EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 12/28/22
PIPELINE NEWS
WIBW: Cold weather slows oil spill recovery efforts in northern Kansas
Norfolk Daily News: It might be too late for state to regulate carbon pipelines
Norfolk Daily News: Too many ‘ifs’ for pipeline fighter to support carbon proposal
Offshore Energy: Coastal GasLink finishes the year with construction milestones
Oil & Gas Journal: Repsol, Crescent Midstream part of offshore Louisiana CCS partnership
FOX5 San Diego: Gasoline pipeline serving San Diego shutdown for nearly week following leak
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Democrats take climate victory lap as Congress leaves town
E&E News: Biden’s dilemma: How do you define ‘green’ hydrogen?
EXTRACTION
Guardian: BP criticised over plan to spend billions more on fossil fuels than green energy
The Hill: Controversial activist Steven Donziger is a folk hero to the left, a fraud to Big Oil
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
InsideHalton.com: Enbridge Gas teams up with Oakville Fire Department to reduce fire and carbon monoxide deaths
OPINION
The Hill: Why natural gas plays a key role in the clean energy transition
Western Standard: Proud to keep on standing up for Alberta
PIPELINE NEWS
WIBW: Cold weather slows oil spill recovery efforts in northern Kansas
David Oliver and Melissa Brunner, 12/27/22
“Oil recovery operations have slowed somewhat at the Keystone pipeline spill site along Mill Creek in Washington Co.,” WIBW reports. “Kellen Ashford, a spokesperson from the Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday that the extreme cold weather took a toll on some of the equipment. They could not immediately elaborate on what was impacted. Even so, nearly 730,000 gallons of oil-water mixture has been collected from Mill Creek. The EPA says it will continue to oversee and monitor the clean-up actions. Ashford told WIBW the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks also is on hand, working with TC Energy and federal, state, and private partners to identify wildlife in the affected area and how they have been impacted. “While KDWP staff can confirm select fish, mussels, and mammals have been impacted, it is still too early to determine the extent,” Ashford told 13 NEWS in an email. “Agency crews will continue daily monitoring of wildlife impacts as containment efforts allow.” As of two weeks ago, the EPA had confirmed four mammals and at least 71 fish had been killed as a result of the spill.”
Norfolk Daily News: It might be too late for state to regulate carbon pipelines
JERRY GUENTHER, 12/27/22
“Some Nebraskans believe the state should join neighboring states and put regulations in place over carbon pipelines,” the Norfolk Daily News reports. ““Nebraska is the only state that doesn’t have any state laws on the books to route a carbon pipeline,” said Jane Kleeb, the leader of Bold Nebraska. During the Keystone XL pipeline fights, the Nebraska Legislature gave the Nebraska Public Service Commission authority over oil pipelines for such things as locating them and setbacks. “We are back to ground zero on these new carbon pipelines because the state is telling us that the public service commission has made it very clear to us that they will have no review process, no say in where the carbon pipelines go, so we have no agency at the state level that is reviewing the pipelines,” Kleeb said. That means the authority goes to the counties. Kleeb said she and Bold Nebraska believe that Nebraska counties should put regulations in place over the carbon pipelines, just as they have done for wind turbines and solar farms. Kleeb and Tom Genung of NEAT (Nebraska Easement Action Team) spoke Dec. 20 to the Madison County Board of Commissioners. “You could put setbacks in place. You could put decommissioning in place, just like wind and solar have to do,” Kleeb told commissioners. Carbon pipelines are relatively new to the United States, Kleeb said. Unlike natural gas and oil pipelines, which have been around much longer, there is uncertainty to how large a plume area is necessary to be considered, she said. “Everything that we can assume is by pure guess or by mostly what they’ve done in Australia in controlled settings,” Kleeb said. Counties could establish regulations for everything from ground cover to the construction process and topsoil disruption. Part of what counties should do is know what the companies’ emergency plan is if a carbon pipeline ruptures, Kleeb said. Kleeb and Genung provided the Madison County Board of Commissioners with a sample ordinance based on consultation with other pipeline engineers. The proposed ordinance is designed to protect the county and landowners’ interests. Troy Uhlir, county board chairman, said he had read the items previously that Kleeb provided, including the proposed ordinance. A lot of it did make sense, Uhlir said. The county’s emergency management team is trying to train for the event of a liquid carbon spill from a rupture, and Kleeb is correct that there isn’t a training model available, he said… “If Madison County is thinking about changing zoning, it could look at the recommendations of Bold Nebraska. At the same time, Smith said, he would send out a letter stating that the county is looking at making changes if the county board wants to make changes. Kleeb said the state “could and should” make laws concerning pipelines, but if the county wanted to go “above and beyond,” it could. “We have lots to think about here,” Uhlir said. “We’ll take it under advisement.”
