EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 9/1/21
Note to Readers: Extracted will not be published Thursday, Sept. 2 - Monday, Sept. 6.
PIPELINE NEWS
Star Tribune: Omar, McCollum join state DFLers asking Biden to intervene in Line 3
Healing MN: Walz flops on question about what his Line 3 support says about his climate leadership
MPR: As Line 3 nears completion, pipeline battles are far from over
MPR: Advocates hope White Earth wild rice case will boost 'rights of nature'
Financial Post: Erin O'Toole's plan to revive Northern Gateway could run up against risk-averse oilpatch
Financial Times: Oil and gas pipeline industry tries to reinvent itself with carbon capture plans
Carlsbad Current-Argus: Pipeline company grows Permian Basin footprint. Oil and gas market recovery continues
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Reuters: U.S. House Democrat proposes repeal of Arctic refuge oil lease
Reuters: Biden administration to resume drilling auctions in setback to climate agenda
EXTRACTION
Canadian Press: 'Social movement': Alberta's energy 'war room' planning broad new ad campaign
Energy News: After neighborhood pipeline repair, Missouri activist pressures utilities to map gas leaks
OPINION
Minnesota Reformer: Pressure is building on President Biden to step in and stop Line 3 — Opinion
PIPELINE NEWS
Star Tribune: Omar, McCollum join state DFLers asking Biden to intervene in Line 3
By Stephen Montemayor, 8/30/21
“U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, fellow congressional Democrats and scores of Minnesota state lawmakers on Monday called for "urgent intervention" from President Joe Biden on Enbridge's nearly completed Line 3 oil pipeline project,” the Star Tribune reports. “The 63 elected officials — mostly DFL state legislators — signed a letter to Biden on Monday that continued an ongoing chorus of demands for government action on the $3 billion-plus project. "In recent weeks, we have seen concerning violations of treaty rights by public agencies and private actors, ongoing violence against Indigenous women, and environmental impacts that will have long-lasting impacts on hunting, fishing, and wild rice gathering as we grapple with the climate crisis," the lawmakers wrote. The letter, which was also signed by fellow Minnesota Democrat U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, asks that the U.S. Interior Department "uphold the rights guaranteed to Indigenous people under federal treaties and fulfill Tribal requests for a government-to-government meeting concerning Line 3." “...Opponents had hoped the Biden administration would quash Line 3 by intervening in a federal lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers, which in November granted a critical water and wetlands construction permit for the project.”
Healing MN: Walz flops on question about what his Line 3 support says about his climate leadership
8/30/21
“I spoke to candidate Tim Walz twice when he was running for Governor in 2017, once at a house party, once at a DFL unity event at a St. Paul brewery,” Healing MN reports. “Both times I asked him one question: Where do you stand on the Enbridge Line 3 tar sands pipeline? Both times he assured me he opposed the project. “Peggy would never let me do that,” he said, a reference to his running mate, Peggy Flanagan, an enrolled member of the White Earth Nation and then an outspoken Line 3 critic. Walz spoke briefly about Line 3 Friday on MPR. I wasn’t surprised at his comments, but still angry. Mike Mulcahy interviewed Walz, then listeners called in with their own questions. First was Julia from St. Paul. How do you justify the building of the Line 3, and tar sands oil that flows through it, given that it’s a direct violation of treaty rights that you vowed to uphold in this moment of climate crisis? … We’ve seen Enbridge violate their permits numerous times and the agencies tasked with holding them accountable failing. We are wondering how can we trust you to be a climate leader in this moment? Walz replied for nearly two minutes. Julia didn’t get a chance to ask a follow up question. Walz’s comments went unchallenged. I take that opportunity here. In his most ridiculous and flippant statement, Walz said: “What I would say on this, Julia, is one pipeline is not going to be where we win this battle on climate change.” “The issue of existing infrastructure, the Line 3 process, started long before I was Governor,” he said. “My job as the chief executive is to follow state law as it’s written. My agencies simply implement what’s written in state law for permitting. And through this entire process, that’s exactly what we’ve done,” he said. “My job as Governor is not to arbitrarily pick and choose which projects go, it’s to implement and follow state law.” “Now the safeguards in this is you can go to court,” Walz said. “And the Line 3 was taken to court. … And in every single instance, they upheld that the law was followed, the law was implemented.” “I would advocate for folks who are opposed to how these things are permitted to have the state legislature change the permitting process. That’s the only way.”
