EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 6/3/26
PIPELINE NEWS
Reuters: Dutch court to continue Greenpeace case over pipeline protest fine
East Daley Analytics: A Small FERC Rate Change Could Slash $1 Billion from Pipeline Earnings
KTVF: Fairbanks residents rally in support of the LNG pipeline
WFIE: Authorities say contamination impact is minimal from BP gas pipeline leak in Graham
KOIN: Clean up efforts continue after oil spill on Oregon Coast
Skagit Valley Herald: Two and half years later, site of Olympic Pipeline gasoline spill shows minor contamination
BBC: Shell pumped oil through Nigeria pipeline for years despite pollution evidence, documents show
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Heatmap: Americans Now Overwhelmingly Oppose New Data Centers Near Them
E&E News: Appeals court rejects youth-led challenge to Trump energy orders
E&E News: Trump admin is terminating a vast network of ocean monitors
E&E News: Court says coal regulators shortchanged endangered species
WyoFile: Trump officials, billionaires and the quiet reshaping of America’s public lands
Evergreen Action: Trump’s Illegal Home Rebate Guidance Keeps Families Hooked on Gas While Fueling Utility Profits
Utility Dive: DOE issues guidance ending gas-to-electric appliance rebates
STATE UPDATES
E&E News: Louisiana seeks to shield oil industry from climate lawsuits
Moline Dispatch: Henry County Emergency Management director calls for carbon capture moratorium
Marketplace: Abandoned oil wells are polluting West Virginia. Plugging them won’t be easy.
Press release: Mississippi Development Authority to begin accepting Gulf Coast Restoration Fund applications June 1
EXTRACTION
Heatmap: The Sorry State of Carbon Removal
Guardian: New ways to remove CO2 from atmosphere must grow much faster, report says
Meridian Source: Alberta launches oilsands tailings pond water reclamation talks
OPINION
The Paper of Montgomery County: LWV Dives Into Carbon Capture & Sequestration
AZ Central: New BLM director is wrong. Don’t sell our land
PIPELINE NEWS
Reuters: Dutch court to continue Greenpeace case over pipeline protest fine
Bart Meijer, 6/3/26
“A Dutch court on Wednesday said it could hear a case brought by Greenpeace International against U.S. pipeline company Energy Transfer, in which the environmentalist group is seeking compensation for U.S. cases in which it was targeted by the company,” Reuters reports. “The Amsterdam court said it had jurisdiction in the case, despite Energy Transfer’s objections, as Greenpeace is headquartered in the Netherlands. Greenpeace has sued Energy Transfer for what it says are “meritless” U.S. lawsuits by the company against groups that have protested against the Dakota Access Pipeline… “A North Dakota judge in February confirmed an earlier verdict that ordered Greenpeace to pay the company $345 million over its role in those protests. The Amsterdam court dismissed an effort by Greenpeace to seek protection under a new European law aimed at curbing lawsuits intended to silence rights activists. The court said this was not applicable in this case. It also dismissed the request by Energy Transfer to postpone the Dutch case until all U.S. cases were finalised.”
East Daley Analytics: A Small FERC Rate Change Could Slash $1 Billion from Pipeline Earnings
6/2/26
“The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) latest oil pipeline index reset looks small on paper. In reality, it could remove more than $1B of annual EBITDA upside from the liquids pipeline sector by 2028,” according to East Daley Analytics. “...Under FERC’s indexing framework, liquids pipelines may raise indexed transportation rates annually so that tariffs keep up with inflation… “Operators can still offset the headwind through higher volumes, system expansions, commercial optimization and non-indexed revenue streams. But the revised framework materially lowers the inflation-linked earnings tailwind many investors have historically embedded into liquids pipeline models… “Bottom line: FERC’s new oil pipeline index methodology does not eliminate the inflation protection embedded in liquids pipelines, but it materially reduces it. A seemingly small 133-basis-point reduction in annual indexed tariff escalation translates into potentially a $1B-plus reduction in long-term EBITDA upside across Form 6 liquids pipelines as the lower rate path compounds over time.”
