EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 3/17/22
PIPELINE NEWS
Hollywood Reporter: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson Sign Petition Urging Bank to Stop Financing Canadian Gas Pipeline
Victoria News: Hollywood A-listers crusade to get RBC to stop financing Coastal GasLink pipeline in northern B.C.
Last Real Indians: Snoqualmie Indian Tribe Opposes Coastal GasLink Pipeline, Supports Canadian First Nations
Associated Press: DNR Extends Comment Period on Enbridge Line Reroute
Des Moines Register: Iowa bill would block carbon pipeline developers from using eminent domain power for a year
Radio Iowa: Bill switcheroo would delay eminent domain for pipelines
Inforum: Landowner concerns spreading over CO2 pipeline; North Dakota county opposes eminent domain
Houston Chronicle: Kinder Morgan, Enbridge call on FERC not to apply a tough new climate policy
Politico: CLEARER PATH FOR WYOMING PIPELINE
WILX: ‘It’s an eye opener’ -- Gas pipeline explosion in Livingston County shuts down freeway for several hours
Belleville News-Democrat: Is there a pipeline near you in southwestern IL? Here’s how to find it and its owner
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Biden, Democrats take aim at oil companies for high prices
Politico: CHECKING IN ON BIG OIL’S CLIMATE SUITS
STATE UPDATES
WWL: Lafourche Parish produces American oil
EXTRACTION
InsideClimate News: Coal Mining Emits More Super-Polluting Methane Than Venting and Flaring From Gas and Oil Wells, a New Study Finds
Press release: Inter Pipeline & Rockpoint Gas Storage Submit Proposal for a Carbon Capture Sequestration Hub
CLIMATE FINANCE
E&E News: Texas threatens to hit ESG firms over fossil fuel ‘boycott’
Proxy Preview: Pipeline Finance and Respect for Indigenous Rights
OPINION
Advantage News: Writer says Steelworkers warned of potential pipeline problems
Dallas Morning News: Revive Keystone pipeline and signal the free world wants energy independence
Crain’s Detroit Business: Michigan is having a 'fork in the road' moment on climate
PIPELINE NEWS
Hollywood Reporter: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson Sign Petition Urging Bank to Stop Financing Canadian Gas Pipeline
ETAN VLESSING, 3/16/22
“Hollywood celebrities have signed a petition organized to urge the Royal Bank of Canada to stop financing the Coastal GasLink, a gas pipeline set to cut through the Wet’suwet’en territory in northwestern British Columbia without the consent of local hereditary chiefs,” according to the Hollywood Reporter. “The petition, organized by Indigenous Climate Action, is signed by Mark Ruffalo, Leonardo DiCaprio, Taika Waititi, Scarlett Johansson, Jane Fonda and Robert Downey Jr., alongside many other among actors, artists, athletes and musicians putting their name to the open letter that opposes the multibillion-dollar natural gas pipeline project. These include director Ava DuVernay and actors Josh Gad, Mariska Hargitay, Rooney Mara, Julianne Moore, Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Schumer, Ben Stiller and Marisa Tomei. In Canada, opposition to the Coastal GasLink project has led to rallies and rail blockades across the country. The open letter to City National Bank and Royal Bank of Canada follows: We, the undersigned, demand that City National Bank’s parent company, Royal Bank of Canada: Withdraw support from the Coastal GasLink pipeline, effective immediately. Uphold, affirm and respect the rights of Indigenous peoples…”
Victoria News: Hollywood A-listers crusade to get RBC to stop financing Coastal GasLink pipeline in northern B.C.
