EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 7/24/23

PIPELINE NEWS

• The Hill: Biden administration joins Manchin, GOP whip in backing pipeline at Supreme Court

• Chicago Tribune: CO2 pipeline company conducted a 24/7 drilling operation for 2 months across from family’s Nokomis home: ‘They’ve created chaos.’

• Journal Courier: Senator proposes moratorium on carbon capture pipelines in Illinois

• NWestIowa.com: Pressure high for pipeline’s IUB hearing

• WBRC: Matters of the State: Pipeline vs. property rights; South Dakota Trade missions [VIDEO]

• E&E News: D.C. Circuit sides with FERC on Massachusetts gas project

• WUNC: Federal regulators are taking public comment on pipeline extension

• WWLP: Eversource pipeline from Longmeadow to Springfield proposal does not comply

• Reuters: Washington state wildfire threatens homes, farms, gas pipeline

• Reuters: TC Energy to sell 40% interest in Columbia Gas and Columbia Gulf pipelines for C$5.2 bln

WASHINGTON UPDATES

• Politico: It’s A Gas (Summit) 

• E&E News: 3 things to know about Biden’s oil regs

• High Country News: New Public-Land Drilling Rules Would Overhaul The Western Oil Industry 

• The New Republic: The GOP Darling Who Claims Fossil Fuels Are Good for Humanity

STATE UPDATES

• InsideClimate News: After Litigation and Local Outcry, Energy Company Says It Will Not Move Forward with LNG Plant in Florida Panhandle

• Colorado Sun: Colorado is first in the U.S. to make rules tying pollution reduction to oil and gas production

• Alaska Beacon: AOGCC Orders ConocoPhillips To Pay Penalties For 2022 Blowout At Alpine Field 

EXTRACTION

• The Hill: Climate protesters arrested after setting off flare at British Open golf tournament

• Slate: Climate Change Goes to Court

• Reuters: ClientEarth loses bid to revive UK Shell lawsuit over climate strategy

• Wall Street Journal: Global Hunt for Crude Sends Offshore Oil Stocks Soaring

TODAY IN GRERENWASHING

• Grist: Greenhushing, explained: Why companies have stopped talking about their climate pledges

OPINION

• Wall Street Journal: Mountain Valley Pipeline Will Have to Wait

• Bismarck Tribune: Letter: Don’t believe carbon capture half-truths
  

PIPELINE NEWS

The Hill: Biden administration joins Manchin, GOP whip in backing pipeline at Supreme Court
ZACK BUDRYK, 7/21/23

“The Biden administration has joined Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and a coalition of Republican representatives in asking the Supreme Court to block an order halting construction of a controversial pipeline,” The Hill reports. “…In response, the pipeline company filed an emergency request with Chief Justice John Roberts to take up the case. Roberts has the option to either act on the request on his own or put it to the court for a full vote, as he has historically done. Earlier this week, Manchin and a coalition of House GOP members, led by Republican Deputy Whip Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.), filed amicus briefs backing the pipeline. “The application to vacate the court of appeals’ stays should be granted,” wrote U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, adding that the law’s “unambiguous text” states that no court, including the 4th Circuit, will have jurisdiction to review approvals pertaining to the pipeline. “The category of cases covered by that jurisdictional bar clearly includes the petitions for review here,” Prelogar wrote. She went on to write that arguments that that section of the law itself is unconstitutional also fail, as the law grants jurisdiction over those claims to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.”

