EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 6/2/23

PIPELINE NEWS

• Washington Post: Senate fails to strip pipeline approval from debt ceiling bill

• Press release: KAINE INTRODUCES AMENDMENT TO STRIP MOUNTAIN VALLEY PIPELINE PROVISION FROM DEBT BILL

• Politico: Virginia Democrats Tim Kaine and Jennifer McClellan aren’t happy with the White House for not alerting them of the Mountain Valley Pipeline project’s inclusion in the debt ceiling deal — and they’re not hiding it. 

• WDBJ: Mountain Valley Pipeline opponents protest debt limit deal, urge support for amendment

• Blue Virginia: Virginia NAACP Opposes Mountain Valley Pipeline Provisions in Fiscal Responsibility Act

• KFYR: Landowners sue North Dakota over amalgamation laws

• Iowa Capital Dispatch: Carbon pipeline company loses attempt to hold South Dakota farmer in contempt

• Law360: SD County Must Face Challenge To CO2 Pipeline Ban

• Des Moines Register: Leak survivor joins opponents at Des Moines carbon capture pipeline hearing

• AgWeek: Federal pipeline regulators urged to issue moratorium on carbon capture pipelines

• Radio Iowa: Carbon pipeline opponents seek federal moratorium on construction

• Cedar Rapids Gazette: Federal pipeline regulators hear Iowans’ safety concerns

• DTN Progressive Farmer: Rural Resistance to Carbon Pipelines

• Iowa Capital Dispatch: Feds: Carbon dioxide pipelines are necessary to reduce emissions

• Iowa Capital Dispatch: Experts: Predicting CO2 pipeline rupture threats can be extremely costly

• Food & Water Watch: Carbon Pipeline Opponents Rally Outside Federal Regulators’ Conference in Des Moines

• Hays Post: Cleanup operations at oil leak in north central Kansas creek shift to restoration

• Niagara Gazette: Federal agency to review pipeline permit for Genesee County industrial site

• Bloomberg: Midship Gas Pipeline Granted Bid for Oklahoma Properties’ Use

• Law360: FERC Got Oil Pipeline Rate Ruling Wrong, DC Circ. Told

WASHINGTON UPDATES

• The Hill: Senate approves bill to avert national default, sending it to Biden’s desk 

• Politico: Debt Bill Passes House 

• Axios: Jeffries, McCarthy offices say there was no deal to save debt ceiling bill

• Bloomberg: Manchin’s Gas Pipeline Enjoys Rare Legal Protection in Debt Deal

• Washington Post: Gas pipeline in debt ceiling deal is ‘red line’ [VIDEO]

• Reuters: US bans new oil and gas leasing around New Mexico cultural site

• E&E News: DOJ Sues Coal Companies Linked To Republican Jim Justice 

STATE UPDATES

• Cleveland.com: On day one, Ohio gets eight applications to frack on state lands

• Associated Press: New Mexico Imposes Oil and Gas Moratorium on State Land Near Schools

• Counter Punch: Is the Suncor Refinery in Colorado Killing People Quietly With its Deeds?  

EXTRACTION

• CBC: Suncor to slash 1,500 jobs amid cost-cutting plan

• The Hill: Climate paradox: Emission cuts could ‘unmask’ deadly face of climate change, scientists warn

• E&E News: Project Bison, a large carbon removal proposal, faces delays

• Axios: CO2 removal startup lands Boeing deal

CLIMATE FINANCE

• Reuters: Exxon, Chevron shareholders soundly reject climate-related petitions

• Washington Post: Activists are looking to banking regulations to combat climate change

• CBS News: Students and climate activists push local universities to fully cut ties from fossil fuel industry

• Bloomberg: Trader Who Bought Equitrans Options Made a Quick $4 Million

OPINION

• Roanoke Times: Commentary: Mountain Valley Pipeline must stop spreading false promises

• New York Times: Congress Is Turning Climate Gaslighting Into Law

• Boston Globe: Carbon capture isn’t the climate change health benefit the world needs

• Bismarck Tribune: Speaking out: Liking the upside means accepting the downside

• Los Angeles Times: Opinion: Why the fossil fuel divestment movement should reach hospitals

• Madison.com: Tribe should work with firm on Line 5

PIPELINE NEWS

Washington Post: Senate fails to strip pipeline approval from debt ceiling bill
Maxine Joselow, 6/2/23

“The Senate yesterday rejected an amendment to the debt ceiling bill that would have removed controversial provisions approving the Mountain Valley Pipeline. The vote was 30-69,” the Washington Post reports. “Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who introduced the amendment, railed against these provisions on the Senate floor, noting that the project developers have used eminent domain to seize private property in his state. “It would be one thing if you could build pipelines in midair,” Kaine said. “But you can’t. To build a pipeline, you have to take people’s land.” “…Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged his colleagues not to support the amendments, which would send the bill back to the House, causing delays ahead of a Monday default deadline.”

Press release: KAINE INTRODUCES AMENDMENT TO STRIP MOUNTAIN VALLEY PIPELINE PROVISION FROM DEBT BILL
6/1/23

“Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine introduced an amendment to strip language from the Fiscal Responsibility Act that would greenlight the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline in Virginia, bypassing the normal judicial and administrative review process every other energy project has to go through: “I support improving the permitting process for all energy projects. But Congress putting its thumb on the scale so that one specific project doesn’t have to comply with the same process as everyone else is the definition of unfair and opens the door to corruption. I’m introducing this amendment to strip this harmful provision—which is completely unrelated to the debt limit—from the bill because I owe it to the Virginians impacted by the pipeline—including the hundreds of Virginians whose land is being taken away—to ensure the project only proceeds following fair administrative and judicial review. I urge my colleagues to join me in righting this wrong. Otherwise, with this dangerous precedent, they may find themselves in a horrible position down the road: Congress taking their constituents’ land because more powerful companies have the political juice to think they can get away with it.”

Politico: Virginia Democrats Tim Kaine and Jennifer McClellan aren’t happy with the White House for not alerting them of the Mountain Valley Pipeline project’s inclusion in the debt ceiling deal — and they’re not hiding it. 
Nancy Vu and Josh Siegel, 6/1/23

“Virginia Democrats are fuming about the inclusion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline in the debt ceiling deal reached between House Republicans and the White House — but are aiming their ire at the Biden administration for not giving them a heads-up beforehand,” Politico reports. “The details: Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) criticized the White House for not alerting the lawmaker about including the natural gas pipeline, which would run from northwestern West Virginia and cut through parts of his home state, in the debt limit proposal. What he said: “It’s extremely frustrating because there could have been other vehicles to do it. I mean, it doesn’t have to go into the debt ceiling bill. … [The White House doesn’t] even bother to pick up the phone and call me. Have I made them mad? No, I’m the one they call to try and get cabinet secretaries confirmed. ‘Go talk to your colleagues. They’re not yet going to vote for Julie Su.’ … They call me and ask me to help out. So like, what did I do wrong?”.. “Kaine is requesting a vote on an amendment that would strip out the Mountain Valley Pipeline provision from the bill, arguing that if Republican senators get votes on their proposed amendments, he should be granted a vote as well. “Look, if I get screwed by putting this thing in, and then we get [votes] only on Republican amendments and not on mine, I’m really going to be unhappy. So I should get an amendment on this.”

WDBJ: Mountain Valley Pipeline opponents protest debt limit deal, urge support for amendment
Joe Dashiell, 6/1/23

“Opponents of the Mountain Valley Pipeline are protesting the federal debt limit deal that could fast track the controversial project,” WDBJ reports. “Thursday afternoon, they rallied support for an amendment by US Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) that would remove the project from the legislation. In Roanoke, pipeline opponents gathered outside the regional office of US Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) to encourage his support of the amendment that Sen. Kaine introduced earlier in the day. It would remove the provision expediting the Mountain Valley Pipeline from the debt limit legislation. “One piece of light here is that Sen. Warner has said he will be supporting Sen. Kaine’s amendment,” Del. Sam Rasoul (D-Roanoke) said to applause… “We’ve joked that it would take an act of Congress to get this MVP through with all their violations and the courts, but that’s actually what’s happening right now,” Crystal Mello, a community organizer with the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights Coalition, told WDBJ. “And for the fact that this project is being tied to a fiscal bill, that’s unheard of; that should not be happening.” “…But no matter what happens with the debt limit legislation over the next few days, opponents of the Mountain Valley Pipeline say they are planning a major demonstration outside The White House Thursday, June 8.”