BINNY PAUL, 3/16/22
“More than 65 Hollywood celebrities and Indigenous climate activists have signed a petition asking Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and its subsidiary City National Bank (CNB) to stop financing fossil fuel projects and defund the Coastal GasLink pipeline in northern B.C.,” the Victoria News reports. “The petition called ‘No More Dirty Banks’ includes high profile signatories such as Mark Ruffalo, Leonardo DiCaprio, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Jr., Jane Fonda, Brando Boyd, Edward Norton, Ben Stiller, Patti Smith among others who are allegedly CNB’s clients. “It has come to the undersigned’s attention that our industry’s premier ‘bank to the stars’, City National Bank (CNB), has a problem,” read the statement. “Its parent company, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), is financing the climate crisis and disregarding the rights of Indigenous Peoples.” The campaign has called on RBC to withdraw support from the Coastal GasLink pipeline “effective immediately.” The call to action by Hollywood A-listers also comes a day after RBC snubbed a March 11 deadline issued by Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs for the same demand made last month after they met with several high ranking members from the bank.”
Last Real Indians: Snoqualmie Indian Tribe Opposes Coastal GasLink Pipeline, Supports Canadian First Nations
3/16/22
“The Snoqualmie Indian Tribe, a federally recognized Tribe and signatory of the Treaty of Point Elliott in 1855, has come out in opposition to the Coastal GasLink pipeline being built in British Columbia, Canada,” Last Real Indians reports. “The Snoqualmie Tribe opposes the proposed 416-mile fossil fuel pipeline that will carry fracked natural gas to a liquified natural gas refinery on the Canadian Pacific coast due to the risk it presents to the Pacific Ocean ecosystems all Northwest Tribal Nations rely upon, and due to the opposition of the Wet’suwet’en, a Canadian First Nation people whose land the pipeline must cross. As a sovereign Tribal nation and treaty signatory, the Snoqualmie Tribe is requesting the Canadian government directly meet with its leadership on a sovereign government-to-government basis. The Tribe will request that the Canadian government respect the rights of the Wet’suwet’en and protect the climate and ocean from the threats the pipeline presents. “The Snoqualmie Indian Tribe stands in solidarity with our Canadian First Nation relatives who are defending their sacred lands, as well as the ecological health of the Pacific Ocean ecosystems we all rely upon for food,” said Robert de los Angeles, Snoqualmie Tribal Chairman. “Climate change is an existential crisis, so there can be no graver mistake than violating the human rights of Indigenous Peoples in order to construct fossil fuel infrastructure that can only hasten and exacerbate the impacts of global warming.”
Associated Press: DNR Extends Comment Period on Enbridge Line Reroute
3/16/22
“The comment period on a draft analysis of the environmental impact of rerouting an oil and gas pipeline around an American Indian reservation in northern Wisconsin will run for an additional month, state regulators announced Wednesday,” the Associated Press reports. “The Enbridge Line 5 pipeline carries oil and natural gas liquids from Superior to Sarnia. Ontario. The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa sued the company in 2019 demanding it remove the section of line that runs across the tribe's reservation in Ashland County. The tribe is afraid the line could rupture and contaminate its drinking water… “The state Department of Natural Resources released a draft analysis of the environmental impact in December. Thousands of people have submitted comments on the analysis, with many saying the report is insufficient. The comment period was set to expire on Friday. The DNR announced Wednesday that people can continue to submit comments until April 15.”
Des Moines Register: Iowa bill would block carbon pipeline developers from using eminent domain power for a year
Stephen Gruber-Miller, 3/16/22
“Iowa lawmakers are seeking to block carbon pipeline developers from using eminent domain to secure land for their projects until next year,” the Des Moines Register reports. “House lawmakers introduced a bill Wednesday through an unusual maneuver — filing an amendment to an unrelated piece of legislation, replacing that proposal with language blocking any carbon pipelines from seeking or exercising eminent domain authority before March 1, 2023. "Private property rights go both ways — for landowners that wish to do business with a pipeline and for those that don’t," Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, told DMR. "Our language allows negotiations with landowners by the pipeline to go on without interference, but ensures a level playing field so that landowners know that eminent domain is not a threat while we at the Legislature are gone." “...House Speaker Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, told DMR Wednesday he is supportive of the proposal because it would give some assurances to landowners that the Legislature is watching to make sure eminent domain isn't abused, while also not interrupting voluntary deals between landowners and pipeline companies… “Ted Junker, a Grundy County resident who operates land in Butler County that would be crossed by one of the pipelines, said he doesn't believe negotiators for the pipeline companies are operating in good faith… “Junker said he supports the bill because it would remove the threat of eminent domain as the pipeline companies seek easements from landowners. "They’re making billions of dollars off it, OK?" he said. "They need to negotiate for the right. And it’s private property and they’re a private company. It’s not a public utility or it’s not for public convenience. It’s for them to make a lot of money out of, and that’s why they shouldn’t get eminent domain to do it, and they shouldn’t use that threat." “...Kaufmann told DMR the bill intentionally would end the prohibition on the use of eminent domain next year so lawmakers would have a chance to review the companies' progress on negotiating with landowners for voluntary easements.”
