EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 9/20/21
PIPELINE NEWS
Roanoke Times: Southwest Virginia landowners still fighting pipeline's use of eminent domain
Memphis Commercial Appeal: After environmental showdown, the next oil pipeline in Memphis will likely have harder path
Politico Morning Energy: BARRASSO BLASTS FERC
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Rolling Stone: They Were Joe Biden’s Climate Allies. Now They’re His Critics
Wall Street Journal: Democrats Rethink Climate Measures, Consider Carbon Tax
InsideClimate News: In the Democrats’ Budget Package, a Billion Tons of Carbon Cuts at Stake
Washington Post: Biden convenes virtual meeting of world leaders to push climate actions, including methane emissions reductions
Politico Morning Energy: THE DISINFO PROBE
EXTRACTION
Bloomberg: Canada’s Oil Patch Heads for Hospital Triage With Virus Raging
Politico Morning Energy: HOUSTON’S CARBON HUB
Bloomberg: Inside the Diplomatic Alliance to Keep Fossil Fuels Underground
OilPrice.com: Hydrogen Could Be A Game-Changer For Midstream Oil & Gas
CLIMATE FINANCE
E&E News: Coal, oil sands companies feel growing insurance squeeze
Star Tribune: As insurers retreat from oil projects, Enbridge says coverage will be harder to get
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Iron Mountain Daily News: Free gas, food draws crowd for Enbridge
OPINION
MinnPost: President and Army Corps of Engineers must halt Line 3
San Francisco Chronicle: Letters: Biden must stop oil pipeline's pollution
PIPELINE NEWS
Roanoke Times: Southwest Virginia landowners still fighting pipeline's use of eminent domain
Laurence Hammack, 9/19/21
“Nearly four years after the Mountain Valley Pipeline began a legal process to take private land for the project, the controversial practice is still being challenged in court,” the Roanoke Times reports. “A federal appeals court ruled this week that arguments from a group of landowners “are not so clear” as to merit the immediate reversal of a lower-court opinion that favored the pipeline. However, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., asked attorneys to submit additional written arguments before it makes a final decision. Cletus Bohon, who owns property in Montgomery County that the natural gas pipeline cuts through, is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit that contends the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should not have given a private venture the right to seize property by eminent domain. Similar legal challenges have been dismissed in the past... “Shortly after FERC approved Mountain Valley’s request in 2017 to build a 303-mile pipeline that will pass through Southwest Virginia, the company filed suit against about 300 property owners who had refused to sell easements for the project to pass through their rural land… “The lawsuit argues that Congress improperly delegated legislative power to FERC, which then gave Mountain Valley the power of eminent domain after determining there was a public need for the natural gas that it will deliver to markets on the East Coast.”
Memphis Commercial Appeal: After environmental showdown, the next oil pipeline in Memphis will likely have harder path
9/19/21
“The Memphis City Council is poised to consider two landmark ordinances aimed at protecting the Memphis Sand aquifer,” according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
Politico Morning Energy: BARRASSO BLASTS FERC
Matthew Choi, 9/17/21
“The Senate Energy ranking member blasted FERC over what he said were delays in the commission’s approval of natural gas projects, expressing concern in a letter to the commission that environmental reviews were jeopardizing certificate proceedings,” Politico Morning Energy reports. “FERC voted in February to revisit its 1999 gas infrastructure policy statement, and Chair Richard Glick is hoping to integrate more climate and environmental justice considerations. But John Barrasso has expressed concerns about additional delays in certificate proceedings due to these lengthy reviews. Barrasso also pressed the commission on why it took so long to approve an emergency 90-day certificate for the Spire STL pipeline, whose initial authorization was vacated in federal court. Barrasso asked why FERC didn’t act “sooner or more definitively” in approving the emergency certificate, particularly ahead of winter when natural gas demand is expected to go up.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Rolling Stone: They Were Joe Biden’s Climate Allies. Now They’re His Critics
RYAN BORT, 9/17/21
“Hurricanes and wildfires are ravaging the United States, and President Biden is on the road reminding everyone that the climate crisis is real, it’s here, and action — bold action — must be taken to combat the devastation being wrought by rising temperatures,” Rolling Stone reports. “Biden’s insistence that the climate crisis is a serious issue requiring urgent action doesn’t carry the same weight with advocates as it did when he took office. In the eight months since he promised a “whole of government” approach to warming temperatures, his administration has been unwilling to use all the tools at its disposal to disrupt the ongoing production of fossil fuels. “We’re simply out of time,” Kassie Siegel, director of the Climate Law Institute at the Center for Biological Diversity, told RS. “He can use his powers to stop supercharging the climate crisis with drilling, fracking, and disastrous projects like Line 3, or he can just keep repeating talking points, approving fossil fuel development, and listening to Joe Manchin, which makes him nothing more than a disaster tourist.”
