EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 9/29/23
PIPELINE NEWS
Reuters: Analysis: US carbon capture pipeline setbacks reflect challenges in climate fight
UPI: Iowa hearings on pipeline turn heated over transparency, property rights
Iowa Capital Dispatch: Pipeline opponents decry handling of Summit hearing schedule
KMA: Maher airs pipeline objections at IUB hearing
KSFY: Summit Carbon Solutions taking new approach for CO2 pipeline
KXNET: Bismarck looks to hire attorney for CO2 pipeline discussion
NPR Illinois: Residents give a chilly reception as pipeline company makes its pitch to Tazewell County Board
WEEK: State Rep. Bill Hauter voices stand on CO2 pipeline hours before demonstration at Tazewell County Board
Pekin Daily Times: Residents pack Tazewell County board meeting over proposed CO2 pipeline
WMBD: Peoria County also files to intervene in CO2 pipeline case
Washington County News: TC Energy agrees to pay $3.27 million for road overlay
Observer-Reporter: Pipeline operator faces $100,000 civil penalty for 2020 house explosion in Greene County
WBUR: A FERCin' pipeline expansion
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Shutdown could hinder infrastructure projects, permits
STATE UPDATES
Reuters: US judge refuses to overturn Exxon permit denial to truck crude oil in California
KWES: New carbon capture and storage hub in Permian Basin could begin operation as early as 2025
EXTRACTION
Reuters: Review of Alberta regulator's response to tailings leak shows poor communication
APTN News: First Nation tells Alberta energy regulator to ‘lawyer up’ after third-party report
DeSmog: A System of Secret Arbitration Tribunals Is Undercutting Climate Action Worldwide
OPINION
Equation Campaign: The River is My Kinfolk. It Deserves More Rights than Dirty Pipelines.
Bismarck Tribune: Tribune editorial: New oil rules need to be fair to landowners
The Register: The alternative to stopping climate change is untested carbon capture tech
Santa Cruz Sentinel: ‘Air capture’ works, but hugely expensive
Ohio Capital Journal: Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission can – and should – deny fracking in our public lands
PIPELINE NEWS
Reuters: Analysis: US carbon capture pipeline setbacks reflect challenges in climate fight
Leah Douglas, 9/28/23
“A series of permit rejections for two high-profile carbon pipeline projects in the U.S. Midwest could bode poorly for carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a widespread solution to climate change, reflecting deep-seated public concern about its risks and environmental impacts,” Reuters reports. “...In North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois, however, the companies have had their permit applications rejected, or have had to slow work due to concerns from landowners along the proposed routes about safety and impacts to farms. Whether the companies can ultimately sway state officials to approve their projects is a major test for CCS in the U.S., the world’s second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases behind China… “The backlash to the pipeline projects has shown that clean energy projects could have a hard time wooing critical public support, Sasha Mackler, executive director of the energy program at the Bipartisan Policy Center, told Reuters. "The problems on the ground associated with getting the permits and the local buy-in have proven to be a lot more complicated than many of us expected," Mackler told Reuters. Landowners along Summit and Navigator's proposed routes have complained of a lack of transparency from the companies. Many are coordinating across state lines to oppose the projects, supported by environmental groups like the Sierra Club that have fought other pipeline projects like Keystone XL… “Clean energy infrastructure projects need to educate communities on risks and benefits, and engage residents early or they risk existential setbacks, Sanya Carley, co-director of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, told Reuters. "Extreme opposition at multiple points (of a pipeline) makes it very challenging for development," Carley told Reuters.
