EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 6/2/22
PIPELINE NEWS
Aberdeen News: Landowners call for the dismissal of Summit Carbon Solutions permit application
Huron Plainsman: County hears arguments regarding carbon pipeline
Pipeline Fighters Hub: The 45Q Tax Credit Pipeline Goldrush: Slop Time at the Piggie Trough
Diesel & Gas Turbine: FERC approves new gas export pipelines
CBC: Crown to charge 15 Coastal GasLink pipeline protesters with criminal contempt
Bloomberg: Spire Gas Pipeline Under Fed Scrutiny Gets Missouri Backing
Law360: $79M Deal In Columbia Pipeline Merger Suit Gets Chancery OK
The Texan: Landowners Lose Eminent Domain Pipeline Case, But Can Testify on Value of Land
Bloomberg: Ruby Pipeline Creditors Bristle at Bankruptcy Pace, Seek Control
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: With Methane Spike, GHGs Trap More Heat Than Ever, NOAA Finds
STATE UPDATES
Fort Collins Coloradoan: 'Recurring negligence': Larimer County files complaint against oil company after fire
Colorado Newsline: Little growth likely in Colorado, U.S. oil production in 2022, report finds
EXTRACTION
E&E News: Protests, angry staff: Big Oil faces new climate pressure
CLIMATE FINANCE
IPE: AP7 dumps 14 more coal and oil sands firms without transition plans
E&E News: SEC climate rule sparks backlash from business groups
OPINION
Inforum: LaDuke: CO2 pipelines are another bad idea
Washington Post: Opinion It’s not too late to call it quits on the Mountain Valley Pipeline
OilPrice.com: Canadian Oil Asks For More Subsidies Despite Soaring Profits
FOX News: It's time to unleash oil and natural gas drilling in the US
PIPELINE NEWS
Aberdeen News: Landowners call for the dismissal of Summit Carbon Solutions permit application
Alexandra Hardle, 6/2/22
“A group of landowners is calling for the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission to dismiss Summit Carbon Solutions’ request to the Public Utilities Commission for an application extension,” the Aberdeen News reports. “Brian Jorde of Omaha-based Domina Law Group filed the motion on behalf of a group of South Dakota landowners opposing the pipeline. Summit Carbon Solutions, an Iowa-based company, applied for a permit to construct a multibillion-dollar carbon sequestration pipeline… “The PUC meets to discuss both motions on June 8… “In a motion filed May 9, Summit asked to extend the decision deadline to June 15, 2023… “But Jorde's motion, filed on May 17, disagrees with the proposed timeline and seeks a dismissal of the permit application or an alternately proposed timeline. According to Jorde's motion, Summit has admitted to numerous application deficiencies, including various changes in the pipeline route. Additionally, Summit has admitted to the fact that 156 people were not notified of the fact that their land is along the pipeline route… “But Jorde said the application should be dismissed entirely because protocol hasn’t been completely followed, which would require Summit to submit a new application. And if the PUC isn’t on board with that, Jorde said the deadlines should at the least be altered in a way that is more fair to the landowners. "What the PUC shouldn't allow is this musical chairs process where every day or every week we've got new people that are like, 'Wait now I'm potentially affected here?'" Jorde told the News. Because Summit has indicated that the route will not be finalized until October, Jorde told the News new landowners continue to receive notification that they may be potentially affected by the pipeline. “They just need to go back to the drawing board … figure out what the route is and start over so we know — and the whole state knows — what we’re even talking about here.” In the motion filed to the PUC, several requested deadlines are outlined, as an alternative to the PUC dismissing the application in its entirety. Those deadlines start from the point in which Summit files a complete route, essentially asking for everything to be put on hold up until that point.”
