EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 2/7/24

PIPELINE NEWS

• Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Two pipeline bills passed a House committee. Landowners say their core concerns remain

• KELO: Package of pipeline bills before legislative committee with varied results

• South Dakota Public Broadcasting: Pair of pipeline bills pass House Commerce and Energy Committee

• Bloomberg: Natural Gas Pipeline Company’s Claims Survive Motion to Dismiss

• S&P Global Platts: Pipeline network crucial to Europe’s bold 2030 hydrogen plans

• Owensboro Times: Work to begin soon for methane gas facility, pipeline near county landfill

WASHINGTON UPDATES

• E&E News: LNG roundup: Biden, banks and a ‘binding’ deal

• Reuters: US lawmakers hold first of two hearings on Biden’s LNG pause

• E&E News: These industries pitched Chevron’s demise to a pro-business Supreme Court

• E&E News: Trump Blueprint Would Revive Interior ‘Energy Dominance’ Push 

• Guardian: ‘In A Word, Horrific’: Trump’s Extreme Anti-Environment Blueprint 

• E&E News: Trump lands official: Let’s do away with Antiquities Act 

• InsideClimate News: A Year Before Biden’s First Term Ends, Environmental Regulators Rush To Aid Disinvested Communities 

• E&E News: Many fossil fuel communities left out of federal clean energy effort — study

STATE UPDATES

• NM Political Report: Carbon capture suffers another blow as legislation fails in first committee

• E&E News: NJ considers constitutional amendment banning coal, gas plants

• Houston Chronicle: Dan Patrick says Texas will build new natural gas power plants itself if private sector doesn’t

• Associated Press: How an Oklahoma earthquake showed danger remains after years of quakes becoming less frequent

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Citizens group claims victory in Ste. Genevieve County in fight over silica mine

• Washington State Standard: Out of gas: Inslee’s oil transparency bill stalls in Legislature

• Colorado Public Radio: Suncor Energy agrees to the largest air pollution penalty in Colorado history

• WBND: One man killed in deadly explosion at Michigan oil pumping station

• KDKA: Emergency work to plug 2 abandoned wells leaking methane in Scott Township

EXTRACTION

• New York Times: Oil Giants Pump Their Way To Bumper Profits 

• New York Times: BP to Increase Oil Output, New Chief Says

• E&E News: World’s largest carbon removal plant is about to open

CLIMATE FINANCE

• E&E News: Republicans Seek To Squash Investor Climate Initiatives 

• E&E News: Investors Abandon Climate Proposals. Exxon Is Still Suing Them.

• Press release: Climate & frontline groups demand banks, insurance, & private equity end LNG backing

TODAY IN GREENWASHING

• CBC: NDP calls for ban on ‘misleading, deceptive’ fossil fuel ads

OPINION

• MIT Technology Review: We Are Having The Wrong Debate About Biden’s Decision On Liquefied Natural Gas. 

• City Limits: New York’s Falling CO2 Masks a Big Climate Problem— Rising Methane.

• National Observer: Ideology blocks renewable energy growth in Alberta

• Guardian: After 38 attacks on art, climate protesters have fallen into big oil’s trap – it’s time to change tack

• Great Lakes Now: Lest we forget – A history of Detroit River oil pollution

PIPELINE NEWS

Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Two pipeline bills passed a House committee. Landowners say their core concerns remain
Dominik Dausch, 2/6/24

“South Dakota House lawmakers addressed the political elephant in Pierre by pushing forward two carbon pipeline-related bills,” the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports. “House Commerce and Energy Committee passed Monday HB 1185 and HB 1186, two bills framed as “good neighbor” policies that would amend the state’s laws on condemnation through eminent domain and property easements… “Companies and utilities with eminent domain authority, under the proposed bills, would need to provide more detailed notice to landowners and pay property owners $1 for every linear foot of working pipeline built on their land under the advancing legislation, among other changes… “SD’s major farm and biofuel groups say HB 1185 respects landowners. Anti-pipeline landowners contend the bill skips their core concerns. After the opening the floor to proponent testimony, the bill heard hesitant support from landowners affected by Summit Carbon’s pipeline. Betty Strom, a pipeline opponent from Lake County, told the committee she welcomed the updated notice requirements. However, Strom expressed her frustration at the scope of the bill, which does not offer landowners the ability to refuse survey access outright akin to HB 1079, which was killed in committee. “The notice to the landowner is better than what is currently required,” Strom said. “(But) it doesn’t address the core of the issue and what caused unnecessary worry, stress and confrontation last year, and that is any company’s ability to conduct extremely invasive and destructive testing.” “…Matthew Bogue, lobbyist for South Dakota Farm Bureau, said it was “necessary” for companies to be able to conduct surveys… “South Dakota Corn Growers Association, South Dakota Soybean Association and South Dakota Ethanol Producers Association also supported Mortenson’s legislation… “In an e-mail prior to the committee meeting, Chase Jensen, lobbyist for Dakota Rural Action, said he supported the bill’s attempt to foster better communication with affected landowners… “The bill’s language “does nothing to change the status quo,” Jensen added. “It does, however, codify that the burden of initiating legal action to stop wrongful surveying rests upon the landowner impacted by it, rather than creating a process by which a company or entity can initiate a legal action to conduct a certain type of survey,” Jensen told the Argus Leader. “Landowners can already initiate lawsuits – the issue is that they have no legal basis to oppose extreme or invasive survey activities.” “…Two other related pipeline-spurred bills killed by the House committee Monday. HB 1190, a bill which would “establish public use criteria for purposes of condemnation proceedings,” failed on a 4-7 vote and was later send to the 41 legislative day. Similarly, HB 1193, a bill that would require developers to include a copy of their siting permit application when filing a condemnation claim, was also killed by a 4-7 vote and deferred beyond the legislative calendar.”

