EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 3/19/24

PIPELINE NEWS

• WDBJ: Pipeline opponents question response of state agency

• North Dakota Monitor: PSC sets multi-day rehearing schedule for Summit carbon capture pipeline

• KXNET: Public Service Commission denies requests by Burleigh County and landowners

• WGEM: Coalition of business, labor and agriculture groups support Illinois lawmakers’ carbon capture and storage plan

• Farm Week Now: IFB opposes CO2 legislation

• KELO: What’s in South Dakota’s new pipeline laws?

• Hudson Valley 360: Pipeline health effects focus of community forum

• KALW: The US government’s campaign against the anti-pipeline movement

• WVXU: 10 years after the Oak Glen oil spill, how is the preserve rebounding?

• Global Cement: Germany requires extensive CO2 pipeline for decarbonisation

• Underground Infrastructure: TC Energy sells Canadian natural gas pipeline project to Nisga’a Nation, Western LNG

• Reuters: Pembina gets Canadian regulatory approval to buy Enbridge’s interest in JVs

WASHINGTON UPDATES

• E&E News: CERAWeek: Climate gap widens between Biden and oil industry

• E&E News: Granholm says LNG pause will end within a year

• The Hill: Oversight Republicans request White House communications on LNG pause

• Bloomberg: Biden’s Gas Export Pause Faces Second Probe by House Republicans

• E&E News: Senate committee to question 3 FERC nominees

• E&E News: How EPA could change the power plant rule’s ‘finer details’

STATE UPDATES

• Bloomberg: Louisiana Gas Project Delayed Amid Spat Between Energy Transfer, Developers

• Reuters: Alaska LNG seeks funding on path to final investment decision in 2025

• Carbon Herald: Wyoming Allows Utilities To Charge Customers For Carbon Capture

• E&E News: Startup promises to build carbon removal ‘orchard’

EXTRACTION

• Reuters: Big Oil executives push back against calls for fast energy transition

• CNBC: Saudi Aramco CEO says energy transition is failing, world should abandon ‘fantasy’ of phasing out oil

• Houston Chronicle: Exxon announces climate solution pilot project during CERAWeek conference in Houston

• Power Engineering International: Time to curb enthusiasm about CCUS in the UK suggests report

• Guardian: ‘We don’t know where the money is going’: the ‘carbon cowboys’ making millions from credit schemes

• Guardian: Queensland farming lobby launches legal challenge against Great Artesian Basin carbon capture trial

• Reuters: BP Whiting, Indiana refinery returns to normal ops, says company

• Trinidad and Tobago Newsday: Maple Leaf student raises $40,000 for oil spill clean-up

• New York Times: Review: ‘The Shell Trial’ Seeks a Guilty Party in Climate Change

CLIMATE FINANCE

• Reuters: Fossil fuel sector should pay climate finance, EU ministers say

• Financial Times: Cambridge university halts donations from fossil fuel groups

• E&E News: House schedules first hearings on final SEC climate rule

OPINION

• Common Dreams: Biden, Listen to Students and Declare a Climate Emergency

• Newsweek: No ‘Clean’ Gas on a Livable Planet 

• Reno Gazette Journal: What Is Happening With Oil And Gas Leasing On Nevada’s Public Lands? 

• The Hill: Biden’s new energy rules must stop an existential climate threat: Donald Trump 
  

PIPELINE NEWS

WDBJ: Pipeline opponents question response of state agency
Joe Dashiell, 3/18/24

“As construction continues on the Mountain Valley Pipeline, opponents say the project is still affecting area creeks and streams,” WDBJ reports. “During a protest Monday morning, they said state regulators aren’t fulfilling their responsibility to protect water quality. A small group of pipeline opponents gathered outside the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, as employees arrived for work in the Salem office. “Do your job. Do your job,” the protesters chanted to the passing cars. The demonstrators held signs and displayed large photos of the muddy conditions they say are a continuing problem in creeks and streams along the Mountain Valley Pipeline right-of-way. “These sediment effects are destroying our watersheds,” Deborah Kushner, a member of the group Third Act Virginia, told WDBJ. “People aren’t able to drink the water in their houses. This is an emergency that our elected officials and our regulatory agencies just aren’t addressing.” “DEQ has the power to submit a stop work order to Mountain Valley Pipeline,” Dan Ideozu, Partnerships Manager with Protect Our Water Heritage Rights (POWHR) Coalition, told WDBJ. “And anytime something like this happens, they need to stand up for the residents, for the people, for the locals, who are impacted and issue a stop work order.” “…The company says it expects to complete the project in the second quarter of this year.”

North Dakota Monitor: PSC sets multi-day rehearing schedule for Summit carbon capture pipeline
Jeff Beach, 3/19/24

“A rehearing of the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline permit application will include multiple days of hearings for the Bismarck area,” the North Dakota Monitor reports. “The North Dakota Public Service Commission on Monday, March 18 tentatively set the week of April 22 for multiple hearings in Burleigh County. The commission will work to finalize dates, times and location in the coming weeks. The commission is also tentatively planning hearings in other counties along the route, likely in Linton in Emmons County and Gwinner in Sargent County or Wahpeton in Richland County. Dates discussed for those hearings were in May and June but a schedule was not set… “The changes include putting the route farther east of Bismarck before it heads west, some route changes in Emmons County and more minor changes elsewhere… “Summit says it has obtained about 80% of the route 353-mile route in North Dakota through voluntary easements from landowners. But some landowners have pushed back amid fears of damage to farmland and property values and the safety of the pipeline. Some also question the need for carbon capture and storage… “The PSC on Monday also denied a petition from Burleigh County that was seeking reconsideration of an earlier ruling on state versus local control on zoning for pipelines… “Emmons County is challenging the PSC ruling in court.”

