EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 8/22/23

PIPELINE NEWS

• Iowa Capital Dispatch: Tuesday’s start of Summit pipeline hearing will focus on eminent domain

• KMA: Carbon pipeline opponents voice concerns ahead of IUB hearings

• KELO: Should 5 counties’ pipeline ordinances be pre-empted?

• Des Moines Register: Summit Carbon Solutions reapplies for critical North Dakota carbon capture pipeline permit

• Iowa Capital Dispatch: Summit adjusts proposed pipeline route in North Dakota

• WCBU: Tazewell County board chair discusses renewable energy, carbon pipeline concerns

• InsideClimate News: Federal Regulators Raise Safety Concerns Over Mountain Valley Pipeline in Formal Notice

• KFYR: Environmental Impact Statement for Dakota Access Pipeline still unfinished, shutdown still a possibility

• Appalachian Voices: Conservation groups ask federal court of appeals to review key Cumberland Pipeline permit

• E&E News: Legal battle over climate brews between FERC, blue states

WASHINGTON UPDATES

• Politico: Biden faces calls to declare climate emergency as he heads to Maui

• E&E News: ‘Down your throat’: Biden pushes CCS on polluted places

STATE UPDATES

• Associated Press: Appeals court strikes down Utah oil railroad approval, siding with environmentalists

• E&E News: Climate ruling fuels political war over Montana Supreme Court

• Associated Press: Evacuation ordered after gas plant explosion; no injuries reported

• The Advocate: An explainer on direct air capture and carbon capture, and why both are growing in Louisiana

• Colorado Sun: EPA fines Suncor $300,000 for allegedly violating toxic chemical regulations

• Reuters: Energy Transfer seeks new LNG export license after extension denied

• CNN: Hawaii’s climate-change lawsuit going to trial next summer [VIDEO]

• Bakersfield Californian: Berkeley-led carbon management project would study alternatives to oil companies’ efforts

• Mother Jones: Florida Approved a PragerU Climate Cartoon for Schools. We Asked a Scientist to Fact-Check It.

EXTRACTION

• Reuters: US energy firm payouts to oil investors top exploration spending for first time

• Canary Media: Ebb Carbon wants to pull CO2 from the sky with electricity and seawater

TODAY IN GREENWASHING

• Common Dreams: US Climate Groups Call on Multiple Industries to Fire Their Fossil Fuel Lobbyists

• Enbridge: In powersports, as in life, ‘safety is a learned behavior’

OPINION

• InsideClimate News: Q&A: A Legal Scholar Calls the Ruling in the Montana Youth Climate Lawsuit ‘Huge’

• Wall Street Journal: A Progressive’s Case for Getting Rid of ‘ESG’

PIPELINE NEWS

Iowa Capital Dispatch: Tuesday’s start of Summit pipeline hearing will focus on eminent domain
JARED STRONG, 8/21/23

“A Sioux County dairy farmer says she received little direction from state regulators about how to prepare for a hearing on Tuesday that might determine whether she will be forced to allow a carbon dioxide pipeline to be built across her 80 acres,” the Iowa Capital Dispatch reports. “All I got was a set of questions that they’re going to ask me,” Nelva Huitink, who with her husband has about 90 dairy cows north of Orange City, told the Dispatch. Huitink is among three people who are set to testify on the first day of Summit Carbon Solutions’ evidentiary hearing with the Iowa Utilities Board — the culmination of a two-year process that will decide whether the company gets permission to build the pipeline system and use eminent domain to do so… “To consider eminent domain requests early in the proceedings breaks with longstanding board precedent to discuss eminent domain toward the end of the hearing — after the details of the projects are discussed… “How the hearing will be conducted this week is unclear… “Huitink is listed as the third witness, but there is no time estimate for when her testimony might start. She was told it would likely be that afternoon. “I have a two-and-a-half to three-hour drive to get to Fort Dodge, so I asked, ‘What if I’m late?’” Huitink told the Dispatch. “And they were like, ‘Well, we can’t guarantee that we’ll get you in if you’re not there when we call your name.’” “…The company’s evidentiary hearing will be held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays until it concludes, Jess Mazour, of the Sierra Club of Iowa, who attended a pre-hearing meeting on Monday in Fort Dodge that was closed to the public, told the Dispatch. She told the Dispatch the IUB gave no more details of the scheduling.”

KMA: Carbon pipeline opponents voice concerns ahead of IUB hearings
Ethan Hewett, 8/21/23

