EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 6/13/23

PIPELINE NEWS

• Nebraska Examiner: Foes of CO2 pipelines mount billboard, magazine protest at ethanol conference

• Pipeline Fighters Hub: Omaha Ethanol Conference Attendees Greeted with Faux Magazine, Digital Billboards Sponsored by Landowners Opposed to Carbon Pipeline Projects

• AgWeek: Voluntary pipeline easements don’t equal endorsement, landowners say

• Oskaloosa Herald: Supervisors discuss local impact of Dakota Access Pipeline

• Colorado Politics: Colorado fails to enforce safety requirements for gas pipelines, audit finds

• Reuters: TC Energy shuts two compressor stations on NGTL due to Alberta wildfires

• Bucks County Courier Times: Sunoco pipeline project to wrap up soon, energy company tells township

• Blackburn News: Enbridge receives support to evaluate non-pipeline alternatives

WASHINGTON UPDATES

• Washington Post: Biden administration supports city’s gas ban in court fight

 STATE UPDATES

• Louisiana Illuminator: One carbon capture bill survived the Louisiana Legislature. Here’s what it would do.

• Dallas Morning News: Texas producers hope debt limit deal puts oil and gas projects on the fast track

• Denver Post: Suncor’s Colorado refinery records more malfunctions than comparable facilities, EPA study finds

• NOLA.com: A big Louisiana oil company went bankrupt; small suppliers could be out millions

• Grist: How climate justice could look different — and the same — in the Gulf Coast and Appalachia

EXTRACTION

• Rigzone: Carbon Capture, CO2 Removal to Play Key Decarbonization Role: S&P Global

• Bloomberg: Offshore Rigs Close In on $500,000 a Day as Oil Boom Returns to Sea

• Bloomberg: Worst-Case Forecast for LNG Plays Out Differently

CLIMATE FINANCE

• Utility Dive: Regulators are changing the game just as ESG investing gets its bearings: ACORE panel

• Climate Change News: Republicans’ anti-ESG attack may be silencing insurers, but it isn’t changing their pro-climate business decisions

OPINION

• News & Observer: A disputed gas pipeline into NC appeared blocked, but now maybe not

• WV News: The U.S. needs the Mountain Valley Pipeline

• The Hill: Why the EPA’s new carbon emissions rules will win in court

• Toronto Star: Why can’t conservative politicians and big oil talk about climate change?
  

PIPELINE NEWS

Nebraska Examiner: Foes of CO2 pipelines mount billboard, magazine protest at ethanol conference
PAUL HAMMEL, 6/12/23

“Attendees at an ethanol conference this week in Omaha were greeted by an electronic billboard and a sarcastic magazine panning plans for carbon dioxide pipelines to criss-cross the Midwest to carry the greenhouse gas to sequester sites,” the Nebraska Examiner reports. “Carbon pipelines are risky and largely unregulated, according to Bold Alliance founder and director Jane Kleeb, and will allow “Big Oil” to “keep their grip on our energy portfolio.” “In the end, ethanol plants and landowners will be left holding the bag with this latest tax scam, because we all know when the (federal) tax credit goes away, the pipelines and capture equipment will be left for us to clean up,” she said in a statement. A truck featuring an electronic billboard circled the Fuel Ethanol Workshop on Monday outside Omaha’s CHI Health Center. It displayed images of Iowa landowners holding signs saying “No Eminent Domain” and “Our Land is Not For Sale.” Protesters also distributed a faux magazine entitled “Ethical? Carbon Pipelines” to counter one published by event media sponsor Ethanol Producer Magazine. Dawn Caldwell of Renewable Fuels Nebraska pushed back on the criticism, pointing out that the ethanol industry has a strong partnership with farmers who not only sell their corn to ethanol plants, but in many cases, are investors in them… “Opponents say it’s an unproven technology and only puts off the nation’s necessary transition to cleaner forms of energy. Nebraska — unlike neighboring Iowa and South Dakota — does not regulate such pipelines.  Some Nebraska landowners have resisted offers, so far, to sell right of way for the projects… “Bold Alliance was launched to help organize farmers and ranchers opposed to the defunct Keystone XL pipeline. The group maintains that the ethanol industry, which has been an ally to landowners in the past, has now partnered with the oil industry.”

