EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 3/15/24

PIPELINE NEWS

• North Dakota Monitor: Dakota Access Pipeline protest trial ends, ruling still months out

• Grist: FBI sent several informants to Standing Rock protests, court documents show

• Michigan Advance: Tribes urge U.S. to weigh in on Line 5 case as appeal sits in court

• North Dakota Monitor: North Dakota pipeline regulators set Monday meeting on permit rehearing for Iowa company

• Springfield State Journal-Register: Why Pritzker holds ‘degree of skepticism’ on new carbon capture bill

• Globe and Mail: Nisga’a Nation and Western LNG buying TC Energy’s plans for natural gas pipeline in B.C.

• Canadian Press: Oil shippers demand explanation from Trans Mountain for massive pipeline cost overruns

• Pipestone Star: Pipeline public meetings scheduled for March 19 and 20

WASHINGTON UPDATES

• Politico: This Democratic senator says Biden’s climate efforts are falling short — and young voters are noticing

• E&E News: Oil And Gas Methane Emissions 3 Times Higher Than EPA Says — Study

• Reuters: Methane Emissions From Energy Sector Rose In 2023 Despite Climate Pledges 

• U.S. Energy Information Administration: United States produces more crude oil than any country, ever

• Reuters: IEA sees subdued oil demand growth as economic headwinds remain

• New York Times: U.S. Approves $500 Million for Bahrain Oil Project, Despite Opposition

• New York Times: A New Surge in Power Use Is Threatening U.S. Climate Goals

STATE UPDATES

• Colorado Newsline: How a pair of scissors helps explain the deepest divide in Colorado climate policy

• Cal Matters: California isn’t on track to meet its climate change mandates — and a new analysis says it’s not even close

• Inside Climate News: Gulf Coast Petrochemical Buildout Draws Billions in Tax Breaks Despite Pollution Violations

• Los Angeles Times: Did O.C. Oil Spill Come From Natural Seepage Or Drilling? Cause Under Investigation 

EXTRACTION

• Reuters: Belgian farmer takes TotalEnergies to court, seeking climate damages

• Canadian Lawyer: Fort McKay First Nation and ministers announce regulation amendments on oil sands

CLIMATE FINANCE

• Democracy Now: “You Are Not an Ally. You Are a Murderer”: Climate Defiance Confronts Chevron CEO Mike Wirth

OPINION

• The Cap Times: Don’t be fooled by Enbridge offer

• The Advocate: Energy Transfer defending itself against unfounded lawsuits

PIPELINE NEWS

North Dakota Monitor: Dakota Access Pipeline protest trial ends, ruling still months out
MARY STREURER AND AMY DALRYMPLE, 3/15/24

“There was no answer to the $38 million question as a four-week trial over the cost of Dakota Access Pipeline protests ended Thursday,” the North Dakota Monitor reports. “No closing arguments were presented. A ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Dan Traynor is still months away, and will follow additional summary documents from attorneys. Attorneys for North Dakota argue the actions of federal agencies escalated and extended the length of the protests, while also withholding resources from state and local law enforcement. The state is asking for $38 million from the United States as compensation for costs it claims were incurred policing the demonstrations. The United States has argued that North Dakota is exaggerating those costs, that the federal government responded to the demonstrations the best it could and its actions did not intensify the protests. The trial closed with the recorded deposition of Scott Davis, who at the time of the protests was the executive director of the North Dakota Indian Affairs Commission and a Mandan city commissioner… “Davis described the difficulty of trying to coordinate protest response with tribal leadership, police officials and the pipeline company, Energy Transfer Partners. “There were times where the pipeline didn’t want to hear what law enforcement had to say,” he said. Davis said, at the request of law enforcement leaders, he asked Energy Transfer Partners to temporarily pause construction of the pipeline. Police didn’t have the resources to ensure the safety of protesters and construction workers, he said. They hoped delaying work on the project would keep the protests manageable until more law enforcement personnel were available. According to Davis, the pipeline company didn’t go for it. “I’m sure they were on a timeline to build and so forth, I get that,” Davis said. “But public safety-wise, people are going to get hurt.” During the demonstrations, there were times Davis personally approached protesters and tried to convince them to go home. He got the sense they felt a sense of purpose at the camps — something that may have been difficult for them to leave behind, he said. “I would assume that a lot of them really strongly felt that by staying here, seeing this through and not giving up, that ultimately this pipeline would never be constructed,” Davis said.

