EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 9/9/26

PIPELINE NEWS

• New York Times: Court Halts New York Harbor Gas Pipeline Backed by Trump

• New Jersey Monitor: Federal judges revoke key permit for natural gas pipeline project

• Wisconsin Public Radio: Federal data shows Enbridge leak is the largest reported oil and gas spill in Wisconsin

• Press release: Carbajal, Whitehouse, Padilla, Schiff Lead Colleagues in Filing Amicus Brief Challenging Trump Administration’s Involvement in the Sable Offshore Pipeline Restart

• Inside Climate News: A Pipeline Giant That Spilled Jet Fuel in Pennsylvania Is Trying to Weaken a Clean Water Law

• WKBN: Trumbull Commissioners to discuss next steps for pipeline projects

• Axios: North Alabama pipeline moves to early study phase

• Reuters: Enbridge names industry veteran Michele Harradence as successor to retiring CEO Ebel

WASHINGTON UPDATES

• Politico: ‘No good options’: GOP’s midterm hopes suffer under energy inflation

• Axios: Iran war drives $100 billion in extra energy costs for U.S. consumers

• Politico: EPA’s latest water rule delivers on a long-running industry goal

• Colorado Newsline: BLM oil and gas leases threaten critical Colorado wildlife corridors, lawsuit says

• TIME: Obscure Committee Set To Be at Center of Trump Fight if Democrats Win House

• NTD: Trump Broadens Interior’s Role in National Energy Emergencies

• Floodlight: America’s air monitors are disappearing. So is your power to expose polluters.

STATE UPDATES

• WBTS: Healey announces new regulations on data center development in Mass.

• Allegheny Front: Pa. fines Shell $15 million for air pollution from its Beaver County plastics plant

EXTRACTION

• Guardian: US datacenters face further backlash over wastewater pollution

• CBC: ‘Environmental racism’: Fort Chipewyan residents protest proposed treat-and-release plan for tailings water

• Financial Times: Europe turns to carbon capture in bid to clamp down on emissions

• Agence France-Presse: Delay tactic or genuine solution? Carbon capture under fire again as EU invests in ‘unproven’ technology

• Canadian Press: Tamarack Valley Energy and Headwater Exploration sign merger deal

• Carbon Herald: Cool Planet Officially Opens Carbon Capture Plant At Holcim Facility

OPINION

• The Cap Times: State must hold Enbridge accountable

• The New Republic: Carbon Capture Won’t Save Us Anytime Soon
  

PIPELINE NEWS

New York Times: Court Halts New York Harbor Gas Pipeline Backed by Trump
Hilary Howard, 9/8/26

“A federal appeals court on Tuesday halted plans for a controversial underwater natural gas pipeline that would skirt the shores of New York City and New Jersey and that has won the fervent backing of the Trump administration,” the New York Times reports. “The ruling by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia centered on the granting of a water permit by New Jersey regulators, a decision the court described as “arbitrary and capricious.” “…The Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental nonprofit, filed lawsuits in federal appeals courts covering New Jersey and New York challenging whether state regulators had established sufficient safeguards to protect the affected bodies of water in both states. In June, federal judges in New York deemed that they had. But it was a different story this week in Philadelphia, where the court ruled that water protections were lacking in New Jersey… “This ruling formally stops the New Jersey side of the project unless or until a new water quality certificate is issued, and it functionally likely stops the New York side, too, since the pipeline is so integrated,” Mark Izeman, senior attorney for environmental health at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told the Times. New Jersey regulators will either issue a new certification or deny the water permit.”

