EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 9/25/24

PIPELINE NEWS

• Pipeline Fighters Hub: Is Your Goose Cooked? The Potential Health Impacts of CO2 Pipeline Ruptures

• Brownfield Ag News: Ag Industry Split on Carbon Pipeline Project

• WBZ: Climate Activists Chain Themselves to Statehouse

• WTIC: Environmental groups rally in Hartford against pipeline expansion plans

• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Environmental groups raise alarms over Alliant Energy’s plans to convert Sheboygan plant to gas

• Reuters: Diamondback and Kinetik buy 30% stake in EPIC Crude pipeline

• E&E News: Democrats tell White House to speed up lead pipes rule

• DeSmog: How A British-owned PR Firm Helped ‘Squash’ Pipeline Protests in Uganda

WASHINGTON UPDATES

• E&E News: Carbon markets take center stage at Climate Week as criticisms abound

• E&E News: Texas Sues Over Protections For Vulnerable Lizard In Oil Country 

STATE UPDATES

• E&E News: Enviros sue to block California hydrogen hub

• WRC: America’s largest carbon capture facility opens in oil country [VIDEO]

• Oil City News: Over 4,000 Acres Of Wyoming Oil And Gas Land Up For Lease In December 

EXTRACTION

• Bloomberg: OPEC Sticks to Outlier View on Oil Demand Growing Through 2050

• Center for International Environmental Law: New Report Reveals US Petrochemical Buildout Undermines Global Climate Goals

• Nature Climate Change: Feasible deployment of carbon capture and storage and the requirements of climate targets

• Alberta Native News: Cold Lake First Nations’ Concerns About Carbon Storage Hub Are Still Not Addressed

• Resources Radio: Will Carbon Capture Make Local Air Pollution Worse?

• gCaptain: Officials Race to Contain Oil Spill Following Sinking of Passenger Vessel in Greenland

• Libya Observer: Oil spill monitored off the coast of Misrata

CLIMATE FINANCE

• Guardian: Rich countries could raise $5tn of climate finance a year, study says

• Wall Street Journal: The Two Big Insurers Still Betting on Fossil Fuels

OPINION

• Common Dreams: Senate Democrats Must Flex their Oversight Powers against the Oil Industry
  

PIPELINE NEWS

Pipeline Fighters Hub: Is Your Goose Cooked? The Potential Health Impacts of CO2 Pipeline Ruptures
Paul Blackburn, 9/25/24

“The effect of CO2 exposure on different individuals depends on a variety of factors, including CO2 concentration, the duration of exposure, and a victim’s preexisting medical conditions,” the Pipeline Fighters Hub reports. “At the same CO2 concentration over the same period of time, some people may remain conscious while others may not. At high concentrations, CO2 gas can immediately disable and then kill within minutes – your goose would be cooked. At moderate concentrations, CO2 gas can cause unconsciousness and seizures. At relatively low concentrations, CO2 can still intoxicate and cause confusion and hearing and vision loss, which could result in injuries or even fatalities for those who are, for example, driving, using dangerous machinery, or outside in dangerous weather conditions… “The CDC and EPA CO2 exposure standards were typically established for young to middle-aged healthy individuals based on data gathered in studies using volunteers… “In contrast, communities along pipelines include seniors, children, handicapped individuals, and individuals with a wide array of medical conditions. Any respiratory condition could greatly exacerbate the impacts of CO2 exposure… “The CDC advises against pregnant women being exposed to elevated CO2 levels. Based on animal studies, CO2 may cause birth defects including blindness and vertebral malformations… “The CO2 pipeline industry likes to claim that the CO2 released from a rupture of a CO2 pipeline would not be any more dangerous than the fizz in your soda. The foregoing scientific evidence show that this claim is untrue. While it is true that low concentrations of CO2 are not dangerous, it is also true that high concentrations of CO2 can cause serious health impacts and even death. Water, similarly, is not toxic, but you can still drown in it… “After the rupture of a large-diameter CO2 pipeline, CO2 concentrations within approximately 1,000 feet or more of the rupture, depending on pipeline diameter and length, may rise to very dangerous levels in less than 5 minutes. Even a mile or more away, depending on pipeline diameter, wind direction, etc., CO2 concentrations may rise to dangerous levels in less than 15 minutes. For example, the first seizure in Satartia was reported 17 minutes after and approximately one mile away from the rupture. Thus, when a CO2 pipeline ruptures, nearby persons may not have enough time to self-evacuate or be rescued by first responders, even if they are exposed to just the 30,000 ppm (3%) level, and even if they are immediately notified when a rupture occurs, assuming it is immediately detected. It is beyond dispute that CO2 pipeline rupture may release CO2 in amounts that are deadly, or at least dangerous to your health, depending on the amount of CO2 released and your distance from the rupture site.”

