EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 9/7/23

PIPELINE NEWS

• Facebook: Appalachians Against Pipelines: Happening now! Two pipeline fighters have locked down to drilling equipment on the banks of the Greenbrier River to stop construction of the MVP.

• South Dakota Searchlight: South Dakota regulators deny permit for Navigator CO2 carbon pipeline

• Associated Press: CO2 pipeline project denied key permit in South Dakota; another seeks second chance in North Dakota

• Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota regulators deny Navigator’s CO2 pipeline application

• KELO: South Dakota Public Utilities Commission nixes Navigator

• KELO: County commissioners’ thoughts on pipeline decision

• Dakota Free Press: Navigator Releases Not-So-Complicated Carbon Dioxide Plume Maps

• AgWeek: Bipartisan panel urges South Dakota landowners to take sides in private property fight with carbon pipelines

• WGLT: McLean County Board committee advances amendment regulating CO2 well placement

• Press release: “Violence on the Land is Violence on our Bodies”: Appalachian Frontline Women’s Divestment Delegation Highlights Dangers of Mountain Valley Pipeline in Meeting with UBS Bank

• Reuters: Enbridge shares drop as market frets over financial hit from $14-billion Dominion deal

• Texas Standard: In West Texas, a budding pipeline fight highlights activists’ changing tactics

WASHINGTON UPDATES

• E&E News: Big green groups back ‘march to end fossil fuels’

• Associated Press: Biden administration cancels remaining oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic Refuge

• E&E News: Sources: Manchin backs FERC energy analyst for commission seat

• E&E News: D.C. Circuit case could transform FERC’s NEPA reviews

• Law360: 9th Circ. Tosses Chevron’s Offshore Clean Air Act Challenge 

• E&E News: EPA climate rule covers 36% of gas plant emissions — analysis

• E&E News: How much IRA fraud will there be? This watchdog has some idea.

STATE UPDATES

• GreenBiz: California bill on disclosure would go beyond SEC’s proposed rules

• E&E News: Fight over Mont. public lands ends as oil lease is relinquished

• Capital and Main: After a Century, Oil and Gas Problems Persist on Navajo Lands

EXTRACTION

• Globe and Mail: Carbon capture projects are too costly, have ‘questionable’ benefits, report finds

• OilPrice.com: G20 To Pursue More Renewables And Carbon Capture

• CNBC: Khosla Ventures backs effort to make orchards of lung-like material to absorb CO2 from air

OPINION

• Utility Dive: DOE’s error-ridden analysis on coal CCS project threatens climate and engagement goals

• Detroit Free Press: Line 5 rupture would devastate Great Lakes. Should Enbridge pipeline move because of the risk?

• Colorado Sun: Op-Ed: Modernize The Federal Oil And Gas Program
  

PIPELINE NEWS

Facebook: Appalachians Against Pipelines: Happening now! Two pipeline fighters have locked down to drilling equipment on the banks of the Greenbrier River to stop construction of the MVP.
9/7/23

“Happening now! Two pipeline fighters have locked down to drilling equipment on the banks of the Greenbrier River to stop construction of the MVP,” according to Appalachians Against Pipelines. “Nearby, 4 elder protestors have locked down in rocking chairs blocking an access road to the same site. Join the rally to support them here – 37°40’50.0″N 80°43’55.7″W  

South Dakota Searchlight: South Dakota regulators deny permit for Navigator CO2 carbon pipeline
JOSHUA HAIAR, 9/6/23

“In a unanimous decision, the three-member South Dakota Public Utilities Commission on Wednesday rejected Navigator CO2’s application for a permit to construct the Heartland Greenway carbon capture pipeline in South Dakota,” the South Dakota Searchlight reports. “The commission also unanimously refused the company’s request to preempt county pipeline setback ordinances. The ordinances mandate minimum distances between pipelines and dwellings, schools and other places. In public comments during Wednesday’s meeting at the state Capitol, Commissioner Kristie Fiegen listed a number of reasons for denying the permit, including what she described as a failure by the company to adequately disclose carbon dioxide plume modeling, and a failure to provide timely notices to some of the landowners along the proposed route. The commission conducted a hearing on the permit application from July 25 to Aug. 8. “The burden of proof is on the applicant,” Fiegen said Wednesday. That burden, she added, includes ensuring the project will not negatively impact the social, environmental and economic well-being of the public. Fiegen made the motion, which was supported by the other two commissioners, to deny the permit. The commission’s staff will now prepare a formal written order… “While we are disappointed with the recent decision to deny our permit application in South Dakota, our company remains committed to responsible infrastructure development,” Navigator said. “We will evaluate the written decision of the Public Utilities Commission once issued and determine our course of action in South Dakota thereafter.” South Dakota’s denial of a permit for Navigator follows North Dakota’s recent denial of a permit for another carbon pipeline project, proposed by Summit Carbon Solutions, which would also cross into South Dakota. Summit has already altered its North Dakota route and is seeking reconsideration of that decision. Summit’s South Dakota permit hearing is scheduled to begin Monday, and a weeks-long hearing on Summit’s proposed route in Iowa is in progress… “When asked by South Dakota Searchlight if Navigator will seek reconsideration of the commission’s decision, Navigator spokesperson Elizabeth Burns-Thompson replied by text message that the company “will determine that once we have the chance to review the final written order on Sept. 26.” Rick Bonander, whose rural Valley Springs land would be crossed by the pipeline, told South Dakota Searchlight on Wednesday that he is “extremely happy.” “…Brian Jorde, an attorney representing landowners, apologized during Wednesday’s meeting for earlier comments he made that suggested a lack of faith in the commission to conduct a fair hearing. “I was wrong,” Jorde told the Searchlight. “The parties had a fair process.” “…I would note, not a single South Dakota farmer testified in favor of this project” – Public Utilities Commissioner Chris Nelson.” 

