EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 2/23/22
PIPELINE NEWS
Last Real Indians: U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Hear Case on Dakota Access Pipeline
Reuters: Dakota Access pipeline suffers U.S. Supreme Court setback
Politico: FRESH CHALLENGE FOR LINE 5
WV Gazette Mail: In-service date nixed for Mountain Valley Pipeline amid legal challenges as costs soar
Billings Gazette: NorthWestern pipeline opponents seek Yellowstone County Commission hearing
Tennessee Lookout: Kinder Morgan, TVA expanding gas pipeline across Dickson County
Bloomberg: FERC policy shifts could affect 13 billion cubic feet of new gas capacity
Natural Gas Intelligence: Energy Transfer Eyes Adding Natural Gas Takeaway from Permian
STATE UPDATES
Vail Daily: Eco groups join Eagle County in rail line challenge
KPVI: Debate to continue over oil and gas royalty relief
EXTRACTION
Associated Press: Energy agency: Methane emissions higher than countries claim
Guardian: Oil and gas facilities could profit from plugging methane leaks, IEA says
Accountable.US: Big Oil Companies Net $75 Billion in Profit While Americans Struggle to Heat Homes, Fill Gas Tanks
E&E News: Climate denial still flourishes on Facebook — report
CLIMATE FINANCE
Bloomberg: Blackstone Swears Off Oil-Patch Investing as Private Equity’s Retreat Widens
OPINION
FOX Business: The true price of anti-pipeline politics
Common Dreams: The Mountain Valley Pipeline Can Never Be Completed—Time For Everyone to Admit It
Denver Post: Editorial: PFAS should not be used in hydraulic fracturing
The Lawyer’s Daily: Open question if Alberta can be considered investor as part of Keystone XL dispute: lawyer
Financial Post: 'A lot of work to do' in a short time to meet Canada's aggressive emissions targets
The Hill: Note to Biden: The US can't export renewable energy to our energy-deprived allies
PIPELINE NEWS
Last Real Indians: U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Hear Case on Dakota Access Pipeline
2/2/22
“The U.S. Supreme Court announced today it will not take up a case brought by Energy Transfer, operator of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The pipeline operator sought to challenge a legal victory won by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, invalidating a key federal permit and requiring a complete environmental review,” Last Real Indians reports. “Earthjustice attorney Jan Hasselman released the following statement in response: “The litigation over the pipeline is over, but the fight continues. We call on the administration to close the pipeline until a full safety and environmental review is complete. DAPL never should have been authorized in the first place, and this administration is failing to address the persistent illegality of this pipeline.” Earthjustice has represented the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in litigation against the Dakota Access Pipeline since 2016.”
Reuters: Dakota Access pipeline suffers U.S. Supreme Court setback
By Lawrence Hurley, 2/22/22
“The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a bid led by Dakota Access oil pipeline operator Energy Transfer LP (ET.N) to avoid additional environmental review of a section that runs under an artificial lake and is opposed by nearby Native American tribes, leaving the pipeline vulnerable to being shut down,” Reuters reports. “The justices left in place a lower court's decision that ordered the federal government to undertake a more intensive environmental study of the pipeline's route underneath Lake Oahe, which straddles the border of North Dakota and South Dakota. The pipeline, known as DAPL and open since 2017, will continue to operate as the review is carried out… “Whether the project should be shut down was not at issue in Energy Transfer's Supreme Court appeal. But Energy Transfer said in court papers that the pipeline remains "vulnerable to a shutdown" with the new environmental review pending. The company did not immediately reply to a request for comment… “Boasberg ordered a more detailed "environmental impact statement," which was the decision the pipeline operator was challenging. Boasberg subsequently ruled that the pipeline be shut down but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit blocked that decision while allowing the additional environmental review. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency overseeing the permit approval process, has said it expects to complete the review later this year.”
