EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 6/14/23

PIPELINE NEWS

• WVTF: Environmentalists may challenge Congress on clearance for the Mountain Valley Pipeline

• WV Gazette Mail: DEP reissues water permit for Mountain Valley Pipeline thrown out by court for not addressing water quality violations

• Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Farmers say Summit Carbon Solutions using ‘intimidation’ while targeting McPherson County land

• Stateline.org: New Midwest battles brew over CO2 pipelines

• KMA: More pipeline talk at Montgomery County board meeting

• KCHA: Floyd County Officials Host Workshop Tuesday on Carbon Pipeline Ordinance

• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: As battles over Enbridge Line 5 oil pipeline grind on, tribes fear Great Lakes, treaty rights at risk

• Law360: FERC Must Review NYC Pipeline Climate Impact, DC Circ. Told

WASHINGTON UPDATES

• E&E News: ‘Betrayal’: EPA power plant proposal faces backlash

• S&P Global Platts: FERC declines to weigh climate in LNG decision, draws dissent from Democrat

• E&E News: Dems Ask Haaland To ‘Modernize’ BLM Through Conservation Rule 

• Natural Gas World: BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TIGHTENS UP EXTENSION REQUEST PROCESS FOR LNG EXPORTS 

• InsideEPA: SAB Eyes Review Of EPA’s Power Plant GHG, Methane Reporting Rules

• E&E News: House FAA reauthorization bill hits NEPA

STATE UPDATES

• New York Times: A Landmark Youth Climate Trial Begins in Montana

EXTRACTION

• Bloomberg: Removing Carbon From the Air Enters Its Awkward Teen Years

• Forbes: Oil Demand Will Peak By Decade End As Countries Move Away From Fossil Fuels, IEA Says

• Energy Monitor: Weekly data: there will be more LNG tankers than oil supertankers by 2028

• Phys.org: Researchers turn black bitumen into green carbon fibers

CLIMATE FINANCE

• Washington Post: Lawmakers launch probe of insurance firms’ funding of fossil fuel industry

• E&E News: Dems launch insurance industry probe over fossil fuel ties

• Wall Street Journal: Companies Quiet Diversity and Sustainability Talk Amid Culture War Boycotts

OPINION

• Truthout: Activists Risk Arrest — and Smoke Inhalation — to Fight Mountain Valley Pipeline

• Bloomberg: Get Ready for Carbon Capture’s Second Coming

• Albuquerque Journal: Editorial: Rule allows BLM to better balance conservation, O&G

PIPELINE NEWS

WVTF: Environmentalists may challenge Congress on clearance for the Mountain Valley Pipeline
Sandy Hausman, 6/13/23

“When UVA Law School Professor Cale Jaffe heard about efforts to fast-track the Mountain Valley Pipeline, he thought of two cases where courts had upheld objections from environmental groups,” WVTF reports. “One involved the Tennessee Valley Authority and construction of a dam that threatened snail darters – small fish protected by the Endangered Species Act. “That case went all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. Those lobbying to protect the species prevailed at the Supreme Court,” he told WVTF. But in 1979, Congress approved a spending bill that authorized completion of the dam… “Then, in the 90’s, came efforts to protect spotted owls in the old growth forests of Washington State and Oregon. A federal court again sided with environmentalists, but Jaffe told WVTF Congress got creative. “It suspended all environmental laws for one year to allow for logging in national forests in the state of Washington and the state of Oregon in 1995-1996.” Still, he expects those who oppose the Mountain Valley Pipeline to challenge the right of Congress to keep federal judges from ruling on three MVP cases already underway – citing the constitution’s separation of powers clause. “You had active litigation in the federal courts, under rules that Congress had previously established, and then the question is, ‘Can congress say: Y’know in this case we don’t like the way it’s going, and  we’re picking this person to win the case?’” Jaffe concludes.

WV Gazette Mail: DEP reissues water permit for Mountain Valley Pipeline thrown out by court for not addressing water quality violations
Mike Tony, 6/13/23

“West Virginia environmental regulators have yet again issued a water quality certification for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, another victory for the controversial project recently fast-tracked by Congress,” the WV Gazette Mail reports. “The state Department of Environmental Protection on Thursday reissued its certification for the 42-inch-diameter gas pipeline after adding conditions as a result of its review of a federal court decision that threw out the last DEP certification in April. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit threw out the DEP water permit issued in December, finding the DEP failed to adequately address the project’s history of water quality violations or explain why it bypassed a location-specific review of whether the project would degrade state waters… “But the DEP concluded in its latest certification Mountain Valley’s compliance record regarding stream and wetland crossings shows it can conduct proposed water crossing activities without violating water quality requirements… “Mountain Valley Pipeline legal counsel touted the DEP certification in a Monday Fourth Circuit Court filing. In the filing, counsel George P. Sibley III said Mountain Valley expects to resume construction after receiving an anticipated permit from the Corps by June 24. The Fiscal Responsibility Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden June 3, includes a provision designed to force completion of the long-delayed Mountain Valley Pipeline. The legislation, which suspended the debt ceiling to avoid a national default, requires the Army Corps to issue all permits needed to finish construction within three weeks.”

Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Farmers say Summit Carbon Solutions using ‘intimidation’ while targeting McPherson County land
Dominik Dausch, 6/13/23

When you look into the dust-circled, timeworn eyes of farmer Leo Vilhauer, you can see the emotions wearing on him in the moment. When his gaze pointed toward the Summit Carbon survey crews mapping and drilling on his farmland, you can see the disappointment settle in as unhappy wrinkles spread through the rest of his face,” the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports. “Since at least May 2, Summit Carbon Solutions has been performing surveys on land belonging to landowners listed in eminent domain claims initiated by the company last month… “Vilhauer is one of a sizable group of McPherson County landowners opposed to Summit Carbon’s CO2 pipeline project. The county itself is a bastion of anti-carbon sentiment, since about one-third of the Summit’s most recent eminent domain lawsuits involve landowners in the area. Like other McPherson County landowners vehemently opposed to the pipeline, Vilhauer said he has long felt only bitter anger toward the company… “Vilhauer has been opposed to allowing Summit Carbon on his land since he received his first offer to sign an easement agreement with the company in July 2021. But now that the courts ruled in favor of Summit Carbon, Vilhauer is powerless to do anything to stop them. “At this point, it’s like, ‘Why? Why these guys?'” Vilhauer told the Argus Leader. “I mean, if a hunter comes and walks on my land without permission, I call authorities and there will be action taken. Here? My hands are tied.” “…The project manager, who refused to provide their name, told the Argus Leader on May 3 the purpose of the survey crew was to analyze the land along their proposed pipeline route to ensure it doesn’t disturb any biologically, civilly, culturally or environmentally sensitive areas… “Meanwhile, guards on site mentioned feeling uneasy about the situation and empathy toward landowners… “Vilhauer told the Argus Leader he has considered non-violent means of stopping Summit Carbon’s engineers from accessing his land, despite the court order. But if the sheriff came to arrest him, he wouldn’t be able to plant his crops this year, he said… “In Wolff’s case, he declined to sign the initial offer, saying he would run the easement agreement by his attorney. That’s when the agent suggested they may consider “condemnation proceedings” if a deal couldn’t be struck, Wolff told the Argus Leader. The McPherson County farmer said he didn’t understand the concept of eminent domain at the time, but he’s all too familiar with it now. “I’m old enough now to where I don’t have to deal with bad people. To put it in plain farmer English, I don’t like dealing with a*******, and I don’t have to at this point in my life,” Wolff told the Argus Leader. “I don’t have to, but in this case, I have to. I have no choice.”

Stateline.org: New Midwest battles brew over CO2 pipelines
TOM PETERSON, 613/23

“…Ethanol production has become a vital piece of state economies across the Midwest. Forty-five percent of U.S. corn production now is destined for the scores of ethanol plants that rise from the farm fields,” Stateline.org reports. “The industry is at a crossroads. Proposed pipelines to move carbon dioxide, a byproduct of ethanol production, would crisscross the Upper Midwest like spiderwebs… “The proposed projects have drawn controversy, leaving state officials with tough decisions. State regulators are wrestling with whether and how to approve the pipeline projects. And state lawmakers are fighting over property rights and whether land can be taken from unwilling owners to build the pipelines… “For farmers, tribal groups and environmental activists, the proposed pipelines spell disaster. Opposition has brought unlikely allies together. Farmers and other landowners say property rights are being trampled and livelihoods threatened. They fear the pipelines could affect their productivity and hurt land values. Tribal groups worry that ancestral grounds will be disrupted. Environmentalists cite the potential hazards of the highly pressurized liquid carbon dioxide and say ethanol use just delays the move to carbon-free energy. Even climate change deniers, who see no need for reducing carbon, are against the pipelines. Opponents, though, know they are up against a well-funded and politically powerful foe. “It’s David vs. Goliath,” Joy Hohn, whose family farms corn and soybeans outside of Hartford, South Dakota, told Stateline… “Pipeline opponents in the region have fought similar battles before. They say lessons learned while protesting the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines have prepared them to take on a formidable foe. They see strengthening eminent domain requirements as the most direct path to blocking pipeline companies from accessing their land and acquiring easements… “In Nebraska, which leaves carbon pipeline permitting to its counties, any attempt to use eminent domain for a carbon pipeline will likely be decided by the courts, lawyer Brian Jorde told the Nebraska Examiner. Jorde represents landowners who are rejecting right-of-way offers from pipeline companies… “You are funding these carbon pipeline companies so they can take your land and rights away from you,” Jorde told a landowners gathering in Norfolk, Nebraska.

