EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 8/28/23

PIPELINE NEWS

• KELO: PUC says Navigator plume map must be made public

• South Dakota Searchlight: Decision looms by Sept. 6 on pipeline permit, overruling counties

• South Dakota Public Broadcasting: Navigator asks PUC to override county pipeline laws

• South Dakota Searchlight: Navigator asks Public Utilities Commission to shoot down county pipeline rules

• WSLS: Protestor arrested near Mountain Valley Pipeline construction site in Elliston

• Roanoke Times: Natural gas leak caused by corrosion feared by Mountain Valley Pipeline foes

• WLDS: IL AG’s Office Files Contempt Complaint Against Spire STL Pipeline For Alleged Failure to Correct Right of Way Issues in Greene, Scott, Jersey

• Guardian: ‘I’m not the guilty one’: the water protector facing jail time for trying to stop a pipeline

• Wall Street Journal: California Pipeline Pause Weighs on Brookfield-Backed Carbon Business

• Patch: Enbridge Will Vent Algonquin Gas Pipeline In Brewster

WASHINGTON UPDATES

• Bloomberg: Neighbors Don’t Want to be ‘Test Dummies’ For Biden’s Carbon Removal Hubs

• Press release: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ANNOUNCES INTENT TO FUND BUILDOUT OF A CARBON DIOXIDE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM TO SUPPORT NATIONAL DECARBONIZATION EFFORTS

• Washington Post: Three climate protesters arrested at National Museum of Natural History

• The Hill: Climate activists call on Biden to take more forceful action

• E&E News: ‘Delay and denial’: Kerry attacks opponents of climate science

• Politico: Louisiana, API, Chevron Sue To Force Interior To Expand Offshore Oil Lease Sale 

• Associated Press: Energy Interests And Environmentalists Fight Biden Oil Lease Plan From Different Sides 

• Law360: Feds Say New Analysis Supports Willow Project Approvals 

• E&E News: ‘It’s Going To Kill Our Oil Field’: Tribal Leader Blasts Biden Regs 

• E&E News: Interior Prevails In Court Battle Over Oil And Gas Royalties 

• SSRN: Permitting Reform’s False Choice

STATE UPDATES

• Associated Press: Louisiana refinery fire mostly contained but residents worry about air quality

• Associated Press: Petroleum asphalt remains in Yellowstone River, even after cleanup from train derailment

• Colorado Sun: BLM Shifts Green On 2 Million Western Slope Acres, Setting Up Colorado Clash Of Environment Vs. Oil  

• Law360: Green Groups Say Pa. Oil Well Law Is ‘Unconstitutional’ 

• Denver Gazette: Report claims outdoor recreation money can ease pain of moving away from oil and gas

EXTRACTION

• The Hill: A leading corporate strategy for battling climate change is ‘hot air,’ study finds

• New York Times: The Race to Unlock a Vast Source of Clean Energy Beneath Our Feet

CLIMATE FINANCE

• Bloomberg: Fossil Fuel Subsidies Hit $1.3 Trillion Despite Government Pledges to End Them

• National Catholic Reporter: Republican anti-ESG push complicates faith-based impact investing

OPINION

• Chicago Tribune: CO2 pipelines are not an energy solution. They’re a way for fossil fuel companies to make money.

• Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Deny CO2 pipelines in SD now

• Chicago Tribune: Big Oil’s war of deflection

• Roanoke Times: Mountain Valley Pipeline, an equal opportunity disaster

• LaCrosse Tribune: Nick and Nyree Kedrowski: Enbridge pipeline project offers energy, jobs

• Kenosha News: Pipelines are safest way to move energy

• Midland Reporter Telegram: Carbon capture projects bring new opportunity for Texas energy

• Globe and Mail: Canada is burning, so why is our national pension fund still heavily into fossil fuels?

• Wall Street Journal: ESG Busters Need a New Playbook

• Colorado Sun: Oil and gas are not the future of Colorado, so plan accordingly

• Guardian: The message from Ecuador is clear: people will vote to keep oil in the ground

• Truthout: Climate Activists Must Prioritize Front Lines Over Metropolitan Rallies
  

PIPELINE NEWS

KELO: PUC says Navigator plume map must be made public
Bob Mercer, 8/24/23

“Top Navigator officials have reversed themselves and decided to let the public see a plume map showing potential effects from a rupture along the proposed route of the carbon-dioxide pipeline the company wants to build in southeastern South Dakota,” KELO reports. “The state Public Utilities Commission on Thursday directed that the map be allowed as evidence and declared that it should be a public document, but also cautioned that it’s not yet accurate. The map shows the effects along the entire South Dakota portion of the route. Commissioner Chris Nelson said the company must prepare and deliver a more-detailed map. “At that point, it should be released to the public,” he said. The commission will decide on September 6 whether to grant a permit. Commission chair Kristie Fiegen said the map that was offered Thursday presented only a partial picture of the possible effects. “It may not be the worst-case scenario. It isn’t,” she said. Commissioner Gary Hanson favored releasing the map. He said people were “very leery” of the possible damage in the event of a rupture. “I think the more knowledge folks have, the better,” he said. He said that people would see the effects might not reach as far as many fear. “There’s a whole lot more data that will be added to this,” Nelson said. He said the map shows that the effects wouldn’t stretch for “miles and miles and miles.” “…The decision to offer to publicly release the map, if the commission directed it, was made at the company’s top level, Navigator’s Monica Howard said.”

South Dakota Searchlight: Decision looms by Sept. 6 on pipeline permit, overruling counties
JOHN HULT, 8/25/23

“The Public Utilities Commission will decide at a later date whether it will overrule county zoning officials on behalf of a carbon pipeline company,” South Dakota Searchlight reports. “Friday marked the second day of a two-day hearing in Pierre on the question of county authority, brought by  Navigator CO2 Ventures, the company behind one of two proposed carbon pipelines that might pass through South Dakota. Navigator wants commissioners to shoot down county-level restrictions on pipeline construction its representatives say are untenable. On the first day, a Navigator official named Monica Howard said the rules in Minnehaha and Moody counties represent uniquely targeted attempts to scuttle pipeline projects that backers see as critical to the future of the Midwest’s ethanol industry. Howard testified that the county ordinances amount to 11th-hour rule changes to the permitting process… “On Friday, Commissioner Gary Hanson pushed Howard on the right of counties to manage their land use, and questioned her on how Navigator could characterize county zoning rules passed in 2023 as unexpected… “It’s extremely difficult to understand how a business the size of Navigator, with all the personnel that you say are involved, could possibly have not seen this (coming) when hundreds of people were turning out and demanding that some government entity pass some rules,” Hanson said… “Most of the day was taken up by testimony from county zoning officials from Minnehaha and Moody counties. Each testified that pipeline companies were offered ample opportunities to give feedback… “The commission directed lawyers for both sides to prepare legal briefs on the issue, and to file them by Tuesday. The PUC has pledged to make its decision on Navigator’s pipeline permit application, and on the preemption question, by Sept. 6.”

South Dakota Public Broadcasting: Navigator asks PUC to override county pipeline laws
Evan Walton, 8/25/23

“Navigator CO2 is asking the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission to overrule local county pipeline ordinances,” South Dakota Public Broadcasting reports. “…If the PUC grants Navigator’s request, counties like Minnehaha and Moody could not control pipeline offset distances within their borders… “Monica Howard is the Vice President of Environmental and Regulatory for Navigator CO2. She testified on the validity of the mapping. “How this was produced, is the LIDAR imagery that we flew, back in November of 21, is the background imagery you see. And then the center line of the route is in green on there. And then how that plume is created is an offset in either direction of that hazard level two distance, in every direction. That’s why you see it going kind of north at the end of the pipeline, as that 360 piece, then all the way through the whole system,” said Howard. Navigator hopes the mapping will help convince the commission that pre-empting county ordinances is necessary for pipeline construction.”

