EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 4/29/22
PIPELINE NEWS
ABC News: Climate activist's fight against 'terrorism' sentence could impact the future of protests
Jamestown Sun: North Dakota Supreme Court says DAPL security documents are public record
Bismarck Tribune: Project Tundra, carbon dioxide pipeline developer to partner on storage
Des Moines Register: Iowa company behind pipeline proposal joins North Dakota effort to develop $1B carbon storage project
Sioux Falls Argus Leader: What happens in the ‘highly unlikely’ event of a pipeline leak or rupture? Summit answers.
KELO: SDPUC lets more intervene in CO2 pipeline case
AgWeek: Lingering pipeline route questions troubling to South Dakota Public Utilities Commission
Chronicle Times: Iowa counties formally oppose CO2 pipelines
Public News Service: Routing MV Pipeline Under Streams, Wetlands Called Habitat Risk
Bloomberg: Methane emissions from pipelines cancel climate benefits of move to natural gas: Bill Caram
Reuters: Pipeline operator TC Energy posts quarterly profit
MLK50: MLK50 reporter wins national award for pipeline coverage
WASHINGTON UPDATES
The Hill: To cut gas costs, Democrats to focus on oil company ‘price gouging’
NBC News: Red states ask Supreme Court to block Biden rule on societal cost of greenhouse gases
The Hill: Biden administration allows additional natural gas exports
E&E News: Is Gina McCarthy really a power broker on climate rules?
E&E News: States, enviros sue USPS over gas-truck purchase
STATE UPDATES
Associated Press: Native American leaders push for Chaco area protections
NPR: California is investigating Big Oil for allegedly misleading the public on recycling
EXTRACTION
Reuters: North American oil companies scramble to find workers despite boom
CBC: Oilsands companies have an emissions problem and a plan to fix it — but who's listening?
CLIMATE FINANCE
Bloomberg: Singer’s Elliott Targets Canada’s Suncor Energy for Shakeup
Globe and Mail: Activist U.S. hedge fund seeks overhaul of Suncor Energy
Press release: Groups Call on AIG to Cut Ties With Trans Mountain Pipeline
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Press release: Enbridge investment drives $800,000 donation to Nature Conservancy of Canada for preservation of Beaver Hills, the ‘spine’ of Alberta’s biosphere
WJTV: Jackson State receives $60K donation from Enbridge Inc.
OPINION
Journal-Courier: Letter to the editor: Pipeline would be a bad move for the region
New York Times: If We’re Going to Give Handouts to Oil and Gas, Let’s Attach Strings
High Country News: Biden’s broken promise on climate?
The Hill: Manchin-Murkowski meeting could be the start of a bipartisan energy bargain
PIPELINE NEWS
ABC News: Climate activist's fight against 'terrorism' sentence could impact the future of protests
Lucien Bruggeman, Devin Dwyer, and Stephanie Ebbs, 4/28/22
“In the fall of 2016, under the cover of darkness, Jessica Reznicek had a singular focus: to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. At valve sites across America's heartland, she snuck through security fences, set fire to equipment, and used chemicals to burn holes in the pipeline itself,” ABC News reports. “To Reznicek, a veteran climate activist, the damage was justified: a nonviolent act of civil disobedience in pursuit of saving the planet. The Justice Department saw it differently. After Reznicek publicly acknowledged her crimes and entered a guilty plea, federal prosecutors subsequently persuaded a judge to apply a sentencing increase known as the "terrorism enhancement" against her, putting her behind bars for eight years. The enhancement was applied "even though no person was ever hurt, no person was intended to be hurt, she wasn't charged with terrorism, and she didn't plead guilty to terrorism," said Bill Quigley, Reznicek's attorney and a professor emeritus at the Loyola University New Orleans Law School. "The terrorism enhancement doubled her amount of time in prison, which is troubling." Next month, when a panel of 8th Circuit Court of Appeals judges hears Reznicek's appeal, the terrorism enhancement will take center stage. Her case has emerged as a potential watershed moment in the eco-extremism movement, galvanizing free-speech advocates and renewing calls for reform. And the outcome could reverberate down through future American protest movements.”
Jamestown Sun: North Dakota Supreme Court says DAPL security documents are public record
Jeremy Turley, Adam Willis, 4/28/22
“The North Dakota Supreme Court ruled on Thursday, April 28, that five-year-old documents connected to a partnership between the Dakota Access Pipeline operators and a private security firm are public record,” the Jamestown Sun: reports. “The high court's decision upheld a district court ruling that rejected an effort by Dakota Access parent company Energy Transfer to keep private 16,000 documents pertaining to a partnership formed with security contractor TigerSwan during the pipeline protests near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in 2016 and 2017… “The more than 60,000 pages that make up the TigerSwan documents laid at the center of two parallel lawsuits in North Dakota, which were merged by a district court judge. In the first case, Energy Transfer aimed to recover the records from the North Dakota Private Investigation and Security Board by suing the state board and TigerSwan. In the second, First Look Institute, publisher of the nonprofit news outlet The Intercept, sued the board to access the records. In the unanimous 15-page decision penned by Justice Lisa McEvers, the Supreme Court affirmed the district court's finding that Energy Transfer did not present any legitimate exemptions that would keep the trove of documents from being a public record… “A 2017 report by The Intercept accused the security firm of using military-style tactics against anti-pipeline protesters that included invasive surveillance and a counter-information campaign on social media. The news outlet has sought to access the documents surrendered to the private investigation board since 2020. Tim Purdon, a Bismarck attorney representing Intercept publisher First Look, called the Supreme Court ruling "a clear victory for citizens of North Dakota who value transparency in government and the importance of the free press."