Grist: FBI sent several informants to Standing Rock protests, court documents show
Alleen Brown, 3/15/24

“Up to 10 informants managed by the FBI were embedded in anti-pipeline resistance camps near the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation at the height of mass protests against the Dakota Access pipeline in 2016,” Grist reports. “The new details about federal law enforcement surveillance of an Indigenous environmental movement were released as part of a legal fight between North Dakota and the federal government over who should pay for policing the pipeline fight. Until now, the existence of only one other federal informant in the camps had been confirmed.  The FBI also regularly sent agents wearing civilian clothing into the camps, one former agent told Grist in an interview. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, or BIA, operated undercover narcotics officers out of the reservation’s Prairie Knights Casino, where many pipeline opponents rented rooms, according to one of the depositions.  The operations were part of a wider surveillance strategy that included drones, social media monitoring, and radio eavesdropping by an array of state, local, and federal agencies, according to attorneys’ interviews with law enforcement. The FBI infiltration fits into a longer history in the region. In the 1970s, the FBI infiltrated the highest levels of the American Indian Movement, or AIM… “Until the lawsuit, the existence of only one federal informant in the camps was known: Heath Harmon was working as an FBI informant when he entered into a romantic relationship with water protector Red Fawn Fallis. A judge eventually sentenced Fallis to nearly five years in prison after a gun went off when she was tackled by police during a protest. The gun belonged to Harmon. Manape LaMere, a member of the Bdewakantowan Isanti and Ihanktowan bands, who is also Winnebago Ho-chunk and spent months in the camps, told Grist he and others anticipated the presence of FBI agents, because of the agency’s history. Camp security kicked out several suspected infiltrators. “We were already cynical, because we’ve had our heart broke before by our own relatives,” he told Grist… “During the NoDAPL movement, the BIA had “a couple” of narcotics officers operating undercover at the Prairie Knights Casino, according to the deposition of Darren Cruzan, a member of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma who was the director of the BIA’s Office of Justice Services at the time.”

Michigan Advance: Tribes urge U.S. to weigh in on Line 5 case as appeal sits in court
IZZY ROSS, 3/15/24

“Twelve miles of the Line 5 pipeline cross the lands of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in northern Wisconsin,” the Michigan Advance reports. “In some places, the pipeline is just feet from the banks of the Bad River. The river meanders, and severe flooding eroded its banks last spring, prompting the tribe to call for an emergency shutdown of the pipeline. A federal judge ordered Enbridge to do so by June 2026, and to pay the tribe over $5 million. But the tribe and the company both appealed, with the tribe saying it was too little money and too long a timeline. If the court rules in favor of the company, tribes and legal experts say it could have major implications for tribal sovereignty… “But missing from that discussion in court last month was input from the U.S. government, something one judge on the panel called “extraordinary.” “…Tribes across the Great Lakes are asking the federal government to weigh in on this case — among them, the Bay Mills Indian Community, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. In a letter to the Biden administration, representatives from 30 tribal nations across Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin say this has serious implications for tribal sovereignty and the transition away from fossil fuels, and they urge the administration to show where it stands. “If the United States doesn’t weigh in, what they are risking is that states, tribes, and even the federal government could be subject to trespass by a corporation for the rest of time,” said Whitney Gravelle, president of the Bay Mills Indian Community in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula… “The State Department declined IPR’s request for an interview. The three judges on the case said they were waiting for the U.S. to weigh in before making a decision.”

North Dakota Monitor: North Dakota pipeline regulators set Monday meeting on permit rehearing for Iowa company
Jeff Beach, 3/14/24

“North Dakota pipeline regulators will meet Monday to discuss a schedule for hearings on a carbon dioxide pipeline project proposed by Ames-based Summit Carbon Solutions,” the North Dakota Monitor reports. “The Public Service Commission agenda also includes a request to reconsider an earlier decision striking down restrictive county-level pipeline zoning ordinances. The meeting is slated to begin at 11 a.m. at the North Dakota Capitol… “The PSC last year denied Summit’s application, but the company asked for a rehearing and has made changes to its route, including a wider berth around Bismarck, the North Dakota capital, to address the concerns of the three-person commission… “ But the project has been met with resistance from North Dakota landowners and county governments. Emmons and Burleigh counties, which would be on the main trunk of the pipeline, passed ordinances with tighter restrictions than the state’s on where the pipeline can run… “The agenda also includes a discussion about the schedule and location for the rehearing on the permit.”