South Dakota Searchlight: Navigator asks Public Utilities Commission to shoot down county pipeline rules
JOHN HULT, 8/24/23

“South Dakota counties have taken extraordinary steps to interfere with state-level permitting for two carbon dioxide pipelines, a pipeline representative told the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission on Thursday,” South Dakota Searchlight reports. “The assertion was part of a PUC hearing at which the commission is being asked to preempt and overrule pipeline-related rules enacted by several South Dakota counties since last year.  Moody and Minnehaha are among the counties to have enacted new rules on buffer zones between underground pipelines and homes, schools and cities, and each had a lawyer present on Thursday in Pierre. Each county’s ordinance came in response to public concerns about the two pipeline projects, which would carry carbon gas from ethanol plants in the upper Midwest away for underground sequestration… “Navigator’s Monica Howard testified until 5 p.m. during the nearly 10-hour hearing. She told commissioners she’s been involved in pipeline siting discussions for more than 20 years, she’d “permitted in the majority of states,” and that the South Dakota counties’ decisions stand out nationwide. In other states, Howard said, county concerns “have all been related to above-ground facilities and pieces of the pipeline infrastructure that have the potential to interfere with land use.” Underground pipelines don’t interfere with land use, Howard said. The buffer zones enacted in Minnehaha County, she said, would make it all but impossible for Navigator to move ahead with its project on a reasonable timeline.Some provisions are restrictive to the point of unworkable, she said… “Lawyers for the landowners who oppose the project and the two targeted counties let loose a flurry of objections to the exhibits presented by Navigator this week to make its case for preemption of county authority. They objected to plume modeling maps from Navigator that show how far carbon gas would extend in the event of a catastrophic rupture… “Brian Jorde, the lawyer for landowners, pushed Howard on the source of the plume map and argued that its conclusions aren’t reliable or complete. He made similar arguments about maps from Navigator showing new routes the pipeline would be forced to take in the face of the county ordinances, and about a document outlining Navigator’s position on how many additional miles of pipe the company would need to build if the county rules stay in play… “Hagen also asked Howard to confirm that her company has not attempted to seek waivers, nor has it begun the conditional use permitting process. Instead, it challenged the ordinances at the PUC level… “Kristen Edwards, the staff attorney for the PUC, asked Howard about her interactions with the counties. The company shared some of its plans and documents, but not all of them. For example, it presented the distances it believed a carbon plume would travel in an emergency, which formed the basis for Navigator’s suggestions on setbacks for Minnehaha County commissioners, but it did not share the plume modeling maps until Thursday’s PUC hearing… “Howard also said several times on Thursday that an underground pipeline upon or near which the land can be developed doesn’t impact county land use planning… “Minnehaha County made concessions in its ordinance based on Navigator’s feedback, Kippley said, though it didn’t take all of the company’s advice. “I’m sure a pipeline company would prefer the number zero, but that number came from conversations with a number of different stakeholders,” Kippley said.

WSLS: Protestor arrested near Mountain Valley Pipeline construction site in Elliston
8/28/23

“One protester demonstrating at the pipeline construction site in Elliston Saturday was arrested, according to Appalachians Against Pipelines,” WSLS reports. “The group said the individual locked herself to construction equipment at the worksite, near Bradshaw Creek and Road. After protesting for about seven hours, the woman was extracted and arrested. We’re told Virginia State Troopers and the Montgomery County Sheriff were on the scene, and the protester was charged with a misdemeanor, and bail was set at $2,500… “More than 20 people demonstrated at the pipeline construction site in Elliston near Bradshaw Road. They held signs, chanted, played music and drums… “One Third Act Virginia protestor, Lisa Finn, spoke to 10 News about why she wanted to protest. “We don’t need [the pipeline]. We need to move off of fossil fuels immediately. And we don’t need to be building new infrastructure for fossil fuels,” Finn told WSLS. “This fight is all of our fight. We all should be here. We all should be protesting.”

Roanoke Times: Natural gas leak caused by corrosion feared by Mountain Valley Pipeline foes
Laurence Hammack, 8/25/23

“A major leak at a Pennsylvania natural gas storage facility operated by the same company that is leading construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline was caused by corrosion of a well joint,” the Roanoke Times reports. “Equitrans Midstream Corp. detailed its investigation of the November 2022 incident, which spewed about 1 billion cubic feet of a greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, in a report to federal safety regulators. Water and oxygen weakened the well’s underground top joint, causing more damage than what testing in 2016 had revealed. When the data was reprocessed using updated technology, it was determined that the earlier tests were inaccurate, Equitrans said in a news release Thursday. With construction of Mountain Valley resuming this summer, there are concerns that sections of pipe stored above the ground for years have been over-exposed to sunlight, which can break down a protective coating meant to guard against corrosion. “We are distressed to hear confirmation of Equitrans’ failing pipes in Pennsylvania as we fear similar disasters will occur along the MVP route,” Denali Nalamalapu of Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights, an anti-pipeline coalition, told the Times. “Many of us can’t fall asleep at night for fear of MVP pipes exploding and killing our loved ones,” Nalamalapu said in a statement issued by POWHR Friday. “MVP is an unnecessary, beleaguered project that must be stopped immediately.” A Mountain Valley spokeswoman told the Times it was “no surprise” that pipeline opponents are attempting to link the incident in Pennsylvania to pipeline construction… “But critics worry that while negotiations continue, sections of the 42-inch diameter pipe – which may have been compromised by exposure to the elements since 2017 – are being placed in the ground as the company rushes to complete construction by the end of the year. In an Aug. 18 letter to PHMSA, about a dozen organizations opposed to the pipeline asked the administration to work with other federal agencies and order that work be stopped until safety conditions are implemented.”

WLDS: IL AG’s Office Files Contempt Complaint Against Spire STL Pipeline For Alleged Failure to Correct Right of Way Issues in Greene, Scott, Jersey
Benjamin Cox, 8/25/23

“Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has filed a petition to potentially hold a Missouri natural gas company in indirect civil contempt for failing to follow a court-imposed order to fix problems along a pipeline that runs through Scott, Greene, and Jersey counties,” WLDS reports. “The Illinois Attorney General’s Office has filed a petition for rule to show cause against Spire STL Pipeline asking the company to explain why they haven’t lived up to their side of a previous court order that they fix various violations discovered by the Illinois EPA along the pipeline’s right of way… “The complaint says that the 2019 consent order put in place by the court for proper site reclamation and restoration had not been fulfilled or in some cases, not been attempted. The complaint says that the discharge of silt and other debris is now being discharged into surrounding waters of the region, violation both current and past federal Waters of the United States rules. The new petition asks that Spire be held in indirect civil contempt, be fined an undisclosed amount, and be forced to comply with the original 2019 consent order. Federal officials granted Spire a permanent certificate to operate the natural gas pipeline after a two-year long fight with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission through both the Trump and Biden Administrations.”

