EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 2/14/24

PIPELINE NEWS

• Grist: How the US government began its decade-long campaign against the anti-pipeline movement

• E&E News: DC Circuit Nixes Mountain Valley Pipeline Lawsuit 

• Bloomberg: Mountain Valley Pipeline Escapes Suit by Virginia Landowners

• KNOX: Dakota Access Pipeline protest costs headed for court Thursday

• Dakota Scout: ‘Gold standard’ bill of carbon pipeline opponents dashed again

• KELO: More pipeline bills rejected in committee

• Wahpeton Daily News: Public comments on Summit pipeline project

• Dickinson County News: County pipeline, turbine ordinances headed back to P&Z

• WBEZ: A new crude oil and natural gas pipeline could be built under the Great Lakes

• Grist: Greenpeace Mexico’s race to protect reefs from a new gas pipeline

• The Crucial Years: Good trouble on the Bad River: Figuring out how to stand up to a pipeline

• RBN Energy: Is 2023 The Peak For Re-Exports Of Canadian Heavy Crude Oil From The Gulf Coast?

WASHINGTON UPDATES

• E&E News: Biden stops short of veto threat on natural gas export bill

• Guardian: Certified Natural Gas Is ‘Dangerous Greenwashing Scheme’, US Senators Say 

• Law360: Feds Want ‘Free Pass’ Out Of Climate Suit Trial, Youths Say 

• E&E News: Looming Arctic Oil Sale Reveals Political Risks For Biden 

• E&E News: Gas poised to overtake coal as top CO2 emitter in U.S. power sector

• InsideEPA: Interior Faces Dueling Suits Over Offshore Drilling Plan With Limited Sales 

• New York Times: U.S. Gas Producers Are Racing to Sell to Asia. And Mexico Is Key.

• Wall Street Journal: Caught in Biden’s Natural-Gas Export Fight: Your Utility Bill

• E&E News: Sucking Carbon from the Air Becomes A Lead Strategy

STATE UPDATES

• WKOW: ‘Sue big oil’: Youth climate activists press state attorney general to be more aggressive on climate change

• Grist: Washington’s key climate law is under attack. Big Oil wants it to survive.

• Source NM: Gov’s half-billion bid on Strategic Water Supply wobbles

EXTRACTION

• Reuters: Shell expects 50% rise in global LNG demand by 2040

• Reuters: Exxon, Enbridge sued by competitor over crude oil transportation

• Reuters: Canadian First Nation urges Obsidian Energy to address quake concerns

• Associated Press: Climate activists target Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus’ in Florence’s Uffizi Gallery

CLIMATE FINANCE

• E&E News: Investor Group Seeks To Quash Exxon Lawsuit 

TODAY IN GREENWASHING

• Press release: TC Energy’s $25,000 donation benefits Penn College Baja event, welding program

OPINION

• Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan: Carbon Pipeline Fight: No End In Sight?

• Los Angeles Times: Cement is a big part of the carbon problem. Here’s how to make it part of the solution

• Newsweek: Wall Street Should Follow White House Example Pausing LNG Export Projects

• Telegraph: Biden’s climate change reparations will bankrupt America
  

PIPELINE NEWS

Grist: How the US government began its decade-long campaign against the anti-pipeline movement
Adam Federman, 2/14/24

“On the morning of March 5, 2012, Debra White Plume received an urgent phone call,” Grist reports. “…More than a dozen cars formed a blockade along one of the roads that runs through the reservation. Plume and other activists were outspoken critics of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, part of a larger network carrying oil from the tar sands of northern Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Many Indigenous nations in South Dakota, whose land the convoy was attempting to pass through on its way to the Canadian tar sands, fiercely objected to the project… “But the events in Wanblee did capture the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which began tracking Native groups campaigning against the pipeline in early 2012. According to documents obtained by Grist and Type Investigations through a Freedom of Information Act request, the FBI’s Minneapolis office opened a counterterrorism assessment in February 2012, focusing on actions in South Dakota, that continued for at least a year and may have led to the opening of additional investigations… “According to additional records obtained by Grist and Type Investigations, an obscure intelligence division within the U.S. State Department, which had jurisdiction over the pipeline because it crossed an international boundary, collected hundreds of pages of records on Keystone activists, landing one of them in jail on charges of trespassing (which were eventually dropped)… “The State Department was especially interested in the work of environmental groups D.C. Action Lab and 350.org, as well as the “pledge of resistance,” organized by groups including CREDO, a mobile phone company that supports progressive causes, which called for activists to engage in civil disobedience to stop President Barack Obama from approving the Keystone XL pipeline. By late 2015, tens of thousands of people had signed the pledge and environmental groups held direct action trainings in dozens of cities. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security and state and local law enforcement agencies along the proposed pipeline route, according to previous reporting in The Guardian and other news outlets, were also intimately involved in investigating these activities, creating an unprecedented domestic surveillance network that is only now fully coming into focus.”

