EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 9/9/21
PIPELINE NEWS
Michigan Advance: Tlaib joins ‘Squad’ in Minn. to oppose Enbridge’s Line 3, draws parallels to Line 5 fight
TriCity News: Indigenous groups enduring four-day fast to raise TMX construction concerns near Coquitlam
Tennessee Lookout: Shelby committee approves pipeline setbacks
Politico Morning Energy: SPIRE PIPELINE DISPUTE BACK TO FERC
Zacks: TC Energy (TRP) Wins Privacy Shield to Keep Insurers Secret
Reuters: Court orders Alaska agency to examine Hilcorp pipeline leak
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Politico Morning Energy: ANOTHER PUSHBACK?
Bloomberg: Give Us Regulation, Not a New Tax, Gas Groups Beg Congress
Pennsylvania Business Report: Marcellus Shale Coalition urges lawmakers to oppose methane tax
Politico Morning Energy: DON'T TAX MY METHANE
STATE UPDATES
Carlsbad Current-Argus: Permian Basin ozone pollution from oil and gas could lead to lawsuit against EPA
Sacramento Business Journal: California Independent Petroleum Association files for bankruptcy following anti-SLAPP judgment
The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio to search for abandoned oil wells at Lake Veto
RESEARCH & SCIENCE
E&E News: Abandoning 60% of global oil might limit warming to 1.5 C
Axios: Study: Vast majority of fossil fuels needs to stay in ground to hit Paris targets
S&P Global: New data on Permian Basin methane emissions add support for pending US EPA rule
CLIMATE FINANCE
Bloomberg: Wall Street’s ESG Loans Charge Corporate America Little for Missed Goals
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Iron County Reporter: Crystal Falls receives $15K from energy giant Enbridge
OPINION
The Hill: Biden must appoint a climate justice champion to address fracked gas
The Hill: Has Congress forgotten the urgent importance of the climate crisis?
PIPELINE NEWS
Michigan Advance: Tlaib joins ‘Squad’ in Minn. to oppose Enbridge’s Line 3, draws parallels to Line 5 fight
LAINA G. STEBBINS AND RILYN EISCHENS, 9/8/21
“Over the weekend, four members of the “Squad,” a group of progressive members of the U.S. House — Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) — traveled to Minnesota in opposition to Enbridge’s Line 3 oil pipeline,” according to the Michigan Advance. “Speaking on matters of climate change, Indigenous rights and environmental protection, the group of progressive, the early-career Democrats urged President Joe Biden to halt the pipeline, while drawing parallels to Enbridge’s pipeline in Michigan, Line 5. In a lengthy statement Tuesday, Tlaib called on Biden to “take swift and decisive action to stop Line 3, protect Minnesota’s water and wild rice, and honor the treaties that Enbridge is destroying.” “You cannot pretend to care about climate action while at the same time allowing the completion of a pipeline that transports dirty tar sands through sensitive habitats and that will exacerbate the climate crisis,” Tlaib said. “It’s unfortunate these officials have been misinformed about Line 3 and the benefits of the project to northern Minnesota,” Enbridge spokesperson Ryan Duffy told the Advance. Duffy pushed back on a number of the lawmakers’ claims, writing that climate change claims regarding Line 3 are “unfounded,” Line 3’s permit conditions protect the environment during construction, Line 3 does not violate treaty rights and more.”
TriCity News: Indigenous groups enduring four-day fast to raise TMX construction concerns near Coquitlam
Kyle Balzer, 9/6/21
“The Trans Mountain pipeline remains a key topic of political conversation during the 2021 federal election,” TriCity News reports. “Those against the $12.6-billion project are set to undergo a four-day ceremonial fast in hopes federal leaders can understand why they believe the pipeline shouldn't be built. The Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) is organizing the awareness campaign by gathering in Maquabeak Park, which is just underneath the Port Mann Bridge on the Coquitlam side. The fast is scheduled to begin at noon tomorrow (Sept. 7) and ending at noon on Sept. 10. "TMX plans to divert 26 million litres of Fraser River water and drill a large hole beneath the river to build a pipeline from the tar sands," reads a UBCIC release sent to the Tri-City News. "This project, if allowed to continue, will have devastating and irreversible impacts on salmon, fish, and Indigenous culture and welfare." The new initiative — dubbed Fast For the Fraser — comes more than three months after several spiritual groups joined Indigenous Nations at the same park to block the continued construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline. Stages were set in Coquitlam, New Westminister and Burnaby… “Canada is gambling the Fraser River to squeeze a few more dollars out of the tar sands before they are going to have to be shut down," stated Kukpi7 Judy Wilson, Executive Board member of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and one of the matriarchs who held the ceremony. "The writing is on the wall. Canada continues to build this pipeline without the consent of many Indigenous communities, risking the salmon, the whales and the very foundations of Indigenous life."