Wall Street Journal: Democrats Rethink Climate Measures, Consider Carbon Tax
9/19/21
“Democrats are taking a fresh look at their proposals for reducing carbon emissions in their $3.5 trillion spending package, hoping to win over moderate party members who raised concerns about elements of the plan,” according to the Wall Street Journal. “Democrats have laid out a variety of provisions aimed at combating climate change in the wide-ranging proposal, including tax credits for purchasing electric vehicles, a program to push utilities to produce more clean electricity and a fee on methane emissions. Now, in an effort to unite the party, lawmakers are considering changes and eyeing alternative options, including a carbon tax.”
InsideClimate News: In the Democrats’ Budget Package, a Billion Tons of Carbon Cuts at Stake
By Marianne Lavelle, 9/17/21
“Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia was explaining why he opposed his Democratic colleagues’ $3.5 trillion budget plan, but his words summed up the Congressional response on climate change for the past 30 years. “What is the urgency?” asked Manchin in an appearance on CNN on Sunday,” InsideClimate News reports. “With climate action advocates now in a race against both the forces of nature and the political calendar, some might say the answer is obvious. The legislation that Manchin wants to stall contains the policies that most Democratic senators see as the best hope left to make the deep cuts in greenhouse gases necessary to curb devastating planetary warming. With a key round of international climate talks scheduled for November in Glasgow—the first since the United States rejoined the Paris accord—Congressional action now would demonstrate the nation’s commitment to President Joe Biden’s ambitious pledge to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 50 percent by 2030. And with the Democrats’ slim majority in both the House and Senate in jeopardy in next year’s midterm elections, the budget package may mark the last opportunity to act. “We have a responsibility now—while we don’t have fossil fuel-funded Republican control in the House or the Senate, and while we have President Biden in the White House—to get this done,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) at a rally outside the Capitol on Monday. “If we miss this moment, it is not clear when we will have a second chance.”
Washington Post: Biden convenes virtual meeting of world leaders to push climate actions, including methane emissions reductions
By Tyler Pager and John Wagner, 9/17/21
“President Biden convened a virtual global meeting on climate and energy issues Friday, encouraging other world leaders to take decisive action to combat climate change,” the Washington Post reports. “Warning that “the time to act is really narrowing,” Biden urged the leaders to sign onto a pledge to cut global methane emissions by about a third by 2030… “The gathering, known as the Major Economies Forum, came ahead of a high-profile United Nations climate summit in the fall in Glasgow, Scotland, known as the COP 26. Biden was joined Friday by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Special Climate Envoy John F. Kerry in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. “We don’t have a lot of time,” Biden said. “So we have to act, all of us, and we have to act now.” “...U.S. and European Union officials are asking other key nations to sign on to the Global Methane Pledge, which would reduce global methane emissions by about a third by 2030. “We believe the collective goal is both ambitious but realistic,” Biden said. “And we urge you to join us in announcing this pledge at COP26.”