Norfolk Daily News: Too many ‘ifs’ for pipeline fighter to support carbon proposal
JERRY GUENTHER, 12/27/22
“It would seem that given the benefits of carbon capture — reducing greenhouse gases, adding value to ethanol and providing revenue for landowners and governments — carbon pipelines would be a slam dunk,” the Norfolk Daily News reports. “Sure, most people probably would prefer not to have a pipeline on their property, but it is out of sight after installation. And at some point if there would be a leak, it is only carbon — a product that fills much of the atmosphere already. Given that, shouldn’t there be a way to negotiate a carbon pipeline that would provide something fair to all? According to Jane Kleeb of Bold Nebraska, it is only a theory and not practical. Kleeb, who is Bold Nebraska’s leader and helped to make the nonprofit entity a household name in the state during Keystone XL pipeline discussions a few years ago, told the Madison County Board of Commissioners at a meeting last week that she has significant concerns about the proposed carbon pipelines. Representatives of both Bold Nebraska and NEAT (Nebraska Easement Action Team) attended last Tuesday’s county board meeting. Commissioner Ron Schmidt declared a conflict of interest and did not participate in the discussions… “She said one of her biggest concerns it that the easements are permanent. That means that the companies could sell them or put something else in place later, she said. “Are there some things that the companies could do that we feel could make this better for counties and landowners in the state? Yes,” Kleeb said. “In my 12 years of dealing with pipelines across the United States, I have yet to see a pipeline company do that because those things usually mean more money out of their pockets and less control over easements.” There is a great disparity between what is being offered to the landowners and what the companies are doing, she said. “And I’m not convinced this is going to do anything to solve the climate change,” Kleeb said. It is “very risky” for the people in North Dakota and Illinois, where the liquid carbon will be buried, to take it, Kleeb said. There are no case studies that show what happens when millions of metric tons of liquid carbon are injected into the ground, she said… “Eric Stinson, county commissioner, said he is aware that the only people who are talking about eminent domain are Bold Nebraska and NEAT. “Nobody brings up eminent domain but you,” Stinson told Kleeb. “They (Navigator and Summit) don’t even mention that to landowners.” “Yes, they have,” Kleeb said… “Kleeb said Summit and Navigator have not used eminent domain yet because they know Bold Nebraska and NEAT have the resources to take them to court. “Just like we had the resources to take TransCanada to court,” Kleeb said, referring to the fight over the Keystone XL oil pipeline. If Summit or Navigator took a Nebraska landowner to court, Bold Nebraska or NEAT would sue the company because the landowner would have no due process. There is no state agency that is reviewing the route that the landowner then could go to, Kleeb said. “That’s exactly the situation with Keystone XL and we won in court, not just at the state level, but at the Supreme Court level as well,” Kleeb said.
Offshore Energy: Coastal GasLink finishes the year with construction milestones
Aida Čučuk, 12/27/22
“TC Energy-led Coastal GasLink has set a strong foundation for the next and final year of construction, with the project achieving more than 80% its completion,” Offshore Energy reports. “The Coastal GasLink team said that among many achievements, the most notable ones include the 100% pipe installation in Sections 1 and 4, the completion of the Wilde Lake compressor station, and the commencement of pipe installation at Cable Crane Hill which has reached 45% pipe installation ahead of schedule. In addition, they have completed 9 out of 10 major watercourse crossings. To date, the team said they have installed nearly 490 km of pipe across the 670-km route, and steady progress is made each day… “The project’s team said the pipeline route was determined by considering Indigenous, landowner and stakeholder input, the environment, archaeological and cultural values, land use compatibility, safety, constructability, and economics.”
