EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 4/8/24

PIPELINE NEWS

• Louisiana Against False Solutions: Yesterday’s Carbon Dioxide Leak in Sulphur, LA Highlights Dangers of Carbon Capture and Storage Infrastructure

• NWestIowa.com: Pipeline CEO makes his case for contentious project

• Oelwein Daily Register: Summit discusses plans for Fairbank

• NWestIowa.com: GOP legislators debrief AEAs, pipeline

• Ford County Chronicle: Proposed CO2 pipeline reduced in size, says Gibson City firm seeking ICC permit

• Associated Press: Judge dismisses lawsuit of injured Dakota Access pipeline protester

• Truthout: Six Things Everyone Should Know About the Mountain Valley Pipeline

• S&P Global: 690-mile greenfield Permian-to-Louisiana natural gas pipeline targets 2028 start

• Reuters: UAE flips own script with $4 bln oil pipeline deal

WASHINGTON UPDATES

• E&E News: Greens fight to stop Biden-Johnson LNG export deal

• Press release: Chairs Rodgers and Duncan Announce Field Hearing in Port Arthur on Biden’s LNG Export Ban

• Washington Examiner: Freedom Caucus demands reversal of LNG pause before Congress approves bridge collapse funding

• E&E News: Congress’ spring agenda: LNG, Baltimore bridge, permitting

• E&E News: Shah defends DOE support for carbon capture, hydrogen

• E&E News: These cases face trouble if the Supreme Court axes Chevron

• Wall Street Journal: ‘Now They’re Voting Red’: A Pennsylvania Fracking Boom Weighs on Biden’s Re-Election Chances

STATE UPDATES

• Courthouse News Service: California carbon capture facility scrapped after federal agency digs into details

• Press release: Biomass Carbon Capture Project Canceled in California’s Central Valley

• WESA: Plan to store CO2 underground in Western Pennsylvania, neighboring states raises questions

• The Energy Law Blog: Update From the Legislative Session: Positive Outlook for Louisiana Carbon Capture Projects

• E&E News: Chemical Safety Board probing Louisiana toxic air releases

• National Law Review: Colorado Introduces Bill to Promote and Expand Carbon Dioxide Capture and Sequestration

• Casper Star-Tribune: New oil recovery technique to be put to the test

• Mlive.com: City and state investigating possible source of Flint River oil spill

• WTOL: Ohio EPA investigating oil spill in Spencer Township

• WNEM: Sheriff releases update on potential oil spill

• Law360: Utah Says It Stands To Lose Big In BLM Oil Lease Challenge 

EXTRACTION

• Associated Press: Heat-trapping carbon dioxide and methane levels in the air last year spiked to record highs again

• The Hill: Greta Thunberg arrested at climate protest in The Hague

• NPR: ‘We want to help’: Why climate activists are trying something new

• CNBC: Big oil is racing to scale up carbon capture to slash emissions but the challenges are immense

• FOX News: New carbon technology projects could be key to ‘Big Oil’ emissions cuts

• E&E News: Q&A: Where Chevron is headed on carbon capture, hydrogen

• CBC: Fate of giant carbon capture project still uncertain, but Pathways Alliance hopeful for deal with feds

• Industry Queensland: Opposition unites against carbon capture and storage

• S&P Global: Infographic: The next wave of North American LNG terminals

CLIMATE FINANCE

• Climate Safe Pensions: Oregon becomes third jurisdiction in North America to enact fossil fuel divestment legislation

OPINION

• The New Republic: Mike Johnson’s Proposed Ukraine Deal Is as Cynical as It Is Stupid

• FOX News: Biden’s energy ban brings major job-creating project to screeching halt

• Galveston County Daily News: Biden’s LNG export ban harms Southeast Texas and U.S. allies

• National Post: Tasha Kheiriddin: Liberals’ blind opposition to LNG is making us poorer and less safe

• The Hill: To rebuild the Key Bridge, remove permitting red tape 

• Truthout: Big Oil Ignores Millions of Climate Deaths When Billions in Profit Are at Stake

• Journal-Courier: The executive actions Biden should take on climate — Basav Sen
  

PIPELINE NEWS

Louisiana Against False Solutions: Yesterday’s Carbon Dioxide Leak in Sulphur, LA Highlights Dangers of Carbon Capture and Storage Infrastructure
4/4/24

“Last night, there was a leak in a high-pressure carbon dioxide (CO2) pipeline owned by Denbury Inc. and ExxonMobil, in Sulphur, Louisiana. Pipeline operator representatives arrived at the scene almost two hours after Calcasieu Parish’s Ward 6 Fire Department. This pipeline is just one of a multitude of proposed CO2 pipelines that threaten Louisiana communities as part of a rapid build-out of the dangerous carbon capture and storage (CCS) industry,” Louisiana Against False Solutions reports. “…James Hiatt, a resident of Calcasieu Parish and Executive Director of For a Better Bayou, said, “Last night’s carbon dioxide (CO2) leak from an ExxonMobil-owned pipeline in North Sulphur reiterates grave concerns about carbon capture and storage infrastructure’s safety. Coupled with a previous serious incident in Satartia, Mississippi, which necessitated evacuations and medical treatments due to a similar pipeline failure, these events underscore the perils tied to handling and moving CO2 in large volumes.” “This wasn’t the first incident at the North Sulphur site, highlighting a troubling pattern of safety lapses,” Hiatt continued. “Given the proposals for extensive new CO2 pipelines across South Louisiana, these repeated incidents serve as a stark warning. It’s crucial that these risks not be ignored or minimized, especially when the stakes for public safety and health are so high.” When firefighters arrived at the scene, a high-pressure leak of carbon dioxide was discovered at the pumping station. A shelter-in-place was issued by the Calcasieu Police Jury for residents within 1/4 miles of the incident. Despite carbon dioxide’s tendency to travel at ground level, no warning was given to residents to seek higher ground in their homes. The shelter-in-place was lifted at 9:15 p.m. when the readings suggested the area was clear… “Roishetta Sibley Ozane, founder and CEO of The Vessel Project of Louisiana of Louisiana, said, “I never imagined that my own home in Sulphur, Louisiana, would become a dangerous place to be due to a CO2 leak, but I’m not surprised. As an environmental justice leader, I have been fighting against the constant threat of new fossil fuel buildout in our community, including the newly proposed false solutions of carbon capture. This CO2 leak was a stark reminder of the environmental injustices we face daily.” “Sheltering in place became not only a matter of personal safety but also a symbol of our ongoing struggle,” Ozane continued.  “We were not only dealing with the immediate danger of the leak but also the long-term impacts of living in an area heavily burdened by industrial pollution. It felt like we were trapped, both physically and metaphorically, as the very air we breathed posed a threat to our health.”

NWestIowa.com: Pipeline CEO makes his case for contentious project
Sandra Jenson, 4/6/24

“The fate of carbon-capture pipelines in Iowa remains in the hands of the Iowa Utilities Board as various parties await a ruling after last year’s hearing,” NWestIowa.com reports. “Summit Carbon Solutions chief executive officer Lee Blank is one of the leaders championing for a favorable ruling by the IUB. He recently hosted virtual interviews across the state to outline the scope and impact of the carbon-capture project. “Our project is a three-part project,” Blank said. “We’re actually capturing CO2 off the ethanol industry, we’re putting it in a transportation system — which is what everybody likes to talk about — and then also we’re sequestering it in permanent storage in North Dakota.” “…There was legislation introduced in South Dakota that was put in place to codify landowners’ rights,” Blank said. “We’re evaluating that legislation now and then once we get that completely vetted, we’ll decide on a route in South Dakota and then reapply.” The CEO said permit hearings in South Dakota may start late this year or in early 2025, noting that Summit does not control the timing… “Across the entire state of Iowa, Summit has acquired about 74 percent of the necessary right-of-way voluntarily… “Certainly, there’s opposition in all parts of the state, and that’s fair,” Blank said. “They don’t agree with what we’re trying to accomplish. It tends to be a loud minority in a lot of areas versus the 74 percent that have signed the rights-of-way that are supportive.” About 3 in 4 Iowans oppose carbon-capture pipelines if the projects require use of eminent domain, according to a Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll in March 2023. “I understand opposition. I grew up in north central Iowa, so I understand what the acre means to a landowner. This is important for the industry as a whole,” Blank said… “It’s not impossible for a leak, but it’s highly improbable that you’d have a leak of CO2 from underneath the cap rock,” Blank said.”

