EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 2/8/23
PIPELINE NEWS
Kansas Reflector: Kansas faith leaders, environmentalists call for transparency around Keystone pipeline spill
Reuters: TC Energy halts gas flow on Ohio pipeline after train derailment
KTIV: SD landowners see win in battle against pipeline companies
Bismarck Tribune: Burleigh County hearing on proposed pipeline ordinance draws crowd; 2nd ordinance in the works
KFYR: Burleigh County Commission looks at pipeline ordinance
Illinois Radio Network: TEMPORARY HALT FOR PROPOSED CO2 PIPELINE THROUGH ILLINOIS
KIWA: Summit Carbon Solutions CEO Says Carbon Pipeline Will Benefit Farmers
San Diego Union Tribune: Major natural gas pipeline serving San Diego coming back online but will it help to lower prices?
WFIR: Uphill battle still ahead for Mountain Valley Pipeline
Oil & Gas Journal: Tennessee Gas Pipeline gets draft EIS for Cumberland powerplant spur
KXAN: Suspect of attempted Permian Highway Pipeline bombing sentenced to 5 years
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Bloomberg: Biden Goes Off-Script to Concede Oil Demand Will Last for Years
The Hill: Biden takes victory lap on climate bill in State of the Union
E&E News: ‘Missed opportunity’: Lawmakers lament Biden permitting snub
Politico: Flying In
STATE UPDATES
InsideClimate News: California Drilling Setback Law Suspended by Oil Industry Ballot Maneuver. The Law’s Author Won’t Back Down
Indiana Public Radio: Bill to let utilities get paid for natural gas plants during construction passes state House
EXTRACTION
CNBC: Big Oil rakes in record profit haul of nearly $200 billion, fueling calls for higher taxes
Wall Street Journal: Fossil-Fuel Addiction Is Getting Harder for Oil Giants to Kick
Bloomberg: Alberta hits record oil production
Press release: Oilsands veteran Mike Macsween to join board of McKay Métis Group
CLIMATE FINANCE
E&E News: Red state AGs target ESG money in their own organization
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Enbridge: Duluth Art Institute: Embracing Our Shared Humanity
New Market Today: East Gwillimbury, Enbridge provide smoke alarms to York Region CAS
OPINION
Gate City Daily: Please let me decide my commitment to the pipeline
Tennessean: Op-Ed: Permit Reform Necessary To Mitigate Worst Effects Of Climate Change
Los Angeles Times: Editorial: Oil companies spent millions to keep drilling in neighborhoods. California shouldn’t let them
Roll Call: Biden must count on agencies for environmental agenda
The Hill: Why a major insurance firm is under fire for backing an East African oil pipeline
PIPELINE NEWS
Kansas Reflector: Kansas faith leaders, environmentalists call for transparency around Keystone pipeline spill
CHLOE ANDERSON, 2/7/23
“Faith leaders joined environmental advocates and Kansas legislators for a vigil Monday at the Statehouse to call attention to TC Energy’s lack of transparency regarding December’s Keystone pipeline spill, which dumped 588,000 gallons of crude oil in northern Kansas,” the Kansas Reflector reports. “TC Energy — the Canadian natural gas company that owns the Keystone pipeline — has forbidden news media and elected officials from viewing the area where the spill occurred. The company says the majority of the damage has been cleaned up. “Not too many people know that this is the 23rd spill for the Keystone pipeline,” Zack Pistora, state lobbyist for the Sierra Club in Kansas, told the Reflector “And it was actually bigger than all the other previous spills combined.” “...Rabbi Moti Rieber, executive director of Kansas Interfaith Action, told the Reflector the organization has been vocalizing concerns regarding the pipeline for more than a decade… “Rep. Lindsay Vaughn, an Overland Park Democrat who serves on the House Water Committee, also criticized TC Energy for preventing media access. “We still don’t know the answers to so many questions,” Vaughn told the Reflector. “… There’s an overwhelming feeling that the story we’re getting is filtered, that TC Energy is telling us what they want us to know.” “...Although state representatives weren’t allowed on the site for “safety concerns,” Vaughn was near the area. She told the Reflector that even from where she was, the smell of oil gave her a headache and she saw countless dead fish… “Vaughn called for TC Energy to “have a hearing in the state Legislature,” giving the company 90 days to report the initial cause and present a plan of action to prevent any more oil spills.”