E&E News: DC Circuit Nixes Mountain Valley Pipeline Lawsuit 
Niina H. Farah, 2/14/24

“A powerful appellate court has once again rejected Virginia landowners’ long-shot effort to block the Mountain Valley pipeline and overhaul federal approvals for new natural gas projects,” E&E News reports. “On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reinstated its 2022 ruling that said Cletus and Beverly Bohon and other property owners in the path of the contested Mountain Valley pipeline did not follow proper procedure for bringing their case to court. The lawsuit landed back before the D.C. Circuit last year after the Supreme Court instructed the lower bench to reconsider its earlier dismissal. Mia Yugo, a private attorney for the Bohons and other challengers, told E&E that the decision is “definitely not the end of the line.” She wrote: “We will, of course, be appealing this again.” The Bohons had claimed that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is unconstitutionally delegating its power to pipeline companies to take private land for their projects. The landowners were pushing for a court order to require FERC to revamp its pipeline approval process under the Natural Gas Act, but the dispute before the D.C. Circuit centered on how the Bohons had raised their claims.”

Bloomberg: Mountain Valley Pipeline Escapes Suit by Virginia Landowners
Shayna Greene, 2/13/24

“Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC won its bid Tuesday to continue construction of a more-than-300-mile-long natural gas pipeline through Virginia despite a protest from affected property owners,” Bloomberg reports. “The US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, after remand from the US Supreme Court, affirmed the district court’s decision to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction a lawsuit brought by landowners whose properties were in the path of the pipeline and were seized by eminent domain. The court came to the same decision it made before the high court ordered it to reconsider, which was that the Natural Gas Act strips district courts of jurisdiction to review a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission certificate after an appellate court receives the record in another suit challenging that certificate… “The landowners argued in their January 2020 complaint that the nondelegation doctrine, which prevents Congress from delegating its legislative powers to another entity, applies to this case. In other words, FERC shouldn’t be able to issue certificates to applicants seeking to invoke the power of eminent domain, the property owners said… “The court said that even though the landowners weren’t parties in that case, the district court’s jurisdiction to hear challenges to the certificate ended once the record in the earlier case had been filed in the appellate court… “The court based its decision on the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which required agencies to push through remaining permits for the project.”

KNOX: Dakota Access Pipeline protest costs headed for court Thursday
Jim Johnson, 2/13/24

“A bench trial begins Thursday is U.S. District Court in Bismarck to determine if the federal government will pay North Dakota claims for emergency response costs from eight months of Dakota Access Pipeline protests in 2016 and 2017,” KNOX reports. “Senator Kevin Cramer’s office told KNOX activists illegally occupied federal lands and engaged in unlawful, destructive and violent acts. North Dakota was left without assistance to protect public safety and clean the very land the activists sought to protect. Cramer told KNOX the end result was $38 million in damage to North Dakota… “By statute, there will be no jury for the bench trial. All decisions of fact and law will be determined by District Judge Daniel Traynor.”

Dakota Scout: ‘Gold standard’ bill of carbon pipeline opponents dashed again
AUSTIN GOSS, 2/13/24

“The dream bill of opponents to the construction of a carbon pipeline across eastern South Dakota met its demise for the second year in a row,” the Dakota Scout reports. “And along with it, four other bills dealing with pipelines and their construction were easily dispatched too. Rep. Jon Hansen’s House Bill 1219 would prohibit carbon dioxide pipelines from using eminent domain for the sake of constructing their project — a measure that would almost certainly spell the end for Summit Carbon Solutions’ plan to build a pipeline across eastern South Dakota. The one sentence bill says that a company transporting carbon for the sake of “geological storage or for geological sequestration” cannot use eminent domain. Summit intends to do just that with the carbon it transports at a site in North Dakota, and has indicated its intent to pursue eminent domain lawsuits against any remaining landowner holdouts. A nearly identical bill passed through the full House last year, before being easily defeated in a Senate committee. “This bill lets you build the pipeline, go ahead and do it,” Hansen said. “Just do it voluntarily, without unjustly condemning hundreds of landowners private property. That is all we are asking.” Like clockwork, many familiar faces from the effort to beat back Summit showed up to share now often-told stories about how the pipeline would negatively impact them, should it be built.”

KELO: More pipeline bills rejected in committee
Rae Yost, 2/13/24

“Attempts that would seem to make it more difficult for pipelines projects to be built in South Dakota failed in the House Commerce and Energy Committee on Monday,” KELO reports. “HB1243 would have extended deadlines for action by the Public Utilities Commission upon the request of any party… “HB1246 would have established percentage requirements for voluntary agreements governing pipeline construction before the filing of a petition for condemnation… “Bill supporter landowner Joy Hohn named the CO2 project by Summit Carbon Solutions in her testimony about why others, not just the permit applicant, need to be able to request a PUC extension… “If there are 300 intervenors and if all, or many of them, file a request for an extension, the PUC, would need to spend time reviewing the merit of each request, opponents said… “Committee member Republican Rep. Neal Pinnow said 90% was “next to impossible” to achieve. He’d likely be more inclined to support a bill if the voluntary easement requirement was lower. The bill failed on a do pass with 9 no votes and 4 yes votes.”

Wahpeton Daily News: Public comments on Summit pipeline project
James Vissers, 2/10/24

“During the Tuesday, Feb. 6 public hearing session for the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions, LLC (SCS) pipeline project, residents from Wilkin County, Minnesota, expressed their concerns about the project,” the Wahpeton Daily News reports. “During the session, resident Sharon Leinen asked about water usage. Leinen also expressed her view on the method of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2). She wondered if the method of capturing and sequestering would become obsolete by the time the pipeline was installed… “Though it is designed to move 18 million tons of CO2, the contracts Summit has committed to plan to capture and move 13.7 million tons of CO2 per year. By comparison, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported in 2021 that the U.S. emitted approximately 6.3 billion tons of CO2. The number comes to 5.5 billion tons after factoring sequestration.”

