EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 8/24/22
PIPELINE NEWS
Washington Post: Appalachian, Indigenous pipeline foes say climate deal ‘left us to burn’
Mlive.com: Make your voice heard at three Line 5 tunnel public meetings
Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Why has South Dakota become a battleground for the future of carbon? Here's what Summit said
Telegraph Herald: Delaware County residents voice concerns about safety of proposed CO2 pipeline
Dyersville Commercial: Most at meeting oppose to carbon pipeline
Albion News: Commissioners hear discussion again on Heartland Greenway CO2 pipeline
Radio Iowa: Residents pack Manchester meeting on proposed Navigator pipeline
Ag Update: Liability, safety among top concerns for proposed CO2 pipeline
Houston Chronicle: An offshore oil terminal would put a pipeline under Surfside Beach. Thousands of people want to stop it.
Associated Press: Oilfield wastewater line spills in northwestern North Dakota
Williston Herald: Still no takers for east-west pipeline that North Dakota wants to see built
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Politico: The climate law's methane catch
E&E News: Is NEPA a winning strategy to fight oil and gas?
E&E News: Climate law seen driving ‘demand destruction for fossil fuels’
STATE UPDATES
Civil Beat: EPA Investigation Finds Flaws In Pearl Harbor Water Systems
EXTRACTION
Financial Times: Methane hunters: what explains the surge in the potent greenhouse gas?
CLIMATE FINANCE
Wall Street Journal: Big Oil’s Message to Investors: You’re Too Pessimistic
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
The Message: Enbridge is crowing about its commitment to cleaner energy
OPINION
Inside Philanthropy: Philanthropy Should Help Close Climate Justice Gaps in Inflation Reduction Act
PIPELINE NEWS
Washington Post: Appalachian, Indigenous pipeline foes say climate deal ‘left us to burn’
Ellie Silverman, 8/23/22
“Crystal Cavalier-Keck sat inside the home her grandfather built on rural land in Mebane, N.C., that now has been in her family for more than 300 years, since before the Declaration of Independence. She was thinking about all they could lose,” the Washington Post reports. “Democrats and many environmental groups have been celebrating the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the climate movement’s biggest legislative success, but Cavalier-Keck and many other people living in communities threatened by a warming planet said they feel this deal came at their expense. Once again, she said, she feels they were a bargaining chip and ultimately, they were sacrificed. To secure the support of Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) for the Inflation Reduction Act, the climate, energy and health-care package that President Biden signed into law last week, Democratic leadership reached a side deal with Manchin that would overhaul the process for approving new energy initiatives and expedite the Mountain Valley Pipeline project — which Cavalier-Keck has been opposing for years. “They didn’t have all the players at the table,” Cavalier-Keck, an enrolled citizen of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation in North Carolina, told the Post. “I went through the stages of grief — anger, sadness, depression, hopelessness, and then I was like ‘We’ve got to stand up. We’ve got to do something.’” Cavalier-Keck, 44, is planning to rally in Washington on Sept. 8, recruiting other Indigenous, Black and Appalachian community members who are fearful of what this side deal could mean for their homes and the planet… “Rally organizers argue the side deal “guts bedrock environmental protections, endangers public health, fast-tracks fossil fuels, and pushes approval for Manchin’s pet project, the Mountain Valley Pipeline,” according to a messaging guide from the People vs. Fossil Fuels coalition sent to community members and climate activists… “Advocates are again returning to reemphasize these calls at a time when they say mostly White climate activists seem to be celebrating, without acknowledging the concessions made to pass this bill.”