Blue Virginia: Virginia NAACP Opposes Mountain Valley Pipeline Provisions in Fiscal Responsibility Act
5/31/23

“The NAACP Virginia State Conference (Virginia NAACP) stands with NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson in calling on Congress to reject the harmful provisions proposed in the recently introduced Fiscal Responsibility Act,” Blue Virginia reports. “The Virginia NAACP echos NAACP call urging Congress to reject the statutory end of the student loan payment pause, protect critically important tools to fight environmental racism including not usurping the permitting process for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, reject a new PAYGO provision that would prevent agencies from addressing pressing social needs, and block onerous new work requirements for key program. The Virginia NAACP and its partners and allies have been fighting the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline for years. Through these times, environmental, social, and health experts have proven that the negative cost associated with the project outweighs the benefits that would be experienced by Virginians. Robert N. Barnette, Jr, president of the NAACP Virginia State Conference stated: “Virginians have resoundingly rejected the Mountain Valley Pipeline. We must continue to battle this project. Removing important permitting regulations in order to fast track harmful projects will only lead to climatic, health, and economic failures. We must not allow harmful projects to be fast-tracked, our regulatory policies were created to protect human and natural resources and it is imperative we keep people over corporate profit” The Virginia NAACP strongly opposes removing important permitting regulations in order to fast track harmful projects that will only lead to climatic, health, and economic failures. Lastly, the Virginia NAACP applauds US Senator Tim Kaine and US Representative Jennifer McClellan’s proposed amendment to remove the Mountain Valley pipeline from the Fiscal Responsibility Act.”

KFYR: Landowners sue North Dakota over amalgamation laws
Joel Crane, 5/31/23

“The Northwest Landowners Association (NWLA) is suing the state of North Dakota and the Industrial Commission over amalgamation laws,” KFYR reports. “The first thing the NWLA takes issue with is the language used for compensating state landowners after their land is taken. The North Dakota Constitution says, “Private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use without just compensation.” But the section of the law they’re suing about replaces “just compensation” with “equitable compensation.” They say that’s not the same thing. “Equitable compensation is not a constitutional phrase. Equitable compensation is not the constitutional ‘just compensation’ that is required in order for the taking of private property, so it’s just a word they made up,” Derrick Braaten, attorney for NWLA, told KFYR. The second challenge is about amalgamation: the law says, if a company would like to store something like liquid CO2 in an underground pore space, they only have to obtain the consent of 60% of the landowners who own that pore space, and if they do so, the Industrial Commission can grant them permission to overtake the pore space for their purposes.”

Iowa Capital Dispatch: Carbon pipeline company loses attempt to hold South Dakota farmer in contempt
JOSHUA HAIAR, 6/1/23

“A company proposing a carbon-capture pipeline lost its attempt to hold a farmer in contempt of court for allegedly threatening to shoot land surveyors,” the Iowa Capital Dispatch reports. “Judge Richard Sommers presided over the hearing May 31 at the Brown County Courthouse. He declined to hold the farmer, Jared Bossly, in contempt but ordered lawyers for both sides to determine an acceptable time for the surveyors to do their work. State law allows pipeline companies that have requested a permit from the Public Utilities Commission to conduct surveys without a landowner’s permission, after providing 30 days’ notice to the landowner. Sommers recently upheld that right after a group of landowners sued to challenge it, and that decision is being appealed to the state Supreme Court; meanwhile, Summit claimed Bossly should be held in contempt for making threats that prevented surveyors from doing their job… “In an interview after Wednesday’s proceeding on the contempt claim, Bossly denied the allegations against him and said his name has been tarnished. But the court did not give Bossly and his lawyer an opportunity to present their version of events… “About 50 opponents of the pipeline project attended the hearing in support of Bossly. Some alleged in interviews with South Dakota Searchlight that the company fabricated the confrontation to make an example of Bossly, and to intimidate landowners. Craig Schaunaman, who farms near Bossly, told the Dispatch he saw Bossly around the time the alleged threatening phone call took place, but didn’t see any strange behavior… “Bossly’s attorney, Brian Jorde, told the Dispatch the judge’s decision was the right one, but Jorde wanted a chance to lay out evidence in support of his client. “We want to clear his name,” Jorde said during the court proceeding. “The allegations are still out there, and we want to correct the record.”

Law360: SD County Must Face Challenge To CO2 Pipeline Ban
Peter McGuire, 6/1/23

“A South Dakota federal judge on Thursday ruled a Mount Rushmore State county would have to face a challenge to its ban on new hazardous waste pipelines from a company alleging the restriction blocking its planned carbon capture line is preempted by federal law,” Law360 reports.

Des Moines Register: Leak survivor joins opponents at Des Moines carbon capture pipeline hearing
Donnelle Eller, 6/2/23

“DeEmmeris “Debrae” Burns says he still struggles with chronic headaches and difficulty concentrating and breathing three years after a carbon capture pipeline ruptured near Satartia, Mississippi, sucking the oxygen out of the atmosphere, disabling his car and leaving him and two other men unconscious in the vehicle for hours,” the Des Moines Register reports. “Gerald Briggs, a Mississippi first responder, said he was reluctant to search the area in Yazoo County where he and his crew eventually found Burns. “We didn’t really want to go that close to the rupture. But we went anyway,” Briggs said Wednesday in Des Moines on the sidelines of a meeting of federal pipeline regulators. When Briggs found Burns and his friends, foam was coming from their noses and mouths and their pulses barely registered. As the rescuers debated whether they could bring the men out one at a time, another first responder told Brigg, “We do that, they’ll be dead when we come back.” The rescuers decided to pile the men into an all-terrain vehicle and ferry them to a waiting ambulance. Ultimately, no one died as a result of the leak, but some 200 residents had to be evacuated and nearly four dozen sought medical treatment. If a company wanted run a carbon capture pipeline through his property, Briggs told Iowa protesters outside the meeting, “I would be standing on the street with you.” The Mississippians were in town at the invitation of pipeline opponents as the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, or PHMSA, heard from a mix of expert panelists and residents asking questions and offering their thoughts about the Iowa pipeline projects… “What do the pipeline opponents say? They have asked President Joe Biden to issue a moratorium on carbon capture pipelines until the PHMSA can release new safety rules and regulations in light of the Satartia rupture. Many of them farmers, landowners and county officials, they also have asked federal regulators to push governors and other state leaders to put the projects on hold. Otherwise, the safety measures will come too late to protect Iowans and other Midwesterners, they contend. Iowans said they’re worried about their safety, given how close some carbon dioxide pipelines are expected to run to their homes, schools and livestock operations. They also questioned using billions of taxpayer dollars to support projects by companies empowered under Iowa law use eminent domain to force unwilling landowners to sell access for the pipelines… “In addition, residents asked whether state and federal regulators would ensure their safety both before and after the pipelines are built and about the projects’ impact on soil health and drainage tiles underlying cropland. “Several people have mentioned that pipeline companies are refusing to share data safety analysis,” said Alan Tribble, whose family lives in the path of a pipeline. He said companies should provide models of plume dispersion in a potential leak and other safety data before receiving permission to construct projects, and that the information should undergo peer review… “We are working to develop a rule that will strengthen emergency preparedness, emergency response and other safety concerns specific to the unique characteristics of carbon dioxide, many of which were highlighted” in the hearing, Dorsey said Thursday.

AgWeek: Federal pipeline regulators urged to issue moratorium on carbon capture pipelines
Jeff Beach, 6/1/23

“A stream of landowners called for a federal moratorium on carbon capture pipelines during a two-day hearing in Des Moines,” AgWeek reports. “The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration organized two days of panels and public comments on carbon capture pipelines… “But the meetings, which was also streamed online, drew attendees from across the Midwest, including North Dakota, the planned storage site for the Summit Carbon Solutions project, the largest of the carbon capture projects… “Dan Wahl, a farmer near the Green Plains ethanol plant at Superior in northwest Iowa, was among those who spoke Wednesday. “We’re very frustrated on the inaction. You’re appeasing us and saying we’ll take that into consideration. That means crap to us,” Wahl said. “Who’s in charge of making a setback? The county is making it to try do it and protect us and they’re getting sued by the big powerful pipeline companies. I’ve got a lawsuit coming up next week — Summit suing me. You’re blaming it on the state. Who’s gonna stand up and take responsibility here?” “…Some landowners are resistant to the hazardous materials pipelines, citing safety concerns and damage to farmland, and they are especially resistant to the potential use of eminent domain to force landowners to provide right-of-way to the pipeline… “Many comments were grateful to PHMSA for coming to Iowa but also urged putting carbon capture projects on hold until that rule making is done… “Steven Feit of the Center for International Environmental Law, noted the current projects are just the beginning, and that there may be 60,000 miles or more of carbon pipelines in the coming decades. “I’ve seen proposals for up to 90,000 or more miles of pipelines. For context, … the whole interstate highway system is only 47,000 miles. So that gives you a sense of how much length of pipeline we’re talking about.”