Reuters: TC Energy halts gas flow on Ohio pipeline after train derailment
Deep Vakil, Rahul Paswan, Bharat Govind Gautam, 2/7/23
“TC Energy Corp discontinued gas delivery on its Line 1982, an underground part of Columbia Gas Transmission, in and around East Palestine, Ohio, after a train derailed near the pipeline last week, the company said on Tuesday,” Reuters reports. “TC Energy's Columbia Gas Transmission on Monday declared a force majeure event on Line 1982 near East Palestine, citing an immediate pressure reduction with a total impact to physical flow of 170 Dekatherms per day. A train operated by Norfolk Southern Railroad derailed in a fiery wreck last week near the border of Ohio and Pennsylvania, leaving nearly 2,000 residents of eastern Ohio under evacuation orders as of Monday… “TC Energy isolated and purged a segment of the 4-inch Line 1982 as a precaution due to an explosion risk from one of the tank cars of vinyl chloride, a source familiar with operations told Reuters.”
KTIV: SD landowners see win in battle against pipeline companies
Austin Goss, 2/7/23
“After a lengthy committee meeting in Pierre yesterday, South Dakotans saw at least one win in the battle against carbon pipeline companies looking to impose eminent domain on their land,” KTIV reports. “For the first time in South Dakota State Legislature and with a lot of pressure from the affected landowners, the State Affairs Committee looked at six bills that dealt with eminent domain and pipelines. The bills dealt with redefining what a commodity is, requiring landowner involvement in the decision-making process, as well as safety precautions when it comes to pipelines… “The biggest win of the day for landowners came with HB 1133, which made it so carbon pipelines could not be considered common carriers, which restricts would mean the carbon pipeline companies could not exercise eminent domain and forcefully take another’s land. “We are fighting for basic rights, the right to property, the right to do what you want on your own land, and there’s really nothing more basic than that,” Brian Jorde, a lawyer that is representing landowners, told KTIV. The committee meeting went on longer than expected with all the emotional testimony. Two of the six bills did pass and will be heard on the house floor later this week.”
Bismarck Tribune: Burleigh County hearing on proposed pipeline ordinance draws crowd; 2nd ordinance in the works
BLAKE NICHOLSON and JACKIE JAHFETSON, 2/6/23
“Burleigh County commissioners are considering an ordinance that would require companies building hazardous liquid pipelines to submit emergency plans to local officials,” the Bismarck Tribune reports. “...The ordinance considered Monday is aimed solely at ensuring public health and safety, according to County Planning Director Mitch Flanagan. "The single intent of this ... is not to overrestrict this pipeline -- we cannot stop it through our zoning, through our ordinances, we cannot overrule (state regulators)... But we can ask for some mitigating factors, and one of the mitigating factors in my mind is the protection of life safety." “...The commission on Monday night, convening as the County Board of Health, considered a public health statement that "expresses concern for the risk of hazardous liquid gas exposure to humans, the environment and livestock." It recommends that hazardous liquid pipeline routes be kept at least 2 miles from residences until an emergency response plan is approved, and sets the stage for the ordinance… “If a carbon dioxide pipeline did not fall under federal regulations, the company would have to submit an emergency response plan with numerous requirements. They would include "an estimate of the worst-case discharge of carbon dioxide," a computer model showing the "blast zone" for the pipeline, an analysis of risks of alternative routes compared to the proposed route, and a map and legal description of all occupied structures and animal facilities within 2 miles of the route… “Several members of the public spoke out against the pipeline on Monday night, including former Mayor John Warford Warford, who owns a ranch in Naughton Township northeast of Bismarck that's in the path of the pipeline. "What is the public benefit from this pipeline?" he asked. "I'm not seeing too much public benefit, maybe $400,000 in property taxes ... the primary beneficiary of this is Summit Carbon Pipeline." Rachelle Herbel, who owns land north of Bismarck with her husband, said she fears the impacts of a pipeline rupture. "It's bad enough that beautiful pieces of land will be destroyed and devalued and that crops will no longer flourish, but I mean, it's just a total and complete and utter disregard for human life. It's sad," she said, holding back tears. "I love that land. It's God's country to me and to see it potentially destroyed for a poisonous pipeline?" No one from Summit spoke during Monday's meeting, and no one spoke in favor of the pipeline.”
