EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 7/13/22
PIPELINE NEWS
KCCI: 'Not on our farms, or our neighbors': Iowans speak out against carbon capture pipeline
Iowa Capital Dispatch: Carbon pipeline opponents decry ‘sham’ process
KCCI: Iowa farmers and landowners rally against carbon pipeline projects
Aberdeen News: Brown County to draft moratorium resolution about carbon dioxide pipeline construction
KMA: IA Group: Exchange for carbon pipelines not worth the risk
Utility Dive: New Jersey has adequate natural gas pipeline capacity, utility regulator tells FERC amid Transco pipeline review
Bloomberg: Cheniere Warns EPA Rules May Disrupt Gas Supply to Europe
KXAN: Central Texas landowners lawyer-up against new natural gas pipeline
MassLive.com: Western Mass. legislators slam Eversource pipeline through Longmeadow, Springfield as dangerous
The Record: Activists fight proposed Blue Marlin pipeline
WATE: Gas found outside of Colonial Pipeline site in Loudon after 23,000-gallon spill
WTAJ: Fire departments respond to pipeline fire in McKean County
Daily Energy Insider: API, industry groups release Pipeline Safety Management Systems report
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: EPA faces legal dead ends after SCOTUS climate decision
STATE UPDATES
University of Wyoming: UW Study Examines Economic Incentives for Deploying Carbon Capture, Sequestration in Wyoming
KNXV: SRP sues for court to overturn ACC gas plant rejection
Capital and Main: New Mexico’s Oil and Gas Revenues Are Breaking Records and Complicating Budgets
EXTRACTION
Natural Gas Intelligence: Lake Charles LNG Plan Facing Opposition from Industrial Advocates as ‘Line in the Sand’
Canadian Press: Jason Kenney wants federal climate plan on agenda at premiers’ meeting in B.C.
CLIMATE FINANCE
Morningstar: Why Are There Oil Companies in My ESG Portfolio?
Globe and Mail: How can impact investors make real-world change happen with their dollars?
OPINION
Shoreline Media: LETTER: How the Line 5 Tunnel can impact you, state
Forbes: A Texas Natural Gas Pipeline Highlights America’s Energy Conundrum
Los Angeles Times: Op-Ed: Wait, what? The Biden administration wants to drill on Alaska’s North Slope?
The Hill: The Wild West of regulating ESG investments
Policy Options: Zero-emissions electricity by 2035 is possible
PIPELINE NEWS
KCCI: 'Not on our farms, or our neighbors': Iowans speak out against carbon capture pipeline
Beau Bowman, 7/12/22
“Dozens of protestors drove laps around Terrace Hill Tuesday asking Governor Reynolds to step in and stop a carbon capture pipeline from being built,” KCCI reports. “Earlier Tuesday morning, the same protesters filled the Iowa Utilities Board meeting — asking the voting members to deny three companies permits to build carbon capture pipelines through hundreds of miles of Iowa farmland. "We have worked very hard on that land to make it what it is today. And in the matter of a few months — they can take my land," Kathy Stockdale of Hardin County said. Two of the proposed pipelines are mapped through her Century Farm. Some say the pipelines will contribute to the climate crisis, ruin topsoil, pose a danger to the small Iowa communities and won't save the ethanol industry. "If this was the savior for ethanol, farmers would be lined up behind it. They're not," James Norris from Montgomery County told KCCI. During the public comment portion of Tuesday's IUB meeting, Norris and several other Iowa farmers spoke to the board members — telling them they will fight against the pipelines. "If we stand united and if we lock arms and say 'Not on our farms, or our neighbors,' you will support the overwhelming majority of Iowans in a vote against this pipeline," Norris said as the room packed with anti-pipeline protesters cheered… “KCCI received a statement from one of the companies building these pipelines — Summit Carbon Solutions. It reads in part: "To date, we have successfully negotiated voluntary agreements with more than 600 Iowa landowners and nearly 2,000 total agreements across the five states where our project is proposed to be located. We look forward to continuing to build on that momentum."
Iowa Capital Dispatch: Carbon pipeline opponents decry ‘sham’ process
JARED STRONG, 7/12/22
“Those who oppose liquid carbon pipelines in Iowa confronted on Tuesday the regulatory board members charged with approving such plans, and some insinuated their votes were bought with money and political clout,” the Iowa Capital Dispatch reports. “...This process is a sham; its outcome is preordained,” Jon Green, a Johnson County supervisor, told the three-member Iowa Utilities Board at its regular monthly meeting… “Summit Carbon Solutions has made the most progress toward obtaining a hazardous liquid pipeline permit from the state. It has finalized agreements with landowners of nearly 40% of its 680-mile route in Iowa, Courtney Ryan, a spokesperson for the company, told the Dispatch… “But many landowners have indicated they will not relent in their opposition… “Opponents say the pipelines primarily benefit the pipeline companies that are poised to earn billions of dollars, mainly due to federal tax incentives for sequestering carbon dioxide. Those tax credits go to the ethanol plants where the carbon is captured and compressed into a liquid, and the plants pay the pipeline companies to transport it to Illinois or North Dakota where it is pumped deep underground. “If you join us, the rest of your life you can hold your head high knowing that you didn’t have a price,” James Norris, a Montgomery County landowner, told the board on Tuesday. “The answer is simple. You’re either with big corporations trying to buy favor or with hard-working Iowans.” In response to the allegations that the board is influenced by money or personal and political connections, Don Tormey, a spokesperson for the board, told Iowa Capital Dispatch: “The IUB’s decisions in such dockets are based on Iowa law and the evidence contained in the record of each individual docket.” “...Opponents say the pipelines cause long-lasting or permanent damage to the state’s farmland and that they pose a significant health risk to people. A pipeline break last year in Mississippi sickened dozens because carbon dioxide is heavier than air. It can remain close to the ground and overwhelm people… “Jess Mazour, a conservation program coordinator for the Sierra Club, told the Dispatch: “A year into this project, it’s clear that no one wants carbon pipelines except those who stand to benefit.”
