EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 3/13/24

PIPELINE NEWS

• North Dakota Monitor: Tribal activist faults North Dakota for high DAPL protest costs

• North Dakota Monitor: Native activist says treaty rights forgotten in DAPL trial

• It’s Going Down: Protester Climbs Inside Mountain Valley Pipeline, Blocks Work For 2 Days

• KDLS: Summit Carbon Solutions Looking to Add 27 Miles of Underground Pipeline into Greene County

WASHINGTON UPDATES

• Associated Press: Climate, a major separator for Biden and Trump, is a dividing line in many other races, too

• E&E News: New Supreme Court petition calls for limiting NEPA reviews

• Carbon Herald: How The $468.7B Spending Package Affects Carbon Removal?

• Politico: Drillers Pull Back In Alaska As Biden Prepares New Rule 

STATE UPDATES

• Minnesota Public Radio: Climate solution or pipe dream? Carbon capture and coal power plants

• Inside Climate News: Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper, Shouts Down Pennsylvania Gov. Shapiro Over a Proposed ‘Hydrogen Hub’

• Carlsbad Current-Argus: Oil And Gas Leases Blocked On Permian Basin State Land Most Likely To Produce Fossil Fuel 

EXTRACTION

• Politico: Oil And Gas Methane Emissions Remain High Despite Reduction Efforts, IEA Says

• Yale Climate Connections: Why more CO2 could be bad news for crops

• Carbon Tracker: UK’s carbon capture strategy based on outdated and unrealistic assumptions

• Carbon Herald: EU Must Embrace Real Solutions For Higher Climate Ambition, Not Speculative Technologies

• Reuters: CarbonCapture raises $80m from Saudi Aramco, others

CLIMATE FINANCE

• E&E News: Why the SEC climate rule might not standardize emissions reporting

TODAY IN GREENWASHING

• Enbridge: Learning to be Brave, Not Perfect through coding

• Enbridge: A Choice for Women Who ‘WANTT’ a Non-Traditional Career

OPINION

• Bloomberg: The AI Revolution Needs Chips, Software — and Gas Pipelines

• Capitol Weekly: Carbon capture and storage can help California reach climate goals

• Washington Examiner: The Supreme Court Should Review Antiquities Act Abuse 
  

PIPELINE NEWS

North Dakota Monitor: Tribal activist faults North Dakota for high DAPL protest costs
AMY DALRYMPLE, 3/12/24

“An Indigenous environmental activist who testified Tuesday in a trial over Dakota Access Pipeline protest costs criticized the court case and said the state of North Dakota should pay the expenses,” the North Dakota Monitor reports. “I think it’s ridiculous,” Winona LaDuke, former executive director of Honor the Earth, told the Monitor after her testimony. “No one told them to spend $38 million. I think they should pay.” LaDuke was called as a witness by the United States in a lawsuit with North Dakota over costs incurred in 2016 and 2017 during the Dakota Access protests. A bench trial in U.S. District Court in Bismarck began in February and is expected to finish this week. LaDuke, a tribal leader from Minnesota’s White Earth Reservation and enrolled member of the Mississippi band of Ashinaabeg, testified that she was invited in April 2016 to the Standing Rock Reservation by Dakota Access opponents because of her previous activism against another oil pipeline. “I became very alarmed at the lack of tribal participation and informed decision-making on that pipeline,” LaDuke said of Dakota Access. LaDuke, who asked attorneys to call her a water protector rather than a protester, said she began camping along the Cannonball River on the Standing Rock Reservation in August 2016 with members of her family… “She added the Corps lacked credibility with her for not conducting an environmental impact statement on Dakota Access. LaDuke criticized what she called “excessive use of force by North Dakota,” including military equipment used by law enforcement, police checkpoints, constant aerial surveillance and infiltrators in the camps. She said a Sept. 3, 2016, incident with a private security company that used dogs on protesters “set a bad tone.”  “I think that strengthened my resilience to stand for justice and stand for the water,” she said… “Also Tuesday, Emily Greenwald, a historian and expert witness on Sioux history, testified about the impact of history on the Dakota Access opposition and how protesters connected themselves to past events. Greenwald and the firm she works for, Historical Research Associates, produced a report that highlights examples over 170 years of Sioux response when there were encroachments on their territory or tribal sovereignty. Examples she cited included treaties of 1851 and 1868, the taking of the Black Hills in South Dakota and the damming of the Missouri River to create Lake Oahe. Indigenous activism since the 1960s, such as the occupation of Alcatraz Island, showed how direct action such as land occupation could be successful in gaining attention from the public, the media and celebrities, she testified. She also highlighted that the main protest camp, known as Oceti Sakowin, was on land that is considered unceded treaty land. “It’s still part of their territory as defined by the 1851 treaty,” Greenwald testified.