Bismarck Tribune: Project Tundra, carbon dioxide pipeline developer to partner on storage
AMY R. SISK, 4/28/22
“The companies behind two carbon dioxide storage projects slated for west-central North Dakota have agreed to work together,” the Bismarck Tribune reports. “Summit Carbon Solutions is developing a multistate pipeline to pick up carbon dioxide from Midwestern ethanol plants. Under a new agreement with Minnkota Power Cooperative, it will have access to the storage site the co-op is planning for its Milton R. Young Station near Center. Minnkota received a state permit in January to establish an underground storage facility to permanently hold climate-warming emissions from its coal-fired power plant. The Project Tundra site is meant to store up to 100 million tons, and Summit is planning to build a small pipeline branch that extends to the area. The agreement signed Thursday also sets up the framework for the companies to jointly pursue developing another 200 million tons of carbon dioxide storage. Separately, Summit plans to develop a site to store up to 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide elsewhere in Oliver and Mercer counties… “Project Tundra involves retrofitting Young Station with technology to isolate the carbon emissions from its exhaust gas, then injecting those emissions underground. It is expected to cost at least $1 billion. Summit’s pipeline, known as the Midwest Carbon Express, is expected to cost $4.5 billion. The companies said working together to develop storage sites would speed up financing and construction and allow for flexibility in operating once storage begins… “Minnkota is expected to make a final decision later this year on whether to move forward with Project Tundra.”
Des Moines Register: Iowa company behind pipeline proposal joins North Dakota effort to develop $1B carbon storage project
Donnelle Eller, 4/28/22
“Summit Carbon Solutions, the Ames company behind a controversial carbon-capture pipeline in Iowa, said Thursday it will join an electric cooperative's efforts to develop a $1 billion, 100-million-ton carbon dioxide storage facility in North Dakota,” the Des Moines Register reports. “Summit said Thursday it will work with Minnkota Power Cooperative to develop an underground storage facility at Minnkota's Milton R. Young Station near Center, North Dakota, where the cooperative plans to capture emissions from the coal-fired power plant and sequester them… “Minnkota said the underground carbon storage operation is the largest of only three permitted sites in the United States. Minnkota and Summit said the agreement enables them to develop additional storage that could more than double capacity. In addition to the Minnkota project, Summit said it is independently developing the capacity to store about 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide in North Dakota.”
Sioux Falls Argus Leader: What happens in the ‘highly unlikely’ event of a pipeline leak or rupture? Summit answers.
Nicole Ki, 4/29/22
“More than 300 parties have obtained legal status with the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission to intervene, and negotiate, in Summit Carbon Solutions' plans to build "worlds largest carbon capture pipeline," and 30 more parties had until Thursday to register, too,” the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports. “Other than the possible use of eminent domain and adverse environmental impacts, the majority of concern among those landowners and farmers, though, has been public safety. Summit spokesman and director of environmental of permitting, Chris Hill, doesn't want to dismiss those concerns, even though he says a leak or rupture in the planned pipeline has a low probability of happening… “In an exclusive interview with the Argus Leader, Hill broke down how Summit plans to help protect South Dakota residents by being proactive with its safety measures as well as what would happen in the event a leak occurred… “Hill told the Leader he is confident that ruptures are “highly unlikely.” “...In the event of a leak or a rupture, Hill told the Leader the system is automated to detect and shut down the system without human intervention… “We have two years of time to make sure we develop the emergency response protocols, coordinate with local emergency responders, fire departments, police departments, educate landowners around the risks and develop an integrity management plan,” Hill told the Leader… “If there’s a small leak, the CO2 disperses quickly. And he likes to remind pipeline opponents that their system is repurposing extra CO2 in the atmosphere emitted by ethanol plants, where workers and communities have already been in close proximity to. CO2 is already being released in the atmosphere today, Hill told the Leader. “It’s in the air we breathe, the soda we drink, but I don’t want to dismiss the fact that in large quantities, it can be an asphyxiant,” he told the Leader.
KELO: SDPUC lets more intervene in CO2 pipeline case
Bob Mercer, 4/28/22
“The company seeking a state permit to build a carbon dioxide pipeline through eastern South Dakota hasn’t yet filed a final route plan. And that’s raised uncertainty for landowners along it who aren’t sure whether their properties are within the 10 miles distance that would allow them to intervene,” KELO reports. “Attorney Brett Koenecke of Pierre, who represents Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solutions, told state regulators on Thursday that he’s been pushing to get the final map. “It needs to be done,” Koenecke acknowledged… “Commission chairman Chris Nelson told Koenecke on Thursday that such specific information is needed. “We’ve got to know what the route is to know what we’re permitting,” Nelson said. Omaha, Nebraska, lawyer Brian Jorde represents many of the landowners along the route. Jorde filed a motion Thursday calling for the commission to keep the period open for landowners to intervene for 60 days after the commission receives the final map. “We simply have no idea of what’s being permitted or what the request is,” Jorde told the commission. “The starting point is, what’s the route? We don’t know.”
