EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 5/15/23

PIPELINE NEWS

• Iowa Capital Dispatch: Landowner battles against pipelines vary by state

• KFYR: Proposed carbon dioxide pipeline in ND could be rerouted

• Dakota News Now: Matters of the State: Private pipeline meetings?

• CBC: The overbudget Trans Mountain pipeline project is carrying $23B in debt — and needs to borrow more

• Nebraska Examiner: Keystone pipeline owner says recovery of spilled oil into Kansas creek is complete

• Canadian Press: Another stop-work order issued for Coastal GasLink pipeline over erosion concerns

• Press release: Indigenous Leaders, Environmental Groups, and Concerned Citizens Call on Canada to Shut Down Enbridge’s Line 5 Pipeline

• Canadian Press: Pipeline plot twist: where Line 5 threatens nature, now nature is a threat to Line 5

WASHINGTON UPDATES

• Utility Dive: Manchin aims to bring energy infrastructure permitting reform bill to Senate floor for vote by August

• E&E News: Permitting in play as White House debt talks resume

• Associated Press: Kerry challenges oil industry to prove its promised tech rescue for climate-wrecking emissions

• Washington Examiner: Price tag for Biden signature climate law balloons to multiple of initial estimates

• Associated Press: Biden proposal would let conservationists lease public land much as drillers and ranchers do

STATE UPDATES

• Associated Press: Youth lawsuit challenging Montana’s pro-fossil fuel policies is heading to trial

• InsideClimate News: Ohio Environmentalists, Oil Companies Battle State Over Dumping of Fracking Wastewater

• Montana Free Press: Gianforte signs bill banning state agencies from analyzing climate impacts 

EXTRACTION

• Wall Street Journal: $14 Billion Deal to Create Mega-Pipeline Company

• Bloomberg: Oneok to Buy Magellan in $19 Billion Energy Pipeline Deal

• Reuters: Alberta regulator monitoring more avian deaths at Suncor tailings pond

• National Observer: Parliament to make Imperial Oil tailings documents public

• Grist: Is carbon capture viable? In a new rule, the EPA is asking power plants to prove it.

• Wall Street Journal: Carbon Capture Is Hard. This Plant Shows Why.

• RBN Energy: The Case For Energy Transfer’s Blue Marlin Crude Oil Export Project

• Fox News: Jane Fonda, 85, says she plans to continue climate protests: ‘It’s all hands on deck right now’

CLIMATE FINANCE

• Bloomberg: NYC Pension Funds Are Sued for Cutting Fossil-Fuel Stakes

• Globe and Mail: Shareholders rebuff climate proposals at Canadian energy giants, but momentum builds

• E&E News: Texas wins six-figure settlement over anti-ESG law

TODAY IN GREENWASHING

• Dallas Morning News: Pipeline king Kelcy Warren gives UT Arlington its biggest donation ever

OPINION

• WV Gazette Mail: Wes Holden: WV knows where loose industry permitting leads (Opinion)

• International Energy Agency: Opinion: COP28 Is A Moment Of Truth For The Oil And Gas Industry’s Efforts On Climate

• New York Times: Will Texas Blow Up Its Energy Miracle to Bolster Fossil Fuels?
  

PIPELINE NEWS

Iowa Capital Dispatch: Landowner battles against pipelines vary by state
JARED STRONG AND PAUL HAMMEL, 5/12/23

“…The rules and procedures that determine whether they can be built in the first place vary widely among those states,” the Iowa Capital Dispatch reports. “They range from seemingly no rules at all in Nebraska to Iowa’s robust system, which puts all regulation of the pipelines’ construction and operation into the hands of one governing body. Yet, even in states with rules that give a measure of protection to people who own land in the path of the pipelines, there are calls to strengthen those protections. Legislation failed in three of the states this year that would have restricted or prevented the companies from using eminent domain to gain land easements. It remains unclear whether regulators and courts in each of the states will decide that the projects are worthy of that forced power. Some counties have adopted stricter rules about where the pipelines can be built, and landowners are arguing in court that merely allowing the companies to survey land without permission is unconstitutional… “Right now, some counties are considering local ordinances concerning the pipelines, according to Jane Kleeb, founder of Bold Nebraska, the citizen group that led the opposition to the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline. She said at least 430 landowners are rejecting offers to sell right-of-way to carbon dioxide pipeline developers in the Midwest. Omaha lawyer Brian Jorde, who represents many of those landowners, told the Dispatch he doesn’t believe the pipelines have the right to use eminent domain to obtain right-of-way under Nebraska law, an issue that will likely end up in court… “As long as they don’t try to use it against any of my clients, they’ll be fine,” he told the Dispatch. Jorde thinks Nebraska’s lack of a permitting process for carbon dioxide pipelines will benefit landowners if they must fight against eminent domain. Other states with laws about the permitting process explicitly say that eminent domain is allowed for the projects. Nebraska has no such edict… “Jorde predicted it will be at least three years before all the legal challenges related to the pipeline projects are settled. Dozens of lawsuits have been filed in Iowa and North and South Dakota regarding the pipelines. Most of them have been initiated by the pipeline companies.”

KFYR: Proposed carbon dioxide pipeline in ND could be rerouted
Joel Crane, 5/13/23

“The carbon dioxide pipeline proposed to run north of Bismarck could be rerouted,” KFYR reports. “This week, a representative for Summit Carbon Solutions said an alternative route to the south of Bismarck will be presented to the Public Service Commission this month. The Bismarck City Commission voted unanimously to oppose the pipeline’s proposed northern route. Landowners like former Bismarck mayor Steve Bakken say that route could be dangerous. ”What happens if that pipeline ruptures north of Bismarck in the summer on a Saturday afternoon? The river is full. So, that’s a dangerous situation,” said Bakken. Landowners are also concerned with eminent domain. Summit has filed eminent domain lawsuits in South Dakota and Iowa, but not in North Dakota.”