UPI: Iowa hearings on pipeline turn heated over transparency, property rights
Joe Fisher, 9/27/23
“The plan to build a 2,000-mile carbon dioxide pipeline through five Midwestern states -- touted as crucial to President Joe Biden's clean energy initiative -- has sparked heated debate in Iowa, where hundreds of landowners and expert witnesses are facing off over politics and property rights,” UPI reports. “...But a weeks-long public hearing in Fort Dodge, Iowa, has turned hostile, with questions of fairness and transparency raised over Gov. Kim Reynolds' close relationship with Summit's founder and the Iowa Utilities Board, whose three members she appointed… “Since the hearing began on Aug. 22, dozens have testified at the Cardiff Event Center, with the threat of eminent domain looming for landowners who have not signed voluntary easements to allow pipeline construction across their property. Many have cited concerns about safety stemming from the rupture of a CO2 pipeline in Satartia, Miss., in 2020. The pipeline leaked more than 30,000 barrels of CO2… “Usually, pipeline companies find a friendly utilities board and state laws in Iowa. By contrast, governing bodies in North and South Dakota, where members are elected, have denied Summit's application to build. The company expects to eventually win on appeal. One of Reynold's largest campaign donors, Bruce Rastetter, is the founder and executive chairman of Summit Agricultural Group. He has donated more than $170,000 to Reynolds since she was appointed governor in 2017. He is also president of Iowa's Board of Regents… "Iowa is the oddball on surveyor rules," Jane Kleeb, founder of Bold Alliance, an alliance that advocates for landowners against abuses of eminent domain, told UPI. "It's rare that a state has a law on the books like Iowa that forces a landowner to take a surveyor on their property." “...Adding to their challenge, they have been given few details about when they are to appear, Jess Mazour, a conservation program coordinator with the Sierra Club, told UPI… “Kathy Stockdale owns more than 500 acres of land in Hardin County, Iowa, where her family farms corn and beans. She has attended many of the hearing dates and was scheduled to testify last Thursday. But her slot was bumped to Tuesday due to time constraints… “Stockdale noted that the presence of a private security company at the hearings has also made some people feel intimidated. Security agents have been checking the belongings of attendees upon arrival and have been posted throughout the Cardiff Event Center. Overwatch Security, the private firm based in Texas that is providing security for the hearings, has also been hired by Summit. "It makes us feel like we're terrorists almost," Stockdale told UPI. "I've gone to IUB meetings in Des Moines and they might have one or two highway patrol officers but they don't frisk you. It makes it look like they're siding with Summit."
Iowa Capital Dispatch: Pipeline opponents decry handling of Summit hearing schedule
JARED STRONG, 9/27/23
“A tentative plan announced Wednesday by state regulators to extend a carbon dioxide pipeline hearing into next week was too hastily arranged and might affect landowners’ ability to participate, according to an attorney who represents more than 100 of them,” the Iowa Capital Dispatch reports. “It’s just preposterous to just jerk us around day after day, week after week, thinking we should just sit here and take it,” Jorde said at an evidentiary hearing for Summit Carbon Solutions, which is in its sixth week. Jorde has repeatedly lamented the lack of a rough schedule for the hearing so that he can arrange for his witnesses — some of whom don’t live in Iowa — to be present at the hearing in Fort Dodge… “Board chairperson Erik Helland told the Dispatch Wednesday it was initially difficult to predict how long the hearing would last and insinuated that excessive and unnecessary questioning of witnesses has delayed the process… “This entire process is tainted, and it continues to be tainted by this type of last-second scheduling,” Jorde said. He initially said none of his more than 50 clients who would still need to testify are available next week. Jorde also criticized the board for the timing of the hearing, which has leaked into harvest season and might limit the potential for farmers to participate. Consumer Advocate Lanny Zieman agreed that the “lack of transparency of the schedule was challenging for all the parties.” “...Wednesday’s testimony mostly featured landowners who are subject to eminent domain requests, along with state Rep. Charley Thomson, R-Charles City, who has worried that Summit’s permit process in Iowa has been rushed. “There have been a number of actions by the board and surrounding the board — it’s the only way I know how to phrase it — that suggests that Summit has had an undue influence on the conduct of these hearings,” he said.