New Jersey Monitor: Federal judges revoke key permit for natural gas pipeline project
Dana DiFilippo, 9/8/26

“A federal appeals panel on Tuesday vacated a key permit an energy developer needs to build a controversial $1 billion underwater natural gas pipeline between New Jersey and New York,” the New Jersey Monitor reports. “…State environmental officials failed to require Williams to prove it has adequately protected the bay from buried contaminants before it begins to dredge the seabed, Roth wrote… “While the judges vacated the permit, their decision doesn’t kill the proposed pipeline altogether. Instead, it boots the project back to the Department of Environmental Protection for officials to fully explain why they approved the permit, or act otherwise… “Environmentalists also have warned it would endanger marine habitats, expose toxins buried in the bay floor, threaten wetlands in Somerset County where Williams plans to build a compressor station, and degrade the environment in Middlesex and Monmouth counties, where a new pipeline would be built to connect existing lines. They celebrated Tuesday’s ruling, noting that state officials had rejected the project in 2019 and 2020 in part over concerns about its impact on water quality before approving the water quality certification last November.”

Wisconsin Public Radio: Federal data shows Enbridge leak is the largest reported oil and gas spill in Wisconsin
Danielle Kaeding, 9/8/26

“A gas leak that occurred last month on Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline is the largest oil and gas spill reported in Wisconsin in more than 50 years, according to a WPR review of federal data,” Wisconsin Public Radio reports. “…Federal data indicates the Aug. 25 leak in Iron County that released 31,000 barrels — or 1.3 million gallons — of natural gas liquids is the company’s largest release reported to federal regulators. Line 5 remains shut down… “The vast majority of the remaining two thousand barrels of liquid initially contained within the excavation site, have now also vaporized and dispersed. Today crews continue working on removing the remaining liquid from the trench,” Enbridge spokesperson Juli Kellner told WPR… “On Friday, the National Wildlife Federation was among nine groups that called on the state to revoke permits for Enbridge’s Line 5 reroute in a letter to Gov. Tony Evers, the DNR and other state agencies… “Groups also said the state must ensure the National Transportation Safety Board is involved rather than solely Enbridge or PHMSA, which is investigating the incident. PHMSA has issued a corrective action order to Enbridge that requires the company to submit the failed section of pipe to a third-party lab for mechanical and metallurgical testing. Enbridge must also submit a third-party analysis on the cause of the line’s failure and whether similar conditions exist elsewhere on Line 5.”

Press release: Carbajal, Whitehouse, Padilla, Schiff Lead Colleagues in Filing Amicus Brief Challenging Trump Administration’s Involvement in the Sable Offshore Pipeline Restart
9/8/26

“U.S. Representative Salud Carbajal (D-CA-24), along with Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Top Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Adam Schiff (D-CA), led 14 of their colleagues in filing an amicus brief in California v. Wright,pending in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, to challenge the Trump Administration’s use of the Defense Production Act (DPA) to facilitate the restart of the Sable Offshore oil pipeline system along the California Central Coast. The brief argues that the Administration has failed to identify a legitimate national defense need for Sable’s crude oil and that the DPA order does not satisfy the statutory requirements for invoking this extraordinary authority. Sable produces crude oil—not finished fuels used by the military—and the order does not establish a connection between Sable’s production and an unmet military fuel requirement… “The Sable pipeline restart is a classic example of the Trump administration abusing power to benefit political allies at the expense of local communities,” said Rep. Carbajal. “As our brief outlines, there was no legitimate national security justification for invoking the Defense Production Act on behalf of Sable. This Administration is clearly fixated on boosting the fossil fuel industry, even when doing so risks putting our environment and public health in harm’s way.”

Inside Climate News: A Pipeline Giant That Spilled Jet Fuel in Pennsylvania Is Trying to Weaken a Clean Water Law
Marianne Lavelle, 9/4/26

