EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 6/29/26
PIPELINE NEWS
Hartford Courant: Years-long CT gas pipeline stalled at the finish line. Why the $200M+ project faces a permit dispute
Post and Courier: Pipeline company sues SC landowners for survey access as residents fret over ACE Basin gas plant
E&E News: Bridger Pipeline waiver draws complaint from Montana residents
Noozhawk: Board Allows Sable to Keep Operating Oil Platform after Exceeding Emissions Limit
Bloomberg: Williams Said to Near $5.5 Billion Deal for Momentum Midstream
WKYC: Enbridge Gas Ohio issues statement after Twinsburg Township explosion: ‘Working to repair the pipeline and to restore service’
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Guardian: Trump officials to slash public input on fossil fuel drilling on federal lands
WyoFile: Feds, Wyoming must refund $109M for illegal oil, gas leases in grouse habitat
E&E News: Trump fuels unprecedented wave of climate lawsuits, report finds
STATE UPDATES
Sacramento Bee: California Coastal Commission defends mission as feds launch investigation
San Luis Obispo Tribune: Trump opened CA public lands to oil leases. What SLO County areas are available?
Cleveland.com: Gov. Mike DeWine signs bill speeding up Ohio’s oil and gas permitting process
WTEN: Environmentalists petition the court to defend New York’s ban on fracking
Colorado Sun: Regulators cut Colorado oil and gas firms’ fines to $2M after settlements
Iowa Capital Dispatch: Experts see potential for Iowa hydrogen, but need funding and data sharing
EXTRACTION
Inside Climate News: Offshore Oil and Gas Rush Threatens Whale Corridors and Coral Reefs
Heatmap: Data Centers Have a Farmland Problem, Too
Politico: The oil company pivoting to carbon storage and data centers
Reuters: Chevron eyes more deals to power US data centers
Canadian Press: B.C. premier visiting China to pitch LNG project as province’s ‘really big fish’
CBC: First Nation loses appeal over oilsands waste facility built south of Fort McMurray
Reuters: Canadian company delivers North America’s first direct air capture carbon credits
Carbon Herald: Alberta Carbon Tax Change Threatens $400M Carbon Capture Facility
Calgary Herald: Can you make jet fuel without hydrocarbons? Calgary oilsands experts say yes
CLIMATE FINANCE
E&E News: What the SEC climate repeal means to investors
OPINION
Energy In Depth: ProPublica Says Carbon Capture “Can’t Conceivably” Work. The Reality Says Otherwise.
PIPELINE NEWS
Hartford Courant: Years-long CT gas pipeline stalled at the finish line. Why the $200M+ project faces a permit dispute
Edmund H. Mahony, 6/29/26
“After seven years, $150 million and 31 of 34 miles already under ground, the state has halted a pipeline project designed to provide a more dependable natural gas supply to the booming southeastern Connecticut economy,” the Hartford Courant reports. “The reason for what could become years of delay is a decision by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection requiring a comprehensive environmental review of parts of a mile or so of what remains to be completed of Eversource’s southeastern Connecticut gas resiliency project… “The purpose of the 34 mile pipeline from Middletown to Montville is to increase pressure in the existing distribution system and enable the company to continue gas service in the event of a failure by bypassing the trouble spot… “DEEP said it is requires an environmental evaluation because Eversource is modifying an easement it has over state land by installing a gas line where only electric transmission lines have been permitted… “DEEP acknowledges that it permitted years of testing on the easement associated with pipeline construction. But it said in a statement that doesn’t exempt the project from an impact evaluation.”
Post and Courier: Pipeline company sues SC landowners for survey access as residents fret over ACE Basin gas plant
Lydia Larsen, 6/28/26
“In the weeks since the S.C. Public Service Commission approved a gas plant in the ACE Basin, attention has turned once again to the pipeline required to service the project,” the Post and Courier reports. “The pipeline company, Elba Express LLC, a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan, has taken dozens of landowners in Hampton and Colleton counties to court after they failed to give surveyors access to their properties… “But some local residents are resisting the company’s efforts and expressing concerns not only about the tactics, but about the project as a whole… “Environmentalists widely condemned the decision, saying the plant would further extend dependence on fossil fuels, harm air quality and bring more industrial development to an ecologically sensitive area… “Morrison told the Post and Courier he has told Elba Express to expect resistance from stubborn South Carolinians… “The landowners that Morrison knows are taking different approaches, some are hiring attorneys to fight the case while others are may decide to engage with Kinder Morgan to get the best deal they can out of the situation. Tonya Bonitatibus, the Savannah Riverkeeper, has been working to organize landowners receiving requests for survey access. “There’s a good number of landowners that are (saying) ‘over my dead body,’” she told the Post and Courier. “And they seem to mean that pretty seriously.”