Politico: FRESH CHALLENGE FOR LINE 5
Matthew Choi, 2/22/22
“Environmental group Earthjustice filed a lawsuit on behalf of several Tribal nations in Michigan against Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline replacement project currently being considered by the Michigan Public Services Commission,” Politico reports. “The complaint states that the project, which would bury two pipelines in a tunnel under the Great Lakes as a replacement to the current Line 5 lines that run along the lake floor, would violate Michigan’s environmental laws by contributing to greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change and therefore endangering the tribes’ agriculture and hunting. “For example, the fishery and wild rice resources are threatened by climate change, which, in turn, threatens the Tribal Nations’ abilities to preserve their traditional lifeways and economies,” the complaint states. ”The Tribal Nations bear the brunt of the pollution and risk associated with Enbridge’s experiment.” Earthjustice and Enbridge are scheduled to make formal responses in court on March 11. Enbridge, for its part, said it in a statement that it isn't its pipeline that would contribute to climate change, but people's continued use of fossil fuels: "Emissions from the ultimate consumption of oil transported on Line 5 do not result from the Tunnel Project, but instead from the continued demand for crude oil to produce refined products used by consumers," the company said in a statement. "Our priority is to move the project forward in compliance with all state and federal regulatory and environmental requirements."
WV Gazette Mail: In-service date nixed for Mountain Valley Pipeline amid legal challenges as costs soar
Mike Tony, 2/22/22
“The in-service date for the Mountain Valley Pipeline keeps moving further into the future at a steep cost for its developers,” the WV Gazette Mail reports. “The project’s lead developer said Tuesday it no longer is targeting a summer 2022 in-service date for the 303-mile pipeline and took a $1.9 billion impairment charge in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2021 because of its investment in the project. Equitrans Midstream Corp., the Canonsburg, Pennsylvania-based lead developer, resolved to finish the pipeline despite pivotal legal setbacks against the project in recent weeks but acknowledged an uncertain time frame for progressing toward completion. The company reported a loss of $1.4 billion for the full year. Equitrans executives emphasized their commitment to the project during a fourth-quarter earnings call Tuesday. But they declined to give a new in-service date for the project, saying the company is still assessing recent court rulings blocking pipeline construction. The call followed a federal Securities and Exchange Commission filing last week by a project investor, Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy Inc., reporting an $800 million impairment charge in the first quarter of 2022 because of its investment in the pipeline. NextEra Energy said it is reevaluating its investment and, in a separate filing, concluded that legal and regulatory challenges to the pipeline had resulted in a “very low probability of pipeline completion.” “...[I]nvestors are starting to see the writing on the wall and should end this dangerous and unnecessary project once and for all,” Sierra Club senior organizer Caroline Hansley said in a statement.
Billings Gazette: NorthWestern pipeline opponents seek Yellowstone County Commission hearing
Tom Lutey, 2/22/22
“Neighbors of a proposed NorthWestern Energy pipeline have requested a hearing by Yellowstone County over concerns about a floodplain permit issued for the Laurel-area project last week,” the Billings Gazette reports. “In an appeal filed Friday, neighbors along the south bank of the Yellowstone River say a county floodplain administrator inexplicably reclassified the pipeline location out of the floodway and granted the permit Feb. 15. The permit “must be rejected because it authorizes construction of a gas pipeline that would almost certainly become exposed by future erosion, creating an unsafe and illegal structure within the floodway,” attorneys for the neighbors argued in a Friday appeal… “During their Tuesday meeting, Yellowstone County Commissioners are expected to formally schedule the hearing for March 15. This isn’t the first hiccup for the pipeline development. Earlier, Yellowstone County permitted the project without first assuring that neighbors were notified, or without giving the public an opportunity to respond. Faced with a court order, county officials withdrew the initial permit in January. And, NorthWestern, which had already proceeded with its boring plans was forced to stop work… “A report submitted on the neighbors’ behalf concludes the pipeline would be more safely located upstream where both sides of the river have been armored to prevent erosion. Water Rights Inc. said in its findings that the upstream area was less likely to see the kind of flooding and erosion along the south bank than the current site, which extends across a broad channel of the river almost due north of Lance Lane.”
