EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 8/9/23
PIPELINE NEWS
KSFY: Landowners optimistic after Summit Carbon ND permit denied
Public News Service: New Twist in Regional Carbon Pipeline Plan Felt in MN
KCHA: Impacts of Summit Pipeline Permit Denial in North Dakota in Iowa Unknown
Public News Service: Like Neighboring States, Carbon Pipeline Scrutiny Ramps Up in SD
WICS: Sangamon County Board opposes CO2 pipeline project, awaits safety assurances
WAND: Sangamon Board votes to ban CO2 sequestration & pipelines through 2023
KCHA: IUB/Summit Pipeline Info Meetings Tuesday in Floyd, Mitchell Counties
Kenosha News: Statewide coalition's energy pipeline tour to stop at Kenosha Union Club Thursday
Law360: FERC Prods DC Circ. To Affirm Vacated Call In Pipeline Suit
Bloomberg: Canada to Sell Pipeline Stake to Indigenous Groups Through Special Vehicle
Global News: Exclusive: The feds bought a pipeline for $5B. How did the cost balloon to over $30B?
WASHINGTON UPDATES
InsideEPA: Environmentalists Urge Forest Service Not To Ease Land Rules For
CCS
Reuters: Biden's carbon proposal is unworkable, US power sector warns
E&E News: Judge Upholds Interior ANWR Oil Leasing Pause
Law360: 10th Circ. Affirms BLM Drilling Project Approval
Accountable.us: Biggest Public Lands Drillers Made $100 Billion After Cheating Taxpayers
E&E News: Watchdog Urges BLM To Boost Tracking Of Idle Oil And Gas Wells
E&E News: GOP lawmakers allege China ties to green groups
E&E News: Obama alum targeted by climate activists quits ConocoPhillips
STATE UPDATES
WVUE: Water district investigates well failure, points to carbon capture project in Lake Maurepas
WHYY: Coast Guard finally shares details on Navy Yard oil spill: It was a faulty diesel fuel tank
WyoFile: Migration concerns stall ‘Path of the Pronghorn’ bottleneck development
EXTRACTION
WBUR: Eversource leaves the American Gas Association to focus on ‘decarbonization’
Reuters: ConocoPhillips to offer notes to fund $3 billion Surmont oil facility buyout
CLIMATE FINANCE
Reuters: Climate change puts sovereigns at downgrade risk, study finds
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Washington Post: The UAE hired a firm to ‘counteract’ critics before the COP28 climate talks
Mansfield News Journal: Three grants provide new equipment for the Madison Township Fire Department
Enbridge: Enbridge’s Safe Community Grants helps first responders
Enbridge: Enhancing both empathy and equity
OPINION
Cedar Rapids Gazette: Biden can stop carbon pipelines
Storm Lake Times Pilot: Editorial: Pipeline problems
Common Dreams: President Biden, Make MVP Stop Using Defective and Illegal Pipe!
American Carbon Alliance: Carbon Based Ag Economy or Bust
Frontier Centre for Public Policy: One U.S. Court Battle Could Reshape the North American Energy Economy
Real Clear Energy: Joe Biden’s Bureaucratic Land Grab
New York Times: Climate Is Now a Culture War Issue
PIPELINE NEWS
KSFY: Landowners optimistic after Summit Carbon ND permit denied
Parker Brown, 8/4/23
“The North Dakota Public Service Commission has denied a permit for the Summit Carbon Solutions Capture Pipeline Project,” KSFY reports. “…Pipeline projects in recent years have raised landowner concerns about eminent domain and the potential dangers of a pipeline break. Some landowners see North Dakota’s rejection of Summit’s permit as a positive sign that things may be turning in their favor… “The North Dakota PSC said Summit Carbon Solutions failed to provide adequate documentation proving the safety of property and residents… “Ed Fischbach, a farmer in Spink County, was in Sioux Falls when he got the news. He made the trip for his son’s wedding this weekend, but now he said that they have even more to celebrate. “Well, we were both surprised that it came today and we were both elated that it was the decision that it was,” Fischbach told KSFY. “Being that it was a unanimous decision, I think that makes it more powerful and it in our mind is a total rejection of the project. And we would hope now that maybe Summit would see that and maybe realize that people are not going to support that. If they can’t get that to go in North Dakota, it’s not going to go anywhere.” “…Fischbach told KSFY Navigator only has thirty percent of easement sign-ups needed to complete the project in South Dakota and Illinois only has thirteen percent of easement sign-ups… “Even though Summit plans on reapplying for its permit, landowners hope that the continued pushback in midwestern states pushes them and other pipeline projects to give up. “I don’t know how they can do this. I mean, it’s a pipeline right now to nowhere, and same thing with the Navigator Pipeline,” landowner Joy Hohn told KSFY. “They don’t have a sequestration site in Illinois. Both of these pipelines have come into our states and tried to bully landowners across the route.” “…This is a huge boost to all of us and hopefully North Dakota is just the beginning and we can get all of these states to align and stand for landowners and citizens across the route,” Hohn told KSFY. “It’s really been wearying on South Dakota landowners. I’ve been up in Pierre for the PUC hearings and you can just tell this is very emotional for them. It’s not only their concerns for the safety of their families if this pipeline were to rupture, but it’s also really ruining their plans for the future and for the economic development of their land.”