KELO: Package of pipeline bills before legislative committee with varied results
Tom Rooney, 2/6/24

“A South Dakota House Committee worked late into Monday night on a package of bills,” KELO reports. “House Majority Leader Will Mortenson told KELO one of the bills would require pipeline companies to provide proper notice to landowners about survey and siting work. Mortenson told KELO the bills are intended to offer more protection to property owners while not stopping carbon capture pipelines in the state.”

South Dakota Public Broadcasting: Pair of pipeline bills pass House Commerce and Energy Committee
Evan Walton, 2/6/24

“A South Dakota House committee has approved two bills they say equalize the carbon-pipeline playing field,” South Dakota Public Broadcasting reports. “…One of the bills spells out what companies must do if they’re denied entry on private property to survey property… “Rep. Will Mortenson is the Republican Majority Leader and prime sponsor of the bill. He told SDPB state law should be fairer to property owners. “I think it should show a little more respect to the landowner, and that is, they were complying with the statute as it was last year. I think we can set a little higher bar and that’s kinda what this bill is about,” Mortenson told SDPB… “The second bill, HB 1186 defines requirements for carbon pipeline easements that a company must meet for PUC approval. Both bills now head to the House floor for a vote.”

Bloomberg: Natural Gas Pipeline Company’s Claims Survive Motion to Dismiss
Shayna Greene, 2/6/24

“West Virginia property owner RDFS LLC lost its bid for dismissal of claims for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief brought by a pipeline company seeking access to its property,” Bloomberg reports. “Columbia Gas Transmission LLC, which owns an interstate natural gas pipeline running through Pennsylvania and West Virginia, alleged it had to conduct pipeline subsidence mitigation efforts after the coal company American Consolidated Natural Resources told Columbia that the West Virginia land the pipeline runs through would be affected by an upcoming longwall mining panel.

S&P Global Platts: Pipeline network crucial to Europe’s bold 2030 hydrogen plans
James Burgess, 2/6/24

“The planned European Hydrogen Backbone pipeline system is becoming increasingly critical to the success of the continent’s nascent clean hydrogen economy, with major production project developers orienting plans around the network and offtakers opening tenders seeking pipeline deliveries,” S&P Global Platts reports. “The Hydrogen Backbone is expected to reach 31,500 km by 2030, with 40 concrete projects managed by the EHB’s transmission system operator members set to be commissioned this decade… Europe’s 2030 clean hydrogen plans are heavily focused on coastal Northwest Europe, while the Iberian Peninsula also has vast renewable hydrogen potential. The planned 28,000-km European Hydrogen Backbone pipeline network will be critical to connecting production sites with demand centers. Project developments elsewhere, notably in France and Italy, have been slow to get off the mark.”

Owensboro Times: Work to begin soon for methane gas facility, pipeline near county landfill
Josh Kelly, 2/7/24

“A methane gas compressor facility is being constructed on McIntyre Road. The installation of a 5-mile pipeline connecting the new facility to the Daviess County landfill is slated to begin next month,” the Owensboro Times reports. “The compressor facility will capture methane gas from the landfill and convert it for residential use. Judge-Executive Charlie Castlen told the Times it is seen as a “waste” to burn the methane without using it, which is what is currently happening. “The methane can be converted, cleaned, and used as natural gas just like we use it as natural gas to turn on our stoves, ovens, and furnaces,” Castlen told the Times of the capability of the compressor facility. After being cleaned, the natural gas will be pulled into the pipeline and likely unto the Atmos Energy line before being distributed to customers for residential use, Castlen told the Times. Castlen told the Times some residents in the area claimed the County made the plans for the project without notifying the residents.”

WASHINGTON UPDATES

E&E News: LNG roundup: Biden, banks and a ‘binding’ deal
Carlos Anchondo, 2/6/24

“A State Department official is assuring allies that the Biden administration’s timeout on gas export approvals is temporary, while top Republican lawmakers are calling on the White House to reverse the decision,” E&E News reports. “Geoffrey Pyatt, assistant secretary of State for energy resources, told E&E he told U.S. allies that the Department of Energy’s move to halt pending and future approvals of liquefied natural gas is “a pause” — not a “moratorium or a reversal.” The “policy will have no impact on currently permitted U.S. LNG exports,” Pyatt said Monday during an online briefing with reporters. “It also does not take away from the fact that American LNG producers have played an absolutely indispensable role in helping the United States come to the aid of our allies and partners around the world in the face of Russia’s weaponization of its energy resources.” He later said “there is no reason for concern” for allies in Asia and Europe, according to a call transcript.”

Reuters: US lawmakers hold first of two hearings on Biden’s LNG pause
Timothy Gardner, 2/6/24

“As Republican and some Democratic U.S. lawmakers slam President Joe Biden’s pause on approvals of exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) a House subcommittee held a hearing on the issue on Tuesday, the first of two in Congress this week,” Reuters reports. “…The House Energy, Climate and Grid Security Subcommittee hearing features Toby Rice, the CEO of EQT – the largest U.S. natural gas producer – and Gillian Gianetti, a lawyer at the Natural Resources Defense Council non-profit that applauded Biden’s move. Environmentalists and youth groups, an important part of Biden’s base, had pressured the administration to slow approvals of fossil fuel projects due to climate concerns. A broad range of domestic businesses ranging from chemicals, steel, food and agriculture, also oppose unrestricted exports of U.S. gas, saying it could raise fuel prices and make domestic supplies less reliable. Representative August Pfluger, a Republican, this month introduced legislation that would strip the Department of Energy of its power to approve exports, leaving the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, an independent panel, with the sole authority of the LNG approval process… “The Senate Energy Committee, chaired by Senator Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat from gas-producing West Virginia, has a hearing scheduled on Thursday, with Deputy U.S. Energy Secretary David Turk. Democratic Senators Bob Casey and John Fetterman of gas-producing Pennsylvania have said if the decision puts jobs at risk they will push the administration to reverse the pause.”

