EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 5/31/23

PIPELINE NEWS

• Pipeline Fighters Hub: Landowners & Advocates Impacted by Proposed CO2 Pipelines Converge on Federal PHMSA Public Safety Meeting in Des Moines May 31-June 1

• Washington Post: How a fossil fuel pipeline helped grease the debt ceiling deal

• Politico: Debt ceiling deal boosts odds of Mountain Valley Pipeline crossing the finish line

• CNN: Manchin could get a gas pipeline out of the debt ceiling deal, and environmental advocates are livid

• Guardian: ‘Stop the dirty deal’: activists decry Schumer and Manchin over pipeline plan

• WV Gazette Mail: “When you can’t win, cheat!”: WV environmentalists blast debt limit deal designed to force Mountain Valley Pipeline completion

• Press release: Over 150 Groups Push White House to Enact Carbon Pipeline Moratorium

• Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Study reveals new data on how Summit Carbon, Navigator pipelines would impact SD’s economy

• Summit-Tribune: Summit Carbon allegedly sent threatening email to Kossuth County Supervisors

• KELO: People lining up to testify at carbon capture pipeline hearings

• E&E News: Major Midwest pipeline faces threat of court-ordered shutdown

• Globe and Mail: Enbridge keen to revive natural-gas pipeline plans in northern B.C.

• Reuters: FERC approves TC Energy’s US-Mexico North Baja natural-gas pipe expansion

• Portland Monthly: Who Killed Jordan Cove?

WASHINGTON UPDATES

• Grist: Environmental groups slam ‘poison pills’ in debt ceiling bill

• The Hill: Warren: Parts of the debt ceiling deal are ‘really bad’

• Hart Energy: Energy Investors Cheer Pipeline Provision in Budget Bill

• E&E News: House Republicans Set Hearing On EPA Power Plant Rule

• New York Times: Following Setbacks, Climate Activists Rethink Their Approach

• New York Times: You’ve Never Heard of Him, but He’s Remaking the Pollution Fight

STATE UPDATES

• Teen Vogue: University of Pennsylvania: Students Organizing Over Climate, Housing Are Arrested at Homecoming

• E&E News: DOE lab assesses CCS viability in California

• Bismarck Tribune: Blue Flint carbon storage project receives approval

• Los Angeles Times: FBI investigating hazardous fallout from Bay Area refinery

• Alaska Beacon: Alaska Supreme Court finds former North Pole refinery owner liable for pollution

EXTRACTION

• DCist: Climate Activists Indicted For Paint Protest At National Gallery Of Art

• Guardian: More than 1,500 arrested at Extinction Rebellion protest in The Hague

• Alaska Beacon: Alaska Supreme Court finds former North Pole refinery owner liable for pollution

• Reuters: Climate battle looms as Alberta premier Smith takes aim at Trudeau after election win

• Bloomberg: Trudeau Faces Energy Battles as Conservatives Hold Alberta

• Grist: Should we pull carbon out of the air with trees, or machines?

• Stockholm Environment Institute: Reducing Methane Emissions: How To Move From Pledges To Actions. 

CLIMATE FINANCE

• Associated Press: Climate protesters face tear gas at oil giant TotalEnergies shareholder meeting in Paris

• New York Times: Reassessing the Board Fight That Was Meant to Transform Exxon

TODAY IN GREENWASHING

• Washington Post: Burning trash for the planet? Climate cash sets off branding frenzy.

• Bloomberg: 6 Ads Banned for Greenwashing by the UK’s Advertising Watchdog

• Washington Post: Delta’s carbon-neutral pledge is ‘greenwashing,’ California lawsuit says

OPINION

• Globe Gazette: BROWN: In support of carbon-capture projects

• NRDC: Mountain Valley Pipeline Pushed Forward on False Claims of Need

• American Banker: Big banks are breaking their promise to fund a green energy transition
  

PIPELINE NEWS

Pipeline Fighters Hub: Landowners & Advocates Impacted by Proposed CO2 Pipelines Converge on Federal PHMSA Public Safety Meeting in Des Moines May 31-June 1
5/30/23

“Landowners and advocates from a half-dozen states will converge on Des Moines, IA this Wednesday, May 31 and Thursday, June 1 to attend the U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) “Public Meeting on Carbon Dioxide Pipeline Safety” to be held at the Des Moines Marriott Downtown. The Public Meeting will focus on the thousands of miles of proposed carbon dioxide (CO2) pipeline projects that are pushing for permits and suing landowners via eminent domain to gain access to their land, and inform PHMSA’s current rulemaking it has undertaken to update federal carbon pipeline safety regulations. While the PHMSA Public Meeting will include participation from a range of stakeholders — including impacted landowners facing eminent domain, Bold Alliance attorney Paul Blackburn, and Pipeline Safety Trust director Bill Caram — Bold Alliance will also host a separate panel, after the conclusion of the first day’s program at 6:00 p.m. at Iowa Taproom (215 E Third St.), featuring a number of first responders and victims from the 2020 Denbury carbon pipeline rupture in Satartia, Mississippi. During the meeting, Bold Alliance will also deliver a petition urging U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and PHMSA to issue a ruling that assures current regulations apply to pipelines carrying CO2 in all phases, and clear up the confusion and misinformation being spread by CO2 pipeline developers on what actions states, counties, and municipalities may undertake to protect their communities against the dangers of a CO2 pipeline rupture and other concerns.”

Washington Post: How a fossil fuel pipeline helped grease the debt ceiling deal
Maxine Joselow, 5/31/23

“Immediately after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) reached an elusive agreement with President Biden to raise the debt ceiling on Saturday, the speaker emerged from his office and called a little-known congresswoman about a once obscure energy project,” the Washington Post reports. “We got Mountain Valley Pipeline done,” McCarthy told Rep. Carol Miller (R-W.Va.), people familiar with the conversation told the Post. The speaker was referring to a controversial gas pipeline that the debt limit deal sought to fast-track. Its inclusion shocked many in Washington, including several lawmakers, aides and lobbyists. Yet the phone call, which has not been reported previously, capped a week of behind-the-scenes negotiations among House Republicans, White House officials and others over the 303-mile pipeline, which would carry natural gas across West Virginia and Virginia — over the opposition of local residents and climate activists… “But House Republicans and their aides also played a key role in securing language in the debt ceiling deal to expedite the project’s completion, people close to the talks, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private deliberations, told the Post. To make the stars align, House Republicans had to enlist Manchin in communications with the White House, the people told the Post. The resulting deal included many players but demonstrated how industry lobbyists can influence legislation and help certain politicians in the mix… “On that day, Equitrans CEO Thomas Karam met with staffers for Miller about including the favorable provisions in the debt ceiling deal, the people close to the talks told the Post. The same day, Lance West, a lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute and Manchin’s former chief of staff, also huddled with Miller staffers about the MVP… “One key player was Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.), the chief deputy whip and a key member of the House GOP leadership. Reschenthaler helped rally support for the provisions, noting that the pipeline would deliver gas from Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale formation to markets in the Southeast… “Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.) encouraged members of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus to back the pipeline language, despite his announcement that he will seek Manchin’s seat along with West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R). And Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) was one of the loudest voices in the Senate supporting the language, despite her endorsement of Justice… “Many climate activists see Biden’s tacit approval of the pipeline as yet another betrayal, given permits granted to the Willow oil project in Alaska and his past promises to rapidly reduce the nation’s carbon footprint. “This White House has paid so much lip service to environmental justice,” Jean Su, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, told the Post. “But when the rubber meets the road, the Mountain Valley Pipeline decision was completely exclusionary of the actual environmental justice communities on the ground.”