Springfield State Journal-Register: Why Pritzker holds ‘degree of skepticism’ on new carbon capture bill
Patrick M. Keck, 3/14/24

“Illinois is attempting to completely decarbonize energy production by 2045, and, without carbon capture storage, advocates say it will be hard-pressed to meet that goal,” the Springfield State Journal-Register reports. “Several Democrat lawmakers, along with a selection of business and agriculture groups, are putting their weight behind recently introduced carbon capture storage legislation. The Climate and Landowner Protection Act, its language contained in Senate Bill 3311 and House Bill 569, specifically targets the usage and ownership of pore space — empty underground areas between sand and sediment — plus creates new sources of funding for first responders. “With this legislation, we can decarbonize without deindustrializing our state,” said Illinois Manufacturers’ Association president and CEO Mark Denzler during a press conference Wednesday… “Sierra Club of Illinois however says the legislation is too limited, focusing solely on sequestration, and is instead backing legislation that would regulate CO2 pipelines and prohibit the use of eminent domain… “The bill would clarify that the owner of the surface estate would also own the beneath pore space, but would still allow for easements of the property. Securing easements proved to be difficult for the now cancelled Navigator Heartland Greenway — only receiving 13.4% of easements to construct its pipeline… “Asked by reporters at an unrelated press conference, Gov. JB Pritzker said he had not yet reviewed the legislation. Essential to its passage, he said, were ensuring that business and landowner perspectives are represented. “We’re going to be working through how if he would, we would implement carbon capture in the state of Illinois,” he told the Journal-Register. “Is it going to be safe for people who are living in areas where carbon capture will be taking place? How would we implement it to make sure that in the construction of that, that it would be safe?”

Globe and Mail: Nisga’a Nation and Western LNG buying TC Energy’s plans for natural gas pipeline in B.C.
BRENT JANG, 3/14/24

“The Nisga’a Nation and Western LNG are buying TC Energy Corp.’s plans for a pipeline across British Columbia in an effort to bolster a proposal for exporting liquefied natural gas,” the Globe and Mail reports. “After the deal closes by the end of June, the new owners will be taking over TC Energy’s Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline plans in an effort to supply natural gas to the Ksi Lisims LNG project on the West Coast. The PRGT route was originally intended to stretch nearly 900 kilometres from northeast B.C. to Lelu Island near Prince Rupert, and transport natural gas to Pacific NorthWest LNG. But Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas cancelled the Pacific NorthWest joint venture in 2017. Revisions need to be made to shorten the pipeline route so that natural gas would be transported from northeast B.C. to the Ksi Lisims site at Wil Milit on Pearse Island. Eva Clayton, the elected president of the Nisga’a Lisims government, told the Globe and Mail the purchase of PRGT marks a historic time for the Nisga’a, which signed a treaty in 1998… “In taking an equal ownership role in this pipeline, we are signalling a new era for Indigenous participation in the Canadian economy,” Ms. Clayton told the Globe and Mail. “First Nations are no longer being left behind as generational wealth is built from the resources of our lands. At long last, hope and optimism are returning to Indigenous communities across northern B.C.” François Poirier, TC Energy’s chief executive officer, told the Globe and Mail he is pleased with the transaction. “This is an important agreement that will see Indigenous co-ownership and development of an integrated LNG project,” Mr. Poirier said in a statement… “LNG Canada is the first LNG export project to be under construction so far in the country. If Ksi Lisims gets built, it would be Canada’s second-largest LNG export facility.”