Tennessee Lookout: Shelby committee approves pipeline setbacks
DULCE TORRES GUZMAN, 9/8/21
“The Shelby County Commission Land Use Planning, Transportation & Codes Enforcement committee members voted in favor of an ordinance to create distance between all future pipeline developments and residential areas, leading the way for an anti-pipeline ordinance to pass in the full commission meeting next week,” the Tennessee Lookout reports. “On Wednesday, an ordinance to create 1,500-foot setbacks for pipelines from all residential areas was up for a final committee vote. Amendments made include exceptions for existing and new oil pipelines located within the property boundaries of specific developments, such as processing facilities and retail service stations. New pipelines within existing rights of way could seek permission through a special exception process... “Groups such as Memphis Community Against the Pipeline and the Southern Environmental Law Firm urged county officials to take action, and in March, commissioners struck down the sale of several land parcels required by the Byhalia project to continue. When the moment came to stand up and do something beyond symbolic support, said Justin Pearson, co-founder of the organization Memphis Community Against the Pipeline, commissioners showed their support and voted against the sale on March 22, “which provided a lot of wind in our backs and provided an opportunity for us to continue to galvanize and organize as a community to stop the Byhalia Connection Pipeline.” Afterward, both the Memphis City Council and the Shelby County Commission advanced legislation to protect the sand aquifer and to halt all future pipeline construction and received threats of legal action from the Byhalia pipeline partners.”
Politico Morning Energy: SPIRE PIPELINE DISPUTE BACK TO FERC:
Matthew Choi, 9/8/21
“The D.C. Circuit will not revisit its decision to vacate a 2018 FERC order that allowed a pipeline in St. Louis to move forward,” according to Politico Morning Energy. “The court’s latest decision means FERC will have to decide whether to allow the pipeline, which has been in operation since 2019, to transport gas temporarily under an emergency certificate. Spire has warned not granting the Spire STL Pipeline a temporary certificate of operation could put reliability — and lives — in the region at risk. On Tuesday, Spire affiliates including Spire Missouri and Spire Marketing filed comments with FERC urging the commission to allow the pipeline to continue running. But environmental groups in their own Tuesday comments argued the company should have known it was risky to go ahead and build a pipeline while it was being challenged in court. Temporary emergency operations are reserved for “unforeseeable circumstances” that put people at risk, Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the New Jersey Conservation Foundation wrote in joint comments. “Spire STL’s self-made mess cannot serve as a baseline for some new category of certificate.”
Zacks: TC Energy (TRP) Wins Privacy Shield to Keep Insurers Secret
9/8/21
“TC Energy Corporation TRP has been granted the privacy shield by the Canada Energy Regulator (“CER”) to keep the names of its insurance providers confidential,” according to Zacks. “In a recent filing, the CER granted the privacy shield to the company for its network of natural gas lines, namely TransCanada PipeLines Ltd., Nova Gas Transmission Ltd., Foothills Pipe Lines Ltd., Trans Québec & Maritimes Pipeline Inc. and Great Lakes Pipeline Canada Ltd. In times of rising opposition against the development of the Canada oil sands, privacy shield assumed greater importance to avoid triggering outrage from indigenous and environmental groups, which have been campaigning around companies’ insurers for the past few years. TC Energy became the second Canada-based pipeline firm to obtain permission to keep the names of its insurance providers a secret. In April, Trans Mountain Corporation received permission to withhold names of its oil pipeline’s insurers after winning a battle against protestors, who made efforts to oppose participants in financing the fossil fuel industry. Trans Mountain claimed that revealing the identity of insurers resulted in the termination of insurance coverage, a sharp decline in available insurance capacity and a significant rise in insurance costs. The company added that the continued disclosure of insurer names would induce targeting and pressure on insurers to discontinue or restrict coverage. Unlike Trans Mountain, TC Energy did not prove that oppositions reduced the number of insurance companies, which are willing to provide gas pipeline coverage or raise policy premiums. This is because the identities of insurance firms are considered as private commercial information under the legislation that defines its mandate.”