KFYR: Burleigh County Commission looks at pipeline ordinance
Bella Kraft, 2/7/23
“The proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline could be running into another roadblock,” KFYR reports. “The Burleigh County Commission is looking at a new ordinance that could impact construction. The ordinance would make companies constructing hazardous liquid pipelines to submit emergency plans. Several residents expressed concern during a public hearing. They said they were worried about potentially dangerous and hard-to-detect leaks… “The Burleigh Planning and Zoning Commission will look at another ordinance pertaining to hazardous liquid pipelines. The ordinance would require companies building the pipelines to get a special county use permit.”
Illinois Radio Network: TEMPORARY HALT FOR PROPOSED CO2 PIPELINE THROUGH ILLINOIS
Zeta Cross, 2/7/23
“A proposed CO2 pipeline through parts of Illinois is on hold,” the Illinois Radio Network reports. “The Texas pipeline company Navigator has withdrawn its Application for a Certificate of Authority to build a pipeline to carry liquid carbon dioxide through 13 Illinois counties. Pam Richart, cofounder of the Coalition to Stop CO2 Pipelines, told IRN Navigator has not been able to convince landowners in Christian and Montgomery counties that a large repository of CO2 can be safely stored under their farms and land. “Eighty percent of the landowners in Christian County who are in the sequestration area have refused to sign leases,” Richart said to The Center Square. Opponents are working closely with Montgomery County to help people there understand the implications and potential risks of injecting and storing large quantities of CO2 in neighboring Montgomery County, Richart told IRN… “We are concerned that they can’t guarantee that the CO2 will stay put and not move,” Richart told IRN… “Leaked CO2 has the potential to contaminate local drinking water, Richart told IRN. “When CO2 mixes with water, it creates carbonic acid. That releases heavy metals and toxins from underground that can ruin the local water,” she told IRN. If leaked CO2 rises to the surface and changes the CO2 levels in the soil, crop yields could be affected, Richart told IRN… “Navigator said it intends to file a new pipeline application with the Illinois Commerce Commission this month that would specify what route the pipeline will take. Opponents are anxious to see the proposed route, Richart told IRN.”
KIWA: Summit Carbon Solutions CEO Says Carbon Pipeline Will Benefit Farmers
TABITHA MCHUGH, 2/7/23
“Summit Carbon Solutions wants to lay a carbon pipeline across parts of Iowa, though some landowners refuse to sign easement agreements,” KIWA reports. “Lee Blank, Summit Carbon Solutions Chief Executive Officer, tells KIWA what the carbon pipeline will do. “...Blank says the pipeline can only help the ethanol industry. Blank tells us that not only will the pipeline help the ethanol industry, but farmers as well. Blank wants farmers to know that the pipeline will not ruin their land. He says the pipeline should help the value of the land. Blank added a message to landowners who aren’t sure about the pipeline.”
San Diego Union Tribune: Major natural gas pipeline serving San Diego coming back online but will it help to lower prices?
ROB NIKOLEWSKI, 2/7/23
“A pipeline that is a major supplier of natural gas to Southern California is about to come back online, a federal administrator told state utility and energy officials during a special hearing Tuesday to address an unprecedented spike in natural gas prices that has sent power bills soaring for millions of Californians,” the San Diego Union Tribune reports. “Kinder Morgan Inc.’s 745-mile El Paso Line 2000 pipeline sends natural gas from Texas to California but an explosion in August 2021 that killed two people in the rural town of Coolidge, Ariz., shut down the line. “As of yesterday, we gave Kinder Morgan the go-ahead to return Line 2000 to normal operating pressure,” Alan Mayberry, associate administrator at the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, told members of the California Public Utilities Commission, the California Energy Commission and the California Independent System Operator… “The hearing came one day after Gov. Gavin Newsom asked federal regulators to investigate what’s driving high natural gas prices and examine if the gas market is being manipulated. In a letter to the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission — the agency that oversees transmission and wholesale sale of electricity and natural gas in interstate commerce — Newsom said cold weather and other factors “cannot explain the extent and longevity of the price spike.” William Walsh, vice president of energy procurement and management at Southern California Edison, mentioned a number of “unusual things” he’s seen during the price run-up and supports the call for a FERC investigation. “I have no evidence or any indication ... something specific is happening,” Walsh told the Tribune, “but I do think there’s enough there that’s worth looking into.”