Tennessee Lookout: Kinder Morgan, TVA expanding gas pipeline across Dickson County
ELI MOTYCKA, 2/23/22
“Houston-based oil and gas giant Kinder Morgan is pursuing a new pipeline across three Tennessee counties to deliver natural gas to the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Cumberland Fossil Plant and residents of Stewart, Dickson and Houston Counties question the necessity of the expansion, citing safety and environmental concerns,” Tennessee Lookout reports. “...The proposed project across Middle Tennessee adds a 32-mile branch to a 11,755-mile pipeline network that runs from Texas to New England operated by Kinder Morgan’s biggest subsidiary, Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company LLC… “Kinder Morgan began approaching landowners with easement contracts last summer about the project. “The contract they gave me, I don’t think anyone would sign something like that. It was a frightening contract,” Barbara Miller, a resident of White Bluff, near the origin of the pipeline, told the Lookout. She is one of hundreds of landowners in the path of the pipeline. “It is just illogical to me, with the climate being as bad as it is, that they would even consider this. They are presenting it as our first option. I may not be able to stop them, but I won’t just let it happen.” Miller has been approached three times by representatives of Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company LLC, Kinder Morgan’s wholly-owned subsidiary overseeing the expansion. After refusing to sign easement contracts, Miller sought legal counsel about her property rights… “I’m going to try to hold off as long as I can,” David Freeman, whose farm lies in the path of the pipeline, told the Lookout. “The general idea of a natural gas pipeline underneath the biggest powerline that TVA has in their system doesn’t strike me as something I’m interested in.” Kinder Morgan does not have the power of eminent domain, legal authority that could come when FERC rules on the project’s Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity. The company’s pre-filing paperwork indicates it will apply for that certificate as early as June 2022.”
Bloomberg: FERC policy shifts could affect 13 billion cubic feet of new gas capacity
2/22/22
“Tellurian Inc.’s Driftwood LNG facility and Equitrans Midstream Corp.’s contentious Mountain Valley Pipeline are among dozens of proposed natural gas projects set to face new scrutiny after U.S. regulators tightened their criteria for approvals,” Bloomberg reports. “Nearly 13 billion cubic feet of new gas capacity may be subject to the policy changes by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which will now put more emphasis on the environmental impacts of proposed projects, as well as examine the demand for and intended uses of the gas being shipped. The new standards will apply to pending and future projects, including the $6.2 billion Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Spire STL Pipeline, both of which have faced considerable legal challenges. Also affected: Gas pipelines attached to Tellurian’s proposed Driftwood LNG terminal, Kinder Morgan’s $262 million expansion of the Evangeline Pass pipeline, expected to supply an extra 2 billion cubic feet a day of gas from Louisiana, and Williams Co.’s Regional Energy Access Project, which aims to increase Northeast flows by 1 billion cubic feet a day. Expansions by Enbridge Inc. and TC Energy Corp. would also be affected.”
Natural Gas Intelligence: Energy Transfer Eyes Adding Natural Gas Takeaway from Permian
MATTHEW VEAZEY, 2/22/22
“Energy Transfer LP is gauging the interest of potential customers as it weighs building a natural gas pipeline from the Permian Basin to the Gulf Coast, management said during its fourth quarter and full-year 2021 earnings call with analysts,” Natural Gas Intelligence reports. “Citing “the growing need for additional natural gas takeaway from the Permian Basin,” co-CEO Tom Long said the project under consideration would combine new and existing pipelines to serve coastal gas hubs. A 260-mile newbuild pipeline would extend eastward from the Midland sub-basin along existing rights-of-way, interconnecting with Energy Transfer’s existing 36-inch pipeline near Fort Worth, TX, management said… “The “bottom line is we will take Permian Basin molecules and deliver them to the best markets on the Gulf Coast,” said co-CEO Mackie McCrea… “Energy Transfer also reported that it broke ground earlier this year on another project: the expected 1.65-Bcf/d-capacity Gulf Run Pipeline, which will carry natural gas from the Haynesville Shale to the Gulf Coast. The 135-mile interstate pipeline is backed by a 20-year, 1.1 Bcfd commitment by cornerstone shipper Golden Pass LNG LLC, Long said. In addition to the committed Golden Pass capacity, “we’ve got about 500-plus” Mcf/d of gas transport capacity “that we’re looking to sell. We’re aggressively tying that into our conversations for those producers that would like to reach the markets at the end of the Gulf Run,” said McCrea.
