EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 4/26/22
PIPELINE NEWS
Park Rapids Enterprise: Pipeline protesters rally to ‘drop the charges’
Des Moines Register: Iowa official asks Summit Carbon Solutions for more information about possible pipeline leaks, dangers
Oskaloosa Herald: Proposed carbon pipeline questioned by local residents, landowners
Star Tribune: Watchdogs troubled by ties to Iowa government by those behind carbon dioxide pipeline
Sioux Falls Argus Leader: What will sway PUC's decision to permit SD's first CO2 pipeline? Here's what we know.
Fort Dodge Messenger: Webster Co. supervisors to vote on pipeline letter
KIMT: Floyd County residents speak out about planned carbon capture pipeline
Coalition to Stop CO2 Pipelines: Join Our May 2, 7pm Webinar: Learn How to Intervene in the ICC Process and Why It Is Important
Center for Biological Diversity: Federal Officials Forced to Reexamine Kentucky Pipeline’s Threats to Endangered Bats
Press release: TC Energy and GreenGasUSA announce strategic collaboration for development of renewable natural gas transportation hubs
Press release: Permian Highway Pipeline Announces Binding Open Season for Expansion Project
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Politico: GINA IS HERE TO STAY
E&E News: Biden reverses Trump’s Alaska oil plan
Politico: GAS FOR CARBON PRICE
New York Times: Climate Activist Dies After Setting Himself on Fire at Supreme Court
STATE UPDATES
InsideClimate News: Proponents Say Storing Captured Carbon Underground Is Safe, But States Are Transferring Long-Term Liability for Such Projects to the Public
Washington Post: Gulf Coast gas export frenzy raises tough questions for U.S., Europe
Bloomberg: Along Gulf Coast, Gas Export Boom Tests Biden Clean Energy Goals
InsideClimate News: California Regulators Banned Fracking Wastewater for Irrigation, but Allow Wastewater From Oil Drilling. Scientists Say There’s Little Difference
Carlsbad Current-Argus: New Mexico's oil counties have some of the worst air pollution in state, study says
EXTRACTION
Globe and Mail: Cutting oil sands emissions by 40 per cent will cost billions, RBC report finds
Politico: Report: Gas stove emissions are dangerous, need federal regs
Bloomberg: Exxon Ban on LGBTQ Pride Flag Triggers Employee Backlash
CLIMATE FINANCE
Press release: Climate Activists Occupy Wells Fargo Global Headquarters
Reuters: NYC pension leaders urge fossil fuel lending curbs, late boost for activists
National Observer: Trans Mountain pipeline insurers dropping like flies
OPINION
Calgary Herald: Varcoe: Canada can hike oil output and decarbonize — 'but at significant cost,' says RBC report
The Hill: The West is burning, flooding and drying up — time to update oil and gas leasing
The Hill: Zero, then negative: Why getting to net-zero isn’t enough
PIPELINE NEWS
Park Rapids Enterprise: Pipeline protesters rally to ‘drop the charges’
Robin Fish, 4/25/22
“A group of self-described water protectors marched April 22 in front of the Hubbard County courthouse. They called for charges to be dropped against demonstrators who were arrested last year during demonstrations against the Line 3 pipeline replacement project,” the Park Rapids Enterprise reports. “The group of approximately 10 people carried “Drop the Charges” banners and a “Water is Life” flag despite a chilly drizzle. “We are gathering here in solidarity with all water protectors everywhere, all around the planet,” said Karen Van Fossan of Fargo, N.D. “In particular, we’re calling for all the charges to be dropped against water protectors who were charged for loving the earth and caring about the next generations and being devoted to the water.” Van Fossan told the Enterprise she had a hearing Friday on charges of criminal trespass. She was arrested during the “treaty people gathering” June 7, 2021 at a pumping station construction site in Hubbard County. Van Fossan told the Enterprise her case was continued for the seventh time. Environmental activist Winona LaDuke told the Enterprise there were 430 charges stemming from that event. “I got charged for the pump station after the fact,” she told the Enterprise… “They want us to hang our heads, but I’m not gonna hang my head,” LaDuke told the Enterprise. “It’s not our fault that they charged us. … They should just drop the charges. It’s a burden to the system.”