Huron Plainsman: County hears arguments regarding carbon pipeline
Benjamin Chase, 6/1/22
“The agenda for Tuesday morning’s Beadle County Commission meeting was full, but it was certainly pointed to one agenda item that brought a handful of public attendees to the meeting with interest in the commission’s potential thoughts and/or decision on a potential carbon pipeline through parts of Beadle County and exactly how that pipeline should be regulated,” the Huron Plainsman reports. “Beadle County landowner Jamie Fisk presented research that he had gathered from other counties, other states, state and federal agencies, and lawyers regarding carbon pipelines and regulation of pipelines. One finding was that pipeline regulation within the state of South Dakota is not something that can be found as the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the agency that is tasked with the regulation, has no specific requirements set forth for any organization or company that would choose to create a pipeline in the state. Fisk asserted that because of the lack of state regulation, it was left to local governance to regulate pipelines within their boundaries, and he presented multiple ordinances from counties with regulations on pipelines as potential templates. He explained that landowners being approached about the current carbon pipeline may be unaware that they have options to negotiate the depth and setback of the pipeline due to the way things are laid out in documentation, but having a local standard would help land owners avoid being caught by “fine print.” After Fisk spoke, a representative from Summit Carbon Solutions addressed the commission. He stated that the position of Summit was that local governments should not be regulating construction of pipelines… “Multiple Beadle County residents spoke at the meeting against the pipeline. Commissioner Rick Benson expressed frustration that the state has not done anything at this time, but commissioners chose to table discussion on a potential ordinance regarding the pipeline at this time.”
Pipeline Fighters Hub: The 45Q Tax Credit Pipeline Goldrush: Slop Time at the Piggie Trough
Paul Blackburn, 6/1/22
“In the past year, three pipeline developers have proposed building major new carbon pipeline systems in the multiple Midwestern states,” Paul Blackburn writes for the Pipeline Fighters Hub. “Why did they all announce their pipeline projects at about the same time? The short answer is it’s Congress’s fault. The goldrush to build CO2 pipelines is a direct result of how Congress structured its 45Q tax credit program for carbon capture and storage (CCS)... “Essentially, Congress is giving the oil industry free CO2 so it can pump more oil, because most CO2-EOR projects are not economically viable when oil prices are low enough to keep voters happy. The 45Q tax credit is a sneaky way to use tax dollars to subsidize the oil industry. Congress could have attempted to find the minimum effective price for the tax credit by ramping it up and then capping it when companies began to exploit it and limiting the total amount available. This structure would have allowed discovery of the lowest price that triggered CCS and EOR project development. Instead, Congress set the tax credit high enough to create a goldrush mentality… “What happens to the pipelines when the 12-year tax credit runs out? Who knows? Congress could extend the credit and keep pouring cash into the piggy trough, or the federal government could be bankrupt by then. We should expect that if these pipelines are built, their owners will lobby Congress to keep the pork flowing, because not continuing this subsidy would result in a large amount of very expensive abandoned infrastructure. In other words, the 45Q tax credit would become so large that it would create its own momentum. The fact that the carbon pipelines are the result of federal subsidies means that this entire industry is based on federal dollars, not free markets, so its future is based entirely in politics. The carbon pipelines may be built for a quick buck and then left to rot, leaving landowners with a belly-up white elephant.”
Diesel & Gas Turbine: FERC approves new gas export pipelines
Keefe Borden, 6/1/22
“The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently approved three major natural gas pipeline projects that will boost the country’s ability to export additional LNG by a combined capacity of nearly 1.8 Bcf/d,” Diesel & Gas Turbine reports. “The first and largest pipeline, the Evangeline Pass Expansion Project, is a 1.1 Bcf/d pipeline owned by Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, a division of Kinder Morgan. The project includes 13.1 miles of new pipeline and two new compressor stations that will deliver natural gas to the proposed Plaquemines LNG Project in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana… “The second pipeline, the Alberta Xpress Project is a 0.165 Bcf/d line owned and managed by ANR Pipeline Company, a division of TC Energy. The new pipeline will use capacity from the Great Lakes Gas Transmission system and the ANR pipeline and will add a new compressor station in Evangeline Parish, Louisiana… “The third pipeline project will add 0.5 Bcf/d in export capacity to the Energia Costa Azul LNG Export Project in Baja California, Mexico. The North Baja Xpress Project from TC Energy will modify existing facilities and compressor stations along its 86-mil North Baja Pipeline. The FERC gave conditional approval to the project, which is in La Paz County Arizona and Imperial County, California. The permit enables North Baja, a division of TC Energy, to deliver natural gas from West Texas and the Rocky Mountains to markets in the western U.S. and Mexico… “In addition to the recent approvals for new natural gas pipelines, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that two major natural gas projects were completed in the last quarter. The Putnam Expansion project added 0.17 Bcf/d in capacity to the Florida Gas Transmission pipeline, which facilities deliveries to a Seminole Generation Cooperative natural gas -fired power plant in Putnum County, Florida. The North Bakken Expansion Projects is a 62-mile extension of the Williston Basin Interstate pipeline system. The project will add 0.25 Bcf/d in takeaway capacity from the Bakken in North Dakota and connects to the Northern Border Pipeline, the EIA reported.”
