EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 4/4/24

PIPELINE NEWS

• E&E News: Feds fall short in oversight of pipeline ‘blast zones’ — watchdog

• KPLC: Shelter-in-place lifted north of Sulphur after pipeline leak

• Energy News Network: Small pipeline, big risks: Carbon capture project sparks concern in rural Illinois

• North Dakota Monitor: PSC denies request to delay Summit pipeline hearings

• Montana Free Press: Climate fix or pollution pipeline?

• E&E News: Bill to extend California’s CCS pipeline moratorium won’t move forward this year

• WHBF: Residents gather in Port Byron to discuss carbon capture pipeline

• Bloomberg: Trans Mountain Oil Pipeline Nears Completion After Tricky Segment Is Finished

• Reuters: Trans Mountain’s expanded pipeline system will start operating May 1

• Spotlight PA: Little information made public about free water testing Pa. ordered Mariner East II pipeline company to fund

• Natural Gas Intelligence: Alaska Looking to Secure Natural Gas Supplies with LNG Pipeline Deal

WASHINGTON UPDATES

• E&E News: White House talks down prospect of LNG deal with Johnson

• E&E News: DOE defends LNG export pause, dismisses industry challenge

• E&E News: Hill climate caucus warns EPA of ‘crippling’ delays on carbon storage

• Alaska Beacon: Interior expects decision about Arctic refuge leasing after July 1, court document says

• The Hill: Biden administration bars drilling in Colorado’s Thompson Divide landscape

STATE UPDATES

• E&E News: Los Angeles County’s climate costs foreshadow legal showdown

• Canary Media: US Steel plant in Indiana to host a $150M carbon capture experiment

• Heatmap: U.S. Steel Is Trying Carbon Capture. Experts Aren’t Impressed.

EXTRACTION

• InfluenceMap: The Carbon Majors Database: Launch Report

• The Daily Mississippian: In Deep Water: Former executives discuss BP’s crisis communication strategy in the wake of the largest oil spill

• Reuters: BofA hikes 2024 oil forecasts on tighter supply, geopolitical risks

• Inside Climate News: As Legal Challenges Against the Fossil Fuel Industry Notch Some Successes, Are Livestock Companies the Next Target?

CLIMATE FINANCE

• Politico: California regulators suggested scrapping Scope 3 from landmark corporate climate bill

• Bloomberg: Fed Blocks Tough Global Climate Rules for Wall Street Banks

• Global Energy Monitor: Private equity’s role in US liquefied natural gas emissions

• Bloomberg: Canada’s RBC Struggles to Go Green While Financing Oil

TODAY IN GREENWASHING

• Semafor: The PR industry isn’t ready to crack down on greenwashing

• Enbridge: Fueling the appetite to feed the world

OPINION

• The Hill: Biden’s LNG ‘pause’ threatens Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry

• Financial Post: If Ottawa is counting on carbon capture and storage, it should start acting that way
  

PIPELINE NEWS

E&E News: Feds fall short in oversight of pipeline ‘blast zones’ — watchdog
Mike Soraghan, 4/4/24

“Federal pipeline safety regulators aren’t collecting the kind of information they need if they’re going to revise hazard estimates for natural gas pipelines, Congress’ watchdog agency said Wednesday,” E&E News reports. “Leaders of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) say they’re considering changes to a calculation that sets a “potential impact radius,” or PIR. Some people refer to the area as the “blast zone” around a pipe. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has urged PHMSA to change the industry-commissioned formula, saying it underestimates the area where people could be hurt or killed by a rupture. But in a report released Wednesday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said PHMSA doesn’t currently collect the kind of data needed to assess the current formula. “Without data on the full impact of these pipeline incidents, PHMSA may find it more difficult to assess the method’s accuracy,” the GAO said in the report.

KPLC: Shelter-in-place lifted north of Sulphur after pipeline leak
4/3/24

“A shelter-in-place has been lifted for residents near Bankens Road north of Sulphur after a leak was stopped in a high-pressure carbon dioxide line,” KPLC reports. “Calcasieu emergency preparedness officials said the Denbury pipeline was blocked off around 8:25 p.m. and the shelter-in-place order lifted shortly after. The order was issued because wind was keeping the released gas close to the ground… “The shelter-in-place is a quarter-mile radius from the 300 block of Bankens Road.”