KCCI: Iowa farmers and landowners rally against carbon pipeline projects
Nicole Tam, 7/12/22
“A pipeline protest is happening on Tuesday in Des Moines. It concerns three proposed carbon capture pipelines that would cut through the state,” KCCI reports. “Local environmentalists tell KCCI that more than 1,000 Iowa land owners are against the idea. Multiple groups are gathering at the Iowa Utilities Board Tuesday morning to send that message. Companies pitching these multi-billion dollar projects believe they could potentially cut greenhouse gas emissions from ethanol and other agricultural plants… "Why are we moving forward with something like this that's so clearly not wanted in our state? We know it's bad for the farmland, it's bad for our health, it's bad for our communities. It's not a good use of public money, it's an abuse of eminent domain," Jess Mazour, Sierra Club Iowa Chapter, told KCCI. Sherri Webb's 40-acre farm in Shelby County would be affected and she believes the pipeline would ruin the farm's landscape and put families at risk. Another major concern she and other landowners have is the use of eminent domain. If the pipeline companies don't get the land for the project from the owners voluntarily, they can ask the state to give them private land for a price. "It's not safe. Nobody can guarantee that this won't explode. It's not like if it's not going to happen but where it's going to happen and how are they going to handle it?" Webb told KCCI. "We're out in the middle of nowhere, Council Bluffs is a good 45 minutes away and so is Omaha. If we need a hazmat team to show up, we're going to have to wait a while."
Aberdeen News: Brown County to draft moratorium resolution about carbon dioxide pipeline construction
Elisa Sand, 7/12/22
“A resolution outlining a one-year moratorium on the construction of a carbon dioxide pipeline in Brown County is expected to be considered next week,” the Aberdeen News reports. “The majority of county commissioners stated their opposition to the construction of a proposed carbon dioxide pipeline during Tuesday's regular meeting at the courthouse. But not everybody is ready to sign off on a resolution that hasn't yet been drafted, though potential language was discussed. The moratorium resolution discussion is in response to landowner concerns about Summit Carbon Solutions and its proposed carbon sequestration pipeline… “But the proposed pipeline isn't without concerns, the latest of which is an injunction filed in McPherson County on behalf of landowners who are taking issue with Summit's interpretation of state law when it comes to land surveys. Several people spoke in favor of the moratorium Tuesday, including Jamie Fisk, who commended the commission for considering the moratorium and said landowners do have some authority when it comes to how deep the pipeline will be buried. That's a detail that needs to be agreed to within an approved easement, he said. Spink County landowner Ed Fischbach also urged passage of the moratorium and, citing a legal interpretation from attorney Paul Blackburn, said the federal Pipeline Safety Act doesn't give the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration the authority to determine the location or route of pipelines. Neither federal nor state laws regulate pipelines on private land, he said. That is up to counties… "The fact that the PUC has granted Summit an indefinite period of time to come up with a route.... you need a moratorium," Fischbach said. Fischbach said he's part of a landowner group that filed the injunction in McPherson County. That's in response to land surveys that involve soil borings and digging up fields with crops, he said… “While Fischbach provided one legal interpretation, commission Chairman Duane Sutton asked Brown County State's Attorney Ernest Thompson his take. Thompson said that based on research conducted by the South Dakota Public Assurance Alliance, the federal government would regulate a large portion of a pipeline project. "The indication I have is that state and local laws will be preempted by federal regulations," he said. "It leaves open a narrow category for state and local government to regulate." “...Fischbach also noted concerns about local state's attorneys receiving pressure from Summit to not take this action, but Thompson said he's hasn't had any conversations with anyone representing Summit.”
KMA: IA Group: Exchange for carbon pipelines not worth the risk
Ethan Hewett, 7/11/22
“As plans continue to formulate for three proposed carbon pipelines in Iowa, one group is making a sweep through southwest Iowa, making their case against the projects,” KMA reports. “The Iowa Carbon Pipeline Resistance Coalition is holding several public meetings around the state, including at the Firehouse Restaurant in Red Oak Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., to discuss proposed CO2 pipelines, most notably Summit Carbon Solutions' Midwest Express Pipeline. The pipeline would cut through portions of Montgomery, Page, and Fremont Counties running to Green Plains Shenandoah, LLC -- one of over 30 ethanol plants participating in the project. Caitlin Golle is a community organizer with Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. Golle tells KMA News the pipelines could present health risks to those living in and around the proposed area. "These pipelines propose numerous dangers to our health if they were to rupture, they are an asphyxiant, so it could suffocate whole communities as well as our vehicles," said Golle. "Emergency management is not currently prepared to respond to a situation like that." “...Currently, Summit is seeking voluntary easements for the project from landowners and, as of late June, had secured just over 30% of the required land. However, Golle says the impacts on the land are long-lasting. "You can not get the same yield return for at least five years and sometimes longer," Golle told KMA. "There's damages that occur and then they have to come in and re-rip up the ground to repair these pipelines, starting that whole healing process over again." “...Advocates for the pipeline have touted carbon capture and sequestration's ability to reduce ethanol plant's carbon scores thus allowing them to sell to low carbon markets. However, Norris says the exchange may not be worth it. "What we're doing essentially is giving billions of dollars to private corporations for their profit," Norris told KMA. "Studies have been done that have shown that it will take 1.2 tons of producing new carbon to sequester one ton of current carbon. So that's not really a very good exchange for our $100 billion investment."