KTVF: Fairbanks residents rally in support of the LNG pipeline
Adrian Peterson, 6/2/26
“Residents in Fairbanks gathered on Tuesday to show their support for the liquid natural gas (LNG) pipeline at the Golden Heart Waste Management facility where a rally took place,” KTVF reports. “From 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., dozens of people packed the garage at Golden Heart Waste Management, where they heard from project leaders and politicians about support for the LNG pipeline, in particular, the need for a spur line going directly to Fairbanks. “Without that spur line, that’s so important, we’re not going to get one molecule of gas,” Grier Hopkins, the mayor of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, said before the rally. Early in the day at a luncheon hosted by Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce, residents and interior delegates heard from Rex Canon, the head of development for the pipeline at Glenfarne… “Much of the voiced need coming from interior leaders is related to the fluctuation of oil prices… “The need for the spur line also comes from the increasing cost of LNG fuel in the borough as demand increases… “But it’s not just getting cheap fuel pushing the support for the project. It’s growing the population and the economy… “Organizers also recognized legislators in attendance for their efforts to bring a spur line to Fairbanks and make the pipeline a reality.”
WFIE: Authorities say contamination impact is minimal from BP gas pipeline leak in Graham
Bryce West and Jill Lyman, 6/2/26
“Families are still out of their homes after a gas pipeline leak and fire that started Monday in Graham, Kentucky,” WFIE reports. “...Every resident in that area was evacuated. Officials say it’s about 18 homes. A half-mile perimeter is still up to keep people out. The line belongs to BP, and it’s been shut down. Officials say that line runs from northern Indiana all the way to Dixon, Tennessee… “Authorities say the area is still burning and they are going to let the fire continue to burn until they begin to fix the leak. They believe the contamination impact is minimal and that section of KY 175 will be closed for several days. BP is now providing some hotel accommodations for the affected residents in that area.”
KOIN: Clean up efforts continue after oil spill on Oregon Coast
Andrew Foran, 6/1/26
“Crews jumped into action on Thursday after an oil spill in Astoria, Oregon,” KOIN reports. “According to the U.S. Coast Guard, Port of Astoria employees spotted an oil sheen coming from underneath Pier 2 and quickly called in authorities to investigate… “Officials said it was determined that the oil had come from a “legacy fueling pipeline system” under Pier 2, which had residual oil in it. Divers were able to quickly disconnect the section of pipeline and cap it to prevent any other spills.”
Skagit Valley Herald: Two and half years later, site of Olympic Pipeline gasoline spill shows minor contamination
Emma Fletcher-Frazer, 6/2/26
“Two and half years after a leak in the Olympic Pipeline allowed thousands of gallons of gasoline to get into the soil and water in Conway, a report shows some minor contamination remains,” the Skagit Valley Herald reports. “In December 2023, a small, degraded piece of tubing allowed about 21,000 gallons of gasoline to get into the environment. BP operates the Olympic Pipeline, which runs from Blaine to Portland and connects to four refineries, including the two in Anacortes… “Through the course of a three-month response, crews took away 332,776 gallons of oily water and 11,973 cubic yards of contaminated soil… “The report, released April 14, shows pockets of contamination. “There’s a small number of locations where there are some single samples that are still above our (allowed) cleanup levels,” Warfel told the Herald… “The remediation services company detected benzene and gasoline organics at concentrations above the state limit… “Ecology intends to wait for the contaminants to degrade naturally, rather than digging up the area again… “In November 2025, Ecology fined BP $3.8 million for the spill, finding that although BP had regularly inspected the vault that contained the tubing, it had not noticed the corroded carbon steel nut that led to the leak.”
