EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 8/29/23

PIPELINE NEWS

• WSET: ‘Doom to the pipeline’: Protestor arrested in Montgomery Co. after locking herself to pipeline equipment

• Law360: TC Energy Says USMCA Is On Its Side In $15B Keystone Case

• Press release: Sen. Cramer Participates in Keystone XL Pipeline Tour, Press Conference

• KFYR: Senator Cramer visits Keystone XL pipeline bone yard

• KCHA: More IUB/Summit Pipeline Hearings Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

• NWestIowa.com: Shouting, hope start Iowa pipeline hearing

• Iowa Capital Dispatch: Consumer advocate seeks to end former staffer’s work with pipeline opponents

• Radio Iowa: DeSantis comments on carbon pipeline projects

• E&E News: Landowners push back on CO2 pipeline in key Iowa hearing

• Globe and Mail: Group pulls out of Ottawa’s plan to sell Trans Mountain pipeline stakes to Indigenous owners

• Financial Times: US oil pipeline boss ties future to natural gas in pursuit of Oneok merger

WASHINGTON UPDATES

• Politico: The U.S. is pumping oil faster than ever. Republicans don’t care.

• E&E News: Greens urge Dems to hold line against cuts to IRA, agencies

• NPR: Biden’s Climate Moves

• Bloomberg: How an oil giant took control of Biden’s billion-dollar bet on carbon capture

• E&E News: Green Groups Sue To Block Massive Gulf Lease Sale 

• Associated Press: Environmental groups recruit people of color into overwhelmingly white conservation world

STATE UPDATES

• Philadelphia Inquirer: An LNG plant could bring millions to bankrupt Chester. Leaders and residents are saying no thanks.

• Washington Post: The Montana climate kids’ lawsuit has energized activists, including this one

EXTRACTION

• Wall Street Journal: Exxon Predicts World Will Miss Climate-Change Targets

• New York Times: Children Have a Right to Sue Nations Over Climate, U.N. Panel Says

• NPR: Big oil companies are not meeting their climate pledges — and blocking new agreements

• Upstream: Equinor invests in one of the largest carbon capture and storage projects in the US

• Reuters: FuelCell, Exxon Mobil to extend carbon capture deal

TODAY IN GREENWASHING

• DeSmog: Montreal Bike Share Pulls Pathways Alliance Ads Amid Greenwashing Controversy

OPINION

• Worthington Globe: Letter: There are two sides to every pipeline project

• Burns McDonnell: Building Pipelines for Carbon Sequestration Requires Long-Term Strategy

• Globe and Mail: At TC Energy, execution eats strategy for breakfast

• CalMatters: Risks for adding hydrogen energy to California gas systems are not worth the limited reward

• Guardian: The Guardian view on hydrogen hype: it’s perhaps not as green as you think

• The Hill: No one is above the law? Biden’s Bureau of Land Management thinks it is.

• Salon: The GOP’s suicide pact with Big Oil — and how climate victims are fighting back
  

PIPELINE NEWS

WSET: ‘Doom to the pipeline’: Protestor arrested in Montgomery Co. after locking herself to pipeline equipment
Robert Locklear, 8/28/23

“On Saturday a woman was arrested at a protest in Montgomery County at the Mountain Valley Pipeline construction area on Bradshaw Road, Virginia State Police said,” WSET reports. “One protester was attached with a “Sleeping Dragon” to a piece of work equipment,” VSP said. “State Police arrested and removed the 22-year-old female, and the device from the equipment.” A Sleeping Dragon is a device that makes it more difficult for a protester to physically be arrested… “VSP said there were around 25 protesters at the location who were not violating any laws, most of whom left when law enforcement arrived. The “Appalachian Against Pipelines” group gave a statement from Elliot provided before the protest. “I wouldn’t have done this a month ago. I came in as a friend, an ally from another state with no concrete connection to this fight. But you can’t spend time here without falling in love with the people and the place. You can’t come here and ignore the pain that this pipeline has caused. Ponds have dried up, livestock have died, family lands have been abandoned because people can’t look out their windows without being reminded of the destruction being forced on them by corporations and politicians that don’t care if they live or die. Without wondering if today’s the day that the pipe blows and turns their family to ash. Appalachians have been fighting this pipeline since day one and will keep fighting until it’s stopped for good. Doom to the pipeline.”

Law360: TC Energy Says USMCA Is On Its Side In $15B Keystone Case
Madeline Lyskawa, 8/28/23

“The company behind the controversial Keystone XL pipeline has called on an international tribunal to reject U.S. officials’ argument that the now-defunct NAFTA doesn’t allow its $15 billion claim challenging the pipeline’s cancellation to move ahead, saying instead the text of the treaty’s replacement is clearly on its side,” Law360 reports. 

Press release: Sen. Cramer Participates in Keystone XL Pipeline Tour, Press Conference
8/28/23

“U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure, participated in an Americans for Prosperity press conference and a guided tour through the Keystone XL Pipeline boneyard, which houses pipe segments originally intended for the pipeline. At the time of its closure, the project was under construction and employed more than 1,500 workers. By the end of 2021, it would have provided approximately 11,000 direct jobs and 60,000 direct and indirect jobs.  “The real problem the Keystone XL pipeline highlighted is environmental extremists simply hate oil. They disregarded our number one trading partner, Canada, and the jobs and security North American energy brings,” said Senator Cramer. “We could have had 900k barrels of oil from our friends in Alberta, but the Biden administration would rather import it from our adversaries in Venezuela. Squandering the abundant, clean resources we have been given is unethical and unjust to the American people who would benefit. Under the right public policies of supply meeting demand, prosperity is possible and wasteful boneyards of pipe and building materials like Keystone XL’s can be avoided.”