Reuters: Court orders Alaska agency to examine Hilcorp pipeline leak
By Yereth Rosen, 9/7/21
“Alaska regulators must probe a Hilcorp Energy Company pipeline that has repeatedly leaked natural gas into Cook Inlet, the state Supreme Court ruled on Friday,” Reuters reports. “The court said the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission improperly rejected a petition for a hearing on a leak that lasted for several months in 2017. The AOGCC, which regulates oil and gas production, provided “no supporting evidence” to back its claim that it lacked jurisdiction over the 2017 pipeline leak, the court said… “The pipeline supplies natural gas that powers operations at two of Hilcorp’s offshore oil platforms. The leak in question was discovered at the end of 2016, but it was not repaired until the spring of 2017. That pipeline has had several leaks over the years. In April, it leaked gas for the fifth time since 2014, prompting Hilcorp to temporarily shut down production at the platforms. After the most recent leak, the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) ordered Hilcorp to replace the entire seven-mile pipeline section within a year. PHMSA also ordered Hilcorp to take several shorter-term correction actions in the interim.”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Politico Morning Energy: ANOTHER PUSHBACK?
Matthew Choi, 9/8/21
“The upcoming U.N. climate conference, COP26, is fast approaching, and there are still some major questions on whether the event should even proceed,” Politico Morning Energy reports. “More than 1,500 green groups are now publicly demanding yet another delay amid the pandemic, arguing that going forward with the current Covid mitigation plans would be cost prohibitive for delegations from poorer countries who would have to quarantine on arrival in the U.K. The British government wants unvaccinated attendees to isolate for 10 days if they come from countries on the "red list" — which includes more than 60 nations that are overwhelmingly developing countries. Fronting the costs of lodging for the quarantine, as well as pandemic-altered flight itineraries, could be a major barrier for attendees from parts of the world that are most vulnerable toward climate change, according to the groups, which include Climate Action Network International and Greenpeace. The groups weren’t persuaded by a last minute announcement by the British that lodging fees for quarantining attendees would be covered. “It is evident that a safe, inclusive and just global climate conference in early November will be impossible given the failure to support the access to vaccines to millions of people in poor countries, the rising costs of travel and accommodation, including for quarantine in and outside of the UK and the uncertainty in the course of the Covid19 pandemic,” they wrote in a Tuesday statement. But the governments of several poor countries are saying a delay would do more harm than good, citing the mounting urgency of climate change, POLITICO Europe's Karl Mathiesen reports. The Climate Vulnerable Forum — a group of developing countries at high risk due to climate change, sent out their own statement Tuesday demanding COP26 go ahead as planned, saying the toll of another delay would be too great.”
Bloomberg: Give Us Regulation, Not a New Tax, Gas Groups Beg Congress
Jennifer A. Dlouhy, 9/7/21
“The threat of a new fee on methane emissions has put the oil and gas industry in the unusual position of pleading with lawmakers for more federal regulation instead,” Bloomberg reports. “More than 100 trade groups, local chambers of commerce and other organizations from New Mexico to Pennsylvania are warning that the fee proposed to help pay for Democrats’ $3.5 trillion spending plan would roil energy markets and boost consumer bills nationwide. In a letter to Senate leaders Tuesday, they argued a far better approach is to rely on existing federal regulations and tougher new mandates the Environmental Protection Agency is set to propose within week… “The letter, organized by the American Petroleum Institute, marks the escalation of energy and utility companies’ fight against the proposed fee on emissions of methane, the primary ingredient of natural gas, as congressional committees draft the legislative details of the broad tax-and-spending plan. Separately, the American Gas Association that represents natural gas utilities on Friday launched a campaign against the proposed fee it called “devastating for families and businesses.” Industry allies are making appeals to moderate Democrats and those representing oil-and-gas-rich states, whose votes on the budget bill could be decisive in the evenly divided Senate. That includes Senator Joe Manchin, the powerful Democratic chairman of the energy committee who has argued the soaring national debt demands a significantly smaller plan -- and whose home state of West Virginia is the sixth-ranking U.S. natural gas producer.”
