EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 12/20/23
PIPELINE NEWS
Dominion Post: FERC approves three-year construction deadline extension for MVP Southgate pipeline project
North Dakota Monitor: North Dakota regulators to take up local control in pipeline hearing
Texas Tribune: Worried about safety, a small West Texas town challenges planned cross-border pipeline
WBAP: West Texas Saddles Up For Gas Pipeline Challenge
Wisconsin Public Radio: Enbridge hopes to begin work this winter to slow erosion near Line 5
Grist: Why more than 60 Indigenous nations oppose the Line 5 oil pipeline
Canadian Press: Trans Mountain claims mounting costs of pipeline expansion justify higher tolls
Fairbury Journal News: TC Energy To Pay $3,344,000 For Jefferson County Road
Reuters: Mexico emitted 'extreme' amounts of methane from gas pipeline, scientists find
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Lawmakers Demand Answers From Largest Oil Well Owner
E&E News: Biden’s Arctic oil rules may leave ‘big gaps’ on climate
STATE UPDATES
Associated Press: Drilling under Pennsylvania’s ‘Gasland’ town has been banned since 2010. It’s coming back.
CalMatters: How Big Oil wins in green California
Alaska Beacon: Royalty-free lease offerings in Alaska’s Cook Inlet basin draw tepid response
EXTRACTION
Press release: New vision to create competitive carbon capture market follows unprecedented £20 billion investment
WBUR: How Big Oil helped push the idea of a 'carbon footprint'
Guardian: XR co-founder who broke window at HS2 protest given suspended sentence
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
KTVZ: Family Access Network receives $5,000 grant from TC Energy
Enbridge: A Program Rooted in Health and Happiness
Pembroke Observer: Enbridge Gas assists Havelock-Belmont-Methuen Fire Department in supporting firefighter training
OPINION
Guardian: Is the US going to approve the single biggest fossil-fuel expansion on earth?
Houston Chronicle: Texas economy could suffer from fighting climate change, but fossil fuel execs offer a false choice
PIPELINE NEWS
Dominion Post: FERC approves three-year construction deadline extension for MVP Southgate pipeline project
David Beard, 12/19/23
“The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Tuesday granted a three-year extension for completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline Southgate project. MVPS now has until June 18, 2026, to complete the line and put it into service,” the Dominion Post reports. “The Mountain Valley Pipeline's Southgate extension was approved in 2020 and was supposed to be finished by this past June. It's planned to carry natural gas from the main Mountain Valley Pipeline in southern Virginia into North Carolina's Rockingham and Alamance Counties. But the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) agreed with the developer that legal and permitting delays with the main Mountain Valley Pipeline made it impossible to meet the deadline… “North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and other elected officials from North Carolina and Virginia had urged regulators to deny the deadline extension. But FERC decided that delays with the main pipeline warranted pushing back the deadline on the Southgate extension… “The developers now have June 18, 2026, to build the Southgate pipeline… “On Tuesday, opponents expressed disappointment at FERC's decision to let the project continue. "We are disappointed in FERC’s decision to grant an extension for this boondoggle of a project even after impacted residents, environmental justice organizations and state leaders — like Governor Cooper — came out in droves to urge the commission to deny MVP’s request. Our fight to ensure that this extension never sees completion is not over," the Sierra Club's Caroline Hansley said in a statement.
North Dakota Monitor: North Dakota regulators to take up local control in pipeline hearing
JEFF BEACH, 12/19/23
“Can local zoning rules trump state pipeline regulations? That’s the key question North Dakota’s Public Service Commission is taking up,” the North Dakota Monitor reports. “The PSC left the question hanging earlier this year when it denied Summit Carbon Solutions a permit for its carbon capture pipeline. But it is hearing arguments on the issue at 2 p.m. Thursday. Steve Leibel of Bismarck is one of the attorneys representing landowners that will be making the argument for local control. “It is offensive to me, the attitude that these counties need to just shut up and take their medicine. I don’t think that’s what the Legislature intended,” Leibel told the Monitor. The hearing will include arguments from Emmons and Burleigh counties that have passed ordinances with tighter restrictions on where the pipeline can run than what is in state regulations… “Leibel, who represents landowners, told the Monitor it’s unusual for a state agency like the PSC to make such an interpretation. “Agencies certainly do some interpretation of statutes and regulations, but they’re really diving into the deep end on something like this, analyzing this,” Leibel told the Monitor… “Attorney Brian Jorde of Domina Law, who represents landowners in multiple states, called state preemption “An unbelievable attack on the concept of local control.” “...Summit’s reroute in North Dakota added 12 miles to the pipeline. Summit on Tuesday announced it had reached voluntary easements for about 80% of the pipeline route… “During PSC hearings, some landowners said they signed a voluntary easement with Summit to avoid an eminent domain battle in court.”