Associated Press: CO2 pipeline project denied key permit in South Dakota; another seeks second chance in North Dakota
JACK DURA AND STEVE KARNOWSKI, 9/6/23

“South Dakota regulators on Wednesday denied a construction permit for a carbon dioxide pipeline project, one month after a North Dakota panel did the same to a similar project by another company,” the Associated Press reports. “…The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission voted unanimously to deny Navigator’s application for its Heartland Greenway pipeline. Chair Kristie Fiegen cited myriad reasons in her motion to deny, including the company’s lack of promptness and several objections to commission staff questions as well as struggles to notify landowners of routes and meetings. She detailed concerns related to safety, community growth, landowners and emergency responders, among other issues… “The decision comes just days before the South Dakota panel is set to begin an evidentiary hearing Monday for a separate CO2 pipeline project, proposed by Summit Carbon Solutions, with a final decision expected by Nov. 15. Brian Jorde, an attorney for South Dakota landowners opposed to the Navigator and Summit projects, expressed hope that Navigator might now drop the South Dakota leg of the project, given that most of the plants it would serve are in Iowa and other states… “Landowners across the Midwest have opposed such pipeline projects, fearing their land will be taken and that the pipelines could break, spewing hazardous carbon dioxide into the air… “Summit this week withdrew its applications to Oliver County for two permits related to construction of injection wells for its underground CO2 storage site in central North Dakota. The company’s move came after the county’s planning and zoning board voted last week to forward a denial recommendation to the county commission. The board had cited a lack of information from Summit, safety concerns and no financial or economic benefit to the county or residents, Oliver County Auditor Jaden Schmidt told AP.”

Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota regulators deny Navigator’s CO2 pipeline application
Dominik Dausch, 9/6/23

“Navigator Heartland Greenway, LLC.’s, application to build their ambitious and controversial carbon capture pipeline system was officially denied,” the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports. “Navigator received the thumbs-down Wednesday from the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission to build their Heartland Greenway System pipeline following a unanimous 3-0 motion. At the same time, the commission also unanimously denied Navigator’s motion to preempt local ordinances through federal law as a means of circumventing what the company considers overly restrictive setback distances. PUC Chairperson Kristie Fiegen, in her motion to deny the application, said Navigator did not meet the burden of proof on any of the four subdivisions of South Dakota Codified Law 49-41B-22… “Commissioners Fiegen and Gary Hanson both also pointed to the challenges PUC staff faced in receiving responses to questions regarding the project. Fiegen said she was concerned Navigator’s lack of prompt response and objections to several staff questions and discovery attempts would raise issues with the company’s willingness and ability to comply with applicable laws and rules in the future. “They were not prompt, and they even struggled with administrative tasks of notifying landowners to routes and public input meetings,” Fiegen said. “Two hundred and four landowners were not notified of the public input [meetings], and 92 of those landowners were not notified to the route.”

KELO: South Dakota Public Utilities Commission nixes Navigator
Bob Mercer, 9/6/23

“The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission is weighing in on the future of carbon dioxide pipelines in the state,” KELO reports. “At a meeting on Wednesday, the members unanimously decided to deny the Navigator CO2 project’s permit application… “Fiegen noted that the company could still take other steps such as an appeal or reapplying. Navigator’s lead attorney James Moore of Sioux Falls and the company’s vice president of environmental and regulatory matters Monica Howard immediately left the Capitol meeting room after the decision… “Navigator’s statement said, “While we are disappointed with the recent decision to deny our permit application in South Dakota, our company remains committed to responsible infrastructure development. We will evaluate the written decision of the Public Utilities Commission once issued and determine our course of action in South Dakota thereafter. Our commitment to environmental stewardship and safety remains unwavering, and we will continue to pursue our permitting processes in the other regions we operate in.” “…About 30 landowners along Navigator’s proposed route and along the proposed route of the SCS Carbon Transport pipeline attended the Navigator decision Wednesday. So did Brett Koenecke and Cody Honeywell, two Pierre attorneys who have been representing SCS… “Representing the landowners was attorney Brian Jorde from Omaha, who participated by phone Wednesday. He admitted he was wrong in pre-judging the commission’s and staff’s conduct. “The parties had a fair process, and that’s what we asked for,” he said. Jorde reminded the commission that Navigator had the burden of proof. “And their best case just wasn’t good enough,” he said.

