EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 9/20/23
PIPELINE NEWS
Iowa Capital Dispatch: Landowners testify Summit ignored requests for route changes
Radio Iowa: GOP lawmakers testify against eminent domain use for carbon pipeline
Harlan Newspapers: Expert Witnesses Provide Testimony At Iowa Utility Board Pipeline Hearing
Radio Iowa: IUB limits ‘repetitive’ questions at Summit pipeline hearing
WDAY: Senator Cramer: Summit Carbon Solutions could make use of eminent domain to complete North Dakota CO2 pipeline
Law360: 6th Circ. Told Enbridge Pipeline Suit Belongs In State Court
Press release: Pallone and DeGette Admonish E&C Republicans for Partisan Pipeline Safety Reauthorization Process, Demand Immediate Hearing
St. Louis Public Radio: Illinois wants Spire to show it shouldn’t be held in contempt over its embattled pipeline
Western Standard: Fed gov’t considers Trans Mountain Pipeline toll hike to cover billions in losses
Washington County News: County has received over $160K from TC Energy
CK News Today: New Enbridge Gas pipeline proposed in east Lambton
Times Union: Federal funds coming to N.Y. Homeland Security for pipeline safety projects
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Biden warns ‘what awaits us’ without climate action
Center for American Progress: How the Federal Government Can Hold the Oil and Gas Industry Accountable
Politico: Who's The Bad Guy
InsideClimate News: Midwesterners Lament Lack of Transparency as Coalition Seeks Federal Aid for Proposed Hydrogen Hub
Washington Post: Interior proposes to protect tribal lands in New Mexico
Reuters: EPA approval for Denver smog-reduction plan partially tossed by US appeals court
STATE UPDATES
Washington Post: In Ohio, pro-fracking public comments stem from a ‘misleading’ ad campaign, environmentalists say
Cleveland.com: Fracking Ohio state parks, wildlife areas delayed as state board defers decision
Energy News Network: ‘Falsified’ public comments loom over Ohio state parks drilling decisions
Colorado Sun: Colorado wants to create carbon-capture hubs across the state. But locals aren’t sold.
E&E News: ‘Worse than doing nothing’: Greens fume at Colo. climate plan
Grist: Deprived of Colorado River water, an oil company’s plans to mine in Utah may have dried up
EXTRACTION
Globe and Mail: Oil sands producers in talks with Indigenous communities for equity stakes in carbon capture projects
Bloomberg: Exxon Evaluates Lithium Extracted From Brine
CLIMATE FINANCE
CBS News: Upset over fossil fuel funding, protesters block main entrance of Bank of America tower
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Carter County Times: Ambulance service adds vehicles
OPINION
NWestIowa.com: Taylor: Systemic ruptures leading to unwanted, unneeded pipelines
Globe and Mail: Oil giants’ climate-change cheap talk is why we need a hard cap on their emissions
Los Angeles Times: The oil companies lied to us about climate change. California should sue them into the ground
PIPELINE NEWS
Iowa Capital Dispatch: Landowners testify Summit ignored requests for route changes
JARED STRONG, 9/19/23
“A Lyon County landowner in the path of Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed carbon dioxide pipeline system alleged on Tuesday that the company punished him for not signing an easement by choosing a less-desirable route through his property,” the Iowa Capital Dispatch reports. “Gregory Kracht was among several landowners who testified at the start of the fifth week of the company’s evidentiary hearing with the Iowa Utilities Board… “The IUB has indicated it wants to conclude the hearing by the end of this month, but those who have yet to call witnesses say that is unlikely. Many of those yet to testify are farmers, and their ability to participate might be complicated by harvest season, which has begun. Those who testified on Tuesday said Summit declined to adjust its route to avoid them despite adjacent landowners who are willing to host the project, and despite their concerns about locating the pipeline in a flood-prone area and near a potential residential development. Reluctance to change the pipeline route was part of the reason North Dakota rejected Summit’s permit application last month. The company has since made hundreds of adjustments to the route in that state… “Kracht said after he initially outright rejected signing an easement, he reached a tentative agreement with the company’s agents for a different route on his property. He said the original route would block road access to more than half of the property. But Kracht said the company later reneged on that route change when he offered a counterproposal during negotiations. “They had the route back where it wouldn’t work,” he said. “It seemed as a punishment to me for not agreeing with them at the time.” “...Moser also took issue with how the company’s agents have documented their contacts with him and his family. He said the agents claimed to have had face-to-face talks with his father, who previously owned the land but died in 2020… “Three state legislators also testified on Tuesday, including Rep. Steven Holt, a Denison Republican who has been among the most outspoken against Summit’s proposal… “Holt is part of a group known as the Republican Legislative Intervenors for Justice. He was the group’s first witness to testify. The second was state Sen. Sandy Salmon, R-Janesville. “The very fact that Summit Carbon is still pursuing this project in an agricultural state where landowners depend heavily on private property rights being protected to make their investments … is absolutely breathtaking,” Salmon said. “I am almost 70 years old, and I’ve never seen anything like this. To me, this is outrageous, reprehensible, brazen and shameless action and all Iowans can see it.”