Politico: Debt ceiling deal boosts odds of Mountain Valley Pipeline crossing the finish line
CATHERINE MOREHOUSE, BEN LEFEBVRE, 5/30/23

“Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) may have found a nearly bulletproof path forward for the embattled Mountain Valley Pipeline,” Politico reports. “…It essentially bypasses the need for a new water quality certificate from West Virginia regulators as well as ongoing legal challenges to the project in the courts. But the agreement to expedite approval of the pipeline is already facing fierce opposition from Democratic lawmakers in Manchin’s neighboring state as well as a Republican lawmaker from Texas. House Democrats from Virginia led by Rep. Jennifer McClellan on Tuesday introduced an amendment to strip the bill of the MVP language, and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) plans to file identical language in the Senate. “Permitting for the Mountain Valley Pipeline has nothing to do with our nation’s spending and should not be included in the budget agreement,” the House Democrats wrote in a statement. “This provision is a free pass for the pipeline and sidesteps our nation’s environmental laws and judicial review processes.”

CNN: Manchin could get a gas pipeline out of the debt ceiling deal, and environmental advocates are livid
Ella Nilsen, 5/31/23

“Sen. Joe Manchin’s monthslong effort to greenlight the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline – a project that will pipe methane gas across parts of West Virginia and Virginia – is likely to prevail in the bipartisan debt ceiling deal, angering environmental groups and some Democratic lawmakers,” CNN reports. “…While attaching the pipeline to the must-pass legislation has delighted West Virginia lawmakers, environmental groups are furious that Congress stepped in after they had successfully challenged the pipeline in court. As recently as last month, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit had struck down permits for the project on the grounds that they violate the Clean Water Act. “Literally, they are changing the rules as we are playing the game,” Crystal Cavalier-Keck, co-founder of indigenous environmental justice group 7 Directions of Service, told reporters on a Tuesday call. Environmental groups excoriated the effort to carve out exceptions for the pipeline as “immoral” and “unconscionable,” and some heaped blame on President Joe Biden’s administration as well as congressional lawmakers. “For this administration to profess that it cares about environmental justice, and then greenlight Mountain Valley Pipeline while gutting the National Environmental Policy Act, is abhorrent and wrong,” Tennessee state lawmaker Justin Pearson, a Democrat, told reporters Tuesday… “There could be a last-ditch effort to undo the pipeline piece of the debt ceiling bill. Lawmakers from both parties in the House and Senate have filed amendments to strip the pipeline from the legislation, with a coalition of Virginia Democrats in the US House supporting the effort, as well as a Republican congressman from Texas. Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, also plans to file a Senate amendment to do just that – but it’s unclear if any of these efforts will be successful… “While that effort plays out in Congress, environmental groups are planning a sit-in protest in front of the White House next week to protest the pipeline.”

Guardian: ‘Stop the dirty deal’: activists decry Schumer and Manchin over pipeline plan
Dharna Noor, 5/31/23

“Climate activists have stepped up protests over the inclusion of a provision to speed up a controversial gas pipeline’s completion in the deal to raise the debt ceiling as Congress prepares to vote on Wednesday, aiming criticism at Democrats Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin,” the Guardian reports. “The pipeline project has long been championed by Manchin, the West Virginia senator who was the top recipient of fossil fuel industry contributions during the 2022 election cycle. Activists led by the advocacy group Climate Defiance rallied outside the Senate majority leader home in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood on Tuesday evening, chanting “Schumer, stop the dirty deal” and demanding the $6.6bn Mountain Valley Pipeline be stripped from the legislation. Schumer has also received donations from one of the companies behind the pipeline. The protests came hours after nearly 200 groups sent a letter to Schumer and members of Congress remove the pipeline from the deal… “Food and Water Watch is also doing daily phone banks and has set up a dedicated hotline to Schumer’s office. Meanwhile, Appalachian Voices is holding three rallies at Senator Mark Warner’s Virginia office pushing for a debt deal that does not include the pipeline… “Climate groups, led by the Virginia and West Virginia organization Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights are also planning to rally in front of the White House next week.”

WV Gazette Mail: “When you can’t win, cheat!”: WV environmentalists blast debt limit deal designed to force Mountain Valley Pipeline completion
Mike Tony, 5/30/23

“We’re not trying to skip any review process,” Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said of a provision he backs in a debt limit deal designed to force completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline,” the WV Gazette Mail reports. “But that’s exactly what the deal would do for the 303-mile gas pipeline, and West Virginia environmentalists are irate. “When you can’t win, cheat!” West Virginia Environmental Council President Linda Frame told the Gazette of her takeaway from the deal, called the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. The legislation, which Congress must approve, would compel the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to issue all permits needed to finish construction of the pipeline within three weeks… “To be clear, this says the rules that apply to every other company don’t apply to MVP,” West Virginia Rivers Coalition Executive Director Angie Rosser told the Gazette. “It says our people, our waters, are not worthy of equal protection under the law.” “…This bill attempts to block judicial review in precisely the areas of law where permanent approval has been found to be unlawful, arbitrary and capricious,” Russell Chisholm, managing director of Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights, said in a press call Tuesday. Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights is a coalition of Virginia and West Virginia groups fighting fossil fuel expansion. Monroe County landowner Maury Johnson, an outspoken critic of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, said neither Biden nor Manchin should be supported for reelection after the deal. “[T]hey have thrown the American people, especially the youth, under the bus — or maybe I should say under the pipeline laying tractors … oil and gas drilling rigs, as well as other climate changing projects,” Johnson said in a statement.

Press release: Over 150 Groups Push White House to Enact Carbon Pipeline Moratorium
5/30/23

“Amid the Congressional push to fast track dirty energy projects, over 150 groups sent a letter to President Biden today urging him to issue an executive order that would put a moratorium on federal permits for new carbon dioxide pipelines until new safety regulations are finalized by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). The proposal President Biden negotiated with Congressional Republicans to extend the debt ceiling could further reduce public oversight for CO2 pipelines, which already lack significant federal review required for other fossil fuel pipelines. The Biden administration has embraced a range of carbon capture technologies, offering billions in tax incentives and subsidies to promote pipelines and other carbon capture infrastructure.  This approach requires the construction of tens of thousands of miles of new pipeline – which presents distinct health and safety risks to nearby communities. These projects are moving forward before regulators are able to update health and safety laws, like those at PHMSA, which advocates are targeting for increasing scrutiny.  “A moratorium on dangerous and underregulated carbon dioxide pipelines is essential to protect communities and the environment,” said Maggie Coulter, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. “The Biden administration put the cart before the horse by creating huge subsidies for carbon capture and storage before comprehensive regulations are in place.” The letter spells out several areas of concern with carbon pipelines – including inadequate ‘safety zones’ in case of leaks, the presence of contaminants in CO2 that could weaken pipelines, and inadequate training and equipment for first responders and emergency personnel… “As the letter states, “The absence of strong regulations leaves urban and environmental justice communities at greater risk, since carbon capture and storage will be increasingly located in industrial areas. Therefore, it is imperative that you issue an executive order putting a moratorium in place on all federal CO2 pipeline permits until PHMSA finalizes its CO2 pipeline rule.” 

Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Study reveals new data on how Summit Carbon, Navigator pipelines would impact SD’s economy
Dominik Dausch

“In the ongoing dialogue around carbon dioxide pipelines, companies like Summit Carbon Solutions and Navigator CO2 Ventures often tout how South Dakota could rake in tons of money from carbon sequestration. A new study from an independent group is substantiating their claim,” the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports. “On May 22, Dakota Institute, an economic research group based in Sioux Falls, released “Economic Impacts of CO2 Pipelines in South Dakota.” “…Among the key findings of the report are indications the pipelines could bring billions of dollars of revenue to the state, while farmers stand to see an increase in corn prices from 2024 to 2034. The logic behind these findings is that ethanol producers would be able to gain substantial increases in revenue if they adopt carbon sequestration processes… “According to the study, South Dakota would see about $3.30 billion in gross domestic product, or the market value of finished goods and services, and about $5.92 billion in gross output over the ten-year period. To put these numbers in perspective…If built to completion, carbon sequestration would increase GDP in the industry by 28% over a 10-year period… “It’s a really interesting project to kind of look at these pipelines and what their potential kind of impact could be,” Jared McEntaffer, the author of the study, told Argus Leader on Monday. “I think we found that the pipelines could have a pretty large and significant economic impact in the state. Our job isn’t to be advocates for that, though.” A little over a quarter of the gross output estimate stems from federal tax credits. The Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 introduced a 45Z New Clean Fuel Production Credit as a lucrative incentive for ethanol producers to adopt carbon capture and sequestration processes. 45Z credits are more valuable than the already existing and similar 45Q credit. Whereas 45Q credits offer about 24 cents per gallon of ethanol for sequestering carbon dioxide, 45Z credits up to $1 and $1.75 per gallon of ethanol-based transportation and aviation fuel, respectively… “There’s no bigger way to [lower] your carbon score than carbon sequestration. It’s a huge stepping stone to be able to accomplish, you know, a very low carbon fuel,” Walt Wendland, CEO of Onida-based Ringneck Energy, told Argus Leader on Monday. However, 45Z credits are only available between 2025 and 2027, which would require Summit and Navigator’s pipeline to be constructed and operational by then… “The study continues that this would raise the value of corn production in the state by $123.5 million and up to $938.3 million over the 10-year period… “However, the pipelines will have a measured negative effect on crop yields over the next decade, the study notes. In the first year alone, farmland crossed by a pipeline will see 100% yield loss, accounting for more than $10 million in damages to farm producers. Over the 10-year span, affected farmlands will see related yield losses decrease, but an estimated $19.47 million in damages is anticipated… “Additionally, individual contracts between the two carbon companies and applicable ethanol plants were not shared with the Dakota Institute, obscuring the relationship between the two industries.” 

Summit-Tribune: Summit Carbon allegedly sent threatening email to Kossuth County Supervisors
5/25/23

“According to the Iowa Sierra Club, the Kossuth County Supervisors on May 8 received a threatening letter from Summit Carbon Solutions ahead of a vote to move forward with a carbon pipeline zoning ordinance,” the Summit-Tribune reports. “It is appalling to see this outrageous effort to intimidate these Supervisors from protecting their citizens and communities,” Sierra Club Iowa Chapter Conservation Program Coordinator Jess Mazour said. “It’s like Summit is admitting they are losing the battle and have to resort to tactics like this. It’s clear Summit does not care about protecting Iowans who are in the path of the proposed pipeline.” In a recording at their May 8 meeting, Kossuth County Supervisors could be overheard discussing the email. Supervisors said it’s better to do it sooner than later. Later in the discussion, the threatening email from Summit was brought up and the Supervisors tabled the decision to move forward with the ordinance. “Three of our four Supervisors were supportive of the ordinance before Summit sent the threatening email. Summit is a bully. They will sue, threaten and bully anyone that says no to this carbon pipeline scam,” said Matt Dornbier, a would-be impacted landowner in Kossuth County. Supervisors in Montgomery County, which is also considering a zoning ordinance, received a similar letter. The email states “It is essential that you consider the potential consequences of enacting ordinances that may infringe upon the jurisdiction of the state and federal governments…If found liable for damages, the attorney suggests that the county may resort to raising taxes to pay for those damages. Such an increase in taxes would place an additional burden on hard working Iowans. This situation could ultimately affect the county’s financial stability and reputation.” “Summit’s pipeline was proposed to be only 300 feet from my home,” said Kossuth County landowner Channon Mawdsley. “Our Supervisors should be able to protect us without fear of being sued. Our supervisors have totally negated the duties of their job that they were elected to do. We need our supervisors to put Kossuth County citizens’ safety over threats from the pipeline companies.”

KELO: People lining up to testify at carbon capture pipeline hearings
Tom Rooney, 5/30/23

“The Carbon Capture Pipeline debate is already generating records,” KELO reports. “Public Utilities Commissioner Chris Nelson told KELO both sides are developing strategy. He told KELO more than 400 people have filed to be on the docket to testify at hearings later this year, which is a record. Many residents have safety concerns over the pipelines, but Nelson told KELO state law on permitting pipelines has no reference to the material those lines carry.”

E&E News: Major Midwest pipeline faces threat of court-ordered shutdown
Niina H. Farah, Carlos Anchondo, 5/30/23

“If the Line 5 oil pipeline were to shut, Enbridge Inc. and industry groups say it would crimp energy supplies. Opponents say there are several alternative options to carry fuel,” E&E News reports. “

Globe and Mail: Enbridge keen to revive natural-gas pipeline plans in northern B.C.
BRENT JANG, 5/30/23

“Enbridge Inc. is keen to revive a natural-gas pipeline project in a bid to supply a proposed export facility in northern  British Columbia, says the company’s chief executive officer,” the Globe and Mail reports. “The Westcoast Connector Gas Transmission pipeline is shaping up to be a promising project over the long term, Greg Ebel, who took over as Enbridge CEO from the retiring Al Monaco at the start of 2023, told the Globe and Mail. The pipeline route would run from northeast B.C. to near a planned export terminal, named Ksi Lisims LNG, for producing liquefied natural gas on the province’s North Coast. Ksi Lisims is backed by the Nisga’a Nation, Western LNG and a group of natural-gas producers called Rockies LNG. Climate activists tell the Globe and Mail the focus should be on renewable energy, but Mr. Ebel argues that LNG from Canada could play a crucial role as a transition fuel to help displace higher-carbon thermal coal currently being used for electricity generation in Asia… “Enbridge applied to the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office (BCEAO) last December to extend Westcoast Connector’s environmental assessment certificate by five years, proposing a new expiry date of Nov. 25, 2029. But Enbridge said on Tuesday that it decided to not pursue that formal extension request until taking more time to hold consultations with Indigenous groups and commercial partners.”

