EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 2/15/22
PIPELINE NEWS
WRIC: Effort to build 83-mile natural gas pipeline in Central Virginia “suspended”
Virginia Mercury: Chickahominy Pipeline will ‘press pause’ on project crossing five Central Va. counties
Law360: Alberta Co. Says Biden Canceled Keystone XL To Boost Image
Abilene-RC.com: 10 years in the making: County receives tax allocation from pipeline
Bismarck Tribune: State Supreme Court weighs release of disputed DAPL documents; 2 related cases before high court
Dakota Free Press: Can Carbon Dioxide Pipeline Make Up for Ethanol’s Increased Greenhouse Gas Emissions?
Star Tribune: Enbridge misses Minnesota hiring goals for Line 3, exceeds promised spending with Indigenous firms
The Root: Brooklyn Residents Protest Pipeline that Passes White Neighborhoods but Beelines through Black Ones
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Politico: WHERE’S THE CLIMATE, JOE?
Grand Junction Sentinel: Judge: Oil and gas leases offered without weighing sage-grouse impacts
Politico: FERC TO TACKLE GAS POLICY
Politico: SOCIAL COST OF CARBON TAKES A HIT
STATE UPDATES
Reuters: Greens sue over $1.5 bln rail project for Utah heavy crude
Inforum: Bakken oil play now branded 'mature' as industry appetites shrink in North Dakota
Colorado Sun: Colorado’s largest oil and gas producer wants permission to drill closer than 2,000 feet from homes
Bloomberg: Louisiana Investigates Massive Methane Cloud Seen From Space
Carlsbad Current-Argus: Projects to address water, air pollution in Permian Basin grow along with fuel demand
EXTRACTION
Reuters: Alberta to toughen oil sands emissions standards that reward big Canadian polluters
Guardian: Climate activists plan direct action against UK oil infrastructure
CLIMATE FINANCE
Guardian: ‘Biggest oil barons’: the US private equity firms funding dirty energy projects
OPINION
Buffalo News: Letter: FERC must change position on Northern Access Pipeline
OilPrice.com: Did Environmentalists Just Undermine Big Oil’s Carbon Capture Efforts?
Olean Times Herald: Letter: Submit comments against Northern Access pipeline
PIPELINE NEWS
WRIC: Effort to build 83-mile natural gas pipeline in Central Virginia “suspended”
Jakob Cordes, 2/14/22
“The embattled Chickahominy Pipeline is hitting “pause,” according to a press release from its parent company, as the future of the pipeline and associated power plant have been thrown into doubt by repeated regulatory setbacks,” WRIC reports. “Late last year, the State Corporation Commission (SCC), which oversees the construction of public utilities like the proposed gas pipeline, ruled that the pipeline would have to seek a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN), potentially exposing internal company records to public scrutiny. In their Feb. 14 release announcing the pause, the Chickahominy Pipeline Company (CPLLC) admitted that the proposed power plant the pipeline would have served – the Chickahominy Power Station – had also been removed from consideration for a key federal permit. Following that decision, CPLLC said that “in light of this regulatory setback as well as the uncertainty remaining with the SCC” they would be suspending their efforts to begin construction until the power plant can move forward. Local community groups and environmental organizations welcomed the announcement, while local governments – many of which actively opposed the pipeline – provided more measured updates… “Jorge Aguilar, Southern Region Director of Food & Water Watch, also called on officials to “pull all the permits for the Chickahominy fracked gas plant to permanently close the book on this project.” Citizens Against Chickahominy Pipeline, a community group that has been vocal in their opposition to the project, called the news the “best valentine ever.”