Radio Iowa: GOP lawmakers testify against eminent domain use for carbon pipeline
O. Kay Henderson, 9/19/23
“An Iowa lawmaker is suggesting the Iowa Utilities Board lacks the authority to grant Summit Carbon Solutions permission to seize property along its proposed pipeline route from unwilling landowners,” Radio Iowa reports. “Republican Representative Steven Holt of Denison says eminent domain authority is reserved for projects that have a clear public use and public benefit… “Let the pipelines be built using voluntary easements, but not using the heavy hand of government to take the land of others for what is a private economic development project,” Holt says… “Senator Sandy Salmon, a Republican from Janesville, called Summit’s request to seize about a third of its route across Iowa “breathtaking.” “To me this is outrageous, reprehensible and shameless action,” Salmon said, “and all Iowans can see it.”
Harlan Newspapers: Expert Witnesses Provide Testimony At Iowa Utility Board Pipeline Hearing
Renée Brich, 9/19/23
“Attorney Tim Whipple introduced four expert witnesses in the Iowa Utility Board’s evidentiary hearing for the Summit Carbon Solution pipeline permit last week,” Harlan Newspapers reports. “Whipple is providing legal representation for Shelby, Kossuth, Emmet, Dickinson, Franklin, Woodbury and Wright Counties. Witnesses included former professor of law and former director of Drake University’s Agriculture Law Center Professor Neil D. Hamilton, who discussed zoning ordinances; Dr. Matt Liebman, Professor of Agronomy and the Henry A. Wallace Endowed Chair for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, who is a soil and soil compaction expert; Cole Kruizenga of ISG Field Services, who provided testimony regarding soil compaction studies; and Jack Willingham, who was the Yazoo County, Mississippi Emergency Management Director when a Denbury Inc. carbon dioxide pipeline ruptured approximately a mile from the town of Satartia, Mississippi on February 22, 2020. Willingham gave a first hand account of what transpired in Mississippi that day. “The call center was flooded with calls,” Willingham said as he described the aftermath of the rupture in Satartia in his testimony Thursday. “People were in a panic. People couldn’t breathe. They wanted help and wanted to know what to do.” Once on scene, he said emergency response teams found people short of breath and disoriented. “They were going to die,” Willingham said. “Their respirations had dropped down to nothing, if it wasn’t for my responders throwing them all on a UTV and getting them out of that area.” “We moved out 200 people,” he said, which included the 56 residents within the Satartia city limits. Willingham said the residents weren’t able to return home for over 14 hours after the pipe ruptured. “The highest concentrations of CO2 found at that time were inside the residences,” he said. “The houses had to be aired out before we let them back in.” When questioned if sheltering in place would be a better option, Willingham said, “If they had been sheltering in place, they still would’ve been at dangerous levels above what is supposed to be accepted.” “...Willingham also noted the importance of transparency needed between the pipeline companies and the communities. “The people need to know what’s going to happen. The responders need to know what’s going to happen. That’s who they need to think of… Stop telling people it’s not dangerous. It is dangerous,” Willingham said, noting while the chances of a pipeline rupture might be low, what happened in Satartia proved it is a possibility.”
Radio Iowa: IUB limits ‘repetitive’ questions at Summit pipeline hearing
O. Kay Henderson, 9/19/23
“The head of the Iowa Utilities Board says there’s a limit to the questions that can be asked by attorneys for landowners who don’t want the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline on their property,” Radio Iowa reports. “...Board chairman Erik Helland is citing a district court ruling about a previous pipeline hearing. He said it gives the board authority to limit cross examination of witnesses that is repetitive. “The board will continue to restrict and run a very tight course,” Helland said this morning. “…We have clear authority to limit unduly repetitious testimony.” “...Brian Jorde, an attorney for landowners, aired his objection. “Any party is allowed to ask questions of any witness. That’s the rule,” Jorde said. “It’s as simple as that.” Pipeline opponents had planned to have the director of the Science and Environmental Health Network testify today through an online platform, but the Utilities Board recently ruled all those who testify have to do so in person… “Another landowner testified Summit had moved its proposed route on his property in response to his suggestions, but moved it back when he did not agree to sign an easement giving the company access to his property.”
WDAY: Senator Cramer: Summit Carbon Solutions could make use of eminent domain to complete North Dakota CO2 pipeline
Tom Tucker, 9/19/23
“Senator Kevin Cramer says he believes Summit Carbon Solutions could make use of eminent domain to complete a CO2 pipeline project in North Dakota,” WDAY reports. "This is one of those projects that probably fits under that public, that sort of public good," Cramer told WDAY. Cramer told WDAY the pipeline would serve "as a utility of sorts" and said the pipeline could be considered a "common carrier". Under state law, an entity would have to be considered a common carrier in order for it to make use of eminent domain.”
Law360: 6th Circ. Told Enbridge Pipeline Suit Belongs In State Court
Carolyn Muyskens, 9/19/23
“A legal effort to shut down an Enbridge Inc. pipeline must be heard in state court, Michigan’s attorney general said, urging the Sixth Circuit to undo a ruling that blessed Enbridge’s transfer of the case to federal court more than two years after it was filed,” Law360 reports.