Energy News Network: Small pipeline, big risks: Carbon capture project sparks concern in rural Illinois
Kari Lydersen, 4/4/24

“Safety concerns are at the heart of opposition to a proposed carbon dioxide pipeline in central Illinois, which would connect an ethanol plant to a proposed sequestration site about six miles away,” Energy News Network reports. “The pipeline proposed by One Earth Energy is much shorter than carbon dioxide pipelines that were previously proposed in Illinois and then tabled by Navigator CO2 Ventures and Wolf Carbon Solutions. Those pipelines would have stretched through hundreds of miles of farmland. But One Earth’s proposed pipeline starts just west of downtown Gibson City, at the company’s ethanol plant. Local leaders told ENN county and city emergency responders, relying largely on volunteer firefighters, are ill-equipped to prepare for possible leaks or ruptures. Ford County Emergency Management Agency and Local Emergency Planning Committee coordinator Terry Whitebird says the county cannot afford to do the necessary training and planning for a potential disaster and evacuation, as noted in testimony filed with the Illinois Commerce Commission, which will hold public hearings in May on the company’s request for a necessary certificate of authority. It also cannot afford to buy electric municipal vehicles that could be necessary during a carbon dioxide leak, since gas and diesel vehicles can fail when the heavy gas displaces oxygen needed for combustion. That means ambulances and other emergency vehicles could be stalled just when they are needed to help rescue or evacuate residents. Opponents of carbon dioxide pipelines often point to a 2020 disaster in the tiny village of Satartia, Mississippi, where a Denbury Resources pipeline rupture and explosion left people sickened and struggling to breathe. At least 45 people were hospitalized, and some report lasting health impacts. Whitebird envisioned a similar disaster unfolding in Gibson City, which has a much larger population of 3,400… “Local leaders and advocates have demanded that One Earth produce models of how a carbon dioxide plume would spread in case of a rupture, but pipeline developers are not required to do so. The company filed plume modeling with the commerce commission in late March, but it is considered confidential and can only be viewed by official stakeholders in the process. Kathy Campbell, an audiologist and Southern Illinois University professor emeritus who has reviewed proposals for the Food and Drug Administration and other federal agencies, told ENN she “had reservations” about the quality of the modeling… “She concluded that residents closest to One Earth’s proposed pipeline would have no way to evacuate before being overcome by dangerous levels of carbon dioxide if the pipeline ruptured.”

North Dakota Monitor: PSC denies request to delay Summit pipeline hearings
Jeff Beach, 4/3/24

“Hearings on the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline will not be postponed despite a scheduling conflict for attorneys representing Burleigh County, but an additional hearing for those attorneys may be held, perhaps by video conference,” the North Dakota Monitor reports. “The Public Service Commission on Wednesday, April 3 voted to not delay hearings that are set to begin April 22 in Mandan on Summit’s carbon pipeline application. The order held open the possibility of a video hearing, but it would be reserved for Burleigh attorneys to ask questions of Summit and would not be a public hearing. The PSC has reserved the Baymont Inn and Suites in Mandan for up to a week’s worth of hearings on the controversial pipeline that would gather carbon emissions from ethanol plants in five states for underground storage in western North Dakota… “The PSC denied the application last year but Summit has since made changes to its pipeline route to address PSC concerns. Changes include moving the route through Burleigh County to the east, farther away from Bismarck.”

Montana Free Press: Climate fix or pollution pipeline?
Amanda Eggert, 4/3/24

“Ridge resident Dan Dinstel remembers his introduction to the Snowy River project, a proposal to inject 150 million tons of carbon dioxide thousands of feet below southeastern Montana’s sagebrush steppe,” Montana Free Press reports. “It came in the form of an announcement in the local newspaper, the Ekalaka Eagle, that the Bureau of Land Management would be hosting a public meeting to discuss a pitch to combat climate change by “safely injecting carbon dioxide — the most common greenhouse gas — deep underground, permanently preventing it from entering the atmosphere.” The announcement caught Dinstel and others in the area by surprise, given that there had been little if any outreach to Carter County residents in the two-year period between the time oil and gas company Denbury Inc. began working with the BLM and the “public scoping” meeting last October. Dinstel, who grew up in Carter County and then returned after retiring from an engineering career in Alaska, set about researching the geological, political and energy landscapes of the Snowy River project. He told Montana Free Press this month that he’s troubled by what his efforts unearthed, as well as by details that have been excluded from the 228-page environmental assessment — a project application, essentially — that Denbury submitted to the BLM in February… “The decisions are being made somewhere other than the Miles City Field Office,” Dinstel told the Press. “We just feel like it’s getting run down our throats whether we like it or not.” “…Neither ExxonMobil nor Denbury responded to multiple requests for comment, so the project’s timeline and price tag remain unclear, as does the amount the BLM stands to receive by leasing federal land and subsurface “pore space” to the project.”