E&E News: These industries pitched Chevron’s demise to a pro-business Supreme Court
Pamela King, 2/6/24

“Vape pen manufacturers. Meat and poultry producers. Fossil fuel behemoths. These are the types of companies that believe they have something to gain if the Supreme Court makes it harder for the government to legally defend its regulations,” E&E News reports. “They may get their wish: The Supreme Court in January appeared receptive to conservative lawyers’ claims that expert agencies shouldn’t receive special weight in legal brawls over their rules. If the justices hand down a ruling to that effect later this year, it would be the latest in a long line of decisions by a Supreme Court that is increasingly deferential to corporations — and critical of federal regulators that attempt to rein them in. “Putting it simply,” Bitsy Skerry, regulatory policy associate at Public Citizen, told E&E, “corporations would be the winners at the expense of the public.” “…In 81 “friend of the court” briefs filed in Loper Bright and Relentless, nearly all the trade associations that weighed in on the cases argued against the doctrine, according to a recent analysis by Skerry and Amit Narang, a consultant for Public Citizen and the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards… “Lawyers associated with Americans for Prosperity, a conservative advocacy group affiliated with petrochemical billionaires Charles Koch and the late David Koch, are representing the herring fisheries. “Businesses cannot plan and invest for the future when agencies are free to unilaterally change the basic rules that govern them at any time,” Andrew Varcoe, deputy chief counsel of the Chamber’s Litigation Center, told E&E.”

E&E News: Trump Blueprint Would Revive Interior ‘Energy Dominance’ Push 
HEATHER RICHARDS, SCOTT STREATER, JENNIFER YACHNIN, 2/5/24

“A former Trump Interior Department official has one overarching recommendation for his old boss, should former President Donald Trump win a second bid at the White House: undo what President Joe Biden did,” E&E News reports. “That directive from William Perry Pendley — who served as the de facto head of Trump’s Bureau of Land Management from 2019 to 2021 — is part of a policy road map advanced by the Heritage Foundation along with dozens of conservative groups, called Project 2025, that would help Trump swiftly reestablish his policy prerogatives should he prevail in the November election. The road map’s Interior section, written by Pendley, would reinstate some of the department orders from Trump’s first stint in the Oval Office that Biden reversed. Pendley’s plans include reopening most of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska to oil and gas developers, cutting new protections for migratory birds, and relocating the BLM national headquarters back to Colorado. Pendley called for a reinstatement of Trump-era secretarial orders, revoked by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland for being ‘inconsistent with protecting public health and the environment,’ to limit National Environmental Policy Act reviews and expedite permitting for oil and gas developers.”

Guardian: ‘In A Word, Horrific’: Trump’s Extreme Anti-Environment Blueprint 
Oliver Milman and Dharna Noor, 2/6/24

“The United States’s first major climate legislation dismantled, a crackdown on government scientists, a frenzy of oil and gas drilling, the Paris climate deal not only dead but buried,” the Guardian reports. “A blueprint is emerging for a second Donald Trump term that is even more extreme for the environment than his first, according to interviews with multiple Trump allies and advisers. In contrast to a sometimes chaotic first White House term, they outlined a far more methodical second presidency: driving forward fossil fuel production, sidelining mainstream climate scientists and overturning rules that curb planet-heating emissions. “Trump will undo everything [Joe] Biden has done, he will move more quickly and go further than he did before,” Myron Ebell, who headed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) transition team for Trump’s first term, told the Guardian. “He will act much more expeditiously to impose his agenda.” The prized target for Trump’s Republican allies, should the former president defeat Joe Biden in November’s election, will be the Inflation Reduction Act, the landmark $370bn bill laden with support for clean energy projects and electric vehicles. Ebell told the Guardian the legislation, signed by Biden in 2022 with no Republican votes, was “the biggest defeat we’ve suffered.”

E&E News: Trump lands official: Let’s do away with Antiquities Act 
Jennifer Yanchin, 2/6/24

“A former Trump administration Interior Department official says the next Republican president should slash the footprint of national monuments from Maine to California, and press to bar future presidents from wielding executive power to protect federal lands,” E&E News reports. “That proposal from William Perry Pendley — who led former President Donald Trump’s Bureau of Land Management despite never being confirmed to the post — could end up tested in the courts perhaps even before the next president takes office. Those court cases stem both from Trump’s attempt to shrink national monuments, particularly two large ones in Utah, and President Joe Biden’s decision in 2021 to reverse that move. Pendley outlined his strategy for Republicans to roll back the Biden administration’s conservation push in a policy road map produced by the Heritage Foundation, called Project 2025. ‘As has every Democratic President before him beginning with Jimmy Carter, Joe Biden has abused his authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906,’ Pendley wrote. ‘In the days before the 2024 election, Biden will likely designate more western monuments.’”

InsideClimate News: A Year Before Biden’s First Term Ends, Environmental Regulators Rush To Aid Disinvested Communities 
Aman Azhar, 2/6/24

“The cafe on Commerce Road in Richmond, not far from the Virginia State Capitol, smelled of the freshly brewed latte the barista had just poured for the customer waiting on the other side of the counter,” InsideClimate News reports. “…The only other customer in line was Adam Ortiz, administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Mid-Atlantic region, attired in a business suit, a tie and mud-stained sneakers. He was in Richmond with his EPA colleagues on a two-day visit to environmentally stressed communities in and around the city for what he called “ground-truthing.” It involved seeing and hearing firsthand from the communities, he told ICN, about what his office could do to help them address the impacts from pollution sources, often located next to low-income communities of color. To [Adam Ortiz, administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Mid-Atlantic region] though, the engagement had already achieved what he intended. In the last year alone, he participated in more than 100 meetings with communities and other stakeholders, with half of those consultations focused specifically on environmental justice communities. The thousands of miles Ortiz and his team traveled in 2023 to distressed neighborhoods have resulted in 21 environmental justice grants totalling over $13 million, which will be awarded to government agencies and community organizations in the coming months. He told ICN these funds are meant to address the historical injustices he had heard communities and advocates talk about during the visits… “But despite the recent unfavorable decisions handed down by a conservative Supreme Court, such as the ruling in Sackett v. EPA that reduced the agency’s regulatory powers over the nation’s water, agency managers think that the EPA still has broad enforcement powers and a wiggle room to address environmental challenges.”

