EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 4/14/22
PIPELINE NEWS
Calgary Herald: Varcoe: Kenney and key U.S. senator talk energy security, but KXL is never far away
Politico: SEND IN THE OIL SANDS
Bloomberg: Keystone XL Pipeline Permit Suit Dropped After Project Canceled
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Enbridge Line 5 pipeline reroute would employ as many as 700 union workers during construction, company says
Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Residents plead with Lincoln County to fight Summit CO2 pipeline, protect ‘unsuspecting landowners’
Raccoon Valley Radio: IUB DETERMINES SITE FOR PIPELINE PUBLIC HEARING, GREENE COUNTY SUPERVISORS OBJECT TO PRIVATE PIPELINE COMPANIES USING EMINENT DOMAIN
Press release: Xebec Announces $113.5M Order for CO2 Capture and Sequestration Equipment with Summit Carbon Solutions
Prairie Public Broadcasting: Pipeline Authority director: Proposed crude oil pipeline shows continued confidence in the Bakken
WFMJ: Canfield fire chief, officials discuss concerns over plans to build school near ethane pipeline
Press release: Enbridge’s net-zero and interim 2030 goals are achievable and grounded in science
Pipeline Fighters Hub: WATCH: Landowners United to Stop Pipelines
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Politico: GAZPOLITIK
E&E News: Climate questions mount as U.S. rushes LNG to Europe
Wall Street Journal: Oil Industry Objects to Fees, Permits to Mitigate Accidental Bird Killings
E&E News: EJ advocates have a plan to monitor Biden’s progress
STATE UPDATES
CNN.com: NY AG launches gas price gouging investigation into the oil industry
San Jose Mercury News: Brentwood temporarily halts any future gas, oil drilling
EXTRACTION
Associated Press: Battle over carbon capture as tool to fight climate change
TheEnergyMix: Quebec Becomes World’s First Jurisdiction to Ban Oil and Gas Exploration
Grist: Historically redlined neighborhoods have twice the number of oil and gas wells
Hyperallergic: Dripping in “Oil,” Activists Protest BP Sponsorship of Stonehenge Exhibition
CLIMATE FINANCE
Investors for Paris Compliance: ENBRIDGE TO FACE SHAREHOLDER VOTE ON NET ZERO PLANS
OPINION
Grist: I was in the IPCC negotiations. The report bets the planet on tech that doesn’t yet exist.
Globe and Mail: How CNOOC’s big bet on the oil sands became a major liability in just 10 years
PIPELINE NEWS
Calgary Herald: Varcoe: Kenney and key U.S. senator talk energy security, but KXL is never far away
Chris Varcoe, 4/13/22
“Joe Manchin came to Alberta and the oilsands this week, focused on the future of energy security in North America,” the Calgary Herald reports. “So senator, how about that Keystone XL pipeline? “It didn’t come up because it’s a sore point for both sides,” Manchin told reporters Tuesday when asked about the now-defunct project to ship more Canadian crude to the massive refining hub along the U.S. Gulf Coast. “The XL pipeline is something we should have never abandoned. Now, we wish we had it.” “...Kenney has mused repeatedly about trying to revive the project, although TC Energy CEO Francois Poirier said last week the Calgary-based company is not interested. But could the project be restarted in another form? It doesn’t seem likely at this point, given the tortuous path that faced Keystone XL and the ongoing global focus on decarbonization. Who would put money into such a venture?.. “Ben Cahill, a senior fellow on energy security at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, told the Herald Keystone XL “is dead and it’s not coming back” given the polarization surrounding the project… “At this point, additional energy co-operation seems like a logical place to go in a new era of energy security. Just don’t expect the road to include a resurrection of Keystone XL.”
Politico: SEND IN THE OIL SANDS
Matthew Choi, 4/13/22
“Manchin is pointing north as the U.S. looks for alternatives to replace Russian fuel supplies, saying there shouldn’t be a border between the U.S. and Canada when it comes to energy,” Politico reports. “Speaking with reporters at a news conference in Alberta on Tuesday, Manchin said it was regrettable the Biden administration canceled the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have carried Canadian oil sands down the plains to eventually meet refineries and ports on the Texas coast. But he conceded it’s probably too late to revive that project now, or at least under the Keystone XL name, which has become a rhetorical catch-all for Republicans criticizing the administration’s energy policy… “Manchin said the pipeline didn't come up in his discussion (he called it a "sore point for both sides") with Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and offered his thoughts after getting prodded by reporters.”