Utility Dive: New Jersey has adequate natural gas pipeline capacity, utility regulator tells FERC amid Transco pipeline review
Ethan Howland, 7/12/22
“New Jersey has adequate natural gas pipeline capacity to handle most expected conditions this decade, the state utility agency and rate payer advocate said Monday in a joint filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as part of the agency’s review of a proposal by a Williams Co. subsidiary to expand a major pipeline in the region,” Utility Dive reports. “Following a two-year stakeholder process, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities late last month approved the conclusions of a London Economics International report that found under most demand scenarios, New Jersey is well-positioned with available interstate pipeline supply beyond 2030, according to the filing at FERC. “LEI’s analysis supports the argument against the need for additional interstate pipeline capacity, including projects like PennEast [Pipeline],” the BPU said in its June 29 order. The debate over New Jersey’s gas needs comes amid a broad argument over the future of existing and planned U.S. natural gas infrastructure as the effects of climate change grow. New Jersey aims to have emissions-free energy by 2050. The issue centers on a proposal by Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co., a Williams subsidiary, to expand capacity on its Transco pipeline with new and upgraded facilities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland… “However, LEI reached “a materially different conclusion,” the BPU and the New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel, which represents ratepayers, told FERC, noting the LEI report addresses a threshold issue the commission must consider when reviewing proposed gas infrastructure: whether it is needed. LEI concluded that New Jersey “can easily meet” firm demand under normal winter conditions, during colder-than-normal weather and in the case of a “design day,” the coldest day of the year, through 2030 using existing pipeline capacity, the BPU and ratepayer advocate said.”
Bloomberg: Cheniere Warns EPA Rules May Disrupt Gas Supply to Europe
Jennifer A Dlouhy, 7/12/22
“Cheniere Energy Inc., the largest LNG exporter in the US, is among companies warning that new federal air pollution requirements threaten to disrupt gas supply to Europe,” Bloomberg reports. “Scores of US petrochemical plants, pipelines and other facilities will have to prove they’ve complied with Environmental Protection Agency limits on cancer-causing formaldehyde emissions by Sept. 5… “While analysts say the new rules are unlikely to stem energy flows, Cheniere and others are using Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to argue for exemptions from, or delays to, the EPA limits… “Agency officials have spoken with representatives of Cheniere and other companies concerned about the looming deadline, according to newly released records. Industry representatives have said they don’t have time to retrofit equipment before the deadline and have warned about implications for global energy flows, according to people familiar with the matter who asked Bloomberg not to be named describing private discussions. Pipeline operators The Williams Companies Inc. and TransCanada Pipeline USA Ltd. are separately challenging the requirements before the Washington, D.C.-based US Circuit Court of Appeals. The emissions curbs could affect impact 220 combustion turbines deployed across the US, according to an EPA database. For nearly two decades, the devices -- known as lean premix and diffusion flame gas-fired turbines -- were waived from certain national emissions limits, but in March the EPA said it was lifting the exemption.”
KXAN: Central Texas landowners lawyer-up against new natural gas pipeline
Tahera Rahman, 7/12/22
“I’ve been a country girl all except six years of my life,” said Betty Zimmerhanzel. That’s why she and her husband bought a 75-acre property in Taylor for their family back in the ’70s,” KXAN reports. “I like it because it’s peace and quiet most of the time, you know, and you have neighbors but you’re not sitting on each other’s shoulders all the time,” she told KXAN. Her grandchildren also enjoy the land. But it’s now part of the proposed route for the Matterhorn Express natural gas pipeline… “Not having control of your own property anymore. Somebody’s taken over that has never spent a nickel on it,” a frustrated Zimmerhanzel told KXAN. She’s worried about safety, pointing to the explosion of a natural gas pipeline, owned by a different company, outside Houston just last week. Zimmerhanzel also thinks Matterhorn’s parent company, Austin-based WhiteWater Midstream, isn’t offering enough money to use her land. She’s not the only one with concerns. Her attorneys tell KXAN they represent about 60 landowners in Williamson and Burnet counties. “They have safety concerns, they have concerns over the valuations that they had been offered by the private for-profit company, and they’ve got concerns about how the pipeline is going to impact their land,” attorney Luke Ellis of Marrs Ellis & Hodge, LLP told KXSN… “Jason Modglin, president of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, told KXAN a new pipeline is needed. “We have a critical need for infrastructure in the state of Texas, we continue to grow in terms of our production,” Modglin, whose group represents smaller independent operators and oil and gas producers in the state, told KXAN. He said the infrastructure is the safest, most efficient and most environmentally safe way to move natural gas.”
