EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 3/23/23
PIPELINE NEWS
Des Moines Register: Iowa House passes new limits on when carbon pipeline companies could use eminent domain
Iowa Capital Dispatch: House passes bill to restrict eminent domain for pipelines
Victoria Advocate: Watch Now: Butler County landowner Kim Junker speaks about carbon capture pipelines [VIDEO]
Herald-Review: Decatur allows ADM to store CO2 under city-owned land
KELO: Concerns over Summit Carbon pipeline continue
Clinton Journal: Carbon capture causing concern
KMA: Pottawattamie County board backs financial contribution to land impact study
Daily Globe: Enbridge Line 5 reroute inches closer to construction
Law360: Enviros Press DC Circ. To Block NJ Pipeline Project Work
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Markey Floats Progressive Energy Permitting Plan
E&E News: Republicans Plot Path On Energy, Permitting Package
The Hill: GOP senators: Bipartisan legislation can prevent another derailment like one in East Palestine
E&E News: Cheapest Way To Capture CO2? Turn It Into Methanol, DOE Says
Financial Times: US regulator vows ‘aggressive’ crackdown on oil and gas methane leaks
STATE UPDATES
Houston Chronicle: Pasadena explosion: Crews extinguish fire caused by propane transfer
Colorado Sun: Samples from Front Range oil and gas wells detect seeping natural gas, benzene and other chemicals
High Country News: Utah’s proposed crude oil railway could see an accident every year
CLIMATE FINANCE
New York Times: A ‘Rocking Chair Rebellion’: Seniors Call On Banks to Dump Big Oil
Wall Street Journal: Insurer Chubb Demands Energy Producers Cut Methane Emissions for Coverage
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Enbridge: Women in STEM Careers: ‘So Much Potential There’
OPINION
Coastal View News: Repairing Exxon pipeline better option for county
The Hill: Fossil fuels are impoverishing us
PIPELINE NEWS
Des Moines Register: Iowa House passes new limits on when carbon pipeline companies could use eminent domain
Stephen Gruber-Miller, 3/22/23
“Carbon capture pipeline companies would need to reach voluntary deals to buy 90% of the land on their route before they could seek to use eminent domain, under a bill passed Wednesday by the Iowa House,” the Des Moines Register reports. “The bill's House passage is a big step forward for opponents of the pipelines, who are worried they could be forced to sell their land to the companies if the state grants them eminent domain powers. Renewable fuels groups contend the bill would amount to a de facto ban on the pipelines and harm Iowa's ethanol industry. House lawmakers amended the legislation Wednesday to remove a number of restrictions on pipeline companies, angering opponents who wanted stronger action. The measure now faces an uphill climb in the Iowa Senate, where a range of bills seeking to restrict eminent domain failed to clear a legislative deadline earlier this month. Most of those bills did not receive hearings… “We are disappointed that the Iowa House singled out CCS projects with what in reality is an effective ban,” Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Coalition, told the Register. “If this is about property rights, why doesn’t the legislation impact all projects? If this is about safety, why doesn’t the bill apply to pipelines that carry explosive or flammable substances?" Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, one of the legislation's main supporters and a farmer, said it's a myth that the bill would kill the ethanol industry in Iowa. He questioned the timing of the studies that he said appeared "magically" just before the House debated the issue. "The notion that this piece of legislation is going to kill the ethanol industry, there’s a lot of four-letter words I could use to describe that, and I will not do that," Kaufmann said. "So I’ll just call it BS." “...House Republican lawmakers amended the bill Wednesday to remove a host of other restrictions for pipeline companies, including complying with all local ordinances, waiting to begin pipeline construction until new federal rules are adopted and securing permits in all other states on the pipelines' routes before they could build in Iowa… “Kim Junker, a Butler County corn farmer, called the ethanol industry's study about the pipelines' economic impact "BS." "If the ethanol industry is so fragile, why would we allow our farms to be destroyed for an industry that’s on the verge of collapse?" she said. "If the ethanol industry is so fragile, why are they claiming that 2022 was a year of record-breaking profits?"
