EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 6/29/22
PIPELINE NEWS
CBC: Coastal GasLink, contractor deny liability for alleged sexual assault at pipeline work camp
National Observer: Canada's business case for Trans Mountain assumes 100 years of operation
Law360: DC Circ. Backs FERC's Approval Of $468M Gas Pipeline
The Gazette: Navigator CO2 pipeline announces public meetings for new route
Pen City Current: CO2 pipeline route change in Lee County prompts additional meetings
Port Arthur News: Meetings set for Port Arthur, Bridge City regarding proposed pipeline
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Court won't revisit Big Oil's loss in Calif. climate case
STATE UPDATES
MPR: Four Minn. cities get state money to study petroleum leak sites
KTUU: Fire extinguished at oil refinery in Valdez
EXTRACTION
Washington Post: World pledged to cut methane. Emissions rising instead, study finds.
CNBC: Why Big Tech is pouring money into carbon removal
E&E News: Hazardous air pollutants found in home-use natural gas
Globe and Mail: Pieridae considers plan for full-scale Nova Scotia LNG project to export gas to Germany
Offshore Technology: ExxonMobil and Imperial Oil to sell Canadian oil and gas assets for $1.47bn
CLIMATE FINANCE
E&E News: U.S. retreats from pledge to end gas investments
OPINION
Ashland Daily Press: LETTER: Enbridge crews are on the job
Financial Post: Opinion: We need the oilsands. But not just the oilsands
The Hill: No miracle tech needed: How to switch to renewables now and lower costs doing it
PIPELINE NEWS
CBC: Coastal GasLink, contractor deny liability for alleged sexual assault at pipeline work camp
Betsy Trumpener , 6/29/22
“Coastal GasLink says it is not liable for an alleged sexual assault at a work camp in northern B.C., and instead says any negligence is the fault of Civeo Premium Services, a pipeline contractor which also denies responsibility,” CBC reports. “The two companies also disagree about who employed the person alleged to have committed the sexual assault. The denials from both companies come in written responses filed in B.C. Supreme Court to a lawsuit from a 30-year old woman who CBC News is identifying by her initials. In her lawsuit, J.M. said she suffered "sexual battery" by an "agent" of Coastal GasLink who embraced her at work without her consent and "fondled, then forcibly grabbed" her buttocks, and "inappropriately" commented on her body. The alleged incident took place in J.M.'s private office in a work camp about 100 kilometres from Houston, B.C., west of Prince George, in December 2021, where she was employed as an executive chef for Coastal GasLink crews constructing a pipeline… “J.M. claims Coastal GasLink and Civeo failed to "screen for suitability [their] agents, employees and guests, especially in light of the remote nature of the work site and prevalence of sexual violence at such remote work sites" and is suing both companies for negligence and damages… “In separate written responses filed to the B.C. Supreme Court this month, both Coastal GasLink and Civeo ask that the case be dismissed. Civeo stated that while J.M. had reported an alleged incident of sexual assault and asked for a video camera to be installed in her office, she did not initially provide the name of her alleged assailant… “However, Civeo also said it's not liable for the actions of the alleged assailant because they were an employee of Coastal GasLink and "not under the control or direction of Civeo." “...All the incidents alleged in the lawsuit took place on land claimed as traditional territory by several Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs, the site of ongoing pipeline protests against Coastal GasLink.”
