Skip to Content
Pipeline Fighters Hub

Extracted

EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 5/1/23

Mark Hefflinger, Bold Alliance (Photo: Bryon Houlgrave/Des Moines Register

By Mark Hefflinger

May 1, 2023

Share this Page

image

PIPELINE NEWS

  • Natural Gas Intelligence: Columbia Gulf Pipeline Fire Impacts Natural Gas Flows South of Mississippi

  • WTVA: VIDEO: Alcorn County oil pipeline catches fire earlier this morning

  • Reuters: Pipeline company TC Energy beats profit estimates, actively pursuing asset sales

  • KCBX: Santa Barbara County Planning Commission denies oil pipeline upgrade proposal

  • Mlive.com: ‘We can’t save our trees’: Washtenaw County residents lament impact of Consumers Energy pipeline

  • Euronews: An oil pipeline running through Paris, Brussels and Lyon? 1,000 French people fell for activist hoax

  • Central Valley Air Quality Coalition: Webinar: Latest Engineered Carbon Capture, Use, and Storage (CCUS) policy platform

  • KMID: What to know about the plans for pipelines

  • Press release: Enbridge to Acquire Aitken Creek Natural Gas Storage from FortisBC Holdings Inc. for $400 million

  • Press release: Tallgrass Energy Announces Open Season for Transportation on Pony Express Pipeline

WASHINGTON UPDATES

  • The Hill: Climate activists plan blockade of White House correspondents’ dinner

  • DailyKos: Listen Up, Joe! Protest Demands No More Drilling On Public Lands 

  • Politico: Oil and gas critics escalate their gripes against Biden

  • E&E News: Energy spat widens partisan divide over debt ceiling

  • E&E News: EPA proposal advances La. bid to oversee CO2 wells

  • E&E News: Court Nixes NEPA Case Against Largest U.S. Offshore Oil Sale

  • Law360: Calif. Urges Justices To Deny Offshore Fracking Fight Review 

  • CBS News: Carbon capture technology “can never be an excuse” for business as usual, advocates say

  • Washington Post: How the EPA is trying to bolster its new power plant rule against legal challenges

  • E&E News: Senate committee to question FERC commissioners

  • Washington Post: Amos Hochstein heads to the White House after State Department stint 

  • Planet Detroit: Mixed messages: Making sense of Biden’s environmental justice order

  • E&E News: Sierra Club announces layoffs, restructuring

STATE UPDATES

EXTRACTION

CLIMATE FINANCE

  • Financial Times: Banks and oil groups place bets on carbon capture schemes

  • CTV: Fossil fuel investments still necessary during clean energy transition: ex-BoC governor Carney

  • The Hill: ExxonMobil reports record high first quarter earnings

OPINION

  • Iowa Standard: LETTER: Iowa becoming ‘Field of Nightmares’ for farmers, landowners facing eminent domain for CO2 pipelines

  • Santa Barbara Independent: Exxon’s Corroded Pipeline

  • Cardinal News: Why Biden is backing the Mountain Valley Pipeline

  • Guardian: I back saboteurs who have acted with courage and coherence, but I won’t blow up a pipeline. Here’s why

  • VT Digger: Rachel Smolker: PUC snuffs out a chance to weigh in on a flawed pipeline

  • Globe and Mail: Alberta’s oil-rich future and a pivotal election

  • The American Prospect: Clean-Power Group Supports Dirty Energy

  • Bloomberg: The Oil Industry’s Unhappy Marriage Is Starting To Face Facts

  • Bloomberg: Peak Oil Spells Trouble for Consumers

PIPELINE NEWS

Natural Gas Intelligence: Columbia Gulf Pipeline Fire Impacts Natural Gas Flows South of Mississippi
JACOB DICK, 4/28/23

“Natural gas flows south of Mississippi and into Louisiana could be limited on the Columbia Gulf Pipeline through the weekend while crews work to restore damage from a suspected early morning lightning strike,” Natural Gas Intelligence reports. “Columbia Gas Transmission LLC (CGT), owned by TC Energy Corp., alerted customers through its bulletin system Friday morning that the strike likely caused a fire at its Corinth Compressor Station in central Mississippi… “CGT has isolated flows from the Corinth Compressor station and notified customers of a force majeure. The operator said it anticipated an impact to firm service transportation of 400,000 Dth for that part of its system… “By Friday afternoon, CGT said impacts to gas flows and the force majeure were expected to persist until at least Sunday. Representatives with TC Energy told NGI that CGT is still assessing the impacts of disrupted flows, but “expect them to be minimal and short in duration.” :…TC Energy told NGI the fire was extinguished by mid-morning thanks to a prompt response from emergency responders and no injuries occurred.”

WTVA: VIDEO: Alcorn County oil pipeline catches fire earlier this morning
4/29/23

“One of North America’s leading infrastructure companies caught on fire this morning. This company is owned by TransCanada Energy (TC Energy),” WTVA reports. 

Reuters: Pipeline company TC Energy beats profit estimates, actively pursuing asset sales
Sourasis Bose and Rod Nickel, 4/28/23

“Canada’s TC Energy Corp (TRP.TO) beat analysts’ estimates for first-quarter profit on Friday and said it was active in efforts to sell C$5 billion ($3.67 billion) worth of assets,” Reuters reports. “While global oil prices have declined 20% from peaks hit last year after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, prices are still high enough for companies to produce profitably, boosting demand for pipelines… “TC is aiming to sell assets this year to reduce debt and fund other projects, such as the Coastal GasLink pipeline in British Columbia that has seen major cost over-runs. “We are at a very commercially sensitive point in our discussions,” CEO Francois Poirier said on a conference call with analysts, about asset sales. “We have multiple processes underway.” Poirier has suggested many of TC’s assets may be available but given few specifics… “TC has recovered 98% of the 14,000 barrels of oil its Keystone pipeline spilled in rural Kansas in December, which was caused by a crack that originated during construction. The company is now inspecting the rest of the pipeline, which runs from Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast.”

KCBX: Santa Barbara County Planning Commission denies oil pipeline upgrade proposal
Gabriela Fernandez, 5/1/23

“The Santa Barbara County Planning Commission has denied plans proposed by ExxonMobil-affiliate Pacific Pipeline Corporation, to upgrade an oil pipeline that caused the 2015 Refugio Beach oil spill,” KCBX reports. “Oil isn’t flowing through Pipeline 901 in Santa Barbara County right now, but it is possible it could be restarted one day. Representatives from Pacific Pipeline Corporation (PPC) insisted at the April 26th Planning Commision meeting that approving these plans will not restart the use of the pipeline. They said the proposal is only meant to replace valves to meet state demands, which mandates pipeline operators install the best available technology to their pipelines… “Many residents showed up at the planning commission meeting to argue the pipeline should be fully decommissioned rather than upgraded or replaced — especially in light of the 2015 Refugio Beach oil spill. The meeting was filled with students, property owners, and tribal and nonprofit leaders — most advocating for the County to either demand an updated Environmental Impact Report from PPC or to deny the upgrade. UCSB student Cat Lane is one of the executive chairs for the university’s Environmental Affairs Board. “We have seen the devastations that pipelines and indeed this very pipeline cause to our local communities, ecosystems, economies and [we] have indisputable scientific evidence that our future can’t be rooted in fossil fuels,” Lane said… “The Santa Barbara County Planning Commission denied the oil pipeline’s safety valve upgrade in a 3-2 vote.”

