EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 12/3/21
PIPELINE NEWS
Iowa Capital Dispatch: Pipeline opponents protest Rastetter at rural forum
York News-Times: Company is pursuing carbon dioxide pipeline through state, including York County
Sioux City Journal: Landowners seek answers to CO2 pipeline questions
KCRG: Proposed carbon dioxide pipeline raises concerns to Linn County residents
CBS14: Public meeting gets thoughts from landowners on carbon pipeline project
Press release: HONOR THE EARTH PETITIONS THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION TO PROMPTLY OPEN A NEW DOCKET TO ESTABLISH A PIPELINE ABANDONMENT TRUST FUND
The Tyee: ‘I Want to Leave. I’m Not Blocking the Road’
Virginia Mercury: Gas pipeline upgrades planned to increase capacity to Hampton Roads
Press release: Energy Transfer Completes Acquisition of Enable Midstream
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Washington Post: Democrats want to prevent new oil and gas drilling in most U.S. waters. Their plan might work.
CNN.com: Tough politics around oil and gas are preventing Joe Biden from being a climate hero
Politico: ADIOS DEFAZIO
STATE UPDATES
Associated Press: Petroleum detected in Oahu tap water
Carlsbad Current-Argus: Oil and gas brings $5.3 billion to New Mexico, industry cautions against 'hostile' policy
Colorado Sun: Suncor must make pollution cuts to meet new haze rules protecting Colorado park views
EXTRACTION
Canadian Press: Alberta Premier Jason Kenney hires lawyers over environmentalist lawsuit threat
NBC News: Crude reality: One U.S. state consumes half the oil from the Amazon rainforest
Oil Change International: Report: U.S. crude exports increased nearly 600% from 2015 to 2020 after lifting of the crude export ban
Financial Times: ExxonMobil declares new goals for carbon emissions per barrel
Energy & Policy Institute: Major investors warn utilities against carbon capture and offsets
Bloomberg: McDonald’s Struggles to Fix Its Massive Methane Problem
OPINION
CBC: How Indigenous pipeline resistance keeps emissions in the ground
Advertiser Tribune: Crossing the Enbridge Line
OilPrice.com: Big Oil Is Fighting For Clean Fossil Fuels
PIPELINE NEWS
Iowa Capital Dispatch: Pipeline opponents protest Rastetter at rural forum
JARED STRONG, 12/2/21
“It’s wrong for the federal government to help fund a proposed carbon pipeline that will enrich its builders at the expense of landowners, according to a group of pipeline opponents who protested Summit Carbon Solutions’ chief executive on Thursday,” Iowa Capital Dispatch reports. “Bruce Rastetter, who helms Summit Agricultural Group in Alden, was set to speak that day at GreenSeam’s annual Rural Forum in Mankato, Minnesota… “Summit has proposed a pipeline system in Iowa that would span more than 700 miles in 30 counties… “But it also requires an untold number of landowners to allow Summit to trench the pipeline through their properties, which is known to reduce crop yields in agricultural land. Further, some worry about the public health effects of a leak in the pipeline. It’s possible reluctant landowners will be forced to grant easements to Summit for the pipeline. “Our land, our lives are a damn sight more important than the balance of Bruce Rastetter’s bank account,” Emma Schmit, an organizer for Food & Water Watch who lives in Rockwell City, said during the Thursday protest. “We will not bear all the risks while Bruce and his Wall Street cronies make off with the reward.” Schmit worries that the project will be supported with federal funding from an infrastructure bill that was signed by President Joe Biden in November and earmarks billions of dollars for carbon-capture initiatives… “I’ve seen evidence of what this does to the land,” said Craig Woodward, who owns land in Cerro Gordo County that might be affected by a pipeline. “It is not pretty. … I can’t think of any landowner that would want to have a hazardous, liquid pipeline buried on their land.”