AgWeek: Lingering pipeline route questions troubling to South Dakota Public Utilities Commission
Jeff Beach, 4/28/22
“Questions over the exact route of the Summit Carbons Solutions pipeline through South Dakota have prompted the state's Public Utilities Commission to again delay finalizing who might all have a vested interest in the project,” AgWeek reports. “In a meeting on Thursday, April 28, the PUC postponed finalizing the official list of intervenors as applications for party status have continued to be filed. Some applicants say they have only recently learned of the plan to build a hazardous materials pipeline through the eastern part of the state. The official deadline for applying for party status was April 8, 60 days after Summit applied for its permit in South Dakota. But Summit updated its route that same day, prompting some new applications. Others say they still can't tell from maps filed with the PUC exactly how close they are to the proposed route of the pipeline that will gather carbon dioxide from ethanol plants and send it to western North Dakota for underground storage. “Because of the confusion of exactly where this route is, and I don’t like that confusion, we need to know, everybody needs to know what we are permitting, because of that I am willing to grant these late interventions,” Chris Nelson, chairman of the commission said before the vote to give staff more time to review the late applicants… “The pipeline concerns some farmers who have worries about damage to farmland and drain tile and the possible use of eminent domain to gain right-of-way for the pipeline… “Summit Carbon Solutions says it recently drilled two stratigraphic test wells in North Dakota to collect geology data for potential sequestration sites. The proposed storage area is northwest of Bismarck in Oliver and Mercer counties.”
Chronicle Times: Iowa counties formally oppose CO2 pipelines
Paul Struck, 4/29/22
“Opposition to three carbon pipeline projects continues to grow. This week the 26th county in the path of the pipeline routes submitted its objection to the project to the Iowa Utilities Board,” the Chronicle Times reports. “Cherokee County is not among them, reportedly choosing to refrain in homage to the legislature making such decisions. Many involved landowners facing the threat of eminent domain, and other opponents to the pipeline are critical of the county’s silence… “Opposition by the numbers: 26 out of 50 (52%) total impacted counties have objected with the IUB; 19 of the 30 (63%) counties impacted by Summit have objected with the IUB ; 17 of the 36 (47%) counties impacted by Navigator have objected with the IUB; Nearly 1000 landowners have submitted objections with the IUB ; 2,500+ (80%): the number of parcels that have not signed voluntary easements with Summit . Opponents argue that County supervisors have a direct responsibility for protecting the land from the pipeline, which is part of the responsibility granted to them by the IUB. Further, they have a duty to protect their constituents… “Many county supervisors have great concerns about the pipeline and the damage it could cause to the landowners. They expressed these concerns in their filings with the Utilities Board. Further they openly oppose the use of eminent domain to acquire easements for the pipeline routes… “The Counties mass objections to Eminent Domain speaks volumes in support for IUB denial of this inappropriate authority. County Boards are standing up for property owners rights, a level playing field for landowner negotiations, with signed voluntary easements based on merit of the project, not Eminent Domain overreach.” Steve Kenkel, Chairman Shelby County Supervisor, told the Times.
Public News Service: Routing MV Pipeline Under Streams, Wetlands Called Habitat Risk
Nadia Ramlagan, 4/29/22
“Mountain Valley Pipeline developers are now allowed to dig tunnels below streams and wetlands, and environmental groups say they are concerned about the effects on wildlife and habitat,” Public News Service reports. “The fate of the multistate natural gas pipeline remains uncertain, after years of setbacks. Lewis Freeman, executive director of the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance, told PNS there is little scientific evidence to back up the recent ruling by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. "This environmental efficacy and integrity of boring underneath that many streams and wetlands has not been demonstrated," Freeman asserted. "In fact, even the U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) raised lots of questions in their comments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission." In a written statement, the commission said the trenchless water body crossing method will result in fewer environmental impacts than the crossing method the Commission approved under the original proposal… “Freeman pointed out the project faces numerous legal challenges surrounding its impact on the environment, and noted the pipeline is several years behind schedule, and has faced millions of dollars in fines for hundreds of violations of clean-water protections.”
Bloomberg: Methane emissions from pipelines cancel climate benefits of move to natural gas: Bill Caram
4/26/22
“Bill Caram, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, tells BNN Bloomberg that major leaks and emissions of methane from natural gas pipelines in the U.S. are only being noticed now because they are spotted by satellites from space. He notes that operators are not even required to report these leaks at present, and are compensated for lost product, so they have no incentive to minimize emissions. Caram points to reports saying there’s now more climate damage coming from natural gas than from coal due to methane emissions,” Bloomberg reports.
Reuters: Pipeline operator TC Energy posts quarterly profit
4/29/22
“Canadian pipeline operator TC Energy (TRP.TO) reported a quarterly profit, compared with a year-earlier loss when it took C$2.2 billion in impairment charges related to the suspension of its Keystone XL pipeline project,” Reuters reports. “TC's Keystone XL oil pipeline, which was expected to carry 830,000 barrels per day of heavy crude from Canada's Alberta province to Nebraska in the United States, was scrapped in 2021 after the United States canceled a key permit. The company's liquids pipelines also posted C$272 million profit from a year-earlier loss of C$2.51 billion and earnings rose marginally for its Canadian natural gas pipelines.”