WFIR: Uphill battle still ahead for Mountain Valley Pipeline
Emma Thomas, 2/8/23
“As the Mountain Valley Pipeline contends with missing permits, litigation, and hundreds of water-quality violations, both camps defend their positions on the project,” WFIR reports.
Oil & Gas Journal: Tennessee Gas Pipeline gets draft EIS for Cumberland powerplant spur
Christopher E. Smith, 2/7/23
“Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan Inc., has received a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for its 245-MMcfd Cumberland project,” Oil & Gas Journal reports. “The 32-mile pipeline would run through Dickson, Houston, and Stewart Counties, Tenn., supplying the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) 1,450-Mw Cumberland natural gas combined-cycle powerplant, currently under development. FERC concluded that—with implementation of Tennessee’s proposed impact avoidance, minimization, and mitigation measures, as well as adherence to Commission staff’s recommendations—project effects would be reduced to less than significant levels, except for climate change impacts that were not characterized in the EIS as significant or insignificant. The draft EIS comment period closes Mar. 27, 2023.”
KXAN: Suspect of attempted Permian Highway Pipeline bombing sentenced to 5 years
Abigail Jones, 2/7/23
“A man was sentenced in federal court in Austin last week for attempting to damage or destroy part of the Permian Highway Pipeline in Hays County,” KXAN reports. “Ryan McKinney, 22, of Fort Worth, was sentenced to five years in prison after he attempted to detonate a device near a section of the pipeline on Jan. 26, 2022, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice. According to the release, McKinney “conducted extensive planning for the attack and deliberately chose the Permian Highway Pipeline as part of his ideological fight against capitalism and climate change.” McKinney turned himself in after the device failed to damage the pipeline. “Despite this defendant’s failed attempt to cause destruction, his intent, as shown in his thorough planning, posed an irresponsible and very dangerous risk,” said U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza of the Western District of Texas. “Our prosecution and the sentencing in this case make it clear that attacks on our nation’s critical infrastructure are unacceptable and will be met with the full force of the law.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Bloomberg: Biden Goes Off-Script to Concede Oil Demand Will Last for Years
Jennifer A Dlouhy and Ari Natter, 2/7/23
“President Joe Biden went off-script during an otherwise climate-friendly State of the Union speech Tuesday night to acknowledge an uncomfortable reality for the White House: “We’re still going to need oil and gas for a while,” Bloomberg reports. “The unusual assessment from the president, slipped twice into his address to Congress and not included in prepared remarks circulated beforehand, lays bare the conflict between his administration’s climate and economic goals. Biden has repeatedly exhorted oil companies to invest in pumping more crude even as he seeks to end its use. “...Biden’s comments may offer partial comfort to some oil industry representatives who have insisted they need more encouraging signals from Washington about the enduring need for fossil fuels in order to lure more capital and drive investments that take decades to pay off. “The president is right that Americans and the world will continue to need affordable, reliable energy for decades to come,” Ben Marter, vice president of the industry’s top lobbying group, the American Petroleum Institute, told Bloombergl. “So why attack the industry working day and night to provide it?”
The Hill: Biden takes victory lap on climate bill in State of the Union
ZACK BUDRYK, 2/7/23
“President Biden touted the historic climate investments in the Inflation Reduction Act, the environmental and infrastructure spending he signed into law last year, in his second State of the Union address Tuesday night,” The Hill reports. “The Inflation Reduction Act is … the most significant investment ever to tackle the climate crisis, lowering utility bills, creating American jobs, and leading the world to a clean energy future,” Biden said in his prepared remarks. The president presented the law as an investment in resilience to natural disasters and the impacts of climate change… “We’re still going to need oil and gas for a while, but there’s more to do,” Biden said, with the reference to fossil fuels drawing some applause. Biden presented action on the climate crisis as a moral obligation on the part of older generations and the wealthy, saying “we pay for these investments in our future by finally making the wealthiest and the biggest corporations begin to pay their fair share.” “...Biden also hailed steps taken outside of the IRA, including plans to replace all lead pipes in the U.S., which were included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law… “The president’s guests to the address included Deanna Branch, a Milwaukee community activist who has spearheaded a campaign to replace lead pipes after her son fell victim to lead poisoning… “In a report card issued Tuesday ahead of the address, the Center for Biological Diversity gave the president an overall C grade. “President Biden still has time to lock in the bold environmental progress he promised during the campaign, but the window is closing rapidly,” Brett Hartl, chief political strategist at the Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund, told the Hill.”