E&E News: Bridger Pipeline waiver draws complaint from Montana residents
Carlos Anchondo, 6/29/26
“A pair of Montana residents urged the state environmental agency on Friday to rescind a waiver easing the permitting requirements for the proposed Bridger Pipeline expansion that would boost flows of Canada crude oil into the United States,” E&E News reports. “The project, put forward by a subsidiary of Bridger Pipeline, would transport oil from the U.S.- Canada border in Montana to a crude oil hub in southeast Wyoming… “But now, the two Montana residents are challenging a waiver issued by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) in February that allowed Bridger to omit certain information from its certificate application to the agency, according to a Friday letter sent by Earthjustice. The organization said Montana DEQ ignored requirements for public notice of the waiver request and a hearing. The DEQ’s decision to grant the waiver violates Montana’s Major Facility Siting Act, the letter said, and breaks “agency’s administrative rules, exceeds the agency’s statutory authority, was arbitrary and capricious, and was based on unlawful process.” In a related news release, Earthjustice said DEQ “appears to be putting its finger on the scales in favor of industry.”
Noozhawk: Board Allows Sable to Keep Operating Oil Platform after Exceeding Emissions Limit
Daniel Green, 6/26/26
“After exceeding limits on how much gas it is allowed to release into the air, Sable Offshore Corp. will continue operating its offshore oil platform after the Air Pollution Control District Hearing Board granted an exemption on Thursday,” Noozhawk reports. “Sable had appeared before the board to request an exception after the company exceeded its quarterly limit following the reactivation of Platform Heritage… “Sable representative Patrice Surmeier told the board that the extra emissions were due to equipment malfunctions and reactivating the platform… “Local environmental groups opposed the exception, arguing that Sable could not be trusted to follow federal guidelines. Katie Davis, from the Santa Barbara chapter of the Sierra Club, asked the board to deny the variance. She argued that Sable has a history of not following the law, citing lawsuits filed against the company by state officials and criminal charges filed by the Santa Barbara County district attorney within the past year.”
Bloomberg: Williams Said to Near $5.5 Billion Deal for Momentum Midstream
David Carnevali, 6/28/26
“Williams Cos. is in advanced talks to acquire rival natural gas pipeline operator Momentum Midstream for about $5.5 billion in what would be one of its largest deals ever, people familiar with the matter said,” Bloomberg reports. “...The transaction would give Williams, which owns more than 30,000 miles (48,280 kilometers) of pipeline infrastructure, additional capacity to move gas from the prolific Haynesville fields in East Texas and Northern Louisiana to export terminals on the US Gulf Coast… “Momentum’s management team has grown the business by scooping up assets in East Texas and Louisiana. The company operates 4,000 miles of pipeline serving 10 LNG facilities and 26 power plants, according to its website.”
WKYC: Enbridge Gas Ohio issues statement after Twinsburg Township explosion: ‘Working to repair the pipeline and to restore service’
Ryan Haidet, 6/26/26
“Our primary concern is the safety and well-being of everyone involved.” That’s part of the message from Enbridge Gas Ohio in response to Thursday’s gas explosion that left three homes destroyed in Twinsburg Township,” WKYC reports. “...Lt. Mike Perlatti of the Twinsburg Fire Department told WKYC crews were initially called to the scene Thursday along Hiram Lane in the Woodlands neighborhood for a reported gas leak caused by workers striking a gas line… “One of the homes exploded a short time later, with fire spreading to neighboring properties. While nobody was inside the home when the explosion took place, we’re told two people in the area were hurt as a result of the incident.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Guardian: Trump officials to slash public input on fossil fuel drilling on federal lands
Dharna Noor, 6/29/26
“The Trump administration is attempting to shrink public comment periods for fossil fuel leasing on federal land while shifting the financial risks of cleanup to taxpayers and allowing for more planet-warming emissions,” the Guardian reports. “It’s part of a broader effort to dismantle public input processes and save polluting companies money, advocates told the Guardian… “Currently, the BLM must give the public 30 days to weigh in on which tracts of land will be made available in a lease sale. Officials must also draft National Environmental Policy Act documents for each sale, providing an additional comment period of no less than 30 days. Once notice for a lease sale is published, BLM must provide a 30-day “protest period” to allow for additional public input,” amounting to at least 90 days of public participation in total. If the revisions are finalized, the need for those first two public comment periods would be eliminated completely, and protest periods would last just 10 days instead of 30. That would mean the public would not be able to weigh in on environmental reviews before they are finalized, Wendy Park, a senior attorney at the national environmental advocacy non-profit Center for Biological Diversity, told the Guardian.”