Press release: Pallone and DeGette Admonish E&C Republicans for Partisan Pipeline Safety Reauthorization Process, Demand Immediate Hearing
9/19/23
“Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Energy, Climate, and Grid Security Subcommittee Ranking Member Diana DeGette (D-CO) wrote to Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Subcommittee Chairman Jeff Duncan (R-SC) today condemning the Republican Majority’s purely partisan process to reauthorize vital pipeline safety programs at the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). The two Democratic Committee leaders urged Rodgers and Duncan to hold an immediate hearing considering that PHMSA’s pipeline safety authorities are set to expire on September 30. “We are writing to express our disappointment with the lack of engagement and any bipartisan Committee process on reauthorizing vital pipeline safety programs at the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). As you are aware, PHMSA’s pipeline safety authorities lapse on September 30, 2023, and to-date, the Committee has not undertaken any formal activity on legislation to reauthorize the programs,” Pallone and DeGette wrote to Rodgers and Duncan. “This lack of action makes it impossible to enact a final pipeline safety reauthorization bill by the end of this month. We ask that the Energy, Climate and Grid Security Subcommittee hold an oversight hearing immediately into pipeline safety before advancing any partisan legislation.” Pallone and DeGette went on to write that, eight months into this Congress, neither the Subcommittee nor the full Committee have held any oversight or legislative hearings on pipeline safety. The only action the Republican Majority has taken to date was sending a letter to PHMSA on the status of implementing the PIPES Act of 2020, and unilaterally releasing partisan draft legislation. “Any legislation that will eventually be signed into law will need bipartisan support, yet Republican Majority Committee staff have not engaged with our staff on the draft bill. In fact, neither we nor Democratic Committee staff were notified that Republicans were working on partisan draft legislation until we saw a press release detailing the draft bill when it was released,” the two Democratic Committee leaders continued. “The Republican draft bill has several poison-pill provisions completely unrelated to pipeline safety that Democrats oppose, including language that would allow the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to overrule environmental protection statutes and shortcut the existing pipeline review process,” Pallone and DeGette continued… “The Democratic Committee leaders also pointed out that this partisan process is much different than the one Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Republicans have taken. The two committees share jurisdiction over pipeline safety. “
St. Louis Public Radio: Illinois wants Spire to show it shouldn’t be held in contempt over its embattled pipeline
Eric Schmid, 9/19/23
“Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has filed a show cause petition against the Spire STL Pipeline in the St. Louis region,” St. Louis Public Radio reports. “The filing last month in Greene County Circuit Court asks that a judge order Spire to appear and demonstrate why it should not be held in contempt… “Defendant Spire’s failure to implement or maintain adequate erosion control measures is causing, threatening, or allowing discharges of contaminants — including but not limited to silt, sand, sediment, vegetation, riprap, and construction debris — into waters of the State” in violation of state law, the petition reads. The filing lists many other violations of Illinois state law… “But that hasn’t been the case for many landowners whose property Spire’s pipeline traverses. “They ruined it is what they did,” Bob Hart, who owns a farm in Greene County, told SLPR. “I just sit here and look at this place, and it’s nothing but a bunch of weeds.” Hart told SLPR the portion of his farm where Spire constructed the pipeline is unusable now because the company compacted the soil and left construction debris behind, sometimes buried in the ground. “I haven’t taken any crop off it for years,” he told SLPR. “I’m afraid to put the combine there because something is going to come up.” Like other property owners, Hart also takes issue with how Spire has engaged with him. He recalled a moment where a few of the company’s workers told him the part of his property with the pipeline on it no longer belonged to him. “One kid walked up behind me and said, ‘It’s ours now, we’ll do what we want,’” Hart told SLPR. “I don’t want one of them back on the place to try and straighten anything out because I know they won’t do it right.”
Western Standard: Fed gov’t considers Trans Mountain Pipeline toll hike to cover billions in losses
Christopher Oldcorn, 9/19/23
“The Commons Natural Resources committee suggested on Monday that the operators of the Trans Mountain Pipeline should explore the option of increasing tolls to help contain the growing losses for taxpayers on the project,” the Western Standard reports. “In a report, MPs stated that a significant loss seemed inevitable. “The pipeline operator may be unable to charge high enough tolls to cover the costs of the Trans Mountain expansion,” said a committee report Federal Assistance to Canada’s Natural Resources Sectors… “At the time of the purchase, the construction costs of Trans Mountain were estimated at $7.4 billion. However, in 2022, the Trans Mountain Corporation estimated the project would cost $21.4 billion.” Current estimates for the project are as high as $30.9 billion. According to a report from the Budget Office on June 23, 2022, net losses could reach up to $2.7 billion if interest rates continue to rise… “The Natural Resources committee on Monday recommended the Crown agency operating the line “review the toll structure of the Trans Mountain expansion project and propose modifications to the toll structure as necessary to reduce the risk to taxpayers.”
Washington County News: County has received over $160K from TC Energy
Cynthia Scheer, 9/19/23
“TC Energy has paid Washington County just over $160,000 for labor and materials related to the oil spill last December,” Washington County News reports. “The $160,650.97 total paid to date covers additional rock and motor grader work on area roads used by oil spill crews; rock, sand, asphalt and oil for repairs on the blacktop north of Washington; culvert pipe that TC Energy has purchased, and a variety of other labor logged by…”
CK News Today: New Enbridge Gas pipeline proposed in east Lambton
MELANIE IRWIN, 9/20/23
“Enbridge Gas wants to construct a renewable natural gas (RNG) pipeline in Brooke-Alvinston and Warwick Township,” CK News Today reports. “The utility has applied to the Ontario Energy Board for approval to place approximately 15.3 kilometres of six-inch steel pipeline in the communities. According to Enbridge, Waste Management (WM) is planning to build and operate a new facility which would convert landfill gas into RNG that's suitable for injection into Enbridge's system… “Enbridge said Waste Management would pay for the project and it would have no cost impact on ratepayers.”
