EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 8/19/21
PIPELINE NEWS
WDIO: Musicians use their platform to rally against Line 3 Pipeline during "Water is Life" concert
Facebook: Red Lake Treaty Camp: Water protectors from Red Lake Treaty Camp held ceremony on the easement in front of Enbridge's work site on the #RedLakeRiver this morning
Grist: Health care workers join the fight to stop the Line 3 pipeline
Huffington Post: Biden Faces Mounting Pressure To Yank Line 3 Oil Pipeline Permits
Regina Leader Post: Enbridge's 390,000-bpd pipeline expansion in 'final innings,' lifting hopes for capacity-constrained oilpatch
Tennessee Lookout: Memphis City Council debates resolutions to protect aquifer
Delaware Business Now: Chester County to add liquid natural gas pipeline hazards to emergency operations plan
The Daily News: Group wants methanol pipeline permits revoked
WASHINGTON UPDATES
The Advocate: Corps will take closer look at Formosa plant impact on environment, minority residents in St. James
DeSmog: Army Corps Orders Environmental Review of Proposed Formosa Plastics Plant in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’
Bloomberg: ‘Defiant’ Interior Unlikely to Lease Oil Soon, Despite Injunction
E&E News: Court axes permits for massive Alaska oil project backed by Biden
E&E News: Uncertainty dominates new NEPA approach
Politico Morning Energy: COME AS YOU ARE
Politico Morning Energy: FERC NOM GETS NEVADA BOOST
STATE UPDATES
Deseret News: Utah misusing public funds for fossil fuel projects, environmental groups allege
EXTRACTION
iPolitics.ca: Net Zero: Canada must spend extra $60B/year on clean tech: report
Bloomberg: After Climate Court Victories Comes the Problem of Enforcement
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
KVRR: Waubun-Ogema-White Earth Schools to receive grant from Line 3 pipeline owner
OPINION
OilPrice.com: U.S. Politics Are Weighing On Canada’s Oil Industry
Troy Media: Why Canada’s oil and gas sector gets so little respect
The Hill: July was a Frankenstein month created by the fossil fuel industry
PIPELINE NEWS
WDIO: Musicians use their platform to rally against Line 3 Pipeline during "Water is Life" concert
Emily Ness, 8/18/21
“Musicians, passionate about the environment, called for a stop to the Line 3 Pipeline at a "Water is Life" concert held in Bayfront Festival Park Wednesday,” WDIO reports. “These bands here—myself included—are donating our time, playing for free because we believe in this so much,” David Huckfelt, a musician from David Huckfelt & the Unarmed Forces said. The lineup included a number of big name artists from near and far, including Bon Iver and Hippo Campus… “All proceeds from the show will go towards Honor the Earth—an Indigenous women-led non-profit working to protect water in Lake Superior and beyond. “This is a fifth of the world's water and we're in the worst drought in the history of the state of Minnesota so I'm all for protecting the water because we aren't making new water,” Winona LaDuke, a musician from Corey Medina & the Brothers and founder of Honor the Earth said. The cause behind the concert is what some guests said brought them out all the way from the Twin Cities. “I know that just saying things and posting things isn't enough and actually showing up and being present is going to be more effective for our community,” Thalia Anderson, told WDIO. “I think it’s great that people are putting their money where their mouth is as well,” Beatriz Kelly, another guest told WDIO. “Its overall an amazing event.”
Facebook: Red Lake Treaty Camp: Water protectors from Red Lake Treaty Camp held ceremony on the easement in front of Enbridge's work site on the #RedLakeRiver this morning
8/18/21
“As #Line3 opponents entered the water, a baby otter broke to the surface. A turtle also watched over us as we made our way upriver. Crawling up the easement from the water, non-indigenous accomplices formed a line of protection around indigenous folks in ceremony. The police came and tried to interrupt the ceremony, giving dispersal warnings and threatening arrests, but Treaty Rights were ultimately excercised and upheld. We held space on the easement for about an hour and then all water protectors were ultimately able to return to camp with no arrests made.”