MLK50: MLK50 reporter wins national award for pipeline coverage
Adrienne Johnson Martin, 4/28/22
“MLK50: Justice through Journalism reporter Carrington J. Tatum is the winner of a first place National Headliner Award for his coverage of Southwest Memphis residents’ fight against the Byhalia Connection Pipeline. The national award, given by the Press Club of Atlantic City, is one of the oldest and largest annual contests in journalism; this marks its 88th year honoring the best journalism published in a calendar year.Tatum was recognized in the online beat category, for a selection of the stories he wrote on the pipeline battle. This is the second national award for this work: In October 2021, MLK50 won the Breaking Barriers Award from the Institute for Nonprofit News for Tatum’s stories… “He wrote just shy of 40 stories that followed the community’s efforts to fight Plains All American Pipeline’s and Valero Energy Corporation’s plans to build the Byhalia Connection Pipeline through majority Black Southwest Memphis against the wishes of residents. The residents and their supporters saw the project as environmental racism and a threat to the city’s water supply. In July, after months of demonstrations and protests led by community residents, including Memphis Community Against the Pipeline, the developers canceled the project. Tatum was the first to report on the Plains’ use of eminent domain in Memphis to force access to land that owners would sell to them.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
The Hill: To cut gas costs, Democrats to focus on oil company ‘price gouging’
MIKE LILLIS, 4/28/22
“Democratic leaders in both chambers on Thursday took aim at the nation’s largest oil companies, accusing the industry of adopting “price gouging” tactics that have led directly to the spike in gas prices around the country,” The Hill reports. “Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) vowed to move swiftly in the coming weeks to vote on legislation empowering the government, at both the state and federal level, to put new curbs on the industry for the purpose of reducing costs at the pump. Since oil companies are reporting enormous profits, the Democrats argue, they can easily afford to pass the gains on to consumers instead of shareholders — particularly amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has only exacerbated the volatility of global fuel markets. “They are hoarding the windfall while keeping prices high for people at the pump,” Pelosi said during a press briefing in the Capitol. “In this time of war — in any time — there is no excuse for big oil companies to profiteer, to price-gouge or exploit families.” The Democrats’ legislation would grant new authority to both the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and state attorneys general to scrutinize the methods by which fuel prices are set, at both the wholesale and retail level. The new authority would include powers to slap civil penalties on those companies found in violation. The proposal is moving through both chambers, led by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who heads the Senate Commerce committee, and Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce panel.”
NBC News: Red states ask Supreme Court to block Biden rule on societal cost of greenhouse gases
Pete Williams, 4/28/22
“Ten red states, led by Louisiana, asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to block a Biden administration rule for figuring the costs of greenhouse gas pollution when the government makes decisions affecting the environment,” NBC News reports. “A January 2021 White House executive order directs an interagency working group to generate estimates for the societal costs of increased emissions of carbon, methane and nitrous oxide. The estimates are to be used to figure the monetary value of changes in such emissions resulting from government actions. The states said the federal formulas inflate the estimated costs of oil and gas leasing and a host of other projects. They sued in federal court in Louisiana, and in February, U.S. District Judge James D. Cain Jr. temporarily blocked the use of the cost estimates. The government appealed, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay of the ruling. The states are now asking the Supreme Court to lift the stay and let the judge’s ruling take effect. In an emergency application, they called the Biden working group’s efforts “a power grab designed to manipulate America’s entire federal regulatory apparatus through speculative costs so that the administration can impose its preferred policy outcomes on every sector of the American economy.” “...The Supreme Court ordered the Biden administration to respond by May 9.”
The Hill: Biden administration allows additional natural gas exports
RACHEL FRAZIN, 4/27/22
“The Biden administration is allowing for additional natural gas exports after Russia shut off gas to two of the U.S.’s NATO allies,” the The Hill reports. “The Energy Department announced on Wednesday that it would issue two orders allowing for the export of a total of 500 million additional cubic feet per day of liquified natural gas from projects in Texas and Louisiana. That represents enough energy to heat about 2.5 million homes for a day. In the first half of last year, the U.S. exported an average of 9.6 billion cubic feet per day. The move comes after Russia shut off natural gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, which was seen as significant escalation amid tensions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Energy Department statement did not specify to which countries the additional exports will flow, meaning it’s not clear how much of this natural gas will flow to those countries, if any… “Domestically, the energy industry is likely to support the move. But, it could meet pushback from those who oppose expanded use of fossil fuels.”
E&E News: Is Gina McCarthy really a power broker on climate rules?