Iowa Capital Dispatch: House passes bill to restrict eminent domain for pipelines
JARED STRONG, 3/22/23
“Legislation that would restrict carbon dioxide pipeline companies’ ability to use eminent domain was overwhelmingly approved by the Iowa House on Wednesday,” the Iowa Capital Dispatch reports. “I believe that the issue before us today — and the vote that we will take on this issue — is indeed historic,” said Rep. Steven Holt, the Denison Republican who led House File 565 to passage… “The bill’s future is unclear in the Senate. House lawmakers amended the bill to remove other restrictions on the pipeline projects — including one that would have empowered counties to set rules about where the pipelines can be built — and about three-quarters of the chamber voted to approve it… “Holt said the bill targets carbon dioxide pipelines because they don’t serve the public in a manner that befits the use of eminent domain to build them. “I believe it’s incredible mental gymnastics to conclude that these pipelines are for public use,” he said. “Yes, these pipelines are important for ethanol and for agriculture in Iowa, but that does not qualify them as ‘public use’ akin to power lines, propane gas or highways.” “...Summit Carbon Solutions, which proposes an expansive pipeline system that would connect to ethanol plants in northern and western Iowa, said Wednesday it has obtained voluntary easements for nearly 70% of its route in the state. “This overwhelming level of support is a clear reflection that Iowa landowners view the project as critical to supporting the state’s most important industries — ethanol and agriculture,” the company said. But Rep. Sharon Steckman, D-Mason City, rebuked that notion. She said one of her constituents with a farm in the path of a pipeline opposes the project but signed a voluntary easement because he thinks he can’t prevail. “That’s his life, his family, everything, and he felt he had no other choice,” Steckman said. “He didn’t want to go bankrupt and lose his farm by fighting this big business so he went ahead and signed.”
Victoria Advocate: Watch Now: Butler County landowner Kim Junker speaks about carbon capture pipelines [VIDEO]
3/22/23
“Butler County landowner Kim Junker speaks about carbon capture pipelines,” the Victoria Advocate reports.
Herald-Review: Decatur allows ADM to store CO2 under city-owned land
Brenden Moore, 3/21/23
“Archer Daniels Midland Co. will soon be able to pump liquified carbon dioxide into "pore space" more than a mile underneath city-owned land,” the Herald-Review reports. “The Decatur City Council voted unanimously Monday to grant city manager Scot Wrighton broad authority to execute an agreement with ADM in what amounts to an expansion of the food processing giant's industry-leading carbon sequestration program. The city will receive $450 per acre of land in which ADM injects and stores carbon. The action came despite safety and environmental concerns expressed by some Decatur residents, uncertainty over the future state regulatory framework surrounding carbon capture and sequestration and despite the ordinance missing specific details about the city properties that will be included in the easement… “Though specific information was omitted, Wrighton told the Review that three city-owned sites are being eyed — two near drill sites on ADM-owned land where carbon is expected to seep into the city-owned land and a third where the drill site will be located on city property in the Oakley sediment basin near Lake Decatur… “However, acknowledging the scrutiny the technology is under by the federal government, a consulting firm brought in by the city "predicted very little risk from ADM's continued injection of liquid carbon dioxide" deep into the ground, Wrighton wrote in a memo to council members… “Several residents addressed the council on the topic, with some worried about such a project being done in a highly-populated area… “Currently there are separate proposals from state Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea, and state Rep. Ann Williams, D-Chicago, that would create a regulatory framework for underground storage of carbon dioxide.”
