EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 4/22/22
PIPELINE NEWS
Breeze-Courier: CO2 pipeline major County Board topic
Norfolk Daily News: Carbon pipeline economic impact includes $541 million in Nebraska construction
Public News Service: Monday Deadline for Comments on PA Gas Pipeline Expansion
Minot Daily News: PSC sets hearing on pipeline project
Yahoo News: How undrinkable water in Indigenous Canadian communities pushed this 17-year-old activist to confront Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
WASHINGTON UPDATES
STATE UPDATES
Press release: Top Scientists: California Must End Neighborhood Oil Drilling, Phase Out Fossil Fuels
Colorado Newsline: Some cities, states say big oil should pay for climate damage
KRQE: New study shows New Mexico has seen an increase in oil spills
EXTRACTION
The Tyee: Living Near Fracked Wells Increases Adverse Birth Outcome Risk, Study Suggests
E&E News: Study: Low-producing oil wells cause 50% of methane emissions
Guardian: ‘What we now know … they lied’: how big oil companies betrayed us all
Reuters: Lyondell Basell to shutter Houston oil refinery in exit from refining
CLIMATE FINANCE
TheEnergyMix: Canada Leads World with $11B in Public Financing for Fossil Fuel Development
Reuters: Aspen says will not renew insurance for Trans Mountain pipeline
OPINION
Bemidji Pioneer: LETTER TO THE EDITOR: We should all be thankful Line 3 was replaced
PIPELINE NEWS
Breeze-Courier: CO2 pipeline major County Board topic
Kim Paisley-Jones, 4/21/22
“A packed house filled Court Room A in the Christian County Courthouse for the regular meeting of the Christian County Board Tuesday night,” the Breeze-Courier reports. “Numerous citizens spoke during the public comments section of the meeting about the current proposal for a Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Project… “Steve Brockelsby, of the Christian County Citizens To Protect the Aquifer spoke to the crowd. “...We’ve spoken to land owners and we marked down everybody that was a “no” in the proposed dump site. That is over 80% of landowners who are opposed to it. (Regarding) the proposed pipeline site, I believe there is approximately 90% opposed to it from the Christian County line to the dump site. I just want you to be aware of how the land owners feel and citizens of the community. I personally haven’t talked to anyone that is for it. The company is money oriented and not for the citizens of the county,” said Steve Brockelsby… “Nicole Lanham, a Christian County farmer and wife, urged the board to stop the CO2 pipeline and sequestration sites. “Also vote for a six month moratorium to get your bearings and to truly understand the weight of these measures…Allowing a private company to come into our county and take and tamper with ground, even if the owner opposes, is downright un-American.” “...Jeff Nolan approached the board to let them know “It is within the county’s rights, under health, safety and welfare, to put a set back they deem necessary, after studying the aquifer, wells or whatever. They have set backs and you can add to it.”
Norfolk Daily News: Carbon pipeline economic impact includes $541 million in Nebraska construction
4/21/22
“A new study shows that Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed carbon capture, transportation and storage project will create jobs, generate new tax revenue for local communities, support local suppliers and strengthen the Midwest regional economy,” the Norfolk Daily News reports. “Ernst & Young, a global leader in accounting and professional services, conducted the study… “In addition to those benefits, the latest analysis shows the overwhelmingly positive impact of this private investment, including the creation of thousands of new high-quality jobs, the utilization of local suppliers and main street businesses, and tens of millions of dollars in new tax revenues that will help local communities fund our roads, hospitals, first responders and more,” Jake Ketzner, Summit Carbon Solutions vice president of government and public affairs, told the News. In Nebraska alone, the construction phase is expected to generate $541 million in construction costs. Total labor income in Nebraska is projected at $249 million, with $41 million in state and local taxes paid. Annual Nebraska expenditures are projected at $29 million, with annual state and local taxes paid by Summit in Nebraska projected at $16 million.”
