EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 9/26/23
PIPELINE NEWS
Press release: Advocates Demand Stronger Pipeline Safety Rules
Bismarck Tribune: New oil and gas rule would provide a pathway for CO2 utilization, but worries landowner group
AgWeb: Carbon Capture Pipeline Tax Credits Raise Questions About Benefits
BEK.TV: Mercer County Commission's Stalemate on Summit Carbon Solutions’ CO2 Pipeline Proposals Leaves Stanton, ND and Neighboring Regions in Anticipation
WEEK: Peoria County residents ask Board committee for moratorium on CO2 pipelines
Reuters: Canadian regulator approves route change request for Trans Mountain pipeline
Native News Online: Over 60 Tribes Support Michigan Attorney General's Lawsuit to Close Enbridge's Line 5
Press release: Manchin Meets With Mountain Valley Pipeline Workers in Charleston
The Oklahoman: Punctured pipeline spills at least 4,200 gallons of crude oil in northwest OKC
KOCO: Residents living near busted pipeline worry about impact of oil near homes
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Hearings To Weigh Offshore Oil, Fracking, Tribal Energy
Law360: Green Groups Ask 5th Circ. To Save Gulf Whale Protections
Washington Post: Meet the whale that may upend the offshore oil industry
OilPrice.com: Harold Hamm Calls For Consistency In U.S. Oil And Gas Regulation
InsideEPA: Oil & Gas Groups Seek Compliance Deadline Extension For Methane Rule
STATE UPDATES
KJZZ: Navajo Nation among tribes getting $40M to clean up orphan oil, gas wells
Mlive.com: Biomass, carbon-capture tech are big sticking points in clean energy bill talks
Lignite Energy Council: New Poll Reveals Surging Support for Carbon Capture and N.D. Coal Industry
EXTRACTION
InsideClimate News: A Known Risk: How Carbon Stored Underground Could Find Its Way Back Into the Atmosphere
The Verge: Techno-fixes to climate change aren’t living up to the hype
S&P Global: Carbon capture projects in limbo as economics, policy remain ambiguous
DeSmog: How Carbon Capture and Storage Projects Are Driving New Oil and Gas Extraction Globally
New York Times: ‘Monster Fracks’ Are Getting Far Bigger. And Far Thirstier.
CLIMATE FINANCE
E&E News: SEC set to approve rule that would combat ‘misleading’ use of ESG label
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Enbridge: New boulder park a rock-solid symbol of action and togetherness
OPINION
The Hill: Grassroots initiatives, not publicity stunts, are the best way to drive action on climate change
PIPELINE NEWS
Press release: Advocates Demand Stronger Pipeline Safety Rules
9/25/23
“Dozens of organizations sent a letter to Senate and House leaders today outlining key pipeline safety measures they say must be part of the pending reauthorization of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) – including several provisions dealing with the potential threats posed by carbon dioxide pipelines. The letter – signed by Food & Water Watch, Bold Alliance, Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, Oil Change International, Indigenous Environmental Network and others – calls on lawmakers to close carbon dioxide regulatory loopholes, ensure that new regulations apply to existing infrastructure, and prohibit the blending of hydrogen in existing gas lines. The letter cites the 2020 carbon pipeline rupture in Satartia, Mississippi as the “proverbial canary in the coal mine” that should prompt immediate changes – especially since pipeline companies are rushing forward with plans to build hundreds of miles of new pipelines. Without adequate safety regulations, the letter warns that a similar rupture in more densely communities “could easily spiral into a mass casualty event.” The letter makes several recommendations regarding carbon dioxide pipelines – everything from requiring plume dispersion modeling and the use of odorants to establishing regulations that would set maximum contaminant levels. “Motivated by billions in government subsidies, pipeline companies are now pushing to build massive new carbon dioxide projects. But without adequate rules in place to protect public health and safety, we are putting countless communities at risk,” said Food & Water Watch Policy Director Jim Walsh. “This industry pipe dream will quickly become a nightmare for communities that live with the threat of leaks or explosions that would send plumes of suffocating CO2 for miles. Lawmakers must ensure that new pipeline safety rules account for the unique threats posed by carbon transport and hydrogen blending.” “Communities across the country are facing an onslaught of new pipeline proposals. Unlike the old oil and gas pipelines, CO2 and hydrogen pipelines pose unique and extraordinary hazards to public health and the environment but are vastly under-regulated. PHMSA must be authorized and given a strong mandate to guarantee public safety rather than follow its old formula of guaranteeing the profitability of the fossil fuel industry,” said Carolyn Raffensperger, executive director of the Science and Environmental Health Network. “The federal government intends to throw hundreds of billions of dollars at the carbon capture and storage industry to build as much as 96,000 miles of dangerous carbon pipelines that would snake through communities all over the U.S,” said Paul Blackburn, an attorney with the Bold Alliance, a Midwestern landowner protection group. “The least the feds can do is update their outdated safety regulations to protect the people threatened by these potentially deadly pipelines.”