KFYR: Senator Cramer visits Keystone XL pipeline bone yard
Reggie Yarsky, 8/28/23

“Senator Cramer visited the Keystone XL pipeline bone yard Monday,” KFYR reports. “Pipe segments intended for the pipeline were abandoned when President Biden canceled the project. Cramer criticized the Biden administration’s oil policy and said the U.S. should rely more on its resources and Canada.”

KCHA: More IUB/Summit Pipeline Hearings Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Mark Pitz, 8/28/23

“The Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) concluded the first three days of the proceedings last Thursday in Fort Dodge,” KCHA reports. “Initial testimony has come from landowners who have not signed voluntary easements along the proposed route for Summit’s almost 700 miles of underground carbon capture pipeline in Iowa… “The first to testify on Wednesday, Day Two, was Charles City Area Development Corporation Executive Director Tim Fox, who expressed concerns on the economic implications of Summit’s proposed pipeline route dissecting the Avenue of the Saints Development Park on the City’s southside. Three more days of testimony are slated for Tuesday (08.29), Wednesday (08.30) and Thursday (08.31) at the Cardiff Event Center in Fort Dodge. Proceedings begin at 8 am and could go as late as 6 pm each day.”

NWestIowa.com: Shouting, hope start Iowa pipeline hearing
Elijah Helton, 8/27/23

“The Iowa Utilities Board opened its hearing on the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline Tuesday, Aug. 22, drawing fire from the proposal’s opponents while supporters see security for ethanol producers,” NWestIowa.com reports. “…But before the gavel fell that morning, the scene in Fort Dodge offered scant decorum. Eldon Hoekstra drove all the way from his home in Sheldon for this. He owns a farm north of town operated by his son, Lance, and he’s been against the pipelines since they were announced in mid-2021… “About an hour before hearing started, Hoekstra washed into the Sea of Red. It’s a nickname anti-pipeliners give themselves while all wearing the same color… “Jess Mazour, an experienced anti-pipeline organizer working for the Sierra Club, faced the rowdy Sea of Red. “We’re going to keep standing up because there is too much on the line if we let these private companies come and take our land,” Mazour said. “That is not right. That is not how we do it in Iowa, and it’s not going to happen on our watch.” “…There also was a water rule. No outside food or drink were allowed into the Cardiff Event Center. If members of the public had bottled water, they were told to dump it, and they could refill it at the restroom faucet. IUB members did not have to abide by the rule. Helland was delivered coffee Wednesday, Aug. 23, and had a can of pop, too… “Another change was electronic devices. No phones, laptops or anything else was allowed inside, even to take notes. Mazour had to exit the building and go to her vehicle for any communications with landowners or anyone else. “Security came up to me and said, ‘Just so you know, the rules have changed. If people are going to complain, the IUB is going to run this like a courtroom,’” Mazour told NWestIowa.com. Mazour told NWestIowa.com she and her colleagues were photographed by security as they left the venue Aug. 23, adding to what she described as intimidation tactics… “OverWatch Enterprises of Boerne, TX, is providing private security at the hearing. It did not comment by press time. “Summit is using its power to take away democracy and people’s rights,” Mazour told NWestIowa.com. “They are in collusion with the Iowa Utilities Board to do so.” Many landowners do not know what day they are testifying. Anti-pipeline lawyers such as Brian Jorde complained about the vague timeline. “Obviously, everyone has witnesses and planning purposes and lives. It’s kind of hard to have the room behind us here every day wondering when they might be able to testify and what that looks like,” Jorde said.

Iowa Capital Dispatch: Consumer advocate seeks to end former staffer’s work with pipeline opponents
JARED STRONG, 8/28/23

“The Office of Consumer Advocate is attempting to bar a former state attorney from representing other people in Summit Carbon Solutions’ permit process, claiming it is unethical,” the Iowa Capital Dispatch reports. “That office has for weeks argued that one of its former attorneys, Anna Ryon, should not be allowed to continue acting as an attorney for landowners and elected officials in the proceedings. Ryon told the Dispatch she left the office in May after new legislation and a new state attorney general rendered the office “more of an observer and less of an advocate.” The consumer advocate cites state rules that prohibit such work unless state justice officials give written permission. Those rules are meant to prevent former state attorneys from using information they gleaned during their work with a state office to benefit others who have a stake in the same matter, especially if it will be used against the state office… “Reynolds also appointed a new chairperson this year of the utilities board, after which the board decided to start Summit’s hearing two months earlier than it had indicated under its previous leadership… “Ryon has also represented a group of Republican state lawmakers intermittently, along with two landowners last week on a temporary basis during their testimonies. She is not charging for the work because her previous employment with the OCA prohibits it under state rules.”

Radio Iowa: DeSantis comments on carbon pipeline projects
O. Kay Henderson, 8/28/23

“Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis says negotiation is the way to resolve property disputes over developing privately-owned projects like carbon pipelines,” Radio Iowa reports. “I would negotiate rather than use the heavy hand of government,” DeSantis said during a campaign stop in Garner. DeSantis held two town hall meetings in northern Iowa this weekend and fielded questions about carbon pipelines at both events. In Algona, a woman asked DeSantis if a government agency should let a for-profit company use eminent domain to “acquire an involuntary property easement.” “The question’s about what’s the proper scope of eminent domain. I believe it’s narrow,” DeSantis said. “I believe it’s for public purposes and I think when you have some of these projects, you need to negotiate with the property owners rather than use the coercise power of the state. Negotiate.” At a town hall forum a few hours later in Garner, a man told DeSantis the carbon pipeline debate “is tearing our state apart.” DeSantis said he doesn’t know all the details about the issue, but repeated his preference for negotiation on such projects. “There is a narrow role for eminent domain for things that are of really significant public use,” DeSantis said.

