EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 12/19/23
PIPELINE NEWS
Bismarck Tribune: North Dakota Supreme Court hears arguments on survey access in Summit case
North Dakota Monitor: North Dakota landowner attorneys argue survey access law is unconstitutional
Pipeline Fighters Hub: North Dakota Supreme Court Hearing on Summit CO2 Pipeline Survey Access to Landowner Property [VIDEO]
Iowa Capital Dispatch: GOP presidential field generally opposes eminent domain for carbon pipelines
WCCO: Trial set for North Dakota's pursuit of costs for policing Dakota Access pipeline protests
WEYI: 'Squad' member calls to shut down oil pipeline: 'Corporate greed'
Sierra Club: America’s Most Dangerous Pipeline Lives Another Day
WTTW: Chicago’s Natural Gas Pipeline Project Halted Amid Push for Cleaner Energy Investments
GlobalNews.ca: Enbridge resumes Selwyn Township pipeline project after environmental challenge quashed
South Dakotans First: Reclaiming Landowner Rights Panel
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Lawmakers demand answers from largest oil well owner
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): Biden-Harris Administration Announces $350 Million To 14 States To Reduce Methane Emissions From Oil And Gas Sector As Part Of Investing In America Agenda.
Power Engineering: Tax credit uncertainty leads to hydrogen hub dropout
STATE UPDATES
Bakersfield Californian: Kern unveils California's first review of a carbon capture, sequestration project
WyoFile: Consumer Advocate: Ratepayers shouldn’t have to pay for carbon capture ‘speculative research’
Los Angeles Times: Could Culver City’s landmark deal to end oil production be a model for other cities?
San Jose Mercury News: Will a year of industrial accidents change the landscape of East Bay’s ‘refinery row’?
Bloomberg: Chevron Slashes California Spending on ‘Adversarial’ Fossil-Fuel Policies
EXTRACTION
Reuters: Some Canadian oil firms await Trudeau's fate rather than cut emissions faster
Phys.org: COP28: We need a reality check on hopes for carbon capture and removal, experts say
Grist: Plan to stash planet-heating carbon dioxide under U.S. national forests alarms critics
E&E News: Carbon removal isn’t weird anymore. That worries scientists.
E&E News: Carbon capture is in the climate deal. But the UAE’s only plant traps just 28% of emissions.
Financial Times: The carbon capture challenge [VIDEO]
Bloomberg: Exxon Tests Carbon-Capture System Using Fuel Cell to Make Power
CLIMATE FINANCE
Reuters: Tennessee sues BlackRock citing 'misleading' ESG strategy
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Hamilton Spectator: Enbridge Gas donates $5K to Haldimand County Fire Department
Chatham Voice: Enbridge donates $45,000 to Goodfellows
OPINION
The Hill: Why the ‘historic’ climate summit was more optics than substance
PIPELINE NEWS
Bismarck Tribune: North Dakota Supreme Court hears arguments on survey access in Summit case
JOEY HARRIS, 12/18/23
“The North Dakota Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in a case which could undo a law almost as old as the state itself and change how pipeline and utility companies access land for infrastructure projects,” the Bismarck Tribune reports. “A group of North Dakota landowners is asking the court to overturn a decision by a lower court which allowed the carbon dioxide pipeline and storage company Summit Carbon Solutions to access landowners' properties for survey work for its multistate project. The group also wants the law which was applied to grant Summit the access to be ruled unconstitutional… “The lower court sided with Summit, saying the company could, but was not required to, place limits on how it conducted its surveys. Landowner attorneys argue that this in itself violates the survey access law, as courts have historically imposed limits when it has been applied… “The landowners' attorneys argue that even if the issue around the survey law were to be resolved in their favor, the law itself should still be considered unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court… “Attorneys for the landowners also argue that survey work should be understood as a damage due to the use of tools such as soil borers. If the court were to side with the landowners, the government, Summit and other companies would have to file condemnation proceedings in the courts if they wished to survey private land for potential future public use. That would give landowners a legal basis for challenges… “Landowner attorney Brian Jorde argued that striking down the statute would give landowners a better understanding of how and when their land may be used by third parties. He said it wouldn't overly burden project developers because condemners can engage in a "quick take" in North Dakota, getting court approval to access property quickly and deal with proceedings later.”