KELO: County commissioners’ thoughts on pipeline decision
Julia Lin, 9/6/23

“The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission unanimously voted to deny Navigator’s request to build. They also denied the company’s motion to overrule local ordinances that would prevent them from building,” KELO reports. “Minnehaha is one county the pipeline was planning to go through. Many landowners on the east side of South Dakota have followed the potential pipeline project that would go through several counties like Minnehaha and Moody County. “So just from a pure volume of constituent concerns, this has definitely been our number one issue and I think we’ve given it the due diligence that it required many different public comment sessions, different hearings on the ordinance itself,” Joe Kippley, commissioner of Minnehaha County, told KELO. Jean Bender was keen to see the state vote to deny the Navigator’s motion to preempt local ordinances. “It was gratifying to see that they did protect that right to local control. So that was what I was most frankly interested in today. We knew that decision would have come about but what has the broader impact is that they voted 3-0 to deny the Navigator application,” Jean Bender, commissioner of Minnehaha County, told KELO.

Dakota Free Press: Navigator Releases Not-So-Complicated Carbon Dioxide Plume Maps
CORY ALLEN HEIDELBERGER, 8/28/23

“Navigator CO2 has decided we are smart enough after all to look at their maps of where the carbon dioxide from their proposed Heartland Greenway pipeline might leak. After trying to keep the maps secret to avoid public misunderstanding, Navigator officials said sure, fine, let people see our plume modeling maps, and the Public Utilities Commission obliged,” Dakota Free Press reports. “And it turns out the plume-modeling map really isn’t that complicated. Just draw the pipeline, then draw a purple zone 1,855 feet on either side of the pipeline. That purple zone is the “maximum dispersion zone” where 30 minutes of exposure to a 4% concentration of carbon dioxide could knock you and your car out… “I do wonder: if Navigator’s pipeline springs a leak under I-90, will the carbon dioxide concentration shut down the cars zooming east to Minnesota for tax-free groceries? Would woozy eastbound drivers still be able to coast to the fresh air at the Valley Springs exit? I don’t know the answer for sure, but now that we have this map with its estimated not-quite-three-quarter-mile carbon-dioxide risk zone, we can look for potential trouble spots like the I-90 crossing, ask what impacts leaks may have on health and commerce at certain points along the pipeline, and get answers from the good scientists at Navigator.”

AgWeek: Bipartisan panel urges South Dakota landowners to take sides in private property fight with carbon pipelines
Caleb Barber, 9/5/23

“A bipartisan panel of representatives at the South Dakota State Fair called on landowners to stand together against corporations seeking easements for putting carbon sequestration pipelines on private land,” AgWeek reports. “House Minority Leader Rep. Oren Lesmeister, from Parade, and State Rep. Marty Overweg, from New Holland, called for a moratorium on easement negotiations until the next session as a strategy for standing in the way of Navigator CO2 and Summit Carbon Solutions seeking easements from South Dakota landowners. Both representatives on Saturday, Sept. 2, agreed that the legislature failed in establishing protections for landowners during the last session. Some form of moratorium wouldn’t be the silver bullet, Overweg said, but the fact that moves for amending the state code, or calling for a special session to amend the code, have fallen flat, is notice for alarm. Chapter 49 in state law establishes dealing with public utilities and carriers, and is the main area in which legislators looked to amend to require compensation for landowners targeted by pipeline companies… “Brian Jorde, the Omaha attorney who has been at the head of the legal opposition to the two pipeline projects, feels good about the decision about to come down from the PUC on the Navigator CO2 pipeline application. “All we can do is be scrappy, but I put a great team of landowners together,” Jorde told AgWeek. “The battle is steep uphill, it’s about 89 degrees, not quite 90, but it can be done.” Jorde, who has led the legal opposition to Navigator CO2’s pipeline application to the South Dakota (and other states’) Public Utilities Commission, is about to head to a similar hearing for the application from Summit Carbon Solutions from Sep. 11-22.”

WGLT: McLean County Board committee advances amendment regulating CO2 well placement
Lyndsay Jones, 9/5/23

“The McLean County Land Use and Development Committee on Tuesday approved an amendment to the county’s zoning ordinance that provides new parameters for the placement of carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration wells that store liquified carbon dioxide underground,” WGLT reports. “The amendment is part of the county board’s focus on the possibility of carbon-capture technology coming to McLean County. In May, board members approved a new requirement for any energy company seeking to drill sequestration wells to apply for a special-use zoning permit. The amendment committee members approved Tuesday lays out specific guidelines for CO2 sequestration wells, a method of storing CO2 deep underground. Included among the proposed guidelines are: A requirement that wells cannot be within 1,500 feet of an occupied home, livestock shelter, commercial or manufacturing building or a school or community building; Lighting at the well must be shielded to prevent glare “substantially beyond the boundaries of a CO2 facility”; and A requirement for the zoning permit applicant or well owner to work with local fire and emergency management agencies to both develop and fund emergency response plans. Previously, the county’s zoning code applied the same rules for oil and gas drilling or refining to CO2 wells; the amendment committee members approved Tuesday adds an additional 500 feet of distance for CO2 sequestration. The proposed amendment now heads to the county board’s executive committee on Monday. From there, it may head to the full county board for approval on Sept. 14.”