E&E News: Bill to extend California’s CCS pipeline moratorium won’t move forward this year
Blanca Begert, 4/4/24

“Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula pulled his bill to add more safety regulations for carbon dioxide pipelines ahead of a Wednesday hearing after it encountered industry and labor pushback and failed to get support from Central Valley environmental justice groups,” E&E News reports. “Community groups have asked me to hold off for now,” he told E&E. “For this reason, I am not planning to move the bill forward this year.” Why it matters: California’s climate plan relies on technology like carbon capture and storage to meet its emissions reduction targets, but groups living near proposed project sites have concerns over the potential for pipelines to leak and rupture, which can in some cases be lethal. Arambula, a Fresno Democrat, had been trying to address Central Valley residents’ concerns over pipeline safety in his AB 2623, but industry argued that requiring project developers to wait for a new layer of regulations circumvented the process the legislature had already established and would delay projects.”

WHBF: Residents gather in Port Byron to discuss carbon capture pipeline
Brian Weckerly, 4/3/24

“People gathered in Port Byron to discuss concerns over a carbon capture pipeline proposal,” WHBF reports. “Wolf Carbon Solutions withdrew its plan to build a carbon capture pipeline running through parts of Scott and Clinton Counties in Iowa and parts of Rock Island and Henry Counties in Illinois. The company intends to refile its plan. Illinois state lawmakers moved forward with a plan to issue a moratorium on building carbon dioxide pipelines. If the plan passes, pipelines would be on hold until new federal safety regulations are in place.”

Bloomberg: Trans Mountain Oil Pipeline Nears Completion After Tricky Segment Is Finished
Robert Tuttle, 4/3/24

“The expansion of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline is almost complete and the project is on track to start up on May 1 after the government-owned company finished a mountainous segment in British Columbia that had delayed operations,” Bloomberg reports. “Trans Mountain expects to provide service for all contracted volumes next month after completing a drilling project in the Fraser Valley, according to a statement on its website. The company had encountered technical problems on the section in January, pushing back the start of commercial operations by a month.”

Reuters: Trans Mountain’s expanded pipeline system will start operating May 1
4/3/24

“Trans Mountain’s expanded oil pipeline system will start commercial operations on May 1, the Canadian company said on Wednesday,” Reuters reports. “Trans Mountain anticipates providing service for all contracted volumes in the month of May,” it said… “After commencement of operation of the project, Trans Mountain will continue cleanup, reclamation, road and civil work.”

Spotlight PA: Little information made public about free water testing Pa. ordered Mariner East II pipeline company to fund
Lilly Riddle, 4/4/24

“As part of its 2022 plea deal with the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, natural gas company Energy Transfer agreed to fund the testing and remediation of residential water supplies polluted by the construction of its Mariner East II pipeline,” Spotlight PA reports. “But in the nearly two years since that agreement was announced, little information has been released to the public by the state or company about how many households have had their water tested, how many had their water treated if it was contaminated, and the overall status of the testing process, which is run by the state attorney general’s office… “Some residents who asked for testing told Spotlight the process to receive it has been long and arduous, and have expressed confusion over the terminology used by the attorney general’s office, which in documents reviewed by Spotlight PA called the testing requests “complaints.” “This process is a mammoth undertaking involving multiple agencies and coordination with homeowners, so it will naturally take time,” Brett Hambright, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office, wrote in an email to Spotlight PA. “The Office of Attorney General has received one complaint from a homeowner frustrated with the process. Additionally, we have received a few timing inquiries and we provided those homeowners with a status update on their individual investigation.” The number of tests done so far, the results of those tests, and how many residents have been provided water supplies by Sunoco have not been publicly disclosed by either the attorney general’s office or the Department of Environmental Protection. Spotlight PA submitted open records requests to both agencies, but was told that either the information was exempted as part of the Office of Attorney General’s criminal investigation or the records didn’t exist.”

Natural Gas Intelligence: Alaska Looking to Secure Natural Gas Supplies with LNG Pipeline Deal
JACOB DICK, 4/3/24

“The state of Alaska and Pantheon Resources plc are negotiating a deal to boost in-state natural gas inventories using a proposed LNG feed gas pipeline to transport associated volumes from the North Slope,” Natural Gas Intelligence reports. “London-based Pantheon has been advancing development plans for an additional 66,000 acres in Alaska’s Ahpun and Kodiak fields since submitting the top bid last December. While it awaits the final award of those leases sometime this summer, Pantheon has commissioned studies of potential wells in the acreage and is targeting a final investment decision (FID) for the Ahpun project by 2025. Executive Chairman David Hobbs told NGI the firm is working on a deal with Alaska Gasline Development Corp. (AGDC) that could further boost the economics of its Ahpun development…”

