EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 7/22/22
PIPELINE NEWS
MPR: Defendants seek dismissal of Line 3 protest charges
Press release: New Study Shows Enbridge’s Line 3 Replacement Project Generated Billions in Economic Impact
S&P Global: Keystone oil pipeline capacity may be restored next week: company source
Dakota News Now: South Dakota landowners question credibility of Summit Carbon Solutions owners, leadership
Des Moines Register: Summit Carbon, developer behind carbon capture pipeline, hires agriculture veteran as CEO
Aberdeen News: Brown County Commission approves one-year moratorium on transmission pipelines
Dakota News Now: Brown and Spink County pass moratoriums on carbon pipeline
KELO: Opposite CO2 actions in 2 SD counties
Waverly Newspapers: Bremer Co. supervisors mull carbon pipeline response
North Platte Telegraph: Trailblazer Pipeline's owners want to switch it from natural gas to CO2
WV Metro News: Federal lawmakers want FERC to back Mountain Valley Pipeline completion
The Record: Groups to hold meeting on Bessie Heights crude oil pipeline project
KWHI: NEW PIPELINE COMING TO AUSTIN COUNTY
Reuters: U.S. pipeline companies eye nat gas infrastructure for growth
Natural Gas Intelligence: Some Natural Gas Gathering Pipelines Get Temporary Reprieve from New Safety Rules
S&P Global: Republicans cautious to place hydrogen pipeline regulation in FERC's hands
E&E News: Gas industry drags FERC into tussle over pipeline scheme
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Press release: President Biden’s Executive Actions on Climate to Address Extreme Heat and Boost Offshore Wind
New York Times: Trying to Salvage His Climate Agenda, Biden Weighs Remaining Options
E&E News: High court hurdles shape debate over climate emergency
E&E News: Dems to Army Corps: Nix streamlined oil, gas permits
Forbes: Members Of Congress Push Back On EPA’s Threat To The Permian Basin
Bloomberg: Oil Trumps Renewable Power in Public Land Leasing, Report Shows
Washington Post: Carbon removal is moving full steam ahead. So is climate change.
Bureau of Land Management: BLM SEEKS PUBLIC COMMENTS FOR PREPARATION OF PLAN TO CONSERVE BIG GAME HABITAT AND CORRIDORS
STATE UPDATES
E&E News: First of its kind' CCS project opens in N.D.
Ethanol Producer: Red Trail Energy begins carbon capture and storage
Nexus Media: Methane Is Leaking Over Native Grounds. Citizen Scientists Are Fighting Back.
Civil Eats: From Farmland to Frac Sand
Reuters: Oil output in Permian to rise in August to highest on record -EIA
Lincoln Journal-Star: Lincoln clean energy company gets largest-ever investment
Salt Lake Tribune: A Utah oil field spilled 400 barrels near Grand Staircase last fall — and it’s still cleaning up the crude
EXTRACTION
Associated Press: Sky-high diesel prices squeeze truckers, farmers, consumers
E&E News: Oil and gas wells converge in marginalized communities
High Country News: How oil companies endlessly avoid cleanup costs
Guardian: Revealed: oil sector’s ‘staggering’ $3bn-a-day profits for last 50 years
Reuters: ConocoPhillips eyes U.S. Gulf of Mexico exit -sources
Reuters: Shell places US Gulf of Mexico assets up for sale
CLIMATE FINANCE
Louisiana Illuminator: As peak hurricane season looms, banks bolster cozy relationship with fossil fuel industry
Roll Call: Investors rally behind climate, diversity proposals as proxy season ebbs
OPINION
Salt Lake Tribune: Ted Williams: The ‘Keystone Pipeline’ won’t make gas any cheaper
Common Dreams: FERC: It's Time to End the Mountain Valley Pipeline
Bleeding Heartland: Another kind of inflation: economic benefits of CO2 pipelines
Lincoln Journal Star: Local View: CO2 pipeline safety proven
The Globe: Letter: Carbon pipeline is not in best interest of rural area
Dickinson County News: Opinions: Stop eminent domain for private gain
PIPELINE NEWS
MPR: Defendants seek dismissal of Line 3 protest charges
Kirsti Marohn, 7/18/22
“As Shanai Matteson walked out of the Aitkin County Courthouse into the bright sunshine Thursday morning, her supporters waiting outside were jubilant,” MPR reports. “A judge had just acquitted Matteson of a gross misdemeanor charge of aiding and abetting trespassing stemming from last year’s protests over the Line 3 oil pipeline. "The judge made the right decision today in acquitting me on these ridiculous charges,” Matteson told those gathered on the courthouse lawn. Matteson’s case was one of hundreds still pending more than a year after protest actions over the Line 3 project. The replacement pipeline, built along a new route across northern Minnesota, was completed last year and began transporting oil in October. Roughly a thousand people were arrested during those actions. Some were charged with relatively serious crimes, including gross misdemeanors and felonies. Line 3 opponents have called for the remaining charges dismissed. They’ve also asked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to appoint Attorney General Keith Ellison as a special prosecutor to review the cases… “Matteson never went to the site. But prosecutors later watched a video of her remarks. Five months later, she received a summons in the mail charging her with aiding and abetting trespassing on a pipeline, which is considered critical public infrastructure. But on Thursday, before the defense presented its case, District Court Judge Leslie May Metzen acquitted Matteson based on insufficient evidence. Matteson's attorney, Jordan Kushner, told MPR the judge made the right decision. "The idea that someone could be prosecuted for a crime – a gross misdemeanor offense, a relatively serious crime – just for making a speech and being involved politically, is very dangerous,” he told MPR. Matteson told MPR she believes she was singled out for charges because she's a local resident and active in the Line 3 opposition. She told MPR it's been a stressful experience. "I have two young children. They knew that I was facing the possibility of up to a year in jail,” she told MPR. “My mother and father who live here in Aitkin, they have people ask them, ‘What's going on with your daughter? We heard some things that she's a criminal.’" Those impacts won't go away even with an acquittal, Matteson told MPR. Aitkin County Attorney Jim Ratz didn't respond to a request for an interview. Aitkin County Sheriff Dan Guida disputes that Line 3 protesters have been singled out or treated unfairly. Guida told MPR his office simply enforces existing laws, and forwards information to the county attorney's office, who decided how to charge Matteson's case. "She was asking people to hold space and encourage them to get arrested,” he told MPR. “And, in that scenario, we kind of believe that you're instigating those people getting arrested."
Press release: New Study Shows Enbridge’s Line 3 Replacement Project Generated Billions in Economic Impact
7/20/22
“The Area Partnership for Economic Expansion (APEX) is pleased to share the results of a recently completed economic impact study regarding the Enbridge Line 3 Replacement Project (L3RP). The study, commissioned by APEX and conducted by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) at the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Labovitz School of Business and Economics, found the project supported, on average, 4,157 jobs per year in the region and had a total impact of over $5 billion… “The 2017 pre-construction study estimated that the project would create approximately 8,600 jobs and represent an investment of over $2.0 billion. Study results from 2022 show that the L3RP actually supported 4,157 jobs on average each year from 2017-2023, with peak employment reaching over 14,400 jobs in 2021. Enbridge contributed more than $1.7 billion in employee wages and benefits, over $2.2 billion in value-added spending, and generated more than $5.0 billion in new spending over the project's life… “Key Findings: The L3RP supported, on average, 4,157 jobs per year in the region during the period; Peak construction employment reached more than 14,000 jobs in 2021; Roughly 50% of the project’s construction laborers were residents of the 16-county project area; L3RP contributed more than $1.7 billion in employee wages and benefits; For every job directly supported by Line 3, another 0.86 jobs were added in supporting industries; L3RP generated over $2.2 billion in value-added spending and more than $5 billion in new spending; Once monitoring and restoration work concludes in 2023, Enbridge will have invested more than $4 billion over the seven-year project, including more than $2.9 billion spent in the 16-county project area.”
S&P Global: Keystone oil pipeline capacity may be restored next week: company source
Jordan Blum, Laura Huchzermeyer, 7/21/22
“The Keystone oil pipeline could return to full capacity next week if the necessary repairs to an electric substation are completed without any major supply chain disruptions for replacement parts, according to a company source,” S&P Global reports. “The 590,000 b/d crude artery from Canada to the US has operated at a reduced capacity since July 17 after vandalism damaged a transformer at an electric substation in rural South Dakota that solely services the TC Energy flagship oil pipeline. TC Energy has declined to offer any timeline for a return to full capacity. The company declared force majeure on the pipeline network July 18 and has continued operating at a reduced, but unspecified, capacity… “East River Electric Power Cooperative, which operates the Carpenter Substation in Beadle County, told S&P a criminal investigation is underway. East River said the damaged transformer was leaking mineral oil when the problem was detected… “One market source told S&P that, depending on the length of the outage, this could push differentials for crude oil in Western Canada lower, and lead to significant storage builds as the market depends heavily on Keystone to move crude out of the region.”