CBC: Crown to charge 15 Coastal GasLink pipeline protesters with criminal contempt
Jason Proctor, 6/1/22
“The B.C. Prosecution Service plans to prosecute 15 protesters for criminal contempt for allegedly defying an injunction protecting construction of a controversial pipeline in northern British Columbia,” the CBC reports. “A Crown lawyer told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Marguerite Church on Wednesday that prosecutors need four more weeks to decide whether to charge 10 other protesters with criminal contempt in relation to blockades and actions last fall opposing Coastal GasLink's natural gas pipeline… “It's the first time the legal conflict between Coastal GasLink and supporters of Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs who claim the pipeline infringes on their traditional territory has escalated into the area of criminal contempt — which involves public defiance of a court order… “The Crown is expected to announce on July 7 whether it will charge 10 more protesters with criminal contempt — including Sley'do, also known as Molly Wickham, who is one of the key leaders in support of the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs. Shaw said the Crown needs more time to consider the evidence and the law before making a decision on Sley'do and the others. He said prosecutors decided not to bring criminal contempt charges against two defendants for evidentiary reasons… “Coastal GasLink obtained an interlocutory injunction in 2019 blocking anyone from "physically preventing, impeding, restricting or in any way physically interfering" with access to the road which leads to the company's work site. The company issued a statement Wednesday saying it agreed with the decision to pursue charges. The Coastal GasLink statement said workers have dealt with "numerous violations" of the injunction and accused protesters of "escalating disruptive and dangerous actions." The case highlights the difference between civil and criminal contempt — as well as land title questions driving protests against the Coastal GasLink project.”
Bloomberg: Spire Gas Pipeline Under Fed Scrutiny Gets Missouri Backing
6/1/22
“Developers acted in a “reasonable and prudent” way when they built the Spire STL Pipeline, staff for Missouri utility regulators have found—an endorsement that could factor into U.S. energy regulators’ review of the much-debated pipeline that supplies the St. Louis area,” Bloomberg reports. “In addition, the project management team was “qualified,” and the Spire organization is “similar to what is observed at other electric and gas utilities,” wrote the Missouri Public Service Commission staff in a report filed by project developers with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on May 31. But the staff report also found it was “questionable” for developers to …”
Law360: $79M Deal In Columbia Pipeline Merger Suit Gets Chancery OK
Jeff Montgomery, 6/1/22
“Attorneys for Columbia Pipeline Group stockholders secured a record $79 million settlement Wednesday to end claims against the company’s former CEO and top financial officer in connection with a purportedly tainted $13 billion sale to TransCanada Corp., with a potentially larger claim against the buyer moving toward trial,” Law360 reports.