Pipeline Fighters Hub: Omaha Ethanol Conference Attendees Greeted with Faux Magazine, Digital Billboards Sponsored by Landowners Opposed to Carbon Pipeline Projects
6/12/23

“Attendees at this week’s “Fuel Ethanol Workshop” at the CHI Health Center in downtown Omaha will be greeted this morning with a “wake-up” call in the form of a faux industry publication calling out the risks and tax-related issues with proposed carbon dioxide pipeline projects that are currently partnering with Midwest ethanol plants, along with a mobile digital billboard truck that will be circling the event venue and hotels on Monday,” according to the Pipeline Fighters Hub. “Bold Alliance, a group started to help organize farmers and ranchers opposed to the defunct Keystone XL pipeline, sponsored the send-up of event media sponsor Ethanol Producer Magazine, with a faux cover announcing the latest edition of “Ethical? Carbon Pipelines” magazine, along with a Table of Contents page styled after the magazine’s, but featuring reports and articles published by Bold Alliance attorney Paul Blackburn, and others – such as “Double-Dipping of Federal Tax Credits for Carbon Pipelines?” and “The Inflation Reduction Act May Save the Fossil Fuel Industries.” The mobile digital billboard truck circling the event venue features similar messages, including images of Iowa landowners holding signs saying “No Eminent Domain” and “Our Land is Not For Sale.” “The ethanol industry has long been an ally to landowners and advocates who want to take market share from Big Oil,” said Bold Alliance founder and director Jane Kleeb. “Supporting carbon pipelines literally hands billions of dollars to Big Oil to keep their grip on our energy portfolio. In the end, ethanol plants and landowners will be left holding the bag with this latest tax scam, because we all know when the 45Q tax credit goes away, the pipelines and capture equipment will be left for us to clean up. These risky and under-regulated carbon pipelines want to use eminent domain for private gain. We are asking the ethanol industry to stand with rural folks opposed to these pipelines, since we have stood with them for decades.”

AgWeek: Voluntary pipeline easements don’t equal endorsement, landowners say
Jeff Beach, 6/13/23

“Todd McMichael has been a vocal opponent of the carbon capture pipeline routed through his family’s land along the Sheyenne River in southeast North Dakota. But his family signed an easement agreement with Summit Carbon Solutions anyway,” AgWeek reports. “My family signed an easement based on the fact that they don’t want to deal with eminent domain. So they told me to go and negotiate with Summit,” McMichael told the North Dakota Public Service Commission during an April 11 hearing in Wahpeton, North Dakota. In a followup question, PSC Chairman Randy Christman pointed out that McMichael showed up to testify against the project even though his family had signed an easement agreement. “One of my biggest issues is the fact that as a landowner, why do we have to get an attorney? We want to say ‘no.’ Why do we have to get an attorney?” McMichael asked. “It’s always nickel-diming the landowner, attorney, attorney, attorney, attorney.” “So essentially you’ve acquiesced to an easement which you really didn’t want?” Christman asked. “I have an easement that I feel we did our due diligence on and probably have a very, very strong easement. Am I happy about having a pipeline going across family land? No,” McMichael answered. McMichael isn’t the only landowner who had signed an agreement with Summit only to testify against the project at one of the PSC hearings… “George Cummins is among the holdouts in Iowa, while others in his area have given up resisting. “I’ve got good friends and neighbors who said ‘This is a done deal, I negotiated the best deal I could,’” Cummins told AgWeek… “From my experience as a certified crop adviser, and in visiting with friends who have personal experience with pipeline construction, it is going to permanently alter the farmability and productivity of the farmland and reduce rental, resale and the appraised value of that farm,” Cummins told AgWeek… “Some point to easements signed by landowners who no longer live on the land. “Well I looked at the easements that were signed and I didn’t recognize any of the names,” said Leinen. “I don’t know if they even really care anymore because they don’t live on the land so they don’t have as big an interest in it as they used to.”