Brownfield Ag News: Ag Industry Split on Carbon Pipeline Project
Carah Hart, 9/24/24

“Iowa farmer Dan Keitzer says the Summit Carbon Solutions Pipeline would help biofuels lower their carbon score to help qualify for Sustainable Aviation Fuel, a new market for a large U.S. corn crop,” Brownfield Ag News reports. “…South Dakota rancher Amanda Radke told Brownfield the use of eminent domain for a private pipeline project is a red flag for some landowners. “We should be able to say no thank you to a Green New Deal project and a deadly carbon pipeline that relies on taxpayer dollars under the Green New Deal. Our politicians, unfortunately, haven’t been willing to stand up for landowners and make eminent domain reform.” “…Radke told Brownfield there are also efforts underway to override local decisions about land use in South Dakota… “If the pipeline and those willing to carry the water for this company have their way, it will completely strip away the voices of the 300+ county commissions in South Dakota and consolidate the decision making power to just a few in the state government.” “…Keitzer told Brownfield it’s going to be difficult to get 100% approval on the project from all landowners and the likelihood of this project getting done… “In my mind right now, there’s a 50/50 chance,” he told Brownfield.”

WBZ: Climate Activists Chain Themselves to Statehouse
9/24/24

“Three climate activists with Extinction Rebellion Boston chained themselves to the front gates of the Massachusetts State House Monday afternoon, blocking the main entrance,” WBZ reports. “The protest was part of the group’s “Week of Rebellion” to raise awareness for climate change and demand a ban on fossil fuel infrastructure… “We need Maura Healy to step up and stop all the fossil fuel burnings going on,” one of the activists said. The activists were referring to fossil fuel infrastructure such as Project Maple, proposed by the energy company Enbridge. The project would expand the Algonquin Gas Transmission line and increase fracked gas… “I’m risking arrest because future generations don’t have a voice; they’re not here yet. But right now, we’re letting our planet die,” said another activist… “More public events are planned this week, to continue what the group calls “nonviolent civil disobedience.”

WTIC: Environmental groups rally in Hartford against pipeline expansion plans
Bridgette Bjorlo, 9/24/24

“Environmental activists gathered outside the Connecticut State Capitol Tuesday to stop the expansion of a natural gas pipeline,” WTIC reports. “They are protesting what’s called “Project Maple,” an effort to upgrade an 1,100-mile pipeline system that runs through New England, including here in Connecticut. The expansion proposal is in its early stages and still needs approval from the federal government. Environmentalists are already sounding the alarm that the plan is bad for the region. “Expanding methane infrastructure even more than we’ve already been doing in Connecticut nonstop for over the last 10 to 20 years is making it impossible for us to meet our statutory greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets,” Martha Klein, with the Sierra Club, told WTIC. About three dozen people rallied against the pipeline transportation company Enbridge, Inc. and its goal of adding compressor stations and gas lines along the Algonquin gas transmission system… “We want to send the message to Gov. Lamont,” Klein told WTIC. “None of those permits should be approved from this point going for no more fracked gas expansion.”