The Texan: Landowners Lose Eminent Domain Pipeline Case, But Can Testify on Value of Land
KIM ROBERTS, 6/1/22
“Last week, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that a pipeline company “transporting polymer-grade propylene” has eminent domain authority under the Texas Business Organizations Code to condemn land against the landowners’ wishes,” The Texan reports. “The case, Hlavinka v. HSC Pipeline Partnership, LLC, was heard by the court in February. The Hlavinkas are landowners along the Texas Gulf Coast. They sold easement rights to multiple other pipelines, but they could not reach a satisfactory agreement with HSC Pipeline, so the company initiated condemnation proceedings against the landowners. The opinion of the court, authored by Justice Jane Bland, affirmed the findings of the trial and appellate courts that the Texas Business Organizations Code “granted independent condemnation authority and that polymer-grade propylene qualifies as an ‘oil product’ under that section.” The landowners argued that the pipeline must first qualify for eminent domain authority under the Texas Natural Resources Code. They argued that because it does not carry crude petroleum, it does not qualify. The Texas Supreme Court disagreed, stating that the Texas Business Organizations Code incorporates the Texas Natural Resources Code. The Hlavinka family also argued that the pipeline is not a public use, or at least the public use question is for the jury to decide. The court agreed that a public use is a requirement under the Texas Constitution in order for a pipeline company to exercise eminent domain authority. It found that the pipeline does serve a public use, stating in its opinion, “Requiring that transported goods be sold and delivered to a non-affiliate ensures that the pipeline is not private.” Furthermore, the Supreme Court disagreed with the landowners that the public use issue is for a jury to decide, stating “that such a determination is a legal one, not one for a jury to decide.” On one issue, however, the Hlavinka family prevailed. The family claimed they ought to be allowed to present evidence of previous arms’ length transactions for pipeline easement purchases to establish the value of the easement. The district court ruled against them on this issue, but the Texas Supreme Court justices agreed with the landowners.”
Bloomberg: Ruby Pipeline Creditors Bristle at Bankruptcy Pace, Seek Control
6/1/22
“Ruby Pipeline LLC bondholders, frustrated by the slow sale process for the natural gas pipeline, are seeking to take more control over the company’s bankruptcy, court papers show,” Bloomberg reports. “Ruby’s owners -- Pembina Pipeline Corp. and Kinder Morgan Inc. -- have failed to make adequate progress toward selling the pipeline and the company refuses to meaningfully engage with creditors on a path forward, a group of bondholders said in a court papers filed late last week. The investors want to file their own restructuring plan, one that would hand them ownership of the pipeline, in the event that the sale process …”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: With Methane Spike, GHGs Trap More Heat Than Ever, NOAA Finds
John Fialka, 6/1/22
“Greenhouse gases trapped 49 percent more heat in 2021 than in 1990, as emissions continued to rise rapidly, according to NOAA. NOAA released its ‘Annual Greenhouse Gas Index’ last week,” E&E News reports. “The index is based on thousands of air samples collected globally over each of the last 63 years; this observational method means it ‘contains little uncertainty,’ according to the agency. ‘Our data show that global emissions continue to move in the wrong direction at a rapid pace,’ said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad. NOAA found that carbon dioxide, the most plentiful and long-lived gas, expanded at the most rapid rate over the last 10 years. But the most potent global warmer also broke records: methane increased more than it has since at least the early 1980s, when NOAA began its current measuring record. The methane emitted in 2021 was 15 percent greater than in the 1984-2006 period, and 162 percent greater than preindustrial levels, NOAA found. Two-thirds of methane emissions come from raising farm animals such as cows and also from microbes in wetlands that are growing warmer because of CO2, said Stephen Montzka, a research chemist who prepares a report on the Index annually for NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory. That combination can be hard to mitigate, as can nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that is mostly emitted by fertilizer, meaning reducing it could affect food supply. But a third of methane comes from a source that humans can control, Montzka said: oil and gas production. Methane is 30 times more potent than CO2 as a warmer, but only lasts about nine years to CO2’s centuries.”
STATE UPDATES
Fort Collins Coloradoan: 'Recurring negligence': Larimer County files complaint against oil company after fire
Jacy Marmaduke, 5/31/22
“Larimer County officials are asking state agencies to hold Prospect Energy accountable for a series of air pollution violations and a recent fire at the operator’s oil storage sites near Fort Collins,” the Fort Collins Coloradoan reports. “The county filed a complaint against Prospect Energy with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and called on the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division to investigate the May 9 fire, which occurred less than 300 feet from homes in the Hearthfire neighborhood. County officials said in the COGCC complaint that they suspect Prospect Energy's poor maintenance practices caused the fire. In their letter to the state air pollution division, county staff accused Prospect of “recurring negligence” and encouraged the state to invoke serious penalties against the operator, potentially going as far as revoking its permit or assessing penalties of up to $47,357 a day for each law broken. “The county’s position is that if this operator is not able to conduct its operations safely, it should not be allowed to operate at all,” Larimer County principal planner Matt Lafferty wrote in the county’s May 24 letter to the Air Pollution Control Division. The county also requested an update from the Air Pollution Control Division on their investigation of Prospect Energy's Krause tank battery site north of Fort Collins, where regulators and environmental advocates have repeatedly documented air pollution that violates state law. Prospect’s list of suspected regulatory violations has continued to grow over the course of the monthslong state investigation, but the operator has yet to face penalties.”