KELO: Concerns over Summit Carbon pipeline continue
Krista Burns, 3/22/23
“People continue to voice their concerns over proposed CO2 pipelines that will be built across several states including South Dakota,” KELO reports. “The Woodbury County, Iowa, Board of Supervisors heard from people who don’t want the pipelines and don’t want eminent domain to be used. “There’s lots of reasons people are fighting the pipelines. Should we be listening to everyday Iowans or pipeline profiteers? The CO2 pipeline cartel is an affront to democracy that is aiming to harass homeowners into compliance for massive financial gain,” said Deborah Main, a concerned citizen. Matthew Ung, the Chair of the Board of Supervisors, talked about how other counties in the state are dealing with this situation. “I think there is a united front, every time I go to a state-wide supervisor meeting, or I talk to other supervisors, certainly the ones bordering us, there’s a common concern. So, we just really want to communicate to the state legislators that it’s really all of our mutual constituents that have concerns about the hazardous pipelines being hazardous, number one, and number two, the use of eminent domain and impacting future development along the route,” said Ung.
Clinton Journal: Carbon capture causing concern
Gordon Woods, 3/22/23
“County board members recently heard a presentation from officials of Navigator CO2 about the company’s proposed carbon dioxide pipeline,” the Clinton Journal reports. “...As with other localities in the path of carbon pipelines, DeWitt County board members have expressed concerns a leak could potentially cause serious problems. An area in northwest DeWitt County has been selected by Navigator CO 2 as a termination point. Between 3-6 injection wells will pump CO2 down into the earth about a mile into a geological formation known as the Mount Simon Sandstone Formation… “County board members fear a leak in one of the wells could cause problems with the Mahomet Aquifer, the drinking water source for the county and much of east-central Illinois. Representatives of Vault 44.01, the carbon capture development company planning Navigator’s pipeline and wells, expressed confidence in the safety of the wells planned for DeWitt County… “While research seems to be on the side of sequestration wells being essentially safe, CO2 pipelines have not gone without incident. In February 2020, a carbon pipeline leaked into the atmosphere near Satartia, Miss. About 300 residents had to evacuate their homes, and 49 people were hospitalized from breathing the escaping cloud.”
KMA: Pottawattamie County board backs financial contribution to land impact study
Ethan Hewett, 3/22/23
“Pottawattamie County officials have thrown their support behind a land impact study regarding pipelines,” KMA reports. “During its regular meeting Tuesday morning, the Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a $600 contribution to the Iowa Association of Counties' efforts to conduct a soil compaction study through Iowa State University. The move comes as nearly 2,000 miles worth of pipeline have been proposed across the state between three projects, one of which is Summit Carbon Solutions' Midwest Express pipeline spanning much of western Iowa… “County Auditor Melvyn Houser says the study was launched in October of last year, and adds that ISAC is attempting to get as many counties as possible, particularly the nearly 70 impacted by the proposed pipelines, to chip in for the study. "When they were putting the Dakota (Access) Pipeline in, apparently they were working in mud, cutting big ruts, and really messing up the soils," said Houser. "And they're still not getting very good crop out of it after two years." “...Previously, ISAC officials said they hoped to present the findings from the study to the Iowa Utilities Board. The IUB has tentatively scheduled evidentiary hearings on Summits' permit application beginning in late October.”
Daily Globe: Enbridge Line 5 reroute inches closer to construction
P.J. GLISSON, 3/23/23
“The building of a rerouted segment of Enbridge’s Line 5 is moving closer to reality, according to a company spokesperson,” the Daily Globe reports. “The permitting process is moving forward,” Juli Kellner told the Globe… “We have 100% agreement with the landowners… “She could not suggest, definitively, when construction will begin or end, but she assured that project planning already is in place. “We’ve already signed a construction labor agreement,” Kellner told the Globe of the company’s intention to work with a Wisconsin contractor. “It will be a union project. We estimate that there will be 700 construction workers.” Moreover, she added that “roughly $46 million will be spent specifically with Native-owned businesses and training and hiring Native American workers, who will make up at least 10% of the project workforce.” “...In a separate email last week, Kellner also assured that Enbridge had filed spill and sediment modeling reports for the proposed Line 5 Segment Relocation Project in northern Wisconsin with that state’s DNR… “Spill modeling for the Line 5 Segment Relocation Project in northern Wisconsin confirms there is no credible scenario where crude oil would reach Lake Superior from the relocated segment,” Kellner told the Globe. “In the one-in-15 million chance there is a full-bore rupture on this segment, crude oil would not reach Lake Superior even after 48 hours with no emergency response at all.”