National Observer: Canada's business case for Trans Mountain assumes 100 years of operation
Natasha Bulowski, 6/28/22
“Secret reports the federal government is relying on to argue the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is commercially viable are based on the unrealistic assumption the pipeline will operate for 100 years, Canada’s financial watchdog told Canada’s National Observer. For months, Finance Canada has refused to share any information about the financial reports produced by TD Securities and BMO Capital Markets, which Finance Canada says prove TMX is still commercially viable despite ballooning construction costs. “We believe that's probably too long of a time horizon, to assume that the pipeline will be operating for at least another century ... let alone to take into consideration revenues that will be generated over such a long period of time,” Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux told Canada’s National Observer. “Also, because of the various commitments to net-zero or to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, we didn't think that using a 100-year time horizon was appropriate.” “...In its most recent report, the PBO used a much shorter 40-year time frame to analyze the profitability of the Trans Mountain pipeline and expansion project. Giroux’s report confirms what was already clear: TMX is no longer a profitable investment. The main difference between the PBO’s report and the TD and BMO ones is the time frame, which explains why the government believes Trans Mountain is profitable, Giroux told the Observer… “For the first time, the PBO also modelled a scenario where the project is cancelled immediately and found the government would have to write off an estimated $14.4 billion worth of assets. A cancellation would bankrupt the Trans Mountain Corporation, the report says. The federal government has shown no signs it intends to cancel the project… “There are many problems with using a 100-year time frame, Omar Mawji, energy finance analyst for Canada for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, told the Observer. “Either the people doing the analysis don't quite understand the dynamics of a pipeline and a supply source. Or, you know, they're doing it because … they're trying to look for a way to make it profitable,” Mawji told Canada’s National Observer.
Law360: DC Circ. Backs FERC's Approval Of $468M Gas Pipeline
Morgan Conley, 6/28/22
“The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday upheld the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of a $468 million natural gas pipeline project, disagreeing with environmental advocates that developers were permitted to collect excessive returns and environmental concerns weren’t given proper scrutiny,” reports. “A unanimous panel refused to find fault with FERC’s decision to issue a certificate of public convenience and necessity for Mountain Valley Pipeline LC’s MVP Southgate project…”
The Gazette: Navigator CO2 pipeline announces public meetings for new route
Erin Jordan, 6/29/22
“Iowans whose property may be in the path of the proposed Navigator Heartland Greenway carbon dioxide pipeline are invited to informational meetings in 12 counties, including Delaware, Buchanan, Fayette and Bremer,” The Gazette reports. “The Iowa Utilities Board on Tuesday approved 12 county meetings Aug. 22 through Sept. 21, followed by a virtual meeting Sept. 21… “But the company changed part of its route — dropping Linn County from the path — when ADM announced it would partner with Wolf Carbon Solutions to build a separate pipeline to connect with ADM ethanol plants in Cedar Rapids and Clinton… “Other counties may have had meetings in the first round, but the route has changed slightly and a new set of landowners is potentially affected, Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, vice president of government and public affairs for Navigator, told The Gazette earlier this month… “Hundreds of Iowa landowners, county boards of supervisors and environmental groups have opposed use of eminent domain to force easements to build CO2 pipelines. The pipeline companies have said they plan to get voluntary easements, but it’s unclear how many Iowans have signed financial deals so far.”
Pen City Current: CO2 pipeline route change in Lee County prompts additional meetings
Chuck Vandenberg, 6/28/22
“The Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) today filed a letter approving the dates, times and locations for 13 additional public informational meetings requested by Navigator Heartland Greenway LLC (Navigator),” the Pen City Current reports. “...Lee County Supervisors will meet with pipeline officials on Thursday at the American Legion in West Point at 11 a.m. The meeting is open to the public but is being planned as an information only meeting with limited to no questions being allowed.”
Port Arthur News: Meetings set for Port Arthur, Bridge City regarding proposed pipeline
6/29/22
“Two upcoming community meetings — one in Port Arthur and one in Bridge City — have been scheduled for July regarding a planned 37-mile long pipeline from Nederland to the Gulf off the coast of Cameron Parish, Louisiana,” the Port Arthur News reports. “The Save Sabine Lake coalition will meet at 7 p.m. July 19 at Robert A. “Bob” Bowers Civic Center in Port Arthur, and again at 7 p.m. July 21 at the Bridge City Senior Citizen Hall, 103 Parkside Drive. According to the group, the meetings serve to educate Southeast Texans about the Blue Marlin Pipeline, “and what landowners along the pipeline route can do to protect their property.” In late 2020, Blue Marlin Offshore Port LLC applied to the Maritime Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard to construct the deepwater port 99 miles off the coast of Cameron Parish. Blue Marlin’s parent company, Energy Transfer, operates the Nederland terminal.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Court won't revisit Big Oil's loss in Calif. climate case
Pamela King, 6/28/22
“A federals appeals court said yesterday that it would not rethink its jurisdictional ruling on a climate liability case from San Mateo and other California cities, sticking with its previous decision that the case belongs in the state court where it was filed,” E&E News reports. “The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the oil and gas industry's request for an en banc rehearing. The industry is widely expected to file a Supreme Court petition appealing that decision, as they already have done in a similar case out of Colorado… “Companies have urged the courts to find that climate liability lawsuits raise national questions that belong before federal judges, who may be more likely to strike down the challenges. But the 9th Circuit and other benches across the country have so far declined. Most recently, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied an en banc rehearing for Baltimore's climate case.”