Guardian: ‘I’m not the guilty one’: the water protector facing jail time for trying to stop a pipeline
Nina Lakhani, 8/27/23

“A 54-year-old climate activist who was among hundreds of peaceful protesters criminalised for opposing the construction of an oil pipeline through pristine Indigenous lands is facing up to five years in prison, amid growing alarm at the crackdown on legitimate environmental protests,” the Guardian reports. “Mylene Vialard was arrested in August 2021 while protesting in northern Minnesota against the expansion and rerouting of Line 3 – a 1,097-mile tar sands oil pipeline with a dismal safety record, that crosses more than 200 water bodies from Alberta, Canada, to refineries in the US midwest. Vialard was charged with felony obstruction and gross misdemeanour trespass on critical infrastructure after attaching herself to a 25ft bamboo tower erected to block a pumping station in Aitkin county. The gross misdemeanour charge, a post 9/11 law which has been used widely against protesters, was eventually dismissed after a court ruled there was insufficient evidence. Vialard refused to take a plea deal on the felony charge, and her trial opens in Aitkin county on Monday. “It was kind of a torturous decision. But in the end, I couldn’t sign a piece of paper saying I was guilty because I’m not the guilty party here. Enbridge is guilty, the violation of treaty rights, the pollution, the risk to water, that is what’s wrong. I’m just using my voice to point out something that’s wrong,” Vialard, a self-employed translator and racial justice activist from Boulder, Colorado, told the Guardian… “Vialard’s arrest was not an anomaly. Minnesota law enforcement – which along with other agencies received at least $8.6m in payments from the Canadian pipeline company Enbridge – made more than 1,000 arrests between December 2020 and September 2021… “Yet the vast majority of charges were eventually dismissed – either outright by prosecutors and judges or through plea deals, suggesting the mass arrests were about silencing and distracting protesters, according to Claire Glenn, an attorney at the Climate Defense Project. “It was obviously not about criminal sanctions or public safety because otherwise the prosecutors would not be dismissing these cases left and right. Enbridge was paying police to get people off the protest line and tied up with pretrial conditions, so they could get the pipeline in the ground, and it worked,” Glenn, who has represented more than 100 Line 3 protesters including Vialard, told the Guardian.

Wall Street Journal: California Pipeline Pause Weighs on Brookfield-Backed Carbon Business
Luis Garcia, 8/27/23

“Carbon TerraVault, a Brookfield-backed joint venture, has been blocked from providing carbon-capture services to some industrial customers by a California law that temporarily bars CO2 from flowing through new pipelines in the state, one of the latest examples of the uncertainties that clean-energy investors face as they bet billions of dollars in emerging sectors,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “…Toronto-based Brookfield pledged $500 million to Carbon TerraVault and owns a 49% stake in the business… “But Carbon TerraVault’s plans changed after California last September enacted the law that prevents using new CO2 pipelines until the establishment of federal safety standards for transporting the gas. That forced the business to shift its focus to so-called greenfield projects, where industrial customers would build new plants near its storage sites, Gould told the Journal. “When we started [Carbon TerraVault], we were focused on emissions by existing plants. But the bill effectively put a moratorium on CO2 pipeline development until federal rules and regulations were done,” he told the Journal. “Recognizing this issue, we pivoted to projects that do not require transport along a pipeline. “…The scale and scope of these [CO2] pipelines are really increasing. Before, it was all about gas-processing plants and oil refineries and such, but now it’s getting closer to people’s backyards,” Lein Mann Bergsmark, a vice president and head of carbon-capture research at energy-focused consulting firm Rystad Energy, told the Journal. The U.S. would need nearly 66,000 miles of CO2 pipelines to help meet a national net-zero emission target by 2050, while such conduits currently cover less than 5,500 miles, according to a recent study from Princeton University researchers… “In May, dozens of activist groups sent a letter to President Biden calling for a nationwide halt on permits for new CO2 pipelines until new regulations are established, expected by next year. The letter cited planned pipelines near densely populated areas as well as schools and shopping centers… “Apart from safety concerns, resistance to CO2 pipeline construction also reflects a push to shift the economy away from fossil fuels, instead of making traditional-energy assets less polluting, Marina Domingues, Rystad’s lead hydrogen analyst for the Americas, told the Journal. Some pipeline opponents see carbon capture as enabling fossil-fuel production, she told the Journal.

Patch: Enbridge Will Vent Algonquin Gas Pipeline In Brewster
Lanning Taliaferro,, 8/25/23

“Algonquin Gas Transmission, LLC notified officials in Brewster and Southeast that “controlled venting” will take place intermittently at its local facility for four days Aug. 26-29,” Patch reports. “There may be noise and/or odor associated with the work at 142 Tulip Road. Venting is the direct release of natural gas into the atmosphere. It happens typically in small amounts for operational, safety, and economic reasons. It is a source of greenhouse gas emissions — especially methane, which has a greater global warming potential than CO2, according a 2021 report from the U.S. Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management. “Flaring and venting pose obvious environmental challenges and represent losses of valuable natural resources,” the OFECM report said… “Algonquin will make every effort to minimize the volume of gas released by using recompression equipment at the site to reduce significantly the amount of gas vented by safely diverting gas into another section of Algonquin’s system. The natural gas which is vented will naturally dissipate. Portable deodorizing equipment and monitors that constantly measure the levels of natural gas will also be used. Company representatives will be on site during this work. There is no cause for concern and there will be no danger to persons or property in the area.”

WASHINGTON UPDATES

Bloomberg: Neighbors Don’t Want to be ‘Test Dummies’ For Biden’s Carbon Removal Hubs
Ari Natter, 8/23/23

“Roishetta Ozane knows a thing or two about pollution,” Bloomberg reports. “Twelve petrochemical facilities surround the 38-year-old single Black mother’s house in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, often flaring harmful chemicals. Another facility is slated to rise nearby that Ozane worries about. But unlike the petrochemical ones, the new installation is supposed to help fight climate change — and the Biden administration is backing it as part of a $1.2 billion investment.”

Press release: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ANNOUNCES INTENT TO FUND BUILDOUT OF A CARBON DIOXIDE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM TO SUPPORT NATIONAL DECARBONIZATION EFFORTS
8/25/23

“The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) today issued a notice of intent (NOI) to provide funding made available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for DOE’s Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation (CIFIA) Future Growth Grants program, focused on expanding carbon dioxide (CO2) transportation infrastructure to help reduce CO2 emissions across the United States… “America’s carbon transport system is already of significant scale—including multiple methods such as truck, freight, and pipelines that together transport almost 60 million metric tons of CO2 per year. Carbon capture projects in the United States are predicted to capture and store 65 million metric tons of CO2 per year by 2030, 250 million metric tons of CO2 per year by 2035, and 450 million metric tons per year by 2040. To accommodate the rapid growth of carbon capture and storage industry, we will need to significantly expand the infrastructure to transport carbon dioxide over the next decade. If issued, this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) will provide CIFIA future growth grants to provide financial assistance for developing and building extra CO2 transport capacity up front that will then be available for future carbon capture and direct air capture facilities as they are developed and for additional CO2 storage and/or conversion sites as they come into operation. Significant economic benefits can be achieved through economies of scale—by making additional up-front investments now to provide enough CO2 transport infrastructure capacity to accommodate potential CO2 supplies that are expected to come into operation at a later time. Investments in additional capacity made available by CIFIA future growth grants can help avoid future construction of separate, redundant transport networks, as well as associated environmental impacts. The additional transport capacity also may incentivize CO2 emitters to make the capital investments required to capture CO2 at their facilities by providing assurance that the captured CO2 can be moved safely, reliably, and cost-effectively to geologic storage or other end-use locations.”

Washington Post: Three climate protesters arrested at National Museum of Natural History
Ellie Silverman, 8/24/23

“Three people said they were arrested Thursday during a protest inside the National Museum of Natural History in an effort to raise awareness about the climate crisis and to urge President Biden to declare a climate emergency,” the Washington Post reports. “Jim Wood, a spokesman for the museum, confirmed in a statement that three people were arrested Thursday about 11:30 a.m. in the fossil hall after one person glued themselves to a sign and others climbed into an exhibit. They were accused of unlawful entry… “The three protesters said that they were part of Declare Emergency, an activist group seeking governmental action on climate change, and that they were arrested for alleged unlawful entry in Thursday’s action. The group also organized the April protest that included smearing paint on the case protecting Edgar Degas’s “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen” sculpture at the National Gallery of Art. The group has held demonstrations in the region that resulted in protesters being arrested for blocking traffic. The protesters’ action happened in the David H. Koch Hall of Fossils — Deep Time, in a section of the exhibit labeled “Last American Dinosaurs,” Wood told the Post. The protesters said they chose the location to make the point that humans are the dinosaurs of today, in that we face the “asteroid” of carbon, said Callie Justice, 72, of Durham, N.C., who was one of the people arrested. The purpose of the action was to spread this message — not to damage anything inside the museum, the protesters told the Post.”