Public News Service: Monday Deadline for Comments on PA Gas Pipeline Expansion
Emily Scott, 4/22/22
“Pennsylvanians have until Monday to submit public comments on a draft Environmental Impact Statement for a gas pipeline expansion in Northeastern Pennsylvania,” Public News Service reports. “Some critics of the project say the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has not properly considered all the effects of the proposal. The Regional Energy Access Expansion, by the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, would add 22 miles of pipeline in Luzerne County and nearly 14 miles in Monroe County. Jessica O'Neill, senior attorney for the group PennFuture, told PNS the draft Environmental Impact Statement does not go far enough in discussing how additional pipelines would affect natural resources. "This pipeline would cut across really sensitive, exceptional value waterways, and we don't think the draft EIS does enough to look at the cumulative impact of the cuts through these waterways," O'Neill told PNS. "There's endangered and protected species; there are a lot of people that rely upon the high-quality waterways for their living." “...Pennsylvania is the nation's second-largest natural gas producer. The proposed pipeline route also crosses habitat for threatened and endangered plant and animal species, including white-fringed orchid, Indiana bat, northern long-eared bat, timber rattlesnake and bog turtle.”
Minot Daily News: PSC sets hearing on pipeline project
4/22/22
“The North Dakota Public Service Commission will hold a public hearing on May 5, regarding a proposal to construct a crude oil pipeline in McKenzie and Golden Valley counties,” the Minot Daily News reports. “Bridger Pipeline LLC is requesting a siting permit for about 80 miles of 16-inch crude oil transmission pipeline. The estimated capacity of the pipeline is 105,000 barrels per day, with the ability to increase the capacity to 250,000 barrels per day. Estimated cost of the North Dakota portion of the project is $61 million. The proposed pipeline would transport crude oil from Eighty-Eight Oil, LLC’s existing Johnson’s Corner Terminal in North Dakota to Bridger’s existing Sandstone Station about eight and a half miles west of Baker, Montana.”
Yahoo News: How undrinkable water in Indigenous Canadian communities pushed this 17-year-old activist to confront Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Rachel Sarah, 4/21/22
“Autumn Peltier was just 8 years old when she saw a sign at a Canadian First Nation reservation near her own warning people not to drink the water because it was toxic,” Yahoo News reports. “...Then, in 2019, Peltier's great aunt Josephine Mandamin, a water activist, had a dying wish: that the girl carry on her work. That's when she stepped in as the Anishinabek Nation Chief Water Commissioner — the youngest ever to take on this role (as explained in a forthcoming kids' book), which entails providing advice about water to leaders and citizens in 40 First Nations across Ontario through dialogue and information exchanges… “In her role, Peltier, now 17, has aimed to get clean drinking water to all Indigenous communities, partly by circulating a petition which states, "In Canada, while our water quality is ranked among the best in the world having 20% of the world's fresh water, First Nations across the country still struggle to access a safe supply." The petition has more than 70,000 signatures as of this month, and Peltier plans to soon hand deliver it to Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, hoping to hold him accountable to a promise he made to her last time she met him, six years ago: that all First Nations communities in Canada would have clean drinking water by now. "I am very unhappy with the choices you've made," Peltier told Trudeau then. Then she began to cry, adding just two words: "the pipelines," referring to proposals to expand several oil sands pipelines — such as Kinder Morgan and Line 3 — which can contaminate water and a range of ecosystems, including through increased oil tanker traffic that brings a high risk of oil leaks and spills, plus massive carbon emissions. ("It would take volumes to document all the dangers they pose to people, nature and the planet," wrote Natural Resources Defense Council senior advocate Amy Mall of the pipelines recently.)
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Politico: A REVIEW? IN THIS ECONOMY?
Matthew Choi, 4/21/22
“Senate Republicans are also coming out against the Army Corps of Engineers’ review of its Nationwide Permit 12 for Oil or Natural Gas Pipeline Activities, saying the current energy pinch from the war in Ukraine is hardly the time to be adding any barriers to domestic energy capacity,” Politico reports. “The corps announced it would be reviewing NWP 12 late last month as part of Biden’s day-1 executive order on climate change mandating all federal agencies ensure their work is in line with its climate and environmental objectives. The review will include public feedback, particularly with communities that could be impacted by pipelines. The corps cited past concerns that environmental reviews for oil and gas pipelines didn’t adequately take into account environmental justice concerns. But the 10 senators, led by Environment and Public Works ranking member Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), said the review was part of a host of administration actions that confused and delayed permitting for critical infrastructure.”