North Dakota Monitor: North Dakota landowner attorneys argue survey access law is unconstitutional
JEFF BEACH, 12/18/23
“A North Dakota state law that places few limitations on a survey crew’s access to private property should be declared unconstitutional, attorneys for landowners argued Monday before the North Dakota Supreme Court,” the North Dakota Monitor reports. “...Brian Jorde of Domina Law in Nebraska and Derrick Braaten of Bismarck are representing landowners who refused to grant survey access to Summit Carbon Solutions, an Iowa-based company wanting to build a carbon capture pipeline through North Dakota and four other states… “Jorde argued written notice should be required and landowners should be compensated up front. They also should have a right to challenge access requests in court. “They have a say-so to show up in court if they don’t voluntarily agree on the front end – which most people do when they come seeking an easement. But they have the right to be heard. And that’s what my clients as North Dakotans want, we want to be heard,” Jorde said. Jorde argued that Summit’s need for survey access is not one of necessity, but one of convenience and that the state’s eminent domain process provides a way for Summit and others to obtain access through the courts… “Summit attorney Keith Blackwell acknowledged that there is no notice requirement under state law but the company would be open to a court placing such restrictions in their case… “But he maintained the North Dakota law is constitutional. So did North Dakota Solicitor General Philip Axt, representing the state. The state fears that striking down the law would slow the process for things such as water projects and road construction. Jorde argued that the state has what is known as “quick take” access, allowing it to petition a court for easement access and being on the property the same day… “While Summit awaits a ruling from the North Dakota Supreme Court on the survey access law in Malloy v. SCS Transport, a question of whether North Dakota counties can pass more restrictive zoning ordinances than what the state requires will be in front of the North Dakota Public Service Commission on Thursday.”
Pipeline Fighters Hub: North Dakota Supreme Court Hearing on Summit CO2 Pipeline Survey Access to Landowner Property [VIDEO]
12/18/23
“The North Dakota Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023 in an appeal of several landowners’ cases who refused to allow Summit Carbon Solutions access to their property to survey for the company’s proposed multi-state CO2 pipeline project,” the Pipeline Fighters Hub reports. “Landowners are represented in the case by attorney Brian Jorde, with the North Dakota Easement Team and Nebraska-based Domina Law Group. Jorde told the North Dakota Monitor the district court ruling puts no limits on Summit’s access to private property. “They can just come on your land 24/7, 365. No notice, no restriction, no payments,” Jorde told the Monitor. The argument from the landowners is that North Dakota law authorizes a “taking” in violation of the takings clause in the North Dakota Constitution. They say the district court’s order, including its rejection of reasonable limitations on Summit, authorizes a taking. A taking requires a court order and compensation, set by a jury, for the landowner,” the Monitor reports.
Iowa Capital Dispatch: GOP presidential field generally opposes eminent domain for carbon pipelines
JARED STRONG, 12/18/23
“Republican presidential contenders are generally against using eminent domain to build carbon dioxide pipelines in Iowa, according to their public statements in recent months and information their campaigns have provided to the Iowa Capital Dispatch. The issue is a regional dispute that has gained wider attention as the candidates seek Iowans’ votes in the upcoming first-in-the-nation caucuses… “Nearly 80% of Iowans oppose the use of eminent domain for the pipelines, according to a Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll in March, and it’s an issue that is being raised at presidential campaign events. In a July appearance in Council Bluffs, former President Donald Trump appeared unprepared to field a question about the pipeline situation… “His campaign did not respond to a request to comment further about the issue… “His closest contenders — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, who are the top picks of 19% and 16% of likely voters — have said the use of eminent domain should be avoided for the projects. “There is a narrow role for eminent domain for things that are of really significant public use,” DeSantis said in Garner in August, according to Radio Iowa. “I mean, it has been used for highways. I would use it for the border wall down south if need be, but that would be kind of last resort.” In September, Haley told Radio Iowa she supports the pipeline concepts for their potential to help the ethanol industry but that eminent domain should not be used to build them… “Presidential candidate Ryan Binkley, a Texas pastor and businessman, announced his opposition to the pipeline projects in September. He called Summit’s project “a controversial approach to fight climate change with technology that has produced inconsistent results.” “...Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur, is polling at 5% and recently took up the pipeline issue in opposition of eminent domain. He insinuated that the candidates he trails in the polls are reluctant to speak strongly against the projects — which he said serve no legitimate purpose — because of donations they have received from pro-pipeline groups. Similar accusations have been leveled against some of the state’s elected officials… “He called for the Iowa Utilities Board to deny eminent domain for Summit’s $5.5 billion project and said the board’s ruling should be challenged in court if it doesn’t. Ramaswamy further said that, as president, he would bar the federal tax credits for companies that use eminent domain.”
