EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 4/5/24

PIPELINE NEWS

• Pipeline Fighters Hub: Exxon/Denbury CO2 Pipeline Leaks in Louisiana, Triggering Shelter in Place Order

• Sierra Club: Sulphur, Louisiana, CO2 Pipeline Rupture

• E&E News: Pipeline agency announces $392M to fix methane leaks

• Reuters: May startup of Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion surprises analysts

• Calgary Herald: Coming soon, an end to the Trans Mountain expansion drama as pipeline targets May startup

• Reuters: Enbridge wins approval to commence service on Louisiana Venice natgas pipe project

• Reuters: Pembina Pipeline enters LNG offtake agreement with ARC Resources

WASHINGTON UPDATES

• Bloomberg: House GOP Considering Requiring LNG Approvals in Ukraine Aid 

• E&E News: Court backs Biden NEPA ruling for Texas oil terminal

• E&E News: Lawmakers Prod Biden To Act On Interior Oil Rules Ahead Of Deadline 

• InsideEPA: Environmentalists Press EPA To Make Methane Fee An Enforcement Focus 

• Smithsonian: More Than Half of U.S. Landfills May Be Methane ‘Super-Emitters,’ Study Finds

STATE UPDATES

• E&E News: Wyo. wells show scale of public land cleanup cost — report

EXTRACTION

• The Hill: Most carbon dioxide emissions linked to 57 entities: Research

• Carbon Herald: Chevron Buys Stake In Carbon Capture Company ION Clean Energy

• Reuters: Woodside Energy’s JV firm to study carbon capture at Yara Pilbara operations

• New York Times: Plan to Stash Pollution Beneath the Sea Could Save Money and Jobs

• Houston Chronicle: Here’s the latest on the oil spill at Houston’s Horsepen Bayou and what to know about its impact

• The Cooldown: Capsized barge finally stops month-long oil spill off coast of Caribbean islands: ‘The hydrocarbon discharge … has stopped’

CLIMATE FINANCE

• E&E News: SEC pauses climate disclosure rule, cites litigation ‘complexities’

TODAY IN GREENWASHING

• The Narwhal: ‘Detached from reality’: researchers say Pathways Alliance misleading public with greenwashing

• Enbridge: Stepping Up to the Plate To End Hunger in Wyoming

OPINION

• NWestIowa.com: Letter: ‘Opponents to Summit’ is a better description

• InForum: Coal industry pushing back on anti-carbon capture resolution at NDGOP convention

• Akron Beacon Journal: Homeowners beware: Enbridge is coming to a town near you 

• CNN: Investing in oil and gas doesn’t make sense anymore
  

PIPELINE NEWS

Pipeline Fighters Hub: Exxon/Denbury CO2 Pipeline Leaks in Louisiana, Triggering Shelter in Place Order
Mark Hefflinger, 4/5/24

“A pipeline operated by Exxon-owned Denbury carrying highly-pressurized carbon dioxide (CO2) experienced a “leak” on Wednesday, April 3 that caused a release of CO2 that prompted a shelter-in-place order to be issued near the town of Sulphur, Louisiana,” the Pipeline Fighters Hub reports. “Local TV station KPLC reported that “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 order was issued for the area within a quarter-mile radius from the 300 block of Bankens Road, where a Denbury pump station for the pipeline is located in a rural neighborhood, surrounded by homes. We have reached out to the Calcasieu Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness for more information about the incident, when the leak was first detected, when the line was eventually shut off by Denbury, and how the shelter-in-place order was determined and issued, among other remaining questions. The U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has not yet issued any response or details about the incident. The agency is currently in the midst of updating regulations for CO2 pipelines, which have been in the works for more than a year and are not expected to be made public for comment until later this year. Exxon/Denbury have issued no response to the incident nearly 48 hours later. Denbury has a history of CO2 pipeline incidents in the Gulf region, where it has operated pipelines that carry CO2 from industrial operations to oil fields, where it is used to extract more oil in a process called “Enhanced Oil Recovery” (EOR). The “Green” Pipeline where Wednesday’s incident occurred experienced another CO2 release from the very same pump station in March 2011. PHMSA data indicates that Denbury has experienced at least seven accidents on its CO2 lines in the Gulf region since 2010 with “unintentional” releases totaling 51,782.85 barrels of CO2 and “intentional” releases from accidents totaling 44,744.14 barrels, with a total release during this period of 96,526.99 barrels. The industry claims that CO2 pipelines are “safer” that oil and gas pipelines, because there are fewer self-reported incidents logged with (all PHMSA pipeline spill data is “self-reported” by operators). While a failure to report an accident is a violation of law, the regulations related to the size of reportable accidents is ambiguous with regard to CO2 pipelines, so it is entirely possible that this pipeline has leaked more times than Denbury or other CO2 pipeline operators have officially reported.”