KXNET: Public Service Commission denies requests by Burleigh County and landowners
Joel Porter, 3/18/24

“On Monday morning, the North Dakota Public Service Commission voted down two requests from Burleigh County and landowners near Bismarck,” KXNET reports. “At the latest hearing, the PSC said ‘no’ to county landowners who were asking to bring in their own attorney to question summit carbon solutions at future hearings talking about the proposed carbon dioxide pipeline, as well as Burleigh’s request to reconsider the recent finding that state century code supersedes a county’s zoning authority and land use… “Next, the Public Service Commission is scheduling comprehensive technical hearings to hear from more impacted landowners if the pipeline is approved. These meetings are expected to take place next month near Wahpeton and Linton.”

WGEM: Coalition of business, labor and agriculture groups support Illinois lawmakers’ carbon capture and storage plan
Max Cotton, 3/18/24

“A bill in the Illinois legislature would create a regulatory framework to streamline carbon capture and storage projects in the state,” WGEM reports. “Sponsored by state Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea, the plan is backed by the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, Climate Jobs Illinois and Matt Rush, the former president of the Illinois Corn Growers Association… “Carbon capture and storage is a proven technology. It is safe and viable, and Illinois is poised to be a global leader in climate management due to our exceptional geology, natural resources and a robust regulatory framework, all of which have been demonstrated in our state,” carbon capture and storage scientist Sallie Greenberg told WGEM. She led a 2022 study on the technology that estimated carbon capture and storage could create more than 14,000 jobs in Illinois… “With this legislation, we can decarbonize without deindustrializing our state,” Illinois Manufacturers’ Association President and CEO Mark Denzler told WGEM. Not everyone’s on board with the proposal. The Sierra Club Illinois Chapter released a statement opposing the legislation: “…The legislation introduced last week does not adequately protect Illinois communities, our water, and our climate from the dangers of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) because it focuses solely on sequestration… “We’re working with landowners, farmers, and advocates across the state to instead advance common-sense legislation that puts a moratorium on CO2 pipelines to ensure our water resources are protected and that all liability rests with private developers, not Illinois taxpayers.”

Farm Week Now: IFB opposes CO2 legislation
HANNAH SPANGLER, 3/18/24

“Illinois Farm Bureau opposes proposed legislation about carbon capture and storage projects in Illinois,” Farm Week Now reports. “At a March 13 press conference in Springfield, a coalition of Democratic lawmakers, as well as business, labor and some agriculture groups, unveiled Senate Bill 3311 and House Bill 569. The bills create the Climate and Landowner Protection Act, encouraging the use of technologies that enable the capture of carbon dioxide for underground storage. “We oppose the bill based on IFB policy,” Bill Bodine, IFB director of business and regulatory affairs, told Farm Week. “The bill includes an integration process that could force landowners into a carbon dioxide storage project without their consent.” Bodine told Farm Week at IFB’s 2023 Annual Meeting, delegates voiced their concerns and voted to oppose the use of eminent domain for carbon dioxide capture and storage. “Our members added to the policy that we had on carbon capture and storage. We’re trying to implement as much of that policy as we can. This bill just doesn’t go far enough to implement it, so IFB opposes the bill,” Bodine told FarmWeek.

KELO: What’s in South Dakota’s new pipeline laws?
Bob Mercer, 3/18/24

“South Dakota lawmakers approved and the governor signed into law three major pieces of legislation this year that will affect future relationships between landowners and pipeline companies intending to cross their properties, especially pipelines carrying carbon dioxide. Here’s a closer look at why lawmakers thought each piece of legislation was needed and the changes that take effect July 1,” KELO reports. “Why was HB1185 needed? One reason was that Summit Carbon Solutions has been at odds with various landowners who don’t want crews on their properties as the company plans the route of its proposed CO2 pipeline. The South Dakota Supreme Court will hear a consolidated case in the matter on Tuesday…  “Why was SB201 needed? This legislation includes a landowner’s bill of rights and allows county governments to tax carbon pipelines by the foot, but it also makes clear that PUC permits for carbon pipelines will override county, municipal or township regulations. The PUC last year denied permits sought by Navigator and Summit Carbon Solutions for CO2 pipelines because they couldn’t get past local ordinances in several counties. That loss of local control in the future is a big reason why a group plans to start collecting signatures on March 25 to refer SB201 to a statewide vote… “Whether SB201 takes effect on July 1 won’t be known until the referral group submits its petitions at some time before 5 p.m. on June 24. The group needs a minimum of 17,509 valid signatures from South Dakota registered voters to qualify for the November general election ballot… “The new law also requires that a land agent acting on behalf of a carbon pipeline must be an employee of the facility, a resident of South Dakota or a real estate agent licensed in South Dakota.”

Hudson Valley 360: Pipeline health effects focus of community forum
Tiffany Greenwaldt-Simon, 3/19/24

“The proposed expansion of the Iroquois natural gas pipeline will cause adverse health effects to people in the surrounding area, according to Sandra Steingraber, a biologist, senior scientist at the Science and Environmental Health Network, and co-founder of Concerned Health Professionals of New York,” Hudson Valley 360 reports. “Overwhelming scientific evidence shows that compressor stations and high-pressure gas pipelines are accident-prone pieces of industrial machinery that can explode, freeze, corrode, break, and leak and represent acute threats to public safety in the communities where they are located,” she told Hudson Valley 360… “The pipelines have been found to release 39 cancer-causing chemicals through their emissions, as well as particles associated with cardiovascular issues, Steingraber, a Hudson resident, told Hudson Valley 360. “Some people are getting cancers, there’s also an uptick in childhood asthma,” Steingraber told Hudson Valley 360. “That’s what frightened me about this plan to build a compressor station in a densely populated area.” A community forum was held in Dover on Thursday to discuss the health effects of the proposed expansion of the Iroquois natural gas pipeline. Steingraber, as well as representatives from Food and Water Watch, Concerned Citizens of Dover, the New York Public Interest Research Group attended the forum. The project puts New Yorkers’ health at risk, Emily Skydel, Food and Water Watch senior organizer, told Hudson Valley 360.”