Oelwein Daily Register: Summit discusses plans for Fairbank
MIRA SCHMITT-CASH, 4/5/24

“The Summit Carbon Solutions liquefied carbon dioxide capture and storage pipeline, which agreed to connect to POET Bioprocessing ethanol plants like the one in Fairbank, will have three phases, CEO Lee Blank said Thursday,” the Oelwein Daily Register reports. “First is the capture phase at ethanol plant biorefineries, and 57 are signed up now. Second is transport, moving the CO2 to North Dakota. Third will be sequestration in North Dakota under a cap rock substructure, something Iowa doesn’t have, Blank said during a Zoom call. The company has released maps which include a path from Bremer County through Fayette County to POET in Fairbank, a lateral branch. Plans call for an 8-inch pipe in Fayette County, said Sabrina Zenor, director of communications for Summit Carbon… “The valves on the main, 24-inch diameter pipe close in 53 seconds, he said. “We have to be careful how we close the valves. If we do it too quickly it has the capacity to cause a larger event. We have to do it the right way,” Blank said… “The IUB rejected about March 14 a series of spring meeting dates Summit initially proposed, telling the company they needed to postpone meetings until summer, which Blank explained was so not to conflict with spring plantings. “They really wanted the Iowa farmer to get the crop in the ground. We’re perfectly fine with that,” Blank said… “We indemnify (hold harmless) the landowner for the life of the project,” he said.

NWestIowa.com: GOP legislators debrief AEAs, pipeline
Elijah Helton, 4/5/24

“Education and pipelines were the top topics at a legislator forum in N’West Iowa. What else is new?,” NWestIowa.com reports. “State Rep. Skyler Wheeler (R-Hull) and Sen. Jeff Taylor (R-Sioux Center) hosted a mid-session check-in last Saturday, March 23, with those two topics top of mind for most of the couple dozen people in attendance… “Another issue where legislators said Reynolds controls the agenda is CO2 pipelines. Taylor has been especially focused on the issue since the 2022 session. He said GOP leadership in the Senate has made it clear that virtually anything that would limit eminent domain or otherwise slow down carbon-capture projects would be a nonstarter. “I see no hope whatsoever of passing anything of any substance,” Taylor said. “We’re going to have to wait until the Iowa Utilities Board rules on the Summit pipeline. I suspect they’re going to give them a green light, and then I think it has to be fought out in the courts.” The senator named Bruce Rastetter, the head of Summit Agricultural Group, as the main blockage to regulations of his would-be pipeline poised to make billions. “He’s a corporate tycoon. If he was Russian, we’d call him an oligarch,” Taylor said. “His job is to make money for himself and his partners and his investors — which is fine — but what I object to is he using his political and personal connections with Terry Branstad to have a hold over Republican Party leadership in the state.”

Ford County Chronicle: Proposed CO2 pipeline reduced in size, says Gibson City firm seeking ICC permit
Will Brumleve, 4/5/24

“Within the 28,000-plus words of rebuttal testimony from 10 witnesses filed by One Earth Sequestration LLC in its pending case before the Illinois Commerce Commission on Wednesday, March 27, the company revealed its plans to reduce the length, diameter and capacity of its proposed carbon dioxide pipeline in western Ford and eastern McLean counties while also reducing the number of proposed sequestration wells to be used for storing CO2 underground,” the Ford County Chronicle reports. “…The plan has changed, though, to include a reduction in the pipeline’s length — to 5.92 miles — and diameter — from 16 inches to 12.75 inches for the trunkline portion and from 10.75 inches to 8.625 inches for the lateral portions extending from the trunkline to the sequestration wells — which will reduce the pipeline’s capacity from 5.4 million metric tons of CO2 per year to 3 million, OES officials testified… “In addition to revealing the reduced scope of the project, the rebuttal testimony that OES filed with the ICC defended the safety and viability of the pipeline project — known as the OES Pipeline — while addressing concerns raised in direct testimony from ICC staffer Mark Maple, a senior gas engineer in the energy engineering program of the ICC’s Safety & Reliability Division, as well as Ford County Emergency Management Agency Coordinator Terry Whitebird and opponents of the project testifying on behalf of SOIL… “In direct testimony filed Feb. 28, the ICC’s Maple recommended the denial of the OES’s application for a certificate of authority, citing OES’s lack of progress in securing other necessary permits, landowner contracts and easements; establishing an emergency response plan for pipeline ruptures; and finalizing a budget to provide funding for local emergency-response agencies that would need to buy special equipment and undergo training to respond to such events. Maple also noted the “outdated and inadequate” federal safety regulations for CO2 pipelines, as well as the indication, in the wake of a 2020 pipeline leak in Mississippi, that those rules will eventually be changed by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), making this project non-compliant. Maple also noted the abundance of public comments opposed to the project submitted to the ICC. Similar denial recommendations were made by ICC staff in the cases of two previous CO2 pipeline permit applications — for Navigator CO2’s Heartland Greenway Pipeline and Wolf Carbon Solutions’ Mt. Simon Hub CO2 Pipeline — leading to both permits being voluntarily withdrawn… “The reduced pipeline diameter will “enable OES to transport these volumes while still maintaining some capacity to serve additional volumes in the future,” Ditsworth noted… “Additionally, Ditsworth said, reducing the pipeline’s capacity would reduce the volumes of CO2 that could be released in the event of a pipeline leak or rupture… “Adeyemi noted that air dispersion modeling for the pipeline has been completed by Quest Consultants’ Ishii, confirming the proper design and routing of the pipeline… “By Monday, April 8, an “initial draft” of the emergency response plan will be shared with local officials, West said, with a final version as well as a training plan in place before the pipeline is in operation.”

Associated Press: Judge dismisses lawsuit of injured Dakota Access pipeline protester
JACK DURA, 4/5/24

“A federal judge in North Dakota has dismissed the excessive-force lawsuit of a New York woman who was injured in an explosion during the protests of the Dakota Access oil pipeline,” the Associated Press reports. “In orders on Wednesday and Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Traynor granted motions to dismiss the 2018 lawsuit by Sophia Wilansky, whose left forearm was injured in the blast from an “explosive munition” or a flashbang during a clash between protesters and law enforcement officers at a blocked highway bridge in November 2016. The lawsuit named Morton County, its sheriff and two officers. The judge said Wilansky’s 2023 amended complaint “plainly shows the officers use of the munitions and grenades were set in place to disperse Wilansky from the area, not to stop her in her tracks. In addition, the Amended Complaint fails to allege the officers were attempting to arrest her under the circumstances. Such an omission is independently fatal.” “…Wilansky alleged the officers “attacked her with less-lethal and explosive munitions” and nearly severed her hand. She sought “millions of dollars” in damages… “Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier declined to comment, citing a possible appeal. The judge also noted Wilansky’s “horrific injuries to her forearm” and her allegations that the officers laughed at her and congratulated one on his “marksmanship.” “While the Court appreciates the need for officer safety, it can be easy to devalue the human life officers are sworn to protect — in this instance, the protestors. The allegation of laughing and congratulating, if true, is appalling,” Traynor wrote in a footnote. Also on Wednesday, he dismissed a similar, related lawsuit Wilansky filed against officers last year. Other similar lawsuits connected to the protests continue to play out in court.”

Truthout: Six Things Everyone Should Know About the Mountain Valley Pipeline
Derek Seidman, 4/7/24

“The Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) is a 303-mile, 42-inch diameter fracked gas pipeline that, if completed, will stretch from northwestern West Virginia through southern Virginia,” Truthout reports. “…The MVP was proposed in 2014, but it has faced intense opposition from landowners, Indigenous communities, and climate advocates, who say the pipeline’s polluting impacts will be the equivalent of 23 new coal-fired power plants. Concerted legal challenges and direct action protests have stalled the pipeline’s construction, and its estimated costs have boomed from an initial $3.5 billion nearly a decade ago to $7.2 billion today… “Today, MVP owners claim the pipeline is 94% constructed and will be operational in the fall of 2024, though pipeline opponents say this is untrue, even according to the company’s own reports. MVP owners have increasingly coordinated with “fusion centers” and local police to increase repression of protesters in the forms of arrests, fines, lawsuits, and harsh new state laws. A vigorous protest movement has fought the project at every step of the pipeline’s path, and they aren’t giving up now… “This post highlights six important things that organizers taking on the MVP should know. 1. There’s new MVP ownership coming… “2. MVP CEOs rake in tens of millions — including a $7.5 million bonus specifically tied to the MVP — while board directors have powerful Big Oil ties… “3. MVP owners donated big to Joe Manchin before and after he won approval for the pipeline from the Biden administration… “4. BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street and other asset manager are major owners of companies that own and operate the MVP… “5. Wells Fargo, Bank of America and other consumer-facing banks are propping up the MVP… “6. Key pipeline regulators have ties to the oil and gas industry, including the MVP itself… “While Biden’s debt deal was a boost to the MVP, its completion and operation is not guaranteed. Opponents have succeeded in stalling and delaying the pipeline for years, and the financial solvency and political fate of new fossil fuel infrastructure projects can swing wildly. As community members, landowners, and climate advocates continue to try to halt the pipeline, it’ll help to follow the money and understand the financing and networks behind the pipeline’s owners — both old and new.”