“Energy Transfer, the Dallas-based pipeline giant facing a state-level criminal probe related to a jet fuel spill that polluted drinking water in a suburban Philadelphia neighborhood, is seeking to have part of Pennsylvania’s 89-year-old Clean Streams Law declared unconstitutional,” Inside Climate News reports. “The extraordinary lawsuit, filed quietly in April, asks Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court to declare one or more sections of the law unconstitutionally vague under the due process clauses of both the state constitution and the U.S. Constitution. Energy Transfer’s objection to the law: Parties could be found guilty of an environmental crime even if their actions are accidental… “But the challenge comes before any charges have been filed against Energy Transfer. And it concerns both a law and a legal interpretation that may not be relevant to the criminal investigation the company and its subsidiary Sunoco now face over their Twin Oaks pipeline, said Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday in his Aug. 25 response to the lawsuit. Sunday urged the court to dismiss the lawsuit, which he characterized as an improper effort “to pre-empt an anticipated criminal proceeding.” Instead of waiting to see if a case is filed and defending itself against whatever charges it faces, Sunday said Energy Transfer is seeking to get a court ruling in its favor—a declaratory judgment—in advance.”

WKBN: Trumbull Commissioners to discuss next steps for pipeline projects
Julianna Brock, 9/9/26

“Build a natural gas pipeline, good and long, and you’ll bring thousands of jobs to the Valley and new businesses,” according to WKBN. “Trumbull County Commissioners are meeting on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. at the Avalon Country Club to discuss next steps for the proposed pipeline project… “The proposition includes a natural gas pipeline running through OH-11… “It is projected to be a billion-dollar project, but it could bring millions of dollars in labor income to the four counties. The pipeline is projected to bring around 9,000 jobs. This all came from a 142-page study released by East Gate showing the feasibility of the project.”

Axios: North Alabama pipeline moves to early study phase
Derek Lacey, 9/8/26

“The North Alabama Public Energy District is taking the first steps toward constructing a new natural gas pipeline across North Alabama,” Axios reports. “…Around 1,000 letters have been mailed to landowners along the proposed route, and workers are conducting soil testing within 200-foot rights-of-way to identify the final 50-foot easement within which the buried pipe will run, Todd Gentle, Huntsville Utilities gas operations director and NAPED project manager, told Axios… “Gentle said the study corridor has created confusion, with some landowners thinking construction will take place in that full 200-foot corridor… “If everything goes to plan, NAPED is looking to start construction on the pipeline in the third quarter of 2030, with an in-service date in the fourth quarter of 2031.”

Reuters: Enbridge names industry veteran Michele Harradence as successor to retiring CEO Ebel
Varun Sahay, 9/8/26

“Enbridge said on Tuesday its CEO Greg Ebel will retire at the end of 2026 and ​be succeeded by industry veteran Michele Harradence, with ‌the Canadian pipeline operator changing its leadership after a period of major expansion in U.S. natural gas utilities,” Reuters reports. “…Harradence, who joined Enbridge in 2014 after 16 years at Shell, has led the company’s gas utilities since 2022 and ​oversaw the integration of the Dominion utility acquisitions. She ​is currently head of Enbridge’s gas distribution and storage business.”

WASHINGTON UPDATES

Politico: ‘No good options’: GOP’s midterm hopes suffer under energy inflation
Ben Lefebvre, Victoria Guida, 9/9/26

“President Donald Trump’s war in the Middle East for months has thwarted GOP plans to run on pocketbook issues this fall,” Politico reports. “Now, with the midterm elections a mere weeks away, it’s likely too late to stem the political fallout from the sustained grind of expensive energy bills that threaten to spread to other consumer prices. More than six months into the war, the White House has no clear way to tame crude prices that have jumped nearly $30 a barrel and diesel prices that started breaking national records last week, analysts told Politico. While prices for gasoline and oil hit higher peaks in 2022, the pain from energy costs has become a persistent drain on voters’ wallets and could soon lead to an increase in their borrowing costs.”

Axios: Iran war drives $100 billion in extra energy costs for U.S. consumers
Ben Berkowitz, 9/7/26

“The war in Iran has now cost U.S. consumers $100 billion in higher energy prices, and the bill is rising another $1 million about every two minutes, per a real-time estimate from Brown University as of Monday morning,” Axios reports. “…The Iran War Energy Cost Tracker from Brown’s Watson School says higher gasoline and diesel prices have cost the average U.S. household more than $760 since the war began Feb. 28… “The bottom line: Consumers are in for a longer period of higher fuel prices than anyone expected when the war began. With less than two months until the midterm elections, it’ll be hard to temper their anger.”