Virginia Mercury: Chickahominy Pipeline will ‘press pause’ on project crossing five Central Va. counties
SARAH VOGELSONG, 2/14/22
“Chickahominy Pipeline says it will “press pause” on the development of a pipeline through five Central Virginia counties to supply a planned natural gas power plant in Charles City County known as Chickahominy Power,” the Virginia Mercury reports. “...The company attributed the halt to a decision by the regional electric grid manager, PJM, to remove the 1,600 megawatt natural gas Chickahominy Power from its planning queue because of its failure to meet development deadlines. In a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, PJM said it had canceled Chickahominy Power’s interconnection service agreement — a plan for how new electric generation will be incorporated into the broader grid — because the company “failed to meet its milestones,” including one requiring that 20 percent of the site construction be completed by November 2021. Furthermore, PJM said it had rejected the company’s request to extend those milestones “because Chickahominy has demonstrated no diligence or meaningful progress on the Chickahominy Project since entering the queue in October 2016.” “...It never made sense to invest in so-called ‘natural’ gas at a time when Virginia has committed to a clean, zero-carbon energy grid, much less to construct what would have been one of the largest gas plants in the state,” Greg Buppert, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, told the Mercury
Law360: Alberta Co. Says Biden Canceled Keystone XL To Boost Image
Jennifer Doherty, 2/14/22
“An arbitration request from a Canadian oil-marketing firm over the U.S. cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline, obtain by Law360 on Monday, alleges that the Biden administration flouted international law for popularity points with little concern for the environment,” Law360 reports. “According to the Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission, which is overseen by the province’s Minister of Energy, officials in both the Obama and Biden administrations had already established that the planned pipeline expansion from Hardisty, Alberta to Steele City, Nebraska would not proceed.”
Abilene-RC.com: 10 years in the making: County receives tax allocation from pipeline
Kathy Hageman, 2/14/22
“Dickinson County received its first tax allocation in January from the TransCanada Keystone Pipeline — 10 years after the company started pumping the oil sand material south through the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas to Cushing, Okla,” Abilene-RC.com reports. “During all that time, Dickinson County and the other five Kansas counties the pipeline runs through have not received a dime thanks to the Kansas Legislature which granted TransCanada a 10-year tax exemption before pumping began. The exemption started in 2010 and ended in 2020, making 2021 the first year the company has paid Kansas taxes… “During the Feb. 3 Dickinson County Commission work session, County Administrator Brad Homman said the county received $639,010.30 in its first distribution of pipeline tax money… “It will be nice to have the money coming in,” Homman said. “The sad thing is we’ve been missing out on it for 10 years.” It’s a situation which has not sat well with Dickinson County officials and many others within the other five Kansas counties where the pipeline is located… “In Dickinson County alone, Assistant County Administrator/Budget Director Janelle Dockendorf estimated the county was missing out on approximately $800,000 in taxes each year, based on information from the Kansas Department of Revenue and Property Valuation Division… “When the legislature granted the abatement a decade ago, Homman and county commissioners serving at the time joined forces with leaders from the other affected Kansas counties trying to get answers or affect some change but were unsuccessful. Based on the funds received in January and the $1.2M expected by year’s end, it’s obvious the county has lost a huge chunk of revenue over the years. It tells county leaders something else: “They (TransCanada) has obviously increased their flow,” Homman told RC.
Bismarck Tribune: State Supreme Court weighs release of disputed DAPL documents; 2 related cases before high court
BLAKE NICHOLSON, 2/12/22
“The North Dakota Supreme Court is weighing whether to further delay the public release of about 16,000 documents relating to construction security for the Dakota Access Pipeline,” the Bismarck Tribune reports. “Justices also will be deciding in a separate but related case before the high court whether to give pipeline developer Energy Transfer a second avenue to try to block the records from the public. The court already has temporarily stopped any disclosure, and justices are now deciding whether to continue that order while Energy Transfer appeals a state district judge's determination that the documents are open records under North Dakota law. The temporary Supreme Court order means that the 62,000 pages of documents deemed by the judge late last year to be public will remain off limits for now to anyone, including several news organizations that have requested them… “The 16,000 documents are being held by the North Dakota Private Investigation and Security Board, which obtained them during an administrative case involving the operations of TigerSwan, the North Carolina company that Energy Transfer hired to oversee security during pipeline construction… “The company maintains the documents should remain private because they're “privileged, confidential and proprietary" -- something Feland concluded company attorneys hadn't backed up with specific evidence.”
Dakota Free Press: Can Carbon Dioxide Pipeline Make Up for Ethanol’s Increased Greenhouse Gas Emissions?