Law360: Enviros Press DC Circ. To Block NJ Pipeline Project Work
Keith Goldberg, 3/22/23
“Conservation groups and a landowner on Tuesday urged the D.C. Circuit to block construction of a gas pipeline expansion project in Pennsylvania and New Jersey while they challenge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of the project, arguing that work is already causing irreparable damage,” Law360 reports.
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Markey Floats Progressive Energy Permitting Plan
Zack Colman, Catherine Morehouse, 3/21/23
“Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) on Tuesday laid out what he framed as the progressive alternative to changing U.S. permitting laws — an approach he said will speed clean energy projects while bolstering community participation and preserving their rights to weigh in on projects,” E&E News reports. “The news: Markey said much of his platform can be achieved through existing laws and authorities, as opposed to Republican ideas he argued ‘would open the fossil fuel floodgates’ through provisions that erode consultations with residents concerned about local environmental and health effects from new construction. ‘Republicans in Congress aren’t building the green transition — they’re building boogeyman to scare us out of pursuing the real changes that we need,’ Markey said at an event hosted by policy group Roosevelt Institute. ‘They’re making environmental reviews the villain in the story.’ Markey’s pitch involves leaning on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to finalize plans for how to spread the costs of building new transmission lines to carry new power generation across the country and reduce a backlog of clean power generation. It also would push the commission to quickly get money to communities to perform evaluations for siting and constructing green projects, create a centralized database for projects to track permitting and identify projects of ‘strategic national importance’ to construct in communities that have faced disproportionate environmental, health and economic burdens. ‘I’m just laying down the standards that have to be used in any permitting reform, but I also want to make it clear that much of this can already be done by FERC,’ Markey told reporters.”
E&E News: Republicans Plot Path On Energy, Permitting Package
Kelsey Brugger, Jeremy Dillon, 3/22/23
“As they put the finishing touches on their massive energy package, House Republicans plan to pressure Democrats on a core kitchen table issue: energy costs,” E&E News reports. “In wrapping up a three-day retreat here, Republicans seemed to be chomping at the bit to harangue Democrats on Capitol Hill next week over prices at the pump and the supermarket. Their package, H.R. 1, the ‘Lower Energy Costs Act,’ is a ‘first start in the energy push for this Congress to try to lower prices and make energy and electricity affordable, reliable and secure for this nation,’ declared Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy, Climate and Grid Security. ‘I look forward to the debate and moving this over to the Senate to put some pressure on them,’ he said. Republicans tell E&E the proposal, which will be debated and voted on next week, would allow the United States to produce more oil, gas, solar and wind in a manner that is more environmentally sound than anywhere else on the planet. The bill, the work of three committees, would require the federal government to hold quarterly oil lease sales in Western states. It would speed up environmental permitting that GOP lawmakers complain drags on years longer than it should.”
The Hill: GOP senators: Bipartisan legislation can prevent another derailment like one in East Palestine
JULIA SHAPERO, 3/23/23
“A group of Republican senators called on their colleagues on Wednesday to support bipartisan rail safety legislation aimed at preventing train derailments like the one in East Palestine, Ohio, last month,” The Hill reports. “The U.S. government must provide the American people with the security of knowing that what happened to East Palestine will not happen again,” Sens. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said in an op-ed published by Fox News. The three Republican senators introduced the Railway Safety Act alongside Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Bob Casey (Pa.) and John Fetterman (Pa.) earlier this month, after a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine on Feb. 3. The bill calls for increased safety requirements on trains carrying hazardous materials, as well as more frequent inspections and higher fines for safety violations… “The op-ed was published ahead of the Senate Commerce Committee’s hearing about rail safety on Wednesday, in which lawmakers are set to question the CEOs of Norfolk Southern and the Association of American Railroads.”