Politico: EPA’s latest water rule delivers on a long-running industry goal
Miranda Willson, 9/9/26

“The Trump administration’s latest attempt to shrink the reach of the Clean Water Act is a major leap forward for energy companies, farmers, housing developers and other industries in their half-century-long push to limit pollution permitting requirements,” Politico reports. “The supplemental proposal unveiled by EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers Friday could wipe out the need for federal water permits in much of the country, greasing the skids for energy pipelines, mines, data centers and other development projects… “If the administration moves forward with only regulating perennial waters, roughly 79 percent of streams in the U.S. by stream-mile would fall outside the Clean Water Act, according to estimates from the Natural Resources Defense Council. That means that, unless a state has stricter protections on its books, companies would not need a permit to fill in wetlands connected to those streams or to conduct other industrial activities that pollute the waters.”

Colorado Newsline: BLM oil and gas leases threaten critical Colorado wildlife corridors, lawsuit says
Chase Woodruff, 9/8/26

“Two environmental groups sued the Trump administration Tuesday, alleging the Bureau of Land Management violated federal law when it leased more than 134,000 acres of public lands in Colorado for oil and gas drilling earlier this year,” Colorado Newsline reports. “In their lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court of Colorado, Wilderness Workshop and The Wilderness Society say the BLM’s June 2026 lease sale would “allow the development of oil and gas wells in habitat critical to some of the United States’ largest, and last remaining, migrations of pronghorn antelope, mule deer and elk.” The agency’s failure to withhold sensitive wildlife areas from development violates its own rules and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, the lawsuit argues. Plaintiffs want the court to vacate the lease sales and a Trump administration memorandum the agency has used to ramp up oil and gas leasing in Colorado and other western states.”

TIME: Obscure Committee Set To Be at Center of Trump Fight if Democrats Win House
Nik Popli, 9/8/26

“If Democrats win control of the House in November, party leaders plan to turn the final two years of the Trump era into a barrage of investigations over alleged corruption and contempt for the law,” TIME reports. “Much of the scrutiny would be expected to come from the Judiciary and Oversight Committees, the traditional engines of congressional investigations. But another, less prominent committee could emerge as an unlikely center of the fight: the House Natural Resources Committee. The 45-member panel has oversight over virtually all federal lands, giving it jurisdiction over a striking collection of controversies that have defined President Trump’s second term. That includes his efforts to remake Washington, D.C. by building a White House ballroom and a triumphal arch, and the troubled renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. It also covers the Administration’s efforts to open up national parks to an unprecedented amount of hunting, fishing and drilling, as well as a recent proposal to give a swath of California’s Yosemite National Park to a private developer. “We are no longer a backwater here at the Natural Resources Committee,” Rep. Jared Huffman, the committee’s top Democrat, tells TIME. “You check a lot of boxes with the Natural Resources Committee in terms of some of the most high-profile controversies in this Administration.”

NTD: Trump Broadens Interior’s Role in National Energy Emergencies
Tom Gantert, 9/9/26

“President Donald Trump expanded the number of Cabinet officials who can independently exercise emergency powers involving the nation’s energy supplies for the second time in six months,” NTD reports. “An executive order issued Sept. 8 gives the interior secretary authority under the Defense Production Act that had previously rested largely with the energy secretary. Trump added the energy secretary alongside the commerce secretary under a similar provision in March. Before March, the commerce secretary held authority under one provision intended to maximize energy supplies. Trump’s action Tuesday leaves the three officials independently authorized to act on energy-related matters under the Defense Production Act… “Energy-related disputes between the interior and energy secretaries will be referred to the National Energy Dominance Council.”