Public News Service: New Twist in Regional Carbon Pipeline Plan Felt in MN
Mike Moen, 8/9/23
“The fallout continues from last week's decision by North Dakota regulators to deny a permit for a controversial regional pipeline project. Opponents in Minnesota want officials here to take notice, and pump the brakes on their consideration of the plan,” Public News Service reports. “...Maggie Schuppert, campaigns director for the group Clean Up the River Environment, told PNS since Summit's permit application was declined by North Dakota, it makes no sense for Minnesota to be putting time and effort into a review right now. "If there is no project there on the other side of the border, it seems rather absurd to move this process forward and use government resources to do so," Schuppert told PNS. She pointed out the resources include an environmental review as part of Summit's application in Minnesota. The company said it plans to reapply for a North Dakota permit, but given the lengthy timeline and the possibility of another denial there, Schuppert feels the overall project is not viable… “Opponents worry the private projects are driven by profits and not the environmental benefits touted by developers. Critics also worry about public safety and damage to farmland… “Meanwhile, Clean Up the River Environment said Minnesota should also pause its review because federal officials are updating safety regulations for these specific pipelines.”
KCHA: Impacts of Summit Pipeline Permit Denial in North Dakota in Iowa Unknown
Mark Pitz, 8/8/23
“Summit Carbon Solutions, which wants to build underground carbon capture pipelines in Chickasaw, Floyd, Mitchell, Franklin, and Cerro Gordo counties, suffered a setback in their proposed plans on Friday,” KCHA reports. “The North Dakota Public Service Commission denied a Summit permit request as part of its plan to build about 320 miles of carbon pipeline in the state that would take the CO2 to be sequestered in its final destination near Bismarck, the state capital. During their regular Board meeting Monday, Floyd County Supervisor Chair Mark Kuhn read an opinion from Tim Whipple with Ahlers and Cooney PC how that decision impacts Summit’s permit application in Iowa. Whipple represents Floyd County and a handful of other counties, including recently added Franklin County, in efforts to intervene in the application process. Kuhn says the next step for intervention is the Iowa Utilities Board public hearing on Summit’s permit application starting August 22nd in Fort Dodge… “Kuhn noted that intervention is also being sought by the Charles City Area Economic Development Corporation and the City of Rockford, which contends Summit’s proposed pipeline route comes too close to the Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock School District.”
Public News Service: Like Neighboring States, Carbon Pipeline Scrutiny Ramps Up in SD
Mike Moen, 8/9/23
“This month and next, South Dakota regulators are holding hearings about proposed underground pipelines which would carry carbon dioxide for underground storage. Environmental groups with concerns about the approach are keeping a watchful eye,” Public News Service reports. “This month, the Public Utilities Commission hears testimony on a permit application from Navigator CO2, which wants to include South Dakota in a multistate pipeline moving carbon emissions from agriculture facilities for underground storage in Illinois. Guy Larson, chair of the South Dakota chapter of the Sierra Club, told PNS they remain leery of large-scale efforts to decarbonize ethanol production. "The Sierra Club sees the whole process as another way to extend the life of fossil fuels," Larson told PNS. Opponents also worry about damage to farmland and potential pipeline ruptures… “The project calls for carbon to be stored underground in North Dakota, but regulators there just rejected Summit's siting permit. Summit plans to reapply, but North Dakota regulators noted in its first application, the company failed to show that key elements of the project would produce minimal adverse effects on the environment and the public. Larson suggested those same questions remain as South Dakota's proceedings move forward.”
WICS: Sangamon County Board opposes CO2 pipeline project, awaits safety assurances
Caroleina Hassett, 8/8/23
“The Sangamon County Board on Tuesday discussed construction of the CO2 pipeline that has gotten a lot of pushback from the community,” WICS reports. “The board voted not approve any legislation when it comes to pipelines coming through Sangamon County… “We still haven’t fully heard everything that we need to hear, especially on the safety. If we’re going to ever approve a program, a pipeline that comes through like this, if we get that authority to do that, if the ICC doesn’t take that out of our hands, well we want to make sure that all these questions can be answered," said Greg Stumpf, District 16… “Present at the board meeting were many opponents of the project, along with a representative from Heartland Greenway who said it is up to them to present correct facts and data to the public… “Both resolutions were unanimous with all 26 members voting to postpone the project.”
WAND: Sangamon Board votes to ban CO2 sequestration & pipelines through 2023
Alyssa Patrick, 8/8/23
“Sangamon County is putting the brakes on a proposed carbon dioxide pipeline that would run through farms and neighborhoods in the county,” WAND reports. “...We are opposing any legislation by the state of Illinois or the federal government to approve pipelines coming through our county, until all these things are answered," Greg Stumpf, Sangamon County Board member for District 16, told WAND. "We're not saying no. But we're saying no for now," Stumpf told WAND. Board members said they still have serious questions about what the Navigator CO2 Pipeline means for roads, property value and safety. "We want to know everything about this process and we want to make sure it's safe, that's the main thing," Stumpf told WAND… "This isn't the wild west when it comes to pipelines. There's a lot of issues and concerns, there's a lot of interest in what the federal government will do as far as regulations. Whatever regulations are there now, this project will comply with them. Whatever regulations the federal government comes out with, whenever they come out with it, this project will comply with them," James Prescott, with Heartland Greenway, told WAND. Sangamon County has filed a Motion to Intervene with the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) in order to have a voice in the approval process. The ICC is expected to rule on the project in early 2024.”
KCHA: IUB/Summit Pipeline Info Meetings Tuesday in Floyd, Mitchell Counties
Mark Pitz, 8/8/23
“The Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) hosts a pair of public informational meetings for a possible addition to Summit Carbon Solutions underground carbon capture pipeline network in north Iowa,” KCHA reports. “...Summit recently added the Absolute Energy ethanol plant near St. Ansgar to its network and is seeking another 30 miles of pipe to connect it to its current proposed pipeline in Floyd County near Rockford. While Summit is still working through its permit process with the IUB for its original pipeline proposal, the company seeks a second permit for the additional pipeline, since modifying its existing request would likely delay the permit proceedings. The IUB and reps from Summit will host an informational meeting for landowners in Mitchell County Tuesday from noon to 3 pm at the Cedar River Complex Events Center in Osage. That will be followed by a session Tuesday evening from 6 to 9 pm at the Youth Enrichment Center on the Floyd County Fairgrounds, just west of Charles City.”