KMA: More pipeline talk at Montgomery County board meeting
Mike Peterson, 6/13/23

“Deliberations continue in Montgomery County over a proposed carbon pipeline project slated for a good portion of KMAland,” KMA reports. “Presentations from proponents and opponents of Summit Carbon Solution’s proposed Midwest Express pipeline highlighted Tuesday morning’s county board of supervisors meeting. Riley Gibson of Turnkey Logistics–the company representing Summit… also dealt with what he called misconceptions coming from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s two-day meeting in Des Moines two weeks ago. He says one misconception is that pipelines aren’t regulated… “Gibson adds pipelines are also regulated by not only PHMSA but also the Iowa Utilities Board, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Gibson’s report followed comments from one of many local residents concerned about the project. In her report regarding the PHMSA conference, West Township resident Jan Norris discusses how panelists outlined the dangers of CO2 pipelines during various presentations. “Multiple times, the panelists brought up that this is not your grandparents’ pipeline,” said Norris. “This poses a unique risk. They have advice for counties–pass what you can and enforce it. If it’s not legal, the company can file in court. Generally, the states can pass more stringent (regulations) than PHMSA can, and don’t know why setbacks and zoning interferes with the company. “You must insist on your safety. Don’t let the company put monetary value above your safety,” she added… “We don’t have any control if that pipeline goes in or doesn’t go in,” said Olson. “That is not under our jurisdiction. It is up to the IUB, and the state of Iowa, and the federal government if that pipeline goes in at this time… “Olson later indicated he doesn’t want to enter into litigation with a pipeline company, and potentially lose “hundreds of millions of dollars” in county revenue with legal fees. But another resident, Barb Nelson, called on the supervisors to pass an ordinance regulating pipeline projects. “No one is here saying that we can stop the pipeline,” said Nelson. “But, we can make it safer for everyone involved. We have an ordinance that’s been ready to be voted on, to be brought back to this committee, to this board of supervisors, so I’m urging you to do that.”

KCHA: Floyd County Officials Host Workshop Tuesday on Carbon Pipeline Ordinance
Mark Pitz, 6/13/23

“The public has an opportunity to take a closer look at possible new zoning ordinances to regulate the construction of carbon pipelines in Floyd County,” KCHA reports. “…The County’s Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a pipeline ordinance workshop session at 5:30 pm Tuesday at the Youth Enrichment Center on the Floyd County Fairgrounds just west of Charles City. During their regular meeting Monday, Board of Supervisors Chair Mark Kuhn encouraged the public to attend to review the current draft of the pipeline ordinance and maps of potential pipeline routes. The P&Z workshop agenda also includes presentations by Summit and Navigator, plus Tim Whipple with Ahlers and Cooney, the company hired by the County to help draft the ordinance and represents the County in carbon pipeline proceedings with the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB).”   

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: As battles over Enbridge Line 5 oil pipeline grind on, tribes fear Great Lakes, treaty rights at risk
Caitlin Looby, 6/14/23

“Just the name — Line 5 — can elicit polarizing emotions,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. “To some, Enbridge Inc.’s pipeline is an environmental roll of the dice, what Michelle Woodhouse, the program manager of water for Environmental Defence Canada, calls “gambling with the world’s largest freshwater system.” “…Line 5 has had 35 spills in its history — about one every other year — releasing a total of more than 1 million gallons of oil into the environment. The pipeline is operating with expired easements — the rights to cross a piece of land — on the Bad River reservation near Lake Superior and throughout Michigan. There seems to be no end to legal battles and safety concerns. The Line 5 pipeline has even gotten the attention of the United Nations. In May, an advisory body on Indigenous issues recommended that the U.S. and Canada shut the oil pipeline down. Now, environmental activists increasingly say the Biden administration is their ultimate hope. They argue Line 5 is one of the greatest threats to the Great Lakes, which hold 20 percent of the world’s freshwater, and supply drinking water to more than 40 million people. This is a matter of “national freshwater security,” which is why Biden needs to step in, Whitney Gravelle, President of the Bay Mills Indian Community in Upper Michigan, told the Sentinel “If the Biden administration wants to… act as real climate leaders, then they need to listen to frontline communities, Indigenous peoples and scientists, and immediately shut down Line 5,” Osprey Orielle Lake, the executive director of Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network, told the Sentinel. So far, Biden has said nothing, and it’s hard not to factor in the 2024 presidential election. Keeping the pipeline operational runs counter to environmental justice initiatives embraced by the Biden administration, as well as its promise to help the country transition to a clean, carbon-neutral economy. However, shutting down the pipeline would hurt union jobs  – a hallmark of the Democratic platform. Terminating the pipeline “presents severe consequences for people and industries in the U.S. and Canada,” Enbridge said in an emailed statement to the Journal Sentinel.”

Law360: FERC Must Review NYC Pipeline Climate Impact, DC Circ. Told
Peter McGuire, 6/13/23

“Federal energy regulators have offered unconvincing excuses for their lax review of greenhouse gas impacts from a Kinder Morgan Inc. affiliate’s pipeline upgrade project for New York City, a watchdog group told the D.C. Circuit,” Law360 reports. 