Press release: “Violence on the Land is Violence on our Bodies”: Appalachian Frontline Women’s Divestment Delegation Highlights Dangers of Mountain Valley Pipeline in Meeting with UBS Bank
9/6/23

“On September 6, a delegation of frontline women leaders from Appalachia and advocates met with UBS Bank to highlight concerns of human rights violations along the Mountain Valley Pipeline, as well as environmental harms in the Appalachian region as a result of the pipeline. During the meeting, the Appalachian Frontline Women’s Divestment Delegation provided testimony and shared stories, data and research on the multiple ways that the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and its construction pose a serious threat to communities, water, air quality and the global climate. Originally expected to be completed in 2018, the MVP Mainline now runs five years behind schedule and $3 billion over budget. UBS Bank is one of the banks financing MVP, and during the meeting, delegates highlighted that since the project’s inception, the joint owners of Mountain Valley Pipeline have sustained financial losses… “Delegation members provided eye witness accounts and detailed information about specific impacts Indigenous communities and communities of color face in regards to the construction and operation of MVP. The pipeline route will go through Black, Indigenous, Latino, and low-income communities across Appalachia who would experience the brunt of environmental injustice… “We are calling for financial institutions to listen to communities and science, conduct thorough due diligence, and stop the harms of fossil fuel extraction. UBS and other banks have an opportunity to be leaders in the just transition by divesting from fossil fuels and instead financing projects that support the well-being of communities, ecosystems, and our planet,” said Osprey Orielle Lake, Founder and Executive Director of Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN).

Reuters: Enbridge shares drop as market frets over financial hit from $14-billion Dominion deal
MRINALIKA ROY, 9/6/23

“Enbridge Inc. tumbled nearly 7% to an over four-year low on Wednesday, as investors fretted over the Canadian pipeline operator’s debt load from the surprise $14 billion bid for three natural gas distribution companies from Dominion Energy,” Reuters reports. “The move to acquire East Ohio Gas, Questar Gas, and Public Service Co of North Carolina would double Enbridge’s gas distribution business and make it the largest gas utility by volume in North America, with the unit accounting for a bit less than a fourth of the company’s overall business mix… “Analysts, however, were surprised at the timing, the scale and impact such a deal would have on the company’s already leveraged balance sheet. “This is more high cost issuance, to me it’s like somebody in a hole trying to get out of it by digging deeper,” Ryan Bushell, president of Newhaven Asset Management, which holds shares in Enbridge, told Reuters. “I don’t see how you can keep piling more issuance – debt and equity – on this company at these rates. The market is clearly telling them they don’t have a strong currency to do so.”

Texas Standard: In West Texas, a budding pipeline fight highlights activists’ changing tactics
Travis Bubenik, 9/6/23

“In far West Texas, hours away from the state’s major cities, there’s a fight brewing over plans for a major natural gas pipeline,” the Texas Standard reports. “The oil-and-gas-rich state already has hundreds of thousands of miles of pipelines, but the industry’s expansion into new rural regions has prompted some pushback. This all comes at a time when pipeline opponents across the country are shifting their tactics and finding some success at actually blocking projects. Earlier this summer, a few dozen West Texans gathered in the tiny town of Van Horn to hear about a proposed pipeline called the Saguaro Connector. Some locals, like Eva Franco Lozano, said this was the first they had heard about it. She lives just south of town. “And that’s where most of the pipeline’s going through,” she told the Standard. “But we’re not happy about it because they didn’t even advise us or nothing.” Oklahoma-based Oneok wants to build the 48-inch-diameter natural gas line through this dusty, isolated corner of the state. The proposal is still tentative, and the company said it hasn’t made a “final investment decision.” But state records show it’s being planned to run about a mile from Lozano’s home. She’s worried “about everything — health issues, property destruction, everything,” she told the Standard. Nearby RV park owner Penny Self also opposes the project. “I want to get the community involved is what I want to do,” she told the Standard… “In a statement, the Texas Pipeline Association said eminent domain is rarely used for pipelines and that companies usually negotiate paid deals with landowners based on fair market value. While that may be true, Texas attorney Charles McFarland, who often works with private property owners, said firms still rely on eminent domain powers to speed up the process. “The pipeline companies certainly at least threaten the exercise of eminent domain often and relatively early on in the process,” he told the Standard. “Because they simply can’t afford to be held up.” Anti-pipeline advocates have had some wins in recent years, from the cancellation of the high-profile Keystone XL pipeline to the lesser-known Palmetto Pipeline, which was sidelined in 2016 by Georgia lawmakers. Sale told the Standard some of this is due to opponents shifting their messaging. “We’ve had rather conservative ranchers who normally really wouldn’t be talking, they say, ‘I don’t like tree huggers,’” she told the Standard. “Usually what happens is they say, ‘Well, actually, you’re the only ones fighting for me.’”