Texas Tribune: Worried about safety, a small West Texas town challenges planned cross-border pipeline
ALEJANDRA MARTINEZ,MARTHA PSKOWSKI,12/20/23
“When word spread this summer among residents of this small West Texas town that a 48-inch diameter natural gas pipeline — larger than others in the region — was coming their way, they saw it as a threat to their town’s tranquility and sense of security,” the Texas Tribune reports. “Van Horn resident Yolanda Carmona learned that the proposed Saguaro Connector Pipeline would run underground near a property she recently bought at the edge of town… “Even though Carmona works for the city as an events and tourism director, she said she first heard of the pipeline this summer when the Property Rights and Pipeline Center, a national nonprofit, held an informational meeting in town. “I really had no idea what was coming, not a single clue,” she told the Tribune… “Saguaro would connect to another proposed pipeline in Mexico to transport gas to the coast of Sonora, where a proposed facility would liquify it for export to Asia and South America in tanker ships. The liquified natural gas (or LNG) export project in Sonora, called Saguaro Energía, has been in the works since 2018. Suddenly the future of this 2,000-person town was tangled up with the global natural gas market. Van Horn residents in the pipeline’s path worry their small town doesn’t have the emergency management capacity to respond to explosions or leaks along the pipeline, and they are distraught that local land would be snatched through eminent domain for construction. They question why they should sacrifice their land for a pipeline exporting gas abroad. Meanwhile, national environmental advocacy groups, including the Sierra Club, warn that the project is advancing with limited federal oversight and goes against the Biden administration’s stated climate goals of phasing out fossil fuels. The pipeline proposal recently received the blessing of the U.S. Department of State, and the state Railroad Commission — which regulates oil and gas and oversees pipeline safety in Texas — issued a construction permit, months before residents in Van Horn say they knew about the project. Now many are pressing state and federal agencies to force the company to reroute the pipeline farther from town or kill the project altogether — even though other pipelines crossing from Texas into Mexico have been granted permits without the additional scrutiny advocates are calling for… “But residents and environmentalists argue that because the pipeline would transport gas for export abroad, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which regulates natural gas pipeline construction, should review the full route and assess its likely contributions to climate change for years to come… “FERC must still issue a presidential permit to construct the 1,000-foot segment that would cross the border, which includes an environmental analysis. The permit has received the necessary support of the State Department, and a final decision from FERC could come at any time.”
WBAP: West Texas Saddles Up For Gas Pipeline Challenge
12/20/23
“West Texas residents are saddling up in protest against a proposed natural gas pipeline,” WBAP reports. “The natural gas pipeline would run very near the 2 thousand strong tpopulation of Van Horn, and the threat of eminent domain is just one concern. The proposed Saguaro Connector Pipeline would run from the Permian Basin to the border with mexico, passing within one mile of van Horn, between El Paso and Midland-Odessa… “The federal government has limited oversight with much of the line within Texas borders, but residents want a federal review of the route and potential impact on climate change. “They’re coming so close to town it just blows my mind,” Penny Self, owner of the Van Horn RV Park, who suggested the pipeline would endanger her customers, told WBAP. “Who is it going to benefit? It’s not going to benefit us.”