KALW: The US government’s campaign against the anti-pipeline movement
Malihe Razazan, Rose Aguilar, 3/18/24

“On this edition of Your Call’s One Planet Series, we discuss the US government’s decade-long campaign against the anti-pipeline movement,” KALW reports. “Newly released documents obtained by Grist found that the FBI monitored anti-Keystone protesters much earlier than previously known. Young Native activists were among its first targets. Legal documents show that 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. Guests: Adam Federman, reporting fellow with Type Investigations, and author of Fasting and Feasting: The Life of Visionary Food Writer Patience Gray; Alleen Brown, independent investigative reporter and editor of Drilled.”

WVXU: 10 years after the Oak Glen oil spill, how is the preserve rebounding?
Tana Weingartner, 3/18/24

“It’s been exactly a decade since nearly 20,000 gallons of oil spilled from a ruptured pipeline into Oak Glen Nature Preserve in Colerain Township,” WVXU reports. “The spill was stopped just short of the Great Miami River, but the oil and subsequent cleanup left a jagged scar cutting through the woods. WVXU’s Tana Weingartner covered the initial spill, cleanup and restoration. She returned recently with Great Parks Chief Operating Officer Bret Henninger and Watershed Specialist Amanda Nurre… “Henninger: There were several instances where both neighbors and passersby could smell an odd substance. Many of them called in 911 complaints because the odor was very strong. They described it as very much like a petroleum product, and [it] eventually got referred to a park ranger. The park ranger began to investigate and then found an oil-like substance, which we later found out was crude oil, that had come from a pipeline that had burst up the hill from the preserve just off the property, and then ran through the property in a stream, and then settled in at a wetland at the bottom of the of the hill… “It was about 20,000 gallons, I believe, of oil spilled… “What was the extent of the ecological damage? Henninger: There were times right after the spill where we really couldn’t find anything living in the stream… “Currently, 2024 is year seven of monitoring. Every year, basically the amphibians, and salamanders, macro invertebrates; there’s water and sediment sampling done, and all of this is being examined to see what the progress of the restoration is… “Some of them seem to be doing well, other ones are not back to pre-oil spill conditions… “In some ways we are seeing a rebound, and in some ways we aren’t. We still have a few more years left of monitoring, and we’re hopeful that the populations will continue to rebound… “I think getting it back to the way it was is probably not possible. But getting it to an ecologically functional state is a good goal to have for it.”

Global Cement: Germany requires extensive CO2 pipeline for decarbonisation
3/19/24

“According to a new study backed by the German Cement Works Association (VDZ), the country’s cement and lime industries require carbon capture and storage (CCS) for decarbonisation. The study outlines the need for a 4800km CO2 transport pipeline in Germany by 2035,” Global Cement reports. “The VDZ warns that any delay could jeopardise Germany’s 2045 climate neutrality target and estimates the investment for the new CO2 grid at €14bn. The network is expected to transport 6.5Mt/yr of CO₂ by 2030, increasing to 46Mt by 2045. Additionally, CCS transit from Switzerland, Austria and France is expected to contribute 15 – 20Mt.”

Underground Infrastructure: TC Energy sells Canadian natural gas pipeline project to Nisga’a Nation, Western LNG
3/18/24

“A jointly-owned subsidiary of the Nisga’a Nation and Western LNG LLChave entered into a binding agreement with TC Energy to acquire all of its outstanding shares in Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Holdings Ltd. and the limited partnership interests in Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Limited Partnership (collectively, PRGT),” Underground Infrastructure reports. “The transaction supports the timely advancement of the approved and permitted Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Project in British Columbia and potential delivery corridor that would further unlock Canada as a secure, affordable and sustainable source of LNG… “Today is a historic day for the Nisga’a Nation and represents a sea change in major industrial development in this country,” said Eva Clayton, President of the Nisga’a Lisims Government. “In taking an equal ownership role in this pipeline, we are signaling a new era for Indigenous participation in the Canadian economy. 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.”

Reuters: Pembina gets Canadian regulatory approval to buy Enbridge’s interest in JVs
Sourasis Bose, 3/19/24

“Pembina Pipeline PPL.TO said on Tuesday the Canadian Competition Bureau has approved its proposed C$3.1 billion ($2.28 billion) acquisition of Enbridge’s ENB.TO interests in the Alliance, Aux Sable, and NRGreen joint ventures,” Reuters reports. “The deal is expected to close on April 1, Pembina said. Alliance delivers liquids-rich natural gas sourced in Northeast B.C., Northwest Alberta and the Bakken region to Chicago. Aux Sable operates natural gas liquids (NGL) extraction and fractionation facilities in both Canada and the U.S., with extraction rights on Alliance, offering connectivity to key U.S. NGL hubs.”

WASHINGTON UPDATES

E&E News: CERAWeek: Climate gap widens between Biden and oil industry
Shelby Webb, Brian Dabbs, 3/19/24

“Top Biden administration officials urged faster action to slash greenhouse gas emissions here Monday, but they were surrounded by oil and gas executives who said existing climate goals may not be met on time,” E&E News reports. “Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and White House climate adviser John Podesta championed unprecedented government spending on clean energy initiatives, saying they had cleared the way to a lower-emissions future. Leaders of some of the world’s largest oil and gas companies — including Exxon Mobil and Saudi Aramco — challenged the market’s willingness to adopt “clean” hydrogen and said climate efforts have hit a snag. Looming over the outlook: whether President Joe Biden retains his job after the November election against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.”