KMA: Maher airs pipeline objections at IUB hearing
Mike Peterson, 9/27/23
“One of KMAland's vocal critics of a proposed carbon dioxide pipeline testified before the Iowa Utilities Board Wednesday morning,” KMA reports. “Marty Maher's family owns 332 contiguous acres encompassing three parcels of land near Imogene, and within range of Summit Carbon Solution's proposed Midwest Express CO2 pipeline… “Maher says the pipeline's proposed path is less than 300 feet from his residence and less than 200 feet from grain bins. Maher calls the pipeline "not feasible" in terms of any future development on his property. "Because of that pipeline, it has forced me to do landscape work--landscape work includes terracing, tiling, preparing for it--it has forced me to do landscape work in anticipation of the IUB giving my land to Summit Carbon," said Maher, "because I will not be able to do with this property and improve it the way I want to if Summit is given the easement over my dead body." Maher also expressed concerns about the pipeline's proximity to a water well. "Should there be a rupture anywhere in the area," he said, "that CO2 is going to go into the well, it's going to ruin that well--because we all that compressed CO2 and water form carbonic acid. Now, to replace the well--according to the well diggers that I've talked and the plumber--I'm talking a minimum of $25,000 if something happens to that." "...There's no way I will ever agree to that pipeline in the location that it's at," said Maher. "I've been offered a lot of money. I don't care if I get a dime--it's not going to be fair." Another issue involves emergency response time to his farm in case of a rupture. Maher says first responders from Essex and Shenandoah are the closest to his property. "The average response time during the daytime is probably going to be 15 minutes," he said, "by the time they get to the fire station or the EMS, wherever they're at, put on their equipment and drive 8 miles and get out there. If it happens to be at night, you'd better add 10 minutes to the response time, simply because people have to get out of bed, get in their vehicles. Some of them have to go to the fire station, others will drive straight there. That's a big issue when you're talking about a release from a pipeline that's deadly."
KSFY: Summit Carbon Solutions taking new approach for CO2 pipeline
Baylee Peterson, 9/27/23
“The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission denied the application for Summit Carbon Solutions’ CO2 pipeline earlier this month. Since then, the company has come forward with plans to resubmit its construction permit to build a carbon sequestration pipeline,” KSFY reports. “Summit’s application denial was marked by landowners as a day of victory, but many landowners say they still feel uneasy about the future… “They announced plans at last night’s Brown County Commission meeting to resubmit its construction permit to build a carbon pipeline to the South. “Now, as we no longer have an application within the South Dakota PUC, we have the ability to move this route and to work with these counties to find a path that works for everyone,” said Sabrina Zenor with Summit Carbon Solutions. However, some landowners say they are hesitant to come to the table. “Now they have new faces and all of that, but it’s the same song just a little bit different dance. When you break someone’s trust, you don’t just get that back,” said Jared Bossly, Brown County resident. However, Summit says it will be dedicated to this new approach in planning the pipeline and building trust. “We have a team that has moved up to South Dakota, and they are making Aberdeen and Sioux Falls their homes, and they are there committed to turning over a new leaf, and we’re confident that we will be able to work with these counties,” Zenor said… “As part of the process, Zenor wants to encourage landowners and anyone interested in the subject to come to the table and have a discussion with Summit as they move forward with planning their new CO2 pipeline application.”
KXNET: Bismarck looks to hire attorney for CO2 pipeline discussion
Joel Porter, 9/27/23
“Plans are moving forward for the proposed carbon dioxide pipeline through North Dakota,” KXNET reports. “And this week, Bismarck city leaders say it’s time to hire an attorney. City attorney Jannelle Combs told the city commission this week she’s talked to five law firms, looking for someone to act as an intervenor representing Bismarck. That person can ask questions and point out any negative impacts the pipeline would have on the city and the people living here. Right now, the Public Service Commission is reconsidering the pipeline after previously denying a siting permit.”
NPR Illinois: Residents give a chilly reception as pipeline company makes its pitch to Tazewell County Board
Tim Shelley, 9/27/23
“A proposed carbon capture pipeline project got an icy reception among the overflow audience packing Wednesday's Tazewell County Board meeting,” NPR Illinois reports. “...The Tazewell County Board invited Wolf Carbon Solutions to present its case, after inviting pipeline opponents to the board's August meeting. Opponents say the pipelines are unsafe and harmful to agricultural land usage. Elton Rocke of Pekin runs an anti-pipeline Facebook group with more than 2,220 members. He said carbon capture and sequestration hides carbon dioxide emissions rather than stopping them. "They're playing a shell game," Rocke said. "And it's not profiting the people, it's profiting the big corporations and the pipeline companies. Does Illinois really want to be known as the pollution dump for carbon? I think not." Dr. Matt Gordon is superintendent of the Rankin school district. He said the board of education there opposes the project unanimously. "Our understanding is that the creation of this pipeline via eminent domain will pass through Rankin's property, or be located within a third of a mile south of our campus location," he said. "[The] location proposed south of us is literally a stone's throw away from where our kids play at recess. This pipeline being located on or near Rankin is not in the best interest of our district." Many people in the audience wore anti-pipeline apparel or held up signs. But not everyone there was bearish on the project… “Luke Ogan is business representative of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 649 in Peoria… “Ogan was loudly booed by the audience as he left the podium during the public comment portion of the meeting, but a small coterie of union members were supportive.”