Politico Morning Energy: THE DISINFO PROBE
Matthew Choi, 9/17/21
“House Oversight Democrats are upping the ante on their probe into major oil and gas companies,” Politico Morning Energy reports. “Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney and Environment Subcommittee Chair Ro Khanna wrote to the heads of BP, Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute, requesting they testify at an Oct. 28 hearing on whether the industry spread disinformation on climate change. They also asked the companies and business groups to hand over all internal documents and communications since Nov. 30, 2015, on climate science and policy, clean energy and the role the groups played in “causing, mitigating, or responding to climate change.” “The real purpose of the hearings is to stop the companies from engaging in this kind of misinformation campaign,” Khanna told Politico. Khanna added that the committee wasn’t ruling out subpoenaing the industry leaders if they refuse to show.”
EXTRACTION
Bloomberg: Canada’s Oil Patch Heads for Hospital Triage With Virus Raging
By Robert Tuttle, 9/19/21
“Canada’s oil heartland of Alberta has been hit with its most dangerous Covid-19 wave, with hospital intensive care beds filling up so quickly that health professionals are preparing to make decisions about who lives and who dies,” Bloomberg reports. “Provincial Premier Jason Kenney announced new isolation measures and introduced a vaccine passport system to allow the vaccinated to enter businesses such as bars and restaurants. The steps were introduced as hospitals were within 10 days of running out of intensive-care beds, the premier said Wednesday. Patients could be transferred out of the province, and health officials are preparing for the Critical Care Triage Protocols, used to determine who receives life-saving critical care and who doesn’t… “The province, which holds the world’s third-largest crude reserves, has experienced severe surges in the past. Kenney, under pressure throughout the pandemic from some members of his United Conservative Party critical of the lockdown measures, relaxed restrictions only to reimpose them when cases began to spike.”
Politico Morning Energy: HOUSTON’S CARBON HUB
Matthew Choi, 9/17/21
“The ExxonMobil plan to build a massive carbon capture, utilization and storage hub on the Gulf of Mexico just got a wide swath of industry support from several high-emitting companies in the area,” Politico Morning Energy reports. “Eleven companies, including Dow, Chevron and Valero, announced they were in discussion with Exxon on how to launch the carbon removal hub, which they predict could store 50 million tons of carbon dioxide per year by 2030 and 100 tons by 2040. “Houston can achieve our net zero goals by working together, and it’s exciting to see so many companies have already come together to talk about making Houston the world leader in carbon capture and storage,” House Mayor Sylvester Turner said in a statement.
Bloomberg: Inside the Diplomatic Alliance to Keep Fossil Fuels Underground
Amol Rajput, 9/20/21
“Costa Rica and Demark are pioneering efforts to build the world’s first diplomatic alliance to manage the decline in oil and gas production,” Bloomberg reports. “The co-leader of this initiative, known as the “Beyond Oilland Gas Alliance,” is setting a deadline for oil and gas production to bring countries together in the 2015 Paris Agreement. This legally binding treaty aims to limit global heating to less than 2 degrees Celsius, preferably 1.5 degrees Celsius, below pre-industrial levels. It is widely recognized that meeting the terms of the agreement is very important to avoid an irreversible climate crisis. The Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance will be officially launched at the United Nations-mediated Climate Change Conference in early November. This is the summit known as COP26. Until then, Costa Rica and Demark are trying to convince them to join as many countries and jurisdictions as possible to put an end to oil and gas production… “Danish Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities Dan Jorgensen spoke Thursday at an online webinar hosted by the International Renewable Energy Agency, saying “Science is clear. You can’t negotiate with nature.” rice field. “There is no scenario that burns all the oil and gas we can find and stays less than twice-and definitely not 1.5. It’s impossible and should be stopped.”