Radio Iowa: Bill switcheroo would delay eminent domain for pipelines
JARED STRONG, 3/16/22
“In an 11th-hour gambit to give more bargaining power to landowners in the path of proposed carbon pipelines, Republicans in the Iowa House on Wednesday converted a cosmetology bill into a one-year moratorium on the use of eminent domain for the pipelines,” Radio Iowa reports. “The reason we are addressing eminent domain today is because landowners who are potentially impacted want certainty,” said Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, chairperson of the House State Government committee that narrowly advanced the amended bill. “I am not anti-pipeline.” “...Summit released a statement Wednesday afternoon that said it has already signed voluntary easements with landowners for more than 100 miles of its route and is finalizing agreements for 70 more miles. “They’re using a strong-arm policy, I would say,” Ted Junker, a northeast Iowa farmer, said during the hearing. “And the first thing that comes out of their mouth when you tell them, no, you’re not interested, is ‘Well, we’re going to get it by eminent domain anyway,’ and that’s their spiel. That’s their negotiation.” “...The committee voted 10-2 with one abstention to amend Senate File 2022 — which initially pertained to where barbers can operate — to halt eminent domain for the pipelines until March 2023 and to recommend it to the full House. Kaufmann indicated he was confident it would get a vote. If the House approves the amended bill, it would still need the Senate’s approval of the changes before it goes to the governor’s desk.”
Inforum: Landowner concerns spreading over CO2 pipeline; North Dakota county opposes eminent domain
Adam Willis, 3/16/22
“Landowner skepticism has mounted in recent months towards a $4.5 billion Midwest pipeline aiming to permanently bury millions of tons of climate-warming carbon dioxide in North Dakota, with many buzzing about the proposal at a Bismarck event Wednesday, March 16, and one county staking its opposition to eminent domain earlier in the week,” Inforum reports. “The 2,000 mile pipeline network, a proposal by the Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solutions, has drawn the endorsement of top North Dakota Republicans and recently secured a $250 million investment from one of the state’s leading oil companies. But as word about the project has spread and developers have sought land deals, landowner concerns have become more prevalent. Commissioners in Richland County, in the southeastern corner of North Dakota, unanimously passed a resolution on Tuesday stating their opposition to the use of eminent domain by Summit. The county would fall along a leg of the pipeline connecting the larger network to an ethanol plant in Minnesota. And Summit's proposal drove many conversations Wednesday at a Bismarck expo on "pore space," the subterranean cavities where companies could inject their carbon dioxide, hosted by the Northwest Landowners Association… “But Wednesday's event took place against a backdrop of increasingly vocal concern over the project among some landowners, both in North Dakota and other parts of the Midwest… “Kurt Swenson, a landowner in the project’s sequestration zone south of Beulah, presented a step-by-step guide to the audience for protecting their property interests as Summit pursues leases. Swenson, who has said he doesn't oppose the project itself, has been organizing hold-outs to negotiate better lease terms with Summit… “Todd McMichael, a Richland County landowner whose property would encompass more than a mile of the pipeline, said he doesn't think the privately funded pipeline project would be justified in taking the property of unwilling landowners. While he said he's not opposed to the project itself, he added that he would prefer to see the carbon dioxide from ethanol plants put to productive uses. “I don’t think eminent domain should be used for this project. Period. End of story,” he said.