Oskaloosa Herald: Supervisors discuss local impact of Dakota Access Pipeline
CHANNING RUCKS, 6/13/23

“The Mahaska County Supervisors discussed the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of the Dakota Access crude oil pipeline, constructed in 2016, which runs on Mahaska County land,” the Oskaloosa Herald reports. “Charlotte Eby, of the LS2 Group, a “bipartisan public relations, marketing, and government and public affairs firm,” represented the Dakota Access Pipeline at the board’s special session Monday morning. Eby spoke to the board about the upcoming Environmental Impacts Statement from the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The EIS has been in the works since 2021 and is being conducted in response to significant opposition to the pipeline from tribal and environmental groups. According to Eby, the statement will potentially be available later this month. Three out of the statement’s five alternative actions to the pipeline would result in what Eby calls a “disruption in service” for the pipeline, which would also mean a “disruption” in the tax revenue it generates for the county. “Although we don’t think that [a disruption] is likely to happen, we are asking local leaders to support a reissuance of the pipeline easement,” Eby says. She is also looking for information regarding the impact of county tax dollars generated by the pipeline. “What we’re trying to do for the Army Corps is detail some of the socioeconomic impacts of tax revenue to the county,” she says… “Board member Chuck Webb told Eby that he has only heard negative things about the environmental impact of the pipeline on local farmers, with some claiming that the construction process caused significant compaction issues in their fields.”

Colorado Politics: Colorado fails to enforce safety requirements for gas pipelines, audit finds
Hannah Metzger, 6/12/23

“In September 2020, Patricia Ruiz Roe was killed when her home in Gypsum exploded due to a gas leak. Roe, a 49-year-old mother and wife, left behind two young children,” Colorado Politics reports. “The leak was caused by Black Hills Energy incorrectly marking a gas pipeline, resulting in the pipeline being ruptured during a drilling operation, according to the Colorado Gas Pipeline Safety Program. Black Hills Energy then failed to advise residents to evacuate, the program found. In response to Black Hills Energy’s deadly actions, the program issued the company a verbal warning. Though the Gas Pipeline Safety Program is supposed to inspect operators and enforce compliance of safety requirements, this kind of non-action towards safety violations is commonplace, according to an audit released Monday. From 2017 to 2022, 94% of the 5,643 safety noncompliances identified by the program received no enforcement actions, the audit found. This included accidents that caused at least two deaths, over a dozen injuries and millions of dollars in property damage. When verbal warnings were given, the program did not always follow up to ensure the safety issues were fixed. Nearly 2,500 safety noncompliances during the five-year period were repeat instances from only 14 operators, but the program didn’t issue the operators any compliance actions. The top offenders were Xcel Energy (1,078 instances), Colorado Natural Gas (566) and Black Hills Energy (197).  “When operators are noncompliant and the program doesn’t enforce safety requirements, the noncompliance can continue,” said Legislative Audit Manager Jenny Page during a presentation Monday. “When enforcement is lacking, there’s also a risk of these safety accidents.” 

Reuters: TC Energy shuts two compressor stations on NGTL due to Alberta wildfires
6/12/23

“TC Energy said it completed the shutdown of two compressor stations on the NOVA Gas Transmission Ltd. (NGTL) System and a gas storage facility on Saturday that were near wildfires in Edson, Alberta,” Reuters reports. “Other sections of the NGTL system and other pipeline systems continue to operate safely and we continue to monitor the situation closely,” the company said in a release.

Bucks County Courier Times: Sunoco pipeline project to wrap up soon, energy company tells township
Damon C. Williams, 6/13/23

“Energy Transfer, parent company of Sunoco, has completed the main work on its 14-Inch Twin Oaks to Newark Jacobs Creek Pipeline Relocation project in Upper Makefield, leaving only landscaping and repaving of Oakdale Avenue as finishing steps,” the Bucks County Courier Times reports. “…Massaro told the supervisors the project should wrap up next month… “The Twin Oaks to Newark refined product pipeline system consisted of a 111-mile, 14-inch pipeline originating at the Twin Oaks pump station, adjacent to Sunoco’s Marcus Hook Tank Farm, south of Philadelphia, and terminating in Newark and Linden, in northern New Jersey. Energy Transfer replaced and relocated several dozen feet from its current location the section of the pipeline which runs under the Delaware River.”

