EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 7/26/22
PIPELINE NEWS
Michigan Advance: ‘We’re still here’: Indigenous water protectors call for Enbridge to respect treaty rights
WDBJ: Extension request focuses fresh attention on Mountain Valley Pipeline
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Spire sees positive signs for STL Pipeline in recent reports
KZOO: 12 years later, Kalamazoo River oil spill remembered as one of the largest inland spills in U.S. history
The Verge: Teenagers spotted the largest gas pipeline spill in US history
Natural Gas Intelligence: Tallgrass Seeking to Convert Natural Gas Pipeline System to Transport CO2
S&P Global: TC Energy seeks 3 more months to finish Louisiana XPress gas pipeline project
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Hill staffers hold climate protest in Schumer’s office
Lever News: Biden’s Staff Sounds Climate Alarm — About Biden
E&E News: Police prep for climate protest at congressional ballgame
E&E News: Can EPA cut CO2 from gas plants in regulatory ‘new world’?
E&E News: Panel to probe BLM leasing to debarred, suspended applicants
STATE UPDATES
Los Angeles Times: California hopes to fight global warming by pumping CO2 underground. Some call it a ruse
Grist: Pennsylvania just lost a key tool to address its abandoned oil well problem
EXTRACTION
Associated Press: Oil-funded Rockefeller Foundation centers fight for climate
E&E News: Could Gas Leak Fixes Thwart Climate Goals?
E&E News: Leaks Threaten CO2 Benefits Of Clean Hydrogen, Report Says
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Energy Live News: Will Cambridge University ditch bp’s name from one of its facilities?
OPINION
Journal Times: Enbridge pipeline endangers lakes -- Phyllis Hasbrouck
Bakersfield Californian: Our View: Money to stop oil well leaks brings promise of new jobs
PIPELINE NEWS
Michigan Advance: ‘We’re still here’: Indigenous water protectors call for Enbridge to respect treaty rights
LAINA G. STEBBINS, 7/25/22
“On a cloudy May afternoon, a short walk from the turbulent Mackinac Straits waters, tribal citizens from Michigan to Siberia marched miles down the streets of Mackinaw City in protest against fossil fuel projects on tribal lands,” Michigan Advance reports. “The date was May 14, 2022: One year and a day since Canadian pipeline company Enbridge became an international trespasser in the Straits after refusing to comply with an order from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to shut down the Line 5 pipeline. Also being disregarded, tribal citizens say, are the treaty rights that local tribes have in the Straits of Mackinac. All recognized tribes in Michigan are opposed to the dual 69-year-old pipeline that runs for miles under the choppy waters. “I don’t think that Enbridge has any respect for [treaties] whatsoever. They’re sort of like locusts,” Holly T. Bird, a Traverse City-based Pueblo/Yaqui/Apache attorney and longtime Indigenous activist in Michigan, told the Advance. “They feel that whatever land they cross is disposable to them. And it doesn’t seem to matter to them.” In Michigan, there were eight main treaties signed between 1807 and 1842 that ceded Ottawa (Odawa), Chippewa (Ojibwe) and Potawatomi tribal land in modern-day Michigan to the federal government. Most relevant to Line 5 is the 1836 Treaty of Washington, as the nexus of its treaty territory lies at the Straits… “Tribes in Minnesota, including the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, have also been locked in fierce opposition against another Enbridge pipeline in their treaty territories — Line 3. “They’re here at our door,” Ray Whitehawk St. Clair, a citizen of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, Eagle Clan in Minn., told the Advance. “They’re never gonna get the message. … [But] we’re still here. Tomorrow, we’re gonna be here.” There are currently two active lawsuits between the state of Michigan and Enbridge that are awaiting a decision from a federal judge. Both could have major implications for the fate of the current Line 5 oil pipeline.”