E&E News: Cheapest Way To Capture CO2? Turn It Into Methanol, DOE Says
Lamar Johnson, 3/22/23
“Department of Energy researchers say a new carbon capture method could cut costs by turning the planet-warming gas into a widely used chemical. The technology — detailed in a recent peer-reviewed study — uses a single step to capture carbon dioxide and turn it into methanol,” E&E News reports. “That could decrease the cost of capturing CO2 by as much as 23 percent, when compared to conventional methods, according to DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. ‘We’re getting close,’ Casie Davidson, the manager of PNNL’s Carbon Management and Fossil Energy sector, told E&E. ‘We’re getting close to a solution that is economically viable, that’s technically viable, and that gives me hope.’”
Financial Times: US regulator vows ‘aggressive’ crackdown on oil and gas methane leaks
Myles McCormick, 3/21/23
“The US’s top environmental enforcer vowed that no oil and gas systems would be “getting out of jail free” as the Biden administration strengthens a clampdown on methane pollution despite pushback from energy companies and Republican allies in Congress,” the Financial Times reports. “...Michael Regan, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said the administration was ready to “fight hard” against efforts to weaken new regulations to control methane emitted from oil and gas infrastructure. “There are no facilities that are getting out of jail free,” Regan told the Financial Times in an interview. “We’ve designed a very aggressive rule to ensure that everyone that’s contributing to this problem has some full accounting for that.” US oil and gas systems account for about a third of the country’s methane emissions, through leaks, ineffective flaring — the burning of excess gas — and deliberate releases into the atmosphere. The EPA is finalising a new rule that will force energy companies to find and plug methane leaks at new and existing wellheads, pipeline compressor stations and other sites. The agency is also planning to charge emitters up to $1,500 a tonne — the first nationwide fee on a greenhouse gas — as required by last year’s sweeping climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act. The latest proposals come after the EPA was criticised for going too soft on the sector in an earlier version of regulations published in 2021. Companies needed to “step up and do more”, Regan told FT. “There was a time when we had trouble chasing these emissions. We’re beyond that.”
STATE UPDATES
Houston Chronicle: Pasadena explosion: Crews extinguish fire caused by propane transfer
John Wayne Ferguson, 3/22/23
“An explosion Wednesday afternoon rocked Pasadena and surrounding areas and sent one man to the hospital, officials said,” the Houston Chronicle reports. “The explosion occurred at about 12:30 p.m. at the INEOS Phenol plant, 3503 Pasadena Freeway, happened during a propane transfer involving a tanker truck, officials said. The exact cause of the explosion was still under investigation as of Wednesday afternoon. One person was hospitalized after the explosion, but was said to be in fair condition. The explosion rattled windows in Pasadena and Channelview and sent up a plume of black smoke smoke that was visible from downtown Houston. The fire was declared extinguished by 1:20 p.m. and at a press conference just two hours after it occurred, officials lauded the quick response by emergency crews and said there was little worry about environmental impacts. In a statement Wednesday night, INEOS said the man injured in the explosion was a third-party truck driver and was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital for treatment.
Colorado Sun: Samples from Front Range oil and gas wells detect seeping natural gas, benzene and other chemicals
Mark Jaffe, 3/22/23
“Natural gas and chemicals may be seeping through compromised barriers in northeastern Colorado oil and gas wells, according to a federal study, but state regulators and other researchers caution that analysis may overstate the problem,” the Colorado Sun reports. “In sampling 2,573 wells in the Greater Wattenberg, the area roughly from Greeley to just north of Denver, the study found natural gas outside the protective barrier in 96% of the wells and benzene and other chemicals in almost all the 580 wells where water samples were taken. The likely causes, the study said, are compromised steel casings or cement seals. “We don’t have to speculate anymore about sources,” Joe Ryan, a study co-author and professor of environmental engineering at the University of Colorado, told the Sun. “This shows that many oil and gas wells could indeed be sources for contamination.” “...Still, environmental groups say the studies and ones conducted in other states, such as a Pennsylvania study by Cornell University Emeritus Professor Anthony Ingraffea, show there is a risk of well failures that need surveillance. The group 350 Colorado has asked the COGCC to implement a comprehensive well-monitoring program including monitoring plugged and abandoned wells. “We know from consultation with expert Tony Ingraffea that cement degrades over time, but our recommendations to the COGCC have gone unanswered,” Heidi Leathwood, the environmental organization’s climate policy analyst, told the Sun.”