The Hill: Climate activists call on Biden to take more forceful action
JULIA MUELLER, 8/27/23

“Ask young activists about the Biden administration’s efforts to address the climate, and they’re quick to point out the problem isn’t close to being solved,” The Hill reports. “Despite historic climate moves put in motion by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which hit its first anniversary last week, many in the critical voting bloc of young Americans want to see the Biden-Harris administration rein in fossil fuels and declare a climate emergency. “It’s not enough now for the Democratic Party to wipe their hands and say, ‘IRA solved it all.’ We’re still in a crisis. This is still an emergency,” Michele Weindling, electoral director at the youth-led progressive environmental advocacy group Sunrise Movement, told the Hill… “Weindling told the Hill her movement sees the IRA as a historic step that delivered “an insane amount of climate investment,” but contended that “the reality is, the IRA isn’t enough for young people” in the face of escalating environmental concerns, like the onslaught of extreme weather this summer alone… “I frankly think that it’s absurd that while … the Biden administration is celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act, it is going unacknowledged that the administration has not done enough to address fossil fuel supply,” Zanagee Artis, a founding member and executive director of the youth-led climate group Zero Hour said last week… “They’ve done a lot of great work on electrification and the build out of renewable energy. But we think that commitment to environmental justice and the phase-out of fossil fuel production is sorely lacking,” Artis told the Hill. Both Zero Hour and the Sunrise Movement are among the youth activist groups calling for Biden to declare a climate emergency, which experts say would give the president more power to act on climate change.”

E&E News: ‘Delay and denial’: Kerry attacks opponents of climate science
Sara Schonhardt, 8/25/23

“Climate envoy John Kerry railed against climate delay and denial Thursday, one day after Republican presidential candidates pledged to double down on fossil fuel production,” E&E News reports. “A former senator who was the Democratic nominee for president in 2004, Kerry castigated U.S. politicians, world leaders and industries who distort scientific findings about the cascading effects of rising temperatures driven by burning fossil fuels. His comments in Scotland came on the heels of the first Republican presidential debate in which some candidates falsely claimed that climate change is not occurring. “They incite a movement against what they falsely label ‘climate change fanaticism,’” Kerry said. “Earth’s future hangs in the balance. All because some extremist political voices, holdout nations and vastly vested interests have declared war on facts and science,” he said. “These interests would choose a destructive status quo over the opportunity to build a clean energy economy, which can rescue our future; put millions of people to work; and leave us all safer, stronger, more secure.”

Politico: Louisiana, API, Chevron Sue To Force Interior To Expand Offshore Oil Lease Sale 
Ben Lefebvre, 8/24/23

“The Louisiana Attorney General, American Petroleum Institute and Chevron filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging the Interior Department’s removal of six million acres of a Gulf of Mexico offshore oil lease sale next month — just one day after the agency released its final plan,” Politico reports. “Details: The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Louisiana, seeks an injunction against Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s removal from consideration the acres that had been found to be habitat for the endangered Rice’s whale. The suit contends that the removal of the acres, part of a settlement the Biden administration made with environmental groups, was not considered in BOEM’s initial lease sale proposal earlier this year and therefore violates the Administrative Procedure Act.”

Associated Press: Energy Interests And Environmentalists Fight Biden Oil Lease Plan From Different Sides 
Kevin McGill, 8/25/23

“The Biden administration’s plan to protect an endangered species of whale by scaling back an auction of oil and gas drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico is being challenged by the oil industry, even as environmentalists go to court to stop the lease sale altogether,” the Associated Press reports. “The conflicting federal lawsuits, one filed Thursday in Louisiana by oil interests, the other announced Friday in Washington by the organization Earthjustice, focus on a planned sale of oil and gas leases set for Sept. 27 in New Orleans. As originally proposed in March, the sale was to cover more than 73 million acres. That area was reduced to 67 million acres this week when the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced final plans for the sale. The revision, which also includes new speed limits and requirements for personnel on industry vessels, dovetails with measures announced by the administration on Monday to protect the endangered Rice’s whale in the Gulf. The adoption of those measures is part of an agreement the administration reached last month with environmentalists in efforts to settle a whale-protection lawsuit filed in federal court in Maryland.”

Law360: Feds Say New Analysis Supports Willow Project Approvals 
Tom Lotshaw, 8/24/23

“The Bureau of Land Management is asking an Alaska federal judge to uphold its approvals for the Willow oil and gas project and to throw out conservation groups’ challenges, arguing that while its original authorization for the ConocoPhillips drilling venture was found to be faulty, those shortcomings have all been addressed,” Law360 reports. “In a court filing Wednesday, the BLM says its challenged 2023 decision authorized a significantly scaled back Willow project after an extensive review that corrected the flaws of a prior 2020 authorization the court overturned in 2021. ‘Plaintiffs contend that defendants have only repeated past errors, but such characterizations find no support in the modified plan, which substantially reduces development, improves protections for the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area and subsistence resources and uses, and receives diverse support across Alaska’s North Slope,’ the BLM says… “Its authorizations are again being challenged by conservation groups including the Center for Biological Diversity, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic and the Sierra Club.”

E&E News: ‘It’s Going To Kill Our Oil Field’: Tribal Leader Blasts Biden Regs 
Heather Richards, 8/25/23

 “For the first time in nearly 50 years, the Biden administration wants to modernize how the federal government manages the Osage Nation’s oil and gas estate — but tribal leaders are balking,” E&E News reports. “The Interior Department has proposed giving the tribe a new framework for oil and gas development, with updated rules on royalties, charges on unnecessarily wasted oil and gas, and tougher bonds to keep companies from leaving abandoned wells on the Oklahoma prairie. It’s also attempting to reverse years of mismanagement that cost the federal government an expensive settlement with the tribe. But Everett Waller, chair of the Osage Minerals Council, told E&E federal rules have long undermined the tribe’s oil and gas wealth, and the draft regulations from the Biden administration would only scare off potential drillers with red tape and hefty costs. ‘It’s going to kill our oil field,’ he told E&E.”

E&E News: Interior Prevails In Court Battle Over Oil And Gas Royalties 
Pamela King, 8/25/23

“A federal appeals court has upheld an Obama-era revision to royalty payment calculations for oil and gas produced on federal land,” E&E News reports. “In a ruling issued Friday, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected claims from the American Petroleum Institute that the Obama administration’s 2016 amendment to the Interior Department valuation regulation violated federal laws governing agency rulemaking. Interior’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue, or ONRR, ‘examined the relevant data and adequately explained why it adopted each disputed feature’ of the valuation methods the oil and gas trade group contested, wrote Judge Nancy Moritz. ‘Because ONRR did not act arbitrarily and capriciously, we affirm,’ said the judge, an Obama appointee. The decision is the latest turn in a long legal saga related to Interior’s valuation rule. The Trump administration had tried to reverse the Obama regulation, but those efforts were struck down in court. Litigation over the Obama rule restarted, and a federal judge in Wyoming scrapped the parts of it that applied to coal mining — but left in place the oil and gas provisions.”