Reuters: FERC approves TC Energy’s US-Mexico North Baja natural-gas pipe expansion
5/30/23

“Canadian energy company TC Energy Corp’s (TRP.TO) North Baja Pipeline LLC unit has received permission from U.S. energy regulators to put the North Baja natural gas pipeline expansion in Arizona and California into service,” Reuters reports. “In a filing on Tuesday, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) clarified that its May 25 order included approval for all remaining facilities of the North Baja expansion. The 0.495-billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) North Baja expansion will supply more U.S. natural gas to Mexico, including to U.S. energy company Sempra Energy’s (SRE.N) Costa Azul liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Mexico, which is under construction. The roughly $2 billion Costa Azul project on Mexico’s Pacific Coast will be able to turn about 0.43 bcfd of gas into LNG once it enters service around mid 2025… “The North Baja expansion cost an estimated $127 million, according to U.S. energy data… “North Baja is a bidirectional pipeline that entered service in 2002. It can move gas from Arizona to California and Mexico and from Mexico to California and Arizona.”

Portland Monthly: Who Killed Jordan Cove?
Ramona DeNies, 5/31/23

“BRIGHT ORANGE PAINT ON A MOTHER TREE. A throwaway letter about a property survey. An aggressive phone call: sell or else. A legal notice buried in a Coos Bay newspaper. For a handful of landowners, these were the early salvos in a fight that consumed their lives. Their adversary was Jordan Cove, the largest energy project conceived in Oregon history,” the Portland Monthly reports. “For 17 years, the $10 billion gas plant and pipeline threatened to cut through tribal lands, ranches, timber holdings, and old-growth forests in the heart of Southern Oregon… “Yet, in December 2021, Jordan Cove died. Its multinational backers, once infiltrating communities from the California border to Coos Bay, evaporated. Seemingly overnight, an existential environmental threat disappeared. But not its damage. For those who fought it, Jordan Cove lives on as an emotional scar. It gutted core beliefs about what it means to be a caretaker, a community, and an American. It nearly ripped this region in half. Some think it still might: resurrected in another form, by similarly distant power brokers. How Jordan Cove got off the ground is the classic story of greed and opportunity. But, two years after its burial, Oregonians are still deciphering the improbable blueprint for its murder. What did it take to kill Jordan Cove? And more importantly, could we ever do it again?”

WASHINGTON UPDATES

Grist: Environmental groups slam ‘poison pills’ in debt ceiling bill
Joseph Winters, 5/30/23

“As President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy try to sell Congress on their proposal to raise the debt ceiling, environmental groups are crying out against provisions that would push forward a controversial pipeline project and weaken a bedrock environmental law,” Grist reports. “The deal is a “disaster for people and the planet,” the nonprofit Friends of the Earth said in a statement. The organization’s director of government and political affairs, Ariel Moger, called it a “surrender to Big Oil and Republican hostage-takers.” “…One such provision would require the Army Corps of Engineers to approve all remaining permits for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a 303-mile project to carry natural gas from West Virginia to Virginia. The bill would also protect the permits from judicial review. Although the conservative Democratic Senator Joe Manchin has argued that the pipeline is needed for “energy and national security,” experts say this need has never been demonstrated. Instead, a coalition of environmental advocates warn that pushing the project forward could cause some 89 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually — about as much as 19 million passenger cars — while also harming low-income communities and communities of color in its path. The pipeline has already faced numerous permitting roadblocks due to water quality violations. “This is a desperate company building a failing pipeline that has some sympathetic ears in Congress,” said Russell Chisholm, managing director of Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights, a coalition of environmental groups in Appalachia. He said panic over the debt ceiling was a “completely manufactured crisis” that lawmakers were exploiting at the expense of frontline communities. “I really feel they’re trying to shift the blame for this looming deadline, this looming ‘catastrophe,’ over onto people who object to having their lives thrown away in the name of raising the debt ceiling,” Chisholm told Grist.

The Hill: Warren: Parts of the debt ceiling deal are ‘really bad’
AL WEAVER, 5/30/23

“Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Tuesday decried multiple items included in the debt ceiling agreement struck by the White House and House Republicans as “really bad,” but said she has not decided how she’ll vote on the measure,” The Hill reports. “Warren told reporters in the Capitol that she has “real concerns” about portions of the bill related to work requirements, student debt repayments, climate change and taxes on the wealthy. “Those things are bad. Really bad,” she said. However, the Massachusetts progressive added that she has not decided how she’ll vote, saying she is continuing to review the proposal. Warren joins progressives in the House who have also expressed deep reservations about aspects of the bill, including work requirements and spending caps.”

Hart Energy: Energy Investors Cheer Pipeline Provision in Budget Bill
Joseph Markman, 5/30/23

“Equitrans Midstream’s stock shot up 34% on May 30 as investors responded enthusiastically to a federal budget deal favoring the company’s Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project,” Hart Energy reports. “Whether the deal between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) passes Congress as it stands, however, and whether it will clear the way for the $6.6 billion natural gas pipeline’s completion is not entirely clear. The pipeline still faces legal and political hurdles. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) promised to introduce an amendment to delete language supporting approval of MVP in the Senate’s bill. Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-Va.) said she plans to do the same with the House version. Still, industry groups were pleased with the budget compromise, which includes tools to speed up the federal permitting process. The legislation includes designating a lead agency to oversee reviews involving more than one government agency and requiring the approval process to be completed in one to two years. “The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) is pleased Congress and the Biden Administration have developed a bipartisan agreement on the debt ceiling that includes important elements of reforming our nation’s onerous process for permitting energy projects,” said C. Jeffrey Eshelman II, president and CEO of the trade group, in a statement to Hart Energy… “API also acknowledged in a statement the systemic issues at play as it applauded the compromise deal. “Our current system for reviewing the infrastructure projects that fuel our economy and support our way of life did not become an endless gauntlet of bureaucratic hurdles overnight, and it will take more than one step to develop a workable process,” API President and CEO Mike Sommers said.

E&E News: House Republicans Set Hearing On EPA Power Plant Rule
MANUEL QUIÑONES, 5/31/23

“The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing next week on EPA’s latest rule to address greenhouse gas emissions from power plants,” E&E News reports. “EPA earlier this month proposed its most ambitious regulations yet on climate and electricity generation. The plan calls for coal-fired power plants to eventually capture most of their carbon emissions. The proposal would also clamp down on gas plant emissions. Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), chair of the Environment, Manufacturing and Critical Materials Subcommittee, said the hearing would question expert witnesses about the need to halt the rulemaking.”