Bismarck Tribune: New oil and gas rule would provide a pathway for CO2 utilization, but worries landowner group
JOEY HARRIS, 9/23/23
“Newly proposed changes to state oil and gas rules would provide a regulatory framework that would encourage the use of captured carbon dioxide emissions and other materials to recover more oil and gas in North Dakota. But some worry the rules would indefinitely delay the plugging and reclamation of old oil wells, creating problems for landowners and the environment,” the Bismarck Tribune reports. “The Department of Mineral Resources is seeking public input on updates to numerous oil and gas regulations, with the comment period ending next month. The target date for a final decision is April 1, 2024… "Enhanced oil recovery potential (halts) the need to plug and abandon the multimillion-dollar investments in a well because it no longer produces under current technology," said State Rep. Jeremy Olson, R-Arnegard. "This will allow you to keep it ready for the future when the logistics, the technology, and the economics align for enhanced oil recovery." Enhanced oil recovery has been practiced for decades with a variety of materials, but North Dakota lawmakers, regulators and industry leaders see the use of captured CO2 emissions as playing a major role in the practice as the state seeks to become a hub for the storage and utilization of climate-warming CO2. State Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms spoke of enhanced oil recovery at the conference as well, saying the practice would boost state oil production, but only if North Dakota could import captured CO2 from other states -- something the controversial Midwest Carbon Express pipeline project aims to do if developer Summit Carbon Solutions can get regulatory approval… “Helms said that "If we decide that we are not going to build CO2 pipelines and we are not going to import CO2 ... in approximately 2037 we go into terminal decline and we just begin to drop oil production." “...Northwest Landowners Association Chair Troy Coons said he is worried the proposed new rules would hinder the state’s response to damages from inactive wells… “Critics also argue that enhanced oil recovery is untested and could end up causing more emissions… “Northwest Landowners Association attorney Derrick Braaten disagrees with Helms’ characterization of the new rules. “That might sound like a lot but it’s really not, it’s just the bare minimum they have to do to comply with the state drinking water act to ensure that they don’t contaminate an aquifer and they would have to do that under federal law regardless,” Braaten said… “Dakota Resource Council Executive Director Scott Skokos said “There’s no accurate way of determining (flaring) without a meter.” “...Mineral Resources will hold four hearings over two days across the state on the proposed new rules. Bismarck and Dickinson will be up first on Oct. 9, followed by Williston and Minot on Oct. 10. The department also will accept written comments on the proposed rules until 5 p.m. on Oct. 20. For more information and to view the proposed rules in their entirety, go to https://www.dmr.nd.gov/dmr/oilgas.”
AgWeb: Carbon Capture Pipeline Tax Credits Raise Questions About Benefits
9/25/23
“As carbon capture pipeline projects gain momentum, questions are emerging regarding how the associated tax credits will impact farmers and conservation efforts,” AgWeb reports. “Several pipeline projects in Iowa are set to receive billions in federal tax credits, with the promise of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from ethanol production. However, a Des Moines Register article notes that concerns are mounting about whether farmers will reap the benefits or if major ag companies and ethanol producers will primarily profit from these projects. While pipeline developers argue that capturing carbon dioxide emissions from ethanol plants and transporting them via pipelines will significantly reduce the carbon footprint of ethanol, some observers suggest farmers can contribute to emissions reduction by adopting sustainable practices such as planting cover crops and improving fertilizer use. These practices may potentially make ethanol production carbon-negative. The federal government supports emissions reduction through tax credit programs, including the 45Q program for carbon capture and the 45Z program for lowering transportation fuels’ environmental impact… “This debate highlights the potential for farmers to play a role in reducing emissions and securing federal incentives, but uncertainty remains regarding how such practices will be quantified and incentivized.”
BEK.TV: Mercer County Commission's Stalemate on Summit Carbon Solutions’ CO2 Pipeline Proposals Leaves Stanton, ND and Neighboring Regions in Anticipation
9/22/23
“In the most recent episode of “Capturing America: CO2 Pipeline,” we delve into the Mercer County Commission’s meeting that took place on September 20th, 2023, in Stanton, North Dakota,” BEK.TV reports. “Mercer County is vital in the proposed CO2 pipeline project by Summit Carbon Solutions as it stands as one of the critical terminus points for the pipeline, alongside Oliver County. On the agenda was the key item “SCS Carbon Transport LLC; Five – CO2 Pipeline Crossings.” While one commissioner was absent, the four present commissioners were tasked with hearing from the highway department representatives regarding the pipeline routes destined to pass underneath five key Mercer County roads. Particularly noteworthy was the proposed utility permit #1753 meant to run from Oliver County into Mercer County. In a surprising turn of events, despite multiple motions made by Chairman Travis Frey to approve the pipeline permits, the absence of any seconds meant that all motions failed. Notably, Summit Carbon Solutions’ permits #1753, #1754, #1755, #1756, and #1757 all faced unanimous inaction. The episode leaves viewers questioning the future direction of the CO2 pipeline through Mercer County and awaiting further comments from Summit Carbon Solutions.”