STATE UPDATES
MPR: Four Minn. cities get state money to study petroleum leak sites
Kirsti Marohn, 6/28/22
“Four Minnesota cities are receiving state funding to analyze whether leaded gasoline from leaking storage tanks is putting their drinking water at risk,” MPR reports. “...The additional study comes in the wake of a former Minnesota Pollution Control Agency employee filing a whistleblower lawsuit last year against his former employer. Mark Toso raised questions about the state’s petroleum remediation program where he’d worked as a hydrologist for a decade, and whether it was doing enough to prevent leaded gasoline from contaminating groundwater. Toso's lawsuit is still pending. Meanwhile, state lawmakers authorized $200,000 for Paynesville to take the lead in hiring a consultant to analyze the extent of leaded gasoline contamination and the threat it poses to each city’s drinking water supply… “The Paynesville contamination, from underground tanks at a former service station, was first discovered in the 1980s. Chemicals from the petroleum leached into the groundwater and forced the city two close two of its wells. The MPCA replaced the wells… “Wallerstedt told MPR the MPCA is willing to review the consultant’s information and recommendations and consider whether a change of plan is needed. However, she added, “Cleaning up beyond what's necessary does come with a cost.”
KTUU: Fire extinguished at oil refinery in Valdez
Tim Rockey, 6/28/22
“A fire broke out Monday evening at the Petro Star refinery on Dayville Road in Valdez following an explosion,” KTUU reports. “According to a press release from Valdez Communications Director Ana Hinkle, the fire was reported at 5:04 p.m. and emergency responders arrived on the scene by 5:10 p.m… “At approximately 5:50 p.m. traffic along Dayville road reopened as Fire Department personnel deemed the fire under control. Units cleared the scene at 7:33 p.m. No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire is currently under investigation.” Residents reported seeing a large, thick plume of black smoke and hearing the sound of an explosion. Hinkle wrote that a tanker truck inside the loading area of the refinery was the main source of the fire, and that the flames were contained to the truck and the rack of the loading area.”
EXTRACTION
Washington Post: World pledged to cut methane. Emissions rising instead, study finds.
Steven Mufson, 6/27/22
“Kayrros, a firm that analyzes satellite data, says methane emissions from fossil fuels have intensified, rising faster than the rebound in oil, gas and coal production since the easing of the coronavirus pandemic — a development the firm called “worrisome,” the Washington Post reports. “In a report issued Monday, Kayrros said methane emissions have climbed despite the launch of the Global Methane Pledge at the U.N. climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, last fall. The firm said that “global methane emissions so far appear to be going in the wrong direction.” “This is an alarm call for the fossil fuel industry,” Antoine Halff, co-founder and chief analyst at Kayrros, told the Post… “In the Permian Basin, the most prolific U.S. oil and gas basin, methane emissions in the first quarter of 2022 jumped 33 percent from the previous quarter, and soared by 47 percent from the first quarter a year earlier. The increase in methane emissions outstripped oil and gas output, thus increasing the methane intensity. The emissions in the first three months of this year also exceeded emissions in the fourth quarter of 2019 — before the pandemic hit… “The Kayrros report also said the number of U.S. natural gas super-emitters — the unusually rapid bursts of methane after a leakage incident — has jumped back to 70, the levels reached before the pandemic. At the current pace, the number of super-emitters will reach 168 this year in the United States, with 59 percent coming from the Permian Basin. Emissions also climbed in the Appalachian coal fields. Production from the region’s coal mines fell in 2020 amid lower demand because of the pandemic. But methane emissions were slower to decline then, and “as production started to bounce back in 2021, emissions grew faster,” the report says. Production grew 13 percent in 2021, but methane emissions rose 20 percent in the same period… “In the Marcellus gas basins in Pennsylvania and Ohio, Kayrros found that the methane intensity of gas produced declined after the pandemic hit but has returned close to previous levels.”