Wisconsin Public Radio: Enbridge hopes to begin work this winter to slow erosion near Line 5
Danielle Kaeding, 12/19/23
“Enbridge Energy Co. hopes to begin work this winter on a project to slow erosion near its Line 5 oil and gas pipeline amid an ongoing legal struggle with the Bad River tribe,” Wisconsin Public Radio reports. “The Canadian company is seeking approval from federal, state and tribal agencies to install trees along roughly 400 feet of the Bad River shoreline within the Bad River Reservation… “In spring, deterioration of the river's banks accelerated due to flooding from rapidly melting snow, leaving the bank as close as 11 feet from the pipeline. In May, the company submitted an application for a waterway permit with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as part of the project to slow erosion. Paul Eberth, tribal engagement director for Enbridge, is proposing the use of a helicopter to install and anchor hundreds of trees along the bank to prevent further erosion from potential flooding or runoff next year… "This is a temporary installation until Line 5 can be safely relocated around the reservation," Eberth told WPR. In response to the tribe’s lawsuit, Enbridge has proposed relocating a 41-mile segment of the pipeline around the tribe’s reservation in Ashland and Iron counties… “In the meantime, the company’s project to slow erosion would temporarily affect almost four acres of wetlands… “As a sovereign nation, the Bad River tribe also has their own water quality standards that Enbridge must meet in order to gain approval. Tribal officials were not immediately available for comment on the project. Eberth told WPR the tribe has denied other projects to install rocks or sandbags along the banks of the Bad River. Even so, he said the company is optimistic the proposal to install trees will gain approval from the tribe. If it moves forward, he told WPR the work could take anywhere from four to eight weeks to complete.”
Grist: Why more than 60 Indigenous nations oppose the Line 5 oil pipeline
Anita Hofschneider, 12/20/23
“The Line 5 oil pipeline that snakes through Wisconsin and Michigan won a key permit this month: pending federal studies and approvals, Canada-based Enbridge Energy will build a new section of pipeline and tunnel underneath the Great Lakes despite widespread Indigenous opposition,” Grist reports. “...The move came just a year after the Bad River Band tribal nation filed a lawsuit against Enbridge regarding another, separate section of Line 5 in Wisconsin located across 12 miles of the Bad River reservation. The pipeline had been installed in 1953 and, at the time, had received easements to do so from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. But the easements expired, and in a court filing, the tribal nation said the company “has continued to operate the pipeline as if it has an indefinite entitlement to do so,” despite federal law that bans the renewal of expired right-of-way permits on Indian land and would require Enbridge to obtain new permits and approvals from the Band. The Bad River won a key victory last summer when a Wisconsin judge ruled that the company must shut down the portion of its pipeline that trespasses on the reservation by 2026… “Last summer, José Francisco Calí Tzay, United Nations special rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, called for suspending the pipeline’s operations “until the free, prior, and informed consent of the Indigenous Peoples affected is secured.” Free, prior, and informed consent is a right guaranteed to Indigenous Peoples under international law that says governments must consult Indigenous nations in good faith to obtain their consent before undertaking projects that affect their land and resources — consent that Bad River, for instance, has refused to give.”
Canadian Press: Trans Mountain claims mounting costs of pipeline expansion justify higher tolls
12/18/23
“The company building the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion has submitted evidence to support its claim that oil companies must pay more in tolls in light of the pipeline project's mounting costs,” the Canadian Press reports. “In a new regulatory filing, Trans Mountain Corp. calls the increased capital costs of the pipeline expansion project — which have ballooned to a projected $30.9 billion from a 2017 estimate of $7.4 billion — "reasonably and justifiably incurred." The Crown corporation said in written evidence submitted Friday to the Canada Energy Regulator that the project has been affected by "extraordinary" factors that include evolving compliance requirements, Indigenous accommodations, stakeholder engagement and compensation requirements, extreme weather and the COVID-19 pandemic… "These requirements increased costs of the project." “...But Trans Mountain Corp. and its oil company customers are currently engaged in a dispute over tolls, the term for the fees the pipeline company will charge to ship oil on the expanded pipeline. Trans Mountain wants to charge oil companies a benchmark toll that is nearly twice the amount of a 2017 estimate, as it seeks to recoup some of the expansion's spiralling capital costs… “The Crown corporation also says that because of the project's cost overruns, it expects only "modest returns" on its investment in the first few years of the expanded pipeline's operation. It says that any toll level below what Trans Mountain has applied for "could impact Trans Mountain's ability to meet its financial obligations."