WEEK: Peoria County residents ask Board committee for moratorium on CO2 pipelines
9/25/23
“More people are saying ‘no’ to a proposed pipeline in Peoria County, and they’re calling for the government to join them” WEEK reports. “It was a nearly full house for the Monday afternoon meeting…”
Reuters: Canadian regulator approves route change request for Trans Mountain pipeline
Nia Williams, 9/25/23
“The Canada Energy Regulator (CER) approved a route change request for the Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion on Monday, clearing a major hurdle and avoiding months of delay for the Canadian government-owned project,” Reuters reports. “Trans Mountain Corp (TMC), the federal government corporation that is building the expansion, had sought a route deviation on a 1.3-kilometre (0.8 mile) section of pipeline near Kamloops, British Columbia, to avoid planned micro-tunneling construction that it said would be unfeasible. That request was opposed by the Stk'emlupsemc Te Secwepemc Nation (SSN) First Nation, whose territory the pipeline crosses, and who argued changing the route would disturb lands that hold "profound spiritual and cultural significance". The CER held a three-day hearing in Calgary last week, before ruling in favor of TMX. The regulator did not give reasons for its decision, only saying it would release them in coming weeks… “Morningstar analyst Stephen Ellis told Reuters the CER ruling was a positive step forward, but he still expected TMX's start-up date to be pushed back. "It's likely still too late to avoid further delays past Q1 anyways given the construction challenges," Ellis told Reuters. "After a seemingly never-ending stream of bad news, at least the pipeline has something going right with this decision."
Native News Online: Over 60 Tribes Support Michigan Attorney General's Lawsuit to Close Enbridge's Line 5
9/25/23
“Led by the Bay Mills Indian Community, more than 60 tribal nations from Indian Country have weighed in on Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s lawsuit to move the Line 5 oil pipeline from the the heart of the Great Lakes,” Native News Online reports. “The Tribes submitted an amicus brief supporting Nessel’s claims and asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit to remand Nessel v. Enbridge to state court, a move opposed by the Canadian giant Enbridge, which owns Line 5… “We stand behind Attorney General Nessel because we know that shutting down Line 5 is the only way to protect everyone who depends on the land, water, and natural resources within the Great Lakes, including Anishinaabe people exercising our treaty rights,” said Bay Mills Indian Community President Whitney Gravelle… “The Native American Relief Fund (NARF) and Earthjustice represent the Bay Mills Indian Community, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Little River Band of Odawa Indians, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi, Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi Tribe, Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa, Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Ho-Chunk Nation, Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Prairie Island Indian Community, Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin, Stockbridge-Munsee Community Band of Mohican Indians, and the Anishinaabek Nation of Ontario as amici in this case… “Enbridge is plainly trying to game the system, but no oil company is above the law,” said Earthjustice Associate Attorney John Petoskey. “The 6th Circuit should remand this case to state court, where the attorney general’s claims can be swiftly resolved.”
Press release: Manchin Meets With Mountain Valley Pipeline Workers in Charleston
9/25/23
“Yesterday, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, attended the Pipeliners Local 798 Regional Meeting in Charleston and met with pipeline workers from West Virginia and across the country who have been working on the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Senator Manchin began championing the effort to complete the pipeline in February 2022, which will create more than 4,500 jobs to finish construction, generate $50 million in tax revenue and more than $175 million in royalties for West Virginia landowners. “It fills me with pride and excitement to speak with skilled workers from West Virginia and across the country who have been hard at work on the Mountain Valley Pipeline, and it was great to join yesterday’s meeting in Charleston,” said Senator Manchin. “This pipeline is essential to ensuring our nation’s energy and national security and providing affordable, reliable natural gas to hundreds of thousands of Americans, all while creating jobs and increasing tax revenue. West Virginia is truly America’s energy MVP, not only because we power our nation, but also because we demonstrate that when we work together, we can reach historic milestones.”