Colorado Newsline: Little growth likely in Colorado, U.S. oil production in 2022, report finds
CHASE WOODRUFF, 6/2/22
“Oil and gas drilling activity has inched upwards in Colorado since the Russian invasion of Ukraine sent prices soaring earlier this year, but investor demands and supply constraints — not state or federal policy — will likely limit production growth through at least the end of the year, a new Colorado School of Mines analysis concludes,” Colorado Newsline reports. “The quarterly report on oil and gas markets from the school’s Payne Institute for Public Policy found that little has changed since the weeks following Russia’s invasion, when multiple large producers operating in Colorado assured Wall Street investors they would use high oil prices to increase dividends and stock buybacks, not expand production… “While rig counts have similarly increased slightly in oil and gas fields across the country, U.S. oil and gas production has declined slightly in the first and second quarters of 2022 due to “weather-related constraints” like heavy snowfall in North Dakota’s Williston Basin, the report said. The industry is also being hit by inflation and supply chain issues, including shortages of steel used in pipes and fracking equipment. Despite claims to the contrary by industry groups and Republican politicians, government policy hasn’t had a discernible impact on drilling activity, analysts say. “There is no evidence to suggest that federal policy is having a constraining impact on onshore industry activity,” read the Payne Institute report, noting the thousands of approved federal drilling permits stockpiled by producers. “Rather, the constraints are investor demands for spending discipline and, increasingly, availability of select services.” “...Lobbyists for the industry have sought to downplay its large numbers of approved permits, instead pushing policymakers to roll back environmental protections and climate-change commitments in the name of what American Petroleum Institute president Mike Sommers, in a speech to Colorado business leaders last month, called “regulatory and political certainty.”
EXTRACTION
E&E News: Protests, angry staff: Big Oil faces new climate pressure
Carlos Anchondo, 5/25/22
“Oil majors are coming under renewed climate pressure this week as shareholders vote on resolutions, protests erupt and an ex-contractor attacks the industry,” E&E News reports.
CLIMATE FINANCE
IPE: AP7 dumps 14 more coal and oil sands firms without transition plans
Rachel Fixsen, 6/1/22
“Sweden’s AP7 is adding 14 firms to its blacklist, all for failure to act in line with the Paris Agreement due to large-scale coal operations or oil sands extraction without credible transition plans, it has announced,” IPE reports. “The SEK967bn (€92bn) national pension fund which provides the default option in the premium pension system, said a total of 102 companies were now banned from its investment universe, with this latest batch of exclusions mainly involving coal companies… “Among the 14 companies are US firm ConocoPhillips, India’s Adani Enterprise, Shenzhen Energy Group in China, and Canadian business Imperial Oil… “AP7 also said it had also removed five companies from its blacklist, after ascertaining that there was no verified information about ongoing norm violations by those businesses. Toshiba and TC Energy Corp are among the five re-categorised as investable companies for AP7.”