Times Union: Federal funds coming to N.Y. Homeland Security for pipeline safety projects
Molly Burke, 9/19/23
“The U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration announced $14.8 million in funding for pipeline safety improvement, including $204,000 allocated to the New York Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, the Times Union reports. “The funding, which will focus on gas pipelines, comes as New York ramps up electrical power projects to comply with the clean energy goals in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. The money will go toward projects that improve the safety of pipelines carrying gas, which can cause severe injuries and property damage if they malfunction. There will also be funds for safety training and and technology development, the agency said. The grants are part of the Protecting Our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety Act that was signed into law in December 2020. More than $64 million was already distributed for similar pipeline safety operations earlier this year… “Six colleges, including Rutgers University, will receive $4.3 million to research the safety of carbon dioxide and hydrogen, the improvement of older, higher risk pipelines with coatings and the understanding of risk of pipeline incidents to those nearby.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Biden warns ‘what awaits us’ without climate action
Robin Bravender, 9/19/23
“President Joe Biden issued a warning to international leaders on Tuesday about the global perils that lie ahead if nations don’t work together to slash emissions from fossil fuels,” E&E News reports. “Evidence of the “accelerating climate crisis” is everywhere, Biden told leaders gathered at the U.N. General Assembly in New York… “Together,” Biden said, “these snapshots tell an urgent story of what awaits us if we fail to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and begin to climate-proof the world.” “...Meanwhile, climate activists have organized protests in New York this week as the Biden team is touting its achievements while activists on the left are prodding the administration to move more quickly to crack down on fossil fuel development. “President Biden’s U.N. speech rightly recognized the climate dangers of fossil fuels, but Biden ignored his own immense powers to get us off them,” Jean Su, energy justice director at the Center for Biological Diversity, told E&E. Soon after Biden’s remarks, protesters interrupted a panel discussion featuring Interior Deputy Secretary Tommy Beaudreau, who spoke at one of many “climate week” events in New York this week. The activists criticized the Biden administration for approving ConocoPhillips’ Willow drilling project in Alaska, which environmentalists have labeled a “carbon bomb” that defies Biden’s climate goals.”
Center for American Progress: How the Federal Government Can Hold the Oil and Gas Industry Accountable
Mariel Lutz, Jenny Rowland-Shea, 9/19/23
“The oil and gas industry has long taken advantage of the leasing and drilling system on America’s public lands and waters,” according to the Center for American Progress. “For years, some of the top leaseholders have faced minimal consequences for repeatedly violating environmental and labor standards, dodging payments, and shedding liabilities. Indeed, these bad actors are still allowed to operate and buy new leases on public lands and waters. The Center for American Progress finds that more than 50 percent of the top oil and gas companies have exhibited one or more bad-actor behaviors, such as abandoning wells, shedding liabilities, dodging royalty payments, or committing environmental or labor violations. (see Methodology) As the Biden administration reforms the federal oil and gas program and aims to hold oil and gas companies accountable, it has an opportunity to create strong limits for bad actors through rulemakings at the U.S. Department of the Interior. Implementing such limits would help prevent the middle class from falling victim, yet again, to oil and gas industry greed… “Wealthy oil and gas companies have been taking advantage of loopholes in the federal leasing program for far too long, to the detriment of the nation’s revenue, workforce, and natural resources. The proposed BLM oil and gas rule would build a fairer system and ensure that the oil and gas industry actually pays its bills and cleans up after itself when it uses shared public lands. The proposed BOEM rule on financial assurance, if appropriately strengthened, and the suggested fitness-to-operate standard, could similarly help protect U.S. public waters. The American public knows that actions have consequences, and it’s time for the oil and gas industry to be held to a fair standard.”
Politico: Who's The Bad Guy
9/19/23
“The Center for American Progress is urging the Biden administration this morning to strengthen its proposed rule that would hike royalty rates for oil and gas drilling on public lands, adding provisions to punish companies for ‘bad-actor behaviors,’” Politico reports. “The progressive think tank said that more than 50 percent of the largest fossil fuel companies had engaged in at least one of those behaviors, such as ‘abandoning wells, shedding liabilities, dodging royalty payments, or committing environmental or labor violations.’ It said Interior could crack down on those actions with additions to the leasing proposal, Reg. 1004-AE80, and a proposed rule on offshore rig decommissioning, Reg. 1010-AE14. In a statement, American Petroleum Institute spokesperson Andrea Woods told Politico any allegation that the U.S. oil and gas industry fails to adhere to ‘safety and environmental standards that are amongst the highest in the world’ was false. ‘This narrative composed of cherry-picked statistics does not reflect the reality of oil and natural gas operations on federal lands and waters,’ Woods told Politico.
InsideClimate News: Midwesterners Lament Lack of Transparency as Coalition Seeks Federal Aid for Proposed Hydrogen Hub
Grace van Deelen, 9/19/23
“Midwesterners know Lake Michigan for its crystal-clear water, distinctive sand dunes and stunning views. But the lake has a legacy of pollution, too: Steel mills, oil refineries and other heavy industrial facilities dot its southwestern shoreline from Chicago through Indiana to the Michigan border,” InsideClimate News reports. “Now, a burgeoning industry is hoping to accelerate the clean energy transition in the region with a clean hydrogen hub: a network of producers, consumers and transportation infrastructure intended to expand the use of hydrogen as a green fuel source in the United States. Unlike fossil fuels, hydrogen emits no heat-trapping carbon dioxide when burned. A group of corporations and public agencies known as the Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen, or MachH2, aims to take advantage of new federal funding to build such a hub, which would be mainly focused in Illinois, Indiana and Michigan but extend to nearby states as well. In April, the alliance submitted an application to the Department of Energy in a bid to receive a chunk of the $7 billion apportioned by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to support the creation of six to 10 hydrogen hubs nationally. MachH2 declines to disclose details of its proposal, including specifics on where the infrastructure would be located. But the proposed hub could include new hydrogen production facilities, infrastructure for transporting the fuel, underground wells for storing carbon dioxide emitted by hydrogen production, and renewable energy installations like solar arrays or wind farms. The federal Department of Energy is expected to announce the recipients by the end of the year… “But environmentalists argue that by withholding virtually every detail about the proposal, neither MachH2 nor the DOE has demonstrated that the hydrogen hub will yield a net benefit for the climate or for the region’s residents… “Environmental, labor and justice community leaders must be included in these publicly funded multibillion-dollar industry-led proposals for hydrogen,” Chris Chyung, executive director of the Indiana Conservation Voters, an environmental advocacy group, told ICN. “That’s a simple thing that we think” MachH2 ”should be able to meet.”