WASHINGTON UPDATES

E&E News: ‘Betrayal’: EPA power plant proposal faces backlash
Jean Chemnick, 6/14/23

“EPA’s new proposal to cut carbon pollution from power plants relies on two technologies that are broadly opposed by environmental justice advocates,” E&E News reports. “Champions for poor, Black and brown communities that have lived for decades with polluting infrastructure are angry that the Biden administration would propose retrofitting fossil fuel plants with carbon capture and storage (CCS) or hydrogen capacities instead of just shutting them down. They say the EPA proposal runs counter to the Biden administration’s emphasis on environmental equity. “I think it’s really a betrayal of a lot of the promises that the Biden administration has made to keep our communities whole and to repair some of the harms from the past,” Juan Jhong-Chung, climate justice director at the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, told E&E.  “We know that CCS and hydrogen will extend the life of some coal and gas plants, and that’s actually going to harm many communities. So yeah, it was really disappointing to hear that those two technologies are being suggested as possible paths for power plants to decarbonize.” “…EPA said in an email to E&E News that it gave “close consideration to community concerns” as it constructed the draft rule, including from environmental justice advocates… “One concern that front-line advocates have with carbon capture is that it leaves toxic and smog-forming smokestack pollutants to spill into local neighborhoods unabated… “CCS systems also require significant power to run — an “energy penalty” that may mean more fossil fuel generation… “In spite of these assurances, environmental justice advocates remain wary. Communities have been told by experts before that the industrial site next door won’t do any harm — only to learn, to their cost, that that is untrue… “Activists for front-line communities also are girding new carbon pipelines they say could undermine the safety and integrity of the mostly Black and brown communities they’re routed through. These pipelines carry carbon from the power plant to the storage site… “EPA just proposed granting that power to Louisiana’s Department of Environmental Quality, and that gives environmental equity activists in the state serious pause. “Abso — 100 percent — lutely,” Monique Harden, director of law and policy at the New Orleans-based Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, told E&E, when asked whether the prospect of Louisiana overseeing the permanent storage of carbon raised any red flags. “You’re asking Louisiana, with a poor track record of protecting the environment and protecting the people, to do something that has never been done before — which is the permanent disposal of carbon dioxide below ground.”

S&P Global Platts: FERC declines to weigh climate in LNG decision, draws dissent from Democrat
Maya Weber, 6/12/23

“The majority at the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission resisted arguments that it should have weighed the significance of an LNG project’s climate impacts — drawing a sharply worded dissent from Democratic Commissioner Allison Clements,” S&P Global Platts reports. “At issue is FERC’s June 9 rehearing order upholding the commission’s approval of the 8.4 million mt/year Commonwealth LNG facility in Cameron Parish, Louisiana — in the face of objections from a coalition of environmental groups including Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council. Among a long list of legal defects alleged by the environmentalists, the groups asserted that FERC’s failure to make a significance determination for the project’s foreseen operational and construction-related GHG impacts violates the National Environmental Policy Act and “poisons” FERC public interest balancing under Section 3 of the Natural Gas Act. Environmentalists long have sought to prod FERC to consider climate impacts among a range of interests when it determines whether to approve gas projects, but the commission has struggled to solidify its position or finalize a long-pending draft policy… “Clements contended that FERC’s position on the public interest determination was “incomprehensible” and thus violated the Administrative Procedure Act. It was unclear whether climate factored into the determination at all and whether encouraging plentiful supplies of gas was the primary driving consideration, she said. To the extent the rehearing order was meant to suggest that FERC does not need to consider environmental impacts of a project’s GHG emissions in its public interest determination under NGA Section 3, it is “plainly wrong,” the Democrat asserted, citing a 50-year-old US Supreme Court precedent in NAACP v. Federal Power Commission.” “…In her dissent to the new rehearing order, Clements said she “cannot countenance the majority’s refusal” to seriously consider how FERC should assess significance. By her reading, the rehearing order indicates FERC has “definitively concluded that it is impossible for it to assess the significance of GHG emissions.” She argued FERC failed to respond to the environmental coalition’s argument that there is an alternative method available — a model submitted by the Natural Resources Defense Council for FERC’s consideration.”

E&E News: Dems Ask Haaland To ‘Modernize’ BLM Through Conservation Rule 
Scott Streater, 6/13/23

“A bicameral coalition of 45 congressional Democrats is urging Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to implement a hotly contested public lands rule that seeks to elevate conservation despite fierce Republican opposition,” E&E News reports. “The lawmakers, led by Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), and Reps. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) and Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), sent a letter to Haaland on Monday saying they ‘strongly support’ the proposal and asked her to take steps to make it even stronger. The draft rule, unveiled in March, would prioritize rangeland health and conservation on the 245 million acres under the Bureau of Land Management’s care by elevating conservation on par with livestock grazing and energy development, among other uses. The language in the rule itself says this action is needed to maintain BLM lands for multiple uses in the face of a warming climate that has sparked severe drought conditions and larger, hotter and more destructive wildfires across the West. The lawmakers emphasized this point to Haaland, and argued in the letter that ‘the final rule should build upon the draft to ensure that the rule achieves its potential to balance various multiple uses of BLM lands for the benefit of current and future generations.”