Blackburn News: Enbridge receives support to evaluate non-pipeline alternatives
Melanie Irwin, 6/13/23

“Enbridge Gas has received support to evaluate non-pipeline alternatives to reduce natural gas demand during peak periods,” Blackburn News reports. “Sarnia council endorsed the utility’s Southern Lake Huron Integrated Resource Planning [IRP] Pilot Project Monday. Southwest Region Director of Operations Andrea Seguin told council the IRP will evaluate alternatives to defer or avoid building a traditional large pipeline project to meet system needs… “Enbridge said the City of Sarnia and Town of Plympton-Wyoming were identified as areas eligible for IRP alternatives to meet growing natural gas demand… “The key focus of these pilots will be to explore and better understand two key demand side IRP alternatives, specifically enhanced targeted energy efficiency (ETEE) and demand response (DR) programs,” she told Blackburn News. “Such as, providing incentives toward energy efficiency equipment to homeowners and businesses, that will reduce the peak period of natural gas demand in that area…And provides incentives to participants to lower their thermostats during peak times, to shift load off peak period gas demand. Supply side IRP alternatives like CNG [compressed natural gas] is also considered in the pilot scope, but will be leveraged as a backup solution to ensure Enbridge Gas can reliably meet any system demand requirements, while the demand side IRP’s are being piloted,” said Seguin.

WASHINGTON UPDATES

Washington Post: Biden administration supports city’s gas ban in court fight 
Maxine Joselow, 6/13/23

“The Biden administration yesterday criticized a court decision that struck down a ban on natural gas hookups in new buildings in Berkeley, Calif., according to the Washington Post. “In a “friend of the court” brief, officials from the Justice and Energy departments argued that the April decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit misinterpreted federal energy efficiency law. The appeals court found that a federal law, the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, preempted Berkeley’s local ordinance. But administration officials argued that the law allows states and municipalities to write their own regulations based on their unique interests.”

STATE UPDATES

Louisiana Illuminator: One carbon capture bill survived the Louisiana Legislature. Here’s what it would do.
CLAIRE SULLIVAN, 6/12/23

“Louisiana lawmakers shot down more than half a dozen bills to address concerns around carbon capture, but one proposal survived the session’s final chaotic moments last week,” the Louisiana Illuminator reports. “House Bill 571, by House Speaker Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzales, would give local governments a chunk of revenue from carbon stored under state land or water bottoms. The speaker cast his bill as a middle ground in the debate on the controversial technology. “If you’re for carbon capture, this is a great bill,” Schexnayder said at a House committee meeting in April. “If you’re against carbon capture, this is still a great bill. This is an insurance policy for you back home.” “…Proposed projects have drawn the ire of neighboring residents who worry about their safety and ecological damage. Environmentalists say the technology enables continued fossil fuel reliance. Other bills to limit carbon capture failed this session, including from Republican lawmakers aiming to halt a proposed project around Lake Maurepas, just west of Lake Pontchartrain… “Now, the bill’s fate lies with Gov. John Bel Edwards, who typically waits to state his position on legislative proposals once they reach his desk  Edwards has made carbon capture a key part of his goal to get the state to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, and the petrochemical industry has been eager to oblige. There are at least 20 carbon storage sites planned for Louisiana, according to a recent Empower report commissioned by the nonprofit 2030 Fund.  Under the speaker’s bill, 30% of revenues from carbon storage under state land or water bottoms would go to local governments. If a project spans multiple parishes, the money will be divided in accordance to the amount of area it occupies in each parish.”