Canadian Press: Oil shippers demand explanation from Trans Mountain for massive pipeline cost overruns
Amanda Stephenson, 3/14/24

“A group of oil shippers is asking the Canada Energy Regulator to compel the company behind the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion to provide them with a full and detailed breakdown of the project’s escalating construction costs,” the Canadian Press reports. “The shippers — which includes Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., Suncor Energy Inc.,, Cenovus Energy Inc., PetroChina Canada Ltd. and Marathon Petroleum Canada — are seeking an order from the regulator requiring Trans Mountain Corp. to provide more information about why the project’s costs have ballooned to more than $30 billion from a 2017 estimate of $7.4 billion. “The stakes are high: billions of dollars at issue, with Trans Mountain’s (costs) having more than quintupled since 2017 — and its costs are still growing by billions, seemingly unchecked,” the oil companies stated in a motion filed with the Canada Energy Regulator earlier this week. “Yet Trans Mountain refused to answer most of participating shippers’ (request for information) and inappropriately dismissed most requests as irrelevant ‘fishing expeditions.’” “…In its most recent update provided last month, Trans Mountain said it now has reason to believe the costs of the project will come in approximately $3.1 billion higher than the $30.9 billion estimate in May 2023. It said a final tally won’t be available until after the project’s completion, expected sometime this spring.”

Pipestone Star: Pipeline public meetings scheduled for March 19 and 20
Kyle Kuphal, 3/14/24

“Public information meetings are scheduled for March 19 and 20 regarding a permit request for a pipeline reroute project planned by Magellan,” the Pipestone Star reports. “…According to the notice of the meetings, the Minnesota Department of Commerce, on behalf of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC), has released a comparative environmental analysis (CEA) for the proposed Magellan pipeline reroute project. It will provide opportunities for public comment on the CEA during the public information meetings… “Magellan decommissioned a .74-mile segment of pipe that ran through federal lands managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service north of Pipestone in 2022. It then filed a route permit application in 2023 for a new section of pipeline that would be located on private properties… “During the March 4 Pipestone City Council meeting, Mayor Dan Delaney said the application route that goes between Old Woodlawn Cemetery and New Woodlawn Cemetery was “unacceptable.” “…We need to be proactive here and make sure that Magellan understands we’re not against the pipeline,” Delaney said. “We’re just against it going through the cemetery area and anywhere near the national monument area and that sacred land for the indigenous people in our community too.”

WASHINGTON UPDATES

Politico: This Democratic senator says Biden’s climate efforts are falling short — and young voters are noticing
JOSH SIEGEL, 3/14/24

“One of Congress’ fiercest Democratic climate hawks has a warning for President Joe Biden: His efforts to move the country off fossil fuels are “insufficient” to win over young voters who want stronger action on climate change,” Politico reports. “In an interview with POLITICO’s Energy podcast, Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon said Biden has taken an “all-of-the-above” approach to energy that’s cleared the way for new oil and gas projects on federal land — not, as climate activists have urged, a commitment to keep those fuels in the ground. That’s locking in new greenhouse gas emissions for decades to come, Merkley told Politico, and prompting young activists to question the president’s commitment to the cause if he’s reelected. Surveys show younger voters expressing disillusionment with Biden’s presidency, including one Harvard poll that found that only 39 percent said they trust his handling of climate change. “There’s a lot of concern still because the question might be, ‘Hey, what will the second administration look like?’” Merkley told Politico. “Will it be an administration that takes climate change much more seriously now than these last few years? The arc of the curve is totally insufficient to meet the challenge.” “…The young voters who may be crucial to Biden’s reelection chances aren’t satisfied with the pause because of “a whole host of other pro-fossil decisions” he has made during his first term, including approving the massive Willow oil project in Alaska and supporting the Mountain Valley gas pipeline in West Virginia, a project championed by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin. Merkley told POLITICO he raised the issue in a meeting with Biden’s then-climate envoy John Kerry before the administration announced the pause. He also met with administration officials at the White House ahead of its decision.”

E&E News: Oil And Gas Methane Emissions 3 Times Higher Than EPA Says — Study 
3/14/24

“Oil and gas producers in the United States may be emitting three times more methane than EPA estimates, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature,” E&E News reports. “The study’s authors wrote that the oil and gas industry could be emitting an average of 2.95 percent of the gas it produces, as measured by aerial measurements and infrared spectroscopy data. The findings come as efforts to curb methane emissions have become a focal point of the Biden administration’s efforts to fight climate change. EPA published a rule this month that will require oil and gas operators to update their equipment and take other steps to curb methane emissions from their operations and proposed another rule that will tie a fee to emissions… “The Nature study looked at six of the largest U.S. oil and gas producing regions — the Permian, Denver-Julesburg and San Joaquin basins in the western U.S., plus the Utica Basin in the eastern U.S., as well as parts of Pennsylvania and the Fort Worth region of Texas. Researchers found that emissions varied heavily depending on location.” 