The Oklahoman: Punctured pipeline spills at least 4,200 gallons of crude oil in northwest OKC
Jack Money, 9/25/23
“At least 4,200 gallons of oil escaped a 16-inch pipeline in northwest Oklahoma City on Monday, leaving residents dealing with a smelly lake of crude and wondering what happened and why,” The Oklahoman reports. “The accident, which happened about 10:30 a.m. near NW 184 and Portland, created a geyser of oil that could be seen by passing motorists until the line's operator was able to shut it down. The pipeline was carrying crude between Cushing and Midland, Texas, when it was struck by a crew building roads for a neighborhood addition. Some oil initially flowed into nearby storm drains. Fire officials, working with the contractor, were able to build an artificial lake to capture the remainder of the spill. "The most concerning thing to us is we haven't heard a whole lot about whether or not there's anything to worry about," Lacey Becker, who moved into her home just north of where the accident happened about six months ago, told the Oklahoman. Becker, 29, told the Oklahoman she had no idea a major oil line was located near her home. "Is there anything we need to be watching for or concerned with an oil leak like this? Any sort of communication about what is going on over there would be good." “...The damaged pipeline is owned by Energy Transfer, which will determine the exact amount of oil that was spilled… “If investigators learn the lines were properly marked, the excavator operator could be fined by the Corporation Commission and have to pay cleanup costs. If the lines were not properly marked, Energy Transfer could face potential fines and have to pay for cleaning up the mess itself, officials told the Oklahoman.”.
KOCO: Residents living near busted pipeline worry about impact of oil near homes
Jason Burger, 9/25/23
“Homeowners in northwest Oklahoma City were left with concerns Monday after a pipeline was struck during construction work, causing oil to shoot out for hours,” KOCO reports. “...There was just oil flowing out down by the road,” Troop Holden, a homeowner who lives in a new subdivision near where the oil was shooting, told KOCO. "Nobody has really communicated to us if there’s any precautions we need to take or anything of that nature," Holden told KOCO. “It’s seeping into the ground, but hopefully, they’ll get it cleaned up quick, and it doesn’t release any fumes in the air. That’s a concern as well," Holden told KOCO… “However, some of the oil has already gotten into some of the neighborhood infrastructure. "They’ve already put in the storm drains for this neighborhood, and so the product has already gotten into the storm drain and moved off towards Portland," District Fire Chief Andrew McCain told KOCO.
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Hearings To Weigh Offshore Oil, Fracking, Tribal Energy
Heather Richards, 9/25/23
“House Republicans are teeing up a trio of hearings this week to attack President Joe Biden and Democrats on fossil fuel development,” E&E News reports. “They plan to advance legislation to safeguard both hydraulic fracturing and offshore leasing, and to promote Native American control over tribal energy decisions. The Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, chaired by Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.), will weigh two bills aimed at protecting controversial drilling practices and offshore drilling rights. H.R. 1121, the ‘Protecting American Energy Production Act,’ sponsored by Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), would bar the president from declaring a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing — a common drilling practice that uses chemicals, sand and water to shatter underground rock to release hydrocarbons — without congressional approval. … A separate Natural Resources panel — the Indian and Insular Affairs Subcommittee — will explore Native American control over tribal energy development. The hearing, titled ‘Tribal Autonomy and Energy Development: Implementation of the Indian Tribal Energy Development and Self-Determination Act,’ will focus on increasing tribal power.”
Law360: Green Groups Ask 5th Circ. To Save Gulf Whale Protections
Peter McGuire, 9/22/23
“Conservation groups filed an emergency Fifth Circuit appeal Friday to block a Louisiana federal judge’s order for U.S. regulators to strip protections for endangered whales recently added to an imminent Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease sale,” Law360 reports. “U.S. District Judge James D. Cain’s order improperly mandated the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to conduct Lease Sale 261 covering nearly 70 million acres in the Gulf after removing restrictions the agency determined were needed to shield nearly-extinct Rice’s whales, groups including the Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity said in their motion for a stay of the ruling. There was no basis for such extraordinary relief, and Judge Cain ignored the appropriate procedural steps the BOEM took ahead of pulling 6 million acres from the lease area and adding speed limits on oil and gas vessels in its final sale notice last month, the groups said. Losing even one reproductive female whale could doom the entire species, the groups added, far outweighing the limited monetary losses that parties challenging the rule would incur from the sale restrictions. Chevron, Shell, and the state of Louisiana, among others, have challenged the restrictions.”