Pennsylvania Business Report: Marcellus Shale Coalition urges lawmakers to oppose methane tax
BY DAVE KOVALESKI, 9/8/21
“The Marcellus Shale Coalition, along with the Gas & Oil Association of West Virginia, and the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, is urging the congressional delegation from Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio to oppose a proposed methane emissions reduction tax that is included in the federal budget reconciliation bill currently being negotiated by Congress,” according to the Pennsylvania Business Report. “Of many issues, that bill would enact a blanket, basin-wide fee on all producers, regardless of production or methane emissions. That discourages individual companies from investing in technologies to reduce or eliminate emissions, the leaders from Appalachia’s shale gas industries said. “Such a fee is simply an unreasonable, punitive tax intended to harm the oil and natural gas industry and consumers, as well as diminish the tremendous economic and environmental benefits derived from the hundreds of thousands of women and men who work directly and indirectly for the industry in the Appalachian Basin,” the coalition wrote in a Sept. 2 letter to lawmakers… “We are proud of the advancements our industry has made in air quality and environmental stewardship, and we remain committed to further reducing emissions in the fastest, most efficient way possible. That said, this massive energy tax would place a harmful burden on American families and businesses, especially our manufacturing sector,” the letter stated. “Again, we urge you to oppose any such methane fee that would harm industry, consumers and workers alike.”
Politico Morning Energy: DON'T TAX MY METHANE
Matthew Choi, 9/8/21
“The oil and gas industry is pushing back against a Senate bid to charge companies for the natural gas that escapes from their operations,” Politico Morning Energy reports. “The Methane Reduction Act of 2021 (S. 645 (117)), which may go into the Senate’s version of the reconciliation package, is designed to get companies to tamp down on their methane emissions, which are a major driver of climate chnage. But in a letter the American Petroleum Institute sent to Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.), the trade association says it would “levy an unreasonable, punitive fee on methane emissions only from oil and natural gas facilities.” Instead, the API says, “direct regulation of methane is the best method to implement such a government policy and do so in an equitable manner that is tied to actual emissions.” A number of natural gas organizations, including the American Gas Association, wrote their own letter to House and Senate leadership on Tuesday, saying “the methane fee framework currently being considered would introduce a regressive tax on low-income and fixed-income Americans, ignore existing and anticipated federal regulations on methane emissions, and lessen available capital for our companies’ ongoing investments in further reducing methane emissions.”
STATE UPDATES
Carlsbad Current-Argus: Permian Basin ozone pollution from oil and gas could lead to lawsuit against EPA
Adrian Hedden, 9/7/21
“A New Mexico environmental group could sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over rising ozone levels in the Permian Basin region on the southeast corner of the state,” the Carlsbad Current-Argus reports. “Multiple counties in the oil-rich region were recently found to have ground-level ozone concentrations in the air of more than the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) via air monitoring from the New Mexico Environment Department… “But in the meantime, Santa Fe-based WildEarth Guardians argued the heightened levels of ozone in the southeast region should trigger federal action by listing the area under an ozone non-attainment designation.This could impose additional environmental requirements such as added air quality studies and reporting for oil and gas facilities in the area or installations known to add pollutants into the air. WildEarth Guardians last week filed a petition and intent to sue to the EPA, asserting the agency should placed such a designation on the Permian Basin region, or the group would file a lawsuit within six months if no action is taken. Jeremy Nichols, climate and energy program director at WildEarth Guardians told the Argus the group hopes to compel the federal government to immediately impose stronger restrictions on oil and gas operators ahead of the State of New Mexico finalizing its tougher regulations. "Despite the Biden administration's promises to put public health first, the oil and gas industry is getting a free ride to pollute the Permian Basin and undermine clean air," he told the Argus. "The Environmental Protection Agency needs to stop dragging its feet and start helping people."