CORY ALLEN HEIDELBERGER, 2/14/22
“Last week, Summit Carbon Solutions of Iowa announced that it has formally asked the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission to permit its proposed Midwest Carbon Express pipeline, which would carry carbon dioxide from ethanol plants in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota, and North Dakota (and now a planned fertilizer plant up in Grand Forks) out to an underground sequestration site in central North Dakota,” Dakota Free Press reports. “Summit Carbon Solutions insists this carbon dioxide project will preserve the ethanol industry and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But new research indicates those two goals contradict each other. Researchers from from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and colleagues from Kansas, California, and Kentucky have found that the Renewable Fuel Standard has driven changes in land use that have emitted more greenhouse gases than if we’d just stuck with petro-fuel: Despite the promise that the RFS would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) today finds that expansion of U.S. corn cultivation has come at eye-popping environmental costs. Corn production expanded by 8.7 percent, or 2.8 million hectares (6.9 million acres), between 2008 and 2016. As a result, the researchers found that nationwide annual fertilizer use surged by 3 to 8 percent and water pollutants rose by 3 to 5 percent. The sheer extent of domestic land use change, however, generated greenhouse gas emissions that are, at best, equivalent to those caused by gasoline use—and likely at least 24 percent higher.”
Star Tribune: Enbridge misses Minnesota hiring goals for Line 3, exceeds promised spending with Indigenous firms
Mike Hughlett, 2/14/22
“Enbridge fell short of its Minnesota hiring goals for its new Line 3 oil pipeline, but the Canadian company exceeded its target for spending on tribal-owned businesses,” the Star Tribune reports. “That's the bottom line of an Enbridge report filed Monday with state utility regulators, chronicling some economic impacts of the controversial pipeline, which was completed four months ago. Enbridge anticipated that at least half of the construction jobs for new Line 3 would be filled through "local union halls," according to filings with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. The other half would be union workers directly hired by Enbridge's contractors. Of the 12,155 workers hired to build the pipeline during the project's duration, 37% were Minnesota residents… “Line 3 has been divisive in some Ojibwe communities. Some Indian-owned businesses took part in its construction, while some others protested against it along the construction route. Enbridge had committed to spending $100 million on tribal businesses and Indigenous workers for Line 3. "We are excited to be reporting that we more than tripled that," said Paul Eberth, Enbridge's director of U.S. tribal engagement. According to its report with the PUC, Enbridge's total tribal spending on the Line 3 project was $336.7 million — 86% of which went to Minnesota businesses owned by tribal members or directly by bands. That number includes wages paid directly by tribal businesses. In addition, $41 million in wages went to Minnesota tribal members employed by Enbridge's main contractors on the job.”
The Root: Brooklyn Residents Protest Pipeline that Passes White Neighborhoods but Beelines through Black Ones
Kalyn Womack, 2/14/22
“Brooklyn residents have begun protesting the construction of the north Brooklyn pipeline, which has been accused of discriminating against Black neighborhoods and neighborhoods of color, reported The Guardian,” according to The Root. “Residents and environmental activists believe the pipeline is a violation of their civil rights. Their concerns have been taken up through a complaint filed to the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency, via NY Daily News. The 7-mile pipeline, also known as the Metropolitan Reliability Project, is reported to pass through Black and brown neighborhoods but avoid wealthy white areas of Brooklyn. The National Grid’s project began in 2017 but by 2020, residents began pushing back in concern for their safety… “They have blocked the pipeline’s construction at demonstrations and some have stopped paying part of their utility bills, in an effort to divert funding from the project. The areas the pipeline has mapped have fallen victim to environmental racism. According to The Guardian’s report, areas like Ocean-Hill, Bushwick and Brownsville have battled the burdens of toxic hazards and most neighborhoods in the city struggle with high rates autoimmune issues like asthma due to high levels of pollution.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Politico: WHERE’S THE CLIMATE, JOE?
Matthew Choi, 2/14/22
“Liberal activists are not impressed with Democrats' climate achievements in the first year of the Biden administration, Politico reports. “The courtroom hurdles and slow progress on regulatory actions, combined with the failure of the Build Back Better legislation, have left the White House far off the path to meet the goals of cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by at least half of 2005 levels by the end of the decade. And that could leave Democrats without a strong set of accomplishments to tout in the run up to November's midterms elections, when many pundits are warning they are likely to lose control of Congress — which would mean more setbacks for the climate agenda… “Climate change was one of the central pillars to the Biden's campaign in 2020, and the administration has made some progress, from rejoining the Paris climate agreement, kicking off new methane rules, nixing the Keystone XL pipeline and getting tens of billions of dollar in last year's bipartisan infrastructure package for measures like updating the power grid and building a network of chargers for electric vehicles. But those moves pale when compared to things like the $320 billion in renewable tax credits that were in the BBB, and Biden's EPA could see its power to regulate power plants greenhouse gases clipped by the conservative Supreme Court when it takes up the case later this month.”