E&E News: Many fossil fuel communities left out of federal clean energy effort — study
Christian Robles, 2/6/24

“Many U.S. communities reliant on the fossil fuel industry are excluded from a tax credit meant to create clean energy jobs, according to a new Massachusetts Institute of Technology study,” E&E News reports. “The paper — published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences — finds that fossil-fuel-dependent counties in Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota do not qualify for a key incentive in the Inflation Reduction Act. The Energy Community Tax Credit Bonus awards additional funding to clean energy projects in communities with brownfield sites, shuttered coal mines or large fossil fuel industries. “The Inflation Reduction Act actually takes a step in the right direction,” Christopher Knittel, one of the study’s authors and an applied economics professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, told E&E. “But our work suggests that they’re missing some parts of the country that aren’t focused on fossil fuel extraction per se.” 

STATE UPDATES

NM Political Report: Carbon capture suffers another blow as legislation fails in first committee
Hannah Grover, 2/6/24

“In another blow to carbon capture hopefuls, a bill focused on the geological sequestration of carbon failed in its first committee,” according to NM Political Report. “The Senate Conservation Committee voted 8-1 to table SB 215 on Tuesday after a presentation by bill sponsors Sen. William Sharer, R-Farmington, and Rep. Meredith Dixon, D-Albuquerque. This comes after the largest carbon capture proposal in the state—retrofitting the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station—failed when the City of Farmington chose to end its bid to take over the power that it partially owned. Among the things that SB 215 would have done is define who owns the pore space—microscopic spaces in geological formations deep beneath the earth’s surface where the carbon dioxide would be stored… “But Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, told the Report it was too ambitious for a thirty-day session, or at least late in the session… “For example, he highlighted that the legislation would release owners of sequestration facilities from liabilities at the end of its operations assuming certain conditions are met… “Many environmental advocates say that carbon capture and sequestration is an expensive false solution that distracts from the need to decarbonize and may be used to extend the use of fossil fuels… “Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, D-Albuquerque, expressed concerns about carbon capture and sequestration during Tuesday’s hearing. “What bothers me is that in New Mexico, we’ve tended to be a sacrifice zone for unproven technologies,” she said. She highlighted uranium contamination on the Navajo Nation, orphaned oil and gas wells and injection wells leading to earthquakes… “Furthermore, she said she is concerned that SB 215 could lead to prolonging extraction of oil and gas at the expense of New Mexicans’ health.”

E&E News: NJ considers constitutional amendment banning coal, gas plants
Adam Aton, 2/6/24

“New Jersey lawmakers are debating a constitutional amendment that would block new fossil fuel power plants — but some environmentalists worry it’s not worth the fight,” E&E News reports. “Sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Bob Smith, the proposal would bar the state from approving new power plants fueled by coal, natural gas or other petroleum products. Green groups are split on their support, with some warning that policymakers should put their energy behind more feasible policies, such as a pending bill that would mandate the state decarbonize the electricity sector by 2035. “It’s a question of what is the most effective way to kill these power plants,” Doug O’Malley, state director for Environment New Jersey, told E&E. The state Senate’s Energy and Environment Committee — which Smith chairs — held a hearing on the bill Monday. The committee has not yet scheduled a vote on SCR 11, which would need to both pass the Legislature and earn voter approval before becoming part of the New Jersey Constitution.”

Houston Chronicle: Dan Patrick says Texas will build new natural gas power plants itself if private sector doesn’t
Claire Hao, 2/6/24

“Texas politicians and energy executives courted a ballroom of around 100 investors representing approximately $2 trillion of capital on Tuesday in Houston, seeking to inspire some of them to build more natural gas fueled power plants in the state,” the Houston Chronicle reports. “If the effort fails to encourage the private sector to build these electricity generation plants, the state would seek to build them itself and contract private operators to run them, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a press conference following his opening remarks at the conference hosted by BlackRock, one of the world’s largest asset management firms. “If we can’t get an incentive program to attract investors to build, then the state would have to build (more gas-fueled power infrastructure) ourselves and then subcontract out for someone else to run it,” Patrick said. “We can’t sit and do nothing.” The goal is to attract 10 more gigawatts of natural gas power plants, Patrick said, producing enough electricity to power 2 million homes in Texas during times of peak demand. State officials believe the Texas Energy Fund, a $10 billion package mostly for low-interest loans to developers of natural gas power plants, will deliver the results they seek. And if it doesn’t, state-built power plants could be on the table. “There’ll be pushback on that. That’s the last card you want to play, because we are a free market. But in many ways, the current system isn’t a free market,” Patrick said. That’s because federal policy offering incentives to developers of renewable energy has caused renewable development to outpace fossil fuel development in Texas, Patrick told the Chronicle.” 