MassLive.com: Western Mass. legislators slam Eversource pipeline through Longmeadow, Springfield as dangerous
Patrick Johnson, 7/12/22
“Six state legislators from Greater Springfield have come out in opposition to a controversial Eversource natural gas pipeline planned for a five-mile route through parts of Longmeadow and Springfield,” MassLive.com reports. “They join the Longmeadow Select Board in opposition. Members of the Springfield City Council will vote Monday on a resolution opposing the pipeline…”
The Record: Activists fight proposed Blue Marlin pipeline
7/12/22
“Plans to run a 42-inch crude oil pipeline around Bessie Heights Marsh and under the center of Sabine Lake are meeting opposition in Southeast Texas,” The Record Dive reports. “Environmentalist John Beard of Port Arthur, a retired refinery worker leading the Port Arthur Community Action Network (PACAN) and SaveSabineLake.org, told the Record the company behind the proposed Blue Marlin pipeline can't be trusted to avoid dangerous oil spills… “His groups are in the middle of an awareness campaign that includes door knocking, social media and TV advertising. PACAN and Save Sabine Lake.org are hosting town hall meetings next week in Port Arthur and Bridge City… "My biggest concern with Energy Transfer is their very long history of pipeline spills. In 2018, it was reported that Energy Transfer and its subsidiaries and joint ventures had spilled more than 3.6 million gallons of hazardous liquids over the past 16 years, including 2.8 million gallons of crude oil in 527 separate incidents. That means, on average, an Energy Transfer pipeline leaked once every 11 days. That's why we're opposed to this project,” Beard told the Record… “The Sierra's Club Hughes was one of several environmentalists that partnered with Beard on a lightly attended February virtual conference to help Orange County landowners who could be affected by pipeline easements on their property… "John's big concern is they're using an old gas import pipeline and converting it to oil export. That's not an uncomplicated process and frankly, we just don't trust Energy Transfer to do it right.”
WATE: Gas found outside of Colonial Pipeline site in Loudon after 23,000-gallon spill
Greg Raucoules, 7/12/22
“Gasoline has been discovered outside of a Colonial Pipeline facility in Loudon County after a valve failure caused more than 23,000 gallons of gasoline to spill at the site on July 4,” WATE reports. “A portion of the Colonial Gas Pipeline that runs through East Tennessee had to be shut down and repaired last week when the company received a report of a petroleum odor off Sugarlimb Road in Loudon around 9:30 p.m. on Monday, July 4. Crews inspected the area and found liquid gasoline leaking within the Sugarlimb Trap Facility due to a valve failure. Approximately 23,375 gallon of gasoline were released during the leak, a Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) spokesperson told WATE… “On July 7, a company spokesperson said that no gasoline had been identified outside of Colonial Pipeline property to date. On Tuesday, the company announced that gasoline was discovered approximately 8 feet outside of the site’s fence in the evening hours of July 11. A Colonial Pipeline spokesperson said that they are conducting air and water quality testing around the clock and have implemented proactive measures in an effort to protect the Hubbard Branch and the Tennessee River. No gas has been discovered in surface water, the spokesperson said. A neighboring Loudon Utilities natural gas line was struck on Wednesday, July 6 during activities associated with the cleanup… “TDEC said they are not aware of any water quality issues associated with the natural gas leak. No injuries were reported in connection to either incident.”
WTAJ: Fire departments respond to pipeline fire in McKean County
Rebecca Parsons, 7/12/22
“Fire departments from both McKean and Elk County responded to a pipeline fire on Wilcox Clermont Road around 5:22 p.m. on Tuesday,” WTAJ reports. “According to dispatch, a gas pipeline ruptured and a fire started, which sparked a small wildfire. There were no injuries and the fire was successfully put out by the responding fire crews. Up to seven fire departments responded to the fire and a gas pipeline company was on the scene.”
Daily Energy Insider: API, industry groups release Pipeline Safety Management Systems report
Dave Kovaleski, 7/12/22
“The Pipeline Safety Management Systems (SMS) 2021 Annual Report found that 85 percent of total industry pipeline mileage participated in voluntary Pipeline SMS implementation,” Daily Energy Insider reports. “The Pipeline SMS is a systematic approach to managing safety in the pipeline industry, helping contractors create a safety culture and work to advance a zero-incident future… “Over the past five years, the liquids pipeline industry has witnessed the impact of SMS implementation, driving reductions in both total incidents and incidents impacting people and the environment,” incoming Pipeline SMS Industry Team Chair and Enbridge Director of Safety and Reliability Governance Cindy Graham told DEI. “But there is more work to be done. The Industry Team will help operators who have not yet implemented SMS, as well as those who want to advance their SMS maturity. Working together, we are focused on improving industry’s pipeline safety performance through universal SMS implementation.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: EPA faces legal dead ends after SCOTUS climate decision
Jean Chemnick, 7/13/22
“Regulators at EPA will have to draft fresh carbon rules for power plants without knowing if they’ll survive the legal uncertainty created by the Supreme Court’s climate decision last month,” E&E News reports. “That thrusts the agency into a yearslong process of writing rules to reduce power sector emissions with the risk that whatever they do could run afoul of the high court. If EPA runs repeatedly into legal dead ends as it refines its understanding of what the court will accept, it would leave the power grid unregulated for carbon for much of the decade, while potentially leading regulators to offer insufficient climate rules that might be accepted by the conservative court. The casualty could be President Joe Biden’s climate goals, including his objective of cutting the sector’s carbon output 80 percent by 2030 and making it net-zero five years later. “I’m not sure that the court’s intent was to create uncertainty, but I also don’t get the sense that the conservative justices will mind if the uncertainty that this decision foments causes agencies like EPA to disfavor creative solutions to new problems,” Lisa Heinzerling told E&E. She wrote the winning briefs in a 2007 Supreme Court case that established EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases… “But the high court has offered EPA few pointers on how to write rules for new and existing power plants that could survive judicial challenges. In West Virginia, it said fuel-switching is out of bounds, but avoided weighing in on other regulatory models that might have given the agency a road map. The court’s six conservative justices embraced an emerging legal doctrine that demands regulatory agencies show explicit statutory instructions from Congress for virtually any meaningful rule they might draft. The so-called major questions doctrine will make it harder for agencies to do their jobs, while arming their opponents with a powerful new tool, Thomas Lorenzen, a partner at Crowell & Moring, told E&E. “If you are a challenger of agency rulemaking, the upside of the major questions doctrine is that it creates a lot of uncertainty about what the courts will let agencies writ broad do,” he told E&E. “If you are EPA or another federal agency, it’s a worry because you will not know until you try it whether a particular rulemaking approach will survive judicial scrutiny.” “...The court appeared to leave EPA with numerous options for reining in emissions at coal- and gas-fired power plants, without providing any certainty that those pathways would actually be accepted by the current justices. Nathan Richardson, a law professor at the University of South Carolina, told E&E EPA could fall into a trap of spending years crafting a rule that could be undone.”