Grand Junction Sentinel: Judge: Oil and gas leases offered without weighing sage-grouse impacts
DENNIS WEBB, 2/12/22
“A federal judge has ruled that the Bureau of Land Management illegally failed to consider the impacts to the imperiled Gunnison sage-grouse before leasing acreage for oil and gas development in southwestern Colorado,” the Grand Junction Sentinel reports. “Senior Judge John Kane with the U.S. District Court of Colorado issued his findings this week in rulings in lawsuits brought by conservation groups and the San Miguel County Board of Commissioners in connection with two lease sales… “The BLM relied on environmental analysis in the resource management plan for its Tres Rios Field Office in proceeding with the lease sales, but Kane ruled that it should have done more analysis at the leasing stage in order to comply with the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act. He said that new information was available that allowed the BLM to consider additional impacts not previously considered, based on factors such as the specific lease sizes and locations, including their positions relative to Gunnison sage-grouse habitat and existing leases. The BLM also reviews oil and gas proposals when companies apply for drilling permits, and had said it would have more specifics to consider at that stage, “but I conclude that the BLM had new information at the leasing stage that revived its duties” under the Endangered Species Act, Kane said in his ruling. He said the agency was obligated to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service on the lease proposals and their potential impacts on Gunnison sage-grouse. The plaintiffs in the case want Kane to vacate the BLM decisions authorizing the lease sales and declare the leases void now that he has found the agency violated the law, but he will first consider briefs from plaintiffs and the government on the issue.”
Politico: FERC TO TACKLE GAS POLICY
Matthew Choi, 2/14/22
“FERC could take critical steps to change how it considers natural gas infrastructure this week,” Politico reports. “According to the agenda posted Friday , the commission is set to consider items related to the commission's process for certifying interstate pipelines and other gas infrastructure. And the regulators will look at how greenhouse gas emissions are assessed, which had been the topic of a technical conference the commission hosted last year that probed potential avenues the regulatory agency could take to deal with the climate impacts of gas facilities. Finally, the commission is teed up to consider the Spire STL Pipeline’s permit to operate, which it temporarily extended in December in order to ease fears about winter deliveries to the region after the D.C. Circuit vacated the certificate in June.”
Politico: SOCIAL COST OF CARBON TAKES A HIT
Matthew Choi, 2/14/22
“The Biden administration hit a roadblock last week as it prepares to roll out an updated social cost of greenhouse gasses this summer,” Politico reports. “A Trump-appointed federal judge in Louisiana sided with 10 Republican-controlled states in their lawsuit against the Biden administration after it effectively reinstated an Obama-era social cost of carbon last year. The figures are used to calculate economic impacts from greenhouse gases in permits and regulations, and last year’s update widened the scope of considerations from those employed by the Trump administration. But the red states asserted the Biden administration had overstepped its bounds. The administration is likely to appeal the decision.”
STATE UPDATES
Reuters: Greens sue over $1.5 bln rail project for Utah heavy crude
By Sebastien Malo, 2/14/22
“Conservation groups on Friday accused the U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB) of improperly approving a roughly $1.5 billion rail line in Utah's Uinta Basin because the resulting boost in the area's oil output would aggravate climate change,” Reuters reports. “The Center for Biological Diversity and others asked a Washington, D.C., appeals court to review the Dec. 15 approval of the Uinta Basin Railway project, an 85-mile rail line that would give shippers of crude oil and other commodities an alternative to trucking, currently the only available transportation option… “The plaintiffs allege that the agency failed to adequately consider the project's role in spurring the increased oil production and its associated greenhouse gases, in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act… “Friday's lawsuit comes a year and a half after the Center for Biological Diversity sued a Utah state agency in state court for committing nearly $28 million in oil and mining royalties toward the project. That lawsuit is pending.”