Dakota News Now: South Dakota landowners question credibility of Summit Carbon Solutions owners, leadership
Beth Warden, 7/21/22
“An allegation of who has ownership and direction of Summit Carbon Solutions is sending shock waves across the midwestern states considering the company’s request to build a CO2 Pipeline,” Dakota News Now reports. “...In Iowa, a resident submitted her research findings to the Iowa public utility board, claiming ownership connections to SKE&S, which she says is also SK holdings, a company fined over 70 million dollars for defrauding US military contracts. Attorney Brian Jorde with Domina Law Group represents South Dakota Landowners and has reviewed the documents. The Department of Justice Documents show SK Holdings pleaded guilty in 2018 and again in 2020 to Government Fraud. Another case was listed as a settlement, while another is still pending. “The South Korean entity has taken a 10% ownership in Summit carbon solutions. Is this who you want, owning operating a pipeline through your state?” Jorde told DNN. Ed Fischbach of Spink county meets with neighbors fighting the pipeline. “We’re calling on ethanol companies that have signed up now with Summit. If they didn’t know about this, it’s time to pull the plug, and they should get out,” Fischbach told DNN… “In addition to foreign interest concerns, others are questioning how the South Dakota Republican Party Chair, Dan Lederman, can fairly serve those he works for: the Party, Summit Carbon Solutions, and a foreign county. “Lederman filed with the Department of Justice that he’s lobbying for the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, their embassy, getting paid ten grand a month to do that,” Jorde told DNN… “You know, this pipeline is not about South Dakota, okay. It’s about foreign entities and enriching billionaires and foreign countries,” Jorde told DNN… “Jesse Harris, Director of Public Affairs at Summit Carbon Solutions, however, did respond by saying: “A wide range of individuals and organizations have invested in Summit Carbon Solutions because they share our view that there are significant opportunities to economically decarbonize the agricultural and ethanol industries, which will enhance their long-term sustainability…”
Des Moines Register: Summit Carbon, developer behind carbon capture pipeline, hires agriculture veteran as CEO
Donnelle Eller, 7/21/22
“Summit Carbon Solutions, the Ames company that is seeking to build a $4.5 billion carbon capture pipeline across Iowa, said Thursday it's hired ag industry veteran Lee Blank as its CEO,” the Des Moines Register reports. “Summit said Blank has 30 years of experience across several agricultural markets. The startup is a spinoff of Bruce Rastetter's Summit Agricultural Group. “Lee’s background as an accomplished leader and entrepreneur, his experience in project delivery, and his ability to develop relationships and to engage with these stakeholders make him a perfect fit,” Rastetter, the founder of Alden-based Summit Agricultural Group, said in a statement… “The project, one of three carbon capture pipelines proposed in Iowa, the nation's top producer of ethanol, has run into significant opposition from farmers, landowners and local officials. Many of the concerns have centered on the potential for companies to use eminent domain powers, enabling them to force unwilling landowners to sell access to their land for the pipeline. Iowans also have raised concern about the pipeline's safety and its possible impact on farmland and underlying drainage systems… “Before GFG Ag Services, Blank served as CEO of Twin Rivers Technologies, a Massachusetts agricultural processing company, where he was responsible for the development and construction of a $210 million processing facility in Canada… “The company says it's received about $1.1 billion in investments for the project, anchored by TPG Rise, Continental Resources, Tiger Infrastructure Partners and SK Group.”
Aberdeen News: Brown County Commission approves one-year moratorium on transmission pipelines
Elisa Sand, 7/19/22
“Brown County has approved a one-year moratorium on the construction of transmission pipelines,” the Aberdeen News reports. “That includes a carbon capture pipeline proposed by Summit Carbon Solutions. The resolution, "imposes a temporary moratorium on the issuance of any and all permits, licenses or approvals for the construction, installation or use of any transmission pipeline requiring the approval of the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission, traversing those lands contained within the unincorporated areas of Brown County, South Dakota, including the construction of any transmission pipeline-related infrastructure." It was approved unanimously at Tuesday's commission meeting at the Brown County Courthouse. The resolution gives the Brown County Planning and Zoning Office up to a year to review related regulations. And, Brown County State's Attorney Ernest Thompson said, if that review process is not complete in that time, the moratorium could be extended a second year with the passage of another resolution. Approval came after significant discussion that included not only landowners who oppose Summit's pipeline, but also Dan Lederman, senior advisor for LS2 Group, who spoke against the moratorium. LS2 Group, based in Iowa, is a public relations and marketing group working with Summit Carbon Solutions… “Lederman also argued that passing the moratorium would have unintended consequences such as, for instance, delaying approval of road haul agreements and non-environmental permitting. When asked by Commissioner Mike Gage if Lederman had a timeline to have someone from the ethanol industry speak to the commission, he didn't have an answer. Lederman also spoke about wanting to communicate better about the project, but that was countered by concerns from others in attendance who said property owners and businesses near the proposed route of the pipeline are unaware it's in the works… “Summit Carbon Solutions issued a statement Tuesday afternoon about the Brown County Commission's decision. "Federal and state-level agencies have always maintained the primary role when it comes to regulating and permitting CO2 pipelines, rather than individual counties," it reads in part. "Summit Carbon Solutions is disappointed the Brown County Commission chose to ignore that established and long-standing process, while also allowing a small handful of opponents to continue spreading misinformation regarding our project."
Dakota News Now: Brown and Spink County pass moratoriums on carbon pipeline
Sarah Parkin, 7/19/22
“Both Brown and Spink County Commissions passed a temporary moratorium on hazardous waste pipelines Tuesday, blocking any permits or construction of Summit Carbon Solutions’ carbon dioxide pipeline,” Dakota News Now reports. “...After hearing concerns from residents about transparency, eminent domain and possible hazards of the pipeline at Tuesday’s meeting, the Brown County Commission unanimously passed a moratorium to give the Planning and Zoning Commission time to review its ordinances on the project. The county’s current zoning ordinance requires the pipeline be built at least 1,500 feet away from any living quarter, school, daycare or church. It also requires the pipeline to be at least six feet underground. “I think there’s two major reasons why the people are opposed. The first one is the fear of a blowout or the hazard, and then, just the fact of having your land torn up and the eminent domain issue,” said Brown County Commissioner Dennis Feickert. The moratorium was also used to send a message to the Public Utilities Commission ahead of their review of Summit’s permit application. “One of the PUC commissioners made the comment at one of the meetings that he really would like to have input from the counties. Well, there’s no better way to have input than to put on a moratorium. I think it shows the PUC that, you know what, the county is concerned,” said Feickert… “While the moratoriums stop any construction of the pipeline in the counties, Summit says they will still continue surveying. ”We would not be doing our jobs if we were to just stop right now and wait. We’ll be continuing with field work and gathering information with the anticipation of submitting a supplemental permit application in a few months with the PUC,” Satterfield told DNN.
KELO: Opposite CO2 actions in 2 SD counties
Rae Yost, 7/20/22
“Two South Dakota counties took opposite actions related to proposed carbon dioxide pipelines this month,” KELO reports. “Brown County passed on July 19 a moratorium on hazardous materials pipelines in the county which will allow it to determine if existing ordinances are adequate to cover hazardous materials including CO2 pipelines, county commissioner board chairman Duane Sutton told KELO. The moratorium is in place for a year or sooner, if the county passes a new pipeline ordinance or determines existing ordinances cover them… “The July 11 Hand County letter cites the July 5 county board meeting in which during an open forum on the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions CO2 pipeline, the board passed resolutions to abandon a moratorium and to request from the PUC removed as intervenor in the CO2 pipeline process… “The July 11 letter said “The commission wanted it made note of the minutes that these two actions of the board do not translate into support of the project nor resistance to the project. It was states that the role of the intervenor is causing more cost than benefit.” “...Now that Brown County has a moratorium related to CO2 pipelines, the county’s planning and zoning commission will review existing ordinances, Sutton told KELO.
Waverly Newspapers: Bremer Co. supervisors mull carbon pipeline response
MIRA SCHMITT-CASH, 7/18/22
“The Bremer County Board of Supervisors discussed Monday whether to file a written response to a proposed 1,300-mile liquid carbon dioxide sequestration pipeline proposed by Navigator Heartland Greenway LLC,” Waverly Newspapers reports. “The board is slated to discuss the matter again at their Aug. 1 meeting… “Many county boards of supervisors have joined individuals and private entities in filing written objections to the pipeline with the Iowa Utilities Board. “Butler County sent a letter of objection,” Hildebrandt said, “to the pipeline.” “...As of Monday some 135 written objections were posted, including from the county supervisors of Buena Vista, Butler, Clay, Dickinson, Emmet, Franklin, Iowa, Keokuk, Kossuth, Lee, Linn, Lion, Mahaska, Osceola, Palo Alto, Poweshiek, Sioux, Story and Webster… “Hidebrandt then shared comments from also-unnamed Buchanan County officials. “Buchanan — their zoning department has looked at it a little bit, but they have not hired an engineer, and they have had no conversation about hiring an engineer,” he said. “Again waiting to be forced to. “I recommend the same thing for us,” Hildebrandt said. “Let’s hold off. Why would we want to hire an engineer. We don’t know if we support or object to the project until you have more detail. Hildebrandt suggested putting on the agenda to consider a letter of objection to the project… “My objection would be to the eminent domain concern,” Hildebrandt said in discussion. “I think that we should stand very strongly against private industry utilizing eminent domain to go through people’s property that object to having private industry go through their property.” “...The Butler County Board’s objection to the pipeline project was filed with the Iowa Utilities Board on Feb. 17. It reads in part: “We agree with those who object to the disruption of our agricultural economy to install a pipeline that seeks to benefit private business…“The pipeline does not provide a direct benefit to the public,” the Butler County Board continued. “Unlike an oil pipeline, the transmission of carbon dioxide to a sequestration site does not involve moving a product which will end up with the consumer.”