New York Times: Following Setbacks, Climate Activists Rethink Their Approach
Andrew Ross Sorkin, Bernhard Warner, Sarah Kessler, Michael J. de la Merced, Lauren Hirsch, Ephrat Livni and Vivienne Walt, 5/30/23

“The annual shareholder meetings of Exxon Mobil and Chevron, scheduled for Wednesday, are set to be largely sedate, as they will be held virtually. But their European rivals had raucous meetings last week, with environmental protesters storming the stage at Shell’s gathering and clashing with tear-gas-wielding police outside Total’s,” the New York Times reports. “Despite the drama, however, climate-focused shareholder activists are being forced to rethink their approach, two years after the tiny hedge fund Engine No. 1 won a stunning victory over Exxon. Activists have failed to win more than 50 percent in many key proxy votes since then. That string of disappointing results is forcing a reckoning at some of the sector’s biggest players: “In June, we’re going to revisit our strategy, and think about what’s next for the coming years,” Mark van Baal, the founder of the shareholder activist group Follow This, told the Times… “So far, many demands from climate groups for the industry to decarbonize have only garnered about 20 percent approval from shareholders. Activists are weighing changes to their playbook. Mr. Van Baal outlined the following strategy: Stay invested in the oil giants, to keep voting for climate resolutions. Widen impact by putting pressure on investment banks and insurers that enable oil and gas projects. Take more legal actions, building on a landmark 2021 ruling in the Netherlands, where a judge instructed Shell to accelerate its energy transition, and include tougher emissions standards in its targets… “Frustrations are boiling over in the activist camp, and many say change is needed. “I’ve been in the climate movement for 15 years, and I get a sense of desperation,” Mark Raven of 350.org, an international climate activist group, some of whose members participated in last week’s protests, told the Times. In particular, he added, “Younger activists are unhappy with things that have gone before.”

New York Times: You’ve Never Heard of Him, but He’s Remaking the Pollution Fight
Coral Davenport, 5/28/23

“This spring the Biden administration proposed or implemented eight major environmental regulations, including the nation’s toughest climate rule, rolling out what experts say are the most ambitious limits on polluting industries by the government in a single season. Piloting all of that is a man most Americans have never heard of, running an agency that is even less well known,” the New York Times reports. “But Richard Revesz has begun to change the fundamental math that underpins federal regulations designed to protect human health and the environment. And those calculations could affect American life and the economy for years to come. Mr. Revesz, 65, heads the obscure but powerful White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, which is effectively the gatekeeper and final word on all new federal regulations. It has been known as the place where new rules proposed by government agencies, particularly environmental standards, go to die — or at least to be weakened or delayed. But Mr. Revesz, a climate law expert and former dean of the New York University School of Law, joined the Biden administration in January to flip the script. Each time a major regulatory proposal has landed on his desk, Mr. Revesz has used his authority to strengthen its legal analysis and make it more stringent. What’s more, he has proposed a new method of calculating the cost of potential regulation that would bolster the legal and economic justifications for those rules to protect them against an expected onslaught of court fights.”

STATE UPDATES

Teen Vogue: University of Pennsylvania: Students Organizing Over Climate, Housing Are Arrested at Homecoming
DELANEY PARKS, 5/26/23

“By the time the University of Pennsylvania’s 2022 homecoming football game came around in October, tensions on campus had been brewing for weeks,” Teen Vogue reports. “…But that warm Saturday in October also marked the 39th day that student activists from the campus group Fossil Free Penn had camped out in front of Penn’s historic College Hall… “Prior to that October 2022 homecoming game, Fossil Free Penn had renewed its demands for the university to commit $5-10 million to preserve the whole UC Townhomes site as affordable housing. Though Fossil Free Penn was founded in 2014 to demand that Penn divest its multibillion dollar endowment from fossil fuels, student activists in the club have broadened their focus to include environmental justice issues. “We want to fight climate change,” Sarah Sterinbach, a junior and Fossil Free Penn coordinator, told Teen Vogue. “But also, with a justice perspective, saying, ‘The systems we have now aren’t working. And climate change is exacerbating those systems.’”

E&E News: DOE lab assesses CCS viability in California
Carlos Anchondo, 5/31/23

“More policy support is needed for carbon capture to be widely deployed in California, although the technology already makes economic sense for ethanol facilities in the state, according to a new report,” E&E News reports. “The 46-page analysis, prepared by researchers from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and environmental organization Clean Air Task Force (CATF), identified five types of facilities in California that are prime targets for carbon capture and storage (CCS) — including ethanol, cement and natural gas power plants. The others include refinery steam methane reformers for hydrogen production and fluid catalytic crackers. The report said those facility types are good opportunities for CCS because of the volume of their carbon dioxide emissions and ease of capture. Yet the analysis showed that CO2 capture costs can range widely, with ethanol plants registering “one of the cheapest” opportunities and natural gas combined-cycle power plants having the highest capture cost. For ethanol plants, the capture costs per ton of CO2 ranged from $16 to $35 per ton, according to a chart in the report, whereas natural gas ranged from $76 to $140.”

Bismarck Tribune: Blue Flint carbon storage project receives approval
JOEY HARRIS, 5/26/23

“The North Dakota Industrial Commission has given the go-ahead to a carbon dioxide storage project in McLean County,” the Bismarck Tribune reports. “The project will capture climate-warming CO2 emissions from Midwest AgEnergy Group’s Blue Flint Ethanol plant near Underwood and transfer them to the underground Broom Creek Formation. The formation also will be the site where the nearby Coal Creek Station coal-fired power plant will store its emissions. The University of North Dakota’s Energy & Environmental Research Center earlier this month received $38.1 million in funding from the federal Energy Department to develop a storage system for Coal Creek. The EERC previously worked with Midwest AgEnergy Group to develop the carbon storage system for Blue Flint. The Industrial Commission approval will be effective June 1, and the multimillion-dollar project is set to get moving quickly. “We start work right away and maybe even by the end of the year, next year they’ll be ramping up to store 220,000 tons a year,” State Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms told the Tribune… “The Blue Flint carbon storage project will be the second active CO2 injection well in North Dakota’s growing list of carbon storage projects. The other site is operated by the Red Trail Energy ethanol plant in Richardton. Helms told the Tribune he anticipates there will be six injection sites across the state a year from now. The pipeline from the Blue Flint Ethanol plant to the storage site will be 3 miles long, and storage will cover just over 11 square miles. The Industrial Commission on Thursday also voted in favor of the amalgamation of pore space in the storage facility area. Pore space is the part of the subsurface that is porous enough for liquid and gas to flow through. Amalgamation is the process of requiring pore space owned by those who did not accept easements to be included in the storage facility. About 91% of landowners agreed to easements related to this project prior to amalgamation. Landowners who did not agree to easements will still receive compensation, Helms told the Tribune.