Chicago Tribune: CO2 pipeline company conducted a 24/7 drilling operation for 2 months across from family’s Nokomis home: ‘They’ve created chaos.’
Nara Schoenberg, 7/24/23

“One day last fall, Sabrina and Ralph Jones spotted four wooden surveyor stakes in the farm field across the street, each one marked with a strip of orange plastic,” the Chicago Tribune reports. “That, the Joneses say, was their only warning that Navigator CO2 — an Omaha-based company that wants to store millions of tons of carbon dioxide underground in central Illinois — was planning to drill a testing well just 500 feet from their front door. There was no letter from Navigator, according to the Jones, who live on a quiet country road in Nokomis, 200 miles southwest of Chicago. There was no phone call or visit. But for more than two months, starting in early May, the drilling operation filled their leafy front yard with a dull industrial hum, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Sabrina Jones — the mother of five young children, including a baby born in late May — told the Tribune she was awakened at night by the crashes and clangs of semis dumping their loads… “But Navigator opponents, many of them landowners who don’t want to live near high-pressure pipelines carrying a potentially suffocating gas, have voiced numerous concerns, including that underground carbon storage has never before been done at this scale. Now, Nokomis-area residents say they have yet another reason to question the project: the drilling operation outside the Joneses’ house. “It is absolutely appalling,” Trevor Braye, a farmer who said he could see the lights of the nighttime operation from his home, about 6 miles away, told the Tribune… “Pipeline opponents also say that some families experienced serious — or complete — loss of water pressure in May, due to Navigator’s use of the local water system during drilling. And they say the company’s handling of a relatively straightforward initial project raises larger questions… “Early on, the Joneses called the police because semis were loading and unloading at 11:30 p.m., making noises as loud as pots and pans banging together. The police explained there was nothing they could do, the Joneses said… “Navigator said the drilling generally required about 2,000 gallons a day, or roughly the amount of water consumed by seven area homes. Asked whether a local water company supplying Navigator pulled water from its hydrants in May to meet the demands of the drilling operation, leading to a loss of water pressure in some homes, Navigator told the Tribune questions should be directed to the water company… “The highly visible testing well is a way of saying, “(There’s) nothing you can do to stop us. We’re starting to build,” Pam Richart, co-director of the Champaign-based environmental group Eco-Justice Collaborative and lead organizer of the Coalition to Stop CO2 Pipelines, told the Tribune. “That’s a way of intimidating folks into thinking, ’It’s happening, I may as well sell. I may as well throw my arms up and say, ‘There’s nothing more I can do,’ ” Richart told the Tribune.”

Journal Courier: Senator proposes moratorium on carbon capture pipelines in Illinois
Ben Singson, 7/24/23

“A Republican state senator has proposed legislation that would halt construction of carbon dioxide pipelines in Illinois until federal safety regulations are updated,” the Journal Courier reports. “Sen. Steve McClure. R-Springfield, wants to suspend issuance of any new certificates of authority for building carbon dioxide pipelines as well as pause applications for the certificates for two years or until the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration revises federal safety standards for transporting carbon dioxide. The two-year time limit on the bill is intended to give either the federal administration or the state enough time to enact their own regulations, McClure told the Courier… “McClure told the Courier the pipeline issue was first brought to his attention by some of those who live along the path of Heartland Greenway. He told the Courier he was concerned about the potential for a pipeline rupture similar to one that happened in Satartia, Mississippi in early 2020, when 45 people were hospitalized and 200 were evacuated. The carbon dioxide sucked the air out of the surrounding area and caused gas-using vehicles to fail, according to reports… “Other state lawmakers from both political parties have expressed concern about carbon capture pipelines, McClure told the Courier, whose legislation is being co-sponsored by Sens. Sally J. Turner, R-Lincoln, and Rachel Ventura, D-Joliet… “McClure told the Courier he would rather such pipelines not be built, but if are going to be, he wants them to be safe.”