SSRN: Permitting Reform’s False Choice
David E. Adelman, University of Texas School of Law; University of Texas at Austin – Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law & Business, 8/14/23

“Combatting climate change will involve a monumental effort to build new low- and zero-carbon infrastructure. Over the past few years, concern has reached a boiling point that environmental laws, such as the National Environmental Policy Act, are impeding climate action,” David E. Adelman writes for the University of Texas School of Law. “Ezra Klein of the New York Times has argued, for example, that environmental laws are “too often, powerful allies of an intolerable status quo . . . making it almost impossible to build green infrastructure at the speed we need.” The resulting calls for “permitting reform” are premised on sacrificing the protections and procedures of traditional environmental laws to facilitate decarbonization of the energy and other sectors. This Article presents the first national study of federal permits and environmental reviews for energy infrastructure constructed between 2010 and 2021. The analysis reveals that most projects were subject to streamlined administrative procedures or avoided federal regulation altogether. Less than 5 percent of wind and solar projects required a comprehensive environmental review or project-specific permit. Further, the number of federal environmental cases challenging new projects was remarkably low—a total of 28 cases involved wind projects, 8 solar, and 14 transmission lines over this 12-year period. One might still worry that federal agencies will become overwhelmed as decarbonization efforts accelerate. This is unlikely, however, because the relevant agencies already use streamlined procedures and process thousands of environmental reviews and permits each year. Even accounting for the projected growth in the deployment of renewables, the total volume of applications is unlikely to become unworkable. The Article concludes that neither placing broad limits on citizen suits nor weakening the procedures and protections of traditional environmental laws is necessary to meet the exigencies of the climate crisis; instead, reforms should center on specific problem areas highlighted by this study.”

STATE UPDATES

Associated Press: Louisiana refinery fire mostly contained but residents worry about air quality
8/26/23

“Crews were still working to suppress flare-ups Saturday as a fire at a Louisiana oil refinery burned for a second day along the banks of the Mississippi River, while residents worried about health effects from the fumes and black smoke,” the Associated Press reports. “Tests have so far found “non-detectable air quality impacts” from Friday’s massive fire, Marathon Patroleum said in a emailed statement Saturday. The state Department of Environmental Quality and a third-party contractor were conducing the tests. The company said two people were injured and 10 others evaluated for heat stress. The fire damaged two giant storage tanks for naphtha, a component in the production of gasoline and jet fuels. On Friday, orange flames belched a column of thick smoke over the facility in Garyville, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northwest of New Orleans, forcing residents of the mostly rural area to evacuate within a 2-mile (3-kilometer) radius. “You look outside your house and the sky is black,” Hilary Cambre, who lives right next to the refinery, told WWL-TV on Friday. He and other residents said they felt nauseous, dizzy and had headaches. People with respiratory conditions should avoid going outdoors if they live near the facility, Dr. Rustin Reed with Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine told the television station. Some schools locked down Friday and two nearby schools served as evacuation centers, the station reported. One resident described police officers driving around with loudspeakers alerting people to the mandatory evacuation. The cause of the fire will be investigated, the company told AP.”

Associated Press: Petroleum asphalt remains in Yellowstone River, even after cleanup from train derailment
MATTHEW BROWN, 8/24/23

“Two months after a railroad bridge collapse sent carloads of hazardous oil products plunging into Montana’s Yellowstone River, the cleanup workers are gone and a mess remains,” the Associated Press reports. “Thick mats of tarry petroleum asphalt cover portions of sandbars. Oil-speckled rocks and bushes line the shore along with chunks of yellow sulfur, a component of crude. In the middle of the river downstream of the bridge, a tangle of black steel juts out of the water from a large piece of ruptured tank car. The railroad, Montana Rail Link, in conjunction with federal and state officials last week halted most cleanup work and stopped actively looking for contaminated sites. They said falling river levels that have been exposing more pollution also make it harder to safely operate the large power boats used by cleanup crews. Almost half of the 48,000 gallons (180,000 liters) of molten petroleum asphalt that spilled has not been recovered, officials said. That includes 450 sites with asphalt in quantities considered too small or too difficult for efficient removal, according to data provided to The Associated Press. The spill extends more than 125 miles (200 kilometers) along a stretch of river popular among anglers and recreationists and relied upon by farmers to irrigate crops. Yellowstone National Park is upstream and not impacted. The scope of remaining pollution was evident this week when viewed by boat downstream of the collapsed bridge, which has since been repaired. Asphalt could be seen on every river island visited, ranging from globs stuck on riverside vegetation and rocks, to thick mats of tar oozing across sandbars as summer temperatures heat it into a viscous liquid. “What we’ve seen out there tells us that there should be a second phase of cleanup. They need to come back and they need to do a better job,” Wendy Weaver, executive director of Montana Freshwater Partners, told AP… “Elevated levels of a toxic component of oil known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, have been detected in mountain whitefish downstream of the spill site, prompting an advisory against eating any caught along a 41-mile (66-kilometer) stretch of the Yellowstone… “A follow-up search for asphalt is planned next year and officials said shifting sandbars could reveal more that can be removed. Weaver worries next year’s spring surge of snowmelt could wash the remaining asphalt further downstream or bury it. “I feel like they’re trying to sweep this under the rug,” she told AP.

Colorado Sun: BLM Shifts Green On 2 Million Western Slope Acres, Setting Up Colorado Clash Of Environment Vs. Oil  
Michael Booth, Tracy Ross, 8/25/23

“Two million acres of Colorado’s most scenic Western Slope lands would see stronger protections and less oil and gas leasing under a draft Bureau of Land Management proposal, in what would amount to a large-scale greening of the powerful federal agency,” the Colorado Sun reports. “The wildlands-friendly BLM draft, forced by environmental lawsuits and now lauded by the same groups, immediately drew the ire of extraction advocates. The BLM’s preferred alternative in a draft supplemental environmental impact statement now up for public comment makes it easier to carve out wilderness and harder to drill on public lands in two districts stretching through Eagle, Pitkin and Mesa counties, and along much of the Colorado River. The impact statement is required for a BLM resource management plant that serves as the operating manual for years of federal actions. Once locked in place, advocacy groups can sue if the plan’s tenets are not fulfilled. Wildlands advocates went to court to seek tougher screening of land uses for potential greenhouse gas and climate change impacts. In a rare development over sprawling public lands battles in the modern era, the revised management plan gave green groups much of what they wanted.” 

Law360: Green Groups Say Pa. Oil Well Law Is ‘Unconstitutional’ 
Peter McGuire, 8/24/23

“A coalition of environmental groups has accused Pennsylvania’s governor and lawmakers of violating the state’s constitution by shirking their responsibility to cap thousands of abandoned oil and gas wells polluting the commonwealth’s environment,” Law360 reports. “Organizations including Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future and the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit in the state’s Commonwealth Court on Wednesday, alleging that a law passed last year froze the bond amount that operators put down to ensure cleanup of exhausted conventional wells at just $2,500, far below actual remediation costs. Inadequate bonds give operators no incentive to quickly seal off old wells and leave the state without enough money to undertake cleanup itself, the groups said in the complaint. Thousands of abandoned wells keep emitting methane, an unhealthy greenhouse gas, can spill oil and gas and are an explosion risk, according to the complaint. The new law is unconstitutional, because it prevents the commonwealth from satisfying its trust obligation to ensure abandoned oil and gas wells are dealt with and violates Pennsylvanians’ right to a clean and healthy environment, the groups said.”