Natural Gas World: BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TIGHTENS UP EXTENSION REQUEST PROCESS FOR LNG EXPORTS 
ANNA KACHKOVA, 6/13/23

“The administration of US president Joe Biden is tightening up its approach to granting extensions of LNG export authorisations to project developers that have not yet started construction of their liquefaction terminals,” Natural Gas World reports. “The move has a number of aims, according to the US department of energy (DoE), including aligning the volume of exports approved to countries with which the US does not have a free-trade agreement (FTA) with export capacity operating or under construction. It is also aimed at providing more certainty to US and global LNG markets while also encouraging new entrants by ensuring they are not disadvantaged by competition from older projects that have not yet moved forward…”

InsideEPA: SAB Eyes Review Of EPA’s Power Plant GHG, Methane Reporting Rules
6/12/23

“A workgroup of EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) is urging the panel to at least partially review the scientific basis for the agency’s proposed power plant greenhouse gas standards as well as its forthcoming methane emissions reporting plan, but it is suggesting no SAB action is needed on more than dozen other rules,” InsideEPA reports. “The recommendations in a June 5 memo follow deliberations over the past five months by an SAB workgroup on the ‘science supporting EPA decisions.’ They suggest that EPA’s power plant and methane reporting proposals touch on novel or otherwise important questions that merit closer examination, regardless of whether SAB ultimately affirms that science. The full SAB is scheduled to meet June 23 to consider the workgroup’s recommendations.”

E&E News: House FAA reauthorization bill hits NEPA
Emma Dumain, 6/12/23

“Fresh from a progressive revolt over a bipartisan agreement to raise the debt ceiling that targeted the National Environmental Policy Act, senior House Democrats are joining Republicans on a bill to reauthorize aviation programs that would make further changes to the bedrock environmental protection law,” E&E News reports. “It could reopen a bitter fight within the party about what Democrats should be willing to trade away in exchange for compromise on must-pass legislation: the current Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 2018 expires at the end of September… “On the NEPA side, however, the 2023 FAA reauthorization bill would extend the “one federal decision” framework — a Trump-era policy tasking one agency with signing off on major projects within a two-year timeframe — to most airport construction initiatives. The policy, during the Trump administration, was applied to all types of projects as a way of circumventing regulatory delays. President Joe Biden revoked the executive order when he came to office. Democrats agreed to codify the one federal decision framework in the bipartisan infrastructure law, but narrowly applied it to highway projects… “The House FAA reauthorization set for markup Tuesday would do more to enshrine the one federal decision policy in statute. It also would expand “categorical exclusions” for most airport projects, which lowers the bar for which projects receive environmental reviews under NEPA.”

STATE UPDATES

New York Times: A Landmark Youth Climate Trial Begins in Montana
Mike Baker, 6/12/23

“A landmark climate change trial opened on Monday in Montana, where a group of young people are contending that the state’s embrace of fossil fuels is destroying pristine environments, upending cultural traditions and robbing young residents of a healthy future,” the New York Times reports. “The case, more than a decade in the making, is the first of a series of similar challenges pending in various states as part of an effort to increase pressure on policymakers to take more urgent action on emissions. Rikki Held, 22, a plaintiff who was among the first witnesses to testify on Monday, described how her family’s 3,000-acre ranch in eastern Montana had been threatened by droughts, wildfires and extreme weather, including heat waves and floods. At times she grew tearful talking about working through those conditions while trying to maintain the family’s livelihood. “I know that climate change is a global issue, but Montana needs to take responsibility for our part of that,” Ms. Held told the Times. “You can’t just blow it off and do nothing about it.” The case revolves around the contention from 16 young residents — who range in age from 5 to 22 — that the state government has failed to live up to its constitutional mandate to “maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations.”

EXTRACTION

Bloomberg: Removing Carbon From the Air Enters Its Awkward Teen Years
Brian Kahn, 6/12/23