WDBJ: Extension request focuses fresh attention on Mountain Valley Pipeline
Joe Dashiell, 7/25/22
“The Mountain Valley Pipeline in back in the spotlight, as the company asks for more time to complete the project. And with a deadline for public comment fast approaching, supporters and opponents are weighing in,” WDBJ reports. “Six and a half years after Mountain Valley filed a formal application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the project is years behind schedule and billions over its original budget. But the company says it remains committed to completing construction. The Mountain Valley Pipeline asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a four-year extension. And the deadline for public comment is Friday. The letters that have been filed so far, include strong support and passionate opposition… “Ridge Graham is the North Carolina Field Coordinator for the group Appalachian Voices. “And we’re hoping the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will deny this extension request.” Groups including Appalachian Voices oppose the extension, and they have encouraged others to share their concerns with FERC… “This is a project that has a lot of issues, that we have pointed out from the very beginning,” Graham told WDBJ7 in an interview Monday. “And they’re applying for this four-year extension, twice the length of the normal one, because they really don’t have a good way forward right now.” “...Opponents are planning demonstrations in Washington on Thursday. The deadline for public comment is Friday. And MVP has asked FERC to rule on the request by August 8th.”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Spire sees positive signs for STL Pipeline in recent reports
Bryce Gray, 7/25/22
“St. Louis-based gas utility Spire is lauding recent state and federal developments as positive steps in the winding saga of its STL Pipeline, which is now operating on a temporary permit while awaiting regulators’ decision on its future,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. “At the same time, Spire says that if the pipeline fails to get re-approved, the company will decommission it rather than sell it. The STL Pipeline’s future is still being weighed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission — the same agency that narrowly approved the pipeline in 2018 by a divisive 3-2 vote. The pipeline was put in limbo after the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund sued in 2020 and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last year ordered the commission to reconsider the project. Now, Spire is once again before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, in hopes of a second approval, even as it uses the very pipeline under consideration to deliver natural gas to much of its customer base in the St. Louis area. The re-evaluation was prompted by the 2021 court ruling, which stated that the market need for the project was never properly demonstrated and that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ignored plausible evidence of self-dealing when Spire arranged to have its own affiliate build the 65-mile line. Before its construction, earlier attempts to challenge the project were blocked by the agency’s use of a procedural move that has since been ruled unlawful. In June, a draft environmental impact statement from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission “determined that impacts from the continued operation of the Spire STL would be less than significant, with the exception of climate change impacts.” The report did not officially classify climate impacts from the project’s greenhouse gas emissions as significant or not, but said they would incur a total social cost of more than $19 billion… “In May, a report commissioned by utility regulators from the Missouri Public Service Commission, done by consulting firm Schumaker and Co., described Spire’s decision-making about the pipeline as “reasonable and prudent.” Spire officials applauded the recent findings, and said both documents have bolstered the case for allowing the continued operation of the pipeline. “That further supports the argument that the project is needed,” Sean Jamieson, general counsel for the Spire STL Pipeline, told the Dispatch, describing the report put before the Missouri Public Service Commission. “There is now more evidence for FERC to consider.”
KZOO: 12 years later, Kalamazoo River oil spill remembered as one of the largest inland spills in U.S. history
Lauren Kummer, 7/25/22
“It has been 12 years since one of the largest inland oil spills in U.S history,” KZOO reports. “It happened in West Michigan in a creek along the Kalamazoo River, due to an Enbridge Energy pipeline bursting. Today, the river looks a lot different than it did 12 years ago when at least one million gallons of crude oil gushed into Talmadge Creek and on to the Kalamazoo River. People who saw it during that time told KZOO the river ran black. "We remember it well because it did impact this whole area very significantly," Jeff Heppler, the Village of Augusta's Chief of Police and Village Manager, told KZOO… “The damage had a huge impact on the communities along the river. "It did impact a lot of people. There was a time when you couldn’t be down by the river for several weeks. The smell was just overwhelming," Heppler told KZOO. He told KZOO people had to move out of their homes and businesses were shut down. His business halted during their busiest time of the year. "We went from very busy to no business at all. Basically we shut down for a couple of weeks or so, so it did impact us," Heppler told KZOO. Enbridge Energy said since then six new boat slips and/or parks have been added… “EGLE and its sister agency, the Department of Natural Resources, are also Natural Resource Trustees (along with the Michigan Department of Attorney General) designated to participate in a Trustee Council which includes federal and tribal representatives with an interest in ensuring that Enbridge Energy returns the Talmadge Creek and Kalamazoo River ecosystems to pre-spill conditions… “Energy companies have also started hosting a pipeline training school to keep local law enforcement and government agencies informed in case of an emergency.”