Grist: Health care workers join the fight to stop the Line 3 pipeline
Joseph Winters, 8/18/21
“Medical professionals around the country rallied on Tuesday against the expansion of Enbridge’s Line 3 crude oil pipeline, calling it a threat to human and planetary health,” Grist reports. “The health of Minnesotans is at risk,” said Teddie Potter, director of planetary health at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing, addressing a crowd in St. Paul, Minnesota. “Tar sands oil threatens the health and wellness of future generations; we must stop the line.” The events were part of a nationwide day of solidarity against the project from Enbridge, a Canada-based oil and gas company. In cities from Augusta, Maine, to Los Angeles, health professionals united with environmental groups and Indigenous water protectors to express their opposition to the firm’s controversial Line 3 replacement, which is already under construction… “But opponents from the medical community disagree. According to Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate, or HPHC — the advocacy group that organized Tuesday’s nationwide protests — the project poses both immediate and long-term threats to Minnesota communities and Indigenous peoples, whether from an oil spill or from the pipeline’s contribution to climate change. Vishnu Laalitha Surapaneni, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota who helped organize the rally in St. Paul, told Grist she is particularly worried about the pipeline’s potential impact on water quality. “We’re in the Land of 10,000 Lakes,” she explained, using Minnesota’s unofficial nickname. “This is not something that is compatible with healthy water.”
Huffington Post: Biden Faces Mounting Pressure To Yank Line 3 Oil Pipeline Permits
By Alexander C. Kaufman, 8/18/21
“The White House is facing mounting pressure from Democrats to yank federal permits for Line 3, the controversial oil pipeline under construction in Minnesota,” the Huffington Post reports. “Eight Democratic senators and nearly two dozen House members criticized the Biden administration for allowing pipeline giant Enbridge to continue building Line 3 across wetlands in a letter sent Monday that HuffPost viewed. The lawmakers say President Joe Biden should suspend the Clean Water Act permits the Trump administration had granted until the Army Corps of Engineers completes a more thorough analysis of the potential environmental impacts. “The Trump Administration aggressively expanded fossil fuel infrastructure projects under a new policy of ‘energy dominance’ and severely limited public scrutiny on those projects,” said the letter, which Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) led. Carrying out a new assessment, they said, would “ensure a full and significant environmental review that includes assessing the project’s real costs on environment, public health, and climate change and ensuring the public is aware of those costs.” “...The White House referred questions to the Army Corps, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a lengthy statement, Enbridge told HuffPost its “pipelines have coexisted with Minnesota’s most sacred and productive wild rice waters for over seven decades” and insisted it has “demonstrated ongoing respect for tribal sovereignty” and “a commitment to addressing climate change with real action.”
Regina Leader Post: Enbridge's 390,000-bpd pipeline expansion in 'final innings,' lifting hopes for capacity-constrained oilpatch
Geoffrey Morgan, 8/18/21
“Enbridge Inc., North America’s largest pipeline company, has told Canadian oil producers that its long-anticipated, frequently delayed Line 3 pipeline project is nearly complete,” according to the Regina Leader Post. “Enbridge confirmed last week that it has filed procedural regulatory documents with the Canada Energy Regulator and the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to allow for tolling surcharges on the Line 3 pipeline to take effect “within the next 30 to 60 days.” The Calgary-based pipeline giant said in an email the tolls could be effective as of Sept. 15. “...There will be a further filing to specify the in-service date shortly before the line goes into service once all necessary construction and commissioning activities are complete,” Enbridge spokesperson Jesse Semko told the Post… “Line 3 is expected to reduce the Canadian oil industry’s reliance on oil-by-rail shipments, as the domestic oilpatch is currently capable of producing more oil than can fit into the country’s existing pipeline network… “Oil producers are still hopeful that the federally owned 590,000-bpd Trans Mountain pipeline expansion will be complete and operational at the end of 2022, which would further reduce the need for oil-by-rail shipments out of Western Canada.”