WASHINGTON UPDATES

E&E News: White House talks down prospect of LNG deal with Johnson
Kelsey Brugger, Carlos Anchondo, 4/3/24

“The White House sought to tamp down speculation Tuesday around a House Republican push to overturn the Department of Energy’s pause on liquefied natural gas export approvals in exchange for advancing Ukraine aid,” E&E News reports. “An administration spokesperson Tuesday night dismissed recent Reuters reporting that suggested U.S. officials were open to lifting the moratorium on DOE national interest determinations for LNG projects. “The president supports the pause on pending additional approvals of LNG export licenses to evaluate the economic and climate impacts on consumers and communities,” the spokesperson told E&E. The White House also told E&E, “The president has been clear that House Republicans should pass the bipartisan national security agreement that already passed the Senate as soon as possible to get Ukraine the aid it urgently needs to defend itself from Russian tyranny.”

E&E News: DOE defends LNG export pause, dismisses industry challenge
Carlos Anchondo, Timothy Cama, 4/4/24

“The Biden administration is defending its freeze on liquefied natural gas export approvals in a new letter to industry, arguing that the pause is necessary and will only last a year at most,” E&E News reports. “The defense came in a six-page document sent to the American Petroleum Institute (API) from the Department of Energy, which rejected the organization’s plea in February seeking to stop the pause President Joe Biden instituted on pending LNG approvals in January. The White House said the purpose is to study potential climate and economic impacts from rapidly growing gas exports. “DOE is undertaking a step in its usual process — in accordance with DOE’s past practice — to update the analyses that DOE has long determined are necessary to make a reliable assessment of the public interest,” Brad Crabtree, DOE’s assistant secretary for fossil energy and carbon management, wrote in the letter, which was posted on DOE’s website. The letter was dated March 27, before reports emerged that the administration was open to lifting the LNG moratorium in exchange for Ukraine aid. But the new letter echoes a separate White House response Wednesday reiterating its support for the pause.”

E&E News: Hill climate caucus warns EPA of ‘crippling’ delays on carbon storage
Emma Dumain, 4/3/24

“Members of the House Bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus want to know why EPA has delayed permitting of underground carbon dioxide storage projects,” E&E News reports. “The lawmakers further argue the inaction is “actively crippling U.S. efforts to deploy vital clean energy and carbon capture infrastructure alike.” In a letter sent by seven lawmakers to EPA Administrator Michael Regan, they also challenge EPA’s “dismal” record of deploying so-called Class VI wells for long-term underground carbon storage following their approval through the permitting process. “We understand the EPA is currently processing one hundred and eighty-one Class VI well permit applications,” wrote the lawmakers, led by co-chairs Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.). “While we recognize that there are advanced engineering and environmental safety considerations that must be accounted for in Class VI well permitting and state primacy designation, there is no time to waste in deploying carbon sequestration infrastructure, which will play a vital role in decarbonizing the U.S. economy.”

Alaska Beacon: Interior expects decision about Arctic refuge leasing after July 1, court document says
YERETH ROSEN, 4/2/24

“A Biden administration decision about how the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil-development program should proceed is expected in the third quarter of this year, a bit later than previously anticipated, according to a document filed in federal court on Friday,” the Alaska Beacon reports. “The status report was filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage by the U.S. Justice Department on behalf of the Department of the Interior and its leader, Secretary Deb Haaland. It said a final supplemental environmental impact statement on refuge oil leasing is expected to be released in the second quarter of the year. A record of decision to follow that is expected in the third quarter, the status report said. The status report was filed in an active lawsuit launched in 2020 by three Gwich’in tribal governments in Alaska. That lawsuit seeks to overturn a decision by former President Donald Trump’s administration to sell leases in the refuge’s coastal plain. The decision to allow oil exploration there, the complaint said, violates cultural and traditional rights in an area that the Indigenous Gwich’in call Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit, meaning “The Sacred Place Where Life Begins,” because of its importance to the Porcupine Caribou Herd that ranges between northeastern Alaska and northwestern Canada… “The new timeline would produce a decision just a few months before the deadline for a second oil lease sale in the refuge’s coastal plain. While President Biden, Haaland and other top officials in the administration are on record opposing oil development in the refuge, current law requires leasing. Under the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017, Interior’s Bureau of Land Management must hold the second lease sale by Dec. 22, 2024.”