MPR: As Line 3 nears completion, pipeline battles are far from over
Kirsti Marohn, 8/31/21
“Over a thousand people filled the grounds of the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul last week and vowed to continue their fight against Line 3,” MPR reports. “They erected tipis and held ceremonial dances and prayers. They listened to speeches by activists including Nancy Beaulieu, a founder of the RISE Coalition, which stands for Resilient Indigenous Sisters Engaging, who told the crowd that the crude oil pipeline endangers Indigenous treaty rights. "We're going to continue to show up, and we're going to continue to assert our rights,” Beaulieu said. “We, as native people, have an inherent right to hunt, fish, gather and occupy." “...But even as legal options dwindle, opponents plan to continue contesting Line 3 through protests and in court — even after oil begins flowing from Canada’s Alberta province. "We will absolutely continue not only in the legal fight but also in the calls to the Biden administration to exert the power that they still have,” Moneen Nasmith, a senior attorney for Earthjustice, one of the environmental groups opposing the project, told MPR. Opponents are pressuring President Joe Biden’s administration to cancel the federal water permit for the project issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Their legal appeal of that permit is still pending. There's also an unusual lawsuit filed in tribal court by the White Earth Nation against the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources on behalf of wild rice. The DNR has asked a federal court to block the suit. That case is unlikely to be resolved before major work on the pipeline wraps up. But it's part of a wider movement by Native American tribes pushing back on pipelines and other projects they view as an environmental risk and a violation of treaty rights. "I think that tribes are going to be enacting their own laws,” Joe Plumer, an attorney for the Red Lake Nation in northwestern Minnesota, which opposed Line 3, told MPR. “Tribes are going to take the bull by the horns and call state actors in their official capacities into the tribal court — not for any money damages, but for injunctive relief to stop what they've been permitting."
MPR: Advocates hope White Earth wild rice case will boost 'rights of nature'
Dan Gunderson, 9/1/21
“Dale Greene grew up in north-central Minnesota, surrounded by wild rice, called manoomin in the Ojibwe language. The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe member says wild rice is an important part of Anishinaabe history and culture,” MPR reports. “One of the things that I think is really important in understanding manoomin, and its importance to us today, is understanding that there's a creation story," Greene told MPR. “The story recounts how Ojibwe people migrated to Minnesota from the East Coast to fulfill a prophecy that they would find food growing on the water. That food was manoomin, or the “good berry,” and it sustained generations of Ojibwe. "It's the reason that we're still here. It's much more than just a plant,” Greene told MPR. In 2018, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe formally recognized the rights of wild rice, setting the stage for the current lawsuit against the DNR. The suit in tribal court against the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources contends a water use permit for the Enbridge Energy Line 3 pipeline puts wild rice at risk. The White Earth case is thought to be the first to be brought before a tribal court. The DNR responded by challenging the tribal court’s jurisdiction in a federal court filing. There’s a hearing in that case Wednesday… “In 2018, the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma approved a law granting broad rights to nature, including the right “to a climate that is habitable, supports life, sustains culture, and is not disrupted by humans.” At least three other tribal nations have since adopted some form of rights of nature laws. A few communities across the country from Florida to California to Colorado have also given rights to waterways and ecosystems. Recognizing the rights of nature is a relatively new movement. In South America, Ecuador ratified a rights of nature constitutional amendment in 2008. Bolivia and Uganda passed laws defining the rights of nature. But the movement has gained traction more slowly in the United States.”
Financial Post: Erin O'Toole's plan to revive Northern Gateway could run up against risk-averse oilpatch
Geoffrey Morgan, 9/1/21
“Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole hopes to revive the long-cancelled, West Coast-bound Northern Gateway pipeline if elected prime minister, but oil companies and pipeline giants are less keen to take risks on major new pipelines since the project was cancelled five years ago,” the Financial Post reports. “Twice this week, O’Toole said that if elected he would revive the Northern Gateway pipeline project in an effort to ship Canadian oil and provide economic partnerships for Indigenous groups along the pipeline’s path. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cancelled Calgary-based Enbridge Inc.’s Northern Gateway project in 2016 and implemented a ban on oil tankers along the northern stretch of British Columbia’s West Coast — effectively killing hopes of a building a replacement project… “Now, five years later, the Conservative Party is looking to revive the project, driving a wedge between themselves and the Liberal Party, which promised this week to cap oilsands production. “I would like to see intergenerational transfer of wealth and opportunity after generations of trauma-transfer,” O’Toole said at a campaign stop on Monday of the Northern Gateway project’s potential to provide income to First Nations. But the Conservative Party’s hopes of reviving the long-cancelled, West Coast-bound Northern Gateway pipeline could stall in Calgary’s newly risk-averse oilpatch, which has watched multiple proposed pipeline projects cancelled in recent years.“We’ve created so much risk in the system that we can’t expect private companies to develop pipelines on their own. They need government backing of some kind,” Richard Masson, chief commercial officer of Fractal Systems, a technology company involved in oilsands upgrading, told the Post. “I would think that the structure of the financial commitments up front would be very different than what they used to be 10 years ago,” Vicki Knott, CEO and co-founder of Calgary-based Crux OCM, which provides control room software systems for industrial companies and pipelines, told the Post. “The risk is just too high with cancelled pipelines over and over again. It’s been a failed strategy for them.”