York News-Times: Company is pursuing carbon dioxide pipeline through state, including York County
Melanie Wilkinson, 12/2/21
“This week, a representative of the company, Summit Carbon Solutions, met with the York County Commissioners to discuss their intent to build a carbon dioxide pipeline through Nebraska which would include a leg through York County,” the York News-Times reports. “Dayton Murty, a member of the company’s public affairs team, told the Times he wasn’t there for any action at this point – he was just providing information about their intent… “He noted that this project is still in the early stages and none of the pipeline route has been finalized nor will it be until easements with landowners are finalized. They do have a planned route and the project land team is working with landowners along the planned route to acquire permission to survey and acquire easements, Murty told the Times… “They are currently working to secure easements with landowners, he told the Times, which would include compensation from the company. He said the company wants to form contracts with landowners based on “fair land market value and we will also pay for damaged crops, as well as full restoration of the property” once the pipeline is installed. He also outlined a timeline in which the company would like to see the project move along. Through February, 2022, they will continue to survey a potential route. Through March, 2022, they will continue to work toward acquiring land rights. In 2022, the company’s intent is to petition for a permit – and as soon as approved, they would move forward, he said. The goal is to have the pipeline operational by 2024.” “Pipelines bring back some haunting memories for us,” said Commissioner Bill Bamesberger, referring to prior years of controversy and battle over the Keystone XL pipeline. “If you run into problems acquiring easements, will you exercise eminent domain?” “We don’t plan to, we don’t want to utilize eminent domain,” Murty responded. “We want all partners to be agreeable and we don’t want to try and force this on someone who doesn’t want a pipeline on their land. We are actively working to avoid that. But it’s also not taken off the table.” “...Looking down the road, the pipeline would term out in time,” Bamesberger said. “Would it then be removed or just allowed to remain?” Murty said the life of the pipeline would be about 25-30 years – he would check on the after-life plans for the pipeline and report back.”
Sioux City Journal: Landowners seek answers to CO2 pipeline questions
Nick Hytrek, 12/2/21
“During a public meeting Wednesday at the Crossroads Pavilion Event Center in Sheldon, Navigator CO2 Ventures officials said the pipeline would pump $25 million in property tax revenues into Iowa and also add value to ethanol produced at facilities that have agreed to provide gas produced at those plants to the pipeline,” the Sioux City Journal reports. "As a farm kid myself, I'm really excited for the potential this project has for agriculture," said Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, vice president of government and public affairs for Dallas-based Navigator CO2 Ventures, owner of Navigator Heartland Greenway, which has proposed the $3 billion, 1,300-mile Heartland Greenway pipeline… “Several landowners questioned the pipeline's safety and who would be liable for damages to their property during construction and any future pipeline breaks. Navigator is seeking easements in which they would install pipe ranging from 6-24 inches in diameter at least 5 feet deep. Steve Lee, Navigator's vice president of engineering, said the pipeline would contain redundant control systems to detect leaks and ruptures, and the company would pay for property damage during construction or leaks. He said the company continues to study ideal setbacks from homes and properties to minimize health risks. "At high concentrations, it is hazardous," Lee said. One landowner said his home was a quarter mile from the proposed route. "If this thing ruptures, would you want your family there?" he asked. "I would have no problem with it," Lee said. Other landowners questioned the need for CO2 storage and if it was part of an environmentalist agenda.”
KCRG: Proposed carbon dioxide pipeline raises concerns to Linn County residents
Brian Tabick, 12/2/21
“Jessica Wiskus is one of many people, who live near Lisbon, who received a notification from a Texas-based company, Navigator Heartland Greenway, wanting to build a 1300-mile pipeline,” KCRG reports. “My biggest concern is that we have reason to believe that we aren’t being told the full story,” said Wiskus, of Linn County… “Wiskus has made plans of her own. She has designed a handout and has been going door to door inviting people to her meeting slated for Saturday. She wants to get all the neighbors together ahead of the meeting. “I consider the land to be part of my family,” she told KCRG. “My father’s farm has been here for generations. I missed the land. I think Iowa is the most beautiful place in the world.” “...Everybody I spoke with was completely willing to do what’s necessary and take one for the team if the project was actually for the future of Iowa,” Wiskus told KCRG. “But if the project was actually for a profit, why do the people of Iowa have to take all the risk.”
CBS14: Public meeting gets thoughts from landowners on carbon pipeline project
Taylor Deckert, 11/30/21
“The Iowa Utilities Board is holding several informational meetings about a proposed carbon capture pipeline project that would run throughout five states, affecting a large portion of Siouxland,” CBS14 reports. “On Tuesday, Nov. 30th, the IUB and Navigators O2 were in Woodbury County to talk with landowners about the project… “Many landowners received a phone call and packet in the mail on the proposal, outlining how it would impact the ground these people own… “During the Q&A many concerns were brought forward, like the use of eminent domain, materials used and the life expectancy of the pipeline. Concerned citizens also asked how the company plans to maintain the pipeline, along with questions about corrosion of the pipes, safety and other landowner-related topics. Burns-Thompson said eminent domain is the last resort of the project. The goal is to create a partnership with landowners. "How often is it going to be maintained or replaced? And upkeep required?" one woman asked. "You're running our farm useless for commercial sale, like it can't be built across it, how do you handle something like that?" another man asked.”