Kenosha News: Statewide coalition's energy pipeline tour to stop at Kenosha Union Club Thursday
8/8/23
“A statewide coalition will stop in Kenosha on Thursday (Aug. 10) to promote the importance of Wisconsin’s energy pipelines,” Kenosha News reports. “Wisconsin Jobs & Energy Coalition’s “The Safest Way Tour” will include a program at 3 p.m. at the Kenosha Union Club, 3030 39th Ave., organizers said in a release. The tour has been making stops around the state since last year, allowing communities the opportunity for a hands-on experience with a 34-foot piece of pipeline similar to one that would be used at the Enbridge Line 5 relocation project in Ashland, Bayfield and Iron counties… “The event will include a short program with speeches from elected officials, local businesses representatives, agricultural leaders, tribal members and labor leaders. Those in attendance will also have the opportunity to touch, feel and even sign the pipe on display, organizers said. Comprising the coalition are members of diverse Wisconsin organizations and businesses representing workers, manufacturers, farmers and communities. For information go to https://wijobsandenergy.com/.”
Law360: FERC Prods DC Circ. To Affirm Vacated Call In Pipeline Suit
Madeline Lyskawa, 8/8/23
“The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is urging the D.C. Circuit to again affirm the dismissal of a constitutional challenge from landowners regarding the commission’s delegation of eminent domain authority to private companies for the $6 billion Mountain Valley Pipeline gas pipeline,” Law360 reports.
Bloomberg: Canada to Sell Pipeline Stake to Indigenous Groups Through Special Vehicle
Robert Tuttle, 8/8/23
“Canada plans to sell a stake in the Trans Mountain oil pipeline to indigenous groups through a special-purpose vehicle that will allow individual communities to buy into the enterprise,” Bloomberg reports. “The government will provide the groups with access to capital so they don’t have to risk any of their own money to participate, according to a letter from Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland’s office that was obtained by Bloomberg. The communities’ equity interest in Trans Mountain will provide them with cash flows and allow them to jointly exercise governing rights, according to the letter, which was dated Aug. 2… “The plan partly clears up how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government will decide which indigenous groups are able to take a stake in the pipeline that his administration agreed to buy for about C$4.5 billion ($3.4 billion) in 2018. While some indigenous groups have opposed the Trans Mountain expansion — which nearly triples the capacity of the line that crosses many of their territories on its route from Edmonton to Vancouver — others have banded together into bidding groups to try to acquire stakes in the pipeline to generate revenue for their communities.”
Global News: Exclusive: The feds bought a pipeline for $5B. How did the cost balloon to over $30B?
Kamyar Razavi, 8/9/23
“Construction on the Trans Mountain pipeline in 2022 cost almost $9 billion, almost double the estimate of $5.3 billion,” Global News reports. “The expenditure for the Crown corporation expansion, found through a detailed reading of filings that included corporate plan summaries and projections, is one of several line items that reveal how a project purchased by Ottawa exceeded its original cost estimate by a factor of six, from $5.4 billion to $30.9 billion. The most telling details pertain to “uncapped” costs, a catch-all term pipeline companies use to describe expenditures that are more difficult to plan for in advance or that are subject to price swings. Accommodations with Indigenous groups and the cost of steel are two examples. Another is the construction through B.C.’s treacherous mountains and down to the coast. The ‘uncapped’ costs for this stretch ballooned from an initial estimate of $315 million in 2017 to $7.4 billion upon project completion, a 23-fold increase… “Global News reached out to Trans Mountain for comment on how the project costs soared beyond $30 billion. The company did not attribute specific dollar figures to any particular overrun, but cited 10 reasons for the greater-than-anticipated expenditures. Those range from “increased global inflationary pressures,” to “significant cost increases associated with building major infrastructure in densely populated areas,” to “cultural preservation activities.” “...Ottawa has long said that it does not want to be in the pipeline business, but the overruns have led to concerns about the possibility of selling off a company saddled with so much debt. It also has raised worries with several experts that Global News spoke with about taxpayers eventually having to absorb the beleaguered pipeline company’s liabilities.” “...Another particularly steep uncapped cost mentioned by Trans Mountain was accommodation with Indigenous communities. The pipeline company originally estimated $99 million but ended up spending almost 10 times that amount, around $900 million. There are over 120 First Nations communities along or near the pipeline’s route. “I really think they have seriously misplanned this entire adventure,” Ramanan Krishnamoorti, a professor of petroleum engineering, and a pipeline expert, at the University of Houston, told Global News. “We all anticipate a 25-per cent [increase] — but if you miss it by a factor of two, you should be out of a job, and if you miss it out of a factor of six, you should be out of a job many times over, instantaneously.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
InsideEPA: Environmentalists Urge Forest Service Not To Ease Land Rules For CCS
8/7/23
“Environmental groups are criticizing a planned rule that would ease deployment of carbon storage projects on U.S. Forest Service land, as other agencies and states try to piece together a regulatory landscape for the carbon capture and storage (CCS) industry that is growing amid Biden administration support,” InsideEPA reports. “At issue is a rule that the Forest Service is expected to propose soon that would amend application requirements and procedures ‘to allow exclusive or perpetual right of use or occupancy’ of National Forest System (NFS) land for CCS, according to the most recent regulatory agenda. The agenda says the agency plans to propose a rule this month that “would amend initial screen criteria in existing regulations to allow for permanent carbon dioxide sequestration on NFS lands to support [CCS]-related activities and will help meet the Administration’s priority of tackling the climate crisis.” While the proposal’s details are not yet public, an Aug. 4 letter from the Center for Biological Diversity, Food and Water Watch, and other environmental groups charge that the regulatory change is “unnecessary, egregious, and could lead to serious, irreparable harms to forests, people, and wildlife.”