Reuters: Methane Emissions From Energy Sector Rose In 2023 Despite Climate Pledges 
Gloria Dickie, 3/13/24

“Methane emissions from the energy sector remained near a record high in 2023 despite commitments from the sector to plug leaking infrastructure in a bid to combat climate change, a report by the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday,” Reuters reports. “Methane emissions from human activities such as oil and natural gas production, agriculture, and landfills are short-lived in the atmosphere but many times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. They have driven about a third of the rise in global temperatures since the industrial revolution. Production and use of fossil fuels put more than 120 million metric tons of methane into the atmosphere last year, a slight rise over 2022, the IEA report said. Large methane plumes from leaky fossil fuel infrastructure also jumped by 50% in 2023 compared with 2022, the IEA report said. One super-emitting event, detected by satellites, was a well blowout in Kazakhstan that lasted more than 200 days.”

U.S. Energy Information Administration: United States produces more crude oil than any country, ever
3/13/24

“The United States produced more crude oil than any nation at any time, according to our International Energy Statistics, for the past six years in a row,” the U.S. Energy Information Administration reports. “Crude oil production in the United States, including condensate, averaged 12.9 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2023, breaking the previous U.S. and global record of 12.3 million b/d, set in 2019. Average monthly U.S. crude oil production established a monthly record high in December 2023 at more than 13.3 million b/d. The crude oil production record in the United States in 2023 is unlikely to be broken in any other country in the near term because no other country has reached production capacity of 13.0 million b/d. Saudi Arabia’s state-owned Saudi Aramco recently scrapped plans to increase production capacity to 13.0 million b/d by 2027. Together, the United States, Russia, and Saudi Arabia accounted for 40% (32.8 million b/d) of global oil production in 2023. These three countries have produced more oil than any others since 1971 (counting production in the Russian Federation of the Soviet Union prior to 1991), although the top spot has shifted among them over the past five decades. By comparison, the next three largest producing countries—Canada, Iraq, and China—combined produced 13.1 million b/d in 2023, only slightly more than what was produced in the United States alone.”

Reuters: IEA sees subdued oil demand growth as economic headwinds remain
3/14/24

“The International Energy Agency sees oil demand growth this year at 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd), down a full million bpd from 2023, but up by 110,000 bpd from its previous month’s forecast as Houthi attacks in the Red Sea delay supplies,” Reuters reports. “Dovish signals from central banks indicated a path out of economic doldrums, the IEA said on Thursday, but subdued economic data in China remains a concern… “The settling down of post-pandemic turbulence and a cloudy economic outlook will weigh on demand, the agency said, even as shipping disruptions provide a short-term boost. “The global economic slowdown acts as an additional headwind to oil use, as do improving vehicle efficiencies and expanding electric vehicle fleets,” the Paris-based agency said in its monthly oil report… “Oil supply growth from non-OPEC+ countries oil will continue to significantly eclipse oil demand expansion, the IEA added.”

New York Times: U.S. Approves $500 Million for Bahrain Oil Project, Despite Opposition
Hiroko Tabuchi, 3/14/24

“A federal bank that finances projects overseas voted Thursday to put $500 million toward an oil and gas project in Bahrain, a transaction that critics said was out of step with President Biden’s climate commitments,” the New York Times reports. “Just days before the vote, six lawmakers had urged the bank, the Export-Import Bank of the United States or ExIm, not to move ahead with the financing, given the project’s negative effects on the climate. “We cannot afford to have ExIm undermine domestic and international climate progress,” lawmakers led by Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon, said in a letter to the bank’s board of directors last week. The bank said that the financing, in the form of loan guarantees, was consistent with its mission to bolster American exports and jobs. The new drilling in Bahrain could mean lucrative contracts for American engineering and construction-management firms, the bank said. The project will include measures to keep greenhouse gases in check, it said in a statement… “In February, plans to finance the Bahrain projects prompted two of the bank’s climate advisers to resign. And Mr. Biden’s aides have expressed concern about the direction of the bank, which has consistently flouted a 2021 presidential order that government agencies stop financing carbon-intensive projects overseas… “Between 2017 and 2021 the bank provided nearly $6 billion in financing for fossil fuel projects and $120 million for clean energy, according to a tally by the Perspectives Climate Group consultancy and the nonprofit group Oxfam.”