The Hill: Biden administration bars drilling in Colorado’s Thompson Divide landscape
RACHEL FRAZIN, 4/3/24

“The Biden administration on Wednesday barred drilling and mining in a Colorado landscape known as the Thompson Divide, an area of mountaintops, foothills and valleys in the center of the state,” The Hill reports. “The administration said it would bar drilling and mining in 221,898 acres of the divide’s lands for 20 years as part of an effort to preserve it for the future… “The Biden administration first indicated plans to protect the area alongside President Biden’s creation of the Camp Hale National Monument, also in Colorado. A federal assessment projects that the government’s actions will likely prevent 12 or 13 oil and gas wells from springing up in the area… “The lands where drilling is now barred include areas of the White River and Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison national forests.”

STATE UPDATES

E&E News: Los Angeles County’s climate costs foreshadow legal showdown
Lesley Clark, 4/3/24

“Protecting Los Angeles County from the ravages of climate change will cost taxpayers at least $12.5 billion by the end of 2040, according to a new study that could lay the foundation for the nation’s next lawsuit by a local government against the fossil fuel industry,” E&E News reports. “The Tuesday report from the Center for Climate Integrity calculated 14 ways the county will need to address extreme heat, flooding and worsening wildfires. The study, conducted with Resilient Analytics, used conservative “least-cost” estimates under a moderate climate scenario. That means the cost Los Angeles County will pay to respond to climate change will likely be “much higher” than the study estimated, the Center for Climate Integrity said. The report notes that dozens of states and communities — including California and eight Golden State municipalities — have filed lawsuits seeking to recover money from the fossil fuel industry, emulating successful litigation against tobacco and opioid manufacturers.”

Canary Media: US Steel plant in Indiana to host a $150M carbon capture experiment
Jeff St. John, 4/3/24

“Martin Keighley, CEO of CarbonFree, thinks his carbon capture company offers a ​“unique proposition” compared to its competitors: It can actually make money, today,” Canary Media reports. “On Wednesday, the San Antonio, Texas-based company announced its first large-scale effort to prove that proposition — a $150 million project at U.S. Steel’s Gary Works blast furnace in Gary, Indiana. When completed in 2026, it will capture 50,000 metric tons per year of the carbon dioxide the plant currently dumps into the atmosphere, ​“mineralize” it, and ultimately turn it into the ubiquitous industrial product calcium carbonate. The technology is far from a complete solution to the steelmaking facility’s climate impact — let alone its other toxic industrial emissions. The project will capture less than 1 percent of the roughly 10 million metric tons per year of carbon dioxide that Gary Works emits. But ​“importantly, this is the demonstration of a real commercial solution” for capturing carbon emissions, Keighley told Canary — one that turns what are usually regarded as waste streams into a valuable product that will ideally fund much more CO2 removal… “The higher-value ​“precipitated calcium carbonate,” or PCC, that CarbonFree is planning to produce is used in foods and pharmaceuticals, and can fetch a price of $500 to $1,000 per metric ton, Keighley told Canary… “CarbonFree’s business model has a distinct set of economics from typical carbon capture and removal projects, which rely on government subsidies to scrub and store carbon from emissions sources like power plants or factories, or to suck it from the atmosphere itself.”

Heatmap: U.S. Steel Is Trying Carbon Capture. Experts Aren’t Impressed.
EMILY PONTECORVO, 4/3/24

“…On Wednesday, U.S. Steel made an announcement of its own: It is signing a 20-year agreement with CarbonFree, a Texas-based company, to capture carbon dioxide from Gary Works, the largest integrated steel mill in the country, and turn it into a marketable product. The $150 million project is the first to capture and utilize carbon from an American steel plant at a commercial scale,” Heatmap reports. “…Something certainly has to change if U.S. Steel is going to make good on its pledge of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, let alone stay competitive in a market that’s expected to increasingly look for greener products. It’s unclear, however, whom the company is going to convince with this project, which will capture less than 1% of the plant’s annual emissions. “It’s deeply unserious, I think, is the words that come to mind,” Hilary Lewis, the steel director at Industrious Labs, a nonprofit that advocates for decarbonizing heavy industry, told Heatmap. The effort is especially embarrassing, she said, given that two of the company’s competitors, SSAB and Cleveland Cliffs, were awarded $500 million each by the DOE for far more transformative green steel projects. “This announcement is emblematic of how U.S. Steel is a laggard.” “…But outside experts I spoke with were skeptical that it would be able to scale enough to make a meaningful difference in the plant’s — or the industry’s — emissions… “But the issue, according to Rebecca Dell, a former Department of Energy analyst and senior director of industry at the ClimateWorks Foundation, is that the market for high grade calcium carbonate is tiny. “You’re gonna saturate these high end markets way before you get anywhere close to absorbing the full 8 or 9 million tons a year of CO2 that just the Gary Works is emitting,” she told Heatmap.