“If you want to understand the potential of direct air capture, or DAC, all you have to do is see its end product: solid rock. The world’s first plant to pull carbon dioxide from the air and turn it into stone has been operating in Iceland for nearly two years, and the fruits of its labor were on display last week at Climeworks’ DAC Summit,” Bloomberg reports. “…There are now at least 18 direct air capture plants operating worldwide, according to the International Energy Agency, and more are coming online. That makes the rock on display at the summit a tiny piece of today’s $2 billion market for carbon removal, which includes everything from offsets to DAC. Depending on the rules that end up shaping the sector, direct air capture alone could be a nearly $1 trillion business in the next decade, according to projections from researchers at BloombergNEF… “Right now, Climeworks is only able to snatch 4,000 tons of CO2 from the air in a year, roughly the equivalent of three seconds of humanity’s annual emissions… “The most common wishlist item among attendees at the summit was for government support that goes beyond R&D and tax incentives. That might include buying removal services directly as a way to bring costs down, given the ability of governments to mobilize billions of dollars that far exceed the scope of even the largest of corporate commitments. It seems like a longshot at the moment. The current state of the industry could leave the cost of capturing carbon from the air out of reach for most buyers. The Holy Grail for carbon removal to be economically feasible is getting prices down to around $100 per ton. That’s far from current removal costs starting at hundreds of dollars and exceeding $1,000 per ton in some cases. There was a quiet undercurrent of realism at the DAC Summit that the technology could very well fail to reach the $100 mark in the next three decades. Climeworks co-founder and co-CEO Jan Wurzbacher told the crowd his company could see its prices remain as high as $300 by 2050. In a world requiring gigaton-scale removal, that’s a difference of hundreds of billions of dollars. In another hallmark of teen troubles, there was fear at the summit that direct air capture could fall in with the wrong crowd or end up noisily aggravating its neighbors. For many attendees, the wrong crowd would be the fossil fuel industry, whose interest in the technology could conceivably be used as cover for continuing to burn oil and gas.”

Forbes: Oil Demand Will Peak By Decade End As Countries Move Away From Fossil Fuels, IEA Says
Siladitya Ray, 6/14/23

“The IEA forecasts global oil demand will rise to 105.7 million barrels per day in 2028, an increase of around 6% compared with 2022,” Forbes reports. “The agency said global demand for oil used in transportation will begin declining in 2026, thanks to a shift to electric vehicles and policy measures pushing for more efficiency. Demand growth for gasoline is set to reverse at the end of this year, while the rise in demand for “combustible fossil fuels” will peak in 2028, the report adds. Meanwhile, demand growth for oil will slump to just 400,000 barrels per day in 2028—compared with 2.4 million barrels per day in 2023. Despite the slump in demand, the IEA notes that “additional policy measures and behavioral changes” are necessary to ensure its goal of net zero emissions by 2050. IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said: “The shift to a clean energy economy is picking up pace, with a peak in global oil demand in sight before the end of this decade…Oil producers need to pay careful attention to the gathering pace of change and calibrate their investment decisions to ensure an orderly transition.”

Energy Monitor: Weekly data: there will be more LNG tankers than oil supertankers by 2028
Nick Ferris, 6/12/23

“Energy companies everywhere are planning for an liquefied natural gas (LNG) ‘gold rush’. European LNG demand increased by 60% year-on-year in 2022, and is expected to remain high as a result of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s continuing war in Ukraine,” Energy Monitor reports. “ What’s more, emerging markets are also expected to increase LNG demand as they look to decarbonise coal-intensive power and heating sectors. What does this mean for demand for LNG tankers? There are 635 active LNG tankers operating worldwide, around 100 of which launched in the past three years, shows data from GlobalData, Energy Monitor’s parent company. Such is the boom in LNG demand that energy companies have planned for a further 524 tankers, which would double the world’s total LNG carrying capacity.  By 2028, all the world’s planned LNG tankers are set to be in operation. At that point, there would be more LNG tankers in operation than oil VLCCs (very large crude carriers) and ULCCs (ultra-large crude carriers). There are 772 active VLCCs and ULCCs globally, with a further 200 planned and set to be completed by 2028. Is this near-doubling of LNG tankers in just a few years emblematic of overzealous industry expansion? The available evidence suggests this may be the case.  Analysts have already argued that the rapid expansion of LNG liquefaction and regasification facilities creates a risk of LNG oversupply… “It is dawning on us that there is likely to be too many LNG facilities in development,” Henning Gloystein, director of energy, climate and resources at the Eurasia Group, told Energy Monitor in April. “There is going to be an enormous glut of facilities in Europe, because so many governments want to have their own facilities to ensure they have security of supply.” Extreme LNG price volatility in recent years has also lowered the prospect of natural gas being a viable “transition fuel” for emerging markets to move away from coal – particularly when the levelised cost of renewable electricity is often much cheaper by comparison.”

Phys.org: Researchers turn black bitumen into green carbon fibers
6/13/23

“Bitumen, the sticky product from Alberta’s oil sands, is normally burned as fuel or gets a second life as asphalt pavement. But what if it could be turned into something more valuable, like the carbon fibers that make aircraft and hockey sticks light and durable, and electric cars safer and more efficient?” Phys.org reports. “UBC materials engineer Dr. Yasmine Abdin and her colleagues, Dr. Frank Ko in the faculty of applied science and Dr. Scott Renneckar in the faculty of forestry, have developed a way to convert bitumen into commercial-grade carbon fibers. Their solution, described recently in the journal Advances in Natural Sciences: Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, uses melt spinning to produce two sizes of fibers cleanly and economically. Projected cost is $12 per kilo, compared to commercial carbon fibers that normally cost $33 per kilo… “The team expects to start commercial production in 2024, and sees wide applications for their carbon fibers in electric cars, improving vehicle performance and ultimately helping to boost EV adoption rates.”