Fairbury Journal News: TC Energy To Pay $3,344,000 For Jefferson County Road
Gordon Hopkins, 12/19/23
“After weeks of negotiations, an agreement has been reached between Jefferson County and TC Energy, the company formerly known as TransCanada, to replace the road between Steele City and the Kansas state line that was damaged by months of TC Energy trucks driving between Steele City and the oil spill site at Mill Creek in Kansas,” the Fairbury Journal News reports. “The road was severely damaged during the course of the oil spill cleanup, in which an estimated 100 trucks a day traversed the road between Steele City and Washington County, Kansas, for several months. TC Energy was using those trucks to transport oil-contaminated dirt from the Keystone Pipeline oil spill site in Kansas, which occurred in December of 2022, to a landfill in Douglas County, Nebraska. In addition, “clean” dirt was taken by truck from a TC Energy property in Steele City to the oil spill site for restoration. While the trucks are no longer running, the damage is done. The road is now pitted with potholes and littered with broken asphalt The contract specifies a “maximum cost” of $3,334,802 for the construction, including $350,000 for the ‘engineering cost’, the total to be paid by TC Energy. Any costs over and above that will be paid by the county… “Commissioners explained the difference is that damage on the Nebraska side of the state lines was considerably greater than on the Kansas side. The Kansas road is receiving an overlay, while the Nebraska portion of the road requires significantly more repair.”
Reuters: Mexico emitted 'extreme' amounts of methane from gas pipeline, scientists find
Stefanie Eschenbacher, 12/19/23
“Mexico emitted "extreme" amounts of methane from a natural gas pipeline running through its northern border state Durango in 2019, a research paper published on Tuesday showed, citing data collected from satellites,” Reuters reports. “...Scientists from Harvard University, led by Marc Watine and Daniel Varon, identified a hot spot in Durango that released thousands of metric tons of methane over two months. Watine told Reuters the team was able to trace the methane leaks to the El Encino-La Laguna pipeline that passes through the states of Chihuahua and Durango, transporting natural gas from the United States to Mexico… “Government documents showed the pipeline, owned by state-owned power utility CFE, is operated by Fermaca Pipeline El Encino… “Scientists have said Mexican companies, including state energy company Pemex, lag behind their obligations to identify, report and mitigate emissions from their infrastructure.”
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.). Diversified owns and operates more than 70,000 wells in the eastern and southern United States. Many are older, low-production wells that the company buys in bulk to achieve economies of scale.”
E&E News: Biden’s Arctic oil rules may leave ‘big gaps’ on climate
Heather Richards, 12/18/23
“Proposed Interior Department rules for drilling in the Western Arctic are spurring two contradictory views: that President Joe Biden has thwarted an oil boom in northern Alaska or paved the way for one,” E&E News reports. “Which perspective turns out to be right has significant implications for climate change and the future of the oil industry in the Arctic, considering the size of the petroleum reserves in the region. The Bureau of Land Management proposal, which could strengthen Interior’s ability to block future drilling on protected lands in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, follows Biden’s controversial decision earlier this year to approve the massive Willow oil project in the same reserve. Drillers say the NPR-A rules could infringe on their development rights, while green groups say it fails to shift the NPR-A away from its origins as a potential stockpile of crude oil. How Interior officials apply the new language could determine which side will eventually claim victory. Earthjustice attorney Jeremy Lieb told E&E the proposed NPR-A rules, while an improvement, don’t address the serious question of how ongoing oil development in the reserve will “align with climate commitments.” “Those are big gaps,” he told E&E.
STATE UPDATES
Associated Press: Drilling under Pennsylvania’s ‘Gasland’ town has been banned since 2010. It’s coming back.