E&E News: SEC climate rule sparks backlash from business groups
Avery Ellfeldt, 6/2/22
“The Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposal to require publicly listed companies to disclose their climate-related risks has unleashed pushback from critics who say the agency is overstepping its bounds,” E&E News reports. “But in recent weeks the debate has intensified around one issue in particular: the extent to which the SEC’s draft climate disclosure rules would affect smaller businesses that are embedded in public companies’ supply chains — but aren’t actually regulated by the SEC. It’s a concern increasingly highlighted by business groups, Republican lawmakers and conservative organizations in response to the SEC’s move, which was first unveiled in March. Since then, opponents have argued in comment letters to the SEC and other forums that, as currently written, the proposal would compel publicly listed companies to demand greenhouse gas data or other related information from their suppliers. That in turn, they argue, could have a major impact on companies such as small family farms that likely do not have the resources necessary to comply. Progressives, sustainable finance proponents and some finance experts disagree. They say the SEC specifically tailored the rules to target large public companies — many of which already voluntarily disclose climate-related information — and that private businesses likely would see little to no impact, at least in the near term. “I really think that those concerns are not just overstated. I think they sort of misperceive the proposal and the way that companies can report” this information, Kristina Wyatt, senior vice president of global regulatory disclosure at Persefoni, a carbon accounting startup, told E&E… “The debate hinges in large part on one provision included in the agency’s nearly 500 page draft rule — the disclosure of a company’s Scope 3 emissions, or the planet-warming emissions that are produced by their suppliers, customers and more. The SEC in its proposal says companies must calculate and disclose those emissions if they are “material” to their business or if they’ve set a climate target that includes Scope 3 emissions. It’s a major task that entails calculating the climate impact associated with business activities that reporting companies don’t have direct control over.”
OPINION
Inforum: LaDuke: CO2 pipelines are another bad idea
Winona LaDuke is executive director, Honor the Earth, and an Ojibwe writer and economist on Minnesota’s White Earth Reservation, 6/1/22
“We humans are making too much carbon. Yup it’s us. The percentage of carbon in the air is at about 400 parts per million; carbon is what causes catastrophic storms, facilitates the movement of crazy insects, and basically lets all hell break loose. And there’s more crazy to come,” Winona LaDuke writes for Inforum. “The easiest way to stop the carbon buildup is to quit burning fossil fuels, move to efficiency, green building and renewables. That’s the actual solution… “Instead of the common sense approach, there’s an even more crazy idea now, an awfully expensive set of experimental technologies: sequestering collected carbon emissions by converting them to a combination liquid and gas (CO2) and putting it in a pipeline to transport it in a potentially high explosive state. Then put this stuff back underground, in what’s called carbon capture and storage. Scenario 1: You build some more dangerous pipelines, make a big legal battle with farmers, ranchers and Native people, arrest us, and explain why we should bear the risk for the latest bad idea and some more fat cat profits… “Why should we be concerned? Well, it’s a big expensive experiment with us all, and our planet. CO2 pipes can explode – they already have – and it’s full of bad math and made-up ideas… “While there is much more to this complicated story, keep these key issues top of mind, as the Bold Alliance attorney Paul Blackburn and colleagues note at the Pipeline Fighters Hub blog. One, the “free oil market” is incentivized by “45Q tax credit. That’s our public money. As Blackburn explains, this “gives polluters who emit carbon dioxide a tax credit if they capture carbon dioxide from their smokestacks, turn it into a fluid, transport it in a pipeline to a well, and then pump it underground.” “...Second, companies are using this CO2 process to get out more oil, and that means yet more carbon. It’s called enhanced oil recovery, which “can squeeze very large amounts of oil out of old oilfields and be turned into fuels such as gasoline and diesel and then sold and burned, thereby releasing more CO2 pollution — just the opposite of what the 45Q tax credit is supposed to accomplish, “ Blackburn explains. Hypocritical and really bad math… “Go organic. and quit doing dumb, expensive and heartbreaking stuff to make a buck. Let’s just have the New Green Revolution, put the carbon back in the soil, and grow our future.”