North Platte Telegraph: Trailblazer Pipeline's owners want to switch it from natural gas to CO2
Todd von Kampen, 7/20/22
“The owners of the 40-year-old Trailblazer Pipeline through southern Nebraska are seeking to abandon most of it for natural gas shipments and use it to move carbon dioxide instead,” the North Platte Telegraph reports. “The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is taking public comments on the joint request by Trailblazer Pipeline Co. LLC and its sister firm, Rockies Express Pipeline LLC. Both Colorado firms are subsidiaries of Tallgrass Energy, which wants to use Trailblazer to ship carbon dioxide originating in Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado to a carbon sequestration site in either Nebraska or Wyoming. A FERC public notice says the agency is preparing a review of the Trailblazer conversion’s possible environmental effects. Comments must arrive at FERC’s Washington, D.C., office by 5 p.m. ET on Aug. 10… “The 436-mile-long Trailblazer, completed in November 1982, runs along the border between Colorado and the Nebraska Panhandle. It then drops into Colorado’s Sedgwick County and re-enters Nebraska near Venango. Comments on the Trailblazer Conversion Project may be emailed via the FERC website (ferc.gov) or mailed to Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First St. NE, Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426. Reference the project docket number (CP22-468-000) in the letter.”
WV Metro News: Federal lawmakers want FERC to back Mountain Valley Pipeline completion
7/21/22
“Members of West Virginia’s congressional delegation are urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to support the completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline,” WV Metro News reports. “The letter — led by Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., and signed by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., as well as Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va. — also asks the commission to approve a request for a four-year extension related to the project. “The United States is a world-leader in natural gas production, and as the conflict in Ukraine continues, the United States should use every tool at its disposal to make up for the shortfall in the global natural gas supply for our allies and trading partners,” the legislator said. “Natural gas produced in the Appalachian Basin is undoubtedly part of that solution.” “...While MVP has now requested a four-year extension, the developers have demonstrated their determination to complete the pipeline as soon as practicable to help bring needed natural gas to market soon, should FERC approve the extension request and other necessary approvals be re-issued,” they said.”
The Record: Groups to hold meeting on Bessie Heights crude oil pipeline project
7/19/22
“Citizens and property owners interested in a proposed crude oil pipeline across Bessie Heights Marsh and under Sabine Lake will be able to discuss the project during a public meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 21,” The Record reports. “The meeting is sponsored by environmental groups and will be at the Bridge City Senior Citizens Center, 670 West Roundbunch Road. The Record Newspapers reported this month the project by Blue Marlin Pipeline will go from Nederland under the Neches River and then through Bessie Heights Marsh in Bridge City. After crossing the marsh, the 42-inch pipeline will be buried and cross under Sabine Lake to Johnson's Bayou, Louisiana. There a port terminal will allow the crude oil from Sunoco in Nederland to be loaded onto supertankers… “The Thursday meeting is being sponsored by the Port Arthur Action Network and Save Sabine Lake.org. The groups, along with the local Sierra Club, are objecting to the pipeline because the corporate company, Energy Transfer Partners, has a record of pipeline leaks.”
KWHI: NEW PIPELINE COMING TO AUSTIN COUNTY
7/19/22
“A new pipeline will be coming to the Austin County area next year,” KWHI reports. “Land rights are currently being negotiated with Austin County residents for the necessary right of way by Norfleet Land Services. According to a fact sheet distributed to local officials, the new Matterhorn Express Pipeline natural gas pipeline will have sections which are anywhere 42-inches in diameter to 30 inches and will be buried at a depth of 3 feet in most places. The pipeline originates in west Texas near Rankin and ends in Katy. Construction is expected to take place from April of next year until April 2024. The Matterhorn Express has the right of Eminent Domain because it will be classified as a gas utility in the state, and it will be regulated by the Texas Railroad Commission and the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The total length of the pipeline is 422 miles, and 49.88 miles of that will run through Austin County, along the west side of Sealy.”
Reuters: U.S. pipeline companies eye nat gas infrastructure for growth
Laila Kearney, 7/20/22
“U.S. midstream companies have set their sights on natural gas pipelines and export terminals as a key growth opportunity as investor pressures and political headwinds make new crude oil pipeline projects unpalatable,” Reuters reports. “U.S. pipeline operators are expected to have benefited from high oil and gas prices and rising domestic production in the second quarter, though some analysts warn that the decline in consumer demand late in the quarter could affect results. Earnings per share for five of the top U.S. oil pipeline companies are expected to have grown about 15% from the year ago period, according to a Reuters analysis. Natural gas projects are expected to be the mainstay of growth in coming years as production rises and shippers find new customers in Europe, which is trying to wean itself off of Russian energy, and in Asia, where many countries are boosting imports of LNG. "The biggest opportunity right now is primarily in serving LNG, whether it's adding U.S. export capacity or building pipelines to bring the gas to LNG terminals," Stephen Ellis, a strategist at financial services firm Morningstar, told Reuters… “A major challenge for midstream operators in coming years will be whether they are able to build new pipelines in areas outside the U.S. Gulf. "Everybody has pretty much given up on ever doing another long-haul pipeline anywhere outside of Texas and, maybe, Louisiana," Bradley Olsen, lead portfolio manager for Recurrent Investment Advisors' midstream infrastructure strategy, told Reuters. The industry is watching the ongoing legal and environmental battle over the completion of Equitrans Midstream Corp's natural gas Mountain Valley Pipeline from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia. That line is expected to be finished next year, but has been embroiled in legal battles that have kept it from completion. In contrast to natural gas, crude oil pipeline capacity exceeds production. Currently, there are roughly 8 million barrels per day of Permian crude pipeline capacity and less than 5.5 million bpd of production, according to EIA and Morningstar figures.”
Natural Gas Intelligence: Some Natural Gas Gathering Pipelines Get Temporary Reprieve from New Safety Rules
LETICIA GONZALES, 7/20/22
“Federal regulators last week delayed for one year the enforcement of safety rules for some smaller gathering pipelines that transport natural gas from the wellhead,” Natural Gas Intelligence reports. “The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) said in its July 8 ruling that it would refrain from taking enforcement action until May 17, 2024, for gas gathering lines with smaller outer diameter of more than 8.625 inches but less than or equal to 12.75 inches. The ruling is a victory for midstream companies with smaller gathering lines, as PHMSA in a November 2021 final ruling had sought to include these lines in its regulations by May 23, 2023. Other gas gathering pipelines remain subject to the earlier date of enforcement for rules requiring gathering lines to be inspected and built to safety standards. The enhanced oversight was in response to recommendations and congressional mandates handed down by the Government Accountability Office. However, the GPA Midstream Association and American Petroleum Institute (API) in December 2021 asked regulators to reconsider the ruling and filed a motion to stay certain portions of the final rule. PHMSA denied the petition in April, which prompted GPA to file a petition for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit… “In its ruling, PHMSA said it understands that some operators of the smaller diameter gathering pipelines “may face challenges complying” with the new safety requirements by May 16, 2023. Similarly, it “understands that the greatest safety benefit anticipated from the final rule could be achieved where regulatory resources focus on first ensuring compliance with the final rule’s requirements governing higher-risk, larger-diameter” gathering pipelines. These would include those with an outer diameter of more than 12.75 inches… “After the extension expires for the smaller gathering lines, PHMSA said it would prioritize compliance inspections on pipelines that have a building intended for human occupancy within its potential impact radius.”