Sacramento Business Journal: California Independent Petroleum Association files for bankruptcy following anti-SLAPP judgment
Jake Abbott, 9/7/21
“The California Independent Petroleum Association was recently ordered to reimburse the city of Los Angeles and environmental nonprofit groups over $2 million in attorneys fees following successful anti-SLAPP motions,” according to the Sacramento Business Journal. “The California Independent Petroleum Association filed for bankruptcy Sunday after an appeals court determined it must pay nearly $2.3 million in attorneys' fees for challenging a settlement related to new permitting processes for oil and gas producers in Los Angeles neighborhoods.”
The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio to search for abandoned oil wells at Lake Veto
Beth Harvilla, 9/7/21
“After an out-of-use oil well dating back to the 1930s began leaking into a state-owned lake, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources plans to use a detector to search for other orphan wells,” The Columbus Dispatch reports. “The inspectors likely will use a drone, which will have be equipped with a magnetometer, to check for other orphan wells at Lake Veto in Washington County, according to a staff member at the cleanup site. "Wells located in the lake, but determined not to be leaking would be classified as high-priority wells. The current well was classified as an emergency because it leaked in the lake," Stephanie O'Grady, a spokeswoman for the department, told the Dispatch. The state continues to clean up a crude oil spill from a leaking orphan well found in Plum Run, which empties into Veto Lake. The 160-acre lake used for fishing and recreation was constructed by the state in the 1950s. However, a former landowner remembers wells that his family installed dating back to the 1930s. The state has no record of the wells, including the one at the edge of Plum Run that began leaking oil last month. That's an issue that's true for the entire state. No one knows how many orphan wells exist in Ohio. ODNR has on record as many as 972 wells, according to an annual report. However, academic studies estimate that there are between 158,000 and 183,000 wells. The average cost to plug a well in Ohio is between $85,000 and $100,000. That cost means many landowners have a liability on their property that they likely can't afford to fix. Orphan wells can leak methane, contributing to climate change, crude oil and in some instances have had hydraulic fracturing waste migrating from class II injection wells that results in widespread contamination.”
RESEARCH & SCIENCE
E&E News: Abandoning 60% of global oil might limit warming to 1.5 C
By Chelsea Harvey, 9/9/21
“The majority of the planet’s fossil fuel reserves must stay in the ground if the world wants even half a chance — literally — at meeting its most ambitious climate targets,” E&E News reports. “A new study published yesterday in the journal Nature found that 60 percent of oil and natural gas, and a whopping 90 percent of coal, must remain unextracted and unused between now and 2050 in order for the world to have at least a 50 percent shot at limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. These results are broadly consistent with the findings of numerous recent reports, from the United Nations, the International Energy Agency and others, which have “all provided evidence that dramatic cuts in fossil fuel production are required immediately in order to move towards limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees,” said Dan Welsby, a researcher at University College London and lead author of the study, at a press conference announcing the results… “To have even a 50 percent chance of meeting the target, the U.N. report suggests, the world can emit only about 460 billion metric tons of additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. That’s another 12 years or so of emissions at the rate at which the world is currently going. That means global carbon emissions need to fall sharply, and immediately, in order to meet the goal.”