Des Moines Register: Iowa official asks Summit Carbon Solutions for more information about possible pipeline leaks, dangers
Donnelle Eller, 4/26/22
“A company that wants to build a controversial carbon capture pipeline across Iowa should tell residents in its path how much danger they face in the event of a leak, the state's consumer advocate says,” according to the Des Moines Register. “Summit Carbon Solutions should provide an analysis assessing the pipeline's risk along with the company's emergency response plan before regulators consider the company's request for a hazardous liquid pipeline permit, Jennifer Easler, Iowa's consumer advocate, wrote in a motion filed this month with the Iowa Utilities Board. Easler also sought more information from the Ames company about public incentives, its investors and treatment of landowners while negotiating easements and surveying their land for the proposed $4.5 billion pipeline crossing 29 Iowa counties.. "Understanding the potential for accidents and resulting injuries is crucial to evaluating the pipeline’s route," Easler wrote, adding that Summit's analysis should include "plume modeling, demonstrating how carbon dioxide would disperse if released into the atmosphere." “...With about 5,000 miles of existing carbon dioxide pipelines, mostly used to pump the gas into oil-bearing rock to squeeze more production from existing wells, "there have been zero fatalities associated with CO2 pipelines over the past 20 years," Jesse Harris, Summit's public affairs director, told the Register… “While no one died, a carbon dioxide pipeline leak two years ago in Satartia, Mississippi, sickened dozens of nearby residents… “Easler also wants Summit to provide information about funding, including a list of possible public incentives and a description of expected revenue sources, each by year; and a list of investors and their share in profits… “Easler wants the state utilities board to require Summit to provide information about how it chose its route and alternatives it considered as well as information about how the company is treating landowners while surveying their land and negotiating easements… “Easler also expressed concern about whether Summit was making a good faith effort to negotiate with property owners for easements… “The Sierra Club's Iowa Chapter and other groups have accused agents representing Summit of harassing landowners. The groups also have raised concerns about the pipeline's safety. "For better or worse, we knew what the risks" were with pipelines carrying crude oil, Wally Taylor, a Sierra Club attorney in Iowa, told the Register. "We've had spills costing millions and millions of dollars for cleanup…We don't have any experience with CO2, and Summit is using that against us, saying there's never been a problem. We've never had a pipeline of this magnitude before."
Oskaloosa Herald: Proposed carbon pipeline questioned by local residents, landowners
EMILY HAWK, 4/25/22
“A proposed carbon pipeline that would impact Mahaska County is being questioned by local residents and landowners,” the Oskaloosa Herald reports. “On Friday, more than 20 local constituents gathered at The Book Vault to hear from Sylvia Spalding, landowner in Mahaska County; Carolyn Raffensperger, founder and executive director of Science & Environmental Health Network; and Jess Mazour, conservation program coordinator for the Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club to have a public discussion about the proposed pipeline. The group discussed how the proposed pipeline could impact the area, including the carbon capture and sequestration process, carbon pipeline safety, anticipated county costs and obligations and eminent domain. “We [landowners] got to go to a meeting on Jan. 6, but we only got to hear the side of the story from the pipeline company,” Spalding says. “But there’s a wider story to tell, and we want to be able to tell that story. And we want to tell that story, not only to the landowners, but to other people in the county, because they’re going to be impacted too.” “...However, Raffensperger, an environmental lawyer, told the Herald the carbon pipelines are not a “climate solution.” She explains it requires more energy to capture CO2 than it would to run an ethanol plant. She also says there are no “real” or “adequate” regulations at the federal level because “the CO2 pipelines are such a new idea.” “These are get-rich schemes for already rich people,” Raffensperger told the Herald. “They are not a climate solution.” “...Constituents are also concerned about the pipeline’s safety and the impact it could have on local farmland and the environment if it were to leak. Raffensperger explained what happens to a person’s body when it encounters carbon dioxide, which is an asphyxiant… Raffensperger also mentioned smaller, rural towns and counties who do not have their own first responders, or first responders who do not have adequate carbon dioxide training, would be ill-prepared for leaks.”
Star Tribune: Watchdogs troubled by ties to Iowa government by those behind carbon dioxide pipeline
Leah Douglas, 4/25/22
“Summit Carbon Solutions, the company behind a huge carbon pipeline proposal in the U.S. Midwest, has close ties to Iowa officials and regulators charged with approving a large part of its route, according to a Reuters review of public documents and company websites,” the Star Tribune reports. “...At least four members of Summit's leadership have direct links to the Iowa governor's office or the Iowa Utility Board, both of which could influence the future of the roughly 2,000-mile pipeline, according to the review. These include the top individual donor to Gov. Kim Reynolds and former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, who nominated two of the board's three commissioners, including its chair. The links between Summit's leadership and public officials in Iowa have raised worries among ethics watchdogs and environmental groups over whether project opponents will get a fair hearing. "I would say there is a valid concern on the part of the [pipeline opponents] that they're not getting equal treatment by the government," said Robert Maguire, research director at the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, who examined the Reuters reporting… “Opponents are concerned that Reynolds would veto any bills critical of the pipeline, including one recently passed in the state House that would delay the project's permitting process.”
Sioux Falls Argus Leader: What will sway PUC's decision to permit SD's first CO2 pipeline? Here's what we know.
Nicole Ki, 4/25/22
“South Dakota Public Utilities Commission has had more eyes on its three-member board in the last few months than seemingly anytime in the last decade,” the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports. “Landowners, farmers, property owners and ethanol stakeholders have been keeping track of PUC, as PUC officials navigate "unchartered waters" with whether to permit, South Dakota's first carbon sequestration pipeline from Summit Carbon Solutions. Currently, PUC has granted 340 parties intervenor status and is waiting on another 30 to hand in a complete application by April 28. PUC's role from now until February 2023 is singular: determining whether Summit's permit application meets all the criteria laid outlined in state statue, PUC chairperson Chris Nelson told the Leader… "From a regulatory requirements perspective, there's actually generally no requirement on a federal level [for communications with impacted landowners]," Summit’s Hill told the Argus Leader. That means the routing process in the state of South Dakota is governed by the PUC, he says… “Interactions with Summit's land agents and landowners started last fall. They've also been conducting land, civil, environmental and cultural surveys since then, too… “"We send out news announcements, have updated information on our website, are conducting voluntary open houses for landowners," said Hill, in addition to outreach with county commissioners and engineers. That's not required of Summit, but Hill tells the Leader, "it's the right thing to do." “...So far in South Dakota, Summit reports more than 100 tracts of land signed up already, Summit officials stated.”