Los Angeles Times: FBI investigating hazardous fallout from Bay Area refinery
TONY BRISCOE, 5/26/23

“The FBI and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have opened a joint investigation into the release of hazardous materials from a Bay Area oil refinery — an incident that has sparked heated criticism of the facility’s owner as well as local government officials,” the Los Angeles Times reports. “FBI agents and EPA Region 9 staff have been going door to door in the city of Martinez, asking residents for details about the release of metal-laden dust from the Martinez Refining Co. over the Thanksgiving holiday last year. An FBI spokesperson confirmed Friday that the agents were canvassing residents as part of a joint investigation, but referred all other inquiries to the EPA… “Martinez Refining, located on an 880-acre industrial complex on the northern edge of the city, emitted as much as 24 tons of so-called spent catalyst, a mix of chemicals used to break down crude oil into finished petroleum products like gasoline, according to the local air district. The fallout left cars, homes and at least one school blanketed in a white powdery substance. Tests determined that the residue contained metals such as aluminum, barium, chromium, nickel, vanadium and zinc… “The health department said the most significant health risks were short-term respiratory problems from breathing in the metals in the hours after the release. But it later advised community members not to eat foods grown in the soil if their homes were dusted by the spent catalyst. The entry of federal investigators has stunned Martinez residents who are still awaiting the county-ordered soil testing and investigations by other local agencies. “We kind of expected quiet investigations in the background. But to have the FBI come out, that was never on our radar at all,” one Martinez resident who spoke with federal investigators and asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation told the TImes.”

Alaska Beacon: Alaska Supreme Court finds former North Pole refinery owner liable for pollution
JAMES BROOKS, 5/30/23

“The former owner of a North Pole petroleum refinery is financially liable for groundwater pollution that has contaminated drinking-water wells around the refinery, the Alaska Supreme Court said in a ruling published Friday,” the Alaska Beacon reports. “While we’re still reviewing the decision in its totality, this is a huge win for the public, for the environment, and for the state,” Attorney General Treg Taylor said in an emailed statement. “We are very pleased that the Alaska Supreme Court affirmed the trial court’s ruling holding Williams accountable for decades of releasing hazardous substances into North Pole’s drinking water aquifer.” “…Part of the refining process involved the use of a chemical known as sulfolane, a solvent. Spills and poor maintenance, the court found, resulted in sulfolane spilling on the ground, and Williams Alaska detected the chemical in local groundwater as early as 1996, though it didn’t report that fact to the state Department of Environmental Conservation for five years. DEC officials also detected that the groundwater had been polluted by chemicals used in firefighting foam commonly known as PFAS.”

EXTRACTION

DCist: Climate Activists Indicted For Paint Protest At National Gallery Of Art
Elliot C. Williams, 5/29/23

“Two climate activists have surrendered to authorities one month after smearing paint on a glass case protecting “Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen,” a famous, 19th-century Edgar Degas sculpture at the National Gallery of Art,” DCist reports. “A federal court indicted Timothy Martin of North Carolina, and Joanna Smith of New York, both 53, on charges of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and injury to a National Gallery of Art exhibit, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. said in a statement Friday. Smith and Martin acted on behalf of Declare Emergency, a protest group that has increased its national profile over the past year by blocking local roadways to demand action from government leaders and draw attention to the climate crisis. Martin was part of the 13-member group that blocked Fourth of July traffic on the Capital Beltway last summer — according to an interview he provided to Forbes — a stunt the group repeated in October… “Through peaceful, civil disobedience, Declare Emergency said in a statement it is standing up to decisions by leaders that are “antithetical to life, health, and security… “Smith and Martin face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for actions the court says resulted in roughly $2,400 worth of damage.”

Guardian: More than 1,500 arrested at Extinction Rebellion protest in The Hague
5/27/23

“More than 1,500 people were arrested during a protest by the Extinction Rebellion climate group in The Hague on Saturday, Dutch police said,” the Guardian reports. “Activists blocked a section of a motorway during the afternoon in protest against Dutch fossil fuel subsidies. Police said they had used water cannon to disperse activists blocking a major road in the city, and arrested “a total of 1,579 people … 40 of whom will be prosecuted” on charges including vandalism. One of the activists bit a police officer during his arrest, police said. Several Dutch celebrities were among the protesters, including Carice van Houten, best known for her role as Melisandre in the hit TV series Game of Thrones. Van Houten posted a video on Instagram showing herself wearing a red poncho, getting drenched from a water cannon… “The protest marks the seventh organised by Extinction Rebellion in the same section of motorway at The Hague, close to the parliament and main ministry buildings… “Police said they had repeatedly “given activists the opportunity to end their action and leave” before using the water cannon and making arrests. “We’ve been coming back every month, or every two months, and every time the number (of protesters) has doubled,” Aaron Pereira, a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion, told AFP.

Reuters: Climate battle looms as Alberta premier Smith takes aim at Trudeau after election win
5/20/23

“Alberta’s re-elect leader Danielle Smith has put herself on a collision course with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over climate policies that would weigh on the province’s fossil fuel industry,” Reuters reports. “Smith, leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP), defeated New Democratic Party leader Rachel Notley on Monday, and immediately targeted Trudeau, threatening the country’s ambitious climate goals. Smith warned Trudeau’s Liberal climate policies will destroy tens of thousands of jobs in the oil and gas sector, which contributes more than 20% to Alberta GDP. Some analysts have said deep emissions cuts are not possible without reducing oil production, which Smith fiercely opposes. In her victory speech in front of cheering supporters in Canada’s oil capital Calgary, Smith called on Albertans to stand up against policies including the federal government’s proposed oil and gas emissions cap and clean electricity regulations, expected to be unveiled within weeks. “Hopefully the prime minister and his caucus are watching tonight,” Smith said. “As premier I cannot under any circumstances allow these contemplated federal policies to be inflicted upon Albertans.”

Bloomberg: Trudeau Faces Energy Battles as Conservatives Hold Alberta
Kevin Orland, 5/30/23

“Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and her United Conservative Party retained control of Canada’s top oil-producing province in an election Monday, setting up a series of energy-policy clashes with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,” Bloomberg reports. “Smith’s UCP won 49 of 87 seats in the provincial legislature to form a majority government, defeating the left-leaning New Democratic Party. Smith, 52, became premier last fall by winning her party’s leadership after her predecessor, Jason Kenney, stepped down amid dissatisfaction with his handling of the pandemic.”`

Grist: Should we pull carbon out of the air with trees, or machines?
Jesse Nichols, 5/30/23

“Every few years, the world’s top scientists come up with hundreds of different scenarios, all aimed at limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels,” Grist reports. ”…But many of those plans also require something else: sucking carbon out of the atmosphere. The challenge is that no one can agree on the best way to do it… “There are two carbon removal ideas that have really captured the conversation. One is direct air capture, which involves big factories that suck in tons of CO2 from the atmosphere, chemically concentrate it, and store it deep in the ground. The other idea is to simply plant trees! After all, trees have naturally sequestered carbon for millions of years. These two approaches are often viewed as technology versus nature.  The world’s direct air capture factories currently remove around 10,000 metric tons of CO2 each year. That’s the equivalent of more than a million gallons of gasoline. But that’s small compared to the 2 billion metric tons of CO2 removed by the world’s trees and plants each year. To better understand why pulling carbon out of the atmosphere is so difficult, imagine being given a martini and being asked to somehow extract all the gin. (Keep in mind, CO2 makes up a much smaller proportion of the atmosphere than gin does in a martini.) That’s part of the reason why carbon-removing machines have to rely on energy-intensive chemical reactions and processes, which come with a pretty hefty price tag. Critics of direct air capture think there are way better uses for all that energy and money. Trees, on the other hand, are pretty cheap, and they’re self-powered by the sun.” 