Dakota News Now: Matters of the State: Private pipeline meetings?
5/15/23 

“On this week’s Matters of the State, we take a closer look at concerns about private meetings involving a proposed CO2 pipeline in South Dakota,” Dakota News Now reports. “I-Team reporter Beth Warden shares her discussions with county commissioners about the meetings and how the process is being handled.”

CBC: The overbudget Trans Mountain pipeline project is carrying $23B in debt — and needs to borrow more
David Thurton, 5/13/23

“The overbudget Trans Mountain expansion project owes its lenders at least $23 billion and is looking to take on more private debt as the federal government shuts its wallet and construction costs skyrocket,” CBC reports. “CBC News has reviewed newly released documents from Trans Mountain and another federal government entity. They show the expansion project is burning through cash and needs to borrow billions of dollars more to finish the work, which the company says was almost 80 per cent complete as of March. “The business is significantly leveraged with debt,” Trans Mountain’s updated corporate plan says. That same plan says Trans Mountain will need to borrow more to cover anticipated work in 2023 on pipeline sections and terminals. Financial statements from the Canadian Development Investment Corporation (CDEV), the federal Crown corporation that owns the pipeline project, flag Trans Mountain’s growing liabilities as a financial risk — especially since the pipeline now must turn to private lenders. When Trans Mountain’s costs surged again in February 2022, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said the government was committed to completing the project but would commit no more public money to it. The documents show Trans Mountain had secured at least $10 billion in credit from Canada’s big private banks as of December 2022. Trans Mountain says it still needs to borrow billions more. The rest of its debt is held by the Government of Canada. CDEV warns Trans Mountain has “no assurance” of receiving more private financing and there is “material uncertainty” about Trans Mountain having “sufficient” financial resources to meet its obligation in 2023. Trans Mountain warns in its corporate plan that if new funding is not secured, “construction of TMEP (Trans Mountain Expansion Project) will need to be stopped, workers laid-off, contractors demobilized and the in-service date of TMEP would be delayed.” “…When all the money used to purchase the existing pipeline was debt, by focusing on EBIDTA, Trans Mountain is deliberately misleading the public,” Robyn Allan, an independent economist and pipeline watcher, told CBC. CBC has been requesting interviews with Trans Mountain’s president and CEO Dawn Farrell for the past nine months. Trans Mountain has said Farrell is not available.”

Nebraska Examiner: Keystone pipeline owner says recovery of spilled oil into Kansas creek is complete
PAUL HAMMEL, 5/14/23

“A Canadian pipeline company says it has completed the recovery of oil spilled into a Kansas creek following a record leak on the Keystone Pipeline,” the Nebraska Examiner reports. “TC Energy, in a press release Thursday, said it continues to restore the shoreline of Mill Creek as well as adjacent areas affected when the high-pressure, 36-inch pipeline sprang a leak in December, releasing more than 500,000 gallons of crude oil. It was the largest oil pipeline spill in the U.S. in nine years and the largest leak on the 12-year-old Keystone pipeline… “The company said it expects to continue its work at the spill site until the third quarter of the year. TC Energy said it employed “sophisticated recovery and water filtration techniques” to collect the oil… “Environmental groups have said the Keystone should be shut down because of its design flaws and that it’s only a matter of time before there’s another leak.”

Canadian Press: Another stop-work order issued for Coastal GasLink pipeline over erosion concerns
5/14/23

“British Columbia environment enforcement officers have issued another stop-work order for the Coastal GasLink pipeline project over erosion and sediment control, something the company promised it would stay on top of last year,” the Canadian Press reports. “The latest order covers an 11-kilometre section in the Morice River watershed southwest of Houston, B.C., and comes after the company paused construction on a 20-kilometre stretch near the Little Anzac River over similar concerns. The enforcement office says a May 4 inspection of the Morice River site found problems related to erosion and sediment control causing impacts to sensitive wetlands. In both cases, TC Energy says it’s stopping so it can implement measures to respond to rapid spring melt due to rising temperatures and high snow pack… “The company said in a statement that it proactively paused work at the Little Anzac River site north of Prince George two weeks before stop-work orders were issued earlier this week. The latest order brings the number of stop-work orders currently in effect for the project to six. The company has said it’s bringing in third-party experts to assess additional erosion and sediment control procedures needed during accelerated spring melt.”

Press release: Indigenous Leaders, Environmental Groups, and Concerned Citizens Call on Canada to Shut Down Enbridge’s Line 5 Pipeline
5/15/23

“Today, Indigenous, civil society, and environmental groups from the Great Lakes region delivered a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau and members of his cabinet, calling for Canada to withdraw its use of the 1977 pipeline treaty and shut down Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline. Organizers and Indigenous leaders met with parliament members to deliver the letter and express the outlined demands. The letter, signed by over 300 groups and 6,000 individuals to date, includes Indigenous leaders and scientists… “The pipeline has already leaked 29 times, spilling over 4.5 million litres of oil and putting 84 percent of North America’s surface freshwater at risk. And yet, Canada continues to prioritize the ongoing operation of the pipeline over this critical global freshwater system. The letter urges Canada to “stop impeding the efforts to shut down Line 5 by those who depend on clean water in the Great Lakes region and uphold the inherent rights of the Indigenous Nations of the Great Lakes while honoring all of the treaties with Indigenous Nations north and south of the border that predate and supersede the 1977 pipeline treaty.” “…The interconnected waters flowing through the Mashkiiziibii — the Bad River — are inseparable from our people’s existence,” said Chairman Wiggins, Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. “We cannot afford to place our trust wholly in Enbridge’s assurances that these waters are safe. Instead, we must follow the science and our own traditional knowledge gathered by generations whose lives depended on this ecosystem. In one week alone, nearly half the riverbank eroded away. At this moment, just one more storm could expose the oil pipeline to the river’s current, and we could experience a release of oil akin to what happened in the Yellowstone River in 2011 or the Arkansas River in 2014. This is an imminent threat not just to our way of life, but to the clean waters that sustain all the residents and businesses throughout the Lake Superior basin. The court needs to take action to shut down and purge Line 5 before it’s too late.” 