Dickinson County News: County pipeline, turbine ordinances headed back to P&Z
2/13/24

“Local zoning officials will take another crack at some zoning updates after the Dickinson County Supervisors attempted to tackle two weighty topics Tuesday — wind turbine developments and hazardous liquid pipelines,” the Dickinson County News reports.

WBEZ: A new crude oil and natural gas pipeline could be built under the Great Lakes
Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco, 2/14/24

“Tribal leaders from the Midwest are taking a stand against a crude oil and natural gas pipeline that carries millions of gallons of fossil fuels via the lakebed of the Mackinac Strait that separates Lake Michigan and Lake Huron,” WBEZ reports. “They say the Line 5 pipeline, as it’s known, is a threat to the Great Lakes. The pipeline, owned by Canadian energy company Enbridge has already spilled more than a million gallons of oil since the first recorded leak in 1968. Now Enbridge wants to start over and reroute Line 5 into a plan called the Great Lakes Tunnel Project. Opponents have filed a federal lawsuit in Chicago, and environmentalists are appealing to state and federal agencies to stop the proposed pipeline and tunnel to avert more — and potentially larger — spills… “If there’s an oil spill, it destroys the Great Lakes,” Whitney Gravelle, president of the Bay Mills Indian Community in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, told WBEZ… “The Great Lakes provide and are 84% of North America’s surface freshwater. Yet they’re not being protected as this national resource that provides for so many and are constantly being put in danger, most specifically by Line 5.” Modeling from the University of Michigan’s Water Center found that more than 700 miles of shoreline are vulnerable to a spill — potentially endangering the drinking water supply of more than 40 million people and the precious ecosystems that support thriving fisheries… “If Enbridge wins, Gravelle told WBEZ she worries that precedent could endanger tribal nations everywhere. “If Enbridge energy’s interpretations are adopted by the court, what they’re doing is they’re giving not only Enbridge energy but also every other fossil fuel company permission to trespass, destroy and take advantage of tribal nations across the U.S. with no legal ramification whatsoever,” Gravelle told WBEZ… “If the courts rule in favor of Enbridge and upends long-standing tribal treaties, Gravelle told WBEZ the sovereignty of every tribe in the country is at stake.”

Grist: Greenpeace Mexico’s race to protect reefs from a new gas pipeline
Avery Schuyler Nunn, 2/14/24

“Javier Bello could scarcely believe what he was seeing in the waters off the coast of Veracruz, Mexico. Where the Canadian fossil fuel company TC Energy had claimed there was little more than mounds of sand, he saw a thriving ecosystem,” Grist reports. “…The whole point of the voyage, in which scientists, fishers, and activists converged aboard the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise for three weeks last June, was to show what could be lost by the project… “TC Energy — the company behind the Keystone XL pipeline — has proposed an extension of a natural gas pipeline that would stretch roughly 497 miles from the coastal towns of Tuxpan to Coatzacoalcos in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The company has claimed that there is nothing of significance on the seafloor along its planned route, and that construction will not harm existing marine protected areas… “Pipeline opponents believe that in addition to environmental destruction, the project will disrupt the livelihoods of local communities and keep Mexico reliant upon fossil fuel, further exacerbating the effects of climate change. In July of 2022, TC Energy announced a partnership with Mexico’s CFE, the state-owned electric utility, to build an extension to its Sur de Texas-Tuxpan Gas Pipeline. With an estimated cost of $5 billion, TC Energy announced a public offering of common shares to help fund the project the next month. Following the investment announcements, 18 environmental organizations led by the Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental warned of the pipeline’s grave risk to the surrounding coral reef corridor. They alleged that TC Energy and CFE were trying to avoid scrutiny of the project’s impact by presenting an environmental impact assessment fragmented into two pieces, one for each stage of the pipeline — terrestrial and aquatic.”

The Crucial Years: Good trouble on the Bad River: Figuring out how to stand up to a pipeline
BILL MCKIBBEN, 2/13/24

“…Bad River—a new documentary premiering in early March—is entirely unambiguous fact, not dramatized at all; if anything, some of its power comes from underplaying the tragedy it describes, that of an indigenous community forced to defend its remaining chunk of land from a heedless and rapacious oil company,”  The Crucial Years reports. “…The David and Goliath battle is between the Bad River band of Lake Superior Chippewa and Enbridge, the giant pipeline company who you may remember from other battles, like Line 3, rammed across the Mississippi headwaters, and the Dakota Access pipeline. In this case, it’s Line 5 at issue, carrying tarsands from Canada across the Great Lakes region, and then back into Canada… “The pipeline also winds across the Bad River reservation—which, as the film makes powerfully clear, is the result of the entirely typical centuries-long mistreatment of Native Americans… “Mazzio’s film, tight in its focus on this one part of the story, doesn’t talk about the rest of the opposition to Line 5, from other tribal groups and also from a devoted and widespread citizen’s movement that has built across Michigan in recent years, gaining enough traction that in 2020 the state’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, ordered the pipeline shut down… “All of this is to say that the fight is both legal and political—which is usually the case. In both legal and political terms, tribal sovereignty should be enough to carry the day—as the movie makes quite painfully clear, right is on the side of the Bad River band in every possible historical sense. But, as becomes ever clearer in this country, the justice system is not fully separated from politics, and so the need to make broad coalitions is paramount. And those broad coalitions can worry about different, if linked, things… “But when care is taken, then alliances and even friendships blossom, and victories can happen—that is, I’d argue, the story of the fight over the Keystone XL pipeline (when indigenous people and midwest farmers and ranchers made common cause with each other, and with global climate groups) and the recent LNG wins, when similar partnerships formed between groups of inspired leaders along the Gulf of Mexico, and national and international environmental groups.”