STATE UPDATES
Vail Daily: Eco groups join Eagle County in rail line challenge
Scott Miller, 2/21/22
“A federal court in Washington, D.C., will hear a challenge from Eagle County and a number of environmental groups to a proposed new rail line in Utah,” Vail Daily reports. “The county earlier this year challenged in federal court the Uinta Basin line approval by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board. That line would originate in the state’s Uinta Basin, then roll about 85 miles south to link up with the Union Pacific rail line near Price, Utah. The focus of the challenge is that the federal board acted before receiving full information from an environmental review of the project. The county’s court challenge has been joined in the same case by a number of nonprofit groups including the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment and WildEarth Guardians. Eagle County Commissioner Matt Scherr told the Daily including the environmental groups in the challenge “definitely helps” its prospects. Scherr said part of the challenge will include possible environmental damage from the line as oil trains — as many as 10 per day hauling up to 350,000 barrels of oil per day — roll up the Union Pacific line through the county.
KPVI: Debate to continue over oil and gas royalty relief
Nicole Pollack, 2/21/22
“Wyoming is one step closer to insulating its coal, oil and gas producers from future federal royalty increases,” KPVI reports. “Friday’s debate over Senate File 84 continued in the Senate Minerals, Business and Natural Resources Committee on Monday, with industry members urging the committee to advance the bill and conservation advocates arguing against it… “Pete Obermueller, president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, told the committee that the royalty relief would help keep operators interested in Wyoming, where taxes and royalties are already higher compared with competitors. “It is a small, small token — a gesture of something in Wyoming’s power to mitigate what the impact will be of a federal mineral royalty,” Obermueller said. “It’s a policy decision on the part of the state to slightly mitigate that impact in order to keep Wyoming competitive.” The only Democrat on the committee, Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Albany County, was also the only opponent of the bill.”
EXTRACTION
Associated Press: Energy agency: Methane emissions higher than countries claim
2/23/22
“The International Energy Agency said Wednesday that emissions of planet-warming methane from oil, gas and coal production are significantly higher than governments claim,” the Associated Press reports. “The Paris-based agency said its analysis shows emissions are 70% higher than the official figure provided by governments worldwide. If all leaks were plugged, the methane captured would be enough to supply all of Europe’s power sector, it said. The findings underline “the urgent need for enhanced monitoring efforts and stronger policy action to drive down emissions of the potent greenhouse gas,” it said… “The IEA said its annual Global Methane Tracker report shows emissions from the energy sector grew by almost 5% last year. It said the volume of methane leaked amounted to about 180 billion cubic meters of natural gas. “That is equivalent to all the gas used in Europe’s power sector and more than enough to ease today’s market tightness,” the IEA said… “The countries with the highest emissions are China, Russia, the United States, Iran and India, the IEA said.”
Guardian: Oil and gas facilities could profit from plugging methane leaks, IEA says
Fiona Harvey, 2/23/22
“Plugging methane from leaky oil and gas facilities would be free of cost almost everywhere in the world, and in many cases would produce a significant profit, at today’s soaring gas prices, the International Energy Agency has found, suggesting that governments have few excuses for not taking action to curb emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas,” the Guardian reports. “Governments have been underreporting their emissions of methane to a dramatic extent, and those emissions are still rising fast, according to the Global Methane Tracker report from the IEA published on Wednesday. Using satellites and other new data, the energy watchdog found emissions were about 70% higher than national governments had suggested, showing the need for far greater monitoring, as well as efforts to staunch leaks. Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA, a leading authority on energy economics, told the Guardian: “At today’s elevated gas prices, nearly all of the emissions [of methane] from oil and gas operations worldwide could be avoided at no net cost. The IEA has been a longstanding champion of stronger action to cut methane emissions. A vital part of those efforts is transparency on the size and location of emissions, which is why the massive underreporting revealed by our Global Methane Tracker is so alarming.” Russia is one of the biggest sources of methane emissions from its vast oil and gas operations, but few efforts are made there to control the leaks. According to the IEA, Turkmenistan and Texas are also leading sources of leaks.”