North Dakota Monitor: Native activist says treaty rights forgotten in DAPL trial
MARY STEURER, 3/11/24

“An attorney and Indigenous rights advocate involved in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests said the American justice system simply isn’t equipped to uphold treaty law,” the North Dakota Monitor reports. “That’s partially why the demonstrations were so important, he told the Monitor. “We don’t like our chances in court,” Chase Iron Eyes, director and lead counsel for the Lakota People’s Law Project, told the Monitor… “Testifying was a frustrating experience, Iron Eyes told the Monitor after a hearing Monday afternoon. While the lawsuit is between North Dakota and the federal government, tribal sovereignty is central to the case, he told the Monitor. “We were there on a completely different basis of law,” Iron Eyes told the Monitor. One of the main arguments put forward by North Dakota is that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was complicit in  protesters’ occupation of federal and private land north of the Cannonball River. But an 1851 treaty between the Sioux Nation and the United States government suggests that area is tribal land, Iron Eyes told the Monitor… “Iron Eyes said Energy Transfer Partners should be asked to pay $38 million, not the federal government. Winona LaDuke — former executive director of Honor the Earth, an environmental group involved in protesting the pipeline — is expected to appear as a witness Tuesday morning.”

It’s Going Down: Protester Climbs Inside Mountain Valley Pipeline, Blocks Work For 2 Days
Appalachians Against Pipelines, 3/12/24

“Early Thursday morning, a pipeline fighter using the name Ricky Bobby climbed inside the Mountain Valley Pipeline (which is 42 inches in diameter) atop Peters Mountain to prevent ongoing construction in the area,” according to It’s Going Down. “MVP security and law enforcement responded to the scene but did not enter the pipe; Ricky left after 2 days and was arrested and charged with 4 misdemeanors… “Early on in the blockade, Ricky said, “This project is worth fighting until the end. Winning looks so much bigger than just stopping this pipeline – it’s a win through the community folks continue to build. It is a win because of the insane amount of skills that people have gathered and shared. It’s a win because, whether or not this pipeline ever has gas running through it, the legacy of resistance in Appalachia still lives. Extractive industry knows that they can’t fuck with the communities here without going through hell – and we better not let them forget that.” “…They stayed suspended in the 42-inch diameter pipeline for over 36 hours, preventing MVP from working on that section for both Thursday and Friday. Law enforcement sent a motorized camera into the pipe but did not ever enter themselves… “Ricky’s action concludes a week of multiple acts of resistance to the Mountain Valley Pipeline. On Monday, pipeline fighters River and Andy locked themselves to an immobilized vehicle on Honeysuckle Rd in Roanoke County, blocking MVP’s access to a work site, equipment yard, and access roads. The same day, 7 people were arrested after walking on to an MVP site further up the mountain. Those 7 were charged with 2 misdemeanors each and initially denied bail. They have since all had bail set and been bailed out of jail. Meanwhile, pipeline fighter and grandfather Jerome is currently serving 2 months in jail for a protest in late 2023 during which he locked himself to a drill to prevent MVP from drilling under the Elk River… “Over the last few months, Mountain Valley Pipeline has escalated its legal intimidation of pipeline fighters, filing multiple Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP suits) and collaborating with local law enforcement to charge protesters with erroneous felonies in order to discourage resistance. The legal intimidation has failed to stop protestors.”

KDLS: Summit Carbon Solutions Looking to Add 27 Miles of Underground Pipeline into Greene County
Coltrane Carlson, 3/13/24

“A company that is looking to build an underground pipeline across Iowa that would capture liquid carbon dioxide from ethanol plants, recently announced adding two more entities,” KDLS reports. “Greene County Environmental and Zoning Administrator Chuck Wenthold at the Greene County Supervisors meeting on Monday said Summit Carbon Solutions has filed a petition to add POET Biorefining and Valero Renewables to its overall underground pipeline project that would take liquid carbon dioxide from several ethanol plants across the Midwest to an underground storage facility in North Dakota… “The company has also scheduled informational meetings in those counties, which includes Guthrie and Greene counties. Those meetings are proposed for Guthrie County on April 23rd at 6pm at the Guthrie County Events Center and on April 24th is Greene County at Clover Hall on the fairgrounds at noon.Wenthold mentioned that connecting POET would mean adding about 27 miles of pipeline into Greene County.”