Floodlight: America’s air monitors are disappearing. So is your power to expose polluters.
Ames Alexander, Brad Racino, 9/9/26

“Across much of the U.S., people have little way to know when the air they breathe turns dangerous. Over recent decades, federal funding for public air monitoring has declined, the number of monitors has fallen, and much of the remaining equipment is aging or located far from major polluters,” Floodlight reports. “…As the public monitoring system has weakened, communities have increasingly turned to an alternative: low-cost sensors they can use themselves. But a Floodlight investigation finds industry is moving to restrict that option, too. Since 2024, lawmakers in Louisiana, Ohio and Kentucky have passed strikingly similar bills — backed by chemical or manufacturing trade groups — that curb the use of community-collected data in enforcement actions. The bills share a common thread: They block regulators from using air-quality data for enforcement purposes unless it meets EPA-approved standards. Similar bills in West Virginia have yet to pass. In case after case, proponents have made the same argument: Community monitoring isn’t reliable enough for regulatory enforcement. Yet when lawmakers in West Virginia offered a version of a bill designed to ensure accuracy, industry resisted.”

STATE UPDATES

WBTS: Healey announces new regulations on data center development in Mass.
Kaitlin McKinley Becker, Brianna Borghi and Thea DiGiammerino, 9/8/26

“Gov. Maura Healey announced new regulations surrounding the development of prospective data centers in Massachusetts on Tuesday, an effort she says will support community involvement in the process,” WBTS reports. “…Under a new executive order, data centers will need to get local community support to secure state permits, including having a community benefits agreement in place with the host community. The process will also need to be transparent, with no use of non-disclosure agreements between any state agencies and developers. Data centers will also be required to either supply their own clean energy or pay into a rate payer protection fund, a measure that Healey said will protect residents from higher utility bills brought on by increased energy use. Developers will also have to provide proof that the projects won’t be detrimental to the environment or water supply. They also need to show benefits to communities, like job creation. The new regulations only apply to the development of new data centers, which means the rules won’t impact legal battles ongoing in communities with established data centers, like Lowell.”

Allegheny Front: Pa. fines Shell $15 million for air pollution from its Beaver County plastics plant
Reid Frazier, 9/4/26

“The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has fined Shell $15 million for air quality violations at its Monaca, Pa. plastics plant,” the Allegheny Front reports. “The agency says between 2023 and August 2026, Shell’s plant, called an ethane cracker, exceeded limits on visible emissions set by its state-issued air permit on more than two dozen occasions. According to a consent agreement signed by the company Friday, the plant also went over the allowable limit for benzene, a carcinogen, and it failed to perform testing required by the state. The DEP found that the plant is currently exceeding the amount of nitrogen oxides, a precursor to smog, a lung irritant, than is allowed in its permit… “Half of the $15 million in penalties will go toward a Beaver County Environment and Community Fund, which will support “projects that benefit the environment, health, natural resources, public safety, and small businesses in Beaver County,” the DEP said in a statement.”

EXTRACTION

Guardian: US datacenters face further backlash over wastewater pollution
Oliver Milman, 9/8/26

“When officials in Wyoming conducted a routine test on the water that was being discharged from a massive under-construction Meta datacenter, it was a shock to find it contained a rare and potentially hazardous bacterium,” the Guardian reports. “While the wastewater flushed into sewers in Cheyenne, Wyoming, was never destined for the public drinking supply, the presence of Cupriavidus gilardii bacterium in 801,000 gallons of water ejected by a contractor for the datacenter earlier this year was still unnerving. Concerned that residents could be exposed to the bacteria if they inhaled evaporating droplets of the water used for irrigation, Cheyenne officials took until July before deciding to stop taking wastewater from Meta’s contractor, Goat Systems – a decision that is now being appealed… “However, the bacteria-laden water in Wyoming is just the latest in a series of alarms raised across the US about datacenters and water – not just how much of it they are sucking up, but also what’s in the water when it is funneled back into rivers, streams and public water systems… “The Waterkeeper Alliance, a network of environmental organizations, told the Guardian 55 of its affiliated groups across the US were working on datacenter-related issues, with 80% of these campaigns centered on concerns that pollutants may be leaching into the environment via discharged water.”