WCCO: Trial set for North Dakota's pursuit of costs for policing Dakota Access pipeline protests
12/18/23
“A court fight over whether the federal government should cover North Dakota's $38 million in costs of responding to the lengthy protests of the Dakota Access oil pipeline years ago near its controversial river crossing will continue as a judge said the case is "ripe and ready for trial," WCCO reports. “The state filed the lawsuit in 2019, seeking $38 million. The lawsuit's bench trial was scheduled earlier this month to begin Feb. 15, 2024, in Bismarck before U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Traynor, estimated to last 12-13 days. Traynor on Wednesday denied the federal government's motion for summary judgment to dismiss the case, and granted the state's motion to find that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers "failed to follow its mandatory permitting procedures" for the protest activities on its land, among several rulings he made in his order… “North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley told WCCO negotiations continue with the federal government as the trial looms… “In 2017, the pipeline company donated $15 million to help cover the response costs, and the U.S. Justice Department also gave a $10 million grant to the state for reimbursement. Former President Donald Trump denied a request from the state for the federal government to cover the costs through a disaster declaration.”
WEYI: 'Squad' member calls to shut down oil pipeline: 'Corporate greed'
JACKSON WALKER, 12/18/23
“Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich, on Monday called for an end of “corporate greed” in an appeal to President Joe Biden to shut down a major oil pipeline,” WEYI reports. “Line 5, which runs below the Straits of Mackinac, supplies 65% of the Michigan Upper Peninsula’s propane needs and 55% of the Michigan’s total propane needs, energy producer Enbridge writes… “Rep. Tlaib, however, says the line is unsafe due to Enbridge’s “disturbing history of faulty infrastructure,” posing the threat of an oil spill. A Line 5 spill would be devastating for the Great Lakes region and the entire country,” Rep. Tlaib said. She then called on President Joe Biden to shut down the pipeline. “We cannot allow the water we rely on to live, the water that helps make Michigan such a special place for so many, to be sacrificed for corporate greed,” Rep. Tlaib said. “The good news is President Biden could end this threat today by revoking Line 5’s Presidential permit and committing to the truth that water is life.”
Sierra Club: America’s Most Dangerous Pipeline Lives Another Day
Conor Mihell, 12/19/23
“A broad coalition of environmentalists and Native Americans suffered a loss in early December in their effort to shut down Line 5: an aging pipeline, owned by Canadian giant Enbridge, that transports tar sands oil across tribal lands and underneath the Great Lakes in Wisconsin and Michigan. The Michigan Public Safety Commission (MPSC), an energy and communications technology panel appointed by the governor, endorsed Enbridge’s proposal to build a tunnel for a four-mile stretch of the pipeline beneath the Straits of Mackinac, near the junction of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron,” the Sierra Club reports. “Enbridge has spent years leveraging legal loopholes and inaction on the part of the Biden administration to continue transporting 540,000 barrels of oil per day on Line 5—from Alberta through northern Wisconsin and back to refineries in Sarnia, Ontario—without a valid easement from the state of Michigan. Its operations also defy a ruling from a federal judge in Wisconsin that the pipeline trespasses on tribal lands… “Sean McBrearty, the Michigan state director of Clean Water Action, a nonprofit that’s part of a coalition of environmental organizations and tribal communities, including the Sierra Club, is disappointed the agency discounted the option of shutting down the pipeline altogether. He says the panel ignored supply chain alternatives already in place that could accommodate Line 5 products—let alone the climate implications of investing in new pipeline infrastructure rather than prioritizing actions to rapidly phase out fossil fuels. “Enbridge is fighting an existential battle with Line 5,” McBrearty says… “Enbridge continues to make money when there’s a delay,” adds David Gover, a staff attorney with the Native American Rights Fund, which is representing Bay Mills Indian Community, one of over 60 tribal nations fighting for a Line 5 shutdown. “If they get the tunnel, that's more infrastructure and more long-term profit for them as well. They’re in a good spot for making money.” “...Enbridge is clearly “using the legal process to shop around for a friendly jurisdiction instead of playing by the rules,” McBrearty says.
WTTW: Chicago’s Natural Gas Pipeline Project Halted Amid Push for Cleaner Energy Investments
Andrea Guthmann, 12/18/23
“As temperatures drop in Chicago, the fight over fossil fuels is heating up,” WTTW reports. “Since Gov. J.B. Pritzker overhauled the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) in March, its five members have increasingly shown utilities that they have the power… “The latest battle is over a multi-billion dollar, decades-long project to upgrade Chicago’s aging natural gas pipelines. Those pipelines are some of the oldest in the nation, with some dating all the way back to President Abraham Lincoln’s time. Last month, the ICC suspended that pipe replacement program. “The ICC defied federal safety regulators, their own engineering study, and all common sense when they put a sudden, complete halt to construction work that everyone agrees is needed for the sake of safety and reliability in Chicago’s heating system,” sas Marc Poulos, executive director of the nonprofit Indiana-Illinois-Iowa Foundation for Fair Contracting, told WTTW… “The ICC’s decision comes as environmentalists and consumer advocates are calling for the government to invest in the transition to cleaner, renewable energy, instead of fueling money into aging energy infrastructure projects… “Peoples Gas and union construction crews work in every neighborhood in Chicago. The ICC decision will unravel the construction work already underway in at least 15 neighborhoods across the city,” he told WTTW. “With no time given to finish the work or even permanently close up large holes, several neighborhoods will experience torn up streets and sidewalks for the foreseeable future.”