Denver Gazette: Report claims outdoor recreation money can ease pain of moving away from oil and gas
Scott Weiser, 8/25/23

“Oil and gas extraction in Colorado is both undesirable and fiscally unnecessary, environmental activists said on Tuesday, citing a report that claimed money from the outdoor recreation industry can ease the economic pain of transitioning away from fossil fuels,” the Denver Gazette reports. ”The outdoor recreation economy is significant in Colorado, and provides an alternative, though not full replacement, for the extractive industry,” the report concluded. An oil and gas representative called the report “politically motivated” and added that it failed to acknowledge the role fossil-derived energy plays in modern society.     The Colorado Fiscal Institute — an advocacy organization that seeks to advance policies that “promote equity and widespread prosperity for all Coloradans” — presented the report’s findings during a virtual meeting organized on Tuesday by Colorado Rising, a Boulder based environmental non-profit organization that calls itself the “oil and gas’ chief adversary.”  During the meeting, Chris Stiffler, the institute’s senior economist, compared the economic benefits of the recreational industry and the oil and gas industry, and effectively sought to paint one as noxious and the other as the antidote and argued that they are incompatible with one another.   Stiffler said Colorado is No. 8 among states for outdoor recreation jobs, and that about 125,000 such jobs make up 4.3% of overall employment in the state. In the U.S. 4.5 million jobs are tied to outdoor recreation, comprising about 3% of overall employment in the country, he added. He said there are “six times as many jobs in the outdoor recreation industry as there are in the oil and gas industry.” “…In 2021, the oil and gas industry directly employed about 20,000 people and provided about $14 billion, while the outdoor recreation industry produced about $11.6 billion, he said. “The only difference is the outdoor recreation industry doesn’t contribute to the increasing severity of forest fires that the fossil fuels industry does,” Stiffler told the Gazette.. 

EXTRACTION

The Hill: A leading corporate strategy for battling climate change is ‘hot air,’ study finds
SAUL ELBEIN, 8/24/23

“A popular method for reducing carbon emissions may be little more than “hot air,” a new study has found,” The Hill reports. “In past years, financial markets have done increasingly brisk business in “voluntary carbon offsets,” projects that ostensibly capture greenhouse gas emissions — or prevent them from being released into the atmosphere. One of the leading forms of offsets — used by many leading corporations — is “forest carbon offsets.” Under such programs, companies subsidize forests which absorb the equivalent of the companies’ carbon emissions as they grow — at least in theory. The study published Thursday in Science offers strong evidence that the theory doesn’t live up to the practice. “Carbon credits provide major polluters with some semblance of climate credentials,” co-author Andreas Kontoleon of Cambridge University said in a statement. But he noted that the international team had found “that claims of saving vast swathes of forest from the chainsaw to balance emissions are overblown.”

New York Times: The Race to Unlock a Vast Source of Clean Energy Beneath Our Feet
Brad Plumer, 8/28/23

“In a sagebrush valley full of wind turbines and solar panels in western Utah, Tim Latimer gazed up at a very different device he believes could be just as important for fighting climate change. It was a drilling rig, of all things, transplanted from the oil fields of North Dakota. But the softly whirring rig wasn’t searching for fossil fuels. It was drilling for heat,” the New York Times reports. “Mr. Latimer’s company, Fervo Energy, is part of an ambitious effort to unlock vast amounts of geothermal energy from Earth’s hot interior, a source of renewable power that could help displace fossil fuels that are dangerously warming the planet. “There’s a virtually unlimited resource down there if we can get at it,” Mr. Latimer told the Times. “Geothermal doesn’t use much land, it doesn’t produce emissions, it can complement wind and solar power. Everyone who looks into it gets obsessed with it.” Traditional geothermal plants, which have existed for decades, work by tapping natural hot water reservoirs underground to power turbines that can generate electricity 24 hours a day. Few sites have the right conditions for this, however, so geothermal only produces 0.4 percent of America’s electricity currently. But hot, dry rocks lie below the surface everywhere on the planet. And by using advanced drilling techniques developed by the oil and gas industry, some experts think it’s possible to tap that larger store of heat and create geothermal energy almost anywhere. The potential is enormous: The Energy Department estimates there’s enough energy in those rocks to power the entire country five times over and has launched a major push to develop technologies to harvest that heat… “Fervo is using fracking techniques — similar to those used for oil and gas — to crack open dry, hot rock and inject water into the fractures, creating artificial geothermal reservoirs. Eavor, a Canadian start-up, is building large underground radiators with drilling methods pioneered in Alberta’s oil sands. Others dream of using plasma or energy waves to drill even deeper and tap “superhot” temperatures that could cleanly power thousands of coal-fired power plants by substituting steam for coal. Still, obstacles to geothermal expansion loom. Investors are wary of the cost and risks of novel geothermal projects. Some worry about water use or earthquakes from drilling. Permitting is difficult. And geothermal gets less federal support than other technologies.”

CLIMATE FINANCE

Bloomberg: Fossil Fuel Subsidies Hit $1.3 Trillion Despite Government Pledges to End Them
Leslie Kaufman, 8/24/23

“Despite repeated government pledges to cut back on fossil fuel subsidies, a new report found such subsidies surged to a record $1.3 trillion last year,” Bloomberg reports. “The report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) looked at both explicit and implicit subsidies for fossil fuels across 170 countries. It found explicit subsidies alone have more than doubled since the previous IMF assessment, rising from $500 billion in 2020 to $1.3 trillion in 2022 as governments rushed to mitigate the inflationary impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the spike in demand caused by the economic recovery from Covid-19. Those subsidies are direct monetary support for fossil fuels through activities like regulated prices set below international levels and energy bill rebates.”

National Catholic Reporter: Republican anti-ESG push complicates faith-based impact investing
BRIAN ROEWE, 8/24/23

“As heat waves blazed across the U.S. in July, what was later declared the hottest month on record, House Republicans held a series of hearings grilling investment practices based on environmental, social and governance criteria, or ESG,” according to the National Catholic Reporter. “The monthlong inquiries, aimed at what conservative lawmakers and their allies call “woke capitalism,” produced an unexpected target of interest: Seventh Generation Interfaith Coalition for Responsible Investment, a contingent of 40 faith-based institutions, mostly Catholic congregations of women and men religious.  Letters from the House Judiciary Committee sought all communications and documents the world’s largest proxy adviser firms — Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis — and others had with Seventh Generation Interfaith Coalition and fellow shareholder engagement organizations, alleging they may have colluded and violated U.S. antitrust law in advocating American companies to decarbonize their assets and achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in their operations. It was the second time in six months Seventh Generation Interfaith was named by conservative politicians investigating ESG-guided investing. A March letter from Republican attorneys general for 21 states lumped the faith investing coalition among “some of the most radical ESG activists” who use shareholder resolutions to press companies to align with the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change and reach net-zero emissions globally by 2050 to wean economies worldwide off the use of fossil fuels.”

OPINION

Chicago Tribune: CO2 pipelines are not an energy solution. They’re a way for fossil fuel companies to make money.
Bruce W. Mainzer, vice chair, Climate Reality Project, Chicago metro chapter, 8/25/23

“Charles McConnell’s Aug. 18 op-ed (“CO2 pipelines in Illinois are a safe investment for the future”) falsely depicts carbon capture technology and carbon dioxide pipelines as the answer for delivering reliable and affordable energy in an environmentally responsible manner,” Bruce W. Mainzer writes for the Chicago Tribune. “In actuality, carbon capture technology and CO2 pipelines are being used by the fossil fuel industry to perpetuate the further production of fossil fuels. Carbon capture technology and CO2 pipelines are hardly the solutions to Illinois’ need to decarbonize industry and transportation modes if the state is to meet the challenge of the climate crisis. Unfortunately, due to tax credits in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act, corporations are seeking to build thousands of miles of CO2 pipeline from Illinois to North Dakota without regard to the risks posed by these pipelines. McConnell states in the op-ed that CO2 pipelines do not leak. McConnell should talk to the residents of Satartia, Mississippi, who are suffering long-term respiratory effects and cognitive impairments from a CO2 pipeline rupture in 2020. McConnell describes the carbon capture and CO2 pipeline industry as a climate solution, whereas it’s really part of the climate problem. Almost all of the carbon dioxide transported in pipelines is used for “enhanced oil recovery” in which the CO2 that is captured is injected back into oil wells to produce even more fossil fuels that the oil industry wants us to burn in our cars and our homes. How is burning more fossil fuels an answer to the climate crisis? The claim that carbon capture technology and CO2 pipelines are the answer for environmentally responsible fuel production is a joke. In reality, it’s a scheme to permit fossil fuel corporations to increase their profits and production.”

Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Deny CO2 pipelines in SD now
Rose Mather, Yankton, 8/27/23

“I own property in Iowa and South Dakota. I object to all C02 Pipelines,” Rose Mather writes for the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. “Why are we wasting precious time on documented, ineffective, experimental, destructive, hazardous, costly, C02 pipelines when we should be working on effectively eliminating the threat of C02 on C02 producing sites?… “Too many people with power to stop these are silent. We are promised justice against greed and evil. Hopefully, people will speak up before South Dakota and the Heartland are permanently destroyed. The appointed and elected officials need to honor the true intention of eminent domain, recognize the property rights of landowners/farmers, understand the obvious risks, waste of tax-payer money, and wisely use common sense. Deny these pipelines now.”

Chicago Tribune: Big Oil’s war of deflection
Karen O. Fort, Chicago, 8/25/23

“A new Illinois carbon dioxide pipeline proposal is the latest step in the new war of deflection from Big Oil,” Karen O. Fort writes for the Chicago Tribune. “…My hunch: The U.S. State Department could only get Republican congressmen to vote for the Inflation Reduction Act if the Department of Energy bought the polluters off with research money for the unproven. Front groups for Big Oil are in the pocket of polluters; they promote carbon capture utilization and storage, or CCUS, so that Big Oil can keep extracting and burning fossil fuels. Climate scientist Michael Mann debunks it: “There hasn’t been a proof of concept that shows that you can use (carbon capture storage) and produce energy without producing carbon pollution. … It’s not a meaningful climate solution, and it displaces meaningful climate solutions like clean energy, renewable energy.” The pipeline won’t leak? There is no proof.”

Roanoke Times: Mountain Valley Pipeline, an equal opportunity disaster
Diana Christopulos, Salem, 8/27/23

“Some newcomers or distant observers (“Thanks to Democrats, MVP circus continues,” letter, Aug. 11) are apparently unaware that Mountain Valley Pipeline is as unpopular with landowners like the 300 who have lost their land to MVP through the use of federal eminent domain as it is with environmentalists,” Diana Christopulos writes for the Roanoke Times. “And, oh, some landowners are environmentalists regardless of their politics. Such outsiders may not know that conservative county boards of supervisors in Giles, Craig, Montgomery and Roanoke counties all formally opposed the project by 2016 or that Freedom Caucus member Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem has publicly stated that MVP is opposed by everyone in his district from right wing landowners to left wing professors. While some media outlets (not The Roanoke Times) think opposition to MVP involves a left/right split, those who live here know better… “MVP is worst of all for landowners, who face the prospect of a 42-inch bomb on their land — highly explosive natural gas under 1,440 pounds per square inch of pressure — more than twice as large as the one that exploded in Northern Virginia recently. In the limestone/dolomite karst of the valleys along the route, this means they could face incineration within 1,100 feet of the project and severe damage up to 3 miles away on each side. All of us in the Roanoke Valley could face a huge wildfire if the pipe fails and explodes on the steep slopes and karst of Fort Lewis Mountain, the Elliston area (Interstate 81 and the Roanoke River) and Poor Mountain. MVP is an equal opportunity disaster.”

LaCrosse Tribune: Nick and Nyree Kedrowski: Enbridge pipeline project offers energy, jobs
Nick and Nyree Kedrowski, Black River Falls, 8/25/23

“As Native business owners who train and connect tribal members with the construction industry, it was our pleasure to recently take part in the Wisconsin Jobs and Energy Coalition’s Safest Way Tour in West Salem,” Nick and Nyree Kedrowski write for the LaCrosse Tribune. “As speakers at the event, we shared our perspective on the need to ensure our state’s tribal communities receive opportunities in these well-paying, family sustaining, careers working on pipelines. Additionally, we explained the positive working relationship we and many other Native-owned businesses have had working with Enbridge – the pipeline company proposing the Line 5 relocation in northern Wisconsin… “Whether it is the union jobs pipelines create while being built and maintained… or the propane made possible by Line 5 that is used to heat homes (including ours), dry crops and run machinery… or the small businesses that rely on gas and diesel to move their products to market… it was clear that without pipelines our state’s residents would have very different, and more difficult, lives… “While we support the transition to renewable energy sources, we also realize that the full transition will take time. In the meantime, pipelines like Line 5 represent the most efficient and safest way to transport the energy our state’s families, workers, farmers, tribal members and businesses need.”

Kenosha News: Pipelines are safest way to move energy
Josh Birong, Business Manager, UA Local 118 in Kenosha, Racine, and Walworth counties, 8/27/23

“The Kenosha Union Club recently hosted the Wisconsin Jobs and Energy Coalition’s Safest Way Tour to show our support for Enbridge’s Line 5 relocation project and the 700 union jobs that come with it,” Josh Birong writes for the Kenosha News. “Let’s be clear: Pipelines are the safest way to move the energy we all need to drive our vehicles, heat our homes, and transport the goods we rely on to survive. We are working towards green energy, but it takes time. Shutting down pipelines like Line 5 will only push more energy transportation to trucks, which creates a significantly larger carbon footprint, increases the potential for spills, and substantially increases energy costs for end users… “The Line 5 relocation project will be built in the safest and most environmentally friendly way possible. I know this because the union men and women involved are among the industry’s best-trained and most skilled, and every joint will be welded by UA members, who are undoubtedly the best in the industry… “The UA and the Wisconsin Building Trades support the Line 5 relocation project because it is best for the environment today as we work for a greener energy future.”

Midland Reporter Telegram: Carbon capture projects bring new opportunity for Texas energy
Matt Welch is state director for Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation, 8/27/23

“Texas is known for its leadership in energy innovation, and today we have an opportunity to build on that status and enable the next energy revolution,” Matt Welch writes for the Midland Reporter Telegram. “…We also have the unique combination of geology, infrastructure and expertise to deploy advanced technologies to store vast volumes of CO2 through carbon capture and sequestration (CCS)… “In addition to the obvious environmental benefits, CCS is projected to become a major new industry. According to recent estimates, CCS represents a $60 billion economic opportunity for Texas, including 18,000 new jobs. A report from the U.S. Department of Energy projects that CCS represents a $600 billion investment opportunity nationwide by 2050… “Of course, Texas is not the only state that can attract this industry, and a combination of regulatory failures at the state and especially federal level are undermining our competitiveness… “Louisiana’s application for primacy – which is when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grants states the authority to permit carbon storage projects, known as Class VI wells – was given initial approval by the EPA earlier this year, putting them well ahead of Texas… “Meanwhile, the Texas application for primacy remains stuck at EPA, which has been moving the goalposts for state primacy and manufacturing needlessly long timelines… “Undoubtedly, state primacy is a competitive advantage. EPA takes years to review, process, and issue a Class VI well permit, whereas states like North Dakota that have received primacy can do so in a manner of months… “The CCS opportunity in Texas is enormous, and we have the same kind of competitive advantage that Texans have grown used to in our energy sector. The only barriers are bureaucracy and bad policy.”