Washington Post: Meet the whale that may upend the offshore oil industry
Dino Grandoni and Timothy Puko, 9/26/23
“It was a whale of an announcement. After years of research, scientists said they had discovered an entirely new species of whale swimming right under their noses in the Gulf of Mexico,” the Washington Post reports. “Yet as soon as scientists identified Rice’s whale, also known as the Gulf of Mexico whale, two years ago, there was a problem. There were hardly any left. With only about 50 remaining, the whale is one of the most endangered marine mammals on Earth. Now efforts to protect the whale are running headfirst into that other behemoth off the Gulf Coast: the offshore oil and gas industry. The Biden administration has proposed protecting a massive swath of ocean from Texas to Florida, potentially restricting fossil fuel activity in one of the nation’s top oil-producing spots. Already Biden’s deputies sought to remove millions of acres within its habitat from an offshore oil lease sale originally scheduled for Wednesday. Offshore oil drillers and Republican lawmakers from Gulf Coast states responded with lawsuits to stop protections they say are economically crippling and hastily executed. A federal district judge last week agreed, ordering the Biden administration to reverse course on the upcoming lease sale. An appellate court Monday delayed the lease sale until November. The decision to remove acreage from auction “circumvented the law, ignored science, and bypassed public input,” said Erik Milito, head of the National Ocean Industries Association, an offshore energy lobbying group. But scientists say oil extraction still poses a clear risk to the whale, with officials estimating the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010 wiped out about one-fifth of the population. With so few Rice’s whales left, the loss of even a single individual is devastating for the species. “The science is quite clear that these whales won’t survive in an environment with such heavy industry,” Kristen Monsell, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group, told the Post. “It would just be an incredible tragedy to watch this whale species go extinct, especially so soon after we learned that it was its own species.”
OilPrice.com: Harold Hamm Calls For Consistency In U.S. Oil And Gas Regulation
Tsvetana Paraskova, 9/25/23
“Shale pioneer Harold Hamm, the founder of Continental Resources, has called for the uncertainty in U.S. oil and gas regulations to end so that the industry can have clearer advance plans on drilling and production operational,” OilPrice.com reports. “The current U.S. Administration’s policies regarding oil and gas are ‘like riding a roller coaster,’ Hamm told oil industry executives and politicians in Oklahoma City, as carried by Bloomberg. ‘It’s so important that we have an energy policy that’s lasting and somebody can’t tinker with it from one administration to the next,’ according to the shale tycoon who has been criticizing the Biden Administration for its ‘failed policies on energy.’”
InsideEPA: Oil & Gas Groups Seek Compliance Deadline Extension For Methane Rule
9/22/23
“Oil and gas groups are bolstering their pitch for EPA to significantly delay the deadline for complying with the agency’s forthcoming methane standards for new equipment in the sector, citing an industry survey finding supply chain constraints for a range of equipment needed to achieve the requirements,” InsideEPA reports. “The pitch builds on more general comments submitted in February on EPA’s supplemental proposal, in which the American Petroleum Institute (API) flagged supply chain challenges as one of numerous concerns with the plan, though the industry says such concerns have worsened since then. Environmentalists are acknowledging some supply chain challenges, but they claim the problems are manageable and should not justify years of delay in implementing EPA’s requirements, and that regulatory certainty is critical to ensuring a continued market driver for methane control technologies.”
STATE UPDATES
KJZZ: Navajo Nation among tribes getting $40M to clean up orphan oil, gas wells
Nicholas Gerbis, 9/22/23
“Indigenous communities have long been unduly burdened by environmental pollution,” KJZZ reports. “Now, the Biden administration has sent nearly $40 million to help tribal communities plug and remediate orphaned oil and gas wells. Nearly $5 million will go to the Navajo Nation to plug an estimated 21 wells… “These legacy pollutants contaminate groundwater, harm wildlife, strew the countryside with rusting, dangerous equipment and contribute to greenhouse emissions to boot… “This is a key component of many of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law programs: building out the infrastructure to equip tribes now and into the future,” assistant secretary for Indian affairs Bryan Newland, who is an Ojibwe member of the Bay Mills Indian community near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, told KJZZ.
Mlive.com: Biomass, carbon-capture tech are big sticking points in clean energy bill talks
Sheri McWhirter, 9/25/23
“How fast Michigan moves toward a clean energy portfolio has been the talk of the summer among Democrat state lawmakers,” Mlive.com reports. “...Among the most prominent sticking points in debates over a suite of proposed clean energy bills are whether biomass power generation and carbon-capture technology should be categorized as renewable… “Another major hangup in the clean energy legislation talks is carbon-capture technology. Proponents argue it can make lower-carbon emitting fossil fuels like natural gas even cleaner, while critics say it’s unproven and expensive technology which comes with problematic upstream greenhouse gas emissions. There are additional concerns that without carbon-capture and sequestration, natural gas plants in Michigan may shut down before other baseload power generation is built out and lead to the loss of those power plant jobs. That may ultimately prompt a compromise, said one climate action advocate. “There are a number of gas plants that some of the more conservative Democrats are concerned about. I think labor is also concerned about what is the future of some of those plants. And so, politically, I think there is a push to incorporate (captured) carbon sequestration,” Charlotte Jameson, top policy officer for nonprofit Michigan Environmental Council, told Mlive.com. “We are trying to make that a narrow inclusion.”