CNBC: Why Big Tech is pouring money into carbon removal
Katie Brigham, 6/28/22
“The market for carbon removal is expanding rapidly, and private money is pouring in from tech companies seeking to help early-stage carbon capture and storage startups scale up and bring costs down,” CNBC reports. “...In April, Stripe teamed up with Alphabet, Meta, Shopify and McKinsey to launch an initiative called Frontier, which plans to purchase $925 million worth of carbon removal by 2030 from nascent carbon removal companies, in an effort to accelerate research and development efforts and lower costs… “The scales these are going to have to be built out at almost defy comprehension,” Eric Toone, technology lead at Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which has made numerous investments in the carbon removal space, told CNBC. “To capture something like 30% of emissions in 2050, you’re talking about building an industry that’s three times five times larger than the global petrochemical industry today.” “...Carbon Engineering, for example, has sold its captured CO2 to oil and gas companies that use it for “enhanced oil recovery,” in which carbon dioxide is injected underground in order to extract more oil from petroleum wells. The carbon is sequestered, but since the process produces more oil to be burned, it almost never leads to negative emissions, and is therefore not considered “carbon removal.” “...It’s an exciting time to be working in this space, but early-stage purchases by tech companies and others will only go so far. “There’s no doubt that if we’re going to do this to try and address climate change, eventually we’re going to have to just capture this CO2 and pump it into the ground and store it for eternity. And to do that, we need carbon markets,” Toone of Breakthrough Energy told CNBC… “Carbon removal does generally enjoy bipartisan support in Washington, and the Department of Energy recently launched a $3.5 billion program to develop four direct air capture hubs across the U.S., with each one intended to permanently remove over 1 million tons of carbon dioxide per year.”
E&E News: Hazardous air pollutants found in home-use natural gas
Sean Reilly, 6/28/22
“Natural gas used for home heating and other purposes in the Boston area typically includes trace amounts of benzene and 20 other air pollutants classified as hazardous, according to the findings of a newly released study,” E&E News reports. “For the study, researchers took 234 gas samples from 69 kitchen stoves and building pipelines over a year and a half. Benzene, a carcinogen linked to other blood diseases, turned up in 95 percent of the samples. Hexane, toluene and other volatile organic compounds also deemed hazardous under the Clean Air Act similarly registered in most of the samples. Concentrations varied depending on the location and time of year; they were highest during the winter. In a conference call with reporters, Drew Michanowicz, a visiting scientist at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and one of the paper’s authors, stressed that it was a “hazard identification study” that didn’t attempt to determine what people were exposed to or the potential health effects. Still, while natural gas is sometimes described as a cleaner fossil fuel, “it is reasonable to conclude that our gas supply is not as clean as we thought it once was,” Zeyneb Magavi, another member of the research team and co-executive director of the Home Energy Efficiency Team, a nonprofit organization, told E&E… “In an emailed response to the findings, American Gas Association spokesperson Jake Rubin acknowledged that the potential for pollutant emissions, but said there were “no documented risks to respiratory health from natural gas stoves.”
Globe and Mail: Pieridae considers plan for full-scale Nova Scotia LNG project to export gas to Germany
BRENT JANG, 6/28/22
“Pieridae Energy Ltd. is considering a revival of its plan to build a terminal in Nova Scotia to export liquefied natural gas to Germany, but cautions that Canadian regulatory hurdles could delay any LNG proposals on the East Coast,” the Globe and Mail reports. “Pieridae cited high costs and other constraints, such as supply-chain problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, when it suspended plans for its Goldboro LNG project last summer. But since the invasion of Ukraine four months ago, Europe is scrambling to reduce its dependence on natural gas from Russia… "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met on Monday with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the G7 summit in Germany. Canada and Germany have been discussing LNG opportunities, including Pieridae’s export project at Goldboro, N.S., and Repsol SA’s Saint John LNG terminal in New Brunswick… “We’re cautiously optimistic. It’s still a long way, so that’s why have to get the feasibility study done and we have to understand what the cost structure is going to be and then we can decide,” he told the Mail. Pieridae hopes to make a final investment decision as early as mid-2023, the CEO said. The goal is to begin exports to Germany by 2028 under the scenario of a full-scale export terminal in Nova Scotia.”