Financial Times: Oil and gas pipeline industry tries to reinvent itself with carbon capture plans
Justin Jacobs, 9/1/21
“The U.S. oil and gas pipeline industry is looking for new opportunities to lay steel in the ground with pipes that carry the carbon dioxide produced when fossil fuels are burnt,” the Financial Times reports. “The midstream energy sector has clashed with climate campaigners who oppose pipeline projects as infrastructure that locks in greenhouse gas emissions. Wall Street is pushing the industry to show how it will adapt to demands for a lower-carbon world. In response, pipeline operators are pointing to their potential as a link in carbon capture and storage (CCS) systems, in which CO2 emissions are trapped in underground reservoirs where they can be kept out of the atmosphere. Pipelines would move CO2 from industrial flues to the reservoirs. “It’s hard to see how climate objectives are met without pretty widespread carbon capture and sequestration,” Steven Kean, chief executive of Kinder Morgan, one of the largest U.S. pipeline companies, recently told analysts. “We think we’ve got the expertise on the pipeline side of it.” The U.S. already has about 5,150 miles (8,300 km) of CO2 pipelines. The network is tiny compared with the national web of oil and gas pipes, but it is the largest in the world. They are mostly clustered around the Permian Basin oilfields of west Texas, where CO2 is injected into wells to squeeze out stubborn crude oil deposits. Revenue derives from selling the gas and claiming a federal tax credit worth US$35 for each tonne of carbon put underground. But future growth hinges on far more widespread deployment. Pipes would funnel CO2 exhaust from emitters such as power plants, cement factories and oil and biofuel refineries to underground sites in some cases hundreds of miles away.”
Carlsbad Current-Argus: Pipeline company grows Permian Basin footprint. Oil and gas market recovery continues
Adrian Hedden, 8/31/21
“A natural gas pipeline connecting southeast New Mexico to West Texas was purchased by an Austin, Texas-based midstream company as the company sought to grow its presence in the Permian Basin,” the Carlsbad Current-Argus reports. “WhiteWater Midstream announced Aug. 26 that it acquired Sendero Midstream’s Gateway Pipeline, which runs about 23 miles from the Carlsbad area to Culberson County, Texas. The 24-inch line connects natural gas producers in the western Delaware sub-basin of the Permian to WhiteWater’s Agua Blanca pipeline system, which bring natural gas to the Waha Hub in Western Texas for storage and transport to export and refinery markets in the Gulf Coast region… “Another pipeline owned by WhiteWater, the Whistler Pipeline, went into service July 1 with 2 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) of transportation capacity, stretching 450 miles from the Waha Hub to Agua Dulce, Texas for access to south Texas export markets near the coast, with a 50 mile connecter line to the Midland Basin.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Reuters: U.S. House Democrat proposes repeal of Arctic refuge oil lease
By Timothy Gardner, 8/31/21
“A Democratic lawmaker in the U.S. House of Representatives proposed infrastructure legislation on Tuesday that would end oil and gas leases in an Alaskan wildlife refuge while charging billions of dollars more in fees and royalties for offshore drilling elsewhere,” Reuters reports. “The office of House Natural Resources Chairman Raul Grijalva released legislation here that repeals the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) oil and gas program. Any leases issued would be canceled and payments returned to lessees within 30 days of enactment. The committee is slated to debate the measures on Thursday. It is one of several panels crafting legislation that would become part of the $3.5 trillion bill aimed at expanding social services, combating climate change and reforming U.S. immigration policies. The Grijalva measure plans to raise billion of dollars by hiking royalty rates for oil and gas producers in certain offshore areas and putting new fees on owners of offshore oil and gas pipelines. It places royalties on methane consumed or lost by venting, flaring or leaks at drilling operations on public lands. The legislation prohibits the secretary of the Interior Department from holding oil and gas lease sales in certain areas of the Outer Continental Shelf and the Atlantic and Pacific regions.”
Reuters: Biden administration to resume drilling auctions in setback to climate agenda
By Nichola Groom, 8/31/21
“The Biden administration announced plans on Tuesday to open millions of acres for oil and gas exploration as the White House sought to comply with a court order requiring it to resume lease auctions,” Reuters reports. “The move, which includes some 80 million acres of water in the Gulf of Mexico along with potentially hundreds of thousands more onshore, represents a setback for Democratic President Joe Biden's plans to fight climate change, which included a campaign vow to end new federal oil and gas leasing. Biden paused drilling auctions after taking office in January pending an analysis of their impacts on the environment and value to taxpayers. That review is ongoing, officials have said. In June, however, a federal judge in Louisiana ordered a resumption of auctions, saying the government was required by law to offer acreage to the oil and gas industry. The U.S. Interior Department on Tuesday said it would offer almost all available, unleased blocks in a more than 90 million acre area in the Gulf of Mexico. The sale could ultimately result in production of up to 1.1 billion barrels of crude oil and 4.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to a sale document posted online. The sale is roughly the same size as offshore sales held by the Trump administration, which downplayed the threats from global warming and sought to maximize domestic fossil fuel production… “After the document's publication, four environmental groups filed a lawsuit in Washington federal court challenging the decision to hold the offshore auction, alleging the underlying environmental analysis was flawed and violated federal law. "The Biden administration has folded to the oil industry ..., ignoring the worsening climate emergency we face," Brettny Hardy, an attorney with Earthjustice, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the environmental groups, told Reuters.
