EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 4/3/23
PIPELINE NEWS
KCIM: Local Legislators Supported House-Passed Pipeline Bill, But It Failed To Make It Through March 31 Funnel
KCAU: Summit Cabron Solutions suing Emmet County over pipeline ordinance
South Dakota Searchlight: County commissioner: Carbon pipelines should outfit volunteer fire departments
Truthout: Canadian Police Arrest Indigenous Protesters in Clash Over Pipeline Construction
Canadian Press: For want of a pipeline: Canadian LNG should power low-carbon revolution, report says
Hart Energy: Beyond the Pipe: CEO Greg Ebel on Enbridge’s Strategy for M&A, LNG and Transition
Salem News: Gas pipeline project expected to take two months
WASHINGTON UPDATES
FOX News: Republicans vote to end Biden's 'war on energy,' only 4 Dems agree
E&E News: Senate GOP Crafting Permitting Bill; Hearings Planned
E&E News: House Climate Hawks Pitch 'Clean' Permitting Plan
InsideEPA: Clean Power Official Urges Permit Concessions From Advocates, States
E&E News: Next Up For BLM's Big Public Lands Rule: Revisions? Lawsuits?
Pioneer Press: Biden to visit Twin Cities manufacturing plant on Monday
E&E News: ‘Doomerism’: Why scientists disagree with Biden on 1.5 C
PBS: Biden’s complex relationship with oil and gas, despite campaign promises
Washington Free Beacon: They're the Democratic Party's Top Operatives—and Lobbying for a Company Accused of Destroying Black Heritage Sites
STATE UPDATES
Associated Press: Judge orders U.S. to resume oil lease sales in North Dakota
Reuters: Lawsuit over harm to polar bears, walruses from oil exploration tossed
WEWS: Environmentalists fear Lake Erie fracking, oil and gas industry says not to worry
EXTRACTION
Bloomberg: How Much Top US Polluters Must Cut Methane to Avoid Fees
Visual Capitalist: Visualizing the Flow of Energy-Related CO2 Emissions in the U.S.
CLIMATE FINANCE
Quinte News: Protest against pipeline through Wet’suwet’en First Nation
OPINION
New York Magazine: Permitting Reform For A Debt-Ceiling Hike Would Be Win-Win
The Hill: Progressives need a plan for permitting reform of their own
The Hill: This Should Be The Year For Permitting Reform
TIME: What Congress Must Do Now to Speed Up the Green Energy Transition
Financial Post: Opinion: Want fewer industrial emissions? Subsidize industry less
Los Angeles Times: Column: California’s evolution on Big Oil — in the state Capitol and my own family
OilPrice.com: Can Big Oil Do More To Prevent Oil Spills?
PIPELINE NEWS
KCIM: Local Legislators Supported House-Passed Pipeline Bill, But It Failed To Make It Through March 31 Funnel
Nathan Konz, 4/1/23
“A bill that would have made it significantly harder for pipeline companies to invoke eminent domain to seize private land along proposed routes failed to make it through the Iowa Legislature’s latest funnel,” KCIM reports. “The House bill, which passed 73-20 on March 22, would require companies to have voluntary easements along 90 percent of the path before eminent domain could be used to force remaining landowners to allow pipeline builders access to their property. During last weekend’s Carroll Chamber of Commerce Forum in Manning, District 12 Representative Brian Best of Glidden says it has been a challenging issue, as it pits private property owners against the ag industry. Best was one of the 73 yes votes in the House to advance the bill. The legislation was referred to a subcommittee in the Senate Commerce Committee, which declined to take up the issue before the March 31 deadline. District 6 Senator Jason Schultz of Schleswig, who sits on the full Commerce Committee but was not a part of the pipeline subcommittee that allowed the bill to expire, told KCIM this bill has far-reaching implications for farmers, including his own family. Senate President Jack Whitver of Ankeny told reporters Thursday that they lacked consensus among the GOP on how to address the issue. While the bill might be dead for the 2023 session, Whitver indicated they would continue to discuss how to weigh individual property rights versus the health of Iowa’s biofuels industry.”
KCAU: Summit Cabron Solutions suing Emmet County over pipeline ordinance
Wesley Thoene, 3/31/23
“A company trying to install a carbon dioxide pipeline is suing Emmet County and county officials, claiming the county doesn’t have the authority to limit the pipeline from going through the county,” KCAU reports. “The lawsuit was federally filed on Tuesday, March 28, in the Northern District of Iowa… “The lawsuit argues the ordinance passed by the Emmet County Board of Supervisors violates the federal Pipeline Safety Act and clashes with state law. On March 7, the Emmet County Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance that amends the 2013 Emmet County Zoning Ordinance… “The lawsuit specifically states that Canada regularly imports ethanol and passed a regulation in 2022 requiring that fuel suppliers decrease carbon intensity of gas and diesel used in Canada by 15% by 2030. The lawsuit also states that California and Oregon require the reduction of carbon intensity of fuels sold in the state. Lincolnway Energy currently doesn’t ship ethanol to California due to high carbon intensity. As such, Summit and Couser argue that the value of Iowa ethanol production, and the value of corn in Iowa “depends on, and will likely increasingly depend on, carbon-reduction efforts of Iowa ethanol facilities.” “...Summit and Couser ask the court to declare the Emmet County ordinance “invalid, unenforceable, and null and void as applied to Summit’s pipeline project” in regards to federal and state law. They also ask that Emmet County be restricted from enforcing or implementing the ordinance. In addition to asking for court fees, the lawsuit also asks for any other relief the court deems appropriate.”