Oil & Gas Journal: Repsol, Crescent Midstream part of offshore Louisiana CCS partnership
12/27/22
“Repsol SA, Crescent Midstream LLC, Cox Operating LLC, and Carbon Zero US LLC earlier this month formed a partnership to develop a hub offshore Grand Isle, La., for permanent carbon dioxide (CO2) storage,” Oil & Gas Journal reports. “The carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) project will repurpose Cox offshore infrastructure, currently consisting of more than 600 wells in 66 fields. Crescent Midstream has completed initial front-end engineering and design for a 110-mile CO2 pipeline from Geismar, La., to Grand Isle, using existing Crescent pipeline rights-of-way. In conjunction with its partners in the CCS hub, Carbon Zero recently applied to the US Department of Energy’s CarbonSAFE program for a spot in one of its proposed carbon dioxide sequestration pilots.”
FOX5 San Diego: Gasoline pipeline serving San Diego shutdown for nearly week following leak
Sarah Alegre, 12/26/22
“A pipeline sending gasoline to San Diego customers has been shut down for nearly a week, fueling concern of a potential shortage in the region,” FOX5 San Diego reports. “San Diego may already be dealing with the consequences of a recent pipeline leak in Cerritos at the Ironwood Nine Golf Course. “At this time, it’s difficult to determine what’s going on. Nobody so far has come up with estimates in terms of the amount of gas that’s involved and therefore it’s difficult to gauge the impact,” economist Dr. Alan Gin shared with FOX 5… “In a statement Kinder Morgan, the company operating the pipeline, responded to the leak in a statement: “We continue to work around the clock to repair the impacted pipeline segment and are on track for the repair to be complete by Saturday, December 31. Air monitoring is ongoing at the site and there are no environmental or safety concerns for the public at this time. We remain in close contact with our customers who are implementing alternate logistics measures to deliver fuel supplies to the San Diego market. We also continue to work with the appropriate regulatory agencies to expedite the construction process wherever possible.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Democrats take climate victory lap as Congress leaves town
Nick Sobczyk, 12/23/22
“The 117th Congress was hugely consequential for energy and climate policy,” E&E News reports. “Final passage of the fiscal 2023 federal spending bill Friday will cap off a two-year run that could bring a sea change for the energy sector and put the United States close to meeting President Joe Biden’s climate change goals. It will drive much of what happens to the nation’s power mix in the coming years. It will also shape future debates on the campaign trail and on Capitol Hill about the energy transition. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said it was “one of the most productive Congresses that we’ve had in a very long time.” “Put it this way: These two years in the Senate and House, in the Congress, was either the most productive in 50 years [since the] Great Society, or the most productive in 100 years since the New Deal,” Schumer told reporters Thursday. The Inflation Reduction Act, passed along party lines after a year of debate, is the biggest single investment in climate policy Congress has ever made. It sends an enormous suite of subsidies to wind, solar, nuclear, carbon capture and electric vehicle technologies over the next decade… “Lawmakers were also able to pass significant bipartisan bills, from the infrastructure law to the CHIPS and Science Act, which aims to boost federal research and semiconductor manufacturing… “Republicans are ready to reverse course when they take over the House in January. They’re already planning a flurry of investigations into the Biden administration and climate-friendly practices in the private sector, as well as policy proposals aimed at boosting the U.S. fossil fuel industry… “The top item on the bipartisan agenda will likely be permitting reform after Manchin was unable to secure the votes for his overhaul of federal environmental rules for energy projects. It could be a difficult political balance to strike, with Democrats hoping to speed deployment of clean energy and transmission infrastructure and Republicans looking for broader changes to bedrock environmental laws.”
E&E News: Biden’s dilemma: How do you define ‘green’ hydrogen?