Sierra Club: Sulphur, Louisiana, CO2 Pipeline Rupture
4/4/24

“Yesterday, residents in and around Sulphur, Louisiana, were asked to shelter in place after the Denbury carbon pipeline leaked nearby,” according to the Sierra Club. “Sierra Club Iowa Chapter is extremely concerned for the residents around Sulphur, Louisiana and others across the country who are threatened with dangerous carbon pipelines… “Currently there are no adequate protections in place at the Federal, State and Local levels to protect people, our communities and our natural resources. Due to a lack of protections, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is currently writing safety rules for carbon pipelines… “At the local level, counties in Iowa have taken it upon themselves to pass zoning ordinances with setback distances. The Summit and Wolf Carbon Pipelines in Iowa are proposed to be as close as a few hundred feet from peoples’ homes, towns and schools. Based on the carbon pipeline rupture in 2020 in Mississippi, where the plume traveled a mile to the town of Satartia and sickened dozens, we believe carbon pipelines are too dangerous to be near our homes, communities and natural resources. We will keep you updated as we learn more.”

E&E News: Pipeline agency announces $392M to fix methane leaks
Carlos Anchondo, 4/5/24

“The federal government’s pipeline regulator will award $392 million to 130 projects that aim to curb methane leaks from natural gas pipelines across the country,” E&E News reports. “The grants from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration come out of a nearly $1 billion bucket of funding authorized by the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law. Funded projects will repair or replace nearly 500 miles of pipeline in 26 states, including top fossil fuel producers like Texas and Pennsylvania. The agency estimates that will yield a reduction of nearly 1,400 metric tons of methane emissions annually. In a statement, PHMSA Deputy Administrator Tristan Brown emphasized that the program both cuts planet-warming emissions and lowers energy bills.”

Reuters: May startup of Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion surprises analysts
Rod Nickel, 4/4/24

“Trans Mountain’s expanded oil pipeline system will start commercial operations on May 1, the Canadian government-owned company said late on Wednesday, surprising analysts with an earlier than expected commencement on the long-delayed C$34-billion ($25.2 billion) project,” Reuters reports. “Trans Mountain previously said startup would happen in the second quarter… “May 1 is ambitious considering Trans Mountain needs to complete line fill and receive regulatory approvals, Dylan White, North American crude analyst for Wood Mackenzie, told Reuters, adding that late May or early June is more realistic… “The expanded pipeline raises competition with Enbridge’s Mainline and TC Energy’s Keystone pipeline, which take Canadian crude to U.S. refineries. Enbridge expects Trans Mountain’s impact on its volumes to be modest.”

Calgary Herald: Coming soon, an end to the Trans Mountain expansion drama as pipeline targets May startup
Chris Varcoe, 4/4/24

“Like some sort of pipeline telenovela, the decade-long story of the Trans Mountain expansion always seems to have another unexpected plot twist at the end of each episode,” the Calgary Herald reports. “It’s come with public hearings and high-profile protests, regulatory reviews followed by stunning legal setbacks. Add in government privatization, federal-provincial squabbling, a pandemic and staggering cost overruns… “The last leg of the construction, a horizontal drill in the Fraser Valley in British Columbia, is largely complete. Work on that segment started almost two years ago… “When Anderson announced the expansion project in 2012, the pipeline was owned by Kinder Morgan. Since then, the capital costs have increased from $5.4 billion to exceed last year’s estimate of $30.9 billion. (That figure will likely be about 10 per cent higher, according to recent regulatory filings.) Energy economist Peter Tertzakian said Wednesday’s announcement is important. The project will give Canadian producers more control and alternatives than shipping all their crude into the U.S. market, he told the Herald. “It brings resolution to a 12-year project that has been highly controversial and subject to all sorts of delays — and cost escalations as of result of the delays — and the polarization in our energy narrative,” Tertzakian told the Herald.”

