing, transporting and refining oil and gas allowed those energy-dense fossil fuels to overtake coal and become the world’s primary source of energy – which they remain today. Despite advances in renewable energy, fossil fuels including coal, oil and gas still make up more than 80 percent of the world’s primary energy consumption. Every day, the world consumes some 100 million barrels of oil and 60 million equivalent barrels of natural gas. To transport this massive amount of energy, pipelines – usually made out of carbon steel – are widely used. In the following infographic series, we map the world’s current and planned oil and gas pipelines. According to the Global Energy Monitor, there were at least 2,381 operational oil and gas pipelines distributed across some 162 countries as of December 2020. The combined length of these pipelines is more than 1.18 million km (730,000 miles) – enough to circle the Earth 30 times. The countries with the longest network of oil and gas pipelines include: United States – Oil: 91,067km (56,587 miles); Gas: 333,366km (207,145 miles).”
CLIMATE FINANCE
Bloomberg: Wall Street Is Close to Triggering a Climate Financial Crisis
Tim Quinson, 12/14/21
“If the financial-services industry was a country, it would rank as the world’s fifth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases,” Bloomberg reports. “A study authored by the Sierra Club and the Center for American Progress shows that eight of the biggest U.S. banks and 10 of its largest asset managers combined to finance an estimated 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions, based on year-end disclosures from 2020, or about 1% less than what Russia produced. The emissions are equal to 432 million passenger vehicles driven for one year—and the number would have been considerably higher if Scope 3 data and other factors were included. (Scope 3 represents the emissions produced by a company’s supply chain and customers.) What are the financial consequences of such atmospheric destruction? The report’s authors are urging the Biden administration to take immediate steps to slash the financial sector’s role in global warming, lest it trigger a financial crisis that dwarfs that of 2008. Unless the White House manages the transition away from a fossil fuels in an orderly way, the consequences would spread across the financial system and lead to “dire impacts for the entire U.S. economy,” according to the report. The report notes that insurer Swiss Re wrote in May that the global economy risks losing more than 18% of current GDP by 2048 if no action on the climate crisis is taken. For perspective, the U.S. economy contracted by about 4.3% during the Great Recession. And just like 2008, the people who will be most damaged by a climate crisis-induced crash are those who did the least to cause it: communities of color and low-income earners, the researchers said. “Wall Street’s toxic fossil-fuel investments threaten the future of our planet and the stability of our financial system and put all of us, especially our most vulnerable communities, at risk,” Ben Cushing, manager of the Sierra Club’s Fossil-Free Finance campaign, told Bloomberg. “Regulators can no longer ignore Wall Street’s staggering contribution to the climate crisis.”
Corporate Knights: Despite progress, Canada’s pension funds are still investing in climate failure
PATRICK DEROCHIE, 12/15/21
“This fall saw an accelerating trend of global pension funds divesting from oil, gas and coal and aligning their portfolios with a safer climate future. Yet Canadian pension funds continue to buck the trend, remaining saddled with carbon-intensive portfolios, fossil fuel infrastructure assets, and board members with close ties to the oil and gas industry,” Corporate Knights repots. “The most recent example came on Wednesday, when the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) announced a new investment approach that will see the fund help “essential, high-emitting businesses decarbonize” while explicitly removing the critical tool of divestment from its toolkit… “But if they want to emerge as global leaders, these pension giants need to rapidly deploy credible climate-safe investment strategies and stop gambling Canadians’ retirement savings on fossil fuel expansion. Canada’s 10 largest pension funds alone have more than $2 trillion in assets under management. How these funds invest our pensions is critical to achieving the Paris Agreement goal of limiting average global heating to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Avoiding climate catastrophe is critical to pension funds’ fiduciary duty to maximize returns and invest in the best long-term interests of millions of Canadian beneficiaries… “If Canada’s pension funds are serious about protecting our retirement savings and investing in a safe climate future, there’s no more time for greenwashing and incrementalism. They must catch up with their global peers and listen to the growing number of beneficiaries demanding change: shift capital out of high-risk fossil fuel assets and into profitable climate solutions, crack down on company greenwashing, and dramatically scale up investments in climate solutions.”