OilPrice.com: Hydrogen Could Be A Game-Changer For Midstream Oil & Gas
By Robert Rapier, 9/19/21
“This is the final article in a series that examines Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) programs in the oil industry, with an emphasis on how some companies are using hydrogen to improve their metrics, “ OilPrice.com reports. “Mauricio Samaniego, Senior Research Analyst, Alerian and S-Network Global Indexes, told Oil Price: “As you may be aware, the recurring hydrogen theme for midstream has revolved around natural gas pipelines and storage facilities being used for the transportation and storage of blue or green hydrogen over the next decade. Today, hydrogen initiatives are in very early stages and are mostly focused on blending hydrogen into existing natural gas pipelines, which has been set forth, explored, and/or discussed by Enbridge (ENB), TC Energy (TRP), Kinder Morgan (KMI), and The Williams Company (WMB). Additionally, TRP and Enterprise Product Partners (EPD) have also discussed—and are evaluating—leveraging existing nuclear and petrochemical plants for hydrogen production.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
E&E News: Coal, oil sands companies feel growing insurance squeeze
By Corbin Hiar, 9/20/21
“Insurance, a basic necessity for any business, is becoming increasingly expensive for some coal and oil sands companies,” E&E News reports. “That’s because a growing number of insurers are refusing to underwrite companies involved with producing or transporting the most emissions-intensive fossil fuels. Insurance executives are responding to pressure from environmental activists, climate change liability litigation and even their own children, experts and environmentalists say… “There is also growing pressure on the insurance industry to quit underwriting companies producing or transporting oil sands, which release more emissions than conventional crude oil because they are harder to mine and refine into gasoline. The controversial expansion plans of Trans Mountain Corp. have made it a oil sands test case for insurers… “With Trans Mountain’s insurers facing pressure from activists to drop the company, the pipeline operator sought to hide the names of its underwriters from public filings. The Canada Energy Regulator, or CER, granted Trans Mountain’s request in April and approved a similar request earlier this month from TC Energy Corp., another Canadian pipeline company. "Maybe they thought that would deter us and we would go away," Kiki Wood, a British Columbia-based activist with the environmental group Stand.earth, said of Trans Mountain’s confidentiality request. Instead, Insure Our Future coalition members decided to "target a much wider group of insurers than we might otherwise have done," she told E&E. The result: 16 companies have publicly committed to not insuring Trans Mountain, including five this year alone. While there are 26 more insurers Stand.earth believes could still be underwriting Trans Mountain, the shrinking number of options is having a financial impact on the pipeline company. Last month, for instance, Trans Mountain reported that the cost of operating the system in the first half of the year had increased $200,000 from the same period in 2020. It attributed that increase in part to higher insurance premiums.”
Star Tribune: As insurers retreat from oil projects, Enbridge says coverage will be harder to get
Mike Hughlett 9/19/21
“Enbridge will have a tougher time finding insurance for its controversial Line 3 pipeline as insurers increasingly limit coverage of oil and pipeline projects — particularly those tied to Canada,” the Star Tribune reports. “That was the upshot of filings Enbridge made last week with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC). The Calgary, Alberta-based company reported that it has the coverage required by the PUC. But the insurance market has an increasing aversion to oil projects due to carbon emission concerns and the low profitability of insurers hit by pollution-related losses, according to a report done for Enbridge by Marsh, one the world's largest insurance brokerages. "As we continue to see insurers reduce participation or withdraw from the crude oil infrastructure coverage, replacing their participation will become extremely challenging, and it is unlikely that a $900 million limit will continue to be available for Enbridge and other pipeline risks in the near future," the Marsh report said. The PUC has assumed that Enbridge will maintain general corporate liability coverage of $900 million, which would backstop specific insurance requirements for Line 3. The PUC also required Enbridge to buy a specialized "environmental impairment liability" policy with aggregate annual coverage of $200 million. Getting a $200 million damage limit for that environmental impairment policy will also become "more challenging," the Marsh report said. "This is a challenge for all pipeline companies, particularly those with Oil Sands connections." “...Environmental and Indigenous groups have been waging campaigns against the financiers and insurers of oil projects. Some have also faced pressure from their own shareholders. The efforts have had an effect: At least 14 insurance companies have pulled out of providing coverage for the Trans Mountain pipeline, which will carry oil from Alberta to the British Columbia coast.”