WyoFile: Feds, Wyoming must refund $109M for illegal oil, gas leases in grouse habitat
Angus M. Thuermer Jr., 6/25/26
“The federal government and state of Wyoming must repay energy companies $109 million for money reaped from oil and gas leases illegally approved by the BLM in 2019, a federal judge ruled earlier this month,” WyoFile reports. “Operating under directives issued by the first Trump administration, the Bureau of Land Management ignored legal restrictions on oil and gas leasing in prime greater sage grouse habitat, according to an order from Brian Morris, chief federal district judge in Montana. Morris issued the refund order over federal, state and industry objections outlined in a long-running suit brought by conservation groups. BLM shortcomings were significant enough to nullify the agency’s leasing approval and require repayment of most revenue from the sales, according to the ruling. Morris wrote that the energy companies along with federal and state governments should have anticipated the consequences of engaging in an uncertain venture. “The risk of economic harm from procedural delay and industrial inconvenience ‘is the nature of doing business, especially in an area fraught with bureaucracy and litigation,’” Morris wrote, quoting another ruling about the venturesome nature of the energy business under a politicized agency.”
E&E News: Trump fuels unprecedented wave of climate lawsuits, report finds
Lesley Clark, 6/29/26
“The Trump administration is reshaping climate litigation, fueling both a rise in lawsuits from the federal government targeting climate policies and an unprecedented wave of legal challenges from outside groups defending them, new research finds,” E&E News reports. “Around 12 percent of new climate lawsuits filed last year could be considered anti-climate — or non-climate-aligned — litigation, according to the latest annual report from the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science. That pattern “is clearest and best documented in the U.S.,” the report says, noting the Trump administration’s lawsuits targeting laws in New York and Vermont that would require oil majors to pay for climate damages, as well as litigation that sought to prevent Hawaii and Michigan from bringing polluter-pays cases against fossil fuel producers. The administration has also challenged state and local climate action, including fights against local building electrification laws, the report says.”
STATE UPDATES
Sacramento Bee: California Coastal Commission defends mission as feds launch investigation
Evelyn Ronan, 6/27/26
“Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has announced in a letter that the Trump administration is investigating the California Coastal Commission, the latest move in a series of multi-front pressures on the state agency,” the Sacramento Bee reports. “The letter, posted by the Department of Commerce on X, addressed to Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House National Economic Council, says that management of the coastal agency has been “woefully inadequate at best” since Joe Biden’s presidency and that both the CCC and California itself boast a “long record of obstructing technological innovation and economic development.” Lutnick cited “national economic needs” that he claims the CCC had cast aside like offshore oil production and coastal spacecraft launches… “In a statement to The Sacramento Bee, a spokesperson for the California Coastal Commission addressed the claim that the CCC hampers federal economic interests, saying that all offshore oil development projects have been OK’d if they were proven to meet restrictions for oil spill prevention, water quality and habitat protection. They also noted that since 1980, only two space launch projects out of 135 have been struck down, both of which came from tech mogul Elon Musk.”
San Luis Obispo Tribune: Trump opened CA public lands to oil leases. What SLO County areas are available?
Stephanie Zappelli, 6/27/26
“The Bureau of Land Management opened about 123,000 acres of public land in San Luis Obispo County to oil and gas leasing this week,” the San Luis Obispo Tribune reports. “...The largest swath of land that could open to oil and gas leasing is in the Temblor Range east of the Carrizo Plain National Monument on the border of Kern County, according to a map created by Los Padres ForestWatch… “The bureau opened land on the edges of the Los Padres National Forest, with some patches on both sides of the La Panza Range and the Garcia Mountains. It also identified a handful of small parcels bordering residential areas, like near Los Osos Middle School and the top of Reservoir Canyon in San Luis Obispo… “The Bureau of Land Management said the project supports the Trump administration’s Secretary Order 3418, which calls for the expansion of oil, gas, coal and mineral exploration on federal lands.”