E&E News: Landowners push back on CO2 pipeline in key Iowa hearing
Jeffrey Tomich, 8/23/23

“A plan to move carbon dioxide in pipelines from ethanol refineries in the Midwest is fueling a dispute between companies, landowners and environmental opponents,” E&E News reports. “State regulators are weighing whether to allow Summit Carbon Solutions to use eminent domain to build a 2,000-mile carbon dioxide pipeline across farms and rural properties…”

Globe and Mail: Group pulls out of Ottawa’s plan to sell Trans Mountain pipeline stakes to Indigenous owners
WENDY STUECK, 8/28/23

“The federal government’s plan to sell at least part of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project to Indigenous owners has entered a new stage, with Ottawa indicating it’s prepared to provide financial backing to First Nations and Métis communities to help them acquire ownership stakes in the pipeline, and one group that had been pursuing a stake leaving the field,” the Globe and Mail reports. “In a recent letter to Indigenous groups, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said Ottawa would support Indigenous communities with access to capital, meaning communities would not need to risk or use any of their own money to participate. The letter also states that taking part in the federal government’s sales process would not prevent Indigenous communities or Indigenous-led proponents from participating in a commercial divestment process to acquire additional equity in Trans Mountain… “Since the federal government bought the pipeline in 2018, several groups have emerged as potential Indigenous ownership ventures, including Calgary-based Project Reconciliation, Nesika Services and Chinook Pathways, a partnership between Western Indigenous Pipeline Group (WIPG) and Pembina Pipeline Corp. Project Reconciliation managing director Stephen Mason told the Globe and Mail his group remains focused on acquiring a stake in the project, despite cost overruns that have pushed the estimated total cost to $30.9-billion… “In an e-mail, Paul Poscente, who had been Nesika’s Calgary-based executive director, told the Globe and Mail Nesika, which had been pursuing a stake, was no longer active… “When Nesika was launched in January, 2022, it was described as a grassroots, community-led not-for-profit that would help communities make informed decisions about ownership opportunities in the expansion project (TMX).”

Financial Times: US oil pipeline boss ties future to natural gas in pursuit of Oneok merger
Myles McCormick, 8/28/23

“The head of one of the biggest US oil pipeline companies said there were better growth prospects in shipping natural gas as he steps up a campaign to convince investors to back a $19bn merger with a gas-focused peer,” the Financial Times reports. “Aaron Milford, chief executive of Magellan Midstream Partners, said that the “opportunity to invest and grow” as a company focused on crude oil and refined products, such as petrol and jet fuel, had become increasingly “challenging” after a construction boom over the past decade ran its course. But by hitching the company to Oneok, a fellow Oklahoma-based pipeline company that primarily ships natural gas and natural gas liquids, it would create a “more powerful growth engine” with more room to expand as an energy transition drives demand for gas at power plants and other sectors. “When you look at just the fundamentals of NGLs and natural gas, the growth in demand for those is very high,” Milford told the Financial Times in an interview. “There’s just more growth in those particular commodities . . . than there is in refined products and crude oil — which [will be] very stable, we think for a very long time.” The proposed deal comes against a backdrop of accelerating natural gas demand in the US and abroad as economies shift away from coal to cleaner-burning gas in electricity generation. Oil demand, while hitting new records globally, is increasingly expected to peak as motorists switch away from petrol-powered cars to electric vehicles… “After a decade of prolific pipeline building across the US, the necessary oil infrastructure was now largely in place, Milford told FT, providing fewer opportunities to build new lines… “TC Energy, the pipeline operator behind the aborted plan to build the controversial Keystone XL crude pipeline, said last month it was spinning off its oil transportation business to focus on shipping gas. It said the shift would leave it “uniquely positioned to meet growing industry and consumer demand for reliable, lower-carbon energy”.

WASHINGTON UPDATES

Politico: The U.S. is pumping oil faster than ever. Republicans don’t care.
BEN LEFEBVRE, 8/28/23

“The late-summer surge in gasoline prices is heightening the risks that inflation poses for President Joe Biden, and offering Republicans a new chance to pin the blame on his green agenda,” Politico reports. “The GOP narrative has a major hole: U.S. oil production — already the highest in the world — is on track to set a new record this year, and will probably rise even more in 2024. But the ever-increasing flow of U.S. crude has failed to keep a lid on gasoline prices, showing once again that a global market drives the fuel prices that shape presidents’ political futures… “Global forces, meanwhile, could cause pump prices to ease next year, with the Paris-based International Energy Agency forecasting that oil supply next year will outstrip demand. That hasn’t stopped GOP White House hopefuls from lambasting Biden and his energy policies, including the green incentives included in the climate law he signed a year ago. In one campaign ad, former Vice President Mike Pence pretends to fill his pickup truck and blames Biden’s energy policy for “causing real hardship” for Americans, while ex-South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has vowed to bring oil production back to the United States… “In fact, though, oil production from federal lands and waters has risen on Biden’s watch, reaching past 3 million barrels per day last year. The high mark during President Donald Trump’s term was 2.75 million barrels a day. That’s data the White House rarely trumpets since it contradicts Biden’s 2020 campaign pledge to end new drilling on federal land, something his administration has not done.”

E&E News: Greens urge Dems to hold line against cuts to IRA, agencies
Emma Dumain, 8/24/23

“A coalition of more than 65 environmental advocacy groups is warning the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee not to cede ground on climate spending priorities as the government could be barreling toward a shutdown next month,” E&E News reports. “In a Wednesday letter organized by the Climate Action Campaign, dozens of organizations called on Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) to “remain steadfast in fighting for climate funding and opposing attempts to further reduce spending levels.” They specifically want her to oppose efforts that would, among other things, “rescind or cap” existing dollars made available through the Inflation Reduction Act, “weaken programs aimed at alleviating pollution in overburdened communities,” and “limit or block agencies’ ability to implement or enforce” environmental regulations to ensure health and safety.” “As the country bakes under record-breaking levels of heat fueled by climate change, and as drought, flood and fire ravage communities, we cannot afford any cuts to climate funding,” the letter reads. “Rescissions to the IRA and lower spending levels to the agencies implementing these critical investments would be a disastrous outcome for public health, the climate, the economy, and our future.”