WASHINGTON UPDATES

Associated Press: Climate, a major separator for Biden and Trump, is a dividing line in many other races, too
JENNIFER MCDERMOTT AND GARY D. ROBERTSON, 3/12/24

“The race for the White House isn’t the only one with big stakes for climate policy. In campaigns for Congress and for governor around the country, candidates are talking about how green the grid should be, too,” the Associated Press reports. “Voters are increasingly feeling the impacts of climate change after last summer’s extreme weather. In the debate over how to respond to a warming world, Republicans are promoting an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy. They justify keeping fossil fuels in the mix for economic benefits and for energy security, reliability and independence. Former President Donald Trump has indicated he’ll try to roll back President Joe Biden’s clean energy investments and expand drilling if he returns to office. Led by Biden, Democrats are talking about the climate crisis as an existential threat. Many want to pivot to wind, solar and renewable resources and phase out fossil fuels that feed warming. Some Democrats in oil- and gas-producing districts are walking a tightrope as their party moves away from fossil fuels but their communities depend on the industry… “The transition to clean energy is unstoppable, but could be greatly slowed by unwilling politicians, Shannon Baker-Branstetter, senior director for domestic climate and energy policy at the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, told AP. “It’s really the pace that is at stake now,” they told AP… “State action is essential to that, Baker-Branstetter told AP… “Meanwhile, the National Republican Congressional Committee is spending against Democrats in oil and gas-producing districts who didn’t support a sprawling energy package by House Republicans. That legislation would undo virtually all of Biden’s agenda to address climate change, sharply increase domestic fossil fuel production, and ease permitting restrictions that delay pipelines and refineries.”

E&E News: New Supreme Court petition calls for limiting NEPA reviews
Niina H. Farah, 3/12/24

“Should federal agencies’ National Environmental Policy Act reviews consider the distant effects of projects they don’t have power to regulate themselves? That’s the question the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition is asking the Supreme Court to revisit in a new petition filed last week,” E&E News reports. “If the justices agree to take the case, the scope of agencies’ power to consider environmental effects, including downstream or indirect greenhouse gas emissions, could be up for review. The coalition, an independent arm of Utah’s state government that focuses on infrastructure projects, is challenging an appeals court decision ordering a redo of a NEPA analysis for a planned 88-mile rail line that would carry waxy crude oil from the Uinta Basin to a broader railway network… “In December, the D.C. Circuit also rejected the coalition’s request to rehear the case before a full panel of active judges. The coalition claimed the decision went against 20 years of Supreme Court precedent set by Department of Transportation v. Public Citizen. In that 2004 decision, justices found that in circumstances where an agency cannot prevent an environmental effect because of “limited statutory authority,” it is not required to study that effect under NEPA. Since then, federal appellate courts have split in their interpretation of the Supreme Court decision, the coalition said.”

Carbon Herald: How The $468.7B Spending Package Affects Carbon Removal?
Petya Trendafilova, 3/12/24

“On Friday, March 8th, the Senate cleared a $468.7 billion spending package to prevent a partial government shutdown for several agencies funded in the bill,” the Carbon Herald reports. “…According to the Carbon Business Council, a nonprofit coalition representing more than 100 companies in the carbon removal space, there are five key provisions that will continue to accelerate carbon removal action through permitting, procurement, and tax incentives. … “Carbon Dioxide Removal Prize: the prize enables companies to compete for the opportunity to sell carbon dioxide removal credits directly to DOE. $20,000,000 are included in the 2024 spending package to continue the competitive carbon removal purchasing pilot program… “In-Situ Carbon Mineralization Sequestration: meaning converting CO2 gas into stone underground which happens when the emissions are injected into underground CO2-reactive rocks… “Federal Framework to Transition of UIC Class II Wells to UIC Class VI Wells: UIC Class II Wells are used only to inject fluids associated with oil and natural gas production while UIC Class VI Wells are used to inject CO2 into underground subsurface rock formations for long-term storage. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should provide a report to the Committees detailing a plan for consideration of guidance regarding the transition of UIC Class II wells to UIC Class VI wells under the existing regulatory structure. Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal Regulatory Framework: as marine carbon dioxide removal approaches need to be governed, the bill provides $250,000 to the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management to work with other appropriate federal agencies and industry partners to develop, test, and evaluate ocean-based carbon dioxide removal technologies. Relevant: US Government Opens Request For Information On Marine Carbon Removal. Amortization of Research and Experimental Expenditures: The package includes restoration of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) 174 (IRC 174) for same-year full deductibility of research and development (R&D) expenses (formerly modified by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act)… “According to a research by e&enews, the funding for DOE carbon capture research in the fiscal 2024 budget plan is set to decline from $135 million to $127.5 million.”