Fort Dodge Messenger: Webster Co. supervisors to vote on pipeline letter
KELBY WINGERT, 4/26/22
“The Webster County Board of Supervisors is going to vote today on whether to authorize the board chair to sign a letter on behalf of the board to send to the Iowa Utilities Board opposing the use of eminent domain for the carbon capture pipeline projects being considered in Iowa and Webster County,” the Fort Dodge Messenger reports. “...The issue is on the supervisors’ agenda two weeks after a few local landowners shared their displeasure with the supervisors’ lack of action on opposing the proposed pipelines. “As of today, 25 county boards of supervisors have sent objections to the Iowa Utilities Board and Webster County has not submitted objections or questions — why?” land owner Al Hayek said to the board April 12. “I would like to know what the Webster County Board of Supervisors plan to do to protect our land. Are you for or against the use of eminent domain for a CO2 pipeline?” “...Local landowners have voiced their opposition to the proposed pipelines over the last several months, showing outrage at the possibility of the companies using eminent domain when landowners deny the companies easement rights to their property. “I’m appalled at this board that no objection has been submitted,” Chris Hayek, wife of Al Hayek, said to the board on April 12. “Please rethink your stance.”
KIMT: Floyd County residents speak out about planned carbon capture pipeline
By Alex Jirgens, 4/25/22
“It's a project aimed to reduce the carbon footprint, by transporting carbon dioxide from ethanol plants in Iowa underground to a storage facility in North Dakota,” KIMT reports. “The Midwest Carbon Express is planned to run 681 miles through 30 Iowa counties.. “But affected landowners along where the pipeline is slated to go through are concerned about its effects. Since the project was announced, the Floyd County Board of Supervisors has heard from landowners along the pipeline's route, who feel the pipeline would lead to reduced yields, would affect the state's water supply, and pose a public safety threat. During their meeting on Monday, the Board discussed drafting an ordinance that is planned to be submitted to the Iowa Utilities Board regarding the project. George Cummins owns land that the pipeline is planned to run under. "I think it's going to permanently reduce productivity, profitability and resale values on my property. Also, there's public properties involved." In addition, Cummins and many others that are opposed to the pipeline feel that the company will utilize eminent domain if all landowners don't agree to it in order for the line to be constructed.” “...Across the state, hundreds of landowners and 26 county boards of supervisors have formally signaled their objection to these projects.”
Coalition to Stop CO2 Pipelines: Join Our May 2, 7pm Webinar: Learn How to Intervene in the ICC Process and Why It Is Important
4/25/22
“Within the coming weeks, Navigator CO2 Ventures LLC is expected to file their application with the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) for approval to construct a CO2 pipeline across 240 miles of east‑central Illinois. Once their application is filed, landowners and units of government who wish to be heard about stopping the construction of the CO2 pipeline can, and must, legally intervene in the ICC process. The Illinois Commerce Commission will only consider objections and concerns about the pipeline that are presented by interveners. Our coalition is proposing landowners align their objectives and unite under common legal representation to share costs and develop the strongest possible case. We also hope counties and other units of government will do the same. At this meeting, Joseph D. Murphy, attorney with Meyer Capel, will describe in general the ICC process and a model he thinks could be appropriate for working with organized landowners or units of government. While he will not be giving legal advice at this meeting, he will endeavor to answer questions you may have… “If you are concerned about what the Navigator pipeline will mean to your land, the value of your property, or the safety of your family, you are not alone. Many landowners are awakening to the fact that they will bear the risk, the long-term costs, and the impacts from Navigator’s CO2 pipeline, while Navigator collects all the profits.”
Center for Biological Diversity: Federal Officials Forced to Reexamine Kentucky Pipeline’s Threats to Endangered Bats
4/25/22
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that it will return to the drawing board to ensure that a proposed methane gas pipeline will not jeopardize the survival of three imperiled bat species. The move responds to two conservation groups filing a formal notice of intent to sue the agency and the Army Corps of Engineers for failing to protect the bats from harm threatened by the construction of the proposed Bullitt County Transmission Line. Today’s announcement means that no construction may be completed on the pipeline until the Service consults with the Corps to ensure that the bats are not jeopardized by the project. “Kentucky’s endangered bats can’t wait any longer for protection from habitat destruction, so this is an important step,” said Perrin de Jong, a staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Only committed citizen watchdogs can hold federal officials accountable to their duty to prevent the extinction of these magnificent creatures of the night sky.” In February the Center and Kentucky Resources Council challenged the Service’s finding that the project will not jeopardize three bat species, as well as the Army Corps of Engineers’ Clean Water Act authorization for the pipeline. The three species — Indiana bats, gray bats and northern long-eared bats — all rely on caves and other underground habitat for survival. Indiana bats and gray bats are listed as endangered, while the Service proposed recently to uplist the northern long-eared bat from threatened to endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The proposed pipeline’s path in eastern Bullitt County is laced with abundant karst caves and sinkholes, making it likely that protected bats use the project area as habitat.”