“As hearings on one of three proposed liquid carbon dioxide pipelines in Iowa approach, opponents continue to call for a delay in the process,” KMA reports. “…Jess Mazour is the conservation program coordinator with the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter, one of the groups helping organize opposition against carbon dioxide pipelines in the state. Speaking during a Lunch and Learn with the Iowa Farmers Union Thursday, Mazour says there are multiple reasons to delay the hearing process for Summit’s project, including the recent denial from the North Dakota Public Service Commission. “We know it’s a pipeline to nowhere because just two weeks ago, North Dakota, one of the most pipeline friendly states in the country voted unanimously to deny Summit’s permit,” said Mazour. “So, currently Summit has no way to get their CO2 up to their sequestration area in North Dakota. Why should Iowa waste any time, money, and resources on a pipeline to nowhere?” “…However, Mazour also cites ongoing efforts by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, or PHMSA, to update their regulations regarding carbon pipelines. “These rules are being written right now–there’s an open docket to submit comments to PHMSA for carbon pipeline safety rules,” Mazour emphasized. “Those rules are likely not going to be out this year and maybe not even next year and the problem is we should not be giving any carbon pipelines a permit before we know what the safety rules are that they should abide by. Otherwise, we’re putting untested, dangerous pipelines across our state.” Additionally, Mazour points to the several outstanding court cases that have revolved around Summit’s proposed project, including a challenge from Domina Law, representing several impacted landowners, regarding the state of the carbon dioxide while it is being transported along the pipeline–which Summit officials say would be “supercritical.” “…Mazour adds that the Sierra Club is also challenging Summit in discovery over the release of plume or dispersion models, chief among the safety concerns over the proposed project. “We deserve to know the real risks associated with CO2 pipelines because we saw what happened in Satartia, (Mississippi) and we know that there could be lives lost, land damaged, and homes destroyed,” said Mazour.

KELO: Should 5 counties’ pipeline ordinances be pre-empted?
Bob Mercer, 8/21/23

“Attorneys from multiple sides of the fight over Navigator building a carbon-dioxide pipeline in South Dakota will face off at the state Capitol later this week for an argument that’s never come up before,” KELO reports. “…A state law passed in 1981 lets the state commission supersede or pre-empt local land-use controls for some trans-state projects — but only when the requirements are “unreasonably restrictive.” Navigator’s permit could turn on what the state commission decides regarding pipeline ordinances in Minnehaha County and Moody County. The same could be true for the CO2 pipeline that Summit Carbon Solutions wants to build. The county ordinances were passed after both companies applied to the state commission… “The commission will hold a special mini-hearing for Thursday, August 24, and if necessary the following day, to consider the pre-emption question. What the state commission decides on pre-emption could decide whether the Navigator project moves ahead. That’s because company officials have already testified in the permit hearing that the project is a no-go if the Minnehaha and Moody ordinances are allowed to stand. Minnehaha County and Moody County plan to present witnesses Thursday. The state commission’s decision might not be the final word, however. Any of the sides could challenge the state commission’s ruling in court… “Attorneys for SCS on Monday asked the state commission to pre-empt pipeline ordinances in Minnehaha, Spink, Brown and McPherson counties.”

Des Moines Register: Summit Carbon Solutions reapplies for critical North Dakota carbon capture pipeline permit
Donnelle Eller, 8/22/23

“With North Dakota a linchpin in its plans for a regional carbon-capture pipeline, Summit Carbon Solutions is promising to reroute it in an effort to win approval from regulators there,” the Des Moines Register reports. “…Some political leaders in the state capital, Bismarck have opposed the project, saying the pipeline route would constrain future residential growth and raise safety concerns. Summit is now making another bid for a permit, proposing to reroute the pipeline 10 miles north of Bismarck and away from areas slated for development… “Summit said the new pipeline route around Bismarck addresses “concerns about city growth and future development,” as well as the specific issues of three property owners. Altogether, the company said it had made 570 route changes… “The company also said it had tackled concerns about so-called avoidance areas, described in the North Dakota order as places that are geologically unstable or where the pipeline could come within 500 feet of residences, schools or businesses… “Summit said it would work with the North Dakota State Historical Preservation Office, which found the company’s cultural resource report didn’t meet its standards. Summit has requested a “limited rehearing” to answer commissioners’ questions.”

Iowa Capital Dispatch: Summit adjusts proposed pipeline route in North Dakota
JARED STRONG, 8/21/23

“Summit Carbon Solutions would build its proposed carbon dioxide pipeline farther away from North Dakota’s capital city, according to a new route that is meant to assuage commissioners who denied the company a permit this month,” the Iowa Capital Dispatch reports. “…The North Dakota permit denial prompted opponents in Iowa to call for a hold on the Iowa Utilities Board’s permit proceedings… “Summit on Friday asked the North Dakota Public Service Commission to reconsider its Aug. 4 denial of a siting permit for the company. The three-member commission said the evidence it considered did not show “the project will produce minimum adverse impacts upon the welfare of the citizens of North Dakota,” according to its written decision… “The motion calls for a one-day hearing “for the limited purpose of presenting witness testimony.” “…Schock told the Dispatch the company’s motion for reconsideration is allowed by state rules, but “I can’t speak to whether the commission will grant the petition or not. We will certainly need to review what the appropriate next step is.”