S&P Global: 690-mile greenfield Permian-to-Louisiana natural gas pipeline targets 2028 start
Killian Staines, 4/5/24

“The developer of a 2 Bcf/d interstate pipeline project to transport “liquids-rich” Permian natural gas to the Louisiana Gulf Coast has requested to initiate the prefiling review process with the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and is targeting a 2028 in-service date,” S&P Global reports. “DeLa Express is an affiliate of private energy infrastructure firm Moss Lake Partners. The 42-inch, 690-mile pipeline would begin in the Delaware Basin at Loving County, Texas, and supply “markets on the US Gulf Coast from Port Arthur, Texas, to Cameron Parish, Louisiana, including growing demand from liquified natural gas export facilities as well as Moss Lake’s affiliated natural gas liquids export project, Hackberry NGL,” it said April 2 in the prefiling request (PF24-4). It would terminate near Moss Bluff in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana… “DeLa Express requested FERC issue a notice approving the use of the prefiling process by April 12. Under its anticipated timeline, it would file its certificate application with FERC in February 2025, receive its FERC certificate in April 2026, begin construction in June 2026 and place the facilities into service in July 2028. The project will include four lateral supply pipelines in the Permian and a 6.2-mile delivery lateral in Calcasieu Parish. DeLa Express also plans to build eight greenfield compressor stations along the line with 65,000 horsepower each. Over 95% of the pipeline route is collocated with or parallel to existing utility rights of way, DeLa Express said.”

Reuters: UAE flips own script with $4 bln oil pipeline deal
Karen Kwok, 4/5/24

“Abu Dhabi is flipping the script. In recent years, the United Arab Emirates’ leading light has blazed a trail by offloading minority stakes in subsidiaries of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). Wednesday’s acquisition of KKR and BlackRock’s 40% stake in ADNOC’s oil pipelines, by domestic investment fund Lunate, goes in the opposite direction,” Reuters reports. “ADNOC’s original template made a lot of sense. National oil company rival Saudi Aramco’s initial public offering of its whole business in 2019 created major disclosure requirements and intense wrangling over the final group valuation. ADNOC’s strategy of selling minority stakes in subsections like oil and gas pipelines avoided all that, but still raised billions of dollars of cash and burnished the UAE’s credentials as a destination for foreign capital… “What’s less obvious is why Abu Dhabi is buying it back. Arguably paying $4 billion for the assets is a slightly better deal in 2024 than in 2019, because the pipeline network has grown to 806 km. But it rubs against the UAE’s long-term quest for foreign direct investment, which still appears to be an objective judging by the relaxation of limits to overseas ownership in recent years.”

WASHINGTON UPDATES

E&E News: Greens fight to stop Biden-Johnson LNG export deal
Kelsey Brugger, 4/5/24

“House Republicans are heading to Port Arthur, Texas, on Monday to highlight their view on the benefits of liquefied natural gas exports in the largely Black and Latino coastal community,” E&E News reports. “But some Democrats already visited the city earlier this year. They called it “toxic” and “unlivable” because of its reliance on the fossil fuel economy — including Sempra’s LNG export project. The debate will grow louder in the coming days as House Republicans push the White House to lift its gas export permit pause in exchange for approving money for Ukraine to repel Russia’s invasion. “Certainly, we are vigilant and ready to fight this,” Mahyar Sorour, director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Fossil Fuels effort, told E&E. Tiernan Sittenfeld, government affairs senior vice president for the League of Conservation Voters, called the GOP effort “another desperate cynical ploy from Mike Johnson … to try to cater to the most extreme factions of his party and the fossil fuel industry.”

Press release: Chairs Rodgers and Duncan Announce Field Hearing in Port Arthur on Biden’s LNG Export Ban
4/1/24

“House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Energy, Climate, and Grid Security Subcommittee Chair Jeff Duncan (R-SC) announced an upcoming field hearing in Port Arthur, Texas, titled “Biden’s LNG Export Ban: How Rush-to-Green Politics Hurts Local Communities and U.S. Energy Security.” “Workers, families, and the people living in energy producing communities, like Port Arthur, benefit from the energy industry through good paying jobs, tax revenues for school districts, and many other economic opportunities. President Biden’s war on U.S. energy—including his LNG export ban—puts the interests of radical environmentalists over the interests of millions of Americans, as well as our allies. This hearing will be an opportunity to hear firsthand from local leaders about the importance of the LNG industry for their community and beyond.” Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security field hearing titled “Biden’s LNG Export Ban: How Rush-to-Green Politics Hurts Local Communities and U.S. Energy Security.”  WHAT: A field hearing to examine the importance of U.S. LNG exports to local communities, as well as the U.S. economy and our allies. DATE: Monday, April 8, 2024 TIME: 3:30 PM CT LOCATION: Port Arthur, TX  WITNESSES: Witnesses will be announced and are by invitation only. The hearing will be open to the public and press and will be livestreamed online at https://energycommerce.house.gov/.” 

Washington Examiner: Freedom Caucus demands reversal of LNG pause before Congress approves bridge collapse funding
Cami Mondeaux, 4/5/24

“President Joe Biden’s biggest Republican foes in the House are not outright rejecting his request for federal relief as he travels to Baltimore on Friday to inspect the site of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse — but it won’t come for free, they say,” the Washington Examiner reports. “The House Freedom Caucus released its position on whether federal funding should be made available for reconstructing the bridge, which fell down after a cargo ship crashed into it last week. The group said its members would require a series of concessions, including the cost being fully offset and, most notably, a reversal of the president’s pause in liquefied natural gas exports. “Before Congress considers any emergency supplemental funding for the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, it’s important that (1) we first seek maximum liability from the foreign shipping companies upfront and (2) the Port of Baltimore draws upon already available federal funds,” the group said in a statement articulating its position. In their statement, the hard-line Republicans demanded that “burdensome regulations” such as the National Environmental Policy Act or the Endangered Species Act be waived in order to “avoid all unnecessary delays and costs.” The group is also adamant that the funding is limited to only physical structural repairs rather than a “pork-filled bill loaded with unrelated projects.” As such, the group is pushing to follow the “single-subject rule,” which would require requests to be made individually. The Freedom Caucus is also echoing Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) attempts to use the LNG pause as leverage in congressional negotiations.”

E&E News: Congress’ spring agenda: LNG, Baltimore bridge, permitting
Andres Picon, Kelsey Brugger, Marc Heller, 4/8/24

“Congress returns to Capitol Hill this week having recently wrapped up a turbulent fiscal 2024 appropriations process but still staring down a host of pressing priorities — including on major energy issues,” E&E News reports. “…The recess also saw the continuation of debates around the Biden administration’s temporary pause on liquefied natural gas (LNG) export approvals. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), hoping to bolster conservative support for a long-stalled foreign aid package, recently floated the idea of linking that aid to a plan to overturn the LNG pause. Such a proposal, however, could ultimately complicate passage further… “Meanwhile, negotiations around reforming the permitting process for energy projects are expected to continue… “Johnson pledged before the recess to “take the necessary steps to address” Biden’s request for tens of billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Those steps, he said, will involve trying to attach conservative wins to the package, including a provision that would undo the administration’s pause on new LNG export approvals… “The White House last week attempted to tamp down speculation that U.S. officials are open to ending the pause on the Department of Energy’s national interest determinations for LNG projects… “Texas Democratic Rep. Marc Veasey said last week he was open to attaching language reversing the LNG pause, noting that Republicans “have to have something in it for themselves.” “…I don’t know if having that provision in there alone will be enough to forward the bill, and you would also lose a certain number of Democrats,” Veasey said during a Meridian Center for Diplomatic Engagement webinar on LNG. Indeed, Johnson’s efforts to alter the supplemental could end up sinking the package. He needs a significant number of Democratic votes, and Democratic senators have expressed concern that an amended package may not be able to pass in the Senate.”