WASHINGTON UPDATES

E&E News: Big green groups back ‘march to end fossil fuels’
Robin Bravender, 9/5/23

“National environmental groups and climate hawks in Congress are among those supporting a Sept. 17 protest in New York City that organizers have dubbed a “march to end fossil fuels,” E&E News reports. “Organizers announced Monday that 500 organizations — including the Sierra Club, Sunrise Movement and Center for Biological Diversity — have endorsed the upcoming protest. The march “is part of a mass global escalation to end fossil fuels, with mobilizations occurring around the world,” organizers said in a press release. The march is set to take place days before the U.N. Climate Ambition Summit that’s slated to kick off in New York on Sept. 20. Environmental advocates are pushing President Joe Biden and his administration to go further to limit the consumption of fossil fuels. “The hottest summer on record is galvanizing people like never before to cry out for lifesaving climate action,” Jean Su, energy justice director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “Biden needs to answer those cries by declaring a climate emergency and ending new fossil fuel project approvals, starting now.”

Associated Press: Biden administration cancels remaining oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic Refuge
BECKY BOHRER AND MATTHEW DALY, 9/7/23

“In an aggressive move that angered Republicans, the Biden administration canceled the seven remaining oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on Wednesday, overturning sales held in the Trump administration’s waning days, and proposed stronger protections against development on vast swaths of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska,” the Associated Press reports. “The Department of Interior’s scrapping of the leases comes after the Biden administration disappointed environmental groups earlier this year by approving the Willow oil project in the petroleum reserve, a massive project by ConocoPhillips Alaska that could produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil a day on Alaska’s petroleum-rich North Slope. Protections are proposed for more than 20,000 square miles (51,800 square kilometers) of land in the reserve in the western Arctic. Some critics who said the approval of Willow flew in the face of Biden’s pledges to address climate change lauded Wednesday’s announcement. But they said more could be done. Litigation over the approval of the Willow project is pending… “Alaska’s Republican governor condemned Biden’s moves and threatened to sue. And at least one Democratic lawmaker said the decision could hurt Indigenous communities in an isolated region where oil development is an important economic driver. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who drew criticism for her role in the approval of the Willow project, said Wednesday that “no one will have rights to drill for oil in one of the most sensitive landscapes on earth.”

E&E News: Sources: Manchin backs FERC energy analyst for commission seat
Miranda Willson, Timothy Cama, 9/7/23

“A Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staffer would be the next member of the powerful panel if Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Joe Manchin has his way,” E&E News reports. “The West Virginia Democrat has recommended to the Biden administration that David Rosner fill the vacant FERC seat, according to six people familiar with the nomination process. The people were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. If nominated and confirmed, Rosner would join the commission as a Democrat — giving FERC a 3-2 Democratic majority over Republicans for the first time since early January. Rosner has worked since 2017 as an energy industry analyst in FERC’s Office of Energy Policy and Innovation. But he has been assigned since last year to Manchin’s committee since last year. Detailees are employees who serve temporary assignments elsewhere in the government to offer specialized expertise. “He’s a FERC staffer who’s detailed over to work for Manchin, which is a little unusual, but he’s very knowledgeable,” one of the FERC observers granted anonymity to speak about Rosner told E&E. “It wouldn’t surprise me if there’s some level of comfort with him based on his working [on the Hill].” While Manchin’s office did not say whether the senator is backing Rosner, the six people said Rosner has emerged as the frontrunner for FERC’s open seat… “Rosner is an economist who has focused on electric transmission, offshore wind, fuel security and other issues at FERC, according to his LinkedIn profile. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Tufts University and a master’s degree in public policy from American University. Prior to his time at FERC, he worked at the Department of Energy for 2 ½ years.”

E&E News: D.C. Circuit case could transform FERC’s NEPA reviews
Niina H. Farah, 9/6/23

“A federal appeals court is considering whether it should put more pressure on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to define when natural gas projects pose significant climate risk,” E&E News reports. “During oral arguments Tuesday, judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit pressed the commission for a progress report on a proposed policy for determining when new natural gas projects require a more rigorous form of National Environmental Policy Act review to assess climate impacts. The challenge is the latest in a series of NEPA lawsuits before the D.C. Circuit in recent years aimed at pushing the commission to overhaul how it accounts for how new and proposed gas projects will affect rising greenhouse gas emissions. FERC has backtracked on finalizing a proposal that would set the threshold at projects that produce more than 100,000 metric tons of carbon emissions. Carol Banta, an attorney for FERC, told E&E the commission is still working to respond to prior court rulings requiring more climate analysis — but has not found the correct tool to do so. “It has not determined whether or how to make that ultimate determination, if it needs to,” she told E&E of FERC, “and I don’t think there is a case where this court has said that it has to.” “…Nathan Matthews, a senior attorney for the Sierra Club, told E&E environmental challengers are not arguing that FERC has to implement the proposed policy, but rather that NEPA required the commission to consider the combined climate effect of the Evangeline Pass project and two other proposed pipeline upgrades.”