Canadian Press: Pipeline plot twist: where Line 5 threatens nature, now nature is a threat to Line 5
JAMES MCCARTEN, 5/15/23

“The controversial Canada-U.S. oil and gas conduit known as Line 5 could be facing its toughest challenger yet: the very watershed the pipeline’s detractors are trying to protect,” the Canadian Press reports. “Spring flooding has washed away significant portions of the riverbank where Line 5 intersects Wisconsin’s Bad River, a meandering, 120-kilometre course through Indigenous territory that feeds Lake Superior and a complex network of ecologically delicate wetlands. The Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa has been in court with Alberta energy giant Enbridge Inc. since 2019 in an effort to compel the pipeline’s owner and operator to reroute Line 5 around its traditional territory. But last month, Mother Nature raised the stakes. “There can be little doubt now that the small amount of remaining bank could be eroded and the pipeline undermined and breached in short order,” the band’s lawyers argued in an emergency motion filed last week… “Significant erosion is continuing as of the filing of this motion, and the evidence strongly suggests that further bank loss could be substantial and result in exposure and rupture of the pipeline.” Wisconsin district court Judge William Conley has scheduled a hearing for Thursday to hear oral arguments on the motion, which asks for an injunction that would require Enbridge to shut down the pipeline and purge its contents. A response from the company is due by Tuesday – but a strongly worded statement Tuesday that described the motion as “truly outrageous” and “unnecessary” left little doubt about its position. “There is no pipeline safety issue and certainly no cause for alarm,” the company said. “To be clear, the band’s leadership seems determined to shut down this piece of critical North American energy infrastructure regardless of who will be impacted by their actions.” Enbridge has offered “numerous plans” to reinforce the riverbank and install an additional emergency valve on the pipeline to further mitigate the risk – work that requires the band’s approval. But the band insists no work can be done to reinforce the riverbank. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” Enbridge said. Asked whether the company was putting contingency plans in place, “there are no existing alternatives” to Line 5, said spokesperson Juli Kellner. “We will make the case, backed by expert testimony, that Line 5 is safe,” Kellner said. “Line 5 is not exposed; it’s buried under multiple feet of soil.”

WASHINGTON UPDATES

Utility Dive: Manchin aims to bring energy infrastructure permitting reform bill to Senate floor for vote by August
Ethan Howland, 5/12/23

“Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., aims to bring bipartisan permitting reform legislation to the Senate floor for a vote by July 31, the tentative start of the chamber’s summer recess, he said Thursday,” Utility Dive reports. “That’s pretty aggressive. We’re going to get it done,” Manchin, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said during a hearing on permitting reform. “We can get together much quicker if we’re all in this, and I think we are. We want this done and everybody wants it done.” Any permitting reforms must apply equally to all energy sources, said Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the energy committee’s top Republican… “White House senior clean energy advisor John Podesta on Wednesday said the Biden administration supports Manchin’s bill. However, there are “yawning gaps” between Republican and Democratic permitting reform priorities, ClearView Energy Partners said in a client note Wednesday. “We do not observe many areas of overlap, and even fewer areas of real consensus between the partisan proposals,” the research firm said. “We think that Podesta’s speech clearly indicates that permitting reform is on the table, but agreeing to terms from such vastly different starting points remains a challenge.” Pioneer Public Affairs, a consulting firm, echoed ClearView’s analysis. “There is substantial – if not overwhelming – agreement that some changes to various permitting processes are needed; however, there is no consensus or general agreement on where to focus to make the biggest difference,” Pioneer said in a memo Wednesday… “Measures that are unlikely to pass muster include rollbacks to the Inflation Reduction Act, major restrictions to environmental and public health laws or limits on considering climate change and greenhouse gasses in permitting, the firm said.”

E&E News: Permitting in play as White House debt talks resume
Kelsey Brugger, 5/15/23

“The White House is preparing to meet with congressional leaders early this week on debt ceiling negotiations, but time is running short to hammer out a deal,” E&E News reports. “One potential negotiating point is an overhaul of the nation’s permitting system, an effort that both parties have been eyeing the past several months. Whether that chip is played in a final deal remains an open question, but as high-level talks continue at the White House, the Senate this week will separately hold a major hearing on permitting reform… “As talks continue to play out, a key McCarthy ally told reporters last week that there has been an early willingness to consider permitting as a bargaining chip. Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) put the odds that permitting could be included in a final debt limit deal as “better than a 50-50.” “…This week, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will convene a hearing titled, “Federal Actions to Improve Project Reviews for a Cleaner and Stronger Economy.” The witnesses include three Biden administration officials, including Christine Harada, executive director of the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council. EPW Chair Tom Carper (D-Del.) has said he plans to draw up his own permit legislation changes in the coming weeks. His bill will add to several already out there: They include the GOP-led H.R. 1, the “Spur Permitting of Underdeveloped Resources (SPUR) Act” from Energy and Natural Resources ranking member John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), the “Revitalizing the Economy by Simplifying Timelines and Assuring Regulatory Transparency (RESTART) Act” from EPW ranking member Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), as well as ENR Chair Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) “Building American Energy Security Act.”