Inforum: Bakken oil play now branded 'mature' as industry appetites shrink in North Dakota
Adam Willis, 2/14/22
“A consensus is forming among North Dakota’s top oil industry operators: the formation that drove the state’s fracking boom has entered its middle age,” Inforum reports. “The Bakken has been rebranded — whether we want it to be or not — as mature,” Lynn Helms, director of the North Dakota Oil and Gas Division, told Inforum, recounting a key takeaway from conversations with some of the state's biggest oil producers at a recent industry conference in Houston. While many oil producers still view the Bakken as "a cash cow," Helms told Inforum they aren't reinvesting resources in the formation like they once did, focusing instead on Texas and New Mexico. Among the reasons driving the Bakken’s shifting reputation, Helms cited a surge in attention among oil industry operators on their carbon footprints, as well as some concerns about the viability of industry technology that could be needed to sustain high output from North Dakota wells as they get older… “If the industry's approach to North Dakota holds, Helms told Inforum the state should expect to see flat or slight production growth over the next decade or so, after which output would slowly trail off as the industry continues to pump oil from its existing inventory of wells. A common goal to eradicate natural gas flaring is an “enormous” factor in the shifting mindset toward the Bakken, Helms told Inforum. The process of burning off excess natural gas that comes up from oil wells, flaring releases planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions. With financiers increasingly factoring climate consequences into their investments, achieving a gas capture level near 100% has become “goal number one" for many oil producers, Helms told Inforum, even more than expanding output.”
Colorado Sun: Colorado’s largest oil and gas producer wants permission to drill closer than 2,000 feet from homes
Mark Jaffe, 2/14/22
“The buffer between homes and oil and gas drilling in Colorado is by rule 2,000 feet, except when it isn’t, and a move to drill in the middle of a residential area in Firestone is raising questions about how secure that buffer will be,” the Colorado Sun reports. “The state’s biggest operator, Occidental Petroleum, through its Colorado subsidiary Kerr-McGee, is seeking to drill 26 wells within 2,000 feet of 87 homes, with the closest residence 763 feet away. The site, part of Kerr-McGee’s Longs Peak drilling plan, is also adjacent to a wetland, the Saddleback golf course and the Firestone Trail. The 2,000-foot setback was the product of the 2019 law, Senate Bill 181, that reoriented state oversight from promoting oil and gas development to protecting public health, safety, welfare and the environment. “This is the kind of neighborhood drilling that brought about Senate Bill 181 and that it was designed to prevent,” Mike Foote, an environmental lawyer and former state legislator who sponsored Senate Bill 181, told the Sun… “The commission has already approved two waivers to drill within the 2,000-foot setbacks, although those involved only a few homes and one had the approval of a resident. During a November presentation, Robbins said that an application that complies with the commission requirements would be in line for a permit. “If you tick all the boxes, if you meet our robust regulatory regime, you’re deserving of a permit approval,” he said. Critics say the “check-the-box” approach while bureaucratically tidy may miss the spirit of Senate Bill 181, Foote told the Sun. “Just because an operator checks all the boxes doesn’t mean that is sufficiently protective.”
Bloomberg: Louisiana Investigates Massive Methane Cloud Seen From Space
Gerson Freitas Jr, 2/14/22
“Louisiana is investigating the source of a massive methane plume observed by a satellite over the U.S. last month,” Bloomberg reports. “The state began its investigation after Bloomberg News contacted the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration about a cloud of invisible gas detected Jan. 21 by Kayrros SAS. The geoanalytics firm estimates an emissions rate of 105 tons of methane an hour was needed to generate the plume, which stretched more than 90 kilometers (56 miles) across multiple parishes and was the most severe concentration of the powerful greenhouse gas spotted by the Sentinel-5P satellite in the U.S. since October. If the release lasted an hour at that rate it would have the same short-term impact as the annual emissions from more than 1,900 U.S. cars. The emissions likely originated within 7 kilometers of gas pipelines owned by Energy Transfer LP, Kinder Morgan Inc. and Boardwalk Pipelines LP, and was also near active oil and gas wells, according to the Kayrros analysis. None of the operators contacted by Bloomberg said they were responsible. Louisiana’s Department of Natural Resources told Bloomberg it was made aware of the methane cloud after PHMSA forwarded an email inquiry from a Bloomberg reporter, and is investigating. PHMSA told Bloomberg it had not received any reports of a release from a regulated entity in the area.”