The Verge: Teenagers spotted the largest gas pipeline spill in US history
Justine Calma, 7/25/22
“A giant pipeline spewed millions of gallons of fuel into a nature preserve for more than two weeks until two teens on four-wheelers noticed the spill and alerted authorities,” The Verge reports. “The teenagers discovered the leak in the Colonial Pipeline in August 2020 in the Oehler Nature Preserve outside Charlotte, North Carolina, E&E News reports. Just how massive the leak actually was — about 2 million gallons — came to light recently on Friday, July 22nd… “Now we know the spill is actually about 30 times larger than originally estimated. That makes it “the largest onshore fuel spill in the nation,” according to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality… “The pipeline is already notorious for other reasons. With 5,500 miles of pipeline transporting 100 million gallons of fuel a day between Texas and New York, Colonial Pipeline is the largest pipeline system for refined oil products in the US. In May 2021, the pipeline had to be taken offline for five days following a ransomware attack, triggering higher gas prices, panic, and gridlocked traffic outside gas stations. The fiasco showed how vulnerable the nation’s energy infrastructure is to hackers, who used a compromised password to get into Colonial’s network. Apparently, most pipelines aren’t very technologically sophisticated when it comes to detecting spills either. Most leaks are found by people, as was the case with Colonial, E&E News reports.”
Natural Gas Intelligence: Tallgrass Seeking to Convert Natural Gas Pipeline System to Transport CO2
MORGAN EVANS, 7/25/22
“Trailblazer Pipeline Co. LLC (TPC) and Rockies Express Pipeline LLC (REX) are moving through the regulatory process with plans to abandon the Trailblazer system and repurpose the infrastructure for carbon dioxide (CO2) transportation,” Natural Gas Intelligence reports. “...The plan involves abandoning 392 miles of the Trailblazer pipeline as well as three TPC compressor stations, including one natural gas-fired compressor. The pipeline would be reconfigured to transport CO2, which would ultimately be sequestered at a proposed sequestration hub in the Denver-Julesburg Basin. Denver-based Project Canary would provide third-party monitoring and verification services at the Eastern Wyoming Sequestration Hub, a spokesperson for Tallgrass told NGI. REX and TPC are also seeking approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for REX to construct various pipeline facilities and booster compression stations to uptake the natural gas flow from the Trailblazer pipeline… “Commissioners are preparing an environmental review for the project and are accepting public comments until Aug. 10. If approved, TPC and REX estimate the conversion project could also be completed in early 2024, the spokesperson told NGI.”