Press release: HONOR THE EARTH PETITIONS THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION TO PROMPTLY OPEN A NEW DOCKET TO ESTABLISH A PIPELINE ABANDONMENT TRUST FUND
12/1/21
“Today the Indigenous-led environmental justice organization, Honor the Earth, filed a petition with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to promptly open a new docket to establish a pipeline abandonment trust fund for the new Line 3 pipeline, which the PUC committed to do nearly three years ago. Honor the Earth’s petition cites several reasons for its filing. Chief among them is Enbridge’s Depreciation Study Update, which it filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in May 2021. The Update assumes a 20-year (through 2040) economic life for Enbridge’s Mainline System pipelines, including but not limited to the new Line 3. According to the petition: “This period is 10 years shorter than the economic life stated by Enbridge during the Commission’s evidentiary hearing and in Enbridge’s earlier depreciation studies.” Enbridge shortened the economic life of its pipeline network due in part to an anticipated reduction in demand to transport Canadian crude oil as global climate policy limits oil production in Canada. Canadian tar sands oil production is the most C02-intensive and expensive in the world, making it particularly vulnerable to advances in climate policy and the impacts of declining global oil demand… “Honor the Earth’s filing hopes to protect Minnesota private landowners and state and local governments from having to pay the cost of abandoning the new Line 3, which the Department of Commerce estimated could exceed $1.5 billion.
The Tyee: ‘I Want to Leave. I’m Not Blocking the Road’
Amanda Follett Hosgood, 12/2/21
“At a cabin deep in Wet’suwet’en territory, the sound of children’s laughter filters through the floorboards from the loft above,” The Tyee reports. “...Downstairs, Molly Wickham and Cody Merriman relax on their first day home, together, in more than a week. Wickham sips tea as Merriman reclines in a lounge chair. The baby naps on the bed nearby, and there’s a sense of calm in this home the couple built on Gidimt’en territory, the Wet’suwet’en clan to which Wickham belongs. Despite his relaxed demeanour, Merriman stiffens as he begins to talk about the day, a week earlier, when he left his three children here with friends, expecting to be gone an hour or two. Instead, he was taken into police custody and didn’t return for days. Both were arrested on Nov. 19 during a two-day police raid on Wet’suwet’en territory to clear access to the Coastal GasLink pipeline route. But while his wife was occupying a pipeline worksite, Merriman says he had gone out of his way to avoid the conflict and be home with his children… “A video recorded by Merriman in the moments leading up to his arrest shows at least a dozen officers gathering on the Morice road before beginning to advance toward where he is standing. One officer cites the injunction. “By you blockading this roadway and preventing Coastal GasLink from conducting their operations, you are in breach of that injunction. You are all under arrest,” the officer says, as RCMP dogs whine on their leashes. “I’m not blocking the road,” Merriman repeatedly shouts as officers surround him, tension rising in his voice. “I want to leave. I’m not blocking the road.” He says he was in shock, given his deliberate efforts to stay out of the conflict… “Since his release from jail, Merriman’s freedom on the territory has been restricted.”
Virginia Mercury: Gas pipeline upgrades planned to increase capacity to Hampton Roads
SARAH VOGELSONG, 12/3/21
“Columbia Gas Transmission announced plans Wednesday to replace almost 50 miles of pipeline south of Petersburg and upgrade existing compressor stations to increase gas supply to the Hampton Roads region,” the Virginia Mercury reports. “The community has outlined the need for the replacement of an existing line built in the 1950s in order to bring greater natural gas reliability to the region,” Alex Stroman, manager of state government and community relations with TC Energy, the parent company of Columbia Gas Transmission, told the Mercury. “The reality is that the area is experiencing significant economic growth that requires increased natural gas supply, and this project will help meet the needs of the community and our customers.” “...The project is considered a complementary effort to Columbia Gas Transmission’s planned Virginia Electrification Project. Announced in September, that project proposes to upgrade three compressor and meter stations on the company’s pipeline north of Petersburg, including the replacement of gas-powered units at the Goochland station with zero-emission electric ones fueled by renewable power… “Both the Virginia Reliability and Virginia Electrification projects must be approved by FERC, which has oversight of interstate pipelines.”