GlobalNews.ca: Enbridge resumes Selwyn Township pipeline project after environmental challenge quashed
Greg Davis, 12/18/23
“Construction will resume this week on a natural gas pipeline expansion project in Selwyn Township, just north of Peterborough, Ont., after an environmental challenge was quashed,” GlobalNews.ca reports. “In late November, construction was abruptly halted on the Enbridge Gas pipeline project along the 8th Line (County Road 18) in Selwyn after the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) said it had received an amended motion from Environmental Defence, an advocacy organization. According to the OEB, Environmental Defence in November challenged that the Selwyn project and two Enbridge pipeline projects — Hidden Valley in Huntsville, and the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte project within Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory — were “flawed” since they failed to provide customer cost comparisons… “However, last week, the OEB stated Environmental Defence withdrew its motion for the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte project on Dec. 13, citing concerns expressed by the First Nation, which had opposed the motion. First Nations leaders had reiterated the project was on treaty land and “as such plays a critical role in the community’s rights to self-determination and ability to govern themselves.”
South Dakotans First: Reclaiming Landowner Rights Panel
12/15/23
“Sit back, grab a cup of coffee, and listen to this incredible panel from the South Dakota Farmers Union state convention. “Taking Back Landowner’s Rights” Panel with Brian Jorde, Domina Law Group Managing Lawyer, Suzanne Smith, Spink County Commissioner, Drew Dennert, Brown County Commissioner, and Curt Soehl, Sioux Falls City Councilor.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Lawmakers demand answers from largest oil well owner
Heather Richards, 12/18/23
“Top House lawmakers say the nation’s largest oil well owner could be “severely underestimating” the cost to clean up its sites, elevating the risk of abandonment,” E&E News reports. “In a Monday letter to Alabama-based Diversified Energy, Energy and Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and three colleagues said the company’s aging wells across Appalachia may also represent a heightened risk for methane pollution, a potent greenhouse gas. “As the largest owner and purchaser of oil and gas wells in the United States, Diversified Energy is responsible for remediating a substantial share of the country's aging oil and gas wells, but we are concerned that your company may be vastly underestimating well cleanup costs," wrote the lawmakers. The letter was also signed by Energy, Climate and Grid Security Subcommittee ranking member Diana DeGette (D-Colo.); Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee ranking member Kathy Castor (D-Fla.); and Environment, Manufacturing and Critical Materials Subcommittee ranking member Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.).”
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): Biden-Harris Administration Announces $350 Million To 14 States To Reduce Methane Emissions From Oil And Gas Sector As Part Of Investing In America Agenda.
12/15/23
“As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) today announced a conditional commitment to 14 states to receive a total of $350 million in formula grant funding to help measure and reduce methane emissions, one of the biggest drivers of climate change, from the oil and gas sector. The funding, which is made possible by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act—the largest climate investment in history—will help states support industry efforts to cut methane emissions from wells on nonfederal lands and support environmental restoration of well sites.”
Power Engineering: Tax credit uncertainty leads to hydrogen hub dropout
Sean Wolfe, 12/18/23
“Citing delays and increasing uncertainty over implementation rules guiding the use of the 45V hydrogen production tax credit provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and an inability to reach final commercial terms with project developers, CNX Resources Corporation announced it has ended coordination with the Adams Fork project and is evaluating several viable alternative sites in southern West Virginia for clean hydrogen projects,” Power Engineering reports. “The Adams Fork project fell under the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2), which will receive up to $925 million in federal funding as part of the recent hydrogen hub announcements. The ARCH2 project includes West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania and will leverage the region’s access to natural gas to produce low-cost clean hydrogen and store the associated carbon emissions (A process known as “Blue Hydrogen”). CNX says it remains committed to supporting ARCH2 via use of its local feedstock, which it says is ideal for clean hydrogen production in historically disadvantaged energy communities across Appalachia. CNX says its final investment decision remains contingent upon tax credit guidance that unambiguously supports low carbon intensity feedstock projects that will facilitate the development of the regional clean hydrogen hubs, including ARCH2.”