Tennessee Lookout: Memphis City Council debates resolutions to protect aquifer
DULCE TORRES GUZMAN, 8/18/21
“Stopping the development of the Byhalia pipeline in Memphis was a first step towards protection of the Memphis Sand Aquifer but environmental activists say the real battle now lies in politics, where the government still needs to create permanent protections for Shelby County residents,” the Tennessee Lookout reports. “On Tuesday, the Memphis City Council once again delayed a final vote on an ordinance to protect the aquifer, which provides Memphians with their drinking water. The ordinance is part of several resolutions to protect the aquifer after environmental activists and civil rights leaders spent nearly a year protesting the creation of the Byhalia pipeline that was set to cut through a historic Black neighborhood in Southwest Memphis… “Without the tragic lynching of George Floyd, we wouldn’t be having this conversation today. Our movement would not be as strong, and this conversation connecting the intersectionality of economic exploitation and environmental injustice wouldn’t be happening,” Justin Pearson, leader of the Memphis Community Against the Pipeline, told the Lookout. “Black lives don’t just matter when they’re lynched by police officers, Black lives matter when the community is being polluted by toxins going through the air, into the water and into the soil,” he added. While the Byhalia Pipeline project was dropped by Texas-based Plains All American Pipeline and Valero Energy Corporation, Memphis Community Against the Pipeline was joined by other environmental groups in the push to create permanent protections for Memphis communities and the aquifer… “The Byhalia joint venture threatened to file a lawsuit if the ordinance was passed.”
Delaware Business Now: Chester County to add liquid natural gas pipeline hazards to emergency operations plan
8/8/21
“At the request of Chester County commissioners, the Chester County Department of Emergency Services has prepared a Request for Proposal (RFP) to specialist contractors for the development of a natural gas liquids pipeline hazard-specific addition to the Chester County Emergency Operations Plan,” Delaware Business Now reports. “The RFP also calls for the development of tools to better prepare the public for a potential emergency arising from either the Energy Transfer Mariner East Pipeline or the Enterprise Products TEPPCO Pipeline. The pipeline hazard-specific section will also be developed and added to the emergency operations plans of the 12 Chester County municipalities in which the Energy Transfer and TEPPCO pipelines traverse… “Chester County Commissioner Josh Maxwell told DBN, “Sunoco, a private sector company, has created a serious threat to our community, therefore we believe plans like this one being developed should become a requirement of the pipeline industry, and especially for Mariner East and TEPPCO.”
The Daily News: Group wants methanol pipeline permits revoked
Marissa Heffernan, 8/18/21
“While the Kalama methanol plant project is canceled, permits are still active for a three-mile pipeline meant to supply the plant with methanol. Columbia Riverkeeper requested those permits be revoked,” The Daily News reports. “The Williams Companies 24-inch diameter pipeline would have brought natural gas to the plant from its larger pipelines. According to the project website, Northwest Innovation Works and Williams’ Northwest Pipeline signed a pre-construction agreement and in 2014 filed a pipeline application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission… “However, Riverkeeper Staff Attorney Erin Saylor wrote in an Aug. 4 letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that “a significant change in circumstances has occurred since the certificate was issued” — the June 11 cancellation of the methanol project… “Since the sole customer for the proposed pipeline has terminated its proposed project, there is no longer a need for the Kalama Lateral Pipeline and, thus, the certificate of public convenience and necessity for the pipeline should be cancelled,” Saylor wrote.
WASHINGTON UPDATES
The Advocate: Corps will take closer look at Formosa plant impact on environment, minority residents in St. James
DAVID J. MITCHELL, 8/18/21
“Construction on an enormous $9.4 billion plastics plant proposed in St. James Parish must be delayed so the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can do a more extensive and lengthy review of the facility's impacts on the environment and nearby minority communities, the Corps said Wednesday,” The Advocate reports. “A senior Army official who made the announcement Wednesday said the new review would have a particular focus on any environmental justice concerns raised by the Formosa Plastics complex proposed near the largely African-American community of Welcome on the parish's west bank. In a two-page memo, Jaime Pinkham, acting assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, didn't offer many details for the reasons behind the decision, but the agency had already acknowledged to a federal judge late last that an earlier, less intensive review of the permits had errors in part of its analysis. Proposed by an affiliate of Formosa Plastics, the Sunshine Project has been praised by Gov. John Bel Edwards and many other government leaders for the thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in economic development it will bring. But it has become a national lightning rod for some other local leaders and environmental and community groups, who have criticized its toxic air emissions, risk of accidental release of plastic pellets, the ramp-up in plastics production it represents, and its proximity to antebellum graves that may be those of slaves… “Sharon Lavigne, a St. James Parish native who formed Rise St. James and joined with an array of environmental groups to fight the complex, told the Advocate the Corps of Engineers "has finally heard our pleas and understands our pain" and said she was hopeful Formosa would pull out. "Nobody took it upon themselves to speak for St. James Parish until we started working to stop Formosa Plastics. Now the world is watching this important victory for environmental justice.”.