Reuters: Enbridge wins approval to commence service on Louisiana Venice natgas pipe project
4/4/24

“Canadian energy company Enbridge’s Texas Eastern Transmission subsidiary received approval on Thursday from U.S. energy regulators to commence service of a natural gas pipeline associated with its Venice extension project in Louisiana,” Reuters reports. “The Venice extension was designed to supply gas to Venture Global LNG’s Plaquemines liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Louisiana, which is under construction and expected to enter service between 2024 and 2026. The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said it granted Texas Eastern’s March 26 request to commence service of the 3-mile (4.8-kilometer), 36-inch (91.4-centimer) Venice extension pipeline… “Other pipes under construction that will also provide gas to Plaquemines include Texas Eastern’s Gator Express and U.S. energy company Kinder Morgan’s (KMI.N), opens new tab Tennessee Gas Evangeline projects.”

Reuters: Pembina Pipeline enters LNG offtake agreement with ARC Resources
4/4/24

“Pembina Pipeline said on Thursday it has entered into an agreement with Canadian firm ARC Resources which will deliver about 200 million cubic feet (mmcf) per day of natural gas for liquefication to the Cedar LNG project,” Reuters reports. “Under the agreement, ARC Resources will supply natural gas through the Coastal GasLink from its production base in Montney, British Columbia, for a term of 20 years commencing in 2028. Pembina, which runs the project jointly with Haisla Nation, said the total estimated cost of Cedar LNG, including interest and transaction costs, is about $4 billion. The partners are yet to make a final investment decision (FID), which is expected by mid-2024… “Canada-based Pembina also entered a bridging agreement with Cedar LNG for 1.5 million tonnes per annum of LNG capacity.”

WASHINGTON UPDATES

Bloomberg: House GOP Considering Requiring LNG Approvals in Ukraine Aid 
Ari Natter, Erik Wasson and Billy House, 4/4/24

“Republican House leadership is considering including a provision in a potential aid package for Ukraine that would require the Biden administration to approve some liquefied natural gas export projects, according to people familiar with the matter,” Bloomberg reports. “The wording, which has yet to be finalized, could set a threshold that effectively requires some LNG export projects that are awaiting approval by the Department of Energy to be green-lighted, one of the people told Bloomberg. The situation remains fluid and discussions on the matter remain in flux, the person, who was granted anonymity to discuss non-public deliberations, told Bloobmerg. It remains to be seen if the package that Speaker Mike Johnson brings to the floor, which could also include border security reforms, could get the needed votes to pass the House and if President Joe Biden would sign it into law. A White House spokesperson previously said a report that White House aides were open to lifting the ban “is not true.” House Democratic leaders are aware of the language and are opposed, two Democrats told Bloomberg. Its passage would alienate progressives, whom Biden has already angered over his handling of Israel as well as the approval of a massive oil drilling project in Alaska.”

E&E News: Court backs Biden NEPA ruling for Texas oil terminal
Niina H. Farah, 4/5/24

“A federal appeals court Thursday upheld the Biden administration’s finding that a deepwater oil export facility in the Gulf of Mexico is in the national interest, dealing a blow to environmental and community groups challenging the project,” E&E News reports. “The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed claims that the federal government failed to meet the standards of environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act or the Deepwater Port Act when it analyzed the potential effects of constructing the Sea Port Oil Terminal, or SPOT, off the Texas coast. The Maritime Administration Agency (MARAD), which is part of the Department of Transportation, determined in 2022 that the construction and operation of the terminal for exporting excess domestically produced crude oil was in the national interest because it would “benefit employment, economic growth and domestic energy infrastructure resilience.” The appeals court agreed that the agency had met the laws’ procedural standards when it approved the project.”