Lignite Energy Council: New Poll Reveals Surging Support for Carbon Capture and N.D. Coal Industry
9/15/23
“A recent poll of North Dakota residents demonstrates a remarkable and encouraging trend in support of carbon capture technology and North Dakota’s vital coal industry,” according to the Lignite Energy Council. “Key findings from the poll include: OVERWHELMING PUBLIC SUPPORT: 69% of respondents expressed unwavering support for implementing carbon capture technology. This recognition of the importance of carbon capture demonstrates the public's commitment to finding innovative solutions that simultaneously address environmental concerns and protect the coal industry… “72% of participants voiced their belief in the significance of North Dakota's coal industry for the state's economy and energy security. The poll also highlighted an encouraging shift in public awareness regarding environmental issues. 72% of respondents expressed their willingness to support policies that promote sustainable practices within the energy sector, indicating a growing concern for reducing carbon emissions while maintaining energy production… "We are thrilled to witness the rising support for carbon capture and the acknowledgment of the North Dakota coal industry's indispensable contributions," said Jason Bohrer, President & CEO of the Lignite Energy Council… “The polling, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, occurred between June 14 and 18, 2023, and included a sample size of 400 North Dakota residents.”
EXTRACTION
InsideClimate News: A Known Risk: How Carbon Stored Underground Could Find Its Way Back Into the Atmosphere
Terry L. Jones and Pam Radtke, 9/26/23
“Generous federal tax credits are driving the onrush of carbon capture and storage projects being proposed in the U.S. But like a game of whack-a-mole, there’s a chance the planet-warming emissions could seep back up into the atmosphere after they are injected underground,” InsideClimate News reports. “How? Through any one of the thousands of abandoned oil and gas wells throughout the country. Louisiana alone has 4,500 abandoned wells and more than 21,000 inactive wells. Nationwide, there could be as many as 3 million such wells. Despite the numerous “holes” in the ground, companies including Occidental Petroleum, Denbury and Blue Sky are rushing to purchase the underground spaces, generally deep underground, and sometimes in the spaces that once held oil and gas. So far, more than two dozen storage sites in Louisiana are publicly known, including the most controversial, under Lake Maurepas. “Those wells are like straws in the marsh,” Alex Kolker, Louisiana coastal geologist at the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, told Floodlight. “It’s a conduit for carbon dioxide to reach the surface.” “...But critics worry about the implications of pumping millions of tons of the captured carbon underground. Worries include the potential for earthquakes from forcing the carbon underground, contamination of groundwater and the eventual leakage of that carbon back into the atmosphere… “The handoff to states adds another layer of concern for some critics of carbon capture. “Louisiana regulatory agencies have a poor track record when it comes to enforcing permits and ensuring existing rules are followed,” Logan Atkinson Burke, executive director of the Alliance for Affordable Energy, told Floodlight. “This has been a documented failing at both the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Environmental Quality and gives us little reason to believe that even the most stringent of guidelines will be followed.” “...Courreges said the state is using federal funding to develop a methodology to better determine leak factors and well integrity through DNR’s partnership with Louisiana State University. A preliminary report from that study found that 40% of the wells were leaking methane. The carbon leakage problem is also well documented, including by the oil and gas industry itself, and by Hovorka in oil and gas fields across the nation. In 2016, a school in Wyoming had to be evacuated and the school had to be relocated for months when carbon dioxide—being used to force oil out of an adjacent oil field, under a less stringent Class II permit—seeped into a school-adjacent field. “Abandoned wells are generally recognized as the highest risk of potential of CO2 release into the atmosphere during carbon capture and sequestration and the highest potential of impact to underground drinking water sources,” Dominic DiGiulio, a former researcher with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and now environmental scientist and independent consultant, told Floodlight.