Dallas Morning News: Texas producers hope debt limit deal puts oil and gas projects on the fast track
Joseph Morton, 6/13/23

“Congress tucked into the debt limit-raising law a host of provisions to accelerate new energy projects, such as pipelines that could move cheap natural gas from West Texas to energy-thirsty consumers in California and around the world,” the Dallas Morning News reports. “Those changes were a selling point for some Texas Republicans who backed the debt ceiling compromise even as some conservative colleagues denounced the overall package as a fiscally irresponsible surrender to President Joe Biden. Rep. August Pfluger, R-San Angelo, who represents a large swath of the Permian Basin, cited the permitting provisions as a key reason for his “yes” vote and encouraged other members to follow suit in the name of national energy independence. “Killing energy projects by the bureaucratic red tape nightmare and the slow walking that we’ve seen is unacceptable,” Pfluger said shortly before the House voted… “Steven Pruett, chairman of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, hopes the changes in the law could help alleviate backups in the Permian Basin… “Because of the use of NEPA as a weapon against replacing and upgrading pipelines, it’s not happening…The problem is multiple agencies weigh in and we get stuck for years,” Pruett told DMN. Environmental groups have blasted the new law’s environmental provisions, particularly its fast tracking of the Mountain Valley Pipeline between West Virginia and Virginia.”

Denver Post: Suncor’s Colorado refinery records more malfunctions than comparable facilities, EPA study finds
NOELLE PHILLIPS, 6/10/23

“Suncor Energy’s oil refinery in Commerce City experiences more malfunctions that release toxic chemicals into the air than other similarly sized plants in the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency found in a report released Friday,” the Denver Post reports. “Inadequacies in preventative maintenance, testing and inspections of various control systems and electrical equipment lead to excessive amounts of sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide being released into the air, the EPA found. The refinery was compared to 11 other plants with the same production capacity and that also are operating under a consent decree with the EPA, the report said. The report will be used by the EPA and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment during inspections so regulators can target specific equipment at the refinery, said KC Becker, the EPA’s Region 8 director. The report also will be considered in permit updates and enforcement actions at the plant. “This isn’t just a paper exercise,” Becker said during a Friday morning news briefing. “It’s a step toward improving Suncor’s compliance and its operational performance and reducing incidents leading to air emissions that can harm nearby communities.” “…Between 2016 and 2020, Suncor had the most tail gas incidents that caused releases of excess sulfur dioxide. The refinery had 20 incidents in a five-year period. A Phillips 66 refinery in Amarillo, Texas, was second with 13 violations. The refinery ranked second in the number of acid gas incidents releasing hydrogen sulfide gas, with 10 incidents in a five-year period. The HollyFrontier refinery in El Dorado, Kansas, ranked first with 15 violations.”

NOLA.com: A big Louisiana oil company went bankrupt; small suppliers could be out millions
STEPHANIE RIEGEL, 6/12/23

“A Metairie-based oil company that’s one of the largest independent operators still working in the state’s shallow coastal waters has filed for bankruptcy protection, leaving dozens of south Louisiana service and supply companies facing potential bankruptcies of their own,” NOLA.com reports. “Cox Operating LLC executives have blamed the pandemic, OPEC price wars, the hurricanes of 2020 and 2021, and an accident that damaged one of their oil platforms for the company’s woes. Bankruptcy court documents show Cox’s estimated liabilities are close to $500 million — more than $200 million of which is owed to small businesses in the Houma-Thibodaux and Acadiana areas. Court documents indicate that Cox followed a path that led to financial trouble for other companies in recent years: using debt to acquire large fields of aging wells in shallow Gulf waters. Those who have made their livelihoods servicing oil and gas companies, like Keystone Chemicals owner Jeff Delahoussaye, who is a Cox creditor, have weathered the boom-bust cycle of the energy sector for decades. This bankruptcy, they say, is particularly worrisome. “If I can get the money they owe me, I can survive and move on,” Delahoussaye, whose Broussard company is owed $2.8 million from Cox, told NOLA.com. “Some of the smaller companies are going to have to file for bankruptcy. It’s going to have a domino effect.”

