EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 2/21/22
PIPELINE NEWS
Reuters: Canadian gov't condemns violent attack on Coastal GasLink pipeline work camp
TheEnergyMix: Wet’suwet’en Condemn Work Site Attack as Coastal GasLink Reports Project Delays, Rising Costs
GlobalNews.ca: So far, no link to existing protests found in Coastal GasLink attack investigation, RCMP say
SDPB Radio: County temporarily bans new pipelines in response to carbon-capture proposal
Radio Iowa: Group seeks meeting with governor about carbon pipelines
Iowa Capital Dispatch: Landowners, activists protest the death of eminent domain proposal
WV News: Mountain Valley Pipeline investor NextEra Energy reevaluating project
OPB: Pipeline expansion would increase the flow of natural gas through the Northwest
Daily Local: Company says Mariner East 2 pipeline construction is completed; others say it’s not
Billings Gazette: Analysts caution against NorthWestern's Yellowstone River pipeline crossing
Canadian Press: Cost of Trans Mountain pipeline expansion soars 70 per cent to $21.4 billion
Financial Times: Environmental rules deal new blow to US natural gas pipelines
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Reuters: Federal oil lease sales delayed as Interior Dept navigates court decisions
STATE UPDATES
Los Angeles Daily News: SoCalGas seeks to create nation’s largest hydrogen energy system for LA
Carlsbad Current-Argus: Here's how the oil and gas industry could help save a nearly-extinct bird in New Mexico
Boston Globe: A leaky oil tank could cost a young couple their dream home
EXTRACTION
Canadian Press: ‘Renewable natural gas' boom coming, advocates say, as companies turn waste into fuel
Vox: The Mystery Of Methane Gone Missing
Nature: Unprecedented oil spill catches researchers in Peru off guard
CLIMATE FINANCE
Pensions & Investments: Bill could ban CalPERS, CalSTRS from fossil fuel investing
DeSmog: Church of England Fossil Fuel Ties Revealed Amid Divestment Dispute
Financial Times: Big Oil on course for near-record $38bn in share buybacks
Reuters: NatWest is cutting its lending to the oil and gas sector, in a bid to become net zero
OPINION
Washington Post: President Biden, please save our Native village’s life-sustaining waters — for our children’s sake
Cleveland.com: Ohio needs a consistent earthquake-risk policy on permitting fracking waste wells
The Hill: EPA investment in Cancer Alley
Tulsa World: Letter: Restarting Keystone Pipeline will help inflation fall
PIPELINE NEWS
Reuters: Canadian gov't condemns violent attack on Coastal GasLink pipeline work camp
By Nia Williams, 2/18/22
“The Canadian government on Friday condemned an attack on a Coastal GasLink pipeline work camp in northern British Columbia, in which police said assailants brandishing axes threatened workers and damaged equipment,” Reuters reports. “Coastal GasLink, a subsidiary of Calgary-based TC Energy (TRP.TO), is building the 670-km (420-mile) pipeline to the west coast of British Columbia to supply the planned LNG Canada liquefied natural gas project. It has faced demonstrations and opposition from environmentalists and some First Nations. The attack comes amid heightened tensions across Canada, as police in the capital Ottawa started arresting protesters involved in a three-week trucker-led blockade that had prompted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to assume emergency powers. read more "This is truly disturbing," federal Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said on Twitter, referring to the Coastal GasLink attack. "Violence and illegal acts are not the way forward on any matter." Coastal GasLink said on Thursday approximately 20 masked attackers wearing camouflage surrounded a work site off a forest service road and attacked workers early in the morning. They wielded axes, fired flare guns and tried to set one vehicle on fire while workers were inside, the company said in a statement. The workers fled and the attackers vandalized heavy equipment and construction trailers, causing millions of dollars worth of damage, the company added.”
TheEnergyMix: Wet’suwet’en Condemn Work Site Attack as Coastal GasLink Reports Project Delays, Rising Costs
2/20/22
“A hereditary chief of the Wet’suwet’en Nation is condemning a violent attack on a Coastal GasLink work site near Houston, British Columbia in the early hours of Thursday morning,” TheEnergyMix reports. “RCMP Chief Supt. Warren Brown, commander for the north district, called it a “calculated and organized violent attack that left its victims shaken and a multi-million dollar path of destruction,” The National Post reports. Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Wihaliy’te (Theresa Tait-Day) said the nation was “disheartened” by the attack. The news broke just days after Coastal GasLink said construction along the 670-kilometre line was delayed and would go “significantly” over budget. “We certainly don’t, as a Wet’suwet’en people, condone this type of action,” Chief Wihaliy’te told Global News, adding that the nation doesn’t want people from elsewhere entering its territory to fulfill their own agendas. “Our feeling is that these are people from outside of province and we would like them to go home and leave the decision-making of these projects up to the Wet’suwet’en People. We don’t need their help.” “We know we’ve had hard difficulties with Coastal GasLink in the past and we are not quite finished dealing with them,” she added. “However, as a nation, we need to start a healing process. We need to build our community, we should be looking for opportunities from industry, and we shouldn’t be fighting every opportunity that comes to our table for consideration.”.. “While members of the Gidimt’en Clan, one of five hereditary clans of the West’suwet’en, have been blockading the area, resulting in an extreme response last November from militarized police, the Clan “has said advance notice is provided to Coastal GasLink every time it plans to enforce an eviction,” Global says.