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Environmental groups raise alarms over Alliant Energy’s plans to convert Sheboygan plant to gas
Laura Schulte, 9/24/24

“Environmental groups are asking a Wisconsin power utility to reconsider its decision to transform the Edgewater Generating Station to natural gas and stick with its original plan to close the facility,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. “In a news conference at Lakeview Park in Sheboygan Tuesday, overlooking Lake Michigan’s shore, community residents and members of the Moms Clean Air Force, Healthy Climate Wisconsin and the Wisconsin chapter of the Sierra Club asked that Alliant Energy close its Sheboygan plant to preserve the health of the community. Jayne Black, a member of Moms Clean Air Force, said learning that the plant would transition to burn methane natural gas was “devastating.” “The decision to transition the facility to a methane gas plant not a win for health in for families in Sheboygan, and not a win for our beautiful state of Wisconsin,” she said. Instead of closing the coal-fired plant by 2025, as Alliant Energy originally planned, the company instead will transition it to natural gas in 2028. This decision was motivated by Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s energy grid advancements and TC Energy’s plan to extend a gas pipeline in Wisconsin, possibly within 10 miles of the Edgewater plant.”  

Reuters: Diamondback and Kinetik buy 30% stake in EPIC Crude pipeline
9/24/24

“Oil and gas firms Diamondback Energy and Kinetik Holdings on Tuesday said they acquired a 30% equity interest in the EPIC Crude pipeline system,” Reuters reports. “The companies will each own 27.5% of EPIC Crude, while parent EPIC Midstream will continue to own a 45% stake in the pipeline… “EPIC Crude is an 800-mile crude oil pipeline system that connects the Delaware, Midland Basin, and Eagle Ford supply to EPIC’s 3.4 million barrel Robstown Terminal near Corpus Christi… “EPIC Crude has a capacity of 600,000 barrels per day (bpd), which is expandable up to 1 million barrels per day, and about 7 million barrels of operational storage.”

E&E News: Democrats tell White House to speed up lead pipes rule
Miranda Willson, 9/25/24

“Democrats are calling on the Biden administration to swiftly finalize a sweeping rule to remove lead from drinking water in order to ensure that a separate Trump-era policy does not go into effect next month,” E&E News reports. “In a letter set to go out Wednesday, over 60 Democrats will urge the White House Office of Management and Budget to release EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule Improvements before Oct. 16. That is the date when water utilities would be required to comply with the Trump administration’s Lead and Copper Rule Revisions, which the lawmakers called “deeply problematic.” Finalized in 2020, the Trump-era rule is needlessly bureaucratic and would ultimately delay efforts to replace lead pipes that leach toxic heavy metals into drinking water, the lawmakers wrote. Their letter was led by Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Reps. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and others.”

DeSmog: How A British-owned PR Firm Helped ‘Squash’ Pipeline Protests in Uganda
TJ Jordan, 9/24/24

“Last November, a beaming group of staff from MetropolitanRepublic collected their gorilla-shaped trophy at the Silverback Awards, Uganda’s top advertising and public relations gala,” DeSmog reports. “The South African PR agency had won its prize for promoting the “sustainable development” of Uganda’s untapped oil reserves by French oil company TotalEnergies. MetropolitanRepublic — which is part-owned by British communications giant WPP — described the brief for the award-winning “Action for Sustainability” campaign in its entry to the Silverback Awards: to devise an approach that “squashed all the negative PR” from protests against TotalEnergies’ plans for a 1,443-kilometre pipeline to export oil from Uganda’s Lake Albert via neighbouring Tanzania. An accompanying video featured photographs of Ugandan anti-pipeline campaigners to illustrate this “backlash” and described them as “haters”… “Now, DeSmog can reveal that Ugandan police or military personnel have arrested, beaten, threatened, or harassed at least eight of the 15 campaigners pictured in MetropolitanRepublic’s award submission video… “Nevertheless, DeSmog found that the agency engaged a network of social media influencers to post hundreds of times in support of TotalEnergies’ plans to mitigate the impact of the pipeline — even as protestors were being beaten and harassed. “These PR firms are sponsoring our oppression,” Hillary Innocent Taylor Seguya, one of the campaigners pictured in MetropolitanRepublic’s award submission video, told DeSmog. “The more you push misinformation to the rest of the world, the more it means that you don’t care about our rights.”