Mlive.com: Make your voice heard at three Line 5 tunnel public meetings
Sheri McWhirter, 8/23/22
“Federal regulators announced three public meetings to gather input about Enbridge’s plan to build a tunnel beneath Great Lakes waters for a replacement section of its Line 5 oil and gas pipeline,” Mlive.com reports. “The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers scheduled three public “scoping” meetings for the federal project review process. Feedback is expected to come by the thousands from among tribal nations, community groups, individual citizens, and organizations from both pro-business and environmental advocacy camps. Two of the public meetings will be virtual, while one will be a five-hour, in-person session in St. Ignace… “Participation in the virtual meetings will be limited to 1,000 logins, while the in-person meeting will have space for about 500 people. The sessions are on a first-come basis, officials said. The in-person meeting will include taking public verbal comments, as well as an opportunity for participants to provide private comments to a stenographer. There also will be computer stations to submit written comments to the Corps’ website for Line 5 tunnel environmental impact statement information… “Opponents to the tunnel plan – including environmental advocates and tribal groups – argue such infrastructure brings risk of explosion and oil leaks that could wreak havoc on the natural environment and local economy, and that investment in new fossil fuel infrastructure would be counterproductive given the climate crisis and worldwide urgency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Why has South Dakota become a battleground for the future of carbon? Here's what Summit said
Nicole Ki, 8/24/22
The battle for the future of carbon is in full throttle.During the course of the last eight months, Summit Carbon Solutions, an Iowa-based agricultural company, has pitched its multi-billion dollar CO2 pipeline projects as a climate solution to rural South Dakota farmers, landowners and environmentalists alike,” the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports. “Their pitch, though, to lower the carbon footprint of 32 Midwest ethanol plants by capturing, pressurizing and transporting carbon dioxide to North Dakota to store 4 feet underground, continues to draw widespread opposition from rural landowners and former pipeline opponents… “The simple answer is the majority of ethanol plants are located in the Midwest, and they’re the biggest source of affordable carbon dioxide, Paul Blackburn, lawyer at Bold Alliance, a Nebraska-based non-profit helping local communities fight fossil fuel pipelines, told the Leader… “Based on the maximum, set at $50 per metric ton of carbon captured and stored, Summit has the potential to make $600 million annually and $7.2 billion over 12 years off of federal tax credits, according to reporting from the Des Moines Register and Blackburn. Pipeline skeptics like Blackburn, who has studied 45Q and IRS documents extensively, say they are more convinced Summit is green-washing a project that’s really after enhanced oil recovery. “If this is really for climate change and it’s only going to be sequestered, Congress could have said in the law that this tax credit is just for sequestering carbon,” he told the Leader. “But they didn’t. They increased the sequestration amount and enhanced oil recovery amount.” As 45Q stands, Blackburn believes companies like Summit are financially incentivized to do enhanced oil recovery. The companies wanting to build CO2 pipelines have not disclosed financial structures and have made general statements about how much they’ll profit off of 45Q, but nothing concrete, he said. "This project will not be used for enhanced oil recovery," Summit officials told the Argus Leader in an emailed statement… “It’s fair to say, according to Blackburn, the only people who have a need for tax credits in this volume are “corporations and the very wealthy.” “This is all driven by public dollars, in this case, the dollars that other people would have to pay to make up for that tax credit loss… there’s no free lunch and I don’t think landowners get that this is a federal program driving the entire process,” Blackburn told the Leader. When the Argus Leader asked Hood about how Summit will be held accountable to their promises to sequester carbon, and not oil, Hood responded that it’s “straightforward.” “There’s a very robust IRS reporting process. If you looked on the map as to where we’re going… you can see that we’re miles from where there even is oil and gas," Hood told the Leader. “You’re either doing EOR or you’re doing permanent sequestration,” Hood told the Leader. “Because if you’re taking it where we’re taking it, there’s no oil to recover.”
Telegraph Herald: Delaware County residents voice concerns about safety of proposed CO2 pipeline
ERIK HOGSTROM, 8/23/22
“Chris Anderson heard the latest presentation on the benefits of a proposed liquified carbon dioxide pipeline that would transverse Delaware County. He still had questions about the project,” the Telegraph Herald reports. “Looking at the map, this sucker’s going right through my living room,” Anderson told the Herald. “My main concern is safety.” Anderson, who lives about midway between Dundee and Masonville in western Delaware County, was among the more than 200 landowners and other community members who attended an informational meeting Monday in Manchester about the proposed Navigator Heartland Greenway project… “Pointed questions about the project drew applause from meeting participants. Cynthia Hoover, of Bettendorf, received two notification letters because her family has two farms along the proposed route in Delaware County. Hoover said she wasn’t surprised that meeting participants were questioning the safety of transporting liquified carbon dioxide and voicing negative comments about the project… “Several people questioned the safety of carbon dioxide pipelines, citing a rupture of one such pipeline in February 2020 in Satartia, Miss. Operated by Denbury Gulf Coast Pipelines, that pipeline ruptured following heavy rains that resulted in a landslide. A vapor cloud released by that rupture forced the evacuation of 200 people. Anderson was among the meeting participants questioning the safety of the proposed pipeline in Delaware County “This is personal — I want an ironclad guarantee,” he said. “What are the potential dangers to my family?” Navigator officials said they have studied the results from investigations of the Mississippi pipeline rupture and are incorporating the findings into their project. The company plans to develop an emergency response plan with local emergency medical services’ input.”