Press release: TC Energy and GreenGasUSA announce strategic collaboration for development of renewable natural gas transportation hubs
4/25/22
“TC Energy Corporation, a leading North American energy infrastructure company, and GreenGasUSA, an owner and operator of renewable natural gas (RNG) value chain critical assets, have announced a strategic collaboration to explore development of a network of natural gas transportation hubs, including RNG. These transportation hubs would provide centralized access to existing energy transportation infrastructure for renewable natural gas sources, such as farms, wastewater treatment facilities and landfills. As part of this collaboration, GreenGasUSA will originate RNG, which is the product of the decomposition of organic matter, condition the gas to pipeline quality and transport it to the RNG hub. This is underpinned by firm transportation contracts with TC Energy for the transport of RNG. TC Energy will build, own and operate the RNG transportation hubs, developing critical steps towards the acceleration of methane capture projects and thus the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. TC Energy’s experience in transporting RNG in the U.S. dates to 2005. There are currently 10 RNG interconnects across TC Energy’s U.S. Natural Gas footprint with plans to rapidly expand and provide more capability before the end of the year… “These transportation hubs are expected to be under development in several states along TC Energy’s 32,700-mile U.S. Natural Gas pipeline system within the next four years. The first hub is targeted for in service in the second quarter of 2023.”
Press release: Permian Highway Pipeline Announces Binding Open Season for Expansion Project
4/25/22
“Permian Highway Pipeline, LLC (PHP) today announced a binding open season to solicit commitments for an expansion project on its system. Upon achieving a final investment decision (FID), the project will increase PHP’s capacity by nearly 650 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d). A foundation shipper has already executed long-term binding transportation agreements for half of this expansion capacity. The project will involve primarily compression expansions on PHP to increase natural gas deliveries from the Waha area to multiple mainline connections, Katy, Texas and various U.S. Gulf Coast markets. Pending additional customer commitments, the target in-service date for the project is October 1, 2023… PHP is jointly owned by subsidiaries of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE: KMI), Kinetik Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: KNTK) and ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) with an ownership interest of 26.7%, 53.3% and 20%, respectively.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Politico: GINA IS HERE TO STAY
Matthew Choi, 4/25/22
“White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy won't be working there "to the end of my days," but has no immediate plans to depart, she said during a Friday talk with Axios, her first public appearance since rumors last week of her impending resignation,” Politico reports. "Right now, my only plan is to deliver for President Biden on the climate actions that we need and to show folks that those actions really are ones that don't require sacrifice, that ought to be embraced and applauded and move forward as quickly as possible. So I'm not ready yet to call it a day or ride off into the sunset."
E&E News: Biden reverses Trump’s Alaska oil plan
Heather Richards, 4/26/22
“The Biden administration released yesterday a long-expected management plan for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, allowing potential drilling across roughly half of the 23-million-acre swath of public land in the Arctic Circle,” E&E News reports. “The final decision reverses a Trump-era plan that had opened the majority of the reserve to oil and gas leasing. It comes as the White House faces tensions on both sides of the political divide for its energy policies, with demands on the left to shut down oil development on federal lands to combat climate change and criticism on the right for not making it easier to drill on public land amid rising gas prices… “It reverses the controversial Trump-era plan — called an integrated activity plan (IAP) — that had opened 82 percent of the reserve’s lands to oil and gas prospectors, and it reinstates the previous management plan, penned under the Obama administration in 2013. The restored IAP protects nearly half of the reserve’s untrammeled lands, including caribou and avian habitats, from oil and gas leasing, as well as includes new stipulations for potential drilling, like revised operating standards to protect endangered species… “Former President Trump’s last-minute move to strip protections from millions of acres in the Western Arctic Reserve was simply unacceptable,” Jenny Rowland-Shea, deputy director for public lands at the Center for American Progress, told E&E. “Returning to the 2013 management plan is the right decision and will restore balance to an area that contains millions of acres of wilderness-quality lands, subsistence resources, and critical habitat for species ranging from caribou to beluga whales.”
Politico: GAS FOR CARBON PRICE
Matthew Choi, 4/25/22
“A price on carbon doesn’t have the environmental luster it used to, but it enjoys support from one group: natural gas power plant owners,” Politico reports. “With gas generators fearing their investments will be disadvantaged by a patchwork of clean energy policies, they are rallying around state and regional pricing schemes to keep them competitive. “It has been the experience of the state-by-state approach that it has not been as successful in securing emissions reductions as some would like to think, and it has proven to be much more expensive than a well-crafted, economy-wide price on carbon would be,” Todd Snitchler, president and CEO of the Electric Power Supply Association, which represents several major energy companies including BP Plc, Shell Energy and NRG Energy, told Politico. But getting a carbon pricing policy adopted is proving a challenge. Climate-focused Democrats have largely averted their attention toward clean energy tax credits and other incentives to spur renewable development… “Environmentalists are also skeptical about a program that may lower overall emissions but further bake natural gas into the grid for the long haul.”