Accountable.US: Big Oil Companies Net $75 Billion in Profit While Americans Struggle to Heat Homes, Fill Gas Tanks
2/23/22
“Today, government watchdog Accountable.US released analysis showing that oil and gas company giants Shell, Chevron, BP, and Exxon posted record profits last year totaling $75 billion while American consumers struggled to pay their heating bills and fill up their gas tanks. The monumental financial haul flies in the face of industry’s “sky is falling” attacks on the Biden administration’s environmental and climate initiatives. Combined, the four companies raked in $24.4 billion in quarter four of 2021, bringing their total profits for last year to over $75.5 billion. Chevron, Shell, BP, and Exxon used these bloated profits to shower billions onto their shareholders – including their wealthy executives whose salaries are heavily padded with stocks. In 2021, the four companies bought back over $6.6 billion in stocks while hiking up their dividends. And the oil giants are planning for an “even better” 2022 for shareholders, with plans already in place to buyback over $22 billion in stock thanks to high oil prices. Meanwhile, average Americans are being forced to downsize their homes, miss seeing family and friends, and consolidate medical visits in order to cover high gas costs.”
E&E News: Climate denial still flourishes on Facebook — report
By Scott Waldman, 2/23/22
“Facebook is still allowing climate denial to flourish on its platform despite pledging months ago to crack down,” E&E News reports. “About half the content from major publishers of climate denial receives warning labels and very little is fact-checked, a new report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate has found. Just 10 publishers account for 69 percent of all user interactions with climate denial on the platform, which recently rebranded its parent company into Meta, the center found. Researchers reviewed 200 posts from leading climate denial publishers and found that more than half were not labeled as climate misinformation. “By failing to do even the bare minimum to address the spread of climate denial information, Meta is exacerbating the climate crisis,” said Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate. “Climate change denial — designed to fracture our resolve and impede meaningful action to mitigate climate change — flows unabated on Facebook and Instagram.” The group’s review of 184 Facebook posts from leading denial groups found that 50.5 percent of those posts had no label at all. The other 49.5 percent had labels that connected users to Facebook’s climate science resource center, but only one was a fact-check of the bad information contained in the post. The posts not labeled as misinformation include claims that global warming is a “hoax,” that “climate alarmists” are misleading Americans and that “COVID-19 and climate change are being used to steal our liberties.” Collectively, the posts had 1 million likes, shares or comments. About 542,000 interactions from Facebook users were with posts that received no label at all. The list of publishers that routinely post climate misinformation includes the Daily Wire, Breitbart, The Washington Times, Newsmax and Russian state media, according to the center. The review showed Facebook had an uneven response to the climate posts. For instance, all of the posts from RT.com, the Russian state media group, received labels. But six in 10 posts from Newsmax and the Media Research Center — which has been funded by fossil fuel companies as well as the conservative Mercer Family Foundation — didn’t receive any labels.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
Bloomberg: Blackstone Swears Off Oil-Patch Investing as Private Equity’s Retreat Widens
Dawn Lim and Sabrina Willmer, 2/22/22
“After watching big banks curtail lending and asset managers pare bets, fossil fuel producers are now losing access to some of Wall Street’s deepest pockets,” Bloomberg reports. “Blackstone Inc., once a major player in shale patches, is telling clients its private equity arm will no longer invest in the exploration and production of oil and gas, according to people with knowledge of the talks. The firm’s next energy fund won’t back those upstream investments — a first for the strategy. Blackstone's credit arm is swearing them off too.”
OPINION
FOX Business: The true price of anti-pipeline politics
Tom Magness is a strategic adviser to the Grow America’s Infrastructure Now (GAIN). He formerly served as a commander in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2/23/22
“The United States is on the verge of an energy crisis of its own making,” Tom Magness writes for FOX Business. “...While all the blame for foreign instability or the lasting effects of the pandemic is not on the Biden administration, our country’s current predicament would be far more manageable if its policy toolkit wasn’t constrained by artificial controversy surrounding the critical infrastructure of our national energy system, especially pipelines…Given that energy infrastructure is essential to controlling prices and mitigating supply challenges, it is crucial that its construction is protected from interference… “Despite the existence of an effective, rigorous regulatory system, pipelines continue to be vilified by a small but vocal group of activists as environmental monstrosities built without regard for local communities and their surrounding ecosystems. This narrative and its consequences are encapsulated by the fight over the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), critical oil infrastructure that has operated safely for years, has overwhelming public support, and is already the most studied and regulated pipeline in US history… “DAPL’s operator is confident that the final environmental impact statement will reinforce the Corps’ earlier assessments. However, its opponents’ success in threatening the pipeline for the better part of a decade, leveraging sympathetic and non-expert judges, has created a dangerous precedent… “Instead of allowing activists to hijack America’s judicial system in a misguided attempt to force a premature transition to renewables, President Biden should use this moment to revert to an "all-of-the-above" energy strategy like the one endorsed by his Democratic predecessor that affirms the importance of oil, natural gas and their essential infrastructure.”