The Verge: Techno-fixes to climate change aren’t living up to the hype
Justine Calma, 9/26/23
“An updated road map for combating climate change pours cold water on the idea that unproven technologies can play a major role in averting disaster,” The Verge reports. “Today, the International Energy Agency (IEA) updated its road map for the energy sector to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. It doubles down on the need to swiftly switch to renewable energy while minimizing the use of technologies that are still largely in demonstration and prototype phase today, including carbon capture and hydrogen fuels… “The biggest difference in this new report is that emerging technologies that have gotten a lot of hype as high-tech fixes to climate change now play a significantly smaller role than expected in 2021. Those technologies, which include hydrogen fuel cells for heavy vehicles and devices that filter CO2 emissions from smokestacks or ambient air, now account for 35 percent of emissions reductions rather than nearly 50 percent. Why? They just haven’t lived up to the hype, the report says pretty plainly. “I think that some realism has kicked in from this, and I wonder how that realism from this report will kind of perforate through those industries,” Dave Jones, global insights lead at energy think tank Ember, told The Verge. Today, “hydrogen production is more of a climate problem than a climate solution,” the report says… “The road map similarly cuts down the role of carbon capture technologies by around 40 percent in emissions reductions from power generation. “So far, the history of [carbon capture] has largely been one of unmet expectations,” the IEA’s new report says… “Removing carbon from the atmosphere is very costly. We must do everything possible to stop putting it there in the first place,” IEA executive director Fatih Birol said in a press release. If pollution doesn’t fall fast enough and the planet warms beyond 1.5 degrees, countries can attempt to use carbon capture technologies that are “expensive and unproven at scale” to try to reverse some of that warming, the press release says. But relying on those technologies would come with heightened climate risks.”
S&P Global: Carbon capture projects in limbo as economics, policy remain ambiguous
Bill Holland, 9/25/23
“While there is tremendous uncertainty about the economics of carbon capture, use and sequestration (CCUS) projects, carbon capture systems are still being designed and built to meet lower-carbon emissions goals, experts on a panel at the World Petroleum Congress said to a packed audience,” S&P Global reports. "Everyone wants policy certainty," said Peter Findlay, director of CCUS economics at oil and gas consulting firm Wood Mackenzie, at the Sept. 20 session. The industry would benefit from a "standard carbon price that's kind of bankable." "Theoretically there should be some price to emit or credit for not emitting," Findlay said. "But that's the unknown and that just increases the cost of capital ... what developers and users need is reassurance that captured carbon will be worth something." Wood Mackenzie is tracking more than 800 carbon capture projects around the world, Findlay said, and the clearest trend from the tracker is that most projects have yet to receive a final investment decision from their sponsors. "That next kind of level of investment, the level you need for board approval, they haven't really got to. So they're kind of stuck." For companies trying to quantify the impacts of their environmental, social and governance goals and net-zero targets, the key question is "what's it worth to us to reduce emissions?" Findlay said. "We're spending shareholder capital here and they're expecting a return." Financial support for carbon capture projects can come from various sources, Findlay said. Those sources include tax credits and government payouts for captured carbon, payments by customers for the service and income derived from end-use processes such as enhanced oil recovery.”
DeSmog: How Carbon Capture and Storage Projects Are Driving New Oil and Gas Extraction Globally
Michael Buchsbaum and Edward Donnelly, 9/25/23
“When Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber opens the 28th annual UN climate conference in Dubai in November, he will be juggling two roles – convincing the world of the United Arab Emirates’ leadership in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, while preserving the very industry that’s causing them,” DeSmog reports. “In addition to his job as summit president, Al Jaber heads the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), which plans to increase its oil and gas output by 11 percent by 2027. The company says that more oil will mean less emissions; however — provided the industry builds enough facilities to capture carbon dioxide (CO2), the main gas causing the climate crisis. “We must be laser-focused on phasing out fossil fuel emissions, while phasing up viable, affordable zero carbon alternatives,” Al-Jaber said at a pre-COP 28 event in Bonn in June. The statement was widely interpreted as a pitch for carbon capture… “It is a trend reflected across the sector: Of the 32 commercial CCS facilities operating worldwide, 22 use most, or all, of their captured CO2 to push more oil out of already tapped reservoirs… “But the fact that existing carbon capture projects are mostly used to bring more oil to the surface has not stopped oil and gas companies championing the technology as a climate solution in the run-up to COP28. In January, ExxonMobil Tweeted a video interview with a safety and environment supervisor at its LaBarge CCS project in Wyoming. “Welcome to La Barge — the industrial facility that has captured the most CO2 emissions on earth to date,” says a caption at the start of the clip. Nowhere does the video mention that most of the CO2 captured from the LaBarge gas processing plant is being injected underground to extract more oil. Research by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, a nonprofit energy think tank, shows that 97 percent of CO2 captured by the La Barge facility has been sold for EOR since the plant began operations in 1986. In times when EOR was not profitable, CO2 was simply vented into the atmosphere. While CCS is proving a boon for the fossil fuel industry, a DeSmog review of 12 of the world’s biggest projects has found a litany of missed carbon capture targets; cost overruns; and multi-billion-dollar bills to taxpayers in the form of subsidies. DeSmog’s research also raises questions over an oft-cited claim that industry captures 41 million tonnes of CO2 annually — or 0.1 percent of the world’s approximately 37 billion tonnes of energy-related CO2 emissions. Beyond the consistent underperformance of many CCS projects, DeSmog found that most either strip out CO2 in the process of refining fossil fuels, or use their captured CO2 to push more oil out of the ground — or both. The result: existing CCS projects are enabling the release of a much greater amount of overall CO2 emissions into the atmosphere than they are storing underground.”