Press release: Energy Transfer Completes Acquisition of Enable Midstream
12/2/21
“Dallas-based Energy Transfer LP (NYSE: ET) and Oklahoma City-based Enable Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE: ENBL) today announced the completion of their previously announced merger... Energy Transfer now owns and operates more than 114,000 miles of pipelines and related assets in all of the major U.S. producing regions and markets across 41 states, further solidifying its leadership position in the midstream sector. The completion of the transaction is immediately accretive to Energy Transfer and furthers Energy Transfer’s deleveraging efforts. It also adds significant fee-based cash flows from fixed-fee contracts… The acquisition significantly strengthens Energy Transfer’s midstream and gas transportation systems by adding Enable’s natural gas gathering and processing assets in the Anadarko Basin in Oklahoma, along with intrastate and interstate pipelines in Oklahoma and surrounding states. It also boosts Energy Transfer’s gas gathering and processing assets in the Arkoma basin across Oklahoma and Arkansas, as well as in the Haynesville Shale in East Texas and North Louisiana.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Washington Post: Democrats want to prevent new oil and gas drilling in most U.S. waters. Their plan might work.
By Maxine Joselow, 12/2/21
“A slew of climate provisions in Democrats' roughly $2 trillion social spending bill face an uncertain future in the Senate. But there's one big exception: limits on offshore oil and gas drilling,” the Washington Post reports. “Democrats, aides and environmentalists feel confident that the prevention of oil and gas drilling in most U.S. waters will survive scrutiny in the Senate, including from key centrist Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.). Under the version of the Build Back Better Act that passed the House last month, new offshore drilling would be permanently prohibited in three major regions: the Atlantic, the Pacific and the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Other policies aimed at limiting oil and gas development have inspired fierce partisan divides on Capitol Hill. But coastal lawmakers of both parties have rallied around preventing drilling off their coastlines. For instance, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) earlier this year introduced the "American Shores Protection Act," which would codify a temporary moratorium on drilling off the coasts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Meanwhile, Manchin has not publicly expressed concerns about the offshore drilling provision — a sharp contrast to his outspoken opposition to a tax credit for union-made electric vehicles, among other things. “Let's put it this way: I don't know anyone that represents a coastal district or a coastal state that wants more offshore drilling. So I feel there's reason for confidence that this will happen," Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), a member of the Natural Resources Committee, which wrote the drilling provision, told the Post.
CNN.com: Tough politics around oil and gas are preventing Joe Biden from being a climate hero
By Ella Nilsen and Matt Egan, 12/2/21
“A long-awaited Department of Interior report on federal oil and gas leasing, tellingly released on Black Friday, is drawing criticism from multiple fronts,” CNN.com reports. “The review, which was expected in June, recommended an increase in leasing fees for companies seeking to drill for oil and gas on federal land and water. But while it mentioned climate change as an important factor to consider in the leasing process, it did not suggest how the federal government should weigh the crisis in its decisions. Nor did it call for a halt on federal drilling leases -- a pledge President Joe Biden campaigned on. The timing of the report and its weak recommendations underscore the tough politics the Biden administration faces as it attempts to achieve the President's climate goals, especially with a razor-thin Senate majority where industry-friendly West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin is Democrats' swing vote… "In some ways they're handcuffed by the ambition to get Build Back Better through," Joel Clement, a former Interior Department official and a senior fellow at Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs told CNN. "They can't be seen as really leaning in on climate change, which is tough to take, and is entirely due to certain senators." “...Releasing it on the Friday after Thanksgiving on one of the slower news cycles of the year is emblematic of what the report said and did," Kyle Tisdel, a senior attorney focusing on climate and energy at the Western Environmental Law Center, told CNN. "It's certainly a complicated mix of factors but ultimately the result is a tremendously cautious and tepid approach on these issues, and an approach that doesn't follow through on campaign promises that were made."