RBN Energy: Is 2023 The Peak For Re-Exports Of Canadian Heavy Crude Oil From The Gulf Coast?
Martin King, 2/14/24

“Thanks to expanding heavy crude oil production in Western Canada’s oil sands in recent years and increased pipeline access from the region to the U.S. Gulf Coast, re-exports of Canadian heavy crude from Gulf Coast terminals set a record in 2023,” RBN Energy reports. “With additional production gains on tap in the oil sands, it might seem natural to think that another re-export record is in the works for 2024. However, assuming the much-delayed Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMX) does indeed start up this year — offering a vastly expanded West Coast outlet for oil sands production — last year’s re-export high might end up being a peak, at least for the number of years it takes for growth in Western Canadian heavy crude production to exceed the capacity of the TMX expansion. In today’s RBN blog, we take a closer look at TMX’s likely impact on Gulf Coast re-exports… “The problem was that with Alberta’s oil sands-related heavy crude oil production steadily increasing in recent years and no ready incremental access to export capacity from the West Coast, that heavy crude oil had to go somewhere. With refineries in the Midwest effectively saturated with Canadian heavy barrels, more crude has found its way to the Gulf Coast over the past few years for use by refineries in the region and, eventually, for rising exports from the Gulf Coast. This came about from a combination of increased pipeline connections from Alberta to the U.S. Midwest (see We’re Here for a Good Time) and more connections from the Midwest to the Gulf Coast and within the Gulf Coast region (see Carefree Highway and Oil From the North Country for more details).”

WASHINGTON UPDATES

E&E News: Biden stops short of veto threat on natural gas export bill
Nico Portuondo, 2/13/24

“The White House said Tuesday that it “strongly opposes” a measure from House Republicans that would lift the pause on liquefied natural gas export approvals, but it did not threaten a veto from President Joe Biden,” E&E News reports. “H.R. 7176, from Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas), would give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission exclusive jurisdiction to approve LNG facilities. The bill is up for a floor vote this week. Last month, the Department of Energy announced that it would stop approving new exports to nations without a free-trade agreement until it can review how it determines whether projects are in the public interest. The administration wants to focus more on climate and domestic prices. The decision has sparked weeks of blowback from Republicans and some moderate Democrats, who argue that the pause could have deleterious effects on national security and the climate. In a statement of administration policy released Tuesday, the White House said the bill would eliminate regulatory procedures designed to protect consumers from energy price hikes and the effects of climate change.”

Guardian: Certified Natural Gas Is ‘Dangerous Greenwashing Scheme’, US Senators Say 
Dharna Noor, 2/12/24

“Certified natural gas – or methane gas that is purportedly produced in a low-emissions manner – is a ‘dangerous greenwashing scheme’, a group of progressive senators wrote in a letter to federal regulators on Monday,” the Guardian reports. “The letter, addressed to Federal Trade Commission chair, Lina Khan, comes as the agency prepares to release its updated Green Guides, which clarify when companies’ marketing claims around sustainability violate federal laws barring consumer deception, giving regulators stronger legal cases against polluters. Those guidelines should ‘crack down’ on claims made by gas certification programs, the lawmakers, led by Massachusetts’s Ed Markey, wrote. “The reality is that gas certification schemes allow the oil and gas industry to justify the continued expansion of methane gas use and undermine efforts towards a just transition to renewables,” says the letter, which was also signed by the senators Jeff Merkley, Sheldon Whitehouse, Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, Bernie Sanders and Cory Booker.”

Law360: Feds Want ‘Free Pass’ Out Of Climate Suit Trial, Youths Say 
Tom Lotshaw, 2/13/24

“Twenty-one plaintiffs suing to force the U.S. government to curb fossil fuel use and cut carbon emissions told the Ninth Circuit on Monday that the government’s latest attempt to pause their lawsuit amounts to its shunning procedural rules and asking for ‘a free pass out of trial’ not available to other people,” Law360 reports. “The government had filed a petition for a writ of mandamus forcing U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken to dismiss the suit, initially filed in 2015 when its plaintiffs were ages 8 to 19, with prejudice instead of allowing the young plaintiffs to amend their complaint. The Ninth Circuit had ruled in 2020 that the courts did not have authority to grant the requested injunctive relief, namely an order directing the government to craft a remedial plan to phase out fossil fuel emissions. But Judge Aiken allowed the plaintiffs to address the suit’s deficiencies, denied the government’s motion to dismiss and refused to certify the decision for interlocutory appeal. “The administration is grasping at every extreme measure it can to keep [lead plaintiff Kelsey Cascadia Rose] Juliana’s youth plaintiffs from having their day in court,” Julia Olson, an attorney for the young plaintiffs and chief legal counsel for Our Children’s Trust, said in a statement on Monday.”