Washington Post: Opinion It’s not too late to call it quits on the Mountain Valley Pipeline
Sam Rasoul, a Democrat, represents Roanoke in the Virginia House of Delegates, 6/1/22
“The recent decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to conditionally approve an amendment requested by Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) may have confused some. After so much bad news for the troubled pipeline — which is billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule — FERC’s decision might have seemed like a rare bit of good news for this dangerous, expensive, unnecessary project. Thankfully, it was not,” Sam Rasoul writes for the Washington Post. “Though FERC granted permission for MVP to change the construction method used for crossing some of the streams and wetlands along the pipeline’s path, the regulator also made it clear that no construction could begin unless the pipeline convinces the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reinstate authorizations vacated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in recent decisions. Getting those authorizations will be a time-consuming process — assuming that MVP can even convince federal regulators that it won’t harm endangered species or can safely cross sensitive national forests. And then those decisions would need to survive near-certain legal challenges. The fact is that MVP is years from completion under the rosiest of scenarios, and it is likely to never finish construction… “This fall, MVP will need to ask for another extension of its Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity from FERC — which just faced some tough questions from D.C. Circuit Court judges over its decision to grant the first extension in 2020 without a complete assessment of widespread erosion caused by the pipeline’s construction. FERC should make the right call this time — and put the final nail in the coffin of a project that has run roughshod over the people and places of West Virginia and Virginia… “The communities that have been fighting this pipeline for nearly a decade have put up with enough: fear, uncertainty, the loss of property, hundreds of water quality violations and more. It is time to give them the peace of mind they deserve and end this floundering project. FERC should refuse this extension.”
OilPrice.com: Canadian Oil Asks For More Subsidies Despite Soaring Profits
Haley Zaremba, 6/1/22
“The Canadian oil sands are having a hell of a year. Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., more than doubled its profits year-on-year in the first quarter of 2022. CNRL is now the fourth most valuable publicly traded oil and gas producer in North America, an incredible feat considering that just a year and a half ago, it was in question whether or not the oil sands would survive at all, thanks to increased scrutiny of the sector’s mega-dirty crude bitumen and rising costs of operations,” Haley Zaremba writes for OilPrice.com. “...In the wake of these compounding crises, energy prices are through the roof. While consumers are being hit hard at the pumps and the thermostat, however, the rising oil prices have been a saving grace for oil and gas companies who were staring down the barrel of bottomed out prices, peak oil demand, and increased pressure to decarbonize just a year ago… “As a consequence, at the very same time that the Canadian oil sands are experiencing record profits, they are asking for more government subsidies for carbon capture… “While this seems ironic and even irresponsible on the surface, it could be argued that the current profit margins in the oil sands are a fluke, and that the sector will continue what some say is its terminal decline in the coming years, thereby needing a little extra support from the government to clean up their production. On the other hand, these subsidies may allow producers to reinvest in harmful practices while investing the bare minimum into carbon capture. What’s more, carbon capture is seen by many environmentalists as a greenwashing tactic that encourages further extraction when what they believe the world really needs is to keep it in the ground. In fact, a bombshell report released last year revealed that a massive carbon capture plant built in Canada by oil supermajor Shell plc actually emits “far more” carbon than it stores… “But it seems that the more credible argument is that carbon capture simply isn’t the right tactic for reducing Oil Sands emissions.”
FOX News: It's time to unleash oil and natural gas drilling in the US
Republican Fred Keller represents Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, 6/1/22
“Every day, energy prices in America hit new record highs, leaving American families wondering when relief will come,” Rep. Fred Keller writes for FOX News. “During a press conference last week, President Biden said that high gas prices were part of an "incredible transition" to become "less reliant on fossil fuels." This "incredible transition" that the president referred to isn’t fooling anybody. This administration has made clear—in no uncertain terms—that instead of working seriously to alleviate Americans’ pain at the pump, the president will continue to suffocate the domestic oil and natural gas industry in hopes of replacing it with an unrealistic and far-left Green New Deal… “All hope is not lost. The solution to our troubles lies beneath our feet, and unleashing American oil and natural gas resources through domestic drilling is our only chance to curb inflation and rebuild America’s economic might. That’s why over 20 of my Republican colleagues and I recently introduced legislation calling on the Biden administration to reverse course and increase domestic drilling for oil and natural gas… “The Biden administration’s war on American energy will not move us closer to meeting our energy goals – on the contrary, it puts us at a competitive disadvantage to our adversaries… “Domestic drilling is necessary for America to remain a dominant player in the global arena, and partisan agendas must not interfere with America’s ability to lead in the 21st century and beyond.”