NWestIowa.com: Pressure high for pipeline’s IUB hearing
Elijah Helton, 7/23/23

“Anti-pipeliners are bulking up their numbers ahead of a CO2 pipeline hearing that eventually could result in eminent domain,” NWestIowa.com reports. “Three hundred and seventeen landowners on the Summit Carbon Solutions route and more than 100 other parties officially joined the case against the proposed pipeline that would dig through hundreds of miles of Iowa farmland… “We’re really rushing to meet upcoming filing deadlines. We’re doing our best to get this chaos organized and get everyone to complete the steps that they need to do to participate in the hearing,” Jess Mazour told NWestIowa.com. Mazour is a coordinator with the Iowa Sierra Club. The environmental group has done a lot of the heavy organizational lifting the past two years against Summit and similar projects… “IUB approval does not automatically trigger every possible land seizure — since eminent domain is decided at the local level, not the state — but opponents such as Mazour are framing next month’s hearing as the preeminent showdown so far. “This is just another hurdle, and just like every other hurdle we’ve encountered, we just jump right over it,” Mazour said. Just over 1,000 parcels, about one-third of the Summit route in Iowa, have yet to be signed… “The procedure has not been regular in the eyes of Anna Ryon. As a former attorney with the state Office of Consumer Advocate, Ryon told NWestIowa.com the IUB could be skipping steps in a fair process for pipeline objectors to make their voices heard. She blamed the fast-tracking. “This is going the wrong direction in terms of making sure that the board can actually do its job in an adequate manner,” Ryon told NWestIowa.com… “Regardless of other avenues of action, Mazour said the Aug. 22 hearing is going to be a major show of force for the hundreds of those formally intervening and many more allies. “Let’s make sure that we show up en masse on that first day,” she told supporters. “Send a strong sign to the Iowa Utilities Board that we want them to take this process seriously and that we all deserve to be heard.”

WBRC: Matters of the State: Pipeline vs. property rights; South Dakota Trade missions [VIDEO]
7/23/23

E&E News: D.C. Circuit sides with FERC on Massachusetts gas project
Pamela King, 7/21/23

“A powerful federal appeals court on Friday dismissed a challenge from local residents and environmental groups against a natural gas compressor station in a populous, industrialized town south of Boston,” E&E News reports. “In a ruling issued Friday, three judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit wrote that they did not have the authority to review decisions by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that allowed construction and operation of the Weymouth Compressor Station. “Because we lack jurisdiction over the petitions, we dismiss them both,” wrote Judge Patricia Millett for the unanimous court. During oral arguments in April, Millett, an Obama appointee, appeared sympathetic to claims raised by Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station and other challengers of the project. But she questioned whether the litigants had established legal standing for their case. Challengers contend that FERC failed to conduct a proper review of how the station, which pushes natural gas from Algonquin Gas Transmission LLC’s Atlantic Bridge pipeline, would affect nearby low-income communities that have been historically overburdened by pollution from industrial activity. Algonquin is owned by Enbridge Inc.”

WUNC: Federal regulators are taking public comment on pipeline extension
Bradley George, 7/21/23

“A company that’s proposed a natural gas pipeline through Rockingham and Alamance counties wants more time to complete the project. It’s up to federal energy regulators to approve the request,” WUNC reports. “The MVP Southgate project is an extension of the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline, which would carry natural gas from West Virginia close to the North Carolina state line. Permits for the project expired last month, but the company behind Southgate asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for an additional three years. That’s because Congress approved construction for the Mountain Valley Pipeline in May. Several companies and elected officials have written to FERC to show their support for the extension… “Opponents, including people who live along the pipeline route, have also submitted comments in opposition to the Southgate project. Democratic congresswomen Valerie Foushee and Kathy Manning are also opposed. Manning and Foushee cite opposition by Alamance County commissioners and the Rockingham County town of Stoneville about possible pollution of the Mayo, Dan, and Haw rivers… “FERC is accepting public comment through July 24.”