CLIMATE FINANCE

Washington Post: Lawmakers launch probe of insurance firms’ funding of fossil fuel industry
Brianna Sacks, 6/9/23

“As insurance companies scale back coverage in disaster-prone states because climate risks have become too costly, U.S. lawmakers have launched an investigation into seven major carriers for continuing to insure and invest billions of dollars in fossil fuel projects, according to documents obtained by the Washington Post. “On Friday, the Senate Budget Committee sent letters to seven insurance companies or owners of insurance companies — State Farm, Liberty Mutual, Berkshire Hathaway, AIG, Travelers Insurance, Chubb and Starr — demanding answers and internal information about how each company underwrites, invests in and profits from the fossil fuel industry. The inquiry also seeks their plans, if any, to follow the Paris Agreement’s commitment to lessen global warming, and their methodologies and projections for rates and coverage related to climate harms. The companies have until June 23 to respond and produce all the information demanded. The Washington Post sought responses from all seven companies about the Senate initiative. So far, AIG has declined to comment. The U.S. insurance industry’s response to climate-fueled disasters has contributed to the increasing cost of insurance for millions of Americans as well as to the uncertainty of their even being able to obtain it… “By underwriting and investing in new and expanded fossil fuel projects, U.S. insurers are helping Big Oil bring us closer to the worst runaway climate scenarios, which threaten lives, livelihoods, and the federal budget,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who chairs the Senate Budget Committee and co-launched the investigation with Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), told the Post. “This information is especially relevant as some of these companies begin to pull out of certain markets because they see the coming catastrophic climate risks — despite continuing to provide services to the fossil fuel industry.”

E&E News: Dems launch insurance industry probe over fossil fuel ties
Timothy Cama, 6/9/23

“Senate Democrats are investigating the insurance industry over its role in climate change, probing why a handful of U.S.-based insurers are underwriting fossil fuel projects,” E&E News reports. “Senate Budget Chair Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) sent the letters Friday to seven insurance companies, pushing them to explain how they evaluate fossil fuel projects like coal mines and oil refineries and whether they plan to curb their underwriting, and for an array of documents related to the issue. “Underwriting dangerous fossil fuel projects makes it harder to achieve global climate goals, and there is little transparency about how the myriad risks factor into industry decisions,” Whitehouse wrote in each of the letters, alongside Budget Committee members Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). The letter points out international efforts to fight climate change and estimates of what actions will have to be taken to slow fossil fuel development, but contrasts that with what insurers are doing.”

Wall Street Journal: Companies Quiet Diversity and Sustainability Talk Amid Culture War Boycotts
Mark Maurer, 6/12/23

“Companies’ mentions of green and social initiatives during earnings calls have fallen off sharply in recent quarters, reversing a more boastful approach taken over the past few years amid intensifying pressure from some investors and conservative activists,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Take electronic-signature firm DocuSign, where Chief Financial Officer Cynthia Gaylor in March 2022 said the company achieved carbon-neutral status during the year ended that January. Gaylor, who is set to step down as CFO on June 15, at the time said the company was continuing its efforts to reach net-zero emissions no later than 2050. The company’s executives haven’t mentioned sustainability initiatives, carbon-neutral status or net-zero emissions on its earnings calls since… “Finance chiefs and other executives have significantly quieted down in public settings about their environmental and employee diversity efforts as opposition has mounted from a confluence of interests: investors who want companies to focus on their operations, not the social good, and conservative groups and political leaders who have seized on corporate support of such causes to rally “anti-woke” constituents—for example, calling for boycotts of brands that advertise their support of the LGBT community in the wake of recent disputes with Target and Bud Light. “The easiest thing to do is just to stay out of the conversation and emphasize other facets of business that are going to be perceived as less controversial and more core to the traditional metrics of the business,” Jason Jay, senior lecturer of sustainability at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told the Journal. Executives at U.S.-listed companies mentioned “environmental, social and governance,” “ESG,” “diversity, equity and inclusion,” “DEI” or “sustainability” on 575 earnings calls from April 1 to June 5, down 31% from the same period last year, according to data from financial-research platform AlphaSense. That is the largest such year-over-year decline and the fifth consecutive quarter of year-over-year drops, following a pickup in these discussions and corporate social efforts in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in May 2020.” 