WEEK: State Rep. Bill Hauter voices stand on CO2 pipeline hours before demonstration at Tazewell County Board
Lizzie Seils, 9/27/23
“The state representative for one of the areas in the path of a proposed CO2 pipeline said the use of the technology may be inevitable, but he is still concerned about safety,” WEEK repots. “In a long statement sent out to a Facebook group organized around proposing the pipeline, State Rep. Bill Hauter (R - Morton) said he is skeptical large-scale CO2 capture and sequestration will actually mitigate climate change and its effects. “While I have many concerns, I feel the need to tell you that, realistically, I think it will be very hard to stop the transportation of captured CO2 across the district to the Mt. Simon hub,” the statement read. “In short, it’s not going away.” “...The group, Tazewell County: Stop the CO2 Pipeline, reacted strongly to the statement. Hauter, a licensed physician, clarified his remarks. “If this group is about stopping all carbon capture and transportation in Illinois then I respectfully disagree. If this is about opposing the project, getting answers to our important safety question, and fighting eminent domain abuse then you have an ally,” he said in a post… “The opposing residents are concerned about safety, especially having the proper training and equipment in the event of a catastrophic rupture in the pipeline. They are also concerned about their property values and the use of eminent domain to use their property for the pipeline without their consent.”
Pekin Daily Times: Residents pack Tazewell County board meeting over proposed CO2 pipeline
Mike Kramer, 9/28/23
“Filtering in a few at a time, residents had filled the James Carius Community Room in the Tazewell County Justice Center to capacity by the time Wednesday’s Tazewell County Board meeting began,” the Pekin Daily Times reports. “For the second straight month, the residents were there to convey their concerns about the Mount Simon Hub, a carbon capture and sequestration project that would place CO2 pipelines through sections of the county. “I’m concerned because I don’t know the safety record of this company,” said Lisa Linton of Pekin. “I live in that area. My grandkids go to Rankin School, and the pipeline’s supposed to run right behind that school. I don’t know how much danger they’re going to be in.” “...Wolf Carbon Solutions spokespersons Patrick Brierly and Tracey McDaneld were on hand to give a presentation about the Mount Simon Hub.”
WMBD: Peoria County also files to intervene in CO2 pipeline case
Kate Stevens, 9/27/23
“Peoria County has officially filed a petition to intervene in the case that involves a company planning to build a carbon monoxide pipeline in the county, Peoria County State’s Attorney Jodi Hoos said Wednesday,” WMBD reports. “...The proposed pipeline impacts all parts of Peoria County – our citizens, our infrastructure, and our public safety,” Hoos told WMBD. “I filed to make certain we have a voice on what that impact will be.” “...The ICC is set to make a final decision on the application of the pipeline by May 16, 2024. Tazewell County and the city of Peoria have also recently filed to intervene.”
Washington County News: TC Energy agrees to pay $3.27 million for road overlay
Cynthia Scheer, 9/27/23
“TC Energy has agreed to pay the $3.27 million cost to overlay the 14 miles of blacktop road north of Washington to the state line,” the Washington County News reports. “The agreement was made last week when TC Energy officials and county officials met for an hour to discuss compensation. 3-inch overlay work on blacktop road north of Washington should begin next May. “Our goal is to make it whole…”
Observer-Reporter: Pipeline operator faces $100,000 civil penalty for 2020 house explosion in Greene County
Mike Jones, 9/27/23
“The state Public Utility Commission is seeking public comment on a proposed settlement that would require a natural gas pipeline operator to pay a $100,000 civil penalty for an explosion that destroyed a Greene County house and severely burned one of the residents,” the Observer-Reporter: reports. “The explosion happened in the early hours of April 9, 2020, along a service line from Mifflin Energy Corp.’s pipeline network connected to the Shoup No. 4 well in Washington Township, in which an offshoot “farm tap” fed natural gas to two nearby properties. A house at 134 Water Dam Road was destroyed and one of the homeowners suffered second-degree burns on her arms from the explosion and subsequent fire. The woman, who was not identified by authorities at the time of the explosion nor in the PUC’s proposed settlement, was driven to a hospital in Morgantown, W.Va., and later taken by ambulance to the burn unit at West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh for treatment. A man living at the residence was not seriously injured. The PUC investigated the incident over the past three years and claimed Mifflin Energy was responsible for the service line that exploded, while the company argued that another property owner in the area was to blame for the connection issues… “In addition, investigators learned while reviewing the incident that Mifflin had not registered its pipeline facilities with the PUC or the U.S Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Safety Administration.”