E&E News: EPA floats options to curb gas plant carbon emissions
Jean Chemnick, 4/21/22
“EPA tipped its hand today on the kinds of control options it is considering for a future rule to meaningfully curb carbon pollution from new natural gas power plants,” E&E News reports. “The agency released a white paper seeking public comment for efficiency measures and carbon control technologies that could form the basis of the rule, which is expected to be proposed later this year… “The paper explores design features of electric generating units that could boost a gas plant’s efficiency and help it produce more power with less emissions or to better support intermittent renewable energy. These run the gamut from combined cycle turbines instead of simple cycle turbines, features to help units ramp up quickly for lower-capacity use and options for limiting other pollutants without sapping efficiency. It explores combined heat and power — which allows the same fuel to produce both electricity and thermal output. It also delves into options that would average emissions from a gas-fired unit with nonemitting renewable generation at the same site. It requests comment on how carbon capture, utilization and storage could be applied to gas-based power generation. And, it evaluates how hydrogen could be used to bring down overall emissions.”
STATE UPDATES
Press release: Top Scientists: California Must End Neighborhood Oil Drilling, Phase Out Fossil Fuels
4/20/22
“Nearly 200 scientists marked Earth Week by sending a letter today calling on the Newsom administration to immediately end neighborhood oil drilling and rapidly phase out fossil fuel production in California. The letter is signed by 192 leading scientists, including original signatories Robert Bullard and Michael Mann, as well as California scientists Aradhna Tripati, Manuel Pastor, Bhavna Shamasunder, Mijin Cha, Rebecca Hernandez and Peter Kalmus. While the scientists commend the Newsom administration for taking historic steps toward limiting fossil fuel production, they say stronger actions are needed to protect public health, deliver on environmental justice and prevent more of the drought, heat and deadly fire already devastating the state. “California’s dirty oil drilling pollutes our communities, making children sick and taking lives,” said Aradhna Tripati, Ph.D., a professor in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Oil and gas are fueling the climate disasters that are wreaking havoc across the state. Distant phaseout goals mean more drought, deadly fires and punishing storms. Gov. Newsom must move faster to phase out the dirty fossil fuel production that jeopardizes our climate and communities.”
Colorado Newsline: Some cities, states say big oil should pay for climate damage
ALEX BROWN, 4/22/22
“In the waning days of 2021, a grass fire broke out in Boulder County. Fueled by extreme drought and high winds, the fire swept through the communities of Superior and Louisville. Within hours, it had destroyed more than a thousand structures — making the Marshall Fire the most destructive in the state’s history,” Colorado Newsline reports. “Boulder leaders are working to reduce fuel loads in the forests and open spaces owned by the city. They’re seeking to make the neighborhoods bordering those lands more fire resilient... “And local leaders think oil companies should pay for it. In February, the city and county of Boulder, along with San Miguel County in western Colorado, scored a significant win in their legal fight against ExxonMobil and Suncor energy companies when a federal appeals court ruled that the case would remain in state court… “Oil companies, with the backing of some other states, have fought to move the cases to federal court, where they think national regulations around drilling, refining, emissions and air quality would invalidate the legal claims against them. The local governments that have sued say their cases rest on Big Oil’s deception about the harm its products would cause, giving them a foothold under state law to seek damages. The jurisdictional battle, which more federal appeals courts are likely to rule on this year, will have massive implications for whether the climate lawsuits proceed to local jury trials. If they do, it would set up a high-stakes showdown over the still uncertain territory of legal accountability for climate change — with billions of dollars on the line.”
KRQE: New study shows New Mexico has seen an increase in oil spills
Zack White, 4/21/22
“During the pandemic, fewer people were out and about so demand for fuel was down, now that things are getting back to normal, oil production is back and so is the number of spills,” KRQE reports. “According to a new study by the Center for Western Priorities, oil and gas companies spilled over 658,000 gallons of oil in New Mexico last year from a total of 1,368 spills. That’s significantly higher than the 1,269 spills in 2020. Officials are attributing the lower numbers in 2020 to the pandemic and now things are returning to normal, and so is oil production… “What we have found is that if we trend all of the spill data a lot of times these spills are preventable, so we want to encourage operators to take a look at their operations, put preventative mechanisms in place so that, we’re preventing these spills upfront rather than having to clean them up on the backend,” ENMRD Oil Conservation Division Director Adrienne Sandoval told KQRE… “So far this year, there have been 400 liquid releases or oil spills.”