S&P Global: Republicans cautious to place hydrogen pipeline regulation in FERC's hands
Brandon Mulder, 7/19/22
“Fed up with the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's recent handling of natural gas projects, Republicans of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee were reluctant to place regulatory authority over hydrogen pipelines in FERC's hands during a July 19 hearing, fearing the consequences it could create for the natural gas industry,” S&P Global reports. "The current majority of the FERC wants to make it nearly impossible to upgrade pipelines or build new ones," ranking Republican Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming told S&P. "I'm concerned that some on the commission may seek to make the ability to ship higher blends of hydrogen a reason to impose new conditions on newer upgraded natural gas pipelines." The committee's top Republicans have repeatedly pushed back against recent FERC actions that could delay or add new regulations to the permitting process for natural gas pipelines. Earlier this year, for instance, Barrasso warned that FERC's proposed changes to the gas pipeline certification review process would delay pending projects, and he threatened to use the Congressional Review Act to turn back new FERC policies. Committee Chairman Joe Manchin, Democrat of West Virginia, later joined his Republican colleagues in condemning FERC's treatment of gas projects. But during the July 19 hearing, he conceded that FERC was the right venue for shaping the rules of a nascent hydrogen economy… “Congress could place hydrogen pipeline regulations under the Interstate Commerce Act, which would fall under the authority of either the Service Transportation Board or FERC. Or Congress could enact an entirely new regulatory statute for hydrogen. Of these options, it's Powers' opinion that the Interstate Commerce Act is best suited for hydrogen pipeline regulation and that FERC is the best body to oversee its enforcement… “One of Republicans' top priorities in creating a set of hydrogen pipeline regulations is to ensure that it would give FERC no opportunities to burden natural gas companies with more regulation, like requiring developers to upgrade existing pipelines to accept higher blends of hydrogen. "Any effort to encourage the use of hydrogen as a fuel source must not provide another tool for those who seek to keep natural gas in the ground," Barrasso told S&P. And "any effort to encourage the use of hydrogen as a fuel source should support rather than undermine our existing natural gas pipeline network." Chad Zamarin, senior vice president for Williams Companies, told W&P permitting processes have lengthened project construction times to four or five years for a pipeline that would take just one year to build. And regulatory burdens have skyrocketed pipeline costs from $1 million per mile to $8 million to $20 million per mile.”
E&E News: Gas industry drags FERC into tussle over pipeline scheme
Miranda Willson, 7/20/22
“Pipeline companies pushed back this week against claims that they are artificially inflating the price of natural gas, urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to allow them to continue a sales practice of bundling gas capacity from nonadjacent sections of pipe,” E&E News reports. “The comments from the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) and multiple pipeline companies are the latest in an ongoing tussle between key segments of the natural gas industry. They come in response to a recent petition from gas utilities, producers, shippers and others accusing the pipeline industry of anticompetitive behavior and asking FERC to step in to address it. To obtain natural gas, gas utilities and other shippers that consume or process the fuel sometimes participate in “open seasons” held by pipelines, in which parties submit bids for capacity on a section of pipe. In recent years, pipelines have increasingly begun to bundle multiple noncontiguous capacity offers into a single bid, forcing shippers to purchase gas that they cannot use, according to the original petition. But in their comments to FERC, pipeline companies argued that the practice enables them to offer lower rates, which ultimately get passed onto residential customers and industrial consumers of gas. They also reminded FERC that it has repeatedly affirmed the use of noncontiguous capacity offers and dismissed past complaints about them… “Although FERC has approved proposals from individual pipeline companies that include noncontiguous capacity offers, Hollers told E&E the commission should consider the practice more broadly now that it has become commonplace and is affecting a wide range of shippers.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Press release: President Biden’s Executive Actions on Climate to Address Extreme Heat and Boost Offshore Wind
7/20/22
“Today, President Biden will reiterate that climate change is a clear and present danger to the United States. Since Congress is not acting on this emergency, President Biden will. In the coming weeks, President Biden will announce additional executive actions to combat this emergency. Today, President Biden is announcing his latest set of executive actions to turn the climate crisis into an opportunity, by creating good-paying jobs in clean energy and lowering costs for families. His actions will protect communities from climate impacts already here, including extreme heat conditions impacting more than 100 million Americans this week, and expand offshore wind opportunities and jobs in the United States. President Biden’s new executive actions will: Protect Communities from Extreme Heat and Dangerous Climate Impacts; Lower Cooling Costs for Communities Suffering from Extreme Heat; and Expand Offshore Wind Opportunities and Jobs.”
New York Times: Trying to Salvage His Climate Agenda, Biden Weighs Remaining Options
Lisa Friedman, Coral Davenport and Elena Shao, 7/19/22
“President Biden will travel Wednesday to a shuttered coal-fired power plant that is now part of an offshore wind project in Massachusetts, where he is expected to deliver remarks on clean energy as his administration scrambles to salvage its climate agenda,” the New York Times reports. “Mr. Biden will not declare a national climate emergency, the White House confirmed, disappointing Democratic lawmakers and activists who had called on Mr. Biden to take the step, which would have given him the ability to halt new federal oil drilling and ramp up wind, solar and other clean energy projects. The president is under great pressure to take decisive action. His administration has spent the past year and a half trying to pass robust climate change legislation, only to see it collapse last week because it failed to win support from Senator Joe Manchin III, the swing Democratic vote in the evenly divided Senate. That setback followed a Supreme Court decision in June that sharply limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants… “Mr. Biden has been smarting from accusations from some Democrats that his response to the Supreme Court’s recent abortion ruling was slow and tepid, and has been eager to make an aggressive announcement, the two officials told the Times, who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to discuss internal deliberations… “He and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, told the Times Mr. Biden should invoke a national climate emergency as well as a suite of other moves like regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, formally establishing a dollar estimate of the climate damages caused by fossil fuel projects, and imposing a tax on imports from nations that lack aggressive climate policies… “Climate advocates told the Times Mr. Biden needed to show that he could take aggressive steps to stem rising emissions. “There’s really been a total lack of leadership in this country on climate,” Jean Su, senior attorney and director of the Energy Justice Program at the Center for Biological Diversity, told the Times. “It’s time to get serious. This is the clarion call that we need from this country’s leadership.”
E&E News: High court hurdles shape debate over climate emergency
Lesley Clark, Robin Bravender, 7/22/22
“As the White House considers whether to declare a climate emergency, Biden administration attorneys are likely weighing the legal peril that could accompany the move,” E&E News reports. “...Activists have prodded Biden to go even further by declaring a formal climate emergency and unleashing greater executive powers… “But one big question looms: How would the Supreme Court’s newly empowered conservative majority treat a climate emergency declaration?... “Courts have historically given presidents leeway when it comes to declaring national emergencies, legal observers say. But the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling last month in West Virginia v. EPA, which curbed the federal government’s authority to regulate carbon pollution from power plants, is seen as a signal that a proclamation of a climate emergency would face skepticism from the court’s newly bolstered conservative wing… “Action that the president could take under an emergency declaration, such as reimposing a crude oil export ban, would likely be challenged. And Kathleen Sgamma — president of the Western Energy Alliance in Denver, which already has a lawsuit pending against the Biden administration over its leasing ban — told E&E earlier this week that a climate declaration that sought to trim back federal oil and gas would run into the same legal hurdles. David Bookbinder, chief counsel at the Niskanen Center, told E&E he suspects that the Supreme Court, which doesn’t take every case that comes its way, would welcome the chance to consider a challenge to a Biden climate emergency declaration. “The Supreme Court will unquestionably take it.” “...The fact that the Biden administration is publicly considering a climate declaration has energy and environmental lawyers studying up on the National Emergencies Act, which governs the president’s ability to exercise special powers during a crisis.”
E&E News: Dems to Army Corps: Nix streamlined oil, gas permits
HANNAH NORTHEY, 7/21/22
“Senate Democrats are calling on the Army Corps of Engineers to halt expedited permits for oil and gas pipelines,” E&E News reports. “The lawmakers today asked the corps to scrap its so-called Nationwide Permit 12 program for projects that critics say contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and worsening climate change. Sens. Jeff Merkley of Oregon; Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island; Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey of Massachusetts; Cory Booker of New Jersey; and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, said oil and gas pipeline developers are using the program to sidestep independent, site-specific reviews under the Clean Water Act. “For over a decade, oil and gas companies have exploited the NWP program to fast-track oil and gas infrastructure projects that are clearly contrary to public interest and have adverse effects on the environment,” the senators wrote in their letter to Assistant Secretary Michael Connor. “Every additional project worsens the wildfires, flooding, extreme heat, drought, hurricanes and other climate impacts that Americans are already facing," they added… “Nationwide Permit 12 has emerged as a flashpoint on Capitol Hill, where Republicans have accused the corps of making a “purely political” move in announcing its intentions to review the program. Essentially, Nationwide Permit 12 speeds up wetland permitting for projects deemed to have minimal environmental impact and relieves developers from having to obtain numerous individual Clean Water Act permits. Environmental groups have argued the program masks the overall impact of projects and has been improperly applied to oil and gas pipelines… “The senators argued NWP 12 creates a loophole for the oil and gas sector by allowing projects that only impair a half-acre of water to bypass independent review. “This means one large oil pipeline can be approved as a series of small 'single and complete' projects without undergoing an independent environmental and public interest review,” they wrote.