Politico: Drillers Pull Back In Alaska As Biden Prepares New Rule 
Adam Feldman, 3/12/24

“Companies holding more than a million acres in leases are reconsidering plans to drill for oil in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve as the Biden administration finalizes a rule that could impose new environmental restrictions in the 23-million-acre chunk of federally managed land,” Politico reports. “Denver-based Armstrong Oil and Gas and Borealis Alaska LLC requested that their leases in the reserve be suspended for 12 months while they evaluate the impact of the new rule. Those suspensions, which have not been previously reported, come after 88 Energy Ltd. announced in December it had suspended its leases there. Suspension also relieves the companies from payments they would have to make to the federal government for the leases. The Bureau of Land Management’s Alaska office recently granted the suspensions but disagreed with what it called the companies’ ‘speculative suggestion’ that the new rule would undermine their ability to develop the leases. The rule, first published last September, states that existing leases in the reserve will not be affected.” 

STATE UPDATES

Minnesota Public Radio: Climate solution or pipe dream? Carbon capture and coal power plants
Dan Gunderson, 3/13/24

“For Mac McLennan, capturing and storing CO2 from a power plant smokestack is part of a new era of carbon management. Skeptics call it a pipe dream and a way to keep dirty coal plants operating,” Minnesota Public Radio reports. “The chemical process to capture carbon dioxide from a smokestack using ammonia based solvents has been around for decades. But the cost of using it on coal fired power plants in the U.S. has proved insurmountable in the past. A 2021 analysis by the U.S. General Accounting Office found the government invested more than $680 million in eight coal plant carbon capture projects. None are currently operating… “A new federal tax credit for carbon capture will also be critical for the financial success of the project. Critics of the proposed project call it a boondoggle that is unlikely to succeed… “Todd Leake doesn’t believe the project will ever qualify for the tax credit. Leake farms near Grand Forks and heads the Sierra Club of North Dakota. The organization, along with Minnesota based CURE submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Energy challenging the projects viability. The Sierra club points to data showing Project Tundra will only capture about 75 percent of carbon dioxide… “It borders on the absurd to go into the future of power generation in North Dakota with that kind of generation model,” Leake told MPR. “There’s one sure way to sequester carbon from a coal fired power plant. And that’s leave the coal in the ground. It’s already sequestered by nature.” “…McLennan thinks with carbon capture technology, the Milton Young facility can operate for another 20 years… “The Sierra Club and other environmental groups say the carbon capture project needs more environmental review, and they might sue to demand more study… “Minnkota Power Cooperative is finalizing funding for Project Tundra and expects to make a decision on construction by the end of March.”

Inside Climate News: Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper, Shouts Down Pennsylvania Gov. Shapiro Over a Proposed ‘Hydrogen Hub’
Kiley Bense, 3/12/24

“Protestors disrupted a public meeting on Monday about a federally-funded “hydrogen hub” to be located in southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware that would produce, transport and store the controversial fuel at sites across the region,” Inside Climate News reports. “While the Biden administration considers these hubs a key part of its climate agenda that would decarbonize greenhouse-gas intensive sectors of the economy like heavy industry and trucking, climate activists consider hydrogen a false solution based on unproven technology that will only lead to more fossil fuel extraction and further pollute the environment.   Minutes after Governor Josh Shapiro took the stage at a union hall in northeast Philadelphia to speak in support of the project, which will be funded with $750 million from the Department of Energy as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Delaware Riverkeeper, Maya van Rossum, stood up from her seat and demanded his attention. “The Department of Energy said that community engagement is supposed to be a highest priority. You have yet to have a meeting with the impacted community members to hear what they have to say,” she shouted, interrupting Shapiro as he was speaking about the buy-in for hydrogen hubs at all levels of government in Pennsylvania. “When are you going to have a meeting with those community members?” she asked. As van Rossum yelled over the sound of the microphone, Shapiro tried to regain control of the room. “This is a meeting where we are here to listen,” he said. “I’m happy to have people voice their thoughts constructively through this process. Yelling and shouting does nothing other than disrespecting the people who are here to listen.” When van Rossum was joined on the floor by several other activists in a coordinated effort to force the governor to hear their questions, Shapiro left the stage and did not return… “We were not invited to this meeting,” Zulene Mayfield, who leads Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living, an environmental justice nonprofit based in Chester, Pennsylvania, one of the areas that may be affected by the hydrogen hub, told ICN. “How the hell are you going to have a conversation about community benefits without inviting the community?” 