WWLP: Eversource pipeline from Longmeadow to Springfield proposal does not comply
Duncan MacLean, 7/21/23

“The State Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs has asked Eversource to re-visit its environmental impact report for its Springfield to Longmeadow gas pipeline,” WWLP reports. “The State Secretary of Energy and Environment Affairs office says Eversource’s Draft Environmental Impact Report for a proposed natural gas pipeline does not comply with the state Environmental Policy Act and its regulations. Specifically, the office is challenging Eversource’s research into available alternatives to installing the pipeline saying they did not adequately justify their dismissal of the no-build alternative or other non-pipeline alternatives. The preferred path for this proposed pipeline runs from this existing station on Hall of Fame Avenue underground all the way to Longmeadow. That route remains a primary concern of local climate activists. Those activists and the state also want more information on the project’s impact on ratepayers and how it will affect people in its path particularly because the proposed route goes through an Environmental Justice Community… “Adding that relying on a single pipeline for that large a concentration of customers is unusual and that this is not considered an expansion project because any potential new customers in the area will still need to be served by the existing infrastructure.”

Reuters: Washington state wildfire threatens homes, farms, gas pipeline
Matt Mcknight, 7/24/23

“A fast-growing wildfire forced residents to evacuate a rural stretch of southern Washington state’s Klickitat County on Saturday after it burned more than 30,000 acres in less than 24 hours,” Reuters reports. “The Newell Road Wildfire has already destroyed several structures in the area and is threatening homes, farms, crops and livestock, solar and wind farms and a natural gas pipeline, county emergency officials said. ”The fire was also moving toward the Yakama Indian Reservation, Allen Lebovitz, a spokesperson for the state’s Department of Natural Resources, told Reuters in an interview in Bickleton, a community of about 80 people about 120 miles (190 km) east of Portland, Oregon.”

Reuters: TC Energy to sell 40% interest in Columbia Gas and Columbia Gulf pipelines for C$5.2 bln
7/24/23

“TC Energy said on Monday it has entered into an agreement to sell a 40% interest in its Columbia Gas Transmission and Columbia Gulf Transmission pipelines for C$5.2 billion ($3.95 billion),” Reuters reports. “Both the pipelines span more than 15,000 miles and deliver a substantial portion of daily U.S. natural gas demand, including about 20% of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export supply, according to TC Energy. Columbia Gas and Columbia Gulf will be held in a new joint venture partnership with fund manager Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and TC Energy will continue to operate the pipelines.”

WASHINGTON UPDATES

Politico: It’s A Gas (Summit) 
7/24/23

“The White House will hold what it’s dubbing the first-ever methane summit on Wednesday,” Politico reports. “The event will center on methane reduction efforts in the oil and gas sector, according to an invite obtained by Politico (not to attend, sadly — but we would if you’re reading this, Climate Policy Office!). A White House official told Politico local, state and federal officials will attend, adding the summit “will spotlight how state and tribal governments are responding to dangerous emissions events, will showcase cutting edge detection technologies, and will identify areas for further collaboration.”

E&E News: 3 things to know about Biden’s oil regs
Heather Richards, 7/24/23

“The Biden administration’s proposed revamp of the federal oil and gas program caught plenty of notice from Republican lawmakers and industry for how it would dramatically increase the cost of drilling on public lands,” E&E News reports. “But even the draft regulation’s more obscure elements could make waves for drillers — and federal coffers… “The big takeaway that many have seen from the proposed rules is that, if enacted, exploring for oil and gas on federal lands will be more expensive,” Eric Money, an attorney with Hall Estill specializing in oil and gas law, told E&E… “The big-ticket items like bonding — the BLM is proposing to raise a single lease’s bond from today’s $10,000 minimum to $150,000 — are sure to spark debate for weeks to come as the Biden administration weighs what it will keep, and what may be left behind, in a final rule. But here are three significant, but more under the radar, proposed changes to the federal oil and gas program… “The proposal would order BLM officials to prioritize areas for lease that have a high potential for oil and gas — that means relying on estimates of where the best development locations are, and giving preference to those areas when companies ask for acres to be sold at auction. This provision is a nod to the frustration conservation groups have long voiced that oil and gas leases are bought by speculators — granting companies long-term development rights — in areas that should instead be valued for recreation, wildlife habitat conservation or tourism… “Higher royalties are one of the key reasons that the BLM’s draft proposal would increase the cost to drill on federal leases. To some degree, that increased cost is not the Interior’s doing… “Higher royalties are likely to be strongly opposed by drillers who’ve already complained that federal lands costs are restrictive and could depress production… “Now, the administration is considering nixing an option to extend two-year permits to drill, a move intended to encourage prompt drilling. They would also add a third year to the original time frame of a permit to give operators more flexibility.”