Mlive.com: ‘We can’t save our trees’: Washtenaw County residents lament impact of Consumers Energy pipeline
Lucas Smolcic Larson, 4/30/23

“It was nothing but a farmer’s field when Kathy and Jim Callery bought their property on a hill overlooking a dirt road just outside Chelsea,” Mlive.com reports. “…With his son, he dug holes the size of a trash can lid, planting two-foot blue spruce trees, a few at a time. Now, those same trees are no more. An 80-year-old natural gas pipeline runs along their lot, and this summer Consumers Energy is embarking on a $550-million dollar effort to lay a replacement line across five counties. The utility needs a portion of the Callery’s property for a temporary work zone that will be piled with dirt, the couple said. “It was nothing when we first built the house. It was dirt. There wasn’t a tree to be found. This is why it’s so emotional to us,” Kathy Callery told Mlive. She and her husband understand the need to replace aging infrastructure and knew they lived by the line. But they’re frustrated with the level of communication from Consumers and want people to know the impact of the sprawling multi-year project. “I can put new trees in, but I’ll be six feet in the ground before those trees get big,” Jim Callery told Mlive. The utility sued the Callerys in November 2022 after they didn’t accept a cash offer for easement rights, initiating condemnation proceedings using the power of eminent domain, according to the complaint filed in Washtenaw County Circuit Court. The Callerys and a spokesperson for the utility both declined to speak about the specifics of the litigation, which is ongoing.”

Euronews: An oil pipeline running through Paris, Brussels and Lyon? 1,000 French people fell for activist hoax
Gael Camba, 4/28/23

“A giant oil pipeline passing through Marseille, Lyon, Paris and Brussels? That’s what thousands of expropriation letters sent to local residents, building permits in the city centre and even a Twitter account of a non-existent company behind the fake project would have us believe,” Euronews reports. “All these elements of the hoax were created from scratch by a group of environmental activists called “Le bruit qui court” (the rumour mill). Their aim was to denounce TotalEnergies’ giant oil pipeline project in Uganda and Tanzania. Due to be completed in 2025, it will stretch for more than 1,000km, involve drilling hundreds of oil wells and impact 19,000 households. “We did in France what Total is doing in Uganda,” says the collective in a video explaining the modus operandi of their trick. On the morning of Monday 24 April, residents of Marseille and Lyon discovered notices of construction work on their front doors and expropriation letters from TotalEnergies in their mailboxes. Everything suggested an actual project was underway in several major French cities. The collective set up a hotline, with a false switchboard that received more than 1,000 concerned calls. Volunteers were at the helm to answer calls, parroting “Total’s bogus European version of the argument”, they explained. “One of the objectives was to reach more people,” Julie Pasquet, co-founder of the group, told Euronews. “We wanted to reach the regional daily press, to have media talk about the project and put pressure on Total.” She told Euronews that TotalEnergies’ East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project in Uganda and Tanzania is largely ignored by the media. “The objective was successful,” Pasquet added. “All the media talked about EACOP, we managed to point this project out.”

Central Valley Air Quality Coalition: Webinar: Latest Engineered Carbon Capture, Use, and Storage (CCUS) policy platform
4/28/23

“Join us for a webinar on Thursday, May 4th from 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM to learn about the latest Engineered Carbon Capture, Use, and Storage (CCUS) policy platform, including testimony from impacted community members in the Central Valley. Last year, our coalition developed shared positions on CCUS and worked together to inform necessary protections passed by the legislature, such as SB 1314. CCUS is being promoted as a climate solution since it is a method that, in theory, removes carbon dioxide (CO2) at the source of industrial operations and injects it underground in pockets to be stored. However, this technology raises significant environmental justice concerns that must be accounted for and addressed. In our updated platform, we dive into many of these and seek to use the platform to start a conversation with stakeholders. ZOOM INFORMATION: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81626685352”

KMID: What to know about the plans for pipelines
Jesse Zaragoza, 4/28/23

“With oil and gas being the main industry in the Permian Basin, MORTAN held a luncheon today at the Bush Convention Center to raise awareness on current and future plans for pipelines,” KMID reports. “These pipelines are important locally in the sense that they bring in thousands of jobs for people, but on a national scale, they are a main drive in the country’s economy… “The future may include different types of pipelines, as carbon dioxide pipelines are on the rise, and the future may hold hydrogen pipelines within the next three to five years.”

Press release: Enbridge to Acquire Aitken Creek Natural Gas Storage from FortisBC Holdings Inc. for $400 million
5/1/23

“Enbridge Inc. announced today that, through a wholly-owned subsidiary, it has entered into a definitive agreement with FortisBC Holdings Inc. to acquire its interest in FortisBC Midstream Inc., which holds a 93.8% interest in Aitken Creek Gas Storage facility and a 100% interest in Aitken Creek North Gas Storage facility (collectively, Aitken Creek Storage) for $400 million, subject to customary closing adjustments. Aitken Creek Storage is an underground reservoir located 120 kilometres northeast of Fort St. John, B.C., and is the largest and only underground natural gas storage facility in B.C., totaling 77 billion cubic feet of working gas capacity. Located in the heart of the prolific Montney production region, Aitken Creek Storage is an integral part of the natural gas transmission system in Western Canada and the only storage facility that connects to all three major long-haul natural gas transportation lines in Western Canada including Enbridge’s Westcoast Pipeline and Alliance Pipeline.”

Press release: Tallgrass Energy Announces Open Season for Transportation on Pony Express Pipeline
4/28/23

“Tallgrass Pony Express Pipeline, LLC (“Pony Express”), operated by Tallgrass, announced two binding open seasons. Tallgrass is soliciting both shipper commitments and acreage dedications for crude oil transportation from Pony Express’ Platteville, Buckingham, and Pawnee origins, in exchange for incentive tariff rates. These open seasons will run for 30 days, commencing on May 1, 2023.”

WASHINGTON UPDATES

The Hill: Climate activists plan blockade of White House correspondents’ dinner
JARED GANS, 4/29/23

“A group of climate activists plan to blockage the White House correspondents’ dinner on Saturday in protest of President Biden’s policies on the environment,” The Hill reports. “Climate Defiance has held a “series” of nonviolent protests leading up to the dinner at which they plan to protest the Biden administration approving multiple oil projects. A video posted by the group on Saturday accuses Biden of committing “ecocide,” which the European Law Institute, an independent non-profit organization that studies European law, defines as the “devastation and destruction of the environment to the detriment of life.” The video notes Biden’s approval last month of the Willow Project, which will allow ConocoPhillips to drill oil in northwestern Alaska, producing 180,000 barrels per day. It also mentions his approval of expanded liquid natural gas exports in Alaska earlier this month and November approval of building the country’s largest oil export terminal in Texas, adding 2 million barrels of oil per day. The video shows a clip of Biden at a presidential debate in 2020 calling for “no ability for the oil industry to continue to drill, period,” on federal lands… “Climate Defiance told The Hill on Friday that Biden is approving permits for fossil fuel leasing on federal lands at a faster rate than former President Trump, which are a “literal death sentence” for people. It also criticized media outlets for coverage of the issue, arguing that it is framing the issue poorly and gave “virtually zero coverage” to the Texas oil project.” 

DailyKos: Listen Up, Joe! Protest Demands No More Drilling On Public Lands 
4/29/23

“Climate Defiance Saturday evening blocked the entrance to the Washington Correspondents’ Dinner in a bid to bring their message to President Biden — #EndFossilFuels,” DailyKos reports. “The President is being called out for his approval of the ConocoPhillips Willow project in Alaska. The federally owned land on Alaska’s north slope is estimated to hold nearly 600 million barrels of oil. Biden entered the dinner through a separate entrance, while many guests had to abandon their cars and walk through the protestors to attend the yearly gathering. The two members of the Tennessee legislature who were reinstated after being voted out for activism joined the demonstrators. Many celebrities attending the dinner expressed their support for ending fossil fuels.”