S&P Global: TC Energy seeks 3 more months to finish Louisiana XPress gas pipeline project
Maya Weber, Felix Clevenger, 7/25/22
“TC Energy asked the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for three more months to finish construction and fully place into service Louisiana XPress natural gas pipeline project, citing ground settlement issues that have delayed completion of a final compressor station,” S&P Global reports. “The expansion on Columbia Gulf Transmission will help to supply Cheniere's Sabine Pass Train 6 LNG export facility by delivering gas into Kinder Morgan's Acadiana Expansion, which is already online and delivers into Sabine Pass. In a July 22 request (CP19-488), TC Energy said it was imperative that FERC extend the construction deadline from Sept. 17 until Dec. 31, because the project would provide 800,000 Dt/d to an LNG facility, and therefore help the US meet vital policy goals and commitments including assisting European allies with their energy needs. The company had previously anticipated an in-service date of Feb. 1, but ran into "unexpected settlement issues" with the Chicot and Shelburn compressor stations during final phases of construction, resulting in the delay, the company told FERC… “Some recent requests for certificate extensions by gas project developers have drawn objections from environmental groups, which have argued that changed circumstances, since the certificates were issued, merited further review. But the Louisiana XPress project extension would be of a shorter duration, only about three months, in comparison with years-long extensions sought in some other cases.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Hill staffers hold climate protest in Schumer’s office
Nick Sobczyk, 7/25/22
“Congressional staffers this morning protested in the office of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to urge him to continue negotiating on a climate change bill,” E&E News reports. “Several aides posted about the sit-in on Twitter, including Aria Kovalovich, a professional staff member for the House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Environment, and Saul Levin, a policy adviser for Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.). More than a dozen staffers held signs reading “Keep negotiating, Chuck” and “Climate policy now” while they sat peacefully in Schumer’s office around 11 a.m. today. One video showed them singing. Six protesters — all House staffers — were arrested after refusing to leave Schumer’s office in the Hart Senate Office Building, according to the U.S. Capitol Police. It’s an unusual, and perhaps unprecedented, protest by congressional aides, who generally try to stay out of the spotlight. The sit-in follows a letter earlier this month signed anonymously by more than 200 staffers demanding clean energy and climate legislation. “Right now, we Hill staffers are peacefully protesting Dem leaders INSIDE. To my knowledge, this has never been done,” Levin wrote on Twitter. “We’ve also never seen climate catastrophe, so we’re meeting the moment.” “...Schumer’s office did not immediately return a request for comment. The majority leader has said he wants to continue pursuing climate legislation, including potentially via a second round of budget reconciliation this fall.”
Lever News: Biden’s Staff Sounds Climate Alarm — About Biden
Julia Rock & David Sirotam 7.25.22
“President Joe Biden’s surrender on climate policy amid the intensifying crisis has prompted his own agency experts to sound a rare public alarm about their boss’s retreat, according to a letter being circulated throughout the administration and Capitol Hill,” Lever News reports. “The letter to Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) — provided to The Lever by a House Democratic staffer — is initialed by 165 staffers at federal health and environmental agencies and at 75 congressional offices. They are demanding the president use more aggressive tactics to pass his long-promised climate agenda through the Senate. “President Biden, you have an exigent responsibility to reduce suffering all over the world, and the power and skills to do so, but time is running out,” says the letter, which is now being circulated throughout the administration for more signatures. “You are the president of the United States of America at a pivotal moment in the history of the world. All that we ask is that you do everything in your power. We’ve done our part. We implore you to do yours.” The letter was provided to The Lever by Saul Levin, a House Democratic staffer and coordinator of the Congressional Progressive Staff Association Climate Working Group. The officials signed the letter anonymously with their initials, to protect against political retribution. Another House Democratic staffer confirmed that the letter was being circulated to government officials for their signatures. “Our house is on fire, and Manchin burned the stairs. Democratic leaders are walking away,” Levin told The Lever. “We cannot. We must test the fire escape, find the fire extinguisher, tie some sheets together if we have to: Our lives depend on it.”