Grist: How climate justice could look different — and the same — in the Gulf Coast and Appalachia
Lylla Younes, 6/12/237

“…Like the oil- and gas-producing heartlands of the Deep South, parts of Appalachia — Kentucky, West Virginia, and Western Pennsylvania —  have long histories of companies excavating the earth for resources like coal and gas and leaving communities to grapple with the pollution left behind,” Grist reports. “In all these places, the fossil fuel industry has maintained its influence by dint of being a primary source of employment. There are deeper regional connections, too. The foothills of Appalachia start just north of Birmingham, Alabama, a city built on the labor of a majority-Black working-class who worked in sweltering foundries, converting coal and iron ore into steel. “These regions are connected by a political history,” Giancatarino told Grist. “They’re also connected by a history of extraction, and they’re also connected by a geologic history, by the way the rivers flow.” “…Last spring, Giancatarino and his colleagues at Taproot began convening more than 150 different community leaders and advocates from across Louisiana, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky to develop climate action strategies that respond to their local needs. The resulting four reports — one for each state — lay out their visions, such as canceling the debts people owe to utility companies, reforming the criminal justice system, and funding job training so that former coal workers can get jobs cleaning up mines. Each report is dedicated to a core theme. In Louisiana, the researchers focused on democracy; in Texas, on energy; in Kentucky, on labor; and in Pennsylvania, on public finance. Each lays out the problems associated with its respective theme along with a list of policy recommendations that the community leaders helped develop.” 

EXTRACTION

Rigzone: Carbon Capture, CO2 Removal to Play Key Decarbonization Role: S&P Global
Rocky Teodoro, 6/12/23

“Carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon dioxide removal (CDR) will “play a key role in decarbonization” as companies execute plans on their net-zero emission targets, according to a recent report by S&P Global Ratings,” Rigzone reports. “In a sample of 25 of the highest-revenue oil and gas companies, all of them plan to use at least one among the options of CCS, CDR, or carbon credits to meet their decarbonization goals, the rating firm said in a report authored by its Sustainability Research team… “The report said that CCS-based solutions are seen as “having stronger permanence characteristics” than nature-based solutions (NbS) as they are considered less vulnerable to the accidental release of carbon dioxide, provided they are “well managed.” However, CCS is generally behind in technological readiness compared to solutions such as reforestation, the report said. Storage is a major factor in decarbonization decisions as well, as there is enough storage capacity for CCS to handle “decades of emissions”, the report said. Of the companies in the sample, CCS capacity in 2022 represented seven percent of their scopes 1 and 2 emissions, with most activity coming from oil and gas majors in the USA and Europe, the report said. Plans for the deployment of CCS and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) would see capacity rise from 50 million tons currently to 325 million tons by 2030, which include targets for enhanced oil recovery and solutions to capture emissions from other companies. Of the firms in the sample, only 60 percent revealed their expected future capacity and only 56 percent identified the specific investment costs required, while 24 percent said they would use the captured carbon for enhanced oil recovery, but “often these aims are expressed in vague terms”, the report said.

Bloomberg: Offshore Rigs Close In on $500,000 a Day as Oil Boom Returns to Sea
David Wethe, 6/12/23

“Drilling for oil in miles-deep ocean water is booming again with rig-rental prices forecast to climb another 18% after doubling over the past couple years, according to Wood Mackenzie Ltd.,” Bloomberg reports. “Prices to rent the most advanced offshore drilling rigs averaged $420,000 a day for the first half of this year, as roughly 90% of the industry’s active fleet is contracted for work, the energy consultant wrote Monday in a report, surpassing pre-Covid levels. Rig rates may hit $500,000 a day or more by the end of the year, it added.”

Bloomberg: Worst-Case Forecast for LNG Plays Out Differently
Stephen Stapczynski, 6/9/23

“European consumers can heave a sigh of relief knowing that Asian gas demand is in the gutter,” Bloomberg reports. “The two regions have long vied for global shipments of liquefied natural gas, and China’s reopening from Covid-19 restrictions in December stoked fears of a resurgence in Asian consumption. Yet there’s little buying going on there, despite a spectacular drop in prices over the past year. Most LNG traders in Asia are decidedly bearish — expecting the weakness to continue into the winter — and they have good reason: China’s economic rebound is stuttering. The nation’s top LNG importers aren’t looking to purchase more spot cargoes. Major buyer Cnooc was even offering to sell a summer shipment from Australia this week. Japan’s imports have hit rock bottom as efforts to save energy and ramp up atomic power reduce the need for overseas gas. South Korean imports may also remain muted as ample stockpiles and higher nuclear generation chip away at gas demand. LNG deliveries to these top three buyers have slumped in the past year. Total shipments in the past three months fell 3.5% from a year earlier and are down almost 10% compared with 2021. Meanwhile, LNG deliveries to Europe are surging as countries race to replace Russian pipeline gas, while storage refills are progressing at a rapid clip.