Washington Post: Interior proposes to protect tribal lands in New Mexico
Maxine Joselow, 9/19/23
“In an effort to protect tribal lands from mining and drilling, the Interior Department yesterday proposed safeguarding more than 4,000 acres within the Placitas area in New Mexico’s Sandoval County,” the Washington Post reports. “Interior’s Bureau of Land Management said the proposed mineral withdrawal would prohibit new mining claims and oil and gas development in the Placitas area for 50 years. The Pueblos of San Felipe and Santa Ana have long sought protections for the area, which they consider ancestral and sacred lands. “Today we’re responding to calls from Tribes, elected leaders, and community members who want to see these public lands protected,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement.”
Reuters: EPA approval for Denver smog-reduction plan partially tossed by US appeals court
Clark Mindock, 9/18/23
“A divided U.S. appeals court on Monday partially invalidated the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's approval for Colorado’s plan to reduce smog near Denver, after an environmental group complained it essentially allowed "unlimited" pollution from fracking,” Reuters reports. “A split 2-1 panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the Center for Biological Diversity that the EPA broke the law when it approved in 2022 a state permitting plan for smog reduction that excluded emissions from temporary pollution sources, including fracking… “The environmental group had claimed in its 2022 lawsuit that the exclusion allowed unpermitted releases of the gas ozone during initial stages of fracking… “Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA is tasked with approving state permitting plans to reduce pollution in areas like Denver, which has some of the worst ozone pollution in the U.S… “Circuit Judge Nancy Moritz, writing for the majority, said that the "EPA acted contrary to the law in allowing Colorado to exclude all temporary emissions under its permit program" since federal regulations do not allow such an exclusion.
STATE UPDATES
Washington Post: In Ohio, pro-fracking public comments stem from a ‘misleading’ ad campaign, environmentalists say
Maxine Joselow, 9/19/23
“In July, Ohio regulators received nearly 2,000 public comments that implored them to allow fracking in state parks, saying it would address soaring energy prices,” the Washington Post reports. “Ohioans, like me, have been burdened by rising energy costs,” wrote a commenter identified as Nancy Shankin. “It is critical that we utilize the abundant natural resources available to us right here in Ohio, not only to bring costs down, but to support our local economy.” Yet Shankin lives in Michigan, not Ohio, public records show. And environmentalists say her comment — and nearly 2,000 others like it — can be traced back to misleading Facebook ads from an organization with alleged ties to the natural gas industry. The organization, Ohio’s Energy Future Coalition, paid for Facebook ads that asked people to sign a petition to “support affordable domestic energy.” The Facebook ads took viewers to the coalition’s website, where they could sign a petition to “support permits to access Ohio’s abundant and affordable homegrown energy.” The petition did not mention that the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission was weighing whether to open state parks and wildlife areas to fracking, the controversial and lucrative process of extracting natural gas from deep rock formations. Yet once someone signed the petition, the coalition submitted a public comment in their name asking the commission to allow fracking in Salt Fork State Park, the largest state park in Ohio, according to environmentalists who signed the petition to confirm this chain of events. Cathy Cowan Becker, a co-founder of the environmental group Save Ohio Parks, told the Post the Facebook ads were “misleading” and may have tricked people into submitting a pro-fracking comment to state regulators. “Those people filled out a form thinking they were signing a petition for lower gas prices, but not understanding that they were filing a public comment in support of fracking at Ohio state parks,” Becker told the Post… “It’s unclear who is funding or supporting Ohio’s Energy Future Coalition. In June, the coalition submitted paperwork to the Ohio secretary of state that listed only the name and law office of Columbus attorney James G. Ryan, who did not respond to a request for comment. But on its website, the coalition lists an address in Alexandria, Va., that also houses the Affordable Energy Fund PAC, a pro-natural-gas super PAC. The Empowerment Alliance, a dark money group with ties to the gas industry, has taken credit for establishing the super PAC.”