STATE UPDATES
University of Wyoming: UW Study Examines Economic Incentives for Deploying Carbon Capture, Sequestration in Wyoming
7/11/22
“University of Wyoming researchers recently published a policy analysis article in a leading environmental research journal that examines the potential role of economic and policy incentives to facilitate carbon capture and storage (CCS) deployment in the state… “The article examines the potential role of economic and policy incentives to facilitate CCS deployment for compliance with Wyoming law on reliable and dispatchable low-carbon energy standards. UW’s School of Energy Resources (SER) funded the project, with support from SER’s Center for Energy Regulation and Policy Analysis (CERPA). The study suggests that CCS technology can be employed to deeply decarbonize some existing fossil fuel-fired power plants and provide firm generating capacity in a low-carbon power grid. “The major objectives of this study are to assess the economic viability of CCS deployment in the state of Wyoming’s power sector to meet state-level low-carbon energy standards,” Zhai says. “We want to further evaluate the role of the federal tax credit for carbon sequestration in improving the retrofit viability.” “...While focused on Wyoming, the study will have wider impacts for other fossil-rich states hoping to use existing resources by highlighting the joint role of CCS-oriented federal and state regulations in improving retrofit viability while transiting to a low- or zero-carbon energy future, Zhai says. “An electric power grid with high penetration of intermittent renewables will require other firm capacity to make electric power reliable, flexible and affordable,” Zhai adds. “A certain level of abated fossil fuels with CCS can play a firm role in the transition to a carbon-neutral power sector. Abated fossil fuels should not be excluded in climate action plans toward net-zero emissions, especially in fossil-rich states or regions.” CERPA relies on interdisciplinary energy law, policy, technology and economic experts to conduct world-class energy analyses that benefit Wyoming, the Intermountain West and the United States. CERPA was founded in 2020 specifically to respond to the energy challenges and opportunities facing the state.”
KNXV: SRP sues for court to overturn ACC gas plant rejection
Courtney Holmes, 7/11/22
“The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) is set to reconsider whether to rehear Salt River Project's (SRP) application to expand its natural gas fired power plant in Coolidge about 60 miles south of Phoenix,” KNXV reports. “The placement of the agenda item for the agency's July 12 & 13 open meeting, coincided with the utility's disclosure that filed two lawsuits to revive the expansion effort. One case was filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, and a special action was filed with the Arizona Supreme Court to expedite the case. On Monday the Supreme Court declined jurisdiction in the case. This would be the second time the ACC will vote on whether to consider a rehearing. In June, commissioners voted 3 to 2 not to reconsider its April decision to reject SRP's Certificate of Environmental Compatibility to expand its Coolidge Generating Station from its current 12 gas turbines to an additional 16 for an additional 820 megawatts of power generation. The plant is located directly next to the historically Black community of Randolph, which along with environment groups opposed the expansion citing noise and pollution concerns and fear about expanding gas in an area with a history of explosion. In August 2021, an explosion of the nearby El Paso gas pipeline, killed three people and rocked buildings in Randolph. SRP was not involved in explosion, but it occurred very close to the gas plant and neighboring community. The possibility remains a worry for residents. The utility has painted a dire picture for its reliability if the plant expansion is not granted. In a past interview with ABC15 SRP Executive Bobby Olsen said unless the decision is reversed there is "serious risk" that there will not be enough electricity available to meet demand in Summer of 2024.”