E&E News: Shah defends DOE support for carbon capture, hydrogen
Gloria Gonzalez, 4/5/24

“Jigar Shah, the head of the DOE’s Loan Programs Office, said the agency is implementing President Joe Biden’s signature climate law and the bipartisan infrastructure law as Congress intended, even when it is supporting controversial technologies such as carbon capture and hydrogen,” E&E News reports. “Shah, who worked as a solar entrepreneur before joining the administration, told E&E “it warms my heart” that solar and wind energy are being talked about as the cheapest forms of energy, but the laws passed by Congress offer benefits to a broader array of technologies. “It is not my job to say ‘this is my favorite technology, this is my least favorite technology,'” Shah told an audience at the Society of Environmental Journalists conference. “You don’t want it to be adjudicated where a government bureaucrat says ‘this is the provision I like the most and this is the provision I don’t like the most.'” The Energy Department said in March it intends to spend $750 million to help finance projects to expand the production of clean hydrogen and cut its costs. And last year the department unveiled seven projects that could receive billions of dollars in federal funding to establish regional clean hydrogen hubs.”

E&E News: These cases face trouble if the Supreme Court axes Chevron
Pamela King, 4/5/24

“If the Supreme Court overturns the Chevron doctrine this summer, the ruling could be used to unravel decades of legal precedents that have shaped lawyers’ current understanding of bedrock environmental statutes,” E&E News reports. “During a Thursday discussion at the spring meeting of the American Bar Association’s environmental section, lawyers noted that since establishing the doctrine — which helps agencies defend their rules against legal assault — in 1984, the high court has used the theory to uphold EPA’s reading of key terms in the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, as well as the Interior Department’s conclusions about the scope of its powers under the Endangered Species Act. All of those rulings could be thrown into question if the Supreme Court scraps Chevron, the panel of lawyers said. “That’s where I’m losing the most sleep when it comes to Chevron being overruled is all the instability you’re going to have in regulations that have been on the books for years and years and years,” said Christopher Walker, a law professor at the University of Michigan.”

Wall Street Journal: ‘Now They’re Voting Red’: A Pennsylvania Fracking Boom Weighs on Biden’s Re-Election Chances
Aaron Zitner, Kris Maher, 4/6/24

“John Sabo and Josh Thieler grew up in Pittsburgh-area communities that were hit hard as 200,000 steel and manufacturing jobs disappeared from the region, upending their parents’ generation and leaving main streets pocked with empty storefronts,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “…Today, both men have good jobs in thriving industries. But their paths to a better life have landed them in different sectors of the region’s new economy and changed their political identities, turning one into a staunch Republican and the other into a progressive Democrat. Pittsburgh is at the center of a class inversion between the two parties that is redefining American politics. Democrats have traded their former blue-collar base for professional-class, metropolitan workers, while Republicans have become overwhelmingly dependent on working-class voters concentrated in far-flung suburbs, small towns and rural areas. In Pennsylvania, the largest 2024 battleground state, President Biden’s victory four years ago depended in large part on big gains among voters such as Thieler, a software company manager and former Republican who is now part of the city’s heavily Democratic professional class. But those gains have been overtaken by opposition from voters like Sabo, who works in the natural-gas industry, a sector that has given a boost to blue-collar workers in rural counties. These energy-economy voters see Biden as hostile to fracking, which taps natural gas trapped in sedimentary rock deep underground. The sector has drawn billions of dollars in new investment in Pennsylvania, much of it in the state’s southwest corner. Biden has been particularly hurt by his decision to cancel the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which local companies say cut into demand for their services; and his order this year to pause new permits to export liquefied natural gas, which could deprive drillers of new markets. Many of these voters also believe the president’s push for Americans to adopt electric vehicles will undercut jobs tied to fossil fuels… “The resistance to Biden’s energy policies is making it harder for the incumbent to stop his party’s decline among noncollege voters there, forcing the party to wring more votes out of a Democratic base elsewhere that, so far, seems dispirited. Sabo, 45, is a manager in the natural-gas fracking industry, which started booming about 15 years ago. He grew up in a Democratic family but abandoned the party and backed Donald Trump twice, due in large part to what he believes is an antagonistic Democratic approach to fossil fuels. “I will never vote Democrat again. Ever,” he told hte Journal. “It’s just not going to happen.”

STATE UPDATES

Courthouse News Service: California carbon capture facility scrapped after federal agency digs into details
ALAN RIQUELMY, 4/5/24

“A biomass and carbon capture project slated for California’s Central Valley won’t be moving forward after the company leading the effort withdrew its permitting application,” Courthouse News Service reports. “The move to withdraw the application came after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency contacted San Joaquin Renewables about discrepancies over whether carbon dioxide waste would be injected under the site, some two miles from McFarland — a city about 25 miles north of Bakersfield… “However, in August 2023, the federal environmental agency contacted the company about a discrepancy in two documents. In one, a notice for the draft environmental impact report, it stated no carbon dioxide injection would occur on site. In its application, the company proposed an on-site injection into a well. While the company told the agency it didn’t plan on any on-site injection into a well, it hadn’t withdrawn its application by February. It gave San Joaquin Renewables until March 29 to withdraw it, or potentially face having it denied. The company formally withdrew its application on March 29… “According to the center, carbon capture and storage compresses carbon dioxide, thereby making it an asphyxiant. A leak can hurt or potentially kill people. Additionally, Tejeda told CNS the carbon capture and storage facility would have needed its own gas-fired power plant. The center told CNS that plant would have been in one of the worst spots in the country for air quality. The center told CNS this is the second time a carbon capture and storage company has filed an improper permit application. Clean Energy Systems in April 2022 withdrew its carbon injection application after the federal environmental agency ordered it.”

Press release: Biomass Carbon Capture Project Canceled in California’s Central Valley
4/5/24

“A major biomass and carbon capture and storage project slated for California’s Central Valley abruptly ended this week after the company, under scrutiny from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, withdrew federal and local permits. Last week the EPA ordered San Joaquin Renewables to either withdraw its carbon dioxide injection permit or face cancelation because of discrepancies between the company’s EPA application and how the company described the project in its local land use application. Residents and environmental advocates fighting the project learned Thursday that the company had pulled both its EPA permit and the city of McFarland land use permit for the proposed project. With no applications left, this marks the end of the project that was first proposed to regulators in 2021. “The EPA showed exactly the kind of carbon capture scrutiny we need by ordering this project to withdraw its permit,” said Victoria Bogdan Tejeda, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. “Carbon capture and storage is a dangerous distraction from real climate action. We need our government officials to put these projects under the microscope, ask tough questions, and refuse to rubberstamp them. If this project ever resurfaces, we’ll be there for the fight.” San Joaquin Renewables told the EPA that it planned to inject up to 1,200 tons per day of carbon dioxide waste under its property, located just two miles from McFarland. Modeling showed the injected carbon dioxide impact area stretched far beyond the injection site, even reaching into the nearby town of Delano… “The project also proposed relying on a new gas-fired power plant to supply its operations. McFarland, as with much of California’s Central Valley, has some of the worst air quality in the country… “No amount of money would ever be enough in exchange for our safety,” said Beatriz Barron, a McFarland resident. “We’re glad to see this project canceled.”

WESA: Plan to store CO2 underground in Western Pennsylvania, neighboring states raises questions
Julie Grant | Allegheny Front, 3/28/24

“Landmen knocking on doors in the region might not be looking to lease land for oil and gas development but for wells to store carbon dioxide deep underground. It’s part of a push to keep CO2 out of the atmosphere to address climate change by developing carbon capture and storage (or sequestration) projects,” WESA reports. “Tenaska, a Nebraska-based company, needs to lease land for injection wells and underground space to store carbon for what it calls its Tri-State CCS Hub in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. It has other projects in the works in the Gulf Coast. The potential customers here would be fossil-fuel heavy industrial facilities like gas power plants and steel manufacturers interested in reducing their carbon dioxide emissions, according to Bret Estep, Tenaska’s vice president of development who leads its CCS initiative… “Tenaska and the Southern States Energy Board (SSEB) are negotiating for up to $69 million from the Department of Energy for project development. Other partners include Ohio State University, West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey, and West Virginia University. “In a region with 131 industrial facilities emitting nearly 47 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually…the Tri-State CCS Hub is emerging to help businesses lessen the environmental impact of these emissions,” according to the SSEB website. Tensaka plans to drill 15 to 20 storage wells where it will inject the CO2, with a target to store five million metric tons annually for 30 years… “The Ohio Farm Bureau has held informational meetings in eastern counties where landowners are being approached to lease their land for this project. “You’re only going to have one opportunity to effectively negotiate,” Dale Arnold, OFB’s director of energy development, told a few dozen Carroll County residents at the local high school in late February. At the meeting, people asked about what to include in carbon storage lease agreements, royalties, and who is liable for the CO2 once it’s injected. Arnold discouraged them from signing leases “on the hood of a pickup truck” and encouraged them to consult with an attorney instead. “This kind of stuff that you want to take a look at, that individual agreement for your home, if you’re being contacted about a lease or an easement,” Arnold said. “How is that going to benefit you, your children, or your grandchildren?” Others wanted to know how many miles of new CO2 pipelines would be needed and whether their land could be taken by eminent domain. Many of these questions remain unanswered.”