EXTRACTION

InfluenceMap: The Carbon Majors Database: Launch Report
4/4/24

“The Carbon Majors database traces 1,421 GtCO2e of cumulative historical emissions from 1854 through 2022 to 122 industrial producers, the CO2 portion of which is equivalent to 72% of global fossil fuel and cement CO2 emissions since 1751. Over 70% of these global CO2 emissions historically can be attributed to just 78 corporate and state producing entities. Carbon Majors is a database of historic production data from 122 of the world’s largest oil, gas, coal, and cement producers. This data is used to quantify the direct production-linked operational emissions and emissions from the combustion of marketed products that can be attributed to these entities. Carbon Majors was originally released in 2013 by Richard Heede of the Climate Accountability Institute (CAI). InfluenceMap has since updated and released the database on a new website: carbonmajors.org.”

The Daily Mississippian: In Deep Water: Former executives discuss BP’s crisis communication strategy in the wake of the largest oil spill
Anna Grace, 4/3/24

“At the University of Mississippi’s 2024 IMC Connect! conference, students and faculty learned how to respond to a real-world crisis with former British Petroleum communications executives Lisa Houghton and Heidi Grether, who worked for the company during the Deepwater Horizon Oil Crisis,” The Daily Mississippian reports. “…87 days — that’s how long oil spilled, unabatedly, into the gulf,” Houghton told DM. “Over that time period, we tried many, many, many things to stop that oil, but it took until July 15 (2010) that they were able to actually cap it, and it was not considered dead until September when they were able to drill the intercept well.” A member of the audience pointed out that BP’s response to the Deepwater Horizon accident is used in public relations textbooks as an example of what not to do in a crisis. The panelists responded that the situation was not black-and-white. Houghton said that when she was first sent to the Mississippi coast to deal with the spill, her initial communications team was operating out of a camper and consisted of four other people who did not have a solid background in communications. She was also only told she would be there for two weeks, but ended up staying for the better part of four months… “Houghton highlighted the groundwork that the team ended up doing, like holding town meetings, meeting with local politicians and organizing community response as one of the most impactful parts of their response… “Grether ended the panel with a lesson she learned. “It’s a lesson learned of, ‘Don’t say stupid things.’ But the other part of it was there was so much more than that. And it’s sad that some of what was said overshadows all of the work that was done by 48,000 people, ultimately,” said Grethers.

Reuters: BofA hikes 2024 oil forecasts on tighter supply, geopolitical risks
4/3/24

“Bank of America (BofA) Global Research has raised its 2024 Brent and WTI oil price forecasts, citing escalating geopolitical tensions and the OPEC+ producer group maintaining supply curbs,” Reuters reports. “The bank now expects Brent and WTI crude prices this year to average $86 and $81 per barrel respectively, with prices of both peaking around $95 per barrel during the summer.”

Inside Climate News: As Legal Challenges Against the Fossil Fuel Industry Notch Some Successes, Are Livestock Companies the Next Target?
Georgina Gustin, 4/3/24

“Livestock agriculture is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, but lawsuits against the industry for its role in the climate crisis are only now starting to land in courtrooms and could become critical tools for reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” Inside Climate News reports. “A new analysis from researchers at Yale Law School, published Monday in the Columbia Journal of Environmental Law, tracks the small but rising trend of litigation aimed at the livestock industry and explores potential future legal strategies as the climate crisis accelerates along with global appetites for protein. The authors argue that, given emissions from livestock agriculture, its biggest players could be considered legal targets on par with fossil fuel industry giants like Exxon and Shell.  “We know that climate litigation is picking up steam around the world,” Daina Bray, a clinical lecturer and senior research scholar at the law school, told ICN. “We weren’t seeing the same level of litigation with animal agriculture.” Bray and her co-author, Thomas Poston, a third-year law student, find that’s changing as lawsuits mount against the industry and government regulators for their failure to address the industry’s role in the climate crisis.”

CLIMATE FINANCE

Politico: California regulators suggested scrapping Scope 3 from landmark corporate climate bill
Jordan Wolman, 4/2/24

“California air regulators suggested weakening the state’s corporate greenhouse gas emissions reporting law as it was being negotiated last year, an agency spokesperson confirmed to Politico. What happened: The California Air Resources Board’s draft amendments to what is now a nation-leading climate disclosure law show the agency had proposed removing requirements for businesses to report Scope 3 emissions, or the emissions tied to companies’ vast value chains. Lys Mendez, a CARB spokesperson, told POLITICO that the agency’s recommendations were “similar” to those included in a document of draft amendments obtained by POLITICO. Mendez said those proposals were submitted by CARB staff to Sen. Scott Wiener, the author of the law, and the Senate Appropriations Committee, which voted to advance the measure last May. “Relevant state agencies routinely get asked for their feedback on pending bills, including to help identify cost-saving opportunities that still accomplish the bill’s goals,” Mendez told Politico. “In this case, CARB provided its comments on the proposed legislation to help inform evaluation of the potential implementation costs of the then-under-consideration bill and provide suggestions on options for reducing those costs.”