WASHINGTON UPDATES

E&E News: Carbon markets take center stage at Climate Week as criticisms abound
Chelsea Harvey, Sara Schonhardt, 9/25/24

“Climate Week has again taken over New York City, and this year’s event has turned the spotlight on one of the climate sphere’s most controversial subjects: the voluntary carbon market, or VCM, where hundreds of millions of dollars change hands annually in the sale of carbon offsets,” E&E News reports. “Dozens of market leaders — including buyers, sellers and managers of offset portfolios — have descended on the city to network, attend talks and drum up new interest in the VCM. The PR blitz reflects both the promise of the VCM, as well as its continued struggle to gain legitimacy. The Biden administration recently hatched a plan to use the VCM to supplement U.S. climate aid to developing countries… “But those moves come amid growing skepticism of its utility. Numerous studies and investigations have found the VCM is littered with projects that do little to actually address the issue of climate change. And critics have warned the sale of offsets may discourage polluters from directly reducing their own carbon emissions. Amid these concerns, the VCM has seen a sharp drop in value. Ecosystem Marketplace’s State of the Voluntary Carbon Market 2024 found the market shrank from nearly $2 billion in 2022 to about $700 million in 2023. How the VCM responds to the criticism, and whether it can earn a meaningful place in the broader fight against global warming, are two questions that will consume the conversation at Climate Week — and likely for years afterward.”

E&E News: Texas Sues Over Protections For Vulnerable Lizard In Oil Country 
Niina H. Farah, 9/24/24

“Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is heading to federal court to challenge the Interior Department’s safeguards for the dunes sagebrush lizard,” E&E News reports. “Paxton, a Republican, argued in a lawsuit filed Monday that Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service did not rely on the best available scientific and commercial data when it classified the reptile as endangered in May. The move provided special protections for the tiny light-brown lizard and limited availability of lands in Texas’ Permian Basin to oil and gas production. “The Biden-Harris Administration’s unlawful misuse of environmental law is a backdoor attempt to undermine Texas’s oil and gas industries which help keep the lights on for America,” Paxton said in a statement. “I warned that we would sue over this illegal move, and now we will see them in court.” Paxton’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, alleges that FWS made the Endangered Species Act listing decision without enough information about the full population of the dunes sagebrush lizard, which is found in both New Mexico and Texas. Instead, the agency used modeling to estimate the animal’s population and viability.”

STATE UPDATES

E&E News: Enviros sue to block California hydrogen hub
Niina H. Farah, 9/23/24

“Environmentalists are calling for a state court to block development of a hydrogen hub in a Northern California port, citing concerns that air pollution from the planned facility will exacerbate already poor local air quality,” E&E News reports. “The Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity and others filed a lawsuit last Wednesday challenging the Port of Stockton’s approval of the BayoTech BayoGaaS Hydrogen Hub, saying it violates state environmental law. The hydrogen generation, compression and storage facility — which is slated to begin production in mid-2025 — would be built on the doorstep of a disadvantaged community that faces some of the highest asthma rates in California. Hydrogen has been marketed as a cleaner transportation fuel alternative because burning it does not release planet-warming emissions like fossil fuels. But the overall environmental footprint of the fuel depends on how it is produced. In this case, BayoTech plans to extract hydrogen from methane. “This is dirty hydrogen, delivered by dirty trucks, for potentially dirty uses. If the port wants to build this project, it must do a better job explaining how it will clean up all of this pollution,” Earthjustice attorney Katrina Tomas told E&E.”.

WRC: America’s largest carbon capture facility opens in oil country [VIDEO]
9/24/24

“The UN says we must pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere to avoid the worst consequences of climate change, so how does it work? National climate reporter Chase Cain visited the largest operational “direct air capture” plant in the U.S.,” WRC reports. 