High Country News: New Public-Land Drilling Rules Would Overhaul The Western Oil Industry 
Nick Bowlin, 7/21/23

“The last time the federal government raised the amount that oil and gas companies have to pay to drill on public land was in 1960 — the same year that four unknown, floppy-haired Brits formed a band called The Beatles,” High Country News reports. “Other aspects of the Department of the Interior’s oil and gas leasing regime are more than a century old. Yesterday, the Biden administration proposed what would be a substantial overhaul of this system, a broad new set of rules that would dramatically increase the operators’ financial obligations, boost the royalties that companies pay and tighten permissive leasing regulations. Many Western environmental advocates and public officials praised the proposal as the much-needed and long-overdue restructuring of a system that has always favored industry. ‘Big Oil has been operating with an unfair advantage on our public lands for far too long,’ Arizona Democrat Raúl M. Grijalva, ranking member of House Natural Resources Committee said, in a statement. The proposed rules would codify reforms that were laid out in the Inflation Reduction Act, signed by President Biden last year.” 

The New Republic: The GOP Darling Who Claims Fossil Fuels Are Good for Humanity
Molly Taft, 7/21/23

“Last week, a group of Republican senators gathered for a special closed-door lunch on Capitol Hill with author Alex Epstein, who distributed signed copies of his newest book to attendees,” The New Republic reports. “After the lunch, Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota told E&E News that Epstein was “brilliant,” adding, “He made the case that fossil fuels contributed more to people getting out of poverty than the other way around.” Epstein’s name may not be recognizable to most Americans, but his star has been rising on the right for quite some time. We may all start hearing about him more often because the time is ripe for his particular brand of fossil fuel boosterism to become the GOP’s mainstream climate talking point. Epstein began his career at the Ayn Rand Institute, where he rose to prominence with op-eds on subjects like abortion, animal rights, and keeping the United States hooked on oil, which he described in 2006 as “a wonderful, life-sustaining product.” In 2011, after leaving the organization, he founded the Center for Industrial Progress; per its website, CIP is devoted to “helping industry fight for its freedom, with new ideas, arguments, and policies that will improve our economy and our environment.” “…While Epstein does his fair share of bad-faith science (like promoting the idea that carbon dioxide is necessary as a plant food), his central point is that using fossil fuels is a moral imperative. Because humans have achieved so much in the past using coal, gas, and oil, his thesis goes, we should keep using them. By contrast, stopping fossil fuel use will do nothing but stifle human “flourishing” and end up only hurting the world’s poor. “The fastest way to decrease energy poverty and overall poverty is to end all favoritism for wasteful, unreliable solar and wind schemes,” he writes. “And above all reject any proposal to outlaw reliable fossil fuels and nuclear in favor of unreliable ‘renewable’ energy.” This is, obviously, a colossal misdirect. People who are advocating that the world must transition off fossil fuels are not saying that we should all go back to less efficient forms of energy, like burning firewood, or that the poor must stay poor. The whole idea is to develop new technologies, curb some of our enormous energy use, and beef up alternate forms of energy like wind and solar. These emissions cuts, in turn, can protect the world’s most vulnerable, whom Epstein professes to care so much about, from the impacts of climate change. But for Epstein, there’s no future in which we’re able to divorce ourselves from fossil fuels; no possible world where reducing our energy consumption and putting guardrails on our natural tendencies to use and produce more could be beneficial. This is an argument that Ayn Rand herself probably would have loved: Letting a gargantuan industry like oil or coal run wild with zero government intervention would, in a book like Atlas Shrugged, probably fix all sorts of societal ills. In the real world, it’s gotten us into a catastrophic mess.”