Dyersville Commercial: Most at meeting oppose to carbon pipeline
Mike Putz, 8/24/22
“The couple hundred people who came to the public information meeting of Navigator Heartland Greenway came from all walks of life, but most had some things in common — skepticism, fear and opposition to a proposed carbon capture pipeline that would run through parts of Delaware County,” the Dyersville Commercial reports. “...The meeting lasted over three hours, with the last two set aside for questions and answers. Among those with questions or comments was Jerry Marbach, who lives south of Manchester and who received a registered letter telling him the pipeline would run through his property. “I was a little skeptical when I came,” he told Navigator representatives and members of the Iowa Utilities Board. “When you said you were a subsidiary of BlackRock, it’s even worse. They have no good intentions for us in small-town America. There is nothing to benefit our area. I have very little ground — an acre. I have nothing to gain and everything to lose. I hope the supervisors look at some of us people in town and not corporations.” Several speakers questioned the safety of the pipeline, referencing a CO2 pipeline rupture in Mississippi in February 2022. A report on the Denbury Gulf Coast pipeline was released in May of this year. Several speakers cited the report, questioning why Navigator is going ahead with the project when it took two years for the Denbury report to be completed. Chris Anderson, of Dundee, said the pipeline would run close to his home. “What danger does it pose to me and my family if it seeps up from the pipe out of the ground? Come out and see our house, see the wetlands nearby,” he said. “What’s going to happen to my kid if the pipe bursts a quarter mile away? This is personal to me.” Several questioned whether Navigator has communicated plans with county emergency management officials in the event of a pipeline rupture. Delaware County Supervisor Jeff Madlom said Navigator has not spoken with Delaware County Emergency Management officials. “You have not reached out to our director yet. I recommend you keep her in the loop so she knows what is going on so we can stay updated.” Dubuque County Supervisor Ann McDonough said that although the pipeline doesn’t run through her county, she is hearing concerns from her constituents regarding the safety of the pipeline.”
Albion News: Commissioners hear discussion again on Heartland Greenway CO2 pipeline
8/23/22
“Discussion on the proposed Heartland Greenway CO2 pipeline in Boone County was part of the County Commissioners’ meeting on Monday, Aug. 22,” the Albion News reports. “Navigator Ventures LLC has proposed to build the $2 billion, 1,300-mile Heartland Greenway pipeline to gather carbon dioxide from plants near Albion and South Sioux City and join a pipeline that cuts from northwest to southeast across Iowa, eventually injecting it underground near Taylorville, Illinois… “Ralph and Debbie Schmadeke told the commissioners about their research and urged them to research all sides of the issue, including information from BOLD Nebraska. They pointed out that Nebraska counties have the power to regulate pipelines through the zoning and permitting process, can regulate the depth of the pipeline through a “level of cultivation” resolution, and require emergency support planning in the event of a pipeline rupture.”
Radio Iowa: Residents pack Manchester meeting on proposed Navigator pipeline
O. KAY HENDERSON, 8/23/22
“The proposed Iowa route for a Texas company’s carbon pipeline has changed and more than 200 people packed a public hearing in Manchester to express their opinions on the project,” Radio Iowa reports. “...During last night’s hearing, Dubuque County Supervisor Ann McDonough said the company has given zero safety information to emergency services in the area. “The folks in this room are terribly worried about safety…Fire, EMS here are people sitting in this room. Who’s going to respond to this? These are our kids,” McDonough said, drawing applause. A man who spoke at the hearing in Manchester said the proposed route would come within a quarter mile of his house and he’s concerned about ruptures. “How will you ensure that my family will not ever, ever experience many of the physical or medical issues as a result of this pipeline?” he asked. In 2020, a carbon pipeline rupture in Mississippi prompted the evacuation of a small town, as liquified carbon dioxide can cause nausea, headaches, mental confusion and respiratory issues. Several speakers urged the audience to send written objections to the Iowa Utilities Board, which will review Navigator’s requests to seize property from landowners unwilling to sign voluntary easements for the pipeline.”