Cleveland.com: Fracking Ohio state parks, wildlife areas delayed as state board defers decision
Jake Zuckerman, 9/19/23
“The state on Monday delayed its decision on opening two state parks and two protected wildlife areas to oil and gas exploration, the final step before industry players can bid for leasing rights to minerals trapped underground,” Cleveland.com reports. “It marks a win, if temporary, for the dozens of protesters who attended the combative and sometime raucous hearing of the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission over the mineral rights to Salt Fork State Park, Wolf Run State Park, Valley Run Wildlife Area, and Zepernick Wildlife Area. The commission will gather again at a future meeting, not yet scheduled, to decide whether to open those areas to bidders. The decision came as protesters urged the state to reject the nominations and after Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer and an environmental group uncovered scores of people who say they didn’t knowingly authorize pro-fracking letters submitted to the state in their name. Monday’s proceedings unraveled as the commissioners struggled over how to adopt land protections recommended by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, whether and how to solicit more stakeholder feedback on those changes, and similarly niche issues. However, the commission signaled a gung-ho attitude toward opening the lands to drilling. Chairwoman Ryan Richardson referred to the board’s authority as “somewhat limited” in terms of when and why it could reject a drilling request. At one point, Jim McGregor, a commissioner appointed to represent conservation interests, said it’s about time to start breaking ground under the parks.” “...It remains unclear how the OGLMC will proceed with the public record. As of Monday, comments from several of those identified by name in media reports insisting their personal information was used without their knowing consent on the pro-fracking letters are still online on the commission’s website.”
Energy News Network: ‘Falsified’ public comments loom over Ohio state parks drilling decisions
Kathiann M. Kowalski, 9/18/23
“An Ohio commission is poised to rule on proposals to drill under state parks and wildlife areas before the conclusion of an investigation into fabricated public comments submitted in favor of the proposals,” Energy News Network reports. “The Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission deferred a decision Monday in order to allow more time to consider the lease conditions proposed by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Chair Ryan Richardson said the commission still plans to make final decisions before the end of the year. The process is playing out despite claims by more than 150 Ohio residents that their names and addresses were used without their knowledge or consent on pro-fracking public comments submitted to the commission. Critics say that alleged fraud, along with proposed below-market royalties, raise questions about whether the commission can fairly comply with statutory criteria for approving parcels for fossil fuel development. “The falsified comments raise a lot of concerns about the already questionable efforts to drill in Ohio state parks,” Ericka Copeland, state director for the Sierra Club of Ohio, told ENN. “It’s reprehensible and it’s undemocratic.” “...A Cleveland.com and Plain Dealer investigation this month showed dozens of pro-fracking comments on the proposals were submitted without their purported authors’ knowledge or consent. By Sept. 15, approximately 150 comments of roughly 1,000 form-letter emails had been contested, an update shows. In response, a Sept. 15 letter from 19 environmental and consumer groups urged the leasing commission and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to delay decisions or deny any proposals for drilling under Ohio public lands until after a thorough investigation to verify and correct the public record… “The advocacy groups’ Sept. 15 letter also asked the Ohio attorney general’s office for a full investigation and any necessary action to protect against deceptive use of Ohioans’ information to influence public processes.”
Colorado Sun: Colorado wants to create carbon-capture hubs across the state. But locals aren’t sold.
Michael Booth, 9/17/23
“When Jamie Valdez was growing up on Pueblo’s east side in the 1970s, his family would head to the drive-in and pass the fresh slag heaps dumped outside the steel plant, glowing orange in the twilight of a long workday,” the Colorado Sun reports. “At the time, he didn’t connect his childhood asthma to the carbon dioxide released from the mill as it turned iron into those molten blobs. Nor did Valdez link his respiratory problems then to the nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide and particulate pollution and ozone from the carbon-belching industries surrounding Pueblo, like so many torches… “Colorado leaders say they can reconcile carbon’s century-long industrial assault on Pueblo citizens by capturing millions of tons of carbon dioxide and stuffing it underground in Pueblo, El Paso, Washington, Weld and other as-yet unnamed counties. A sequestration industry, they say, could create local jobs and send profits from State Land Board property to benefit public schools. The Land Board approved another carbon injection exploration lease Thursday, amid Weld County farming, grazing and oil production land. Where Valdez would like to tell them to stuff their carbon is unprintable, but “not here” will suffice. As a community organizer and as a member of a state-appointed environmental justice task force, Valdez helped shape recommendations saying that carbon capture and other modern industries should “not add more burdens to communities that have already been overburdened.” “...On its own, Colorado won a $32 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to pay for a carbon capture test well somewhere in the southern part of the state. The grant and the research are managed by Colorado School of Mines, the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the private startup Carbon America. More recently, Colorado also won a separate $3 million DOE grant to promote studies and marketing for a potential direct carbon capture hub centered on Pueblo… “Even if the carbon stays underground, Lorena Gonzalez, communities and justice campaign manager for Conservation Colorado, told the Sun pipelines leak, pipelines rupture, and the state’s precious drinking water stores have been contaminated in other disasters, whether they come fast or slow. “It hasn’t been fully proven, and it comes with a big price tag that could be used to fund more tried and true decarbonization strategies that don’t come with as many risks to the community,” Gonzalez told the Sun. Carbon capture projects “are perpetuating slow violence” on the communities being promoted for the technology.”
E&E News: ‘Worse than doing nothing’: Greens fume at Colo. climate plan
Adam Aton, 9/20/23
“Colorado regulators this week will consider some of the first climate rules in the country specifically targeting the hard-to-decarbonize manufacturing sector,” E&E News reports. “The new regulations would apply to Colorado’s 18 largest manufacturers, including Suncor Energy Inc., Front Range Energy and Yuma Ethanol LLC, as well as brewing giant Molson Coors and Leprino Foods Co., the world’s largest manufacturer of mozzarella cheese… “But the long-awaited proposal — an emissions trading system to cut climate pollution 20 percent from a 2015 baseline by 2030 — has won few supporters, with groups on all sides of the issue digging in for a fight to define the cutting edge of climate regulations. “It is worse than doing nothing,” Katie Schneer, a senior policy analyst with the Environmental Defense Fund, told E&E of Colorado’s proposal. Environmentalists argue the proposal’s emissions cap is too high and contains too many loopholes. The state’s high cap on emissions, they say, would enable manufacturers to actually increase their pollution for years before eventually cutting back to the legal limit set for calendar year 2030 — opening the possibility, they argue, that the state’s plan would lead to more cumulative emissions than business as usual. “It just isn’t going to have any meaningful impact to adopt the state’s proposal now, and allow for these substantial increases in emissions over the next several years,” Schneer told E&E.