South Dakota Searchlight: County commissioner: Carbon pipelines should outfit volunteer fire departments
JOHN HULT, 3/30/23
“A Minnehaha County commissioner wants volunteer firefighters in the state’s most populous county to ask for safety equipment from two carbon pipeline companies for use in the event of a pipeline failure — something the companies say they’re willing to do,” South Dakota Searchlight reports. “The suggestion from Commissioner Joe Kippley came last week on the heels of a meeting in Baltic with rural fire chiefs, in reference to the companies behind the proposed pipelines: Summit Carbon Solutions and Navigator CO2 Ventures. “Just putting that on the record that we’re having those conversations,” Kippley said. “I think that it’s important to make sure all of our emergency fire departments have what they need, but especially volunteers. The last thing that I want to do is degrade the willingness and ability of people to do that type of civic engagement.” Some fire chiefs contacted by South Dakota Searchlight expressed doubt that an influx of new equipment would help them respond to a pipeline rupture. Officials with the city of Sioux Falls Fire Rescue said it’s too early to tell what their needs might be, given the uncertainty surrounding the projects’ future. But Kippley’s suggestion points to an animating concern for opponents of the pipelines: a catastrophic failure. The explosion of a carbon pipeline in Mississippi in 2019 – which killed no one but led to the evacuation of 200 people and saw 45 people seek medical attention – has been a frequently shared anecdote at local and state-level meetings on the projects. Minnehaha County commissioners heard from opponents concerned about the potential of emergencies on the same day Kippley made his remarks. “If there’s a problem, if there were an emergency with that pipeline, it would be catastrophic for our farming operation,” said Bruce Burkhardt, who raises hogs and grows crops near the proposed Navigator pipeline route, as does his son. “It would be an insurmountable financial loss, plus catastrophic for the family farm that we have with kids and grandkids and livestock on our farm.” The question of emergency response is important for rural states like South Dakota, where first responders for the majority of the land area tend to be unpaid volunteer firefighters. Their departments often struggle to outfit their firefighters with gear like self-contained breathing apparatuses, which can cost thousands of dollars and come with expiration dates.”
Truthout: Canadian Police Arrest Indigenous Protesters in Clash Over Pipeline Construction
Lyric Aquino, 3/31/23
“Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Wednesday arrested five land defenders on Wet’suwet’en territory near the controversial construction of a natural gas pipeline that runs through central British Columbia,” Truthout reports. “The 416 mile-long Coastal GasLink pipeline is expected to bring 2.1 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas to a facility in Kitimat, B.C. before it is exported to global markets. Opposition among Wet’suwet’en has sparked rallies and rail blockades across Canada since 2019. “This harassment and intimidation is exactly the kind of violence designed to drive us from our homelands,” said Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’Moks in a press release. “The constant threat of violence and criminalization for merely existing on our own lands must have been what our ancestors felt when Indian agents and RCMP were burning us out of our homes as late as the 50s in our area.” On Sunday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or RCMP, responded to a complaint filed by an oil and gas worker with Coastal GasLink who reported that he had been “swarmed” by protestors wearing masks, that flares were allegedly fired, and that a chainsaw had been stolen from the work site during the incident. On Wednesday, police executed search warrants over the reported theft, arresting one person for allegedly preventing the RCMP from conducting a search and four more people for refusing to follow police orders… “The arrests Wednesday come just weeks after Canada’s Civilian Review and Complaints Commission, the agency responsible for receiving and overseeing public grievances against the RCMP, announced they would began an investigation into police operations. The oversight commission said it would examine if police operations are within the guidelines of UNDRIP.”
Canadian Press: For want of a pipeline: Canadian LNG should power low-carbon revolution, report says
James McCarten, 4/2/23
“As the world struggles to find the right balance between a carbon-free future and a present that still runs on fossil fuels, Canada could be leveraging its natural-gas riches to help fuel both, a new report suggests,” according to the Canadian Press. “The report, to be released Monday by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, urges the federal government to finally get serious about building the infrastructure necessary to fast-track the extraction and export of liquid natural gas. The carbon-credits clause of the 2015 Paris climate accord could be a “key driver of growth” for the LNG sector if Canadian natural gas were to become a viable alternative for coal-fired power plants around the world, it suggests. “This initiative could not only support natural gas exports but an array of services, technology, and materials exports,” writes Eric Miller, president of the D.C.-based Rideau Potomac Strategy Group and the report’s author. “Canada should use the global carbon market framework to build a stronger Canadian natural gas sector and a cleaner world.” In addition to several measures to develop and promote Canadian gas as a global low-carbon alternative, the report encourages Canada to retool its often convoluted regulatory processes and give Indigenous Peoples a greater stake in natural gas projects… “A more robust LNG pipeline network would have the added advantage of being adaptable to the future use of hydrogen as a modern-day low-carbon alternative to fossil fuels, the report notes… A better understanding of how a natural gas pipeline network could be converted to hydrogen would help “clarify the long-term economics” of building such infrastructure, the report says.”