Bloomberg: Keystone XL Pipeline Permit Suit Dropped After Project Canceled
4/13/22
“The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Army Corps of Engineers, and Fish and Wildlife Service will avoid a lawsuit by conservation groups over permits issued for the now-canceled Keystone XL Pipeline project, according to a notice filed in a Montana federal court,” Bloomberg reports. “Indigenous Environmental Network and North Coast Rivers Alliance sued after BLM granted a right-of-way and temporary use permit allowing the pipeline to cross about 46 miles of federal land in Montana. The groups also challenged the Corps’ approval of a revised Nationwide Permit 12 allowing the project to release dredged or fill materials into waters of the United States…”
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Enbridge Line 5 pipeline reroute would employ as many as 700 union workers during construction, company says
Laura Schulte, 4/13/22
“If approved, the reroute of a controversial pipeline owned by a Canadian-based oil company would employ as many as 700 workers from Wisconsin and the surrounding region,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. “All of those 700 workers would be union members, a fact that was touted Wednesday as the company, involved businesses and union representatives gathered to sign a project labor agreement at the Steamfitters Local 601 training center in Madison… “The company signed the agreement alongside the International Union of Operating Engineers, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the Laborers' International Union of North America and the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters… “Ron Spoerl, owner of Hawk Industries and a member of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, also endorsed the project and shared his excitement at getting to be a part of the construction once Enbridge receives permits. "As a native, I feel that there's a lot of opportunity to be a part of the process to help ensure there's integrity," he told the Sentinel… “The company has met pushback over concerns about oil spills or pipe leaks, as well as the potential impacts to the environment when the company disrupts forests and digs underneath streams and and rivers. The high number of comments both made online during virtual listening sessions and submitted to the DNR caused the agency to delay the due date for public comments, allowing more people to share their thoughts on the project.”
Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Residents plead with Lincoln County to fight Summit CO2 pipeline, protect ‘unsuspecting landowners’
Nicole Ki, 4/14/22
“Public safety, eminent domain and a lack of transparency were consistent themes at Lincoln County's public input meeting on a 2,000-mile carbon capture pipeline that has raised a lot of resistance from landowners and homeowners across the state,” the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports. “...And at public input during Tuesday's commission meeting, residents had the same ask for Lincoln County Commission: 1.Place a moratorium on the Iowa-based project, and "hazardous carbon pipelines;" 2.Write and submit a letter to PUC supporting landowner concerns; and, 3.Research and amend zoning ordinances to implement setbacks, depth requirements to protect residents directly impacted by the proposed pipeline route. Resident Joy Hohn was worried there are still many landowners who aren't aware of how the pipeline could potentially cross their properties or homes, and who aren't informed about how to intervene with PUC. Hohn said when Summit changed its route to one of its alternative routes last Friday, that was on the same day as the party status deadline. With all the re-routes Summit is continually making, "there is still so much confusion on where the proposed route will be in Lincoln County and other counties," she said. "We need your help to be the voice for these unsuspecting landowners and to be a voice for concerned citizens," Hohn pleaded. Others, like Dayton landowner Carol Hoines, thanked the commission for declaring party status because "that will help us in our fight." Fourteen out of 18 counties directly impacted by the pipeline have already registered with PUC to intervene, Dakota Rural Action rep Chase Jensen, who's been connecting with thousands of South Dakotan landowners on the issue, told the Leader. That's a sign that PUC's call to take seriously the opinion of local officials was "clearly heard." PUC has already received about 370 party intervention applications, he told the Leader… “He recommended commissioners look at neighboring counties, like Brown County, who have already asked for a 1,500-foot setback and a 6-foot depth requirement. "Putting in ordinances is significant to lay the groundwork, but in order to protect landowners from private companies being able to seize their land... we need counties to say we do not want this project," Jenson told the Leader.
Raccoon Valley Radio: IUB DETERMINES SITE FOR PIPELINE PUBLIC HEARING, GREENE COUNTY SUPERVISORS OBJECT TO PRIVATE PIPELINE COMPANIES USING EMINENT DOMAIN
Coltrane Carlson, 4/13/22
“The Iowa Utilities Board is getting closer to determining a public hearing about the three proposed underground carbon dioxide pipelines that will go through Iowa,” Raccoon Valley Radio reports. “Greene County Environmental and Zoning Administrator Chuck Wenthold told RVR the IUB met earlier this week and indicated that the public hearing should be held in Fort Dodge, however, no date has been announced for the hearing. The Greene County Supervisors, at their most recent meeting, voted to submit a letter to the IUB objecting for Summit Carbon Solutions to use eminent domain for its private use. Summit’s pipeline would stretch 12 miles into Greene County and would take carbon dioxide emissions from Louis Dreyfus to an underground storage facility in North Dakota.”