Capital and Main: New Mexico’s Oil and Gas Revenues Are Breaking Records and Complicating Budgets
Jerry Redfern, 7/11/22
“Oil and gas revenues added more than $1.7 billion to New Mexico coffers in the first four months of the year — more than in any other four-month period in state history. A lot more,” Capital and Main reports. “Records compiled by the New Mexico Tax and Revenue Department show that year-on-year, revenues from January through April more than doubled from $782 million in 2021 — itself a record year… “This money gusher comes from increasing production in New Mexico’s portion of the Permian Basin — currently the most productive oilfield on the planet — and skyrocketing oil and gas prices brought on by the Russian invasion of Ukraine… “Mountains of money are generally a good thing for anyone, but the unplanned windfall does come with complications. The first is the kind of money brought in by oil and gas production. Roughly speaking, state government views revenues in two ways: as one-time or recurring income. Recurring money remains fairly steady year after year. For example, people will generally remain employed and use their earnings to buy things, making income and sales taxes a reliable source of steady, recurring revenue for the state… “However, record-breaking fossil fuel revenue is treated as one-time money: It can’t be counted on to repeat, so it can’t be used to create new programs, add permanent jobs or increase pay for state employees across the board. One-time money can build police stations and water treatment plants and schools, but it can’t pay the people to fill them. And that makes budgeting difficult. “When you have that one-time money surpassing recurring money, it becomes a little topsy-turvy,” Muñoz told C&M… “The resource curse theory explains why developing countries often underperform when their revenues are based on extractive resources — usually fossil fuels. The developing economy relies heavily on the one money stream, both because it is lucrative and because of fears of upsetting the apple cart. Thus, it locks itself into an economic cycle tied to natural resources. “We have to start planning in a more concrete fashion for a future where oil and gas has a less prominent role in the economy,” she told C&M. “That seems inevitable.”
EXTRACTION
Natural Gas Intelligence: Lake Charles LNG Plan Facing Opposition from Industrial Advocates as ‘Line in the Sand’
JACOB DICK, 7/12/22
“The Industrial Energy Consumers of America (IECA) has targeted Energy Transfer LP’s request to extend the timeline of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from its proposed Lake Charles project as a part of what group leadership calls “a line in the sand,” Natural Gas Intelligence reports. “The manufacturing advocacy group has moved to intervene in Dallas-based Energy Transfer’s request to the Department of Energy (DOE) to extend export authorization until 2050. IECA, which represents over 11,700 facilities nationwide, has been arguing for years that expansions in U.S. LNG export volumes to non-free trade (non-FTA) countries drives up domestic energy prices, harming consumers. IECA CEO Paul Cicio told NGI that the glut of approved projects in operation, under construction and still pending has reached a level the group believes is already unsustainable. In response, IECA plans to intervene in any authorization request it can, like in the case of Lake Charles LNG. “We’ve put a stake in the ground that says no extension and no expansion of exports,” Cicio told NGI. “The entire reliability of the natural gas and the electricity market is at stake here.”
Canadian Press: Jason Kenney wants federal climate plan on agenda at premiers’ meeting in B.C.
7/11/22
“Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says he’ll be raising the alarm over the federal government’s emissions reduction plan when he meets with Canada’s premiers over the next two days,” the Canadian Press reports. “Kenney says the reduction plan is “pie in the sky,” calling it a “ridiculous” target with no proper plan for implementation. The premier, who made the comments at the Calgary Stampede’s annual breakfast, says the implications of the plan would be devastating for Alberta just as the world needs more of its energy. The federal plan released earlier this year is aimed at capping oil and gas sector emissions to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 and reduce oil and gas methane emissions by at least 75 per cent by 2030.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
Morningstar: Why Are There Oil Companies in My ESG Portfolio?
Lan Anh Tran, 7/12/22
“High dividend yield and stellar environmental, social, and governance practices tend to mix like oil and water. Many of the higher-yielding blue-chip companies favoured by dividend funds don’t have the best ESG records, while broad-market ESG funds tilt toward younger technology firms that either don’t pay dividends yet or have lower yields. Combining the two strategies into one fund is like fitting a square peg in a round hole,” Morningstar reports. “...Traditional energy companies, those deriving much of their revenue from fossil fuels, don’t tend to make it far into ESG portfolios. However, their generous dividend payouts over the last few years have made them dividend darlings. This article explores the compromises made by ESG dividend funds when their dual mandates collide... “Yet, even as UEDV’s index explicitly screens out companies involved in extraction of thermal coal and oil sands, as well as thermal coal generation, Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) still passed its revenue-based threshold of 5%... “While definitions of ESG can vary, it’s difficult to imagine that many environmentally conscious investors would be comfortable with these firms as the top holdings in their ESG portfolio. For dividend investors, on the other hand, their 3%-4% trailing 12-month dividend yield can surely justify their inclusions, given the S&P 500’s dividend yield currently stands at 1.5%. And in a strategy that tries to have its cake and eat it too, something has to give… “The stocks with the ESG credentials that investors want often don’t pay the dividend they want, and vice versa… “With so many different interpretations of ESG standards and no cohesive disclosure requirements, ESG investors need to perform thorough due diligence before taking the plunge on any fund marketed as “ESG.”
Globe and Mail: How can impact investors make real-world change happen with their dollars?
DWARKA LAKHAN, 7/12/22
“Many investors want their money to make a clear impact on clean energy, health, diversity and other environmental and social issues,” the Globe and Mail reports. “The idea of impact investing has gained traction among many Canadians, despite the concept leaving lots of room for interpretation… “There is a high degree of overlap between the terms impact investing, sustainable investing, socially responsible investing, and investing with an environmental, social and governance (ESG) focus. “All these categories are subjective, and the whole space is ambiguous,” Mike Dragosits, portfolio manager at Harvest ETFs in Oakville, Ontario, told the Mail. It doesn’t help that industry professionals and investors can use these terms interchangeably, even though there are distinctions… “Some investors and funds tack on an exclusionary approach, avoiding companies in sectors such as alcohol, tobacco, weapons and fossil fuels. Others think of impact investing as inclusionary, encompassing companies regardless of the sector as long as they produce a concrete social good… “The Responsible Investment Association reports that assets in impact investments in Canada have shot up dramatically over the last decade, from $3.8-billion in 2012, to $9.2-billion in 2015, $14.8-billion in 2017, and $20.3-billion in 2019… “As with any investing approach, returns are never guaranteed with impact investing. However, Mr. Deutsch told the Mail that several studies show that impact investing can actually outperform traditional portfolios. Mr. Dragosits adds that for investors, “if the impact they want to make is aligned with a serious long-term megatrend, such as renewable energy, they can be ahead of the investment curve.”