Reuters: Biden's carbon proposal is unworkable, US power sector warns
Nichola Groom and Valerie Volcovici, 8/9/23
“U.S. power plant owners warned the Biden administration on Tuesday that its sweeping plan to slash carbon emissions from the electricity sector is unworkable, relying too heavily on costly technologies that are not yet proven at scale,” Reuters reports. “Top utility trade group the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for revisions of the proposed power plant standards, which hinge on the widespread commercial availability of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and low-emissions green hydrogen, adding the agency's vision was "not legally or technically sound." "Electric companies are not confident that the new technologies EPA has designated to serve as the basis for proposed standards for new and existing fossil-based generation will satisfy performance and cost requirements on the timelines that EPA projects," EEI said in a public comment released on Tuesday on the agency's deadline for feedback… “West Virginia, which led a lawsuit against the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, also said it and 20 other states were opposed to the rule because the standards would leave coal plant operators with no choice but to close. The proposed limits for both new and existing power plants assume availability of CCS technology that can siphon the CO2 from a plant’s smokestack before it reaches the atmosphere, or the use of hydrogen as a fuel. The EPA said that last year's passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which subsidizes those technologies, makes them cost-effective and viable… “The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, which represents 900 member-owned electric utilities, asked the EPA to withdraw the proposed rule, saying it would compromise reliability and affordability, CEO Jim Matheson told Reuters.”
E&E News: Judge Upholds Interior ANWR Oil Leasing Pause
Niina H. Farah, 8/7/23
“A federal judge is backing the Biden administration’s decision to block temporarily new oil and gas leasing on the pristine coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge-Alaska,” E&E News reports. “Judge Sharon Gleason of the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska issued an order Monday affirming the Interior Department’s power to pause leasing as the agency completes a new National Environmental Policy Act analysis of how fossil fuel development would affect the 1.6-million-acre refuge. The ruling is a win for Indigenous and environmental groups aiming to block a pair of lease sales on ANWR’s coastal plain mandated by Congress in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The first sale took place Jan. 6, 2021, and lawmakers had directed Interior to hold the second sale by Dec. 22, 2024. Gleason, an Obama-appointed judge, said the critical factors for finding the pause was legal was its limited time frame and scope. Interior’s Bureau of Land Management plans to release its supplemental analysis in the third quarter of this year, and the agency has not yet missed the deadline for its second sale, she said. A “temporary pause in implementing a program is not a decision to indefinitely cease its implementation,” Gleason wrote.”
Law360: 10th Circ. Affirms BLM Drilling Project Approval
Tom Lotshaw, 8/7/23
“A Tenth Circuit panel on Monday denied conservation groups’ attempt to overturn Bureau of Land Management approvals that Jonah Energy LLC secured for a natural gas drilling project in greater sage grouse and pronghorn habitat in Wyoming’s Upper Green River Valley, affirming a lower ruling that also upheld the approvals,” Law360 reports. “The three-judge panel rejected a series of arguments the Western Watersheds Project, the Center for Biological Diversity and Upper Green River Alliance raised to challenge BLM approvals for the Normally Pressured Lance Project, located about 35 miles south of Pinedale. One such argument was that the BLM authorized activities in areas where sage grouse congregate each winter without first gathering baseline information needed to assess the project’s impacts, such as the extent of those wintering areas and when and how the birds access them. But the panel said the conservation groups overstated the extent of information the BLM lacked and the extent to which missing information was ‘essential’ to the BLM’s selection of a project alternative.”
Accountable.us: Biggest Public Lands Drillers Made $100 Billion After Cheating Taxpayers
8/7/23
“In a new report from non-partisan government watchdog Accountable.US first reported in E&E today the biggest drillers of United States public lands are revealed for the first time. The report shows big, multinational oil corporations– some of the most profitable in the world– benefiting the most from a broken public lands leasing system. ‘Big Oil companies have spent big to buy politicians who will protect the broken system of federal oil and gas leasing that has made them huge profits,’ said Chris Marshall, research manager at Accountable.US. ‘This report proves that the actions the Biden administration is taking to conserve public lands and reform the leasing system are long overdue. American taxpayers simply can’t afford any more exploitation by companies that can easily afford to pay their fair share,’ Marshall continued. The report details how the top five publicly-traded public lands leaseholders control hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands in the United States. The same five companies made over $100 billion in profits in 2022 through corporate greed and price gouging. It goes on to show that each of the top five publicly-traded public lands lease holders has a record of intentionally cheating on royalties– the portion of the value of publicly-owned minerals that companies are legally required to return to the public.”
E&E News: Watchdog Urges BLM To Boost Tracking Of Idle Oil And Gas Wells
Heather Richards, 8/7/23
“The Biden administration has begun keeping a more accurate count of idle wells on public lands, according to the Interior Department watchdog,” E&E News reports. “Still, the Office of Inspector General found in a report published Aug. 1 that the department is failing to fully track and monitor the wells on public lands that risk becoming orphaned and abandoned. Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning said in a response letter that she ‘generally agrees’ with the OIG and its recommendations. She also noted that BLM has already made some improvements that address OIG’s concerns, such as setting a goal this year for field offices to inspect at least 40 percent of ‘high risk’ idle wells. Abandoned and aging oil infrastructure on public lands has gained more notoriety in recent years, culminating in passage of the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law that created a $4.7 billion program to clean up orphan wells, including $250 million for public lands. BLM — which oversees drilling on federal land — defines an idle well as one that hasn’t produced oil or gas in four years and ‘has no anticipated beneficial use.’”