E&E News: Lawmakers Prod Biden To Act On Interior Oil Rules Ahead Of Deadline 
Heather Richards, 4/4/24

“House and Senate Democrats are urging President Joe Biden to finalize oil and gas rules by the end of the month to avoid potential reversal by Republicans and a future Trump administration. In a Thursday letter, 21 Democrats and independents — including Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado and House Natural Resources ranking member Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) — said the Bureau of Land Management’s move to overhaul oil and gas drilling on federal land is a ‘common-sense’ approach that needs to be enacted soon. ‘The current oil and gas leasing program shortchanges the American public, locks up thousands of acres of land that could be put to other uses, invites speculation, and often leaves taxpayers on the hook to pay the cost of reclaiming orphaned wells and restoring surrounding lands and waters,’ the lawmakers argued. Other signers were Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Angus King (I-Maine). The lawmakers want to make sure the Bureau of Land Management finishes its work before the rulemaking becomes vulnerable under the Congressional Review Act. Lawmakers can use the CRA to overturn rules by simple majority votes within 60 legislative days.” 

InsideEPA: Environmentalists Press EPA To Make Methane Fee An Enforcement Focus 
4/3/24

“Major environmental groups are pressing EPA to make the congressionally mandated methane emissions fee and related greenhouse gas reporting requirements a national enforcement priority, arguing such a move would help ensure a level playing field for the oil and gas industry,” InsideEPA reports. ”EPA should ‘consider whether the [fee] and reporting under the [GHG Reporting Program (GHGRP)], including subpart W [covering oil and gas facilities], qualifies as a National Enforcement and Compliance Initiative (NECI) for fiscal years 2024-2027,’ six environmental groups write in joint March 26 comments to the agency regarding its proposed implementing rule for the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) methane fee.” 

Smithsonian: More Than Half of U.S. Landfills May Be Methane ‘Super-Emitters,’ Study Finds
Will Sullivan, 4/3/24

“Landfills in the United States are larger sources of methane than previously thought—according to a new study, more than half of these facilities are methane “super-emitters,” releasing more than 100 kilograms of the potent greenhouse gas each hour,” Smithsonian reports. “Researchers used aircraft to conduct a survey of methane emissions from hundreds of large landfills across the country. They found that on average, emission rates were 1.4 times higher than what has been recorded in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, according to a statement from Arizona State University (ASU), a collaborator in the research.”

STATE UPDATES

E&E News: Wyo. wells show scale of public land cleanup cost — report
Heather Richards, 4/4/24

“A climate group is pointing to a multimillion-dollar shortfall in money needed to clean up old oil infrastructure in Wyoming to highlight the shortcomings in President Joe Biden’s proposed oil reforms,” E&E News reports. “Nestled next to the Rocky Mountains, Wyoming’s Big Horn Basin hit peak oil production in the 1970s. But as it declines, its old oil wells and pipelines need to be decommissioned at a cost of up to $900 million, according to a report released Thursday by Carbon Tracker.  A proposed oil and gas rule from the Bureau of Land Management would add just $28 million to current federal bonds to cover that cleanup, according to the report.”

EXTRACTION

The Hill: Most carbon dioxide emissions linked to 57 entities: Research
ZACK BUDRYK, 4/4/24

“Eighty percent of worldwide carbon emissions since 2016 are attributable to fewer than 60 companies and countries, according to a report published Thursday by the think tank InfluenceMap,” The Hill reports. “The report attributes the vast majority of overall emissions to 57 entities, a combination of nation-states, state-owned companies and investor-owned companies. The three largest producers of human-caused emissions are all state-owned companies, according to the report. Saudi Aramco is the source of 4.8 percent of global emissions between 2016 and 2022 and 3.6 percent of global emissions since 1854, considered the beginning of the industrial era. Russian-owned Gazprom is the No. 2 entity for emissions between 2016 and 2022, with 3.3 percent, followed by Coal India, with 3 percent. Two other state-owned companies, National Iranian Oil Co. and Russian-owned Rosneft, rounded out the top five with 2.8 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively. The only investor-owned entities in the top 10 are ExxonMobil, responsible for 1.4 percent of emissions, and Shell, responsible for 1.2 percent. However, the report also determined that the top five investor-owned companies — Chevron, BP, Exxon Mobil, Shell and ConocoPhillips — are the source of a greater share of historical emissions than the top five state-owned companies — Saudi Aramco, Gazprom, the National Iranian Oil Company, Coal India, and Mexico’s Pemex. Overall, 11.1 percent of historical emissions are attributable to investor-owned firms, compared to 10.9 percent for state-owned firms.”