Forbes: Members Of Congress Push Back On EPA’s Threat To The Permian Basin
David Blackmon, 7/15/22
“Fourteen members of the Texas and New Mexico congressional delegations pushed back Thursday on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) intention to declare the Permian Basin to be in a state of non-attainment related to ozone regulations,” Forbes reports. “In a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan, the 12 House members and both Texas senators - John Cornyn and Ted Cruz - express their concern that “EPA is attempting to indirectly regulate the production of oil and gas on private lands using backdoor rulemaking.” In addition to the two senators, signatories to the letter include Texas House members August Pfluger, Jody Arrington, Kevin Brady, Roger Williams, Tony Gonzales, Ronny Jackson, Louis Gohmert, Jake Ellzey, Randy Weber, Chip Roy and Brian Babin. Also signing onto the letter is New Mexico Congresswoman Yvette Herrell, whose 2nd congressional district encompasses the Southeastern New Mexico extent of the Permian Basin. All of the signatories to the letter are Republicans… “In an email, Congressman Pfluger, whose 11th congressional district includes the Midland/Odessa area in the central part of the Permian, expressed similar concerns, adding that he believes the agency is acting in response to a threatened lawsuit by an environmentalist group. “President Biden's policies are transforming the EPA into a club to bludgeon the fossil fuel industry,” Pfluger told Forbes. “He made a promise to ‘end fossil fuels’ on the campaign trail, and it seems he is dead serious about following through with it despite the tragic impacts of crippling American energy. “It is no coincidence that this discretionary and unfounded proposal comes after an environmental group, WildEarth Guardians, petitioned EPA for the re-designation in March 2021. Roughly six months later, the organization warned the agency it intended to sue to force action.”
Bloomberg: Oil Trumps Renewable Power in Public Land Leasing, Report Shows
Jennifer A Dlouhy, 7/19/22
“Despite President Joe Biden’s campaign vow to propel a “clean energy revolution,” the federal government continues to prioritize oil development over renewable projects on US public lands, a new report finds,” Bloomberg reports. The analysis by the left-leaning Center for American Progress shows that, in western states, significantly more public land is available for oil and gas leasing than for renewables development. That’s true even in areas that are better suited for solar, wind and geothermal projects than for drilling — a default position that gives fossil-fuel development a leg up over cleaner energy sources, Jenny Rowland-Shea, deputy director of the center’s public lands program, told Bloomberg. “Pretty much everything is available for oil and gas leasing — and it’s not that way for renewables,” Rowland-Shea, one of two report authors, told Bloomberg. More than 77% of renewable energy areas in the west are on lands with low oil and gas potential, though they remain open for oil and gas leasing, the analysis found. The contrast is particularly notable for public lands deemed highly favorable for geothermal energy — 83% of that territory has little oil but is nevertheless available for drilling. The analysis underscores the tension in managing energy development on public lands that make up about a tenth of the US — particularly amid climate goals that will require vast more territory to play host to solar arrays and wind turbines.”
Washington Post: Carbon removal is moving full steam ahead. So is climate change.
Vanessa Montalbano, 7/21/22
“On Wednesday, the Department of Energy hosted the Carbon Negative Shot Summit, where the agency explored low-cost, clean and innovative ways to store huge amounts of carbon as the nation tries to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050,” the Washington Post reports. “Energy has roughly $6 billion to use from the bipartisan infrastructure law to invest in carbon removal technology. But with the clock ticking on global warming, there's a lot of research and development the agency must do before it can bring the newborn industry to scale in an equitable way. Officials attending the summit — which included Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Jigar Shah, the director of the Loan Programs Office at Energy, and Ko Barrett, the senior adviser for climate at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association — said that such efforts would require collaboration between the federal and state governments as well as with environmental justice community members, international partners and the private sector. “Carbon dioxide removal is key to restoring our climate,” Granholm said during her opening remarks. “So these extreme weather events don't just keep getting worse and so our communities can be safer and healthier.” “...And although some environmentalists have criticized carbon capture as being ineffective, the most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change made clear that simply reaching net-zero emissions would not be enough to avert the catastrophic warming that the planet is hurtling toward. Instead, the authors wrote that carbon removal technology is crucial for pulling legacy pollution out of the air and reversing some of the effects of climate change… “But as it stands, there is no market price on carbon. “The fact that it’s free to pollute makes it very hard to award innovations that reduce that pollution,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) told The Climate 202, arguing that without a proper price, companies would not be incentivized to capture the carbon unless they are paid for it — or the federal government sets out to regulate emissions. Whitehouse explained that one route could be an expansion of 45Q, or a tax credit originally under the 2008 Energy Improvement and Extension Act that provides a subsidy for capturing carbon and storing it underground.”
Bureau of Land Management: BLM SEEKS PUBLIC COMMENTS FOR PREPARATION OF PLAN TO CONSERVE BIG GAME HABITAT AND CORRIDORS
7/18/22
“The Bureau of Land Management Colorado State Office is considering an amendment to oil and gas program decisions in existing BLM Colorado resource management plans to promote the conservation of big game corridors and other important big game habitats on BLM-administered land and minerals in Colorado and is seeking public input on its preparation of a statewide Resource Management Plan Amendment with an associated environmental impact statement… “The effort is being initiated to evaluate alternative management approaches for BLM’s planning decisions to maintain, conserve, and protect big game corridors and other important big game habitat areas; to ensure that BLM fulfills its responsibilities under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act; to consider current big game population and habitat data; and to maximize management consistency with plans or policies and programs of other Federal agencies, state and local governments, and Tribes where appropriate. Tomorrow’s publication of a notice of intent in the Federal Register initiates a 45-day public scoping period. The public may submit comments regarding the scope of the analysis, relevant issues, potential alternatives, and identification of relevant information via the BLM ePlanning website https://go.usa.gov/xzXxY.”
STATE UPDATES
E&E News: First of its kind' CCS project opens in N.D.
CARLOS ANCHONDO, 7/19/22
“A North Dakota project is the first in the United States to trap and store carbon dioxide emissions under state-led regulatory authority for carbon storage, the development’s investors said yesterday,” E&E News reports. “Red Trail Energy LLC, which operates an ethanol production facility in western North Dakota, announced that the country’s “first carbon capture and storage project allowed under state primacy” started operating last month… “According to EPA, requirements around Class VI wells are designed to protect underground sources of drinking water. States seeking primacy over the CO2 injection wells need to show that their regulations are at least as stringent as EPA's, according to a post last year from the law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, which focuses on sectors like energy, real estate and construction, among others… “Jennifer Wilcox, a senior Energy Department official, told E&E earlier this year that if more states gained primacy over the wells, that could lead to more carbon capture demonstration projects getting off the ground. Organizations such as the Clean Air Task Force, an environmental group that supports CCS, have said that giving more states primacy could help as the number of projects seeking to store CO2 through geologic sequestration increases. Rich Powell, CEO of the conservative clean energy group ClearPath, told the Times in an emailed statement that the federal permitting process for Class VI wells "currently takes years to complete under the EPA." “States like North Dakota with primacy, or enforcement authority, over the process are able to approve and construct Class VI wells years faster,” Powell told the Times.
Ethanol Producer: Red Trail Energy begins carbon capture and storage
7/18/22
“The first carbon capture and storage project allowed under state primacy in the U.S. has commenced operations. Red Trail Energy LLC announces it officially began carbon capture and storage (CCS) at its ethanol facility located near Richardton, North Dakota, on June 16,” Ethanol Producer reports. “...Already considered a low-carbon fuel, ethanol produced at RTE now has a lower carbon footprint than conventional ethanol sources thanks to carbon capture. This allows RTE to not only be better stewards to the environment but also places more value on the ethanol in the clean fuel market… “With CCS, RTE is capturing 100 percent of their CO2 emissions from the fermentation process and is injecting approximately 500 metric tons of CO2 per day. The CO2 is permanently stored underground more than a mile below the surface in the Broom Creek formation. In October 2021, less than five months after receiving the RTE application, the North Dakota Industrial Commission approved the Class VI injection well and the reservoir pore space RTE needed to operate the facility. Part of the approval process required RTE to demonstrate the Broom Creek formation contained the characteristics needed for proper CO2 storage. These characteristics include a deep porous layer to absorb the CO2 but also contain impermeable rock layers above and below the Broom Creek formation that keeps the CO2 from escaping into the atmosphere or ground water. RTE is utilizing state-of-the-art monitoring technology from the Japan Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE) for real time CO2 plume monitoring.”
Nexus Media: Methane Is Leaking Over Native Grounds. Citizen Scientists Are Fighting Back.
AUDREY CARLETON, BRIANA FLIN, 7/13/22
“From behind her FLIR GF320 infrared camera, Kendra Pinto sees plumes of purple smoke otherwise invisible to the naked eye. They’re full of methane and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and they’re wafting out of an oil tank in New Mexico’s San Juan Basin,” Nexus Media reports. “Pinto, a member of the Diné (Navajo) community and field advocate with environmental group Earthworks, relies on this device in her fight to keep her community’s air clean. She lives in the Eastern Agency of the Navajo Nation, home to booming oil and gas production. “When I walk outside, I can’t just think about fresh air. I’m thinking about the VOCs. I’m thinking about the methane that I’m breathing in, because I know what’s out there,” Pinto told Nexus. “I see it all the time.” She’s one of countless citizen scientists across the country who are tracking and reporting environmental harms committed by the oil and gas industry to regulators. And here there are many: The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) estimates that each year, New Mexico’s oil and gas companies emit more than 1.1 million metric tons of methane, a greenhouse gas around 86 times more potent in its warming potential than carbon dioxide over a twenty year period. Much of this comes from wasted natural gas -– $271 million of it in this state alone, according to the EDF. It leaks out of faulty equipment and is intentionally expelled through the processes of venting and flaring, in which excess, unrefined natural gas is released or burned from oil wells and refineries to eliminate waste or reduce pressure buildups. This is bad for the planet—high volumes of methane released into the atmosphere accelerate the pace of the climate crisis. It’s also bad for the people who live around it who are exposed to the pollutants that typically come along with methane emissions, like benzene, a carcinogen, and PM2.5 and PM10 — particulate matter small enough to get lodged deep in the lungs. Pinto said her neighbors experience disproportionately high rates of headaches, nosebleeds, allergies and respiratory issues, like sinus and throat discomfort. “I think the scariest thing about methane is it’s odorless,” Pinto told Nexus. “It’s a silent killer. And if my neighbors are breathing it in, that’s worrisome.”