Hart Energy: Beyond the Pipe: CEO Greg Ebel on Enbridge’s Strategy for M&A, LNG and Transition
Jordan Blum, 4/2/23
“Greg Ebel bemoans Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, but he recognizes Vladimir Putin’s broader geopolitical conflict with the West makes the energy his company moves more valuable to the world than ever before,” Hart Energy reports. “We’ve got to find ways to transition quicker if possible,” Ebel said in an interview with Hart Energy. “But there’s Enbridge, Johnny-on-the-spot with—boom—liquids, gas, renewables and the ability to sequester (carbon). It’s all connected, and it all works.” “...Enbridge ships nearly one-third of North America’s crude oil and almost 20% of the natural gas consumed in the U.S., as well as operating North America’s third-largest natural gas utility. But, now, Enbridge is focused on exporting oil and LNG around the world, while also building more renewable energy in Europe… “We move 20% to 30% of all the oil and gas that moves in North America each and every day, and now we have the largest export facility on the Gulf Coast for liquids,” Ebel told Hart. “And now we’re attached to five or six LNG facilities on the Gulf Coast. And now we’re actually building an LNG facility off the West Coast of Canada with our partners.” “...Enbridge even succeeded where the politicized Keystone XL pipeline project from TC Energy failed. Enbridge’s lesser-known Line 3 Replacement project carried a more boring name but actually came online in late 2021, effectively ending the longstanding heavy oil pipeline bottleneck into the U.S. The Biden administration tacitly approved of it by ignoring it… “Next up, Ebel told Hart, are carbon capture and hydrogen projects. The Inflation Reduction Act is better incentivizing U.S. projects, while the Canadian government is making headway, but is not quite there yet, he told Hart.”
Salem News: Gas pipeline project expected to take two months
KATIE WHITE, 4/3/23
“A project to upgrade a Columbia Gas pipeline along state routes 7 and 14 to East Park Avenue is expected to begin soon, with the work expected to take about two months,” Salem News reports. “Columbiana City Council approved emergency legislation during its March 21 meeting allowing an easement on the property that runs parallel to state Route 7 behind Dunkin’ Donuts… “Information pertaining to the project was posted on the city’s website, showing that Columbia Gas and its contractor, Miller Pipeline, will be installing approximately 10,000 feet of new pipe that will serve 50 properties on sections of state Route 14 and East Park Avenue. The gas company said that the project will “strengthen the natural gas delivery system in the area while also enhancing capacity for nearby industrial customers.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
FOX News: Republicans vote to end Biden's 'war on energy,' only 4 Dems agree
Peter Kasperowicz, 3/30/23
“The House of Representatives voted Thursday to reverse the Biden administration’s energy policies that Republicans say are eroding U.S. energy security and raising prices for consumers — and picked up support from a small number of Democrats, even though President Biden has said he would veto the bill,” FOX News reports. “The Lower Energy Costs Act passed 225-204 in a vote that saw four Democrats side with Republicans, and one Republican vote against it. The bill — which attacks everything from Biden’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline to restrictions on oil and gas development to proposed bans on gas stoves—– also saw dozens of Democrats support GOP amendments as the bill was being considered. Late Wednesday, 29 Democrats voted for an amendment aimed at banning Biden’s Department of Energy from imposing heavy new restrictions on gas stoves. Another amendment requiring a study on how banning gas stoves might raise electricity prices won the support of 48 Democrats. Elsewhere, 21 Democrats supported an amendment requiring the EPA to report on all regulations that have hurt U.S. energy independence, and seven Democrats voted for language disapproving of tax hikes on oil and gas development in Biden’s proposed budget. Those votes are a blow to the Biden administration, which dismissed the bill this week as an attempt by Republicans to give companies a "thinly veiled license to pollute." The White House argued the best way to lower energy prices is to keep funding green energy initiatives and said Biden would veto the bill if it made it to his desk… "Democrats have sent a clear message about their priorities," House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told FOX. "They are the party of $5 gas, subsidizing Communist China and the never-ending dependence on foreign dictators for minerals we have in America."
E&E News: Senate GOP Crafting Permitting Bill; Hearings Planned
Emma Dumain, Jeremy Dillon, 3/30/23
“Senate committees intend to hold hearings as soon as next month on permitting for energy projects, leaders of two key committees told E&E News. It could mark the beginning of more purposeful engagement from congressional Democrats on the question of permitting overhaul. And it could be the start of more formal conversations between the two parties on how to reconcile partisan differences around a shared goal of speeding up domestic energy production. The top Democrats and Republicans serving on two committees, Environment and Public Works and Energy and Natural Resources, were formalizing their plans this week. Democratic spokespeople for both committees told E&E that their panels would be holding hearings on permitting at a future point.”