E&E News: Granholm says LNG pause will end within a year
Brian Dabbs, 3/18/24

“The Department of Energy’s pause on liquefied natural gas exports will wrap up well within a year, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told E&E News. “By the time we meet here at this place next year, it’s going to be long in the rear-view mirror,” Granholm told E&E at the CERAWeek by S&P Global energy conference in downtown Houston. Her comments mark the first time the secretary has publicly firmed up timing for the pause announced in late January. The pause has sparked a fierce backlash among U.S. producers and global buyers. U.S. LNG exports have spiked in recent years. In the first half of 2023, they averaged 11.6 billion cubic feet per day, making the U.S. the largest LNG exporter globally. In 2022, the U.S. exported 10.2 Bcf/d, a 16 percent increase over 2021. All told, DOE has approved LNG projects that could bring exports to 48 Bcf/d in the coming years, according to the department.”

The Hill: Oversight Republicans request White House communications on LNG pause
ZACK BUDRYK, 3/18/24

“House Oversight Committee Republicans on Monday requested further detail from Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm about the Biden administration’s pause on approvals of new liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, the latest in several salvos against administration energy policies,” The Hill reports. “In a letter to Granholm, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, Regulatory Affairs Chairman Pat Fallon (R-Texas) and Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) requested a staff-level briefing with the secretary and further information about how politics factored into the decision… “The timing of the decision, in an election year, raises the likelihood that political motivations drove the action,” the three Republicans wrote, citing reporting in The Wall Street Journal suggesting the administration consulted with environmental advocacy groups ahead of the announcement. Comer, Fallon and Higgins requested communications between the department and White House climate advisers John Podesta and Ali Zaidi regarding the pause, as well as those between the department and nongovernmental organizations.”

Bloomberg: Biden’s Gas Export Pause Faces Second Probe by House Republicans
Ari Natter, 3/18/24

“House Republicans have launched a second probe of the Biden administration’s move to pause liquefied natural gas export approvals, questioning if election-year politics played a role in the decision,” Bloomberg reports. “The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability is seeking a trove of documents and communications between the Energy Department and key federal agencies as well as White House aides John Podesta and Ali Zaidi, arguing the move announced by the administration in late January was an attempt to appease liberal advocacy groups opposed to LNG exports ahead of the November presidential election.”

E&E News: Senate committee to question 3 FERC nominees
Andres Picon, 3/18/24

“The White House’s three nominees to sit on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will this week embark on what could be a long and bumpy road to Senate confirmation,” E&E News reports. “The Energy and Natural Resources Committee — led by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) — will meet Thursday to consider President Joe Biden’s picks to lead the government’s grid and pipelines regulator. Confirmation later this year of David Rosner and Judy Chang, both Democrats, and Lindsay See, a Republican, would round out the five-member commission that has been shorthanded since early last year and is currently down to three members. The confirmation process — likely to be mired in partisan squabbling over the nominees’ track records on fossil fuels, clean energy and environmental regulations — comes at a critical time for FERC. The independent agency is close to finalizing a highly anticipated rule to improve electric transmission capacity while it plows ahead with its work on permitting for pipelines and liquefied natural gas projects.”

E&E News: How EPA could change the power plant rule’s ‘finer details’
Jean Chemnick, 3/18/24

“EPA may change more in its upcoming power plant rule than last month’s headline-grabbing decision to exclude natural gas plants,” E&E News reports. “The rule, which will set pollution limits for new gas facilities and existing coal plants, is expected to be finalized in April. EPA removed existing gas facilities from the regulation last month before sending it to the White House for review.mWhen finalized, the rule must be a “logical outgrowth” of the draft version, per the Administrative Procedure Act. But experts tell E&E that doesn’t preclude EPA from rethinking timelines, criteria and other details as long as it has the analysis and public comments to back up such changes. And with a final rule still weeks away, they say EPA and White House officials may still be settling some of those issues. “The final decisions are still being made on some of these finer details,” Carrie Jenks, executive director of Harvard University’s Environmental & Energy Law Program, told E&E.

STATE UPDATES

Bloomberg: Louisiana Gas Project Delayed Amid Spat Between Energy Transfer, Developers
Elizabeth Elkin, 3/18/24

“A Louisiana pipeline has been delayed as a legal battle rages between Energy Transfer LP and rival natural gas project developers,” Bloomberg reports. “Momentum Midstream LLC’s project, which was originally set for completion in 2024, has been pushed to 2025, a lawyer for the company told a Louisiana state House of Representatives committee Monday. A Louisiana pipeline has been delayed as a legal battle rages between Energy Transfer LP and rival natural gas project developers. Three developers are sparring with Energy Transfer, saying the pipeline heavyweight is blocking them from building new projects by not allowing them to cross over its existing conduits. A lawyer for Energy Transfer said at the hearing that the companies are asking for an unreasonable number of crossings and failing to go through proper regulatory review.”

Reuters: Alaska LNG seeks funding on path to final investment decision in 2025
3/18/24

“Alaska Gasline Development Corp (AGDC) said on Monday it was working to secure funding for Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) for its proposed Alaska LNG project in 2024, which would lead to a final investment decision (FID) in 2025,” Reuters reports. “…Alaska LNG, which is expected to cost roughly $44 billion, is one of several North American liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects that have been under development for years and could make a decision to start construction in 2024 or 2025. AGDC told Reuters about the timing of the possible FID in response to questions, after the state-owned firm issued a press release that said U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration “forcefully supported the export authorization for the Alaska LNG Project.” “…AGDC also noted that Alaska LNG “is unaffected by the Biden Administration’s LNG export authorization freeze announced on January 26.” “…AGDC, which told Reuters Alaska LNG has interest and preliminary agreements for 125% of its offtake, projected the project could produce first gas in-state as early as 2029 and first LNG for export in 2031. The LNG project includes a liquefaction facility on the Kenai Peninsula in southern Alaska and a proposed 807-mile (1,299-kilometer) pipeline that would move gas currently stranded in northern Alaska across the state.”