OPINION
Wall Street Journal: John Kerry’s Financial Crusade Against Oil and Gas
Andy Puzder is a former CEO of CKE Restaurants, chairman of 2ndVote Value Investments, Inc., and a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, 12/15/21
“‘The reality is the Biden administration is not standing in the way of increasing domestic oil production to meet today’s energy needs,” Deputy Energy Secretary David Turk asserted at the World Petroleum Congress in Houston last week. Really? He might want to check with John Kerry,” Andy Puzder writes for the Wall Street Journal. “The president’s climate envoy has been pressuring banks and financial institutions to reduce their commitments to U.S. oil and gas companies and join the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, which would hobble the ability of oil and gas companies to increase production. Citi, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase signed on to the alliance this year. Mr. Kerry’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed. In April, members of the Senate Banking Committee sent him a letter expressing concern that he had “been pressuring banks to make extralegal commitments regarding energy-related lending and investment activities” that would result in “higher energy costs for American consumers.” “...The antiboycott approach is a good start, but it fails to address a significant threat. Under the Texas law, state agencies can still do business with financial firms such as BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street that advocate transforming our economy to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 because they own—rather than boycott—oil-company stocks… “The Biden administration will pursue its nonstop war against America’s oil and gas producers for at least the next three years. Unless it meets resistance, prices will increase and the U.S. energy industry will continue to shrink. While state legislatures can’t stop Mr. Biden from pursuing his agenda, they can discourage the financial sector and institutional investors from supporting it.”
National Observer: If Jason Kenney wants a $32B subsidy for Big Oil, he should pay for it
By Max Fawcett, 12/16/21
“For years now, the oil and gas industry has tried to push back against the well-documented suggestion its operations are subsidized by the public. But now, it seems, it’s trying a different strategy: begging for the biggest subsidies imaginable when it comes to carbon capture and storage technology,” Max Fawcett writes in the National Observer. “In what looks like a co-ordinated campaign, the CEOs of Canada’s large oilsands companies have come out strongly in favour of federal support for investments in CCS projects. And while they haven’t been openly confrontational — Cenovus CEO Alex Pourbaix suggested Ottawa should “keep an open mind” about the idea — there’s an implicit threat looming just behind the gentler facade of their request: either the government gives them billions of dollars for carbon capture technology or it can forget about meeting its climate targets. Jason Kenney, Alberta’s unofficial threatener-in-chief, clearly spelled it out at a recent press conference. “If the federal government wants to set these ambitious targets, the very first thing they need to do is support us with a $32-billion investment in carbon capture, utilization and storage.” “...Carbon capture technology can’t be used as a licence to continue with business as usual, which means projects intended to enhance oil production — one of the industry’s priorities — should be off the table. Instead, any federal investment in carbon capture technology should be made with an eye towards using it as a pathway to a new business model, one in which carbon is a cost that’s attacked as aggressively as any other… “If Kenney wants to turbocharge those economics even more and attract more low-carbon capital to his province, he can restore the tax on large carbon polluters that the Alberta NDP implemented back in 2018.”
Post Independent: Guest opinion: Strong rules for oil and gas essential in protecting our way of life
Leslie Robinson is a Rifle resident who has run for county commissioner and is a member of the Grand Valley Citizens Alliance. Allyn Harvey is a Carbondale resident who served on the town Board of Trustees from 2012 to 2016. Together they created the Garfield County Taxpayer Accountability Project, 12/13/21
“Two key state agencies that oversee oil and gas production in Colorado have an opportunity in the coming weeks to enact regulations that will have meaningful impacts on the air we breathe, the water we drink and the larger environment we share with each other and wildlife that, like us, calls Colorado home,” Leslie Robinson and Allyn Harvey write for the Post Independent. “Garfield County is the second largest producer of natural gas in the state — so this really matters… “Currently, companies are required to provide only a fraction of the amount needed to shutter a well. Requiring fossil fuel companies to repair leaks in active wells and storage facilities and pay to plug and clean up after they’re done making money is the clear solution… “Unfortunately, there is a lot of push back against these common-sense rules, not only from the oil and gas industry but also from some of our local governments, including Garfield County, the towns of New Castle and Silt, and the city of Rifle, which are members in the pro-industry Western and Rural Local Government Coalition… “We created the Garfield County Taxpayers Accountability Project because we are appalled that our elected officials and their staff are spending county dollars to block rules designed to protect schools and neighborhoods from noxious and sometimes poisonous gases coming from fossil fuel development, and the air and water and land from spills and leaks. Please take a look at GarfieldCountyTaxpayerAccountabilityProject.org. Now, Garfield County commissioners Tom Jankovsky, John Martin and Mike Samson are once again taking up the cause of the oil and gas industry… “Natural gas development is an important part of our local economy, but the industry operators must be held accountable so that our communities and the environment are protected.”