Cleveland.com: Gov. Mike DeWine signs bill speeding up Ohio’s oil and gas permitting process
Jeremy Pelzer, 6/25/26
“Gov. Mike DeWine on Wednesday signed legislation that makes wide-ranging changes to Ohio’s oil and gas drilling laws – including by speeding up the permit process for fracking under Ohio state parks and wildlife areas,” Cleveland.com reports. “Senate Bill 219, which passed the Republican-controlled Ohio legislature on near-party-line votes, was hailed by the state’s oil and gas industry as a much-needed update to the state’s drilling laws, including protecting a state fund that covers the cost of plugging abandoned drilling wells. However, environmentalists have denounced other parts of the bill as a giveaway to the state’s oil and gas industry, warning it will weaken oversight, shorten public review timelines and fast-track leasing decisions that could open more state-owned land to drilling with less scrutiny. DeWine signed SB219 even though it includes a measure he vetoed last year to allow the primary term of oil and gas leases to last for five years, up from three years under previous law. The bill also requires the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and other state agencies to finalize approved oil and gas leases within 60 days.”
WTEN: Environmentalists petition the court to defend New York’s ban on fracking
Johan Sheridan, 6/26/26
“On June 24, environmental organizations petitioned a federal court to let them join New York State in defending its bans on natural gas extraction,” WTEN reports. “...The state finalized a ban on extracting natural gas from underground rock in 2015 and wrote it into state law in 2020… “Erin Doran, a senior staff attorney at Food and Water Watch, told WTEN her group stood with New Yorkers over a decade ago to demand protection from fracking… “That’s why Food and Water Watch filed the joint motion to intervene in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York with Catskill Mountainkeeper and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network… “The move follows an April lawsuit filed by property owners who want to overturn those longstanding prohibitions. The plaintiffs—Thomas Woodward and Madison Woodward III, a father and son who own 164 acres of severed mineral rights in Delaware County—are focused on property rights amid the ongoing fight over how New Yorkers should power their homes and businesses… “The lawsuit challenges New York Environmental Conservation Law Section 23-0501, arguing that the bans cratered their property values. And the plaintiffs contend that conventional, non-fracked drilling is too expensive.”
Colorado Sun: Regulators cut Colorado oil and gas firms’ fines to $2M after settlements
Mark Jaffe, 6/25/26
“Six oil and gas operators will pay about $2 million in fines and contributions for public projects for — unknowingly — filing falsified data for toxic substances at 344 Front Range drill sites,” the Colorado Sun reports. “But at least one state regulator, as well as residents protesting the agreements, said the oil and gas companies were being let off the hook because the fines were too low. The Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission on Wednesday approved the settlements with Bonanza Creek, Kerr-McGee Corp., Noble Energy, Crestone Peak Resources Extraction Oil and Gas and Highpoint Energy. Based on the ECMC’s fine schedule the operators were liable for $11 million, but will pay $1 million plus an additional $983,000 to fund public projects. “Tell us how we will get a break on our next speeding parking ticket,” Randy Willard, an organizer for Save the Aurora Reservoir, a grassroots community group opposing oil and gas drilling, told the commission… “The two firms, Wheat Ridge-based Eagle Environmental Consulting and Tasman Geosciences in Broomfield, allegedly altered laboratory data submitted to ECMC on behalf of their clients between 2021 and the summer of 2024.”
Iowa Capital Dispatch: Experts see potential for Iowa hydrogen, but need funding and data sharing
Brooklyn Draisey, 6/26/26
“Hidden in Iowa’s bedrock could be resources with the potential to launch a lucrative, clean energy economy in the state, but researchers say state actions and corporate interests are burying the ability of others to explore further,” the Iowa Capital Dispatch reports. “Iowa Geological Survey, Iowa State University and Iowa Department of Natural Resources officials are collaborating to explore — and promote the exploration of — geological hydrogen pooling thousands of feet below ground, deeper than any well and most drilling that’s been completed in the state… “No one knows for sure if a hydrogen economy will grow in Iowa, but Swanner, as well as Iowa Geological Survey officials Ryan Clark and Joseph Honings told the Dispatch they believe it could bring with it opportunities for further exploration and development of other precious resources, like helium… “All hydrogen currently on the market has been synthetically produced, Graesch told the Dispatch — an expensive process to either break up water molecules or harvest the gas from oil refineries. If naturally occurring hydrogen can be harvested from Iowa, there could be plenty of economic benefits for localities and landowners.”