Carbon Herald: Wyoming Allows Utilities To Charge Customers For Carbon Capture
Violet George, 3/18/24

“Last week, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon signed a bill that will enable utilities to charge their customers retrofitting their power plants with carbon capture technology,” the Carbon Herald reports. “The bill, which was initially met with significant opposition, is now officially signed into law and will push forward the deadline given for coal-fired power plants to be equipped with carbon capture from 2030 to 2033… “The new law will allow Wyoming utilities to implement a system where they can collect a surcharge from customers. This surcharge will be capped at 2% of a customer’s total electricity bill. The collected funds will be used by utilities to invest in carbon capture technologies, which aim to reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses released by coal plants. The Wyoming Public Service Commission will be responsible for overseeing these investments… “The law also loosens regulations around carbon capture technology. Previously, plants were required to capture at least 90% of their greenhouse gas emissions, whereas now, the minimum capture rate is reduced to 75%. Finally, the legislation aligns with existing federal tax breaks for companies investing in carbon capture technologies. This allows utilities to recoup some of their upfront costs through these expiring tax credits.”

E&E News: Startup promises to build carbon removal ‘orchard’
Corbin Hiar, 3/19/24

“A startup with Silicon Valley funding outlined its intention Tuesday to build one of the world’s largest direct air capture facilities in central Wyoming. The project dubbed “Orchard One” would eventually pull 2 million tons of climate pollution from the air annually using carbon-absorbing material resembling dimpled softballs,” E&E News reports. “We are on pace for delivering carbon removal in 2026,” Spiritus CEO Charles Cadieu told E&E News in an interview last week. Spiritus unveiled the contours of its project after federal and state governments moved to catalyze the development of direct air capture technologies, which generally use a combination of absorptive materials, heat, piping and fans to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and lock it away in rock formations or in long-lasting products like concrete.”

EXTRACTION

Reuters: Big Oil executives push back against calls for fast energy transition
Marianna Parraga and Arathy Somasekhar, 3/18/24

“Top oil executives took to the stage of a major energy conference on Monday to vocally oppose calls for a quick move away from fossil fuels, saying society would pay a steep cost to replace oil and gas,” Reuters reports. “Big oil companies including BP and Equinor have written down renewable energy projects and others have been forced to push back their greenhouse gas reduction targets due to greater uncertainties with the transition to clean fuels. That and unexpected strong demand for oil has stiffened the industry’s opposition to government and activist demands to phase out fossil fuel development. Policymakers also have shifted their focus to energy supply security and affordability since Russia invaded Ukraine and during the latest conflict in the Middle East. “We should abandon the fantasy of phasing out oil and gas, and instead invest in them adequately” to reflect demand, Amin Nasser, CEO of Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil producer, said to applause… “Alternative energy has yet to show it can displace hydrocarbons at current requirements or prices, Nasser added. He rejected the International Energy Agency forecast of peak oil demand in 2030. Other oil CEOs echoed his view, with Shell’s Wael Sawan pointing to government bureaucracy in Europe as slowing needed development. Petrobras CEO Jean Paul Prates said caution should overrule haste. Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods also said regulations governing clean fuels have still not been resolved. “If we rush or if things go the wrong way, we’ll have a crisis that we will never forget,” said Prates. “You’re hearing some very pragmatic views up here,” said Meg O’Neill, CEO of Woodside Energy, who rejected what she called simplistic views that the transition to cleaner fuels can “happen at an unrealistic pace.” “…Exxon’s Woods, whose company spent $4.9 billion on a carbon sequestration company, raised concerns about building a business around hydrogen and carbon capture and storage. He said in remarks at the conference he is not confident that carbon capture and storage will “necessarily come to the right solution” because of its current high costs and lack of market incentives.”

CNBC: Saudi Aramco CEO says energy transition is failing, world should abandon ‘fantasy’ of phasing out oil
Spencer Kimball, 3/18/24

“Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said Monday that the energy transition is failing and policymakers should abandon the “fantasy” of phasing out oil and gas, as demand for fossil fuels is expected to continue to grow in the coming years,” CNBC reports. “In the real world, the current transition strategy is visibly failing on most fronts as it collides with five hard realities,” Nasser said during a panel interview at the CERAWeek by S&P Global energy conference in Houston, Texas. “A transition strategy reset is urgently needed and my proposal is this: We should abandon the fantasy of phasing out oil and gas and instead invest in them adequately reflecting realistic demand assumptions,” the CEO said to applause from the audience. The Paris-based International Energy Agency forecast last year that peak oil, gas and coal demand would come in 2030. Nasser said demand is unlikely to peak anytime soon, let alone by that year. Nasser suggested that the IEA is focusing on demand in the U.S. and Europe and needs to focus on the developing world as well. Nasser said alternative energy sources have been unable to displace hydrocarbons at scale, despite the world investing more than $9.5 trillion over the past two decades. Wind and solar currently supply less than 4% of the world’s energy, while total electric vehicle penetration is less than 3%, he said. Meanwhile, the share of hydrocarbons in the global energy mix has barely fallen in the 21st century from 83% to 80%, Nasser said. Global demand has increased by 100 million barrels of oil equivalent per day during the same period and will reach an all-time high this year, the CEO said. Gas has grown 70% since the start of the century, Nasser said. The transition from coal to gas is responsible for two-thirds of the reductions in carbon emissions in the U.S., he said. “This is hardly the future picture some have been painting,” Nasser said. “Even they are starting to acknowledge the importance of oil and gas security.”

Houston Chronicle: Exxon announces climate solution pilot project during CERAWeek conference in Houston
Amanda Drane, 3/18/24

“Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods said Monday that his company has started a pilot project to capture carbon directly from the air,” the Houston Chronicle reports. “The pilot launched in December uses “a brand new technology application to try to capture carbon more economically from lower concentrations,” he said during the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference that kicked off Monday morning… “Direct air capture, which pulls carbon from the atmosphere rather than a smokestack, is the trickier technology in the evolving carbon capture industry. Occidental Petroleum has made ambitious moves in the space with the development of its first such facility underway in Ector County… “All these technologies, in the early stages, you’ve got an idea; you don’t know whether they’ll be successful or not,” Woods said. “We’re hopeful that this will be.”