New York Times: A New Surge in Power Use Is Threatening U.S. Climate Goals
Brad Plumer and Nadja Popovich, 3/14/24

“Something unusual is happening in America. Demand for electricity, which has stayed largely flat for two decades, has begun to surge,” the New York Times reports. “Over the past year, electric utilities have nearly doubled their forecasts of how much additional power they’ll need by 2028 as they confront an unexpected explosion in the number of data centers, an abrupt resurgence in manufacturing driven by new federal laws, and millions of electric vehicles being plugged in. Many power companies were already struggling to keep the lights on, especially during extreme weather, and say the strain on grids will only increase. Peak demand in the summer is projected to grow by 38,000 megawatts nationwide in the next five years, according to an analysis by the consulting firm Grid Strategies, which is like adding another California to the grid… “In an ironic twist, the swelling appetite for more electricity, driven not only by electric cars but also by battery and solar factories and other aspects of the clean-energy transition, could also jeopardize the country’s plans to fight climate change… “To meet spiking demand, utilities in states like Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia are proposing to build dozens of power plants over the next 15 years that would burn natural gas. In Kansas, one utility has postponed the retirement of a coal plant to help power a giant electric-car battery factory. Burning more gas and coal runs counter to President Biden’s pledge to halve the nation’s planet-warming greenhouse gases and to generate all of America’s electricity from pollution-free sources such as wind, solar and nuclear by 2035. “I can’t recall the last time I was so alarmed about the country’s energy trajectory,” Tyler H. Norris, a former solar developer and expert in power systems who is now pursuing a doctorate at Duke University, told the Times. If a wave of new gas-fired plants gets approved by state regulators, he told the Times, “it is game over for the Biden administration’s 2035 decarbonization goal.”

STATE UPDATES

Colorado Newsline: How a pair of scissors helps explain the deepest divide in Colorado climate policy
CHASE WOODRUFF, 3/13/24

“This week, for the first time ever, Colorado lawmakers will formally consider a policy that seems to many environmental activists like one of the most direct and obvious ways to fight the climate crisis,” Colorado Newsline reports. “Senate Bill 24-159 would phase out new oil and gas drilling in Colorado by Jan. 1, 2030, aiming to limit the supply of the fossil fuels that, together with coal, account for the vast majority of the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. The bill is set to be heard by the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday. The legislation’s proposed drilling phaseout, however, appears dead on arrival. Gov. Jared Polis has made his opposition clear, and even before it gets to his desk, the bill likely faces an uphill battle in the state Senate, where influential moderates hold sway. To many Coloradans who are concerned about climate change, this doesn’t add up. No one can dispute that fossil fuels are the primary cause of global warming. Why would a state government that says it’s committed to cutting emissions be opposed to limiting the source of most of those emissions? The answer has to do with the deepest divide in Colorado climate policy — not counting, of course, the divide between the reality-based community and those who continue to deny the overwhelming scientific consensus on human-caused climate change. In short, the debate over SB-159 is a matter of supply and demand.”

Cal Matters: California isn’t on track to meet its climate change mandates — and a new analysis says it’s not even close
ALEJANDRO LAZO, 3/14/24

“California will fail to meet its ambitious mandates for combating climate change unless the state almost triples its rate of reducing greenhouse gases through 2030, according to a new analysis released today,” Cal Matters reports. “After dropping during the pandemic, California’s emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other climate-warming gases increased 3.4% in 2021, when the economy rebounded. The increase puts California further away from reaching a target mandated under state law: emitting 40% less in 2030 than in 1990 — a feat that will become more expensive and more difficult as time passes, the report’s authors told CalMatters. “The fact that they need to increase the speed of reduction at about three times faster than they’re actually doing — that does not bode well,” Stafford Nichols, a researcher at Beacon Economics, a Los Angeles-based economics research firm, and a co-author of the annual California Green Innovation Index released today, told Cal Matters… “The report, compiled by Beacon Economics and environmental nonprofit Next 10, analyzed state data and concluded that through 2030, California would have to cut all greenhouse gases by 4.4% every year, beginning back in 2022… “To put that challenge in perspective, the state has only achieved annual cuts of more than 4% twice over the last two decades, both during major recessions, in 2009 and 2020, according to Stephanie Leonard, director of research for Next 10. And from 2016 through 2021, the annual average reduction has been just 1.6%, according to the report. “We need each program to perform as well as or better than identified in the scoping plan in order to achieve our goals.”