BBC: Shell pumped oil through Nigeria pipeline for years despite pollution evidence, documents show
Simi Jolaoso, 6/2/26
“British multinational Shell continued operating a major oil pipeline in Nigeria for years even though it knew it was causing widespread pollution - despite a warning from its own staff and its own technical standards, internal documents obtained by the BBC show. The files, including emails and presentations, reveal that a senior Shell executive cautioned as early as 2008 about the risks of continuing to pump millions of barrels of unrefined fuel through one of the company’s main pipelines in Africa’s biggest oil producer while it was subject to massive and destructive uncontrolled theft and infrastructure failures. Across Nigeria’s oil-rich southern Niger Delta, decades of oil spills have left a landscape deeply scarred, with wetlands increasingly coated in crude and contaminated sediment. The BBC obtained the internal documents after Shell disclosed them as part of ongoing legal proceedings in the UK brought by communities living around the creeks and mangroves of the Niger Delta, who want Shell to be liable for the pollution caused by more than 100 leaks stemming from theft and illegal refining of oil between 2011 and 2013 that have damaged their health, environment and livelihoods… “In places like Bille, which the BBC visited last week, residents describe once-rich fishing grounds turning toxic and unusable.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Heatmap: Americans Now Overwhelmingly Oppose New Data Centers Near Them
Robinson Meyer, 6/2/26
“Americans have changed their minds about data centers. Decisively. At least seven in 10 Americans would now oppose a data center being built near their home, according to a new Heatmap Pro poll, a record low that reveals a staggering shift in public opinion against the facilities powering the artificial intelligence boom,” Heatmap reports. “The survey, conducted by Embold Research, finds that an outright majority of Americans are now strongly opposed to data center construction in their area. Young people, Democrats, and rural voters are more hostile to the projects, but they are broadly unpopular with Americans across geographic and political categories. The new result reflects a rapid and profound shift in public opinion. When Heatmap first asked Americans how they would feel about a nearby data center project last September, Americans were evenly split: 43% said they would support it, 42% were opposed, and 15% said they weren’t sure. When asked the same question in February, Americans were more skeptical. Forty-eight percent said they would support a data center project or weren’t sure, while 51% opposed one in their area. Now, 55% of Americans — an absolute majority — “strongly” oppose a data center project built near where they live, and an additional 16% are “somewhat” opposed. Only 21% of Americans would support a new nearby data center. The public has swung 49 points against data centers in just nine months, underscoring the heightened political salience of the facilities and the AI industry that they embody. Other statistics suggest that the public’s skepticism of data centers is surging. At least 20 data center projects were canceled after facing significant public backlash in the first quarter of this year, according to Heatmap Pro data released last month. That is more than double the number that were canceled the previous quarter, the data shows.”
E&E News: Appeals court rejects youth-led challenge to Trump energy orders
Lesley Clark, 6/2/26
“A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel held Tuesday that the young climate activists lack the standing to sue over three executive orders that seek to bolster fossil fuels,” E&E News reports. “The youth in Lighthiser v. Trump argued they will be harmed by federal agency action over the next several years. But the judges say the link between the executive orders and the alleged injuries ‘is too speculative’ for a lawsuit… “The appeals court noted the executive orders describe Trump’s national security, energy and economic policy in broad terms and direct executive branch agencies to pursue those goals… “This decision lets the president direct a sweeping fossil fuel agenda, with no authorization from Congress and no meaningful judicial review, and then tells the children harmed by that agenda that they cannot challenge it until it is unconstitutionally implemented piece by piece,” Julia Olson, the firm’s chief legal counsel and co-executive director, told E&E.”
E&E News: Trump admin is terminating a vast network of ocean monitors
Chelsea Harvey, 6/2/26
“The National Science Foundation announced it will dismantle a major ocean observation network that has been used to help identify the effects of climate change and other environmental impacts around the world for the last decade,” E&E News reports. “The move to disband the far-flung system involves removing hundreds of underwater instruments in areas of the Gulf of Alaska and along the coasts of Washington, Oregon, New England and North Carolina. Equipment would also be removed from the Irminger Sea between Greenland and Iceland, according to an announcement posted by NSF on May 21… “The report suggested that OOI ‘would benefit from a revisioning and restructuring exercise’ that better accounts for the needs of the ocean science community. It suggested analyzing the scientific capabilities of each of the project’s instrument arrays and considering ways to incorporate new technology. It did not suggest dismantling the network.”