Houston Chronicle: Kinder Morgan, Enbridge call on FERC not to apply a tough new climate policy
James Osborne, 3/16/22
“Two of the country's largest pipeline companies are urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission not to apply a tough new climate standard to pipeline and liquefied natural gas projects already under review,” the Houston Chronicle reports. “In a letter to FERC Monday, attorneys for Houston-based Kinder Morgan said subjecting projects in the late stages of development to new reviews of their greenhouse gas emissions would potentially stop projects cold. "Retroactively applying new standards to currently pending applications violates basic tenets of fairness and due process," the letter read. "The Interim Policy Statements (on climate change) will no doubt be subject to fierce legal challenge, including on grounds that the Commission has attempted to reserve for itself legal authority that is well beyond its statutory charge." Houston-based Boardwalk Pipelines also signed the letter. Enbridge, one of the country's largest pipeline companies, filed a letter in support of the request Tuesday… “If the full scope of pipeline emissions is under review at FERC, pipeline developers will face a tougher climb in convincing commissioners their projects are in the public interest, likely putting them at a disadvantage to clean energy projects like wind and solar farms. Kinder has two projects currently awaiting approval from FERC, including the construction of two new compressor stations and the modification of an existing one on pipelines in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.”
Politico: CLEARER PATH FOR WYOMING PIPELINE
Matthew Choi, 3/16/22
“FERC staff wrapped up its final environmental impact statement for the Clear Creek Expansion Project on Tuesday — a proposal that would add compressor stations and several miles of pipeline to an existing compound in Wyoming,” Politico reports. “The project is of significant interest to Senate Energy Committee ranking member John Barrasso, (R-Wyo.), who used the delay of the EIS as ammunition last month to berate FERC for not approving projects fast enough. He had also requested the commission not apply its updated gas policy statement to the project. Staff found the project would not create significant environmental impacts if its recommended mitigation strategies are followed, including biweekly reports to FERC during construction and restoration. The project does not meet the greenhouse gas emission threshold set by the commission’s policy statement that would require consideration of climate and environmental justice factors, staff found.”
WILX: ‘It’s an eye opener’ -- Gas pipeline explosion in Livingston County shuts down freeway for several hours
Cody Butler, 3/16/22
“A natural gas pipeline exploded Wednesday in Livingston County, shutting down US-23 and Old US-23,” WILX reports. “Consumers Energy said it had a crew working on the pipeline when it ruptured just before 10 a.m. A shelter-in-place order was issued to keep people away from the area while they made sure the pipeline was secured. People said they heard the explosion a mile away. “I was coming here to golf anyways so I got here a little earlier and saw the pipe explosion,” Steve Curto told WILX. “It looked like a geyser spewing natural gas everywhere. It was a huge explosion and super loud. It was pretty crazy actually.” The damage was significant as the explosion showered debris across the area. The Fenton Township fire chief told WILX firefighters were just training Monday on pipeline emergencies alongside Consumers Energy… “Consumers Energy said the pipeline did not disrupt any service to customers and no one was injured. Consumers Energy is encouraging any customers who smell natural gas to contact them…”
Belleville News-Democrat: Is there a pipeline near you in southwestern IL? Here’s how to find it and its owner
3/17/22
“Several energy pipelines run through southwestern Illinois, but where exactly are they?” the Belleville News-Democrat reports. “Metro-east residents may be asking this question after learning about an oil spill from a pipeline in Edwardsville near the intersection of Illinois 143 and Illinois 159 that flowed into Cahokia Creek. The federal government has online tools that will show you a map of pipelines in your county and tell you who operates each one. Both tools are searchable on these websites from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration… “The pipeline that leaked oil Friday in Edwardsville is operated by Marathon Pipe Line LLC, a company based in Ohio. It is called the Wood River to Patoka crude oil pipeline, which describes the two points it connects with the flow of oil.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Biden, Democrats take aim at oil companies for high prices
By George Cahlink, Jeremy Dillon, 3/17/22
“After weeks of inconsistent messaging on rising energy costs, congressional Democrats and the White House are uniting behind a strategy of blaming oil companies for high prices at the pump,” E&E News reports. “House Energy and Commerce Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) announced yesterday that he’s asking executives from six oil companies to appear before his committee on April 6 with the intent of asking them why energy prices are rising. Similarly, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) yesterday called for energy executives to testify in the Senate on charges of price gouging. The Senate hearing could find a home in the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee… “It was not immediately clear if the executives would attend, though Pallone could force attendance with a subpoena. Pallone highlighted two claims made repeatedly by Democrats in recent days. One is that companies are using record profits to pay hefty dividends or to buy back stock from shareholders, and the other is that they are not doing enough to increase domestic production given the embargo on Russian oil and gas. Pallone also seemed to have his eye on curtailing some energy tax credits — an idea popular with Democrats. He noted energy companies are reaping profits via higher prices while using “generous production tax incentives provided by American taxpayers.”