Jean Chemnick, 4/29/22
“President Joe Biden made waves last year when he tapped Gina McCarthy as his climate adviser, prompting concern among Republicans that she would lead an aggressive campaign to regulate emissions,” E&E News reports. “Republican lawmakers who had waged war on past climate rules predicted the former Obama EPA administrator would seize the regulatory reins from Biden’s EPA chief, Michael Regan, and reinstate rules that were scrapped during the Trump administration or tied up in court. But 15 months into the Biden administration, it’s unclear what, if any, role McCarthy has played on setting regulatory policy. There is a widespread belief that she advised EPA to use a compromise between California and five car companies during the Trump administration as the basis for EPA’s standard for light-duty vehicles. Later her office appears to have urged EPA to tighten its standard beyond what was included in that deal, which EPA did do in its final rule… “So far, however, major climate achievements have been elusive for McCarthy. The Senate has yet to pass a climate spending package that most analysts see as a prerequisite for Biden’s Paris Agreement pledge. And after a year at the helm of Biden’s “whole-of-government” approach to climate mitigation, McCarthy hasn’t shown how that commitment to cut America’s greenhouse gases between 50 and 52 percent compared with 2005 levels by 2030 would be achieved.”
E&E News: States, enviros sue USPS over gas-truck purchase
Arianna Skibell, 4/28/22
“Three separate lawsuits were filed today against the U.S. Postal Service over the quasi-independent agency’s billion-dollar move to replace its aging delivery fleet with a majority of gasoline-powered vehicles,” E&E News reports. “The lawsuits say USPS failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, including by using inaccurate or outdated information about the emissions of gas-powered trucks and the cost of electric vehicles. The Natural Resources Defense Council and the United Auto Workers filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Earthjustice, CleanAirNow, the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity filed their lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) and New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) led 14 other states and the District of Columbia in filing a separate lawsuit in the Northern District of California. Bonta and James were joined by the attorneys general of Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, as well as the city of New York and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. “The Postal Service has a historic opportunity to invest in our planet and in our future. Instead, it is doubling down on outdated technologies that are bad for our environment and bad for our communities,” Bonta said in a statement. “Once this purchase goes through, we’ll be stuck with more than 100,000 new gas-guzzling vehicles on neighborhood streets, serving homes across our state and across the country, for the next 30 years.”
STATE UPDATES
Associated Press: Native American leaders push for Chaco area protections
By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, 4/26/22
“Native American leaders said Tuesday they were excited about a series of meetings this week with land managers as the Biden administration considers prohibiting new oil and gas development on hundreds of square miles of federal land in northwestern New Mexico that several tribes consider sacred,” the Associated Press reports. “Top officials with the All Pueblo Council of Governors said during a virtual briefing that they will reiterate their support for the proposal during tribal consultations. The meetings are part of the public outreach being done by the U.S. Interior Department as it considers the withdrawal from nearly 550 square miles (1,425 square kilometers) around Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who is from Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico, cited the cultural significance of the area surrounding the national park when she first proposed the 20-year withdrawal during a visit in November. She has said many tribes in the Southwest, including her own, have a connection to the area. Randall Vicente, the governor of Acoma Pueblo, told AP tribes were ready to band together to ensure more permanent protections are adopted for lands outside park boundaries. He told AP the remnants of stone dwellings, ceremonial kivas, pottery sherds, petroglyphs, shrines and the other cultural resources that dot the high desert around Chaco Canyon were left there by the ancestors of today’s pueblo people. “Together, this area is one irreplaceable, sacred, interconnected landscape unlike any other. We remain tied to those resources,” he told AP, describing them as “the footprints and fingerprints of our ancestors.”
NPR: California is investigating Big Oil for allegedly misleading the public on recycling
Laura Sullivan, 4/28/22
“Accusing the country's largest oil and gas companies of "a half-century campaign of deception," California's attorney general opened an investigation Thursday into the possible role the companies played promoting the idea that plastics could be recycled, in an effort to manipulate the public to buy more of it,” NPR reports. “Attorney General Rob Bonta said the fossil fuel industry benefited financially from the industry's misleading statements which he said go back decades. Bonta has so far subpoenaed ExxonMobil seeking information and documents. "For more than half a century, the plastics industry has engaged in an aggressive campaign to deceive the public, perpetuating a myth that recycling can solve the plastics crisis," Bonta said. "The truth is: The vast majority of plastic cannot be recycled." The announcement cited NPR and the PBS series Frontline's 2020 investigation into the oil and gas industry which uncovered documents showing top officials knew that recycling plastic was unlikely to work but spent tens of millions of dollars telling the public the opposite. Starting in the 1980s, the industry launched dozens of ads, nonprofits, and campaigns touting the benefits of recycling plastic – and placing the responsibility on consumers – even as their own documents warned that recycling was "infeasible" and that there was "serious doubt" that plastic recycling "can ever be made viable on an economic basis," the investigation found. Graham Forbes, plastics global campaign lead at Greenpeace USA, told NPR California's investigation is welcome news. "For too long, ExxonMobil and other corporate polluters have been allowed to mislead the public and harm people and the planet," Forbes told NPR. "It is encouraging to see the state of California stand up to the fossil fuel industry. Hopefully, this is a sign that policymakers are ready to start holding corporations accountable."