NPR: Biden’s Climate Moves
8/27/23

“U.S. climate envoy John Kerry is preparing for the next major climate summit, in Dubai. He’s calling for an end to permitting new, unabated coal-fired power anywhere in the world,” NPR reports. “We ask him about whether the U.S. has lived up to its climate commitments. We also talk to Vox climate reporter Rebecca Leber about Biden’s signature climate legislation, which was passed a year ago this month.”

Bloomberg: How an oil giant took control of Biden’s billion-dollar bet on carbon capture
Kevin Crowley, 8/28/23

“When Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s Vicki Hollub introduced the idea of “net zero oil” two years ago, few outside the chief executive officer’s inner circle knew what she meant,” Bloomberg reports. “ It was easy for climate-minded critics to dismiss the rhetoric as a greenwashing ploy from an embattled oil executive trying to stay relevant in a world transitioning away from fossil fuels. But Hollub’s vision keeps moving closer to reality. This month she helped convince the Biden administration — which has been hostile to Big Oil — to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on the technology behind the industry’s most ambitious moonshot to keep fossil fuels alive. Occidental won one of two major US Department of Energy grants to develop hubs for direct air capture, or DAC. That means Occidental will be in charge of an experimental facility built in Kleberg County, Texas, designed to pull carbon dioxide from ambient air and bury it underground. Hollub followed this milestone federal grant days later by agreeing to a $1.1 billion deal to buy Carbon Engineering. The Canadian startup is Occidental’s technology partner on the government-backed project as well as another another DAC plant in West Texas that — according to the company’s claims — will produce emissions-free crude oil. The speed with which Occidental and DAC has captivated the Biden administration is alarming for environmentalists and some scientists. DAC remains by far the most expensive way to capture carbon, and the technology is largely unproven outside one small plant in Iceland. There are serious questions about whether the large quantities of power the process needs will offset the climate benefits. The loudest critics insist DAC should never be used to justify fossil-fuel extraction… “But when Hollub was general manager of Occidental’s Permian EOR operations in 2011, she realized the company was limited not by the amount of oil in the ground, but by the availability of CO2… “While Hollub sees major potential to grow this market, she also has the option of using the CO2 to produce more of Occidental’s lifeblood: crude oil… “But if carbon removal is not paired with other, more decisive forms of emissions reduction, then it will be counterproductive, warned Andrew Logan, a senior director at Ceres, a nonprofit coalition of investors and companies advocating for sustainability. Logan’s preferred counterpart, like many climate experts, is reducing fossil fuel production. That, however, is not something listed on Occidental’s agenda next to its bold new DAC efforts. “It’s a shiny technology that would allow the world to avoid making hard decisions about energy use and continue business as usual,” Logan told Bloomberg. The danger is that focusing on DAC may be a way “not to take other, harder steps needed to decarbonize in the near term.”

E&E News: Green Groups Sue To Block Massive Gulf Lease Sale 
Niina H. Farah, 8/28/23

“A coalition of environmental groups filed a new lawsuit Friday calling for a federal judge to block a congressionally mandated offshore oil and gas lease sale scheduled for next month,” E&E News reports. “Healthy Gulf, Bayou City Waterkeeper and other groups said in their lawsuit that the Interior Department’s National Environmental Policy Act review of Lease Sale 261 in the Gulf of Mexico did not pass legal muster. The sale will mean ‘locking in decades of additional greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution that will exacerbate the climate crisis worldwide, undermine national and international efforts to transition to clean energy, and increase harms to Gulf communities,’ the groups told the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The 67.3 million acre sale — set for Sept. 27 — is one of a number of fossil fuel development projects Congress required Interior to greenlight in last year’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act, as part of a compromise to dedicate billions of dollars in funding to clean energy development. Interior also faces a separate legal challenge from Louisiana and the oil industry that faults the agency for shrinking the size of Lease Sale 261 to protect the endangered Rice’s whale.”

Associated Press: Environmental groups recruit people of color into overwhelmingly white conservation world
TODD RICHMOND, 8/26/23

“Arianna Barajas never thought of herself as the outdoors type. The daughter of Mexican immigrants who grew up in Chicago’s suburbs, her forays into nature usually amounted to a bike ride to a community park,” the Associated Press reports. “…This summer Barajas landed an internship designed for people of color at the International Crane Foundation’s headquarters in Baraboo, Wisconsin, and stepped into a new world. “I always knew growing up I had an interest in wildlife and animals but didn’t know the options I had,” Barajas, 21, told AP. “I really just have a passion for the outdoors. I can’t just be in an office all day. I need to be outside and doing things I think are valuable.” Environmental groups across the country have worked for the last two decades to introduce members of underrepresented populations like Barajas to the overwhelmingly white conservation world. The effort has gained momentum since George Floyd’s death forced a national reckoning on race relations and challenged a variety of industries to focus on diversity and inclusion efforts. As climate change reshapes the planet, leaders need to hear every perspective when determining conservation policies, minority advocates say… “White men have largely controlled American conservation policy for more than a century. The modern conservation movement in the United States began around the turn of the 20th century, led by figures such as Sierra Club co-founder John Muir, who openly derided American Indians as savages, and President Theodore Roosevelt, who doubled the number of sites in the National Park System… “More than 80% of National Park Service employees are white, according to service data. A 2022 survey of the 40 largest non-government environmental organizations and foundations by Green 2.0, an organization advocating for minority inclusion in the environmental sector, found 60% of staff and almost 70% of organization heads identified as white. Sociologists offer a number of explanations for the lack of diversity in conservation ranks. For instance, people of color tend to live in urban settings with less exposure to the outdoors and may consider outdoor recreation a white man’s domain, Kristy Drutman, the Filipino and Jewish founder of the Green Jobs Board, an online listing of environmental jobs with companies promoting diversity, told AP. She also runs the Brown Girl Green podcast. “I don’t think BIPOC are choosing not to be in the outdoors, they’re just not given the same opportunity,” Drutman told AP, using an acronym for Black people, Indigenous people and people of color. “Urbanization, racial segregation, all these histories have separated BIPOC from neighbors with more green spaces,” Drutman told AP. “It’s become a white people’s thing because of that.”