Associated Press: Kerry challenges oil industry to prove its promised tech rescue for climate-wrecking emissions
ELLEN KNICKMEYER, 5/14/23

“Oil and gas producers talk up technological breakthroughs they say will soon allow the world to drill and burn fossil fuels without worsening global warming,” the Associated Press reports. “U.S. climate envoy John Kerry says the time is here for the industry to prove it can make the technology happen — at scale, affordably and quickly — to stave off climate disaster. And Kerry told AP he has “serious questions” whether it can. Kerry’s comments came in an interview with The Associated Press on one of the most crucial topics in the fight to slow global warming: the argument from oil and gas producers that they will soon have technology in place to extract the climate-damaging gases that make fossil fuels the main culprit in climate change, allowing companies to keep pumping crude and natural gas worry-free. Kerry told AP the ideal solution is a fast global switch to renewable energy, but oil and gas states and companies have a right to give their claim of technological rescue a try. “If you’re able to abate the emissions, capture it,” Kerry told AP. “But we don’t have that at-scale yet. And we can’t sit here and just pretend we’re going to automatically have something we don’t have today. Because we might not. It might not work.” “…What they’re banking on is that they’re going to be able to do the emissions capture,” Kerry told AP of oil and gas companies. He ticked off the stages of operations that would involve. “If you can do those things, you may be able to make it economically competitive,” he tod AP, adding, “I have some serious questions about whether it will be price-competitive.” “…But the technology to capture the biggest climate agent, carbon dioxide, remains limited in scale and costly, and often energy-intensive in its own right… “Actual experience has been that commercial-scale carbon capture projects have fallen far, far short of the claims,” David Schlissel of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis research group told AP. “I just think it’s foolish to think that we can keep pumping the stuff, CO2, methane, into the atmosphere, and that at some point we’ll be able to capture it,” Schlissel told AP…“We can’t let the wish or the hope govern common sense here,” Kerry told AP. “If we know that we can get the job done by deploying more renewables and current technology, we ought to be doing that.”

Washington Examiner: Price tag for Biden signature climate law balloons to multiple of initial estimates
Jeremy Beaman, 5/15/23

“The federal government may end up spending $800 billion more than originally projected to subsidize green energy technologies under the Inflation Reduction Act, fueling a campaign from Republicans and a threat from the legislation’s own chief architect to roll back its programs,” the Washington Examiner reports. “…The original estimate tied to the legislation projected its energy and climate change-related programs to cost $369 billion over 10 years. More recent projections estimate that the IRS will shell out more and, by some measures, three times more. Goldman Sachs published analysis in April estimating the value of IRA incentives over 10 years at $1.2 trillion. The Wall Street giant also estimated the law would bring along $3 trillion in private-sector investment in renewable energy with it. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School recently updated their estimate of the law’s cost, putting projected spending on the energy and climate provisions at around $1.05 trillion through 2032, up from its earlier estimate that the cost would be closer to $385 billion. Penn Wharton now estimates spending on incentives for clean cars and trucks at around $393 billion over 10 years, a number that by itself exceeds the original estimate for the entirety of the IRA’s energy and climate-related provisions. The analysis said “newer implementation details have emerged,” affecting its estimate. Analysts have provided a range of explanations for the higher estimates. One factor is there’s been greater interest in the subsidies than initially expected, for instance, from families willing to buy electric vehicles or manufacturers willing to build windmills. Another explanation is that the administration has implemented the law in such a way to allow subsidies to be given out more freely than initially thought… “White House Adviser John Podesta downplayed estimates that the Inflation Reduction Act could end up being more expensive than it was originally scored. “I think what he’s been pushing recently is the question that the bill is kind of overperforming, that he’s worried there’s more takeup than was anticipated,” Podesta told the Examiner. “I think that’s success.”

Associated Press: Biden proposal would let conservationists lease public land much as drillers and ranchers do
MATTHEW BROWN, 5/15/23

“The Biden administration wants to put conserving vast government-owned lands on equal footing with oil drilling, livestock grazing and other interests, according to a top administration official who defended the idea against criticism that it would interfere with industry,” the Associated Press reports. “The proposal would allow conservationists and others to lease federally owned land to restore it, much the same way oil companies buy leases to drill and ranchers pay to graze cattle. Companies could also buy conservation leases, such as oil drillers who want to offset damage to public land by restoring acreage elsewhere. Tracy Stone-Manning, director of the Bureau of Land Management, said in an interview with The Associated Press that the proposed changes would address rising pressure from climate change and development. While the bureau previously issued leases for conservation in limited cases, it has never had a dedicated program for it, she told AP. “It makes conservation an equal among the multiple uses that we manage for,” Stone-Manning told AP. “There are rules around how we do solar development. There are rules around how we do oil and gas. There have not been rules around how we deliver on the portions of (federal law) that say, ‘Manage for fish and wildlife habitat, manage for clean water.’” The pending rule also would promote establishing more areas of “critical environmental concern” due to their historic or cultural significance, or their importance for wildlife conservation. More than 1,000 such sites covering about 33,000 square miles (85,000 square kilometers) have been designated previously… “But more than a century after the U.S, started selling oil and gas leases, the conservation idea is stirring debate over the best use of vast government-owned property, primarily in the West. Opponents including Republican lawmakers are blasting it as a backdoor way to exclude mining, energy development and agriculture from land controlled by the BLM… “On Monday night, senior agency officials were scheduled to host the first virtual public meeting about the conservation proposal. Another virtual event is slated for June 5 and public meetings are planned for May 25 in Denver; May 30 in Reno, Nevada; and June 1 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican who tried to block Stone-Manning’s 2021 Senate confirmation, told AP the proposed rule is illegal… “Environmentalists have largely embraced the idea of conservation leases, characterizing the proposal as long overdue. Joel Webster with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, a coalition of conservation groups and hunting and fishing organizations, told AP the administration’s plan would set up a process to ensure landscapes are considered for conservation without forcing restrictions.”