GlobalNews.ca: So far, no link to existing protests found in Coastal GasLink attack investigation, RCMP say
Simon Little, 2/20/22
“The RCMP is investigating an alleged attack on a natural gas pipeline work camp in northern B.C. saying they’ve yet to identify suspects, and are not linking the incident to prior protests in the area,” GlobalNews.ca reports. “Police say the “violent confrontation” between 20 camouflage-clad, unknown individuals and employees of Coastal GasLink (GGL) took place early Thursday morning on the Marten Forest Service Road. The group, who police claim carried axes and torches, allegedly used grinders to cut the locks off a gate, then proceeded to cause an estimated $6 million in damage to equipment and structures at the pipeline worksite. Asked Saturday if police had suspects in mind, RCMP Staff Sgt. Sasha Baldinger said “at this point we don’t know.” “Although there has been confrontations in the past and there has been active protest in the area, at this point we have no linkages to those events and this current event.” “...While the company claims the support of 20 elected Indigenous groups along the 670-kilometre route from northeastern B.C. to Kitimat, it has been vocally opposed by Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs. “We simply do not have enough information to make any comments,” Hereditary Chief Na’moks, also known as John Risdale, told Global News on Saturday. “All we know is no arrests or charges, and harassment of our camps continue.”
SDPB Radio: County temporarily bans new pipelines in response to carbon-capture proposal
Arielle Zionts, 2/18/22
“McPherson County has created a moratorium on new pipeline construction in response to a proposed carbon-capture pipeline that would pass through its jurisdiction,” SDPB Radio reports. "Not a lot of meetings have taken place and a lot of people frankly don't even know that this pipeline is being proposed through their counties, much less some of them don't even know that it's coming through either their land or their neighborhoods," Commissioner Anthony Kunz told SDPB… “Kunz told SDPB the commission learned about the project late last year when a company representative introduced the project over a telephone call at an open meeting.mBoth the Planning and Zoning Board and County Commission unanimously voted in January for a moratorium that will prevent any new pipelines carrying hazardous materials until the county's zoning ordinance can be updated… “Kunz told SDPB residents and commissioners have concerns about safety, property rights and a lack of information about the project… “Kunz told SDPB the moratorium will allow the county government to learn more information and update zoning rules. Zoning options include requiring pipelines to be built a certain distance from a house and a certain depth underground… "Farmers and landowners understand that ethanol production consumes nearly 50% of our corn crop every year, which is a big reason why we’ve had early success signing hundreds of pipeline easements along our route with farmers who have a vested interest in our success," the company said… “Dakota Rural Action and the Iowa chapter of the Sierra Club tell SDPB carbon capture does not address the root cause of climate change, and that the pipelines have safety and environmental risks. Dakota Rural Action — which focuses on environmental, agriculture and property-right protections — is also concerned about the eminent domain process, which it says favors profits for out-of-state companies over South Dakota landowners.”
Radio Iowa: Group seeks meeting with governor about carbon pipelines
O. KAY HENDERSON, 2/17/22
“A coalition of environmentalists and land owners is seeking a meeting with Governor Kim Reynolds, hoping she’ll intervene and block the Iowa Utilities Board from granting eminent domain so carbon pipeline developers can acquire land from reluctant property owners,” Radio Iowa reports. “Judy Sebern Beachy and her sister inherited a farm in Floyd County that’s been owned by her family for four generations. One of the three pipelines would either run through the farm or be next to it. “I’m all for doing things to help the climate, but I don’t feel that a pipeline is the answer for Iowa at this time,” she told Radio Iowa. Emma Schmit, an Iowa based organizer for Food and Water Watch, told Radio Iowa the pipelines are “a carbon con job,” being proposed to ensure the oil and gas industry lasts longer. “They’re also demanding to use our land against our consent…all to increase their own private net worth,” Schmit told Radio Iowa. Schmit was among a small group that rallied at the statehouse this afternoon after a bill that would have prohibited the use of eminent domain for pipelines was tabled in a senate committee.”