E&E News: House Climate Hawks Pitch 'Clean' Permitting Plan
Emma Dumain, 3/31/23
“In 2018, a Democratic adviser on energy issues introduced two of the only Democratic House candidates on the campaign trail who were running on climate action,” E&E News reports. “Five years since their ‘meet cute,’ as Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) called it, and subsequent election, he and Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) are teaming up to lead their party in what is currently one of Washington’s thorniest political and policy debates: permitting reform. ‘My great frustration … is that we do energy politics in this town and call it energy policy,’ Casten reflected recently from his Capitol Hill office, where he sat for a joint interview with Levin. ‘What would it mean to do energy policy right, recognizing that we have to do a ton of stuff, which means we have to make sure the permitting process can accommodate deployment at speed?’ he told E&E. ‘Let’s define that and then make the politics possible. There’s not a lot of other people besides Mike that think that way.’ Their forthcoming bill — the ‘Clean Electricity Transmission Acceleration Act of 2023,’ details of which were shared first with E&E News — is an attempt to do just that.”
InsideEPA: Clean Power Official Urges Permit Concessions From Advocates, States
3/30/23
“The head of a major renewable industry group is urging environmentalists to accept some changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as part of a broader compromise on permitting policy, while also pressing state officials to take a more constructive approach to regional clean energy projects,” InsideEPA reports. “The permitting debate -- which to date features deep splits between Hill Republicans, progressive Democrats and various interested groups -- comes after Democrats last year were able to achieve enough consensus among environmental, low-carbon industry, labor and other groups to enact their party-line climate law known as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). ‘We’re at a moment where we have to kind of decide whether the priceless spirit that was part of the advocacy around passing this legislation is going to continue through the implementation’ of the IRA and the 2021 infrastructure law, argued American Clean Power Association (ACP) chief Jason Grumet during a March 29 meeting of the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS).”
E&E News: Next Up For BLM's Big Public Lands Rule: Revisions? Lawsuits?
Scott Streater, 3/31/23
“The Bureau of Land Management’s proposed public lands rule could be the boldest move yet by the Biden administration to reset how federal lands are managed at a time when climate warming is threatening to permanently degrade the landscape and the plants and wildlife that depend on it for their survival,” E&E News reports. “The Interior Department and BLM on Thursday unveiled the draft rule, which as written signals a significant policy shift toward prioritizing federal rangeland health and conservation of the 245 million acres of public lands under the bureau’s care. It lays out a suite of proposals, including requiring that all 245 million acres of BLM-managed lands meet land-health standards currently limited only to federal livestock grazing allotments, and it would place a priority on local field offices identifying lands that need restoration work to meet those standards of rangeland health. It also would prioritize the identification and evaluation for designation of BLM lands as ‘areas of critical environmental concern,’ or ACECs. The draft rule would establish a new conservation leasing system that would allow private companies and nongovernment groups to purchase leases that would allow them to fund restoration work to be done on some of BLM’s most degraded landscapes. One idea is to use these leases as a tool to mitigate the impacts of development projects on other bureau lands.”
Pioneer Press: Biden to visit Twin Cities manufacturing plant on Monday
3/30/23
“President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit a green energy manufacturing plant in the Twin Cities on Monday,” the Pioneer Press reports. “Biden’s stop at the Cummins Power Generation factory in Fridley is part of a cross-country tour to promote a suite of infrastructure legislation passed during the first two years of his presidency, including the Inflation Reduction Act. Cummins credited the IRA as a key factor when the company announced in October that it would begin manufacturing electrolyzers — machines that separate water into oxygen and hydrogen — at its existing Fridley plant. “Electrolyzers help produce clean hydrogen that is essential for reducing emissions in hard-to-decarbonize sectors, and play a critical role in clean energy supply chains that until now have largely been produced overseas,” according to a news release issued by the White House.
E&E News: ‘Doomerism’: Why scientists disagree with Biden on 1.5 C
Scott Waldman, 4/3/23
“Damned. Lost. Done. President Joe Biden keeps saying the world as we know it will be gone if global temperatures rise beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius,” E&E News reports. “His comments are raising concern among scientists who say the president risks adding to public confusion about the dangers of surpassing the 1.5 C threshold, an event that is expected to occur in about a decade. Biden has been ratcheting up his warnings about breaching that benchmark in recent speeches, claiming that future generations would be damned and that “we lose it all” if the world overshoots that target. But those assertions go beyond what many climate scientists say would happen. Surpassing 1.5 C is dangerous, they say, but it’s not a point of no return. Biden’s rhetoric is “misleading and unhelpful,” Michael Mann, a climate scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, told E&E. The best way to view what lies beyond 1.5 C is as a continuum of worsening climate impacts, he said, rather than as a climate cliff. “It indeed feeds doomerism since there’s a very real possibility that we will fail to limit warming below 1.5 C,” Mann said of Biden’s remarks. “If we miss that exit ramp, we don’t continue headlong down the fossil fuel highway. We get off at the earliest possible exit.”