EXTRACTION
The Tyee: Living Near Fracked Wells Increases Adverse Birth Outcome Risk, Study Suggests
Michelle Gamage, 4/21/22
“Living within 10 kilometres of a fracked gas well during pregnancy or just before you get pregnant could cause adverse birth outcomes like babies born preterm or underweight, according to a new study,” The Tyee reports. “The study, published recently in JAMA Pediatrics, followed 26,193 individuals in rural Alberta from Jan. 1, 2013 to Dec. 31, 2018. It tracked 34,873 pregnancies, looking at how close expectant parents lived to fracking wells and if there were any complications. The research suggests that the more fracking wells within 10 kilometres, the higher your risk of adverse birth outcomes, Amy Metcalfe, the report’s senior author, told the Tyee. “The key takeaway is really about living near high-density fracking operations,” she said. Living near one well created “relatively small” risks, while living near 100 creates a “clear dose response” — in other words, a clear impact… “While it’s only the second Canadian study in this area, it’s part of a growing body of research that suggests fracking impacts human health, either because of groundwater pollution or air pollution, Dr. Margaret McGregor, a clinical associate professor at the department of family practice at the University of British Columbia, told the Tyee… “In a paper that McGregor recently submitted for publication, she reviewed 38 North American studies where the “majority found adverse associations with exposure to fracking.” One study even found being around oil and gas developments meant you were more likely to die.”
E&E News: Study: Low-producing oil wells cause 50% of methane emissions
Carlos Anchondo, 4/21/22
“Low-producing oil and gas wells are to blame for roughly half of the methane emitted from all U.S. well sites, despite making up 6 percent of the country’s total production, according to new research published this week,” E&E News reports. “The study, published in Nature Communications, is the first comprehensive look at low-production well site emissions nationwide, researchers said. The paper found that low-producing or “marginal” wells emit methane at a rate 6 to 12 times higher than the national average — releasing some 4 million metric tons of the potent greenhouse gas a year. “Our research shows that the total methane emitted from the country’s half million low-producing wells has the same impact on the climate every year as 88 coal-fired power plants,” Mark Omara, a scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund and lead author, told E&E… “Omara at EDF told E&E the study supports the need for including low-production well sites “as part of any effective mitigation strategy” for oil and gas methane emissions. Environmental groups have long opposed exemptions for low-producing wells, something that oil and gas companies, as well as trade associations and some state regulators, have pressed EPA for in recent years… “Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Western Energy Alliance, told E&E that if EPA doesn’t give an exemption for marginal wells, “its regulation anticipated later this year will render them uneconomic, thereby shutting down up to 8 percent of American production…At a time when we need more, not less American production, this is yet another policy path the administration is on to keep energy prices high for consumers.”
Guardian: ‘What we now know … they lied’: how big oil companies betrayed us all
Chris McGreal, 4/21/22
“There is a moment in the revelatory PBS Frontline docuseries The Power of Big Oil, about the industry’s long campaign to stall action on the climate crisis, in which the former Republican senator Chuck Hagel reflects on his part in killing US ratification of the Kyoto climate treaty,” the Guardian reports. “...A quarter of a century later, Hagel acknowledges that the vote was wrong, and blames the oil industry for malignly claiming the science of climate change was not proved when companies such as Exxon and Shell already knew otherwise from their own research. “What we now know about some of these large oil companies’ positions … they lied. And yes, I was misled. Others were misled when they had evidence in their own institutions that countered what they were saying publicly. I mean they, lied,” he told the documentary-makers… “The documentary’s makers have dug out a parade of former oil company scientists, lobbyists and public relations strategists who lay bare how the US’s biggest petroleum firm, Exxon, and then the broader petroleum industry, moved from attempting to understand the causes of a global heating to a concerted campaign to hide the making of an environmental catastrophe… “Some of those interviewed shamefacedly admit their part in the decades-long campaign to hide the evidence of climate change, discredit scientists and delay action that threatened big oil’s profits. Others almost boast about how easy it was to dupe the American public and politicians, with consequences not just for the US but every country on the planet. What emerges is a picture of a political system so compromised by corporate money that even when it finally appears that truth will win out, reality is swiftly smothered.”