STATE UPDATES

Philadelphia Inquirer: An LNG plant could bring millions to bankrupt Chester. Leaders and residents are saying no thanks.
Anthony R. Wood, 8/27/23

“What officially was a public hearing mutated at times into a boisterous and emotional demonstration against a multi-billion-dollar concept, a potential excavator to help a bankrupt city dig its way out of financial peril,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. “In five years, if it comes to fruition, a liquefied natural gas facility will have created thousands of jobs and generated more than $700 million in tax revenue for the host city, county, and state, according to an analysis by the Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association. Unstated was the fact that the bankrupt City of Chester would be an ideal site. Once an international shipbuilding power, it has a port with easy access to the ocean. And could it ever use the money. Yet the sign-hoisting Chester residents among the standing-room-only crowd at the hearing at Widener University on Tuesday, convened by the state-appointed Philadelphia LNG task force, emphatically said no, thank you. The reaction was “understandable,” Carl A. Marrara, the manufacturers association’s executive director, said after he testified. But he argued that making the gas in this area would be a far better alternative than importing it from Russia… “It’s not about the money, they say, nor is it exclusively about hazards and pollution, which have been focal points of LNG protests around the country. They hold that it’s very much about the future of Chester’s economy and what kind of a city it will be when it emerges from bankruptcy, whenever that might be. Said longtime activist Zulene Mayfield, after her testimony had elicited the loudest cheers at the hearing, “It would be like another nail in the coffin.”

Washington Post: The Montana climate kids’ lawsuit has energized activists, including this one
Kate Selig, 8/27/23

“During a quiet Monday morning at home in Flagstaff, Ariz., Tia Hatton took a break from work and checked social media. What she saw left her stunned and exhilarated. “The Montana kids won!” she repeated with disbelief to her fiancé,” the Washington Post reports. “In a groundbreaking decision, a Montana court ruled that the state had violated the youths’ constitutional rights through its promotion of fossil fuels. Those youths waited three years for a decision in their case. But Hatton has waited much longer. The 26-year-old was 18 when she joined Juliana v. United States, a lawsuit brought by youths against the federal government. The case, which was filed in 2015, alleged that the government “willfully ignored” the dangers of burning fossil fuels and in turn violated the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights to life, liberty and property, and failed to protect public trust resources… “Three presidential administrations pushed back, and conservative analysts largely waved off the kids as tilting at legal wind mills. For a generation of activists, the case’s dismissal for lack of standing by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in 2020 prompted soul-searching, since they hoped to achieve a precedent for climate litigation comparable to Brown v. Board of Education, the monumental 1954 Supreme Court decision on civil rights… “But in June, a federal judge in Oregon ruled the Juliana lawsuit could proceed to trial. That — and the more recent win in the Montana case, initially filed on her birthday — has renewed Hatton’s hope that climate cases can have lasting impact, even with the many hurdles ahead.”

EXTRACTION

Wall Street Journal: Exxon Predicts World Will Miss Climate-Change Targets
Collin Eaton, 8/28/23

“Exxon Mobil says the global effort to curtail greenhouse-gas emissions isn’t on track to keep the planet’s temperature from rising beyond an increase of 2 degrees Celsius by 2050,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Carbon-dioxide emissions stemming from the world’s burning of fossil fuels and energy consumption will shrink to 25 billion metric tons in 2050, down 26% from a peak of 34 billion sometime in the current decade, the oil company said in an annual outlook on Monday. Despite the decline, the trajectory would still keep worldwide carbon-dioxide output well above levels that the United Nations’ climate-science advisory body says would limit climate change and its most dangerous potential effects. To achieve the targets outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change the world needs emissions to drop to 11 billion metric tons on average by 2050, Exxon said. It added that the world’s current push to curb carbon-dioxide emissions by more than 25% by 2050 “is a testament to the significant progress expected to be made,” and would occur even as the global economy more than doubles in size.  “Even so, more is needed to hit the emission-reduction levels required to keep global temperature increases below” 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, compared with the start of the industrial revolution, Exxon said. The Houston-based oil company faces dozens of lawsuits across the U.S. accusing it of climate-change deception, seeking billions in damages… “The company has said it would invest $17 billion in coming years to reduce its own emissions and those of customers. It has held up carbon capture, hydrogen and biofuels as technologies that could help curb emissions, especially in heavy-industrial sectors seen as difficult to decarbonize.”

New York Times: Children Have a Right to Sue Nations Over Climate, U.N. Panel Says
Somini Sengupta, 8/28/23

“Young people around the world are increasingly taking their governments to court for failing to reduce climate pollution, and on rare occasions, they are winning,” the New York Times reports. “This week, their efforts received an endorsement from an independent panel of experts that interprets United Nations human rights law, the Committee on the Rights of the Child. In an expansive 20-page document released Monday, the committee said all countries have a legal obligation to protect children from environmental degradation — including by “regulating business enterprises” — and to allow their underage citizens to seek legal recourse. The committee’s opinion is not legally binding and is therefore impossible to enforce. But it is significant because it is based on a widely recognized international treaty and explicitly recognizes children’s right to go to court to force their government to slow down the climate crisis. That treaty is the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is considered the most widely ratified treaty in history because every country in the world except the United States has signed on to it. In the past, courts in many countries, including on rare occasions the United States, have relied on the committee’s interpretations in their decisions. “Children have the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment,” the committee wrote. “This right is implicit in the convention and directly linked to, in particular, the rights to life, survival and development.” The committee went on to note that countries are responsible for safeguarding children from the harms of climate pollution now and in the future. “States bear the responsibility for foreseeable environment-related threats arising as a result of their acts or omissions now, the full implications of which may not manifest for years or even decades,” the committee wrote… “International treaties and laws haven’t often been used in climate litigation. But that’s changing. The International Court of Justice is currently weighing whether countries can be sued under existing international conventions for failing to rein in fossil fuel emissions that caused the climate crisis.”