Power Engineering International: Time to curb enthusiasm about CCUS in the UK suggests report
Pamela Largue, 3/19/24

“Carbon Tracker’s review of Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) in the UK has revealed a trend of over-promises, under-delivery and high costs,” Power Engineering International reports. “…The report provides a candid analysis of the potential role of CCUS in supporting the UK’s transition to net zero by 2050, and while the government has pledged to derisk projects, its CCUS strategy is “based on optimistic techno-economic assumptions that are now outdated and unrealistic”. In an exclusive interview with Power Engineering International, Lorenzo Sani, Analyst, Power and Utilities at Carbon Tracker and report author said: “The reality is that when we start looking at CCUS project by project, you see a consistent trend, especially in projects promising high rates of carbon abatement. In reality, when the plant was built, it generally captures way below that promised target and at a much higher cost.” “For CCUS projects, the reality is that you often need a lot of custom engineering. It’s big and complex and they involve a lot of transformation, a lot of thermodynamic losses, a lot of energy consumption. These things come with a price and come with complexity because when you build them, there are many variables, different costs, and a lot of different things that can go wrong.” “…The report suggests that plans to use CCUS to decarbonise steel production and gas-fired power plants should be abandoned, with both applications likely to be out-competed by cleaner alternatives. Similarly, it warned that the government’s plans to use CCUS to decarbonise biomass-based power generation face major risks… “The report found the UK is targeting applications where CCUS would lock consumers into a high-cost and fossil-based future whereas future-proof solutions could provide lower-cost and zero-emission alternatives… “CCUS should be prioritised in the cement sector which has no alternatives to decarbonise. In contrast, it should be avoided in the iron and steel sector where hydrogen-based green steel would be a lower-emission and future-proof solution.”

Guardian: ‘We don’t know where the money is going’: the ‘carbon cowboys’ making millions from credit schemes
Patrick Greenfield and Nyasha Chingono in Kariba, 3/15/24

“In the districts surrounding Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe, most people have little idea their villages were at the centre of a multimillion-dollar carbon boom,” the Guardian reports. “…These communities fall within the vast, lucrative Kariba conservation project, encompassing an area almost the size of Puerto Rico. It is among the largest in a portfolio of forest offsetting schemes approved by Verra, the world’s largest certifier. Since 2011, this project alone has generated revenue of more than €100m (£85m) from selling carbon credits equivalent to Kenya’s 2022 national emissions to western companies, according to now-deleted figures published by the project developer. Proponents say these schemes are a quick way of transferring billions of dollars of climate and biodiversity finance to the developing world through company net zero pledges. More than a decade on from the project’s inception, however, many local people say the projects and infrastructure they anticipated never emerged. Only a fraction of the €100m has been distributed to the villages within the project.k “Surely a reward must come,” Rogers Kavura, a 46-year-old who lives in Chikova village in Hurungwe district, told the Guardian. He became a forest ranger with the local council, funded by the offsetting project. “We hear reports that the company has been making lots of money, but we do not know where this money is going. The community is complaining because they are not seeing money trickle down,” Kavura told the Guardian… “Experts say that the Kariba example is illustrative of wider issues within the market, where forest-preservation projects often benefit international traders over local communities. “Nature-based carbon markets have largely been co-opted by groups affectionately known in the industry as ‘carbon cowboys’. These groups spent much of the last 15 years snapping up and enrolling large tracts of land in the developing world, with little care for Indigenous rights governing these areas, or ensuring that local inhabitants get paid for their conservation work,” Elias Ayrey, a remote-sensing forest scientist who runs Renoster, a company that reviews the quality of carbon projects, and who publicly raised concerns about the project a year ago, told the Guardian.”

Guardian: Queensland farming lobby launches legal challenge against Great Artesian Basin carbon capture trial
Aston Brown, 3/18/24

“Queensland farming body AgForce has launched legal action against the federal government in a bid to stop liquified carbon dioxide from being pumped into the Great Artesian Basin,” the Guardian reports. “The Carbon Transport and Storage Corporation (CTSCo), a subsidiary of mining giant Glencore, is awaiting state government approval for a pilot scheme to inject Co2 emitted by a coal-fired power station in southern Queensland into underground water aquifers as part of a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project trial. Farming and environmental groups told the Guardian the project risks causing irreversible damage to the Great Artesian Basin, a vital freshwater source for farmers and one of the country’s “greatest environmental assets”… “The chief executive of AgForce, Michael Guerin, told the Guardian the lobby group had sought a judicial review of a 2022 decision that found the project did not need to be assessed under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act. “Confidence in our food supply is at genuine risk because of the current proposal from Glencore,” Guerin told the Guardian. “Court is the last place we want to be but there’s too much at stake not to put our members’ money into this federal court case.”

Reuters: BP Whiting, Indiana refinery returns to normal ops, says company
3/18/24

“BP Plc’s 435,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Whiting, Indiana refinery returned to normal operations for the first time since a February plantwide power outage, a company spokesperson said on Monday,” Reuters reports. “Gasoline prices in the Chicago-area climbed by at least 20 cents a gallon in the days following the Feb. 1 power outage at the Whiting refinery.”