Oil City News: Over 4,000 Acres Of Wyoming Oil And Gas Land Up For Lease In December 
Garrett Grochowski, 9/23/24

“In a new release, the Bureau of Land Management announced that it will be leasing a total of 4,641.95 acres of land over eight separate parcels for oil and gas production beginning with a sale Dec. 3,” Oil City News reports. “Scoping on these eight parcels, spread all throughout eastern and southern Wyoming, was completed by the BLM in May this year. A subsequent public comment period was open until August regarding potential deferrals, environmental concerns and analysis and the parcels themselves, according to the BLM. This process refined the total list of parcels from 14 to eight, with some being deferred and others being completely deleted. The total proposed acreage also went from 6,762.47 acres to the final 4,641. Environmental concerns are especially relevant as a federal court last week blocked the BLM and the U.S. Department of the Interior from issuing permits to companies who had already purchased stakes in a separate energy field the size of Delaware in the Powder River Basin on the grounds that the BLM overestimated the amount of necessary groundwater required for drilling. Those companies had already purchased their leases in the area and were looking for permits to drill.”

EXTRACTION

Bloomberg: OPEC Sticks to Outlier View on Oil Demand Growing Through 2050
9/24/24

“OPEC doubled down on forecasts that global oil demand will keep growing to the middle of the century, an outlier view that scientists say would lead to climate catastrophe,” Bloomberg reports. “World oil consumption is set to increase by 17.9 million barrels a day, or roughly 18%, to 120.1 million per day by 2050, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said in its annual long-term outlook. It raised estimates covering the next two decades from last year’s report. Even within the petroleum industry, OPEC’s estimates represent a fringe view-point. Forecasts from BP Plc, trading giant Vitol Group, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., consultants Wood Mackenzie and the International Energy Agency all indicate that oil demand may stop growing within the next decade as the world shifts to electric vehicles and renewable energy… “OPEC said its increasingly bullish outlook reflects that, in light of the 2022 energy shock, advanced economies are re-evaluating the transition from fossil fuels as they acknowledge “the need for energy security.” “…It said the notion of phasing out oil and gas was a “fantasy.”

Center for International Environmental Law: New Report Reveals US Petrochemical Buildout Undermines Global Climate Goals
9/24/24

“The US is poised for a petrochemical buildout that threatens critical climate targets and locks us into dangerous levels of greenhouse gas emissions for decades to come, according to a new report from the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL). Emissions Unleashed: The Climate Crisis and America’s Petrochemical Boom reveals that new US petrochemical projects could result in CO2 emissions equivalent to adding nearly 40 coal plants per year — surpassing annual emissions from all US commercial aviation. This buildout could increase US petrochemical emissions by 38%. The report, which analyzes the climate impacts of the planned US petrochemical buildout, gives clues to the fossil fuel industry’s game plan, identifies the most climate-polluting projects and products on the horizon, and uncovers how taxpayers are being misled into funding polluting projects being sold as ‘climate solutions.’ “The US is poised for a massive petrochemical buildout that would undermine global efforts to curb the climate crisis,” says Barnaby Pace, report author and Senior Researcher at CIEL. “Worse still, many polluting petrochemical projects are set to be subsidized by public money under the guise of ‘climate action’ when in fact they could lock in fossil fuel use for decades to come.” Report findings also reveal that nearly 60% of plastic production projects, by emissions contributions, are on hold — suggesting a combination of organized opposition, litigation, and market forces is beginning to constrain the expansion of plastic production. “Petrochemicals are bad for people, bad for the planet, and they are bad for business. Financing the expansion of petrochemicals in the current climate opens banks, insurers, and investors up to mounting reputational, legal, regulatory, and financial risk,” says Brandon Marks, Petrochemical Finance Campaigner at CIEL. In the face of the findings, CIEL is urging US leaders and permitting authorities to reject the planned petrochemical expansion and its devastating climate and health consequences.”

Nature Climate Change: Feasible deployment of carbon capture and storage and the requirements of climate targets
Tsimafei Kazlou, Aleh Cherp & Jessica Jewell, 9/24/24

“Climate change mitigation requires the large-scale deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS). Recent plans indicate an eight-fold increase in CCS capacity by 2030, yet the feasibility of CCS expansion is debated,” according to Nature Climate Change. “Using historical growth of CCS and other policy-driven technologies, we show that if plans double between 2023 and 2025 and their failure rates decrease by half, CCS could reach 0.37 GtCO2 yr−1 by 2030—lower than most 1.5 °C pathways but higher than most 2 °C pathways. Staying on-track to 2 °C would require that in 2030–2040 CCS accelerates at least as fast as wind power did in the 2000s, and that after 2040, it grows faster than nuclear power did in the 1970s to 1980s. Only 10% of mitigation pathways meet these feasibility constraints, and virtually all of them depict <600>