Reuters: Lyondell Basell to shutter Houston oil refinery in exit from refining
By Erwin Seba, 4/21/22
“Chemical maker Lyondell Basell Industries (LYB.N) will permanently close its Houston crude oil refinery by the end of 2023, the company said on Thursday,” Reuters reports. “The decision comes after two failed attempts to sell the plant and the closing of five U.S. refineries in the last two years. Refining until recently has been beset by high costs and low margins… “The refinery, which makes gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, will remain in operation and the company will continue to seek potential transactions and/or alternatives for the roughly 700-acre site on the Houston Ship Channel. The company earlier took a $264 million impairment charge as part of its decision to exit refining. In the past 10 years, Lyondell has twice mounted efforts to sell the 263,776 barrel-per-day refinery but failed to conclude a deal… "The refinery could sell for a significant amount," John Auers, executive vice president of Turner, Mason & Co, a Dallas-based energy consultancy, told Reuters. "I certainly don't expect it to close given this statement."
CLIMATE FINANCE
TheEnergyMix: Canada Leads World with $11B in Public Financing for Fossil Fuel Development
4/22/22
“Canada shows up as the world’s biggest provider of trade and development finance for fossil fuels, averaging US$11 billion per year between 2018 and 2020, and Russia emerges as the second-biggest recipient of international public finance for fossil projects, in the latest update of the Public Finance for Energy Database released this week by Oil Change International,” TheEnergyMix reports. “G20 governments provide more than US$100 billion each year in international finance for energy projects through their trade and development institutions,” the database states. “This money has an outsized influence on what kinds of energy projects get built. Unfortunately, for every dollar going to the clean energy we need to build a just and liveable future, 2.5x more is still flowing to fossil fuels,” with oil, gas, and coal projects averaging $63 billion per year in international public financing over the three-year range of the data—compared to about $26.7 billion for clean energy. That financing amounts to about 10% of global energy financing, but “reaches beyond its own scale because public finance also has an outsized effect on the decisions private financiers make,” writes OCI Public Finance Campaign Co-Manager Bronwen Tucker. In the database, Canada’s $11 billion per year in international fossil finance narrowly edges out Japan, at $10.9 billion, followed by South Korea at $10.6 billion, China at $7.3 billion, and the United States at $3.1 billion. Just over half of the financing now flows to fossil gas projects, Tucker adds, and “most international public finance flows between wealthy countries, not to lower-income countries in support of development.”
Reuters: Aspen says will not renew insurance for Trans Mountain pipeline
Carolyn Cohn, 4/21/22
“Lloyd's of London insurer Aspen said it would not renew cover for Canada's Trans Mountain pipeline, joining several other insurers which have backed away from covering the project,” Reuters reports. “We can confirm that we do not plan to renew the Trans Mountain Tar Sands Oil Pipeline project," an Aspen spokesperson told Reuters. Aspen joins 16 other insurers which have dropped Trans Mountain or said they will not insure its expansion, according to the Coal Action Network.”
OPINION
Bemidji Pioneer: LETTER TO THE EDITOR: We should all be thankful Line 3 was replaced
Clinton Lilyquist II, Longville, Minn., 4/20/22
“Last year thousands of people came to Minnesota from around the country to protest, threaten workers, and try to stop the Enbridge Line 3 replacement project,” Clinton Lilyquist II writes in the Bemidji Pioneer. “Line 3 opponents claimed we do not need pipelines. The Biden Administration now wants Canada to use pipelines to export more oil to the U.S. because of what’s happening around the world. I wonder where those opponents are now and what they think about how wrong they were. For those of us who supported the project and the need to have a safe and reliable source of energy, replacing Line 3 always made sense. I never could understand why anyone that is "green" friendly would not want a new pipeline with modern technology to greatly reduce the possibility of a spill. Seeing what is happening now in the world and the fact the U.S. needs Canada to import more oil, we should all be thankful that Line 3 was replaced and restored to its full capacity.”