Trinidad and Tobago Newsday: Maple Leaf student raises $40,000 for oil spill clean-up
COREY CONNELLY, 3/17/24

“The Maple Leaf International School has given $40,000 worth of supplies to the Tobago Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) to assist with the oil spill rehabilitation effort on the south-western coast of the island. The hefty donation was made possible through the efforts of Tyla Cooper, a grade ten student at the Petit Valley school,” Trinidad and Tobago Newsday reports. “…Cooper said approximately $40,000 in supplies was donated to assist the clean-up teams along the coastline. Among the items donated were medical-grade gloves, protective body suits, filtered masks, and disposable overalls. “We would also like to request from the community of Trinidad and Tobago more boots, medical grade gloves, chemical gloves, more protective overalls, masks and baby oil to clean the animals.” Cooper told Newsday she got the opportunity to visit the affected villages. “I looked at the oil in the water. I was so shocked to see how bad it was. And even before I came, I saw the picture of the beaches and how they were completely flooded with oil and it really worried me. I was quite scared. “

New York Times: Review: ‘The Shell Trial’ Seeks a Guilty Party in Climate Change
Joshua Barone, 3/18/24

“The climate activist was tired. Protests at the house of Shell’s chief executive had led to little more than free cookies and the police being called to break things up. The same thing had happened the week before. And the week before that. And the week before that,” the New York Times reports. “I don’t wanna be perfect,” they screamed into a loudspeaker in Ellen Reid and Roxie Perkins’s “The Shell Trial.” “I just don’t wanna die,” the activist added, with an expletive for emphasis. It was a moment of one person speaking for many, and for “The Shell Trial” itself, which premiered at the Dutch National Opera on Saturday. (Among the commissioners is Opera Philadelphia, where it will travel in a future season.) A Brechtian cri de coeur about climate change and complicity, this is an ambitious, passionate show that seems more interested in being heard — in truly reaching its audience — than in being an impeccably crafted work of art.”

CLIMATE FINANCE

Reuters: Fossil fuel sector should pay climate finance, EU ministers say
Kate Abnett, 3/18/24

“The fossil fuel industry should help pay for fighting climate change in poorer countries under a United Nations target, European Union countries’ foreign affairs ministers said on Monday,” Reuters reports. “This year’s U.N. climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November, is the deadline for countries to agree a new global target for how much wealthy, industrialised nations should pay poorer ones to cope with the most severe impacts of climate change. To attempt to address the spiralling costs of deadly heatwaves, droughts and rising sea levels, the European Union is preparing to argue that the new climate finance goal cannot be made up of public funding alone. The EU “calls for additional, new and innovative sources of finance from a wide variety of sources, including from the fossil fuel sector and other high-emission sectors, to be identified and utilised to provide climate finance,” EU member state foreign affairs ministers said in a joint statement, published during a meeting in Brussels on Monday. The statement, a draft of which was previously reported by Reuters, said the EU will also continue to demand that large emerging economies and those with high CO2 emissions and per-capita wealth – like China and Middle Eastern states – should pay towards the new U.N. climate finance goal.”

Financial Times: Cambridge university halts donations from fossil fuel groups
Kenza Bryan, 3/18/24

“Cambridge university has temporarily stopped accepting donations from fossil fuel companies in response to mounting pressure after an independent report warned that due diligence failings had created a “high reputational risk,” the Financial Times reports. “A moratorium on new funding from oil and gas companies had been formally adopted, lasting until the process for accepting donations is reviewed, the university confirmed to the Financial Times. “Accepting funding from fossil fuel companies validates the industry at a time when it is threatening the future viability of life on earth, including by developing new oil and gas infrastructure,” Jason Scott-Warren, a Cambridge professor of early modern literature who backed the moratorium, told FT. The student group Cambridge Climate Justice told FT the proposal, which was accepted on Friday, marked the first time a university in the UK had decided to halt research partnerships with the fossil fuel industry… “The decision follows a report in July last year, led by UN climate champion Nigel Topping, which recommended that Cambridge disengage from oil and gas producers in favour of renewable energy companies. The report found the fossil fuel sector made up 0.4 per cent of the university’s research and philanthropy funding in the six years up to 2022. It also noted that Cambridge’s due diligence process had underestimated the reputational threat of ties to these companies.”

E&E News: House schedules first hearings on final SEC climate rule
Emma Dumain, 3/18/24

“Republicans are setting their sights this week on discrediting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent rulemaking requiring major companies to disclose their climate impacts,” E&E News reports. “A pair of hearings to be convened by GOP members of the House Financial Services Committee will represent the beginning of the party’s planned campaign to undercut the decision on Capitol Hill — if not through legislation then at least through the bully pulpit. The panel will kick things off with a field hearing in Lebanon, Tennessee, on Monday titled “Victims of Regulatory Overreach: How the SEC’s Climate Disclosure Rule Will Harm Americans.” There, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will examine “the rule’s impact on U.S. businesses” and assess “the cumulative impact of the rule on our markets, together with the onslaught of rushed rulemaking, [that] has yet to be analyzed by the SEC.” Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.), the subcommittee chair, will preside. He also leads a working group of Financial Services Committee Republicans tasked with making recommendations on how to respond to the influence of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment movement, and he has pledged to soon introduce a Congressional Review Act resolution to overturn the SEC’s new rule.”

OPINION

Common Dreams: Biden, Listen to Students and Declare a Climate Emergency
Ayesha Qazi-Lampert teaches AP Environmental Science and is a member of the Chicago Teachers Union; David McDermott Hughes is the author of Who Owns the Wind? Climate Crisis and the Hope of Renewable Energy and belongs to Rutgers AAUP-AFT,  3/15/24

“As educators we have been inspired and moved both to witness and stand alongside young people across the nation who have been at the forefront of campaigns pushing local elected officials and the Biden-Harris administration to declare a climate emergency,” Ayesha Qazi-Lampert and David McDermott Hughes write for Common Dreams. “We watched in awe in September when 75,000 people gathered on the streets of New York to attend the March to End Fossil Fuels, organized and driven by the call from youth for climate action. The demands from organizers were clear: stopping federal approvals for new fossil fuel projects and repealing permits for carbon bombs, phasing out fossil fuel drilling on public lands and water, providing a just transition to a renewable energy future, and declaring a climate emergency… “Youth activists are now telling us to lobby President Biden, to push him, again, to declare a climate emergency. And so we, educators, responded. And right now, young people are bravely asking adults to help. Which is why we were so proud of our union, the American Federation of Teachers. In October 2023, the union’s Executive Council passed a resolution “demand[ing] that President Biden take bold action by declaring a national climate emergency” stating that “climate change is a human-caused crisis brought about by the burning of fossil fuels… wreaking havoc on our planet and our daily lives.” We believe it is time for the rest of the labor movement, as well as the Biden-Harris administration, to join students in defending the conditions for life on Planet Earth. By formally declaring a climate emergency, President Joe Biden can enable a host of executive measures, chief among them restoring the ban on exports of crude oil and halting hundreds of billions in private taxpayer dollars from funding fossil fuel projects abroad.”