OPINION
Shoreline Media: LETTER: How the Line 5 Tunnel can impact you, state
Art Hirsch, Pentwater, 7/12/22
“A new unproven technology is being tested in the State of Michigan’s most sensitive location, the Straits of Mackinac, with huge potential impacts; a boring tunnel machine that will bore a 20-foot-wide tunnel, 60-100 feet below the lakebed for 3.5 miles containing a 30-inch pipeline transporting Canadian crude oil and propane; this is called the Enbridge Line 5 Tunnel,” Art Hirsch writes for Shoreline Media. “Based upon thousands of concerned Michigan citizen letters, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) identified in June 2021 that this tunnel project is a significant potential risk to the Great Lakes environment and has required that a detailed Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will be performed at Enbridge’s expense… “It has already been recognized that the fossil fuel demand will not last 99 years, and the tunnel may end up being a stranded asset; therefore we, the State of Michigan taxpayers will be on the hook to maintain this tunnel for years with limited to no value… “It was recognized in 2018 by the State of Michigan and Michigan Technology University that a pipeline release would be catastrophic and cost the Michigan taxpayer over $6 billion dollars in oil cleanup costs. Also, in the event of an oil spill and during clean up actions, shipping in the Straits would be closed and Michigan and the Great Lakes region could experience a loss of $45 billion; again a financial hit to the State of Michigan citizens and no financial liability to Enbridge. An oil spill from the Line 5 tunnel would devastate our tourist economy in Michigan… “Indigenous tribes have voiced significant environmental and cultural concerns about the existing Line 5 and the Line 5 tunnel. Cultural and archaeological areas would be impacted by the construction of the Line 5 Tunnel. Water quality impacts and the release of oil from the Tunnel would impact land and fishery rights secured under the Washington Treaty… “We here in Michigan cherish out freshwater; the Great Lakes contains more than 20% of the freshwater on the planet. We rely on Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes for our life and quality of life. An unproven, unsafe and high-risk tunnel has no place in the most sensitive location in Michigan. Get involved and make your voice heard.”
Forbes: A Texas Natural Gas Pipeline Highlights America’s Energy Conundrum
David Blackmon, 7/12/22
“In late March, shortly after Vladimir Putin sent the Russian Army into Ukraine, President Joe Biden made a commitment on behalf of a U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry to dramatically increase shipments of American-produced LNG to Europe in the coming years,” David Blackmon writes for Forbes. “While helping Europe ease its heavy dependence on Russia and Putin for a large portion of its natural gas supplies represents a noble goal, the President made that commitment without consulting leaders in the LNG industry and without any apparent understanding of the things it would need to fulfill that national commitment. One big thing the U.S. LNG industry will need is a great deal of new infrastructure to facilitate the production, movement, processing and shipping of the higher volumes of natural gas and LNG. An integral piece of that particular puzzle will be pipelines needed to move the natural gas from often faraway places where it is produced hundreds of miles to the export facilities at which it is turned into LNG. It is a central, immutable fact that the gas can only be produced where it is found beneath the ground, and LNG can only be moved overseas on ships that are loaded at facilities that lie along the coast. Moving the gas from where it is produced to where it can be loaded on ships requires pipelines, and lots of them. Achieving that in some parts of the country will require permits from the federal government whenever the pipeline in question crosses a state line and thus falls under the purview of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Unfortunately, Biden’s FERC has demonstrated a great reluctance to issue such permits needed by proposed major pipeline projects designed to carry the gas from the massive Marcellus/Utica Basin to delivery points in the New England states and along the mid- and southern-Atlantic seaboard. This refusal to permit pipelines has left America’s biggest natural gas-producing basin in a constrained situation on pipeline takeaway capacity… “Despite the recent expansion, however, the Permian remains in a constrained situation where natural gas pipelines are concerned… “For any pipeline project, it is one thing to obtain the permits necessary to proceed to construction. Overcoming community opposition, often spurred by professional activists and amplified by a sympathetic news media, is another thing entirely. One recent report quoted several Williamson residents who expressed concerns about potential explosions, land devaluation and other emotional fears… “The simple fact is that America needs more pipe in the ground, a lot more. That’s America’s reality. If the industry can’t get that pipe into the ground in Texas, of all places, then Europe’s reality is that it should start looking for another, more reliable LNG trading partner.”
Los Angeles Times: Op-Ed: Wait, what? The Biden administration wants to drill on Alaska’s North Slope?