Politico: ADIOS DEFAZIO
Matthew Choi, 12/2/21
“Rep. Peter DeFazio , chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and former ranking member of the Natural Resources Committee, is stepping down from Congress,” Politico reports. “It’ll be a major blow for Democrats, costing them someone with deep institutional and technical knowledge on infrastructure, Pro’s Tanya Snyder reports. DeFazio was also a consistent, climate-centric voice during the crafting of the bipartisan infrastructure deal, frequently raising his frustrations as his dreams of an environmentally focused highway bill were passed over for a bill made in tandem with Republican senators.”
STATE UPDATES
Associated Press: Petroleum detected in Oahu tap water
By AUDREY McAVOY, 12/2/21
“The Hawaii State Department of Health said Wednesday a laboratory has detected petroleum product in a water sample from an elementary school near Pearl Harbor amid heightened concerns that fuel from a massive Navy storage facility could contaminate Oahu’s water supply,” the Associated Press reports. “The department said the test result from a University of Hawaii lab is preliminary, and it’s not yet clear what type of petroleum was in the water. The sample was taken Tuesday at Red Hill Elementary School. The department is still awaiting test results of samples sent to a lab in California. For three days, hundreds of residents in Navy housing have complained of a fuel-like odor coming from their tap water. Some have said they suffered from stomach pain and headaches. The department said all complaints have come from people using the Navy’s water system, and not from anyone who gets their water from Honolulu’s municipal water utility. Both the Navy and the utility have wells that draw on the Moanalua-Waimalu aquifer which is located 100 feet underneath the Navy’s fuel storage tanks at Red Hill. The Navy on Sunday shut down a Red Hill well that draws water from the aquifer out of an “abundance of caution,” a spokesperson told AP. The department has advised all those using the Navy’s water not to drink their tap water. It’s recommending that those who can smell fuel in their water not to use it for bathing, washing dishes or laundry. The system provides water to about 93,000 people living in and near Pearl Harbor… “Dr. Diana Felton, Hawaii’s state toxicologist, told AP people who ingest petroleum may experience nausea, vomiting and diarrhea as well as dizziness and headaches. Skin exposure may lead to itching and rashes. People who stop drinking effected water should start to feel better in a few hours, she told AP.”
Carlsbad Current-Argus: Oil and gas brings $5.3 billion to New Mexico, industry cautions against 'hostile' policy
Adrian Hedden, 12/2/21
“About $5.3 billion in revenue came to New Mexico from oil and gas production in the last fiscal year, per an industry report,” the Carlsbad Current-Argus reports. “The New Mexico Oil and Gas Association (NMOGA) published its latest revenue figures Wednesday for fiscal year 2021, running from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021, showing a $500 million increase from FY 2020. FY 2021’s revenue set a new record, surpassing $5.16 billion generated in FY 2019, and providing $2.96 billion to the State’s General Fund along with $358 million in local taxes and another $1.95 billion state taxes and royalties. The industry’s revenue made up about 35 percent of the State’s general fund, the report read, with $1.04 billion going to public schools and $275 million supporting higher education in New Mexico. The increase was credited to the continued growth of production in the state, led by the Permian Basin region in the southeast, and improving market conditions as the state and world recovered from the COVID-19 health crisis, the report read. The growth this year led New Mexico to be ranked second in the nation in oil production, overtaking North Dakota and behind only Texas which shares the Permian Basin.”
Colorado Sun: Suncor must make pollution cuts to meet new haze rules protecting Colorado park views
Michael Booth, 12/2/21
“Suncor must make deeper cuts to its sulfur dioxide emissions as part of state regulators’ revisions to federal “regional haze” rules, meant to boost visibility and restore pristine conditions at Rocky Mountain National Park, Great Sand Dunes and wilderness areas,” the Colorado Sun reports. “The Air Quality Control Commission gave preliminary approval in November to a plan telling Suncor to make sulfur dioxide-removing equipment fully operational by 2024 instead of 2029. If Suncor doesn’t make that deadline, it would have to install additional pollution controls proposed by an environmental coalition. The AQCC move came after a long push by environmental groups and neighborhoods around the Commerce City refinery to make meaningful cuts to pollution. AQCC commissioners cited both the haze reduction goals and their desire to deliver environmental justice to long-suffering communities near Suncor. Commissioners in November rejected, however, the environmental coalition’s demands for additional pollution cuts at Colorado power and cement plants to speed up haze improvements. “The commission should have done more,” Michael Hiatt, a Denver attorney for Earthjustice, which teamed up with the Sierra Club and the National Parks Conservation Association to seek a tougher regional haze plan, told the Sun. But, Hiatt added, the Suncor cuts “will result in clearer skies at Rocky Mountain National Park and also very importantly, they’re going to have equity and environmental justice co-benefits for the nearby communities in Commerce City and north Denver.”