Politico: Oil and gas critics escalate their gripes against Biden
ZACK COLMAN, 4/29/23

“The most aggressively climate-minded president in history is getting flak from his green base — thanks to a series of pro-fossil-fuel moves that are starting to remind environmental activists of his old boss’ first term,” Politico reports. “To some green groups, the Biden administration’s approval of a massive oil project in Alaska, embrace of natural gas exports and slowness to announce its plans on offshore drilling fall far short of the president’s 2020 campaign promises of bold action to wean the nation off fossil fuels. Instead, they’re evoking echoes from the early years of Barack Obama’s administration, when the then-president embraced the economic gains of the fracking boom and delayed politically awkward decisions like the fate of the Keystone XL pipeline. The frustration from elements of the climate movement is starting to become manifest: Activists have interrupted recent public appearances by Biden’s aides and are vowing to “blockade” Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, much as anti-Keystone activists staged sit-ins that brought mass arrests outside Obama’s White House.The unhappiness among advocates could point to trouble in 2024, sapping the enthusiasm Biden will need from his party’s base to win reelection, people following the policy debate warn. He also faces a risk that his accomplishments — including signing the nation’s biggest-ever climate law — will have to compete for attention with criticism of administration moves that bolster fossil fuels. “What I’m calling pragmatism is still a great source of disappointment to the progressive wing of the Democratic Party,” David Goldwyn, who led the energy office in Obama’s State Department and is now president of the energy consulting firm Goldwyn Global Strategies, told Politico. That “pragmatism” won’t win over voters who see climate change as an emergency demanding a sharp turn away from fossil fuels, green activists tell Politico. “President Biden will not win this election by reaching for conservative votes,” Varshini Prakash, executive director of the youth-led environmental group Sunrise Movement, which has alternately cheered and panned Biden’s moves on climate change, told Politico. In a statement, she said the administration’s recent moves are “steps backward” that will discourage people who supported him in 2020. “If you continue to do fossil fuels, isn’t that just another form of climate denialism?” Jean Su, energy justice director and senior attorney with the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity, told E&E.

E&E News: Energy spat widens partisan divide over debt ceiling
Emma Dumain, 5/1/23

“The gaping partisan divide over how to avert a national default shows no immediate signs of narrowing, as House Republicans spent the weekend defending their freshly passed debt limit bill while Senate Democrats made clear the GOP proposal would never see the light of day in their chamber,” E&E News reports. “It’s far from clear if or even how the two parties will overcome differences in time to meet the deadline for raising the debt ceiling, which could arrive as early as next month… “Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), a moderate ally of the environmental community who was the only Republican to vote against the energy package, told E&E News he voted for the debt ceiling bill last week because he knew it would never be enacted… “In an interview Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) objected to the suggestion that the GOP plan is “dead on arrival” in the Democrat-controlled Senate… “In one of the biggest changes to the original blueprint, at the behest of the far-right flank of the House Republican Conference, the bill would now slash a slate of clean energy tax credits codified in the Inflation Reduction Act, which have led directly to job booms in Republican districts across the country… “The Senate Democrats’ only planned programming so far in response to the House GOP action is a hearing scheduled in the Senate Budget Committee… “The hearing is to be titled “The Default on America Act: Blackmail, Brinkmanship and Billionaire Backroom Deals,” and an official description maligns the GOP plan for draconian spending cuts while also “delivering big giveaways to the fossil fuel industry.” Democratic witnesses will include Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics; Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund; and Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of Solar Energy Industries Association… “Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, doubled down on “State of the Union” on the message that Republicans ought to agree to a “clean” debt ceiling increase, while Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said on ABC’s “This Week” that he would be “happy to negotiate what’s the mix of revenue increases and spending cuts going forward.” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), on the other hand, made clear that what Democrats wouldn’t negotiate over is anything resembling what Republicans put on the table last week, which would, among other things, “put China back in the driver’s seat when it comes to clean energy.”

E&E News: EPA proposal advances La. bid to oversee CO2 wells
ZACH BRIGHT, 5/1/23

“EPA has advanced Louisiana’s bid to oversee carbon dioxide injection wells, proposing a rule that would grant the state’s request for so-called primacy,” E&E News reports. “If finalized, the rule would make Louisiana the third state — after North Dakota and Wyoming — to gain primary enforcement authority over its Class VI wells… “EPA Region 6, which covers the southern-central region of the U.S., announced Friday that the proposed rule would be open for public comment for 60 days, after which the agency will make a decision… “Louisiana and EPA Region 6 “are very much on the same page” when it comes to deploying carbon capture technologies, Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) said in a statement. Staff at the Louisiana Office of Conservation, he added, have worked for several years with Region 6 staff in “crafting regulations that meet the EPA’s high standards.” “…Sen Bill Cassidy (R-La.) has criticized EPA for not approving his state’s request for primacy over Class VI wells and, as recently as Thursday, vowed to block all of President Joe Biden’s pending EPA nominees… “Capturing and storing carbon is the next phase of job creation and economic development in Louisiana,” Cassidy said in the statement. Carbon capture technology and storage will unlock the opportunities to “safely reduce emissions, increase energy production, create jobs and generate more tax revenue for Louisiana,” Marc Ehrhardt, executive director of the Grow Louisiana Coalition, a group that supports the state’s oil and gas industry, told E&E. In addition to taking online public comment, EPA will hold a June 15 hearing on the proposed rule in Baton Rouge, La.”

E&E News: Court Nixes NEPA Case Against Largest U.S. Offshore Oil Sale
Niina H. Farah, 5/1/23

“A federal appeals court gave the all-clear Friday for a massive offshore oil and gas lease sale backed by Congress to go forward in the Gulf of Mexico,” E&E News reports. “The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in a short order that a legal challenge to Lease Sale 257 is now moot following passage of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. A provision of the landmark climate law directs the Interior Department to accept the highest valid bid for each tract in the November 2021 offshore sale — the largest in the nation’s history — and issue the ‘fully executed lease.”

Law360: Calif. Urges Justices To Deny Offshore Fracking Fight Review 
Tom Lotshaw, 4/28/23

“California told the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday there’s no reason to review a Ninth Circuit opinion that federal agencies wrongly authorized fracking permits off the state’s coast, despite requests made by the American Petroleum Institute and two oil companies,” Law360 reports. “While the American Petroleum Institute, ExxonMobil Corp. and California offshore driller DCOR LLC claim in a petition for writ of certiorari that last June’s ruling will stall vital energy projects and lead to a flood of premature reviews of procedural agency decisions, those arguments don’t withstand scrutiny, California said. The state said the petitioners are only challenging two aspects of the ruling: That a final environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact was subject to judicial review as a final agency action, and that federal agencies violated the Coastal Zone Management Act by not determining whether authorizing the offshore fracking was consistent with the state’s coastal management plan.”

CBS News: Carbon capture technology “can never be an excuse” for business as usual, advocates say
4/30/23

“There’s been a stampede of investment into direct air capture, but some advocates worry the carbon capture process may not be scaled up fast enough to make an impact,” CBS News reports. “…Scientists estimate carbon capture needs to remove 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually, at the same time as there are drastic cuts in fossil fuels. ORCA, which CBS news correspondent Bill Whitaker visited in Iceland, can take out the emissions of about 800 cars, or 4,000 tons of CO2. Scaling direct air capture is a gargantuan challenge… “Kari Helgason of Carbfix, which is the Icelandic company that pioneered the method to inject captured carbon into the ground, told 60 Minutes that carbon capture can never be an excuse for doing business as usual. Many others in the field agree. “We must stop the emissions and wean ourselves off of fossil fuels. That’s what we need to do right now,” Helgason said. “On top of that, we also must take down the carbon that we’ve already put up in the atmosphere. Only then will we reach our climate goals. So, carbon capture can never be an excuse for continuing business as usual.” But Hollub argues that using carbon dioxide sucked out of the air to flush out more oil means the oil produced will be what she calls carbon neutral.   “The oil that we’ll create with the CO2 injected will emit less carbon than the CO2 we’ve injected to get it,” she said. “So we’ve put more—at least the equivalent—and sometimes more CO2 in the ground to get that oil than the oil will emit when used.” “…Hollub knows critics of big oil are suspicious and that many feel the industry isn’t moving fast enough to avoid a climate catastrophe. On that point, she doesn’t disagree. Hollub said Occidental Petroleum plans to build 130 more direct air capture plants by 2035 around the globe.”