Carbon Herald: Chevron Buys Stake In Carbon Capture Company ION Clean Energy
Violet George, 4/5/24

“US oil and gas corporation Chevron has just acquired a stake in carbon capture developer ION Clean Energy,” the Carbon Herald reports. “Chevron led a $45-million Series A funding round in ION Clean Energy, but has not disclosed the exact amount of its investment in the company… “ION is among the older carbon capture firms, having been on the market since 2008, and specializes in developing amine-based carbon capture technology, designed particularly for hard-to-abate sectors with high volumes but low concentrations of carbon emissions. The approach works by collecting flue gas into an absorption tower, where CO2 is absorbed by liquid solvent at a capture rate of up to 99%, whereas the remaining flue gas is released into the air. In turn, the CO2 is then passed through a heat exchanger, after which it is compressed and transported to a storage location or is utilized further, for instance, to create products of value. This latest fundraising round is not the only investment to be received by ION recently. Namely, the company was also awarded over $80 million by the US Department of Energy (DOE).”

Reuters: Woodside Energy’s JV firm to study carbon capture at Yara Pilbara operations
4/4/24

“Woodside Energy-operated joint venture Angel CCS will study the feasibility of using carbon capture and storage to decarbonise ammonia producer Yara Pilbara Fertilisers’ existing operations in Western Australia, the oil and gas giant said,” Reuters reports. “Woodside Energy said on Friday that the Angel CCS JV signed a memorandum of understanding with Yara Pilbara to examine if the carbon capture and storage technique could be used to decarbonise the latter’s operations at the Burrup Strategic Industrial Area near Karratha.”

New York Times: Plan to Stash Pollution Beneath the Sea Could Save Money and Jobs
Stanley Reed, 4/4/24

“Renowned for ancient churches and the tomb of Dante, the 14th-century poet, the city of Ravenna and its environs along Italy’s Adriatic coast are also home to old-line industries like steel and fertilizer. The manufacturing plants are of little interest to the many tourists who help sustain the area’s economy, but these sites employ tens of thousands of people,” the New York Times reports. “The question is: For how long? The factories, like others in Europe, face increasing pressure from regulators to reduce the climate-altering gases that their operations produce. The worry is that rising costs from regulation will force them to close. “We are very scared about the future of our industries,” Michele De Pascale, the mayor of Ravenna, told the Times. “We have to reach this goal to reduce CO2 emissions, but we want to do it without destroying our industries,” he said. Italy’s energy giant, Eni, which has a large presence in Ravenna, is pushing a plan that the mayor says could help preserve the region’s heavy industries: create an industrial pollution collector. The company is proposing to construct a network of pipelines to sweep up the carbon dioxide from the sites and store it away in old natural gas reservoirs. It sees this process, known as carbon capture and storage, as a promising new business line that would aid its shift to cleaner activities… “Mr. Descalzi plans to turn carbon capture into a “satellite” company that could attract other investors seeking profits that he forecasts could be about 10 percent a year… “Even some environmental groups are inclined to give carbon capture at least a lukewarm pass as long as it is not a means of prolonging the use of fossil fuels. “If CO2 release to the atmosphere is otherwise inevitable from an industrial installation, then it is better to capture it,” Doug Parr, chief scientist of Greenpeace UK, told the Times.