STATE UPDATES

Associated Press: Youth lawsuit challenging Montana’s pro-fossil fuel policies is heading to trial
AMY BETH HANSON, MATTHEW BROWN and DREW COSTLEY, 5/12/23

“A Montana judge on Friday said a climate change lawsuit from young people challenging the state’s pro-fossil fuel policies will proceed to trial despite efforts by the state to derail the case,” the Associated Press reports. “The upcoming trial in Helena would be the first of its kind in the United States, according to experts in climate law who said the nation is lagging behind the rest of the world in terms of climate litigation… “Attorneys for the 16 young plaintiffs, ranging in age from 5 to 22, alleged state officials were trying to avoid the upcoming trial when Republican lawmakers in March repealed the state’s energy policy — one of two laws that the case challenges. The plaintiffs and their backers are hoping to use the two-week trial that’s set to start on June 12 to highlight the dangers of fossil fuel emissions that scientists say are making climate change worse… “The case was brought in 2020 by attorneys for the environmental group Our Children’s Trust, which since 2010 has filed climate lawsuits in every state on behalf of youth plaintiffs… “The lawsuit documents how the consequences of climate change already are being felt by the young plaintiffs, with smoke from worsening wildfires choking the air they breathe and drought drying rivers that sustain agriculture, fish, wildlife and recreation… “It’s highly significant that this case is going to trial at all,” Sandra Nichols Thiam, an attorney with the Environmental Law Institute, told AP. “Getting all of this information on the record will be a major advancement in climate litigation.”

InsideClimate News: Ohio Environmentalists, Oil Companies Battle State Over Dumping of Fracking Wastewater
Jon Hurdle, 5/14/23

“Ten years ago, Tim Kettler asked local officials to stop spreading liquid waste from fracking on the road near his home in Warsaw, Ohio, because he was worried that the fluid would contaminate a pond where he gets his drinking water,” InsideClimate News reports. “They complied with his request, but the practice continues in many other places across the state, and threatens to taint its groundwater with radioactivity and a cocktail of other contaminants in the residue from natural gas drilling. Water from the pond, downhill from the road where the salty waste was once spread, remains clean and drinkable, but that hasn’t stopped Kettler and other activists in Ohio from campaigning against a practice that has been used for years to de-ice roads in the winter and keep dust down in the summer.  They say that high levels of two kinds of radium in the waste, known as produced water, as well as its extreme salinity, is already damaging the environment where the brine is spread and will eventually find its way into underground sources where people get their drinking water. In a related development, lawyers for two Ohio oil and gas companies filed suit in the spring of 2022 against the owners of wells where produced water from Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia is being injected for long-term disposal claiming their business is being hurt by the leakage of waste into production wells. The suits were dismissed but are being appealed, adding to pressure on the fracking industry, and the State of Ohio, from an unlikely pairing of interest groups… “Putting our water at risk, especially in the area where there are known earthquake faults, just seems pretty wrong-headed,” Kettler, who owns a wastewater business, and is a member of the Ohio Brine Task Force, an advocacy group that works to stop produced water from fracking from being spread on roads, told ICN. “The constituents of this wastewater are known to be toxic and radioactive. Putting that on the ground, especially where people use surface water for their domestic water supply, as I do—where runoff is inevitable—is a problem.”

Montana Free Press: Gianforte signs bill banning state agencies from analyzing climate impacts 
Amanda Eggert, 5/12/23

“Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte has signed into law a bill that bars the state from considering climate impacts in its analysis of large projects such as coal mines and power plants,” Montana Free Press reports. “House Bill 971 was among the most controversial energy- and environment-related proposals before the Legislature this session, drawing more than 1,000 comments, 95% of which expressed opposition to the measure. HB 971 bars state regulators like the Montana Department of Environmental Quality from including analyses of greenhouse gas emissions and climate impacts, both within and outside Montana’s borders, when conducting comprehensive reviews of large projects. It builds off of a decade-old law barring the state from including “actual or potential impacts that are regional, national, or global in nature” in environmental reviews. Lawmakers suspended their rules to allow for House Bill 971’s introduction and passed the measure along party lines. Republican lawmakers supported the bill, saying it will help unwind a recent court decision over a gas plant under construction. Democrats said it will weaken Montanans’ right to participate in government decisions… “Anne Hedges with the Montana Environmental Information Center told MFP the Legislature is “hiding its head in the sand” by passing bills like HB 971, and she anticipates it will be the subject of a constitutional lawsuit.”

EXTRACTION

Wall Street Journal: $14 Billion Deal to Create Mega-Pipeline Company
Collin Eaton, 5/14/23

“Pipeline operator Oneok agreed Sunday to buy smaller rival Magellan Midstream Partners for about $14 billion, a deal that would form one of the biggest U.S. companies involved in transporting and storing energy,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “The deal’s price tag, including $8.8 billion in equity and $5.1 billion in cash, amounted to a 22% premium over Magellan’s common units as of Friday. Oneok said it would assume Magellan’s $5 billion in net debt. The deal was expected to close in the third quarter, pending the approval of regulators and investors. The proposed tie-up would be by far the biggest U.S. energy deal announced so far this year. Some analysts have said the U.S. oil-and-gas sector is ripe for major corporate transactions this year, after energy prices surged last year and left companies with a large windfall of cash. In Oneok’s case, much of the cash portion would be financed through a debt offering, it said. As of Friday, the companies’ combined stock-market value of nearly $40 billion exceeded that of large U.S. competitors Energy Transfer, Kinder Morgan, and Williams Cos. Among operators based in the U.S., only Enterprise Products Partners was valued at a higher amount, at $56.4 billion. Canadian rivals Enbridge and TC Energy were also worth more. Magellan owns almost 10,000 miles of pipelines carrying refined products, such as gasoline, with dozens of interconnected storage facilities in Texas and Oklahoma through the Midwestern U.S. to North Dakota. It also owns marine storage facilities in the Houston area and Corpus Christi, Texas. Oneok has a vast network of natural gas liquids pipelines, storage terminals and natural gas pipelines in many of the same regions in the Midwestern U.S., particularly in its home state of Oklahoma and in Texas.”