E&E News: ‘Missed opportunity’: Lawmakers lament Biden permitting snub
Jeremy Dillon, Emma Dumain, Kelsey Brugger, 2/8/23
“President Joe Biden laid out a list of policy priorities Tuesday night in his State of the Union address, but one item missing was a central ambition for many energy-focused lawmakers: permitting reform,” E&E News reports. “For key members, the failure to mention the ongoing effort to smooth environmental reviews of energy projects was a missed opportunity. “It’s accepted across the aisle that permitting has to be done,” Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) told reporters. “It should have been mentioned. I would have liked to see that.” “...Some Republicans suggested a permitting overhaul wasn’t that big of a priority for the party. “There were a lot of missed opportunities, like the reality is that Democrats need permitting reform more than Republicans do,” Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) told E&E… “A leading Republican who had supported Manchin’s permitting efforts was equally disappointed in the lack of a Biden shout-out. “I did think it was missed opportunity because I think it’s something we all want, both parties,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), ranking member on the Environment and Public Works Committee, told E&E… “Some Republicans accused Biden of playing to partisan concerns at the expense of permitting. “Both the left and the right know we need it, but I’m not surprised he didn’t [mention permitting reform] … because that would take a level of bringing his party to a point of understanding that, and this speech doesn’t seem like it was challenging his own party to move out of their safe zone, it was trying to hype up where they currently are,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) told reporters after the speech… “Schumer said that while he couldn’t predict whether Biden in his address would call for overhauling the permitting process, it was crucial for implementation. “I think it’s something that we need,” he said of permitting reform. “I think it will actually make it a lot easier to implement much of the green energy [provisions] that we have. I think the bill we proposed, according to most of the modelers … shows it would actually decrease the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, so I’m for it.”
Politico: Flying In
2/7/23
“The Energy Workforce & Technology Council, which represents oil field service companies, is kicking off its fly-in Tuesday,” Politico reports. “The trade group will hear from administration officials at the Interior, Energy and State departments and lawmakers, and are set to meet with more than a dozen members on the Hill, including Sens. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Reps. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), David Valadao (R-Calif.), Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.), Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) and Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and staff from another dozen or so offices. Member companies will push for lawmakers to take action on priorities such as permitting and NEPA reforms and policies to grow the energy workforce.”
STATE UPDATES
InsideClimate News: California Drilling Setback Law Suspended by Oil Industry Ballot Maneuver. The Law’s Author Won’t Back Down
Liza Gross, 2/6/23
“State Sen. Lena Gonzalez had a lot to celebrate at a press conference last fall when California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a sweeping package of bills to accelerate the state’s transition to clean energy,” InsideClimate News reports. “...She credited Newsom and his “incredible team” for helping her bill to protect frontline communities from hazardous oil drilling operations become law. The law, Senate Bill 1137, bans new permits for oil and gas wells within 3,200 feet of homes, schools, clinics and other sensitive sites, and tightens restrictions on existing wells within the buffer zones. But Gonzalez’s celebration was short-lived. Days after Newsom signed S.B. 1137 in September, the oil industry filed a referendum to reverse the protections Angelenos and community advocates across the state spent years fighting for. The referendum qualified for the 2024 ballot Friday afternoon, after the oil industry spent more than $20 million on the effort. During that time, some petition circulators, who are paid by the signature, told voters the measure would protect communities from oil drilling, when in fact it would do the opposite… “The law went into effect Jan. 1 but will now be suspended at least until November 2024, when voters could decide to reinstate it by rejecting the oil industry’s referendum… “Environmental advocates have urged the governor and his regulators to put emergency setback rules in place and stop issuing new permits, using their statutory authority. But the oil industry still wields considerable power in the halls of state government. Oil companies and their trade groups spent more than $70 million lobbying California politicians and regulators between 2019 and 2022, when two previous bills to restrict neighborhood oil drilling failed. But Gonzalez, her coauthor, Sen. Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara), and likeminded colleagues keep fighting, she told ICN, because they’re working on behalf of future generations and the millions of Californians who live near oil wells… “Newsom used his bully pulpit to get the setback passed but now seems unwilling to protect the law by, for example, issuing a moratorium on drilling or emergency setback rules, as environmental advocates have urged him to do.”