Washington Post: How the EPA is trying to bolster its new power plant rule against legal challenges
Maxine Joselow, 5/1/23

“The United States doesn’t have a plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants. But that could change as soon as this week, as the Biden administration readies a proposal it hopes won’t run afoul of the Supreme Court,” the Washington Post reports. “…Everything EPA does on climate change is challenged in court,” Michael Gerrard, an environmental law professor at Columbia Law School, told the Post. “Obviously, EPA has been working very, very carefully to come up with as bulletproof a plan as it can.” Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA has the authority to set emissions reductions requirements for all sorts of emitters, including new power plants. But in West Virginia, the Supreme Court ruled that the Clean Power Plan exceeded EPA’s authority by requiring states to make plans to phase out coal power plants and replace them with clean energy. With that ruling in mind, many environmental lawyers tell the Post the agency can’t require that utilities use a particular technology to cut emissions or mandate an entire power system to switch its fuel generation (from coal to nuclear, for example). Rather, to regulate existing operations, the EPA can only require changes at individual power plants — an approach known as “inside the fence line.” But it can set limits that are so stringent that those operations will have to either install carbon capture to comply — or shut down altogether. To achieve this kind of in-house technology shift, the Biden administration is expected to ask utilities to use on-site carbon capture technologies to reduce emissions, rather than explicitly requiring power plants to change their fuel. But the administration will need to “adequately demonstrate” there are tools power plants can feasibly use to comply with the emissions targets… “If the rule is as described and declares a technology that is not in use as ‘adequately demonstrated’ to the industry, then that is a very risky strategy on their part,” Scott Segal, a partner at Bracewell, told the Post. “It’s supposed to be what the market has embraced, not what the government is subsidizing.” 

E&E News: Senate committee to question FERC commissioners
Nico Portuondo, 5/1/23

“Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Joe Manchin will get his chance to question members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at a hearing this week, as lawmakers discuss permitting legislation and eye filling a vacant spot on the regulatory panel,” E&E News reports. “The hearing will be notable: Willie Phillips will make his first appearance before the committee in his new role as acting chair, a position he assumed in January. Manchin, Democrat from West Virginia, has already signaled he intends to discuss the contours of legislation to accelerate energy infrastructure permitting, including for pipelines and transmission. “I have not stopped fighting for changes that that will enable us to get American produced energy to the people that need it, drive down energy costs, support our allies and help us achieve energy security,” Manchin said in a statement last month previewing the committee’s agenda. “These upcoming hearings are vital to understanding how we can achieve bipartisan consensus that makes it possible for America to build again,” Manchin added.

Washington Post: Amos Hochstein heads to the White House after State Department stint 
Maxine Joselow, 5/1/23

“Amos Hochstein, a longtime energy and climate confidant of President Biden’s, is moving to the White House in an elevated role,” the Washington Post reports. “Hochstein will be senior adviser to the president for energy and investment and deputy assistant to the president, two people familiar with the move who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a decision not yet made public told the Post. He was previously a presidential coordinator at the State Department, and will now be reporting to both national security adviser Jake Sullivan and National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard… “Hochstein has been a high-profile Biden adviser since Biden’s time as vice president, and he has worked for the Houston-based natural gas exporter Tellurian and on the supervisory board of Naftogaz, the Ukrainian state-owned oil and gas company… “He has been the point man for efforts to get more natural gas to European allies, visited Saudi Arabia and negotiated oil-supply policy with OPEC leaders, and helped lead administration meetings with U.S. oil executives.”

Planet Detroit: Mixed messages: Making sense of Biden’s environmental justice order
BRIAN ALLNUTT, 4/27/23

“On April 20, the Biden administration issued an executive order creating a new Office on Environmental Justice within the White House Council on Environmental Quality to collect and publicize data on cumulative impacts from pollution in overburdened communities,” Planet Detroit reports. “Every federal agency must take into account environmental and health impacts on communities and work to prevent those negative impacts,” President Joe Biden said when he announced the order. “Environmental justice will be the mission of the entire government.” It’s unclear how far this order will go to address concerns over the concentration of polluting industries in low-income areas and communities of color. Some provisions may only have a limited impact. For example, the order requires agencies to notify surrounding communities of a toxic release, which only applies to federal facilities. Meanwhile, a Detroit environmental justice organization had a far simpler message for the White House: stop approving new fossil fuel projects. “Respecting environmental justice means saying no to the fossil fuel industry handouts that pollute communities of color and sow climate chaos in Michigan and around the country,” Jamesa Johnson Greer, executive director of the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, wrote in a statement. “Will President Biden use his executive authority to declare a climate emergency and stop all new fossil fuel projects?” Johnson Greer noted that Biden is approving fossil fuel projects faster than his predecessor Donald Trump. His administration also recently approved the “carbon bomb” Willow Project in the North Slope of Alaska, which will create an estimated 260 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions over the next 30 years, equivalent to the annual carbon pollution from 70 coal-fired power plants.” 

E&E News: Sierra Club announces layoffs, restructuring
Robin Bravender, 4/28/23

“The Sierra Club on Friday announced an organizational overhaul that will include layoffs as well as new hires as the group aims to cut costs and expand its efforts in red states,” E&E News reports. “The environmental group’s board voted Thursday night to approve a 2023 budget that “will require creating new positions, eliminating some old positions, and re-imagining other positions,” the organization’s Deputy Executive Director Ana Yáñez Correa told staff in an internal email Friday. “Without these changes, our budget would have ballooned to a deficit as high as $40 million,” Correa said. The total layoff number hasn’t been finalized, Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous told E&E. The organization is following its collective bargaining agreement with unionized employees, Jealous told E&E, and staff members who are laid off could land in new positions… “A major focus of the restructuring, Jealous told E&E, will be to ensure that the Sierra Club has a director in all 50 states. The group now has directors in 38 states and is in the process of hiring for eight more states… “The Sierra Club employee union Progressive Workers United opposes the layoff plan and issued a statement Friday criticizing what they called a “lack of transparency” from management. “We have been left out of key conversations, so we don’t know how this will work,” CJ Garcia-Linz, president of the Progressive Workers Union and a Sierra Club employee, told E&E. “We’re concerned about what it means for our partners and community” and about how the layoffs will impact those who stay with the organization.

STATE UPDATES

Honolulu Star-Advertiser: Young climate plaintiffs fight trial delay
Timothy Hurley, 4/28/23

“The attorney for Our Children’s Trust said maintaining the September trial date is imperative to stop the state’s ongoing violations,” the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports. “Attorneys representing the Hawaii youth plaintiffs suing the Department of Transportation for not doing enough to combat climate change have filed a motion to prevent the trial from being delayed by at least eight months.”

Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA): Texas needs to go big on carbon capture proposal
Dennis Wamsted and David Schlissel, 4/27/23

“The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) is no fan of carbon capture technology. Our research shows that existing projects have failed to meet their capture targets, and we believe support for new facilities, particularly in the power sector, only delays efforts to transition away from fossil fuels. But if Texas wants to embrace carbon capture, especially for its petrochemical sector, it should go big and lead by example. Pending legislation that would designate carbon capture facilities as “clean energy projects” was introduced with a laughably low target of 50 percent. The threshold for securing “clean” status has since been raised to 75 percent, but even that is too low given that proponents now widely claim much-higher capture rates are both doable and economic. In a report last year, the International Energy Agency noted that “there are no technical barriers to increasing capture rates beyond 90 percent.” Ongoing testing, the organization said, shows that “capture rates as high as 99 percent can be achieved.” “…IEEFA is doubtful… “These real-world examples drive IEEFA’s skepticism about the long-term, commercial-scale performance of CCS—achieving a 90 percent or higher carbon capture rate every year for decades to come will be difficult. However, if the technology providers are going to claim that level of performance is possible, then Texas should hold them to it. Legislators should require that CCS facilities achieve at least a 95 percent capture rate to be deemed a clean energy project. Anything less would amount to a costly pollution giveaway. Adding teeth to the measure would also be advisable: If being deemed a clean energy facility is important, then taking that designation away for failure to meet the 95 percent capture threshold likely would serve as a significant incentive for consistent, high-level performance.”