Offshore Technology: ExxonMobil and Imperial Oil to sell Canadian oil and gas assets for $1.47bn
6/28/22
“ExxonMobil’s Canadian affiliates, Imperial Oil and ExxonMobil Canada, have agreed to sell their Montney and Duvernay shale oil and gas assets in Canada to Whitecap Resources in an all-cash deal worth $1.47bn,” Offshore Technology reports. “Imperial and ExxonMobil Canada hold these assets through their joint venture XTO Energy Canada. As per the deal, Whitecap will acquire 567,000 net acres in the Montney shale, 72,000 net acres in the Duvernay shale, and additional acreage in other areas of Alberta. These assets have a net production of approximately 140 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, and produce nearly 9,000 barrels per day of crude, condensate, and natural gas liquids. The sale forms part of the firms’ efforts to capitalise on surging global crude oil and gas prices. It also complies with ExxonMobil’s plan to offload smaller oil and gas assets to reduce its debt and focus on upstream resources. Imperial said in a statement: “The sale completes the marketing effort announced in January 2022, and is consistent with Imperial’s strategy to focus upstream resources on key oil sands assets and its commitment to deliver long-term value to shareholders.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
E&E News: U.S. retreats from pledge to end gas investments
Sara Schonhardt, 6/29/22
“Dozens of countries rallied around phasing out fossil fuel financing during global climate negotiations seven months ago. Yesterday, those efforts were weakened by the world’s most powerful economies,” E&E News reports. “The shift illustrates how the fear of losing access to energy imports — due to Russia’s war against Ukraine — is testing the commitment of countries that have been among the most vocal advocates of curbing climate change. Leaders of the Group of Seven nations — the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Italy, France and Japan — agreed to support public investments in the natural gas sector “as a temporary response” to the abrupt shortfall in global gas supplies created by the pariah status of Russian fossil fuels. The move announced yesterday at the end of the G-7 summit in Germany threatens to undermine commitments announced by the United States and more than 30 other countries at the climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, to stop spending public money on international fossil fuel projects by the end of this year. A communiqué released by G-7 leaders sought to soften those concerns by saying its support for continuing gas investments would be “implemented in a manner consistent with our climate objectives and without creating lock-in effects.” “On one hand there is a strong affirmation of the objectives of the Paris Agreement and of domestic [climate] ambitions, but those ambitions threaten to be undermined by continued support for gas investments,” Luca Bergamaschi, executive director of ECCO, an Italian climate change think tank, told E&E. Gas projects can take years to construct, he added, a timeline that raises questions about the emissions impacts of building liquefied natural gas facilities or pipelines that can be used for decades to come.”
OPINION
Ashland Daily Press: LETTER: Enbridge crews are on the job
Michelle Johnson, Community relations specialist, Enbridge Energy Co., 6/28/22
“Summer has arrived and for many of us that means taking advantage of the warmer weather to do necessary maintenance on our houses and cabins. For Enbridge, committed to the ongoing safe operation of Line 5 in northern Wisconsin, this summer will find our crews taking care of planned and permitted maintenance work and field surveys,” Michelle Johnson writes in the Ashland Daily Press. “You might see our company vehicles and people out doing this work, including crews doing excavations. Every day, Line 5 transports 540,000 barrels of light crude oil, light synthetic crude oil and natural gas liquids across Douglas, Bayfield, Ashland and Iron counties. Line 5 is a critical piece of energy infrastructure that transports essential fuels to heat homes, schools, and businesses, power transportation, and fuel industry. Every year Enbridge performs planned and scheduled maintenance on Line 5. The Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa filed a federal lawsuit in 2019 seeking to shut down Line 5 and remove it from the reservation. Enbridge is seeking necessary permits to re-route a segment of the pipeline around the reservation. A signed project labor agreement ensures it will be built by a trained union workforce creating 700 family-supporting construction jobs and pumping millions of dollars in project-related spending into local communities. Enbridge will only move forward once all necessary permits have been received. In the meantime, like so many other folks this summer, we will be out taking care of regular maintenance.”