DeSmog: Army Corps Orders Environmental Review of Proposed Formosa Plastics Plant in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’
By Sharon Kelly, 8/18/21
“The Formosa Sunshine Project in St. James Parish, Louisiana, will undergo a full formal environmental review, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced in a memorandum issued today and posted on Twitter,” DeSmog reports. “The decision deals a significant blow to the proposed multi-billion dollar plastics manufacturing site that would be located in the Gulf Coast region, potentially setting the project’s timetable back significantly. The Corps highlighted concerns over environmental justice issues as it announced that it would require an environmental impact statement (EIS). “As a result of information received to date and my commitment for the Army to be a leader in the federal government’s efforts to ensure thorough environmental analysis and meaningful community outreach, I conclude an EIS process is warranted to thoroughly review areas of concern, particularly those with environmental justice implications,” wrote Jaime Pinkham, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works. If built, the Formosa plant would pump out up to 800 tons of toxic air pollutants each year into communities that have long-experienced the impacts of living near plastic manufacturing, oil refining, and other petrochemical projects. It would also generate 13.6 million tons of greenhouse gases — more than triple the amount of climate-altering pollution the Environmental Protection Agency estimates a standard coal-fired power plant produces.”
Bloomberg: ‘Defiant’ Interior Unlikely to Lease Oil Soon, Despite Injunction
8/17/21
“Attorneys say they aren’t expecting the Interior Department to announce an immediate oil and gas lease sale, after the agency said Monday that it’ll proceed with leasing following a federal court injunction,” Bloomberg reports. “Setting the day and time of an oil and gas lease sale requires advance planning, and “you cannot wake up one morning and just say, let’s have a lease sale tomorrow or in, say, 30 days, without being ready,” Sam Kalen, a natural resources law professor at the University of Wyoming, told Bloomberg. “Interior announced Monday it would restart lease sales, more than two months after the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction against the White House’s leasing pause. But the agency still hasn’t made an official notice of an upcoming lease sale, either on shore or offshore… “Now that the Interior Department has missed the deadline to hold any sales before October, it’s crystal clear there is no intention of complying with the judge’s order,” Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Alliance, which filed a separate lawsuit challenging the pause, told Bloomberg... “Though it’s too late to hold a lease sale in the third quarter, Interior can still hold a lease sale before the end of the year, Mark Squillace, a natural resources law professor at the University of Colorado Law School, told Bloomberg. “So long as Interior can show it is planning a sale for the 4th quarter I don’t think that the court is likely to intervene.”
E&E News: Court axes permits for massive Alaska oil project backed by Biden
Pamela King, Heather Richards, 8/19/21
“A federal judge yesterday scrapped key approvals for a major Alaska drilling project that had drawn the support of the Biden administration,” E&E News reports. “In her order, Judge Sharon Gleason of the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska sided with arguments by Indigenous and environmental groups that the federal government had failed to consider the climate and wildlife impacts of the Willow oil and gas project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. “[A]s to the errors found by the Court, they are serious,” Gleason said… “While Gleason’s move doesn’t kill the project, the order wipes out a Trump-era approval that’s needed for construction to advance. Asked whether the court decision would affect Willow’s viability, Rebecca Boys, a spokesperson for ConocoPhillips Alaska, told E&E the company would “review the decision and evaluate the options available regarding this project.” “...Gleason found that the FWS permit was not protective enough of polar bears. She found several faults with the NEPA review, including that BLM had fallen short of its statutory duty to give “maximum protection” to surface values… “Today’s court win recognizes that our land and our people deserve dignity and a pursuit of greater meaning,” Siqiñiq Maupin, executive director of SILA, told E&E. “When we do not have to medivac our children out of the village so they can breathe, we can teach them how the native plants can be eaten. When oil fields aren’t blocking the migration and causing our caribou to starve, we can teach our youth how to hunt for our elders.”