Iowa Capital Dispatch: Landowners, activists protest the death of eminent domain proposal
KATIE AKIN, 2/17/22
“A dozen activists and landowners gathered at the Iowa Capitol Thursday to demand the Senate resurrect a bill that would restrict access to private property for liquid carbon pipelines in Iowa,” Iowa Capital Dispatch reports. “Senate File 2160 would have prevented companies from using eminent domain, the government’s power to take private property, to build liquid carbon pipelines across Iowa farms. The bill moved through a Tuesday subcommittee, but legislative leaders did not bring up the proposal in committee. That means the bill is effectively dead after a Friday legislative deadline. “There was enough opposition that the bill was killed before it had a public vote with the full committee,” said Sen. Jeff Taylor, author of the bill. The Iowa Carbon Pipeline Resistance Coalition gathered Thursday to protest the decision not to move ahead with the bill. The group represents Iowa Food & Water Watch, the Sierra Club and the Great Plains Action Society, as well as land-owners — all groups opposed to proposals to build nearly 2,000 miles of carbon pipelines in the state. “They need our land and our money to make their private profits,” Sierra Club conservation coordinator Jess Mazour told ICD. “That is not right.” “...The Resistance Coalition called on Senate President Jake Chapman or House Speaker Pat Grassley to reintroduce the bill later in the session, using legislative workarounds to the funnel deadline. But Republican leadership told ICD Thursday the proposal was definitely dead… “I don’t have a lot of optimism that we’re going to be able to pass legislation,” Taylor told ICD. “I don’t think there’s the political will in either chamber to stop the use of eminent domain for these pipelines.”
WV News: Mountain Valley Pipeline investor NextEra Energy reevaluating project
Matt Harvey, 2/18/22
“NextEra Energy Resources is taking an $800 million impairment charge as it reevaluates its investment in Equitrans Midstream Corp.’s Mountain Valley Pipeline,” WV News reports. “The news comes as another setback for developers of the $6.2 billion pipeline as they work to finish the final 10% of the project that would carry shale natural gas from Wetzel County, West Virginia, to Pittsylvania County, Virginia. The news from NextEra followed two Fourth Circuit opinions that were adversary to the project. “While NextEra Energy Resources continues to evaluate options and next steps with its joint venture partners, these events caused NextEra Energy Resources to re-evaluate its investment in Mountain Valley Pipeline,” NextEra said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Caroline Hansley, Sierra Club senior organizer, released a statement following the SEC filing. “From the start, it’s been clear that this reckless project could not be built in a safe manner that complies with standards designed to protect our lands, water, and vulnerable species,” Hansley told WV News.
OPB: Pipeline expansion would increase the flow of natural gas through the Northwest
Bradley W. Parks, 2/20/22
“A Canadian company is proposing a project to increase the capacity of its pipeline transporting natural gas across the Northwest,” OPB reports. “TC Energy wants to modify compressor stations along the Gas Transmission Northwest pipeline in Oregon, Washington and Idaho to get about 150,000 dekatherms more gas flowing through the region per day — enough to meet the daily energy needs of close to half a million average American homes. The company says in its application for approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that the project is necessary to meet the needs of Northwest energy consumers, but opponents of the expansion say it ignores the larger trend toward renewable sources of power like wind, solar and hydro. Erin Saylor, staff attorney with the environmental group Columbia Riverkeeper, told OPB the region is moving away from its reliance on natural gas extracted using hydraulic fracturing or fracking. “These pipeline projects typically have a projected lifespan of 30 years or more,” Saylor told OPB, “meaning that this project will lock our region into continued reliance on fracked gas whether we like it or not… We’re expecting demand for gas to drop significantly, which means there isn’t going to be a need for all of this gas that they’re planning to push into our region.” “...TC Energy has urged FERC to approve the project by Oct. 14.”
Daily Local: Company says Mariner East 2 pipeline construction is completed; others say it’s not
MICHAEL P. RELLAHAN, 2/18/22
“News of the completion of the controversial multibillion-dollar Mariner East pipeline system that connects the vast Marcellus Shale gas field in western Pennsylvania to an export terminal near Philadelphia is misleading, according to a Chester County activist and a state lawmaker,” the Daily Local reports. “Energy Transfer has put it out there that Mariner East 2 is complete,” said Ginny Kerslake, the West Whiteland woman and Pennsylvania Food and Water organizer who has been speaking out against the pipeline for years. “It’s not true.” On Thursday, the Associated Press reported that Energy Transfer said Wednesday that construction work on its Mariner East pipeline network was completed this month… “But Kerslake, along with state Rep. Danielle Friel-Otten, D-155th, of Uwchlan, another pipeline opponent, told DL that work continues on a portion of the 16-inch Mariner East 2X pipeline in Delaware County — the last leg of the project that runs across the state. Moreover, the two said that Energy Transfer still must continue working on the restoration of worksites that were damaged during the construction process, and complete the cleanup of Marsh Creek Lake, which fouled in a spill of drilling fluid there. “Energy Transfer is very cagey about this,” said Kerslake of the completion announcement… “But Kerslake and Friel-Otten both told DL that even if construction of the pipelines is complete in Chester County and most of Delaware County, concerns remain. The pipeline company, they say, has never addressed public safety fears along the course of the project, nor completed a plan for residents should eruptions occur. “What keeps us involved is the bigger concern, which is public safety and which is ongoing,” Kerslake told DL. “As long as Mariner East remains in operation, we are put at unnecessary risk of a catastrophic explosion with no credible emergency plan to warn and protect the public,” she said. “Our elected leaders need to stop kicking the can down the road and take real action to protect families and communities put at unacceptable risk for this out-of-state corporation to profit from shipping fracked ethane overseas for more plastic junk. Relying on luck is not enough.”