Axios: Study: Vast majority of fossil fuels needs to stay in ground to hit Paris targets
Andrew Freedman, 9/8/21
“Vast quantities of oil, natural gas and coal need to stay in the ground in order for the world to have even a 50% chance of meeting the Paris Climate Agreement's temperature target, a new study finds,” Axios reports. “Why it matters: The research paints a stark picture of a world in which fossil fuel production must begin declining either now or within the next few years. Context: The study, published in Nature, provides a fresh perspective after a 2015 paper looked at regional differences in so-called "unburnable" carbon. The new paper takes into account the Paris Agreement's goals and new scenarios of economic development and emissions. It takes a regional approach and examines the economics, including the cost of production, in specific areas, and how much carbon is contained in the fuels coming from certain areas — Canada's oil sands, for example, are particularly carbon intensive. What they found: The researchers from the University College of London found that "very high shares of [fossil fuel] reserves considered economic today would not be extracted" if the world is to meet the 1.5°C (2.7°F) temperature target. The study finds that overall, about 60% of oil and natural gas reserves and nearly 90% of coal reserves would have to be left in the ground in order to meet the Paris target. All undeveloped Arctic oil and gas resources would need to be left untouched, the study states. The global peak in oil and natural gas production would need to have occurred last year in order to meet the Paris targets, the study finds… “For example, 83% of Canada's oil reserves would not be extractable under a 1.5-degree scenario, including 84% of the 49 billion barrels of estimated proven reserves in the oil sands region. The U.S., by contrast, would see oil production growth to 2025 before declining at a constant rate through 2050, the study states.”
S&P Global: New data on Permian Basin methane emissions add support for pending US EPA rule
Karin Rives, 9/7/21
“The amount of methane being released from oil and gas fields in the Permian Basin is now consistently at pre-pandemic levels, according to researchers who collected new data this summer ahead of upcoming federal emissions regulations,” S&P Global reports. “Emissions of the gas in the oil-rich region in Texas and New Mexico normally fluctuate with production. But even the relatively low readings taken July 31 of 123.2 metric tons of methane released per hour were significantly higher than the 84.3 metric tons registered on April 4, 2020, when the economy first dipped. The peaks in methane emissions are also back to where they were before the coronavirus pandemic curtailed demand for oil and gas and production declined, data gathered by the Permian Methane Analysis Project showed. A study released this spring also confirmed that the decline in emissions was short-lived. The findings come on the heels of a high-profile report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that urged "strong, rapid and sustained reductions" in greenhouse gases, especially methane. Researchers with the Environmental Defense Fund, the group that spearheaded the Permian methane initiative, said the data builds a case for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's upcoming new emissions restrictions for oil and gas production sites, slated to be proposed this month. "The EPA has an excellent opportunity to build regulations that would address the sorts of problems we're seeing in the Permian," Jon Goldstein who leads the Environmental Defense Fund's oil and gas regulatory and legislative affairs, told S&P. "Putting in place comprehensive regulatory requirements that apply evenly across all wells that don't include any sorts of exemptions for any classes of wells — and that build on approaches that have been taken by states like Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming — that's all very much on the table."
CLIMATE FINANCE
Bloomberg: Wall Street’s ESG Loans Charge Corporate America Little for Missed Goals
Michael Tobin and Davide Scigliuzzo, 9/7/21
“When American Campus Communities Inc. announced the signing of a $1 billion sustainability-linked credit line in May, its executives decided to take a victory lap,” Bloomberg reports. “For the first time, they said, the company was tying its borrowing costs to targets ranging from improved energy efficiency to workforce and boardroom diversity. The largest owner of college apartments in the U.S. even put out a press release touting its commitment to environmental, social and governance goals. What the statement didn’t say was that the financial incentives embedded in the loan were largely meaningless. American Campus Communities faced no extra cost for failing to achieve its ESG targets, and would save only one one-hundredth of a percentage point in interest — a mere $100 a year for every $1 million drawn — if it met all of its goals. And this, it turns out, is hardly the exception in the ESG loan business. A Bloomberg analysis of over 70 sustainability-linked revolving credit lines and term loans arranged in the U.S. since 2018 shows that more than a quarter contain similar provisions: no penalty for falling short of stated goals, and only a minuscule discount if targets are met. Other companies that have widely publicized similar arrangements, including JetBlue Airways Corp. and Prudential Financial Inc., declined to disclose details of their loans. As corporate America grapples with growing scrutiny of its ESG efforts, firms are increasingly turning to Wall Street to help burnish their credentials. Yet critics say more and more companies are presenting overly polished images of both their commitments and results. The findings suggest that while bank loans offer corporations one of the easiest avenues to access ESG financing, the path is also one of the least ambitious. “It’s just disingenuous,” Peter Schwab, a portfolio manager at Impax Asset Management, one of the largest money managers dedicated to sustainable investments, told Bloomberg. “There is really no material financial impact. I don’t know why some companies even bother.”