Stockholm Environment Institute: Reducing Methane Emissions: How To Move From Pledges To Actions. 
5/31/23

“Since the Global Methane Pledge was launched in 2021, methane emissions have remained stubbornly high – even at a time in which technological solutions were in reach and relatively cheap, International Energy Agency assessments show,” according to the Stockholm Environment Institute. “With just seven years remain to achieve its central aim of reduce methane by 30% (from 2020 levels), emissions must fall by more than 4% every year. This raises the question: How can the world move from pledge to action? Our new research with colleagues from the Stockholm Environment Institute and Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) sets out a roadmap, using climate change commitments that have already been made as the starting point for action. This concept underlines the importance of efforts to develop ambitious but realistic methane-reduction initiatives such as the Methane Roadmap Action Programme, a focus of the UN Environment Programme Climate and Clean Air Conference taking place this week in Bangkok.” 

CLIMATE FINANCE

Associated Press: Climate protesters face tear gas at oil giant TotalEnergies shareholder meeting in Paris
5/26/23

“French police threw a security cordon around a shareholders’ meeting in Paris of oil giant TotalEnergies on Friday, spraying tear gas and pushing back climate protesters who chanted, “Be gentle, police officers, we’re doing this for your kids!” the Associated Press reports. “Shareholders, some escorted into the meeting by police, ran a gauntlet of the peaceful, earnest and mostly young demonstrators, who waved signs attacking the climate record of the French energy company that has reaped colossal profits from price surges that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Their signs declared, “The last pipeline before the end of the world” and “Listen to the scientists: No more fossil projects.” Protesters sat down in surrounding streets and linked arms to block access to the meeting in a famed Paris concert hall. Police officers carried some protesters to move them out of the way. They sprayed tear gas to force people back. It comes after climate protesters tried to rush the stage of the Shell shareholder meeting in London on Tuesday, with security guards dragging and carrying them away. Dozens of activists forced the delay of the start of the meeting by chanting “Shut down Shell,” while others shouted, held signs and linked arms outside as security tried to remove them. More climate protests could be ahead as U.S. oil giants Exxon Mobil and Chevron hold their shareholder meetings Wednesday.”

New York Times: Reassessing the Board Fight That Was Meant to Transform Exxon
Andrew Ross Sorkin, Ravi Mattu, Bernhard Warner, Sarah Kessler, Michael J. de la Merced, Lauren Hirsch, Ephrat Livni and Vivienne Walt, 5/31/23

“At Exxon Mobil’s annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday, activist investors and big shareholders, including Legal & General Investment Management, will take on the company with a series of proxy measures aiming to push it to cut emissions and speed its decarbonization efforts,” the New York Times reports. “Climate investors aren’t expecting a triumphant repeat of what happened two years ago, when Engine No. 1, a San Francisco-based activist hedge fund, stunned the corporate world by landing three of its eco-conscious nominees on Exxon’s board. Climate activists and others told the Times  that Engine No. 1’s efforts have achieved negligible results, Vivienne Walt writes. Here’s what they say: “Exxon has continued to invest aggressively in expanding its oil and gas production,” Mark Kramer, senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, who wrote a case study last year on Engine No. 1, told the Times. Engine No. 1 “has not made a discernible difference in the way Exxon is addressing climate change,” Danielle Fugere, president and chief counsel of As You Sow, an investor advocacy group in Berkeley, Calif., that leads shareholder campaigns and has submitted resolutions for Wednesday’s meeting, told the Times. Mark van Baal, founder of the activist shareholder group Follow This, was more blunt. The hedge fund, he told the Times, was “the biggest disappointment in the fight against climate change.” “…But critics say that green investments are still a tiny percentage of Exxon’s spending, and that the company remains committed to fossil fuels. They also wonder if the green-energy push has more to do with Inflation Reduction Act subsidies and tax incentives than a genuine transition.”

TODAY IN GREENWASHING

Washington Post: Burning trash for the planet? Climate cash sets off branding frenzy.
Evan Halper, 5/29/23

“The trash burning industry was eager to show it is not a polluting relic but a pioneering clean tech sector worthy of millions of dollars in new federal subsidies. But its invitation to the Environmental Protection Agency to visit a Michigan “waste-to-energy” facility needed to be timed right,” the Washington Post reports. “I don’t think we want EPA in the plant while we are setting off explosives in the boiler,” said a September email exchange between executives at Covanta Energy regarding the facility, which was about to go through the messy maintenance procedure. “The air will be filled with Ash dust and it may not have great optics.” As the Biden administration allocates billions of dollars in new climate subsidies, environmentally challenged industries are sharpening their green pitches. The companies argue they are just as entitled to lucrative federal incentives as solar farms or electric carmakers, and are working to frame their businesses as global warming solutions. The money up for grabs from the Inflation Reduction Act and other programs are in amounts large enough to guide whether they thrive or go the way of leaded gasoline and asbestos. A quiet lobbying campaign by waste incineration operations is documented in emails disclosed through public records requests, filed by the nonprofit Friends of the Earth. They offer a glimpse at how one beleaguered legacy industry is maneuvering to qualify for these federal dollars, saying their plants can help stop climate change at the same time environmental justice groups in the communities they serve are trying to shut them down. “How can this be a climate solution at all?” Maria Lopez-Nunez, a Newark activist working to close the waste-to-energy plant there, and a member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, told the Post. “They are discharging mercury, arsenic, lead. I hope no one falls for this scam.”

Bloomberg: 6 Ads Banned for Greenwashing by the UK’s Advertising Watchdog
Olivia Rudgard, 5/27/23

“The UK’s advertising regulator has made more than 20 enforcement actions against greenwashing,” Bloomberg reports. “Targets of the Advertising Standards Authority — including airlines, banks and automakers — offer insight into some of the ways companies deceive consumers about sustainability. Ads that end up in the crosshairs must be altered or nixed in the UK. The ASA’s crackdown mirrors scrutiny of greenwashing in the European Union, which earlier this year identified common words and phrases companies use to mislead people. Both the ASA and European Commission point to greenwashing strategies that include unclear comparisons, vague buzzwords and missing caveats… “Air travel is an inherently polluting activity, and innovations like battery-powered planes and sustainable aviation fuel aren’t ready for primetime. That makes it difficult for airlines to offer specific claims about emissions reduction, so instead they’re keeping things loose. Two airlines, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Etihad Airways, have had adverts banned in the UK for overstating their environmental impact… “The ASA ruled in March that the ad could not run in the UK because there are “currently no environmental initiatives or commercially viable technologies in the aviation industry which would substantiate the absolute green claim” that Lufthansa is protecting the world’s future… “Less than two months later, the ASA targeted Etihad Airways over ads it promoted on Facebook last year, which suggested the Abu Dhabi-based airline is “taking a louder, bolder approach to sustainable aviation.” Explaining its ban, the ASA said the claim “exaggerated the impact that flying with Etihad would have on the environment.” 