Zach Brown is a climate scientist in his native Gustavus, Alaska, where he is co-director of the Tidelines Institute. Author and climate activist Bill McKibben is founder of 350.org and Third Act, which organizes Americans over 60 for progressive change, 7/12/22
“The bitter end of the fossil fuel era is playing out in one of the world’s wildest remaining places: Alaska’s North Slope. And it’s not pretty,” Zach Brown and Bill McKibben write for the Los Angeles Times. “On Friday, the Interior Department released a draft supplemental environmental impact statement on the Willow project, an oil development on Alaska’s North Slope that Interior says would release as much as 284 million metric tons of carbon dioxide over its 30-year lifetime, and perhaps more. The Biden administration seems to be leaning toward permitting this carbon bomb, which would mock its campaign commitments to ease off on new oil leases — and in fact would represent a continuation of Trump-era efforts to drill big in the far northern tundra. Trump, you may recall, made drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge a priority. But after a fierce campaign by Gwich’in Natives and environmentalists, no big oil companies were willing to bid for leases on that land. Perhaps they were beginning to see the writing on the wall: With the cost of renewables plummeting, it no longer made sense to go to the ends of the world in search of more hydrocarbons. But Alaska’s congressional delegation — especially Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski — never gave up on expanding oil development. She’s moved her efforts a couple of hundred miles west to what would be a massive extraction: ConocoPhillips’s Willow project, near the village of Nuiqsut and in the National Petroleum Reserve… “Local officials, including native communities, are split: Oil always means money, even if a lot of it goes out of state. But scientists are not split: The International Energy Agency said last year that if we had any hope of meeting the targets the world set in Paris in 2015, there could be no further expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure… “The administration’s environmental impact statement says that it prefers development but it does include another option: “no action.” If we want to adopt that plan — if we want, that is, to leave the carbon in the ground where it can do no damage — we have to let the administration know. The Interior Department is taking comments on its Willow project environmental impact statement for 45 days. Here’s what to tell officials: Donald Trump wanted to drill Alaska until science and common sense put a crimp in his plans. Why on (a heating) Earth would we want to start it up again?”
The Hill: The Wild West of regulating ESG investments
Marilyn Waite is managing director at Climate Finance Fund. Daniel Cash, Ph.D., is lecturer in law at Aston University’s Credit Rating Research Initiative. Bill Harrington is a senior fellow at Croatan Institute whose work centers on boosting the sustainability of the world financial system, 7/12/22
“ESG finance is at a crossroads. Victim of its own success, the incorporation of environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics into investment and lending decisions has become mainstream practice — and with it increased scrutiny. Recent crackdowns on alleged greenwashing by BNY Mellon, DWS and Goldman Sachs illustrate that market participants are demanding fewer lies and more truth,” Marily Waite, Daniel Cash, and Bill Harrington write for The Hill. “What was once a niche led by a group of mission-aligned investors, ESG is now touted as more than a $40 trillion industry… “Nevertheless, ESG ratings are the Wild West in investing of our time, presenting significant divergence in scope, measurement and weight factors. The result is that ESG ratings are often incomparable, incomprehensible and incomplete. While it may be tempting for regulators to harmonize the ESG ratings field, in a recent comment letter we argue that it would be better to enact a series of minimum safeguards that encourage competition and protect against a lack of methodological rigor and conflicts of interest as observed in the Credit Rating Agency (CRA) model… “The CRA model is rife with conflicts and has illustrated that companies paying to be rated generally receive more favorable ratings… “It’s imperative that ESG rating providers not be allowed to sell ancillary services to those they rate; in addition, these providers should disclose whether a rating has been solicited and whether the entity being rated has paid for the rating… “Finally, breaking down E, S and G scores if aggregation exists would allow the user to understand how well the rated entity performs on each. Some ESG ratings game the system by only focusing on one or few components of ESG, whereas the user is often expecting something more comprehensive. Being clear about what is being rated, and in what categories, would help improve trust in the ESG market.”
Policy Options: Zero-emissions electricity by 2035 is possible
Tom Green, Stephen Thomas, 7/12/22
“Electric vehicles are making inroads in some areas of Canada. But as their numbers grow, will there be enough electrical power for them, and for all the buildings and the industries that are also switching to electricity?” Tom Green and Stephen Thomas write for Policy Options. “Canada – along with the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom – is committed to a “net-zero electricity grid by 2035.” “...Canada starts this work from a relatively low emissions-intensity grid, powered largely by hydroelectricity. However, some provinces such as Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick still have predominantly fossil fuel-powered electricity. Plus, there is a risk of more natural gas generation of electricity in the coming years in most provinces without new federal and provincial regulations… “The David Suzuki Foundation partnered with the University of Victoria to model the electricity grid of the future. We wanted to evaluate whether deploying renewables in each province’s grid could deliver zero-emissions electricity by 2035, even as demand grows… “The results? It is possible to meet Canada’s needs for clean electricity reliably and affordably through a focus on expanding wind and solar generation capacity, complemented with new transmission connections between provinces, and other grid improvements. How is it that such high levels of variable wind and solar can be added to the grid while keeping the lights on 24/7? The model took full advantage of the country’s existing hydroelectric reservoirs, using them as giant batteries, storing water behind the dams when wind and solar generation was high to be used later when renewable generation is low, or when demand is particularly high. The model also invested in more transmission to enable expanded electricity trade between provinces and energy storage in the form of batteries to smooth out the supply of electricity… “To avoid a costly dash-to-gas that will strand assets and to secure early emissions reductions, the electricity sector needs to be fully exposed to the carbon price. The federal government’s announcement that it will move forward with a clean electricity standard – requiring net-zero emissions in the electricity sector by 2035 – will help if the standard is stringent.”