TODAY IN GREENWASHING
Iron County Reporter: Crystal Falls receives $15K from energy giant Enbridge
By Allison Joy, 9/8/21
“Crystal Falls Fire Chief Steven Fabbri and Police Chief Tim Bean accepted $15,000 in grant funds from Canadian oil giant Enbridge on behalf of the city on Aug. 19 at city hall,” according to the Iron County Reporter. “Of the sum, $7,500 will go toward the fire department to purchase new turnout gear for four firefighters and the remaining $7,500 will go to the Crystal Falls Police Department for communications and…”
OPINION
The Hill: Biden must appoint a climate justice champion to address fracked gas
Ramon Cruz is president of the Sierra Club. Ruth Santiago is a member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, 9/8/21
“As Puerto Ricans who witnessed the devastation of Hurricane Maria in 2017, we watched in horror as Hurricane Ida wreaked havoc on the U.S. mainland this week. Millions in the New Orleans area could be without power for weeks amidst dangerous 100-degree heat, while more than 40 people in the Northeast died in historic flash flooding — a sobering reminder that the long-predicted impacts of the climate crisis have arrived,” write in The Hill. “While President Joe Biden is taking important steps to reduce fossil fuel pollution and make our infrastructure more resilient in the face of extreme weather, his true climate legacy may rest on who he appoints to an obscure but important federal agency. While the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is not well known to very many Americans, it wields enormous power over our energy future. No liquefied gas terminal is supposed to be built without FERC approval. No interstate gas pipeline can be built without the commission’s blessing. And FERC has jurisdiction over this country’s electric power grid. When it comes to climate and environmental protection, FERC is arguably just as influential as the Environmental Protection Agency… “Biden has an opportunity to nominate a Democratic climate champion who, if confirmed, can join the two incumbent Democrats to form a pro-climate and pro-environment majority. Unfortunately, he is facing tremendous industry pressure to nominate someone who would maintain the status quo of fracked gas development — supported by the two sitting Republicans… “All four current FERC members are white. As we find ourselves more than one-fifth of the way through the 21st century, it’s not too much to expect that one-fifth of the membership of FERC should consist of people of color. That would be just one person on the five-member commission, but it would be the next person to join.”
The Hill: Has Congress forgotten the urgent importance of the climate crisis?William J. Ripple, Ph.D., is a distinguished professor at Oregon State University and is director of the Alliance of World Scientists, which has 25,000 member scientists from 180 countries, 9/8/21
“...Biden’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill — a cornerstone of his climate agenda — is supposed to help ensure that America can tackle the climate crisis. Indeed, the bill includes investments in climate resilience, electric vehicle infrastructure, and electric grid modernization. Yet, it does alarmingly little to curb fossil fuel use, which is a major driver of climate change,” William J. Ripple writes in The Hill. “In fact, the bill removes important environmental permitting safeguards, potentially leading to increased fossil fuel production. The bill also includes large subsidies to the logging and timber industry despite the urgent need for strategic climate reserves, which preserve forests that sequester significant carbon. Worst of all, the bill allocates little or no investment in renewables such as solar energy, where China dominates. Instead, billions would be allocated to fossil fuel and other companies in support of unproven carbon capture technologies and a hydrogen-based energy system that would rely on fossil fuels… “The climate emergency requires proportional solutions. Passing the more climate-friendly $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill should be the priority. But we also need to set a price on carbon, develop a tangible plan to completely phase out fossil fuels, reform agriculture, curb methane emissions and protect and restore carbon-rich ecosystems on a massive scale. We must stop humanity’s overexploitation of the planet if we wish to save the world for our children. That’s what it will take to give ourselves a shot, and until politicians’ priorities reflect popular rhetoric, we’ll keep running in circles as our window to act closes.”