Houston Chronicle: Oxy unveils details of delayed carbon capture project during West Texas ceremony
Amanda Drane, 4/28/23

“Occidental Petroleum’s energy transition strategy came into sharper focus Friday as it kicked off construction of its first direct-air carbon capture hub in West Texas,” the Houston Chronicle reports. “The Houston oil giant, which is endeavoring to transform itself into a carbon management company, unveiled the Stratos facility here during a groundbreaking ceremony with corporate partners and investors. Stratos, which could scale up to capture 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, is part of Oxy’s ambition to develop 100 direct-air capture facilities worldwide by 2035. The facility is scheduled to launch in 2025 with an initial capacity to capture 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year. It’s the first of five such hubs Oxy is planning in industrial areas of Texas and Louisiana, where it aims to provide a solution to the problem of climate-warming pollution. It announced last month that it could trap as much as 1.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide at a 55,000-acre site that runs along the Texas Gulf Coast in Chambers, Liberty and Jefferson counties. It also plans to develop a massive carbon capture project on 100,000 acres south of Corpus Christi… “The science, which is untested at the scale proposed by Oxy and other oil companies, may enable large parts of the region’s petroleum industries to stay viable in a low-carbon environment and could play an important role in the region’s emerging hydrogen economy. Carbon emitted during the process of making cleaner-burning hydrogen from natural gas would need to be captured to qualify a facility for federal tax credits. Among big oil companies, Oxy has taken one of the more aggressive approaches to the energy transition, heading down a path that would reposition it as a carbon management company even as it continues to produce oil.” 

Washington Post: As EPA preps tougher rules, this power plant offers a peek at the future
Maxine Joselow, 5/1/23

“Entergy is building a facility in Texas that will run on “green hydrogen” to help lower greenhouse gas emissions,” the Washington Post reports. “The $1.5 billion project, just a few miles from where the modern oil and gas industry was born, will burn both gas and hydrogen, a net-zero fuel. It is meant to help the company kick-start fleetwide efforts to cut emissions before the Biden administration unveils stringent regulations this month that are expected to require utilities to install carbon capture tools or shut down entirely… “Despite Inflation Reduction Act tax credits for carbon capture and hydrogen, some industry analysts tell the Post that the still-developing tools may not be a viable business solution for some companies because of their size and cost. And hydrogen can have significant climate impact depending on how it is produced, stored and transported, even though it releases no pollution when burned.”

Colorado Sun: Suncor refinery has another hazardous chemical leak, polluting Commerce City air
Michael Booth, 4/29/23

“The Suncor refinery in Commerce City again released potentially dangerous sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide into the surrounding neighborhood late Friday night, the second time in April, and state health officials warned the emissions could exceed permitted levels throughout Saturday,” the Colorado Sun reports. “The incident was the second this month involving excess air pollution at Suncor, which is increasingly the target of neighbors, local officials and environmental advocates who believe plant emissions are an ongoing violation of environmental justice provisions in federal and state rules. Suncor sent out a message on its text and phone alert system at 11:40 p.m. Friday saying “refinery personnel responding to the incident. No immediate action needed by the community.” But Saturday afternoon, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said multiple levels of monitors at the Suncor fence line and in the neighborhood detected potentially hazardous emissions that would remain above state permit levels for Saturday, and the neighbors should consider safety measures… “Environmental groups have also recently targeted Suncor’s ongoing problems with releases of PFAS “forever chemicals” into Sand Creek, which runs by the refinery and empties nearby into the South Platte River, a drinking water source for multiple suburbs north and east of Denver.”

Missoulian: Republican lawmakers advanced bills to keep climate change out of state permitting
Tom Lutey, 4/27/23

“Republican lawmakers advanced bills to keep climate change out of state permitting decisions as the 2023 Legislature approaches its end,” the Missoulian reports. “… Republicans said the bill unwinds a 2020 Supreme Court ruling against state environmental regulators and a gold company eyeing a mine 15 miles outside the Gardiner entrance to Yellowstone National Park. That 2020 ruling also plays a major role in a lower court’s March decision to halt construction of a NorthWestern Energy power plant near Laurel so light pollution and carbon dioxide emissions can be reviewed. Lawmakers specifically cited NorthWestern’s environmental permitting problems at its Laurel-area gas-fired power plant as cause for stopping state agencies from considering climate change impacts. The bill makes it more expensive for the public to challenge government decisions, while also designating the courts as the only place where challenges can occur. Simply put, any Montanan challenging a permit issued by the state government will soon need the wherewithal for a lawsuit. Opponents to SB 557 tell the Missoulian the bill creates a “pay-to-play” system making it difficult for the public to petition the government for a redress of grievances — a right secured by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution… “SB 557 also stops state agencies from considering climate impacts when issuing permits, unless the federal government recognizes carbon dioxide as a pollutant that can be regulated under the Clean Air Act… “The Judiciary Committee took public testimony for an hour before the proceeding digressed into a discussion about whether climate change was a good thing… “At the root of both bills is a recurring debate about whether state agencies can be sued for not following the Montana Environmental Policy Act, which prescribes the steps state agencies must take during environmental review… “But the Supreme Court has ruled the state can be sued for not following the procedures spelled out in the Montana Environmental Policy Act.”

Associated Press: Operators of California refinery fined $27.5M over pollution
4/28/23

“The operators of a San Francisco Bay Area oil refinery have agreed to pay $27.5 million for violating a 2016 agreement to reduce air pollution at the facility, federal regulators announced Thursday,” the Associated Press reports. “Tesoro Refining and Marketing Co. of Los Angeles was penalized for violating a consent decree at its refinery in Martinez, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. Tesoro failed to install adequate pollution controls and failed to limit emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOX) that contribute to smog, the agencies said. The settlement will reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides and other air pollutants by hundreds of tons each year, regulators said. “As this settlement shows, EPA will seek substantial penalties when companies delay installing appropriate pollution controls to meet environmental obligations,” said a statement from Larry Starfield, acting assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance… “The agreement does not prohibit Tesoro from resuming petroleum refining, but if it does so, Tesoro must install specific air pollution control technology, at an expected cost of $125 million, to ensure stringent NOX emission limits are met,” the EPA statement said.

Cowboy State Daily: Wyoming Company Uses Artificial Intelligence To Make Pipelines Safer
Kevin Killough, 4/28/23

“Two Wyoming natives founded a software company, Flowstate, in Casper, which is demonstrating that the Cowboy State is a place where great business ideas can grow and flourish,” Cowboy State Daily reports. “It’s also helping to make pipelines safer. While oil pipeline spills get a lot of attention in the media, they’re actually quite rare. And pipelines remain the safest way to transport energy products… “Several years ago, Bridger Pipeline, which is one of the Casper-based True Companies that has its origins in 1940s Wyoming, wanted to find a better way to evaluate detection data across their complex pipeline system to improve safety and prevent leaks… “The people at Bridger teamed up with software developers at IBM. That partnership led to a prototype of a system that could take all the data that comes off a pipeline and combine it with a subset of artificial intelligence (AI) called machine learning.  In the fall of 2019, Bridger brought in Stack and Angie Schrader, who is now Flowstate’s chief operations officer, to work on the AI project… “All this data showing flow rates, pressures, fluid density, type of fluid moving through a pipeline are transmitted through satellites, cellphones and fiber optics. There’s a wide variety of gauges and sensors that provide this data, including what are called “smart pigs.” “…The vast majority of anomalies detected with Flowstate software, Stack told CSD, are not leaks. In most cases a sensor is giving a bad reading, a pump isn’t working right or communication equipment is failing. “There’s a lot of false alarms,” Schrader told CSD. “And by offering better technology for our customers, we can reduce the number of false alarms. So, you don’t have a ‘cry wolf’ situation.” 