PBS: Biden’s complex relationship with oil and gas, despite campaign promises
John Yang, Winston Wilde, Kaisha Young, 4/3/23
“In 2020, Joe Biden promised to move the U.S. away from fossil fuels. But the Biden administration has a complicated relationship with the oil and gas industry — it has moved forward on plans to drill federally owned lands, auctioned off 73 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico, and approved the controversial Willow project in Alaska. POLITICO energy reporter Ben Lefebvre joins John Yang to discuss,” PBS reports.
Washington Free Beacon: They're the Democratic Party's Top Operatives—and Lobbying for a Company Accused of Destroying Black Heritage Sites
Chuck Ross, 4/3/23
“American Bridge 21st Century is the progressive movement's largest super PAC, and it has a staff of Democratic superstars to prove it,” the Washington Free Beacon reports. “Chief among them are Bradley Beychok, the group's cofounder, and James Carville, the "Ragin' Cajun" Clinton operative and talking head who serves as an adviser. The pair has won praise for advancing progressive causes. They also run ABI Associates, a consulting firm that's raking in cash from clients that are likely to raise eyebrows among their Democratic colleagues. Clients like Greenfield Louisiana LLC, which stands accused of "environmental racism" for a proposed building project that would destroy historical slave sites in Louisiana. And the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, a trade group whose members include the companies behind the Keystone XL Pipeline, a perennial target for progressive attacks. Beychok launched ABI Associates in 2021 with former Joe Biden aide Ankit Desai. Carville serves as an adviser to the group, as does President Biden's top pollster, John Anzalone. The group works to "reduce negative press" for clients, including those against whom the principals spend their days drumming up negative press… “Greenfield Louisiana has faced similar allegations from civil rights and conservation groups over a 238-acre grain terminal it wants to build on the banks of the Mississippi River, in the majority-black township of Wallace, La. According to lobbying records, Greenfield Louisiana LLC. recently hired ABI Associates to lobby on behalf of the terminal after critics objected to its proposed location and impact construction would have on residents. The National Urban League, led by former New Orleans mayor Marc Morial (D.), in November called on the Environmental Protection Agency to open a civil rights probe of the terminal, asserting that the potential damage to the environment in the historic African-American community "violates the civil rights and environmental laws of the nation."
STATE UPDATES
Associated Press: Judge orders U.S. to resume oil lease sales in North Dakota
3/30/23
“A federal judge has ordered the U.S. government to resume regular oil and gas lease sales on federal lands in North Dakota, even as a legal battle continues over the Biden administration's suspension of the leasing program two years ago in an effort to combat climate change,” the Associated Press reports. “Hailing the ruling as a victory, North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley said canceled lease sales have cost North Dakota over $100 million in revenue each year and deprived the nation of "much-needed access to oil and gas during these difficult times of high inflation and threats to our energy security," the Bismarck Tribune reported. But the judge also denied the state's request to force the Bureau of Land Management, a federal agency, to hold sales that were canceled in 2021 and 2022… “Burgum has bashed the White House for trying to shift the country away from fossil fuels, and praised the oil and gas industry for being a "powerhouse" and "game-changer" for the state's economy… “In September, the Biden administration reached a legal settlement that requires the government to reexamine potential climate damages from oil and gas leases put up for sale under the Trump administration on government land in North Dakota and Montana… “About a quarter of U.S. fossil fuels come from federal lands and waters, making them important for industry and a target for climate activists who want to shut down leasing.”
Reuters: Lawsuit over harm to polar bears, walruses from oil exploration tossed
Clark Mindock, 3/30/23
“An Alaska federal judge has backed a Biden administration decision allowing the fossil fuel industry to injure a limited number of polar bears and walruses during oil development and exploration,” Reuters reports. “U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason on Wednesday dismissed the lawsuit filed in 2021 by environmental groups challenging a U.S. Fish and Wildlife decision that said industrial activity in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea would have a negligible impact on the two species. The 2021 federal decision authorized nonlethal and unintentional harms to polar bears and Pacific walruses during fossil fuel exploration and development for five years. The government said then that the activity can disturb bear dens and impact walrus prey, but those harms could be avoided and minimized through strict rules… “And despite claims by the Sierra Club, the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, the Center for Biological Diversity and others that the agency’s analysis underestimated the impact to the animals, Gleason said the decision was well explained and based on a rational interpretation of data. Joanna Cahoon, an attorney who represented the groups, told Reuters the judge’s ruling was disappointing and “doubles down” on threats to the bears from an industry that is “already responsible” for the climate crisis threatening their existence.”