EXTRACTION
Inside Climate News: Offshore Oil and Gas Rush Threatens Whale Corridors and Coral Reefs
Teresa Tomassoni, 6/29/26
“From coral reefs in Kenya to Caribbean seagrass meadows and whale migration corridors in the Arctic, a surge in offshore oil, gas and liquefied natural gas development is spreading into some of the world’s most ecologically important marine habitats, according to a new analysis,” Inside Climate News reports. “In many cases, researchers from Earth Insight—a nonprofit that maps fossil fuel, mining and other industrial threats to ecosystems and local communities—found planned and active offshore oil and gas projects overlap with areas meant to safeguard critical ecosystems. More than a quarter of the marine and coastal protected areas examined across 11 countries fall within zones at risk for oil and gas development, as are 40 percent of coral reefs and nearly a third of mangrove forests. In these same countries, half of all areas used by whales and other marine mammals for migration, feeding and breeding also converge with areas designated by governments for exploration and extraction referred to as oil and gas blocks… “It is alarming to see the research findings and the sheer scale of fossil fuel expansion trajectories threatening the health and future of our shared ocean,” Tyson Miller, executive director of Earth Insight, which worked with a dozen other civil society groups to produce the report, Fossil Fuel Threats to the Ocean: Marine Life and Coastal Communities at Risk, told ICN. This expansion reflects a growing trend in the fossil fuel industry to pursue prospects offshore, Bruna Campos, senior campaigner at the Center for International Environmental Law and co-coordinator of the Fossil-Free Ocean Initiative, who was not involved in the analysis, told ICN… “This shift is being driven in part by increasing resistance to new terrestrial drilling, particularly on Indigenous lands, as well as advances in technology that have made deeper waters more accessible for development, Campos told ICN. “The idea that it’s in the ocean, out of sight, out of mind, definitely plays a role in companies thinking, “We can do this. We don’t have to fight over land ownership.” But in many cases, offshore areas of interest are vital to coastal and Indigenous communities that depend on them for food, livelihoods and cultural practices, according to the report.”
Heatmap: Data Centers Have a Farmland Problem, Too
Jael Holzman, 6/26/26
“The movement against data centers is raising up a raison d’etre of the anti-renewables movement: protecting would-be farmland,” Heatmap reports. “Farm owners and operators across the U.S. are winning national headlines almost every week for rejecting big dollar offers from data center developers. In Hanover County, Virginia, protestors are chanting “Grow Tomatoes, Not Data Centers.” In Pennsylvania and elsewhere, Republican legislators are mulling proposals to block the sale of so-called “prime farmland” for data center development… “Unlike the farmland backlash around renewable energy development, the loudest critics are on the anti-monopolist left. On Wednesday, the prominent opposition group Food and Water Watch signaled farmland could soon be a watchword in the national data center debate – in a fashion analogous to what we’ve seen with renewable energy. The organization’s blog post entitled “The AI Data Center Boom Is Coming for Farmers” declared data centers verboten because of the threat they posed to “small and midsized family farmers.” Mitch Jones, deputy director of the campaign outfit, said he believes the threat to farmland is “a compelling reason to oppose data center development” but that his organization’s fight is primarily focused on protecting small business owners and an anti-monopoly sentiment.”
Politico: The oil company pivoting to carbon storage and data centers
Camille Von Kaenel, 6/26/26
“California’s biggest oil producer is trying to become a carbon storage company. And maybe a data center company, too,” Politico reports. “California Resources Corporation, an energy company with its headquarters in Long Beach, is branching out as the state pushes toward a future that uses less oil. In May, CRC began injecting carbon dioxide underground in Kern County’s Elk Hills. Its goal is to store carbon dioxide emissions from its nearby natural gas power plant in a depleted oil reservoir called Carbon TerraVault One… “CRC is also looking to expand new business above ground: The company has proposed building a 100-acre data center campus at Elk Hills powered by its existing but underused gas plant, in another bid to repurpose infrastructure originally built for oil production… “California climate officials have increasingly called for carbon capture and storage technology to meet long-term emissions targets, even as environmental justice groups warn it could prolong the life of fossil fuel infrastructure in polluted communities. State regulators just created new incentives for carbon capture in their recent overhaul of California’s cap-and-invest program and are on the verge of lifting a ban on carbon dioxide pipelines with new safety rules. They’re also starting to write carbon storage permitting rules, after a monthslong delay. POLITICO spoke with Gould about whether CRC is having an identity crisis, how it’s managing changing state and federal incentives and what comes next.”