Associated Press: How an Oklahoma earthquake showed danger remains after years of quakes becoming less frequent
SEAN MURPHY, 2/6/24

“After a dramatic spike in earthquakes in the early 2010s, state regulators in Oklahoma began taking steps to limit the injection of wastewater from oil and gas extraction deep into the ground,” the Associated Press reports. “As a result, the number of earthquakes, particularly large ones, declined steadily over the years. But a couple of larger quakes in recent weeks, including a 5.1-magnitude temblor over the weekend that was one of the strongest in years, is a reminder of the danger after the last one shook an area dotted with such injection wells… “But the general scientific consensus is that the high-pressure injection of wastewater activates ancient faults deep within the earth’s crust, Nick Hayman, the director of the Oklahoma Geological Survey, told AP… “The earthquake late Friday night, which shook an area near Oklahoma City, was in a patch that had nine disposal wells within a ten-mile (16-kilometer) radius, although not all of those wells were active… “The large increase in quakes more than a decade ago led state regulators to place restrictions on the disposal of wastewater, particularly in areas around the epicenter of quakes. Since then, the number of quakes began to decline dramatically… “At least six earthquakes, including two with a magnitude greater than 4, were recorded in mid-January near the Oklahoma City suburb of Edmond. Then, shortly before midnight on Friday, a 5.1-magnitude quake struck that was centered about 5 miles (8 kilometers) northwest of Prague, Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Geological Survey reported. Following that quake, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission ordered all disposal wells pumping into the Arbuckle formation, a deep layer of rock under the earth’s surface, within 10 miles (16 kilometers) of the epicenter of the quake to begin slowly reducing disposals. The gradual reduction is necessary to avoid sudden pressure changes that could result in more seismic activity,  spokesperson Matt Skinner, whose agency regulates the oil and gas industry in Oklahoma, told AP.”

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Citizens group claims victory in Ste. Genevieve County in fight over silica mine
Jack Suntrup, 2/2/24

“A group of Ste. Genevieve County residents has declared victory over one company and its plan to mine silica sand on a 249-acre site between Farmington and Ste. Genevieve,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. “The proposed mine first generated attention in early 2022, when residents in and around the Weingarten area of the county organized Operation Sand and raised environmental and health concerns about the project. The site is near Hawn State Park and Hickory Canyons Natural Area. Newly formed company NexGen Silica planned to mine for frack sand used in natural gas drilling and/or industrial sands with a wide range of applications, from glass to computer chips. Operation Sand pushed the county commission to enact an ordinance effectively blocking the NexGen project. NexGen challenged the ordinance in Ste. Genevieve County Circuit Court in June 2022, but withdrew its lawsuit on Jan. 3. In a separate legal fight, a state appeals court in October ruled against NexGen in its lawsuit that challenged the Missouri Mining Commission’s January 2023 decision to revoke a surface mining permit the Department of Natural Resources previously issued to the company. “We’ve claimed victory at this point because they dropped their lawsuit that they had filed against the county,” Jillian Ditch Anslow, one of the Operation Sand organizers, told the Dispatch. “That was kind of the last thing that was open — or out in the air.”

Washington State Standard: Out of gas: Inslee’s oil transparency bill stalls in Legislature
JERRY CORNFIELD, 2/5/24

“Gov. Jay Inslee’s drive to require oil companies to reveal more about their gasoline prices and profits ended Monday when a bill to impose new transparency rules on the industry lapsed in a Senate budget committee,” the Washington State Standard reports. “The legislation, a priority request of the governor in his final year, died in the Ways and Means Committee amid concerns over its $15 million cost and the state’s ability to shield confidential data collected from firms from theft by cyber criminals… “Critics of Washington’s Climate Commitment Act countered that the law’s cap-and-trade program – which requires oil firms to buy allowances from the state for the pollution they emit – was to blame for high gas prices, with companies passing on their expenses… “They have been whipsawing us with these ridiculous gas prices,” Inslee said then. “We are going to pass a transparency law so we are no longer victimized by the big oil companies.” “…An analysis of the bill’s projected costs found the Utilities and Transportation Commission would require $7.2 million to set up and staff the new division. Another $2.8 million would be needed by the state’s consolidated technology services agency  to protect corporate data and other sensitive information… “In opposing the bill, representatives of the Western States Petroleum Association voiced  cybersecurity concerns. They also questioned the value of the $15 million undertaking when the state Attorney General’s Office can already collect much of the information sought.”

Colorado Public Radio: Suncor Energy agrees to the largest air pollution penalty in Colorado history
Sam Brasch, 2/6/24

“Suncor Energy has agreed to pay $10.5 million to settle a litany of pollution violations at its refinery in Commerce City as part of what Colorado air regulators say is the largest penalty ever levied against a single facility,” Colorado Public Radio reports. “The Colorado Air Pollution Control Division announced the penalty package Monday. It holds the Canadian oil and gas giant responsible for hundreds of unpermitted air releases at the refinery between July 2019 and June 2021, including excessive sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, and other dangerous gases. State regulators say many of those events are related to power failures at the facility. The settlement requires Suncor Energy to spend $8 million on projects to improve power reliability, which the company must detail and submit to the state by July 1. All improvements must be completed by the end of 2026. The company will pay another $2.5 million in direct penalties. The state will set aside $1.3 million to fund projects that benefit communities directly affected by air and water pollution. The remainder will go toward the state’s general fund and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency… “Environmental advocates welcomed the latest actions but criticized the state for taking so long to penalize the company. Ian Cogill, an attorney at Earthjustice, noted the latest settlement covers exceedances that took place more than four years ago. He told CPR residents living near the refinery shouldn’t have to wait so long for accountability, and the high inflation rate during the delay weakens the financial weight of the penalty. “A dollar is just not worth nearly as much as it was several years ago,” Cogill told CPR. “That’s why it’s almost always in a company’s interest to defer paying.”

WBND: One man killed in deadly explosion at Michigan oil pumping station
Julianne Grohowski, 2/5/24

“One person is dead following a sudden explosion at a petroleum pumping station in Cass County, Michigan,” WBND reports. “The Cass County Sheriff’s Office says two men were working at the station when it exploded. Thirty-eight-year-old Kevin Lawrence of Osceola is expected to be okay, but 71-year-old Charles Lawrence of Lakefort died in the blast… “Neighbors close to the scene tell ABC57 they’ve never felt anything like the sheer power of that explosion… “It was loud, it was explosive. It shook our whole entire house,” Vanessa Frias, who lives across the street from where the explosion happened, told WBND… “Officials have not said what may have caused the explosion, but what is for sure, is the tragedy that this typically quiet area is feeling… “The cause of the blast remains under investigation.”