Carlsbad Current-Argus: Oil And Gas Leases Blocked On Permian Basin State Land Most Likely To Produce Fossil Fuel 
3/11/24

“Officials blocked oil and gas operations on southeast New Mexico lands within the Permian Basin as the State Land Office tangled with lawmakers on raising the amount companies pay to drill for fossil fuels in those areas,” the Carlsbad Current-Argus reports. “The New Mexico State Land Office on Thursday announced to industry leaders it was suspending leases of State Trust land in certain ‘premium’ tracts in southern Eddy and Lea counties within the Delaware sub-basin on the western edge of the Permian along New Mexico’s border with West Texas. New Mexico State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard said this ‘pause’ would remain in effect until a cap on the royalty rate operators pay to the state on the value of oil and gas extracted was increased from 20 percent to 25 percent.” 

EXTRACTION

Politico: Oil And Gas Methane Emissions Remain High Despite Reduction Efforts, IEA Says 
Zack Colman, 3/13/24

“Energy industry methane emissions remained near a record high even as countries and companies committed to new efforts and rules to reduce the potent planet-warming gas, the International Energy Agency said in a report Wednesday,” Politico reports. “The Paris-based energy watchdog observed far greater emissions from oil, gas and coal than what governments and fossil fuel companies reported for 2023. Emissions from the energy industry accounted for 130 million metric tons of methane last year, just below the 134.7 million metric ton record set in 2019 and down 2.5 percent from 2022. The persistently high emissions continue even after years of warnings from scientists that cutting methane is the clearest, fastest way to limit global temperature rise. Fossil fuel methane emissions must decline rapidly — 75 percent by 2030 — to keep temperatures from rising 1.5 degrees Celsius since the Industrial Revolution, the IEA said. The findings underscored the challenge in controlling methane emissions from the energy sector despite the proliferation of voluntary industry reduction commitments, national regulations and new satellites. But IEA expressed optimism about the effect more transparency and tougher regulations will have on the energy industry.”

Yale Climate Connections: Why more CO2 could be bad news for crops
3/11/24

“Burning fossil fuels releases a lot of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Plants use carbon dioxide to grow, so some people mistakenly assume that rising CO2 levels will be uniformly good for crops,” according to Yale Climate Connections. “But scientists warn that the reality is more complex. Kenneth Boote is a professor emeritus at the University of Florida. He told YCC more CO2 can boost photosynthesis for crops, especially wheat and rice… “But he told YCC if CO2 levels continue to rise, the rate at which crop yields increase levels off. And he warns that adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere fuels global warming. So in many regions, the benefits could be outweighed by the harmful effects of drought and heat. Models show that in mid- and low-latitude areas, where most of the world’s breadbaskets are located, the yields from many crops will likely decrease over time. Boote: “There’s a very slow decline initially … but it becomes more severe the more the temperature goes up… “So despite some benefits, adding too much carbon dioxide to the atmosphere can threaten global food supplies.”

Carbon Tracker: UK’s carbon capture strategy based on outdated and unrealistic assumptions
3/13/24