Press release: Xebec Announces $113.5M Order for CO2 Capture and Sequestration Equipment with Summit Carbon Solutions
4/12/22
“Xebec Adsorption Inc., a global provider of sustainable gas technologies, is pleased to announce today that its subsidiary Xebec Systems USA LLC, has signed a contract valued at USD113.5 million (CAD143.2 million) with Iowa-based SCS Carbon Removal LLC, a subsidiary of Summit Carbon Solutions. The contract follows a previously announced MOU signed on March 28, 2022, for 51 carbon dioxide (CO2) reciprocating compression packages. This equipment will be used for Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed carbon capture and sequestration project, which is expected to be the largest in the world if approved. This contract represents showcases Xebec’s expanding technology portfolio for carbon capture and sequestration.
Prairie Public Broadcasting: Pipeline Authority director: Proposed crude oil pipeline shows continued confidence in the Bakken
Dave Thompson, 4/12/22
“The director of the North Dakota Pipeline Authority said the announcement of a crude oil pipeline to be built from McKenzie County to Baker, Montana shows continued confidence in the Bakken,” Prairie Public Broadcasting reports. “The pipeline is proposed by Bridger. It would be a 16 inch line, that could carry 105,000 barrels of Bakken crude per day, expandable to 250,000 barrels a day. Once that oil gets to Baker, it would be taken to either Guernsey, Wyoming or Cushing, Oklahoma. "Pipeline systems are not built on speculation," Authority Director Justin Kringstad told PPB. "In early 2021, there were some open seasons held for folks to commit to this specific project."
WFMJ: Canfield fire chief, officials discuss concerns over plans to build school near ethane pipeline
Robert McFerren, 4/13/22
“There's a pipeline that runs through parts of the Valley for 8 years, but now some parents and residents in Canfield are now sharing their concerns about the pipeline after Canfield Local School District's announcement to build its new K-8 school compound on a property that contains an 8-inch Highly Volatile Liquid (HVL) pipeline,” WFMJ reports. “...The concern from residents is based on what flows through the pipeline – ethane – a colorless, odorless gas that is used in the making of plastics… “In February, the Canfield Local School District shared its vision for the location of the K-8 compound with the public, which shows the proposed building approximately 200 feet from the existing Mariner West pipeline… “On April 5, Canfield Fire Chief Don Hutchinson sent a letter to Canfield Local Schools Superintendent Joe Knoll, after speaking with the US. Department of Transportation, the federal agency that regulates pipelines in the U.S. In the letter, Hutchinson wrote “my review of the regulations suggest that placement of the school and related facilities would be in a 'high consequence area' and … “The proposed placement of the school facilities has raised a significant safety concern for me, as it should for the school administration.” According to Chief Hutchinson, he has been speaking with the operator of the ethane pipeline that runs through Canfield and the township and said an immediate evacuation for “an isolated leak is 330 feet in all directions” would be needed, which coincides with the DOT Office of Pipeline Safety distance for High Consequence Areas, based on product and size piping and the pounds per square inch for 300 feet. Richard Kuprewicz, president of Accufacts, Inc. out of Redmond, WA., specializes in investigations on pipelines for safety, construction, and risk management, recommends an evacuation radius of at least a half-mile, or 2,640 feet if a vapor cloud were to form from a leak, crack or rupture.”