New York Times: Climate Activist Dies After Setting Himself on Fire at Supreme Court
Chris Cameron, 4/24/22
“A Colorado man who set himself on fire in front of the Supreme Court on Friday in an apparent Earth Day protest against climate change has died, police said,” the New York Times reports. “The Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C., said that Wynn Bruce, 50, of Boulder, Colo., had died on Saturday from his injuries after being airlifted to a hospital following the incident. Members of his family could not be reached immediately for comment. Kritee Kanko, a climate scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund and a Zen Buddhist priest in Boulder, told the Times that she is a friend of Mr. Bruce and that the self-immolation was a planned act of protest. “This act is not suicide,” Dr. Kritee wrote on Twitter early Sunday morning. “This is a deeply fearless act of compassion to bring attention to climate crisis.” She later added in an interview that she was not completely certain of his intentions, but that “people are being driven to extreme amounts of climate grief and despair” and that “what I do not want to happen is that young people start thinking about self-immolation.”
STATE UPDATES
InsideClimate News: Proponents Say Storing Captured Carbon Underground Is Safe, But States Are Transferring Long-Term Liability for Such Projects to the Public
Nicholas Kusnetz, 4/26/22
“As states rush to enact rules and regulations for the underground storage of carbon dioxide, a key question is who will hold long-term responsibility for projects that could require monitoring for decades,” InsideClimate News reports. “The question is increasingly important, as a host of companies have proposed dozens of projects over the last two years that would pull climate-warming emissions from the smokestacks of ethanol plants, fertilizer factories and fossil-fueled power plants. If the projects move forward, they’ll need to pump millions of tons of captured carbon dioxide deep underground into depleted oil fields or saline aquifers, where the gas would need to be stored permanently. The energy industry and others insist the practice is safe, but nonetheless some companies, including ExxonMobil and BP, have been seeking protections from long-term liability... At least four states have passed laws over the last year that allow companies to transfer responsibility for carbon storage projects to state governments after the operations are shut down. At least three other states have similar statutes on the books, enacted years earlier… “Statutes that relieve operators of liability without due regard to existing legal principles create an incentive for sloppy management, leaks and public opposition,” Scott Anderson, senior director of energy transition at the Environmental Defense Fund, told ICN.. “He singled out a law enacted this year in Wyoming, saying it reduces the incentives for companies to act responsibly. Anderson’s organization is also studying laws passed in several other states over the last year, he said, including Nebraska and Indiana… “The bills generally establish funds, paid for by industry, to cover costs associated with fixing or re-plugging old injection wells if problems arise. But Anderson noted that this approach stands at odds with regulations governing tens of thousands of other types of injection wells that already store wastewater from oil and gas production and other hazardous substances across the country. Companies often retain responsibility if those wells start to leak, even if the project has been closed.”
Washington Post: Gulf Coast gas export frenzy raises tough questions for U.S., Europe
Evan Halper, 4/21/22
“Along this stretch of the Gulf Coast where wetlands yield to fuel and petrochemical plants, chatter has predictably turned to Europe’s energy dilemma, with giddy projections that it will feed the rapid growth of hulking gas export terminals here,” the Washington Post reports. “But Roishetta Ozane isn’t feeling the excitement. The climate and local environmental risks such a boom would bring, she told the Post, are not an abstraction to her. They are her lived experience… “People are getting tired of this,” Ozane, a local community organizer, told the Post. “They are going to the hearings for these facilities and using the words ‘climate change.’ They’re realizing we’ve had four federally declared natural disasters in the last two years. That’s unheard of.” National environmental groups are joining the fight against permits for liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals they had earlier considered futile to challenge. With European countries desperate to replace fuel supplied by Russia, U.S. energy companies are plotting an immense expansion of their ability to produce and export liquefied natural gas. But while a building frenzy of gas exporting infrastructure is contemplated in this industrial region straddling Louisiana and Texas, not everyone is embracing the prospect. Even the European countries so desperate for non-Russian energy seem wary of committing to the United States’ LNG experiment… “An “infinite” number of investors are lining up to fund more exports from the Gulf Coast, Anatol Feygin, a Cheniere executive vice president, said at the event. “There are some institutions that have exited the hydrocarbon business, but for every one of those, there are 50 that will ensure that high-quality projects like ours are very attractive with finance,” he said.
Bloomberg: Along Gulf Coast, Gas Export Boom Tests Biden Clean Energy Goals
4/25/22
“As a flare lit up the Cameron, La., night sky, John Allaire served up etouffee with homemade roux, shrimp, and blue crab plucked from his swampy, birdsong-filled 311-acre property on the Gulf of Mexico,” Bloomberg reports. “His trailer’s dinner table was stacked with maps, pollution estimates, letters of dissent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and handwritten logs documenting busy vessel traffic entering the mouth of the Calcasieu River. The flaring liquefied natural gas export terminal—and the one proposed directly next door—is paving over and polluting a coastline, he lamented, that draws ducks, egrets, brown pelicans, roseate spoonbills, and the threatened eastern black rail. “This ecosystem is just irreplaceable,” Allaire, a 66-year-old retired oil and gas environmental manager, told Bloomberg. “All this prime habitat that’s in there is going to be concrete.” “...The starkly different views show why Southwest Louisiana—with its entrenched oil and gas industry, vulnerabilities to extreme weather and environmental justice grievances—has emerged as a testing ground for the Biden administration’s climate change strategy. It’s a place where federal officials have confronted an intensifying question in energy and climate policy: Does natural gas count as clean? The industry views LNG as essential to lowering emissions from developing countries that currently use dirtier-burning fuels like coal and oil. But environmental groups and residents push back against the entrenchment of the fossil fuel industry—and its entire footprint of drilling, pipelines, and consumption—for decades to come. Methane, the chief component of natural gas, is 84 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. “We have got to begin shifting, instead of doubling down on this thing that we know is suicidal,” James Hiatt, a former oil refinery worker in Lake Charles who last year joined the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, a New Orleans-based organization founded in 2000 to oppose the industry, told Bloomberg. “If we don’t even start heading in that direction, we’ll all be underwater,” Hiatt told Bloomberg. “I think, after the hurricanes, more and more people are waking up.” Seven U.S. gas export terminals operate today concentrated on the Gulf Coast, and 14 more are either commissioning, under construction or approved for construction, according to FERC, which issues certificates to project developers. Another seven have been proposed.”