High Country News: Utah’s proposed crude oil railway could see an accident every year
Samuel Shaw, 3/23/23
“A proposed 85-mile oil railway through Ashley National Forest, in the northeast corner of Utah, is on the cusp of final approval from federal agencies,” High Country News reports. The Uinta Basin Railway project intends to connect the oil-rich but hard-to-access region to refineries on the Gulf Coast by linking the basin to an existing line. The route would then chart a course east beside the Colorado River, through flood and rockslide-prone Glenwood Canyon and onwards into downtown Denver before heading south… “A coalition of seven fossil fuel-producing counties in Utah have allied with Drexel Hamilton, a New York investment bank, to promote the railway, and Rio Grande Pacific would manage train operations on the new Utah section as well as on the existing Union Pacific line through Colorado. The Ute Indian Tribe also holds a small equity stake in the project, since the nation has an economic interest in oil extracted from Uintah and Ouray reservation land… “But critics are concerned about how a derailment of the toxic material would affect the Colorado River, a major artery of Western agriculture and the source of drinking water for 40 million people. Roughly 150 miles of preexisting track line the Colorado River, and other stretches run through the headwaters of the river system. The federal environmental impact study did not examine the consequences of a spill in Colorado, nor the downstream effects a crash could have on the seven states that rely on the river’s water… “Environmental groups, Colorado communities and politicians have seized on that omission in a last-ditch effort to stall the railway. “The last thing in the world we should be doing is jeopardizing that water source,” Deeda Seed, a campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the environmental groups involved in lawsuits against the railway, told HCN. “The last thing in the world we should be doing is jeopardizing that water source.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
New York Times: A ‘Rocking Chair Rebellion’: Seniors Call On Banks to Dump Big Oil
Cara Buckley, 3/21/23
“They were parents, grandparents, great-aunts and great-uncles, ranging in age from their 50s to their 80s and beyond, and together they braved frigid temperatures to protest all through the night, and to rock,” the New York Times reports. “Bundled in long johns, puffer coats, layered knit hats and sleeping bags, and fortified by cookies sent by courier from a sympathetic supporter, dozens of graying protesters sat in rocking chairs outside of four banks in downtown Washington for 24 hours, in a nationwide protest billed as the largest climate action ever undertaken by older folks. Calling themselves the Rocking Chair Rebellion, they were part of more than 100 climate actions staged across the country Tuesday by Third Act, a protest group for people aged 60 and older, co-founded by Bill McKibben, the author and climate campaigner. Their targets were Chase, the subsidiary of JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citibank and Bank of America, the biggest investors in fossil fuel projects, according to a 2022 report by the Rainforest Action Network and other environmental groups. Collectively, the four banks have poured more than $1 trillion between 2016 and 2021 into oil and gas. “This is the world we helped create,” Katie Ries, 66, who is retired from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told the Times as she sat in a rocking chair outside the Chase branch in downtown Washington shortly after an unseasonably cold dawn on Tuesday. “When you put this temporary discomfort in perspective, against what we are out here for, what we are facing, it just pales, it disappears.” Formed in 2021, Third Act has some 50,000 members on its mailing list, according to Mr. McKibben, including a few centenarians. While the group has staged protests before, sometimes bearing signs that read “fossils against fossil fuels,” they told the Times that Tuesday’s actions were the biggest yet, with participants driven in part by the conviction that it was unfair to lay responsibility for fixing the climate crisis at the feet of younger generations who will bear its brunt.