Politico: CHECKING IN ON BIG OIL’S CLIMATE SUITS
Matthew Choi, 3/16/22
“Exxon Mobil will appeal to the Supreme Court a February ruling from the 10th Circuit sending a climate lawsuit brought by Colorado localities back to state court, attorney Kannon Shanmugam confirmed on Tuesday,” Politico reports. “That will make it the first such case over the jurisdiction of climate cases to go back to the high court. It might take a while to play out, however, particularly if the justices ask the Biden administration to weigh in. MEANWHILE IN MINNESOTA: A trio of judges appointed by former President Donald Trump to the 8th Circuit expressed skepticism on Tuesday over Minnesota’s arguments that its climate tort lawsuit belongs in state court rather than federal court, Alex Guillén reports . A ruling against the state would clash with the Colorado ruling — a “circuit split,” aka Supreme Court catnip. AND IN NEW YORK AND MASSACHUSETTS The 2nd Circuit on Tuesday dismissed Exxon Mobil’s lawsuit seeking to stop the states’ investigations into alleged deceptive speech practices.”
STATE UPDATES
WWL: Lafourche Parish produces American oil
Mike McDaniel, 3/16/22
“At the southern tip of Lafourche Parish sits an oil and gas driving force for the country,” WWL reports. “ “We have a $500 million a day economic impact to the nation’s GDP,” parish president Archie Chaisson told WWL. It’s that impact from Port Fourchon, connected to offshore drilling, that Chaisson says has ripple effects across his and neighboring parishes. “The engineering firms, the surveying firms, the hardware store that sells hardhats, and work boots, and work gloves to the companies when they go offshore,” Chaisson told WWL. “It’s taking care of those people that’s most important.” Taking care of those people can be challenging because of what Chaisson feels are federal roadblocks. With a federal ban on Russian oil and natural gas, because of waging war in Ukraine, Chaisson says bureaucracy tied to permits and leasing holds up domestic production and contributes to higher gas prices… “U.S. Congressman and House Republican Whip Steve Scalise says focusing on oil production at home is an economic win while taking away Russian leverage. “There’s no reason that Putin should be pocketing hundreds of millions of dollars a day by selling oil to America, the United States when we could cut that off right now,” Scalise told WWL. Scalise points to opening U.S. oil reserves and allowing more leasing opportunities.”
EXTRACTION
InsideClimate News: Coal Mining Emits More Super-Polluting Methane Than Venting and Flaring From Gas and Oil Wells, a New Study Finds
Phil McKenna, 3/15/22
“Methane emissions from coal mines worldwide exceed those from the global oil or gas sectors and are significantly higher than prior estimates by the Environmental Protection Agency and the International Energy Agency, a new Global Energy Monitor report concludes,” InsideClimate News reports. “...Coal mining emits 52 million metric tons of methane per year, more than is emitted from either the oil sector, which emits 39 million tons, or the gas industry, which emits 45 million tons, according to the report, published Tuesday… “Methane emissions from coal mining worldwide are comparable to the vast carbon dioxide emissions from burning coal at over 1,100 coal-fired power plants in China over the near term, the report concludes. China, the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, derived more than 60 percent percent of its power in 2020 from burning coal, compared to about 19 percent in the United States. “We all know that the oil and gas industry emits a lot of methane and that coal plants in China are a major source of CO2 emissions,” Driskell Tate, the energy monitor’s project manager for its Global Coal Mine Tracker, told ICN. “The most surprising thing about this report is just realizing that coal mining has a comparable climate impact.” Measuring emissions from approximately 2,300 coal mines in operation worldwide, the Global Energy Monitor report found emissions were 50 percent higher than a 2019 estimate by the EPA and 20 percent higher than an estimate earlier this year by the International Energy Agency. Both the EPA and IEA estimates relied on national averages rather than more specific figures from individual mines.”