CBC: ‘Environmental racism’: Fort Chipewyan residents protest proposed treat-and-release plan for tailings water
Jamie Malbeuf, 9/9/26

“People who work for a major player in Canada’s oilsands packed up their mobile information display a day and a half early during a recent community engagement session in Fort Chipewyan, Alta., after area residents protested a proposed plan to release treated tailings water into the nearby Athabasca River,” the CBC reports. “Suncor Energy was scheduled to be at the Mamawi Community Hall on Sept. 2 and Sept. 3 to listen and engage with people who live in the northern Alberta community regarding its plans. But after a few hours on the first day, the company’s representatives packed up and left and did not return for a second day of consultations… “Fort Chipeywan residents have expressed concern about the proposal because the Athabasca River flows into the Peace-Athabasca Delta and Lake Athabasca, which is where the community gets its drinking water from. They also have concerns because the river goes through the land they hunt, fish and forage from…. “Industrial water treatment is a well-established and highly regulated practice across Canada and around the world,” Suncor told CBC. “We have tested these same proven technologies and have confidence in their ability to treat industrial water from oilsands.” “…We’re the guinea pigs,” Jennell Vermillion, who lives in the northern Alberta hamlet, told CBC. “We’re the ones that they’re gonna be testing this on… “Vermillion told CBC she never thought the treat-and-release proposal would get this far. She told CBC she considers it a slap in the face that the people of Fort Chipewyan could be expected to be comfortable with the proposal. “This is environmental racism at its finest,” Vermillion told CBC.”

Financial Times: Europe turns to carbon capture in bid to clamp down on emissions
Henry Foy, 9/8/26

“A new carbon capture and storage project launched with great fanfare in the Netherlands this week. But it can’t hide the challenge of decarbonising Europe’s heavy industry,” the Financial Times reports. “…But the 800,000 tonnes make a small dent in Yara’s 15.3mn tonnes of carbon emissions equivalent in 2025. Carbon capture also requires billions in subsidies to launch… “Climate activists have criticised the technology as a distraction from other solutions such as electrification through hydrogen generated by renewable energy. But hydrogen enthusiasm has waned due to high costs. “Green hydrogen requires a massive amount of renewable energy and that’s simply not available at an attractive price,” Svein Tore Holsether, Yara’s chief executive, told FT.”

Agence France-Presse: Delay tactic or genuine solution? Carbon capture under fire again as EU invests in ‘unproven’ technology
Ruth Wright, 9/7/26

“Carbon capture and storage has been found to be “technically uncertain and very high cost”,” Agence France-Presse reports. “CO2 emitted by a fertiliser factory in the Netherlands will be stored underneath the seabed in Norway, in what the owners are calling the “largest commercial carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Europe”… “While the Commission says the Sluiskil plant, run by Norwegian chemical company Yara, is a “strategic investment”, opponents told AFP it is “risking billions in taxpayers’ money to fund a dangerous distraction that delays climate action.” “…While Yara’s chief executive, Svein Tore Holsether, said in a statement, “The carbon capture facility in Sluiskil proves that large-scale industrial decarbonisation is possible today”, the cumulative emissions saved are a very, very tiny drop in the ocean. US non-profit the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) has conducted in-depth research into CCS. Their Energy Finance Analyst, Andrew Reid, says: “Despite the political and financial support that has been pointed to CCS over the past three to four years, it remains technically uncertain, very high cost, and reliant upon huge subsidies to move from feasibility to construction and operation.” “…One of the arguments against CCS, which campaigners have been making for years, is that it is a way for polluters to keep polluting, rather than emitting less of the gases which are heating up the planet at alarming rates. “All capture and storage projects suffer from the same problem: they distract attention and resources from cutting emissions at source and give polluting industries like fertiliser production a pass to keep on polluting,” Rachel Kennerley, Senior International Carbon Capture Campaigner at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), told AFP.”