WEWS: Environmentalists fear Lake Erie fracking, oil and gas industry says not to worry
Morgan Trau, 3/30/23
“A bill introduced to the Ohio House would prevent oil and natural gas drilling under Lake Erie, something environmental activists have been worried about, but the oil and gas industry said the legislation isn't necessary,” WEWS reports. “...Lake Erie Waterkeeper is known as one of the main protectors of the body of water. Bihn is the executive director of the organization and she told WEWS that the watershed has a rich ecosystem, one that provides drinking water for 11 million people, fishing, birdwatching and is a major source of tourism… “But the gas under Lake Erie could become untouchable. House Bill 43 bill would ban any removal of taking of oil or natural gas from under the lake… “Bihn argued that Ohio lawmakers have already loosened environmental protections on drilling, including passing a bill that will soon go into effect that allows fracking on all state land. "There's a lot of concern right now that they're opening up public lands in Ohio to private use," she told WEWS. "If it happens in the parks, it can happen in the lake." Not to mention, the energy industry isn't exactly the most trusted group in Ohio these days. Oil and natural gas, however, weren't the players in the FirstEnergy bribery scandal… “The bill has only had one hearing but may get more in the coming weeks.”
EXTRACTION
Bloomberg: How Much Top US Polluters Must Cut Methane to Avoid Fees
3/30/23
“Endeavor Energy Resources must slash its US methane releases more than any other major emitter to avoid penalties that come into force next year, according to an analysis from BloombergNEF that examined how new rules impact the 10 biggest polluters of the greenhouse gas,” Bloomberg reports. “The report shows just how much work some of the world’s most prolific oil and gas producers must do to clean up releases of the potent greenhouse gas, which has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide during its first two decades in the atmosphere. Halting releases of methane, the primary component of natural gas, could do.”
Visual Capitalist: Visualizing the Flow of Energy-Related CO2 Emissions in the U.S.
Selin Oğuz, 3/30/23
“In 2021, U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from the generation and consumption of energy reached 4.9 billion tonnes,” according to Visual Capitalist. “To better understand how various energy sources and their end-uses contribute to carbon emissions, this graphic visualizes the flow of energy-related CO2 emissions in the U.S. using carbon flow charts by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Energy-related CO2 emissions refer to the release of carbon dioxide as a result of the combustion of fuels to produce energy. They arise through the direct use of fossil fuels for transport, heating, or industrial needs, as well as the use of fossil fuels for electricity generation… “As the largest contributor to carbon emissions, however, energy-related CO2 emissions account for approximately 85% of all emissions in the U.S. which we will now explore in more detail. Followed by a pandemic-driven decline in 2020, energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. increased by 325 million tonnes in 2021, marking the largest-ever annual increase. When we follow the CO2 emissions from the above fossil fuels to their end uses, transportation and electricity generation stand out as the biggest contributors. In 2021, these two sectors accounted for more than 68% of all energy-related emissions in the country, roughly emitting 3.3 billion tonnes of CO2. When it comes to transportation, petroleum accounted for 97% of emissions, largely due to motor gasoline and diesel consumption. On the other hand, coal and natural gas made up 99% of CO2 emissions related to electricity generation.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
Quinte News: Protest against pipeline through Wet’suwet’en First Nation
Zach McGibbon, 4/1/23
“Protestors with Amnesty International and the Green Party of Ontario took part in a protest pushing the Royal Bank of Canada to stop financing pipelines and other fossil fuel projects,” Quinte News reports. “This comes ahead of an April 5 shareholders meeting. Lori Borthwick, President of the Bay of Quinte Green Party of Ontario, told Quinte the those protesting on Saturday were doing so in support of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation. She told Quinte RBC is violating the human rights of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation by giving financial support to the Coast GasLink pipeline through sovereign territory. “We want the people who invest in RBC to agree that the United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indigenous People should be applied in Canada and that we will be allowing them to have some sovereignty and maybe change the route of this pipeline or maybe move away from pipelines altogether,” Borthwick tells Quinte News.
OPINION
New York Magazine: Permitting Reform For A Debt-Ceiling Hike Would Be Win-Win
Jonathan Chait, 3/29/23
“The debt-ceiling problem is that, as soon as Republicans won control of the House, their craziest members began to clamor to hold the debt ceiling hostage, and the less crazy Republicans decided (as is their wont) to go along with this,” Jonathan Chait writes for New York Magazine. “Democrats have principled governing reasons not to go along with any such demand. If the minority party can threaten a global financial crisis to extort the majority party into going along with otherwise unacceptable policy provisions, it would simultaneously distort the operating structure of the Constitution while creating regular deadline negotiations that practically guarantee an eventual catastrophic default. However, extortion is a different thing than attaching mutually acceptable provisions to a debt-ceiling increase. Republican hostage-takers have tried to justify their extortion by conflating the two, but threatening default to force the other party to accept your agenda is a very different thing than to pass a bunch of bipartisan policy ideas as a sweetener along with a debt-ceiling increase. In this case, permitting reform is an idea with broad (though, as I will explain, not uniform) support. So this is the sort of policy that Congress would traditionally include with a debt-ceiling hike. And, in fact, permitting reform is an absolutely vital policy measure. One of the most important ideas that has developed in recent years — really, just months — is that the obstacle course of legal requirements that prevent or delay the building of almost literally anything is a first-order public-policy problem. The most noxious of these obstacles is the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act, which created a process of environmental review before almost any major new project.”