E&E News: Uncertainty dominates new NEPA approach
By Kelsey Brugger, 8/18/21
“The Biden White House recently acted to defang one of President Trump’s signature environmental actions, but the former president’s legacy may endure in what some activists call "an era of confusion" on environmental reviews,” E&E News reports. “This month, the Council on Environmental Quality advanced what will become a three-step plan to revamp the 2020 changes to National Environmental Policy Act rules. CEQ rarely conducts environmental reviews itself; rather, the council coordinates action across dozens federal agencies. “We are moving ahead to restore certainty to the environmental review process, and to help make sure that things get built right the first time,” a CEQ spokesperson told E&E. But some environmentalists are growing impatient with the pace. They say some projects in the pipeline could still be subject to Trump’s rules, and that this contradicts President Biden’s promise to reduce the country’s reliance on fossil fuels. Companies, for their part, are worried about regulatory chaos. “The concern is how long is this going to drag on for,” Kym Hunter, an attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, which is suing the government over the Trump rules, told E&E… “So far, the Biden administration has laid out a three-step plan to overhaul the Trump regulations, and earlier this summer, CEQ Chair Brenda Mallory said at a web event that “we are working as fast as possible.”
Politico Morning Energy: COME AS YOU ARE
Matthew Choi, 8/18/21
“The House Oversight Committee is in talks with Exxon lobbyist Keith McCoy and hopes to have him speak for the record "soon," a committee aide told Politico Morning Energy. “McCoy has responded and we are in discussions with his counsel to arrange an interview soon,” the aide said. The committee seeks to talk to McCoy about his statements in a video released last month that described the oil giant’s commitment to a carbon price as being more about public relations than an actual policy goal and its use of contributions to dark money groups that worked to muddy the energy policy waters. Republicans are seeking the full video, which was taken as part of a sting on McCoy and released by Greenpeace UK and resulted in the oil giant getting booted from a moderate climate group it helped found. Exxon did not immediately respond to questions on McCoy appearing before the committee.”
Politico Morning Energy: FERC NOM GETS NEVADA BOOST
Matthew Choi, 8/18/21
“The Nevada Independent reported this week on support among state officials for IBEW lawyer Tom Dalzell to fill Commissioner Neil Chatterjee's seat on FERC, including from Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen,” according to Politico Morning Energy. “Cortez Masto's office confirmed to ME that the senator sent a letter in recent weeks to the administration in support of Dalzell for FERC commissioner. "Tom Dalzell is an organized labor advocate with an acute understanding of energy policy and law," said spokesperson Lauren Wodarski in a statement. "Senator Cortez Masto believes his strong work ethic and leadership experience would serve him well as a FERC commissioner and hopes the Administration gives him due consideration."
STATE UPDATES
Deseret News: Utah misusing public funds for fossil fuel projects, environmental groups allege
Katie McKellar, 8/17/21
“Former Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski stepped back into the public spotlight on Tuesday to join with environmental groups in releasing a report that alleges Utah has improperly used more than $109 million in public money to fund fossil fuel projects,” the Deseret News reports. “I have stayed out of politics since I left office, but I cannot remain silent when I am witnessing wrongdoing by those elected and appointed to represent all people living in Utah,” Biskupski said at a news conference held on the steps of the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City… “Biskupski stood with about two dozen environmental activists from groups including the Center for Biological Diversity, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, the Utah chapter of the Sierra Club and others to release a report written by those groups titled the “Utah Oil Slick: Funding Polluters Instead of Rural Communities.” The report alleges Utah’s Permanent Community Impact Fund Board has issued $109 million in grants and low- or no-interest loans made up of public money to projects that promote or expand fossil fuel extraction in violation of the federal Mineral Leasing Act, which allows the government to receive compensation for mineral extraction on federal public lands for the purpose of alleviating impact of mineral development.”