Billings Gazette: Analysts caution against NorthWestern's Yellowstone River pipeline crossing
Tom Lutey, 2/19/22
“River experts are cautioning against the location of a proposed natural gas pipeline beneath the Yellowstone River near Laurel,” the Billings Gazette reports. “In a report filed with Yellowstone County this week, Water Rights Inc. raised concerns about the river’s southbound migration in the crossing area proposed for the Byron pipeline… “A group of south bank neighbors along the pipeline path hired Water Rights Inc. out of concern for the pipeline's potential damage to the area. The neighbors are represented by EarthJustice, an environmental law firm. Yellowstone County is weighing whether to grant NorthWestern a floodplain permit for the project. “The pipeline relocation is very much about who pays the price for failure,” Water Rights concluded. NorthWestern had originally proposed crossing at the Laurel-owned Riverside Park, but the disagreement with the city council over right-of-way forced a new route. “As proposed by NorthWestern Energy, the 175-foot setback for the drill entry site is not sufficient. The bank in this area has eroded over 1,000 feet to the south and without bank stabilization on the south bank; we expect the river to erode to the entry site which could expose the pipe,” Water Rights concluded… “The permitting process hasn’t gone smoothly for NorthWestern, which withdrew its original floodplain permit application after neighbors along the pipeline route sued, saying they’d never been notified the pipeline had been relocated to their neighborhood.”
Canadian Press: Cost of Trans Mountain pipeline expansion soars 70 per cent to $21.4 billion
2/20/22
“The federal government said Friday it will not put more money toward the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in spite of a newly disclosed price tag for the project that comes in 70 per cent higher than expected,” the Canadian Press reports. “Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Friday that Trans Mountain Corp. – the Crown corporation that owns the massive oil pipeline – will need to secure third-party funding to complete the project, either through banks or public debt markets. “I want to assure Canadians there will be no additional public funding for TMC,” Freeland told reporters in Ottawa, adding the government has engaged BMO Capital Markets and TD Securities to provide financial advice on the project and has been assured by both parties that the project remains commercially viable. Freeland’s comments came shortly after TMC announced the projected cost of the pipeline expansion has soared from its earlier estimate of $12.6 billion to $21.4 billion. The company blamed the cost increases on the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of the November 2021 flooding in British Columbia, as well as project enhancements, route changes to avoid culturally and environmentally sensitive areas, and scheduling pressures related to permitting processes and construction challenges in difficult terrain. The company has also pushed back the projected completion date of the project to the third quarter of 2023. The pipeline expansion was originally expected to be complete sometime this year.”
Financial Times: Environmental rules deal new blow to US natural gas pipelines
Myles McCormick, 2/20/22
“The prospects for new fossil fuel infrastructure in the US have gone from bad to worse after regulators beefed up environmental requirements for natural gas pipelines, adding to the woes of an industry under siege from campaigners,” the Financial Times reports. “For the first time in more than two decades, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission voted on Thursday to overhaul the certification process for new gas pipelines, providing for greater scrutiny of the economic need for projects, as well as their impacts on the environment, communities and landowners. The changes mean that new pipeline approvals — already subject to a lengthy review and often facing legal challenges — will become significantly more difficult to attain. It is a victory for campaigners who have argued that too many pipelines are being greenlighted, locking in reliance on fossil fuels for years to come. “Pending projects just went from being in limbo to being in purgatory,” Brandon Barnes, senior energy litigation analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, told FT. “I think it is probably as close as you can get to FERC saying ‘We’re not going to permit anything on the natural gas side for a while’.” “...Activists say the case-by-case approach of taking on individual pipelines is expensive and inefficient, and that regulators have been too willing to approve projects that later run into trouble in the courts. “It’s whack-a-mole,” Mary Finley-Brook, a geography professor at the University of Richmond and prominent voice in the anti-pipeline movement, told FT. “This is protracted lawfare — and at some point it gets ridiculous. Address the problems in regulatory code and implement a system that works so that we don’t have to have court cases over and over.” The FERC decision was widely welcomed by activists, who argue that addressing climate change requires an urgent pivot away from fossil fuels.