WBUR: A FERCin' pipeline expansion
Darryl C. Murphy, Frannie Monahan, 9/28/23
“Enbridge, a Canadian energy company, wants to expand one of its pipelines in the Northeast in order to increase the supply of natural gas to states like Massachusetts,” WBUR reports. “This comes as Massachusetts and surrounding states are actively trying to reduce dependence on fossil fuels in order to combat the impacts of climate change. However, pipeline expansion projects like this one fall under the authority of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), rather than individual state governments. Miriam Wasser is a senior climate and environment reporter at WBUR. She joins The Common to explain what the pipeline expansion project entails and why there's debate over whether the extra gas is needed. She also breaks down the role state officials and climate advocates will play as the project advances.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
E&E News: Shutdown could hinder infrastructure projects, permits
E.A. Crunden, 9/27/23
“Concerns are mounting over impacts of a possible federal government shutdown on critical infrastructure projects and permitting activities,” E&E News reports. “The White House has confirmed that certain permitting work overseen by EPA and the Department of the Interior would be impacted if a freeze were to go on for any meaningful period of time. Even if a shutdown is momentary, the preparation involved for the possibility of such an event can drain resources and time. Lloyd Caldwell, a senior adviser at the environmental permitting firm Dawson & Associates, told E&E that agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers have to invest considerable time into planning for the event of a shutdown… “Brief shutdowns have limited implications, but longer periods are more consequential and could lead to setbacks for infrastructure work overseen by the Army Corps, thrusting many projects into new territory and a place of uncertainty… “Despite more employees still actively working, the nature of Corps projects leans heavily into collaboration with other agencies, like EPA. If the government were to cease operations as usual, EPA would halt oversight and review of many permits. Permitting more broadly “could be disrupted,” according to the White House, which noted in a statement that a broad freeze on environmental reviews might hinder infrastructure projects.”
STATE UPDATES
Reuters: US judge refuses to overturn Exxon permit denial to truck crude oil in California
Clark Mindock, 9/27/23
“A U.S. judge on Wednesday refused to overturn a California county's decision to block Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) from using tanker trucks to ship crude oil from coastal facilities to inland refineries while a ruptured pipeline is fixed,” Reuters reports. “U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles denied Exxon's bid to reverse the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors' denial of a trucking permit in early 2022, saying the board's decision was substantially supported by evidence that transporting crude oil by tanker trucks could present safety concerns on state highways. Gee ruled that while Exxon has a right to operate its offshore oil platforms and related infrastructure in the area, it does not have a vested or fundamental right to use trucks to transport its crude while the pipeline system is fixed… “The decision was applauded by environmental groups that had intervened in the lawsuit supporting the county's decision, including the Sierra Club and local organizations.”