Common Dreams: The Mountain Valley Pipeline Can Never Be Completed—Time For Everyone to Admit It
TAMMY BELINSKY, 2/19/22
“The first tree should never have been cut, the soil never disturbed. That’s the take away from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals’ February 3 ruling on Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC. Each and every act of resistance to the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) over the last seven years is validated by this ruling,” Tammy Belinsky writes for Common Dreams. “...Mountain Valley Pipeline is on life support. If MVP, LLC, refuses to admit its own doom and cancel the project, then federal agencies must make good on the Biden administration’s commitments to sound science, environmental justice, and climate action. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has the ultimate duty to deny any additional extensions of MVP’s certificate of public convenience and necessity. After the Fourth Circuit’s decision, MVP tried to reassure investors that “the concerns associated with MVP’s Biological Opinion can be addressed.” But MVP cannot satisfactorily address the Court’s concerns. “...Even if MVP magically found a way to reroute around the national forest, there would be no reasonable completion date in sight. The corporation’s own management has acknowledged that the “specter of timing” continues to loom. Meanwhile, climate chaos is escalating and the people-powered movement to end the era of fossil fuels is growing. Our Appalachian communities have suffered enough… “MVP gambled on its bullying capacity, seizing private property, clearcutting forests, and trenching land even in the absence of multiple regulatory permits. Regulators must stop pandering to this reckless and incompetent limited liability company and require MVP to rigorously and properly restore the pipeline corridor.”
Denver Post: Editorial: PFAS should not be used in hydraulic fracturing
EDITORIAL BOARD, 2/21/22
“The revelation this month from Physicians for Social Responsibility that the oil and gas industry in Colorado has been using a chemical that will eventually break down into a highly-toxic forever chemical in the PFAS family is disturbing, to say the least,” the Denver Post Editorial Board writes. “…The American Petroleum Institute is adamant that the report from Physicians for Social Responsibility is simply wrong and that, at least industry members of the API, are not currently using chemicals that break down into PFAS. “It shouldn’t be used and it isn’t being used,” said Lynn Granger, executive director of the API. If that is the case, then those members should have no problem disclosing any chemicals in the PFAS family or that is known to break down to PFAS to the COGCC in the coming months. The public has a right to know whether forever chemicals are being pumped or have been pumped into the ground, first to frack and then to be stored away in injection wells that would be rendered forever Superfund sites by PFAS contaminants… “The Denver Post’s Judith Kohler reported last week that an analysis of data posted onto the website FracFocus showed that the chemical polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), commonly known as Teflon was being used in wells… “People living near fracking operations and wells, especially those relying on groundwater wells for drinking, should be concerned. It’s important to note that in 2015 two independent studies showed that there was very rarely contamination of drinking water from hydraulically fractured wells, but rarely is not never. It’s unclear, however, if those studies looked for PFAS-type chemicals. Aside from those concerns, there’s the broader concern that the fracking process utilizes on average 14 million gallons of water per well in Colorado. If that water is, in fact, being contaminated with PFAS — chemicals that will not break down for millenniums and for which there are very few remediation options — then massive amounts of water are being lost to future generations.”