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Iron Mountain Daily News: Free gas, food draws crowd for Enbridge
ILSA MINOR, 9/20/21
“Traffic backed up for blocks as people tried to get free gas and food at Carnes Eco Fuels in Escanaba Tuesday. Hand-drawn signs on neon-colored paper advertising “Free Gas” and “Free Lunch” drew cars to the station in droves for the event held by Enbridge,” the Iron Mountain Daily News reports. “The energy delivery company offered anyone who stopped by $25 worth of free gasoline — pumped by Enbridge employees — a pasty from Gram’s Pasties and Dobber’s Pasties, and a beverage just for stopping by. “What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to bring some awareness to pipelines in general and what pipelines do, and we’re trying to raise the issue and gain some support, not only for our pipelines, but the Great Lakes tunnel project,” Bob Lehto, area manager for Enbridge in Northern Michigan, told the Daily News. “The way we look at it is we’re making a safe pipeline even safer. Really what that does it drive the risk of any sort of release of oil into the straits right down to virtually zero and absolutely eliminates the risk of an anchor strike from a passing vessel,” said Lehto… “Those getting gas Tuesday were given postcards they could fill out and send to Whitmer’s office directly supporting the project. Whether or not the individuals getting gas supported the tunnel project itself is difficult to say, but there was no denying the popularity of the free gas event.”
OPINION
MinnPost: President and Army Corps of Engineers must halt Line 3
Samuel Strong is a tribal councilman for the Red Lake Nation. Whitney Gravelle is tribal chairwoman of the Bay Mills Indian Community. Kevin Killer is president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Robert Larsen is president of the Lower Sioux Indian Community, 9/17/21
“Last month, the U.S Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) delivered a devastating blow to the lives of Anishinaabe people and our surrounding tribal nations with their decision to stand by Trump-era water permits for the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota,” write for the MinnPost. “Further, earlier this year the USACE made the disappointing decision to not take action to stop the illegal Dakota Access Pipeline. Despite the fact that these permits were granted under an administration that believed climate change was a hoax, and without a proper Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that considered tribal consultation and the potential climate and environmental impacts of a new Line 3 pipeline, President Trump’s Army Corps of Engineers chose to barrel ahead with these toxic permits. What’s worse, is that this is not the only Trump-approved pipeline the Army Corps of Engineers has approved, to the detriment of our climate, clean water and Indigenous rights. There are numerous pipelines across the country, including the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), that have been approved without proper environmental consideration or tribal and community consultation. As our communities experience one of the worst droughts in history, as we face historic wildfires and as our entire world braces for the impact of climate chaos due to fossil fuels emissions, we ask the Army Corps: Why rush? Why not take the time to comprehensively review these projects, and carefully consider the permanent and potentially devastating impacts of even more fossil fuel pipelines? Why continue the path of ignoring the demands of Indigenous peoples and tribal nations?” “...We have held our ground for years, making it clear that the Trump-approved pipelines cannot continue. There is no doubt that Line 3, DAPL and others will open regions of lakes, rivers and wild rice beds to degradation from oil spills, exacerbate climate change and forever harm the sacred land of Native peoples. If the Army Corps of Engineers are serious about “conserving cultural and natural resources” and “reducing risk and protecting human health and the environment” then they must reexamine the permits for pipelines granted under the Trump administration.”
San Francisco Chronicle: Letters: Biden must stop oil pipeline's pollution
David Spero, 9/19/21
“Pipelines such as Enbridge’s Line 3 oil pipeline replacement project ensure climate catastrophe,” David Spero writes in the San Francisco Chronicle. “The science is clear; we have to stop building fossil fuel infrastructure and start focusing on climate remediation, now. Along with destroying climate, Line 3 will pollute vast stretches of water. It would cross 227 lakes and rivers, including the Mississippi. It will cross and pollute Native American land granted by treaty and vital for their food production. President Biden, this is your chance to go down in history as a hero, the president who first took climate change seriously. If you do nothing, you will be one in long line of failures. Please act now to stop construction of Line 3.”