WCBU: Tazewell County board chair discusses renewable energy, carbon pipeline concerns
Joe Deacon, 8/21/23

“Tazewell County Board Chairman David Zimmerman says the county’s options may be limited when it comes to regulating renewable energy developments, or possibly blocking a proposed carbon capture pipeline,” WCBU reports. “…Zimmerman told WCBU the county has not yet taken any formal stance on the proposed Wolf Carbon Solutions carbon capture pipeline… “Personally, I’m agnostic; I want to hear (more). I did meet with Wolf Carbon Solutions about a month and a half ago. They showed me the path (and) they answered some of my questions,” Zimmerman told WCBU, adding there may not be much the county can do… “But at the end of the day, I don’t believe the county has any say up or down on whether it comes to our county or not.” Zimmerman told WCBU the county board will hear from the group Citizens Against Predatory Pipelines at its Aug. 30 meeting, and they’ve invited Wolf Carbon to “give their side of the story” at the September board meeting. Zimmerman told WCBU there hasn’t been any discussion yet about the county considering a possible moratorium on carbon pipelines, even if it’s merely a symbolic gesture… “I’ve heard from several farmers, but I still want to see how dangerous that is. I mean, one spill is one spill too many. … But I’ve not had a lot of push from the board yet to look into (a moratorium); they just want more information.”

InsideClimate News: Federal Regulators Raise Safety Concerns Over Mountain Valley Pipeline in Formal Notice
Phil McKenna, 8/22/23

“Federal regulators have sent a proposed safety order to the developers of the contentious and highly politicized Mountain Valley Pipeline citing concerns over potential pipe corrosion and land movement in the steep mountain terrain the pipeline will cross in West Virginia and Virginia,” InsideClimate News reports. “In the proposed order, issued Aug. 11, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) noted that conditions may exist along the Mountain Valley Pipeline that “pose a pipeline integrity risk to public safety, property, or the environment” and “may present immediate risk if the pipeline is commissioned without remediation.” The safety notice states that the regulator’s concerns “require a comprehensive evaluation to identify and remediate integrity issues, mitigate the risk, and protect public safety, property, and the environment.” The notice is a proposal rather than a final order and its impact on completion of the pipeline project remains unclear. The pipeline’s primary owner, Equitrans Midstream Corporation, has 30 days to submit an initial response to PHMSA’s notice and can challenge the agency’s findings. “I think this proposed safety order, if it’s made final, would take some really solid concrete steps towards making the pipeline safer,” Bill Caram, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, an independent watchdog group, told ICN. “Our two main areas of concern have been corrosion and land movement and PHMSA has really taken some good, prescriptive, sound mitigation measures and orders in order to address those two concerns.” Caram noted that PHMSA stopped short of issuing a “corrective action order,” a stronger measure that would have required immediate remediation from Equitrans… “Natalie Cox, a spokeswoman for Equitrans told ICN Equitrans has requested “informal consultation” with PHMSA over the safety notice and looks forward to an expeditious resolution… “Maury Johnson of Greenville, West Virginia, lives less than 800 feet from a section of the pipeline that runs through his property and has raised concerns about degraded pipe coating and potential rupture from landslides for years.”

KFYR: Environmental Impact Statement for Dakota Access Pipeline still unfinished, shutdown still a possibility
Michael Anthony, 8/21/23

“North Dakota’s oil and gas industry leaders are still waiting on the release of an environmental impact statement for the Dakota Access Pipeline,” KFYR reports. “In 2021, a federal judge allowed the pipeline to continue operating while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conduct their study. North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms told KFYR a shutdown of the pipeline remains a looming threat. He added that there has been no indication from the Corps on their findings so far. “It’s a real threat that Dakota Access Pipeline could be shut down, potentially shut down or may be shut down temporarily to move it. We’re taking it very seriously,” Helms told KFYR.

Appalachian Voices: Conservation groups ask federal court of appeals to review key Cumberland Pipeline permit
8/21/23

“The Southern Environmental Law Center and Appalachian Mountain Advocates, on behalf of Appalachian Voices and the Sierra Club, are asking a federal court of appeals to review a state-issued permit for the proposed Cumberland Pipeline. The sole purpose of the proposed 32-mile pipeline, which would cut through communities in Dickson, Houston and Stewart Counties, would be to supply methane gas to the Tennessee Valley Authority’s proposed Cumberland Gas Plant… “The pipeline’s construction threatens to cause long-lasting and irreparable damage to these waterways… “Despite the detrimental impacts this pipeline project would have on Tennessee waterways and the people and wildlife who depend on them, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation issued TGP an Aquatic Resource Alteration Permit in July of this year… “On Friday, the conservation groups submitted a petition for review to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, asking the federal court to review TDEC’s flawed decision to issue an ARAP for the Cumberland Pipeline project. “Last week, people in a rural Tennessee community were forced to evacuate their home due to an explosion at a facility run by Kinder Morgan, the same company proposing this pipeline,” said Amy Kelly, Beyond Coal Senior Campaign Representative for Sierra Club. “Increased oversight and a thorough examination of permits that would affect our waterways are warranted and absolutely necessary. We are calling on the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to do just that.”