E&E News: Police prep for climate protest at congressional ballgame
Nick Sobczyk, 7/26/22
“The U.S. Capitol Police are preparing for climate protesters who plan to disrupt the annual Congressional Baseball Game,” E&E News reports. “A group of environmental organizations say they plan to converge on the event at Nationals Park Thursday evening, aiming to shut down the game to protest the failure of climate legislation on Capitol Hill. More than 300 people have RSVP’d for the act of “nonviolent civil disobedience,” Quentin Scott, federal campaigns director for Chesapeake Climate Action Network, one of the groups organizing the protest, told E&E. “We think that this is a really bold tactic to put pressure on Biden and the Democrats to overcome the Republican opposition,” Scott told E&E. If they don’t, Scott added, they risk losing “a whole generation of voters.” “...Asked about the protest, the Capitol Police Public Information Office told E&E in an unattributed statement they are “aware that demonstrators are talking about plans to protest political issues at the Congressional Baseball Game for Charity. Our mission is to provide a safe and secure environment, so we have a robust security plan in place.” “Our mission also includes safeguarding a person’s ability to exercise their First Amendment rights, however that does not mean people will be allowed to violate the law.” The protest is being planned amid rage from Democrats and green groups at Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who said earlier this month he would not support the clean energy provisions of their party-line spending bill as inflation continues to soar… “The Congressional Baseball Game is an annual tradition dating back to 1909 that pits a team of Republicans against a team of Democrats. Proceeds support Washington, D.C., area charities. This year’s sponsors include fossil fuel companies like BP and Chevron Corp., as well as the Edison Electric Institute, Nuclear Energy Institute and ClearPath, the conservative clean energy group.” “...Scott told E&E the organizers of Thursday’s protest are anticipating “a handful of arrests,” and he stressed that protesters do not plan to resist. “This will be nonviolent, and the folks who are prepared to be arrested, they will be compliant, and it won’t escalate.”
E&E News: Can EPA cut CO2 from gas plants in regulatory ‘new world’?
Jean Chemnick, Benjamin Storrow, 7/25/22
“Last month’s Supreme Court decision left EPA with a conundrum: how to meaningfully cut carbon dioxide emissions from the nation’s fleet of natural gas power plants without risking another reversal in court,” E&E News reports. “Limited technological options and a mountain of legal uncertainty make taming CO2 emissions from existing gas plants a difficult task. But it is one the Biden administration will have to grapple with to have any chance of delivering on its promise to cut power-sector emissions 80 percent by the end of this decade. The potential focus on gas represents a shift from the Obama era, when EPA largely focused its efforts on curtailing emissions from coal. But CO2 pollution from gas plants has exploded in recent decades, as the fuel replaced coal as the country’s leading form of electricity generation. Where gas was responsible for 13 percent of U.S. power sector emissions in 2005, it accounted for more than 40 percent in 2020, according to the most recent EPA data. “The climate crisis demands significant emission reductions from all major sources, and the gas sector is emitting 40 percent of domestic power plant emissions,” Jay Duffy, an attorney at Clean Air Task Force, told E&E. “In order to protect public health and the environment and respond to the Clean Air Act mandate, EPA needs to swiftly enact stringent regulations.” “...In deciding how to regulate existing gas plants, EPA must also weigh the risk of another rebuke by the court that could result in years of lost work. The high court’s June 30 ruling in West Virginia v. EPA notionally leaves the agency plenty of room to run as it readies proposals to curb carbon at new and existing power stations. The only option the court’s conservative flank explicitly took off the table was using the Clean Air Act to force generation shifting away from fossil fuels — the pathway taken by the now-defunct Climate Power Plan. But the court also used its ruling to issue a warning to EPA and other agencies that they can expect less deference in the future when they try to color outside the lines explicitly drawn by Congress… “EPA is currently writing rules for new and existing coal and gas plants for release in the first quarter of next year. Joe Goffman, acting EPA air chief, told E&E News last week via email that the agency would “screen” any proposal through the court’s decision.”
E&E News: Panel to probe BLM leasing to debarred, suspended applicants
MICHAEL DOYLE, 7/25/22
“A House panel will aim the spotlight this week on flawed efforts to block bad actors from securing Bureau of Land Management mineral leases,” E&E News reports. “The Thursday hearing convened by the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, chaired by Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), will focus on the “federal exclusion” list. A report from the Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General issued earlier this year identified some serious problems with the list that’s supposed to ensure leases don’t go to the undeserving. “We found that the BLM did not review the Federal exclusions list to determine if mineral lease recipients were suspended or debarred from doing business with the Federal Government," the OIG reported in January. The Interior watchdog said the failure “is inconsistent with Federal regulations and [Interior] policy requiring awarding officials — in this case, the BLM’s leasing staff — to review the Federal exclusions list before issuing mineral leases.”