Press release: Inter Pipeline & Rockpoint Gas Storage Submit Proposal for a Carbon Capture Sequestration Hub
3/14/22
“Alberta-based Inter Pipeline ("IPL") and Rockpoint Gas Storage ("Rockpoint") are pleased to announce that they have submitted a joint application as part of Alberta's Energy's Request for Full Project Proposals ("RFPP") to develop a new carbon capture sequestration (CCS) hub ("the Project") in Alberta's Industrial Heartland. If approved and developed, the Project would provide carbon storage capacity of more than six million tonnes per annum, on an open access basis, to emitters in Alberta's Industrial Heartland. The Project will be anchored by emissions from IPL's existing assets in the area and has the scale to support future petrochemical and energy transition projects planned in the region. The Project has received strong support from community stakeholders to date including the Montana First Nation of Maskwacis, Alberta, as well as large scale third-party emitters in the Industrial Heartland… “The Government of Alberta has indicated that the RFPP review process is underway for Alberta's Industrial Heartland region with the selection of hubs and hub operators expected at the end of March 2022. Successful proponents will be granted the right to drill wells, conduct evaluation and testing, establish monitoring baselines, and inject captured carbon dioxide into deep subsurface formations within previously defined zones for sequestration, while also overseeing hub development including use of pore space and ensuring open access.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
E&E News: Texas threatens to hit ESG firms over fossil fuel ‘boycott’
By Adam Aton, 3/17/22
“Texas is wrestling with how to hit back against Wall Street’s green posture,” E&E News reports. “The state’s top financial official is starting to inch toward action against some firms, after months of Texas Republicans bashing financial giants — especially BlackRock Inc. — for pledging to curb climate change through their investments. GOP leaders say those climate commitments amount to a “boycott” of fossil fuel companies. Last summer, Texas enacted a law to divest state funds like retirement accounts from green-minded financial firms. But implementing that law has proved tricky. Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar yesterday sent letters to 19 financial companies asking them to “clarify their fossil fuel investment policies and procedures” and to list any of their mutual funds or exchange-traded funds that limit fossil fuel investments.”
Proxy Preview: Pipeline Finance and Respect for Indigenous Rights
Kate R. Finn & Jillianne Lyon, 3/16/22
“Oil is already flowing through the Enbridge Line 3 tar sands pipeline, a project that has been subject to several years of protest, litigation, and opposition led by Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous-led organizations,” Proxy Preview reports. “...Pipelines like Line 3 violate numerous rights of Indigenous Peoples as protected by international law, including the rights to free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC); health; culture; religion; security; and assembly. In particular, these pipelines threaten the quality of water needed for growing manoomin, or wild rice, a critical cultural resource for the Anishinaabe. Line 3 is a $7 billion project funded by dozens of banks, largely through general corporate finance, as Enbridge did not seek specific project financing… “Many of the institutions facilitating funding to Line 3 were also lead financiers of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), which was projected to cost $3.8 billion but ultimately incurred $7.5 billion in costs due to material social risks… “Investor Advocates for Social Justice (IASJ) affiliates engage with companies whose practices further systematic racism, calling on them to improve their human rights policies and risk management systems. In partnership with First Peoples Worldwide (FPW), which articulates the business case for Indigenous human rights by focusing on corporate accountability to Indigenous Peoples, IASJ affiliates filed shareholder proposals this year with Citigroup and Wells Fargo, which are providing Enbridge with $5 billion and $3.86 billion in financing, respectively… “IASJ and FPW encourage all shareholders to support the two proposals calling for banks to assess the effectiveness of policies, practices, and performance indicators in respecting internationally recognized human rights standards for Indigenous Peoples.”