Civil Eats: From Farmland to Frac Sand
LISA HELD, 7/19/22
“One Monday in June, excavators were tearing into a field in Wedron, Illinois where the nubs of last season’s dried corn stalks were still sticking out of the ground. Behind where the crew worked, strips of earth had been carved out like steps on a wide staircase descending to the bottom of a deep pit. On the far side, fine sand the color of snow was piled in front of soaring, solid walls of sandstone,” Civil Eats reports. “Picture standing on a ledge looking down into the biggest rock quarry you’ve ever seen. Then, enlarge that image 100 times, whitewash it, and add turquoise blue pools of wastewater. This is silica mining. Fracking, a process used to extract natural gas and petroleum, depends on silica sand, or “frac sand” to produce the fossil fuels. A single fracking site can use millions of pounds of sand. The sand is blasted into wells to keep fissures in the rock open so that oil and gas can be released. In the Midwest, farmland is being irreversibly lost in pursuit of silica sand… “Together, the companies have purchased hundreds of parcels of land and now own more than 9,000 acres in LaSalle, a Civil Eats investigation has found. The majority of those acres are former or current farmland. Silica mining is also prevalent in other parts of Illinois and regions of Wisconsin and Missouri. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), LaSalle County’s farmland acreage dropped 5 percent from 2012 to 2017, to 573,000 acres. But many of the acres still identified as farmland are owned by mining companies and leased to farmers. Across the street from the mining activity in Wedron, for example, Covia owns 600 acres, where tiny corn plants were just starting to green up in neat rows. In 2018, the county approved the company’s application to expand into those farm fields, despite the fact that LaSalle County Soil and Water Conservation District discouraged the decision based on a site assessment score that identified the land as “highly productive.” Digging could start at any time… “You’re taking this short-term demand for sand, and you’re totally sacrificing the long-term agricultural potential,” Ted Auch, the Great Lakes program coordinator for the FracTracker Alliance, who has been following the issue for years, told Civil Eats.
Reuters: Oil output in Permian to rise in August to highest on record -EIA
Stephanie Kelly and Scott Disavino, 7/18/22
“Oil output in the Permian in Texas and New Mexico, the biggest U.S. shale oil basin, is due to rise 78,000 barrels per day (bpd) to a record 5.445 million bpd in August, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its productivity report on Monday,” Reuters reports. “Total output in the major U.S. shale oil basins will rise 136,000 bpd to 9.068 million bpd in August, the highest since March 2020, EIA projected. In the Bakken in North Dakota and Montana, EIA projected oil output will rise 19,000 bpd to 1.192 million bpd in August, the most since December 2020. In the Eagle Ford in South Texas, output will rise 25,000 bpd to 1.205 million bpd in August, the highest since April 2020. Total natural gas output in the big shale basins will increase 0.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) to a record 93.0 bcfd in August, EIA forecast. In the biggest shale gas basin, EIA said, output in Appalachia in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia will rise to 35.3 bcfd in August, the highest since hitting a record 36.0 bcfd in December 2021… “EIA said producers drilled 938 wells, the most since March 2020, and completed 964, the most since October 2021, in the biggest shale basins in June. That left total drilled but uncompleted (DUC) wells down 26 to 4,245, the lowest since at least December 2013, according to EIA data going back that far. The number of DUCs available has fallen for 24 consecutive months.”
Lincoln Journal-Star: Lincoln clean energy company gets largest-ever investment
Matt Olberding, 7/18/22
“Monolith, the Lincoln-based clean energy company, announced this week that it received what is likely the largest single investment in Nebraska history,” the Lincoln Journal-Star reports. “The company, which has a plant near Hallam that produces carbon black, a powdery substance that's used in tires, inks, plastics and other products, said it recently received more than $300 million from a host of big-name investors. The round of investment was led by TPG Rise Climate, the dedicated climate investing strategy of TPG’s global impact investing platform TPG Rise, and Decarbonization Partners, a partnership between BlackRock and Temasek. Additional investment was also received from NextEra Energy Resources, SK, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America and Azimuth Capital Management. Some of the same companies participated in a $120 million investment round for Monolith last year… “The company is in the process of building a second carbon black plant that will increase its production capacity to nearly 200,000 tons of carbon black per year, as well as an anhydrous ammonia plant that will use the hydrogen produced in the carbon black manufacturing process and combine it with nitrogen to produce the liquid fertilizer that farmers use. That plant will have a capacity of about 275,000 metric tons annually… “Monolith has now raised more equity investment than any startup company in the history of both Lincoln and Nebraska. Ben Williamson, principal and general counsel of Invest Nebraska, told the Journal Star Monolith is attracting a lot of investment because it has a lot going for it that is attractive to investors. "Climate/decarbonization tech is very sexy right now," Williamson told the Journal Star, especially for large private equity and publicly traded firms, and it has become an even more attractive industry because of the war in Ukraine. In addition, Monolith's $1.04 billion loan from the federal government also makes it attractive because it means investors know the money they give the company can be used for expansion rather than on capital projects.”
Salt Lake Tribune: A Utah oil field spilled 400 barrels near Grand Staircase last fall — and it’s still cleaning up the crude
Brian Maffly, 7/21/22
“One morning last October, the operators of an aging oil field in the Dixie National Forest outside Escalante noticed the amount of crude coming off Citation Oil and Gas Corp.’s wells was less than expected, so they dispatched a worker to see if anything was amiss,” the Salt Lake Tribune reports. “It wasn’t hard to find the problem. The Citation worker discovered a black puddle forming on the ground above the Upper Valley oil field’s main pipeline. A mile-long stream of crude stretched from the failed pipe down a steep gully into a dry wash that feeds the Escalante River known as Pet Hollow. More than 8 months after the Oct. 29 spill, cleanup efforts continue after a string of missteps, including missed deadlines and mishandled waste, as state regulators weigh what consequences to impose on Citation, a major Houston-based petroleum producer that has owned the oil field since 1987. Even Citation’s cleanup efforts could constitute an additional environmental violation after its contractor spread oil-contaminated gravel, recovered from Pet Hollow, on nearby dirt roads, according to emails and correspondence obtained from the Utah Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) through a record request. The emails indicate staff with DEQ’s Division of Water Quality, including then-director Erica Gaddis, faulted Citation’s response to the spill at various stages… “Today, the cleanup, which was supposed to have been wrapped up by June 1, is nearing completion with a new deadline of July 31. No evidence has surfaced indicating the spill contaminated water resources, she told the Tribune.
EXTRACTION
Associated Press: Sky-high diesel prices squeeze truckers, farmers, consumers
CATHY BUSSEWITZ, 7/20/22
“When long-haul trucker Deb LaBree sets out on the road to deliver pharmaceuticals, she has strategies to hold down costs. She avoids the West Coast and the Northeast, where diesel prices are highest. She organizes her delivery route to minimize “deadheading” — driving an empty truck in between deliveries. And if a customer’s load is too far away or they can’t pay more for fuel? She turns the job down,” the Associated Press reports. “...The price of diesel fuel has skyrocketed in recent months — much more even than regular gasoline — especially after Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Moscow’s attack led numerous nations to spurn Russian fuel, removing from the market a major source of oil, the main component of diesel fuel, and driving prices drastically up. For months, motorists have felt the pain of high gasoline prices. Many may not know that they’re also absorbing the impact of much costlier diesel fuel. That’s because the goods consumers buy — from cereal and orange juice to Amazon deliveries of diapers — are delivered by trucks, trains or ships that run on diesel. Those inflated prices are then passed on from company to company until they reach consumers in the form of costlier goods. “People pay less attention to diesel prices because people aren’t going to the pump and using it,” Matt Smith, lead oil analyst at Kpler, a research firm, told AP. “But diesel has a more far-reaching impact and is already having a real big impact across the economy.” “...Even more than gasoline, high diesel prices are magnifying the costs of goods because the delivery cost has risen so much. Consumer prices soared 9.1% in June compared with 12 months earlier, the government reported last week. The fuel oil portion of the consumer price index nearly doubled from the same time last year… “UPS and FedEx have more than doubled their fuel surcharges on ground deliveries year-over-year, according to calculations by Cowen Research and AFS Logistics. Farmers also face higher costs. But they can’t easily raise prices, because they often don’t control the price of their goods. Milk and grain prices, for example, are set by the market. “It’s costing us more for freight to get things delivered to the farm, and it’s costing more to haul things away,” David Fisher, a dairy farmer in Madrid, New York, who is president of the New York Farm Bureau, which lobbies governments on behalf of farmers, told AP. “We’re planting crops and harvesting crops, and the cost of those are going to be higher, but we don’t know if we can recoup those costs.” To burn less fuel, he’s considered skipping a tillage pass, a maneuver whereby a tractor manipulates soil to enhance crop growth. But doing so would risk having fewer crops to harvest. A year ago, Fisher was spending $8,000 a week on fuel. This year, he said, the figure reached around $20,000.