Globe and Mail: Canada is burning, so why is our national pension fund still heavily into fossil fuels?
Patrick DeRochie is the senior manager of Shift Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health, 8/27/23

“As Canada experiences a record-shattering summer of deadly extreme weather, it’s worth remembering that our national pension fund has poured much of our retirement savings into the primary cause of the climate crisis: fossil fuels,” Patrick DeRochie writes for the Globe and Mail. “In doing so, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is also undermining its own purpose: to provide Canadians with retirement security by achieving a maximum rate of return without undue risk of loss. Fossil fuel industries, after all, must be rapidly phased out to ensure a safe climate future… “That’s why it’s so problematic for CPPIB to continue investing Canada’s retirement fund in the high-risk fossil fuels driving the climate crisis. CPPIB is the investment manager for the $575-billion Canada Pension Plan, with 21 million Canadians as members. CPPIB has taken some laudable steps to assess and manage climate-related financial risks, committing to net-zero emissions across all scopes by 2050, developing a “decarbonization investment approach,” setting climate-related expectations for portfolio companies, and making significant investments in climate solutions such as renewable energy and electrification. Yet some of CPPIB’s investment decisions and portfolio companies are doubling down on fossil fuels, which accelerates the climate crisis and creates undue risk for our retirement portfolio. CPPIB has repeatedly refused to disclose an inventory of its holdings in oil, gas, coal and related infrastructure. But in July, 2022, CPPIB said it held a staggering $21.72 billion in fossil fuel producers alone… “Despite the dire climate warnings of scientists and the millions of Canadians choking on wildfire smoke, CPPIB continues to bet our national retirement fund on investments that require expanding and prolonging oil and gas production to generate returns… “Like millions of Canadians, I have no choice but to contribute to the CPP with every paycheque. I’d like to collect those compounded savings when I retire in a few decades. But that money might not be there if CPPIB keeps risking it on fossil fuels. It’s astounding that CPPIB won’t acknowledge that there is no retirement security without a safe climate to retire into.”

Wall Street Journal: ESG Busters Need a New Playbook
Paul H. Tice is a former Wall Street energy research analyst, 8/24/23

“Good news is brewing in finance. The public backlash against ESG—environmental, social and governance investing—has grown, shedding light on the left’s ideological takeover of Wall Street. The bad news is that the anti-ESG coalition isn’t prepared to defeat a global “sustainability” campaign,” Paul Tice writes for the Wall Street Journal. “The movement needs a makeover and should begin by following a few guiding principles: Virtue signaling isn’t the only problem… “No matter how many brands go broke from misplaced trust in sustainable policies or social-justice activism, it won’t slow ESG’s market momentum… “Focus on climate… “Other factors, such as “diversity, equity and inclusion,” are secondary—if not superfluous—to the movement’s priority of using private capital to fund a global energy transition… “As of March 31, 27 prominent anti-ESG funds tracked by Morningstar had only about $2 billion in assets under management—a rounding error compared with the roughly $100 trillion in assets under management in the global asset-management industry. Aggregate net inflows to these funds have slowed markedly since the launch of Strive’s first energy fund in August 2022. Part of the problem may be that these anti-ESG firms are employing the same tactics as the ESG movement. They actively engage with company management to push their own particular investment agenda—while functioning as passive fund managers with no real vote and as de minimis institutional shareholders… “Owing to increasing regulatory disclosure rules and sustainable-finance mandates, the financial industry won’t be able to solve the ESG problem on its own. Reversing the sustainability tide will require aggressive legal action… “To stave off the left’s strategy of climate doomsaying and financial re-engineering, the anti-ESG squad needs a stronger game plan for the second half.”

Colorado Sun: Oil and gas are not the future of Colorado, so plan accordingly
Trish Zornio, 8/28/23

“If you work in Colorado’s oil and gas sector, I have good and bad news: The good news is that our state is headed for a healthier, cleaner and more diverse energy future. The bad news is that it’s time to find a new job,” Trish Zornio writes for the Colorado Sun. “I recognize that the suggestion to find new work won’t sit well with some, but I assure you, it’s necessary. Since the dawn of human existence, society has modernized. Throughout this process, we’ve seen countless technologies rise and fall. Now, it’s fossil fuels on the chopping block, and the grand finale has long been written on the proverbial wall… “In some ways, this delay has provided oil and gas workers additional time to prepare for the seismic shift in work skills. And some workers have taken advantage of this opportunity, transitioning to jobs in other sectors. This was smart. Yet far too many workers in this sector have become wrongly convinced that fossil fuels will remain a necessary technology, prompting them to fight for their jobs. It’s understandable to not want to give up, but this false belief only makes fossil fuel companies richer while putting hard-working Coloradans in a jam. After all, as the end of burning carbon draws nearer those not changing with the times risk getting left behind… “What I do know is that oil and gas development is definitely not the future of Colorado, and those in the business would be wise to get out before it’s too late.”

Guardian: The message from Ecuador is clear: people will vote to keep oil in the ground
Jonathan Watts, 8/24/23

“Joy and hope are all too rarely associated with the environmental movement, but both have been in abundant supply since Ecuador’s people voted on Sunday to keep the country’s oil in the subsoil of the Yasuní national park. The question now is whether this is a one-off triumph, or something that can be replicated in other countries,” Jonathan Watts writes for the Guardian. “The referendum result obliges the state oil company to dismantle operations – 12 drilling platforms and 225 wells that produce up to 57,000 barrels a day – in block 43 of the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) project, an area of the Amazon rainforest famed for its ecological diversity, and which is home to two tribes that live in voluntary isolation. With more than 5.4 million votes in favour of halting production and 3.7 million against, this is the most decisive democratic victory against the fossil fuel industry in Latin America and, arguably, the world. It is the fruit of years of dogged campaigning by the Yasunídos collective and other civil society groups, and will surely inspire climate activists in other parts of the world. But arguably the greatest lesson from the referendum is for other governments, which have just been given a glaring example of the cost of stranded assets when the social mandate for fossil fuels is suddenly removed. The Ecuadorian authorities did everything in their power to prevent this happening… “Globally, though, the most important message from Ecuador’s referendum is the simplest: it is possible to say no to oil.”

Truthout: Climate Activists Must Prioritize Front Lines Over Metropolitan Rallies
Denali Sai Nalamalapu is a queer, South Indian American writer, artist and organizer with the movement to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline, 8/25/23

“This weekend, only a few hundred activists will come to Appalachia to support the people directly impacted by the still unfinished 303-mile fracked gas Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) through their participation in trainings, anti-pipeline actions and a music festival. But in a month, thousands and thousands will descend on New York City to demand that President Joe Biden declare a climate emergency and end all new fossil fuel projects,” Denali Sai Nalamalapu writes for Truthout. “Environmental organizations flock to New York City or Washington, D.C. every few years, but for the past century, those in power have ignored their calls to take transformative action on the climate crisis. We’re now out of time to convince rich octogenarians to change course: We can no longer afford to build any new fossil fuel projects… “From the front lines of a massive, ongoing fossil fuel buildout in Appalachia, I wonder: Where are the thousands flocking to help us put a direct stop to this project? What would our movement look like if we centered it around the front lines?… “The Indigenous-led resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline and Line 3 are examples of the climate movement convening at the front lines. Thousands traveled to the Midwest for the Sacred Stone Camp and Treaty People Gathering. Both movements expanded our forces and showed those in power our strength. If well-resourced organizations turned their focus to frontline communities, we could continue to flood stolen lands with our resistance to pipelines. We could train one another in how to take direct action. We could move beyond the “politically possible” toward the future we truly deserve… “We must shift from throwing the majority of our resources at the feet of rich octogenarians and instead center our movement around the front lines of extraction. The future of our movement is the frontlines so the next time we plan a mass convening, let’s plan it in our backyards.”