NPR: Big oil companies are not meeting their climate pledges — and blocking new agreements
Ayesha Rascoe, 8/27/23

“NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe speaks to Jason Bordoff of Columbia University about the climate goals set by big oil companies and how they are failing to meet them,” NPR reports. “…We hear a lot about what consumers can do, but what about companies, specifically big oil companies? Jason Bordoff studies this. He’s the founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University… “Prices are going up, not down. So given all this, we’ve seen some of the more prominent energy companies walk back, somewhat, commitments they made to move away from oil and gas and toward clean energy. And the market has rewarded them for that. Their share price has gone up, not down. RASCOE: Well, isn’t that kind of, like, the fundamental conflict here? For a business that’s trying to make money – if that’s your business – is fossil fuels, then how can you really phase them out? BORDOFF: I think for many, that’s the view that they seem to have today. I think there are some that have made commitments to help achieve net-zero emissions, but I think the actual behavior we’re seeing suggests skepticism that we’re going to get anywhere close to these goals we’re talking about, like net zero by 2050… “So we need all of those things and more, and I think the energy industry is – can be well-poised to play a role in that. They should be leaning in. They should be on the cutting edge of those things. They have, I think, an obligation, given kind of where we are today and the historic problem that’s been created by carbon emissions. But I think you can only ask any company to lean in so far at some point if the market is penalizing them, not rewarding them for moving in a faster direction to clean energy. And so what we also need to be doing is changing that dynamic.”

Upstream: Equinor invests in one of the largest carbon capture and storage projects in the US
Zsuzsanna Szabo, 8/28/23

“Equinor has purchased a stake in one of the largest carbon capture and storage projects in the US,” Upstream reports. “The Norwegian oil and gas major acquired its 25% share in Bayou Bend CCS project in Texas from Carbonvert, the company said on Monday. Grete Tveit, Senior vice president for low carbon solutions at Equinor, said that joining the Bayou Bend scheme strengthens the company’s low carbon solutions portfolio and supports its ambition to mature and develop 15 million to 30 million tonnes per annum of equity carbon dioxide transport and storage capacity by 2035… “The Bayou Bend project is located along the Gulf Coast in Southeast Texas. It encompasses about 100,000 gross acres onshore in Chambers and Jefferson Counties in Texas, and more than 40,000 gross acres offshore Beaumont and Port Arthur, with a total of gross potential storage resources of more than 1 billion tonnes. Bayou Bend is a joint venture between Chevron, Talos Energy and Equinor. Chevron is the operator with 50% interest, and Talos holds a 25% slice… “The project’s location near major industrial corridors in the Houston, Port Arthur area will provide a potential decarbonization option for industries such as refining, cement, steel, chemicals, and manufacturing.”

Reuters: FuelCell, Exxon Mobil to extend carbon capture deal
Tanay Dhumal, 8/28/23

“FuelCell Energy (FCEL.O) said on Monday it would extend a carbon capture joint development agreement with a unit of Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) to March 31 next year,” Reuters reports. “The agreement, effective as of Aug. 31, will be extended for the fourth time and would increase research costs for Exxon to $67 million from $60 million. FuelCell has been developing carbonate fuel cells to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from industrial and power sources, in exchange for fees from the oil major since 2019 when the companies first signed the agreement. Carbonate fuel cells can capture carbon dioxide and generate additional power in the process, unlike other conventional cells.”

TODAY IN GREENWASHING

DeSmog: Montreal Bike Share Pulls Pathways Alliance Ads Amid Greenwashing Controversy
Taylor Noakeson, 8/28/23

“An oil and gas industry lobby group under investigation for allegations of greenwashing has been marketing its members as leaders on the road to net zero on public transit agencies in Canada,” DeSmog reports. “Buses, trams, rental bikes, and bus shelters in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal have featured ads promoting the Pathways Alliance, a coalition of Canada’s six largest oil sands companies, for several months. On August 15, Montreal’s public bike-rental agency, Bixi, announced that it had asked Outfront, an advertising company, to remove all Pathways advertising from its system. A Pathways’ advertisement on a Bixi docking station read “Le captage du carbone est une étape importante vers des activités d’exploitation carboneutre,” or “Carbon capture is an important step towards carbon neutral resource extraction.”  Canada’s Competition Bureau launched an inquiry into Pathways Alliance in April over allegations of false or misleading advertising that may have misled the public… “Aliénor Rougeot, a climate justice advocate and climate and energy program manager with Environmental Defence, told DeSmog she is “frustrated that our public transit is taken over by big polluters making record profits…They represent the biggest oil companies in the country, the ones that operate in the tar sands. They are literally a key reason we are facing a climate emergency today, yet they make claims of sustainability.” The environmental groups that filed the complaint argue the campaign misled the public because Pathways’ net-zero plan doesn’t account for the greenhouse gas emissions caused by combustion. The complainants argue that it is impossible for Pathways’ partner oil and gas companies to achieve their net-zero goal because they plan to increase oil sands production.”