CLIMATE FINANCE

Utility Dive: Regulators are changing the game just as ESG investing gets its bearings: ACORE panel
Emma Penrod, 6//9/23

“Environmental, social and corporate governing investing — funds that focus on the governance structure and the environmental and social performance of companies — has become increasingly important to banks and corporations seeking talent and customers, panelists said Thursday during a session at the American Council on Renewable Energy Finance Forum,” Utility Dive reports. “The success of ESG funds has pulled capital away from other funds, which has drawn political scrutiny and action to limit ESG investing in some oil and gas states, said Ted Brandt, founder and CEO of Marathon Capital. Forthcoming rules at the Securities and Exchange Commission stand to shake up ESG investing in the U.S., but some have already begun to adjust their investment strategies based on drafts already released by the SEC, according to Jeanne-Mey Sun, vice president of sustainability at NRG Energy. When is too much of a good thing a bad thing? Perhaps when it leads to political backlash against your business model, Brandt and other experts said at ACORE’s 2023 Finance Forum… “Financiers are flocking to what Brandt described as C and D-list deals in renewable energy, and it has sucked capital away from sectors such as oil and gas. Those sectors, he said, have struggled to close all but the top tier deals in recent months. Brandt said this dynamic was key to understanding the political backlash against ESG investing in Washington DC and in oil and gas producing states around the country.”

Climate Change News: Republicans’ anti-ESG attack may be silencing insurers, but it isn’t changing their pro-climate business decisions
Rachel Kyte, 6/9/23

“Over recent months there has been an orchestrated pushback against investors and insurers who integrate the risks of climate change into their business models,” Climate Change News reports. “That pushback – emanating from Republican-led states – is having an impact on how companies speak publicly. But whether it will affect their efforts to respond to climate change is less clear. The latest targets have been global insurance companies, and their responses offer some insight. Under pressure, several major insurers, including AXA, Allianz, Lloyd’s and Swiss Re, have pulled out of a United Nations-organized alliance committed to a global goal of net-zero emissions by mid-century. There’s a word for companies going quiet in the face of orchestrated attacks: “greenhushing.” But while the insurers’ departures from the alliance might look like a victory for politicians and political donors who want to delay action on climate change, the companies say leaving doesn’t change their business decisions… “Gfanz has stated that the “political attacks are now interfering with insurers’ independent efforts to price climate risk, which will harm policyholders, main street investors and local economies.” However, while the insurers might not be speaking out, their assessment of climate trends hasn’t changed, nor has the impact of those trends on their businesses.

OPINION

News & Observer: A disputed gas pipeline into NC appeared blocked, but now maybe not
NED BARNETT, 6/13/23

“The U.S. debt-ceiling deal may contain a surprise North Carolina that environmentalists don’t want – a natural gas pipeline passing through the north-central portion of the state,” Ned Barnett writes for the News & Observer. “…Plans for the pipeline included a southern spur known as the MVP Southgate. The underground spur would travel almost 75 miles from southern Virginia into central North Carolina, with about 40 miles of it passing through Rockingham and Alamance counties before terminating southeast of Graham. The project’s operator is Equitrans Midstream. But as soaring costs and legal delays raised doubts about whether the MVP would be completed, plans for the Southgate portion were largely abandoned. Now with the MVP gaining new support, the North Carolina extension may also be revived. Spencer Gall, a Southern Environmental Law Center attorney based in Virginia, told NO, “I think North Carolina should expect to see a renewed effort to build Southgate.” Shawn Day, an MVP Southgate spokesman, told NO, “Mountain Valley remains committed to the MVP Southgate project and continues to evaluate its options to help meet strong residential and business demand for affordable, reliable natural gas.” This is bad news for North Carolina’s environment and the state’s efforts to slow climate change. Constructing the Southgate pipeline will disturb wildlife habitats, cause a loss of trees and intrude into buffer areas that protect Jordan Lake, a key source of water for the Triangle. The pipeline also would increase fracking for gas in West Virginia… “Now, thanks to Manchin’s commitments to the fossil fuel industry, another unneeded, hugely over budget and environmentally damaging pipeline may be coming to North Carolina. With luck, this one will also be pulled down by protectors of the environment and the weight of its own folly.”