Radio Iowa: Carbon pipeline opponents seek federal moratorium on construction
O. KAY HENDERSON, 5/31/23

“Opponents of carbon pipelines are asking federal officials to issue a moratorium on new construction,” Radio Iowa reports. “The U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is holding a two-day public hearing in Des Moines. Kim Junker, a Grundy County farmer, said the federal agency should at least adopt new safety standards for the operation of pipelines and the response to ruptures. “Carbon dioxide is heavier than air. It travels like a cloud to low lying areas, depriving oxygen from everything in its path,” she said during a news conference across the street from the hotel where the hearing is taking place. “It’s odorless and colorless. If carbon pipelines are approved in the Midwest, tens of thousands of lives are at risk.” Three people from Mississippi are in Iowa, testifying before federal officials about a carbon pipeline rupture three years ago near a small town Satartia. Debrae Burns and his family saw the explosion, their car shut off and all three passed out. “I woke up in the hospital. My symptoms now are headaches, memory loss, having trouble concentrating,” Burns said. Gerald Briggs is the first responder who rescued Burns and had to take him to an ambulance five miles from the site because gas-powered vehicles don’t work in a cloud of carbon dioxide. “I don’t have a pipeline running through my property, but I’d be standing on the street with you if I did,” Briggs said, to cheers from pipeline opponents gathered on the sidewalk. Briggs spoke at the news conference organized by opponents of the three pipeline routes proposed in Iowa. Jack Willingham is the emergency management director for the county where the carbon pipeline ruptured. Willingham said crews first responded to an initial report of a “green cloud” in the area. “We start getting calls from people who can’t breathe, people that need to know what to do in their house — they can’t breathe, they can’t see,” Willingham said. “We have cars that are shutting down.”

Cedar Rapids Gazette: Federal pipeline regulators hear Iowans’ safety concerns
Erin Jordan, 5/31/23

“Many Iowans want federal regulators to expect more from carbon dioxide capture pipeline developers, and trust the companies less when it comes to policing their own systems,” the Cedar Rapids Gazette reports. “That was a theme of the first day of a two-day meeting with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which regulates the 2.6 million miles of natural gas and hazardous materials pipelines in the United States. Opponents of three proposed CO2 pipelines in Iowa asked the administration to hold a public meeting in Iowa — the epicenter for carbon dioxide capture and sequestration — and many people at the meeting Wednesday thanked the regulators for listening. “We’re really hoping as government agencies, you’re able to set setback distances because relying on third parties to get these pipelines in as quickly as possible isn’t in the safety interest of the people affected,” speaker Dr. Meredith McKean told a panel that included representatives from the pipeline administration, Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy… “Many of the audience members want to halt pipeline projects completely. They reacted with dismay when Kevin Dooley, a carbon transport engineer with the Energy Department, said the U.S. government expects there will be up to 60,000 miles of CO2 pipelines — up from about 5,000 miles now — to meet the Biden administration’s goal of being net zero carbon emissions by 2050. “60,000 miles of pipe?” said Sherri Webb, a Shelby County landowner. “That’s awful.” Tensions rose late in the day when Dan Wahl, of Spirit Lake, asked the pipeline administration to establish setbacks for where pipelines can be built from homes, schools and other facilities. Wahl is facing a lawsuit by Summit Carbon Solutions, which is seeking an injunction to prohibit landowners from interfering with surveys for a proposed CO2 pipeline in western and north-central Iowa. “Who is going to stand up and take responsibility?” Wahl said. “What does it take to issue a moratorium?” The pipeline administration can’t create setback distances, but it can require additional safety regulations in areas near the pipeline route. That answer didn’t sit well with the audience, which rumbled with comments like “would you want this under your house?” and “the right people are never in the room.” Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety Alan Mayberry approached the mic.

DTN Progressive Farmer: Rural Resistance to Carbon Pipelines
Chris Clayton, 6/1/23

“While federal officials expect more than 50,000 miles of carbon dioxide pipelines could be built over the next two decades, landowners from Iowa and Illinois at a public hearing this week called on federal pipeline regulators to issue a moratorium on any new carbon pipeline construction until new safety rules are drafted,” DTN Progressive Farmer reports. “The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) on Wednesday began a two-day hearing in downtown Des Moines focusing on potential new rules for carbon pipelines that the agency could begin drafting later this year… “Kevin Dooley, a carbon transport engineer with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), said the country will likely need between 30,000 to 60,000 miles of carbon pipelines to reduce carbon emissions from various industries by 2050. Beyond federal tax credits, Dooley noted DOE also has $10 billion in potential funding for carbon pipeline projects… “Carbon-pipeline opponents nearly filled the hotel ballroom on Wednesday, many wearing red shirts with logos calling for bans on the pipelines. Most of them were landowners who oppose the pipelines crossing their farms… “Pipeline critics said carbon dioxide poses a unique risk because a rupture release is odorless and heavier than air, making carbon dioxide an asphyxiant. That was underscored by victims and first responders to the carbon pipeline disruption near Satartia, Mississippi, in February 2020 that hospitalized more than 40 people. First responders talked about vehicles that were unable to operate and people who were unable to breathe while trying to escape the carbon-dioxide plume. “I don’t have a pipeline running through my property, but I would be standing on the street with you if I had a pipeline running through my property,” said Gerald Briggs, an emergency management coordinator in Mississippi… “Dan Harvey, a fire chief in Emmet County, Iowa, where both Summit and Navigator plan to cross, said he has not gotten answers from companies about how his group of volunteers would respond to a pipeline rupture… “Meredith McKean said the proposed Navigator pipeline could cross her parents’ farm about 500 feet from the house and also would actually cut off their escape route should a rupture occur. “What you are hearing is that relying on the companies to ensure safety is not a good policy,” McKean told a panel of regulators. “These pipelines are not going through open terrain. They are going through towns, through schools and through farms.”

Iowa Capital Dispatch: Feds: Carbon dioxide pipelines are necessary to reduce emissions
JARED STRONG, 5/31/23

“Up to 60,000 miles of carbon dioxide pipeline must be installed in the United States to help eliminate the greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to a federal engineer,” the Iowa Capital Dispatch reports. “Part of that mileage might come from proposed pipelines that would cross Iowa and transport captured carbon dioxide from ethanol plants for underground sequestration or other commercial purposes… “Right now we’re kind of in the activation mode,” said Kevin Dooley, a carbon transport engineer for the U.S. Department of Energy. “We’re just building out initial sequestration wells … and trying to build those original capabilities to carry us for another 30 years.” “…The current rules for the pipelines are inadequate, said Carolyn Raffensperger, executive director of the Science and Environmental Health Network, who was a panelist at the meeting. “The CO2 pipelines pose a unique hazard, a unique risk in how lethal it is,” she said. “This is a material that can kill you. It can kill your animals. It can kill the plants around you.” Raffensperger joined others in calling for a moratorium on the construction of new carbon dioxide pipelines until PHMSA revises its rules. Several groups held a rally in Des Moines on Wednesday to show their support for a moratorium… “The dispersion modeling in Satartia was not sufficient to really encompass the town,” said Amanda McKay, program manager of the Pipeline Safety Trust, who was a panelist. McKay said the federal agency’s process for revising the pipeline requirements needs to be expedited because of the pending pipeline proposals… “We live in Iowa where there is great variation in temperature, and we go through the freeze and thaw cycle,” said Lori Smith, an Emmet County landowner who spoke during the meeting. “Is this pipe going to be able to withstand that? It’s highly doubtful. There’s going to be ruptures.”