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Reuters: Federal oil lease sales delayed as Interior Dept navigates court decisions
By Valerie Volcovici, 2/19/22
“Upcoming federal oil and gas lease sales will be delayed as the Interior Department figures out how to weigh the climate impact of those sales without using a key tool for measuring those risks, according to a court filing issued on Saturday evening,” Reuters reports. “The length of the delay was not specified, but it stems from a Feb. 11 decision by a Louisiana federal district court judge that blocked the Biden administration from using the "social cost of carbon" - an interim estimate of $50 per ton of greenhouse gases emitted - to factor the risks of climate change into federal decision-making for permitting, investment and regulatory issues. That decision has complicated the Interior Department's efforts to comply with a separate court decision by a D.C. federal district court judge in January which invalidated the results of an oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico because the department failed to properly account for the auction's climate change impact. “Certain activities associated with its [Interior's] fossil fuel leasing and permitting programs are impacted by the February 11, 2022, injunction in Louisiana v. Biden," the Department of Justice filing said. It said the Interior Department had been using the social cost of carbon to factor in the risk of climate change in some of the rules around new lease sales and that "delays are expected in permitting and leasing for the oil and gas programs.
STATE UPDATES
Los Angeles Daily News: SoCalGas seeks to create nation’s largest hydrogen energy system for LA
2/17/21
“SoCalGas on Thursday, Feb. 17 released details of its proposed “Angeles Link” project to create what the utility says would be the largest hydrogen energy infrastructure system in the United States,” the Los Angeles Daily News reports. “The utility, which provides gas to about 22 million customers across Central and Southern California, said the project — which was submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday — could displace up to 3 million gallons of diesel fuel per day, eliminate up to 25,000 tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxide per year and provide the clean fuel to convert up to four natural gas power plants to green hydrogen… “Today in Southern California we’re announcing plans for one of the world’s largest clean energy infrastructure systems, to help tackle emissions for which there are no easy answers. Those emissions — from power plants, industry, and heavy-duty trucks — very much ‘count’ and must be significantly reduced to reach our and the state’s climate goals,” said Scott Drury, CEO of SoCalGas… “However, environmental protection activists with Food & Water Watch Los Angeles criticized SoCalGas for touting the project as “green,” responding that hydrogen requires 9 kg of water for every 1 kg of hydrogen produced, and the region is in the midst of a mega-drought that a UCLA study said Tuesday is the most extreme in at least 1,200 years. The group added that hydrogen development has the potential to perpetuate fossil fuel infrastructure. “Californians are not blind to SoCalGas’ profiteering,” the group’s director Alexandra Nagy told LADN. “Time and again SoCalGas has shown a willingness to destroy our climate and health while jacking up rates to make a profit by any means necessary. We would be foolish to let SoCalGas sell us on schemes like green hydrogen that divert us from real energy solutions and hijack our water resources.”
Carlsbad Current-Argus: Here's how the oil and gas industry could help save a nearly-extinct bird in New Mexico
Adrian Hedden, 2/15/22
“Oil and gas companies could play a key role in saving a nearly-extinct native bird species in southeast New Mexico,” the Carlsbad Current-Argus reports. “That’s why the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a plan specific to extraction operators that would specify actions they could take to prevent impacts to lesser prairie chicken (LPC) habitat in eastern New Mexico and portions of West Texas… “To begin the work of recovering the bird to its former numbers, two habitat recovery plans were released by federal government: one tailored to the renewable energy sector last year and another published for the oil and gas industry Feb. 11, starting a 30-day public comment period. .. “Amy Lueders, southwest regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told the Argus the collaborative approach will bring conservation that is sustainable while continuing to support local industry. “This plan will result in strategic conservation for the lesser prairie-chicken by offsetting impacts from enrolled oil and gas development,” she told the Argus. “Collaborations like this play a vital role in conserving imperiled species and their habitats while providing needed certainty to support development.”
Boston Globe: A leaky oil tank could cost a young couple their dream home
By Sean P. Murphy, 2/20/22
“Emmaline and Brian Proctor were busy with routine chores one morning last month when the odor of home heating oil suddenly filled their house in Wareham,” the Boston Globe reports. “When Brian ran down to the basement, he saw oil leaking from a small hole at the bottom of their oil tank. The concrete floor was already covered in it. Fearing the fumes, Emmaline, who is pregnant, and the couple’s 10-month old baby were out the door with a hastily packed bag, not to return for almost a week. Brian stayed behind, called 911, shut off the furnace, and tried to stop the leak with his finger. The Proctors now face an estimated cleanup and replacement cost of more than $185,000 — more than half of what they paid for their heavily mortgaged house — according to written estimates from contractors. They have no idea how they will come up with that much money and will probably lose their home… “Under strictly enforced state environmental laws, the Proctors are now responsible for removing contamination caused by the spill. That means their contractor must excavate at least 10 feet under the house to test the soil and remove contaminated portions. And to do that, the contractor must temporarily lift the house off its foundation for access. If cleanup specialists already hired by the Proctors (and paid for through a GoFundMe page) determine that oil has leached into ground water or the properties of neighbors, the costs will go up exponentially… “The insurance industry has long been wary of selling such insurance, in part because oil releases are “extraordinarily risky to cover, due to the potential for full environmental devastation,” Christopher Stark, executive director of the Massachusetts Insurance Federation, an industry lobby group, told the Globe.”