E&E News: Looming Arctic Oil Sale Reveals Political Risks For Biden 
Heather Richards, 2/14/24

“A congressionally mandated oil lease sale in the Arctic looms over President Joe Biden’s 2024 election campaign, threatening to revive attacks on the administration’s energy record as the president is looking to his environmental base for crucial support,” E&E News reports. “Because of a 2017 tax law, the White House must hold the sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by December, forcing the president to advance potential crude oil development on untrammeled lands that he once promised to protect from drilling. It’s a tricky political mandate as climate is expected to be a deciding issue in 2024 for many environmentalists and younger voters who are already angry about White House’s policies on oil and gas drilling. “He can’t throw a bone to young people Monday, cave to oil and gas millionaires Tuesday, and expect to get young people to turn out for him,” Stevie O’Hanlon, communications director for the Sunrise Movement, a climate organization, told E&E. The coming sale underscores the political challenge for Biden as he simultaneously aims to get high turnout from his base, woo independents who may be sympathetic to Republican arguments on drilling and faces an electorate that appears largely unaware of his climate record.” 

E&E News: Gas poised to overtake coal as top CO2 emitter in U.S. power sector
Benjamin Storrow, 2/13/24

“Gas is on the verge of becoming the leading source of carbon dioxide pollution from American power plants,” E&E News reports. “An E&E News review of federal data shows CO2 emissions from gas plants nearly equaled the amount of planet-warming pollution produced by coal facilities last year. Looking ahead, rising gas generation combined with falling coal consumption means gas could overtake coal as soon as this year as the top carbon polluter in the U.S. power sector. The findings reflect the rapid makeover of the U.S. power sector, which has seen utilities swap coal in favor of gas en masse in recent decades. But the trend also underscores the challenge that faces President Joe Biden and climate advocates as they seek to green America’s electric grid. Coal to gas switching has driven CO2 emissions from U.S. power plants to their lowest levels in decades, but analysts say the country faces a difficult road in making further reductions from the sector.”

InsideEPA: Interior Faces Dueling Suits Over Offshore Drilling Plan With Limited Sales 
2/13/24

“The Interior Department is facing dueling lawsuits over its latest five-year offshore oil and gas drilling program that includes the ‘minimum’ number of leases that would allow Biden officials to continue offshore wind activities, with the oil sector arguing the plan includes too few leases while environmental groups are raising equity concerns,” InsideEPA reports. ‘In issuing a five-year program with the fewest lease sales in history, the administration is limiting access in a region responsible for generating among the lowest carbon-intensive barrels in the world, putting American consumers at greater risk of relying on foreign sources for our future energy needs,’ the American Petroleum Institute (API) says in a Feb. 12 statement announcing its lawsuit over the drilling program issued by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). API is challenging the drilling program in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The five-year program, issued late last year, includes up to three offshore drilling lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico — one each in 2025, 2027, and 2029. Biden officials had earlier proposed a plan with up to 11 lease sales.”

New York Times: U.S. Gas Producers Are Racing to Sell to Asia. And Mexico Is Key.
Max Bearak, 2/13/24

“​As soon as next year, the United States’ fossil fuel industry will gain its first foothold on a valuable shortcut to sell natural gas to Asia. The shortcut goes straight through Mexico,” the New York Times reports. “The new route could cut travel times to energy-hungry Asian nations roughly in half by piping the gas to a shipping terminal on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, bypassing the traffic- and drought-choked Panama Canal. The terminal is symbolic of an enormous shift underway in the gas trade, one that will influence fossil-fuel use worldwide for decades and have consequences in the fight against climate change. The American fracking boom has transformed the United States into the world’s largest gas producer and exporter. At the same time, the rest of the world has begun using ever more gas — in power plants, factories and homes — partly to move away from climate-polluting fuels like coal and oil. Demand is particularly growing in China, India and fast-industrializing Southeast Asian countries. In Mexico, the action is centered for now on a gas terminal, Energía Costa Azul, that was originally designed to send gas in the other direction: For more than a decade it has unloaded gas from Asian tankers and piped it to California and Arizona to be burned to produce electricity. Fracking changed everything. Now Costa Azul, pinched between Baja California’s agave-covered mountains and the vast Pacific Ocean, is undergoing a $2 billion transformation into an export facility for American-produced gas. It’s the first in a network of gas exporting facilities planned down Mexico’s West coast.”

Wall Street Journal: Caught in Biden’s Natural-Gas Export Fight: Your Utility Bill
David Uberti. Ryan Dezember, 2/11/24

“Americans’ utility bills are getting wrapped up in the fight over President Biden’s pause on most new natural gas exports,” according to the Wall Street Journal. “The White House last month effectively froze new approvals for liquefied natural gas shipments, a booming industry that has helped turn the U.S. into an energy export powerhouse. While environmentalists are urging officials to scrutinize projects’ impact on the climate, producers warn the pause could kneecap the country’s ability to supply allies with fuel in the future. Now, Americans’ power and heating costs are becoming a growing part of the tug of war.”