David Iaconangelo, 12/23/22
“The Treasury Department is weighing new requirements for “green” hydrogen producers, creating schisms among energy groups about how to ensure the fuel is a low-carbon resource,” E&E News reports. “Green hydrogen production involves extracting the fuel from water molecules using renewable electricity in a process that doesn’t emit carbon. The climate law sought to encourage that by offering tax credits to hydrogen producers that manage to zero out their carbon emissions, rather than just paring them back. Yet some prospective producers of hydrogen want to bend the definition of “green,” analysts tell E&E.. Instead of building their own wind or solar facilities and drawing power directly from those projects on-site, some producers hope to use grid electricity — including electricity from coal or gas — while buying renewable energy certificates or other offsets so hydrogen can qualify as clean under the law. Now, Treasury is expected to release guidance that could set conditions for hydrogen developers hoping to use offsets while claiming clean hydrogen tax credits. “It’s the most important question for how the [clean hydrogen] tax credit is implemented,” Matt Bravante, an analyst at BloombergNEF, told E&E. “What’s going to be allowed?”.. “Many hydrogen advocates, including several of the nation’s most influential clean energy trade groups, argue that defining green hydrogen flexibly could bring a lot more of the fuel online. Using grid electricity to produce hydrogen would be the cheapest manufacturing option, they say. In their view, the grid will become cleaner over time, meaning the hydrogen would grow increasingly green. But some grid modelers, think tanks and environmentalists warn that a flexible definition that allows offsets could erase the climate credibility of “green” hydrogen for years to come.” In a peer-reviewed paper published in Environmental Research Letters on Monday, researchers from Princeton University’s ZERO Lab looked into the emissions associated with green hydrogen made from grid electricity, considering a scenario in the western U.S. through 2030. Making that type of hydrogen could be even worse for the climate than making conventional “gray” hydrogen with natural gas, particularly if the local grid was dependent on coal, the Princeton team found. “If you just were to make hydrogen using grid power, the emissions impact … would likely be very bad,” Wilson Ricks, a co-author of the paper and Ph.D. candidate at Princeton, told E&E. That’s because if hydrogen producers can freely use power off the grid without regard for emissions, they could generate the fuel around the clock — including during the hours with the most gas and coal, Ricks told E&E.”
EXTRACTION
Guardian: BP criticised over plan to spend billions more on fossil fuels than green energy
Alex Lawson, 12/27/22
“BP has been accused of prioritising fossil fuels over green energy as it plans to spend as much as double the amount on oil and gas projects than on renewable investments next year,” the Guardian reports. “The FTSE 100 company has earmarked up to $7.5bn (£6.2bn) for oil and gas projects, compared with a range of $3bn to $5bn for green energy. BP expects to increase spending on “resilient hydrocarbons” – oil and gas, refining and bioenergy projects – by up to $1bn in 2023. In 2021 the company’s capital expenditure was $12.8bn and it expected to spend $14bn-15bn this year, and then $14bn-16bn a year between 2023 and 2025. Within this, investment into “resilient hydrocarbons” will increase from $9bn in 2022 to “$9bn to $10bn a year” from 2023 to 2025, including $7.5bn a year on oil and gas projects. BP intends to invest $3bn to $5bn a year on “low-carbon” energy projects between 2023 and 2025, rising to $4bn to $6bn a year in the second half of the decade… “However, the firm has been criticised for not moving faster into renewables. “Where you spend your money says a lot about your priorities,” Mike Childs, the head of policy at Friends of the Earth, told the Guardian. “It’s astounding that in the middle of a climate emergency BP is planning to invest billions more dollars on planet-warming fossil fuels than on clean, green renewables.”
The Hill: Controversial activist Steven Donziger is a folk hero to the left, a fraud to Big Oil
ZACK BUDRYK, 12/27/22
“Steven Donziger says he has no regrets amid a lengthy legal battle with Chevron that has won him support from Democrats in Congress who have pushed for his release from detention,” The Hill reports. “To supporters, Donziger is a folk hero who stood up to the power of oil companies in Latin America and has now suffered a personal cost. To opponents — and in the eyes of the law, as it stands now — he’s a fraud who allegedly ghostwrote an Ecuadorian judge’s ruling ordering Chevron to pay $9.5 billion to farmers and Indigenous groups in the country. Donziger denies all allegations of fraud or misconduct in connection with the Ecuador case. The vast majority of his detention — more than 800 days — has been pretrial house arrest, longer than the six-month maximum sentence he eventually received. Donziger, who was released from house arrest in April, spoke to The Hill in November, one of several interviews he’s given since his release to tell his side of the story. Donziger, who has a 16-year-old son, acknowledged it’s been a painful experience, given that he’s been deprived of three years of normal father-son activities they can never get back. “Yeah, it hurt. It wasn’t fun in detention,” he told the Hill. “But we strengthened our hand considerably, and we now have a much bigger platform to achieve justice, not only for the people of Ecuador but for the climate. That’s a very long way of saying I would [take on Chevron] again if I had the opportunity.” His detention drew criticism from the U.S. and abroad, with Amnesty International and members of the House Progressive Caucus calling on Attorney General Merrick Garland to intervene while he was still under house arrest, and the main United Nations human rights body calling the length of his house arrest illegal. Chevron, however, maintains that his detention was the consequence of unethical and illegal tactics he used in the original Chevron suit, and its arguments have been backed up in court. Theodore Boutrous, a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, which represents Chevron, told The Hill that Donziger “is an adjudicated racketeer who has been disbarred.”