Bloomberg: Fed Blocks Tough Global Climate Rules for Wall Street Banks
Alastair Marsh, 4/3/24

“US regulators, led by the Federal Reserve, have thwarted a push to make climate risk a focus of global financial rules, according to people familiar with the matter,” Bloomberg reports. “European central bankers have been advocating for the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision to agree on requiring lenders to disclose their strategies for meeting green commitments. In closed-door meetings, US officials have cited their narrow mandate and concerns that the Basel Committee was overstepping its purpose…”Members of the Fed, however, have expressed in closed-door meetings concerns about such rules because they believe the committee might be overreaching with this particular supervision, sources told Bloomberg. The Fed officials also feel they have a narrow mandate in this area to regulate climate risk disclosures from the Wall Street banks, the sources added.”

Global Energy Monitor: Private equity’s role in US liquefied natural gas emissions
Nichole Heil, Private Equity Stakeholder Project, Dustin Duong, Americans for Financial Reform, Alyssa Moore, 4/3/24

“Private equity has been one of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) industry’s main financial drivers through significant investments in existing and proposed LNG export terminals,” Global Energy Monitor reports. “ Private equity firms have invested in 85% of currently operating LNG terminals which export approximately 11 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) of natural gas to international buyers[2], contributing over 28 million metric tons of CO2e annually (mt CO2e/yr) according to Private Equity Climate Risks (PECR) project research. PECR uses an emissions factor for the LNG liquefaction process based on an average of five emissions factors from a 2020 NRDC study on lifecycle emissions of LNG.[3] This emissions factor only calculates process and leakage emissions from the terminal site including liquefaction and transport processes as well as associated estimated methane leakage.[4] The U.S. LNG export industry is growing rapidly, from zero export capacity in 2015 to becoming the largest exporter in the world in 2023.[1] Private equity firms have invested in 73% of proposed terminals. If built, all the private equity-backed proposed LNG terminals would emit an additional 68 mt CO2e/yr and export around 26 billion cubic feet per day[2] (bcf/d) more fracked natural gas overseas. Together, the LNG terminals backed by private equity are on track to emit over 96 mt CO2e/yr, the equivalent emissions of approximately 242 natural gas-fired power plants annually.[3] This finding is aligned with research shows that in reality, LNG may be worse than coal.”

Bloomberg: Canada’s RBC Struggles to Go Green While Financing Oil
Christine Dobby, 4/3/24

“In November, Dave McKay traveled from his Toronto home to Ottawa, where he accepted a medal from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. During a gala at the national war museum, the group showered the chief executive officer of Royal Bank of Canada with accolades for his company’s contributions to environmental causes,” Bloomberg reports. “Just outside the concrete-clad building, about two dozen protesters from Greenpeace and other groups had inflated a 14-foot bust of McKay with the slogan “RBC is Burning Our Future” etched over red flames across its base. A high-powered projector splashed slogans denouncing the CEO as a crapule climatique (climate scoundrel in French) on the museum’s facade… “As the face of the bank, McKay often must defend its investments, and at times that job appears to wear on him. During the company’s tense annual general meeting in Saskatoon last April, he faced repeated questions about RBC’s support of the Coastal GasLink pipeline, which has the backing of some Indigenous leaders along its route but faces stiff opposition from others. “He said, ‘I’m not replying to this,’” Eve Saint, leader of a campaign calling for RBC to stop financing the pipeline, told Bloomberg, recalling an exchange with McKay. “There was no emotion or remorse.” The meeting and related protests generated days of press coverage in Canada. The bank says it treated all “attendees fairly and respectfully.” Some activists acknowledge RBC’s recent efforts to increase its green investments. But they contend that without a significant reduction on the other side of the ledger—fossil fuel funding—the commitments don’t go far enough.”