E&E News: Legal battle over climate brews between FERC, blue states
Miranda Willson, Niina H. Farah, 8/22/23

“A lawsuit challenging a natural gas expansion project on the East Coast could change how federal regulators assess state climate policies,” E&E News reports. “Environmental groups and a landowner sued the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission earlier this year for approving Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co.’s pipeline project in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey over the objections of state officials in the Garden State. Despite the case’s limited geographic scope, the nearly $1 billion project has become a flashpoint in the debate over FERC’s assessment of new gas projects. How the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rules in the case could influence pipeline development in states that are setting limits on their total greenhouse gas emissions and moving away from fossil fuels, observers told E&E. “FERC has taken a position that is contrary to the findings of a state regulatory commission,” Brian Lipman, who advocates for energy consumers as director of New Jersey’s Division of Rate Counsel, told E&E. “It also appears FERC has not taken New Jersey law and policy into account in issuing its decision.” “…FERC approved the expansion project in January, finding that its benefits outweigh potential environmental harms. The New Jersey Conservation Foundation and other groups say FERC disregarded evidence showing the project wasn’t needed. Now, a coalition of Democrat-led states are also pushing back against FERC, writing in a friend of the court brief this month that the commission’s decision “threatens core state interests in protecting our environment, economies, and ability to make effective energy policy in our borders.” In addition to New Jersey, Maryland, Connecticut, Vermont, Washington, Massachusetts, Oregon and New York joined the brief. “FERC cannot ensure its regulation of pipelines is complementary to the States’ regulation where it does not adequately analyze the impact of state requirements on the need for and public interest in a project,” the states told the D.C. Circuit.

WASHINGTON UPDATES

Politico: Biden faces calls to declare climate emergency as he heads to Maui
MYAH WARD, 8/20/23

“As President Joe Biden prepares to visit Maui, the Hawaiian island devastated by the deadliest wildfire in U.S. modern history, lawmakers and climate groups are begging the White House to do more to prevent future climate-related disasters,” Politico reports. “Their argument: If the latest environmental catastrophe won’t spur the president into action, what will?… “As survivors search for missing family members and friends, and a housing crisis unfolds amid the vast destruction, climate activists and members of Congress are urging Biden to declare a national emergency over climate change. It isn’t the first time the White House has faced calls to take this step, but the ongoing crisis in Hawaii and a string of climate events this summer — including this weekend’s first-ever tropical storm warning for southern California — have intensified the appeals, building pressure on the president ahead of his scheduled trip to the island disaster site Monday. “Even when I talk about this issue, I tend to say things like, ‘I want to make sure my children have clean air and water — that they have running water. That they have a livable planet when they’re my age.’ But that’s not right. Tomorrow, you could wake up and your whole community could be ashes,” Kaniela Ing, a seventh-generation indigenous Hawaiian from Maui and the national director of the Green New Deal Network, a climate justice organization, told Politico. “That’s the urgency we’re operating under,” he added, “so if there was ever a moment to declare a climate emergency, it is right now.” Alongside climate groups, many of Biden’s allies in Congress have urged him to invoke emergency powers, which would enable the president to take sweeping action to restrain greenhouse gas production, implement large-scale clean transportation solutions and finance distributed energy projects, among other actions. “The devastation in Maui is a clear sign that the president must declare a climate emergency — now. While FEMA is providing resources to the local heroes on the ground fighting for the lives and livelihoods of Hawaiians, the underlying climate-driven conditions of drought, extreme heat, environmental injustice, and non-resilient infrastructure will remain,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said in a statement to POLITICO… “Still, advocates and lawmakers are pushing the president to be bold amid the latest crisis, arguing that the move would also reap political benefits among disillusioned young voters, as well as communities of color who have been disproportionately harmed by the effects of climate change.”

E&E News: ‘Down your throat’: Biden pushes CCS on polluted places
Jean Chemnick, 8/22/23

“Environmental justice advocates have long opposed efforts to build carbon capture infrastructure in marginalized communities. Their worries are manifold. Pipelines could burst. Storage sites might leak. Fossil fuel power plants might linger, their life span extended by a technology that captures carbon dioxide but not smog and soot,” E&E News reports. “But the Biden administration has repeatedly linked carbon capture and storage with environmental justice. It has gone as far as to count some CCS spending toward its Justice40 initiative to invest in disadvantaged communities — against the express wishes of its own hand-picked advisory panel on environmental justice. “The vibe that we’ve been getting now for a while is like, this is happening. It’s happening whether you like it or not,” Irene Burga Márquez, climate justice and clean air program director for GreenLatinos, told E&E. “Which is not a great starting point. It feels like there’s no room for discussion or flexibility. It’s more like, we’re forcing something down your throat with, like, some sugar.” Minority and poor communities have suffered the brunt of fossil fuel pollution for decades. Now, amid a historic effort to tackle climate change, environmental justice advocates say the government is rushing to embrace solutions that give polluters a lifeline — and draw out the suffering of long-burdened communities. The Biden administration has gone all-in on carbon capture and removal, known collectively as industrial carbon management… “But some environmentalists and advocates for fence-line communities fear that both technologies — direct air capture and carbon capture — could prop up a fossil fuel industry that has burdened marginalized areas for decades. Some oil companies have also been quick to take advantage of federal incentives to suck carbon out of the air, with one oil executive describing direct air capture as a way to “preserve our industry.” “I think the administration in many ways has really bought into the industry pressure to allow fossil fuel industries to continue to thrive during this transition period,” Ana Baptista, an associate professor in environmental policy at the New School and member of the Equitable and Just Climate Platform, told E&E… “It’s sort of like adding insult to injury. It’s like, here’s this law that was meant to benefit you with solar panels and green jobs. And instead, you get industrial air capture facilities that pollute your local air. But don’t worry! They might reduce CO2 globally.” Environmental justice advocates have also voiced concerns about the risks of transporting captured carbon dioxide through thousands of miles of pipeline and injecting it deep underground. They point to a February 2020 pipeline rupture that sent residents of a small Mississippi town to the hospital.”