E&E News: GOP lawmakers allege China ties to green groups
Timothy Cama, 87/23
“Two Republican lawmakers are accusing environmental organizations of potentially acting as foreign agents of China while violating a federal law requiring disclosure of their work,” E&E News reports. “Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) say the Natural Resources Defense Council and clean energy firm RMI have extensive ties to China and its Communist Party and have carried out advocacy work that could benefit the country. Such activities could run afoul of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. “These organizations’ advocacy, ties to China, and direct communications with White House officials raise concerns that these groups are acting as unregistered agents of the Communist regime,” the lawmakers wrote in a recent letter to the Department of Justice, asking for various documents from Attorney General Merrick Garland regarding their accusations. The investigation from Cruz, the top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, and Comer, chair of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, is the latest in a yearslong effort by the GOP and conservatives to argue that major figures in the U.S. environmental community are being funded or controlled by United States adversaries.”.
E&E News: Obama alum targeted by climate activists quits ConocoPhillips
Lesley Clark, 8/7/23
“A prominent Harvard environmental professor has severed her ties to oil giant ConocoPhillips following criticism from climate activists,” E&E News reports. “In a posting on her personal website, Jody Freeman said last week she is leaving the company’s board to focus on her Harvard research and “make space for some new opportunities.” An Obama administration alum who founded and directs Harvard’s Environmental & Energy Law Program, Freeman was the target of climate activists who disrupted a Harvard forum last month, demanding that the university fire her. “Direct action works,” one of the two groups targeting Freeman wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. Climate Defiance, which has interrupted other speeches and fundraisers, pledged to continue its effort. “We still have hella work left to do,” the group said. “We will fight to make climate a top-3 issue in American politics and stop all new fossil fuel projects.” Freeman had sat on the Houston-based company's board as a paid, outside director since 2012, earning as much as $350,000 annually in salary and stocks. Although Freeman had defended the position as helping the company “strengthen its climate commitments,” critics argued that the company had expanded its fossil fuel operations during her tenure.
STATE UPDATES
WVUE: Water district investigates well failure, points to carbon capture project in Lake Maurepas
David Jones, 8/7/23
“The Tangipahoa Water District board voted Monday to move forward with an investigation into the cause of an underground well implosion it believes could be tied to recent carbon capture work in Lake Maurepas,” WVUE reports. “Ultimately, the district said it hopes to be able to recoup the more than $600,000 it will cost to make repairs to the well. Back in the spring, the Tangipahoa Water District said it discovered what it called a “blowout” in the Dutch Lane Water Well, causing the concrete wall and steel casing to implode inward, something it said could only be tied to outside causes. The board pointed to recent carbon capture testing being conducted in Lake Maurepas, and said the testing could be to blame for issues at the well which began in January. “We’re not going to allow someone else to come in, damage our wells and put those costs on customers and write it off without making sure that we can’t recoup that money from somewhere else,” said board member Don Marshall. Environmental groups, local officials and concerned Tangipahoa Parish residents are among the opposition to an ongoing carbon capture and storage project being conducted by the company Air Products in Lake Maurepas… “Air Products said there is no correlation between the failure of the Dutch Lane well and the ongoing explosive testing it is doing in the region. But the district contests that, pointing to reports from experts hired by Air Products which it said do not take into account all of the explosive testing being done closest to Dutch Lane… “Marshall said he believes the Air Products testing has the potential to impact drinking water in the North Shore and Lake Maurepas regions.”
WHYY: Coast Guard finally shares details on Navy Yard oil spill: It was a faulty diesel fuel tank
Fallon Roth, 8/9/23
“A leaking diesel fuel tank caused last week’s oil spill at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, in which approximately 100 gallons of diesel slid into the nearby river basin,” WHYY reports. “...The Coast Guard believes the remaining diesel fuel will “naturally dissipate,” Coast Guard spokesperson Matthew West told WHYY. Responders used a “hard and soft boom” at the 26th Street Bridge to prevent the diesel from spreading further, per West. Booms, which are long and cylindrical and float atop the water’s surface, are one of the more common tools used to contain oil spills, according to Elastec, an environmental product company… “The Navy Yard spill was contained pretty quickly, per authorities. It was first reported just before 9:30 a.m. last Thursday, and by 9:38 a.m. the PFD had declared the situation “under control,” meaning no additional resources were required.”
WyoFile: Migration concerns stall ‘Path of the Pronghorn’ bottleneck development
Mike Koshmrl, 8/8/23
“Citing concerns over migration, the Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments delayed finalizing a lease sale that could allow development to occur in a Path of the Pronghorn bottleneck area for the price of $19 an acre,” WyoFile reports. “Jennifer Scoggin, the office’s director, signed a memo ahead of the State Board of Land Commissioners meeting last week stating that the leasing of parcel 194, which is bisected by the New Fork River, drew comments expressing migration concerns. “Parcel #194 has been removed from the attached Oil and Gas Auction Results List pending a further vetting of the concerns by both the Office of State Lands and Investments (OSLI) and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD),” the memo reads. The Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments leased several tracts of school trust land within the undesignated migration corridor of the Sublette Pronghorn Herd during its July 12 lease sale. Conservation groups successfully delayed the lease sale being formalized in parcel 194, which overlaps an antelope bottleneck… “Five years ago, the Bureau of Land Management’s decision to offer oil and gas leases in the already designated Red Desert-to-Hoback mule deer migration route caused a similar outcry. That controversy partly sparked Gov. Mark Gordon’s executive order that seeks to protect ungulate migration, Nick Dobric, the Wilderness Society’s Wyoming conservation manager, told WyoFile. “Sadly, though, we’re in the same situation today because the state has continued to delay recognizing the Path of the Pronghorn,” Dobric said. Dobric also had concerns about two other state land oil and gas leases in the migration route that were finalized: parcels 196 and 197. Otherwise, he was thankful for the pause in developing parcel 194. “We appreciate the state delaying approval for the leased bottleneck parcel and hope this decision kickstarts the designation review,” Dobric told WyoFile.