WV News: The U.S. needs the Mountain Valley Pipeline
Todd Normane, Senior Vice President & Chief Sustainability Officer, Equitrans, 6/12/23

“The recent bipartisan approval of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 demonstrated the importance of finding common ground to act in the national interest by raising the nation’s debt ceiling and authorizing completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP),” Todd Normane writes for WV News. “As the pipeline’s operator, and primary partner in the Mountain Valley joint venture, Equitrans Midstream is eager to complete construction this year, resume final restoration efforts, and provide economic opportunities and reliable access to affordable natural gas to communities across the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions…”

The Hill: Why the EPA’s new carbon emissions rules will win in court
Ethan Brown is a writer and commentator for Young Voices, 6/13/23

“With the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) releasing tough new carbon emissions standards and the state of West Virginia’s promising a rematch in court, one might think the EPA has gone rogue. It hasn’t,” Ethan Brown writes for The Hill. “…West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has already expressed a desire to sue the EPA on both rules, setting up the potential for high-profile cases akin to last summer’s West Virginia v. EPA, in which the Supreme Court overturned the Obama-era Clean Power Plan. But unlike the Clean Power Plan, these new emissions standards are right in line with past legal precedents. The EPA neither overreached nor underreached. If the conservative Supreme Court justices were to strike down these new standards, they would be contradicting the very decision they made last summer… “Following the West Virginia v. EPA verdict, the agency has meticulously worked within the court’s guidelines. It has concentrated on “regulating emissions at the source” — tailpipes, power plants, etc. The new rules are technology-neutral, recommending ideas such as electric vehicles, carbon capture and storage, and green hydrogen, while allowing companies to make their own decisions… “Since decarbonization will take decades to achieve, it is worrisome to rely too heavily on policies without broad, bipartisan support… “While some observers have caused a stir by branding the EPA as a history-defying trailblazer marking new territory for the climate movement, in reality these new standards are nothing more than an agency doing its job. That’s remarkable — even exciting — in the sense that clean energy and electric vehicles have become economically feasible to the point of prompting these stringent emissions rules. But the standards themselves align with the law and clearly follow last summer’s decision in West Virginia v. EPA. If the six justices who signed the West Virginia decision last summer still believe in their verdict, the EPA should have no problem fending off a challenge and getting back to work.”

Toronto Star: Why can’t conservative politicians and big oil talk about climate change?
Gillian Steward, 6/13/23

“What will it take for conservative politicians and big oil bosses to actually acknowledge that the wildfires ravaging our forests are fanned by the carbon emissions that have torqued up the world’s climate?” Gillian Steward writes for the Toronto Star. “Even as big cities choke on wildfire smoke — Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal, New York — it doesn’t seem to register. And neither do the raging fires themselves which this year have already burned off approximately 4.8 million hectares of Canadian forests. Some people have lost their homes, thousands have been evacuated. And fire season is far from over… “The fossil fuel industry refuses to acknowledge the big picture as well. Even though Fort McMurray, the hub of Alberta’s mammoth oilsands operations, was consumed by a raging wildfire, it continues to downplay the effects of global warming caused by the burning of the oil it produces. Our way of life is still too dependent on oil and natural gas for the petroleum industry to be ramped down overnight. But for these politicians and captains of the oil industry even the word “transition” has become toxic, never mind actually planning for it. Already this year wild fires have destroyed more forests in Canada than ever before. But that doesn’t mean next year will be better. It likely won’t, nor the year after. If ever there was a time for all political parties and fossil fuel companies to work together to confront this threat to our forests and our overall well-being, this is it.”