Indiana Public Radio: Bill to let utilities get paid for natural gas plants during construction passes state House
Rebecca Thiele, 2/7/23
“A bill, HB 1421, that would allow utilities to recover the cost of natural gas plants as they’re being built passed the Indiana House on Monday,” Indiana Public Radio reports. “Indiana utilities and other supporters have said it helps avoid “rate shock” by easing the cost of those plants into customers’ bills over a longer period of time… “But consumer advocates have said ratepayers shouldn’t have to pay for a plant that isn’t running yet. Rep. Matt Pierce (D-Bloomington) also reiterated his concerns Monday that the bill could encourage larger, more expensive natural gas plants at a time when smaller plants are a better complement to renewable energy sources.”
EXTRACTION
CNBC: Big Oil rakes in record profit haul of nearly $200 billion, fueling calls for higher taxes
Sam Meredith, 2/8/23
“The West’s five largest oil companies raked in combined profits of nearly $200 billion in 2022, intensifying calls for governments to impose tougher windfall taxes,” CNBC reports. “French oil giant TotalEnergies on Wednesday reported full-year profit of $36.2 billion, doubling last year’s total, as fossil fuel prices soared following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The results see TotalEnergies join supermajors Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP and Shell in recording a massive upswing in annual profits, after Exxon’s 2022 haul of $56 billion marked a historic high for the Western oil industry. Altogether, the five Big Oil companies reported combined profits of $196.3 billion last year, more than the economic output of most countries. Flush with cash, the energy giants have used their bumper earnings to reward shareholders with higher dividends and share buybacks. “You may have noticed that Big Oil just reported record profits,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in his State of the Union address on Tuesday. “Last year, they made $200 billion in the midst of a global energy crisis. It’s outrageous.” Biden said U.S. oil majors invested “too little of that profit” to ramp up domestic production to help keep gas prices down. “Instead, they used those record profits to buy back their own stock, rewarding their CEOs and shareholders.” Biden proposed quadrupling the tax on corporate stock buybacks to incentivize long-term investments, insisting the supermajors would still make a “considerable” profit… ““If the bulk of your investments remain tied to fossil fuels, and you even plan to increase those investments, you cannot maintain to be Paris-aligned, because you will not achieve large-scale emissions reductions by 2030,” Mark van Baal, founder of Follow This, told CNBC.”
Wall Street Journal: Fossil-Fuel Addiction Is Getting Harder for Oil Giants to Kick
Carol Ryan, 2/7/23
“BP plans to wean itself off dirty fossil fuels but doesn’t want to miss out on today’s fat oil and gas profits,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “This tension is behind the company’s latest shift. On Tuesday, the London-listed business said it made profit of $27.7 billion in 2022, more than double the previous year’s total… “Bumper earnings may explain why BP is changing tack less than three years after setting out ambitious plans to go green. Instead of cutting oil and gas production by 40% by 2030 relative to 2019 levels as planned, the business will reduce it by 25% instead. Concerns that BP was winding down its hydrocarbon operations too quickly have weighed on the company’s share price recently. News that it will be taking the energy transition more slowly sent the stock up 6% in morning trading. BP’s stated logic is that the world needs an orderly shift to renewables, so investment in fossil-fuel production will be necessary to avoid the kind of chaos seen in energy markets last year.”
Bloomberg: Alberta hits record oil production
Iva Poshnjari, 2/7/23
“Alberta set an annual record for oil production last year with an output of approximately 3.73 million barrels a day in crude oil, findings from ATB Financial showed,” Bloomberg reports. “The province officially beat its previous oil production record set in 2021, and nearly doubled the amount of oil it produced in 2010, the data released on Tuesday revealed. On a yearly basis, conventional oil production rose by 12 per cent while oil sands production rose two per cent compared to the year prior… “Alberta is also expected to ship out more than an additional 500,000 barrels per day once the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project is completed by the end of 2023, the note said.”