STATE UPDATES

InsideClimate News: After Litigation and Local Outcry, Energy Company Says It Will Not Move Forward with LNG Plant in Florida Panhandle
Amy Green, 7/21/23

“A proposed liquified natural gas plant in the Florida Panhandle that had drawn litigation and widespread local opposition will not move forward, the company behind the plan said this week,” InsideClimate News reports. “The proposal had triggered a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over what one consumer advocacy group said was a legal loophole that would limit federal regulatory oversight at the LNG plant and make way for similar plants nationwide. Inside Climate News reported on the loophole in May, although the company said the decision not to move forward was made earlier. “In 2022, Nopetro Energy conducted due diligence on a site for a proposed natural gas plant in Port St. Joe,” Ed Hart, senior vice president of supply at Nopetro Energy, based in Miami, said in a statement via email. “Many months ago, after completion of that process, Nopetro Energy decided to no longer pursue the opportunity, purely due to market conditions.” Nopetro had called for the LNG plant to be constructed on 60 acres adjacent to the historically Black community of Port St. Joe, a rural coastal town some 100 miles from Tallahassee. A groundswell of residents, Black and white, raised concerns, most notably that the plant would not be compatible with local plans to revitalize the Black community, called North Port St. Joe… “My first reaction when I heard about it was, ‘Thank God,’” Dannie Bolden, a local activist for North Port St. Joe, told ICN. “This really encourages me to believe in people power, the ability of the community to come together and be able to take charge and challenge things that they think are improper or unhealthy for residents of the community.” “…The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission had found that because the LNG would be trucked rather than piped directly onto the ships waiting at the dock, the plant was outside the commission’s jurisdiction.”

Colorado Sun: Colorado is first in the U.S. to make rules tying pollution reduction to oil and gas production
Mark Jaffe, 7/21/23

“Colorado is set to try curbing oil and gas pollution with a first-in-the-nation program that aims to tie air emission reductions to the amount of oil and gas produced,” the Colorado Sun reports. “The framework for the rule was passed in late 2021 by the Air Quality Control Commission, but a core element — figuring out how to measure and monitor emissions — took another 18 months of negotiations to hammer out. The AQCC approved the guidelines for the measurement and verification of emission levels Thursday. The rule was endorsed by both industry and environmental groups… “The intensity program, which aims to curb releases of methane, will give oil and gas companies a free hand in how they reduce emissions, and will set the targeted cuts based on the amount of oil and gas produced. There is no comparable federal rule or program in any other state… “The oil and gas industry is the third-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Colorado after transportation and electricity generation. Emissions from industry have to be cut 20% over 2015 levels by 2030. “The agreement reached today is rooted in technical expertise across academia, technology providers, and industry, and will provide Colorado with a sound regulatory framework to verify greenhouse gas emissions,” the state’s two major industry trade groups — the Colorado Oil and Gas Association and the American Petroleum Institute — said in a joint statement.”

Alaska Beacon: AOGCC Orders ConocoPhillips To Pay Penalties For 2022 Blowout At Alpine Field 
Yereth Rosen, 7/20/23

“Alaska regulators on Wednesday ordered ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. to pay nearly $1 million in penalties for a well blowout that led to a weeks-long release of natural gas and a brief evacuation at the company’s Alpine oil field,” the Alaska Beacon reports. “The order issued by the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission on Wednesday makes final a proposed civil penalty of $913,796.80 announced on June 28. ConocoPhillips, which did not appeal the findings issued last month, has 10 days to pay the total, the AOGCC said. The penalty is one of the largest assessed by the commission. The order brings to a close the AOGCC’s investigation into the gas release at the CD1 well site in the Alpine field, one of the largest in Alaska. The release was discovered on March 4, 2022, and traced to freeze-protection well work done in the days prior. The commission’s investigation concluded that ConocoPhillips had committed five separate violations that led to or followed what was determined to be a shallow blowout that sent gas streaming through multiple places, including through cracks in the drill site’s gravel pad.” 