The Hill: Progressives need a plan for permitting reform of their own
Daniel Propp is the senior special assistant for policy at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA, 3/31/23
“There is a mountain of clean energy projects waiting to be built in the United States,” Daniel Propp writes for The Hill. “...But absent major policy changes, more than three-quarters of these planned power plants will never get built. That’s because energy projects in the United States face a long and complex permitting process before they can connect to the grid… “Imagine attending a Beyoncé concert in an arena with only one door, and you’ve got an idea of what it’s like to be a clean energy developer in America today. Much (though not all) of this delay is due to misuse of the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), which requires federal agencies to consider environmental impacts. It has been central to protecting ecosystems and communities across the country, but has spawned what energy regulation expert David Hill calls “an entire cottage industry of consultants, lawyers and litigation” that extends far beyond the original intent of the law. In the past decade, NEPA-related lawsuits have been levelled against projects ranging from the Dakota Access Pipeline to the Obama Presidential Library… “But permitting reform is once again on the table, and this time it has more momentum. On Feb. 28, Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) introduced a new bill aimed at accelerating the review process. The bill, though not yet broadly acceptable to Democrats, seems to have fallen upon fertile terrain… “Progressives, though, seem unswayed. But with support for permitting reform mounting on both sides of the aisle, pure opposition is no longer a viable stance. The United States needs a progressive vision for permitting reform… “It is possible to accelerate clean energy deployment without undermining local agency or environmental protections. New funding and personnel would allow regulatory agencies to process applications more quickly. Establishing new lines of coordination between agencies would limit the hoops developers have to jump through to secure a permit. And careful NEPA reform could forestall endless litigation. Importantly, these steps can speed up the process of permitting new renewable energy projects without meaningfully lowering the bar for environmental and social protections… “Progressives cannot afford to sit on the sidelines while their colleagues negotiate. It is time for them to offer their own plan for permitting reform — one that hews to the progressive ideals of justice, equity and environmental protection.”.
The Hill: This Should Be The Year For Permitting Reform
Alex Herrgott is the founder and president of the Permitting Institute, 3/29/23
“Earlier this year, I joined Vice President Harris, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi at a groundbreaking for Arizona’s Ten West Link transmission line,” Alex Herngott The Hill. “The project will deliver renewable energy across the West, as well as cheaper energy and good-paying, union jobs. It was a celebratory moment, but I couldn’t help reflecting on the decade-long permitting process the line had to endure. Remarkably, its eventual success is exceptional as few projects are approved within 10 years and many more are never completed. Take, for example, the SunZia Southwest transmission line. The Obama administration selected it for expedited review, but it has languished in the permitting process for 14 years and counting. In fact, only two of the seven transmission projects selected for President Obama’s streamlining program have been completed. After securing as many as 60 permits and coordinating with 16 federal agencies, developers also face an unpredictable landscape of rules and funding priorities that change with every election. They also must deal with contradictory actions within the same agencies… Doubtless, there are many details that need to be addressed, but we should be able to agree that a project development cycle of 7-to-10 years is simply too long. Working together, Congress and the president can advance permitting reforms to build 21st century infrastructure that safeguards communities, protects the environment and cultural resources, creates jobs, and brings prosperity to every corner of America. The time for action is now.”
TIME: What Congress Must Do Now to Speed Up the Green Energy Transition
Senator Angus King is the junior senator from Maine; Scott Peters represents California's 50th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, 3/30/23
“The most recent United Nations IPCC Report found that the world must cut emissions by 60% by 2035 to limit the planet’s rise in temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The solutions exist, but we are running out of time. We need to act big, and we need to act fast,” Angus King and Scott Peters write for TIME. “In the past two years, President Biden and Congress have responded. We passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act to support our transition to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050… “In this Congress, our focus must be on how to plan, permit, and approve climate action projects much faster than America is used to… “Why does it take so long in the U.S.? The paradoxical truth is that laws enacted to protect the environment decades ago could undermine climate action today… “We can credit NEPA for significant environmental preservation, but the law’s implementation is slow – with documents that are thousands of pages long and reviews that can take more than four years… “NEPA worked to stop dirty projects. But today our goal is to build climate-friendly projects, so we can unlock a future that doesn’t depend on oil and natural gas and their harmful price fluctuations and devastating emissions. Those of us who believe climate change is the gravest threat we face must rethink slow process requirements that can needlessly slow our transition away from dirty fuels. We need better ways to get public input and assess true environmental justice impacts of projects, ways that are more efficient and effective than years of administrative and judicial processes. We will have to accept some tradeoffs and uncertainty in favor of speed. We must update our environmental laws to make it easier, not harder, to build the projects and infrastructure that will get us to net zero emissions. Let us be clear: the goal is not to undermine environmental standards, but to dramatically accelerate the process. That means single agency responsibility, enforceable deadlines for administrative action, and expedited public input and review.”