EXTRACTION
Canadian Press: Alberta Premier Jason Kenney hires lawyers over environmentalist lawsuit threat
Bob Weber, 12/2/21
“The Alberta government has hired a private law firm to defend Premier Jason Kenney after environmental groups threatened him with a defamation lawsuit,” the Canadian Press reports. “Paul Champ, lawyer for the environmentalists, told CP he's been notified that the province has retained counsel… “The lawsuit threat was made in a letter to Kenney last month by eight groups who allege the premier deliberately twisted the findings of a public inquiry into their activities and funding sources. That inquiry, headed by Calgary forensic accountant Steve Allan, looked into whether environmental groups were conspiring to landlock Alberta oil by spreading misinformation about its environmental impacts. The inquiry found the groups had done nothing wrong and were within their freedom of speech rights. But the groups say that even after Allan's report was released, Kenney continued to falsely accuse them of spreading misinformation about Alberta's energy industry in public statements, social media posts and government websites. Specific documents are referenced in the letter Kenney received. The groups allege those statements were intended to damage their reputations and credibility in the eyes of the public. They are asking for an apology, the posts to be taken down and the websites rewritten.”
NBC News: Crude reality: One U.S. state consumes half the oil from the Amazon rainforest
By Rich Schapiro, Christine Romo and Santiago Cornejo, 12/2/21
“The bulldozers rumble through after sunrise, clearing out massive amounts of trees in this remote and remarkable section of the Amazon rainforest,” NBC News reports. “...The Yasuní National Park is home to one of the most diverse collections of plants and animals on the planet. But beneath this 3,800-square-mile swath of forest lies another kind of treasure: crude oil. More than 1 billion barrels of it… “The oil extracted from Yasuní and the wider Amazon is exported around the world, but 66 percent goes to the U.S. on average and the vast majority of that to one state in particular: California, according to a new report shared exclusively with NBC News. The report by the environmental groups Stand.earth and Amazon Watch found that on average 1 in every 7 tanks of gas, diesel or jet fuel pumped in southern California last year came from the Amazon rainforest. Among the top 25 largest corporate consumers are companies such as Costco, PepsiCo and Amazon, according to the report. “This is no longer one of those things where we’re supposed to have sympathy for a crisis that’s happening somewhere else,” Angeline Robertson, a senior researcher at Stand.earth and the lead author of the report, told NBC. “It’s occurring in California, and it’s linked to Amazon destruction.”
Oil Change International: Report: U.S. crude exports increased nearly 600% from 2015 to 2020 after lifting of the crude export ban.
12/2/21
“Oil Change International, Earthworks, and the Center for International Environmental Law today released the third chapter of the The Permian Basin Climate Bomb report series, centering on the relationship between the Permian’s rampant oil production, export markets and the massive buildout of pipelines and infrastructure. The latest installment reveals that while Permian oil production grew 135% from 2015 to 2020, U.S. oil consumption was stagnant. The spread of pipelines, export terminals, tank farms and petrochemical facilities across the Gulf Coast intensified environmental injustice in the region, and was driven by oil, gas and petrochemical exports, not rising U.S. demand. The report adds that while oil drives drilling and fracking in the Permian, the export boom is not confined to crude. Since the first U.S. LNG terminal started exporting in early 2016, U.S. exports of gas, which previously were mostly via pipeline to Canada and Mexico, have tripled. In 2020, the U.S. exported 16% of gas production. If the current crop of proposed LNG plants go ahead, this could grow substantially. The gas export boom is significantly driven by burgeoning supplies of cheap associated gas from the Permian Basin.”