EXTRACTION

The Hill: Climate protesters arrested after setting off flare at British Open golf tournament
TARA SUTER, 7/21/23

“Climate protestors interrupted The Open Championship in the United Kingdom on Friday, setting off a flare during the golf tournament,” The Hill reports. “The group Just Stop Oil reportedly set off the orange flare, at the tournament in Hoylake, England near the 17th green. Four people were arrested in the wake of the disruption, according to a police statement obtained by The Guardian… “The protestors were driven off the course in a golf cart and the tournament resumed. Still, the organization called the disruption an “oil in one” — a play on words of the common golf term “hole in one.” “There will be no more holes in one when our society collapses,” the organization posted on Twitter. “We must stop our government’s 100 new oil and gas licenses before they go on to cause more harm.” “…The warnings come after Just Stop Oil targeted similar events, including Wimbledon earlier this month and the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield, England in April.”

Slate: Climate Change Goes to Court
7/24/23

“Around the United States and around the world, people are suing their governments and governments are suing fossil fuel companies over the changing climate—revealing what they knew and when they knew it,” Slate reports. “But even if these lawsuits succeed, what difference can they make for a problem with a literal global scale? Guest: Dharna Noor, fossil fuels and climate reporter at The Guardian.”

Reuters: ClientEarth loses bid to revive UK Shell lawsuit over climate strategy
7/24/23

“Environmental law charity ClientEarth on Monday lost its bid to revive a landmark lawsuit against Shell (SHEL.L) over its climate strategy, as London’s High Court refused permission to bring a case against the energy giant,” Reuters reports. “ClientEarth, which holds 27 shares in Shell, alleges the company cannot achieve its aim of net zero carbon emissions by 2050 with its current climate transition strategy and its directors are therefore breaching their duties to shareholders… “The judge said ClientEarth’s case “ignores the fact that the management of a business of the size and complexity of that of Shell will require the directors to take into account a range of competing considerations”, in which the courts should not interfere. If the lawsuit had been allowed to proceed, it could have opened the door for investors in other companies to sue boards that allegedly fail to adequately manage climate-related risks. A Shell spokesperson told Reuters in a statement: “This is the right outcome – the court has reaffirmed its decision that this claim is fundamentally flawed and has, once again, dismissed it… “Paul Benson, a senior lawyer at ClientEarth, told Reuters the charity was disappointed with the decision and intended to pursue an appeal.”

Wall Street Journal: Global Hunt for Crude Sends Offshore Oil Stocks Soaring
Bob Henderson, 7/24/23

“Offshore oil stocks are pumping out big gains, lifted by investors betting the future of energy production lies in deep water,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Shares of firms that drill and service offshore oil and gas wells have surged about 35% so far this year, outpacing the S&P 500’s 18% climb. The gains come even as sagging fossil-fuel prices have dented the shares of producers such as Exxon-Mobil and Chevron and dragged the S&P 500 energy sector down 4.1% for the year, among the worst performing groups in the index. The offshore club includes contractors such as Noble and Transocean that lease drillships and other rigs to producers, and whose stocks have climbed by 36% and 78% respectively since December. It also includes TechnipFMC, which fashions plumbing for underwater wells, and Oceaneering International, which rents robotic vehicles to service such wells, which have notched gains of 43% and 32% respectively.  The companies are profiting from a boom that has been building steam since 2021 and which has recently spawned a series of eye-popping contracts with producers. Rising global demand for petroleum and a growing recognition that an increasing fraction of the world’s fossil fuels will come from underseas are keeping contractors busier than they have been since 2014, when an oil crash sparked a seven-year downturn that drove many drillers into bankruptcy… “The U.S. shale boom has driven global oil supply growth for much of the past decade, but appears to have passed its prime, Rebecca Babin, senior energy trader at CIBC private wealth, told the Journal. The need to compensate for a recent lack of investment could also power the current upturn for at least another five to seven years, she told the Journal.”