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
InsideHalton.com: Enbridge Gas teams up with Oakville Fire Department to reduce fire and carbon monoxide deaths
12/28/22
“Enbridge Gas Inc. is teaming up with the Oakville Fire Department, and the Fire Marshal’s Public Fire Safety Council to reduce fire and carbon monoxide deaths,” InsideHalton.com reports. “The natural gas storage, transmission and distribution company announced on Tuesday, Dec. 13 that it is investing $250,000 in Safe Community Project Zero, a public education campaign that puts smoke/carbon monoxide alarms into the hands of Ontario fire departments for distribution to those in need. Over the past 14 years, the program has provided more than 76,000 alarms to Ontario fire departments… “Oakville fire Chief Paul Boissonneault said the department’s partnership with the Fire Marshal’s Public Fire Safety Council and Enbridge is a huge step in protecting lives and homes in Oakville. “We thank our partners for their generous donation of smoke and carbon monoxide alarms that will be distributed in our community through local partners, providing tangible and essential support to those in need in our community,” he said.
OPINION
The Hill: Why natural gas plays a key role in the clean energy transition
Sasha Mackler is executive director of the Energy Program at the Bipartisan Policy Center, 12/26/22
“For most of the past decade, U.S. energy production thrived. Our domestic oil and gas industry unlocked massive new resources through hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling,” Sasha Mackler writes for The Hill. “... Meanwhile, green energy campaigners worked to restrict capital to the oil and gas sector by pressuring investment companies to meet environmental, social and governance (ESG) benchmarks and by exploiting a grindingly slow federal permitting process for new energy projects, which ironically has hurt both renewable and conventional energy production. To address these challenges, we need federal policies that both enable the nation to invest more in boosting near-term energy supplies, including through oil and gas production, but also reduce greenhouse gas emissions deeply over the long term. Otherwise, high and rising energy prices may threaten political support for the needed transition to clean energy. Thankfully, we have a potential path forward: domestic natural gas, which sits at the nexus of our economic and climate priorities. But to make gas more valuable in the clean energy transition, the industry must cut emissions, especially reducing fugitive leaks of methane to as close to zero as possible. That way U.S. gas exports can help other nations reduce emissions deeply by displacing coal, especially in Europe and Asia, even as U.S. gas continues to cut domestic coal use here at home… “The near-term climate policy that our nation — and the world — desperately needs may reside in the unlikeliest of places: the American gas industry. By enabling more secure and affordable supplies today, and ensuring these supplies are decarbonized over time, the natural gas sector can be the engine of the energy transition.”
Western Standard: Proud to keep on standing up for Alberta
Lindsay Wilson is president of Alberta Proud, 12/28/22
“All of us here at Alberta Proud, love Alberta. Most of all, we love the hard-working folks who make this the best province to live, work and do business in and we're going to keep fighting for you as we head into 2023,” Lindsay Wilson writes for Western Standard. “Our advocacy is rooted in standing up for small government, low taxes and common sense. We stand up to woke-ism, eco-radical politicians and hypocritical celebrities who spread misinformation that our best-in-the-world Canadian energy, our ALBERTA energy, is anything but. We love our oilsands and the people in it, our farmers and ranchers, our small business owners and our hard-working families trying to make ends meet… “Our network, the Canada Strong and Proud Network, reaches hundreds of millions of people every year through social media, emails, phone calls and in-person events with similar pages across the country. Alberta Proud is a lean, well-oiled machine with wheels that keep on turning because of your generous donations. And if you love what we do, get yourself some awesome merch at shop.albertaproud.org… “Other campaigns we are proud of include our coverage and content-sharing of the Freedom Convoy, standing up to the Trudeau government’s attack on our farmers with their ridiculous fertilizer reduction push, advocating for supplying Europe with our LNG and calling out Trudeau for his failures in this arena, pushing against the Trudeau/Notley/Singh/Legault carbon tax coalition and standing up to online censorship. We also advocate for the innovations in our oil and gas industry such as carbon tech, proving that our oilsands are a global leader in ethical, responsible resource production and that the world needs more of what we have.”