Financial Post: Opinion: We need the oilsands. But not just the oilsands
Donna Kennedy-Glans was Alberta’s associate minister of electricity and renewable energy, 2013-14, 6/28/22
“When I worked in the Canadian oilpatch, it was a rough-and-tumble place guided by explorers and engineers who worked hard to sustain a healthy mix of producing assets and exploratory risk-taking,” Donna Kennedy-Glans writes for the Financial Post. “Today, industry consensus among Canada’s larger oil players seems to be heading in a different direction. Suncor Energy Inc. and Cenovus Energy Inc. recently announced plans to forego higher-risk exploration opportunities and concentrate their efforts in the oilsands. This bulking up on producing oilsands assets and shedding exploration opportunities to foreign investors makes dollars and sense in the short term. But these energy leaders risk becoming one-trick ponies, while a lack of diversification in the oil sector may not serve Canadians’ longer-term interests… “Investors in oilsands projects are clearly attracted to the assets’ long term production trajectories. On the other hand, they recognize that bitumen producers are constrained in their ability to grow the assets through the drill-bit because governments have imposed an overall GHG cap… “Oilsands producers have to be prepared to invest big in carbon-reducing infrastructure so as to meet the federal government’s climate goals and comply with voluntary ESG pledges. Both the uncertainty surrounding legislated GHG caps and the anticipated cost of carbon-reduction technology have helped persuade non-Canadian investors to sell off their oilsands stakes, most often to Canadian operators. In the past few years, Shell, Equinor and Devon Energy have exited, and ConocoPhillips sold off significant portions of its holdings. Industry insiders say they won’t be surprised to see other non-local players — companies like TotalEnergies, Chevron and CNOOC — off-load their oilsands assets, too… “The oil business in Canada may well be in liquidation mode but if the timeline for transition to cleaner energy is disrupted, whether by game-changing technology or by geopolitical necessity, trading an opportunity to sustain a diversified mix of assets and skills in exchange for short-term efficiencies could end up being short-sighted.”
The Hill: No miracle tech needed: How to switch to renewables now and lower costs doing it
Mark Z. Jacobson is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, 6/28/22
“The world is experiencing unprecedented fuel price increases, energy blackmail between countries, up to 7 million air pollution deaths per year worldwide and one climate-related disaster after another,” Mark Z. Jacobson writes for The Hill. “Critics contend that a switch to renewable energy to solve these problems will create unstable electricity grids and drive prices up further. However, a new study from my research group at Stanford University concludes that these problems can be solved in each of the 145 countries we examined — without blackouts and at low cost using almost all existing technologies. The study concludes that we do not need miracle technologies to solve these problems. By electrifying all energy sectors; producing electricity from clean, renewable sources; creating heat, cold, and hydrogen from such electricity; storing electricity, heat, cold and the hydrogen; expanding transmission; and shifting the time of some electricity use, we can create safe, cheap and reliable energy everywhere. The biggest reason for the cost reduction is that a clean, renewable energy system uses much less energy than does a combustion-based energy system… “We found that the overall upfront cost to replace all energy in the 145 countries, which emit 99.7 percent of world carbon dioxide, is about $62 trillion. However, due to the $11 trillion annual energy cost savings, the payback time for the new system is less than six years… “It’s important to note that we did not include technologies that did not address air pollution, global warming and energy security together. It did not include bioenergy, natural gas, fossil fuels or bioenergy with carbon dioxide capture, direct air capture of carbon dioxide, blue hydrogen or nuclear power. We concluded that these technologies are not needed and provide less benefit than those we included.”