OPINION

Worthington Globe: Letter: There are two sides to every pipeline project
Anita Vogel, 8/28/23

“…My biggest takeaways from sitting at the table with Summit (SCS): The 45Q tax credit (the tax program that makes this a profitable business venture for SCS) expires in 12 years, pipeline infrastructure lasts roughly 20-25 years, and these easements are for eternity. Why does SCS need an easement that outlasts the project?,” Anita Vogel writes for the Worthington Globe. “SCS can sell your easement to whomever, whenever they choose. The route can change within that parcel to where they see fit. This pipeline is not for the common good; it won’t bring heat, water or electricity to your home. This hazardous CO2 pipeline must be pressured at three times the rate of a natural gas pipeline (1,200-2,800 psi). Our local EMS teams are not equipped to manage a rupture in a highly pressurized pipeline. Your combustion engines won’t work in a plume of CO2 that displaces oxygen at ground level. Our local communities lie less than a mile from the proposed pipeline route. There has been no plume modeling or information released about the potential risks around an unintended CO2 release or rupture. Remember, if this were to rupture, it is an asphyxiant that will rapidly disperse along routes that are too close to our homes, school, daycares, businesses and nursing home. SCS has failed to prove that it would not negatively impact residents, wildlife, water and the environment… “Did you know there is NO ACTIVE PERMIT application filed for a sequestration site or a permit for a route? This is currently a “pipeline to nowhere”… “Take a look at how Summit is treating our Iowa neighbors, having no regard for their grievances and invoking eminent domain. The parent company of SCS is Summit Farms, and they have bid up and purchased several parcels of land in our area which will eventually be subsidized by the government. They are bidding against local farmers who would like to grow their family operations and secure their future. I don’t know about you, but Summit is not my friend nor are they “for the farmer.” They won’t be here caring for local residents when a rupture happens or our local water sources are contaminated with CO2… “Talk to your neighbors, seek out information from sources other than Summit, and consider the short term gains versus long term consequences around this. Protect your family and your land.”

Burns McDonnell: Building Pipelines for Carbon Sequestration Requires Long-Term Strategy
PJ KOLNIK, 8/28/23

“While pipeline operators, power producers, and asset owners involved in oil and gas production and transportation are seeing a wealth of opportunities emerge for carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies, long-term planning is critical to avoid a stranded asset,” PJ Kolnik writes for Burns McDonnell. “…The IIJA allocated $1.2 trillion toward transportation and infrastructure spending and $12 billion of that funding is dedicated to advance carbon capture technologies. Section 45Q of the IRA also increases tax credits for each metric ton of CO2 captured… “To proactively avoid stranding assets, CO2 pipeline and facility owners can prioritize the following business and operational practices: Conduct a thorough feasibility study… “Diversify revenue streams. Pipeline operators that rely on a single customer or a specific type of gas or liquid are at greater risk of becoming financially stranded. Unfortunately, a fully interchangeable product pipeline would be constructed using stainless steel, which is considerably more expensive than carbon steel employed for most CCUS projects. While very few operators are looking for this option, operators and owners who secure initial rights-of-way and easements for future pipelines could mitigate costs related to land acquisition and scheduling delays… “Engage relevant parties and secure commitments… “Prioritize safety through engagement and regulatory compliance. CO2 pipeline ruptures can happen but are uncommon. These unlikely incidents can impact public health in surrounding communities… “Develop strategies to withstand scrutiny from advocacy groups. Environmental advocacy groups may raise concerns through protest or legal action before or during a CO2 pipeline project. This could forestall a pipeline project, without any net positive results. Being prepared to explain the potential benefits of CCUS technologies and presenting it as one tool of many to further reduce carbon emissions can help the larger public understand the health and environmental benefits… “Considering multi-pipe and multi-product easement language throughout right-of-way and land acquisition negotiations can future-proof your route for new pipes or product transportation. A hydrogen pipeline, for example, could be designed to transport other gases or blends. This forward-thinking approach will help owners and operators adapt to evolving market environments while meeting future challenges effectively. Plan for repurposing or decommissioning… “By engaging relevant parties, planning for repurposing and managing risks, potential owners and operators can build CO2 pipelines that are economically viable while addressing carbon reduction goals.”

Globe and Mail: At TC Energy, execution eats strategy for breakfast
Andrew Willis, 8/29/23

“In recent years, no pipeline company has done more to embrace the transition to a low-carbon economy than TC Energy Corp. TRP-T. But in recent months, no utility stock has been pummelled like TC Energy,” Andrew Willis writes for the Globe and Mail. “Shares in what used to be known as TransCanada Pipelines – a cornerstone holding in many retirement funds – are down 26 per cent over the past 12 months. Investors and credit-rating agencies are giving a thumbs down to cost overruns on a relatively green gas pipeline project earlier this year, as well as to July’s announcement of asset sales and an environmentally friendly plan to split up the company. What TC Energy’s board no doubt assumed would be an easy-to-win shareholder vote next year on a proposal to spin out legacy oil pipeline businesses and move forward in more environmentally friendly sectors – natural gas, nuclear and renewable power – is now a referendum on both a transition strategy and management’s ability to execute… “TC Energy faces the same negative sentiment, as its executives pitch plans to hive off an oil pipeline operator that pays reliable but slow-growing dividends – the payout is expected to increase by between 2 per cent and 3 per cent annually. If shareholders and regulators sign off, TC Energy would be reborn as a dominant player in North American gas distribution, growing at a 7-per-cent-plus annual clip… “Ratings agencies Moody’s and DBRS downgraded TC Energy last month on news of the pipeline sale. TC Energy’s executives face challenges centred on their ability to get the nuts and bolts of the business right, as opposed to setting out a grand strategy for the company’s move away from its roots in the oilpatch.”