Financial Times: ExxonMobil declares new goals for carbon emissions per barrel
Justin Jacobs, 12/1/21
“ExxonMobil has broadened goals to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released with each barrel of oil it pumps, applying them across company operations but avoiding deeper emissions cuts endorsed by rivals in Europe,” the Financial Times reports. “The US energy supermajor said it aimed to reduce company-wide greenhouse gas intensity by 20-30 per cent by 2030. Exxon’s previous target was an intensity reduction of 15-20 per cent by 2025 for its “upstream”, or oil and gas production, business, which it said was achieved this year. The updated emissions and capital spending plans released on Wednesday are the first since Exxon lost board seats in a proxy battle with the activist hedge fund Engine No 1, which had argued the company was ill prepared for a lower-carbon future. Andrew Logan, senior director for oil and gas at Ceres, which co-ordinates investor action on climate change, told FT the new emissions targets were “grossly inadequate” and argued Exxon was “losing ground relative to its peers” that have more ambitious goals. “It’s hard to find any signs that the company’s fundamental approach to addressing climate change has changed with the addition of new board members,” Logan told FT, though he added it was “still early days”.
Energy & Policy Institute: Major investors warn utilities against carbon capture and offsets
Joe Smyth, 12/2/21
“A group of hundreds of major investors is urging electric utilities not to use offsets as part of their decarbonization efforts, and to minimize reliance on carbon capture because of its risks and high costs,” according to the Energy & Policy Institute. “But despite the warnings from major investors, the Department of Energy continues to fund projects, begun during the Trump administration, that study carbon capture proposals at coal-fired power plants. Some of those coal carbon capture projects are also seeking loan guarantees from the Department of Energy – effectively turning to the federal government to finance projects that investors have avoided. Meanwhile, a new study found that declining renewable energy costs undermine the case for carbon capture, particularly in the power sector and for hydrogen production. The Climate Action 100+ group of investors published a report in October, “Investor interventions to accelerate net zero electric utilities,” which “will inform constructive engagement between investors and electric utility companies on their net zero transitions.” “...The report also advises utilities to minimize their reliance on carbon capture, avoid offsets, and “focus primarily on minimising the use of fossil fuels and particularly coal.” “...Minimise the reliance on CCUS (Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage). In addition to prioritising reductions in gross emissions, the stubbornly high costs of CCUS in the power sector make it a risky and potentially expensive decarbonisation strategy. Power companies should disclose the expected contribution of CCUS to any targets and conduct and publish a feasibility study setting out its CCUS strategy.”
Bloomberg: McDonald’s Struggles to Fix Its Massive Methane Problem
Ben Elgin, 12/2/21
“With a sprawling empire of 39,000 restaurants in 119 countries, McDonald’s Corp. serves more beef than any other restaurant chain on the planet — between one to two percent of the world’s total. Selling hundreds of hamburgers every second has entrenched the fast-food giant as an outsized contributor to climate change,” Bloomberg reports. “Cattle belch out large quantities of heat-trapping methane, making beef the most harmful food for the climate, with at least five-times the warming of pork or chicken and more than 15-times the impact of nuts or lentils… “At more than 53 million metric tons of carbon per year, McDonald’s produces more emissions than Norway — and that number is still rising. For the past decade, McDonald’s has vowed to address the planet-warming problem behind its most popular menu item… “But an in-depth examination of the company’s headway — including a review of its beef sustainability pilot projects as well as dozens of interviews with current and former McDonald’s executives, cattle ranchers, industry experts and scientists — shows that the world’s biggest hamburger chain so far hasn’t reduced the climate impact of its beef. “There does not seem to be any proactive involvement or serious investment by McDonald’s to support its suppliers or make significant changes in its beef supply chain,” Nic Lees, a senior lecturer in agribusiness management at Lincoln University in Christchurch, New Zealand, who studies beef sustainability programs in several countries, told Bloomberg… “Overall emissions at McDonald's have gone up by 7% since 2015, but the company tells Bloomberg it has reduced the emissions intensity of its food and packaging — measured by the amount of greenhouse gases per ton of product — by nearly 6% in that time.” “...I’m taken aback by the greenwashing by McDonald’s,” Kari Hamerschlag, deputy director of the food and agriculture program at nonprofit Friends of the Earth, told Bloomberg. “There’s a fundamental contradiction here between the corporate imperative to grow and the ecological imperative to reduce emissions.”