EXTRACTION
Canadian Press: 'Social movement': Alberta's energy 'war room' planning broad new ad campaign
Bob Weber, 9/1/21
“Alberta's Canadian Energy Centre appears ready to be vocal again, planning a new campaign to "change perceptions" about the province's oil and gas industry and build what it's calling a social movement in its support,” the Canadian Press reports. “One year after the province's United Conservative government ended the controversial agency's outreach during the COVID-19 pandemic, the so-called "war room" has put out a request for proposals on how to change the values and attitudes held by people in Eastern Canada and the northern United States. The winning candidate must show a "demonstrated ability to change perceptions about messages and values," says an Aug. 23 document. Its ultimate goal is "building a social movement" in support of Canada's oil and gas industry. "We are excited to be moving forward on the CEC's mission — to advance Canada as the supplier of choice for the world's growing demand for responsibly produced energy," Tom Olsen, the centre's director, said in an email… “The United Conservative government established the centre to promote the energy industry and fire back against what it deems misinformation. It has since criticized The New York Times newspaper and scolded the makers of a children's film featuring Bigfoot for what it felt was an anti-oil message… “Founded in December 2019 as part of the then-new government's "fight back" strategy, the Calgary-based centre was set up as a provincial government corporation but is overseen by three cabinet ministers on its board of directors. It has suffered gaffes and missteps.”
Energy News: After neighborhood pipeline repair, Missouri activist pressures utilities to map gas leaks
Karen Uhlenhuth, 8/31/21
“Methane, a potent greenhouse gas that was recently spotlighted by the International Panel on Climate Change, was leaking from a pipeline down the street from Robin Ganahl’s Kansas City home a year ago,” Energy News reports. “A neighbor living close to the leak had been reporting it to the gas company for months, said Ganahl, an activist with the local chapter of Mothers Out Front, a national organization aimed at minimizing climate chaos. “They could smell it inside their house sometimes.” The gas company eventually sealed the leak after Ganahl sought intervention from her state representative, but the episode caused her to wonder how much natural gas might be seeping from broken pipes throughout Kansas City and across the state of Missouri… “Ganahl asked regulators to require the state’s gas companies to pinpoint active leaks on a map and to make that information publicly accessible. Her hope: that when gas customers have a sense of the scope of the leak problem, they will pressure the utilities to seal gas leaks more quickly… “They say one of the most impactful things we can do in the next few years is to stop methane emissions,” Ganahl told Energy News. “It’s really accelerating the climate crisis and … by fixing those leaks, that’s an immediate reduction in methane emissions.”
OPINION
Minnesota Reformer: Pressure is building on President Biden to step in and stop Line 3 — Opinion
Margaret Levin, 9/1/21
“After walking more than 250 miles over 16 days, from the headwaters of the Mississippi River down to the Twin Cities, water protectors fighting to stop the Line 3 tar sands pipeline were met by more than 2,000 people gathered outside the Minnesota State Capitol,” Margaret Levin writes in the Minnesota Reformer. “The group came together across race, occupation and generation, in ceremony and solidarity to send a message that the opposition to Line 3 isn’t going anywhere. This powerful gathering came amid a months-long campaign by Indigenous-led water protectors and allies who have been bravely putting their bodies on the line along the Line 3 route to stop construction of this pipeline, which is currently being built through critical waterways in northern Minnesota in violation of Indigenous treaty rights. The actions of the last week, from St. Paul to the White House, were a beautiful expression of solidarity. Across the country, communities came together to turn up the volume on the opposition to Line 3 to the point that Biden can no longer ignore us. It was also a declaration of hope that we can still stop this dangerous pipeline, despite Enbridge’s claim that they’ve nearly completed construction… “Biden campaigned on an ambitious platform of prioritizing climate action and environmental justice, and when he was elected I felt hopeful for the future of Minnesota and of our country. I felt that same hope watching the crowd of thousands on the capitol lawn, in solidarity with Indigenous leaders who are demanding that we honor the treaties and leave a livable planet for our children and grandchildren. Our movement is powerful, and we are not going anywhere. We will keep pushing forward — demanding that President Biden live up to his promises and lifting our voices for climate justice.”