STATE UPDATES
Bakersfield Californian: Kern unveils California's first review of a carbon capture, sequestration project
JOHN COX, 12/19/23
“California's first environmental review of a carbon capture and sequestration project is being released in draft form Tuesday as part of a local oil producer's plan for profitably cutting greenhouse gas emissions at its existing processing plant in Elk Hills,” the Bakersfield Californian reports. “The release of the draft by the Kern County Planning and Natural Resources Department starts the clock on a 45-day public review that will include four joint workshops with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency… “No details about the draft review were available Monday, but an official notice said county staff anticipate the project will involve significant and unavoidable impacts on air quality; water supplies; energy; geology and soils; and agricultural, biological, cultural and mineral resources. The review is the third of its kind in the United States and the first to come of Kern's push to become a national center for carbon capture and sequestration… “In addition to the half dozen injection wells, the project is proposed to include new and existing wells for monitoring any CO2 leaks or seismic activity. The environmental review is required because CRC's project requires a series of zone changes switching the designation of 6,160 acres from limited agriculture to exclusive ag. The review is also necessary because of the six conditional use permits the company's proposal would need.”
WyoFile: Consumer Advocate: Ratepayers shouldn’t have to pay for carbon capture ‘speculative research’
Dustin Bleizeffer, 12/19/23
“State authorities are weighing a request by Black Hills Energy to establish a “low-carbon” surcharge that would tap its electric customers for the costs of complying with a state mandate aimed at extending the life of old coal-fired power plants,” WyoFile reports. “If approved, the utility would charge its customers an extra 0.67%, which amounts to $1.1 million annually. But that’s just for the first of two phases to analyze the technical and economic viability of adding carbon capture to two of the company’s coal-fired power units that are subject to the mandate. The second phase of analysis could cost between $8 million and $12 million, according to filings with the state. Actually retrofitting the facilities with carbon capture technology, according to the company’s initial reports, could come with a price tag of $505.9 million for Wygen II near Gillette — more than double the cost of building the plant in 2008 — and $474.8 million for the nearby Neil Simpson II, triple the cost to build the plant in 1995. Wyoming’s Office of Consumer Advocate says those initial estimates are proof enough that the costs — both to study the feasibility and to implement the carbon capture retrofits — are not “just and reasonable” to pass on to captive ratepayers, particularly for one Black Hills Energy affiliate utility that serves only 2,600 customers. The cost estimates to-date, according to the agency, should prompt the state to deny Black Hills Energy the ability to impose a compliance surcharge and exempt at least one of the utility’s coal plants from the mandate. “One of the things that [the state’s mandate] was not intended to do was [for Wyoming ratepayers] to pay for the development of new carbon capture, utilization and sequestration technologies that do not currently exist,” Office of Consumer Advocate attorney Shelby Hamilton told the Wyoming Public Service Commission last week.
Los Angeles Times: Could Culver City’s landmark deal to end oil production be a model for other cities?
TONY BRISCOES, 12/16/23
“Culver City has struck a deal with one of California’s largest oil producers to end petroleum extraction and plug all wells within the city limits by the end of the decade — an agreement that environmentalists say could serve as a model for other municipalities,” the Los Angeles Times reports. “After two years of negotiations, Culver City and Sentinel Peak Resources reached a settlement agreement to ban oil drilling in the city’s portion of the Inglewood oil field. The agreement requires the company to seal its 38 Culver City wells by 2030, ensuring that taxpayers are not responsible for footing those costs. The announcement comes as environmental activists focus increasing attention on the health and financial risks of idle oil wells in Southern California, a region once dominated by oil derricks and pumpjacks. The agreement also means that Culver City will be among the first communities in the region to end fossil fuel production and cap its wells. “It’s a win for public health. It’s a win for our communities. And it’s an inspiration for others,” Meghan Sahli-Wells, an environmental advocate and former Culver City mayor, told the Times. “There are 38 oil wells in Culver City. Those will be 38 fewer pockets of poison in our community.” “...On the heels of Culver City’s drilling ordinance, the Los Angeles City Council in December 2022 voted to ban new oil drilling and prohibited oil production within 20 years. Warren E&P, which operates drill sites in the city’s Wilmington neighborhood, sued the city a month later. This litigation could put Los Angeles on a similar track as Culver City to orchestrate a deal with its oil producers to cap their wells.”
San Jose Mercury News: Will a year of industrial accidents change the landscape of East Bay’s ‘refinery row’?