New York Times: ‘Monster Fracks’ Are Getting Far Bigger. And Far Thirstier.
Hiroko Tabuchi and Blacki Migliozzi, 9/25/23
“Along a parched stretch of La Salle County, Texas, workers last year dug some 700 feet deep into the ground, seeking freshwater. Millions of gallons of it. The water wouldn’t supply homes or irrigate farms. It was being used by the petroleum giant BP to frack for fossil fuels. The water would be mixed with sand and toxic chemicals and pumped right back underground — forcing oil and gas from the bedrock. It was a reminder that to strike oil in America, you need water. Plenty of it,” the New York Times reports. “Today, the insatiable search for oil and gas has become the latest threat to the country’s endangered aquifers, a critical national resource that is already being drained at alarming rates by industrial farming and cities in search of drinking water. The amount of water consumed by the oil industry, revealed in a New York Times investigation, has soared to record levels. Fracking wells have increased their water usage sevenfold since 2011 as operators have adopted new techniques to first drill downward and then horizontally for thousands of feet. The process extracts more fossil fuels but requires enormous amounts of water. Together, oil and gas operators reported using about 1.5 trillion gallons of water since 2011, much of it from aquifers, the Times found. Fracking a single oil or gas well can now use as much as 40 million gallons of water or more. These mega fracking projects, called “monster fracks” by researchers, have become the industry norm. They barely existed a decade ago. Now they account for almost two out of every three fracking wells in Texas, the Times analysis found. “They’re the newcomers, a new sector that burst onto the scene and is heavily reliant on the aquifers,” Peter Knappett, an associate professor in hydrogeology at Texas A&M University, referring to fracking companies, told the Times. “And they could be pumping for several decades from aquifers that are already over-exploited and already experiencing long-term declines.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
E&E News: SEC set to approve rule that would combat ‘misleading’ use of ESG label
Avery Ellfeldt, 9/20/23
“The vote comes more than a year after the Securities and Exchange Commission moved to bring more clarity to socially conscious investing,” E&E News reports.
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Enbridge: New boulder park a rock-solid symbol of action and togetherness
9/25/23
“There’s a brand-new boulder playground in the heart of Boitanio Park in Williams Lake,” according to Enbridge. “...About 70 businesses and families pooled their resources to bring this boulder park to life… “It took approximately 10 months to reach the target budget of C$130,000… “Enbridge was one of the silver sponsors that donated $5,000 to build the playground. The grant is part of our Fueling Futures program, reaffirming our commitment to fostering vibrant communities where we live and work. “This new boulder park serves as a symbol and an inspiration that we can build something meaningful by working together,” says Dean Freeman, BC Pipeline field operations director with Enbridge.
OPINION
The Hill: Grassroots initiatives, not publicity stunts, are the best way to drive action on climate change
Mary Anna Mancuso is a political strategist based in South Florida and a spokesperson for RepublicEn.org, a growing group of conservatives who care about climate change, 9/24/23
“The schism between policymakers and activists on climate change has caused gridlock and angst on both sides of the issue and the aisle. Left-leaning activists look to raise awareness through publicity stunts like the one seen at Burning Man where climate activists blocked the two lane highway in northwest Nevada with a 28 foot trailer and halted traffic for over an hour and a protest at the White House last week demanding President Joe Biden declare a climate emergency. These stunts get attention. But do they work?,” Mary Anna Mancuso writes for The Hill. “From road blockades, to throwing pies in the face of an airline CEO, to destroying priceless works of art with tomato soup, these actions may capture attention in the short term, but they can also alienate the very people who need to be engaged in the fight against climate change. They are the climate action equivalent of click bait; there is a better way to bring about change without defaming an irreplaceable Van Gogh. If the goal for extreme activism is to pressure decision makers to act now, it can have an adverse effect, doing more harm than good. The urgency of the climate crisis is undeniable, but the path to effective solutions should not be a gimmicky, zero-sum game. A more effective approach lies in fostering collaboration, innovation and sustained commitment to addressing the climate crisis… “In the United States, there is a unique opportunity to lead the world in climate action through the power of innovation and free-market solutions, such as the implementation of a carbon tax… “I understand the frustration with the lack of global action to date, but extreme protesting tactics do not have a lasting effect beyond a five-minute news segment… “By championing grassroots initiatives, climate activists can educate communities about local efforts to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change. Building a groundswell of support at the community level can help drive change from the bottom up, complementing top-down policy approaches. No tomato soup required.”