MICHAEL RUBINKAM, 12/19/23
“A year after pleading no contest to criminal charges, one of Pennsylvania’s leading natural gas companies is poised to drill and frack in the rural community where it was banned for a dozen years for polluting the water supply,” the Associated Press reports. “Coterra Energy Inc. has won permission from state environmental regulators to drill 11 gas wells underneath Dimock Township, in the state’s northeastern corner — the sweet spot of the largest natural gas field in the United States, according to well permit records reviewed by The Associated Press. Billions of dollars worth of natural gas, now locked in shale rock deep underground, await Coterra’s drilling rigs. Some landowners, long shut out of royalties because of the state’s lengthy moratorium, can’t wait for the Houston-based drilling giant to resume production in Dimock. Other residents dread the industry’s return. They worry about truck traffic, noise and the threat of new contamination… “A state investigation concluded that faulty gas wells drilled by Coterra’s corporate predecessor, Cabot Oil & Gas, had allowed methane to leak uncontrolled into the community’s aquifer. Cabot was banned from Dimock in 2010 after regulators accused the company of failing to keep its promise to restore or replace the water supply. An Emmy Award-winning documentary, “Gasland,” showed residents lighting their tap water on fire… “State officials have denied that Coterra pleaded no contest in exchange for being allowed to drill, but residents like Victoria Switzer said they felt deceived. “I have seen how justice played out here, and it’s not justice,” Switzer, whose well was among those found to be contaminated, and who has not had a drink from her kitchen faucet since 2009, told AP.”
CalMatters: How Big Oil wins in green California
RYAN SABALOW AND JEREMIA KIMELMAN, 12/19/23
“Two-thirds of the bills opposed by the oil industry this year were killed, thanks in part to an alliance with the building trades union, forcing Democrats to sometimes choose between jobs and the environment,” CalMatters reports. “Sen. Lena Gonzalez represents an industrial district that includes Long Beach, where poor neighborhoods suffer from pollution. She has a 100% rating from environmental groups that praise her for taking on the Big Oil lobby in Sacramento. It was surprising for her, though, when the state’s powerful building and construction trades unions allied this year with the oil lobby to kill three of her bills aimed in part at protecting the health of vulnerable communities. “A lot of folks said to me, ‘Sorry, but I made my promise to the building trades that I wouldn’t vote for another environmental bill,’ ” Gonzalez told CalMatters. “And so straight out of the horse’s mouth, that’s what I had gotten, which was really, really hard to hear.” The dirty little secret about green California, a global leader on climate policies, is that Big Oil still wins a lot of its political fights. Its trade association, the Western States Petroleum Association, and Chevron Corp. spent a combined $15.3 million on lobbying this year, more than any other lobby groups. The oil industry as a whole also donated more than $427,000 to legislators’ campaigns this year and more than $3.5 million to legislative candidates since 2019. But it’s oil’s alliance with the powerful State Building and Construction Trades Council of California that often makes the biggest difference, forcing the Democratic supermajority to choose between the environment and oil industry jobs. The building and construction trade unions also have long bankrolled California’s labor-friendly Democrats. So far, the council has donated at least $157,000 to the campaigns of California’s legislators this year and more than $1.9 million to legislative campaigns since 2019. “In California, our best (environmental) bills are being blocked by the oil industry using the building trades as ventriloquist dummies,” RL Miller, a Democratic activist and environmental advocate at Climate Hawks Vote, told CalMatters. Of at least 21 bills the oil and gas industry opposed this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed only seven. Half of the bills the oil industry opposed also faced opposition from the building trades union, according to interviews and a CalMatters analysis of legislative testimony and written opposition to bills.”
Alaska Beacon: Royalty-free lease offerings in Alaska’s Cook Inlet basin draw tepid response
YERETH ROSEN, 12/16/23
“An unusual offering of royalty-free oil and gas leases in the Cook Inlet basin drew a few bids, with state officials this week describing the experiment as successful,” the Alaska Beacon reports. “...The six leases sold cover about 15,000 acres, and bids submitted totaled $599,934, according to results released by the division… “Unlike past lease sales, which stipulate that production from acquired leases pay state royalties generally ranging between 12.5% and 16.67%, terms in this annual Cook Inlet sale skipped the royalty requirements. Instead, they have requirements for profit-sharing from future production… “The terms were designed to induce more natural gas production in the aged Southcentral Alaska basin to supply a population center, which includes the state’s largest city, that is facing a potential shortage in the future.”