OPINION
CBC: How Indigenous pipeline resistance keeps emissions in the ground
Serena Renner, 12/2/21
“Since the latest RCMP raid on Wet'suwet'en land defenders and their allies in northern B.C., questions have been swirling about legal rights, excessive police force and the timing of the first round of arrests, which occurred right after B.C. declared a state of emergency for flooding and landslides in southern parts of the province. But there's another question surfacing from the longstanding Wet'suwet'en conflict with Coastal GasLink as well as broader Indigeous opposition to pipelines across North America: What impact are these actions having on the climate?” Serena Renner writes for the CBC. “According to a new report by the Indigenous Environmental Network, Indigenous resistance to oil and gas projects in North America over the past decade has saved nearly 1.6 billion tonnes of annual greenhouse gas emissions. That's about a quarter of what Canada and the U.S. release together each year, the report states, or the amount of pollution from roughly 345 million cars. "The most direct way for us to avoid further climate chaos is to keep fossil fuels in the ground," said Dallas Goldtooth, the Dakota and Diné lead author of the report, who some may know from the TV series Reservation Dogs. "It's far past time that we recognize that these movements are making a difference." “...The report estimates that direct action by Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs and their supporters alone has saved roughly 125 million tonnes of planet-warming greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere. Taking this climate benefit into account makes the violent raid of land defenders — including Sleydo' Molly Wickham, a Gidimt'en clan chief, and Shay Lynn Sampson from the Gitxsan Nation, who were both removed from a cabin at gunpoint — all the more disturbing, Goldtooth said. "I'm disgusted," he said. "It's absurd but not surprising that we are in the year 2021 and Canada is still asserting colonial violence upon Indigenous peoples and then saying it's doing something good for climate at the same time."
Advertiser Tribune: Crossing the Enbridge Line
Alexa Scherzinger, 12/2/21
“On Nov. 19, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted sent a letter to President Joe Biden. In it, they urged the President to keep the Enbridge Line 5 open, an oil pipeline that passes through Canada, Wisconsin and Michigan. Though Line 5 never touches Ohio, its impact on the Buckeye State’s economy is significant,” Alexa Scherzinger, writes for the Advertiser Tribune. “According to a Consumer Energy Alliance report, the line has an impact on the economies of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Pennsylvania, and supplies energy and fuel to people and businesses in Northwest Ohio specifically… “In his reasoning for imploring Biden to keep the pipeline open, DeWine cited the possibility of Ohio losing $13.7 billion in economic activity and 20,000 jobs if the pipeline closed, and encouraged Michigan and the federal government to work with Canada and Enbridge to find a solution… “Only a small percentage of the product transported in the line is used in Michigan and Ohio… “Any disruption in Line 5 operations would have a devastating impact on the economy of Northwest Ohio, further harming industry supply chains, eliminating thousands of good-paying jobs, and increasing the cost of fuel for transportation, heat for homes, and products Americans use every day,” DeWine states in the release. “The closure of this vital resource would put our state and region at a great disadvantage as the nation continues to recover from the COVID-19 global pandemic.” Though the legal issue with Enbridge mainly involves Michigan, DeWine and Husted have now involved Ohio in the debate.”
OilPrice.com: Big Oil Is Fighting For Clean Fossil Fuels
Felicity Bradstock, 12/2/21
“Several international oil supermajors are planning to boost production while also promising to decrease their greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade and beyond. This seemingly counterintuitive strategy is the result of pressure from international organizations to decarbonize and the continued climb of energy demand around the world,” Felicity Bradstock writes for OilPrice.com. “Royal Dutch Shell, Eni, TotalEnergies, and Repsol are among the supermajors pledging net-zero carbon emissions targets by 2050. However, oil and gas firms have varied approaches to achieving this objective, with some embracing low-carbon oil and others shifting operations towards renewable energy… “Despite pressure from the heads of state governments, many countries’ oil and gas firms are rebelling as the global energy demand continues to rise. In Canada, companies, such as Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus Energy, Suncor Energy, and Imperial Oil, are planning to cut emissions but not production. Several players hope to do this by incorporating innovative new techniques into existing operations, such as the use of geothermal energy in oil sands crude production. Supermajors around the globe are embracing low-carbon oil instead of making the outright transition to renewable alternatives. With Big Oil arguing that renewable energy operations cannot meet the growing global demand for energy at present, several are fighting to keep oil operations running in a more environmentally friendly way. Almost all of the world’s supermajors have announced investments in CCS technology, a move that, Brad Page, CEO of the Global CCS Institute, believes could provide the funding needed to scale up operations and “limit the impacts of global warming.”