Canadian Press: Tamarack Valley Energy and Headwater Exploration sign merger deal
9/8/26

“Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd. and Headwater Exploration Inc. have signed a merger deal valued at $10 billion that they say will bring together their operations in the Clearwater region in Alberta,” the Canadian Press reports. “…In connection with the transaction, Tamarack says it plans to increase its quarterly dividend to six cents per share from five cents, while certain non-core exploration assets will be transferred into Tributary Exploration Inc., a new exploration company.”

Carbon Herald: Cool Planet Officially Opens Carbon Capture Plant At Holcim Facility
Violet George, 9/7/26

“Cool Planet Technologies has officially inaugurated its 10,000-ton-per-annum carbon capture demonstration plant at Holcim ’s Höver cement facility in Lower Saxony, Germany,” the Carbon Herald reports. “…The facility is currently undergoing commissioning and will capture up to 10,000 tons of CO2 annually once operational, positioning Höver among the first industrial sites in Germany to execute carbon capture at this scale… “Because the system installs downstream from primary manufacturing operations, existing cement plants can be retrofitted without requiring structural alterations or process disruptions to host facilities. Following a planned final expansion phase, the system is projected to capture approximately 90% of CO2 emissions from the Höver plant, purifying the gas for reuse in industrial applications and commercial supply chains.”

OPINION

The Cap Times: State must hold Enbridge accountable
David Diehl, Fitchburg, 9/8/26

“Enbridge thinks they’re above the law. And Wisconsin’s leaders are letting them act like it,” David Diehl writes for The Cap Times. “In just two years, Enbridge has been responsible for Wisconsin’s largest crude oil spill — and now the state’s largest natural gas liquids spill. If you saw the video, you know it looked apocalyptic. The DNR told Enbridge it was “deeply concerned about this spill” and “immensely frustrated” by other events, and that the agency “requests that you halt work … until this event on the existing pipeline is sufficiently resolved” Requested. Do you think that happened? Enbridge shut down construction for a measly two days while it conducted a so-called “safety check.” Then it restarted construction before the DNR was even allowed onto the site of the massive rupture… “Gov. Tony Evers and DNR Secretary Karen Hyun should be embarrassed. Wisconsin shouldn’t have to beg a pipeline company to follow the rules. If Enbridge won’t take Wisconsin’s laws seriously, our state leaders need to make them.”

The New Republic: Carbon Capture Won’t Save Us Anytime Soon
Kate Aronoff, 9/9/26

“A new U.N. climate report says ​that massive amounts of carbon capture and storage can keep a long-shot climate goal within reach. ​But nobody should be counting on it,” Kate Aronoff writes for The New Republic. “…Somewhat unhelpfully, outlets covering the report have framed an argument climate scientists have been making for years—that ambitious mitigation requires large-scale carbon dioxide removal, or CDR—as the starting gun for entry into some new stage of the climate problem… “UNEP notes that stabilizing temperatures at that level after passing it would require capturing between 15 and 24 gigatonnes of CO2 per year in 2100. That’s a far cry from how much carbon we’re able to remove at the moment. Currently, total carbon dioxide removal amounts to just 2.2 GtCO2 per year… “Enter “engineered” and “novel” CDR. The years since the Paris Agreement have seen enthusiastic interest from Houston to Silicon Valley in these more sci-fi-style means of getting to net zero. These tend to appeal greatly to industry. Back when fossil fuel executives were feeling pressured to talk about rising temperatures, they rallied around carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration as a key climate solution—and a means of keeping their business models intact… “But the kind of mass-scale sequestration outlined in climate models will likely rely largely on injecting carbon deep underground, whether into saline aquifers or depleted oil and gas deposits… “To reach even the modest quantities of carbon capture entailed in the Net-Zero America study would mean building 250 Gorgon-scale facilities in the United States every year between now and 2050… “The fact that CDR has received so much breathless hype from fossil fuel and tech executives—who are now major polluters themselves—has made climate activists understandably wary of moral hazard.”