Bloomberg: Oneok to Buy Magellan in $19 Billion Energy Pipeline Deal
Gerson Freitas Jr and Sebastian Tong, 5/14/23

“Oneok Inc. agreed to buy Magellan Midstream Partners LP in a $18.8 billion cash-and-stock transaction that would create one of the largest US oil and natural gas pipeline operators,” Bloomberg reports. “The deal will see each Magellan stakeholder receive $25 in cash and 0.667 shares of Oneok stock per unit, representing a 22% premium to closing prices on May 12, the companies said in a joint statement on Sunday. The transaction includes $8.8 billion in new equity and the assumption of $5 billion of existing net debt.”

Reuters: Alberta regulator monitoring more avian deaths at Suncor tailings pond
5/15/23

“The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) said on Sunday it was monitoring the situation after 27 waterfowl were found dead at one of Suncor Energy Inc’s (SU.TO) oilsands tailings ponds,” Reuters reports. “The company informed the regulator on May 13 that the birds were found at its Syncrude Mildred Lake Settling Basin, AER said in a post on its website. The deceased birds at Syncrude included seven Grebes, with another five of the endangered bird species being found at the Millennium Mine site tailings pond at Suncor Base Plant… “In April, 32 waterfowl were found dead at Suncor’s tailings pond on its Base Mine Site… “Separately, Canada’s federal environment ministry has opened a formal investigation into a months-long tailings leak at Imperial Oil Ltd’s (IMO.TO) Kearl oil sands mine in northern Alberta, signaling a potential prosecution.”

National Observer: Parliament to make Imperial Oil tailings documents public
Natasha Bulowski, 5/15/23

“The public will soon be able to read a lengthy document Imperial Oil submitted to a parliamentary committee studying the recent tailings leaks at its Kearl oilsands mine in northern Alberta,” the National Observer reports. “A motion by Bloc Québécois MP Monique Pauzé to publicly post witness submissions received by the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development was passed after some debate on Thursday evening… “The environment committee generally publishes all the briefs it receives. But it is not standard practice to upload other documents and additional information MPs often request from witnesses. Pauzé’s motion created a one-time exception to this standard procedure. “We didn’t receive a ton of documents but there are tables and numbers, and I think it could be interesting for everyone to have access to these documents,” Pauzé said in her motion on May 11. It is not clear exactly how many documents were submitted to the committee, but there is at least one 1,250-page submission from Imperial — which includes technical information, charts, an executive summary and recommendations — that would be made publicly available.”

Grist: Is carbon capture viable? In a new rule, the EPA is asking power plants to prove it.
Joseph Winters, 5/12/23

“For years, fossil fuel companies and utilities have touted carbon capture and storage, or CCS, as a way to cut climate pollution from the power sector. Now, federal regulators are asking them to walk the walk,” Grist reports. “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, on Thursday proposed a new rule to nearly eliminate climate pollution from the nation’s coal- and natural gas-fired power plants by 2040. In contrast to previously proposed regulations that required “generation-shifting” — forcing utility companies to replace their fossil fuel-fired power generators with renewables, a strategy that the Supreme Court shot down last summer — the new proposal focuses on what’s achievable using technologies like carbon capture and storage, or CCS. At least, they focus on what’s theoretically achievable based on optimistic projections from CCS’s proponents. Although the EPA says CCS technology is “adequately demonstrated” and “highly cost-effective,” experts are deeply skeptical that it can deliver on its promised emissions reductions. In the end, some told Grist that fossil fuel power plants could find it more economical to shut down and switch to renewable energy. “The EPA is calling the bluff on the power industry,” Charles Harvey, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told Grist. “There have been so many arguments that they’ve made in favor of CCS as a mature technology. … Now the EPA is saying ‘OK, you have to do it,’ and I don’t think they really can.” “…But despite this long history, CCS doesn’t have a strong track record of actually sequestering carbon — especially for the power sector, where 90 percent of proposed carbon capture capacity has failed or never gotten off the ground. In the 2010s, the Department of Energy supported five demonstration projects with some $2 billion in funding, but only one ever became operational. That project, attached to a coal-burning power plant near Houston, Texas, called Petra Nova, closed in 2020, leaving just one commercial power plant in the entire world still using carbon capture: the Boundary Dam coal plant in Saskatchewan, Canada.”

Wall Street Journal: Carbon Capture Is Hard. This Plant Shows Why.
Eric Niiler, 5/12/23

“The Biden administration’s pursuit of a carbon-free electricity grid leans in part on a technology with a history of unfulfilled promises,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Carbon capture is the technology many U.S. coal and gas-fired power plants are planning to deploy to meet proposed new limits on greenhouse gas emissions announced by the Environmental Protection Agency this past week. Only one commercial power plant in North America is currently operating with carbon capture. Its experience hasn’t been as smooth—or climate-friendly—as proponents of the rules might hope. That plant, the Boundary Dam Power Station Unit 3 in Canada’s Saskatchewan province, turns locally mined coal into enough electricity for 100,000 homes… “The destination for all that captured carbon dioxide isn’t particularly green. Three-quarters of it is pumped underground to squeeze more oil out of a field 36 miles away operated by a different company—a solution that only adds to the problem of global greenhouse emissions… “Some U.S. power industry experts are skeptical of the Biden administration’s push, saying that carbon capture needs a longer test drive before it is ready for the green energy highway. “We need to learn about operational challenges, maintenance issues, data and how you optimize the system before we can be building whole fleets of [carbon-capture and storage] technologies,” Neva Espinoza, vice president of energy supply and low-carbon resources at the Electric Power Research Institute, an independent, nonprofit energy research organization, told the Journal… “The only commercial-scale power plant in the U.S. using carbon capture—the Petra Nova coal-fired plant in Texas—closed its $1 billion carbon-capture unit in 2020 after three years. Work on Boundary Dam’s carbon-capture system began in 2011… “Even though the plant is cleaner, it doesn’t remove enough carbon dioxide to comply with new Canadian climate regulations. “We won’t be able to meet that federal emissions requirement going forward,” he told the Journal. “There’s a question about whether or not we will have a stranded asset on our hands come 2035.” 