E&E News: Court says coal regulators shortchanged endangered species
Alex Guillén, 6/1/26
“A federal judge on Friday ruled that federal mining regulators’ oversight of coal mining in Appalachia failed to ensure the protection of endangered species,” E&E News reports. “The ruling against the Fish and Wildlife Service’s review of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement’s regulations — conducted during the first Trump administration in 2020 — means future mining permits will have to do more to comply with the Endangered Species Act… “The D.C. Circuit’s recent decision … affirms the importance of enforcing all aspects of the ESA — even though that makes it more difficult for federal and state actors to authorize activities, like coal mining, that may adversely affect the endangered and threatened species that the ESA protects,” Sooknanan ruled. “Congress knowingly imposed these burdens based on its recognition of what was at stake for our nation’s wildlife. And it is not this Court’s place to question or ignore that policy choice.”
WyoFile: Trump officials, billionaires and the quiet reshaping of America’s public lands
Evan Simon, Floodlight and Ames Alexander, Floodlight, 6/2/26
“At the end of a dirt road along the northeastern edge of Montana’s Crazy Mountains, a simple sign warns visitors they are now entering private property. For fifth-generation Montanan Brad Wilson, the notice marks a defeat with implications far beyond the Crazies,” WyoFile reports. “The fate of our public lands and our rights are in jeopardy right now,” Wilson told Floodlight. Wilson is a former sheriff’s deputy and lifelong hunter. For most of his life, he has lived in the jagged shadows of the Crazy Mountains — their snow-capped peaks and twisting valleys watched him grow from a boy herding sheep on his grandfather’s ranch to a grey-haired hunter tracking elk herds across their remote slopes. “The loss of this access means a lot to me and everybody else,” he said beside the gate, looking down and hiding the wet corners of his eyes. The road beyond the gate next to Wilson leads into what was, for more than a century, one of two historic public trails into the east side of the Crazies. The U.S. Forest Service relinquished the public’s access to the trail early last year as part of a land swap with the Yellowstone Club — an exclusive mountaintop retreat for the megarich located 100 miles away in Big Sky. “It doesn’t make any sense to me to give this up,” Wilson told Floodlight. For many Montanans, the swap has come to symbolize the growing influence of wealthy private interests spreading across America’s public lands and provides a glimpse of what could come under the Trump administration. There are more than 600 million acres of federally owned public lands across America — from iconic national parks and monuments to forests, grasslands and seashores. But now, nearly 90 million of those acres are at risk of some kind of development due to what critics describe as an unprecedented shift in policies under the first and second Trump administrations.”
Evergreen Action: Trump’s Illegal Home Rebate Guidance Keeps Families Hooked on Gas While Fueling Utility Profits
6/1/26
“The Department of Energy today quietly released long-awaited guidance on several home rebate programs created by the Inflation Reduction Act, including the Home Electrification and Appliances Rebate program—also known as the High-Efficiency Electric Home Rebate program—in a move that would effectively gut the initiative,” according to Evergreen Action. “The guidance prohibits fuel switching, meaning households could no longer use the rebates to replace gas appliances with efficient electric ones, despite Congress specifically designing the program to expand consumer choice and give households flexibility in replacing old, inefficient appliances. The guidance would block the vast majority of upgrades the program was designed to fund, locking millions of low-income households out of the most impactful cost-saving improvements available to them. It arrives more than a year after the administration illegally froze funding for the program, depriving households across the country of billions of dollars in funding to lower their energy bills. In response, Evergreen Action Deputy Policy Director for Buildings Tony Sirna released the following statement: “Congress designed this program specifically to help working families switch from expensive, inefficient gas appliances to highly efficient electric ones—cutting their energy bills and breaking dependence on fossil fuels. After more than a year of illegally withholding funding, the Trump administration is now trying to sabotage the program entirely by issuing guidance that flatly contradicts the law. This is a deliberate effort to deny relief to millions of families at the exact moment they need it the most. “Residential gas bills increased twice as fast as electricity bills and four times the rate of inflation in Trump’s first year in office. That’s no accident—it’s the result of utilities more than doubling their pipeline spending over the last decade, not because demand is rising, but because they earn a guaranteed profit on every pipe they lay. This administration’s answer to that crisis is to lock low-income families out of the very upgrades that would free them from those skyrocketing bills… “Trump is, once again, manufacturing an energy cost crisis for working families so his fossil fuel donors can keep cashing in. It’s illegal, it’s indefensible, and it will be challenged in court.”