Press release: Enbridge’s net-zero and interim 2030 goals are achievable and grounded in science
4/13/22
“At Enbridge, we recognize the pressing need to combat climate change—and our ambitious operational emissions reduction plan reflects that priority. In November 2020, Enbridge became the first midstream company in Canada, and North America’s largest energy transportation company, to commit to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Both our net-zero goal and our interim target—reducing the intensity of our operational emissions 35% by 2030—were developed using guidance and methodology recommended by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which drives ambitious climate action in the private sector. Our strategy to achieve our net-zero goal focuses on four key pathways: Modernization and innovation to increase efficiency and reduce the operational emissions intensity of existing infrastructure. Decarbonizing the energy we use through solar self-power, and advocating for policies that decarbonize the power grid. Investing in renewables and lower-carbon infrastructure. Balancing residual emissions through selective investments of carbon offset credits generated by nature-based solutions. Science-based guidance for establishing net-zero commitments in the midstream sector does not yet exist… “We’ve already reduced our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions intensity by 21%—and curbed our absolute emissions by 14%—compared to our 2018 baseline, through a number of initiatives that include efficiency improvements, reduced power consumption and decarbonization of the energy we use… “Enbridge is also leading the midstream sector in tracking, reporting and reducing Scope 3 emissions. In spite of the current limited guidance, we’ve tracked and reported on these emissions since 2009, and in 2021 we added new Scope 3 metrics that track the emissions intensity of the energy we deliver.”
Pipeline Fighters Hub: WATCH: Landowners United to Stop Pipelines
4/13/22
“Get details on the launch of a new “Landowners Rapid Response Guide & Videos” from the Property Rights & Pipeline Center, as well as a new report on the safety risks and lack of regulation of carbon pipelines, commissioned by the Pipeline Safety Trust and Bold Alliance. Attorney Brian Jorde, with Domina Law Group and Nebraska Easement Action Team, will also give an update on organizing landowners into legal co-ops to fight eminent domain in the impacted states. SPEAKERS: Jane Kleeb, Bold Alliance & Pipeline Fighters Hub; Jill Averitt, Property Rights and Pipeline Center; Paul Blackburn, Attorney, Bold Alliance; Bill Caram, Pipeline Safety Trust; Brian Jorde, Attorney, Domina Law Group & Nebraska Easement Action Team.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Politico: GAZPOLITIK
Matthew Choi, 4/13/22
“President Joe Biden’s latest moves to temper high gasoline prices have environmentalists facing a dilemma: Reject the near-term calls for more fossil fuels as counter to their climate goals or accept the administration’s stance as necessary to improve Democrats’ political prospects come November,” Politico reports. “The question came into focus after the administration announced it would waive restrictions on gasoline blended with 15 percent ethanol for the summer driving season in a bid to lower gasoline prices.. While biofuel backers contend it's a crucial part of the clean energy transition, some environmental activists are skeptical about biofuels’ benefits in reducing greenhouse gases and see it as another move tying the U.S. to future fossil fuel use… “It’s not even so much that I think the administration is recommitting to oil and gas, it’s that nobody can tell what they’re trying to do,” Justin Guay, director of global climate strategy at the environmental group Sunrise Project, told Politico. “They’re not telling a coherent story.”
E&E News: Climate questions mount as U.S. rushes LNG to Europe
Benjamin Storrow, 4/14/22
“The promise and peril of America’s natural gas boom is readily apparent near the mouth of the Sabine River, where refinery stacks and lumbering gas tankers tower over a coastal plain of sweeping marshes pocked by hurricane damage,” E&E News reports. “This ribbon of water, which separates Texas from Louisiana, is the beating heart of the U.S. liquefied natural gas industry. Last week, two tankers the length of three football fields were docked at a terminal on the Louisiana bank. One, bound for Poland, is capable of carrying enough gas to meet the country’s demand for an entire day… “Now, with Russia waging war in Ukraine and Asia’s growing economies hungry for energy, the world is demanding even more American LNG. President Joe Biden has promised to send more American shipments to Europe, as part of an E.U. effort to slash Russian gas imports to the continent by two-thirds… “The surging demand for American LNG represents a watershed moment for the energy transition in the U.S., pitting the need to supply allied nations with energy against attempts to slash greenhouse gas emissions… “But environmentalists say the gas industry continues to struggle with leaky wellheads, compressor stations and pipelines — allowing methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, to escape into the atmosphere. They worry a proliferation of new LNG terminals could lock in gas burning for decades to come… “The administration’s position on this is disappointing. In fact, they’re using us as a sacrifice zone that has suffered for decades under the oppression of environmental contamination from the petrochemical industry in order to stick it to Russia and to help European allies and friends,” John Beard, a former City Council member who leads the Port Arthur Community Action Network, told E&E. “Do the so-called national and strategic interests outweigh the domestic interests of your own citizens?”