Law360: 9th Circ. Tosses Chevron’s Offshore Clean Air Act Challenge 
Juan Carlos Rodriguez, 9/5/23

“The Ninth Circuit on Friday upheld the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s determination that two of Chevron Inc.’s soon-to-be-decommissioned offshore oil platforms in California might be subject to Clean Air Act regulations,” Law360 reports. “A unanimous three-judge panel said that an April 2021 letter from the EPA to Chevron, in which the agency reversed a Trump-era position and said the decommissioned platforms may be subject to the law’s requirements, was not a final agency action and therefore is not eligible for judicial review. The dispute has its roots in a January 2021 letter sent to Chevron by the EPA shortly before President Joe Biden took office, in which the agency determined that it and the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District would lack jurisdiction under the Clean Air Act to regulate Chevron’s post-abandonment decommissioning activity. After the Biden administration swept in, it reversed course and told Chevron in an April letter that, in fact, the platforms could be covered under the law. Chevron had said the April letter was a final agency action ‘because it repealed the January letter, which was itself final action.’ But the Ninth Circuit disagreed. The judges said that even if the January letter was a final action, the April letter wasn’t, necessarily.”

E&E News: EPA climate rule covers 36% of gas plant emissions — analysis
Jean Chemnick, 9/5/23

“Most of the country’s natural gas plants would be exempt from EPA’s proposed power plant rule, leaving nearly two-thirds of the industry’s emissions untouched, according to new modeling by the Natural Resources Defense Council,” E&E News reports. “NRDC has urged EPA to strengthen its draft pollution standards for coal-fired and gas-fired power plants. The group’s analysis projects that in 2035 only 258 of 1,261 existing gas-fired units — or about 20 percent — will be big enough and supply enough power to trigger obligations under the draft rule. That represents less than one-third of the country’s installed capacity and about 36 percent of the carbon emissions from combined-cycle natural gas units. NRDC also estimates the draft rule will reduce emissions in only 17 percent of the communities that the Biden administration has identified as “disadvantaged” due to socioeconomic factors and vulnerabilities.”

E&E News: How much IRA fraud will there be? This watchdog has some idea.
Kelsey Brugger, 9/5/23

“The stunning level of fraud found in pandemic relief funding raises an obvious question: Has the federal government learned its lesson as it begins to dole out billions in clean energy money?,” E&E News reports. “It’s too early to tell, but watchdogs say fraud is inevitable. “To some extent, fraud will always happen,” Bob Westbrooks, a retired inspector general and author of “Left Holding the Bag: A Watchdog’s Account of how Washington Fumbled its Covid Test,” told E&E. Westbrooks is the former executive director of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, an independent federal panel with oversight of the roughly $5 trillion in pandemic-related spending. He told E&E that fraud is “unavoidable,” but adds, “It’s about avoidable frauds.” He expects there to be less fraud in the Inflation Reduction Act than with Covid-19 spending. Indeed, last month, the Justice Department announced it had thus far seized more than $1.4 billion and charged more than 3,100 people in pandemic-related fraud. More such cases are likely.”

STATE UPDATES

GreenBiz: California bill on disclosure would go beyond SEC’s proposed rules
Leah Garden, 9/6/23

“A California Senate bill is proposing strict greenhouse gas reporting regulations for corporations in the state, surpassing the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) proposed climate disclosure rules,” GreenBiz reports. “The Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, or SB 253, was introduced earlier this year by Senate Democrats and would require California businesses with a revenue of $1 billion or more to disclose Scope 1 and 2 emissions, starting in 2026. Mandatory Scope 3 emissions reporting would begin in 2027, with every corporation required to comply, regardless of whether the company is headquartered in the state. The SEC’s proposed reporting rule excludes Scope 3 disclosures… “Of course, there are opponents. Politico reported that the California Air Resources Board staff is “less than thrilled” with SB 253, and at one point sought to quietly “undermine support for it in the Legislature.” Additionally, a cohort of businesses and chambers of commerce — including American Chemistry Council and the California Chamber of Commerce — issued a letter urging legislators to strike the bill down… “The bill is likely to be voted on by the end of California’s 2023 legislation session in September.”