KWES: New carbon capture and storage hub in Permian Basin could begin operation as early as 2025
Tyler Dupnick, 9/27/23
“A new carbon capture and storage site is coming to the Permian Basin potentially as early as 2025,” KWES reports. “Environmental company Milestone Carbon will have a 10,000 acre hub in parts of Midland and Upton counties, all in an effort to reduce carbon emissions… “We need really good geology where the CO2 can be injected," Chris Davis, senior vice president of Milestone Carbon, told KWES. "We also need to make sure that we have a lot of confidence in the rocks above it to contain the CO2, and we have that out here. We have quite a lot of good data to show that products like this can be stored safely for a long time…Finding and disposing of carbon in safe locations signals to these new technologies that they can put their new facilities in places like the Permian Basin," Davis told KWES. "So, think low carbon ammonia, think hydrogen – that’s getting talked about quite a lot – but it could also be just plain natural gas power plants that need CCS [carbon capture and storage] as well.” “...Davis mentioned that they have gone through the permit process to ensure that the site will protect drinking water and be a safe location for carbon disposal. “
EXTRACTION
Reuters: Review of Alberta regulator's response to tailings leak shows poor communication
9/27/23
“A third-party review of the Alberta Energy Regulator's (AER) handling of a months-long toxic tailings leak at Imperial Oil's (IMO.TO) Kearl oil sands mine has highlighted the need for clearer communication,” Reuters reports. “Imperial, a unit of Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), first spotted discolored water pooling near its Kearl site in May last year. The company informed the AER and local Indigenous communities, but failed to tell those communities the water contained tailings until February, after a second leak… “The review by Deloitte noted that while the AER followed internal standards and processes, the Kearl incident highlighted the need for "clearer communication protocols with Indigenous People and external stakeholders"... "This review highlights the urgent need for the federal government to use the tools at its disposal to step in and address the issue of toxic tailings," Aliénor Rougeot, climate and energy program manager at advocacy group Environmental Defence Canada, told Reuters.
APTN News: First Nation tells Alberta energy regulator to ‘lawyer up’ after third-party report
Danielle Paradis, 9/27/23
“Alberta’s energy regulator or AER may have followed all of its own rules, but a new report into the major Kearl Mine spill found they were dated and vague,” APTN News reports. “As a result, the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation suffered drinking water pollution after the Imperial Oil property leaked over five million litres of wastewater which was discovered in March And the First Nations’ Chief says a lawsuit is on the horizon. Allan Adam told APTN News the regulator should “lawyer up and expect a [legal] package by Christmas.” “The Alberta energy regulator as well as the Alberta government failed to protect the communities downstream from Fort Chip,” he told APTN… “Although water quality is being tested regularly, Adam told APTN many in the community have lost trust in the process. He feels a similar spill near a major city, would have been handled differently. “If it happened in Calgary on the Bow River…they would probably even shut down the mine until they corrected the problem, but in this case the industry kept on pumping tailings water into the area that was leaking,” he told APTN… “They’re all obvious flaws that have been pointed out many times and should have been fixed long ago,” Chief Billy-Joe Tuccaro of the Mikisew Cree First Nation told the Canadian Press. “We could have written the report for them. It’s all stuff that’s simple and should have been fixed long ago.”
DeSmog: A System of Secret Arbitration Tribunals Is Undercutting Climate Action Worldwide
Isabella Kaminskion, 9/27/23
“Investors in foreign development projects have “weaponized” a system of secretive tribunals, delaying progress on climate change and other environmental crises and having “enormous impacts on human rights,” according to a new report by a United Nations expert,” DeSmog reports. “David R. Boyd, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights and the environment, concludes in the report that these controversial arbitration mechanisms, which are contained in thousands of investment treaties, have led to “exorbitant damages awards against states, permits granted for environmentally destructive activities and the rollback of vital rules addressing climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.” “...Boyd found that the number of known ISDS cases targeting environmental protections has “skyrocketed” in recent years, with nations ordered to pay more than $100 billion in damages to coal, oil, gas, electricity, and mining firms… “ISDS mechanisms are also affecting fundamental human rights. “The rights to life, health, food and water, cultural rights and the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment are being violated and will continue to be violated, and the rule of law will continue to be undermined, unless the ISDS system is eliminated,” Boyd reports… “According to academics at Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center who submitted evidence to Boyd’s investigation, there is a common theme across ISDS cases: The “existence of public pressure to act on climate change is used by investors as evidence that government decisions are ‘politically motivated’ and thus illegitimate.” “...In 2016, TransCanada — since renamed TC Energy — sued the U.S. government under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), over the Obama administration’s decision to cancel the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline on the grounds that it was incompatible with climate action. While NAFTA was replaced in 2020 by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which removed ISDS between the U.S. and Canada, TC Energy’s lawsuit is still in play.”
OPINION
Equation Campaign: The River is My Kinfolk. It Deserves More Rights than Dirty Pipelines.