Carlsbad Current-Argus: Projects to address water, air pollution in Permian Basin grow along with fuel demand
Adrian Hedden, 2/14/22
“As oil and gas markets continued to grow along with operations in the Permian Basin early this year, so too did efforts to mitigate the environmental impacts of the industry,” the Carlsbad Current-Argus reports. “Expansions in both management of wastewater from the industry and mitigation of air pollution in the basin were set to grow as production rose to meet increased demand during the world’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. NGL Energy Partners announced a partnership with XRI Holdings to increase produced water management throughout the western Delaware Basin which covers southeast New Mexico’s portion of the Permian. The project would see a combination of NGL’s pipeline system with a capacity of 1.8 million barrels per day and XRI’s recycling capacity of about 1.2 million barrels per day at 30 recycling facilities in the Permian Basin… “Recently, companies began favoring recycling and reusing the water as the traditional use of disposal wells was opposed for fears of environmental contamination and induced seismicity.”
EXTRACTION
Reuters: Alberta to toughen oil sands emissions standards that reward big Canadian polluters
By Rod Nickel, 2/14/22
“The province of Alberta will toughen its greenhouse gas emissions standards for oil sands mines, closing a loophole that rewarded some of Canada’s highest-emitting facilities with millions of dollars’ worth of tradeable credits, its environment ministry told Reuters. “Alberta is updating industry benchmarks that set emissions reduction requirements per unit of production for mines and upgraders, the ministry said. Canada's oil sands produce some of the world's most carbon-intense crude… “Alberta's emissions system, called TIER (Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction Regulation), was not intended to provide credits to oil sands mines, two sources with knowledge of the changes told Reuters. Alberta's changes will mean that mines and upgraders will no longer financially benefit from their emissions when they account later this year for their 2021 performance, the sources told Reuters… “Large emitters can choose to measure their emissions intensity, or carbon per barrel, against a facility's past performance, or against an industry benchmark. "This is fundamentally the problem, that a facility can show some continuous improvement and gain credits, but still be a high emitter and be a relatively poor emissions performer from its peers," Dave Sawyer, an environmental economist who advised a previous Alberta government on managing emissions, told Reuters.
Guardian: Climate activists plan direct action against UK oil infrastructure
Damien Gayle, 2/14/22
“Activists fronting a new campaign masterminded by Roger Hallam, the strategist behind Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain, have said they are now preparing to move beyond protest and “into civil resistance,” the Guardian reports. “Two young supporters of Just Stop Oil went to Downing Street on Monday morning, where they delivered an ultimatum to ministers calling for an immediate end to new fossil fuel investments. “If you do not provide such assurance by 14 March 2022 it will be our duty to intervene – to prevent the ultimate crime against our country, humanity and life on earth,” said the letter, read out at the gates and delivered by hand. The Guardian understands that the intention is to take direct action against Britain’s oil infrastructure – from petrol stations to fuel depots and refineries. In a brief speech to reporters, Louis McKechnie, 21, who was recently released from jail for taking part in court injunction-breaking road blockades with Insulate Britain, said: “We know what needs to be done, it’s simple, just stop oil. Right now they are doing the opposite.” For weeks Hallam and other supporters of the campaign, seen as a successor to Insulate Britain, have been touring universities calling on students to sign up. Unlike Insulate Britain, which was predominantly composed of older activists, including several over 70, Just Stop Oil is intended as a youth-led campaign.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
Guardian: ‘Biggest oil barons’: the US private equity firms funding dirty energy projects
Nina Lakhani, 2/15/22
“American private equity tycoons are profiteering from the global climate crisis by investing in fossil fuels which are driving greenhouse gas emissions, a new investigation reveals,” the Guardian reports. “Oil and gas pipelines, coal plants and offshore drilling sites linked to Indigenous land violations, toxic leaks and deadly air pollution are among the dirty energy projects financed by some of the country’s largest private equity firms, according to an investigation by the corporate accountability non-profits LittleSis and the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (Pesp)... “Globally, the industry manages more than $7tn for wealthy individuals and institutional investors such as mutuals, hedge funds, endowments and pensions, investing in every sector from retail chains and healthcare to prisons and weapons… “Yet unlike banks and other publicly listed companies, private equity is exempt from most financial disclosure rules making it extremely difficult to track their assets… “The investigation found: The Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, owns dozens of oil and gas companies including a stake in NGP Energy Capital, which boasts its own major portfolio mostly focused on fracking and drilling in states like Texas, Wyoming and Colorado… “Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) has a controlling stake in the Coastal Gaslink pipeline in Canada, a 400-mile multibillion-dollar infrastructure project through unceded Indigenous territories that will transport fracked gas to a Pacific coast port for export to Asia… “It’s a big problem that ultra-wealthy private equity executives are able to use their fortunes to enmesh themselves on the boards of the most prestigious universities, cultural institutions and thinktanks,” Derek Seidman, researcher with LittleSis and report co-author, told the Guardian. “This helps them burnish their public reputations in ways that obfuscate the fact that they are, in reality, some of the world’s biggest oil barons.”