Ag Update: Liability, safety among top concerns for proposed CO2 pipeline
Melisa Goss, 8/23/22
“Concerns about liability, eminent domain and safety of a proposed carbon sequestration pipeline were discussed Aug. 16 during the Carbon Pipeline Forum at Dakotafest,” Ag Update reports. “...The panel was composed of Jim Pirolli, chief commercial officer for Summit Carbon Solutions, the company that would own the pipeline; Jim Seurer, chief executive officer of Glacial Lakes Energy; and Jay Poindexter, a landowner and farmer from Ree Heights, South Dakota. Kristen Edwards, staff attorney for the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) was also on hand to answer policy and permitting questions. Poindexter said he initially agreed to let Summit Carbon Solution survey his land, but has since become opposed to the proposal. He said he believes many landowners have gotten offers that were too low, especially due to the liability the projects presents. “Our insurance company refused to cover the liability because of a pollution exclusion rule,” he said… “Poindexter said that land agents from Summit refused to negotiate easement language because they can take the land through eminent domain, which was a primary concern for landowners present at the forum. A group of individuals wearing matching anti-pipeline shirts populated the first two rows at the forum. The shirt said, “No Carbon Pipeline. No easement. No eminent domain.” “...Summit does not plan to use an odorizor to alert nearby individuals to a leak. Pirolli said they are forgoing it because the pipe will be heavily monitored and the technology involved with it is so precise that Summit officials will know about a leak before anyone would be able to smell the odor.”
Houston Chronicle: An offshore oil terminal would put a pipeline under Surfside Beach. Thousands of people want to stop it.
Amanda Drane, 8/23/22
“An oil export terminal offshore Freeport is inching toward reality despite thousands of opponents who argue its pipeline would disturb beloved Surfside Beach,” the Houston Chronicle reports. “The federal Maritime Administration is holding a final public hearing 6 p.m. Tuesday before making a determination on a license for the deepwater port project proposed by pipeline giant Enterprise Products Partners. (Registration information for the virtual meeting is available at spotnepaprocess.com. Written comments can be submitted online through Sept. 12.) The offshore oil port, the first of several competing projects proposed in 2019, was designed to more efficiently meet a surge in export volumes that has yet to come. Oil exports haven’t nearly reached projections after the pandemic disrupted what was anticipated to be a meteoric rise, giving more weight to residents asking: “Why Surfside?” “...I’m not attacking oil, but this is a huge project I’m not so sure is necessary,” said Martha Dunn, who lives in Houston but visits regularly in Surfside, where her 96-year-old mother has lived for nearly two decades. Her mother, Clare Dunn, described the beach community as “paradise.” “I don’t see why on Earth they would have to come right through our little village,” she said.”
Associated Press: Oilfield wastewater line spills in northwestern North Dakota
JAMES MacPHERSON, 8/23/22
“North Dakota regulators are investigating a massive spill of oilfield wastewater from a broken pipeline in the northwest part of the state that they say could take more than a year to clean up,” the Associated Press reports. “Karl Rockeman, of the state Department of Environmental Quality, told AP Monday that New York-based Hess Corp., the pipeline’s owner, reported the saltwater spill 8 miles (13 kilometers) northwest of Ray on Aug. 15, and estimated its size to be 8,400 gallons (31,797 liters). He said the company vastly increased its estimate on Monday to 1.4 million gallons (63.6 million liters), or enough to more than fill two Olympic-sized swimming pools. Rockeman told AP Hess believed the 6-inch, steel-reinforced composite pipe had been leaking since at least July 21, but the company didn’t discover the break until mid-August. It was first reported by an area farmer, Rockeman said. The pipeline was pressure-monitored for leak detection. Rockeman told AP it’s unknown why the spill was not detected earlier. It also was not immediately known what caused the leak to the pipeline… “Rockeman told AP the spill occurred about 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the nearest water well in the area. No drinking water sources were threatened, he told AP… “The largest such spill on record in North Dakota occurred north of Williston over a period of five months in 2014 and 2015. It contaminated more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) of Missouri River tributaries, as well as land and groundwater. Summit Midstream Partners’ pipeline leaked 700,000 barrels, or 29 million gallons (109,776,942 liters), of wastewater. Summit was ordered to pay $35 million in civil and criminal penalties.”