STATE UPDATES

Associated Press: Appeals court strikes down Utah oil railroad approval, siding with environmentalists
SAM METZ, 8/18/23

“A U.S. Appeals Court on Friday struck down a critical approval for a railroad project that would have allowed oil businesses in eastern Utah to significantly expand fossil fuel production and exports,” the Associated Press reports. “The ruling is the latest development in the fight over the proposed Uinta Basin Railway, an 88-mile (142-kilometer) railroad line that would connect oil and gas producers in rural Utah to the broader rail network, allowing them to access larger markets and ultimately sell to refineries near the Gulf of Mexico. The railroad would let producers, currently limited to tanker trucks, ship an additional 350,000 barrels of crude daily on trains extending for up to 2 miles (3.2 kilometers). The Washington, D.C.-based appeals court ruled that a 2021 environmental impact statement and biological opinion from the federal Surface Transportation Board were rushed and violated federal laws. It sided with environmental groups and Colorado’s Eagle County, which had sued to challenge the approval. The court said the board had engaged in only a “paltry discussion” of the environmental impact the project could have on the communities and species who would live along the line and the “downline” communities who live along railroads where oil trains would travel. “The limited weighing of the other environmental policies the board did undertake fails to demonstrate any serious grappling with the significant potential for environmental harm stemming from the project,” the ruling stated… “Deeda Seed of the Center for Biological Diversity characterized the decision as a victory and demanded that President Joe Biden’s administration stop the project from seeking any further approvals. “The Uinta Basin Railway is a dangerous, polluting boondoggle that threatens people, wildlife and our hope for a livable planet,” she said in a written statement.

E&E News: Climate ruling fuels political war over Montana Supreme Court
Lesley Clark, 8/16/23

“The Montana Supreme Court in Helena, Mont., which is poised to hear the state’s appeal of a landmark climate ruling that found the state is violating the constitutional rights of its youngest residents by approving fossil fuel projects without considering the climate effects of the projects,” E&E News reports. “The bench, which is expected to hear an appeal of an unprecedented legal victory for climate activists, is the next target for Republicans eyeing a “total takeover” of the Montana government, one former GOP lawmaker told E&E.

Associated Press: Evacuation ordered after gas plant explosion; no injuries reported
8/18/23

“An explosion Friday at a natural gas plant in Tennessee led to an evacuation order for people within a mile of the facility, but no injuries were reported, authorities said,” the Associated Press reports. “The explosion happened at the Tennessee Gas Pipeline/Kinder Morgan facility located in Nunnelly, about 60 miles southwest of Nashville. A mandatory evacuation was ordered for residents within a 1-mile radius of the plant, the Hickman County Sheriff’s Office said… “An explosion and fire happened at a compressor station due to an equipment failure, Kinder Morgan said… “Local law enforcement and fire departments responded to the scene as well as hazmat crews with the Nashville Fire Department and Franklin Fire Department. Crews were still working to extinguish a small fire around noon, but there were no air quality concerns, Amanda Siegel, Hickman County Emergency Management Agency director, told AP. It wasn’t clear when residents would be able to return to their homes, she told AP.

The Advocate: An explainer on direct air capture and carbon capture, and why both are growing in Louisiana
ROBERT STEWART, 8/21/23

“Over the last few years, Louisiana has trumpeted the tens of billions of dollars being poured into carbon capture, the burgeoning technology designed to curb greenhouse gas emissions at industrial facilities,” The Advocate reports. “Direct air capture — carbon capture’s cousin — hasn’t quite received that level of monetary love here. Until now. Project Cypress, the Calcasieu Parish direct air capture hub in line for up to $603 million in federal funding, is the state’s first major direct air capture project announcement, Louisiana Economic Development officials said. The federal government is also chipping in about $3 million for a roughly $4.87 million project led by LSU that will further research the technology. Louisiana’s climate action plan mentions “carbon capture” 33 times. Direct air capture is only mentioned twice, though it is deemed as a “priority area.” “…Both Edwards and Flake see carbon capture as an economic gold mine for Louisiana. Each LED carbon capture or energy transition announcement brings promises of hundreds of jobs and millions or even billions of dollars spent… “Direct air capture poses risks similar to carbon capture, environmental advocates say. It is “a little bit like trying to mop the ocean,” Jane Patton, plastics and petrochemicals campaigns manager at the Center for International Environmental Law, told the Advocate… “Patton told the Advocate prior direct air capture pilot programs have missed their carbon dioxide sequestration goals while using more energy than promised… Patton is also wary of the injection aspect of both direct air capture and carbon capture, which requires liquefying carbon dioxide, transporting it via pipeline and injecting it deep under cap rocks within Louisiana’s “sinking geology,” as she put it. “That has not been proven to work reliably anywhere in the world at the scale that industry is promising,” Patton told the Advocate… “However, Patton told the Advocate that justification is being used by industrial companies to spend on technologies that won’t trap nearly enough carbon dioxide. Instead, Louisiana should focus on renewable energy and building efficiency investments that can generate far more quality jobs than carbon removal projects.”