“The UK Government’s CCUS strategy is based on optimistic techno-economic assumptions that are now outdated and unrealistic, warns a report from the financial think tank Carbon Tracker released today. This strategy risks locking consumers into a high-cost, fossil-based future, despite cleaner and cheaper alternatives being available… “However Carbon Tracker has found that, since then, cost estimates for deploying CCUS have more than doubled, while the need for carbon capture could be much smaller. For example it estimated that the need for gas plants with CCUS could be one-third of earlier estimates due to the growth of renewables, battery storage and flexible technologies. The think tank found that the UK is targeting applications where CCUS could lock consumers into a high-cost and fossil-based future, despite the existence of cleaner and cheaper alternatives… “Similarly, it warned that the government’s plans to use CCUS to decarbonise biomass-based power generation face major risks of technical challenges, stranded assets and cost premiums… “The Drax conversion – the largest carbon capture project in the UK pipeline – would require a complex subsidy scheme together with a government-provided bridging mechanism that could lock taxpayers’ money into a long (15-25 years) and costly (£26-43 billion) contract, while the resulting electricity would be up to three times more expensive for consumers than offshore wind power. Carbon Tracker Associate Analyst and report author Lorenzo Sani said: “CCUS technology has proven to be much more complex and expensive than thought, while renewables cost reductions have dramatically changed the landscape. While the government is playing an important role in de-risking new projects it urgently needs to revisit its targets and focus its resources on high-value applications such as cement and hydrogen.”

Carbon Herald: EU Must Embrace Real Solutions For Higher Climate Ambition, Not Speculative Technologies
Violet George, 3/13/24

“Commenting on the European Union’s (EU) 2040 climate target and a proposed Industrial Carbon Management Strategy due to be presented by the EU’s executive Commission on February 6, CIEL Fossil Economy Program Director Lili Fuhr said: “‘Carbon management’ is a new code word for climate inaction and fossil fuel subsidies. Yet we are far past the time when carbon emissions can be managed: we have to eliminate them,” the Carbon Herald reports. “Carbon Capture and storage (CCS) is the fossil fuel industry’s favorite delay tactic and speculative geoengineering technologies like Direct Air Capture or Bioenergy with CCS are used to cover up expansion of fossil fuels… “The EU’s promotion of CCS, despite decades of technical failures, weak performance and industry greenwashing jeopardizes the EU’s ambition to reach its climate targets. It also undermines other key pillars of the European Green Deal, including zero pollution from toxic chemicals, the protection of ecosystems and healthy food systems. “It would be grossly irresponsible to allow the fossil fuel industry, the very industry that has caused multiple planetary crises, to develop new business models for profiting further from their fossil pollution.”

Reuters: CarbonCapture raises $80m from Saudi Aramco, others
3/13/24

“Los Angeles-based CarbonCapture, which aims to build machines that suck carbon dioxide out of the air to fight climate change, said it had raised $80m from investors that include Saudi oil giant Saudi Aramco,” Reuters reports. “…The Series A fundraising was led by Prime Movers Lab and also included Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Siemens Financial Services, Idealab X, and Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures, the company said. CarbonCapture builds modular machines that contain material that absorbs carbon dioxide when cooled and releases it when heated. That allows it to capture the climate-warming gas for storage underground or used in products such as concrete. Its Wyoming-based Project Bison plans to capture 5 million metric tons of CO2 annually by 2030 – a tiny fraction of US overall carbon emissions of more than 6 billion tons per year.”

CLIMATE FINANCE

E&E News: Why the SEC climate rule might not standardize emissions reporting
Avery Ellfeldt, Benjamin Storrow, 3/13/24

“A landmark disclosure rule approved last week by the Securities and Exchange Commission was supposed to provide investors with a new tool to check whether public companies could back up their climate promises with actual data. But whether the regulation will deliver the information investors are seeking remains an open question,” E&E News reports. “The SEC will not require companies to follow a single, rigid standard for reporting planet-warming emissions. Instead, Wall Street’s top financial regulator will give companies leeway over how to calculate the information. Analysts told E&E the move represents a significant improvement over the status quo, in which a growing number of companies use different emissions accounting standards to voluntarily report their output of climate pollution. But they warned investors may still find it hard to compare emissions reports across companies, with firms likely using slightly different methodologies to calculate and report them. “Is this going to lead to perfect comparability across all companies on emissions reporting? No,” Janet Ranganathan, a managing director at the World Resources Institute, where she co-founded the group’s Greenhouse Gas Protocol, told E&E. But it is “still going to add a lot of value, and it’s still going to meet some of [the SEC’s] primary objectives of providing investors with more risk information than they would have had otherwise.” “…Much of the controversy revolved around the agency’s original proposal to require companies to report the emissions associated with their operations and energy use, known as Scopes 1 and 2. But the agency stopped short of requiring that companies disclose so-called Scope 3 emissions tied to their customers and supply chains.”