Iowa Capital Dispatch: Experts: Predicting CO2 pipeline rupture threats can be extremely costly
JARED STRONG, 6/1/23

“A carbon dioxide plume modeling software did not anticipate the threat a pipeline break in 2020 posed to a small Mississippi town, largely because it did not take land topography into account,” the Iowa Capital Dispatch reports. “That break near Satartia, Mississippi, resulted in emergency responders scrambling to save people from a “green gas” and “rotten egg smell” with no preparation and no immediate notification from the pipeline company about what had occurred, according to a federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration report. “We didn’t know there was a CO2 pipeline running through my county,” Jack Willingham, director of Yazoo County’s emergency management and who oversaw the response, recounted on Thursday. His comments were part of a two-day meeting PHMSA hosted to discuss carbon dioxide pipeline safety and potential regulatory changes to help prevent a similar incident as Satartia. The incident exposed a lapse in anticipation of and preparation for such a rupture. About 200 people were evacuated from the area — including the town of Satartia’s 50 residents. Three people nearly died, Willingham said, and a total of 45 sought hospital treatment. Predicting where a carbon dioxide release from a pipeline will go can be a costly, time-consuming venture, according to a panel of experts assembled by PHMSA to discuss what is called “dispersion modeling” on Thursday in Des Moines… “The fact that under the current regulations and the current standards, the fact that (the pipeline operator) did not identify Satartia as potentially being impacted by a failure on that pipeline says volumes,” said Bill Caram, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust… “Max Kieba, director of program development for PHMSA who moderated the talk, said changes to modeling requirements are under consideration but that the costs of the modeling must be weighed against its benefits. PHMSA is sponsoring university research to develop a computational fluid dynamics modeling system that would improve threat identifications and be cost effective, but it might not be complete for years. Dean Kluss, a Wright County supervisor, said it is “absurd” to not require pipeline companies to use the advanced modeling techniques to ensure the safety of residents. “If we know what’s best, why don’t we do the modeling?” he said. “Figure it out. If we can send a man to the moon, we can figure this out.”

Food & Water Watch: Carbon Pipeline Opponents Rally Outside Federal Regulators’ Conference in Des Moines
6/1/23

“On Wednesday, Iowans from across the state rallied outside of the Pipeline and Hazardous Safety Materials Administration’s (PHMSA) conference in Des Moines to call for a federal moratorium on CO2 pipeline permitting,” according to Food & Water Watch. “The rally came one day after more than 150 groups wrote to President Biden pushing for a carbon pipeline moratorium, citing the grave health and safety dangers of the pipeline scams. This week’s PHMSA meeting was scheduled at the request of an alliance of 30 groups representing Indigenous communities, landowners, sustainable agriculture, public health, and climate organizations to receive public input on an ongoing federal safety rulemaking for CO2 pipelines… “Organizers of the rally demanded that:President Biden enact a federal moratorium on carbon pipelines, and that PHMSA urge states to issue a moratorium on CO2 pipelines PHMSA create the strongest regulations for CO2 pipelines possible; The rally was attended by people from across Iowa who oppose the pipelines for many reasons. Today, public safety was top of mind. “Why are we even considering permits for Summit, Navigator, and Wolf when PHMSA is on the record saying they need more time to study these dangerous projects? These three companies cannot prematurely promise safety before they even know what safety standards are,” said Berleen Wobeter, an Iowa CCI member from Tama County. “A moratorium on CO2 pipelines is a common sense solution to protect our communities.”

Hays Post: Cleanup operations at oil leak in north central Kansas creek shift to restoration
6/2/23

“Overseen by EPA Region 7 on-scene coordinators (OSCs) and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, response personnel have completed the recovery of discharged oil in Mill Creek from the Dec. 8, 2022 pipeline rupture near Washington, in northcentral Kansas,” the Hays Post reports. “While additional response-related tasks are ongoing such as the disposal of oil-impacted soil and sediment; response-generated waste; and the restoration of lands impacted by the response, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has authorized TC Energy to begin restoration work in Mill Creek under Nationwide Permit 27: Aquatic Habitat Restoration, Enhancement, and Establishment Activities. Through this permit, the restoration of Mill Creek will allow for the creek to be restored to its original condition, form and functions, as well as include enhancement activities that will result in a net gain in aquatic resource functions and services… “EPA and KDHE will continue to monitor the cleanup and restoration of the site and the impacted segments of Mill Creek. KDHE will also oversee the decommissioning of the water treatment facilities; monitor the water quality; work with USACE on restoration efforts; and work with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks to evaluate the impacts on wildlife in the area. Monitoring of the surface and groundwater will also be conducted by KDHE.”

Niagara Gazette: Federal agency to review pipeline permit for Genesee County industrial site
MARK SCHEER, 6/1/23

“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has informed the Tonawanda Seneca Nation that it intends to take a closer look at the potential environmental impact of a plan to build a wastewater pipeline through a national wildlife refuge to connect a 1,250-acre industrial park in rural Genesee County with Oak Orchard Creek and Lake Ontario,” the Niagara Gazette reports. “In a letter dated May 15 to the Tonawanda Council of Chiefs, Holly Gaboriault, acting regional chief for the National Wildlife Refuge System, said her agency plans to initiate a supplemental environmental assessment of the project. The supplemental assessment would allow for additional review and public comment. While Gaboriault indicated in her letter that, pending the review, a right-of-way permit previously obtained for the project by the Genesee County Economic Development Center would be “suspended” pending a final decision… “Leaders from the Tonawanda Seneca nation as well as local wildlife advocates have protested plans to build the pipeline which, if constructed, would carry millions of gallons of wastewater per day from the Science, Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Park, commonly known as the STAMP. Nation leaders have expressed concern about continued development at the STAMP and its potential impact on neighboring Tonawanda Seneca territory, including an old-growth forest area known as “The Big Woods.” “…As the original inhabitants of this area, the Nation is especially concerned about the damage the pipeline and associated industrial facilities would do to the wetlands, the waters, the plants, the animals and the environment on and around the Nation and our ancestral territory,” Linda Logan, Tonawanda Seneca Nation citizen and Bear Clan Mother, told the Gazette. 

Bloomberg: Midship Gas Pipeline Granted Bid for Oklahoma Properties’ Use
Shayna Greene, 6/1/23

“Midship Pipeline Co. will pay landowners more than $170,000 to use their properties for a natural gas pipeline operating in southeast Oklahoma,” Bloomberg reports. “The U.S. District Court Eastern District of Oklahoma agreed with a separate commission’s recommendations on May 30 to grant two-year easement rights for tracts of land across Bryan, Carter, and Johnston counties as long as the company compensates landowners and third-party defendants. The pipeline was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in August 2018 to connect the South Central Oklahoma Oil Province and the Sooner Trend Anadarko Basin Canadian and Kingfisher oil reserves in Oklahoma to existing…”

Law360: FERC Got Oil Pipeline Rate Ruling Wrong, DC Circ. Told
Katie Buehler, 6/1/23

“Phillips 66 Co. and a Cenovus Energy Inc. unit have asked the D.C. Circuit to throw out the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of a Marathon Petroleum Corp. pipeline’s request to charge market-based rates for shipping crude oil in the Midwest, arguing the decision was based on unsupported assumptions,” Law360 reports. 

WASHINGTON UPDATES

The Hill: Senate approves bill to avert national default, sending it to Biden’s desk 
ALEXANDER BOLTON, 6/1/23

“The Senate on Thursday night capped four months of contentious debate and voted to send a compromise bill to President Biden’s desk that extends the government’s borrowing authority until January of 2025 and staves off a potential default next week,” The Hill reports. “A large bipartisan majority of the Senate voted 63-36 to approve the bill, which passed the House on Wednesday night… “A total of 31 Republicans voted against the measure, including Senate Republican Conference Committee Chairman John Barrasso (Wyo.). Senate Democrats, meanwhile, weren’t happy about caps on non-defense discretionary spending, tougher work requirements for federal food assistance and approval of a controversial natural gas pipeline — but the overwhelming majority of Democrats voted for the bill to avoid a default. Just four Democrats voted against the measure: Sens. John Fetterman (Pa.), Ed Markey (Mass.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), along with Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)… “Biden said in a statement Thursday night he would address the country Friday and looks “forward to signing this bill into law as soon as possible.” “No one gets everything they want in a negotiation, but make no mistake: this bipartisan agreement is a big win for our economy and the American people,” he said.