EXTRACTION
WBUR: Eversource leaves the American Gas Association to focus on ‘decarbonization’
Miriam Wasser, 8/8/23
“New England's largest energy utility, Eversource, has parted ways with the American Gas Association — a powerful industry group that environmentalists say has been instrumental in blocking efforts to address climate change around the country,” WBUR reports. “Eversource spokesperson Chris McKinnon told WBUR that the utility canceled its membership with the group in early 2022 as part of a broader, strategic effort to prioritize “decarbonization” and reduce planet-warming emissions. “Eversource is more than a natural gas utility,” McKinnon wrote in an email. “It was a company-wide decision to withdraw membership from the American Gas Association and redirect costs to more targeted associations and memberships with a focus on decarbonization to support our company-wide operations.” Eversource’s departure appears to mark the first time a major utility has left the influential gas trade group over diverging climate agendas, a move some energy experts call “unprecedented” and say could be a harbinger of things to come. “The American Gas Association is a prominent voice in the utility industry. So it’s a big deal to see one of their major members leave and indicate that they’re going to focus on decarbonization,” Charlie Spatz, a researcher with the Energy Policy Institute, a utility watchdog group, told WBUR. “I think it's very possible that we see more utilities follow the lead of the Eversource.”
Reuters: ConocoPhillips to offer notes to fund $3 billion Surmont oil facility buyout
8/9/23
“ConocoPhillips (COP.N) will offer notes to raise funds for its acquisition of the remaining 50% stake in Surmont oil facility in Canada worth $3 billion, the U.S. oil gas producer said in a filing on Tuesday,” Reuters reports. “The Houston, Texas-based company did not specify how much it was looking to raise through the notes, which it said will comprise senior unsecured debt. Surmont is part of the Canadian oil sands, which hold some of the world's largest crude reserves.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
Reuters: Climate change puts sovereigns at downgrade risk, study finds
Mark John, 8/6/23
“A global failure to curb carbon emissions will lead to rising debt-servicing costs for 59 nations within the next decade, according to a study that simulated the economic impact of climate change on current sovereign credit ratings,” Reuters reports. “Among them, China, India, the United States and Canada could expect higher costs as their credit scores fall by two notches under a "climate-adjusted" ratings system, the study published in the Management Science journal on Monday found. "Our results support the idea that deferring green investments will increase costs of borrowing for nations, which will translate into higher costs of corporate debt," researcher Patrycja Klusak told Reuters of the study led by the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the University of Cambridge… “While ratings agencies acknowledge the vulnerability of economies to climate change, they have so far been cautious in quantifying those risks in their ratings exercises because of uncertainties about the likely extent of the damage… “If the planet manages to stick to the goal of the Paris Climate Agreement, with temperatures held under a two-degree rise, sovereign credit ratings would under the simulation see no impact in the short-term and only limited long-term effects. A worst-case scenario of high emissions through to the end of the century would on the other hand result in higher global debt-servicing costs, rising up to the hundreds of billions of dollars in current money, the model found.”
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Washington Post: The UAE hired a firm to ‘counteract’ critics before the COP28 climate talks
Maxine Joselow, 8/9/23
“The United Arab Emirates has hired a strategic communications firm to “counteract all negative press and media reports” about its role in hosting the next United Nations climate summit, known as COP28, according to federal disclosure filings reviewed by the Washington Post. “The contract with First International Resources comes as the UAE faces a barrage of negative headlines over its decision to name an oil industry executive as president of the global climate gathering. Activists have called the move to appoint Sultan Al Jaber, who runs the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., “tantamount to putting the head of a tobacco company in charge of negotiating an anti-smoking treaty.” “...The New Jersey-based firm will seek to “reinforce attitudes among decision makers in Washington, DC and across Europe regarding the strategic value of the UAE in the global fight to address climate change,” according to the filings under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which were made public Friday. Under the terms of the contract, the UAE will pay the firm a monthly retainer fee of $100,000. The firm’s U.S.-focused efforts are expected to cost $132,500 and will include… “Seeking to “strengthen the overall reputation and standing of the UAE, His Excellency Dr. Sultan Al Jaber and COP28 among Western audiences” and to “leverage this enhanced reputation in order to most effectively inoculate Dr. Al Jaber and COP28 from any potential criticism.” “...Jamie Henn, the founder and director of Fossil Free Media, which runs a campaign calling on public relations firms to drop fossil fuel industry clients, slammed the contract. He told the Post First International Resources appears to be helping the UAE overstate its green credentials. “You don’t pay over $100,000 to a PR firm when you’re confident about your public image,” Henn told the Post. “You pay that much when you want to spin the public to believe the impossible, which in this case is that the UAE and Dr. Al Jaber are really committed to transitioning away from fossil fuels.”
Mansfield News Journal: Three grants provide new equipment for the Madison Township Fire Department
Al Lawrence, 8/8/23
“The Madison Township Fire Department is getting some new equipment thanks to just over $32,000 in grants it received from three different sources,” the Mansfield News Journal reports. “...Fire Chief Ken Justus reported at the township trustees’ regular meeting on Monday that he received notice late last month that TC Energy is providing an $8,000 grant for the turnout gear while the Firelands Electric People Fund has provided a $5,200 grant to buy eight thermal imaging cameras and chargers.”
Enbridge: Enbridge’s Safe Community Grants helps first responders
8/9/23
“Small communities all across the country rely on fire departments, ambulance services and other emergency responders to keep them safe,” according to Enbridge. “Recognizing that, in 2002 Enbridge launched its Safe Community First Responder Program specifically for first responders providing safety along the company’s rights-of-way… “In 2022 Enbridge donated $1.8 million through 246 grants to community first response agencies across North America. The safety of the communities near Enbridge projects and operations, and the people who live and work along those system, remains one of Enbridge’s highest priority and why it is proud to support the organizations that help keep communities safe.”