Utility Dive: DOE issues guidance ending gas-to-electric appliance rebates
Diana DiGangi, 6/2/26
“The Department of Energy issued guidance for federally funded, state-run home energy rebate programs on Friday, ending the ability for households to qualify for rebates when replacing fossil fuel-fired appliances with electric alternatives,” Utility Dive reports. “...DOE said it is replacing both programs’ consumer protection plan with a fraud, waste, and abuse mitigation plan and removing requirements for internal review plans, a consumer satisfaction survey, and dispute resolution procedures beyond existing state laws and regulations… “For the HEEHR program, DOE is ending program allowances for switching from gas appliances to electric “and instead allowing rebates for upgrading HVAC and appliances only from existing electric equipment to more efficient electric equipment. HVAC and electric appliances in new construction will continue to be allowable.” “...The Sierra Club criticized the guidance in a Monday release, saying it will “create confusion, make it significantly harder for households to access funds to upgrade polluting or inefficient appliances, and disrupt programs already approved and underway in multiple states.”
STATE UPDATES
E&E News: Louisiana seeks to shield oil industry from climate lawsuits
Lesley Clark, 6/3/26
“Legislation that would make Louisiana the fifth state this year to buffer oil and gas companies from climate lawsuits is awaiting the governor’s signature,” E&E News reports. “The bill has cleared both of the state’s legislative chambers and would prohibit litigation seeking compensation for the effects from greenhouse gas emissions in the state. Existing lawsuits would not be affected, including a host of legal disputes that asks courts to hold companies financially accountable for Louisiana’s rapidly eroding coastline. A state Senate committee revised the legislation last month to exclude those lawsuits, angering critics of the challenges filed by coastal parish governments… “He said a Senate floor amendment clarified that coastal erosion lawsuits would be excluded as long as they are “never used for a climate change claim.” “...Those lawsuits allege companies failed to obtain proper permits, and the cases seek multimillion-dollar payouts. Last year, for example, one Louisiana court ordered Chevron to pay $744 million in damages. The Supreme Court in April ruled oil majors could transfer a number of the still-pending lawsuits from state to federal court, where the companies believe they will have more success. The parishes have claimed the companies failed to obtain appropriate permits under Louisiana law… “Geymann said his bill instead aims to prevent climate lawsuits like those filed by more than two dozen local governments across the country seeking compensation for global warming. He said the legislation is not intended to be retroactive… “Supporters of the litigation have panned efforts to block the lawsuits, saying cities and towns affected by climate change deserve to be heard. “If you have not violated the law,” Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, told E&E, “there is no reason to seek immunity.”
Moline Dispatch: Henry County Emergency Management director calls for carbon capture moratorium
Nina Baker, 6/2/26
“The head of the Henry County Office of Emergency Management has asked the county to pass a moratorium that would prevent carbon capture companies from injecting carbon dioxide underground in the county,” the Moline Dispatch reports. “The request comes as a growing number of Galva residents have pushed back against a proposed carbon capture well that would store 725,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year for the next 12 years under Galva. Mat Schnepple, director of the Henry County Office of Emergency Management, said on Monday that his office had not received carbon dioxide plume and dispersion modeling from the carbon capture company, Lapis Carbon Solutions. Schnepple said his office requested the plan a month ago… “More than 70 people and two television crews filled the Galva Junior-Senior High School Gymnasium for the city’s regular city council meeting on Monday. Most gathered to show their opposition to the project… “Williams said the city “blindsided” Galva residents by engaging in talks with Lapis and signing the subsurface land-use agreement. Williams said Dyer should not have signed the land-use agreement without a council vote…”Several aldermen said they agree with residents and do not support the project.”
Marketplace: Abandoned oil wells are polluting West Virginia. Plugging them won’t be easy.