RBN Energy: The Case For Energy Transfer’s Blue Marlin Crude Oil Export Project
Housley Carr, 5/15/23

“It’s been two and a half years since Energy Transfer submitted its plan for the Blue Marlin crude oil export project to the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) and, like the large billfish for which the proposed offshore terminal is named, the project has spent most of its time under the surface and out of sight,” according to RBN Energy. “But that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been forward movement on the regulatory and business fronts and, with U.S. oil exports rising fast and a preference among many shippers for VLCCs that can be fully loaded without reverse lightering, Blue Marlin is alive and kicking, as we discuss in today’s RBN blog… “Given that U.S. refineries’ ability to economically process high-API-gravity, low-sulfur crude is pretty much maxed out, it’s likely that almost all those incremental barrels will be bound for export terminals along the Gulf Coast. And, as we said in Calling the Shots, it’s also a good bet that, on their way to overseas refineries, as many of those barrels as physically possible will be headed through terminals like the Enbridge Ingleside Energy Center (EIEC) and South Texas Gateway (STG) — both in Ingleside, across the bay from Corpus Christi — whose docks can receive and load VLCCs with minimal reverse lightering, the most cost-effective way to move massive volumes of oil to Europe and Asia.”

Fox News: Jane Fonda, 85, says she plans to continue climate protests: ‘It’s all hands on deck right now’
Brie Stimson, 5/15/23

“Jane Fonda has no plans to hang up her bullhorn anytime soon,” Fox News reports. “I don’t know how you could not,” she said earlier this week regarding protests for climate advocacy. “I have grandchildren. I love animals, I love nature. We’re going to destroy it all if we don’t. “It’s all hands on deck right now, it’s urgent, urgent and everyone has to join in right now,” the “Book Club” actress told the New York Post this week at the Manhattan premiere of the sequel, “The Next Chapter.” “…Fonda, now 85, continues to rally for progressive causes, including with Fire Drill Fridays, a climate group she founded in 2019.  “Inspired by Greta Thunberg’s call to act like ‘our house is on fire’ and guided by Naomi Klein’s Green New Deal advocacy, Jane reached out to Annie Leonard, co-executive director of Greenpeace USA, and other trusted allies to say she was ready to do whatever it would take to stop the climate crisis,” Fire Drill Fridays says of its inception on its website… “Last week, the “Monster-in-Law” star joined a group calling out President Biden’s “broken promises” on climate policies in New York City while he was there to raise money, according to AMNY.com. “We have little time left. The opportunity to save the planet and our future – the window on that is closing rapidly, and we have to do something about it.” 

CLIMATE FINANCE

Bloomberg: NYC Pension Funds Are Sued for Cutting Fossil-Fuel Stakes
Saijel Kishan and Martin Z Braun, 5/12/23

“In a new attack against ESG investing, three New York City pension funds were sued for allegedly breaching their fiduciary duty by selling billions of dollars of fossil-fuel assets,” Bloomberg reports. “The plaintiffs, represented by Donald Trump’s former Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, claim the retirement plans’ decision to divest roughly $4 billion in fossil fuel investments is “a misguided and ineffectual gesture to address climate change,” according to the complaint filed in New York state court. They said the plans have “a duty to act prudently in making investment decisions.”

Globe and Mail: Shareholders rebuff climate proposals at Canadian energy giants, but momentum builds
JEFFREY JONES, 5/15/23

“Investors at three major Canadian energy companies – Imperial Oil Ltd., Enbridge Inc. and Suncor Energy Inc. – have rejected shareholder proposals on climate issues this spring, but the activists who pushed them are heartened by the support they did receive,” the Globe and Mail reports. “Results of the shareholder votes show momentum growing in the push for improved climate-related disclosure and better explanations of how energy companies are positioning themselves for the transition to a lower-carbon economy. With some of the resolutions, shareholders voted nearly 20 per cent against management. In one case – a proposal at Enbridge to disclose downstream Scope 3 emissions – nearly a quarter voted for the proposal. “I systematically tell any of the clients that we have that any time you get a shareholder proposal above 20 per cent, consider that as a pretty strong shot across the bow that it needs to be addressed either in a supplemental filing, in engagements, in some kind of additional disclosure,” Michael Vogele, managing director at proxy advisory firm Alliance Advisors, told the Globe and Mail. “Because it’s coming and it’s better to start addressing it internally in the way a company wants to rather than it being prescribed by a shareholder resolution.” “…We’re getting more specific with the climate resolutions now. It’s no longer, ‘Please make a climate target’ or, ‘Please have a transition plan.’ It’s the implementation side of things,” Duncan Kenyon, director, corporate engagement, at Investors for Paris Compliance, told the Globe and Mail. With regard to the capital spending alignment: “That’s a very specific one that many investors around the world are starting to ask.”