Enbridge: Enhancing both empathy and equity
8/8/23
“Over the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Women’s Centre of Calgary lost 69% of its volunteers,” according to Enbridge. “...Enbridge provided WCC with a Fueling Futures grant of $10,000 to work with curriculum-development specialists to design the training, which focuses on helping volunteers challenge their unconscious bias, learn about anti-racism, equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and Truth and Reconciliation, and better serve equity-deserving groups (primarily Indigenous, Black, and racialized women).”
OPINION
Cedar Rapids Gazette: Biden can stop carbon pipelines
Jim Walsh is Policy Director at the national advocacy group Food & Water Watch, 8/9/23
“August marks the anniversary of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which is often touted as the most important action the federal government has ever taken to tackle the climate crisis. But the law relies on a massive gamble: carbon capture,” Jim Walsh writes for the Cedar Rapids Gazette. “Hungry to cash in on billions of dollars in federal tax credits, a trio of corporations are vying to ram thousands of miles of carbon capture pipelines through Iowa and the Midwest. If they are successful, millions of people will be put at serious risk. Carbon capture pipelines are unsafe, unnecessary, and unwanted. Biden can stop this feeding frenzy… “After an infamous 2020 carbon pipeline rupture in Mississippi sent 45 people to the hospital and forced 200 to evacuate, an investigation by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) concluded that current safety rules are insufficient. PHMSA fined the pipeline operator nearly $3 million — the second largest sum in the agency’s history — and kicked off a rule-making to strengthen safety regulations. Before those rules are in place, carbon pipeline profiteers are forcing Iowans to put their safety at risk for projects that will never live up to expectations. Time and time again, carbon capture has proved ineffective at actually reducing climate-warming emissions. But this hasn’t stopped the federal government from pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into private coffers… “Private pipeline corporations are not in the business of keeping us safe — that responsibility lies with our elected officials… “It’s time for the federal government to step in. The carbon capture gold rush starts and stops with President Biden. We are calling on Biden to issue a moratorium on all federal permits for carbon pipelines and related infrastructure until robust safety regulations are in place.”
Storm Lake Times Pilot: Editorial: Pipeline problems
Art Cullen, 8/8/23
“North Dakota’s utility commissioners threw a big wrench into the Summit pipeline works when they voted unanimously last week to deny a permit for construction,” Art Cullen writes for the Storm Lake Times Pilot. “The three-member commission cited unanswered environmental and safety concerns. Summit could appeal to state court, but instead it said it would resubmit its application to the commission. Summit is marching toward an Aug. 22 hearing with the Iowa Utilities Board over its eminent domain plans… “Significant opposition is forming to the establishment money invested in Summit (the same money that ousted King from Congress). What we thought were greased skids are starting to develop some friction. It could take several months for Summit to figure out how to address North Dakota’s concerns without bollixing up the works in Iowa while a populist campaign is building. This pipeline might not be a done deal after all. It will be interesting to see how the pace changes in Iowa as the late August hearing commences. A lot of big money already is sunk into this deal. A lot of big money stands to be made if it gets laid from federal carbon reduction programs. The ethanol industry is four-square behind the pipeline, but many of the farmers who feed the stills with corn are not on board. Other pipelines hang in the balance. All eyes will be on Iowa.”
Common Dreams: President Biden, Make MVP Stop Using Defective and Illegal Pipe!
Bill Kitchen is an activist living in upstate New York, 8/3/23
“...At 5:26 a.m. a 30-inch gas pipeline, operating at a pressure of about 675 pounds per square inch, burst, sending flames 500 feet into the air, which were visible 20 miles away in Carlsbad,” Bill Kitchen writes for Common Dreams. “The ruptured pipe became a blowtorch aimed directly at the campers 200 yards away. Six made it into the river, but even that couldn’t save them. The others never made it out of their tents. They were burned alive, incinerated. By the end of the day 10 had succumbed. Two days later another died and the last one passed away in a couple of weeks, having never regained consciousness… “At the time, the spokeswoman for the pipeline company said investigators might never be able to say what sparked the explosion. She said it could have been anything and seemed to shift responsibility to the campers by saying it could have been someone lighting a cigarette or coal from a barbecue. She was wrong… “The pipe ruptured and exploded because of severe internal corrosion, according to a report issued by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)... “The ruptured pipe that killed those 12 people did not have an internal coating nor was it required… “Mountain Valley Pipeline’s (MVP) Natalie Cox has stated, “First and foremost, the safe construction and operation of the MVP project remains our top priority.” If that was true, MVP would have voluntarily coated the interior of its pipes. But since it isn’t required, they didn’t bother going to the extra expense, safety be damned… “We also know that Natalie Cox’s statement is untrue because of MVP’s refusal to properly address the defective exterior coating on its pipe. An adequate external corrosion-proof coating is required by law, and the debt deal doesn’t change that… “So now the ball is in President Joe Biden’s and Pete Buttigieg’s court. As Secretary of the Department of Transportation, Buttigieg oversees PHMSA, the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration, which is tasked with enforcing the coating regulations… “For those that live within the blast zone, their kids and grandkids may never be allowed to experience the joy of tenting out in the backyard unless Biden comes through and enforces the law. This issue is not going to go away until it is properly addressed. Even a KXL pipeline manager said defective coating can’t be remedied in the field. Stop burying more pipe. It all needs to be replaced or sent back to the factory for proper stripping, cleaning, and recoating (see this two-minute video).”