Wall Street Journal: Oil Industry Objects to Fees, Permits to Mitigate Accidental Bird Killings
Katy Stech Ferek, 4/14/22
“Oil industry groups and wildlife conservation advocates are squaring off over Biden administration plans to adopt new federal rules for the accidental killing of migratory birds,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Supporters say the measures being weighed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will encourage companies and developers to take steps to prevent the inadvertent killing of birds…”
E&E News: EJ advocates have a plan to monitor Biden’s progress
Kelsey Brugger, 4/13/22
“The Biden administration has promoted its signature environmental justice initiative as a linchpin of its equity agenda, but few people outside Washington seem to have any idea what it is, three prominent activists said yesterday,” E&E News reports. “ “I have not met many elected officials in my state or in many others who have ever heard of it,” Peggy Shepard, executive director of New York environmental justice group We Act for Environmental Justice, told E&E. Shepard and two other top activists — Beverly Wright and Bob Bullard — yesterday announced their own shadow initiative to “compliment” and “supplement” President Joe Biden’s agenda. Their new three-pronged plan — backed by the Bezos Earth Fund — would track and monitor the federal government’s effort to invest 40 percent of climate-related benefits in areas long inflicted by environmental racism. A virtual press conference yesterday from Wright and Bullard suggested the advocates are concerned with the administration’s implementation of Justice40, and other environmental justice initiatives throughout the government… “The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice will convene regional and national gatherings to foster community buy-in, she told E&E.
STATE UPDATES
CNN.com: NY AG launches gas price gouging investigation into the oil industry
Matt Egan, CNN, 4/14/22
“New York Attorney General Letitia James launched a wide-ranging investigation Thursday into whether the oil industry has engaged in gas price gouging,” CNN.com reports. “The probe is believed to be the first in the nation directed at the industry for the ongoing bout of high pump prices and comes as some Democrats question whether oil companies are taking advantage of consumers. The New York investigation is broad, examining the state's entire supply chain, from production to pump, CNN has learned. The probe will focus not only on major oil companies that supply oil to the state but refineries that turn crude into gasoline as well as independent operators of pipelines and terminals, the source said. New York's price gouging statute gives authorities wide power to investigate entire supply chains, covering all actors including manufacturers, retailers, distributors and shipping firms… "Soaring gas prices are forcing working New Yorkers and low-income families to make difficult decisions on whether to pay bills or put food on the table. Price gouging is unfair and illegal and my office is determined to make sure it doesn't happen in our state," James said.
San Jose Mercury News: Brentwood temporarily halts any future gas, oil drilling
JUDITH PRIEVE, 4/13/22
“Brentwood will temporarily ban new oil and gas development as it studies a long-term plan for regulating such activities,” the San Jose Mercury News reports. “The City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to implement the moratorium for 45 days, possibly to be extended if staff needs more time to finalize regulations. The city currently regulates all oil and gas development in the city and exploratory operations in certain areas of Brentwood, though currently there are no active or pending permits or applications, City Manager Tim Ogden said. Because of that, the moratorium won’t have any immediate or anticipated effect on private property or development rights, he said. Previously, after hearing residents and council members’ concerns, the City Council directed staff to examine the possibility of a stronger set of regulations, including considering an increased buffer zone for sensitive areas and a total ban on new oil and gas development within city limits. Several residents spoke in favor of the moratorium on Tuesday. “We don’t need any more oil or gas drilling near residential properties,” Rod Flohr said. “And, there’s no place in Brentwood anymore that’s within a safe distance… It’s so important. It’s really for everyone that lives here and especially the children that live here to provide a safe, clean and healthy environment.”