Politico: Debt Bill Passes House 
6/1/23

“It wasn’t pretty, but the debt ceiling bill is through the House. More than 100 Democrats joined Republicans to pass a bill that includes changes to the National Environmental Policy Act and the approval of the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline,” Politico reports. “The permitting reform provisions, though modest, found enough common ground for a bipartisan vote in a sharply divided Congress. That could raise hopes for a broader permitting package, which House Republicans and the White House have pledged to pursue once the debt crisis is averted. ‘We committed that we’d continue those discussions,’ Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters after the vote. ‘We’ve got to lower the cost of energy for all Americans… We need to expand our grid.’ But first, H.R. 3746 (118) must pass the Senate, where some Democrats are frustrated by the energy provisions, especially the inclusion of provisions that would approve the final permits for the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline, Politico reports. Thus far, progressive Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have pledged to vote against the bill, each citing the Mountain Valley Pipeline among their reasons. While they’ll be joined by several right-wing Republicans who have said they will vote no, that doesn’t appear to be enough opposition to defeat the bill.”

Axios: Jeffries, McCarthy offices say there was no deal to save debt ceiling bill
Andrew Solender, 6/1/23

“Spokespeople for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) disputed four Democratic sources who told Axios the two leaders had cut a deal for Democrats to help advance the debt ceiling bill to a final vote,” Axios reports. “…Four Democratic lawmakers said they had been told of a deal, with two saying they believed it involved boosting federal funding for projects in Democrats’ districts — known as earmarks or “community project funding” — if Democrats voted to advance the bill. McCarthy had told reporters after the initial afternoon vote that he had not cut a deal to ensure the Democratic votes. A spokesperson later told Axios that there was “absolutely no deal” — and that suggestions to the contrary by Democratic lawmakers were “not accurate.” Jeffries’ office also denied there was a deal. “There was no side deal. House Democrats simply did the right thing and made sure the procedural vote passed because failure was not an option,” spokesperson Christie Stephenson told Axios. Earlier, when reporters had asked Jeffries whether there had been a deal, the minority leader said: “House Democrats to the rescue to avoid a dangerous default and help House Republicans get legislation over the finish line that they negotiated themselves.” “…What we’re watching: Any arrangement benefitting Democrats who helped the bill pass could further inflame far-right Republicans already incensed about the compromise bill that McCarthy cut with Biden.”

Bloomberg: Manchin’s Gas Pipeline Enjoys Rare Legal Protection in Debt Deal
Daniel Moore, 6/1/23

“A powerful senator inserted language into a must-pass bill approving an Appalachian project in his home state that faced adverse legal rulings in recent months. Then, a Democratic president reluctantly signed the bill, fearing a lengthy battle over one project would sink his broader agenda,” Bloomberg reports. “The debt limit negotiations playing out in Washington this week over approval of the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline, backed by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), are set to follow a roadmap established more than 30 years ago. Tennessee’s Tellico Dam faced decades of opposition from local residents, and even a US Supreme Court ruling that found it violated the Endangered Species Act. But construction on the dam was finally completed in 1979 after a key Senate Republican in the state, Howard Baker, was able to get legislation authorizing the project through Congress. Once President Jimmy Carter signed the bill, the valley was subsequently flooded, and the dam was able to withstand any legal challenge. “Manchin had the blunt force, just as Howard Baker had the blunt force,” Zygmunt Plater, professor at Boston College Law School and a litigator against the Tellico Dam, told Bloomberg. “There are ways to litigate, but the chances of success are a great deal smaller unless the political atmosphere, the political climate, changes.” Congressional authorization of project permits, and an explicit limit of judicial review of those permits, raise the bar for challenges by opponents who have fiercely, and in many cases successfully, argued that the natural gas pipeline is not in the public interest and threatens the environment. “I can’t think of a basis for arguing that there’s a constitutional right for a person to challenge authorization of a project,” Peter Whitfield, partner at Sidley Austin LLP specializing in environmental law, told Bloomberg. “I would imagine those challenges would be very, very difficult.” “…One provision of the debt limit bill opened a path for legal challenges: It designates that the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit can hear “any claim alleging the invalidity of this section or that an action is beyond the scope of authority conferred by this section.” “That could be an implicit admission that there might be statutory contradictions that need to be straightened out,” Plater told Bloomberg. “If it is that drastic, it invites constitutional challenge based on private property rights, based on other types of substantive due process.”

Washington Post: Gas pipeline in debt ceiling deal is ‘red line’ [VIDEO]
5/31/23

“Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) says the natural gas pipeline included in the debt ceiling deal is a “punch in the gut” to young Americans who are concerned about climate change,” the Washington Post reports. 

Reuters: US bans new oil and gas leasing around New Mexico cultural site
6/2/23

“The Biden administration said on Friday it would stop issuing new oil and gas drilling leases within 10 miles of the Chaco Culture National Historic Park, a region central to Pueblo ancestral heritage in northwest New Mexico,” Reuters reports. “Tribes, conservationists and state officials have long called on the federal government to ban drilling in the area. Structures in the area date back thousands of years, and the park is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural agency. President Joe Biden first proposed protecting the area in November of 2021. It is aligned with his goal to conserve at least 30% of federal lands and waters by 2030. But, the Interior Department ban on new leasing on federal lands around Chaco will last for just 20 years and does not extend to private, state or tribal lands. “Today marks an important step in fulfilling President Biden’s commitments to Indian Country, by protecting Chaco Canyon, a sacred place that holds deep meaning for the Indigenous peoples whose ancestors have called this place home since time immemorial,” Interior Department Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement.”

E&E News: DOJ Sues Coal Companies Linked To Republican Jim Justice 
TIMOTHY CAMA, HANNAH NORTHEY, 5/31/23

“The Department of Justice is suing a group of coal companies tied to Republican West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice on Wednesday, saying they’ve failed to pay millions of dollars in reclamation fees and penalties for environmental violations,” E&E News reports. “DOJ is suing James “Jay” Justice III, the governor’s son, whom prosecutors say controls the 13 companies in question. The elder Justice is running for the Senate seat currently held by Democrat Joe Manchin. DOJ claims the companies, owned or operated by Jay Justice, owe more than $5 million stemming from more than 130 uncontested violations issued by the Interior Department’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. “Our environmental laws serve to protect communities against adverse effects of industrial activities including surface coal mining operations,” Todd Kim, assistant attorney general for the environment and natural resources, said in a statement. “Through this suit, the Justice Department seeks to deliver accountability for defendants’ repeated violations of the law and to recover the penalties they owe as a result of those violations,” said Kim.

STATE UPDATES

Cleveland.com: On day one, Ohio gets eight applications to frack on state lands
Jake Zuckerman, 5/31/23

“On the first day under a new legal regime, the state received eight applications to drill for oil and gas under state lands, a spokesman said Wednesday,” the Cleveland.com reports. “Ohio Department of Natural Resources spokesman Andy Chow didn’t provide further detail including the identities of the applicants and where they want to drill, or details from their proposals, such as signing bonuses, royalty payments and water use deals. He said the count is current as of 5 p.m. Tuesday. He told the Dealer the department is in the process of posting non-confidential portions of the applications online. The eight offers on the table mark a new chapter in the roughly 12-year-old effort to drill for oil and gas under state lands, which could include some of Ohio’s most pristine state parks… “Should the commission sign off on a drilling request, leases could be bid out and finalized by October, according to Ohio Department of Natural Resources Director Mary Mertz. Just before Tuesday’s rollout, Ohio Oil and Gas Association spokesman Mike Chadsey likened the event to a “ribbon-cutting.”

Associated Press: New Mexico Imposes Oil and Gas Moratorium on State Land Near Schools
6/1/23

“Members of the Navajo community have complained to Samuel Sage for years about the noise and vibrations that rattle their homes,” the Associated Press reports. “…Sage, the former president of the Navajo Chapter in Counselor and current community services coordinator, is among a group of residents and environmentalists who have sued New Mexico for allegedly failing to prevent pollution in northwestern and southeastern parts of the state. About 144,000 people — 7% of the state’s population — live or attend a school or day care within a half-mile (0.80 kilometer) radius of oil and gas production, according to the lawsuit. The suit also states that almost all of the elementary, middle and high schools in the Hobbs district in Lea County as well as school districts in Eddy County are surrounded by oil and gas extraction and production sites on state, federal and private lands. On Thursday, New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard issued an executive order that includes a ban on all new oil and gas leases on state trust land within a mile (1.6 kilometers) of schools or other educational institutions, including day care centers, preschools and sports facilities that students use. The order, which takes effect Thursday, also calls for her office — which oversees thousands of square miles (kilometers) of surface lands and mineral rights — to review all existing oil and gas leases on state trust land within a mile of schools to assess compliance with state regulations. “We have an entire list of things we need to get through,” Garcia Richard told AP when asked about the review process. “It’s a lot of work, and while we’re prioritizing it’s going to take us a while to get through the list.” According to State Land Office estimates, there could be nearly 120 schools within one mile of oil and gas operations on federal, state, Tribal and private lands.”