Caleigh Wells, 6/2/26
“On a suburban side road about 15 minutes from the center of Charleston, West Virginia, there’s a quiet hissing sound, almost completely masked by traffic noise coming from Interstate 64. The orphaned oil well is hard to find. But David McMahon has heard old oil wells make this sound before,” Marketplace reports. “It’s the sound of the gas escaping,” he told Marketplace… “It was an oil well from 1939. It likely stopped being useful decades ago, but it never got plugged. It’s “orphaned” because the company in charge of it is long gone. So now it’s the state’s problem. By law, operators are required to plug old wells, but enforcement was lax for decades. Today, the state has one inspector for every 6,700 wells. The Ohio River Valley Institute just put out a report that estimates there are a couple hundred thousand old oil wells in the state that need to get plugged. And most of them haven’t even been recorded… “Boettner estimated it costs $100,000-$125,000 on average. His report stated that West Virginia has roughly $5 billion dollars of plugging to do… “Lawmakers introduced the bill in February. It would force drillers of new wells to set aside money in a bank account that’ll cover the cost of plugging them later. ”I’d say there is some hope,” he told Marketplace. “But getting anything through the legislature that portions of the oil and gas industry oppose is not going to be easy.”
Press release: Mississippi Development Authority to begin accepting Gulf Coast Restoration Fund applications June 1
6/1/26
“The Mississippi Development Authority will begin accepting applications for Gulf Coast Restoration Fund grants on June 1. Applications will be accepted through July 31. Mississippi reached a $750 million settlement with BP in 2016 following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April 2010. The state received an initial payment of $150 million and continues to receive $40 million annually from 2019 through 2033, with $30 million allocated to the GCRF each year. These funds support economic growth and development in the state’s six coastal counties: George, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Pearl River and Stone. Eligible applicants include local governments; nongovernmental organizations; private and public educational institutions; ports and airports; public-private partnerships; private entities; nonprofit organizations; and local economic development groups.”
EXTRACTION
Heatmap: The Sorry State of Carbon Removal
Emily Pontecorvo, 6/2/26
“The gap between the world’s current capacity to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and the amount we’ll need to remove to materially address climate change is so large, it’s hard to fathom crossing it. Now, a new report warns that the chasm is widening,” Heatmap reports. “The third State of Carbon Dioxide Removal report, published on Tuesday, finds that while carbon removal research and deployment has advanced significantly in the past two years, it is still not growing quickly enough to reach the scale required to support the Paris Agreement temperature limits. Carbon emissions, meanwhile, have continued to rise globally, raising the amount of carbon removal required in turn. “We’re seeing a lot of signs that there’s still growth happening,” Morgan Edwards, an assistant professor of public affairs at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and one of the authors, told Heatmap. “But we need to see a step change in both early indicators like investment and also actual deployments” between now and 2030, in addition to serious emission reductions, she said… “The world currently removes approximately 2.2 billion tons of carbon from the atmosphere each year through intentional human activity, the authors found, which is equivalent to about 5% of annual global carbon dioxide emissions. Nearly all of that carbon removal happens through what the authors deem “conventional” methods, which include planting trees, improved forest management, soil sequestration on farms and grasslands, and coastal wetland restoration. Less than 1% of the 2.2 billion tons comes from “novel” methods such as direct air capture, bioenergy with carbon capture, enhanced weathering, and biochar, the most common method… “The gap will continue to grow if we do not pursue immediate and ambitious emissions reductions today,” Edwards told Heatmap… “Carbon removal funding is also highly concentrated, the authors warn, making the industry vulnerable to sudden shifts in policy and investment appetite… “While the report is a valiant effort to assess how far carbon removal has come, the overall picture remains deeply uncertain… “The authors emphasize the need for more research, public policy, and funding to narrow these uncertainties — especially on the demand side of the equation.”
Guardian: New ways to remove CO2 from atmosphere must grow much faster, report says
Ajit Niranjan, 6/2/26
“Humanity must suck carbon out of the atmosphere with new technologies even faster than the breakneck speed with which it has deployed solar panels if it is to limit global heating to 1.5C, a report has found,” the Guardian reports. “Novel forms of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) must grow at “highly ambitious rates” to bridge the gap between what governments have pledged to clean up and what is needed to comply with the Paris climate agreement, according to researchers. They said the next five years were critical to establishing the technologies’ role in limiting climate damages… “The report found novel forms of CDR have grown at a rate of 40% a year but start from such a small base that they would need to reach growth rates between that of solar panels and electric vehicles, which have grown faster than any other climate technologies. It found only one-fifth of the planned capacity in recent years has been delivered… “The researchers said “policy dismantling and volatility” in the US was undermining credibility and placing pressure on other jurisdictions.”