Wall Street Journal: Insurer Chubb Demands Energy Producers Cut Methane Emissions for Coverage
Leslie Scism and Rhiannon Hoyle, 3/22/23
“Global insurer Chubb Ltd. is tightening its requirements on insurance policies for oil-and- gas producers, demanding that they reduce emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Chubb, which is a top-10 insurer in the worldwide oil-and-gas market by premium volume, will also stop underwriting projects in areas designated as protected by state, provincial or national governments, effective immediately. The company has been under pressure from climate activists, who have targeted banks and insurers to cut off funding and insurance coverage for fossil-fuel companies. Chubb’s actions fall short of their demands to quit sales to oil and gas producers. Chubb Chief Executive Evan Greenberg told the Journal that the carrier’s move wasn’t motivated by activists’ pressure. The insurer’s plan is a “science-based and technical way” to help with carbon reduction, he told the Journal. As an underwriter, Chubb will be able to verify that clients are taking the required steps. “If not, then we won’t underwrite them,” he told the Journal.”
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Enbridge: Women in STEM Careers: ‘So Much Potential There’
3/22/23
“A young woman in Texas hoped to study computer science in university. But the program was too demanding for her to complete while also working two part-time jobs. Tuition was simply too expensive to pursue the degree of her choice,” according to Enbridge. “That all changed when she was awarded two scholarships from the British American Foundation of Texas. The exceptional young student promptly switched majors and graduated with her preferred degree… “Enbridge has been contributing to BAFTX’s general scholarship fund since 2012. When we heard about the organization’s new Women in STEM scholarship, we wanted to support this initiative—to give more opportunities to girls and women to succeed in STEM—and now provide an annual $10,000 Fueling Futures grant to fund two scholarships per year.”
OPINION
Coastal View News: Repairing Exxon pipeline better option for county
Jim Clifford, Carpinteria, 3/22/23
“Regarding the letter in dissent of the Exxon pipeline (CVN Vol. 29, No. 25) I would offer the following: No spill is a good thing but simple benefit versus environmental risk would question the conclusion,” Jim Clifford writes for the Coastal View News. “ First, the alternative is to bring the same volume of imported oil into Los Angeles by Oil Tanker. Oil tankers from foreign nations significantly increase the carbon footprint from beginning to end. Second, mother nature is very remarkable. She heals and adjusts. Most residents know of the well documented natural seeps at Coal Oil Point adjacent to UC Santa Barbara… “I think if you look at the bigger picture, certainly by today’s view, the pipeline is your wisest choice and should have been done before the abandonment of Platform Holly. Again, no spill is good but there is a bigger picture.”
The Hill: Fossil fuels are impoverishing us
William S. Becker is a former U.S. Department of Energy central regional director, 3/22/23
“How dire a warning must there be for us to do something about global climate change? Is there anything scientists can say or the weather can do to persuade us to stop dumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere? Perhaps not,” William S. Becker writes for The Hill. “...Our final chance to avoid a global catastrophe is to make massive cuts in fossil-fuel emissions within 12 years. If we don’t, we will see devastating climate impacts that could last thousands of years. Yet, energy-related emissions of carbon dioxide set a record last year. Countries still provide fossil fuels with trillions of dollars annually in direct and indirect subsidies. The world’s 60 biggest banks provided $4.6 trillion in fossil fuel financing, including $742 billion in 2021, since nations agreed to the Paris climate accord in 2015. Four of the biggest oil companies had $1 trillion in sales and record profits last year. And 20 of the biggest oil companies plan to spend nearly $1 trillion to develop new oil and gas fields by the end of 2030. Even President Biden, fully aware of the climate crisis, has given the go-ahead to an $8 billion oil project in Alaska. In other words, the global oil and gas industry has never been better, while the world has never been closer to simultaneous environmental, economic and humanitarian disasters expected to displace 1.2 billion of the world’s people by 2050 and have violent impacts that will last thousands of years… “The oil and gas industry denied for decades that climate change is real and now would have us believe that new technologies will allow it to keep producing and profiting from fossil fuels even in a decarbonized world… “We’ve seen all the science we need to see and heard all the warnings we need to hear about the imperative of clean energy. We have all the technologies we need. So now, what will it take to overcome the oil industry’s insatiable greed, formidable political power and futile resistance to change? It’s stealing wealth we may never get back.”