Houston Chronicle: Here’s the latest on the oil spill at Houston’s Horsepen Bayou and what to know about its impact
Yvette Orozco, 4/3/24

“Restoration efforts of an oil spill that migrated along a two-mile stretch of Horsepen Bayou were expected to conclude this week, according to the Environmental Protection Agency,” the Houston Chronicle reports. “ExxonMobil representatives on Wednesday said in a statement that active cleanup had completed on March 29 and that it would continue to monitor the site out of caution. The EPA has overseen the response efforts following a March 25 incident that caused oil and saltwater from the Denbury Resources’ Webster Saltwater Disposal facility to spill into portions of Horsespen Bayou… “According to ExxonMobil, the incident was caused by a power failure which caused an overflow of produced oil and saltwater from the Denbury facility… “Denbury Resources estimates that 40 barrels of crude oil and 2000 barrels of saltwater released from their facility, according a March 27 bulletin provided by the EPA, and the EPA estimates that up to 15 barrels of crude oil made entry into Horsepen Bayou… “It is estimated that approximately 1,115 barrels of fluids containing crude oil, saltwater and water had been recovered as of the last EPA bulletin last week.” 

The Cooldown: Capsized barge finally stops month-long oil spill off coast of Caribbean islands: ‘The hydrocarbon discharge … has stopped’
Samantha Redditt, 4/4/24

“The month-long oil leak from a barge carrying up to 35,000 barrels of fuel oil that capsized off the Caribbean island of Tobago has finally stopped, according to the twin islands’ government,” The Cooldown reports. “After being discovered off Tobago’s Atlantic coast in early February, the spill caused damage to some of the island’s mangroves and posed a threat to the area’s tourism and fishing industries. As the spill spread into the Caribbean Sea, concerns grew for the neighboring country of Venezuela and nearby islands such as Bonaire and Grenada. Trinidad and Tobago’s ministry of energy released a statement saying, “The hydrocarbon discharge emanating from the overturned vessel located off the coast of Tobago has stopped.”

CLIMATE FINANCE

E&E News: SEC pauses climate disclosure rule, cites litigation ‘complexities’
Lesley Clark, Avery Ellfeldt, 4/5/24

“The Securities and Exchange Commission paused its new climate disclosure rule Thursday, a move that could give companies “breathing room” amid a pitched legal and political battle over the first-of-its kind federal regulation,” E&E News reports. “In a letter to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Wall Street regulator said it’s not retreating from its belief that rules requiring public companies to disclose climate risk are both “consistent with applicable law” and within its authority. But “given the procedural complexities” of a slew of lawsuits against the rule, the SEC said a stay would “facilitate the orderly judicial resolution of those challenges and allow the court of appeals to focus on deciding the merits.” Still, the commission maintained that it would “continue vigorously defending the final rules’ validity in court and looks forward to expeditious resolution of the litigation.” The decision comes as lawsuits brought by nearly every Republican-led state and fossil fuel interests have been consolidated at the 8th Circuit, a conservative-dominated federal appeals court in Missouri. The commission’s decision last month to force public companies to divulge details about their climate risk drew complaints from red-state attorneys general who went to courts dominated by Republican-appointed judges, arguing that the reporting requirements are too onerous and that the commission acted without authority. Green groups that wanted the Biden administration to enact even tougher requirements sued in venues with more liberal jurists.”

TODAY IN GREENWASHING

The Narwhal: ‘Detached from reality’: researchers say Pathways Alliance misleading public with greenwashing
Carl Meyer, 4/4/24