STATE UPDATES
Los Angeles Times: California hopes to fight global warming by pumping CO2 underground. Some call it a ruse
TONY BRISCOE, 7/25/22
“It’s an emerging technology that climate experts say can prevent billions of tons of greenhouse gases from entering Earth’s atmosphere,” the Los Angeles Times reports. “By capturing carbon dioxide as it spews from oil refineries, power plants and other industrial smokestacks and then forcing it deep underground for storage, humanity can reduce fossil fuel emissions while developing alternative energy sources, advocates say. Now, as California attempts to meet ambitious climate goals, environmental officials are embracing carbon capture and storage, saying the state cannot achieve carbon neutrality without it. But as officials prepare to finalize a state climate plan that relies on CCS technology, some environmentalists are urging officials to abandon the idea. Instead of helping to wean California off fossil fuels, they say CCS will actually increase oil production… “If we are truly committed in California to a just transition off of fossil fuels, we should not be looking for ways to perpetuate oil extraction in old oil fields,” Catherine Garoupa White, executive director of the Central Valley Air Quality Coalition, told the Times. The debate over how this technology could be deployed may prove to be a reckoning for California, a state that has long wrestled with its role as a global leader in the fight against climate change and its status as one of the nation’s top oil producers. Already, regulators are considering more than a dozen CCS proposals that would store millions of tons of carbon dioxide beneath California’s Central Valley — the only region of the state considered practical for such storage. At least one of those proposals would be used to enhance oil production in Kern County… “Because there’s nothing in the plan that talks about shutting down refining capacity or sunsetting these operations, the concern I’m hearing from people — and I think this is a legitimate concern — is that this could start us down the path of major CCS projects that lock in fossil fuel infrastructure rather than transition it responsibly to a different direction,” Danny Cullenward, policy director of CarbonPlan, a California nonprofit that analyzes climate solutions, told the Times.
Grist: Pennsylvania just lost a key tool to address its abandoned oil well problem
Naveena Sadasivam, 7/25/22
“An estimated 200,000 abandoned oil and gas wells pockmark Pennsylvania’s Appalachian plateaus and lush forests,” Grist reports. “These wells, which once produced oil and gas but have since been abandoned by their operators, spew methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and threaten the environment and public health when they leak toxic byproducts. Of the state’s approximately 100,000 active wells, many produce just a few barrels of oil and gas annually and are nearing the end of their lives. Fossil fuel companies are supposed to clean up these sites once they stop producing, but operators regularly shirk these obligations. To prevent the backlog of abandoned wells from growing, Pennsylvania’s Environmental Quality Board and Department of Environmental Protection were beginning to examine ways to strengthen rules requiring companies to post bonds before drilling. These financial assurances can be claimed by the state if a company goes bankrupt or otherwise tries to get out of its environmental obligations. The idea is that even companies that skip town are still on the hook, and taxpayers don’t end up footing the bill. Those efforts were put to an end last week, however, when Democratic Governor Tom Wolf failed to veto a bill that banned future increases in financial assurance amounts for conventional vertical wells (as opposed to fracking wells), for the next ten years. Wolf reportedly allowed the bill to pass as part of a deal with Republican lawmakers to secure additional education funding. “It’s a green light for the conventional oil and gas industry to continue to do what they’ve done, which is abandon these wells whenever they feel like it,” David Hess, a former director of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, or DEP, told Grist.”