WILL MCCARTHY, 12/16/23
“On Friday morning, Contra Costa County Public Health warned residents about a new flaring incident at the Martinez Refinery. The agency said that unidentified chemical odors in the air could be related to the event and that “eye, skin, nose or throat irritation may be possible for some people in the affected area,” the San Jose Mercury News reports. “The public health advisory in Martinez came exactly one week after the air surrounding the Chevron oil refinery in Richmond took on the distinct smell of burning tires. Over a hundred local residents, disturbed by the noxious odor, reported it to the local air quality agency. Both incidents, although by no means the most dramatic, were more mishaps in a long year of refinery accidents and violations in the East Bay industrial cluster that forms a sort of refinery row. Refineries have long been part of the Bay Area’s economic and energy ecosystem. Many of them have existed for over a hundred years and still serve as a significant tax base for cities and a source of reliable union jobs. This is not the first year that refineries have flared, nor is it the first year there have been facility accidents… “As the region and the nation plot a clean-energy transition, some advocates are asking whether these high-profile incidents are the last gasps of a dying industry that will try to reap as many profits as possible before they are gone. “Companies are willing to put not just the local communities but their own workers at risk for profit,” Jacob Klein, organizing manager for the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Sierra Club, told the Merc. “Community safety and worker safety does not seem to be their priority.”
Bloomberg: Chevron Slashes California Spending on ‘Adversarial’ Fossil-Fuel Policies
Kevin Crowley and Chunzi Xu, 12/14/23
“Chevron Corp. is slashing oil-refinery investments in California because of “adversarial” policies toward fossil fuels, a move that may boost what already are the highest pump prices in the nation,” Bloomberg reports. “The oil giant headquartered in the San Francisco Bay area has cut spending in the Golden State by “hundreds of millions of dollars since 2022,” according to comments filed with the California Energy Commission this week. Chevron is a key supplier of jet fuel to the San Francisco and Los Angeles airports.”
EXTRACTION
Reuters: Some Canadian oil firms await Trudeau's fate rather than cut emissions faster
Rod Nickel and Nia Williams, 12/19/23
“Some Canadian oil and gas producers say they will not rush to accelerate emissions cuts until they see if unpopular Prime Minister Justin Trudeau survives long enough to implement his proposed oil and gas emissions cap,” Reuters reports. “The long-delayed framework, released this month, demands oil companies in Canada cut carbon emissions by up to 38% by 2030 from 2019 levels. But polls show the opposition Conservatives led by Pierre Poilievre - who oppose the cap - with a commanding lead over Trudeau's Liberals before an expected 2025 election, raising the prospect that plans for the cap will be abandoned… ”Some small- and medium-sized oil companies are openly asking if the Liberals losing in the 2025 election would avert the need to accelerate emissions cuts… “Yangarra Resources, which produces 12,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d), will continue cutting emissions as long as it makes money or improves efficiency from doing so, CEO Jim Evaskevich told Reuters. "If we get to where we're having to spend a lot of money to become way more draconian with our reductions, then we're going to look at the federal election and go, 'yeah no we're not spending that money, no way.' Because our fervent hope is (Trudeau) is gone," Evaskevich told Reuters… “Tamarack Valley Energy, which plans to produce about 62,000 boe/d in 2024, is already reducing methane emissions from gas infrastructure but needs more details about the cap before it can decide if it must cut faster, CEO Brian Schmidt told Reuters. The possibilities of a government change and of courts rejecting the emissions cap mean "nobody's putting much weight" into the cap yet, including Tamarack, Schmidt told Reuters.”
Phys.org: COP28: We need a reality check on hopes for carbon capture and removal, experts say
12/18/23
“The potential role of innovative technologies that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in combating climate change has an understandable popular appeal,” Phys.org reports. “...However, Dr. Lucrezia Nava, Lecturer in Corporate Social Responsibility at Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), has been a partner in a research project, (NEGEM). It confirms that carbon dioxide removals, while fundamental to achieving net zero emission goals, will not save the planet and humanity from the impact of climate change… “Dr. Nava said, "Our research, which will be published in full next year, makes clear that governments must commit at COP28 to rapid and significant cuts in fossil fuel emissions. We need to escape the delusion that the worst impacts of climate change can be kept at bay while maintaining our current production and consumption patterns. Unless we temper our expectations, it's possible that the most significant things these technologies capture are our false hopes. "While these solutions can be handy at offsetting emissions from hard-to-abate sectors, each of them presents negative impacts on other planetary boundaries or social goals, like biodiversity, freshwater and land use. They also pose additional threats to guarantee food security for the growing population… “What's more, it seems increasingly likely that some land-based removals, such as reforestation, which are included in those figures, could be reversed as climate change drives a rise in wildfires and extreme weather events. Experts interviewed as part of the NEGEM project have serious doubts about the scalability of direct air capture and bioenergy with CCS—the two leading tech removals systems. They are thought unlikely to remove more than 0.5Gt a year between them by 2050.”