Reuters: Chevron eyes more deals to power US data centers
Laila Kearney, Sheila Dang, 6/26/26
“Chevron is exploring additional data center deals across the U.S., including the Midwest, Rockies, and Gulf Coast, following its two-decade-long contract to power a Microsoft data center in West Texas, a company executive told Reuters. Oil and gas companies such as Chevron and Exxon Mobil are angling to profit from the record-high electricity demand generated by Big Tech’s AI-driven data center expansion, offering their natural gas and experience developing large and complex energy projects. Chevron said on Monday it signed an agreement to develop a natural gas-fired power facility, called Project Kilby, which would have 2.67 gigawatts of capacity and provide dedicated electricity to Microsoft’s data center campus in Pecos, Texas. The project is the first of its kind for Chevron and will be big enough to power a city the size of San Francisco. The oil major sees potential for additional projects in West Texas, which is part of the Permian Basin, the top U.S. oilfield that holds abundant natural gas resources, Jeff Gustavson, Chevron’s president of new energies, told Reuters.”
Canadian Press: B.C. premier visiting China to pitch LNG project as province’s ‘really big fish’
6/27/26
“British Columbia Premier David Eby says his first-ever trade trip to China will focus on pitching the province’s forestry products and energy sector around LNG development, and that he approaches the mission with both excitement and caution,” the Canadian Press reports. “...The U.S. has been historically a very good trading partner for us, but we’ve been too dependent on the United States.” “...Eby told CP the “really big fish” he’s seeking to land on the trip will see him meeting with PetroChina to discuss the second phase of the massive LNG facility expansion in Kitimat, B.C., with an impending final investment decision on the project expected later this year. “It’s worth about $28 billion in terms of provincial revenue to pay for public services. And so meeting with them, identifying any final concerns as they reach final investment decision is another example of concrete things that we’re seeking to achieve here.”
CBC: First Nation loses appeal over oilsands waste facility built south of Fort McMurray
6/29/26
“The Court of Appeal of Alberta says the province’s energy regulator did not break any regulations on consultation when it rejected a First Nation’s appeal over an oilfield waste facility south of Fort McMurray,” the CBC reports. “The project was challenged by the Fort McMurray #468 First Nation. It argued in a Calgary courtroom that the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) ignored its environmental concerns towards the facility and how industrial activity in the area impacts treaty-protected activities, such as hunting and foraging. The AER said the facility is in an area no one has used since 2015, according to court documents, and that the First Nation’s arguments were “too generalized.” The court agreed and ruled the First Nation failed to prove the project would harm treaty rights.”
Reuters: Canadian company delivers North America’s first direct air capture carbon credits
Amanda Stephenson, 6/29/26
“Canada’s Deep Sky became the first North American company to deliver verified carbon removal credits from direct air capture technology, announcing on Monday it provided credits to Microsoft and Royal Bank of Canada,” Reuters reports. “DAC differs from the more established carbon capture and storage technology, which filters out CO2 at industrial plants and stores it before it reaches the atmosphere. DAC removes carbon from the air, cleaning up emissions that have already occurred… “The only other company that has generated DAC credits is Climeworks, whose Iceland facility is the world’s largest DAC complex.While scientists have said DAC is critical to stabilizing the climate, the technology is expensive and difficult to scale up… “People really want this to work, because they continue to sign contracts. However, very few projects have actually been delivered,” Petre told Reuters.”
Carbon Herald: Alberta Carbon Tax Change Threatens $400M Carbon Capture Facility
Violet George, 6/29/26
“A landmark carbon tax agreement between the federal and Alberta governments has sent shockwaves through Canada’s clean tech sector, threatening to derail a pipeline of shovel-ready decarbonization projects,” the Carbon Herald reports. “...The new provincial-federal compromise, heavily lobbied for by large industrial emitters seeking to remain competitive with the un-taxed US market, dramatically flattens that trajectory, capping the price at $130 a ton and pushing the timeline out to 2040. For project developers banking on robust compliance credit markets to finance high-CAPEX infrastructure, the new math simply does not work. Varme Energy’s facility carries an anticipated operating cost of roughly $118 a ton… “Unfortunately, nobody has runway forever,” warns Varme Energy Chief Executive Sean Collins, who described the company’s financial position as intensely challenging. “We’re calling a mayday to Ottawa and we hope they listen. The solution to a revenue problem is revenue.” “...Without a rapid regulatory intervention over the next few months, such as allowing Canadian developers to export credits into the US or international compliance schemes – Canada’s flagship carbon capture ambitions risk being permanently starved of economic oxygen.”