The Lawyer’s Daily: Open question if Alberta can be considered investor as part of Keystone XL dispute: lawyer
Ian Burns, 2/22/22
“Alberta is seeking $1.3 billion in damages from the United States over cancellation of the permit for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, but a legal expert is saying it is questionable whether the province can even be considered an investor under trade rules contained in the old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),” Ian Burns writes for The Lawyer’s Daily. “The compensation being sought is related to the investment Alberta made in the project through its petroleum marketing commission… “Alberta launched its challenge under legacy rules tied to NAFTA, which was replaced by the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) in 2020. Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage said a legacy claim is the best avenue to recover the province’s investment… “But international trade law expert Lawrence Herman said “it is a good question” whether Alberta qualifies as an investor under NAFTA rules and noted the province’s move is the first time a government has brought a NAFTA dispute against another government. “NAFTA’s investor-state dispute settlement provisions define an investor as an individual — meaning a person, a corporation or an enterprise of a party,” he said. “Whether Alberta has standing as an investor is likely to be a highly contested point. I’m pretty certain that the U.S. will say Alberta cannot be an investor, because NAFTA does not say that another government, or a subunit of a government like a province, can use these investor-state dispute settlement provisions.” But Herman also said there are good arguments to be made that the Keystone cancellation was politicized, and not just based on pure science and environmental considerations. TC Energy, the Calgary-based company behind the pipeline, has also filed a NAFTA trade challenge, seeking $15 billion in compensation.”
Financial Post: 'A lot of work to do' in a short time to meet Canada's aggressive emissions targets
Chris Varcoe, 2/22/22
“Can Canada realistically meet its goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by up to 45 per cent within eight years? According to one of the country’s largest business groups, the answer lies in making a few strategic decisions — and doing so quickly,” Chris Varcoe writes for the Financial Post. ”It includes the aggressive pursuit of carbon capture and storage projects, expanding Canada’s low-carbon power grid, promoting R&D investment and bolstering the country’s role in North American supply chains for the growing wave of zero-emissions vehicles. A new paper prepared by the Business Council of Canada for Ottawa says these “must-do actions” are needed if the country is going to reach its climate ambitions… “One of the business council’s key recommendations rests on the development of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) projects, burying CO2 deep underground. Hyder told the Post tax credits promised in last year’s budget are critical for Canada to keep pace with other countries where public funding has been provided to such projects. The report calls for governments to help offset the financial risk of such large capital investments through low-cost financing, access to carbon credits and longer-term carbon price certainty… “Shell is one of several companies that recently proposed a major CCUS project in Alberta. Separately, five of the country’s largest oilsands producers are pitching a carbon capture network that would connect to at least eight facilities in the province. “For investors in CCUS, one of the challenges that we’ve had has been cost and certainty of the investment,” Pierce told the Post. “This is where governments can help us get over that initial hurdle.” While the idea of promoting carbon capture and storage developments has the backing of the oil and gas sector and the Alberta government, it faces opposition from other corners. Last month, hundreds of academics signed a letter pressing Ottawa to abandon its proposal to provide a tax credit for CCUS projects, calling it a substantial new fossil fuel subsidy. “If the oil and gas companies want to do it themselves, no one is stopping them,” added Keith Stewart, Greenpeace Canada’s senior energy strategist. “But we don’t see why the taxpayer should hand billions of dollars to companies that are making billions.”
The Hill: Note to Biden: The US can't export renewable energy to our energy-deprived allies
Merrill Matthews is a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation in Dallas, 2/22/22
“Here’s a recent headline from the Wall Street Journal that you would never see under the progressives’ Green New Deal: “American Gas to Europe’s Rescue: LNG export terminals are loading tankers with fuel destined for countries threatened by Putin’s energy extortion.” The reason the United States can come to the European Union’s (EU) energy rescue is that U.S.-produced natural gas can be loaded on tankers and shipped to our oversees allies,” Merrill Matthews writes for The Hill. “Those shipments will become even more important if (or more likely, when) Russian President Vladimir Putin, responding to U.S. and EU sanctions after he invades Ukraine, reduces or cuts off natural gas shipments to the EU. Europe currently gets up to 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia.By contrast, renewable energy – primarily from wind turbines and solar panels – cannot be loaded on tankers and shipped overseas to be used by other countries. Fortunately, the U.S. can export large quantities of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to help our friends and allies… “Bizarrely, in the middle of all this international energy turmoil, the Biden administration is looking to impose more regulations and restrictions on natural gas pipelines.”