American Carbon Alliance: Carbon Based Ag Economy or Bust
David Kruse, 8/7/23
“Over the first half of my 50-year farming career we struggled to make money without farm subsidies,” David Kruse writes for the American Carbon Alliance. “...Nothing in my life has added more wealth to the Ag sector and rural economy than has the biofuel industry… “We are at a new place now in our Ag economy where we built something phenomenal that has contributed more to our economic growth than anything else in our lifetimes and it is all at risk if we do not protect it… “The carbon economy is the best future that we are going to be offered… “The reason that the ethanol industry has embraced the concept of sequestering its CO2 is that it reduces the carbon score of ethanol plants to a level that ethanol competes or beats that of EVs. Long term the market for high carbon fuels is going to go away. There will be an extended future, however, for low carbon fuels. When I was approached by Summit Carbon Solutions for a CO2 pipeline easement, I knew that the future of the industry required these pipelines. They made it pretty darn easy to say yes in their compensation. These CO2 pipelines are a requirement for the survival of the ethanol industry… “I think that this is the path forward and I do not know about you but I do not want to go back to growing cheap corn living off USDA.”
Frontier Centre for Public Policy: One U.S. Court Battle Could Reshape the North American Energy Economy
Joseph Quesnel, 8/8/23
“A court battle in a small port city in Maine has the potential to significantly impact energy pipeline commerce in both Canada and the United States,” Joseph Quesnel writes for the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. “It all began when the Portland Pipeline Corporation sought to reverse the flow of an underutilized Second World War-era pipeline linking Montreal and Maine. The city council of South Portland passed a zoning ordinance banning the bulk loading of crude oil tankers, claiming it was to address local air quality concerns. Evidence suggests that this local ordinance is part of a co-ordinated effort by U.S. and Canadian environmentalist groups to prevent “dirty” Canadian oil sands oil from entering the United States. The pipeline company filed a lawsuit, arguing that the ordinance violated the U.S. Constitution, which grants powers over interstate and foreign commerce to Congress. However, in 2018, a federal court dismissed the challenge, stating that the ordinance did not violate the U.S. Constitution, despite evidence of a broader campaign by environmentalist NGOs to keep Canadian oil out of the U.S. The company withdrew its legal challenge, leaving the lower court judgment unchallenged and potentially influencing other judges in similar cases. The case in Maine is seen as part of a larger effort by environmentalist groups to obstruct the energy sector, as documented in various investigations, including the Allen Inquiry in Alberta. The theory of “Baptists and Bootleggers” highlights how seemingly opposing parties can find common ground on certain issues, such as U.S. economic nationalists and environmentalists joining forces to limit Canadian oil… “This potential reality must be addressed head-on. Neglecting the situation won’t stop this shotgun marriage of green activists and U.S. businesses trying to keep Canadian oil and gas out… “Energy advocates in both the U.S. and Canada need to remind American consumers that Canadian oil is environmentally better than many other sources… “If Canadian heavy oil is diminished, it will have to be replaced by foreign product from less savoury regimes, such as Venezuela, which along with being oppressive, have far worse environmental and carbon emissions records… “Finally, the federal government must reverse course on its energy policies. Ottawa needs to roll back its anti-energy policies and legislation, including its ‘Just Transition’ plans, and Bills C-69 and C-48. Reducing emissions is not the same as reducing oil production or exports. Canada must realize that producing and shipping more Canadian oil and natural gas overseas is a net positive for the world.”
Real Clear Energy: Joe Biden’s Bureaucratic Land Grab
David Bernhardt is Chair of the Center for American Freedom at the America First Policy Institute. He previously served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior, 8/7/23
“Earlier this year, the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed Public Lands rule,” David Bernhardt writes for Real Clear Energy. “The rule seeks new regulations to prioritize ‘the health and resilience of ecosystems’ across the 10% of American land the bureau manages. It would do this by deeming ‘conservation’ a specific ‘use’ of these lands. Unlike recent bipartisan conservation legislation, this new proposed rule would steamroll Congress’ constitutionally granted powers to determine the use of federal lands. Moreover, it could create a backdoor route restricting public recreation on these lands. Among other items, the proposed rule seeks to invent what it terms ‘conservation leases.’ These leases would grant an individual, company, or non-profit the right and obligation to restore or protect the ecosystem on public land rather than allowing the land to be used for activities such as fish and wildlife development and utilization — meaning the promotion of animal habitats — or outdoor recreation, which have been primary uses under the existing law for up to a decade. While the new regulation would not affect pre-existing authorized activities on the land, no future rights or leases would be issued that infringed on the objectives of a conservation lease for the duration of its term.”
New York Times: Climate Is Now a Culture War Issue
Paul Krugman, 8/7/23
“Understanding climate denial used to seem easy: It was all about greed. Delve into the background of a researcher challenging the scientific consensus, a think tank trying to block climate action or a politician pronouncing climate change a hoax and you would almost always find major financial backing from the fossil fuel industry,” Paul Krugman writes for the New York Times. “Those were simpler, more innocent times, and I miss them. True, greed is still a major factor in anti-environmentalism. But climate denial has also become a front in the culture wars, with right-wingers rejecting the science in part because they dislike science in general and opposing action against emissions out of visceral opposition to anything liberals support… “For example, Charles Harvey and Kurt House argue that subsidies for climate capture technology will ultimately be a waste… “The Heritage Foundation is spearheading an effort called Project 2025 that will probably define the agenda if a Republican wins the White House next year. As The Times reports, it calls for “dismantling almost every clean energy program in the federal government and boosting the production of fossil fuels.” What’s behind this destructive effort? Well, Project 2025 appears to have been largely devised by the usual suspects — fossil-fueled think tanks like the Heartland Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute that have been crusading against climate science and climate action for many years. But the political force of this drive, and the likelihood that there will be no significant dissent from within the G.O.P. if Republicans do take the White House, has a lot to do with the way science in general and climate science in particular have become a front in the culture war… “But such rational if self-interested considerations won’t do much to persuade people who believe that green energy is a conspiracy against the American way of life. So the culture war has become a major problem for climate action — a problem we really, really don’t need right now.”