EXTRACTION
Canadian Press: ‘Renewable natural gas' boom coming, advocates say, as companies turn waste into fuel
2/20/22
“Chase Edgelow is on a mission to acquire vast quantities of garbage,” the Canadian Press reports. “...Edgelow's company is a renewable energy company that converts organic waste into "Renewable Natural Gas," a non-fossil fuel form of natural gas that has been the subject of a flurry of announcements by Canadian utility companies in recent months. Enbridge Inc., ATCO Energy Solutions, and FortisBC are all actively pursuing opportunities in the space. According to the World Biogas Association, organic waste from food production, food waste, farming, landfill and wastewater treatment are responsible for about 25 per cent of human-caused global emissions of methane, a harmful greenhouse gas. As concerns about climate change intensify, there is a growing push globally to use waste to its full potential. Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) proponents believe they can kill two birds with one stone by harnessing the methane from landfill and other forms of waste to create an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional natural gas that can be used for home heating, cooking, even fuelling vehicles.”
Vox: The Mystery Of Methane Gone Missing
Rebecca Leber, 2/17/22
“Scientists have spent the past few years deploying aircraft and satellites to untangle one of climate science’s greatest mysteries: pinpointing exactly what’s causing methane, a particularly powerful greenhouse gas, to rise so fast in the atmosphere,” Vox reports. “...Methane can come from a huge variety of sources, both natural and manmade. Marshes and swamps generate a lot, but humans are also responsible for methane that comes from rice production, landfills, animals raised for meat consumption, and oil and gas. In this week’s episode of Unexplainable, Vox’s science podcast on unanswered questions, University of Arizona scientist Riley Duren likens the problem of rising methane to an unbalanced checkbook: ‘We have a general idea of methane emissions, particularly at a global scale. But we need help with methane accounting at finer scales, particularly at the scale of individual states and cities, and facilities,’ Duren, who leads the nonprofit Carbon Mapper, which has public and private partners including NASA, the state of California, and the company Planet, told Vox. A lot of Duren’s work has focused on measuring what scientists have called ‘super-emitters’ from the oil and gas industry. Since natural gas is primarily methane, some greenhouse pollutants will inevitably escape into the atmosphere wherever gas is drilled, transported, and consumed. But Duren’s work has shown that a small number of oil and gas operations are leaking a disproportionate amount of methane. Something as simple as a minor malfunction in equipment can cause facilities to leak vast amounts that go undetected by regulators and operators.”
Nature: Unprecedented oil spill catches researchers in Peru off guard
Emiliano Rodríguez Mega, 2/20/22
“A viscous, black wave rolled onto the beach of the seaside town of Ancón, Peru, just as Deyvis Huamán and his team arrived to assess the situation. Two days earlier, on 15 January, thousands of barrels of crude oil spilled from a refinery to the south of there. Heavy swells had slammed the coastline after the violent eruption of a volcano near Tonga, more than 10,300 kilometres away,” Nature reports. ““We were astonished,” Huamán, a conservation biologist with Peru’s National Service of Natural Areas Protected by the State (SERNANP) in Lima, told Nature. The oil coated everything — rocks, seaweed, crabs — setting a scene unlike anything Huamán had experienced before. Although Peru is no stranger to oil spills, which have mostly occurred off its northern coast and in its Amazon jungle, this is the most damaging to pollute its marine waters, and the largest to take place near its heavily populated capital, Lima. Scientists have joined authorities in assessing the extent of the damage and are helping to clean up the mess. According to reports, the oil slick has spread to more than 20 beaches, washing over 41 kilometres of coastline (see ‘Spill spread’). Some researchers, who were already monitoring wildlife along the coast, are dismayed by the destruction they’re seeing. Some are looking for opportunities to document and learn from the unprecedented spill, which they hope might one day spur the country to end its reliance on oil.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
Pensions & Investments: Bill could ban CalPERS, CalSTRS from fossil fuel investing
ARLEEN JACOBIUS, 2/18/22
“A California bill introduced on Thursday would prohibit CalPERS and CalSTRS from investing in fossil fuel companies and require them to divest from current investments by July 1, 2027,” Pensions & Investments reports. “The bill introduced by California State Senator Lena Gonzalez, if passed, would require the $479.6 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System, Sacramento, and the $327.7 billion California State Teachers' Retirement System, West Sacramento, to discontinue investing in the 200 largest publicly-traded fossil fuel companies based on the carbon content of their oil, gas and coal reserves, and to divest from investments in them. The bill also would mandate that beginning Feb. 1, 2024, CalPERS and CalSTRS would provide a report that includes a list of fossil fuel company investments the pension funds have liquidated and fossil fuel company investments they have not yet liquidated, among other information… “CalPERS favors engagement with companies over divestment, Megan White, spokeswoman, told P&I in an email. "CalPERS has a long record of enacting positive corporate change as a result of engaging the companies we own, both directly and as a part of coalitions of like-minded investors," Ms. White told P&I. "While divesting often only transfers our shares to other investors — investors that might not share our commitment to tackling climate risk — engagement has produced tangible results."