EXTRACTION
Associated Press: Oil-funded Rockefeller Foundation centers fight for climate
7/26/22
“The Rockefeller Foundation, created with wealth generated from the oil industry more than a century ago, plans to make the fight against climate change central to all of its work, including its operations and investments,” the Associated Press reports. “In a public letter released Tuesday, foundation president, Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, acknowledged the “irony” that his organization's founder John D. Rockefeller “made his fortune by fueling a growing United States with carbon.” Speaking to The Associated Press in advance of the announcement, Shah said that all institutions that benefited from the development driven by fossil fuels have a responsibility to battle climate change. “Obviously, an institution like the Rockefeller Foundation has an even higher level of responsibility because we’re an even bigger beneficiary of that process,” he told AP. The Rockefeller Foundation funds part of The Associated Press’ coverage of climate change. The commitment builds on the foundation’s decision to divest its more than $6 billion endowment from fossil fuels starting in 2020, though it still has what Shah called negligible exposure. The foundation also partnered with the Ikea Foundation and the Bezos Earth Fund to launch an international consortium to accelerate the transition to renewable energy, with all three nonprofits giving $500 million. The consortium has since raised around $10 billion in additional funds, the foundation said. Partnerships like that reflect the Rockefeller Foundation’s belief that it can alter the course of history by amplifying the scope of its work and its resources. “The reason for doing this is basically to put down a marker about our ambition, our sense of urgency and our willingness to be transformational in order to deepen our partnerships with others, to try to actually change the course of the climate equation on this planet,” Shah told AP.”
E&E News: Could Gas Leak Fixes Thwart Climate Goals?
MIRANDA WILLSON, 7/25/22
“Boston University ecologist Nathan Phillips used to push for the rapid replacement of aging pipelines, convinced that the practice was a win-win: It snuffed out natural gas leaks and protected nearby trees from those leaks,” E&E News reports. “But today, Phillips — who has spent years researching leaks in the Boston area — is skeptical of such replacement, worried that it will thwart his state’s goal to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. ‘I was telling people that the way to fix the problem is to replace the pipelines,’ Phillips told E&E. ‘Now, I completely feel opposite to that.’ Phillips is among a growing number of climate advocates, researchers and state officials who worry that accelerated pipe replacement programs aimed at preventing gas leaks and explosions could complicate efforts to switch to electric heating and renewable energy. Massachusetts is among 42 states with policies that encourage gas utilities to proactively replace aging or leaking pipes, according to the American Gas Association, a trade association for gas utilities and companies. It also is among a growing number of states that aim to transition away from fossil fuels. The tension surrounding pipeline replacements and clean energy is part of a broader debate on the future of the natural gas system that heats many homes and businesses across the United States. About a dozen states have set goals to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in less than 30 years — and analysts say meeting those targets will likely mean using less natural gas. Gas utilities may ultimately have ‘a much smaller role’ in the overall energy system of states that hit those targets, Adithya Bhashyam, a hydrogen analyst at BloombergNEF, told E&E. That means that today’s installed pipes — often made of durable, long-lasting plastic materials — could become ‘stranded assets,’ left unused before their decadeslong life span is over. For climate advocates, that raises questions about whether it’s prudent to encourage the replacement of large networks of pipe and make ratepayers foot the bill.”
E&E News: Leaks Threaten CO2 Benefits Of Clean Hydrogen, Report Says
DAVID IACONANGELO, 7/25/22
“Policymakers are overlooking the risks associated with leaks of "clean" hydrogen, even as they promote the fuel as a tool for climate policy, according to an analysis this month from Columbia University researchers,” E&E News reports. “The team from Columbia’s Center on Global Energy Policy described an absence of data and monitoring about hydrogen leakage, which could become increasingly problematic if low-carbon versions of the fuel become widespread and deliver energy to everything from vehicles to power plants and heavy industry. By 2050, global leakage rates of hydrogen could reach as high as 5.6 percent — several times more than the highest estimates of natural gas leakage, according to the Columbia team’s models. Although hydrogen is not a greenhouse gas, it could act as a ‘non-negligible’ source of global warming by extending the lifetime of methane, they wrote. ‘We don’t have a good understanding’ of hydrogen leaks at present, said lead author Zhiyuan Fan during an interview. The team’s models were based on prior simulations and extrapolations, as few direct measurements of leaking hydrogen are conducted and made public.”