Inside Climate News: Gulf Coast Petrochemical Buildout Draws Billions in Tax Breaks Despite Pollution Violations
Dylan Baddour, 3/14/24

“A booming petrochemical buildout on the Gulf Coast has drawn billions of dollars in public subsidies from state tax abatement programs despite regular violations of pollution permits, according to a new report released Thursday,” Inside Climate News reports. “The Environmental Integrity Project, an environmental nonprofit based in Texas and Washington, D.C., compiled data on all U.S. plastics projects built, expanded or proposed since 2012, almost all of them along the Gulf Coast.  The report identified 50 plastics complexes built or expanded in the last 12 years, 33 of them in Texas, where they have drawn a total of $1.65 billion in property tax breaks through the state’s Chapter 313 program for energy and manufacturing companies, which the state legislature replaced last year with a new but similar program… “Now, companies are proposing to build an additional 42 plastics plants, 24 of them in Texas, according to the 73-page EIP report, “Feeding the Plastics Industrial Complex.” “The industry is expanding rapidly, and more communities are being asked to consider public subsidies,” it said. “None of the state programs we examined require industries to follow the terms of their state pollution control permits.” While Texas hosts the most new plastics production, the most generous tax breaks come from neighboring Louisiana, among the nation’s poorest states, where three projects alone drew $6.5 billion in local discounts since 2013. All operating projects considered in the EIP report claimed a total of $9 billion in exchange for commitments to economic development and job growth. That money would have otherwise funded local schools and public services, Alexandra Shaykevich, research manager at the Environmental Integrity Project, told ICN. Instead, it’s given to highly profitable corporations that are often foreign-owned and likely would have located near the nation’s major oil and gas resources with or without local tax incentives, according to her group’s report. 

Los Angeles Times: Did O.C. Oil Spill Come From Natural Seepage Or Drilling? Cause Under Investigation 
HANNAH FRY, NATHAN SOLIS, 3/11/24

“Coast Guard officials have not determined what caused an oil sheen that appeared off Huntington Beach last week, officials said Monday afternoon,” the Los Angeles Times reports. “The sheen was first reported Thursday evening about 2.5 nautical miles off Huntington Beach near two oil platforms, Emmy and Eva. By Sunday morning, officials were no longer seeing a sheen in the water, according to the Coast Guard, but they had skimmed about 85 gallons of oil from the ocean and removed about 1,050 pounds of oily waste and tar balls from the shoreline. Coast Guard spokesperson Richard Uranga said on Monday testing had revealed the oil was from a natural seep. Hours later, however, another Coast Guard official, Rick Brahm, told The Times that was not the case. Officials are still trying to determine what caused the spill. USCG is responding to a sheen approximately 2.5 miles long 1.5 miles off Huntington Beach, CA.”

EXTRACTION

Reuters: Belgian farmer takes TotalEnergies to court, seeking climate damages
Kate Abnett, 3/13/24

“A Belgian farmer is taking French oil and gas company TotalEnergies to court, seeking compensation for climate change-fuelled damage to his farm and a legal order for the company to halt investments in new fossil fuel projects,” Reuters reports. “The case, filed on Wednesday at the Tournai commercial court, is the first climate change-related lawsuit in Belgium to target a multinational company. It follows a case in which thousands of citizens successfully sued the Belgian government to demand stronger greenhouse gas emissions cuts… “Hugues Falys, who farms a herd of cattle in the municipality of Lessines, argues that, as one of the world’s top 20 CO2-emitting companies, TotalEnergies is partly responsible for damage extreme weather did to his operations from 2016-2022. During that period, successive droughts reduced the yield of his meadows where he grows fodder for the animals – forcing him to buy feed and, eventually, reduce the size of his herd. “We are an activity completely dependent on the climate,” Falys told Reuters. He argues TotalEnergies has failed to comply with Belgian law, which states anyone who causes damage must make reparations for it… “Their demands include that the company immediately halt investments in new fossil fuel projects, and reduce its oil and gas production each by 47% by 2030.”