Grist: Plan to stash planet-heating carbon dioxide under U.S. national forests alarms critics
Pam Radtke, 12/17/23
“A proposal that would allow industries to permanently stash climate-polluting carbon dioxide beneath U.S. Forest Service land puts those habitats and the people in or near them at risk, according to opponents of the measure,” Grist reports. “Chief among opponents’ concerns is that carbon dioxide could leak from storage wells or pipelines and injure or kill people and animals, as well as harm the trees in the forests and their habitat, Victoria Bogdan Tejeda, attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, told Grist. “There are enough broad-ranging concerns with this rule that this isn’t the time to move forward and experiment when the consequences are so high,” said Bogdan Tejeda… “Concentrations of the gas, which is odorless and heavier than oxygen, can also prevent combustion engines from operating. Bodan Tejeda, of the Center for Biological Diversity, worries that people even a mile or two from a carbon dioxide leak could start suffocating and have no way to escape… “Jim Furnish, a retired U.S. Forest Service deputy chief who consults on forestry issues, told Grist he was startled by the proposal. He said it’s a reversal of historic Forest Service policy that only allows temporary use of forest service lands, usually for five to 20 years. More broadly, the measure would “provide a powerful incentive to continue to burn fossil fuels,” Furnish told Grist. “It’s the opposite of a virtuous cycle.”
E&E News: Carbon removal isn’t weird anymore. That worries scientists.
Chelsea Harvey, Corbin Hiar , 12/18/23
“Nearly 200 nations agreed to move away from fossil fuels for the first time last week. Yet the CEO of a major U.S. oil and gas producer months earlier saw a different future for the industry. Oil and gas companies could continue to thrive beyond the middle of this century by using technologies that suck their climate pollution out of the sky and pump it underground,” E&E News reports. “This gives our industry a license to continue to operate for the 60, 70, 80 years that I think it’s going to be very much needed,” the leader of Occidental Petroleum, Vicki Hollub, said at an oil conference in March. For many climate scientists, Hollub was saying the quiet part out loud. Removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere was originally envisioned by scientists as a way to eliminate climate pollution that is released by making cement, flying across oceans and industrial activities that are all but impossible to do without fossil fuels. That’s to say that the expensive and commercially risky technology was intended for sucking only relatively small amounts of pollution from the air. Scientists have a name for it: residual emissions. The Dubai, United Arab Emirates, climate agreement signed Wednesday accelerated a movement that is increasingly worrying scientists: The idea that carbon removal approaches can play an ever-growing role in fixing climate change, whether or not countries and corporations take the dramatic step of shifting away from oil, gas and coal. The possibility that the technology could become a reason to keep burning fossil fuels is driving a growing division in the scientific community about how much attention and money the world should be devoting to CO2 removal… “As more and more people are saying that it’s essential, it’s really heightened the stakes,” Gregory Nemet, an environmental policy expert at the University of Wisconsin, told E&E. “And it’s led those that are critical of [CO2 removal] to really kind of raise their voice, because now it’s perceived as a threat to mitigation efforts.” “...A growing chorus of critics now argue that the idea of using machines to pull pollution from the sky is becoming a distraction to the main event — reducing emissions. “Carbon removal technologies offer an easy way out, to cover up business as usual, and the expansion of [polluting] industries right now — without any of the major transformations we need to see in rapid emissions cuts,” Lili Fuhr, director of the fossil economy program at the Center for International Environmental Law, a nonprofit advocacy group, told E&E.
E&E News: Carbon capture is in the climate deal. But the UAE’s only plant traps just 28% of emissions.
Corbin Hiar, Sara Schonhardt, 12/13/23
“Carbon capture technology has been a beacon for oil nations at the climate talks. But the UAE’s only facility for catching warming pollution raises questions about its effectiveness,” E&E News reports.
Financial Times: The carbon capture challenge [VIDEO]
Richard Topping, presented by Emilya Mychasuk, 12/19/23
“Oil, gas and heavy industries such as cement and steel making are banking on developing systems that will deal with the emissions responsible for global warming. But the question of whether it can be done at the necessary scale and cost remains,” the Financial Times reports.