The Energy Law Blog: Update From the Legislative Session: Positive Outlook for Louisiana Carbon Capture Projects
Neil Abramson & Jeff Lieberman, 4/5/24

“This has been a great week for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in Louisiana,” The Energy Law Blog reports. “The first round of bills on CCS went forward yesterday, April 4. Four bills aiming to regulate or restrict CCS activities were scheduled by the House Natural Resources & Environment Committee and did not pass. One moved forward with amendments to the House floor… “MOVED TO HOUSE FLOOR WITH AMENDMENTS:HB 516 (Mack), imposes additional requirements and restrictions on CCS projects, including emergency response plans, community notification systems, maps of CCS facilities, locations of CCS facilities, and groundwater monitoring.   While the bill moved to the floor, committee members asked the author to consider additional amendments when the bill comes up for debate on the floor, and it is anticipated that there will be much discussion about additional amendments to the bill going forward. The Second Round of CCS bills are scheduled for hearing before the same House Committee on Tuesday, April 9 – with seven bills on the agenda.”

E&E News: Chemical Safety Board probing Louisiana toxic air releases
Sean Reilly, 4/5/24

“The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board says that it has launched inquiries into releases of hazardous pollutants last year at two Louisiana chemical plants,” E&E News reports. “In January 2023, an equipment failure at a Honeywell facility in Geismar led to an explosion and discharge of almost 2,600 pounds of chlorine and hydrogen fluoride, according to a board news release issued late Thursday. In July, a release of ethylene oxide, a carcinogen, occurred after a fire and explosion at a Dow Chemical operation in Plaquemine, Louisiana. The board was notified of both incidents under its accidental release reporting rule. In a statement, board Chair Steve Owens said the agency now has time to look into “serious chemical incidents” disclosed under the rule after clearing a long-standing backlog of investigation reports. While no one was seriously injured or killed, both accidents involved the release of highly toxic chemicals that could have put workers and nearby residents “at serious risk under different circumstances,” Owens told E&E.

National Law Review: Colorado Introduces Bill to Promote and Expand Carbon Dioxide Capture and Sequestration
Paul V. Franke of Polsinelli PC, 3/19/24

“A bill to expand the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission’s (“Commission”) ability to regulate and promote carbon dioxide capture and sequestration was introduced on February 27,” the National Law Review reports. “HB24-1346 expands the authority of the Commission to regulate facilities that use equipment to capture significant quantities of carbon dioxide directly from the ambient air (referred to as direct air capture or DAC) as well as the underground sequestration of carbon dioxide in pore space (referred to as geologic storage operations). Significantly, HB24-1346 establishes that ownership of pore space necessary for geologic storage (referred to as a sequestration estate) is vested in the owner of the overlying surface estate if the sequestration estate has not been separately severed, conveyed or reserved. Any conveyance of the ownership of an overlying surface estate also conveys the grantor’s ownership of the sequestration estate, except in certain circumstances. In addition, conveyance of the ownership of a mineral estate does not convey the grantor’s ownership in the sequestration estate unless the conveyance instrument provides for such conveyance. Under the proposed legislation, the Commission may reimpose regulatory responsibility or financial insurance obligations on persons who exercised or conducted geologic CO2 storage operations if the geologic storage operator makes material misrepresentations or admissions that cause the Commission to approve a site closure… “HB24-1346 is sponsored by House Representatives Brianna Titone and Karen McCormick and Senators Chris Hansen and Kevin Priola. A summary of the proposed legislation and text of HB24-1346 can both be found here. HB24-1346 is follow-on legislation to Colorado Senate Bill 23-016, which was enacted in 2023 and grants the Commission authority to seek permission from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (referred to as primacy authority) to issue Class VI underground injection control permits for drilling carbon sequestration wells.”

Casper Star-Tribune: New oil recovery technique to be put to the test
Zak Sonntag, 4/4/24

“In the world of oil drilling, only a small portion of reserves flow naturally to the earth’s surface, which means producers must force most of it up by other means,” the Casper Star-Tribune reports. “Increasingly, developers are relying on enhanced oil recovery techniques, which pressure fossil fuels to the surface by injecting water, gas and chemical cocktails into underground reservoirs. These “tertiary” recovery practices have been used for decades, but now one of its oldest techniques is on the verge of a makeover, which could add a new tool to the industry’s arsenal and boost production across the state in years to come. The Wyoming Energy Authority has nominated a unique enhanced oil recovery pilot project to receive as much as $9.8 million in Energy Matching Funds, an earmark set aside by lawmakers to spur innovation in the state. Texas-based development company ATR Funding has proposed a pilot-scale “enriched air” oil recovery project in the Powder River Basin, which would test a new method of “in-situ combustion” recovery at two wells with the goal of extracting an additional 4.8 million barrels of crude. Unlike conventional in situ recovery — which works by shooting oxygen-based gasses into underground reservoirs, where it produces a chemical thermal reaction and pushes oil to the surface — the ATR process would inject “enriched air,” or highly concentrated oxygen, not unlike pressurized oxygen used in hospital settings. The concept was first attempted at a California oil field in 2009. And while the technique proved successful, the project’s economics were not, as it required trucking 20 tons of liquid oxygen to the site each day… “The system would also collect, redeploy and ultimately sequester the process-based CO2 emissions underground.”

Mlive.com: City and state investigating possible source of Flint River oil spill
Ron Fonger, 4/4/24

“The city and Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy are investigating the source of an oil spill discovered in the Flint River on Wednesday, April 3,” Mlive.com reports. “The volume of the spill hasn’t been determined but is being contained with absorbent barriers in three spots along the river, the city said in a Thursday, April 4, news release. A possible source of the spill — at the Whaley Park and Dort Highway outfalls on the east side of the river — has been identified, per the city. Samples from the spill are being collected as the investigation continues, the city’s announcement says. In response to the spill, the Genesee County Health Department recommended Thursday to avoid contact with the river from Dort Highway to Riverbank Park. The spill discovered Wednesday is at least the second reported on the river this year… “Neither incident affects Flint’s drinking water system, which was disconnected from the river in 2016.”

WTOL: Ohio EPA investigating oil spill in Spencer Township
Dominique O’Neill, 4/5/24

“The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is investigating an oil spill that leaked into a ditch in Spencer Township on Saturday,” WTOL reports. “The spill is near Angola Road and has traveled about half a mile down the ditch. The agency has deployed a response team to try and stop the spill and hopes to pinpoint the cause and origin. Steve Kester, a Spencer Township trustee, said the spill needs to be cleaned up as soon as possible. “I guess they will have to see exactly where it’s coming from and it needs cleaned up as fast as possible, it should have been in the works already,” he told WTOL. Tim Bowes, who works in the Spencer Township Maintenance Department, told WTOL it has been a problem for quite some time. “Not to the severity it is now. It’s kind of unnerving to look at,” he said… “Township authorities told WTOL the EPA will determine if the spill should concern area residents.”

WNEM: Sheriff releases update on potential oil spill
4/6/24

“Genesee County authorities are continuing to monitor a potential oil spill that happened in the Flint River on Wednesday, April 3rd,” WNEM reports. “Michigan State Troopers who were conducting aerial patrol noticed what looked like an oil sheen on the Flint River. Investigators responded to the area near the Utah Dam, which is close to West Boulevard Drive and Massachusetts Avenue… “Michigan Spill placed booms in three places along the Flint River. The Genesee County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday evening that the boom is being adjusted as necessary to contain and absorb the foreign material. No other material has been observed downstream, which the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office told WNEM is a good sign of the efficacy of the boom deployed in the water.”