InsideClimate News: California Regulators Banned Fracking Wastewater for Irrigation, but Allow Wastewater From Oil Drilling. Scientists Say There’s Little Difference
Liza Gross, 4/24/22
“California prohibits farmers from growing crops with chemical-laced wastewater from fracking. Yet the state still allows them to use water produced by conventional oil drilling—a chemical soup that contains many of the same toxic compounds,” InsideClimate News reports. “When rumors spread several years ago that California was growing some of the nation’s nuts, citrus and vegetables with wastewater produced from hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, regulators said that would be illegal. Advances in fracking, a process that injects high-pressure chemical mixtures and sand into underground rock formations to stimulate the release of fossil fuels, revolutionized oil and gas extraction in the United States. But it alarmed environmental, public health and consumer groups, who were concerned that the massive quantities of highly toxic wastewater produced during fracking posed unacceptable threats to groundwater, ecosystems and communities. California quickly moved to regulate fracking, and water regulators ruled that wastewater from fracking could not be used to irrigate crops, acknowledging that the extractive chemicals might taint the crops grown in the water. But those same regulators have for years allowed farmers to irrigate nearly 100,000 acres of nuts, citrus and vegetables with wastewater from conventional oil drilling, even though many of the same chemicals are used in fracking and detected in fracking wastewater, a review of chemical disclosure lists and scientific studies by Inside Climate News has found. To cope with California’s perpetual droughts, state officials encourage recycling of water whenever possible, and have relied on oil field wastewater to help Kern County’s $7.6 billion agricultural industry stay afloat. But scientists told ICN in interviews that the state’s distinction between the two types of “produced water” is essentially meaningless.”
Carlsbad Current-Argus: New Mexico's oil counties have some of the worst air pollution in state, study says
Adrian Hedden, 4/23/22
“Counties in the Permian Basin of southeast New Mexico were identified as having some of the worst air pollution in the state by a national study, at a time of accelerating oil and gas development in the region,” the Carlsbad Current-Argus reports. “Eddy County received at “F” grade, the lowest, from the American Lung Association in its annual “State of the Air” report released Thursday, while neighboring Lea County was given a “D” – both reflecting high levels of ground-level ozone in the area. Those two counties are New Mexico’s most-productive for fossil fuels on the state’s western side of the Permian which it shares with West Texas… “Ground-level ozone is formed by volatile organic compounds (VOCs) interact with sunlight to form the cancer-causing, smog-inducing pollutant. “Both ozone and particle pollution can cause premature death and other serious health effects such as asthma attacks, cardiovascular damage, and developmental and reproductive harm,” JoAnna Strother, senior director of advocacy for the Lung Association, told the Argus. “Particle pollution can also cause lung cancer.”
EXTRACTION
Globe and Mail: Cutting oil sands emissions by 40 per cent will cost billions, RBC report finds
EMMA GRANEY, 4/26/22
“Cutting emissions from Canada’s oil sands by 40 per cent will cost between $45-billion and $65-billion from 2024 through 2030, according to a new analysis,” the Globe and Mail reports. “While the new report from Royal Bank of Canada found that Canada’s oil and gas sector can indeed balance near-term energy security with advancing climate action, the sector will need regulatory certainty and support at all levels of government to do so. The report, released Tuesday, builds on RBC analysis from the fall which found that achieving net zero in the next three decades could cost up to $2-trillion… “It found that oil sands and conventional producers could raise production by up to 500,000 barrels a day from 2021 levels to help shore up global demand, which could add nine million tonnes of greenhouse gases a year. Abating that could cost at least $1.5-billion each year… “The idea behind the report is to kick-start a national conversation about how Canada can balance its role in the global energy crisis with maintaining its commitments to tackling climate change, RBC economist and report co-author Colin Guldimann told the Mail… “Those discussions need to happen soon, Mr. Guldimann said, to hasten decisions about how the oil sector will actually decarbonize – likely through a combination of large-scale deployment of carbon capture, utilization and storage, methane-emission reductions, intensive electrification efforts and technologies that haven’t yet been developed. “No matter what technology we’re using, the transition is going to be an expensive endeavour that involves a lot of capital investment,” he told the Mail.