Alberta Native News: Cold Lake First Nations’ Concerns About Carbon Storage Hub Are Still Not Addressed
Jeremy Appel, 9/24/24

“The chief of Cold Lake First Nations says that none of his concerns with the Pathways Alliance’s proposed carbon storage hub on his people’s traditional territories have been addressed,” Alberta Native News reports.  “It just seems like everything is getting rubber stamped,” Chief Kelsey Jacko told Alberta Native News from the sidelines of the Carbon Capture Canada conference in Edmonton on Sept. 11… “Last year, Chief Jacko criticized the alliance’s consultation process when he spoke on stage at the conference. “They’re ramming it down our throats,” he said. Jacko wasn’t invited to speak again at this year’s conference, but attended as a delegate, in part to get answers from Pathways, which had a booth set up in the northeast corner of the Edmonton Convention Centre’s exhibition hall. Foremost among his concerns is the megaproject’s lack of an emergency management plan, which he said he was told would only be developed after the project was completed… “Jacko is especially worried about the impact of injecting carbon underground on his people’s water supply… “Getting straight answers has been difficult, Jacko told ANN, in part because every time representatives from Pathways approach him, he has to make his case to a different person… “The alliance has grouped all Treaty First Nations and Métis communities in the project’s vicinity together, as if their concerns are identical, which Jacko characterized as a “slap in the face when you’re talking about historic treaties.” “…Chief Jacko of Cold Lake First Nations told ANN that he’s not opposed to hosting a carbon storage hub on his people’s traditional lands, but wants to see a “hard reset,” in which Indigenous communities are consulted from the outset of planning. If that doesn’t occur, he said he’s prepared to take the Pathways Alliance to court, which he recognizes will be a costly and time-consuming process.”

Resources Radio: Will Carbon Capture Make Local Air Pollution Worse?
Daniel Raimi, 9/25/24

“In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Andrew Waxman, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin, about carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), a technology that involves the capture and storage or reuse of carbon dioxide,” Resources Radio reports. “Waxman discusses the application of CCUS technology for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and industrial facilities; the importance of the technology for achieving emissions-reduction goals; and the potential effects of the technology on local air pollution, particularly in communities along the US Gulf Coast.”

gCaptain: Officials Race to Contain Oil Spill Following Sinking of Passenger Vessel in Greenland
Malte Humpert, 9/23/24

“Emergency personnel in Greenland near the southern community of Nanortalik worked over the weekend to contain a 20,000 liters oil spill following the sinking of the small expedition passenger ship Adolf Jensen,” gCaptain reports. “The vessel ran aground and subsequently sank last week at the mouth of the Tasermiut Fjord north of Nanortalik. The vessel carried between 15,000 and 20,000 liters of diesel in addition to 1,000 liters of gasoline… “Initial efforts to contain the spill using floating barriers and pumps were hampered by tides, currents and wind, a police report detailed. The Ministry for Environment and Emergency Management has since escalated requests for aid to include the Danish Navy’s Arctic Command. Over the weekend extra personnel were called to the scene, officials stated as the cleanup efforts continued. “Oil films are visible on the water surface in the Nanortalik fjords due to a leak from the Adolf Jensen,” the local police reported, according to AFP.”

Libya Observer: Oil spill monitored off the coast of Misrata
9/23/24

“The Libyan Center for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences has monitored marine pollution off the coast of Misrata as a result of an oil spill,” according to the Libya Observer. “The center indicated that the water pollution area is larger than seven square kilometers, attributing that the oil spill from a marine platform or ship, according to a statement on its Facebook page on Monday.”