Law360: Utah Says It Stands To Lose Big In BLM Oil Lease Challenge 
Juan-Carlos Rodriguez, 4/5/24

“Utah is asking a federal judge for permission to defend the Bureau of Land Management’s decision to sell oil and gas leases on more than 200,000 acres of public land, an action under legal attack from environmental groups,” Law360 reports. “The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance sued the U.S. Department of the Interior and the BLM over the Trump-era leases in November, alleging the bureau failed to account for environmental and public health impacts. The Beehive State on Thursday told a Utah federal judge that it needs to intervene on behalf of the government’s approvals because it has a ‘substantial interest’ in the leases.” “…If SUWA emerges victorious, the state said it would be deprived of revenue, and such an outcome would conflict with the state’s mission of providing economic opportunities and energy security for residents. ‘Intervention is also necessary because the federal defendants are not capable of adequately representing the state’s own unique interests,’ the state said.”

EXTRACTION

Associated Press: Heat-trapping carbon dioxide and methane levels in the air last year spiked to record highs again
SETH BORENSTEIN, 4/5/24

“The levels of the crucial heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere reached historic highs last year, growing at near-record fast paces, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,” the Associated Press report. “Carbon dioxide, the most important and abundant of the greenhouse gases caused by humans, rose in 2023 by the third highest amount in 65 years of record keeping, NOAA announced Friday. Scientists are also worried about the rapid rise in atmospheric levels of methane, a shorter-lived but more potent heat-trapping gas. Both jumped 5.5% over the past decade… “Carbon dioxide’s average level for 2023 was 419.3 parts per million, up 50% from pre-industrial times… “Methane’s decadal spike should terrify us,” Stanford University climate scientist Rob Jackson, who heads the Global Carbon Project that tracks worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide but wasn’t part of NOAA’s report, told AP. “Fossil fuel pollution is warming natural systems like wetlands and permafrost. Those ecosystems are releasing even more greenhouse gases as they heat up. We’re caught between a rock and a charred place.”

The Hill: Greta Thunberg arrested at climate protest in The Hague
TARA SUTER, 4/6/24

“Climate activist Greta Thunberg was arrested at a climate protest in The Hague, Netherlands, Saturday,” The Hill reports. “Thunberg was one of the dozens of people who police detained when in the process of removing protesters who were obstructing part of a road in The Hague, The Associated Press reported. She was spotted flashing a sign for victory in a bus that police employed to transport protesters away from the demonstration against subsidies and tax breaks for companies in connection with fossil fuel industries. Before the protest, the Extinction Rebellion group said activists would block a highway going into The Hague. However, a large police presence initially stopped them from going on the road. Eventually, a smaller group of people sat down on a different road, and police detained them after they didn’t listen to orders to leave, the AP said. “We are unstoppable, another world is possible,” demonstrators chanted.  Earlier this year, a London court acquitted the young Swedish climate activist of not following an order by police to exit a protest last year that blocked the entrance of an important oil and gas industry conference, the AP reported.”

NPR: ‘We want to help’: Why climate activists are trying something new
Chloe Veltman, 4/5/24

“There’s a scene in Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 drama An Enemy of the People that takes place at a public meeting. The residents of a spa town are trying to prevent a local doctor, Dr. Stockmann, from telling the truth about a factory that’s polluting the local water supply. That’s the moment when, one recent evening, a climate activist stood up from his seat in the audience. It was during a press night for the current production running at Circle in the Square Theatre on Broadway,” NPR reports. “I object to the silencing of scientists!” said Nate Smith as he walked toward the stage wearing a T-shirt bearing the logo of Extinction Rebellion NYC. He was the first of three members of the climate change activism group to disrupt the show that night. Security hustled the activists out, police officers showed up, and theater management asked the actors to clear the stage. But the actors stayed put and stayed in character. Many audience members believed the intrusion was part of the production… “Later, actor Jeremy Strong, who stars as Dr. Stockmann, went on Late Night with Seth Meyers to talk about that moment. “This is a play about trying to communicate an inconvenient truth to the power structure,” he said. “I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t support what [the activists] were saying. It only underlies the message of the play.” Climate change-related actions are ramping up in cultural spaces around the world. They’re shocking, so they get a lot of attention. Activists have flung mashed potatoes at a Monet painting in Germany and stormed the stage during a performance of Les Miserables in London’s West End, among many other art-focused disruptions. These types of protests are meant to show how human-caused climate change will destroy the things people love — namely, art — unless we take action. But these actions often spark outrage from social media and the public… “A spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion New York tod NPR this action was among the group’s most successful so far, in terms of positive coverage. But he told NPR it’s just one of many approaches the group is experimenting with in their ongoing effort to get people to do something about climate change.”

CNBC: Big oil is racing to scale up carbon capture to slash emissions but the challenges are immense
Spencer Kimball, 4/6/24

“Chevron, Exxon, Baker Hughes and SLB are racing to scale up carbon capture and storage across the U.S. as the world races to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. The technology today is expensive, logistically complex and faces controversy,” CNBC reports. “…The Vicksburg paper mill project is just one example of how $12 billion in funding from the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law is supporting the development of carbon capture technology across the United States, as part of the Biden administration’s efforts to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Carbon capture and storage technology today is expensive, logistically complex and faces controversy over its role in the energy transition and safety concerns in communities where pipeline infrastructure would be expanded. The Paris-based International Energy Agency has described carbon capture and storage as “critical” to achieve global net-zero emissions, while also warning the oil and gas industry against using the technology as a way to maintain the status quo on fossil fuels. Some climate activists accuse the industry of simply investing in carbon capture as way to extend the use of oil and gas… “The challenges to implementing the technology are immense. The world needs to capture more than 1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually by 2030, more than 20 times the 45 million metric tons captured in 2022, according to the IEA. By 2050, the amount of carbon that’s captured needs to reach 6 billion tons — more than 130 times the 2022 level, according to the agency. But the track record of carbon capture and storage so far has been one of “underperformance,” with only 5% of announced projects having reached a final investment decision, according to the IEA. The industry needs to demonstrate that the technology can operate economically at scale after struggling to ramp up deployment for years, the agency says… “Total spending on carbon capture and storage projects is expected to reach $241 billion worldwide by 2030 if all announced projects materialize, according Rystad Energy. The United States and the United Kingdom are the leaders, with investments expected to reach $85 billion and $45 billion, respectively, by the end of the decade, according to Rystad… “The Gulf Coast of the United States, home to enormous oil and gas and other industrial plants, is emerging as a center of carbon capture and storage investments in the U.S. Jeff Gustavson, vice president of lower carbon energies at Chevron, told CNBC the region has the potential to quickly increase use of the technology because of favorable geology for storage located close to high concentration emissions that are easier to capture at a lower cost. Some 100 million tons of carbon dioxide are emitted annually from Houston through to Port Arthur, Texas, Gustavson told CNBC. Chevron and Exxon are targeting $10 billion and more than $20 billion, respectively, of spending on emissions-reducing technologies that include carbon capture and storage in major projects under development along the Gulf Coast…  “It gives us sort of instantaneous scale, instantaneous reach, across this huge source of emissions along the Gulf Coast,” Dan Ammann, president of low carbon solutions at Exxon, told CNBC of the Denbury acquisition. “It gives us the ability to develop storage all along that pipeline as well.” Exxon says it now owns the largest carbon dioxide pipeline network in the U.S. As the infrastructure comes together, Exxon is seeing “a very high level of interest from a lot of different emitters along the Gulf Coast,” Ammann told CNBC.

FOX News: New carbon technology projects could be key to ‘Big Oil’ emissions cuts
Michael Dorgan, 4/6/24

“The outcome of four government-funded pilot projects could be crucial in developing technologies for Big Oil to reduce its carbon footprint and help the Biden- administration’s goal of a net-zero emissions economy by 2050,” FOX News reports. “The Energy Department’s Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) in February allocated $304 million in taxpayer funds to new technologies designed to capture carbon dioxide emissions at power and industrial sites in Kentucky, Texas, Wyoming and Mississippi. It is part of a larger $12 billion effort via the 2021 infrastructure bill to develop carbon-reducing technology across the U.S… “But the road to embracing carbon capture and storage technology is fraught with challenges given it is expensive and logistically complex. It is also frowned upon by some climate change advocates who want to see coal, oil and gas energy phased out and eventually stopped altogether… “Exxon now has more than 1,500 miles of owned and operated CO2 pipeline, which it says is the largest network in the U.S. with the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by more than 100 million metric tons a year, the company said in November after the deal was made. But the country’s carbon dioxide pipelines still need to grow dramatically to hit the net-zero targets. The Department of Energy estimates that the current network of 5,200 needs to grow between 30,000 and 90,000 miles but Majkut tells CNBC that the permitting process is challenging because pipelines often cross state lines, requiring lengthy approval from multiple jurisdictions. “The key is the right geology close by to concentrated emissions,” Jeff Gustavson, vice president of lower carbon energies at Chevron, tells CNBC. “That’s where we see this scaling fastest first, but over time, we will need to build more CO2 infrastructure to be able to transport CO2 much longer distances to access the same storage.”