CalMatters: Risks for adding hydrogen energy to California gas systems are not worth the limited reward
Amanda McKay is the policy manager for Pipeline Safety Trust, 8/25/23

“From major blockbusters like the movie “Glass Onion” to actual hydrogen blending projects being proposed in several parts of California, hydrogen is on everyone’s minds,” Amanda McKay writes for CalMatters. “Hydrogen is touted as a panacea for meeting increasing energy demand and fixing the climate crisis. However, a hydrogen economy would involve serious risks, especially when transporting hydrogen through pipelines in close proximity to people. And it may not actually help improve the climate crisis it’s been tapped to solve… “Pressure to replace or blend natural gas with hydrogen is being felt in many states, however it seems California may be feeling it the most. Over the last few years, utilities in California have proposed numerous projects to move hydrogen through different types of pipelines for a variety of uses. These include blending hydrogen into natural gas distribution systems (the pipes that deliver natural gas into homes and businesses) and building new pipeline systems intended to carry pure hydrogen over longer distances at higher pressure. Several reports, including from the Pipeline Safety Trust and UC Riverside for the California Public Utilities Commission, have identified key problems with blending and transporting hydrogen through pipelines. These projects are seriously concerning. Hydrogen is not natural gas… “Hydrogen poses serious explosion risks due to its high flammability range, likeliness to leak, and ability to cause embrittlement and cracking within the pipeline… “Aside from safety issues, leakage is also an important consideration when thinking about this issue from a climate perspective. Hydrogen by itself is a potent indirect greenhouse gas estimated to have 30 times the warming power of carbon dioxide in the first 20 years… “Before California proceeds with these new hydrogen pipeline projects, policymakers need to do their homework. Any use of hydrogen in gas distribution systems poses a risk to California communities that is too great to justify with limited and questionable climate benefits.”

Guardian: The Guardian view on hydrogen hype: it’s perhaps not as green as you think
Editorial, 8/27/23

“Tunisia is one of the driest countries in Africa, and has just suffered three years of drought. Yet the EU sees the country as key to producing “green hydrogen” for export to Europe,” the Guardian Editorial Board writes. “The trouble is, this fuel is obtained by splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen with electricity generated by renewable sources. Tunisia has lots of sun but precious little fresh water. The only way of producing the raw material needed for green hydrogen is sucking up Mediterranean water and desalinating it. But a report last year for the Heinrich Böll Foundation, affiliated to Germany’s green political movement, warns that this would be a dirty, energy-intensive, water-guzzling process – and put the high cost of decarbonising the rich world on to the shoulders of poorer nations. Many sun-drenched countries, especially in the Maghreb, have been sold a future as export hubs for green hydrogen… “Without big government support packages, it remains an open question whether European consumers would be prepared to foot the very significant price rises needed to go green in this way… “The benefits of such a strategy – with the desirable goal of low carbon emissions in Europe – cannot come at the cost of environmental destruction abroad… “Transitioning to net zero emissions globally should not mean the rich gain at the expense of the poor.”

The Hill: No one is above the law? Biden’s Bureau of Land Management thinks it is.
Benjamin Zycher is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, 8/29/23

“One central characteristic of the Biden administration is its contempt for the letter of the law. When laws interfere with overriding political objectives, they are cast aside, and the courts are often forced to clean up the mess,” Benjamin Zycher writes for The Hill. “Nowhere is this norm-busting reality more pronounced than at the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), whose leasing of federal lands for fossil-fuel production has become ever-more politicized since the day Biden took office… “Not content with this slow strangulation of fossil-fuel leasing on federal lands, the Biden BLM has now decided simply to remove whole swaths of land from leasing consideration altogether. The latest example of this new approach is the recent BLM regulatory proposal — its “preferred alternative” — to bar new oil and gas leasing across roughly 1.6 million acres in Colorado… “Less publicized, and less amusing, is the dark reality that this proposal is the result of a typical “sue-and-settle” racket, in which environmentalists and federal bureaucrats agree to settle environmental litigation on terms satisfying the ideological and bureaucratic preferences of both sides… “FLPMA is very clear that the “principal or major uses” are “limited to” the ones listed in the text, and this does not include “conservation” or other uses politically favored or fashionable. “Conservation” may be a secondary “use” consistent with the FLPMA, but it is not a “principal or major use” and therefore cannot be “on par” with principal or major uses… “So much for the rule of law, then. And the Biden administration has expanded its hostility toward the laws dramatically. Such are the fruits of prioritization of ideological and bureaucratic imperatives above constitutional principles.”

Salon: The GOP’s suicide pact with Big Oil — and how climate victims are fighting back
SABRINA HAAKE, 8/29/23

“Anyone who watched the first Republican presidential debate last week watched the candidates — minus Donald Trump, of course —punt on climate,” Sabrina Haake writes for Salon. “Ron DeSantis, who angrily deflected the issue, has called climate change “left-wing stuff,” while Vivek Ramaswamy exuberantly declared that “climate change is a hoax.” “…In fact, it was surprising that Fox News moderators asked a question about climate at all, given that over the last couple of decades Republicans, with few exceptions, have consistently denied climate science and worked to increase reliance on fossil fuels. In a sense, this was predictable: Politicians who are financed by coal, oil and gas donors will fight to protect those industries as long as corporations are allowed to fund their campaigns under Citizens United. It’s a nihilistic and dangerous symbiosis that in all likelihood will only be neutralized by an increasing number of voters under 35 making their voices heard… “Anxious to prevent that from happening, conservatives have promulgated Project 2025, which proposes shredding any and all regulations designed to curb greenhouse gas emissions from cars, power plants, and oil and gas wells. Formulated by the Heritage Foundation and distributed to all Republican presidential hopefuls ahead of the first debate, the plan would dismantle virtually all federal efforts at reducing the nation’s carbon footprint in a blatant effort to bolster the fossil fuel industries, which are rapidly losing market share to greener, cleaner alternatives that in many cases are already more cost-effective, or soon will be… “Climate plaintiffs seek to impose liability based on the major oil companies’ deceptive marketing, including their historic disinformation campaigns and their failure to warn consumers about the dangers of climate damage, which those companies have understood for decades was coming. None of these pending cases has yet proceeded to trial, but their impact on the energy future could be enormous.”