Colorado Sun: EPA fines Suncor $300,000 for allegedly violating toxic chemical regulations
Olivia Prentzel, 8/18/23

“The EPA fined Suncor in Commerce City more than $300,000 for alleged violations of toxic chemical regulations during a 2019 release, the federal agency announced Friday, a month after the agency vowed tougher enforcement action for releasing air pollutants into nearby neighborhoods,” the Colorado Sun reports. “Suncor was ordered to spend at least $240,030 on emergency response equipment to improve the South Adams County Fire Department’s capabilities to clean up toxic chemicals, the EPA said. The Commerce City refinery will also be required to pay $60,000 in civil penalties. The fines address the refinery’s violations of toxic chemical release reporting and chemical accident prevention, which the EPA discovered during an inspection in September 2020. The inspection focused on the root causes of the Dec. 11, 2019, catalyst release. The release of the catalyst, which is part of the process of removing impurities from petroleum products, sent clay-like flakes and ash onto neighborhoods. The EPA found that Suncor failed to complete required steps under the Clear Air Act, which aims to prevent accidental releases of chemicals that can have serious consequences for public health, safety and environment.  Suncor also failed to timely report two toxic chemical releases to the community and failed to report sulfuric acid in their industrial batteries to local emergency responders, the EPA said. Suncor is required to report toxic chemical releases under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, which is designed to notify the community of toxic releases and help prepare for chemical accidents.” 

Reuters: Energy Transfer seeks new LNG export license after extension denied
Curtis Williams, 8/21/23

“Pipeline operator Energy Transfer (ET.N) on Friday requested a new and expedited export license for its proposed Lake Charles, Louisiana, liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, according to a filing with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE),” Reuters reports. “The department in May had refused a three-year extension to Energy Transfer’s earlier license saying the request did not meet criteria for a second extension. Several other companies including Commonwealth LNG have been waiting years for their non-FTA license to be approved by the DOE. Energy Transfer has been pursuing the multi-billion-dollar Lake Charles LNG project since 2012 and in its latest filing said it could not finish the plant before the existing license’s 2025 deadline. It wants to receive a new license by Feb. 19, 2024 that would give it seven more years to complete the project. The Dallas-based pipeline operator said it was unable to meet the construction deadline, in part, due to unplanned delays and a decision to add a carbon capture and sequestration component to the plant.”

CNN: Hawaii’s climate-change lawsuit going to trial next summer [VIDEO]
8/20/23

“CNN’s Kim Brunhuber speaks with the lead attorney in a landmark climate case brought by 14 indigenous children against the Hawaii Department of Transport over greenhouse emissions,” CNN reports.

Bakersfield Californian: Berkeley-led carbon management project would study alternatives to oil companies’ efforts
JOHN COX, 8/19/23

“A new, community-based model for managing carbon in the southern San Joaquin Valley is the goal of a unique study about to launch with federal support,” the Bakersfield Californian reports. “Big differences distinguish it from the three other locally focused grant winners on Aug. 11: No oil companies would be involved, the resulting operation would be community-owned, and it might not inject supercritical carbon dioxide deep underground. The $2,999,999 feasibility study awaiting final approval by the U.S. Department of Energy is to be led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment. The project could address some of the biggest concerns environmental justice groups have with competing proposals for pulling CO2 from the atmosphere as part of a climate priority called direct air capture… “The Berkeley study would compete for later federal taxpayer grants against projects for injecting CO2 into depleted oil wells, as proposed by local oil producers Aera Energy LLC and Chevron, both of which got feasibility study grants of about $3 million, and California Resources Corp., which received almost $12 million to begin project design. The grants are subject to final negotiations. There’s no reason why different projects couldn’t move forward. CLEE Executive Director Louise Bedsworth said just because the project has avoided bringing oil companies to the table, for the sake of building meaningful community engagement, doesn’t mean the project will compete with industry efforts… “Also on the team are Carbon 180, a Washington-based climate non-governmental organization; Washington-based Data for Progress, a progressive think tank and polling firm; and Valley Onward, a Merced-based nonprofit focused on increasing equity for Spanish-speaking and other minority communities. Newsha Ajami, chief development officer for research in Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s earth and environmental sciences area, told the Californian the plan is to build scientific inquiry aimed at designing a project around local concerns rather than oil industry-driven solutions.”

Mother Jones: Florida Approved a PragerU Climate Cartoon for Schools. We Asked a Scientist to Fact-Check It.
JACKIE FLYNN MOGENSEN, 8/18/23