Press release: Oilsands veteran Mike Macsween to join board of McKay Métis Group
2/7/23
“The McKay Métis Group (MMG) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mike Macsween to its board of directors. This appointment signals the next phase of MMG's growth strategy. Mike MacSween retired from Suncor Energy in 2022… “He led Suncor's oil sands, in situ, and exploration and production assets… “Mr. Macsween noted, "MMG has been a remarkable success story. An Indigenous business that has seen phenomenal growth and has become central to the operation of the oilsands. The prospects for future diversification and expansion are all about deeply connecting MMG skills and energy into the firms that manage the oilsands. I look forward to helping to facilitate that."
CLIMATE FINANCE
E&E News: Red state AGs target ESG money in their own organization
Lesley Clark, 2/6/23
“Kris Kobach of Kansas and others want to know whether the National Association of Attorneys General holds investments in funds they decry as “woke capitalism,” E&E News reports. “Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach recently wrote the National Association of Attorneys General and asked for a list of its investments, while decrying the "corrosive" impact of ESG investing…”
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Enbridge: Duluth Art Institute: Embracing Our Shared Humanity
2/7/23
“Six colorful Black figures fill the scene, standing out against a backdrop of orange and blue,” according to Enbridge. “...The piece is “Exodus” by award-winning Minnesota artist Christopher E. Harrison and was recently featured in the Duluth Art Institute’s Contemporary Visions exhibit in mid-2022… “To amplify underrepresented stories, the Minnesota non-profit supports BIPOC (Black, Indigenous or People of Color) artists as they develop their craft, and provides opportunities to show their work… “Recognizing the DAI’s work to foster a thriving and diverse community, Enbridge awarded the institute a $10,000 Fueling Futures grant to help with operational costs, including program delivery to BIPOC artists.”
New Market Today: East Gwillimbury, Enbridge provide smoke alarms to York Region CAS
2/7/23
“Today, Enbridge Gas Inc. (Enbridge Gas) and East Gwillimbury Emergency and Community Safety Services (ECSS) announced they are working together to improve home safety and bring fire and carbon monoxide-related deaths down to zero with the donation of 264 combination smoke and carbon monoxide alarms,” New Market Today reports. “...This year, Enbridge Gas invested $250,000 in Safe Community Project Zero, and over the past 14 years, the program has provided more than 76,000 alarms to Ontario fire departments.”
OPINION
Gate City Daily: Please let me decide my commitment to the pipeline
Ray Menke, Fort Madison, 2/8/23
“I do not get to determine the amount of money the pipeline companies can acquire for their assets or services, so why should my negotiating be limited by eminent domain?,” Ray Menke writes for the Gate City Daily. “The investment in pipelines made by landowners is not just a one time investment. This is made for generations to come. This property is now a safety concern, conceivably a liability, and forever limited to the scope of its usefulness. I ask of everyone involved in the discussion of eminent domain to please realize that this is my family’s investment in this endeavor. Please allow me the right to decide what my financial commitment should be!”
Tennessean: Op-Ed: Permit Reform Necessary To Mitigate Worst Effects Of Climate Change
Alan Leiserson, a Nashville resident, is the state coordinator for the Citizens' Climate Lobby, 2/6/23
“For 30 years I was an attorney for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and its predecessors,” Alan Leiserson writes for the Tennessean. ”...I find it ironic that I now know that in order to avert the worst impacts of climate change, our national, state and local laws on environmental permitting must be changed… “What you probably don’t know is that without permit reform, greenhouse gas emissions will actually increase between now and 2030. The apparent contradiction between those two sentences is because the modeling of the legislation assumed no impediments to construction of the clean energy projects encouraged by the legislation or to connecting them to the grid. Unfortunately, the permit process is a major impediment… “For the last decade, the rate of new construction of transmission lines has been about 1% per year… “I get why my friends in the environmental community fear permit reform. It has often been used as code for lowering environmental standards. Also, some of the hurdles required by environmental permitting have been the best tools environmentalists have used to stop projects that would have been detrimental to communities (like Interstate 40 through Overton Park in Memphis). However, when it comes to the fast action necessary to achieve anywhere close to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, these same laws may prevent our reaching the goal Congress has put us on a path to reach… “Permitting reform will help strengthen our grid, make us energy independent and make our communities more resilient, something I think we can all agree on.”