Williston Herald: Still no takers for east-west pipeline that North Dakota wants to see built
Renée Jean, 8/23/22
“There have been no takers for the east-west pipeline grant that North Dakota is offering to companies to build a line that will carry its excess gas from Western North Dakota across the state. That makes it likely that the state will have to extend the deadline for applications yet again,” the Williston Herald reports. “It also makes it more likely the state legislature will have to consider sweetening the pot for the project, a possibility lawmakers had alluded to in the last session when the grant for the project was approved. The next session of the legislature convenes in January. The east-west pipeline grant was among measures approved during a special session of the North Dakota Legislature at the end of 2021, to decide how best to spend funds from the American Rescue Plan Act. Lawmakers at the time approved $150 million for extending pipelines that would serve Eastern North Dakota, most of which was designated for the east-west pipeline, to buy down up to 40 percent of the line’s cost. A $10 million grant was also offered to extend the Viking pipeline, which runs through northwestern Minnesota, to the Grand Forks Area. One company has applied for that grant, for which approval is pending. Public officials have said they believe that an east-west pipeline would help goose economic development not just in the east, but across central North Dakota as well… “So far, only one company has publicly expressed interest in the project. That company is WBI Energy. Ultimately, however, the company sent a letter in April, just ahead of the application deadline, outlining why it was not submitting an application after all. Kringstad has said previously that about a dozen other companies are also looking into the potential for the project, but market uncertainties are making the project hard for them to justify right now.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Politico: The climate law's methane catch
NICK SOBCZYK, 8/22/22
“The $369 billion climate bill signed into law by President Joe Biden last week will tax methane emissions, a potentially significant step in meeting international climate targets,” Politico reports. “But the policy comes with a catch: roughly $1.5 billion in grants and loans to oil and gas companies to help them measure and address those emissions. It turns out that the only politically viable way to punish fossil fuel companies for their emissions was to dish out a new subsidy for the industry. Democrats had little choice. The policy was born out of several months of intense talks between Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), a vocal supporter of the methane fee, and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a fossil fuel industry supporter and the Senate's most important swing vote… “Still, it's a bitter pill for progressive Democrats who pledged during the 2020 campaign to do away with subsidies and special treatments for oil, gas and coal companies. Some natural gas facilities may also end up being exempted from the fee, raising questions about its potential impact on emissions. "The methane fee has clearly over time been watered down from original intent," Barry Rabe, a University of Michigan professor who tracks energy and climate policy, told Politico. "There are some real gaps in it in terms of the number of producing firms that are exempt."
E&E News: Is NEPA a winning strategy to fight oil and gas?
Heather Richards, 8/24/22
“Environmentalists have long used four letters — NEPA — to force greenhouse gas disclosures about fossil fuel plans on public lands,” E&E News reports. “But as the massive Willow oil and gas project in Alaska shows, the National Environmental Policy Act may not be enough to stop proposals even as Democrats’ political commitments and climate policies aim to reduce federal drilling. A draft environmental review recently released by the Biden administration found that Willow could drive as much as $18 billion in climate damages. That finding came on the heels of a federal judge vacating the project’s Trump-era approval over an earlier climate analysis deemed insufficient under NEPA. But the new carbon cost estimates produced by the Biden administration are just one factor in determining whether the White House ultimately approves — or rejects — Willow. Legal analysts tell E&E that’s because NEPA has its limits. It demands robust analysis, but it can’t force an administration to make a particular decision. “NEPA, for all its benefits, doesn’t mandate outcomes. All it mandates is that an agency accurately disclose the impacts — the environmental impacts — of a project,” Jeremy Lieb, a senior attorney for Earthjustice, one of the organizations that got the Willow project approval revoked on climate grounds, told E&E. Willow, backed by Houston-based ConocoPhillips, highlights a long struggle by environmental groups to make climate change central to decisions about fossil fuel development on public lands. The project also underscores the legal constraints faced by climate organizers who ultimately want to retire oil and gas drilling on federal lands — an action that may have to come from the White House or Congress rather than the courts.”