“If the culture war has a ground zero, it may be Florida schools,” Mother Jones reports. “…It’s also, apparently, where science goes to die. Last month, Florida became the first state in the nation to approve the use of “educational” videos produced by the conservative organization Prager University Foundation, a group co-founded by right-wing radio host Dennis Prager. While no school district has announced plans to show any of PragerU’s videos, NPR reports, there’s nothing to stop teachers from independently airing the material. As a Florida Department of Education spokesperson said in a statement, the material aligns with Florida’s revised civics and government standards. One of those videos, a nine-minute animation titled Poland: Ania’s Energy Crisis, includes what experts say are several climate-denial talking points. In it, the central character, Ania, questions the climate science she’s taught in school and grows concerned about rising energy costs due to a ban on coal in her home country of Poland. She wonders whether renewables can provide the country with enough energy, and loses friends over her beliefs. But she’s comforted by her family’s “stories of perseverance,” like, in her grandfather’s case, fighting Nazis during the Warsaw Uprising. “Ania is realizing that fighting oppression is risky and that it always takes courage,” the video’s narrator says—seeming to make an indirect comparison between Nazis and climate activists. (When I reached out to PragerU for comment, a spokesperson for the group did not address the comparison.) If the message sounds like it was spun up by oil and gas interests, that’s no coincidence: As E&E News first reported, Prager University, which is not an actual university, has received funding from Texas fracking billionaires Farris and Dan Wilks and the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, which has worked to undo climate regulations. Last month, as E&E News noted, Prager told the conservative group Moms for Liberty, “We bring doctrines to children…But what is the bad of our indoctrination?” But according to Kristina Dahl, the principal climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, PragerU’s video does a “disservice” to kids because it’s not honest about the facts. “I find something like this, that seems to be deliberately misleading kids about how we’re going to solve climate change, to be really dangerous,” she told Mother Jones. “The visuals and the text together are really trying to lead people down one emotional path, leaving the science aside.”

EXTRACTION

Reuters: US energy firm payouts to oil investors top exploration spending for first time
8/22/23

“Top U.S. energy companies last year paid out more of their earnings to shareholders than they invested in new oil and gas fields for the first time, according to a report released on Tuesday,” Reuters reports. “The outlook for stronger energy prices has not changed the focus on investor returns from the U.S. industry, according to the report’s authors, Ernst & Young LLP. U.S. energy companies have been focused on regaining favor with investors after years of overspending on production growth hurt returns and put them in the doghouse… “Spending on dividends and share buybacks by the top 50 U.S. independent oil and gas producers hit $58.8 billion last year, topping the $55.1 billion allocated to exploration and development, according to the EY research… “Last year’s investor payouts were up substantially – 214% over 2021 and more than sevenfold over 2020 levels, the report said. Money spent on finding and tapping oil and gas also rose, but as a much slower pace.”

Canary Media: Ebb Carbon wants to pull CO2 from the sky with electricity and seawater
Maria Gallucci, 8/21/23

“At a waterfront lab in Sequim Bay, a quiet inlet on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, the startup Ebb Carbon is trying to answer a crucial question for the climate: Can we supercharge the ocean’s role as a carbon sink to help limit global warming?,” Canary Media reports. “The California-based company recently began operating its novel ​“marine carbon dioxide removal” system at the Sequim facility, which is run by the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Ebb’s technology uses electrochemistry to split saltwater into its acidic and alkaline parts. The long-term plan is to return alkalinity to the ocean, creating chemical reactions that pull CO2 from the air and store it safely in the sea. “We’re essentially accelerating a natural process,” Ben Tarbell, CEO and co-founder of Ebb Carbon, told Canary Media. ​“So instead of taking millions of years [to happen], it takes weeks to months.” On Monday, the two-year-old startup unveiled its first-of-a-kind demonstration project, which is designed to remove 100 metric tons of CO2 per year at full capacity… “Since launching in 2021, Ebb has raised over $25 million in seed and venture capital funding to develop and deploy its electrochemical system, which can fit inside a 20-foot shipping container. The technology builds on years of research led by Matt Eisaman, the company’s CTO and co-founder, who recently joined Yale University’s Center for Natural Carbon Capture as a faculty member… “The ocean has absorbed roughly 30 percent of the carbon dioxide released by humans since the Industrial Revolution, which is causing ocean acidification that harms coral and shell-forming animals and disrupts fish behavior. Human-caused climate change is also partly the reason why Earth’s oceans are now the hottest they’ve ever been in modern history, scientists say.

TODAY IN GREENWASHING

Common Dreams: US Climate Groups Call on Multiple Industries to Fire Their Fossil Fuel Lobbyists
JULIA CONLEY, 8/17/23

“Weeks after a public interest watchdog unveiled the deep ties the fossil fuel industry maintains to numerous industries in the U.S.—with universities, technology firms, and insurance companies employing many of the same lobbyists as the oil and gas sector—nearly a dozen climate justice groups on Thursday issued a call for governments and institutions across the country to “fire” their fossil fuel lobbyists,” Common Dreams reports. “F Minus, the research group behind a database released last month showing that more than 1,500 lobbyists have worked both for fossil fuel companies and local governments, schools, and other businesses, was joined by organizations including 350.org, Food & Water Watch, and the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) on Thursday in issuing the demand. The groups warned that lobbyists employed by companies like Amazon and State Farm; cities including Minneapolis and Park City, Utah; and institutions such as Omaha Public Schools and the University of Washington are “playing both sides of the climate crisis by lobbying on behalf of oil, gas, and coal companies at the same time they are lobbying on behalf of communities and businesses being harmed by the climate crisis.” The lobbyists in question, they said, must choose between taking money from the industry international scientists agree is causing planetary heating, extreme weather, and other effects of the climate emergency, or working on behalf of the nation’s communities. “Hiring a fossil fuel lobbyist is radically at odds with fighting the climate crisis,” said James Browning, executive director of F Minus. “It’s time to talk to these lobbyists in a language they understand—money—and force them to choose between getting paid to work for the perpetrators of the climate crisis or its victims.” The group revealed last month that universities which have bowed to significant pressure in recent years to divest from fossil fuels are still employing lobbyists that work to promote the pollution-causing industry’s interests.”