E&E News: Fight over Mont. public lands ends as oil lease is relinquished
Heather Richards, 9/5/23

“A Louisiana oil and gas company has agreed to relinquish the last drilling lease on a swath of public lands in Montana sacred to the Blackfeet Nation, ending a roughly 40-year legal fight,” E&E News reports. “Solenex LLC, whose founder bought the oil and gas lease in the Badger-Two Medicine area in 1982, was the last holdout for potential drilling in a region that has long been closed to development. The settlement, announced Friday by the departments of the Interior and Agriculture, closes a decadeslong feud that pitted the legal right to develop a federal oil lease against a tribe’s attempt to protect historic lands. “The Badger-Two Medicine area continues to have cultural and religious significance to the Blackfeet Nation,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American woman to lead Interior, said in a statement. “Oil and gas development would have had irreparable impacts on these sacred homelands.”

Capital and Main: After a Century, Oil and Gas Problems Persist on Navajo Lands
Jerry Redfern, 9/5/23

“It’s a Saturday morning in late June and Garry Jay, a member of the Navajo Nation, pilots a white crew-cab Chevy pickup on a lumpy dirt road across the grasslands north of his house in Shiprock, New Mexico, heading for the round, wood-framed hogan his grandfather built by hand in the 1970s,” Capital and Main reports. “…These days, on his visits home, while looking for memories of the past, he also looks for leaking oil wells. A few years ago, the wells near the hogan changed owners from one in Colorado to one in Texas, and Jay says with that came a reduction in maintenance. “They’re neglecting it as far as I’m concerned,” he told Capital and Main. When he finds leaks, Jay says he reports them to Navajo environmental agencies, but even when the spills are obvious and undeniable, cleanup has been slow and erratic… “Today, the wells surrounding Jay’s old home are but one sign of the lingering tensions between commercial mineral extraction and the health and well-being of the Navajo. Twenty-five miles to the south, a proposed pipeline would carry hydrogen made from natural gas tapped in the region. Seventy miles to the south and east, new gas and oil development around Chaco Culture National Park pits Navajo against Navajo. And everywhere on the Navajo Nation, people tell stories of health problems linked to work in extractive industries. The overriding question is: Do the benefits of extraction outweigh the costs to health and to Native culture?”

EXTRACTION

Globe and Mail: Carbon capture projects are too costly, have ‘questionable’ benefits, report finds
JEFFREY JONES, 9/7/23

“Technology the oil industry is counting on to reduce emissions – carbon capture and storage – is too expensive and difficult to deploy quickly enough to help Canada meet its climate commitments, a global environmental think tank says,” the Globe and Mail reports. “Relying on carbon capture and storage (CCS) to cut greenhouse gases from oil and gas production will mean large public subsidies for projects that are unable to compete on costs against expanding renewable energy sources, rendering the benefits “questionable,” the International Institute for Sustainable Development said in a report released Thursday. “The track record for CCS thus far just doesn’t line up with the emissions reductions we need to see, particularly between now and 2030,” Laura Cameron, policy adviser for the Winnipeg-based institute’s energy team and co-author of the report, told the Globe and Mail.  “The cost is a big piece and that’s the focus of our research here – that CCS for the oil and gas sector is expensive, and despite the industry’s claims, we don’t see evidence that the costs are likely to come down in the short term,” Ms. Cameron said in an interview… “There is some research that shows up to a 20-per-cent increase in energy use with a CCS retrofit,” Ms. Cameron told the Globe and Mail. “Even if that is renewable, we need to weigh that against what that amount of renewable energy could be used for elsewhere. But often, it is fossil-fuel energy and that does increase the emissions.”

OilPrice.com: G20 To Pursue More Renewables And Carbon Capture
Tsvetana Paraskova, 9/6/23

“The G20 group plans to commit to tripling renewable capacity by 2030 but also give more room for fossil fuel development by seeking increased use of carbon capture technology, sources with knowledge of the talks have told Bloomberg,” OilPrice.com reports. “At the G20 summit in India, the group of 20 nations, which includes top oil and gas producers the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Russia, as well as major energy importers such as China, India, Japan, and South Korea, plans to call for increased efforts to deploy carbon capture and other technologies that would reduce emissions from oil, natural gas, and coal, Bloomberg’s anonymous sources said.”

CNBC: Khosla Ventures backs effort to make orchards of lung-like material to absorb CO2 from air
Catherine Clifford, 9/6/23

“Serial entrepreneur Charles Cadieu and Los Alamos National Lab scientist Matt Lee have teamed up to develop and scale a material akin to a human lung to absorb carbon dioxide from the air,” CNBC reports. “Spiritus, which is Latin for breath, began work in December 2021, and the company is officially coming out of stealth on Wednesday, with the announcement of an $11 million funding raise led by prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firm Khosla Ventures. The process of removing the collected carbon dioxide from the material requires relatively low heat, which means the process is low energy and also low cost, a critical selling point for Khosla Ventures… “This lung-like material, technically called a “sorbent,” will be shaped in round balls and laid out like artificial fruits in a carbon-capture orchard, CEO Charles Cadieu and CTO Matt Lee told CNBC in a phone interview on Tuesday. When the lung-like “fruit” have been collected from the carbon “orchard,” they will be put in a container, where low heat will be applied to remove the carbon dioxide. The desorption process will be powered by clean energy to ensure the process is a not adding emissions to the atmosphere. Once the CO2 has been removed from the lung-like fruit, the sorbent can then be returned to the carbon orchard and reused.”