DeSmog: Church of England Fossil Fuel Ties Revealed Amid Divestment Dispute
Adam Barnetton, 2/21/22
“Senior figures in charge of the Church of England’s investments have close current or past ties to high-carbon companies including Shell, Drax and BP,” DeSmog reports. “The revelations come as the church faces renewed pressure to fully divest from fossil fuels after its biannual meeting last week, where climate campaigners expressed frustration at the Church’s ongoing stakes in oil and gas. In 2018, the Church of England’s (C of E) General Synod’s voted to divest from all oil and gas companies that are not in line with the Paris Agreement by 2023. Yet three years later, the Church continues to hold shares in Shell, TotalEnergies, and ExxonMobil – all of which are planning significant fossil fuel expansion… “Members of the Young Christian Climate Network (YCCN) described the Church Commissioners’ ongoing stake in Exxon as a “betrayal” in a recent letter to the fund – one of the C of E’s National Investing Bodies (NIBs). The YCCN reports that the Archbishop of Canterbury told them in a meeting in October that the Church’s NIBs would “disinvest immediately” from companies that do not meet its tests. But, its letter adds, this has “not been the case with ExxonMobil.” “...Campaigners believe the C of E’s delays in divesting may be related to the historic ties between fossil fuel companies and individuals on the Church’s many investment bodies. Clive Mather, who was elected chair of the CoE’s pensions board in 2019, is a former CEO of Shell Canada. He oversaw the company’s expansion into highly polluting oil sands before his retirement in 2007. A General Synod paper has portrayed him in green terms, saying “he took a high profile on environmental issues, presenting the business case to promote sustainable development”. Others currently hold – or used to hold — positions in polluting sectors. Richard Hubbard, chair of the board’s pensions committee, worked for BP for nearly 30 years, retiring from his role as director of BP’s European cross-border pension plan in 2020… “The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who chairs the Church Commissioners, himself worked in the oil industry for more than a decade in the 1970s and 80s.”
Financial Times: Big Oil on course for near-record $38bn in share buybacks
Tom Wilson, 2/20/22
“Western energy majors are on course to buy back shares at near-record levels this year as soaring oil and gas prices enable them to deliver bumper profits and boost returns for investors,” the Financial Times reports. “The seven supermajors — including BP, Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron — are poised to return $38bn to shareholders through buyback programmes this year, according to data from Bernstein Research. Investment bank RBC Capital Markets put the total figure higher, at $41bn. That would be almost double the $21bn in buybacks completed in 2014 — when oil last traded above $100 a barrel — and the biggest total since 2008… “Pressure to cut emissions and the uncertainty over future demand has meant that oil and gas companies are also investing less on replacing supply than in the past, leaving management teams with more cash. But some critics have suggested that buybacks were diverting capital from investing in the transition to the greater use of renewable energy to combat climate change… “Nick Stansbury, head of climate solutions at Legal and General Investment Management, the UK’s largest asset manager, told FT companies had to “strike a balance” given the uncertainties surrounding future energy demand. “Allocating significant weight to buying back shares at particularly undemanding levels is likely to be an attractive proposition for investors.”
Reuters: NatWest is cutting its lending to the oil and gas sector, in a bid to become net zero
Simon Jessop, 2/21/22
“British bank NatWest cut lending to clients in the oil and gas sector by 21 per cent in 2021 and aims to limit it even further as part of efforts to decarbonise its loan book and reach net-zero emissions,” Reuters reports. “Financial firms around the world are increasingly committing to the net-zero target in the fight against climate change, although most have yet to put firm plans in place, particularly over the shorter-term. The figures were announced in the first update by NatWest. The bank warned in 2020 that it planned to cut off financing for larger oil and gas companies if they failed to have a credible plan to transition to net-zero. NatWest said its lending to oil and gas companies fell a fifth to £3.25 billion (€3.9 billion) last year, and total lending to the sector now makes up just 0.7 per cent of its loan book. “Finance is a key enabler in the drive to Net Zero and we are acting to ensure that we are helping to end the most harmful activity while championing climate solutions and accelerating the speed of transition to the zero-carbon economy," Chief Executive Alison Rose said in a statement.