EXTRACTION

Reuters: As oil output peaks, US Gulf of Mexico makes room for carbon capture
Sabrina Valle, 5/1/23

“After nearly a century, oil output in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico is heading towards its peak with new platforms providing a last hurrah as the region becomes a hot spot for burying greenhouse gases,” Reuters reports. “Some companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp, have been dumping assets in the Gulf, the nation’s primary offshore source of oil, and are instead targeting capturing and storing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases underground. The region, soon could became contested ground for oil, carbon sequestration and renewable energy, analysts tell Reuters. U.S. Gulf oil and gas output is expected to jump 17% to a record 2.6 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) by 2025, up from about 2.2 million boepd this year, before it begins declining, projects consultants Wood Mackenzie… “Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has already brought new investment as companies like Exxon, Occidental Petroleum and Talos Energy buy sites to store CO2 from oil refiners, chemical makers and liquefied natural gas (LNG) producers. CCS “will certainly become an important part of the business activity” in the basin, Wood Mackenzie research analyst Scott Nance told Reuters. Oil development will still dominate the basin, but should coexist with CCS and renewables such as offshore wind and solar.”

Bloomberg: Orbiting Methane ‘Speed Cameras’ Are Catching Polluters in the Act
Aaron Clark, 4/28/23

“Think of them as speed cameras, but for methane. Just like roadside instruments used to identify drivers breaking traffic rules, new powerful satellites are starting to catch oil and gas operators releasing the planet-warming gas into the atmosphere,” Bloomberg reports. “At least two dozen high-resolution satellites are expected to be in orbit by the end of this year, quietly tracking the super pollutant that’s invisible to the naked eye… “Commercial and state interests are driving an acceleration in satellite launches at a time when fossil fuel companies face investor pressure to quantify and slash their emissions, and governments intent on meeting global climate targets seek to benchmark progress… “There’s been strong demand for facility-level information on emissions because it’s directly actionable,’’ Daniel Varon, a postdoctoral researcher studying atmospheric composition and satellite remote sensing at Harvard University, told Bloomberg… “While fines and enforcement vary, companies increasingly face reputational risks and potential loss of business if their operations are seen as contributing more than peers to the climate crisis… “Much of the demand for the data is coming from oil and gas operators themselves, who are increasingly using the systems to identify leaks along thousands of miles of pipeline or remote facilities… “The detections are also empowering regulators and the public. New Mexico officials said in March they were inspecting any methane plumes detected by NASA and other entities and would use the data to evaluate reporting and compliance by operators.” 

Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA): LNG exports may spell trouble on horizon for U.S. consumers
Clark Williams-Derry, 4/24/23

“Natural gas prices have fallen by two-thirds since last year. U.S. gas consumers may be breathing a sigh of relief, but they shouldn’t rest easy: A return higher prices could be on the horizon,” according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). “The pain is likely to be caused by a tsunami of new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects that will open over the next few years. As the U.S. exports more of its natural gas, the nation is likely to import higher gas prices as a result. The growth of exports pits overseas natural gas buyers—many of whom are accustomed to paying top dollar for the fuel—into direct competition with U.S. consumers. With only a finite amount of North American gas to go around, bidding wars can boost the price that Americans pay for gas. We saw this dynamic unfold last summer. Russia slashed gas exports to Europe during the Ukraine crisis, which sent global gas prices skyrocketing. U.S. gas exporters shipped as much as they could to Europe and Asia—not out of the goodness of their hearts, but in search of higher prices and bigger profits… “New export facilities created more price competition for U.S. gas. Today, there are seven operating U.S. LNG terminals that collectively can export 12% of all U.S. gas production. Pipelines to Mexico and Canada export another 10%. The numbers will go much higher. Three new gas export projects are under construction along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Another LNG plant in Corpus Christi, Texas, is undergoing a major expansion, and Mexico is building two additional projects that will be sourced with U.S. gas. Last month, a terminal developer greenlit another major plant that will begin exporting LNG in 2027. As these projects come online, the nation’s LNG exports will almost double from last year’s levels… “Luckily, there’s an easy solution here in the U.S. For a gas export project to move forward, the federal government must find that the exports would be in “the public interest.” But the studies that the government relies on to assess public interest are old and deeply flawed. One study finds that higher utility bills aren’t really a problem, for example, because they can make people who own stock in energy companies richer. Simply raising the bar for whether exports are truly in the public interest would be an easy first step to prevent the market disruptions on the horizon.”

CLIMATE FINANCE

Financial Times: Banks and oil groups place bets on carbon capture schemes
Camilla Hodgson, 4/30/23

“Companies from banks and insurers to oil majors are placing bets on the development of a carbon capture industry and the resulting carbon removal credits used by buyers to compensate for their pollution that is expected to build into a lucrative market,” the Financial Times reports. “Four companies including the retailer H&M and leading fossil fuel financier JPMorgan Chase in recent weeks have agreed to spend a collective $100mn on carbon removal credits by 2030. At the same time, another five companies including Swiss bank UBS and insurer SwissRe have agreed to buy almost 200,000 credits on delivery from 2025 via NextGen, a new Mitsubishi-backed group. NextGen will source credits from carbon removal projects including a direct air capture (DAC) facility being developed by Occidental Petroleum’s subsidiary 1PointFive, at an average “target price” of $200 per credit. 1PointFive also secured a pre-purchase agreement last year with aerospace company Airbus for 400,000 credits linked to DAC. Private equity firm Partners Group also announced in April that it would buy 7,000 credits generated by the start-up Climeworks’ direct air capture facilities, which suck carbon out of the atmosphere, over 13 years. Climeworks, which sells small quantities of credits for about $1,000 each, and larger volumes for less, said it was expanding its US team to meet “increasing demand”.

CTV: Fossil fuel investments still necessary during clean energy transition: ex-BoC governor Carney
Spencer Van Dyk, 4/30/23

“Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney insists achieving net-zero emissions does not necessarily mean a complete halt on investments in the oil and gas sector during the transition,” CTV reports. “Carney — who now works as the head of transition investing for Brookfield Asset Management, and as a United Nations special envoy on climate action and finance — says investments in oil and gas are still necessary to facilitate the clean energy transition. He told CTV’s Question Period host Vassy Kapelos, in an exclusive interview airing Sunday, it’s a positive step that globally there are now more dollars being invested in clean energy than in fossil fuels. Carney told CTV the target ratio should be to spend about four or five times more on clean energy investments compared to fossil fuels, but that “it’s four to one, it’s not four to zero.” “There still does need to be some investment in fossil fuels,” he told CTV. “If you look at our economy, look at the oil sands, and at other aspects of our fossil fuel economy, we need to make that competitive.” “Competitive is not just about cost, is it relatively low cost, and it’s not just about risk, it’s the lowest risk in the world, that’s clear,” he added. “But we also need to make it low carbon, and that’s going to take very large investment.”

The Hill: ExxonMobil reports record high first quarter earnings
RACHEL FRAZIN, 4/28/23 

“The company announced on Friday that it made $11.4 billion between January and March, more than double its $5.5 billion profits from January through March of 2022,” The Hill reports. Still, it’s lower than the profits the company reported last quarter, when it made about $12.8 billion… “Chevron on Friday also reported high earnings — $6.6 billion. That’s higher than the $6.3 billion the company raked in during the first quarter of 2022 and last quarter’s $6.4 billion.”