EXTRACTION
Press release: New vision to create competitive carbon capture market follows unprecedented £20 billion investment
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, The Rt Hon Claire Coutinho MP, and Lord Callanan, 12/20/23
“The plan – named the CCUS Vision – sets out how the UK will transition from early projects backed by government support to becoming a competitive market in this area by 2035, meaning UK companies will compete to build carbon capture facilities and sell their services to the world. This is expected to boost the economy by £5 billion a year by 2050 – making the UK a pioneer in this technology while meeting its net zero commitments in a reasonable way that eases the financial burden on taxpayers… “The UK holds a strategic advantage compared to other countries thanks to its unique geology, skills and infrastructure as an island nation. It also offers enough space under the North Sea for up to 78 billion tonnes of CO2. This is the latest step to develop CCUS technologies - which aim to store 20-30 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030 and support 50,000 jobs by 2030 - backed by up to £20 billion of investment.”
WBUR: How Big Oil helped push the idea of a 'carbon footprint'
Daniel Ackerman Meghna Chakrabarti, 12/18/23
“Your carbon footprint. Plug in your lifestyle to an online calculator, and instantly find out how much you are impacting the climate. It individualizes the climate crisis, so you focus on yourself, rather than the massive petrochemical companies pumping carbon into the environment. If that's politically convenient for Big Oil, it's because the carbon footprint concept was popularized in part by oil giant BP,” WBUR reports. "They don’t want to talk about their product and they don’t want to talk about the impact of their decisions on the public. It’s shifting responsibility to individual consumers," Duncan Meisel told WBUR. And the creation of the carbon footprint idea isn't the only place oil companies are shaping public opinion. Today, On Point: Big Oil's big PR. Guests: Geoffrey Supran, Professor of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of Miami, where he directs the Climate Accountability Lab; Amy Westervelt, Climate journalist. Head of the investigative newsroom Drilled; Duncan Meisel, Executive Director of Clean Creatives.”
Guardian: XR co-founder who broke window at HS2 protest given suspended sentence
12/18/23
“An Extinction Rebellion cofounder was been given a suspended jail sentence after causing thousands of pounds worth of damage to a government building,” the Guardian reports. “Gail Bradbrook, 51, was found guilty by a jury of breaking a window in a protest at HS2 at the Department for Transport in October 2019… “Bradbrook, who co-founded the environmental campaign group in 2018 with her ex-partner Simon Bramwell and several others, was joined outside court after the hearing by a group of supporters which included Game Of Thrones actor Jerome Flynn, while others were dressed as suffragettes… “Bradbrook told the Guardian: “Activists are facing criminal conviction for sounding the alarm about the climate crisis while those responsible for destroying the life support systems of the entire Earth are not being held to account by our failing courts…Worse still, corporate courts are allowing fossil fuel criminals to sue governments for climate-friendly policies and punishing injunctions and authoritarian laws crafted by fossil fuel-funded politicians are being used to crush our democracy and our right to protest.”
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
KTVZ: Family Access Network receives $5,000 grant from TC Energy
12/19/23
“The Family Access Network (FAN) has received a $5,000 grant from TC Energy’s Build Strong social impact program,” KTVZ reports. “FAN advocates work closely with community partners to navigate social services. While these partnerships are crucial, this grant from TC Energy will support families with eviction prevention, food security, utility assistance, hygiene items, school supplies, propane/gas, and more… “TC Energy is a committed partner in helping us meet the needs of our families,” Marianna Frisinger, FAN Foundation Chair, told KTVZ. TC Energy’s Build Strong program combines grants and scholarships for individuals or organizations who are building strong and vibrant communities… “In 2022, TC Energy invested over C$24.9M across North America, through their giving programs.”
Enbridge: A Program Rooted in Health and Happiness
12/19/23
“What started as a “pizza garden” has grown into one of the Boys & Girls Club of the Bemidji Area’s signature programs—improving the wellbeing of youth through horticulture, healthy eating and entrepreneurship,” according to Enbridge. “...Enbridge is committed to building vibrant and sustainable communities near our operations, and a recent $2,500 Fueling Futures grant has supported the Club’s garden program this year. One of our commitments as a company is to help develop the potential of youth; the garden program does so in myriad ways. It teaches them gardening and good nutrition, increases their access to fresh food, provides regular physical activity outdoors, and introduces them to entrepreneurial activities.”