Crystal ‘Red Bear’ Cavalier-Keck is the co-founder of 7 Directions of Service, an Indigenous-led environmental justice and community organizing collective based on Occaneechi-Saponi homelands in rural North Carolina, 9/25/23
“If the Haw River had rights, we would be able to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline!” These days, I find myself repeating these words as I consider next steps in our battle against the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) – and as we move forward with our campaign to pass a state law that will grant personhood to the Haw River,” Crystal ‘Red Bear’ Cavalier-Keck writes for the Equation Campaign. “The Haw River is sacred to my tribe, the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation. It is also the lifeblood of my community, beloved and necessary to all who live along the river: Black, brown or white; Democrat or Republican; environmentalists who cherish it as a natural resource, and hunters and fishermen who not only get their sport from it, but their food too. We on the frontline have just lost the latest round in our battle to stop the MVP, which threatens all of this, for all of us. This inspires us to redouble our efforts to pass a law that will grant the Haw its rights to, “naturally exist, flourish, regenerate, and evolve,” and to “abundant, pure, clean, unpolluted water.” We love our river and need it too. I grew up on the Haw’s banks in Alamance Country, North Carolina. I now live in Reidsville, ten miles from the river. My current home, on ancestral Saura land, is within three miles of the approved route of the Southgate Extension of the MVP, which will carry dangerous and dirty gas across the Appalachian mountains from the West Virginia shale fields. We don’t want or need this gas on this side of the mountains. But now, it seems the pipeline will run right alongside the Haw for about thirty miles, threatening to contaminate it further with the sedimentation that will come from the digging, and with inevitable gas leakage into the water table. We not only risk the poisoning of our water, but the constant threat of gas explosion – and, for many of us, the loss of our land through “eminent domain” expropriations… “What I am discovering, in my daily work, is that a hands-on struggle to fight the pipeline or save our river brings people together in a way that “the climate crisis” just cannot. Republican leaders in our state, as across the nation, like to paint environmental concerns as an out-of-touch “liberal elite” agenda. The work I do at the frontlines tells an entirely different story — one where everyone, regardless of race, religion or politics, understands that if we are to survive, we all need safe water, clean air, and land to live on. Recognizing this can break down the ideological barrier that stands in the way of environmental justice. It has the power to push back both the MVP and the fossil fuel industry, by acknowledging the truth: that we need and love our land and our water just as we do our kinfolk, and that by getting this acknowledgement set into law, we will have even more powerful tools in our hands to protect them.”
Bismarck Tribune: Tribune editorial: New oil rules need to be fair to landowners
9/27/23
“State Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring was right to raise concerns about proposed changes to state oil and gas rules,” the Bismarck Tribune Editorial Board writes. “He said they could create potential hardships for landowners, and the Tribune Editorial Board agrees. Goehring along with Gov. Doug Burgum and Attorney General Drew Wrigley sit on the state Industrial Commission, which oversees the oil and gas industry in the state. The changes would encourage the use of captured carbon dioxide emissions and other materials to recover more oil and gas in the state. The changes would allow oil wells to sit idle for longer periods if they are placed under enhanced oil recovery potential status. A bill passed by the 2023 Legislature gave the Department of Mineral Resources the authority to put wells under the potential status, and the proposed rules establish a process for companies to do so. The Tribune believes the proposed rules put too much of the burden on landowners. Abandoned oil wells have been a problem in North Dakota. Oil companies have to put a bond on wells, but it often doesn’t cover the costs of plugging wells and reclaiming the land… “The Tribune agrees that more needs to be done to protect landowners. Forcing them to wait 12 years to seek a hearing is too long. It remains unknown if there will be enough CO2 for the enhanced oil recovery everywhere that the state and industry hopes for in North Dakota… “The CO2 pipeline planned by Summit Carbon Solutions is under attack in several states and it’s uncertain if the company can get the needed permits. Even if it can, the pipeline’s stated purpose is to permanently store CO2 underground — not use it for purposes such as enhanced oil recovery. And if it can’t get the necessary permissions, it might set a precedent for future pipelines that would import CO2 for enhanced oil recovery. The Tribune isn’t against enhanced oil recovery, but we believe landowners need to be treated fairly. Making them wait for years to see if a company will try for enhanced recovery isn’t fair.”