OPINION
Advantage News: Writer says Steelworkers warned of potential pipeline problems
Doug May, Collinsville, IL, 3/16/22
“Two topics that Steelworkers are well versed in, and they collided with one another during the recent rupture of the TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, now operated by Marathon, spilling over 160,000 gallons of oil into Cahokia Creek in Edwardsville, Illinois,” Doug May writes for the Advantage News. “USW members are very familiar with the importance of steel chemistry, especially when the end-product will be a 32-inch spiral-weld pipeline that pumps highly corrosive tar sands, a very heavy oil that requires high pressure to push the product 1,600 miles. Steelworkers and our allies warned TransCanada that the chemistry oversight during production of this steel should have been more vigilant before they chose to procure the order from Wellspun, an India steelmaker. They chose cheap over quality control and long-term integrity. One thousand people rallied in Granite City, Illinois when 260 railcars were being unloaded within the shadows of US Steel/Granite City Works to highlight the many pitfalls, such as violating trade agreements, India state subsidies, and the questionable quality of the steel. Now, 12 years later, our Paul Revere moment has proven prophetic. The 2010 commissioning of this pipeline has been plagued with multiple failures leading to the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration's mandate to dig and replace large portions of the pipeline.”
Dallas Morning News: Revive Keystone pipeline and signal the free world wants energy independence
Editorial Board, 3/16/22
“How many times must the free world be reminded that we cannot rely on despots and petrol states for our energy? Yet, here we are again, asking the Saudis to loosen production or even stooping to deal with Venezuela’s wretched strongman,” the Dallas Morning News Editorial Board writes. “The Biden administration must do better as the world reckons with Russia’s attack on Ukraine. A good start would be restoring the presidential permit for the expansion of the Keystone XL pipeline. President Joe Biden’s decision on his first day in office to kill the 1,700-mile pipeline was a sop to the far left that didn’t actually help the environment. If anything, it made everyone more dependent on oil extraction from parts of the world where environmental regulation is hardly paramount. And it kept a share of Canadian crude oil on trains where environmental damage is more likely than it would be through a new monitored pipeline… “It’s folly to try to directly tie rising gasoline prices to the failure to build the pipeline. But it isn’t wrong to conclude that our ongoing failure to develop as many energy resources as we can within the free world has left us vulnerable to the power of men like Vladimir Putin… “Short-sighted decisions such as killing the Keystone expansion only serve to empower those who would hold energy hostage as a way of expanding their wealth and power. Such nations will never be motivated to develop cleaner sources of energy, nor will they nurture creative societies that advance technologically. The right decision is to be open to our own sources of energy. Expanding the Keystone is a great way to start.”
Crain’s Detroit Business: Michigan is having a 'fork in the road' moment on climate
Ashley Soltysiak is climate & environment program manager for the Traverse City-based Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities, 3/16/22
“A day will come when Michigan and the entire United States must make sweeping and dramatic changes to combat global warming,” Ashley Soltysiak writes for Crain’s Detroit Business. “...But there is one important sentence from the IPCC report I ask you to take in, a plainly stated 17 words, no bold face, no exclamation point, found on page SPM-8: "The extent and magnitude of climate change impacts are larger than estimated in previous assessments (high confidence)." This sentence is monumentally important to Michigan leaders this very week as two critical and contradictory climate change issues land almost simultaneously in the state's policy realm… “One issue involves building a massive piece of oil infrastructure that would help warm the planet with billions of tons of CO2 during its proposed 99-year lifespan. The other involves finalizing a plan to eliminate the state's contribution to atmospheric carbon within 28 years… “Michigan, like all of the nation, finds itself at a climate policy crossroads, but there is only one science-based, cost-effective, and morally defensible path forward. We must stop expanding fossil fuel infrastructure, and in the case of Line 5, refuse to authorize the oil tunnel based on legally justifiable grounds of climate harm under the Michigan Environmental Protection Act. And as for the MI Healthy Climate Plan, we must capitalize on this opportunity to make it as visionary and bold as our future generations deserve.”