E&E News: Sucking Carbon from the Air Becomes A Lead Strategy
CHELSEA HARVEY & E&E NEWS, 2/13/24

“The Department of Energy announced up to $100 million in funding for carbon removal pilot projects Monday in an effort to advance technologies designed to suck CO2 directly out of the atmosphere,” E&E News reports. “While there are a variety of strategies that can be used to remove carbon from the air, both natural and technological, applicants are invited to focus on three specific kinds of pathways. The first, biomass carbon removal, uses organic materials — including trees, other plants, algae or even animal products — that naturally draw carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere… “The second pathway, mineralization projects, typically involve the use of crushed-up alkaline materials, like calcium or magnesium. When sprinkled over rocks, mixed into soil or incorporated into other kinds of chemical reactions, these minerals can help absorb carbon dioxide from the air. The third opportunity calls for test bed facilities involving multiple carbon removal pathways combined… “DOE notes that a fourth funding opportunity, involving marine carbon removal projects, may also move forward in the future. Marine carbon removal also often uses crushed alkaline materials — but instead of being used on land, they’re sprinkled directly into the ocean… “Yet, carbon removal remains a controversial field. Most removal pathways don’t yet exist at a commercial scale large enough to make a meaningful dent in the world’s carbon emissions. While some experts argue that the industry needs more investment, others worry that focusing on the promise of an unproven industry could distract from more meaningful global emissions reductions efforts.”

STATE UPDATES

WKOW: ‘Sue big oil’: Youth climate activists press state attorney general to be more aggressive on climate change
JT Cestkowski, 2/13/24

“Teenage activists with Action for the Climate Future demonstrated inside of the Risser Justice Center, the headquarters of the state Department of Justice (DOJ), to call on [Wisconsin] Attorney General Josh Kaul to sue the fossil fuel industry,” WKOW reports. “For his part, Kaul is not closing the door on potential legal action against fossil fuel producers… “The several dozen teens repeatedly asked a security guard to let them speak to Kaul or another member of DOJ leadership… “The teens delivered a petition calling on the attorney general to bring lawsuits against fossil fuel companies. The group expressed admiration for the strategy Kaul has employed against chemical companies like DuPont. The DOJ has joined several lawsuits against those corporations for the damages allegedly inflicted on Wisconsin communities. Stella Augustson, one of the activists chosen to speak for the group, wants Kaul to use a similarly aggressive strategy in holding fossil fuel companies accountable for damage caused by climate change… “In a virtual interview, the attorney general told 27 News that he has chosen to wait and see how lawsuits brought against fossil fuel companies by other states play out first. “We have the benefit here of being able to see what unfolds in some other states,” Kaul told WKOW. “And based on that, we will decide what course of action to take.”

Grist: Washington’s key climate law is under attack. Big Oil wants it to survive.
Kate Yoder, 2/13/24

“It took Washington state more than a decade to put a price on carbon pollution,” Grist reports. “…So it was a surprise when the state legislature finally managed to pass a cap-and-trade program in 2021, requiring that Washington slash its carbon emissions nearly in half by 2030, using 1990 levels as the baseline. Even more surprising, perhaps, was that the law was supported by BP, the same oil giant that had spent $13 million to kill one of the ballot initiatives three years earlier. Now the landmark law, the Climate Commitment Act, is under attack, threatened by a repeal effort bankrolled by a hedge-fund manager, and representatives for oil companies say they have nothing to do with it. In fact, oil giants want to keep it alive. “We have never been against the Climate Commitment Act,” Kevin Slagle, vice president of communications for the Western States Petroleum Association, a lobbying group that represents oil companies including ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Shell, told Grist… “A ballot initiative started by Brian Heywood, a hedge fund manager exasperated with Washington state’s taxes and liberal politics, would kill the law and block the state from ever instituting a cap-and-trade program again… “Heywood argues that the program has helped give the state some of the highest gas prices in the country and says that Governor Jay Inslee and other officials weren’t upfront about its potential effects on consumers… “The proposals would repeal the state’s capital gains tax and reverse policing restrictions, among other things. Some $6 million of that money came from Heywood, but other donors include the state Republican Party and the Washington Bankers Association.”

Source NM: Gov’s half-billion bid on Strategic Water Supply wobbles
DANIELLE PROKOP, 2/12/24

“Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s $500 million plan to create a market for treated brackish water, and oil and gas wastewater, faces an unexpected time crunch after it was struck this weekend from a list of long-term funding proposals,” Source NM reports. “The governor’s much-touted “Strategic Water Supply” will now have to face the gauntlet of committees and chamber votes with a few days left in the session. Sen. George Muñoz (D-Gallup), who chairs the powerful Senate Finance Committee, told Source New Mexico Sunday that the measure was removed from the capital outlay package, which is scheduled to go before the Senate Finance Committee later today… “Muñoz expressed misgivings about the state’s plans to make water into a commodity, and said he wants more information, considering it’s a half-billion dollar request… “The $500 million-proposal has prompted fierce pushback from climate groups and advocates, who said that neither the treatment science nor the state’s water data is sufficient. For every barrel of oil, New Mexico produces four barrels of produced water, according to the Office of the State Engineer. The water contains contaminants such as sand, dissolved oils, radioactive materials, hydrocarbons, and proprietary additive chemicals used in fracking. Last year, New Mexico pumped more than 64 billion gallons of produced water which outstrips the state’s daily municipal water consumption. Melissa Troutman, a climate and energy advocate for WildEarth Guardians, told Source that the state still doesn’t have guidance from scientists about treatments that will work beyond small, laboratory experiments. “It’s a terrible, very risky investment by the state on unproven technology, and nobody’s asking for the science,” Troutman told Source. “Half a billion dollars is a lot of money to spend on something that’s not proven yet.”