Counter Punch: Is the Suncor Refinery in Colorado Killing People Quietly With its Deeds?  
PHILIP DOEF, 6/1/23

“In 2019, the state of Colorado surprised everyone by fining the Suncor oil refinery, which does its dirty business a few miles removed from the center of Denver, $9 million for an endless string of toxic releases exceeding its liberal, government-sanctioned permit to pollute under the federal Clean Air Act,”   Properly viewed this is another example of how, under the present neoliberal system of protecting corporate ambition, companies receive government issued indulgences to kill people, if ever so slowly… “Suncor is by far the largest polluter in the Denver Metro area.  Even so, as with most government estimates of GHG emissions nationally, this is probably another serious underestimation and helps to explain why the GHG readings worldwide continues to rise about 2 percent annually, or by about 60 percent since 1990, despite all the official pronouncements of growing success and resolve. At Suncor, real-time camera work by EarthWorks has captured major releases of VOCs, a form of GHG, from stacks at the refinery, but the state has told EarthWorks, a nonprofit air monitoring organization using gas imaging camera technology, that since Suncor does not have a permit for flaring VOCs from these particular stacks Suncor is not in violation of its operating permit. This is the kind of wacky reasoning that passes for regulation of the oil industry in Colorado. This sort of dismissiveness masquerading as rectitude may also explain why the EPA is looking at the state’s regulatory relationship with Suncor from a Title VI, Civil Rights Act and environmental justice perspective.  Discrimination and environmental justice concerns become conjoined, says the DOJ, when minority populations “Suffer disproportionate risks or exposure to environmental hazards, or suffer disproportionately from the effects of past under-enforcement of state or federal health or environmental laws.” The people in the neighborhoods surrounding Suncor are 75 percent Latinx, and generally of low to moderate income, with 55 percent living below the poverty line… “Polis stood with the oil boys.  He said he would not sign the bill even if it were passed  For him, the largest issue in the bill was unquestionably the modeling requirement. He’s a confirmed free-market capitalist, rigidly opposed to what his type call business suffocating overreach by government regulators.  He prefers partnerships and  “common sense” solutions, which in this case is really nothing more than the argument for commerce and corporate dollars over people.”

EXTRACTION

CBC: Suncor to slash 1,500 jobs amid cost-cutting plan
Kyle Bakx, 6/1/23

“Suncor Energy will eliminate 1,500 positions as the company’s new chief executive announced an immediate plan to cut costs by $400 million by the end of this year,” CBC reports. “Rich Kruger notified staff about the plan on Thursday in an email, describing how the company needs to reduce its staffing costs related to its competitors in the oilpatch… “Staffing reductions will occur at all levels of the organization and will be based on both performance and business need… “In an interview with CBC News last month following the company’s annual general meeting, Kruger didn’t rule out job cuts, but said there were other ways of reducing costs besides layoffs. Kruger became CEO on April 3, pledging to transform the company into a “simpler and more focused organization” under his leadership… “The company had 16,558 full- and part-time employees at the end of 2022, which was a decrease from 16,922 one year prior, according to company documents. About 60 per cent of Suncor’s employees are connected to its oilsands operations.” 

The Hill: Climate paradox: Emission cuts could ‘unmask’ deadly face of climate change, scientists warn
SAUL ELBEIN, 6/1/23

“Scientists have uncovered a potentially lethal paradox at the heart of efforts to slow human-caused climate change. A series of new studies suggest a stark truth,” The Hill reports. “One the one hand, cutting fossil fuel pollution is necessary for avoiding severe destruction over the long term. But such cuts will make the earth much hotter in the short term. One recent study cast the well-known declines in air pollution during the COVID-19 pandemic in a darker light. These cuts remain one of the only examples of successful cuts to climate-warming pollution, but the new study found that those pandemic-era cuts in air pollution led to a rise in global temperatures. The findings, published on Wednesday in the journal NPJ Climate and Atmospheric Science, unveil a stark paradox at the heart of human-caused climate change. It suggests that while cutting fossil fuel pollution is necessary for avoiding severe destruction over the long term — such cuts will make things noticeably worse in the short term. The pandemic-era economic slowdown led to “a large-scale geophysical experiment,” study leader Örjan Gustafsson of Stockholm University said in a statement. That’s because the shuttered factories and power plants led to a corresponding crash in emissions… “But for all the damage they do to human lungs, aerosols also help shade the earth by scattering light particles from the sun that would otherwise warm the planet. After the cuts, the study found that light reaching the surface increased by 7 percent. “While the sky became bluer and the air cleaner, climate warming increased when these cooling air particles were removed,” Gustafsson told The Hill.

E&E News: Project Bison, a large carbon removal proposal, faces delays
Corbin Hiar, 6/1/23

“Project Bison, a closely watched Wyoming proposal intended to suck massive quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, is running behind schedule,” E&E News reports. “Announced last September by the startup CarbonCapture Inc., the initial phase of the project was set to come online at the end of this year and would scale up to remove 5 million metric tons of carbon from the air annually by 2030. That would be equivalent to erasing the yearly emissions of more than 12 natural gas-fired power plants. But the California-based company still hasn’t determined where to site its direct air capture plant or how to power it, according to officials involved with the project. And Frontier Carbon Solutions LLC, the firm CarbonCapture is relying on to transport and store the carbon, is still at least four months away from obtaining the permit it needs to inject CO2 deep underground… “It’s the second delay this year for a major direct air capture project and a potentially worrying development for the emerging industry. While there is growing corporate interest in direct air capture, or DAC, some environmental groups say the emerging technology could distract from the need to stop burning fossil fuels.”

Axios: CO2 removal startup lands Boeing deal
Ben Geman, 6/1/23

“Equatic, a UCLA spin-out pairing carbon dioxide removal using seawater and hydrogen production, just unveiled a major deal with Boeing,” Axios reports. “While the deal is preliminary and contingent upon Equatic’s ability to scale its tech, it’s large for the nascent carbon removal market. The “pre-purchase option agreement” is for 62,000 metric tons of CO2 removal, and 2,100 metric tons of “carbon-negative” hydrogen that Boeing sees as feedstock for cleaner jet fuel. John Browne, the former BP CEO who’s now chairman of the climate tech fund BeyondNetZero, is heading Equatic’s advisory board… “Equatic’s tech passes electrical current, obtained via renewables, through seawater — a process called electrolysis that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. They then pass atmospheric air through the processed seawater. “These steps trap CO2 in solid minerals and as dissolved substances that are naturally found in the oceans,” the company said. The process enables precise accounting of how much CO2 is removed, Equatic said. And the hydrogen can be used in heavy industry, electricity, production of transport fuels — or powering Equatic’s CO2 removal plants… “Equatic’s novel vision of merging direct air capture, CO2 storage in oceans and hydrogen production shows how no tech is yet dominant in the emerging removal field.”