OPINION

Utility Dive: DOE’s error-ridden analysis on coal CCS project threatens climate and engagement goals
Emily Grubert is an associate professor of sustainable energy policy at the University of Notre Dame and a former deputy assistant secretary of carbon management at the U.S. Department of Energy, 9/5/23

“The U.S. is preparing to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to deploy technologies that could help us reach climate goals — both through grants under 2021’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and subsidies under 2022’s Inflation Reduction Act. But whether that spending will actually reduce climate pollution is unclear in some cases, notably for carbon capture and storage, or CCS, 45Q tax credits and for hydrogen 45V tax credits,” Emily Grubert writes for Utility Dive. “A recent environmental assessment, or EA, issued by the U.S. Department of Energy for a CCS project at a coal-fired power plant in North Dakota, Project Tundra at the Milton R. Young station, includes numerous egregious errors that call into question the department’s ability to figure this out — which could have major implications for the success of much bigger programs. The core issue is this: if we emit GHGs while doing something to reduce GHGs, we need to make sure that the reductions outweigh the new emissions — preferably by a lot… “This is why I am so concerned that the recent draft EA for Project Tundra includes a GHG life cycle analysis that doesn’t even get the basics right, let alone the complex parts… “Not only does the draft GHG analysis contain numerous errors so obvious that even a non-expert should have noticed them immediately, not to mention the LCA preparers themselves and the numerous reviewers who sign off on a draft EA before it is published, but the analysis suggests that the project would emit more than three tonnes of CO2 equivalent per tonne of CO2 stored, and still recommends moving forward — a deeply alarming sign for a project whose entire purpose is to reduce GHG emissions… “Not taking this seriously risks potentially trillions of dollars and billions of tonnes of GHG emissions, not to mention the trust and goodwill of the American public, which is reasonably skeptical of these potentially critically important technologies. The Project Tundra EA is shocking, with scary implications for doing this right. We must do better, and we must demand better.” 

Detroit Free Press: Line 5 rupture would devastate Great Lakes. Should Enbridge pipeline move because of the risk?
Mike Shriberg is a professor in the School for Environment & Sustainability at the University of Michigan, 9/6/23

“Should states and Indigenous nations be able to influence energy projects they view as harmful or contrary to their laws and values? This question lies at the center of a heated debate over Enbridge Energy’s Line 5 pipeline, which carries oil and natural gas across Michigan and Wisconsin,” Mike Shriberg writes for the Detroit Free Press. “Courts, regulatory agencies and political leaders are deciding whether Enbridge should be allowed to keep its pipeline in place, with upgrades, for another 99 years. The State of Michigan and the Bad River Tribe in Wisconsin want to close the pipeline down immediately… “In my view, the future of Line 5 has become a defining issue for the future of the Great Lakes region. It also could set an important precedent for reconciling energy choices with state regulatory authority, and Native American rights… “Line 5 is more than a Midwest issue. It has become a focus for national activism and is a major diplomatic issue between Canada and President Joe Biden, who has worked to balance his ties with organized labor and his support for a clean energy transition, and has avoided taking a side to date. To continue operating Line 5, Enbridge will have to convince the courts that its interests and legal arguments outweigh those of an Indigenous nation and the State of Michigan. But it’s not a slam dunk. Never before has an active fossil fuel pipeline been closed due to potential environmental and cultural damage. The outcome could set a precedent for other pipeline and fossil fuel infrastructure battles, from the mid-Atlantic to the Pacific Coast. Ultimately, in my view, Line 5 is an under-the-radar but critical proxy battle for how, when and under what authority the phasing out of fossil fuels will proceed.”

Colorado Sun: Op-Ed: Modernize The Federal Oil And Gas Program
Cody M. Perry, 9/5/23

“When it comes to boating in the upper Colorado River Basin, there’s no better place than Dinosaur National Monument,” Cody Perry writes for the Colorado Sun. “ A multi-day river trip in Dinosaur starts on the Green or Yampa — both wholly unique from one another in form and hydrology, yet each providing world-class recreational opportunities and scenery. The more time I’ve spent on these rivers, the more my focus has been drawn to how we manage the lands around them. If there’s one direct threat to the greater landscape around Dinosaur, it’s the outdated laws and regulations of the Bureau of Land Management’s Oil and Gas Program. However, the bureau has recently proposed a rule package that would start to address some of the imbalance in its current management of public lands. Dinosaur National Monument is a place where these rules could really make a difference. It is a unique landscape, in that it’s bisected by the political boundaries of Colorado and Utah, each having starkly different physical and economic relationships with the Monument. Craig is at the forefront of communities in Colorado moving away from coal and proactively planning for increased recreation; Vernal, Utah was the birthplace of western river running and the hub of Utah’s most active oil and gas region, the Uinta Basin.”