E&E News: Texas wins six-figure settlement over anti-ESG law
Adam Aton, 5/15/23

“UBS Group AG will pay a six-figure settlement to offset costs from Texas blacklisting investment firms it deems to be “boycotting” oil and gas investments, a standard that has cost Texas taxpayers hundreds of millions from more expensive borrowing rates,” E&E News reports. “UBS has agreed to pay $850,000 to the Normangee Independent School District after the attorney general’s office blocked a contract for UBS to underwrite the school district’s bonds, citing the firm’s policies on fossil fuel investment. Rebidding that contract without UBS forced the district to issue $18.6 million in bonds at a higher interest rate, “causing it financial harm,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Friday when he announced the settlement. The settlement is one of the first enforcement actions under a 2021 Texas law, known as S.B. 13, that forbids public entities such as cities and school districts from doing business with financial firms that “limit commercial relations” with fossil fuel companies.”

TODAY IN GREENWASHING

Dallas Morning News: Pipeline king Kelcy Warren gives UT Arlington its biggest donation ever
Paul O’Donnell, 5/12/23

“Dallas pipeline king Kelcy Warren is boosting his alma mater, the University of Texas at Arlington, and his profession with a $12 million donation to the college’s engineering school,” the Dallas Morning News reports. “The philanthropic gift from Warren, executive chairman of oil and gas pipeline giant Energy Transfer, is the largest in the university’s history. He’s a 1978 civil engineering graduate of UTA. The money will be used to create faculty positions and fund research in UTA’s new resource and energy engineering degree program.”

OPINION

WV Gazette Mail: Wes Holden: WV knows where loose industry permitting leads (Opinion)
Wes Holden is a retired federal employee living in Sissonville, 5/10/23

“Many of us who have lived in the Kanawha River Valley remember the awful smell in the air from releases by the many chemical plants,” Wes Holden writes for the WV Gazette Mai. “We also remember that the Kanawha River, like many of our country’s rivers, was not fit to swim in, much less drink… “This bit of history provides some of the rationale for our federal and state permitting processes, as well as for the laws we have to protect our environment… “In light of this history, I cringed when I read the complaints of Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., in a recent op-ed published in the Gazette-Mail. Capito bemoans the “burdensome federal review process and litigation that follows.” We ought to be wary about the impulse to “streamline” the permitting process. Our environmental protections have already been weakened in recent years by the past administration for the benefit of energy corporations, and we will all pay the price in terms of a degraded environment and poorer health. Should Congress, after passing laws to protect the public and the environment, then limit the enforcement by making vague those laws for the benefit of corporations? There is only one answer to that question, and it is a resounding “No.” Our legislators are duty bound to protect “we the people,” not corporate profits. Perhaps Capito should ask herself if she is out of touch with her constituents. Citizens have the right to protest to stop the overreach of corporations that damage our environment… “The Mountain Valley Pipeline is being built to ship natural gas to overseas markets, not to make it available to local consumers. Perhaps tell us why gas pipeline construction companies bring in out-of-state employees, instead of hiring West Virginians for the better paid jobs… “The permitting process has been established to protect the interests of the general public from the unfettered greed of powerful energy corporations that spend millions on lobbying to get our politicians in their back pockets. Let’s not weaken those protections. Without clean air, clean water and a healthy environment, what do we really have?”

International Energy Agency: Opinion: COP28 Is A Moment Of Truth For The Oil And Gas Industry’s Efforts On Climate
Dr Fatih Birol, Executive Director, International Energy Agency, 5/13/23

“The COP28 Climate Change Conference in Dubai this year is a unique opportunity for the oil and gas industry to show it’s serious about tackling climate change,” Dr. Faith Birol writes for the International Energy Agency. “At a time when the impacts of climate change are increasingly being felt worldwide, oil and gas producers need to secure a new social license to operate. The world needs to see meaningful changes in the operations of both international and national oil companies, with clear and responsible strategies for bringing down their emissions rapidly. The oil and gas companies that have so far announced plans to reduce emissions from their operations account for less than half of global production. And many of the pledges that have been made are vague or aren’t backed up by clear strategies for achieving them, especially for the crucial period between now and 2030. More ambitious targets, concrete plans and robust accountability are needed to achieve deep reductions across oil and gas activities and beyond.”

New York Times: Will Texas Blow Up Its Energy Miracle to Bolster Fossil Fuels?
Dr. Michael E. Webber is a professor of energy resources at the University of Texas and the chief technology officer at the venture fund Energy Impact Partners, a global investment firm focused on technologies that help decarbonize the global economy, 5/12/23

“Because the Texas energy system is so large and central to the American economy, we all have a shared stake in its energy success,” Dr. Michael E. Webber writes for the New York Times. “…And because Texas is by far the nation’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases among the states, the country cannot decarbonize its economy without Texas. The Lone Star State has seen rapid growth not only in oil and gas production but also in wind and solar generation, a boom that has been justly called the Texas Miracle. But now reactionary forces in the Texas Legislature want to turn the clock back to the days before the state became a national leader in producing electricity from solar and wind power. The Texas Legislature is moving to erect barriers to clean energy development while providing incentives for fossil fuel production. This would make the task of reducing emissions much harder. And it comes even though oil and gas production has continued to grow, though not at the pace of the market’s embrace of wind and solar. This is a “radical departure,” as Locke Lord, a national law firm active in the energy business, put it, for a state that “has long prided itself on a regulatory climate that is business-friendly and encourages, rather than stifles, economic development.” “…Now Texas stands to benefit more than any other state from the recent federal Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Tens of billions of dollars of new clean energy projects have been announced in Texas, which will further boost the state economy while accelerating cuts in emissions. That is, unless the Texas political leadership gets its way… “They are turning instead to heavy-handed regulation and central control to pick winners and losers. And renewable energy would be the loser. Lawmakers are debating a range of bills that would mandate and subsidize more natural gas power plants, provide tax incentives for fossil fuels, punish renewables and make it easier to stop clean energy projects… “Let’s hope Texas legislators will come to their senses and let the markets prevail rather than turning socialist to protect their favorite — dirtier — fuels. It would be the patriotic as well as the environmental thing to do and would continue to make Texas rich in the process.”