Politico: Report: Gas stove emissions are dangerous, need federal regs
David Iaconangelo, 4/25/22
“Environmental lawyers are urging federal officials to do more to protect the public from gas stoves' emissions, saying the pollution is dangerous and not adequately regulated,” Politico reports. “In a new report, researchers at the Institute for Policy Integrity said the stoves should be sold with warning labels similar to those on portable generators warning of carbon monoxide poisoning, the authors said. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) should also start public education campaigns about the dangers of stove emissions, they added. Short of banning gas stoves, as a handful of U.S. cities have sought to do in new buildings, regulators also should beef up rules on how the stoves operate in order to improve kitchens' ventilation, argued the report's authors. "Something needs to be done. We know that [gas stoves] are dangerous. You can't just ignore it," Laura Figueroa, a co-author of the report and a legal fellow at the institute, told Politico. "The CPSC ... is in a position to address these dangers, and we think they should take action.”
Bloomberg: Exxon Ban on LGBTQ Pride Flag Triggers Employee Backlash
Kevin Crowley, 4/22/22
“Exxon Mobil Corp. plans to prohibit the LGBTQ-rights flag from being flown on the corporate flagpole outside its offices during Pride month in June, prompting a furious backlash from Houston-based employees,” Bloomberg reports. “Exxon updated company guidance on what flags can be displayed outside its offices, banning “external position flags” such as PRIDE and Black Lives Matter, according to the policy seen by Bloomberg News. Instead, the rule permits a flag representing an LGBTQ employees’ group that does not prominently feature Exxon’s corporate logo. In response, members of Exxon’s PRIDE Houston Chapter are refusing to represent the company at the city’s June 25 Pride celebration, according to an employee group email also seen by Bloomberg. “Corporate leadership took exception to a rainbow flag being flown at our facilities” last year, Exxon’s PRIDE Houston employee group wrote in the email Thursday. “PRIDE was informed the justification was centered on the need for the corporation to maintain ‘neutrality.’” “...The updated flag protocol is intended to clarify the use of the ExxonMobil branded company flag and not intended to diminish our commitment to diversity and support for employee resource groups,” Tracey Gunnlaugsson, vice president of human resources, told Bloomberg. “We’re committed to keeping an open, honest, and inclusive workplace for all of our employees, and we’re saddened that any employee would think otherwise.” “...It is difficult to reconcile how ExxonMobil recognizes the value of promoting our corporation as supportive of the LGBTQ+ community externally (e.g. advertisements, Pride parades, social media posts) but now believes it inappropriate to visibly show support for our LGBTQ+ employees at the workplace,” the workers’ group said in the email. “Flying a Pride flag is one small way many corporations choose to visibly show their care, inclusion and support for LGBTQ+ employees,” the group said. “These types of visible actions are even more impactful for many of our LGBTQ+ colleagues who aren’t out at work and may not feel comfortable participating in PRIDE events.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
Press release: Climate Activists Occupy Wells Fargo Global Headquarters
4/25/22
“On the eve of Wells Fargo Bank’s annual shareholders’ meeting, dozens of climate activists are occupying space inside bank headquarters demanding that it stop lending billions annually to the oil and gas industry, whose products are propelling the planet towards disaster. Wells is the world’s second largest fossil fuel banker—second only to JPMorgan Chase—financing $46 billion last year out of a total $742 billion in financing made to the energy sector. The bank far outstripped its rivals by raising its industry financing total by $20 billion from 2020 levels, according to new research by a consortium of organizations including Rainforest Action Network. “Wells Fargo is the poster child of climate profiteering,” says Alison Kirsch, policy and research manager of RAN’s climate and energy program. “Any further expansion of fossil fuels risks locking humanity into generations of climate catastrophe, yet Wells Fargo actually increased its fossil financing by roughly $20 billion last year, and the bank continues to dominate financing for the fracking industry. We demand accountability, because this recklessness will be paid for in human lives.” The activists, who chained themselves to an antique stagecoach in a museum gallery at 420 Montgomery St., part of the bank’s headquarters complex, say they are spotlighting the bank’s hypocrisy as it faces shareholder resolutions calling for it to halt its financing of new fossil fuel development.
Reuters: NYC pension leaders urge fossil fuel lending curbs, late boost for activists
Ross Kerber, 4/25/22
“New York City pension leaders said the $262 billion system will mostly favor calls for sharp limits on fossil fuel lending at top banks this week, giving a late boost to activists who have gained little backing from proxy advisers,” Reuters reports. “The fate of the closely watched shareholder resolutions will show how investors will weigh climate concerns against rising energy prices and Republican criticism of Wall Street's embrace of environmental concerns. Staff for New York City Comptroller Brad Lander told Reuters the city's main pension funds would back resolutions on Tuesday at the shareholder meetings of Bank of America, (BAC.N) Citigroup (C.N) and Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) effectively calling for no new oil or gas lending. Assistant Comptroller Michael Garland told Reuters in an interview that climate change poses systemic risk to the funds, and that "there's no credible path to Net Zero by 2050 unless there is no more investment in new fossil fuel supply." “...Backing from the fourth-largest U.S. public retirement system will help the measures filed by climate-focused investors including the Sierra Club Foundation, and which earlier won support from New York State's big pension fund.”