Canadian Lawyer: Fort McKay First Nation and ministers announce regulation amendments on oil sands
Abigail Adriatico, 3/14/24

“The Fort McKay First Nation, the federal government and the province of Alberta have announced regulations amending the Fort McKay First Nation Oil Sands Regulations,” Canadian Lawyer reports. “The amendments made to the 2007 regulations, which were developed between the Fort Mckay First Nation and both federal and provincial governments as part of the First Nations Commercial and Industrial Development Act, were needed so that they can be easily accessed, clear, and incorporated into Alberta’s modernized provincial legislation and regulations, says the announcement. Fort McKay First Nation first received an Addition to Reserve Lands as part of a 2004 Treaty Land Entitlement Settlement Agreement. This included oil sands deposits… “With the updated regulatory regime, investors and operators can be assured that they will be able to advance an oil sands project on Fort McKay First Nation reserve land 174C, which can give economic benefits to the community as the changes represent an opportunity for economic reconciliation.”

CLIMATE FINANCE

Democracy Now: “You Are Not an Ally. You Are a Murderer”: Climate Defiance Confronts Chevron CEO Mike Wirth
3/14/24

“Here in New York, activists with Climate Defiance confronted Chevron CEO Mike Wirth on Tuesday as he spoke at an event promoting “the role of engaged men in gender inclusivity,” Democracy Now reports. “Protester: “Chevron is responsible for killing thousands of Indigenous women and exposing thousands more to cancer and reproductive illness. You are not an ally of women. You are a murderer.” Mike Wirth was forced to leave the event.”

OPINION

The Cap Times: Don’t be fooled by Enbridge offer
Phyllis Hasbrouck, Madison, 3/14/24

“Dear Editor: The Canadian oil pipeline company Enbridge recently published an open letter to the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, calling for “direct conversations about finding real solutions about real issues such as the ongoing safe operation of Line 5 until the relocation project is complete,” Phyllis Hasbrouck writes for The Cap Times. “Don’t be fooled by their PR department’s latest offering. There is no such thing as guaranteed safe operation of an oil pipeline. Since it was built in 1953, the existing Line 5 has leaked or gushed oil 29 times, releasing a total of 1.1 million gallons of toxic oil into the environment. That is why the Bad River Band sued Enbridge to take their pipeline off tribal land and out of their watershed. The truth is, we don’t need tar sands oil (that dirtiest of fossil fuels, which run through Line 5) to live. Enbridge tries to scare us into thinking that our power has to come from oil, but we now have the technology to fuel our world in a clean way… “Enbridge’s days are numbered, as investors and corporations realize that people want the safety that green energy provides. The question is, how much damage will they do to our world before they go bankrupt? Right now the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is considering whether to give Enbridge a permit for a Line 5 expansion in northern Wisconsin. They need to do a full Environmental Impact Statement, not some brief look and then a rubber stamp. Our government needs to consider our safety, not the bottom line for Enbridge.”

The Advocate: Energy Transfer defending itself against unfounded lawsuits
Shane Comeaux is a public policy and energy expert from Lockport, who previously worked in offshore drilling operations, 3/15/24

“Pipelines are the superhighways of the energy sector and the backbone of Louisiana’s energy economy,” Shame Comeaux writes for The Advocate. “…Underpinning the development of these pipelines is a highly regulated, balanced approach that ensures that the interests of public safety, landowners and industry are all addressed before these lines are in the ground. But unfortunately, recent lawsuits in Louisiana could affect these important guardrails and undermine the integrity of this important infrastructure network that supports so much economic activity in the state. Last year, two pipeline companies in Louisiana approached Energy Transfer — a leading energy transportation company — with plans to develop new pipelines that would cross an Energy Transfer pipeline a whopping 155 times… “While pipeline crossings are hardly a new phenomenon in states like Louisiana that have a dense energy sector footprint, the scale of LEG and NG3’s crossings requests are without precedent… “Analyzing the potential effects of these crossings requires time and care, but these companies provided Energy Transfer with just weeks to respond to their request… “By miscasting the purpose of these pipelines, LEG and NG3 are effectively skirting regulations designed to protect the public interest and the industry. It also could leave Energy Transfer with potential culpability should its own pipeline be compromised by the excessive pipeline crossings… “If a company like Energy Transfer can’t depend on federal regulations, long-standing industry practices, and the courts to protect its property and the enormous investments behind it, there could be a chilling effect on new economic activity in the state. This could hurt Louisiana’s energy economy and private property rights in the future and would be a travesty for all of us.”