Newsweek: No ‘Clean’ Gas on a Livable Planet 
Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) is a national leader on energy, the environment, and climate change, 3/18/24

“Fossil fuels are dirty, unpopular, and quickly pushing the planet off a climate change cliff. Big Oil knows this. That’s why they’re now labeling the same dirty products they’ve been selling as “clean,” highlighting industry’s new strategy of delay and greenwashing instead of historic denial,” Sen. Edward J. Markey writes for Newsweek. “The proliferation of “certified gas” schemes, which are often false and misleading, is case in point. These certifications put the climate at risk while coming for your money—attempting to charge higher premiums for so-called cleaner gas. But cooking the books won’t hide the reality that the only way to ensure a safe, sustainable future is to break our reliance on fossil fuels as quickly as possible. I, along with six of my colleagues, recently called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate and crack down on the deceptive greenwashing scheme that Big Oil is running behind our backs. They would like us to believe that they are leading on clean energy—but instead, they are misleading everyday people. For years, the fossil fuel industry has marketed gas as “clean” and touted its lower emissions when compared to its cousins, coal and petroleum. Instead of moving right to renewables—which are cheaper to build than new fossil fuels, even with added storage—they’ve sought to convince the public that gas is a necessary transition fuel. Gas companies have profited from this greenwashing, ignoring the known dangers their products pose to public health and the environment. We now know the full climate impact of gas may be just as bad as coal, thanks to rampant leaks of methane—the climate super-pollutant responsible for up to nearly half of global warming. And extensive research has linked the extraction, transportation, and processing of oil and gas to health risks including cancer, respiratory illness, and infant mortality—especially in disproportionately low-income, rural, Black, brown, and Indigenous communities. The industry would like us to believe it is cleaning up its act by certifying gas as “clean,” “differentiated,” or “responsible.” “…This “clean gas” scam is already making its way into consumers’ gas bills… “Oil and gas companies, who have been fueling climate chaos for decades, cannot be trusted to put out the fire. Governments must step in, stop this false advertising, and protect the public.”

Reno Gazette Journal: What Is Happening With Oil And Gas Leasing On Nevada’s Public Lands? 
Russell Kuhlman is the executive director for the Nevada Wildlife Federation, 3/18/24

“When I heard that the fossil fuel industry was leasing public land and letting it lay idle, I thought, ‘how is it hurting the land if there is no development?,” Russell Kuhlman writes for the Reno Gazette Journal. “The problem is that the majority of the land that is laying idle conflicts with wildlife migration corridors and in areas that could be better suited for other uses like recreation and large-scale solar development. According to a recent poll, 75% of Nevadans think more emphasis should be placed on conserving wildlife migration routes than on oil and gas production in those areas. Leasing lands for fossil fuels in areas with low to no potential not only conflicts with wildlife and other uses, it ties up the understaffed and under-resourced BLM. Nevada’s public land is 86% federally managed and 67% of that is managed by the BLM. Given that our state has lost 71% of our prime sagebrush habitat in the past 20 years and our mule deer and sage grouse populations are plummeting, the BLM has a full plate of ‘to-do’s’ and wasting time performing fossil fuel lease sales in areas with no fossil fuel should not be one of them.”

The Hill: Biden’s new energy rules must stop an existential climate threat: Donald Trump 
Paul Bledsoe is a professorial lecturer at American University’s Center for Environmental Policy, 3/16/24

“In his first three years in office, Joe Biden has done more through legislation, regulation, and diplomacy to combat catastrophic climate change than any president in history. But Biden knows all too well that much of this progress would be rapidly undone if avowed climate denier Donald Trump becomes president again,” Paul Bledsoe writes for The Hill. “…Revising rules regarding electric vehicle options is by far the most important climate and energy electoral issue Biden faces, one that could tip the election in a razor-close outcome of just a few thousand votes in just a few key states. Last month, the administration wisely announced a decision to revise overly strict draft EPA auto fuel efficiency and emissions standards, which would in effect have required two-thirds of all new cars to be all-electric by 2032, even though today only about fewer than 10 percent of new cars are all electric. The initial rules were out of step with real-world purchasing and production, prompting attacks from both Trump Republicans and some consumers. EV adoption, although rapid, has been a bit slower than anticipated, with GM, Ford and other automakers trimming EV production from previously announced levels. But when revising these standards, the administration needs to provide more options for transition vehicles that offer consumers greater range, convenience and cost benefits to gain greatest political benefit… “Some of Biden’s recent actions have been more symbolic than policy driven. The administration’s highly questionable decision to put a pause on LNG export licenses was firmly aimed at the youth vote and obstreperous climate activists who threaten to publicly besmirch Biden’s sterling climate credentials. Yet the Biden team has made the mitigation of methane emissions from U.S. natural gas a top priority; U.S. gas has far lower lifecycle emissions than not only natural gas competitors like Russia, according to most analysis, but also coal. Far-left activists have ignored this accomplishment that will lower U.S. methane and overall greenhouse gas emissions even more in coming years… “But from both a climate and economic perspective, Biden efforts to meet the concerns of consumers and voters are the most responsible way forward. And they are also crucial to making sure Donald Trump’s scorched earth policies never see the Oval Office again.”