National Observer: Trans Mountain pipeline insurers dropping like flies
Natasha Bulowski, 4/25/22
“Lloyd’s of London syndicate Aspen Insurance announced April 21 it will cut ties with Trans Mountain when its insurance policy expires this summer, making it the 17th company to do so,” the National Observer reports. “...Aspen is the latest in a slew of insurance companies to either drop Trans Mountain or vow not to insure its expansion project following public pressure from activists and organizations. Munich Re (one of the largest insurers in the world) and Zurich Insurance Group (Trans Mountain’s previous lead insurer) severed ties in summer 2020. Argo Group followed suit in June 2021 after coming under tremendous pressure from Washington, D.C.-headquartered non-profit Public Citizen… “Insurance companies actually are recognizing that fossil fuel infrastructure is much riskier and either becoming uninsurable or much more expensive … and that is the reality of our world today,” Eugene Kung, staff lawyer with West Coast Environmental Law, told the Observer… “A letter from Trans Mountain to Canada’s energy regulator warned it had a “significant reduction” in available insurance and had to pay “significantly higher” premiums to cover the gaps. In other words, there are fewer insurers willing to back the project, which could make it more difficult to secure the $1 billion worth of coverage, lines of credit, or cash on hand it requires to operate. “The fact that 17 insurers have now ruled out Trans Mountain should alarm any financial institution considering investing in this project,” Sven Biggs, Canadian oil and gas program director for Stand.earth, told the Observer. “This pipeline is a risk to the climate, a risk for communities it runs through, and too great a risk for investors and insurers.”
OPINION
Calgary Herald: Varcoe: Canada can hike oil output and decarbonize — 'but at significant cost,' says RBC report
Chris Varcoe, 4/26/22
“Canada can increase oil and gas production to meet energy security concerns, but it also faces the prospect of making major investments to meet its climate goals — a price tag that could require up to $65 billion in spending in the oilsands by 2030,” Chris Varcoe writes for the Calgary Herald. “These are among the key conclusions from Canada’s largest bank in a new report that examines the complex balancing act today surrounding climate policy and security of supply concerns. In a study released today, the Royal Bank of Canada says the country can increase oil production by up to 500,000 barrels per day over the next year. However, this could add another nine million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually, costing $1.5 billion a year to abate, while delivering potential net benefits to the country worth $10.5 billion, RBC economists found. And if Canadian crude supplants other barrels globally, there would not be an increase in overall emissions… “The RBC report concludes “both goals are within reach — but at significant cost.” Methane reduction technology will help reduce the industry’s emissions, but part of the focus in the short to medium term will rest on CCUS, capturing carbon dioxide emissions and burying them underground. An investment tax credit included in the federal budget will cover up to half of the investments in equipment to capture CO2 in such developments. The study calls the tax credit a significant step that should spur investment… “While there will be some skepticism about whether Canada can lower emissions and also increase output, it’s worth noting that the oilsands sector has already reduced emissions per barrel by 20 per cent in the past decade.”
The Hill: The West is burning, flooding and drying up — time to update oil and gas leasing
Anna Peterson is the executive director of the Mountain Pact, a network of hundreds of local elected officials in over 80 Western U.S. mountain communities with outdoor recreation-based economies, 4/25/22
“Our western communities are burning, flooding and drying up. Wildfires, now year-round, are forcing people to evacuate as entire neighborhoods burn to the ground. Flooding and mudslides have overwhelmed towns and forced major highways to close. Smoke-filled air has socked in many cities for months, while the drought has dried up our rivers and caused our national forests to close. Heatwaves have caused temperatures to increase to levels never seen before, killing hundreds of people,” Anna Peterson writes for The Hill. “...One way we can take climate action is to modernize the federal oil and gas leasing system. Fossil fuel extraction on public lands generates 25 percent of the United States’ climate change causing emissions... “President Biden promised to end oil and gas leasing while campaigning, yet he has approved more oil and gas leases in his first year in office than former President Trump did. While it is encouraging that he has increased the royalty rates, the administration must make the latest lease announcement reforms permanent and do more… “Local elected leaders and two-thirds of Americans want climate action now. National leaders need to take and support prudent and pragmatic steps to prevent more climate disasters. While I commend the Biden administration for taking this first step by raising royalty rates, I urge it to take bold and permanent action to address the climate crisis’ costly impacts that are devastating our communities.”
The Hill: Zero, then negative: Why getting to net-zero isn’t enough
Erin Burns is the executive director of think tank Carbon180, focused on equitably scaling carbon removal and addressing the climate crisis, 4/25/22
“Reducing our emissions as quickly as possible is absolutely essential to avoiding the worst impacts of climate change. Over the past couple of years, “net-zero” emission has emerged as a climate target both in the private sector and from the federal government,” Erin Burns writes for The Hill. “...Alone, however, it isn’t enough. Even if we stopped emitting today, it wouldn’t undo the last two centuries of human activity — we also need to remove carbon from the atmosphere and go beyond net-zero to reach negative emissions… “This isn’t just about climate, though. Carbon removal can create high-paying, union jobs and drive prosperity. Each megaton DAC project is expected to create around 3,000 direct jobs, relying on steel, cement and other products. “Carbontech” represents a $1 trillion total available market in the U.S. alone. And land pathways can improve local air and water quality and build resilience to extreme weather… “And then at the end of last year, the bipartisan law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act included $3.5 billion — yes, billion — for four regional Direct Air Capture Hubs that can capture 1 million tons of CO2 each, which represents not just the single largest investment from any government ever in DAC, but would also increase global DAC capacity about 400 fold… “The efforts we’re making today to reach net-zero are needed and carbon removal is a necessary complement to those efforts, not a replacement.”