E&E News: Q&A: Where Chevron is headed on carbon capture, hydrogen
Shelby Webb, 4/8/24

“Chevron launched its low-carbon energy unit three years ago to jump-start projects in everything from biofuels and hydrogen to carbon capture and geothermal,” E&E News reports. “Now, the oil and gas company and its rivals are weighing how much to invest in those emerging areas. “We still will support and grow our oil and gas business because billions of people depend on that each and every day,” Jeff Gustavson, president of Chevron New Energies, told E&E. “But we see an opportunity to grow these new lower-carbon businesses and solutions which fit capabilities, customers and assets at the same time.”

CBC: Fate of giant carbon capture project still uncertain, but Pathways Alliance hopeful for deal with feds
Kyle Bakx, 4/8/24

“Despite growing frustrations and prolonged negotiations with the federal government, a consortium of Canada’s largest oilsands companies is optimistic about having a “line of sight” in securing the certainty it needs from Ottawa to advance its proposed $16.5-billion carbon capture pipeline project,” the CBC reports. “The Pathways Alliance is not expecting any new commitments in the upcoming federal budget, but is instead working through the details of what’s already been announced to support the development of carbon capture and storage projects. The prolonged talks are drawing criticism for too much partisanship and dithering by both sides and not enough action toward decarbonizing the oilsands and helping the country reach its climate targets. The companies have yet to make a firm investment to advance the project over a lack of certainty from Ottawa… “In an interview, Pathways president Kendall Dilling maintained the project is on track to be operational by 2030 as long as talks with the federal government wrap up by the end of the year. “…The federal government has proposed an investment tax credit, although Parliament has yet to pass the legislation.  The federal government also offers carbon contracts for difference, supported by taxpayers, which help guarantee a carbon tax for heavy emitting industries.  That’s key because right now, there’s a risk that a change in government or shift political attitude could result in the price of carbon being reduced or wiped out altogether. With certainty on the future price of carbon, project developers can know if it makes financial sense to invest in facilities that will reduce emissions in order to lower their carbon tax bill… “Now, Pathways needs to invest more money to the project such as ordering all the required steel pipe, he said, to demonstrate the group’s long term commitment… “Carbon markets are uncertain though as governments can change. “What carbon contracts for difference does is it guarantees that value. So that these companies and these facilities can put the figures in their spreadsheet, take it to a loan officer at a bank, they can count on that revenue. It’s bankable. Right now, it’s not,” Brendan Frank, policy director at Clean Prosperity, told CBC.”

Industry Queensland: Opposition unites against carbon capture and storage
4/8/24

“Opposition has united against a plan to use the Great Artesian Basin as a carbon capture and storage vessel,” Industry Queensland reports. “Swiss multinational Glencore was given approval by the former Federal LNP Government to inject carbon dioxide from a coal-fired power station into one of the Great Artesian Basin’s aquifers.”

S&P Global: Infographic: The next wave of North American LNG terminals
Corey Paul, Margaret Rogers, 4/2/24

“By the early 2030s, US LNG feedgas demand could more than double from about 13 Bcf/d in 2023,” S&P Global reports. “Click here for the full-size infographic.”

CLIMATE FINANCE

Climate Safe Pensions: Oregon becomes third jurisdiction in North America to enact fossil fuel divestment legislation
4/5/24

“In a groundbreaking victory for pensioners, workers, and climate advocates, the Governor of Oregon signed the COAL Act (HB 4083) into law last night, which will divest the $98 billion Oregon Public Employee Retirement Fund (OPERF) from up to $1 billion in thermal coal producers. Oregon becomes the third jurisdiction in North America (joining California and Maine), and the fourth in the world (the country of Ireland), to pass fossil fuel divestment legislation, affirming the downward trajectory of the fossil fuel sector and associated financial risks. On this win, Susan Palmiter with Divest Oregon issued the following statement: “Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time, which also comes with serious financial risks to Oregon pension beneficiaries, requiring urgent action. The COAL Act begins to address these issues. Championed by Oregon Representative Khanh Pham and Senator Golden, the act provides urgency and needed momentum to Oregon Treasurer Read’s 2024 net-zero plan. In that plan, he states that the impacts of a changing climate pose risks to supply chains, threaten property and transportation infrastructure, force insurance companies to pull out of entire geographic areas and disrupt commodity markets – those risks translate into financial risks. We couldn’t agree more. Safeguarding pension plans from climate risk is good for Oregon pension beneficiaries and good for the planet. The COAL Act is a big step on that path.” “…All eyes are also on California, where a full fossil fuel divestment bill is moving forward in the State Assembly after successfully passing the state Senate in 2023. SB 252 directs the two largest pension funds in the country – CalPERS and CalSTRS, with a combined value of over $800 billion – to divest from the largest 200 fossil fuel companies, shedding up to $14 billion. Oregon now joins more than 1610 institutions representing over $40.76 trillion in assets have committed to some level of fossil fuel divestment, and recent reports reveal the financial case for divestment is stronger than ever.”

OPINION

The New Republic: Mike Johnson’s Proposed Ukraine Deal Is as Cynical as It Is Stupid
Kate Aronoff, 4/2/24

“Embattled House Speaker Mike Johnson is reportedly considering a deal to trade additional military aid for Ukraine—a top priority for Democrats, opposed by many Republicans—for some kind of grand bargain to end the White House’s temporary pause on approving new liquefied natural gas export terminals, announced in January,” Kate Aronoff writes for The New Republic. “Appearing on Fox News on Easter Sunday, asked about the potential for getting an agreement on Ukraine funding, Johnson somewhat obliquely referenced hopes to “unleash American energy; have national gas exports that will un-fund Vladimir Putin’s war effort.” There are virtually no other details as to what such an agreement might look like, and reporting on the matter hasn’t really helped clear things up. While Republicans and the fossil fuel industry have falsely painted the White House’s temporary pause on new export terminal approvals as a “moratorium” on LNG exports, Hill reporters are also now echoing this misleading language. Politico called it a “pause on natural gas exports.” Just about the opposite is true: The United States sold more LNG than any other country last year and broke gas production records. It has produced more crude oil than at any point in its history for the last six years running, and has led the pack of countries embarking on new oil and gas development for the last two. All that new exploration and drilling is helping to put even modest climate goals out of reach… “Democrats, thankfully, seem to agree that Johnson’s idea would be a bad idea, either for climate reasons or because they think it’d trigger more delays with Ukraine funding. The White House has not commented on the proposal. The Republicans who’ve blocked Johnson’s previous spending efforts reportedly aren’t too charmed by it, either. His plan, if you can call it that, appears to be dead in the water. Other efforts to end the pause, though—to keep careening toward a massive LNG buildout federal regulators don’t fully understand—are alive and well.”

FOX News: Biden’s energy ban brings major job-creating project to screeching halt
Randy Weber represents the 14th District of Texas, which includes Freeport LNG, Golden Pass LNG and Port Arthur LNG, 4/5/24

“We are over 1,000 days into President Joe Biden’s term, and it has been an all-out assault against American energy. The latest and most-alarming offensive against Southeast Texas is the liquefied natural gas (LNG) export ban put in place by a president who is hyper-focused on killing the very industry that keeps my district’s lights on,” Randy Weber writes for FOX News. “Southeast Texas has emerged as our nation’s pivotal LNG hub. Positioned approximately 100 miles from the fourth-largest city in the United States, nestled along the Sabine-Neches Waterway on the Gulf Coast, Southeast Texas offers convenient access for vessels to transport goods to our allies.   Additionally, the region is intricately connected by a network of interstate and intrastate pipelines, further enhancing its strategic importance. We are the energy capital of the world, and we aim to be the LNG Hub of the world, too. For over 10 years, our community has embraced the presence of three LNG facilities situated along the strategic waterway: Cheniere LNG, Golden Pass LNG, and Port Arthur LNG. These facilities have been instrumental in fostering economic growth for Southeast Texas… “Biden’s ban directly jeopardizes Port Arthur LNG, which broke ground on construction in March… “The workforce, businesses, and community are not pleased with Biden’s decision… “President Biden’s decision was misguided and warrants immediate reversal. Let’s bolster our LNG exports and make Southeast Texas the LNG Hub of the world, instead of kneecapping this positive growth opportunity.” 