EXTRACTION
Reuters: North American oil companies scramble to find workers despite boom
By Liz Hampton, Stephanie Kelly and Nia Williams, 4/29/22
“When Jeremy Davis was laid off from his oilfield job in Texas in 2020, he did not want to leave the industry after 17 years in oil and gas,” Reuters reports. “...Davis says he would be open to returning to energy, but for now, he is one of thousands of workers in the United States and Canada who have left oil and gas jobs, put off by arduous conditions, remote locations, and insufficient compensation, or lured to the renewables sector as the world transitions to cleaner energy… “The shortage of workers is limiting how much producers in the United States and Canada can increase oil output this year as governments try to find ways to offset the effect of lost Russian barrels following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Oil workers left the industry in droves after the COVID-19 pandemic started. Now, the U.S. unemployment rate has fallen to 3.6%, just a hair above the pre-pandemic low, but there are still roughly 100,000 fewer oil and gas workers now in the country than before the pandemic… “U.S. and Canadian production is anticipated to grow even with a tight labor market, but executives said output could surpass expectations if more workers were available… “Fewer skilled workers are willing to travel to the remote Canadian oil sands region for turnaround season, when thousands are needed for essential maintenance on oil sands plants, Terry Parker, executive director of the Building Trades of Alberta, told Reuters, because companies no longer pay a big enough premium for the inconvenience… “Patterson-UTI raised wages last year because of competition from retailers that historically paid less than the oil industry, Hendricks told Reuters.. "We're competing against Amazon hiring drivers, or Target with positions in air-conditioned warehouses. It's easier than a drilling rig in west Texas in the summer."
CBC: Oilsands companies have an emissions problem and a plan to fix it — but who's listening?
Kyle Bakx, 4/28/22
“It's a Wednesday morning in June 2021, and executives from the five largest oilsands companies are ready to make their big splash, unveiling an unprecedented collaboration on a project with sky-high ambitions and a price tag in the tens of billions. The ultimate goal is to tackle the problem that has dogged the sector for decades — its immense carbon emissions,” the CBC reports. “...However, expectations of receiving substantial attention are dashed when TC Energy makes an announcement of its own: the Keystone XL pipeline is dead. The fatal end of the proposed pipeline quickly becomes the only Canadian energy story that anyone talks about that day, and for weeks to come… “Even many within the industry who work in Calgary's office towers are unfamiliar with Pathways, beyond its goal of making the oilsands net zero in less than three decades… “The main weapon to slash emissions is collecting the carbon dioxide from all the oilsands facilities and storing it underground. If built today, the proposed carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility would be the largest in the world, second only to a proposed ExxonMobil project in Houston, Texas… “Still, there are open questions about how much of the Pathways plan is achievable, what is actually motivating the oil companies and whether the sector's actions match its words… “The Pathways plan bears scrutiny and requires much more detail, the Pembina Institute notes in a report, in part because the net-zero goal relies on technologies that likely won't be scaleable and affordable until after 2030. The Calgary-based environmental think-tank questions whether the industry can design, permit and construct the first phase of its proposed CCS facility by the end of the decade. That's one reason why the report outlines how the oilsands will likely fail to meet climate targets set out by the federal government.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
Bloomberg: Singer’s Elliott Targets Canada’s Suncor Energy for Shakeup
Geoffrey Morgan, Robert Tuttle, and Scott Deveau, 4/28/22
“Activist investor Elliott Investment Management LP is taking aim at Canadian oil producer Suncor Energy Inc., pushing the company to add five new directors and overhaul management to change a “slow-moving, overly bureaucratic corporate culture,” Bloomberg reports. “Elliott said the company should also look at selling its retail network of gasoline stations across Canada to unlock a higher share price. Suncor rose 12% to C$47.22 in Toronto, the highest level since October 2018. The Calgary-based company is the worst-performing large oil producer in Canada since the beginning of 2021. Analysts have said the stock is being weighed down by a series of operational problems, including a fire that resulted in an injury at a refinery in March and fatal accidents in the last two years. Suncor also cut its production guidance at its Fort Hills oil sands mine in 2021 after finding slopes in the mine were not stable. “Suncor now finds itself plagued by repeated operational challenges and safety issues,” Elliott Partner John Pike and Portfolio Manager Mike Tomkins wrote in a letter to the company, which noted the company’s missed production goals and high costs. Elliott, which was founded by Paul Singer, hasn’t nominated directors for this year’s annual general meeting slated for May 10. The firm, which owns a 3.4% economic stake in Suncor, could increase that stake or partner with other shareholders to call a special meeting if the company resists change, according to a person familiar with the matter… “Given how long the safety issues have been going on and the number of fatalities they’ve had, I think it’s fair criticism to say their eye has not been on the safety ball as much as it has,” Eric Nuttall, a senior portfolio manager at Ninepoint Partners, said on BNN Bloomberg Television.