Financial Post: Opinion: Want fewer industrial emissions? Subsidize industry less
Vincent Geloso is an assistant professor of economics at George Mason University and a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute, 4/3/23
“The Energy Sector Management group at HEC Montreal recently came out with a report showing that industrial greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) due to energy consumption in Quebec had fallen only three per cent between 1990 and 2020. Seeing this as a disappointing performance, multiple pundits and politicians have called for more government interventions on top of those that already exist,” Vincent Geloso writes for the Financial Post. “...There are two notable exceptions, however: in agriculture, emissions are up 12 per cent and in steel, 13 per cent, with both seeing large increases in GHG emissions related to energy consumption. Both these industries are heavily subsidized and protected from competition by the provincial and federal governments. And when you subsidize something, you get more of it. You also numb the incentives to cut costs and improve efficiency, as managers devote more of their time and effort to convincing politicians to dole out special privileges… “The two above-mentioned sectors have been heavily subsidized for decades. How much lower would GHG emissions be today if they had never been subsidized? When people express concern about environmental issues, they speak to the idea that there’s a cost to economic activity that’s imposed on citizens. Polluters, on the other hand, do not pay that cost so they do more of the activity that has a cost for everyone else but them. Proposed remedies such as carbon taxes are meant to reduce that cost. The flawed assumption is that government intervention can only reduce this cost. Wrong. If the government subsidizes GHG emissions, they will increase. Before imposing taxes on carbon, governments might adopt a “first, do no harm” strategy and stop providing subsidies and other aids to industry. Pundits who claim that more government action is needed to deal with GHG emissions are wrong. Curtailing the state’s involvement in the economy might be a better option. After all, why should we trust the pyromaniac to stop a fire?”
Los Angeles Times: Column: California’s evolution on Big Oil — in the state Capitol and my own family
GEORGE SKELTON, 4/3/23
“What’s striking about passage of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s legislation to penalize Big Oil’s alleged greed is the sea change it represents in California policy,” George Skelton writes for the Los Angeles Times. “A century ago and well past World War II, the oil industry could do no wrong in California. It was encouraged to drill, baby, drill. And this burgeoning state reaped the economic benefits… “The bill Newsom signed last week authorizes the California Energy Commission, which he appoints, to regulate oil refinery profits. It can establish a cap on profits and sock refineries that exceed it with what he calls a “price-gouging penalty.” “...Newsom’s scorn — and the Democratic-dominated Legislature’s — is in sharp contrast to the hospitable cheering-on that the oil industry heard from Sacramento throughout most of the 20th century… “But today, bashing and voting against the oil industry apparently plays well with Democratic voters in deep blue California. First, people are concerned about climate change and planet-altering greenhouse gas emissions spewed by gasoline automobiles… “Second, there’s greater public angst over oil company actions that hit motorists directly… “I’ve had my own evolution on oil: Moving from strong support of offshore drilling to adamant opposition because of repeated, calamitous spills. Today, one of my dad’s granddaughters — my daughter — is trying to rid California and the world of fossil fuel because, she believes, it threatens to destroy the planet. She’d like to eliminate her grandpa’s occupation. She’s a Biden administration advisor trying to find clean-energy jobs for fossil-fuel workers. Dad probably would have been fine with that, but cautioned her not to be rambunctious. Gas cars are going to be around for a while yet.”
OilPrice.com: Can Big Oil Do More To Prevent Oil Spills?
Felicity Bradstock, 4/3/23
“Oil spills are very much a thing of the present and if Big Oil wants to stay successful in the green transition it will have to clean up its act,” Felicity Bradstock writes for OilPrice.com. “With several reports of oil spills in different areas of the world in recent years, it seems that even under mounting international pressure to respond to climate change, oil and natural gas companies are failing to implement the necessary standards to prevent these events. So, just what can energy companies do to prevent oil spills and the devastating effects that follow? Last year, in North America, Canada's TC Energy Corp was forced to shut its Keystone pipeline in the U.S. after more than 14,000 barrels of oil spilled into a creek in Kansas. This marked the biggest spill of crude in the U.S. in almost a decade... “But this was not the first spill seen from Keystone, with other major examples in 2011, 2016, 2017, and twice in 2019. Around 12,000 barrels of oil are thought to have been spilt from Keystone since it became operational in 2010. The spill was a result of a ruptured stretch of the pipeline. And to make matters worse, TC Energy has been accused of allowing the pressure inside parts of its Keystone system — including the stretch through Kansas — to exceed the typical maximum permitted levels in the past, which has long concerned environmentalists… “Elsewhere, in the Philippines, just last month a tanker carrying 800,000 litres of industrial fuel oil sank off the coast of the Oriental Mindoro province… “And in the U.K., around 200 barrels of reservoir fluid leaked into the Poole harbour, in the southwest of England, last week… “Meanwhile, in Nigeria, residents in the oil-rich Niger Delta are taking action as over 13,000 people sue oil major Shell for years of spills in the region… “Firstly, governments must strengthen their regulatory frameworks and give regulators the power to enforce strict standards on all energy companies to prevent spills. Oil and gas firms should be obligated to put new leak detection technologies in place, and ensure they are up to date in line with technological innovations. In addition, the development of industry-sponsored safety institutions would allow for greater research and development, to advise oil and gas operators. Companies should also be required to provide specialised training to their workers on spill prevention and be prepared to carry out emergency response measures. Finally, oil and gas companies should establish spill reduction targets and be transparent about these goals to enhance accountability.”