EXTRACTION
Associated Press: Battle over carbon capture as tool to fight climate change
BY DREW COSTLEY, 4/13/22
“Polly Glover realized her son had asthma when he was nine months old. Now 26, he carries an inhaler in his pocket whenever he’s out and about in Prairieville, Louisiana, part of Ascension Parish,” the Associated Press reports. “...Glover told AP the air is “terrible” where she lives, but there’s also great biodiversity — osprey, eagles, migratory birds, deer, rabbits, fish and alligators — among the region’s lakes, rivers and wetlands. The environmental advocate has been working for 30 years to preserve the place she’s loved since childhood. That’s why she is wary of anything that might make air quality worse or threaten wildlife — and her biggest fear now is that a $4.5 billion plant designed to capture climate-changing carbon and make clean-burning hydrogen fuel will actually do more harm to the Lake Maurepas basin… “I’m not a scientist. I’m a mom who cares,” she told AP. “We have got to be better stewards of the environment and while reducing carbon emissions is necessary, injecting them into the basin is not the answer.” “...Opponents of carbon capture and storage maintain the technology is unproven and has been less effective than alternatives such as solar and wind at decarbonizing the energy sector. “Carbon capture is neither workable nor feasible,” Basav Sen, climate justice policy director for the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank based in Washington, D.C., told AP. “It’s merely an excuse for the fossil fuel industry to keep operating the way it does.” A study in late 2020 by researchers from the University of California, San Diego, found over 80% of 39 projects that have sought to commercialize carbon capture and storage ended in failure. The study cited lack of technological readiness as a top factor. “
TheEnergyMix: Quebec Becomes World’s First Jurisdiction to Ban Oil and Gas Exploration
Mitchell Beer, 4/13/22
“In what campaigners are calling a world first, Quebec’s National Assembly voted Tuesday afternoon to ban new oil and gas exploration and shut down existing drill sites within three years, even as the promoters behind the failed Énergie Saguenay liquefied natural gas (LNG) project try to revive it as a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” TheEnergyMix reports. “By becoming the first state to ban oil and gas development on its territory, Quebec is paving the way for other states around the world and encouraging them to do the same,” Montreal-based Équiterre said in a release. “However, it is important that the political will that made this law possible be translated into greenhouse gas reductions in the province, since Quebec and Canada have done too little to reduce their GHGs over the past 30 years.” “...Bill 21—whose numbering on Quebec’s legislative calendar leaves it open to confusion with an older, deeply controversial law on religious freedoms—will require fossil operators to shut down existing exploration wells within three years, or 12 months if the sites are at risk of leaking, Le Devoir reports. The bill follows Quebec’s announcement during last year’s COP 26 climate summit that it would join the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA), part of a list of a dozen jurisdictions that did not include Canada, the United States, or the United Kingdom. Quebec’s legislation commits the government to cover 75% of the shutdown and remediation costs for the 62 sites across the province and compensate fossils for any exploration permits they received after October 2015. That made for a less complete win than climate and energy campaigners were aiming for and prompted the opposition Québec Solidaire to vote against the bill.”
Grist: Historically redlined neighborhoods have twice the number of oil and gas wells
Julia Kane, 4/13/22
“Neighborhoods that were redlined have nearly twice as many oil and gas wells as neighborhoods that were historically considered “desirable,” a new study has found,” Grist reports. “The findings underscore the connection between structural racism and polluting oil and gas infrastructure. The analysis is the first of its kind, the work of researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of California, San Francisco, and Columbia University. They compared data on the location of plugged and active oil and gas wells to data from maps generated by the Home Owners Loan Corporation, the federal lending program created to prevent home foreclosures during the Great Depression. The program excluded Black people — as well as Jews, other people of color, and immigrants — from opportunities by creating maps which labeled white neighborhoods as “desirable,” shading them green, and labeled Black neighborhoods, in particular, as “hazardous,” shading them red — hence the term “redlining.” Looking at data for 33 cities where oil and gas wells are drilled and operated in urban neighborhoods across 13 states, researchers discovered the striking correlation between neighborhoods that were redlined and neighborhoods that have a high density of oil and gas wells. This new analysis “clarifies the role of systemic environmental racism in creating disparities,” Kyle Ferrar, a program director with FracTracker, a group that provides data on the health effects of oil and gas development, told Grist.