CLIMATE FINANCE

Reuters: Exxon, Chevron shareholders soundly reject climate-related petitions
Sabrina Valle, 5/31/23

“Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) and Chevron Corp (CVX.N) shareholders on Wednesday overwhelmingly rejected calls for stronger measures to mitigate climate change, dismissing more than a dozen climate-related proposals at their annual meetings,” Reuters reports. The results supported the two largest U.S. oil producers in resisting pressure from investor groups calling for the pair to follow European rivals in accepting tougher emissions reductions goals. Despite efforts by Shell PLC (SHEL.L), BP PLC (BP.L) and TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA), protesters still stormed their shareholder meetings this year, seeking a faster shift away from fossil fuels. Their demands similarly failed. Exxon and Chevron’s meetings were online, avoiding similar protests. “There is no single oil major that really wants to transition,” Mark van Baal, founder of activist group Follow This, which suffered resounding losses at several meetings, told Reuters. “They all want to hang on to fossil fuels as long as possible.” His group, which represents some 9,500 shareholders in oil and gas companies, had requested Exxon set medium-term goals for reducing emissions from fuels burned by customers – or Scope 3 targets. That resolution received less than half of the support 11% of vote cast compared with 27% from the group’s emission reduction proposal last year. CEO Darren Woods called Follow This “an anti-oil and gas” group using environmental and social objectives “to diminish the important role Exxon plays” in the industry. “Scope 3 gives companies like ours, zero credit for reducing other’s emissions through technologies such as carbon capture and storage,” Woods told Reuters. Exxon is the only one of the five Western oil majors with no 2030 target for reducing customers’ carbon emissions from its products… “Overall, the results showed falling support for proposals designed to strengthen oil and gas firms’ contributions to tackling climate change. After winning some ground earlier this decade, the initiatives lost strength after worries soared over supply and prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

Washington Post: Activists are looking to banking regulations to combat climate change
Bart Elmore, 5/31/23

“Historically the federal government has done very little to push banks to address climate risk in the financial system,” the Washington Post reports. “The last major wave of environmental legislation passed in the 1960s and 1970s, when banks were nowhere near as big as they are now… “Changes in the banking sector over the past half-century have produced dramatic consolidation, making a handful of big banks outsize financial engines in the fossil fuel industry. So long as these large banks and financial firms continue funding major fossil fuel development, environmental activists argue, addressing climate change will be impossible. And policymakers are now beginning to heed their calls. Prodded into action by a growing grass-roots environmental movement, Congress passed several pieces of momentous environmental legislation in the 1970s. Lawmakers enacted the Clean Air Act in 1970, with the Clean Water Act following in 1972. These laws gave federal agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency — which had been created in 1970 — wide authority to regulate air pollution coming out of factories and effluent coming out of company pipes… “Yet, much of this legislation came before seismic changes in the banking industry that would eventually impact the environment… “During these decades of mergers and acquisitions, America’s largest financial firms, including Bank of America and Wells Fargo, offered huge loans for fossil fuel extraction and exploration. Yet, while environmentalists targeted oil companies and coal firms in their climate change campaigns in the 1980s and 1990s, the banks that were financing these businesses received little attention from activists or government regulators. That changed in the early 2000s, when environmentalists began to reason that the best way to address the climate crisis was to center activism on the few big banks that now controlled a tremendous percentage of the capital financing for fossil fuel enterprises… “This is a seminal moment in the history of federal environmental policy. Never before have federal policymakers sought to use financial regulation to address climate change in the manner they are now. So much has yet to be determined, and it’s unclear whether a divided Congress will continue the regulatory momentum that we’ve seen in recent years — especially given Republicans’ general aversion to business regulation and their desire to increase fossil fuel production. But those pushing for change clearly see financial regulation as the key to keeping rising ocean waters from inundating bank offices that line the low-lying lands of Manhattan.”

CBS News: Students and climate activists push local universities to fully cut ties from fossil fuel industry
ALECIA REID, 5/31/23

“Colleges and universities across the country are investing in climate education and research, but not all of them are practicing what they preach,” CBS News reports. “While some seem to be going green, they continue to accept funding from big oil companies. Students are now pushing their schools to cut ties with Big Oil.  Fossil fuel is a trillion dollar global business. But now due to climate, some universities are deciding not to invest.  Climate activists say renewable energy needs to take its place.  “The future is funded by the energy of the future instead of being tied to the energy of the past, which we need to phase out and we need to do it as quickly as possible,” climate activist and climate science writer Susan Joy Hassol told CBS. Princeton University is leading the region as the first university to commit to eliminating all of its holdings in publicly traded fossil fuel companies, the largest contributors to carbon emissions. To offset the loss from dissociation, the university says it plans to establish a fund that will back energy research. A school could be divested, meaning they no longer invest in the fossil fuel industry, but that doesn’t mean they’re dissociated, cutting all ties from those oil and gas companies.  In New York City, Columbia University is the first school to stop investing in publicly traded oil and gas companies, according to fossil fuel divestment data.  Some students say it’s a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done. The school’s Center for Global Energy Policy uses evidence-based research to zero in on climate problems. “The Center for Global Energy Policy takes a lot of money from oil companies, gas companies, fossil fuel companies. So we’re working with them and talking with them about what the practical steps are for immediate dissociation from those funds and what the steps are to replace that funding with other funding,” Jes Vesconte, a climate activist and Columbia University student, told CBS.

Bloomberg: Trader Who Bought Equitrans Options Made a Quick $4 Million
Gerson Freitas Jr and David Marino, 5/30/23

“A trader who last week bought Equitrans Midstream Corp. call options equivalent to 10 million shares in the natural gas pipeline operator raked in more than $4 million profit after the US debt-ceiling deal included a provision that would accelerate a key project for the company,” Bloomberg reports. “Equitrans shares soared a record 35% after a measure to accelerate its long-stalled Mountain Valley Pipeline was added by Democratic Senator Joe Manchin into the agreement between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The $6.6-billion line, which is years behind schedule and over budget, stalled after a federal court rejected a permit to cross a national forest.”

OPINION

Roanoke Times: Commentary: Mountain Valley Pipeline must stop spreading false promises
Russell Chisholm is managing director of the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights Coalition, a grassroots environmental justice group that serves communities in Virginia and West Virginia. Russell is a resident of Newport in Giles County, 5/31/23

“Promises made. Promises broken. Time and time again, that has been the pattern for the developers of the ill-conceived, unfinished Mountain Valley Pipeline,” Russell Chisholm writes for the Roanoke Times. “Now they’re making more promises. Thomas Karam, chairman and chief executive officer of Equitrans Midstream Corp., the lead partner in MVP, told financial analysts that the pipeline expects to have all the permits and federal authorizations it currently lacks by the end of this summer. “And while narrow, this would give us the opportunity to complete construction by late 2023,” he said. But Karam said that proposed timeline is “contingent on no additional court intervention.” “…It’s the inability of MVP to secure permits that can withstand judicial scrutiny that has delayed the pipeline — the legal challenges are the inevitable outcome of MVP’s failure to meet environmental standards. And there has been no “court intervention.” Judges don’t make policy or write laws. They just ensure those laws and policies are followed. MVP and the federal and state regulators trying to authorize this pipeline have not been willing or able to satisfy environmental protections Congress has put in place to safeguard our land, air, water and public health. That inability or unwillingness to comply with the law is why the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has twice rejected the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s determination that the pipeline wouldn’t harm threatened or endangered species, and why the third attempt is also being challenged. It’s also why the court rejected the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management’s authorization for the pipeline to be built through the Jefferson National Forest. The reason the court doubts West Virginia regulators’ unsupported assurance that MVP will follow its permit if it is allowed to resume construction through waterways is also MVP’s doing — West Virginia regulators cited MVP for dozens of water quality violations during construction so far, and the court hasn’t seen any evidence that MVP can or will do better. The simple fact is that the pipeline keeps encountering delays because constructing a project of this magnitude through this landscape full of sensitive, valuable natural resources can’t be accomplished without sacrifices that the law will not and should not allow. And that’s why the pipeline’s best chance for completion relies on the real intervention: U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin’s unprincipled efforts to have Congress attempt to force agencies to reinstate invalid permits and circumvent judicial review. If MVP could be built legally, it wouldn’t need such extraordinary congressional interference.”