EXTRACTION
iPolitics.ca: Net Zero: Canada must spend extra $60B/year on clean tech: report
8/18/21
“In order to meet its climate-change commitments, Canada must spend roughly $70 billion a year, according to a new report from RBC. That means it’s currently $60 billion short,” iPolitics.ca reports. “But investors aren’t keen to gamble on the “long-term transformative projects” needed to meet Canada’s goal of emitting net-zero greenhouse gases (GHGs) by 2050. “Large-scale projects that could create meaningful change, for instance, in heavy-emitting sectors, are often costly, come with higher investment risk, and don’t provide significant near-term financial returns,” RBC economist Colin Guldimann told iPolitics. “With a relatively large share of industrial emissions, including from the oil patch, Canada faces a challenge in ensuring that sustainable finance reaches all parts of its economy.” Guldimann tells iPolitics things can be done to encourage investment. For example, businesses should be able “to pay lower interest or utility rates, if they cut emissions below targets.” Another solution could be issuing contracts that guarantee “government carbon-price subsidies.”
Bloomberg: After Climate Court Victories Comes the Problem of Enforcement
Diederik Baazil, 8/17/21
“Marjan Minnesma cheered along with her fellow climate activists in May when a judge ordered Royal Dutch Shell Plc to drastically slash its carbon-dioxide emissions. It was the first time a company had been held legally accountable for its planet-warming pollution,” Bloomberg reports. “...The win was a watershed moment—since then, similar decisions were made all over the world, by high courts ranging from Germany’s to Pakistan’s. But Minnesma isn’t satisfied with how the verdict was enforced. The Netherlands came close to meeting the 25% target last year, with emissions dropping about 24.5% due to coronavirus-induced lockdowns, yet Minnesma says no structural changes have been made to keep CO₂ below the threshold. Urgenda estimates that emissions for the first half of this year were 4.4 million tons higher than the same period in 2020. After it won the 2015 case, Urgenda presented the government with a list of 54 policies it could potentially use to meet the emissions target, ranging from reducing the country’s livestock herd to greening rooftops. Still, the group says not enough was done to fulfill the verdict, which was confirmed by the Dutch Supreme Court in 2019. While the government did shut a coal plant, it remains locked in disagreements over compensation with companies that operate four other facilities that are supposed to close by 2030. Minnesma’s experience underscores the complexities of enforcing these verdicts once they’re handed down. It’s a question that hangs over the Shell case, as well. The company plans to appeal the decision and it could take years to see tangible results in lowering emissions.”
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
KVRR: Waubun-Ogema-White Earth Schools to receive grant from Line 3 pipeline owner
Jim Monk, 8/18/21
“Enbridge Energy, the Canadian company that owns the controversial Line 3 pipeline replacement project in northern Minnesota, has donated $366,000 to the Waubun-Ogema-White Earth Community Schools to subsidize internet access for low income families,” KVRR reports. “Enbridge spokesperson Julie Kellner told KVRR the grant will provide “a combination of broadband and fiber infrastructure, and fund other services that will help students connect to internet resources and thrive in remote learning environments.”Kellner says the grant will also provide services for students in the Mahomen-Naytahwaush school district. Enbridge plans to present a check Thursday morning. Several Native American and environmental groups are strongly opposed to the pipeline.”