Calgary Herald: Can you make jet fuel without hydrocarbons? Calgary oilsands experts say yes
Bill Kaufmann, 6/29/26
“Calgary-based Vista Projects is more accustomed to devising ways to extract oil from beneath the surface of northeastern Alberta. But recently, its engineers have gone in another direction — designing a plant in the United States that produces jet fuel without oil, the first such commercial facility of its type in the U.S.,” the Calgary Herald reports. “...Over three years, Vista’s Calgary engineers designed from scratch a process that turns CO2, water and renewable electricity into jet fuel, a far cry from its expertise in coaxing oil employing SAGD or in-situ technology in Alberta’s oilsands… “CO2 is captured from a nearby ethanol producer and fed into electrolyzers which, with water, transforms it into synthetic gas. That’s then run through a Fischer Tropsch reactor, where it’s transformed into liquid hydrocarbons before being refined into aviation fuel… “Confirming the project’s viability is the willingness of Alaska Airlines and Microsoft to procure its fuel for their flight needs, say both Vista and Twelve.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
E&E News: What the SEC climate repeal means to investors
Jean Chemnick, 6/29/26
“The federal government plans to scrap requirements for companies to disclose climate risks to investors, but investors say the choice to cut out global warming could leave them out in the cold,” E&E News reports. “Last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed dropping a Biden-era regulation that required companies that trade on the stock market to disclose their climate-related business risks and any plans to mitigate them. The decision reflected the SEC chair’s conviction that investors in publicly traded companies don’t actually benefit from the information. But advocates for sustainable investing and asset managers alike disagree. They told E&E investors need a clear picture of how companies are navigating and planning for disruptions to their businesses and supply chains from global warming and policies to address it. They told E&E that repealing the SEC rule will make those disclosures more ad hoc and uneven and will prevent markets from pricing in emerging climate risks. “It’s just going to leave investors worse off in allocating their money, which rewards management of certain companies that would prefer to have investors less informed, but it disadvantages other companies,” Amanda Fischer, policy director at Better Markets, told E&E. “So, from a marketwide perspective, it just makes capital allocation less efficient.”
OPINION
Energy In Depth: ProPublica Says Carbon Capture “Can’t Conceivably” Work. The Reality Says Otherwise.
Joel Acosta, 6/26/26
“This week ProPublica teamed up with the climate-advocacy outlet Drilled to publish a piece arguing that there is “no conceivable way” carbon capture and storage (CCS) can address climate change. Like much of what ProPublica has written over the years that is associated with the oil and natural gas industry, this flashy report is wrong on so many details,” Joel Acosta writes for Energy In Depth. “...The International Energy Agency has stated outright that “reaching net zero will be virtually impossible without CCUS,” and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report concludes that carbon capture is necessary to counterbalance the emissions from other sources… “CLAIM: ProPublica argues CCS barely exists in practice, that we are “permanently burying less CO2 than a single large power plant can emit in a year.” FACT: That’s a snapshot of a young industry mid-ramp, not the ceiling. A snapshot of a starting line tells you nothing about the race. In the last year alone, two major projects have come online that demonstrate the inaccuracies of ProPublica’s statements… “CLAIM: ProPublica says “taxpayers are paying oil and gas companies $85 for every metric ton they put underground,” a tab it projects could reach $500 billion a year by 2050. FACT: The 45Q tax credit is performance-based, meaning a company can only access the credit if it actually captures and stores CO2, and is verified… “CLAIM: ProPublica warns CCS “could require building more than 68,000 miles of new pipelines” in the United States, plus dozens of specialized tankers when only three exist today. FACT: Infrastructure scales with demand, and America has done this before… “We expect to see more of these kinds of anti-CCS “reports,” as the environmental community’s efforts to stop the American shale revolution failed. They tried to ban gas stoves, but that failed too. Attacking CCS is another means of trying to achieve the same ends: stopping American energy companies from growing and solving problems.”