E&E News: Oil and gas wells converge in marginalized communities
Mike Lee, 7/18/22
“Oil and gas drilling is concentrated into "clusters" that overlap with large numbers of historically marginalized people, according to new research from the Environmental Defense Fund,” E&E News reports. “The EDF paper, published in the journal Population and Environment, builds on a growing body of research showing how the oil industry disproportionately affects poor and marginalized people. But rather than look at how drilling affects a single group, researchers focused on places with overlapping vulnerable populations, such as elderly people, communities of color and people living below the poverty line. The paper identifies 41 "clusters" where an active well is within 1 mile of multiple marginalized communities. Those distinct places in the oil patch include high-producing oil and gas fields like the Permian Basin and Marcellus Shale. Researchers say the paper's findings are important, as it means the health problems linked to drilling and fracking — such as respiratory illnesses and low birth weights — tend to fall on groups of people without political or economic power.”
High Country News: How oil companies endlessly avoid cleanup costs
Nick Bowlin, 7/19/22
“Jackson County, Colorado, is not known for oil and gas production. This sparsely populated northern county — population 1,363 — is far from the state’s oilfields on the Eastern Plains, which tap into the huge Denver-Julesburg Basin,” High Country News reports. “But there is some energy development here, including 110 wells on federal public land. K.P. Kauffman, an oil and gas operator with a history of environmental violations, acquired the wells in 2018 from another Colorado company. It was a minor transaction, the sort that happens all the time. One company wants to get older, low-producing wells off its books; another sees in the wells some remaining profit. According to industry experts, however, transactions like this reveal, in miniature, the billions of dollars of accumulated liability created by more than a century of oil and gas extraction in the country. These wells would cost at least $9.6 million for the new owners to clean up, according to Colorado’s average well-plugging costs; other estimates put the amount even higher. “At no point in the process were companies asked to set aside the true cost for cleaning up these wells,” Clark Williams-Derry, a finance analyst with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, told HCN.”
Guardian: Revealed: oil sector’s ‘staggering’ $3bn-a-day profits for last 50 years
Damian Carrington, 7/21/22
“The oil and gas industry has delivered $2.8bn (£2.3bn) a day in pure profit for the last 50 years, a new analysis has revealed,” the Guardian reports. “The vast total captured by petrostates and fossil fuel companies since 1970 is $52tn, providing the power to “buy every politician, every system” and delay action on the climate crisis, Prof Aviel Verbruggen, the author of the analysis, told the Guardian. The huge profits were inflated by cartels of countries artificially restricting supply. The analysis, based on World Bank data, assesses the “rent” secured by global oil and gas sales, which is the economic term for the unearned profit produced after the total cost of production has been deducted. The study has yet to be published in an academic journal but three experts at University College London, the London School of Economics and the thinktank Carbon Tracker confirmed the analysis as accurate, with one calling the total a “staggering number”. It appears to be the first long-term assessment of the sector’s total profits, with oil rents providing 86% of the total… “I was really surprised by such high numbers – they are enormous,” Verbruggen, an energy and environmental economist at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, and a former lead author of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, told the Guardian. “It’s a huge amount of money. You can buy every politician, every system with all this money, and I think this happened. It protects [producers] from political interference that may limit their activities.” The rents captured by exploiting the natural resources are unearned, Verbruggen told the Guardian: “It’s real, pure profit. They captured 1% of all the wealth in the world without doing anything for it.” The average annual profit from 1970-2020 was $1tn but he said he expected this to be twice as high in 2022. The profit-grabbing is holding back the world’s action on the climate emergency, he told the Guardian: “It’s really stripping money from the alternatives. In every country, people have so much difficulty just to pay the gas and electricity bills and oil [petrol] bill, that we don’t have money left over to invest in renewables.”
Reuters: ConocoPhillips eyes U.S. Gulf of Mexico exit -sources
David French, 7/20/22
“ConocoPhillips (COP.N) is exploring a sale of its stake in the Ursa platform and Princess subsea well in the Gulf of Mexico, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in what would mark its exit from deepwater energy production off the U.S. Gulf coast,” Reuters reports. “The oil producer has been offloading assets as it shifts to become a major operator in the Permian basin, the heart of the shale industry in the United States. It has targeted between $4 billion and $5 billion in divestments by the end of 2023. Conoco has retained a financial adviser to sell its 15.9% holding in the Ursa/Princess development, which is likely to be valued in the high hundreds of millions of dollars, according to two sources… “The Houston-based firm has become a major producer in the Permian, aided by a $23 billion spending spree over the last two years during which it bought Shell's (SHEL.L) assets in the region and rival Concho Resources.”
Reuters: Shell places US Gulf of Mexico assets up for sale
7/20/22
“Shell is exploring a sale of its stakes in two US Gulf of Mexico oil and gas developments which could raise as much as $1.5 billion for the energy major, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday,” Reuters reports. “Potential divestments of some aging assets would allow the company to focus on newer and larger fields around the world, including its giant Whale development in the Gulf which is expected to start production in 2024, the sources told Reuters. Shareholders and regulators also have been pressuring Shell to pare back oil and gas operations and shift toward cleaner forms of energy. Shell has begun soliciting buyer interest for its Auger hub and its 37.5 percent stake in the Conger field, which is operated by Hess Corp, having hired an investment bank to run an auction process which kicked off in recent weeks, said three sources. The London-based company is targeting a valuation of around $1.5 billion from the sale of the fields, which have a combined output of around 50,000 barrels per day, two of the sources told Reuters.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
Louisiana Illuminator: As peak hurricane season looms, banks bolster cozy relationship with fossil fuel industry
Roishetta Ozane, 7/12/22
“Over the past several decades, the oil and gas industry promised to bring economic prosperity to the Gulf Coast. Instead, it brought financial instability and increasing climate disasters, and forced local communities to pay the price,” the Louisiana Illuminator reports. “As a result of the fossil fuel industry’s pollution, people living in the Gulf Coast face a growing number of climate-driven natural disasters like hurricanes and flooding. As the peak of yet another hurricane season looms, it prompts us to once again ask the questions: Is the oil and gas industry set up to handle the increasing rate and severity of these events? And why do fossil fuel giants and their friends on Wall Street continue to pour money into fracked gas? The fossil fuel industry’s role in climate change and its destructive presence in local communities is common knowledge for residents in the Gulf. But little is known about the other actors quietly bankrolling the fossil fuel industry, without ever being taken to task for their role—the banks that keep the cash flowing to the oil and gas companies making the most devastating impact in the Gulf. But the tide is turning, with activists and investors beginning to pressure big U.S. banks to address their role in the climate crisis. The six largest U.S. banks – JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs – are some of the biggest fossil fuel financiers in the world, pouring $44 billion into the top fracked gas (also called liquefied natural gas or LNG) import and export companies in the last 6 years alone. The worst among them, Morgan Stanley, is the world’s largest banker of LNG companies. That includes here in Louisiana, where the bank helped finance the proposed Plaquemines LNG facility, which, if built, would become one of the largest fracked gas export terminals in the U.S.”
Roll Call: Investors rally behind climate, diversity proposals as proxy season ebbs
Ellen Meyers, 7/21/22
“Activist shareholders achieved a higher rate of success on public policy resolutions during this year’s proxy season, driven by changes from the Securities and Exchange Commission and investor pressure on companies to tackle environmental, social and governance issues,” Roll Call reports. “Environmental and social resolutions edged out governance for the first time as categories with the most majority-supported proposals, according to Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. Resolutions focused on climate change and diversity made up 45 percent of proposals that received majority support, a group of nine attorneys from Gibson Dunn’s securities regulation and corporate governance practice said in a July 11 client note. Meanwhile, governance made up 38 percent of proposals with majority support. The attention on ESG stewardship is unlikely to slow as investors expand the range of issues they want to engage on, despite vocal opposition from Republicans. “The 2022 proxy season marked the first time that two notable social proposals received majority support,” the lawyers said. “First, after none of the equity civil rights/racial equity audit proposals voted on received majority support in 2021, eight such proposals have received majority support in 2022" at companies including Apple Inc., The Home Depot Inc. and McDonald’s Corp. “Second, after failing to receive majority support in prior seasons despite focused campaigns by a number of shareholders, two proposals requesting a report on gender/racial pay gap received majority support in 2022” at The Walt Disney Co. and Lowe's Companies Inc… “In total, investors have voted on 282 ESG resolutions at annual meetings so far this year, up nearly 60 percent from the same period in 2021, according to findings released last week by As You Sow, the Sustainable Investments Institute and Proxy Impact. Shareholders have cast majority votes favoring 34 ESG resolutions. Besides diversity proposals, shareholder resolutions focused on climate change and the environment made up the bulk of successful proxy votes.”