OPINION

Iowa Standard: LETTER: Iowa becoming ‘Field of Nightmares’ for farmers, landowners facing eminent domain for CO2 pipelines
Kathy Stockdale, Iowa Falls, 4/24/23

“To Governor Reynolds and Senate Leadership: I have just come from another day at the Capitol where you have once again refused to meet with us farmers and landowners affected by the Hazardous C02 pipelines,” Kathy Stockdale writes for the Iowa Standard. “My land is affected by both Summit and Navigator pipelines. We are not the group that went to Senator Brown’s house, although he did get a taste of what we as landowners have been experiencing the last year and a half with land agents continually calling or coming to our door, when we’ve already told them NO numerous times, or surveyors showing up unannounced. As a Republican, I am appalled and embarrassed at our leadership and what is happening in our state Capitol. Our Iowa Constitution and our platform all state we are against the use of eminent domain by private companies, yet you are siding with the companies. Why have you as Republican leadership chosen to support these pipelines over the rights of individuals? Property rights are one of the main backbones of our country and state… “Iowa is said to be the FIELD OF DREAMS, but for us farmers and landowners it is becoming our FIELDS OF NIGHTMARES. Please take a stand for individuals, landowners and farmers over corporate greed and protect our property rights over these Hazardous C02 pipelines. Seventy-eight percent of Iowans agree with us. You seem afraid to let HF 565  be voted on in the Senate because you know it would pass. Jake Ketzner from Summit has said they can get 90-95% without eminent domain, so why not pass HF565? Stand up for our Iowa Motto: OUR LIBERTIES WE PRIZE, OUR RIGHTS WE WILL MAINTAIN.”

Santa Barbara Independent: Exxon’s Corroded Pipeline
Seth Steiner, Los Alamos, 4/28/23

“This week Exxon asks the County to allow it to reopen a 123-mile-long pipeline that caused the 142,000-gallon Refugio spill in 2015,” Seth Steiner writes for the Santa Barbara Independent. “The pipe is over 30 years old, is eight years older now than when it caused that great destruction, and has not been fully inspected and repaired in all this time. Rather than spend the money to repair the old pipe, Exxon proposes to install valves that would supposedly limit future spills to manageable levels. That massive spill has done more than enough damage in our County. There are still countless clumps of tar below the sand’s surface. Will my wife and I ever again be able to walk on Refugio Beach without getting it on our feet? The long list of Exxon’s calamitous accidents will continue to grow, wherever it operates and regardless of its assurances and claims of engineering advances and safe operating practices. For decades Exxon has found ways to avoid responsibility for full clean-up and restoration. And, recovery is never complete. Our Planning Commission should consider the values of the Gaviota Coast Plan and Exxon’s historic record. Otherwise, the next ruinous Santa Barbara spill is surely only a matter of time. Editor’s Note: The Santa Barbara Planning Commission denied the safety valve upgrade Wednesday.”

Cardinal News: Why Biden is backing the Mountain Valley Pipeline
Dwayne Yancey, 5/1/23

“One of the most curious political developments recently was the decision by U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to write a letter to federal regulators in favor of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, the natural gas pipeline from northwestern West Virginia to Chatham whose construction is held up by lots of legal complications,” Dwayne Yancey writes for Cardinal News. “…Of course, Biden is also trying to play a complicated game of three-dimensional chess – and one level of that game is trying to increase American LNG exports to elbow out Russian exports and make it easier for countries to stop buying Russian gas while that country is making war on Ukraine. The politics of Granholm’s support for MVP is probably much simpler than geopolitics. It’s about a more domestic brand of politics – helping out U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia. The most unreliable Democratic senator surprised many by voting for the so-called Inflation Reduction Act – also called the “climate bill” – last year. What he wanted in return was approval for the MVP and so far he hasn’t gotten it. He’s also wavering on, well, lots of things. Biden needs Manchin’s vote. He also needs Manchin, as problematic as he may be for Democrats, to get re-elected next year – and Manchin will face a strong challenge from West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice. Democrats may think Manchin isn’t much of a Democrat, but they’d sure rather have him as a senator from West Virginia than they would a Republican. So Granholm’s letter can be read on two levels. One, the administration is trying to do a favor for Manchin. Two, it may be that the administration really does believe that the Mountain Valley Pipeline “will enhance the nation’s critical infrastructure for energy and national security.” “…It should also be noted that Granholm’s letter is mostly symbolic. Federal regulators have already approved the pipeline; it’s the courts that have held up the project. Granholm’s letter doesn’t do anything, but if sending this to regulators helps mollify Manchin for awhile, I’m sure the White House will think it’s worth it.”

Guardian: I back saboteurs who have acted with courage and coherence, but I won’t blow up a pipeline. Here’s why
George Monbiot, 4/28/23

“There’s a fundamental principle that should apply to every conflict. Don’t urge others to do what you are not prepared to do yourself. How many wars would be fought if the presidents or prime ministers who declared them were obliged to lead their troops into battle?” George Monbiot writes for the Guardian. “I can see why How to Blow Up a Pipeline, the book by Andreas Malm which has inspired a new film with the same title, has captured imaginations. It offers a lively and persuasive retelling of the history of popular protest, showing how violence and sabotage have been essential components of most large and successful transformations, many of which have been mischaracterised by modern campaigners as entirely peaceful… “Malm forces us to confront questions of strategy and to justify or reject those we have chosen. No one can deny that current campaigns have failed: capital’s assaults on the living planet have only accelerated. Nor can we deny that, as he says, we have been too “placid and composed” or that the climate crisis is insufficiently politicised. Should we, as he urges, begin a campaign of violent attacks on the industrial economy? While his case is compelling, I feel something is missing… “Malm reduces our task to “the struggle against fossil fuels”. But fossil fuels are just one of the drivers of climate breakdown, albeit the largest, and climate breakdown is just one aspect of Earth systems breakdown… “My own belief is that our best hope is to precipitate a social tipping: widening the concentric circles of those committed to systemic change until a critical threshold is reached, that flips the status quo. Observational and experimental evidence suggests the threshold is roughly 25% of the population. I find it hard to see how this could happen if we simultaneously engage in violent conflict with those we seek to swing. But I concede that our chances are diminishing, regardless of strategy. In the meantime, I will support people who have already committed coherent and targeted acts of sabotage in defence of the living planet that do not endanger human life. But I won’t encourage anyone to do so, because I’m not prepared to do it myself. This, at least, is one clear line in a world where everything is blurred.”

VT Digger: Rachel Smolker: PUC snuffs out a chance to weigh in on a flawed pipeline
Rachel Smolker of Hinesburg is co-director of Biofuelwatch and has worked on climate, land use and energy issues locally, nationally and internationally for two decades, 5/1/23

“April 22 was Earth Day and we are in serious trouble: Winter is disappearing, the poles are melting, and it is already 85 degrees in Vermont. What to do? Let’s not put a fracked gas company in charge of designing our climate policies!” Rachel Smolker writes for VT Digger. “Along with many others, I have been fighting the Vermont Gas Systems transmission pipeline through Vermont now for more than six years. At first it was because of the well-known climate impacts of methane and fracking. But along the way we uncovered a multitude of alarming problems with the way the pipeline was being constructed that raise serious questions about its integrity. I have dear friends and acquaintances who live directly alongside this pipeline — in the blast zone.  Vermont Gas was required to obtain a permit from the state (a certificate of public good), which was granted by the Public Utility Commission on the basis that construction would meet a variety of stipulated safety and environmental protections and standards. That permit was violated on multiple counts, which I and my colleagues, with help of a lawyer, revealed after reviewing hundreds of thousands of pages of documents and observing and documenting what we were seeing with our own eyes… “Vermont Gas is promoting policies like the “Affordable Heat Act” — a policy proposal it essentially designed. The act is a baroque shell game wherein it would purchase “attributes” from promises of methane capture from facilities like the Seneca landfill in New York, or a wastewater treatment plant in Iowa. Actual “renewable” gas is not expected to make it to Vermont, but well-intentioned Vermonters will pay more for their plain old fracked gas under the assumption that they are doing something good. And they will pay, given the very high cost of renewable natural gas or attributes. This shell game is a win-win for Vermont Gas, which gains PR about saving us from climate change and manages to salvage its otherwise stranded pipeline asset. Unfortunately, many of our legislators and even environmental groups in the state appear willing to support whatever policies Vermont Gas advises. Vermont Gas is in the business of selling gas. It is not a Vermont-owned mom-and-pop company but is owned largely by the major fracked gas multinationals based in Canada. Do we really trust Vermont Gas to design and implement our climate policies, especially given its abominable mismanagement of the transmission pipeline construction?”  