The Register: The alternative to stopping climate change is untested carbon capture tech
Brandon Vigliarolo, 9/27/23
“The technology the world needs to reach net zero carbon emissions and limit global warming to 1.5°C is increasingly available, but we're still not necessarily on track to meet our 2050 climate change goals, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reports,” Brandon Vigliarolo writes for The Register. “...If humanity fails to rein in emissions, a scenario which the IEA modeled, "nearly 5 Gt CO2 would have to be removed from the atmosphere every year during the second half of this century." Whether that can be achieved is uncertain. "If carbon removal technologies fail to deliver at such a scale, returning the temperature to 1.5°C would not be possible," the IEA said. As to whether it has faith in carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies, that's another story altogether: "So far, the history of CCUS has largely been one of unmet expectations." “...While the global volume of planned CCUS projects would increase carbon capture capacity by eight times its current levels, it's still just around one third of the amount needed to meet 2030 carbon capture goals. Whether such development would even happen is questionable, for that matter. A look at carbon capture capacity since 2017 shows that operational capacity is all but unchanged despite considerable increases in planned carbon capture projects. Limited early adoption of CCUS technologies, coupled with absence of plans for long-term carbon storage liability, high operating costs and funding vulnerability have all been factors for why many carbon capture projects have stalled… “Whether scaling carbon capture technology will even be efficient in unanswered.”
Santa Cruz Sentinel: ‘Air capture’ works, but hugely expensive
Edgar Ross, Scotts Valley, 9/27/23
"Would it were so. One, “Air Capture” process does work but it’s hugely expensive. Pulling CO2 from the air, in meaningful amounts, will require lots of energy not included in anyone’s assessment of electricity a clean world needs,” Edgar Ross writes for the Santa Cruz Sentinel. (200 full-sized nukes, 24/7, for 100 years, might capture the 120 ppm CO2 added since the industrial revolution.) Once captured, CO2 is pumped below ground under pressure. What? Unlike methane, which can suffocate in a closed room, CO2 is heavier than air. A large bolus would flow over the landscape rather like water. Also an asphyxiant, it needs no containment to kill people should a storage chamber rupture. Oil companies tried direct carbon capture (pulling CO2 from a furnace flue) multiple times, but realized that capture was far too expensive (without generous subsidies, hint, hint) and that sequestration was infeasible for anything other than (irony here) extracting “tight” oil from mature fields. No one wants carbon capture more than big oil.”
Ohio Capital Journal: Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission can – and should – deny fracking in our public lands
Cathy Cowan Becker, Roxanne Groff, Loraine McCosker, Jenny Morgan, Randi Pokladnik, and Melinda Zemper of Save Ohio Parks, 9/27/23
“Ohio’s Oil and Gas Land Management Commission met Sept. 18 to discuss the fate of our beloved state parks, wildlife areas, and public lands,” Cathy Cowan Becker, Roxanne Groff, Loraine McCosker, Jenny Morgan, Randi Pokladnik, and Melinda Zemper write for the Ohio Capital Journal. “At issue were nine applications, called “lease nominations,” by unidentified oil and gas companies to frack Salt Fork State Park, Wolf Run State Park, Valley Run Wildlife Area, and Zepernick Wildlife Area. Filling the room were Ohio citizens opposed to oil and gas extraction on the public lands we own, use, and want to preserve for future generations. Many of us held signs that said things like “Deny All Nominations” and “It’s Not Nice to Frack Mother Nature.” We rallied, spoke, and sang songs written for this movement by Ohio singer-songwriter Jenny Morgan. This meeting took place after thousands of Ohioans had submitted public comments asking the commission to deny nominations to frack our parks — and on the heels of a bombshell report showing that hundreds of pro-fracking comments were apparently fake. Yet instead of listening to the people, the commissioners seemed mainly to do the work of the fracking industry. Repeatedly Commission Chair Ryan Richardson said the commission had been directed to open our public lands for oil and gas extraction, that the legislature had made its intent clear, that the commission did not have the authority to deny fracking on public lands. Here’s the catch — that’s not true. The commission has full legal authority to deny fracking in our state parks, wildlife areas, and public lands — and they should… “A public comment process riddled with apparently fraudulent comments undermines democracy in several ways… “The fact is, this commission does have a choice. They should listen to the overwhelming majority of Ohioans whose tax dollars pay for our state parks and wildlife areas, and deny all fracking in, near, or under Ohio public lands.”