Meridian Source: Alberta launches oilsands tailings pond water reclamation talks
6/2/26
“The Alberta government says it is launching a series of consultations to deal with a massive backlog of oilsands mine water and fluid tailings as storage capacity nears its limit,” the Meridian Source reports. “The province announced the engagement process will take place throughout the year to help implement nine recommendations brought forward by the Oil Sands Mine Water Steering Committee. The recommendations focus on water reuse, deep well disposal options, and establishing strict, science-based rules for treating and safely releasing the water back into the environment. Alberta’s oilsands tailings ponds currently hold more than 1.5 billion cubic metres of fluid tailings and 380 million cubic metres of mine water… “The province said the upcoming talks will include Indigenous communities, industry operators, technology providers, environmental non-profits, and federal and northern governments to shape future provincial policy. Indigenous Relations Minister Rajan Sawhney emphasized that meaningful partnerships with local communities downstream of the mining regions will be a critical pillar of the long-term planning strategy.’
OPINION
The Paper of Montgomery County: LWV Dives Into Carbon Capture & Sequestration
The League of Women Voters of Montgomery County, Indiana, 6/3/26
“...The board approved the rezoning request, setting aside a small amount of acreage on Fugate Farms for carbon capture and sequestration as part of the Valero ethanol plant in Linden,” the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County, Indiana writes for The Paper of Montgomery County. “...Questions anyone might ask include: What is carbon capture and sequestration, often called CCS? What are its risks? Do these risks outweigh its benefits? Many people also want to know: Can we trust a national or multi-national corporation – Valero Energy, in this case – to have the best interests of locals in mind? How do we know our soil and water will not be compromised? What are the rights of landowners to use their land for new income streams? And what are the rights of farmers looking to avoid being bought out by corporate agriculture?... “The questions surrounding the CCS project with Valero and Fugate Farms might have resulted in similar lobbying and concerns. But no one showed up to object, no organized effort to inform people who might not know how to read between the lines on the public notice… “The core problem is not the “carbon capture” part. As LWV Climate Committee lead John Smilie puts it, “The fundamental problem with ethanol CCS isn’t the CCS part so much as the ethanol part.” “...CCS attached to an ethanol plant does something quite different from CCS used to extract more oil or gas from aging fields. Ethanol CCS primarily aims to clean up a biofuel that still releases a lot of carbon… “These wells are designed for long-term geologic storage, not for producing more oil or gas. The CO₂ from fermentation would go into deep saline formations that contain brine, not oil-bearing layers, and the project’s economics hinge on federal tax credits for sequestering carbon underground, not on selling additional barrels of oil. While this does not make the technology risk-free, it means local residents should avoid conflating “CCS for more oil” with “CCS to reduce emissions from an existing biorefinery.”
AZ Central: New BLM director is wrong. Don’t sell our land
Josh Ibanez is a horse farrier in central Arizona. On top of being an avid hunter, hiker and angler, he also holds bachelor degrees in sociology and wildlife conservation, 6/2/26
“...In Arizona, public lands are where people hunt, fish, hike, ranch, camp and spend time with friends and family. They are places where wildlife has room to thrive, livestock grazing is permitted, and natural resources can be developed. These lands serve many purposes, as they were intended to,” Josh Ibanez writes for AZ Central. “...Steve Pearce was the wrong choice for the Bureau of Land Management. He doesn’t see the value of keeping public lands for the people to use. He wants to sell them off, rather than let people enjoy. Public lands are not an abstract idea for people living in Arizona. The most recent data from the Outdoor Industry Association shows that outdoor recreation continues to be a major and growing part of the economy. In Arizona alone, it contributes over $14 billion annually and supports more than 110,000 jobs, accounting for about 2.7% of the state’s GDP. A poll found that nearly 80% of voters say outdoor activities such as hiking, fishing and hunting are an important part of their lives. As someone who spends more than 100 days a year outdoors, nearly all of it on public lands, I can attest to this as well.”