TODAY IN GRERENWASHING

Grist: Greenhushing, explained: Why companies have stopped talking about their climate pledges
Kate Yoder, 7/24/23

“Not long ago, the world’s biggest companies were making splashy promises to tackle climate change,” Grist reports. “Even those in the business of selling fossil fuels — like BP and Shell — were vowing to slash their emissions. Amazon named an iconic Seattle sports center “Climate Pledge Arena” so neither hockey nor basketball fans could ignore the company’s promise to zero out its emissions by 2040. But the past year has brought a change of pace, with BP, Amazon, and other companies scaling back some of their targets. Amid this shift, another trend has emerged: Some companies are choosing not to publicize their climate goals, a strategy that’s being called “greenhushing.” “It is really, for us, highly concerning,” Nadia Kähkönen, global director of communications at South Pole, a Switzerland-based climate consultancy and carbon offset developer, told Grist. “Now is not the time to stay tight-lipped on how we’re progressing.” The word is a play on “greenwashing,” a well-established marketing tactic in which companies overstate their environmental credentials. In a way, one has led to the other. Governments are cracking down on greenwashing, and the list of lawsuits over deceptive environmental marketing is growing. It’s not surprising that some companies are reacting to this new landscape with silence, rather than risking a costly court case. But keeping quiet makes it hard to scrutinize what companies are doing, and also makes it more difficult for them to learn from one another’s mistakes.”

OPINION

Wall Street Journal: Mountain Valley Pipeline Will Have to Wait
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D., Va.), Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D., Va.), 7/23/23

“Opining on the fate of the Mountain Valley Pipeline—a gas project that would run through our home state of Virginia—your editorial “Judges for Legal Disobedience” (July 12) criticizes the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for refusing to honor “proper orders” from Congress,” Rep. Gerry Connolly (D., Va.) and Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D., Va.) write for the Wall Street Journal. “As lawmakers who were active in debate on those “orders,” we fear the editorial has it backward. It is our congressional colleagues who may have overstepped. For Congress to approve the pipeline by fiat, with no due process, denies the people we serve any voice in their communities’ future. That is why we supported an amendment to strip language greenlighting the pipeline from the debt-ceiling deal. Sadly, the Republican majority failed to bring our amendment forward for a vote. So, after the debt-ceiling bill was finalized, we filed an amicus brief in the Fourth Circuit, noting that the pipeline provision in the Fiscal Responsibility Act raised serious separation-of-powers concerns. Congress shouldn’t pick winners and losers in pending cases, telling courts how to resolve particular claims brought under pre-existing legal standards. The Fourth Circuit has scheduled a hearing in the pipeline cases for July 27. A stay of construction simply allows a fair process before the court to play out.”

Bismarck Tribune: Letter: Don’t believe carbon capture half-truths
Perrie Schafer, Mandan, 7/24/23

“This past week, the Bismarck Tribune posted a story originally written by staff at the North Dakota News Cooperative (NDNC). The story quoted numerous far left of center political types in their opposition to carbon capture while advancing yet to be proven technologies,” Perrie Schafer writes for the Bismarck Tribune. “The story was riddled with half-truths and exaggerations about how North Dakota can deploy carbon capture technology with lignite coal. Replacing a baseload facility with intermittent renewables is intellectually dishonest. It totally ignores math, physics, and the experts who have warned we are on the verge of an energy crisis due to the lack of baseload power… “Over the next several months, groups like IEEFA and the Sierra Club with ties outside of the state will continue to spread misinformation about our state’s coal industry. They will try to promote their financial interests in renewables at the expense of North Dakotans. Don’t believe it and tell groups like North Dakota News Cooperative to start acting with intellectual honesty.”