Washington Post: Delta’s carbon-neutral pledge is ‘greenwashing,’ California lawsuit says
Andrew Jeong, 5/31/23

“Delta Air Lines should pay damages to customers for misrepresenting itself as a carbon-neutral airline in marketing campaigns and advertisements that encouraged consumers to pay higher prices, a class-action lawsuit says,” the Washington Post reports. “Delta has sought to achieve carbon neutrality at least in part via purchases in the carbon-offset market. Buyers in that market receive carbon credit, or the right to emit more carbon, if they invest in green programs such as anti-deforestation or helping people buy low-emission cook stoves. But the offset market is replete with inaccurate accounting and exaggerations, according to the lawsuit, brought Tuesday by California resident Mayanna Berrin. This means Delta has not been carbon-neutral since it first promised to become so in March 2020, her attorneys wrote in a complaint. “Nearly all offsets issued by the voluntary carbon offset market overpromise and underdeliver on their total carbon impact,” they wrote, citing studies and reports. “Consumers can’t make informed eco-friendly choices if companies are misleading them,” attorney Jonathan Haderlein told the Post. “I felt comfortable paying more because I was neutralizing when I needed to travel for work or to see my family,” Berrin told the Associated Press. Berrin said she was frustrated after she started having doubts about Delta’s offsets… “Berrin’s attorneys said Delta had engaged in “greenwashing,” or the act of offering services that are branded as more eco-friendly than they actually are. “Greenwashing is difficult for consumers to identify,” they wrote, because “consumers cannot verify green attributes” in goods or services and must rely on corporate suggestions or labels.”

OPINION

Globe Gazette: BROWN: In support of carbon-capture projects
Senator Waylon Brown (R-Osage), 5/28/23

“…By creating common sense requirements for the blending of renewable fuels into our gasoline, the Renewable Fuel Standard helped jump start the ethanol industry and resulted in substantial increases in commodity prices and land values,” Waylon Brown writes for the Globe Gazette. “Today, the ethanol industry in Iowa supports 50,000 jobs, contributes $6 billion to our GDP annually, and delivers more than $3 billion in household earnings every year… “Despite these successes, there are no guarantees the ethanol industry will remain competitive in the years to come unless we are willing to make the necessary investments. That’s why I support the carbon capture, transportation, and storage projects that have been proposed here in the Midwest. The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association recently studied the impact of these infrastructure projects. They found that without carbon capture projects, Iowa’s ethanol industry will lose $10 billion annually (source) and farm income would drop $43,000 for a typical 1,000-acre farm with production evenly split between corn and soybeans… “While I recognize that Iowans have differing opinions on policies aimed at improving environmental outcomes, the economic opportunity associated with carbon capture projects is undeniable… “Within our community in north central Iowa, imagine the impact of Golden Grain Energy, Corn LP, Homeland Energy, or others in the community – who are all part of Summit Carbon Solutions’ project – shutting down operations. Again, that’s not an outcome I am willing to accept… “There are some individuals who have made it clear they are opposed to all pipelines… “For my part, I believe these investments in our infrastructure represent the single most important step we can take to strengthen agriculture and ethanol in the state of Iowa and beyond. They also build on the agricultural industry’s long history of embracing innovation and technology to ensure farming is more efficient for the consumer and profitable for the producer. Based on all these factors, I encourage others to support these investments.”

NRDC: Mountain Valley Pipeline Pushed Forward on False Claims of Need
Dr. Michele Bustamante, 5/30/23

“The White House and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy have reached an agreement to extend the U.S. debt limit. As NRDC CEO Manish Bapna said, parts of the proposed legislation are extreme and “make a mockery of the process of responsible public oversight.” The debt ceiling agreement wrongfully rubber-stamps the destructive and unnecessary Mountain Valley Pipeline,” Dr. Michele Bustamante writes for NRDC. “Their deal includes legislation that attempts to prevent any courts from reviewing the legality of federal or state agency decisions made to approve the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). This means, for example, that if the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issues a Clean Water Act permit to allow construction of the pipeline in a sensitive river with endangered species, the courthouse doors might be closed to citizens who want to sue the agency for unlawful actions. As Bapna said, it “cuts local voices out of the process and short-circuits laws put in place to protect the public.” It’s a piece of legislation that offers special benefits for only one corporate entity… “Claims that MVP is nearly done, almost built, or has no legal hurdles ahead are false. The pipeline still has 429 water crossings to be constructed, as well as additional construction that is yet to be completed, as I’ve detailed in past blog posts… “And at least five legal hurdles remain for this pipeline… “There’s no evidence that MVP is needed for national security or energy security… “The results were crystal clear: Natural gas demand is expected to substantially decline in MVP service regions and across the country in the future—not increase… “No analysis indicates that pipeline capacity has been a significant factor in fuel supply limitations. And in case you were wondering, there’s zero indication that MVP would provide gas for export to Europe… “It’s been eight years since MVP was formally proposed. It’s always been a speculative private venture for private gain for a few corporations. Our national security has been fine without it thus far, and that’s not going to change. There’s no place for least valuable player MVP in a true clean energy transition.”

American Banker: Big banks are breaking their promise to fund a green energy transition
Adele Shraiman, 5/26/23

“If banks insist on maintaining relationships with energy companies, then the shareholders of big U.S. banks must ensure bank clients aren’t putting their money — and our planet — at risk”,  Adele Shraiman writes for American Banker. “For years, banks have argued that to drive the energy transition, they need to preserve relationships with major energy companies. They insist that continuing to finance fossil fuel companies is not contradictory to their climate commitments. But in a year of record windfall profits, oil and gas companies refused to invest in renewable energy, spending the cash on share buybacks and shareholder dividends instead. It wasn’t long ago that global companies tried to outdo each other for the splashiest climate commitment. Oil companies like BP and Shell pledged to slash emissions and invest in green energy. Banks joined the frenzy leading up to COP26, where 100+ banks committed to net-zero financed emissions by 2050, including Wall Street banks JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Bank of America and Wells Fargo. But in the past few months, the picture has looked different. A year into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, oil companies are cynically using the war to justify fossil fuel expansion and walk back their climate commitments. While the rest of the world struggles under rising inflation and economic turmoil, fossil fuel companies raked in record profits: $4 trillion in 2022… “Banks could have used the last year to strengthen their climate commitments and mobilize clean energy transition financing… “However, just 7% of global banks’ energy financing went to renewable energy between 2016 and 2022. Meanwhile, energy companies are dropping their sustainability pretenses: Shell won’t increase spending on renewable energy, Exxon walked away from its longstanding biofuel project and BP rolled back its pledge to slash greenhouse gas emissions. The fact is, banks aren’t financing the energy transition like they claim to be, and their biggest energy clients aren’t pretending to try. If banks want to actually support the clean energy transition, we need guardrails to ensure their financing isn’t just perpetuating the status quo… “As the climate crisis worsens and fossil fuel financing continues, investors of big U.S. banks must move beyond calls for disclosure only and demand financial institutions take real steps to align their business practices with their stated climate commitments.”