CLIMATE FINANCE

Guardian: Rich countries could raise $5tn of climate finance a year, study says
Fiona Harvey, 9/24/24

“Rich countries could raise five times the money that poor countries are demanding in climate finance, through windfall taxes on fossil fuels, ending harmful subsidies and a wealth tax on billionaires, research has shown,” the Guardian reports. “Developing nations are asking for at least $1tn (£750bn) a year of public funds to help them cut greenhouse gases and cope with the impacts of extreme weather. Rich countries are mooting potential sums much lower than this, in conventional climate finance such as low-interest loans from the World Bank and similar institutions. But they are also discussing potential new forms of finance, such as a levy on shipping and on frequent flyers. Brazil, which currently has the presidency of the G20, is pushing for a wealth tax of about 2% on billionaires. Research by the pressure group Oil Change International, published on Tuesday, shows that rich countries could generate $5tn a year from a combination of wealth and corporate taxes, and a crackdown on fossil fuels. A wealth tax on billionaires could generate $483bn globally, while a financial transaction tax could raise $327bn. Taxes on sales of big technology, arms and luxury fashion would be another $112bn, and redistributing 20% of public military spending would be worth $454bn if implemented around the world. Stopping subsidies to fossil fuels would free up $270bn of public money in the rich world, and about $846bn globally. Taxes on fossil fuel extraction would be worth $160bn in the rich world, and $618bn globally.”

Wall Street Journal: The Two Big Insurers Still Betting on Fossil Fuels
Shane Shifflett and Jean Eaglesham, 9/25/24

“A deep divide is emerging among insurers over their investments in fossil fuels. The overall industry has significantly cut its exposure, but two huge players have made multibillion-dollar bets on major oil companies,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “The buying by State Farm and Berkshire Hathaway’s insurance companies was so big that it helped offset a decline in the rest of the industry, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal of data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, a group of state regulators…  “The increases from State Farm and Berkshire drove the industry’s overall exposure to fossil fuels higher, pushing it to 4.4% of their portfolios from 3.8%, the analysis found. The energy sector accounts for 3.5% of the S&P 500’s market capitalization. The value of fossil-fuel holdings by the property-and-casualty industry rose to $84.6 billion last year from $57 billion in 2014, driven by market appreciation and the buying by the two insurers…  “French insurer Axa’s chief executive, Thomas Buberl, told the Journal the higher claims caused by fossil fuels outweighed any financial benefit from investing in them… “It is irresponsible for insurers to still invest in fossil fuels, Buberl told the Journal.”

OPINION

Common Dreams: Senate Democrats Must Flex their Oversight Powers against the Oil Industry
KJ Boyle, 9/23/24

“With a divided Congress and an election fast approaching, congressional Democrats have little opportunity to enact any landmark legislation, but they need not sit on their hands. Congressional committees have the power to conduct hearings, investigations, and issue subpoenas. As the majority party in the Senate, Democrats should be using this authority to aggressively critique corporations that harm the public’s health and pocketbooks,” KJ Boyle writes for Common Dreams. “…Nowhere is this clearer than the lack of hearings on oil and gas industry malfeasance and pollution. In May, the FTC accused ex-Pioneer CEO Scott Sheffield of a price fixing scheme with OPEC. A week later, Trump initiated an outrageous quid pro quo with industry executives when he requested $1 billion in campaign contributions in exchange for a rollback of environmental regulations. In March, a Stanford study found that methane leaks account for 3 percent of gas produced in the US, three times greater than the EPA’s 1 percent estimation. The result? A cost of at least $9.3 billion in climate damage per year. Surely the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources has something to say about collusion and bribery in the energy sector, right? Obviously the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Work investigated the causes of excess methane emissions? Sadly, no… “Delaware Senator Tom Carper’s leadership of the Environment and Public Works committee is less explicable… “Democrats need to hold them accountable before it’s too late, and the only way to do so is with subpoenas, both for the documents they’re seeking and appearances of the executives in front of Congress… “Senate Democrats overseeing the oil and gas industry would be wise to learn from the HELP committee’s examples. Americans are fed up with corporate abuses across the economy, and they need to see their representatives in Congress cracking down on bad actors. Letters requesting information are good, but rolling over when executives refuse to comply is unacceptable. If asking nicely isn’t inducing cooperation, perhaps a subpoena and the specter of jail time will.”