New York Times: Congress Is Turning Climate Gaslighting Into Law
Jonathan Mingle is an independent journalist and author of the forthcoming book “Gaslight: The Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Fight for America’s Energy Future,” a book about the grass-roots and legal fights over new gas pipelines, 6/1/23

“Late on Saturday, as members of Congress scrambled to strike a deal for legislation that would raise the nation’s debt ceiling, they agreed to a total non sequitur in the text they would release the next day. Following a series of late-in-the-game interventions by lobbyists and energy executives, the draft bill declared the construction and operation of a natural gas pipeline to be “required in the national interest.” It wasn’t really germane to the debt ceiling, at least not in the literal sense. But then again, it wasn’t any ordinary pipeline,” Jonathan Mingle writes for the New York Times. “Building the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a 303-mile-long conduit to bring fracked gas from West Virginia to southern Virginia, has been a top priority for Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia since the project was announced in 2014. The problem, for him and the project’s other supporters, is that it has been fiercely opposed by grass-roots groups and landowners living in the project’s path for just as long… “By forcing through this pipeline, the Biden administration rounded out the ransom sought by Republicans holding the global economy hostage, and paid off a debt of its own to Mr. Manchin for his crucial vote last year for the Inflation Reduction Act. Pushing the pipeline over the finish line through blunt legislative force now stands to enshrine in federal law an insidious piece of misinformation, if the Senate passes the bill the House passed Wednesday: the claim that the pumping, piping and burning of more fossil fuels is — despite all scientific evidence and common sense to the contrary — a climate solution… “Taken together, by one estimate, the M.V.P. would generate yearly emissions equivalent to what’s produced by 26 coal plants… “Businesses and governments have long claimed gas was a “bridge” to a clean energy future, a “transition” fuel that would tide us over until renewables were ready for prime time. But now that wind, solar and battery storage are indeed quite ready and, in many places, cheaper than gas, the jig is up. That makes the Mountain Valley Pipeline a project in search of a rationale: There are cheaper sources of gas available via existing pipelines, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration projects that demand for gas in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions will continue to drop off in the years and decades ahead… “Democratic leaders will surely bristle at the suggestion that they are helping the gas industry obstruct the transition to clean energy. After all, they passed the Inflation Reduction Act, the most significant climate legislation in U.S. history, and protected its raft of clean energy incentives from cuts in the debt ceiling deal. It’s clear that the deal makers regard themselves as the grown-ups in the room, making the tough trade-offs needed to avert financial catastrophe. But when the stakes are this large, one need not grant them that deference. There’s always a political “crisis” gathering on the near horizon that will supersede concerns about the climate — that will cause us to look away from the dizzying rise of methane concentrations, currently spiking to levels not seen in over 800,000 years, a trend tracking with the worst-case climate scenarios. This is what it looks like to shuffle along toward climate chaos, one misguided “compromise” at a time.”

Boston Globe: Carbon capture isn’t the climate change health benefit the world needs
Gina McCarthy is the former White House National Climate Advisor and a US EPA administrator. Dr. Kari Nadeau is chair of the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 6/1/23

“Technology that captures carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels and stores them underground is being touted as a necessary solution in the short run to lower carbon pollution from industrial facilities. Carbon capture is viewed by large corporations, the federal government, and the head of the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP28, as a fundamental technology to lower greenhouse gas emissions. While they may be right, it’s important not to forget the upfront health costs,” Gina McCarthy and Dr. Kari Nadeau write for the Boston Globe. “Fossil fuels are about much more than just their end-of-pipe carbon dioxide emissions. At every step of the supply chain, fossil fuels expose people to pollution that harms their health and well-being, resulting in illness and death that cannot be abated by capturing carbon emissions at the stack and putting them back in the ground. Yes, we all want to save the planet, but let’s not forget to protect the people too. There are many health reasons — beyond climate change — that should motivate us to stop our reliance on fossil fuels, not just capture their emissions, as quickly as possible… “While capturing and burying emissions at the end of the supply chain may be possible and even advisable in the short run, it is not sufficient to protect us from the upfront and downwind hazards and exposures to pollutants that pose imminent harm to our health and safety. And it is not the answer to our climate crisis in the long run… “How quickly the United States can make the shift to clean energy and significantly reduce our reliance on fossil fuels across our economy using public health as a fundamental factor to consider — especially in communities left behind — will determine whether we can stand with authority as a beacon of light for the rest of the world to follow.”

Bismarck Tribune: Speaking out: Liking the upside means accepting the downside
Steve Andrist, Bismarck, is co-chair of the North Dakota News Cooperative and former executive director of the North Dakota Newspaper Association, 5/31/23

“Aware of the disastrous impacts of climate change and fearing more on the horizon, much of the country and the world are moving as quickly as possible away from fossils fuels. North Dakota, on the other hand, has gone all in on oil and coal, spending hundreds of millions to benefit the industries that return thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in tax revenue,” writes for the Bismarck Tribune. “It may eventually turn out long term to be the wrong choice, but with that choice long since made, the state has an obligation – a global duty – to find ways to offset the climate change impacts of its energy production. Our leaders have decided that carbon capture will be a primary focus in meeting that obligation, and they’re making good on that plan. Red Trail Energy at Richardton has a CO2 injection… “The project is well underway, but an apparently well-funded and vocal group of folks, many of them who no doubt appreciate the jobs and tax revenues provided by fossil fuels, are fighting the proposed pipeline tooth and nail… “In other words, they don’t mind if the pipeline impacts someone else, they just don’t want it to impact them. There is, of course, some degree of pipeline opposition in all five states where the pipeline would run – Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota. Most of it comes from environmentalists who don’t want to encourage any form of fossil fuel production, or landowners who worry they won’t be adequately compensated for leases or fear potential pipeline accidents. There’s some of that in North Dakota, too, but the vocal opposition is now rising from homeowners, developers, home builders and local government leaders in the Bismarck area who argue the pipeline route through the future urban sprawl area northeast of the city would affect more people than a route somewhere else… “In either case, if we want to benefit from the upside of coal and oil development in our state we must also be prepared to accept the downside without passing it off to someone else… “But those who like the jobs and taxes provided by coal and oil need to be part of the solution, not just expect someone else somewhere else to bear that burden.”

Los Angeles Times: Opinion: Why the fossil fuel divestment movement should reach hospitals
Don Lieber is a surgical technician, nursing unit coordinator and director of the First Do No Harm campaign for fossil fuel divestment in the health sector, 6/1/23

“I chose a career in medicine because I wanted to work somewhere with a strong ethical foundation. It was the same reason I spent years involved in the antiwar movement and taking action on climate change — which is now a concern across the profession,” Don Lieber writes for the Los Angeles Times. “Hospitals have pledged to lower operational carbon emissions. Several leading public physicians, including National Academy of Medicine president Victor Dzau, wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine: “Although many people consider climate change a looming threat, health problems stemming from it already kill millions of people per year.” And a survey in the Lancet found that 91% of health professionals are worried about climate change. Which is why I think many of them would be shocked to learn how much of our own retirement money is invested in fossil fuels — the biggest drivers of climate chaos. The First Do No Harm campaign, in collaboration with the Climate Safe Pensions Network and Stand.earth, recently released a report examining the pension funds of four prominent private hospital systems: Kaiser Permanente, Mayo Clinic Health Systems, HCA Healthcare and Ascension. We found that these four hospital networks alone have invested at least $4.6 billion in fossil fuels and estimate that privately owned U.S. hospitals have well over $10 billion invested in the fossil fuel economy. Kaiser Permanente, for example, has $80.2 million invested in Suncor Energy, among the world’s largest producers of environmentally destructive “tar sands” oil, which produces at least 17% more carbon pollution than conventional crude oil. The Mayo Clinic, often called America’s best hospital, has over $40 million invested directly in fossil fuel production giants, including Exxon Mobil and Conoco Phillips. I believe hospitals deliver enormous benefits to their communities, and I know they have a financial responsibility to their pensioners and investors. But they are making a big mistake — for their balance sheets and their patients’ health — by investing in fossil fuels… “The healthcare sector is capable of miracles. We mapped the human genome. We conduct microsurgery. We can — and must — divest from the fossil fuels that are sickening our patients and our world.”

Madison.com: Tribe should work with firm on Line 5
Joel Zielke, Madison, business manager, Steamfitters Local 601, 6/2/23

“The Line 5 energy pipeline in northwest Wisconsin has been in the news recently after a court hearing on the Bad River Band’s attempts to shut down the line over erosion concerns,” Joel Zielke writes for Madison.com. “U.S. District Judge William Conley has not granted the band’s request — signaling the line is safe. But Judge Conley did have critical comments about the band’s refusal to work with Enbridge to address the erosion. In fact, the judge said the band’s behavior left him “flummoxed.” What’s become clear is the simple, long-term solution to any current concerns is to move forward with the Line 5 relocation project Enbridge has proposed… “Judge Conley said: “I’m begging the band to just act. Do something to show you’re acting in good faith.” The Bad River Band should start acting in good faith. That includes supporting the relocation project that will create good jobs and ensure continued access to the needed gas, diesel and propane that Line 5 makes possible.”