EXTRACTION

Reuters: Shell expects 50% rise in global LNG demand by 2040
Marwa Rashad and Emily Chow, 2/14/24

“Global demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) is estimated to rise by more than 50% by 2040, as China and countries in South and Southeast Asia use LNG to support their economic growth, Shell said in an annual report on Wednesday,” Reuters reports. “…It also said prices and price volatility were above historic averages, constraining economic growth, and that the market was still “structurally right” because of the reduction in Russian supplies to Europe following the Ukraine war and limited supply growth. Although demand for natural gas has peaked in some regions, it continues to rise globally, and is expected to reach around 625-685 million tons per year in 2040 according to the latest industry estimates, the report said. The report said that China, which in 2023 overtook Japan to reclaim it status as the world’s top LNG importer, will continue to drive global LNG demand… “Over the following decade, declining domestic gas production in parts of South Asia and Southeast Asia could drive a surge in demand for LNG as these economies need fuel for gas-fired power plants or industry. Shell’s report predicted a balance between rising demand and new supply, but said significant investments would be needed in gas import infrastructure.”

Reuters: Exxon, Enbridge sued by competitor over crude oil transportation
Mike Scarcella, 2/13/24

“Exxon and Canada-based crude pipeline operator Enbridge were sued in Illinois federal court on Tuesday over claims they barred a competitor from building a terminal to ship oil by barge from the Chicago area to refineries in the Midwest and Gulf of Mexico,” Reuters reports. “The antitrust lawsuit from energy infrastructure developer Ducere seeks more than $11 million in damages for work the Illinois company said it already paid for on the project and for lost future profits. Exxon, Enbridge and their joint venture Mustang Pipe Line LLC excluded Ducere from the crude oil transportation market in Chicago by “refusing to allow it to build a terminal that would provide another avenue for transporting crude to refineries south of Chicago,” the lawsuit said… “It said the “group boycott” by Exxon, Enbridge and Mustang denying it access to Mustang’s crude oil pipeline unlawfully restricted competition in the regional energy transportation market. Ducere said shipping crude by barge on U.S. waterways is “vastly underutilized.” The proposed terminal would increase crude oil transportation capacity while reducing reliance on rail transport, the lawsuit said.”

Reuters: Canadian First Nation urges Obsidian Energy to address quake concerns
Nia Williams, 2/13/24

“An Indigenous community in Alberta on Monday criticized Obsidian Energy for failing to address ongoing concerns about its operations after regulators said the Canadian oil and gas producer was responsible for a series of earthquakes,” Reuters reports. “The quakes, including one with a local magnitude of 5.6, took place over nearly four months in the territory of the Woodland Cree First Nation in northern Alberta between November 2022 and March 2023. In March the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) found that Obsidian caused the series of seismic events by disposing of industrial wastewater underground, and gave the company 15 days to produce a mitigation plan. However, chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom told Reuters Obsidian had refused to “meaningfully meet or work” with Woodland Cree First Nation to address their concerns since then. Lack of collaboration with First Nations could put oil and gas development at risk more widely, he told Reuters.”

Associated Press: Climate activists target Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus’ in Florence’s Uffizi Gallery
2/14/24

“Two climate activists on Tuesday targeted Botticelli’s masterpiece “The Birth of Venus” hanging at Florence’s Uffizi Gallery, attaching images of recent flood damage in the Tuscany region on the protective glass,” the Associated Press reports. “…Under a new law, the protesters risk up to six months of jail time… “The activists from the Last Generation climate movement told AP they were protesting the Italian government’s failure to address climate issues that result in more frequent floods and landslides, including severe flooding in Tuscany last year that left at least six people dead and caused widespread damage.”

CLIMATE FINANCE

E&E News: Investor Group Seeks To Quash Exxon Lawsuit 
Lesley Clark, 2/14/24

“An investor group that is being sued by Exxon Mobil over a climate resolution is asking a federal court to dismiss the case, arguing that the oil company is ‘effectively silencing’ its shareholders,” E&E News reports. “In court pleadings filed Monday, Arjuna Capital said the lawsuit should be scuttled because the investment manager has withdrawn its climate proposal and agreed not to resubmit it. Arjuna, which filed the climate resolution in December along with the Norwegian investor group Follow This, accused Exxon of seeking an end run around the Securities and Exchange Commission. There are no grounds for Exxon’s lawsuit to proceed, Arjuna told the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. “In refusing to dismiss the case following the withdrawal,” attorneys for Arjuna wrote, “Exxon has laid bare its true intention — to challenge how the SEC interprets and applies its own proxy proposal rules, without actually confronting the SEC itself.”

TODAY IN GREENWASHING

Press release: TC Energy’s $25,000 donation benefits Penn College Baja event, welding program
2/13/24

“A $25,000 donation from TC Energy’s Build Strong social impact program will help with construction of a racecourse for Baja-type vehicles participating in an international event to be hosted in May at Pennsylvania College of Technology. The donation also will fund materials and equipment for the college’s welding program. The donation includes $20,000 in funding to help build a 1.1-mile course for the Baja SAE Williamsport competition, set for May 16-19 at the college’s Heavy Construction Equipment Operations Site in Brady Township, Lycoming County… “TC Energy is proud to support the development of future energy problem-solvers through our partnership with Penn College and investments in trades and STEM programming at colleges across the country,” said Trevence Mitchell, manager of social impact at TC Energy. “We are rooting for all of the students competing in the May Baja competition and excited to contribute to the college’s ‘pipe alley.’”