KDKA: Emergency work to plug 2 abandoned wells leaking methane in Scott Township
Madeline Bartos, 2/5/24

“Emergency work will begin Tuesday to plug two leaking abandoned natural gas wells in Scott Township,” KDKA reports. “The goal is to eliminate the potential for the wells on Scrubgrass Road to leak methane ever again, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection said. Without the project, the DEP said the wells could continue to deteriorate and stray methane gas could migrate through the soil to nearby sewer lines. The DEP said it performed an emergency mitigation project in 2019 in the area, but methane levels around the wells have increased, and officials have received complaints of odors around the Kane Woods Nature Area. To prepare, the DEP’s contractor will be removing trees and potentially flaring — a controlled burning of natural gas that helps ensure the well can be safely plugged. The department is warning that residents may see flaring and hear noise during the operations, which are expected to last about a month.” 

EXTRACTION

New York Times: Oil Giants Pump Their Way To Bumper Profits 
Stanley Reed, 2/5/24

“Exxon Mobil and Chevron, the largest U.S. energy companies, on Friday reported sizable profits for the final quarter of last year, showing that the oil and gas industry remained robust at a time of doubts because of climate change concerns,” the New York Times reports. “The companies’ earnings were down from the bonanza year of 2022, when a surge in prices pushed up profits, but were otherwise the strongest in recent history. Exxon earned $7.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023, a 40 percent fall from a year earlier. For all of 2023, the company reported $36 billion in earnings, compared with $55.7 billion in 2022. Before that, the last time Exxon made more than $30 billion in a year was in 2014. Chevron reported earnings of $2.3 billion in the fourth quarter, down from $6.3 billion a year earlier. The change was due to lower commodity prices and write-downs, especially in the company’s home state, California. For the year, the company made $21.4 billion, down from $35.4 billion in 2022 but, like Exxon, otherwise its biggest annual profit in a decade.” 

New York Times: BP to Increase Oil Output, New Chief Says
Stanley Reed, 2/6/24

“BP’s new chief executive, Murray Auchincloss, promised a flexible approach to the shift away from fossil fuels as the oil giant reported a $3 billion profit in its latest quarter on Tuesday,” the New York Times reports. “Mr. Auchincloss told the Times in an interview after BP reported earnings that the company was pursuing what he called a “demand strategy.” BP’s shares rose nearly 5 percent in trading in London, where the company is based. BP has a plan to become what Mr. Auchincloss called an integrated energy company. But in the meantime, “we see growing demand for energy right now across the globe,” he told the Times. “It is not slowing down.” BP is “going to invest in today’s energy system, to help make sure that prices don’t get out of control,” Mr. Auchincloss told the Times. “So that’s investing into oil and gas,” he added, while also putting money into alternative energy sources like biofuels and hydrogen… “In the meantime, the company’s mainstay oil and gas production rose 2.6 percent last year. Supplies of liquefied natural gas — a chilled, compressed fuel transported by ships — rose by more than 20 percent. Mr. Auchincloss told the Times that oil output would continue to rise 2 percent to 3 percent a year through 2027 because of production increases in Abu Dhabi, Angola, the United States and elsewhere. He told the Times that there were projects on the drawing board that could prolong the output growth in later years if necessary. “We have some big decisions ahead of ourselves,” he told the Times.

E&E News: World’s largest carbon removal plant is about to open
Corbin Hiar, 2/6/24

“A startup backed by Bill Gates plans this week to begin operating what could be the largest carbon removal facility on the planet — a potentially remarkable achievement for a firm that’s only a year old,” E&E News reports. “The southern Arkansas plant owned by Graphyte aims to use carbon-rich sawdust and other woody waste from nearby paper mills to create biomass bricks that can be stored underground for centuries. The company’s Loblolly facility — named after the pine tree species grown in the area — intends to start manufacturing the shoe-box-sized blocks no later than Friday and gradually scale up production, CEO Barclay Rogers told E&E News. By the end of this year, it’s expected to assemble and bury enough bio-bricks to remove 15,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and to have the capacity to remove a further 50,000 tons in 2025. At that point, he told E&E, Graphyte “jumps to the top in terms of, not only the largest plant, but also the largest [carbon removal] company in the world — full stop.”

CLIMATE FINANCE

E&E News: Republicans Seek To Squash Investor Climate Initiatives 
Lesley Clark, 2/6/24

“Two Tennessee Republicans have introduced legislation that would allow companies to more easily reject shareholder proposals — a move that comes as Exxon Mobil goes to court in an effort to head off an investor-led climate initiative,” E&E News reports. “Sen. Bill Hagerty last week introduced a bill that his office says would give public companies the power to exclude shareholder proposals that ‘interfere with their ordinary business operations.’ Rep. John Rose has introduced the House companion to the measure, called the ‘Rejecting Extremist Shareholder Proposals that Inhibit and Thwart Enterprise (RESPITE) for Businesses Act.’ The bill comes as Exxon told a federal court Monday that it wants to pursue a lawsuit against two investor groups, even after Arjuna Capital and Follow This withdrew a resolution that sought to force the oil company to reduce climate pollution. Disputes over whether companies have to take up shareholder proposals are traditionally handled by the Securities and Exchange Commission, but Exxon filed a federal lawsuit last month, saying a ‘breakdown of the shareholder proposal process’ had allowed activists ‘to advance their agendas through a flood of proposals.”