“Canada’s largest oilsands companies are “misleading” the public about their industry’s environmental impact, according to new peer-reviewed research,” The Narwhal reports. “A new paper published in the journal Energy Research and Social Science has found the Pathways Alliance of oilsands companies engaged in multiple instances of “greenwashing” in their promotional efforts, obscuring the true nature of the oil and gas sector’s carbon pollution and the true costs required to eliminate it. “Their messaging omits important information, uses misleading framing and comparisons, and fails to meet standards expected of a credible net-zero plan,” the study said. “It is possible that their net zero plan is a strategy for allowing increased emissions in the near term,” it added… “In the paper, titled “Greenwashing, net-zero and the oil sands in Canada: The case of Pathways Alliance,” researchers described these efforts as a “troubling concentration of corporate power for the purposes of political and public influence.” “…The alliance’s advertising campaign is currently being investigated by the federal competition bureau over separate allegations of greenwashing made in a complaint by Greenpeace Canada… “The researchers found the alliance did not report information on its members’ pollution, and its plan to cut emissions is missing data that could show the baseline pollution levels the plan would be tackling… “Instead of informing Canadians about their environmental performance, the oilsands companies are engaging in “misdirection” that is “detached from the reality” of the impacts their operations are having on the global climate, the researchers wrote. “In most cases, the emissions and harms from the burning of their product are simply unaddressed,” they wrote. “Pathways often fails to acknowledge its net-zero plan covers only a small percentage of oil sands emissions or that these emissions might have increased since the launch of their net-zero plan.” The study also found the Pathways Alliance has not publicly made the full cost of its plan clear, or how much public funding is necessary to complete it. They said in most cases, oil companies have “not actually committed to spending this money or acknowledged that most of what they propose to spend is government money.” “The plan’s credibility appears to rest upon financing and regulatory assumptions without addressing why government support in the tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars are required to retain a business model that is producing substantial climate impacts,” the researchers wrote.

Enbridge: Stepping Up to the Plate To End Hunger in Wyoming
4/4/24

“About 86,000 Wyoming residents have trouble keeping the fridge and the pantry stocked at home,” according to Enbridge. “That number is both surprising and troubling to Jennie Gordon, First Lady of Wyoming, who leads the Wyoming Hunger Initiative to address food insecurity by increasing awareness and support for the work of local anti-hunger organizations statewide… “Enbridge recently gave a $10,000 Fueling Futures grant to the Wyoming Hunger Initiative as part of our commitment to building vibrant and sustainable communities.”

OPINION

NWestIowa.com: Letter: ‘Opponents to Summit’ is a better description
Brad Bonnema, Lyon County landowner, Sioux Falls, SD, 4/1/24

“Don’t call them “CO2 pipeline opponents. Many of us in the strong movement against the way Summit Carbon Solutions is trying to unfairly take our private landowner liberties, have a vested interest in seeing South Dakota and Iowa ethanol and corn flourish,” Brad Bonnema writes for NWestIowa.com. “So, you see it’s not exactly fair to refer to Summit Carbon Solutions’ opponents as “CO2 pipeline opponents” or even as “carbon capture/reduction opponents.” These terms have a connotation of being anti-agriculture and are labels of someone who does not want Midwest agriculture to be competitive in low-carbon economies of the future… “The protest is about the way Summit is approaching this specific project and the evident attempts of Summit to circumvent the rules and trample the well-established precedent of local government control… “Dakota Access Pipeline paid more for its pipeline easement in 2016 than Summit is even offering today. And I don’t believe I need to spell out what the price of farm land has done since 2016. The offers from Summit are a joke. A slap in the face. A better way to refer to this group is “Opponents of Summit Carbon Solutions.”

InForum: Coal industry pushing back on anti-carbon capture resolution at NDGOP convention
Rob Port, 4/4/24

“A controversial raft of proposals for the North Dakota Republican Party’s platform for the 2024 election cycle has drawn serious pushback from influential advocacy groups,” Rob Port writes for InForum. “…Now, a resolution that opposes “the fascism of mutually beneficial partnerships between government and private energy corporations created under the pretext of climate change” is drawing fire from the coal industry. Resolution 7, to be taken up by delegates to the NDGOP’s state convention this weekend, is born of an ardent hostility toward a carbon pipeline project backed by Summit Carbon Solutions that got off on the wrong foot with some North Dakotans with aggressive surveying and negotiation tactics. But that opposition has sprouted into full-on hostility to the concept of capturing, transporting and storing carbon at all, spearheaded by state Sen. Jeff Magrum, a Republican from District 8. This has alarmed one of North Dakota’s largest industries. The Lignite Energy Council, which represents the state’s coal industry, will distribute flyers to delegates at the convention asking them to vote down this resolution. A copy of the literature has been shared with me. It urges delegates to consider that left-wing environmental interests also oppose carbon capture, and that despite concerns about the use of eminent domain to build carbon pipelines, the coal industry, specifically, has a decades-long history of working with landowners… “Many Republican voters are conditioned to be suspicious of government policies aimed at mitigating climate impacts. Ironically, these far-right activists have found themselves aligned with left-wing environmental activists, who don’t like that carbon capture is a benefit to the fossil fuels industries.”