Globe and Mail: Activist U.S. hedge fund seeks overhaul of Suncor Energy
ANDREW WILLIS AND JEFFREY JONES, 4/27/22
“Activist hedge fund Elliott Investment Management LP is pushing for a shakeup of Suncor Energy Inc., launching a campaign to oust several directors at the major oil sands producer and explore a sale of its Petro-Canada gas station chain,” the Globe and Mail reports. “Suncor’s share price, which has underperformed rivals since 2020, soared by 11.8 per cent after Florida-based Elliott revealed it is one of the company’s largest shareholders, with a 3.4-per-cent stake. Elliott wants to elect five new directors to Calgary-based Suncor’s 10-member board, four of whom are Canadian, and all with energy sector experience. The fund manager doesn’t believe Suncor chief executive officer Mark Little, who took the helm in 2019, should remain as CEO, but wants a reconstituted board to ultimately make that decision, according to sources familiar with the situation. The Globe and Mail is not naming these sources because they are not permitted to speak publicly for the hedge fund. Elliott is one of the largest U.S. hedge funds, and over four decades founder Paul Singer and his colleagues have won showdowns with companies such as Twitter Inc., AT&T Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. In recent years, Elliott successfully pressed Marathon Petroleum Corp. into selling its 3,800 gas stations to 7-Eleven Inc. for US$21-billion. In a letter to Suncor directors, Elliott said its proposals would add $30-billion to the energy company’s market capitalization, “a potential increase of 50 per cent or more from today.” “...Elliott said Suncor should improve the efficiency of its Alberta oil sands operations to match that of peers, increase the amount of cash it returns to investors through share buybacks and dividend increases, and “explore opportunities to unlock the value of high-multiple assets outside of its core oil sands business, including a strategic review of retail.”
Press release: Groups Call on AIG to Cut Ties With Trans Mountain Pipeline
4/28/22
“Indigenous, climate, and consumer advocacy groups today called on insurance giant American International Group Inc. (AIG) to explicitly rule out insurance coverage for the Trans Mountain pipeline and adopt a policy to ensure that its clients respect Indigenous rights. In the letter to AIG's Chief Executive Officer, signed by 44 organizations, including Public Citizen, Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club, and Stand.earth, the groups say that the climate commitments that AIG adopted in March to restrict coverage for the tar sands sector do not match the urgency of the climate crisis. "To ensure a livable planet, insurers must end all underwriting and investment support for fossil fuel expansion," the groups write in the letter. "This includes the Trans Mountain tar sands oil expansion project and other tar sands transport projects... We call on you to explicitly rule out support for all new tar sands transport projects, including the Trans Mountain pipeline network, and adopt a policy to ensure that clients respect the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) of impacted communities."
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Press release: Enbridge investment drives $800,000 donation to Nature Conservancy of Canada for preservation of Beaver Hills, the ‘spine’ of Alberta’s biosphere
4/27/22
“Tourists and Alberta residents aren’t the only ones flocking to the Beaver Hills biosphere area for recreational purposes.More than 150 species of waterfowl stop over every year in the boreal wetlands region east of Alberta’s capital city, Edmonton—and given those numbers, Beaver Hills has rightly earned the honor of being Canada’s first established bird sanctuary, as well as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve designation… “Thanks to a recent $200,000 Fueling Futures donation from Enbridge, the NCC is in the process of negotiating for the protection of two pieces of land along that spine, including a 160-acre, privately owned property. The world is currently celebrating Earth Week, and the 2022 theme for Earth Day is “invest in our planet.” At Enbridge, sustainability is central to everything we do. We’re supporting society’s transition to a lower-carbon future by pioneering new energy sources while continuing to provide access to affordable, reliable and increasingly sustainable low-emissions energy. Enbridge’s Fueling Futures program supports sustainability projects that help improve, grow and nurture our environment. By providing this $200,000 grant to the NCC’s American partner, the NCC has been able to leverage a three-to-one match from organizations such as the North American Waterfowl Conservation Association.”
WJTV: Jackson State receives $60K donation from Enbridge Inc.
Biancca Ball, 4/28/22
“Jackson State University (JSU) recently received a $60,000 donation from Enbridge Inc., an energy infrastructure company,” WJTV reports. “JSU leaders said the financial investment is slated to be evenly distributed across multiple programs on campus including the College of Business, College of Science, Engineering, and Technology and the JSU Career Service Center. “We are extremely grateful to Enbridge for the generous donation and look forward to working with them in the near future on partnerships and creating internship and job opportunities for students. This donation aids us in achieving our mission to provide a comprehensive learning experience for our students in an effort to develop ethical, technologically advanced, diverse global leaders who create business-centered solutions,” Dean Fidelis Ikem, Ph.D., JSU College of Business, told WJTV.