OPINION
Washington Post: President Biden, please save our Native village’s life-sustaining waters — for our children’s sake
Chief John Kvasnikoff leads the tribal government of the Native Village of Nanwalek, Alaska, 2/16/22
“I am the chief of the Native Village of Nanwalek, located in Lower Cook Inlet in south-central Alaska. Our Sugpiaq people have lived here for millennia off the rich bounty of the land and the sea. We have a saying: “Kenesgangqan awa stuululuimauq” — When the tide is out, the table is set,” Chief John Kvasnikoff writes for the Washington Post. “There are no roads connecting our village to the cities. When our cupboards become empty, we cannot just drive to the food store. Instead, we rely on the knowledge and wisdom passed down from our elders to collect the wild foods around us… “The federal government is pressing ahead with a 1-million-acre offshore oil and gas lease sale (Lease Sale 258) in our front yard. If this sale occurs, our waters will be littered with a maze of pipelines, giant platforms flaring into the night and ongoing pollution and spills. The industrialization of this productive area will spell the end of our subsistence lifestyle. Our people still live with the trauma of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, when oil lapped up on our beaches and coated the birds and the fish and the clams. We could not collect our foods; we were suddenly poor in ways we’d never known. We had been told such a tragedy could never happen. The oil companies would use state-of-the-art technologies, they said. But they failed. We hear the same promises today. But according to the federal government, there is a roughly 1-in-5 chance of one or more large spills if oil development occurs near our home… “President Biden promised he would stop offshore oil development, and his administration has already taken steps to break our addiction to dirty energy. His administration has also promised to elevate and respect the voices of Native people in decisions that affect our ways of life, and we welcome that opportunity. Our people have lived many lifetimes of broken promises from the federal government. We can only hope, for the sake of our children — and our children’s children — that things will be different this time. Quyanaa — thank you.”
Cleveland.com: Ohio needs a consistent earthquake-risk policy on permitting fracking waste wells
By Editorial Board, cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, 2/18/22
“Northeast Ohio’s unique geology has long made it a favored site for deep-injection-well disposal of toxic waste. But 35 years ago, two geologists from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory -- John Armbruster and Leonardo Seeber -- first linked a 1987 swarm of Ashtabula County earthquakes to a 1986 injection well,” the Cleveland.com Editorial Board writes. “The two men pinpointed the epicenter of the main July 1987 earthquake at 0.7 kilometers from the well, which had started pumping toxic fluids into the sandstone formation one year earlier. They also found that the injected fluids had triggered a previously unknown near-vertical fault in the region’s basement rocks…”
The Hill: EPA investment in Cancer Alley
Shannon Dosemagen is a Shuttleworth Foundation fellow directing the Open Environmental Data Project in New Orleans. Dosemagen was a member of the, now defunct, National Advisory Council on Environmental Policy and Technology (NACEPT) when it drafted reports to EPA in 2016 and 2018 on community monitoring, 2/19/22
“Recently, EPA Administrator Michael Regan announced a $600,000 investment in air monitoring in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley,” an area with a heavy concentration of petroleum facilities. This is a big step in a direction that residents have been calling on for years — government action,” Shannon Dosemagen writes for The Hill. “As I read this news, I thought back to when I was a young organizer with the Louisiana Bucket Brigade. We worked with “fenceline” communities — those directly adjacent to industrial facilities. Residents would share binders filled with years’ worth of articles detailing refinery explosions and accidents or demonstrate how touching a residential surface would leave one's finger covered in the black dust of petroleum coke… “This new EPA investment in monitoring infrastructure is a win for Cancer Alley residents, and environmental justice communities more broadly… “But we will continue to do a disservice if we overlook what comes after the data is collected and observations have been made. Alongside the additional monitoring capacity and attention of regulators, EPA needs to ensure adequate places for feedback loops with communities in the process of accountability, and create mechanisms to begin repairing long-broken trust between communities and government. When people’s actual experiences have been denied, we must integrate processes from the outset that allow for participation in environmental governance…”
Tulsa World: Letter: Restarting Keystone Pipeline will help inflation fall
Robert White, Tulsa, 2/20/22
“President Joe Biden's ill-conceived order to shut down the Keystone Pipeline is now coming home to roost. Why would anyone (pro- or con-energy) pull a dumb stunt like that?,” Robert White writes in the Tulsa World. “And now with the standoff in Ukraine looming, it is proving to be a selfish and a petulant act. He needed to cancel that order yesterday and allow the jobs to continue and the lower energy prices to be realized As we continue to see higher prices at the pump and in our own economy, it becomes painfully clear that America made the wrong choice for a leader. Biden should stop that order, restart the Keystone Pipeline and try to get a semblance of our lives back to normal.”