Los Angeles Times: Editorial: Oil companies spent millions to keep drilling in neighborhoods. California shouldn’t let them
THE TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD, 2/7/23
“The oil industry spent $20 million on a misleading campaign to overturn a new California law that bans new drilling within 3,200 feet of homes and schools — and it’s paying off,” the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board writes. “The referendum to undo Senate Bill 1137 qualified for the ballot. State officials announced Friday that they would suspend implementation of the law until voters decide its fate in November 2024, meaning that these new health protections are being lifted just a month after they took effect. But there is really nothing preventing California’s state oil and gas regulators from acting to prevent neighborhood drilling in the interim, by denying oil companies permits for new wells in these buffer zones. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who signed the law in September, should direct the Department of Conservation Geologic Energy Management Division, or CalGEM, to use its administrative authority to adopt rules to prohibit new drilling in those areas… “The California Independent Petroleum Assn., the industry lobbying group leading the campaign, has also claimed falsely that the buffer zone was instituted “without any scientific basis,” when in fact, it was based on the recommendations of an independent panel of public health experts and scientific studies that “consistently demonstrate evidence of harm” at distances less than 1 kilometer, which is 3,281 feet. A nearly two-year delay in the law’s implementation will prolong ongoing health damage in these roughly half-mile buffer zones, where more than 2 million people live and are exposed to higher levels of toxic oil and gas-related air pollution.”
Roll Call: Biden must count on agencies for environmental agenda
David Jordan, 2/6/23
“In his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden will be able to tout environmental wins, but any further federal action will largely depend on the pace set by the executive branch,” David Jordan writes for Roll Call. “...With the bill signed into law and a slew of other environmental rulemakings currently underway at federal agencies, environmental groups are urging the Biden administration to finalize stringent regulations in order to help achieve the remaining 10-percentage-point reduction… “Under Biden the EPA has received larger budgets and been able to increase hiring. However the total workforce still stands at just under 15,000, down from a high under the Clinton administration and closer to figures from the 1980s, leaving the agency with fewer employees to oversee more programs… “Any further delays may leave the rules vulnerable to reconsideration under a future potential Republican Congress and administration, as the Trump administration did with a number of rules finalized in the last months of the Obama administration. Until then, the administration may face a more difficult environment in Congress, with Republicans calling for significant cuts in nondefense spending. Many in the House majority have also been critical of the EPA’s effort to regulate certain sectors of the economy. But Raad, whose group released a report last month calling on the agency to go further and faster, told Roll Call the administration needs to get these rules “over the finish line.” “They can't let House Republican witch hunts, investigations or threats of future cuts delay this important work.”
The Hill: Why a major insurance firm is under fire for backing an East African oil pipeline
SAUL ELBEIN, 2/8/23
“The world’s largest insurance broker is under fire for supporting a controversial oil pipeline that cuts through East Africa’s national parks,” The Hill reports. “These complaints opened a new front in a larger war within the global insurance industry over the future of support for fossil fuels. On Tuesday morning, a coalition of Ugandan and Tanzanian civil society groups and a U.S.-based environmental nonprofit filed a formal complaint to the State Department against insurance giant Marsh McLennan. The groups charged that by contracting with the 867-mile East African Crude Oil Pipeline Project (EACOP) from Africa’s Great Lakes to the ocean, Marsh McLennan is abetting the forced eviction of 118,000 people from their homes while putting at risk both fragile wildlands and freshwater resources that more than 40 million people depend on. Marsh McLennan is not building the pipeline, which is a joint project between China’s CNOOC and France’s TotalEnergies. The insurance giant is not even underwriting it. Instead, the advocacy groups charge that the brokerage giant acted unethically by agreeing to help EACOP find insurance — without which the project and the consequent buildout of new oil development in East Africa cannot proceed.” “...Given all those concerns, “any intelligent insurance company looks at that and says, ‘Okay, I’ve got the political risk insurance. I’ve got the director’s liability insurance. I’ve got the project insurance. I’ve got iconic wildlife in danger. I’ve got the pipeline itself and the accidents,’” Insure Our Future’s Keenan told the Hill. Looking at those risks, insurers will increasingly say, “No, thanks.”.