Pembroke Observer: Enbridge Gas assists Havelock-Belmont-Methuen Fire Department in supporting firefighter training
12/19/23
“Enbridge Gas Inc. (Enbridge Gas) is helping Havelock-Belmont-Methuen Fire Department purchase firefighting training materials, through Safe Community Project Assist–a program with the Fire Marshal’s Public Fire Safety Council (FMPFSC) that supplements existing training for Ontario volunteer and composite fire departments in the communities where Enbridge Gas operates,” the Pembroke Observer reports. “At Enbridge Gas, safety is at the core of what we do,” says Ian Moase, Operations Manager, GTA East Operations, Enbridge Gas. This year’s $250,000 donation from Enbridge Gas will be shared by 50 Ontario fire departments, including Havelock-Belmont-Methuen… “The Township of Havelock-Belmont-Methuen is very grateful for the funding that is provided to us by Enbridge Gas and the Fire Marshal’s Public Fire Safety Council,” says Mayor Jim Martin.
OPINION
Guardian: Is the US going to approve the single biggest fossil-fuel expansion on earth?
Roishetta Ozane is the founder of the Vessel Project, a Louisiana environmental justice group; Bill McKibben is the founder of Third Act, which organizes people over 60 for action on climate and democracy, 12/19/23
“More than 200 nations pledged last week in Dubai that they would be “transitioning away from from fossil fuels”. Some cheered and some scoffed; we’ll soon know if the world’s biggest producer of oil and gas – the United States – meant what it signed, or if it was just more (literal) hot air. That’s because the US Department of Energy (DoE) must decide whether to stop rubber-stamping the single biggest fossil-fuel expansion on earth, the buildout of natural gas exports from the Gulf of Mexico,” Roishetta Ozane and Bill McKibben write for the Guardian. “So far they have granted every export license anyone has requested, and as a result the US has become the biggest gas exporter on planet earth. If they keep it up, the veteran energy analyst Jeremy Symons says that before long US liquefied natural gas exports will produce more greenhouse gases than everything that happens on the continent of Europe. They should have stopped long ago – in part because of the damage these giant terminals are doing to the people, the fish and the air of Louisiana and Texas. But if the DoE keeps approving these licenses now, it will fly in the face of their promise in Dubai… “That’s why 230 groups, including the ones we represent, have called on the DoE to pause all new export licenses until they fully revamp their procedures for figuring whether these permits are, as the statute requires, in “the public interest”... “When you live on a planet where the cheapest way to produce power is pointing a sheet of glass at the sun, filling a tanker with liquefied natural gas and shipping it halfway around the world is archaic. It’s also ruinous: new data from the Cornell scientist Bob Howarth this fall showed that these ships leak so much methane that it’s far worse for the climate even than exporting coal… “Biden can’t actually stop CP2 or any other plant – at the moment they haven’t actually applied for their licenses, perhaps because they sense the growing opposition. But if the administration pauses the permit process and sends the old criteria back for a serious revamp, it will have the same effect. And it will send a truly powerful signal around the world: the biggest exporter of oil and gas is actually going to change its ways.”
Houston Chronicle: Texas economy could suffer from fighting climate change, but fossil fuel execs offer a false choice
Chris Tomlinson, 12/20/23
“...Military folks turned it into a metaphor for problem-solving by arguing you must deal with the alligators closest to the boat first while draining the swamp. The alligators farther away can wait,” Chris Tomlinson writes for the Houston Chronicle. “Fossil fuel executives echo that approach when prioritizing the world’s energy demands today while delaying cuts to carbon emissions… “Their solution, however, complicates the goal of limiting global warming, the proverbial draining of the swamp… “The world cannot continue burning coal, oil and natural gas at the current rate and meet the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. No matter what oil executives may claim, we do not possess enough money or natural resources to capture all the carbon we are releasing, numerous studies report. This fact is why every nation promised last week to transition away from fossil fuels and radically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But if the United States keeps its pledge, Texas could suffer dearly… “No wonder Texas’s Republican leaders deny climate change. Doing something about emissions would make the state’s wealthiest people and top political donors uncomfortable… “The smart decision is to innovate, not stagnate. New wind and solar projects provide cheaper electricity than coal, natural gas or nuclear power. Operators are installing massive batteries to store electricity for the dark and still hours when electricity demand can peak. We’re learning to manage demand… “Texas became wealthy by solving the world’s energy challenges with oil and gas. If we are willing to change with the science, we can fight the alligators and drain the swamp simultaneously, saving the planet and our economy.”