OPINION
Buffalo News: Letter: FERC must change position on Northern Access Pipeline
Lynn Saxton, Warsaw, 2/15/22
“The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is on the cusp of allowing major damage to Western New York, while flouting our nation-leading climate action laws, which mandate rapid transition to renewable energy and an end to fossil fuel combustion,” Lynn Saxton writes in the Buffalo News. “The Northern Access Pipeline, promoted by National Fuel, would plow through streams, fisheries, shale beds and wetlands, including clearing a 75-foot swathe along the 97-mile route. The inevitable methane leaks from this fracked gas pipeline not only pollute our air but release a greenhouse gas more powerful than carbon dioxide. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has repeatedly denied permits for this project, for which a proper climate assessment has never been done. Its construction would increase the risk of severe flooding and erosion in Western New York. It would contribute to the climate crisis we’re now experiencing. FERC has previously ruled in favor of the Northern Access Pipeline. They must reverse their position and deny an extension of time for the proposed project. A delay would mean the end of this dangerous fiasco.”
OilPrice.com: Did Environmentalists Just Undermine Big Oil’s Carbon Capture Efforts?
By Haley Zaremba, 2/14/22
“A federal judge recently blocked a major oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico because the Biden administration failed to consider its impact upon the climate. Some experts believe that ExxonMobil was planning to use the leases as part of its efforts to store more carbon. This would be one of many cases of pragmatism and idealism clashing when it comes to decarbonization and should serve as a timely reminder that the devil is in the details,” Haley Zaremba writes for OilPrice.com. “...As we make the transition to a clean energy future, there are a lot of stop-gap measures to mitigate emissions and improve industrial processes until these are able to phase out fossil fuels. Some of these, such as carbon offsetting, have been largely dismissed by environmentalists and climate scientists as ineffective. Others, such as carbon capture, hold significant promise to appease both sides of the idealist/pragmatist camps. While global industries wean themselves off of carbon-intensive practices and consumption patterns, carbon capture can try to right some of our past wrongs by removing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it somewhere that it will no longer contribute to the greenhouse effect… “However, those plans appeared to have hit a serious hurdle last week when a United States federal court shot down a massive oil and gas lease sale hosted by the Biden administration in November of last year. ExxonMobil, the sale’s largest buyer, had bid on nearly 100 leases in the shallow waters of the near-off-shore Gulf, which experts believe that the supermajor intended to use for carbon storage. On its own, CCS is just a drop in the bucket compared to the oceanic effort needed to reverse the growth of global emissions. In tandem with other approaches, however, CCS has its place in the green energy transition, and helping oil and gas companies get serious about it, while also holding them accountable for their emissions-slashing commitments, should be an initiative that both idealists and pragmatists can get behind.”
Olean Times Herald: Letter: Submit comments against Northern Access pipeline
Barbara Dyskant, Hinsdale, 2/15/22
“This means so much to me. Please comment to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission asking them to deny National Fuel’s request for a new extension of time to build the Northern Access Pipeline. This has gone on since 2016,” Barbara Dyskant write in the Olean Times Herald. “We have a unique opportunity, until Wednesday, to try to stop National Fuel from building this dangerous 97-mile pipeline. The pipeline would threaten our waterways and air and seize land from landowners to bring fracked gas to Lake Erie for export to Canada and profit for National Fuel at the expense of our local environment and property rights. This is not, as claimed, in the public interest. New York state had already denied permitting the pipeline due to threats to our water, but was overruled by FERC. We now have a chance to reverse this… “Here is a link for information and how to comment: https://niagarasierraclub.org/issues/northern-access-pipeline”