OPINION
Salt Lake Tribune: Ted Williams: The ‘Keystone Pipeline’ won’t make gas any cheaper
Ted Williams is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring conversation about the West, 7/19/22
“Ever since boycotts started blocking Russian petroleum products, social media has been rife with memes that blame rising gasoline prices on “the cancellation of the Keystone Pipeline,” Ted Williams writes for the Salt Lake Tribune. “Example: “Sooo, if shutting down Russia’s pipeline(s) will hurt their economy, wouldn’t shutting down ours hurt our economy? Asking for a buddy.” Most of the criticism comes from people who recycle truthiness. Former Vice President Mike Pence: “Gas prices have risen across the country because of this administration’s war on energy — shutting down the Keystone Pipeline.” Republican Rep. Jim Jordan: “Biden shut off the Keystone Pipeline.” Here’s what really happened: No one shut down, canceled, or shut off the Keystone Pipeline. It is fully operational, daily delivering 590,000 barrels of tar-sands oil in Canada to U.S. refineries. What some pipeline advocates think is the “Keystone Pipeline” is a 1,700-mile “shortcut” called Keystone XL, or KXL. It would have sliced through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma to the Texas Gulf Coast, delivering 830,000 barrels of tar sands oil per day. Many residents of those states fought fiercely against the pipeline cutting through their land. Now, “Build the Keystone Pipeline” has become a social-media mantra, as if the United States could so decree. It is the Canadian firm, TC Energy, formerly TransCanada, that officially terminated the project once President Joe Biden withdrew its permits. Even if construction on the pipeline began tomorrow, KXL could not be up and running in less than five years. The KXL pipeline was a project developed by a foreign company that would have delivered foreign oil products to mostly foreign markets… “What’s more, the project was just about dead for a number of reasons, including litigation from aggrieved property owners whose land TC Energy seized by eminent domain. In 2011 a pipeline representative named Shawn Howard assured me that ramming a dilbit pipe through the Ogallala aquifer would be risk free. “Why,” he demanded, “would we invest $13 billion in a pipeline and put a product in it that was going to destroy it like these activists are trotting out? It makes absolutely no business sense.” The existing Keystone pipeline has ruptured 22 times, including spills in 2017 and 2019 that fouled land and water with 404,000 gallons of dilbit. Business sense, as the oil industry consistently reminds us, is an attribute more often desired than possessed.”
Common Dreams: FERC: It's Time to End the Mountain Valley Pipeline
Caroline Hansley is a Senior Campaign Representative for Sierra Club and is based in North Carolina., Gillian Giannetti is a Senior Attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council and is based in Washington, DC, 7/20/22
“The permit that greenlit the Mountain Valley Pipeline is about to expire. This means Mountain Valley is again seeking an extension from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC),” Caroline Hansley and Gillian Giannetti write for Common Dreams. “...FERC should not give Mountain Valley any more bites at the apple. Prolonging this boondoggle would be unlawful because the Mountain Valley Pipeline is not needed and its construction would lead to significant environmental impacts that have been repeatedly ignored by FERC. Now is the time to get it right—to stop the behind schedule, billions-over-budget, and boondoggle of a project that is known as the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Ever since Mountain Valley was announced in 2014, numerous studies have shown that the project is unneeded. Even since FERC authorized Mountain Valley in 2017, projected gas demand in the region has declined. The project's poor commercial prospects have made it unattractive to potential shippers, so much so that NextEra, one of the project's biggest backers, announced in February that it is reevaluating its investment in the pipeline after a federal court rejected two necessary approvals earlier this year. They also admitted to its investors there is a "a very low probability of pipeline completion." “...FERC must not fail to meet this moment. The Commission has a real opportunity here to make a decision that follows the law and advances common-sense climate objectives. Now is the time to get it right—to stop the behind schedule, billions-over-budget, and boondoggle of a project that is known as the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
Bleeding Heartland: Another kind of inflation: economic benefits of CO2 pipelines
Silvia Secchi is a professor in the Department of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences at the University of Iowa. She has a PhD in economics from Iowa State University, 7/15/22
“There is a long tradition of industry proponents overselling the economic benefits of pipelines by paying for economic impact studies,” Silvia Secchi writes for Bleeding Heartland. “Two kinds of goals drive this practice. The first is to increase the social acceptability of the pipelines, which often require formal environmental assessments because of their long and short-term environmental effects. Local landowners and environmental groups often oppose the projects, concerned about impacts on existing infrastructure like tile drainage, and on water and land resources. Second, if the pipelines are in line for subsidies, such studies help create the impression that the subsidies are justified. The inflated economics reports go back to the Trans-Alaskan pipeline in the 1950s and early 1970s, and the more recent infamous examples of the Keystone XL and the Dakota Access pipeline. The tricks in the consultants’ playbook have largely remained the same. First of all, the report states that “EY conducted the analysis presented in this report based on data provided by Summit. Summit provided EY with construction-related costs, hiring and salary data during Project construction and pipeline operation." In other words, the foundational information for the report has not been independently vetted, and was produced by the very entity that would benefit from inflated economic impact results. This is a time-honored tradition. Professor John Crompton from Texas A &M writes (unfortunately, this great article is paywalled): By hiring consulting firms with nationally respected names, sponsors also are buying the aura of respect and integrity that accompanies the consultant’s name, anticipating that this will enhance the credibility and public and political acceptance of the results and quell any questioning of the procedures used. How might such consultants retain and protect their reputations when they use inappropriate procedures to give clients the large-dollar impact number that sponsors usually are seeking? Two strategies are used widely. First, extensive qualifiers are likely to be inserted into the report.”
Lincoln Journal Star: Local View: CO2 pipeline safety proven
Seth Harder is the general manager of Husker Ag, an ethanol manufacturing facility in Plainview that buys corn from hundreds of farm families in northeast Nebraska, 7/20/22
“The ethanol industry is vital to Nebraska,” Seth Harder writes for the Lincoln Journal Star. “Ethanol producers contribute approximately $5 billion to Nebraska’s gross domestic product every year, support 1,300 jobs across the state and purchase more than 40% of all the corn grown by Nebraska farmers. However, some groups, such as the Sierra Club and Food and Water Watch, have advocated for the elimination of the ethanol industry. For example, in a recent regulatory filing, the Sierra Club noted that, “Sierra Club believes that the use of ethanol serves to extend our reliance on fossil fuels, thus contributing to climate change.” Food and Water Watch argued in its own regulatory filing that the ethanol industry causes “tremendous harms to biodiversity due to intensive monocultural (corn only) production.” That’s the wrong approach for Nebraska. If these groups are successful in enacting this vision, it would be devastating to our farmers who count on a vibrant ethanol industry to maintain strong commodity prices and land values. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects will help reduce the carbon intensity score of ethanol, which will allow producers to access the growing number of states and countries that pay a premium for low carbon fuels. This is an enormous economic opportunity and, from my perspective, represents the future for ethanol and the best way we can keep the industry competitive in the years to come. There are broader economic benefits to these projects as well. Husker Ag is participating in the Summit Carbon Solutions project, which will deliver a nearly $550 million investment in Nebraska alone. Of that total investment, $250 million is going to labor, and those dollars will flow to local businesses to spur economic growth across the state. Importantly, the project will help generate an average of $860,000 in new property taxes in each of the counties where it is proposed to operate to support local school districts, public safety, flood control, county road repair and maintenance, rural fire districts and more.”
The Globe: Letter: Carbon pipeline is not in best interest of rural area
Barb Pohlman, Lakefield, 7/18/22
“I am a landowner in the proposed route of Summit Carbon Solutions Midwest Carbon Express pipeline project,” Barb Pohlman writes for The Globe. “I am opposed to this project because: 1. Summit is rushing to sign landowner without having all legal documents complete. 2. I have been harassed by Summit and their agents numerous times even though I have stated that I'm not interested. I have now threatened to call the sheriff next time I get a call or a visit. 3. They are promising that these projects are going to create 17,000 temporary jobs and 400-500 new jobs. What I have seen of the license plates, none are even from Minnesota. 4. I'm concerned about the damage to our soil, drain tile, and how this will impact our land values. 5. Summit stands to make billions of dollars annually for the next two decades and they cannot do this without Minnesota landowners — and the easement prices they are offering are insulting. 6. There will be considerable decrease in crop yields and damage to tiling for many years. I do not believe this project is in the best interest for our rural area.”
Dickinson County News: Opinions: Stop eminent domain for private gain
7/19/22
“Eminent domain laws need to be changed at the state level,” according to a letter in the Dickinson County News. “With three hazardous pipelines trying to move across Iowa, we are in desperate need to strengthen the laws. Eminent domain is intended for public utilities for the common good of the community. These hazardous pipelines, Summit Carbon Solutions, Navigator Greenway and ADM, are all private companies looking to make big money off all taxpayers. They are all vying for federal tax dollars and carbon credits.”