TODAY IN GREENWASHING

Semafor: The PR industry isn’t ready to crack down on greenwashing
TJ Jordan and Rachel Sherrington, 4/3/24

“More than a third of board members at the world’s largest advertising and public relations firms — all of which have made public commitments to slash their own carbon emissions — also hold roles at high-emissions companies, according to analysis compiled by DeSmog,” Semafor reports. “With combined revenues of $67 billion in 2022, Omnicom Group, WPP, Interpublic Group (IPG), Publicis Groupe, Dentsu, and Havas dominate the communications industry, and have hundreds of subsidiary agencies around the world. And of their 64 total directors, 22 maintain ongoing roles at companies in high-emissions industries such as fossil fuels, aviation, and plastics. These ties, climate campaigners argue, represent a conflict of interest: All of these firms except Omnicom have public net zero goals, and all six are members of a voluntary industry initiative pledging to reduce in-house greenhouse gas emissions. Yet — campaigners posit — these board ties limit the firms’ willingness to stop producing marketing and public relations material that promote the fossil fuel industry, or portray climate-damaging companies as green… “The six giant communications firms talk a good game, and their positive rhetoric helps them recruit a new generation of talent, as young creatives we interviewed said they were more likely to join a company that had good sustainability bona fides. Several younger staffers we spoke to at the six companies expressed frustration and anger over their employer’s lack of green credentials.”

Enbridge: Fueling the appetite to feed the world
4/3/24

“In Nebraska, one out of every three jobs is agriculture-based,” according to Enbridge. “Focused on developing leaders and innovators for the future, the state association of the national Future Farmers of America (FFA) promotes agricultural education by offering skills training and education in local FFA chapters across Nebraska. Currently, more than 12,000 high school students are members of the FFA in Nebraska… “Enbridge is an enthusiastic supporter of the FFA across the Great Plains and the Midwest, with Fueling Futures grants targeted for the following activities by respective state chapters in 2023…”

OPINION

The Hill: Biden’s LNG ‘pause’ threatens Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry
Rep. Mike Kelly represents Pennsylvania’s 16th District, 4/3/24

“During the 2020 election, then-candidate Joe Biden campaigned on ending fossil fuels. Now, his administration’s decision made in January — a so-called “pause” on pending liquified natural gas (LNG) exports — comes during an election year yet again. Except this time, the policy decision is effective immediately, and it dramatically threatens Pennsylvania’s flourishing natural gas industry,” Mike Kelly writes for The Hill. “…The Keystone State, what was once deemed “The Saudi Arabia of natural gas,” accounts for nearly one-fifth of the nation’s natural gas output… “No one is against protecting the environment. In fact, that is one of the biggest benefits of natural gas — it is perhaps the cleanest fossil fuel on the market today… “But once again, the Biden administration is forcing short-sighted energy policy to fit broader political needs rather than what is in America’s best interest. Their track record on American energy leads me to believe that this “pause” may not be temporary after all. On Day One in office, Biden signed executive actions to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline project between the U.S. and Canada… “This is why, over the last month or so, House Republicans have passed legislation to reverse the administration’s decision… “I firmly believe energy security is national security. That’s why the Biden administration’s decision to disrupt American LNG production is not only irresponsible to Americans, but also to our allies overseas… “Pennsylvania’s economic future, and the 423,000 jobs in the commonwealth that are supported by the natural gas industry, heavily depend on whether the Biden administration’s pause turns into an outright ban.”

Financial Post: If Ottawa is counting on carbon capture and storage, it should start acting that way
James Millar is former president and CEO of the International CCS Knowledge Centre, 4/4/24

“Last month the Pathways Alliance, the consortium of Canada’s six largest oilsands companies, announced it has started the process of applying for regulatory approval to build its signature CO2 transportation network and storage hub. The $16.5-billion project would be a game-changer, burying 10 to 12 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year deep underground instead of releasing it into the atmosphere,” James Millar writes for the Financial Post. “After two years and $100 million invested, the move is tangible evidence of the Alliance’s commitment to get to net-zero emissions by 2050. It also cues up a final investment decision on the project in 2025, which would allow it to begin capturing CO2 by 2030. The federal government’s response to the announcement was mostly positive, though it doubled down on recent criticisms, stressing that even more tangible progress was needed. More unfortunate were reported comments from environmentalists claiming, as they usually do, that carbon capture and storage (CCS) will do little to curb our climate problem and that CCS is simply a way for the oil and gas industry to continue to increase production. This “anything but CCS” narrative plods on despite Saskatchewan’s Weyburn-Midale project having safely stored close to 40 million tonnes of carbon dioxide since 2000, and Canada’s continuing to punch well above our weight, with 15 per cent of global CO2 storage capacity despite producing just 1.8 per cent of global emissions… “So, while the Pathways Alliance has been vocal in saying fiscal support and policy certainty akin to what are available in the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom must happen here in order for it to put shovels in the ground, the federal government is just as much in need of the Alliance if it is to meet its own stated climate commitments.”