Hyperallergic: Dripping in “Oil,” Activists Protest BP Sponsorship of Stonehenge Exhibition
Elaine Velie, 4/13/22
“Today, April 13, activists staged an action at the British Museum in protest of its World of Stonehenge exhibition, which examines the history of the 5,000-year-old structure in Wiltshire, England and displays associated Neolithic objects. The protest targeted British Petroleum (BP)’s fiscal sponsorship of the museum and the British government’s controversial plan to build a road near the Stonehenge site,” Hyperallergic reports. “Around 3pm, members of the Stonehenge Heritage Action Group entered the museum’s atrium and poured paint over their heads that looked like oil. They held banners that read “Our Ancestors Would Be Outraged” and “BP Funding Culture and Climate Chaos.” According to a statement by the group, museum security did not attempt to intervene. “How can they pretend to care about the preservation and protection of the Stonehenge landscape, while simultaneously allowing fossil fuels within their walls?” said a protester who goes by Goldi in an email shared with Hyperallergic. Pressure on the British Museum to cut ties with BP has been mounting. Last month, 300 archaeologists signed an open letter to the museum urging the institution to end BP’s sponsorship, and theater collective BP or not BP? staged a protest presenting spoof “Stonehenge drilling plans,” one of many actions organized by the group over the last few years.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
Investors for Paris Compliance: ENBRIDGE TO FACE SHAREHOLDER VOTE ON NET ZERO PLANS
4/14/22
“Enbridge will face a shareholder proposal at its annual general meeting on May 4 regarding the adequacy of its net zero plans. While the company claims to have a net zero strategy, the proposal asks for this to be "science based," with several measures that would prove it to be so,” according to Investors for Paris Compliance. "...Enbridge and other companies in the oil and gas sector need to dramatically improve their net zero pledges to align with science and to better reduce business risks while seizing opportunities, said Duncan Kenyon, Director of Corporate Engagement with Investors for Paris Compliance (I4PC)... “Specifically, the resolution asks Enbridge to make its net zero commitment account for all of its emissions (Scope 1, 2 and 3); align capital expenditures and develop an emission reduction target for 2030 consistent with the Paris agreement; and develop, communicate, and implement a decarbonisation strategy that illustrates to investors and other stakeholders that Enbridge understands the financial risks and the opportunities that exist in the fast-paced transition to a low carbon economy.”
OPINION
Grist: I was in the IPCC negotiations. The report bets the planet on tech that doesn’t yet exist.
Linda Schneider is a senior program officer for international climate policy at the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Berlin, 4/11/22
“As an expert reviewer and observer for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, I was in the Zoom room during the marathon negotiations that concluded last Monday with the release of the new report. Like many of my colleagues in the climate advocacy world, I’m deeply concerned that it avoids saying what needs to be said: We can’t just reduce fossil fuels, we must fully phase out fossil fuels. And we must do so before 2050,” Linda Schneider writes for Grist. “...But this report, focused on mitigation, dilutes fossil fuel “phase out” by emphasizing “abatement technologies” like carbon capture storage, calling these still largely theoretical techno fixes “unavoidable.” “...The new report relies on modeling that heavily factors carbon dioxide removal and carbon-capture storage, two technologies that the IPCC has repeatedly warned are full of uncertainties and carry a high risk of adverse social and environmental outcomes. Many studies predict that their deployment at the required scale simply is not feasible… “The result of betting on speculative and dangerous technologies is that it buys the fossil fuel industry more time for extraction: In scenarios that limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), the new report states, the use of coal, oil, and gas must decrease by median values of 95, 60, and 45 percent, respectively, compared to 2019. This allows for substantial fossil fuel emissions well into the midcentury on the assumption that we’ll be able to capture and remove the excess carbon. The report explicitly states that carbon dioxide removal “can allow countries to reach net zero emissions without phasing out all fossil fuels.” This almost guarantees we overshoot 1.5 degrees.’
Globe and Mail: How CNOOC’s big bet on the oil sands became a major liability in just 10 years
Jeffrey Jones, 4/14/22
“A decade ago, Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper’s government turned itself inside out for several months. It wanted to be seen as pro-foreign investment, but also a protector of Canada’s biggest energy bounty – the oil sands,” Jeffrey Jones writes for the Globe and Mail. “In the end, Mr. Harper allowed China’s CNOOC Ltd. N/A to acquire Nexen Inc., a struggling oil and gas producer, for a hefty US$15.1-billion. But he also imposed a new rule. Alberta’s oil sands were of such strategic national importance, this would be the last time a foreign state-owned enterprise could buy up control of a project… “Today, China no longer covets the oil sands as it seeks to reduce risks associated with doing business in countries where it has been embroiled in diplomatic and trade battles. Reuters reported on Wednesday that CNOOC is preparing to jettison its assets in Canada, the United States and Britain, largely acquired in the Nexen deal, as China fears sanctions by those governments. It shows in particular how Canada’s strategic energy resources have, in Beijing’s view, gone from premium assets to liabilities in just 10 years. The Nexen takeover has become the Canadian oil patch’s own version of the Bonfire of the Vanities movie, the critical and commercial flop that became synonymous with exorbitant cost and poor return. It also marked the end of an era of excess… “But the oil sands could be a tough sell, given their well-known history, environmental challenges – and a rule that says only domestic companies need apply.”