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Energy Live News: Will Cambridge University ditch bp’s name from one of its facilities?
Dimitris Mavrokefalidis, 7/26/22
“The University of Cambridge is allegedly considering removing bp‘s names from one of its research centres,” Energy Live News reports. “According to The Sunday Times, the UC could be Britain’s first university to remove an oil company’s name from one of its buildings. This follows recent campaigns organised by climate activist group This is Not a Drill, which smashed the doors of the BP Institute in protest against the facility’s funding by bp. In a statement, the campaign group Fossil Free Research said: “We are thrilled to see the University of Cambridge finally renaming its BP Institute in the wake of powerful and sustained activism from students, community leaders and academics. It demonstrates an increasing acceptance by university management at our world’s wealthiest universities that their continued partnerships with the oil and gas giants driving climate breakdown are morally indefensible. “At the same time as we celebrate this momentous victory, we must also recognize that the University of Cambridge and its peer institutions must do much more than merely removing evidence of these toxic partnerships from the public eye.” A Cambridge University spokesperson told ELN: “The University of Cambridge is a democratic institution and there are always discussions about a very broad range of issues including the names of its many buildings and institutes.”
OPINION
Journal Times: Enbridge pipeline endangers lakes -- Phyllis Hasbrouck
Phyllis Hasbrouck, 7/25/22
“Kudos to Gov. Tony Evers for investing $1.4 million to protect Wisconsin’s Great Lakes coastlines,” Phyllis Hasbrouck writes in the Journal Times. “One of the projects, mapping the places in northern Ashland County vulnerable to flooding, will create a resource that can help the Department of Natural Resources with its decision whether to approve Enbridge’s proposed Line 5 expansion there. When you see the photos and hear the stories of people who in June 2016 were without power and unable to leave their neighborhoods because of multiple roads being washed out, you realize just how dangerous it would be to install 41 miles of an oil pipeline in that area. This oil pipeline expansion would cross 185 waterways, many of which drain into Lake Superior. How many millions or billions of dollars would be lost were that magnificent lake to be polluted by an Enbridge spill? More frequent and more intense storms will continue to batter us until we make the transition to a renewable energy society. And yet Enbridge refuses to retire this pipeline. They care more about profits than they do about protecting the people, animals and environment on Lake Superior’s southern shore. The DNR should reject the Line 5 expansion and help us leave fossil fuels behind and create a cleaner world.”
Bakersfield Californian: Our View: Money to stop oil well leaks brings promise of new jobs
7/24/22
“It can be a scary. Thousands of oil and gas wells across the U.S. have been left idled and abandoned. Some are leaking methane. Others may be polluting water supplies and emitting toxic fumes,” the Bakersfield Californian Editorial Board writes. “...This is not a problem limited to Bakersfield. In 2014, national attention was focused on Arvin, where a neighborhood had to be evacuated for months as leaks from an old oil operation caused potentially explosive dangers. Similar incidents have been reported throughout California… “The potential cleanup of improperly abandoned oil and gas wells throughout the nation is a liability for companies and taxpayers. In the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan President Joe Biden signed into law earlier this year, $1.1 billion is available to states to create jobs cleaning up orphaned oil and gas wells… “California Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed in his budget to spend $215 million to retrain displaced oil workers and pay them to cap abandoned wells… “But state and federal officials believe the money set aside for that purpose falls far short of the actual cost. State and federal acknowledgment of the severity of the problem and the need to fund cleanup efforts will protect residents living in oil-rich areas. It also is expected to provide much-needed jobs for oil workers, who are being displaced by public policies that favor alternative fuels and push for the transition away from oil and gas.”