Galveston County Daily News: Biden’s LNG export ban harms Southeast Texas and U.S. allies
Randy Weber represents the 14th District of Texas, which includes Freeport LNG, Golden Pass LNG and Port Arthur LNG, 4/3/24

“Southeast Texas is the Energy Capital of the World. We are the hub for major segments of the energy industry: primarily transmission, and refining. Now, we are leading the way in exporting,” Randy Weber writes for the Galveston County Daily News. “The shale revolution significantly increased natural gas production in the United States and allowed for a revolution in the liquefied natural gas industry. The revolution has led to companies building LNG terminals along the Gulf Coast to export LNG to our allies. Today, Texas exports more natural gas by pipeline to Mexico and other countries by ships loaded at the LNG terminals along the Texas Gulf Coast at Freeport, Corpus Christi, and soon, we will be exporting from Port Arthur. In January, President Biden decided to stop approving new LNG exports. This decision will harm the American economy, jeopardize good-paying jobs, weaken our energy security, and threaten the security of our friends and allies… “This decision will jeopardize thousands of jobs, cost local businesses billions of dollars from investments in LNG facilities, and disincentivize young workers from pursuing their careers in LNG… “Instead of shutting down American energy, we should double down and ensure energy security for us and our allies… “Next week, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security — on which I am proud to serve — will head down to Southeast Texas to see firsthand the importance of U.S. LNG exports to local communities, the U.S. economy, and the security of our allies.”

National Post: Tasha Kheiriddin: Liberals’ blind opposition to LNG is making us poorer and less safe
Tasha Kheiriddin, 4/2/24

“Not interested.” Those are the words of Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, when asked whether the federal government would subsidize future liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects. “We are not interested in investing in LNG facilities,” retorted Wilkinson. “That’s the role of the private sector. They need to assess the business case and make the investments,” Tasha Kheiriddin writes for the National Post. “The question came after Greece signalled its interest in purchasing Canadian LNG, to supply not only its own needs, but those of the Balkans, eastern Europe and potentially Ukraine, as well. “Canada is a country with which we share so many values” and geopolitical interests, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told CTV… “The government is opposed to using government money to fund inefficient fossil fuel subsidies. We’re the first country in the world to actually do that,” Wilkinson crowed to CTV. Perhaps Wilkinson and his fellow cabinet ministers have failed to notice the growing ire at their green-at-all-costs agenda, including protests against the carbon tax that are multiplying across the country… “Small wonder that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has called the prospects of achieving a net-zero power grid by 2035 “fantasy thinking.” “…While I’m not a fan of government subsidies as a rule, the federal government should reverse course on its LNG stance for both economics and geopolitical reasons. Canadians can’t afford not to use natural gas, and our allies need our support against a belligerent Russia. Our government needs to ditch its ideological blinders and wake up to the real threats facing our country — and the world.”

The Hill: To rebuild the Key Bridge, remove permitting red tape 
Curtis Schube is the executive director for Council to Modernize Governance, 4/7/24

“Last month, Baltimore’s Key Bridge came falling down after a cargo ship ran into one of its support piers… “Needless to say, the longer it takes to rebuild, the more negative impact it has on travel and commerce for Americans (and even the world),” Curtis Schube writes for The Hill. “This is a time to start considering the removal of red tape for both the rebuilding of the Key Bridge or other future disasters (or really any projects). Any federal project requires layers of approval permits that can hold back the start date for years. The bridge will likely require a review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). While the environmental studies (which usually take years) may be expedited under categorical exclusions under the law, any modernization efforts or new structures would likely invoke more lengthy reviews. Other state and local permits may come into play as well. Permitting is often a roadblock to completing projects in a timely and efficient manner. The permitting process can cause lengthy delays while government bureaucrats act as gatekeepers… “There is a simple fix that could drastically speed up projects subject to permitting. Permit by rule (PBR) presents all of the benefits of traditional permitting while offering many significant improvements. PBR is simple. A government will create a list of pre-set standards for any applicant to meet in order to commence a project… “Any inaction within a short period of time will result in an automatic approval… “If the government finds that a project is not in compliance with the pre-set standards, the government can take disciplinary actions against the bad actor. But this means that all parties who are complying with the law will be left alone. Only the bad actors draw government attention… “This form of permitting can even aid with NEPA… “Now is the time to implement this simple and commonsense solution.” 

Truthout: Big Oil Ignores Millions of Climate Deaths When Billions in Profit Are at Stake
C.J. Polychroniou is a political scientist/political economist, author, and journalist who has taught and worked in numerous universities and research centers in Europe and the United States, 4/7/24

“Human activity in a profit-driven world divided by nation-states and those who have rights and those who don’t is the primary driver of climate change,” C.J. Polychroniou writes for Truthout. “Burning fossil fuels and destroying forests have caused inestimable environmental harm by producing a warming effect through the artificial concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere… “The world is now warming faster than any point in recorded history. Yet, while the science of climate change is well established and we know both the causes and the effects of global warming, the rulers of the world are showing no signs of discontinuing their destructive activities that are putting Earth on track to becoming uninhabitable for humans… “Further evidence that the rulers of the world view themselves as being separate and distinct from the world around them (in spite of the fact that all life on Earth is at risk) came during the recent CERAWeek oil summit in Houston, Texas, where executives from the world’s leading fossil fuel companies said that we should “abandon the fantasy of phasing out oil and gas.” “…Struggles against climate change are connected to the fight against imperialism, inequality, poverty and injustice. These struggles are not in vain, even when the odds seem stacked against them. On the contrary, they have produced some remarkable results… “These victories for our planet are more than enough proof that activism pays off and should be an acute reminder that the kind of transformational change we need will not start at the top… “It is grassroots environmental activism that created the political space for President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act — the largest investment in clean energy and climate action in U.S. history… “The rulers of the world won’t save the planet. They have a vested interest in maintaining the existing state of affairs, whether it be oppression of the weak or continued reliance on fossil fuels. Radical political action is our only hope because voting alone will never solve our problems. Organizing communities, raising awareness and educating the public, and developing convincing accounts of change are key elements for creating real progress in politics. Indeed, as the recent history of environmental politics shows, climate activism is the pathway to climate defense.”

Journal-Courier: The executive actions Biden should take on climate — Basav Sen
Basav Sen directs the Climate Policy Program at the Institute for Policy Studies, 4/8/24

“In his State of the Union speech, President Biden touted his administration’s commitment to “confronting the climate crisis, not denying it.” He called action on this issue “the most significant action on climate ever in the history of the world.” The message is that climate is “solved.” The government is taking care of it. Unfortunately, this is dangerously untrue,” Basav Sen writes for the Journal-Courier. “…The issue isn’t so much what Biden could have said differently. It’s more what he could have done differently over the last three years. The administration points to two pieces of legislation, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, as evidence of its commitment to bold climate action. But the hype around these bills doesn’t stand up to objective scrutiny. The Inflation Reduction Act does include significant funding for renewable energy, home energy efficiency and other measures that reduce our fossil fuel dependence, which is commendable. However, it also includes significant giveaways to the fossil fuel industry… “Another dangerous provision in the Inflation Reduction Act is the expanded tax credit for carbon capture and storage, a technology that purportedly sucks carbon dioxide out of smokestacks and buries it in the ground. If it worked, it would be a way to keep using fossil fuels without emitting greenhouse gases. However, it doesn’t work. Numerous studies have shown that the technology is flawed, and the empirical record of carbon capture and storage adoption confirms this finding. Even if carbon capture and storage did work, it would not address any other harmful effects of fossil fuels, such as air and water pollution from drilling for fossil fuels or burning them. These giveaways shouldn’t be dismissed as a compromise needed to pass the better parts of the bill. There’s growing scientific consensus — from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the U.N. Environment Program, the International Energy Agency, and peer-reviewed studies — that expanding fossil fuel infrastructure poses serious risks of failing to cut emissions. Instead, it’s essential to phase out the production of fossil fuels altogether… “For example, Biden could use his executive powers to reinstate the crude oil export ban and go beyond the recent pause on new liquefied natural gas export licenses to permanently end new liquid natural gas export licenses. He can also direct all federal agencies to stop issuing permits for new fossil fuel infrastructure, such as drilling, pipelines, petrochemical plants and export terminals. It’s not too late for Biden to take real climate action. Our job is to make him decide to.”