Akron Beacon Journal: Homeowners beware: Enbridge is coming to a town near you 
Theresa Bennett, 4/4/24

“Have you by chance heard of the gas line replacement project that Enbridge, formerly known as Dominion, is conducting across Northeast Ohio? If not, get ready — it’s most likely coming to a town near you,” Theresa Bennett writes for the Akron Beacon Journal. “You would know if you’ve heard of it. Or, you probably would have at least had the creeping suspicion something was afoot when work crews posted up in your yard and began digging away. That’s how it started for us. Last week, as I sat in the kitchen with my son — ironically planting seeds on my never-ending mission to beautify our yard — a crew with trucks rolled up and began tearing it apart… “Stephanie Moore, a communications consultant with Enbridge, confirmed we had in fact received notice of this work in the form of one mail flier and one email, both sent roughly a month and a half before the work started, and neither of which we recall getting. The flier explains that when crews arrive, they will turn off gas service for a period of time to perform the work: “For this reason, a Dominion employee or an authorized contractor will attempt to notify you prior to this work to coordinate our project schedule.” “…From my rudimentary understanding of the situation, water was getting into in the old line, which we were still connected to, and needed to be pumped every few hours until we were hooked up to the new line. If it wasn’t pumped in time, our gas shut off, and crews needed to come into our house to restore it… “After six days of calling Enbridge roughly three times a day, juggling times for them to come over (and usually receiving no notice when they were on their way), eating takeout, watching my plants slowly wither away from the cold and bundling up my 2-year-old son each night before bed, our message finally made it to the right people… “By the end of 2023, Enbridge had replaced more than 2,350 miles of gas lines, about 42% of its planned 5,500 miles in its $4 billion project… “Replacements are underway in three different areas of Cuyahoga Falls, Moore told the Journal, and more will be coming for the city, as well as Akron, Barberton, Canton and Copley.”

CNN: Investing in oil and gas doesn’t make sense anymore
Tom Steyer is the founder and co-executive chair of Galvanize Climate Solutions, an investment firm focused on the energy transition., 4/4/24

“Earlier this year, during the warmest February in recorded history, the investment giants JPMorgan Chase, State Street, BlackRock and Pimco walked away from some of their boldest climate pledges,” Tom Steyer writes for CNN. “The leaders of these firms, with a combined more than $15 trillion under management, did not deny that climate change exists, that humans are its cause or that its potential consequences are catastrophic. Instead, some pointed to their legal responsibility to shareholders, which they said precluded them from following through on climate pledges. Others argued that their own climate standards were sufficient, or reserved the right to make business-related decisions without having to take the climate pledge into account. Some might think that, questions of morality aside, fossil fuel investments are just too good to pass up… “But if there’s one lesson I’ve learned in decades as an investor, it’s that things change. On closer examination, the simplest argument against funding new oil, gas and coal projects is not that they’re immoral. It’s that they’re unsound. For investors — and their shareholders — funding new fossil fuel projects is a risky bet. First off, an oil and gas project begun today won’t come online for years, sometimes even decades… “Oil and gas has a supply problem, too. The fossil fuel companies’ business model is the same as it was in 1985, when I was a young analyst at Morgan Stanley examining oil industry price decks: sell each barrel of oil or ton of natural gas for more than it costs to produce. What has changed is that the low-hanging fruit is gone… “Drilling in remote locations, such as the Arctic or far offshore, is more expensive still… “Oil and gas companies face vast litigation risk as well… “In many ways, the fossil fuel industry finds itself where big tobacco was in the 1990s. They haven’t yet been forced to pay damages, but if the floodgates open, the projected cost to oil and gas companies could amount to more than $200 billion per year. Finally, there is perhaps the greatest risk fossil fuel investors face: the industry’s massive profits are largely dependent on special treatment by governments… “Today, an institutional investor that backs new fossil fuel projects is betting that our addiction to fossil fuels will go on forever. Even if all I cared about was financial responsibility to my shareholders, I wouldn’t make that bet.”