OPINION
Journal-Courier: Letter to the editor: Pipeline would be a bad move for the region
Nick Dodson is affiliated with Sangamon Valley Sierra Club and Sangamon Stop the CO2 Pipeline, 4/29/22
“A Texas-based company has proposed constructing a 1,300-mile pipeline that will capture carbon dioxide from ethanol and fertilizer plants and transport the CO2 through South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois. The CO2 will then be injected underground in our own backyards in central Illinois. If that sounds like the plans of a cartoon villain, you’re not far off,” Nick Dodson writes in the Journal-Courier. “Navigator CO2 Ventures plans to use federal tax funds earmarked for “green energy carbon capture reduction” to transport CO2 through pipelines covering 13 Illinois counties. Allowing corporations like Navigator to take control of our land and use it as a dumping ground for a new carbon capture project is a bad and potentially deadly deal. Liquified CO2 is transported in steel pipes under extreme pressure. If a pipeline ruptures, the CO2 evaporates into a rapidly expanding gas that is heavier than air, easily displacing oxygen. This nightmare became reality for the community of Satartia, Mississippi, when a pipeline ruptured there in 2020. A firefighter that rescued three victims affected by the pipeline rupture said they were "foaming at the mouth” and “acting like Zombies.” How can we consciously allow a poisonous vein to be installed across the heartland of our country and stamp it as “green”?.. “We must demand that local, state, and federal officials stop this pipeline in its tracks. Please join our coalition in saying this is not what our country or community wants. For more information, please visit https://noillinoisco2pipelines.org”
New York Times: If We’re Going to Give Handouts to Oil and Gas, Let’s Attach Strings
Kate Aronoff is a staff writer at The New Republic and the author of “Overheated: How Capitalism Broke the Planet — And How We Fight Back,” 4/29/22
“Policymakers in the United States seem stuck in a bind. To alleviate a potentially catastrophic energy crisis in Europe, more U.S. oil and gas will need to flow there to replace Russian fuel. To make that happen, companies and politicians on both sides of the aisle are clamoring to boost drilling and fast-track new infrastructure. Americans, meanwhile, want cheaper gas,” Kate Aronoff writes for the New York Times. “...Under the fog of war and anxiety about the midterm elections, the White House is poised to hand over generous amounts of public money to a highly profitable energy industry — support that could lock in additional emissions for decades to come. This government support — in the form of oil procurement, permits and loans — could be the deciding factor in whether a new generation of long-lived carbon and methane-spewing infrastructure gets built. As with the roughly $20 billion in subsidies the industry already receives each year, the government will demand precisely nothing in return. But it should: Any more money fossil fuel executives and shareholders get from the U.S. government should come with strings… “Whatever new subsidies the administration hands out in spite of these opportunities should be contingent on oil and gas companies aligning their businesses with the goals of the Paris climate accord. One way to do that would be to require any companies that want to take advantage of new Export-Import Bank loan guarantees to identify and eliminate methane leaks across their supply chains… “To be eligible to sell barrels back to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve at stable prices, oil and gas producers could also be required to create concrete, federally audited plans to align their production plans with Paris accord targets. Cheap leases to drill on public lands — recently expanded by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management — should mandate companies to fully retire and clean up the polluting assets that don’t fit those plans, rather than selling them off to private equity vultures, as many are now doing. Broad federal authority over permitting gives the Department of Energy and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission the ability to issue shorter permissions slips for fossil fuel infrastructure, let permits expire and even revoke them from companies that are running afoul of national priorities. If that means they don’t get financed, so be it. And if, as their assets become stranded, companies come crawling for a bailout like they did in 2020, those funds should come with commensurate ownership stakes. Without such strings, executives will be content to drill well beyond planetary limits.”
High Country News: Biden’s broken promise on climate?
Jonathan Thompson, 4/27/22
“In mid-April, the Biden administration complied with a 2021 court order and restarted the federal oil and gas leasing program, ending a nearly 15-month moratorium. But don’t expect a return to the leasing program of old; instead, as Interior Secretary Deb Haaland emphasized in a statement, it is being rejiggered to be better, stronger and less industry-friendly,” Jonathan Thompson writes for High Country News. “When considering which lands to put up for auction, Haaland said, the department plans to consult with tribes and “the best available science.” And royalty rates will be increased by 50%. Still, the response from climate advocates and keep-it-in-the-ground environmentalists was swift and harsh: President Joe Biden, they declared, had reneged on his campaign pledge to fight climate change and to ban new oil and gas development on public lands. WildEarth Guardians’ Climate and Energy Program Director Jeremy Nichols put it bluntly, saying the administration was guilty of “climate denial” and in “bed with the oil and gas industry.” That’s one way to view Biden’s move. But it’s not the only one. Put simply, the administration has rescinded a largely ineffectual moratorium that was never intended to be permanent. In so doing, however, it quietly made badly needed repairs to a broken system in a way that — if followed through on — could result in meaningful on-the-ground changes… “A recent study found that about one-fourth of all of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions comes from fossil fuels extracted from public lands — as good a reason as any to “keep it in the ground.” Still, it’s not clear whether Biden has the legal authority to ban development outright; so far, even the ineffectual pause failed to stand up in court. The study’s authors recommend adding a “carbon fee” on new leases and implementing other restrictions at the drilling stage to reduce emissions.”
The Hill: Manchin-Murkowski meeting could be the start of a bipartisan energy bargain
Sasha Mackler is executive director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Energy Program, 4/28/22
“As global energy markets are roiled by the geopolitical tensions created by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, Americans feel the economic pain from higher energy prices and Europe is boxed into an uncomfortable corner due to its dependence on Putin’s oil and gas — the rationale for a renewed domestic energy approach is clear. A national strategy for energy must combine a supply security agenda with the clean energy transition imperative. It simply no longer makes political or policy sense to focus on these issues in isolation,” Sasha Mackler writes for The Hill. “...Legislation combining an ambitious push to deploy clean energy technologies at home with an aggressive support package enabling new supplies of clean American natural gas to reach our friends across the globe seems eminently achievable. Such an agenda could garner bipartisan support in Congress and generate enormous goodwill across the world while positioning the U.S. for continued energy, climate and economic leadership in the century ahead… “Whether enough votes can materialize for a rational and strategic deal that could emerge from the Manchin/Murkowski group remains to be seen. But with congressional leaders expressing public support for a potential energy tax package, unified support against Russian energy and a closing window of legislative opportunity, the prospect of a grand energy bargain driving clean energy at home and secure energy abroad appears more real than ever.”