OPINION

Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan: Carbon Pipeline Fight: No End In Sight?
2/14/24

“Many people are watching South Dakota’s current carbon pipeline debate from afar while the issue has stirred extraordinarily intense feelings in areas along the proposed route,” the Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan Editorial Board writes. “…Much of it comes down to a battle between landowner rights and corporate development. And for some people, particularly opponents of the $500 billion pipeline being proposed by Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solutions, there is no middle ground on the matter… “The argument over the use of eminent domain — which allows for the forced sale of private land for public projects — has been a major flashpoint in the debate. But as Stevens pointed out during the January cracker barrel, the tactic can be an important tool for the development of infrastructure… “Thus, the issue will have ramifications beyond the immediate pipeline route and the landowners in the proposed path. And right now, there appears to be little room for compromise. This will be a major legislative battle worth watching, even from afar, as the session winds down in Pierre. But one suspects the end of the debate is nowhere in sight.”

Los Angeles Times: Cement is a big part of the carbon problem. Here’s how to make it part of the solution
Jeffrey Rissman is senior director of the industry program at Energy Innovation, an energy and climate policy research firm in San Francisco, 2/12/24

“…This material that has been used for thousands of years, that formed the Colosseum and the Pantheon, has become indispensable. It’s the most-consumed human-made material on Earth. It’s also one of society’s biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions,” Jeffrey Rissman writes for the Los Angeles Times. “…We can’t stop building the homes, factories and roads we rely on, but we can and should stop cement’s unchecked emissions. Fortunately, new technologies are beginning to show the way forward, even promising that cement production could one day pull carbon from the atmosphere and become part of the solution to global warming… “By combining clean heat with carbon-free minerals or equipment to capture the carbon emissions from breaking down limestone, cement-making could become carbon neutral by 2045… “This won’t happen on its own. Governments will have to implement smart policies to incentivize clean cement manufacturing. California is taking the lead, but the race isn’t over… “The state Legislature should amend the statute to include cement and concrete, as well as other important construction materials, such as aluminum… “One of today’s biggest climate threats could become the foundation of a sustainable future.”

Newsweek: Wall Street Should Follow White House Example Pausing LNG Export Projects
Ginger Cassady is executive director of Rainforest Action Network; Juan Mancias is chair of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, 2/13/24

“Gulf Coast leaders scored a victory when the White House directed a temporary halt on permitting methane, known as liquefied natural gas (LNG), export facilities. A possible milestone in the end of the fossil fuel expansion era, the pause is in response to local residents’ and leaders’ petition to cease the biggest oil and gas buildout of our generation. This call didn’t stop at the White House—as fisherfolk, public health professionals, scientists, Indigenous Nations, and everyday people are pressuring banks and insurers to dump these projects,” Ginger Cassady and Juan Mancias write for Newsweek. “…In light of the health impacts for local people near methane gas export facilities and the climate disasters due to fossil fuels for everyone around the world, the moral case against these projects is irrefutable… “For paused projects, investors cannot deny the huge increase in risk… “Financiers and investors must quit gambling with a sector that recklessly ignores the urging from industry analysts and community leaders to stop all fossil fuel expansion, while risking stranded assets, market volatility destroying investments, and increasing legal risk in their complicity. Banks and insurance companies have ignored the climate and community impacts of funding such projects for decades. Gulf Coast leaders demand just as much action from Wall Street as the White House, yet financiers are not among the first to drop support for methane gas projects poisoning Black, brown, and Indigenous communities… “Leadership is needed now to save lives on the Gulf and around the world—Wall Street must act as boldly as the White House.”

Telegraph: Biden’s climate change reparations will bankrupt America
JOEL KOTKIN, 2/12/24

“Perhaps nothing better illustrates the backwards nature of our time than the drive for reparations. This includes not only payment for race discrimination, but also for the impacts of climate change. In both cases, it’s the West’s middle and working classes who will foot the bill,” Joel Kotkin writes for the Telegraph. “…The Biden Securities and Exchange Commission is considering ways to follow the state’s lead. A 490-page SEC rule proposed in 2022 compels federally-regulated public firms to disclose all GHG emissions from virtually any source, including obscure upstream suppliers, and  downstream customers. This is the most contested proposal in the commission’s history. Brookings, a powerful establishment thinktank, has also proposed climate reparations to American minorities, essentially doubling down on reparations. These policies are also part of the European and UK climate change agenda… “The SEC estimates that the proposed federal disclosure rule would increase company compliance costs by $6.35 billion per year, a net change nearly double the current cost of about $3.87 billion… “The negative effects of climate counting would  disproportionately hurt blue collar manufacturing, logistics, agriculture  and construction sectors… “The reparations regime, of course, will be embraced both by the non-profit superstructure and the kleptocrats of the developing world. But it will do little to improve actual conditions on the ground for the vast majority of people. The road to a better world lies not in obsessive accounting of the past, but a greater focus on practical steps to make prosperity more universal in the future.”