TODAY IN GREENWASHING

Enbridge: Learning to be Brave, Not Perfect through coding
3/12/24

“Computer coding isn’t something that can be done perfectly from the first keystroke to the last,” according to Enbridge. “…Each summer, a new group of fourth-to-seventh graders attending the Girls Who Code summer camp in Louisiana learn to embrace errors in pursuit of their STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) goals… “Enbridge recently supported Girls Who Code in Houma with a $2,500 Fueling Futures grant in 2023, the camp’s fifth year of operation.”

Enbridge: A Choice for Women Who ‘WANTT’ a Non-Traditional Career
3/12/24

“While catching up over coffee, friends Laura Stauffer, a petroleum engineer, and Margot Heyne-Bell, a retired electrician, wondered what they could do to encourage women in Oklahoma to pursue construction trades,” according to Enbridge. “…Within months of their 2021 meeting, Stauffer and Heyne-Bell founded Women Accessing Non-Traditional Trades (WANTT), a non-profit organization that delivers a pre-apprenticeship program to help prepare women for a career in the construction industry… “To support WANTT’s important work, we awarded the non-profit a $15,000 Fueling Futures grant in 2023.”

OPINION

Bloomberg: The AI Revolution Needs Chips, Software — and Gas Pipelines
Liam Denning, 3/12/24

“The fervor for all things AI has finally spread to a sector whose own heady start-up phase came about 160 years ago: Pipelines,” Liam Denning writes for Bloomberg. “EQT Corp., a natural gas producer, announced this week the surprise $5.5 billion acquisition of Equitrans Midstream Corp., a pipeline business it spun out only six years ago… “Rice’s pitch is steeped in the stock-market zeitgeist of the moment. Big metal tubes filled with flammable vapor aren’t an obvious element of the artificial intelligence vision… “But without electricity, all those data centers are just big sheds. And not only are many sited in states like Virginia that the MVP will serve, gas is also the single largest source of electricity generation in the US… “After years of flatlining demand, projections for electricity consumption are suddenly pointing up. Data centers across the US consumed roughly the same amount of electricity in 2022 as the entire states of Ohio and West Virginia combined… “Assuming the AI revolution is in its infancy, we are about to witness a marked increase in demand for electricity across large parts of the US, and gas will play a part in meeting that… “Dominion faces opposition to the new line already, with one local activist quoted as saying that “the monopoly utility that we all pay for is becoming a private utility for the data center industry, and that has got to stop.” “…The Mountain Valley Pipeline may yet offer EQT an oblique way to tap into the AI boom. Just don’t discount the obstacles that plain old human intelligence will present.”

Capitol Weekly: Carbon capture and storage can help California reach climate goals
Julian Cañete serves as the President and CEO of the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce (CHCC), 3/12/24

“Almost six years ago, under the direction of former Governor Brown, California began an ambitious journey to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045,” Julian Cañete writes for Capitol Weekly. “…After all, we must be careful of jeopardizing jobs or our economy by going down the wrong path. For these reasons, carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects have emerged as one of the most promising possibilities for our state to reduce overall emissions and create new economic opportunities… “In California, it is considered a crucial element of the Governor’s plan to reduce emissions… “Beyond their ability to help our state reach its pressing emission reduction goals, CCS projects bring good-paying jobs and promising economic development to our state. A 2022 assessment from the Department of Energy found that the growth of the CCS market is expected to produce between 390,000 and 1.8 million high-quality jobs across various industries nationwide… “For California’s Hispanic community, which was among the hardest hit by pay cuts and job losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, CCS projects could offer new, well-paying job opportunities in a rapidly growing field… “Ultimately, this may be one of the only ways we can reach our climate goals while supporting our economy.”

Washington Examiner: The Supreme Court Should Review Antiquities Act Abuse 
Ilya Shapiro is the director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute, 3/13/24

“The Supreme Court this year has launched a major review of the administrative state. In cases challenging the judicial deference to ‘expert’ agency interpretations (Chevron deference), the unreviewable Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the unaccountability of administrative law judges, the justices are curtailing the ability of presidents and bureaucrats to bypass Congress and, in effect, make their own laws,” Ilya Shapiro writes for the Washington Examiner. “Later this month, the court may choose to continue that review into the next term, in a case that may have as big an impact as any of those this term. On March 22, the justices will ‘conference,’ or discuss whether to hear, American Forest Resources Council v. United States, which centers on the Antiquities Act. Enacted in 1906 under Theodore Roosevelt’s conservationist administration, the Antiquities Act is a four-paragraph law giving the president summary power to designate ‘historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the government of the United States to be national monuments … which in all cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects to be protected.’”