E&E News: Investors Abandon Climate Proposals. Exxon Is Still Suing Them.
Lesley Clark, 2/6/24

“Exxon Mobil is continuing to pursue a lawsuit against two investor groups, even after they withdrew a resolution that sought to force the oil company to reduce climate pollution,” E&E News reports. “The shareholders’ move to abandon the proposal came in response to a lawsuit Exxon filed in January in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. The oil company said Monday that it still plans to pursue its claims. “We believe there are still important issues for the court to resolve,” Emily Mir, Exxon’s global head of media relations, told E&E. “There is no change to our plans.” The resolution from investor groups Arjuna Capital and Follow This sought to spur Exxon to speed up its goals to reduce planet-warming emissions from pollution sources owned by the company, as well as oil and gas that is burned by consumers. Exxon responded by taking the rare step of going to federal court to block the proposal. The groups told the company last week that they no longer plan to put the resolution up for a vote. “Given Exxon’s preference to fight a battle in court rather than allow shareholders the freedom of a vote at its annual meeting, we decided to withdraw the climate proposal,” Mark van Baal, founder of Follow This, told E&E.” 

Press release: Climate & frontline groups demand banks, insurance, & private equity end LNG backing
2/5/24

“Over 100 frontline and climate groups have written to the biggest banks, insurance companies and private equity backing liquefied methane gas (LNG), demanding they follow the dramatic change in US policy on the sector and to end their financial support. The organizations, including Texas Campaign for the Environment, Sierra Club, Rainforest Action Network, Friends of the Earth, and Stand.earth cite financial risk and reputational damage through continued funding of LNG in letters to US, Japanese, Canadian and European banks, insurance companies and private equity. The companies include Citi, Bank of America, Royal Bank of Canada, Mizuho, Chubb, Liberty Mutual, and KKR. The groups are demanding an end to funding and insurance underwriting “for new and expanding liquified methane gas projects and their parent companies, including all projects that have not been built or reached a final investment decision”. “…Without the backing of financial institutions, LNG expansion would be unviable. The top 60 banks have provided $122 billion in loans and bond underwriting to LNG projects and companies involved in the sector since 2016… “Roishetta Ozane, the founder of Vessel Project of Louisiana, a mutual aid organization and gulf fossil finance coordinator for Texas Campaign for the Environment: “Families and communities that live beside methane flaring, leaks and even explosions welcome the change in US policy, but it’s just the start. It’s now up to the financiers and insurers of LNG to listen to us, hear stories of the impact on our kids’ health and end the financial backing of this dying industry.”

TODAY IN GREENWASHING

CBC: NDP calls for ban on ‘misleading, deceptive’ fossil fuel ads
David Thurton, 2/6/24

“Federal New Democrats say it’s time for Canada to do to the fossil fuel industry what it did to tobacco companies by banning misleading ads that market the industry as offering a solution to climate change,” CBC reports. “The NDP’s natural resources critic Charlie Angus tabled a private members bill (C-372) in the House of Commons this week. The bill would ban what the party describes as misleading fossil fuel advertising, similar to the way cigarette ads were restricted in the 1990s. At a news conference Tuesday, Angus said Canada’s oil industry is shifting its “propaganda” strategy by promoting its products as clean and claiming they can be part of the climate solution. “That’s like Benson and Hedges telling you that they can help end lung cancer,” Angus said. “This is because big oil has always relied on the big tobacco playbook of delay and disinformation.” “…The new bill would outlaw marketing that downplays the climate-altering emissions and health hazards associated with the industry, or promotes fossil fuels in ways that are false, misleading or deceptive… “The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) said it follows Canadian advertising laws. “Advertising is one way we can reach Canadians to ensure they are informed of the progress their oil and natural gas industry is making on these critical matters,” Lisa Baiton, CAPP’s president and CEO, told CBC.

OPINION

MIT Technology Review: We Are Having The Wrong Debate About Biden’s Decision On Liquefied Natural Gas. 
Arvind P. Ravikumar is a research associate professor in the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and a senior associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2/6/24

“Late last month, the Biden administration announced it’s suspending permit applications for exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) as it reevaluates the economic, environmental, and climate impacts of the fuel,” Arvind P. Ravikumar writes for the MIT Technology Review. “…Some environmental organizations hailed the announcement as a much-needed course correction, arguing that it could help the US meet its global climate commitments. Industry trade groups, in turn, have attacked the decision. They insist it’s a counterproductive way to cut greenhouse-gas emissions, and one that will undermine the nation’s energy security at a moment of growing geopolitical volatility… “Turns out we are asking the wrong question. What is important is not the absolute emissions associated with any given cargo ship full of LNG that departs from the US, the largest exporter of the product. Rather, when the fuel is exported, the net climate impact depends on what it replaces in the importing country, and whether realistic alternatives produce more or less greenhouse gas… Given all this, there’s no scenario in India where high-priced LNG imports can compete with coal or crowd out lower-carbon renewables… “None of this is to say that US LNG always reduces emissions around the world. There is a legitimate debate to be had about the long-term impact of US LNG exports, and whether—or under what scenarios—these exports are compatible with global climate agreements… In the meantime, the right question the US needs to ask itself is: Are we doing everything possible to reduce the greenhouse-gas emissions across the US LNG supply chain today, ensuring that it’s as clean an energy source as possible for the nations and scenarios where it is needed? Answering that starts with doing the hard work to ensure that the sector reaches near-zero methane emissions by the end of this decade.”

City Limits: New York’s Falling CO2 Masks a Big Climate Problem— Rising Methane.
Joanna Underwood, 2/5/24

“At the end of last year, New York State released its latest annual greenhouse gas inventory, covering the year 2021. The good news was that carbon dioxide emissions went down from 2019, leading to an overall decrease in net greenhouse gases. But this masks a big problem. Emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas that is 84-87 times more potent than CO2 as a planet warmer, have actually increased,” Joanna Underwood writes for City Limits. “Methane now comprises 40 percent of New York’s total net greenhouse gases, up from 39 percent in 2019. While a rise of 1.6 percent in New York’s methane emissions from 2019 may not sound like a big increase, astonishingly, these emissions were higher in 2021 than they were in 1990—31 years earlier… For one, it needs to focus on decomposing organic wastes, which account for a third of New York’s methane. By putting these wastes in airless tanks called anaerobic digesters (ADs), almost 100 percent of their methane biogases can be captured instead of escaping into the air. The other is to pass a Clean Fuel Standard, as has already been done in California, Oregon, and Washington State—an innovative transportation-related program in which high-carbon fuel producers who sell their fuel in the state have to buy credits from low-carbon fuel producers, all at minimal government expense. With the 2030 methane reduction goal just seven years away, and with one strategy that is affordable and can get us halfway there, it is critical to start now on ADs.”