Globe and Mail: Alberta’s oil-rich future and a pivotal election
THE EDITORIAL BOARD, 5/1/23

“Alberta is entering a new era, one of greater oil wealth than the country’s richest province has ever seen. There are vast possibilities and major challenges. The month-long election campaign, set to begin Monday, comes at this critical juncture,” the Globe and Mail Editorial Board writes. “…Companies for years paid low royalty rates in a system designed to allow them to first recover billions of dollars in costs. Most operators now pay higher royalty rates… “Expensive oil helps but what’s certain is Albertans will reliably gain more from their resources in the years on the immediate horizon. At the same time, emissions need to be slashed and the end of oil’s heyday is on the more distant horizon. Net zero – a promise Alberta made in April – doesn’t mean zero oil but in the reckoning of the International Energy Agency the world must reduce oil usage to a quarter of current levels by 2050. That’s 27 years away. Amid these poles – a flood of oil money and oil’s inevitable decline – the crucial question during Alberta’s spring election campaign is how to harness its wealth to secure the province’s long-term prosperity… “Today, Alberta can chart its economic destiny. The 2020s should be a transformative decade. The province has a bounty of fossil fuel wealth. It rapidly got off coal power, a decision by Rachel Notley’s NDP in 2015, and has become Canada’s solar and wind power leader. Alberta has, in abundance, the know-how to succeed… “Most of all, Alberta has to stop spending all the money from every barrel as fast as possible. It’s called a non-renewable resource for a reason… “Today’s wealth is immense and decisions this decade will define Alberta’s future. Wise leadership is essential.”

The American Prospect: Clean-Power Group Supports Dirty Energy
DOROTHY SLATER 4/28/23

“Members of the American Clean Power Association (ACP) flooded into Washington last week for an in-person lobbying push for so-called permitting reform, which they themed “#ReadytoBuild,” Dorothy Slater writes for The American Prospect. “ACP is commonly described by news media as “the clean energy industry’s top trade association” or “the leading renewables industry group.” So why did the group throw its support behind Republican-led H.R. 1, the bill that Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called “a wish list for Big Oil,” along with Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) “dirty deal,” knowing it would advance fossil fuel projects, including the Mountain Valley Pipeline? Descriptions of ACP as a clean-energy industry group are misleading at best. ACP does indeed represent many clean-energy companies, but is also a conglomeration of executives and corporations that are tied to, and benefit from, the fossil fuel industry’s continued reign—including some executives from some of the biggest oil companies in the world… “Oil and gas and utility companies have succeeded in stacking ACP’s board of directors with their own representatives, and now seem to be successful in getting the group to push a fossil fuel agenda. As of April 2023, the board included a Shell vice president and a BP senior vice president, as well as executives from utility companies including Southern Power, Dominion Energy, Xcel Energy, NextEra Energy, and American Electric Power. Eight more board members are sourced from “clean” energy companies that own, invest in, or otherwise support methane gas, hydrogen, and/or carbon capture infrastructure. There’s also a board member from JPMorgan Chase, the top global financier of new fossil fuel projects, and Amazon Energy, which works with a number of oil and gas companies.” “…Outside of its own board, members, executives, and conference sponsors, ACP seeks to influence politics through its “CleanPower PAC,” which is quite a deceptive name that has likely led well-meaning small-dollar donors to contribute thinking they’re advancing clean energy, not the Big Oil–backed bills ACP has thrown its weight behind. ACP’s CleanPower PAC not only received contributions from fossil fuel interests including BP, Dominion Energy, and NextEra executives, but its disbursements have been quite concerning. During the 2021-2022 election cycle, CleanPower PAC gave funds to 36 Republican candidates or PACs, and 33 Democratic candidates or PACs. Their contributions to Democrats included problematic fossil fuel allies including Sens. Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, the Arizonan who went independent this year… “Americans are familiar with political groups distorting the truth and misusing labels to push a special-interest agenda, but the case of American Clean Power is especially egregious. ACP is actively aligning itself with the fossil fuel industry while pointing readers to the word “clean” in its name. The public, and the well-intentioned individuals actually working to advance clean energy and environmental justice, deserve to know the truth about the people devising these tactics.”

Bloomberg: The Oil Industry’s Unhappy Marriage Is Starting To Face Facts
David Fickling, 4/30/23

“Even a marriage heading for its 50th anniversary will sometimes be overcome with bickering. That’s what happened last week with the oil industry’s most important bodies, the International Energy Agency and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries,” David Fickling writes for Bloomberg. “OPEC risks weakening the global economy and accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels if its production cuts push crude prices too high, the IEA’s Executive Director Fatih Birol said in an interview Wednesday with Bloomberg Television… “As with many long but unhappy alliances, what’s striking about this row is that the parties share a realistic fatalism about the situation they’re in. The bitterness of last week’s argument doesn’t stem so much from deep disagreements about where oil demand and the energy transition is headed, as from the vanity of small differences. Both sides have been edging toward an acceptance that oil production will be lower at the end of the decade than it is right now. Current levels of oil investment will only be sufficient to supply about 80 million barrels a day in 2030, according to projections presented by Saudi Arabian Oil Co., OPEC’s most important stakeholder, compared to the 101.9 mb/d that the IEA projects for this year… “As the world removes crude oil products from road transportation and even shipping, a growing share of demand will come not from fuel but from petrochemical feedstocks, asphalt, lubricants and waxes — everything except energy, in other words. OPEC is responding as jilted partners often do, with bitterness and recrimination. Both sides have to accept, however, that their marriage of convenience is coming to an end.”

Bloomberg: Peak Oil Spells Trouble for Consumers
Brooke Sample, 4/30/23

“America’s shale industry is about to undergo its latest transformation, and this time, consumers aren’t going to come out on top,” Brooke Sample writes for Bloomberg. “Javier Blas visited Midland, Texas, the capital of the Permian Basin and an epicenter of US oil production. What he found there was an interesting consensus: Output will likely reach its peak in a few years and remain flat. That leaves the question of what a post-peak planet will look like — and right now it looks like shareholders are going to be the big winners of the shale slowdown. That leaves the question of what a post-peak planet will look like — and right now it looks like shareholders are going to be the big winners of the shale slowdown. As Liam Denning notes, fracking enabled tremendous growth in US oil production. But investors have discovered that reinvesting that their money in growing the industry meant they weren’t making profits… “In the grand global energy scheme, oil has been a tumultuous commodity, Isabelle Lee writes, “largely blamed for the great spike in global inflation.” It’s a complicated crossroads for energy markets: Countries and companies alike are coming up quickly on new deadlines to curb their fossil-fuel emissions, and electric-vehicle businesses are making incredible headway with car buyers around the world. Yet petrochemicals will continue to prop up oil demand even as our gasoline consumption wanes. The fracking boom rejuvenated America’s energy market, and it meant lower prices for happy consumers. But fracking’s environmental and agricultural impacts — and, perhaps most consequential of all, unsatisfactory profits for investors — fly in the face of efforts to curb climate change. What will Midland look like in 10 years? It’s anyone’s guess.”

Pipeline Fighters Hub