OPINION
OilPrice.com: U.S. Politics Are Weighing On Canada’s Oil Industry
By Felicity Bradstock, 8/18/21
“Alberta is taking hit after hit following the cancellation of the Keystone pipeline and international pressure to curb oil production in the coming years, as the oil-rich state insists it needs to maintain its thriving oil industry to survive,” Felicity Bradstock writes for OilPrice.com. “In response to international pressure for Canada to rein in its oil production over the coming years, Kenney stated, “It is a utopian notion that we can suddenly end the use of hydrocarbon-based energy,”. Rather, “The challenge is to shrink carbon and CO2 output, and Alberta is increasingly a world leader in that respect.” “...But Canada is not ignoring calls to act on climate change as it goes ahead with its oil projects. For example, one way in which Alberta might tackle international criticism to win back favor for the oil industry is through heavy investment in carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. Suncor Energy highlighted the need for more extensive government subsidies to develop CCS technologies such as small modular reactors (SMRs) to reduce carbon emissions without cutting oil production. Likewise, Cenovus Energy CEO Alex Pourbaix stated “There is not a dial on the wall where we can dial 'low carbon',”, further “To decarbonize significantly takes capital - massive quantities of capital over many years." If Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hopes to continue developing the country’s oil industry at the same time as cutting carbon, as he has so often signaled, with the aim of reducing CO2 emissions by 40 to 45 percent by 2030 from 2005 levels, his government will have to take these recommendations from oil firms on board. While Canada’s oil industry received hit after hit, it appears to be resilient enough to withstand the blows. Even so, Trudeau will have to consider greater investment in CCS technologies to support the sector in the face of increasing international criticism, and Biden may have to reconsider his tough stance on Canadian oil to manage the long-term stability of oil prices in a time of turbulence.”
Troy Media: Why Canada’s oil and gas sector gets so little respect
Mark Milke and Lennie Kaplan, Canadian Energy Centre, 8/18/21
“Want to know why Canadian oil and gas gets so little respect from anti-oil and gas activists?” Mark Milke and Lennie Kaplan of the Canadian Energy Centre write for Troy Media. “It’s not because Canada’s main energy sector is somehow a miscreant on measures of carbon emissions or anything else. Instead, it is often due to three approaches: focusing only on absolute emissions and ignoring the effect of economic growth and per capita measurements; skipping over the reality of a cold northern country; and making the perfect (utopian end) the enemy of the good. This might be why, despite considerable debate in the media and policy circles about the absolute greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions arising from the activities of Canada’s oil and gas sector, little attention has been paid to the reductions in GHG emissions intensity that have occurred within the sector over the past two decades… “Between 2000 and 2019, measured in what’s known in technical terms as “megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent,” the greenhouse gas emissions intensity in Canada fell by 30 per cent for every billion dollars in wealth created. Or consider Canada up against other countries on a similar measurement, carbon emission intensity per millions of U.S. dollars of GDP. Between 2000 and 2018, Canada’s GHG emissions intensity fell from 996 tonnes of CO2e per million dollars of GDP to 445 tonnes, a decline of over 55 per cent. The entire country and the oil and gas sector is already doing much more with much less CO2. Recall that the next time someone compares a growing Canada to an economically stagnant country or one with a declining population."
The Hill: July was a Frankenstein month created by the fossil fuel industry
Michael E. Mann is distinguished professor of Atmospheric Science and Director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University, 8/19/21
“The data is in: July 2021 was the hottest month on record during what was the hottest decade in the past two millennia, and perhaps the past 100 millennia,” Michael E. Mann writes in The Hill. “It wasn’t just hot though — with floods and fires too, it was an absolute monster of a month. This didn’t just happen by chance. It wasn’t due to “natural variability” as some climate change critics like to claim. Rather, it was, sadly, the long-predicted result of our continued burning of fossil fuels… “Fossil fuel industry executives and the politicians they helped elect created this monster and unleashed it upon the world. And until they prevent the continued buildout of fossil fuels, the monster months and years of extreme weather will keep getting bigger and scarier… “July was a monster of a month, throwing at us the worst weather extremes Mother Nature has to offer all at once. If it’s Frankenstein’s monster, its creators are the fossil fuel industry and the spin doctors who have worked for them. For they have, for years, variously insisted that climate change is not real, or not a problem, that it is somehow too late to act anyway (it’s not!) or that taking action will hurt the economy. Yet, it is the devastating extreme weather events born from climate inaction that are hurting the economy, and when clean energy will provide more jobs and grow the economy. This is the weather the fossil fuel industry and its political enablers fashioned. This monster is their creation. It is too late to slay it, but we can keep it at bay and limit the damage....” The budget reconciliation package that Congress is currently debating provides the best opportunity to work toward that goal here in the United States. But Democrats must be resolute in insisting that climate priorities — including key measures such as the clean energy standard — remain in the final bill that becomes law.”