Grist: Deprived of Colorado River water, an oil company’s plans to mine in Utah may have dried up
Naveena Sadasivam, 9/18/23
“The Uinta Basin in northeastern Utah is one of the richest oil shale deposits in the country. It is estimated to hold more proven reserves than all of Saudi Arabia. Enefit, an Estonian company, was the latest in a long line of firms that hoped to tap it,” Grist reports. “It’s also the latest to see such plans collapse — but perhaps not yet for good. The company has lost access to the water it would need to unearth the petroleum and relinquished a federal lease that allowed research and exploration on the land. The two moves, made late last month, appear to signal the end of Enefit’s plans to mine shale oil in the Uinta Basin. “If they’re getting cut off from this water, it’s kind of the nail in the coffin for this whole project,” Michael Toll, an attorney for the Grand Canyon Trust, a conservation nonprofit that opposed the project, told Grist. “Just ensuring that this water won’t be used for oil shale is a major win for the Colorado River Basin.” “...Enefit had over at least the last 15 years secured that federal research and development lease, along with rights to billions of gallons of water and the right of way needed to build the infrastructure for such a massive project. The company hoped to produce 50,000 barrels of oil daily for the next 30 years — almost double the Uinta Basin’s current production. The environmental and public health consequences of that would have been staggering… “Enefit’s plans hinged on the ability to access 10,000 acre-feet, or 3.2 billion gallons, of water from the White River, a tributary of the Green River that flows into the Colorado River.”
EXTRACTION
Globe and Mail: Oil sands producers in talks with Indigenous communities for equity stakes in carbon capture projects
EMMA GRANEY, 9/20/23
“The group behind a massive emissions reduction project in Alberta’s oil sands is in talks with Indigenous communities to have them take an economic interest in a 400-kilometre pipeline that would transport carbon captured from oil sands facilities to an underground hub near Cold Lake,” the Globe and Mail reports. “The Pathways Alliance, a consortium of Canada’s largest oil sands producers, has for years been planning the project as a key part of its pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from production to net zero by 2050… “Informal talks with local Indigenous communities have been part of early project planning, but Pathways president Kendall Dilling told the Globe and Mail the discourse has evolved from conceptual discussions early on to the next phase of formal dialogue now that the technical and engineering details have been ironed out. Economic participation is an important part of those discussions, Mr. Dilling told the Globe and Mail, and Pathways members would like to establish Indigenous equity stakes or other forms of material and financial participation in the project… “Formal consultations have only just begun, though some communities have already raised concerns about the Pathways Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project. That includes Cold Lake First Nations, close to the final planned CO2 hub. “It just seems like they’re ramming it down our throat,” Chief Kelsey Jacko told CBC News last week. His community is particularly worried about the long-term consequences of injecting carbon dioxide into pore space below the ground, and the possibility of leakage. More than 20 Indigenous communities are located along the proposed transportation and storage network corridor.”
Bloomberg: Exxon Evaluates Lithium Extracted From Brine
Mitchell Ferman, 9/19/23
“Exxon Mobil Corp. is experimenting with the extraction of lithium from subsurface brine as the largest US oil company explores ways it can enter the market for the battery metal,” Bloomberg reports. “While its lithium activities are at an early stage, production of the metal at scale would be a big business even for a company of Exxon’s size. The metal is crucial component in electric vehicle batteries and long-term projections point to a looming global supply deficit… “One of the advantages of lithium from subsurface brines is it’s a lot less energy-intensive and emissions-intensive than, say, the hard rock mining that is common today,” Matt Crocker, senior vice president for Exxon’s low carbon solutions business, told Bloomberg.
CLIMATE FINANCE
CBS News: Upset over fossil fuel funding, protesters block main entrance of Bank of America tower
JENNA DEANGELIS, 919/23
“Climate change protestors are making their voices heard for another day Tuesday in New York City, and it's all linked to Climate Week,” CBS News reports. “Many gathered outside the Bank of America tower near Bryant Park. Protestors rallied outside, at times even blocking its entrance, hoping their message is loud and clear. "We're here to show they have blood on their hands," one protestor said. Twenty were arrested. "They're funding more fossil fuel projects. That's why we're doing this," one protestor said… “The protestors say Bank of America is a major culprit. A "Banking on Chaos" report showed it, among other major U.S. banks, at the top of the largest fossil fuel financiers since the Paris agreement. Bank of America declined to comment, but highlights its ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability with a goal to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions in its financing activities, operations and supply chain before 2050. "Those commitments are not enough. They're not living up to them, and we need to hold them accountable," Ernesto Archila of Rainforest Action Network told CBS.
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Carter County Times: Ambulance service adds vehicles
Jeremy D. Wells, 9/20/23
“The Carter County emergency ambulance service hopes to see a reduction in the cost of maintaining their aging fleet of vehicles with the addition of a couple of trucks,” the Carter County Times reports. “...In other action Loperfido reported on other grants he had applied for, for new iPads and lifts, as well as updates on the installation of new radios in the existing trucks and of computer mounts for the mobile data terminals in vehicles. Those will hold laptop computers purchased through a grant from TC Energy.”