OPINION

Truthout: Activists Risk Arrest — and Smoke Inhalation — to Fight Mountain Valley Pipeline
Denali Sai Nalamalapu, 6/13/23

“A thick haze covers the White House as hundreds of people, including myself, stand on President Joe Biden’s front steps, masked to protect our lungs from Canadian wildfire smoke and holding signs calling out the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) in West Virginia as more fuel for future wildfires,” Denali Sai Nalamalapu writes for Truthout. “On June 8, protesters from around the country gathered, many risking arrest by sitting and standing on the sidewalk next to the White House fence, to draw attention to President Biden’s latest climate betrayal. Demonstrators carried a large blue banner reading: “Biden’s Climate Embarrassment” — complete with the Biden-Harris signature campaign “E.” “…Congress fast-tracked the Biden-endorsed, fracked gas MVP in its debt ceiling bill. The pipeline is a climate nightmare. If it were to be completed and put into service, the greenhouse gas emissions may be equivalent to 19 million passenger vehicles, 23 coal plants, and account for at least 1 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. energy sector… “This unprecedented step is significant not only because the pipeline has nothing to do with the debt ceiling, but because it opens up the possibility for corporations to buy votes in Congress to get what they want by manipulating must-pass legislation… “President Biden won election in large part due to his commitment to address the climate crisis. But from Alaska, to the Gulf, to Appalachia, he has sacrificed communities for his own political gain. This has particularly enraged young people, who will bear the brunt of the climate crisis. It has also mobilized elders around the country, many of whom believe in risking their safety in order to secure climate action. The movement we are building does not condone sacrifice zones. We will continue to fight to stop the MVP alongside Appalachians on the frontlines. The construction ahead of MVP is some of the hardest and most dangerous yet; with barely half of the pipeline completed. We will protect our communities from the company’s reckless activities — which resulted in one of the worst climate disasters of 2022. We will expose their activities to the banks and insurers behind the project and continue to demand the cancellation of the unnecessary pipeline. Beyond that, we must demand Biden declare a climate emergency and stop all new fossil fuel projects.”

Bloomberg: Get Ready for Carbon Capture’s Second Coming
David Fickling, 6/13/23

“For those who’ve followed the energy transition over the past few decades, there’s one technology that is treated as much as a punchline as a serious industry: Carbon capture and storage,” David Fickling writes for Bloomberg. “A decade or so ago, many still thought it the best hope for decarbonizing the world’s power systems. CCS was “the Google and Intel of the energy world,” the Atlantic magazine declared in a 2010 cover story that predicted solar and wind would never get above 10% of power supply. In the following decade, it was renewables that boomed while CCS went bust… “Meanwhile, only a handful of demonstration CCS plants went into operation — and one of the biggest was switched off in 2021 as oil prices plummeted, since it had only been able to make money from the decidedly dirty business of driving carbon dioxide into depleted oil wells to force out fresh crude. There are signs that CCS may be about to get the last laugh, though… “In essence, a business that was always viable technologically has finally found an economic rationale. The problem with CCS was never that it didn’t work: Norway’s Sleipner carbon capture project has been quietly pumping about 1 million tons annually under the North Sea for nearly 20 years since it was built to evade a 1991 carbon tax. Elsewhere in the world, however, there was no way to get paid. That’s changed with the US Inflation Reduction Act and the surging value of the European Union’s carbon permits. CCS doesn’t really become viable anywhere south of $70 a metric ton, and until about 18 months ago the only countries putting a price on carbon at that level were in Scandinavia and the Alps. Since the start of 2022, however, European carbon has averaged $89 a ton, while the Biden administration’s climate bill has introduced an $85/ton tax credit for CCS. Roughly a third of the world economy has suddenly priced CO2 at a level where, in theory, there should be good money in locking it up underground… “A global carbon trade offers a solution to that problem, giving nations with the right geology the ability to make money from sequestering other people’s carbon… “Swaths of the world made money in the 20th century from selling the carbon currently devastating our natural environment. In the 21st century, the same nations might make money from burying it instead.”

Albuquerque Journal: Editorial: Rule allows BLM to better balance conservation, O&G
EDITORIAL BOARD, 6/12/23

“Managing public lands has always been a contentious balancing act, with competing interests seeking to utilize publicly owned lands for everything from recreation and cattle grazing to mining and oil and gas extraction,” the Albuquerque Journal Editorial Board writes. “Striking the right balance has historically been volatile in the West, and in New Mexico in particular, where oil production has risen to second highest in the nation, thanks to the industry’s heavy reliance on accessing public lands, particularly lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the largest land manager in the state. Although the BLM has had a multiple-use and sustained yield mission, environmental stewardship has often taken a back seat to mining, oil and gas exploration and other development over the BLM’s 80-year history, and we have the land scars in New Mexico to show for it. A proposed BLM rule would level the scales while allowing all current BLM leases and permits to continue. The rule under consideration would permit the federal agency to lease land to groups for conservation, just as it leases land for livestock grazing or oil extraction. A conservation lease could be used to restore animal habitat or help compensate for development of other public lands. They would expire just as other land use leases expire… “But considering fossil fuels are a finite resource, and especially in a time of climate crisis, we need to do more to save endangered lands and ecosystems for future generations. Judicious land conservation can accomplish that. And it is important to note the proposed rule doesn’t elevate land conservation over development. It merely levels the playing field… “New Mexicans should support the rule and give BLM the ability to deliver on its multiple-use mandate in a time of climate crisis. It’s time we place the same emphasis on land conservation that we have on energy development. Conservation is a productive use of public lands. We can, and should, do both.”