Bloomberg: Exxon Tests Carbon-Capture System Using Fuel Cell to Make Power
Will Wade, 12/18/23
“Exxon Mobil Corp. plans to build a carbon-capture demonstration project in Rotterdam that will incorporate technology from FuelCell Energy Inc. to produce electricity, a move aimed at reducing costs for a process that may play a key role in fighting climate change,” Bloomberg reports. “...There’s growing recognition that carbon-capture systems that store planet-warming emissions underground will help rein in climate change, but costs remain a barrier. Exxon will use the power produced by the FuelCell system to reduce operating costs, FuelCell Energy Chief Executive Officer Jason Few told Bloomberg. “We deliver a lower cost of capture, because we are adding power instead of consuming power,” Few told Bloomberg… “The system will run flue gases from the refinery through a fuel cell, generating about 1 megawatt of power and concentrating carbon dioxide that will be stored under the North Sea.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
Reuters: Tennessee sues BlackRock citing 'misleading' ESG strategy
12/18/23
“The U.S. state of Tennessee has sued BlackRock (BLK.N) alleging the world's largest asset manager breached consumer protection laws by making "misleading" statements about its environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) investment strategies,” Reuters reports. “According to a court filing, the state of Tennessee has alleged BlackRock downplayed the extent to which ESG considerations drive the firm's investment strategies and their affect on companies' financial performance and outlook. BlackRock said they rejected Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti's claims. "BlackRock fully and accurately discloses our investment practices and our approach to proxy voting," the asset manager said in an emailed statement to Reuters… “Skrmetti and 20 other Republican state attorneys general also wrote to asset managers in March suggesting they are breaching their fiduciary duties in their handling of environmental or social issues.”
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Hamilton Spectator: Enbridge Gas donates $5K to Haldimand County Fire Department
Tamara-Botting, 12/19/23
“It takes about a year for a new firefighter recruit to get fully trained in Haldimand at a cost of around $8,000 to $10,000,” the Hamilton Spectator reports. “...Recently, the county got a funding boost to help offset some of those training costs in the form of a $5,000 donation from Enbridge Gas. Nick Klip, manager of operations for Enbridge Gas in Hamilton and Niagara noted, “We rely on fire departments to not only assist us when we're on-site, but quite often to respond before we get there. (Firefighters) having the skills and abilities that they need is important to us; we want to make sure that everybody stays safe.” This year, the company donated a total of $250,000 to 50 fire departments across the province through its Safe Community Project Assist. Since 2012, 344 grants have been given out to fire departments in the communities where Enbridge operates. Haldimand Mayor Shelley Ann Bentley expressed gratitude for the financial support.”
Chatham Voice: Enbridge donates $45,000 to Goodfellows
12/18/23
“The giving never seems to stop at Endbridge,” according to the Chatham Voice. “After handing over more than $42,000 to help support Chatham Goodfellows on Dec. 11, more donations came in, and the tally topped the $45,000 mark. “Chatham Goodfellows have had a great relationship with Enbridge going back to the Union Gas days. We are truly grateful for our partnership with such a giving company and its employees,” Goodfellow Tim Haskell said in a media release… “Not only do Enbridge and its employees help out financially, a team of volunteers also assists with packing the toy hampers and organizing their delivery.”
OPINION
The Hill: Why the ‘historic’ climate summit was more optics than substance
William Becker is executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project (PCAP), 12/16/23
“At COP-28 in Dubai this week, weary international delegates and environmental activists celebrated a “historic breakthrough” in negotiations to stop global warming. For the first time in 32 years of negotiations, an agreement mentions “transitioning away from fossil fuels,” William Becker writes for The Hill. “...America’s climate envoy, John Kerry, said the words send “very strong messages to the world.” He’s correct, but not for the reason he meant. The message is that expectations for these annual conferences are so low that even the most inescapable aspiration is reason to cheer. Inside the COP bubble, the ability even to mention a transition from fossil fuels seemed like a hard-fought victory, at one of the world’s fossil-fuel capitals where nearly 2,500 industry lobbyists were present. But outside the bubble, it was virtually meaningless — just another COP aspiration without a concrete implementation plan or enforceable goals. Others include the Paris climate agreement; the Kyoto Protocol; the international commitment to phase out fossil-energy subsidies; the fund wealthy nations established to help developing countries adopt clean energy; the many net-zero carbon pledges made since 2015; the new loss and damage fund to help less developed nations recover from climate disasters; and the agreements at COP-28 to cut methane emissions and triple renewable energy capacity by 2030… “At this point, we should question whether more COPs are worthwhile. They have lost their credibility as a productive process. If the United Nations wants to continue, it should set a higher standard. The sponsors of any serious proposal to mitigate global warming must include an implementation plan complete with milestones, performance measures, transparency assurances, and accountability for results. Anything less is more about optics than substance.”