OPINION
NWestIowa.com: Taylor: Systemic ruptures leading to unwanted, unneeded pipelines
State Sen. Jeff Taylor (R-Sioux Center), 9/19/23
“I first became aware of the proposed carbon pipelines in late 2021. After reading a N’West Iowa REVIEW article about grass-roots resistance, and a cynical letter to the editor written by former Gov. Terry Branstad in the same issue, I decided to send a letter to the IUB pointing out that financial and political pressures should not be allowed to obscure, or override, possible harmful effects of pipeline construction and use,” State Sen. Jeff Taylor writes for NWestIowa.com. “I also wrote that if a permit is granted to Summit or Navigator, I was strongly opposed to the use of eminent domain by government to force private landowners to cede portions of their land to a private company for a multibillion-dollar project. Given Summit’s status as an Iowa-based corporation controlled by one of the biggest donors to the state Republican Party, the role played by Gov. Branstad as frontman for the project, and the hiring of the son of another ex-governor — and current U.S. Department of Agriculture secretary — as Summit general counsel, it seemed to me that the deck was especially being stacked in favor of that company to the detriment of impartiality and constitutionality… “I don’t doubt that the Iowa Utilities Board members and staff have been trying their best to be objective and professional, but the entire process has been tainted by perceived, if not actual, conflicts of interest… “This is why I have repeatedly argued that the Iowa Legislature ought to remove the power of CO2 pipeline eminent domain from the IUB… “As time has gone on, and I’ve learned more, I’ve become not only opposed to misuse of eminent domain by state government but skeptical of the pipelines themselves because I don’t think they’re safe or necessary. I think they’re simply get-richer-quick schemes by American and foreign investors — none of whom are legally obligated to reveal themselves — using federal tax credits to make them lucrative and using state government to violate private property rights… “Despite most of us — Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and progressives — being opposed to coerced land easements for carbon pipelines, this is a David vs. Goliath type of fight. The pro-pipeline side has more money and more power. The IUB should have never been put in this position, but since they have been, I hope they will make the right decision. They should reject the Summit permit application with its attendant abuse of eminent domain.”
Globe and Mail: Oil giants’ climate-change cheap talk is why we need a hard cap on their emissions
Catherine McKenna is a former federal minister of environment and climate change. Ms. McKenna is CEO of Climate and Nature Solutions and chair of the United Nations Secretary-General’s expert group on net-zero emissions, 9/20/23
“This summer scorched the Earth, breaking heat records globally and setting off wildfires that choked North American cities. And Suncor chief executive officer Rich Kruger? He chose this moment to announce that his company will double down on oil sands production and sideline its renewables strategy,” Catherine McKenna writes for the Globe and Mail. “Regrettably, Suncor is not a rogue producer. Recently, Shell and BP announced plans to slow-walk clean energy and pump more fossil fuels – the main cause of the climate crisis. They chose to spend the vast majority of their record profits on shareholder dividends and executive compensation while investing a small fraction in the clean energy transition. Incredibly, at the same time, oil sands companies demand that Canadian taxpayers spend even more to subsidize their carbon capture projects. This contravenes the basic principle that polluters should pay for the damage they cause… “After years of pious corporate announcements and feel-good advertising, it’s magical thinking to believe the oil and gas sector has anything but its own profits at heart. Especially after ExxonMobil – where Mr. Kruger was a 40-year veteran – spent decades hiding, denying and downplaying the climate risks posed by fossil fuels. This is why it’s time to do what a majority of Canadians – including in Alberta – believe is necessary and put a hard cap on emissions from Canada’s oil and gas industry… “Instead, Suncor and fronts like the Pathways Alliance remind us why talk is cheap. Canadians aren’t fools. They can see through the spin. But time is running out. Absolute emissions from oil and gas are rising. Real action – and a hard cap on oil and gas emissions – is needed now.”
Los Angeles Times: The oil companies lied to us about climate change. California should sue them into the ground
MICHAEL HILTZIK, 9/20/23
“The oil companies want you to see California’s newly filed lawsuit over their decades of deceit about global warming as a “hypocritical ... Hollywood-and-foreign-billionaire-funded” effort to “starve the state of energy and hamper the economy.” Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they?,” Michael Hiltzik writes for the Los Angeles Times. “The targets of the lawsuit, filed Friday in San Francisco County Superior Court, are five major oil companies and their subsidiaries… “The industry asserts that the litigation is futile, pointing to scattered adverse rulings by judges here and there. But all those cases are still pending. Big Oil is right to be concerned, for if even one crosses the judicial finish line, the path could be cleared for a massive financial reckoning in which the industry is forced to pony up for programs of mitigation and abatement. Think of the multibillion-dollar reckoning imposed on the tobacco industry, and multiply by infinity. The oil lobby also points out that the real blame for petroleum-driven global warming lies with us, the public, and our unquenched demand for gasoline-powered cars and fossil fuels of every other description. That’s fair, as far as it goes, but it didn’t save the cigarette companies after their role in the promotion of smoking through marketing and the suppression of scientific evidence of links between smoking and diseases was exposed. The harvest included a 25-year, $246-billion settlement reached in 1998 between the companies and state governments… “The state lawsuit doesn’t blame the oil industry for creating global warming, exactly. Rather, it seeks to hold the companies responsible for lying about it — specifically, for suppressing what its own scientists were saying about the consequences of burning fossil fuels.”