Enbridge: In powersports, as in life, ‘safety is a learned behavior’
8/21/23

“In May 2013, during the Memorial Day weekend, Kristen Almer answered a phone call that would change her life forever—her 11-year-old nephew, Logan, had been involved in an ATV accident,” according to Enbridge. “…Kristen and her co-founder Hubert Rowland, a renowned powersport influencer, in 2018 established the RideSafe Foundation, a national 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to reducing powersport-related injuries and fatalities by inspiring children and adults to wear helmets, obtain safety certification, and use proper safety gear before operating powersports equipment… “At Enbridge, safety is the very foundation of our business, and we actively promote safety in the communities near our operations. A recent $10,000 Fueling Futures grant from Enbridge will support RideSafe Powered by BRP school presentations in Carlton County, Minnesota and Douglas, Sawyer and Washburn counties in Wisconsin this September.”

OPINION

InsideClimate News: Q&A: A Legal Scholar Calls the Ruling in the Montana Youth Climate Lawsuit ‘Huge’
Jenni Doering, Steve Curwood, 8/19/23

“From our collaborating partner “Living on Earth,” public radio’s environmental news magazine, an interview by Managing Producer Jenni Doering with Pat Parentau, emeritus professor at Vermont Law and Graduate School, on the ruling this week by a Montana judge in favor of a group of youth plaintiffs who claimed in a lawsuit that the state’s promotion of fossil fuel development violated their constitutional right to “a clean and healthful environment,” InsideClimate News reports. “…PARENTEAU: Well, it was a huge ruling frankly. This was the first time a court in the United States has ruled that there is a constitutional right to a safe climate, in effect. It’s based on the Montana State Constitution. And the Montana Supreme Court has recognized that a right to a healthy environment is a fundamental right of Montanan’s in a case in 1999. So it’s been on the books for a long time. But this is the first time any court in the U.S. anyway, has gone that far, to base a decision on a constitutional right, to a safe climate. So a huge breakthrough. It is a lower court opinion, it will be appealed. So we’ll have to wait and see how it turns out in the Montana Supreme Court, but it’s an incredibly strong opinion… “PARENTEAU: You know, the thing that struck me the most about her opinion is the careful way in which she made a long list of factual findings, over 200. So she has built the strongest, what we’d call evidentiary record, that any court has done. So from the individual harms that the 16 youth plaintiffs in this case are suffering, she went through each and every one of them, and showed how each one of them is being individually impacted right now, by climate change. She went through how the state of Montana is suffering from climate change, and the familiar stories that we know, wildfires and drought, melting, snowpack, melting glaciers, all of that, very carefully. Then she went through the policies that the state is pursuing that’s making all of that worse. Then she went through the expert testimony on what Montana could be doing to reduce emissions to shift to cleaner energy sources. So, from that standpoint, this is a remarkable blueprint that the court has developed, based on evidence not based on argument, but based on evidence of what’s happening, and what could be done to reduce these emissions, and also increase steps to adapt to climate change. So to me, in addition to the remarkable legal ruling, this case should be looked at as a blueprint for what each and every state in the United States should be doing and could be doing. So it’s a very valuable contribution to solutions to the climate crisis.”

Wall Street Journal: A Progressive’s Case for Getting Rid of ‘ESG’
Alex Edmans is a professor of finance at London Business School, 8/19/23

“…For advocates of ESG, this is a no-brainer: Decisions based on environmental, social and corporate-governance factors, they say, can both improve financial performance and create societal value,” Alex Edmans writes for the Wall Street Journal. “So let me say this as clearly as possible: ESG has outlived its usefulness. It’s time we scrap the term. It isn’t that I’m against integrating environmental, social and governance considerations into decision-making. I’ve argued in favor of that myself, and I’m widely viewed as an ESG advocate. But the infatuation with ESG has now gone too far. While an incorporation of ESG can enhance financial and social returns, an obsession with ESG can distract companies and investors from both objectives—by causing them to ignore non-ESG factors that may be even more relevant for long-term value… “Any substantial externality, ESG or not, should be dealt with primarily by the government… “Instead of debating ESG, we should discuss “intangible assets” and “long-term value.” Neither term is political, neither term excludes certain elements and puts a halo on others, and neither term leads to a cottage industry of consultants trying to ensure that something ticks a box. What matters is whether something improves long-term value, rather than whether it’s called ESG. The ESG movement had its time and place. It usefully drew companies’ and investors’ attention to the fact that nonfinancial factors can be financially material. But we’ve now known this for decades and its time is past. Just as painting by numbers is useful for a child learning to paint but limiting thereafter, the current ESG-by-numbers approach has long outlived its purpose. Let’s scrap the politicized, simplistic, and restrictive term of ESG and free companies to create long-term value.”