National Observer: Ideology blocks renewable energy growth in Alberta
Ian Urquhart is professor emeritus of political science at the University of Alberta and author of Costly Fix: Power, Politics, and Nature in the Tar Sands (2018), 2/7/24

“Smiles and congratulations on a job well done. That was the scene as the UN climate conference COP28 wound up last December in Dubai. If celebration was warranted, the summit’s call to triple renewable electricity production by 2030 was one of its stronger justifications. That is, unless you govern the petro-province of Alberta. Unbeknownst to many, Canada — not OPEC — is far and away the largest source of imported oil to the United States,” Ian Urquhart writes for the National Observer. “So, at COP28, the Alberta premier’s praise wasn’t for upping the global renewables game. It was reserved for the conference’s lukewarm recognition that burning fossil fuels causes global warming. Scorn accompanied this praise from Premier Danielle Smith… “Taken together, these factors did nothing to shake Smith’s conviction that spectacular oilsands production growth must continue… “While Smith celebrated more barrels of more GHG emissions-intensive Alberta crude pouring into American gas tanks, the province’s electricity industry continued to write a much more positive climate story. In just six years, from 2015 to 2021, the province cut GHG emissions from electricity generation by 50 per cent… “Last August, she stunned the renewable electricity industry by ordering the Alberta Utilities Commission to impose a moratorium until the end of February 2024 on all new approvals for utility-scale renewable energy power plants… “Second, Smith ordered the independent regulator to study whether the renewables boom was taking up too much prime agricultural land and whether it was damaging the grid’s reliability… “The renewables industry was deservedly shocked at these moves… “But Alberta’s current efforts to stall greening the grid may offer lessons for other jurisdictions about whether ideology can defeat economics when it comes to accelerating the renewables revolution. In Alberta’s case, economics will almost certainly drive the province to a more sustainable and hopeful future.”

Guardian: After 38 attacks on art, climate protesters have fallen into big oil’s trap – it’s time to change tack
Giovanni Aloi teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2/6/24

“How many of the 38 environmental protests staged in museums in 2022 can you remember? How many of the more recent ones only generated widespread outrage? Did any of them lead to tangible change? The protesters’ cause is serious, the threat is very real, the message is important and urgent. But is it not getting through to the public?,” Giovanni Aloi writes for the Guardian. “…How many times is too many? Repetition is a complex phenomenon: it can deepen or hollow out experiences depending on how it is deployed. Repeated ad libitum anything shocking quickly becomes commonplace… “Tomato soup splashed on Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and mashed potatoes hurled at Monet’s Haystacks – the activists of Last Generation and Just Stop Oil want us to listen… “These activist groups routinely engage in genuinely significant endeavours, much of which is disregarded by the media for lack of sensationalism. Protest after protest, awareness of this media bias has led anticapitalist demonstrators into an attention-seeking trap: they are now caught in the same repetitive cycles of capitalist-induced torpor that they sought to release us all from… “A study published by climatologist Michael E Mann in 2022 showed that, as a result of the protests, most people felt less inclined to join environmental efforts than before. The museum protests have quickly turned environmental activists into an oil company’s dream. Could it be that the activists who so desperately want to be heard aren’t listening to us? This disconnect with the public is caused by a misalignment between the protest site, message, and intended target that is deeply rooted in historical misconceptions and a misplaced trust in the romantic myth of the heroic saviour… “After years of seeing the same trick performed over and over, the latest pumpkin soup assault on the Mona Lisa felt redundant, if not downright pathetic. It’s time to employ truly effective tactics; activist groups now must find new ways to manipulate media attention instead of letting the media paint them into a corner… “Perhaps it’s about time protesters started listening to museum visitors instead of repeating the same unfruitful tactic?”

Great Lakes Now: Lest we forget – A history of Detroit River oil pollution
John Hartig is a board member at the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, 2/5/24

“Today, the Detroit River is much cleaner, and sentinel wildlife species have returned. It is good to look back at the 1960s pollution of the river, notably oil pollution, and recognize how far we have come. However, we still have much work to do, including developing a stewardship ethic,” John Hartig writes for Great Lakes Now. “During the 1940s, Detroit River oil pollution worsened when metropolitan Detroit became the “arsenal of democracy,” and no environmental laws existed… “According to the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, massive amounts of oil and petroleum products totaling 5.9 million gallons per year were released into the Detroit River from 1946 to 1948. One of the consequences of this oil pollution was waterfowl mortality… “By the 1960s, water pollution of the Detroit River was rampant. Industry was king and provided good-paying jobs. As a result, citizens became indifferent to water pollution, seeing it as just part of the cost of doing business… “It was during the 1960s that the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration (the predecessor of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) characterized the Detroit River as one of the most polluted rivers in the United States… “Indeed, the lower end of the Rouge River – a tributary of the Detroit River – was so polluted with oil and other petroleum products that it caught on fire on October 9, 1969… “Although there is no questioning the improvement in the Detroit River, much remains to be done to reach long-term ecosystem goals. Key challenges include preventing pollution, remediating contaminated river sediments and brownfields that are stymying further improvement in ecosystem health, addressing stormwater and sewage overflows, mitigating and adapting to climate change, rehabilitating and conserving habitats, and preventing the introduction of invasive species. We must remember this 1960s water pollution and recognize that we share our ecosystem with fish, birds, and other life.”