E&E News: Climate law seen driving ‘demand destruction for fossil fuels’
Scott Waldman, 8/24/22
“The Inflation Reduction Act won’t just increase clean energy — it also will hasten the arrival of peak U.S. fossil fuel demand, experts say,” E&E News reports. “And some maintain that peak could be reached as soon as 2025… “Zeke Hausfather, who leads climate research at Stripe, a financial services firm, told E&E the effect of the new law will be “demand destruction for fossil fuels.” “We’re quickly going to reach a point where there is not enough demand for U.S. oil and gas. The production keeps decreasing, and if you get into a world of falling demand, it really changes the calculus in a lot of ways,” he told E&E… “But it’s also important to note that the United States will soon turn a corner on fossil fuel demand, Hausfather told E&E. That falling demand will blunt the law’s provisions that secure fossil fuel production, such as offshore oil and gas leasing, he told E&E… “If you’re an oil company and you’re trying to decide if you want to spend seven years developing an oil platform in the Gulf, that might not sound like a very safe investment in a world where 14 percent of new vehicle sales are electric,” he told E&E… “Even some major oil companies, such as BP PLC, see peak demand cresting in just a few years — somewhere between 2025 and 2030 — as a result of clean energy expansion, according to a report compiled by Rystad Energy, a research firm based in Norway.”
STATE UPDATES
Civil Beat: EPA Investigation Finds Flaws In Pearl Harbor Water Systems
Christina Jedra, 8/19/22
“Two of the U.S. military’s water distribution systems, which serve some 93,000 people around Pearl Harbor, have numerous problems that may violate federal and state regulations, according to an investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency,” Civil Beat reports. “Whether the military will be hit with violation notices for its alleged maintenance and oversight failures has not yet been determined, the agency said. The EPA reviewed the water systems in April, about four months after fuel from the Navy’s Red Hill storage facility contaminated a nearby drinking water well, sickening military families. Inspectors were looking for compliance with U.S. Safe Drinking Water Act regulations. EPA inspectors found rust and corrosion in the Pearl Harbor water system during an April 2022 investigation… “Wayne Tanaka, the executive director of the Sierra Club of Hawaii, told Civil Beat the EPA’s findings are very concerning. “It’s flabbergasting that they would be so negligent and so reckless in allowing these issues to persist,” he told Civil Beat. “This is water that is being provided to families, children, infants.”
EXTRACTION
Financial Times: Methane hunters: what explains the surge in the potent greenhouse gas?
Leslie Hook and Chris Campbell, 8/2/22
“Every year, 6,000 flasks arrive at a laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. Inside each is a sample of air, taken from one of a chain of 50 monitoring stations that spans the globe. Together, these samples could help answer one of the most important questions facing the planet: why is there so much methane in the atmosphere?” the Financial Times reports. “...About 15 years ago, its researchers observed an uptick in atmospheric methane, a potent greenhouse gas with a warming impact 80 times greater than CO₂. Many researchers initially assumed the increase was linked to fossil fuel production. Methane is the primary ingredient in natural gas but is also produced by other human activities such as landfills, rice paddies and raising cattle. In the past few years, however, that uptick has accelerated into a surge. The implications for global warming are immense: of the 1.1C increase in global temperatures since pre-industrial times, about a third can be attributed to methane. Atmospheric methane had its highest growth rate ever recorded by modern instruments in 2020, and then that record was broken again in 2021. Nobody knows exactly why. “It is shocking,” Lindsay Xin Lan, a researcher based in the Boulder laboratory who is analysing the data, told FT. “A lot of research, a lot of scientists, are trying to explain it.” “...We are seeing a very substantial change,” says Dlugokencky. “After 200 years of increasing . . . all of a sudden we start to see a decrease in delta carbon-13. That means something significant has happened.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
Wall Street Journal: Big Oil’s Message to Investors: You’re Too Pessimistic
Anna Hirtenstein, 8/24/22
“Saudi Arabia and Goldman Sachs agree: Investors have the oil market all wrong,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Money managers bracing for a global slowdown have pulled back from bets on oil and other commodities, helping push prices lower. But their focus on potentially waning demand isn’t shared with some of the most powerful figures in the industry, or with investment banks, who point to a host of other reasons why prices should be higher. Money managers bracing for a global slowdown have pulled back from bets on oil and other commodities, helping push prices lower. But their focus on potentially waning demand isn’t shared with some of the most powerful figures in the industry, or with investment banks, who point to a host of other reasons why prices should be higher. This week, Saudi Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said the oil futures market has become increasingly disconnected from supply and demand for energy… “The market is irrational and the combination of decent demand, falling inventories and tight supply should be pushing prices up, Goldman Sachs analysts said in an Aug. 12 report. “Almost any measure of investor participation in this space is dwindling, this is what gives us the confidence to say this is investor-led,” said Jeff Currie, the bank’s head of commodities research, referring to the recent price declines… “Numerous industry executives, including the chief executives of Chevron Corp. and Shell PLC, have said recently that they expect the market to remain tight. Oil-price bulls point to limited investment in new oil fields due to the pandemic and environmental pressures. That has already led to a supply crunch, which should mean higher prices, they say. Some investors aren’t persuaded. “We’ve reduced our commodities allocation—we still have some exposure but this has really decreased,” Shaniel Ramjee, a multiasset fund manager at Pictet Asset Management, told the Journal. “It’s about expectations about a global growth slowdown.”
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
The Message: Enbridge is crowing about its commitment to cleaner energy
CHRIS POWELL, 8/23/22
“...Leo Burnett’s co-chief creative officer Steve Persico calls this the “beginning of the marketing story” around Enbridge’s cleaner energy efforts,” The Message reports. “The company began investing in renewable energy more than 20 years ago, and is now showcasing its efforts to bring about a sustainable energy future through emerging technologies like wind, hydrogen and carbon capture.Enbridge has committed to investing $4 billion in renewables and lower-carbon solutions through 2025, and says it is making additional investments to modernize its conventional infrastructure to increase efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions… “How: The one-minute and 20-second anchor spot opens on a rooster, long regarded as the symbol of a new day, standing on a fence post ready to greet the morning. The rooster represents Enbridge, demonstrating how the company powers communities, and its commitment to investing in clean technologies. As a cover of the Stevie Wonder song “Higher Ground” begins playing, the rooster struts to a nearby bus-stop and rides a bus into town, where he strolls past businesses and households preparing for the day ahead. As he walks past, lights come on in windows and business signs flicker to life. He then makes his way past solar panels and to the top of a wind turbine, before doing what other roosters can’t and taking flight, settling in an open space outside the town to cock-a-doodle-day the coming day… “While the rooster is the hero in the television ads, the sunrise motif is being used throughout other communications as a way of symbolizing how Enbridge is ushering in the transition to a new day of energy.”
OPINION
Inside Philanthropy: Philanthropy Should Help Close Climate Justice Gaps in Inflation Reduction Act
Katie Redford is executive director of the Equation Campaign, 8/22/22
“With the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passing last week, the country has a lot to celebrate when it comes to climate action and clean energy. It is an unprecedented, $369 billion climate bill that could put America on the path to meaningful emissions reductions by upward of 40% compared to 2005 levels. This is absolutely necessary to avert the worst of climate catastrophe,” Katie Redford writes for Inside Philanthropy. “However, the bill has rightly spurred mixed emotions, if not outright opposition, in communities concerned with environmental justice, given that it contains plenty of fossil fuel industry handouts, like subsidies and new leasing options for oil and gas expansion across the country. Energy Innovation found that “for every ton of emissions increases generated by IRA oil and gas provisions, at least 24 tons of emissions are avoided by the other provisions.” This has led climate analysts and even oil companies to call the IRA’s concessions a “net positive” and “worthwhile tradeoff.” As funders, we must be asking ourselves: a “worthwhile tradeoff” for whom? Which communities will survive, and which will be further burdened by new oil and gas infrastructure?.. “These so-called “worthwhile tradeoffs” should be code red for philanthropy, especially for those who have publicly committed to climate justice… “I was with Equation Campaign grantee partners in Appalachia when news of the climate deal broke, and they learned that the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) was one of those so-called “trade-offs,” brokered by their Senator, Joe Manchin. Local and Indigenous groups that we fund, like POWHR, 7 Directions of Service, and West Virginia Rivers were opposing the proposed 304-mile gas pipeline that cuts through the heart of their homelands… “To strike the IRA deal, Sen. Manchin — who has received more fossil fuel money than anyone else in Washington — bargained with his constituents’ lives and got what he wanted: an expedited approval of the pipeline… “And in the Great Plains, the farmers, ranchers and tribes who defeated Keystone XL didn’t get a day off before they faced new threats of pipelines. Equation Campaign is supporting groups that defeated Keystone XL, like Pipeline Fighters Hub, Easement Action Teams, and Indigenous Environmental Network, and are now working to stop companies from taking their land for dangerous carbon pipelines that got an IRA windfall to transport CO2 for dubious carbon capture initiatives. One such pipeline ruptured in rural Mississippi in 2020, sickening hundreds of community members. The IRA will undoubtedly reduce emissions and save lives, but it will do so on the backs of front-line communities.”